IBM Strengthens Software Group Focus in Asia

IBM’s Rational Software Group plans to increase its business investment and commitment in Asia to address the growing developer community in the region.

The company believes that a stronger presence in the region will help organisations here become more responsive to the changing business demands by improving their software development capabilities.

Besides India, which is slated to experience one of the highest growth in professional software developers between 2003 and 2008, the company is focused on accelerating the development of open standards-based solutions in countries such as China, Japan and Korea, said Vaughan Woods, director of Rational Asia Pacific Software Group.

He pointed out that the four countries were the fastest-growing markets globally for the software group. In addition, tremendous opportunities are seen in the Southeast Asian markets such as Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The company opened offices in the Philippines and Vietnam last year and has outlined plans to double its investments in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia by next year.

Though these markets are not as big as India and China, Woods said the changing economic trends, greater offshoring activities, outsourcing, supply chain automation and greater demand for enablement, among other things, are driving IBM’s business focus in these parts.

Additionally, he said the growing developer population in these parts and increased uptake for the IBM Rational Open Framework Software Development Platform have influenced the company’s business strategy in this region.

Plans are under way to stage regular developer symposiums in these countries to address the developer community. Investments will also be made to train and educate the community, Woods said at the inaugural regional IBM Rational Software Developer Conference in Bangalore, India, last week.

With the theme Better Software, Better Business, the event was held for software professionals and developers in the region to learn about business-driven development strategies and technologies to help organisations more effectively anticipate the needs of their customers, gain a competitive advantage and respond to the fluctuations of the global marketplace. Previously, the event was only held in the United States.