Sun-Netscape sees jump in Asia customers
August 2, 1999 05:12 AM
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Reuters) - An alliance between Sun Microsystems Inc SUNW and America Online Inc's AOL Netscape said on Monday it expects a 75 percent increase in customers in Asia in its 1999/2000 (July-June) financial year.
"We expect growth rate somewhere in the region of 75 percent year-on-year throughout the region," Stephen Furney-Howe, vice president for the Sun-Netscape Alliance in Asia Pacific, told a news conference.
He said there were "hundreds of customers" in Asia using the two companies' electronic commerce products, which were grouped together last month under a single brand called i-Planet.
"We certainly want to be the market leader for e-commerce solutions and the vendor of choice...in this region," said Thomas Choong, managing director for the alliance's Asia South Group.
The firm's global customers include GTE Corp. GTE , Motorola MOT , Ford Motor Company F and the Bank of America BAC .
The alliance said India's Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd , Telekom Malaysia Bhd , Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) Pte Ltd (NETS) were among its customers in Asia.
Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor -- a high-technology zone being developed as a testbed for information technology and multimedia systems -- was expected to propel demand for the alliance's i-Planet software, Choong said.
AOL agreed to buy Netscape Communications Corp in November and formed an alliance with the Palo Alto, California-based Sun, under which Sun would sell Netscape's corporate software.
((Kuala Lumpur newsroom, +603 2275-6846 fax +603 232 6752, kuala.lumpur.newsroom@reuters.com))
REUTERS .
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