Oracle to Set Up Shop Across China

Oracle Thursday unveiled a new initiative in China designed to attract more small to midsize business (SMB) customers and recruit more partners countrywide.

The database and enterprise applications vendor plans to establish on-the-ground support operations in a total of 26 Chinese cities in combination with its partners.

Registered as Beijing Oracle Software Systems in China, Oracle currently has four Chinese offices located in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. In China for nearly 16 years, Oracle also operates two development centers in Beijing and Shenzhen.

Initially, Oracle intends to establish operations in 11 more cities including Nanjing in the east of the country, Shenyang in the north, Xi’an in the west and Zhengzhou in Central China. These cities, mostly capitals of China’s provinces, are among the fastest-growing cities in China with populations of between 2 million and 30 million people. Then, later this year, Oracle intends to set up shop in 15 more Chinese cities.

Oracle is also kicking off a series of technology forums for SMBs about its software in 11 Chinese cities starting this month and running through May. By the end of the year, the vendor hopes to hold similar forums in 15 other cities.

Oracle has positioned China as a key growth market for the company in Asia-Pacific, with SMBs an important contributor to new license revenue. Oracle’s main applications rival, SAP, is also looking to expand its operations in China. In January, SAP Chief Executive Officer Henning Kagermann said the company is looking at offshoring more of its software development work to China.

-China Martens, IDG News Service

For related news coverage, read Oracle Offers Stand-Alone Enterprise Search Product, Indian Outsourcer Satyam Looks to China, Lenovo Offers SMB PCs and Oracle Buys Sleepycat.

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