Anthony Harris, Senior Vice President, says Hong Kong fast-tracked TIBCO's expansion in the region

Establishing its regional headquarters in Hong Kong has launched TIBCO Software Inc, a Silicon Valley high-tech software solutions provider, on the fast-track to Asian markets.

Four years ago, New York-listed TIBCO had only two people on the ground in Hong Kong, a regional hub the company had identified as critical to its global expansion.

"I couldn't see the sense in having only two people in a city as vibrant as Hong Kong, the gateway to China," said Anthony Harris, Senior Vice President.

"We decided to acquire Staffware, a British company which had its regional office in Hong Kong, in 2004. It was one of those fortuitous things: the acquisition has been of great value for us, and gave us the base we needed in Hong Kong to launch our operations."

High level expertise

TIBCO kept all of Staffware's staff, who provided a level of expertise Mr Harris says was previously lacking, and moved into the firm's established office. "We now had a launchpad we could move forward on," he said.

Since 2004, TIBCO has built up a substantial customer base in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. Its clients include leading Asian merchant bank CLSA, which recently selected TIBCO's Enterprise Message Service(TM) as the platform on which to build its next-generation global trading system.

Now employing over 15 Hong Kong staff, the company is moving to larger offices in Causeway Bay. It has expanded its operations to include sales and marketing, customer support, inside sales and professional services, for which Mr Harris says Hong Kong makes an ideal hub.

"Hong Kong is two hours' plane flight to anywhere in Asia, so it's an ideal place for servicing our customers. It is a regional hub for our marketing, for our global architects (the guys who go out and design the systems), we have a support hub here and our sales force operates out of Hong Kong. And as everyone knows, Hong Kong's stock exchange is regarded as one of the most reliable exchanges in the world."

Region-wide expansion

From its Hong Kong launchpad, TIBCO was able to take forward in the region its highly developed enterprise software for service-oriented architecture (SOA) and business process management (BPM). Its products enable the integration and delivery of market data such as stock quotes, news and other financial information, in trading rooms of large banks and financial services institutions.

The combined expertise of TIBCO and Staffware delivers technology synergy, Mr Harris said.

"The result is a package in which IT staff can handle the underlying application integration, while business users can make changes to higher-level processes, such as changing workflow.  The combination with Staffware has provided TIBCO with immediate additional reach into new and emerging markets, including retail banking, insurance, public sector and telecommunications, as well as increased geographic presence within Europe and Asia Pacific.  This is also beneficial to the company's customers, as they can now enjoy a total suite of solution to achieve SOA and BPM success."

Complete product offering

At the helm in Hong Kong is Paul Watts, Regional Vice President, Asia, who joined TIBCO through the Staffware acquisition bringing more than 15 years' IT experience to the organisation, and Dan Ternes, Chief Technical Officer Asia Pacific/Japan, formerly based at TIBCO Silicon Valley.

Mr Harris, who is based in Sydney, said the firm's expanded presence in Hong Kong had provided TIBCO with "a quick launchpad to get going" in the region. "We can now take a complete product to the Asian marketplace, delivering real-time visibility and real-time action to this fast growing customer base."

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