Malaysia continues to be attractive as a base to tap on business opportunities in the region.
IBM officially opened a new innovation center in the country's capital Kuala Lumpur, according to a statement Friday.
The facility, which costs over US$3 million in infrastructure and staffing, is designed to allow IBM's business partners such as independent software vendors (ISVs) to build and test their applications based on its hardware and software platforms. It will also host workshops and technical seminars for developers.
Charles Manuel, regional manager for ISV and developer relations for IBM in South and Southeast Asia, said in the statement that the center aims to be a "hub for regional ISVs, developers, systems integrators and resellers in testing the robustness of their solutions before they hit the market".
According to IBM, business partners can also by the end of the year connect remotely to the KL innovation center, making it more accessible to those not located in the county.
The KL center is the sixth innovation center located in the Asia-Pacific region, after Bangalore, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. Globally, IBM has 32 such centers.
Over in Penang, Oracle enhanced its partner programs to better support its customers in Malaysia. In a separate statement issued Friday, the software giant identified the city as one of Malaysia's "growth cities" and "home to many top manufacturing companies".
Oracle has selected and trained a pool of partners to meet the needs of large enterprises, as well as small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
According to Oracle, some 80 percent of its 25,000 customer base is made up of SMBs. The new program is targeted at helping its partners develop new applications based on Oracle platform tailored for SMBs.
VR Srivatsan, managing director of Oracle Malaysia, said: "We are already working with [emerging] companies across Malaysia, but now feel it necessary to provide them on-the-ground support from Oracle and our partners. Our deeper presence in these [growth] cities will allow us to contribute to their growth as emerging national and global players."
Next week, Oracle Malaysia plans to roll out a series of forums, starting in Penang, to help SMBs in their technology adoption.
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