Storage-management software-maker Veritas Software is accelerating its Asian expansion drive this year as firms across the region, drawing lessons from the September 11 terrorist attacks, shore up their investments with technologies for data protection, disaster recovery and application availability.
'We see spending on these advanced storage technologies will show the biggest sector growth in the region's IT [information technology] market and this demand will continue to grow,' Veritas chairman, president and chief executive Gary Bloom said. 'Despite the global economic slowdown, the Asia-Pacific remains our fastest-growing regional market.'
The growth potential has spurred Veritas to expand its engineering, marketing, sales and technical capabilities in the region, with emphasis on China, South Korea and India. Based in Silicon Valley, Veritas expects to add more than 1,000 staff this year to its global workforce of 5,600. The company plans to add up to 150 people, mostly in sales and marketing, to its existing 800 staff in the Asia-Pacific.
About 400 staff work at Veritas' research centre in Pune, India, which forms part of the company's five-year, US$3 billion global research and development expansion programme.
'Much of our sales growth and presence in the region has only really happened in the past three years, so we are committed to increasing our resources in all major cities and countries,' Mr Bloom said.
He said Veritas had posted 100 per cent revenue growth in the region, excluding Japan, over the past two years. The mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were the largest revenue-generating markets.