Digital China, China's largest information product distributor, recently officially opened its new East China headquarters in Shanghai, which it plans to become the hub of its software outsourcing and system integration business in the country, investing US$12.05 million to build the 15,000-square-meters facility in Changning District.

"We will emphasize more to develop our software outsource business in the new headquarters," said Hu Deqiang, general manager of Shanghai Digital China Limited. "More than 70 percent of our 1,000 Shanghai employees belong to our software and system integration departments."

Last month, Digital China signed a contract with a branch of General Electric Co and a Japanese company to establish a joint venture with a US$3 million registered capital. China Digital has a 55 percent stake in the venture, which aims to offer software outsourcing and system integration services.

"The global software outsource market is growing rapidly and it is easy to keep Digital China's software business profitable," said Zhang Shiwei, a senior analyst at IT consultant Analysys Co Ltd.