Symantec, the world's leading security and storage software provider, generated US$6.2 billion in global revenue last year.

It also plans to accelerate the international expansion of its joint venture with Huawei Technologies, the mainland's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer.

'Greater China represents the single-largest opportunity for Symantec,' said Enrique Salem, the company's president and chief executive.

Symantec, which has more than 1,000 employees in China, expects to establish 22 offices spread mostly across the mainland over the next few years. It has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Taipei.

New office sites will include Wuhan, Urumqi, Xian and Shenyang.

Andy Wu, the president of Symantec's Greater China business, said the company planned to add more mainland resellers and new offerings, including so-called 'cloud-computing services' - software delivered as subscription-based services over the internet, such as online back-up and messaging security.

That would help the company 'grow its market share, in terms of enterprise security and storage, to more than 30 per cent over the next five years', Wu said.

Symantec's combined market share in storage and security software sales in China rose to about 25 per cent this year from 15 per cent five years ago.

'We're also open-minded about potential acquisitions of local capabilities with Chinese expertise that we can bring in to our portfolio,' Salem said.

The company's two research and development centres, in Beijing and Chengdu, meanwhile, are focused on building unique solutions for the mainland.

Information technology spending by consumers and enterprises on the mainland is expected to reach US$216.7 billion this year, up 5.9 per cent from US$205 billion last year, offering substantial opportunities for technology and service providers, according to a report by market research firm Gartner.

Despite the recent global economic downturn, the mainland's economy grew 8.7 per cent last year, when information technology spending rose 7.5 per cent year on year. Information technology spending represented 6.1 per cent of the country's gross domestic product last year.

Salem said Symantec wanted to 'grow faster than the [mainland's] GDP'.

Gartner estimated that US$40 billion of the Beijing government's US$583.9 billion stimulus funding released in the latter part of 2008, would affect the mainland information technology industry until 2013, with the highest level of spending predicted this year.

Bernard Kwok Chuen-wah, a senior vice-president at Symantec's Asia-Pacific and Japan operations, said: 'Economic growth, coupled with the technology transformation we're seeing, makes information and identify protection extremely relevant to both businesses and consumers in the Greater China region.'

Salem said Symantec's joint venture with Huawei would expand coverage to include enterprises in the international markets, after initially selling its wares to the mainland and its telecommunications sector.

Symantec in 2008 invested US$150 million in Huawei Symantec Technologies, which began operations in February 2008 with its headquarters in Chengdu's West Zone Science Park inside the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

Huawei Symantec makes and distributes security and storage appliances, used mostly by telecommunications carriers and mainland enterprises.

The venture gives Symantec access to Huawei's intellectual property licences, research and development capabilities, manufacturing expertise, and engineering talent.

According to market analyst firm IDC, the global security and storage appliance market is worth about US$23 billion, with demand on the mainland forecast to exceed US$1.1 billion.

Salem said Symantec aimed to make additional investments to support the sales, marketing and engineering initiatives of the joint venture.

In October, Huawei Symantec introduced its first batch of products to North America for enterprises. Its authorised distributor, Condre Storage, has a network of more than 2,500 resellers across that market.