H3C targets 15pc mainland sales growth and brand awareness

H3C Technologies, a maker of switches and routers, expects sales growth of 15 per cent on the mainland this year and improved brand awareness globally due to the Olympic Games.

The Hangzhou-based company, which generates about 70 per cent of revenue from domestic sales, saw total sales rise 6.3 per cent to US$757 million last year, compared with US$712 million in 2006.

'The Beijing Olympics is one of our key projects this year,' said Rose Chen Qing, a senior vice-president of H3C. 'By being involved in a number of major networking infrastructure projects in Beijing, we will try to improve our brand awareness.'

The company was previously selected to be the supplier of several Olympics-related projects, including a 'Good Luck Beijing' pre-event in Hong Kong, the Beijing public transportation surveillance system upgrade, the new terminal building's network at Beijing International Airport, and technical support for Sohu.com, the official mainland website for the Olympics.

Ms Chen said the firm planned to boost sales in emerging countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand in the next few years.

In 2003, Huawei Technologies set up H3C with Nasdaq-listed 3Com Corp, taking a 51 per cent stake in the joint venture, aiming to create a 'Chinese Cisco' to supply internet protocol-based technology globally.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, with principal operations in Hangzhou, H3C employs 4,800 people.