Oracle, one of the world's biggest business software makers, announced that it has established a research center in Shanghai and said it plans to open more offices in China, one of its fastest-growing markets.

 

The Oracle Asia Research and Development Center in Shanghai will be the US software company's third research facility in China, with the other two in Beijing and Shenzhen.

 

The Shanghai research center will focus on ubiquitous computing, Web 2.0 technologies, wireless computing and voice recognition technologies.

 

"The establishment of the Shanghai R&D facility is a milestone in Oracle's investment in China," said Pascal Sero, vice-president, Oracle Asia Research and Development Centers, Oracle Asia-Pacific & Japan.

 

"With three centers strategically located in the country, China is now the research engine in Asia-Pacific (for Oracle)," Sero said on the sidelines of the Oracle OpenWorld Asia-Pacific, a business and technology conference.

 

But the senior executive declined to reveal the investment into the research center or how many researchers will work at the facility.

 

The world's biggest enterprise software vendor also announced it will establish a Partner Solution Center in Beijing, the second facility of its kind in China. The other was established in Shenzhen in 2004.

 

The Beijing Partner Solution Center will focus on helping Oracle's partners in China build their application solutions, the company said in a statement.

 

The US software company is also planning to open more branch offices in rapidly growing cities in China to meet soaring demand.

 

Oracle has in the past year opened eight branch companies in cities such as Dalian, Hangzhou and Fuzhou, bringing the number of its branch companies in the country to 13.

 

"Oracle will ramp up its expansion in China by establishing a number of new facilities to provide greater support and meet growing demand from customers across the country," said Roger Li, regional managing director for Oracle Greater China.

 

But Li did not say which cities his firm is to set foot.

 

(China Daily August 1, 2007)