Progress Software Corp of the United States expects its new strategic partnership with Hong Kong's Leo Paper Group to help it generate more business on the mainland. The firms aim to promote the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) and complex event process technologies in manufacturing and logistics on the mainland, in Hong Kong and Taiwan. 'We see this combination of expertise ultimately making a lot of headway in China,' said Richard Reidy, the president and chief executive at Progress Software. Leo Paper, a large-scale manufacturer of paper products such as bags, is recognised as the biggest user of RFID systems in the Pearl River Delta. The technology has been adopted by the company's mainland factories and sold as a solution by one of its subsidiaries. RFID, an automatic identification technology that stores and remotely retrieves data from electronic tags using a wireless network, now plays a key role in the tracking of goods in a supply chain. John Bates, the general manager of the Apama division of Progress Software, said the product helped 'add operational responsiveness and real-time intelligence to organisations' business systems'. Mr Reidy said Progress Software had 'a couple of hundred installations on the mainland' and added that the central government's economic stimulus efforts encouraged enterprises to adopt more efficient technologies. According to analyst firm Springboard Research, demand for business software in the Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, will grow to US$30 billion by 2012 from US$18.2 billion last year, led by the mainland and Australia.
