As a result, the company expects to see "at least 20 percent growth" here next year, said Novell Asia South regional director Cliff Smith at a press conference today.
Smith declined to reveal the exact amount the company would spend in the Republic but he expects a reversal of fortune.
"Novell had negative growth in Singapore last year and for the first quarter this year...as we were affected by (sales) staff turnover and a lack of focus," he explained.
Smith would not reveal exact sales figures but noted that about 50 percent of next year's business in Singapore is expected to come from e-business solutions and services.
This includes Web content caching technology and services offered by its unit Volera, as well as IT and e-commerce consulting services through its acquisition of Cambridge Technology Partners.
Volera was established in February with Nortel Networks and Accenture. About US$80 million in cash and consulting services was reportedly pledged by Novell and its two partners.
Meanwhile, the US$266 million transaction for Cambridge is expected to be completed in the third quarter. Cambridge will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novell.
Other markets
Novell's poor performance in Singapore was not experienced in its other key markets in South Asia, namely Australia and Malaysia, Smith noted.
Australia grew 16.8 percent in the first quarter ended January 2001, compared with the same quarter last year. Sales for Malaysia was up 29 percent in the quarter compared with the same period last year.
For the year ended October 2000, Australia and Malaysia grew 15.5 percent and 14.5 percent respectively, compared with the year before. He declined to reveal exact sales figures for both markets.
For Novell, South Asia also includes markets in New Zealand, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Globally, Novell posted a profit of US$3.2 million (before a one-time accounting adjustment) on sales of US$245 million for the first quarter. Last year, it made a net income of US$49.5 million on sales of US$1.16 billion.
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.