This includes marketing, new offices in Sdyney and Beijing as well as headcount expansion in its existing offices in Singapore and Japan.
In return, the company expects the region to contribute about 10 percent to its total revenues this year, said Sonus Asia Pacific vice president Simon Naylor in an interview.
The Westford, Massachusetts-based firm makes switches that handle voice over packet-based networks such as Internet-protocol (IP) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).
For the first quarter ended March 2001, Sonus' revenues increased 45 percent to US$41.5 million, from US$28.6 million in the December quarter. Asia Pacific did not contribute to this amount, Naylor noted.
However, a big Japanese carrier is currently deploying its switches, and Naylor expects sales from its first Asian customer to be incorporated into second quarter results. He declined to name the carrier.
The top three Japanese telcos are Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp, DDI Corp and Japan Telecom.
Naylor also expects another three to four big customer wins in the region by year end.
Explaining his confidence despite the poor economic condition and cautious spending behaviour, he said: "Carriers in Asia are forward looking. We believe that they will spend on next generation technologies when they see (associated) benefits such as cost savings and new revenue opportunities."
Sonus' global customers include Global Crossing Ltd, Williams Communications Group, Z-Tel Technologies Inc, USA Datanet and Time Warner Telecom.
The network equipment maker hopes to extend its relationship with Global Crossing to Asia, where the latter has a presence.
Global Crossing's footprint in Singapore was established through a joint venture between Asia Global Crossing Ltd and StarHub Pte Ltd. The US$20 million venture was announced earlier this month.
Asia Global Crossing--owned by Softbank Corp, Microsoft Corp and Global Crossing--also has a joint venture with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd in Hong Kong.
Expansion, funding
Last November, Sonus established its Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore.
To date, US$500,000 has been invested in the local outfit, which employs six people, Naylor said. The firm also has an office in Japan.
Naylor expects to open a Beijing office in two to three months, and one in Sydney in the fourth quarter. The total regional headcount is expected to increase to about 25 people by year end.
He noted that funding will come from Sonus' cash reserves, which stood at US$42.8 million in the March quarter.
The company posted a net income of about US$200,000 before stock-based compensation, amortization of goodwill and other charges for the quarter.
Sonus was established in August 1997. Three months later, it secured US$7 million its first round of financing from Bedrock Capital, Charles River Ventures, Matrix Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.
In September 1998, the existing investors injected an additional US$16 million.
A third round of financing of US$23 million was secured in December 1999 from Global Crossing Ventures, Williams Communications, Mitsubishi Corp, Nissho Electronics Corp and Samsung Corp as well as existing investors.
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