China is ‘big hope’ for network services market
Kaiser Kuo, Aug 25 2003
Beijing: China is booming as a market for network consulting and integration services (NCIS).
IDC forecasts that the mainland market will grow by an average of 26% annually, and account for 46% of the total Asia-Pacific market by 2007, up from a 33% forecast share in 2003. The average annual growth for the region, by contrast, will be about 16%.
“China is the big hope for the Asia-Pacific market,” said Phil Hassey, research manager at IDC.
Demand for NCIS in China is being driven mainly by the growth of Chinese enterprises, said Duncan Clark, director of Beijing-based IT and telecom consultancy BDA. “This is a function of the increasing sophistication of domestic enterprises, which are growing quickly and expanding into multiple provinces, with increasingly complex networking needs. Chinese companies expanding overseas will also increase demand for services.”
Steven Shaw, vice-president and general manager of Customer Advocacy for Cisco Systems, China, said that the growth in NCIS demand is in the auto industry as well as traditional manufacturing industries like steel mills. Cisco works through partners like IBM, HP, Asia Info and Digital China for network integration.
“Networks and the Internet are being leveraged and are now one of the key competitive advantages. The industries need to optimise, secure and integrate what they have today in terms of network infrastructure,” he said.
Demand for NCIS by multinationals will be a key driver to growth in the coming years, added Shaw. “Many major brokerages are now entering China, and their need to be integrated with global networks will be a big booster to service providers, network consultants and integrators.”
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