CCPU to set up R&D centre in China
By Zhu Boru (China Business Weekly)
Updated: 2004-08-11 09:45

Continuous Computing Corp (CCPU), one of the world's leading providers of network services solutions for telecoms equipment manufacturers, expects to set up a research and development (R&D) centre in China within a few months.

The firm last week announced the opening of its China office.

"CCPU's business in China starts from sales and services. And we intend to duplicate our business in India ... including moving our R&D resources, in the next few months," said Ken Kalb, CCPU's chief executive officer and chairman.

US-based CCPU opened its China office in Shanghai last week. It is the third office of its kind in Asia-Pacific for the firm. The other offices are in Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea. They opened last year.

The China office is primarily responsible for CCPU's sales and services in the country.

In India, the company has established sales and service and R&D centres.

Kalb said CCPU expects to double its business growth in China this year.

"We are quite optimistic we can be successful in China ... We are in talks with several large national telecoms manufacturers, including ZTE, Huawei Technologies and Putian," he said.

"We are ready to announce big deals, worth millions of dollars, in three months."

Kalb declined to comment on the firm's current business growth in China.

CCPU will focus its China business on 3G (third-generation) wireless communications and voice over integrated package (VoIP) markets, Yettie Chen, CCPU's sales director in China, told China Business Weekly.

Both sectors, he added, promise rapid growth.

He said statistics from Market Probe, a world leader in market research, indicates China's VoIP market will reach 60 million minutes per year by 2005.

That would account for 15-20 per cent of the global VoIP sector.

The research firm's statistics also indicate China will have 118 million 3G mobile phone users by 2008.

The number of China's mobile phone subscribers, currently at 260 million, is expected to grow by 11 per cent annually. The Ministry of Information Industry believes the number of subscribers will reach 360 million by 2005.

CCPU entered China in 1999, via a partnership with Shanghai-based Tekview Technology Co Ltd. Tekview remains CCPU's major distributor in China.

CCPU does not have a major rival in China, even though the firm's share of the market is fairly small, Chen said.

However, firms such as Motorola and IBM are CCPU's competitors, but only CCPU provides all-round solutions -- including software and hardware, he said.

The percentage of the firm's Asia-Pacific business is expected to double within 18 months, Kalb said.

Revenues from Asia-Pacific make up 10-15 per cent of CCPU's global business, he said.

The company, which began in 1998 with US$45 million in venture capital, is considering launching an initial public offering in North America's capital market, Kalb told China Business Weekly.

"We are considering listing in North America ... and we are optimistic we can provide strong value for our shareholders within 12-24 months," he said.

The company has achieved a staggering compound growth of 28,000 per cent, in terms of revenues, since 1998. It ranked 16th last year on Deloitte & Touche's "Technology Fast 500" for North America.



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