In a teleconference held here earlier today, H. R. Shiever, the managing director for the Pacific region at Citrix Online, attributed the region's market opportunities to four key factors: high broadband penetration, presence of multinationals, extensive Internet adoption among small and mid-size businesses, and the rise in business process outsourcing activities.
Shiever said as the region's workforces become increasingly mobile and geographically-distributed, businesses will require technologies such as Citrix Online's remote access software to gain secure, encrypted access to corporate information and resources.
"Many MNCS we sell to have offices in Singapore, for example, and our technology allows MNCS that are dispersed around the world to communicate and collaborate," noted Shiever.
Offered as hosted services where businesses pay a monthly subscription fee, the three Citrix products are GoToMyPC, which provides remote access to the entire desktop; GoToMyAssist, an online technical support application designed for contact centers and help desks needing remote support; and GoToMeeting, an online meeting service.
The company plans to sell its products direct and through channel partners. Besides working with the local enterprise reseller partners of parent Citrix Systems, the division has established specific channel programs to recruit new partners, such as value-added resellers and managed service providers, in Singapore and Malaysia.
According to Shiever, although Citrix's products run well out of its existing data centers in U.S. and Europe, there are plans to set up two data centers in Asia-Pacific next year. The first, which is targeted for Australia in the first half of the year, will be followed by a second one in ASEAN towards the end of 2005. The purpose of having additional data centers in the region is "to reduce latency and allow us to handle greater amounts of traffic", he explained.
Citrix Online was formerly known as Expertcity and acquired by Citrix Systems in February 2004. Best known for its GoToMyPC software for consumers, which is priced at US$19.95 monthly per PC, Citrix Online launched GoToMeeting earlier this year in the U.S. which cost about US$49 per month, or US$468 per year.
Shiever did not reveal the local prices for Singapore and Malaysia but said the company would follow its international price lists.
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