Microsoft steps up mission-critical investments in Asia

Microsoft Corp. will step up its investments in Asia over the next two years as part of a bid to strengthen its relationship with partners and corporate customers in the area of mission-critical technologies.

“Over the next two years, we’re going to invest about US$14 million in resources and facilities,” said Chris Sharp, Microsoft’s Asia-Pacific general manager of server and tools products, during a phone interview.

As part of these investments, Microsoft will assign 100 technical specialists to work with customers and ISVs (independent software vendors) on mission-critical software products, including Windows 2003 Server and SQL Server 2005. The company also plans to open two technology incubation centres in Seoul and Bangalore, India.

“These technology centres are there to showcase the capabilities of server technology and help people port their applications to mission-critical hardware,” Sharp said.

Microsoft’s planned investments in Asia will boost the effectiveness of the company’s enterprise sales team in Asia, said Dane Anderson, head of research at Springboard Research.

From a technology standpoint, Microsoft’s products are competitive with offerings from rival vendors but the sales cycle for enterprise products is longer and more involved than for sales of desktop operating systems or application suites, Anderson said. “These investments help to address that,” he said.

Customers that have an established relationship also expect to benefit from the added investment and new technology centres.

“We think it’s pretty good for us,”James Kang, the chief information officer of NTUC Income Insurance Cooperative Ltd., noting that the incubation centres are available to help his company run simulations and test new applications.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now