Oracle's rising profit on the mainland has prompted it to strengthen its presence there.

"By the end of 2006 we will open 26 new branch offices (on the mainland)," Oracle Asia Pacific's senior vice-president of applications Mark Gibbs said yesterday.

The world's leading corporate software maker has six branch offices and research centres in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu.

Gibbs said Oracle would work more closely with the mainland's big manufacturing companies. "We will work with more major manufacturers such as Chang'an Group and expand the use of enterprise applications to their supply chain network."

Oracle will segment the mainland's market into specific micro industries and provide vertical solutions that can meet the specific needs of different industries, he said."We will deliver customer value with the industry's most complete software architecture."

Oracle's application new licence business in Asia Pacific grew 80 per cent in 2005-06. "The fiscal year (that ended on March 31, 2006) has been a year of tremendous growth for Oracle's application business in Asia Pacific," Gibbs said.

"Oracle is clearly gaining customer mind-share and taking away market share from our competitors in this region," he said.

Oracle Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) recorded a significant year-on-year growth in new application licence revenue in 2005-06 in key high-growth industries.

Its revenue from government, education and healthcare surged most, by 220 per cent, from the previous fiscal year.

It was followed by communications, media and utilities (105 per cent), supply chain management (77 per cent), customer relationship management (77 per cent), human capital management (71 per cent), manufacturing, retail and distribution (69 per cent), financial management (58 per cent) and financial services (21 per cent).

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