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VERITAS Extends Utility Computing Vision To China

VERITAS Software Corp extended its global vision for utility computing across Asia and China at its fourth annual VISION customer conference in Beijing. The company announced a broad range of investments and commitments intended to lay a foundation for customer success well into the future. Investments in China include establishing a wholly foreign-owned enterprise and creating an engineering development center of excellence. Commitments include in-country support, a localized version of VERITAS NetBackup software and a strong array of partners. The company's commitments are intended to dramatically simplify the process for customers in Asia doing business with VERITAS.

"China represents a key opportunity for growth as VERITAS continues to invest in sales, service and engineering resources to ensure customer success in this fast growing market," said Gary Bloom, chairman, president and CEO of VERITAS Software. "It is important for our customers to know that we can help them solve their data protection problems today with industry leading software and that our vision for utility computing can deliver them a future computing model where IT aligns tightly with the requirements of the business."

"According to IDC's latest report, China Packaged Software 2004-2008 Forecast and Analysis, issued early this month, VERITAS ranks number two among the top five storage software providers in China," said Zongshun Zhang, market analyst of software & service research for IDC China. "In 2003 China's storage software market maintained a steady year-on-year growth of 18.8 percent, and looking forward we anticipate this market to continue to grow at a CAGR of 24.9 percent between 2003-2008 driven primarily by steady economic growth in the region, improvements in IT infrastructure and increasing demand from enterprises."

Global Vision, Local Investments

Following the formation of its regional headquarters and trading company in Singapore in 2003, VERITAS established a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, VERITAS Software (Beijing) Co Ltd (VSBC), in April of 2004 to continue the company's physical expansion across Asia. Customers can now purchase VERITAS products in local currency, Renminbi (RMB), and receive their software products quickly through in-country subcontracted manufacturers. VSBC offers the company two distinct benefits: first, conducting sales in local currency minimizes foreign currency exchange rate risks; and second, with local product fulfillment, both shipping time and costs are reduced. VERITAS is now able to pursue a wide variety of activities in China that include research and development, manufacturing, sales, technical support, training and consulting. VSBC is headquartered in the Haidian district of Beijing, with its main branch located in the Dong Cheng district of Beijing. Three additional branch offices are located in key metropolitan business centers that include Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. The company is now well-positioned to serve a broad range of customers across the world's most populated country.

"Throughout the process of establishing VSBC we worked diligently with the Chinese government through experienced partners to make certain that each step went smoothly," said Steven Leonard, senior vice president and general manager of Asia Pacific and Japan for VERITAS Software. "Today, we have more than 1,500 employees across 25 offices in 11 countries in the Asia Pacific and Japan Region with China being one of the most important markets. As we continue to expand our presence across the region, we anticipate our employee base in China to more than double in the coming three years. We are making all of the necessary investments required to make our customers and partners successful which is the key to growing our business."

Engineering Excellence

VERITAS is opening the China Development Center in the Haidian district of Beijing, where it will hire and develop local engineering talent. The center officially opens in late September 2004 and will complement the company's other engineering development centers located in the United States and India. The team in China will focus on hardware certification, localization and development of the company's VERITAS Storage Foundation and VERITAS Cluster Server software products as well as a variety of integration activities with local Chinese hardware and solution providers. The company plans to initially staff the center with 25-30 seasoned engineers in 2005.

Expert Technical Support

VERITAS is making incremental investments in support for its customers in China to ensure prompt local language technical assistance through its in-country call center and professional on-site support through its premium Business Critical Support offering. The company has staffed its local support organization with seasoned Technical Support Engineers, has hired an experienced Support executive to oversee China support operations and has put internal processes in place to ensure that customer problems are quickly escalated and resolved at the appropriate level of executive management. The company is also working to localize its automated support tool, VERITAS DirectAssist for VERITAS Backup Exec, so that customers can identify and solve a variety of issues directly without having to pick up the phone.

Partners to Fuel Growth

VERITAS is building a network of partnerships with leading Chinese software, hardware and services IT firms to ensure the success of its customers and to grow its presence across China. Langchao, the leading enterprise server vendor in China, bundles VERITAS Backup Exec software products with its server and storage solutions. Neusoft, a supplier of application systems, middleware products and embedded software, is building and delivering innovative software solutions based on VERITAS products. Digital China, an IT services company dedicated to the advancement of digitization across China, incorporates VERITAS software into its service offerings to help customers build and manage their complex IT infrastructures. Both Digital China and Neusoft distribute a broad array of VERITAS products through a network of resellers across the country.

"Langchao applauds VERITAS' continuing commitment to enhancing customer satisfaction and delivering leading data protection and storage management software functionality in China," said Li Hui, general manager of storage systems at Langchao Electronic Information Industry Co Ltd. "Langchao and VERITAS are working closely to meet the needs of customers through easy-to-use, cost-effective and scalable solutions and laying the foundation for enabling utility computing in the future."