FrontRange Solutions USA Inc., a leader of integrated business relationship solutions, recently announced the opening of an office in Shanghai and senior sales and partner appointments as part of its expansion strategy for China.

The company also confirmed Sydney as its Asia Pacific headquarters and home to its regional Asia Pacific call center and infrastructure support center. Product localization for the Chinese market will be handled out of Australia where FrontRange has been in operation for more than five years.

The China operation launch is bolstered by relationships with three Value Added Reseller (VAR) partners. NCS China and SCS China will resell FrontRange's HEAT family of software products in Shanghai and Southern China. These products are geared toward customer service and support organizations, including help desks and contact centers. AcroChina will sell HEAT in Beijing and Northern China.

FrontRange foresees rapid growth for the company with a significant presence in Shanghai and plans for a possible Beijing office to open in the first half of 2004. The initial effort will employ a sales and technical team under the management of Frank Zhou, a former executive in the customer service call center industry who has an extensive knowledge of the Chinese market.

FrontRange will target both the government and corporate sector with particular emphasis on organizations that have large workflow requirements. Those sectors include the nationalized energy, resource and utility sectors as well as healthcare and financial services. IDC estimates that IT spending in China will approach US$25 billion in 2003 — a 3.5 percent increase from 2002. At constant 2002 exchange rates, IDC expects the Asia Pacific region as a whole (excluding Japan) to reach US$76.1 billion in 2003.