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VMware to boost R&D capability

By Wang Xu (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-05 10:19

US-based software maker VMware plans to more than double its research and development staff in China within 18 months, despite the economic slowdown.

"China is one of the fastest growing markets for us and the fundamentals for the market will remain strong," said Mike Clayville, vice-president and general manager of VMware.

"We are going to increase the R&D staff here up to 300 within 18 months as well as strengthen our field resources dramatically."

The company pioneered the market for virtualization technology, which helps a single computer server handle the work of several servers.

According to Clayville, the technology could reduce a customers' hardware expenses by as much as 90 percent and energy use up to 88 percent.

As a result of the global economic crisis, many businesses are expected to resort to cost-cutting measures, which may boost demand for technologies such as virtualization, analysts said.

VMware already recorded "triple-digit growth" in China in 2007 thanks partly to customer sensitivity to cost issues, the company said.

VMware is now trying to expand its presence into second-tier cities. Over the past six months it has managed to add more than 600 local business partners, up from 300. It now has 135 employees in the nation.

Analysys International, a Beijing-based research house, predicts that server shipments in the nation will grow more than 25 percent annually during 2007 and 2011, compared with 7 percent worldwide growth last year.