Linuxcare Establishes Asian Operations

Technical services and support provider Linuxcare, Inc. has announced the establishment of Linuxcare Kabushuki Kaisha, a new Asia-Pacific market operation that will be headquartered in Tokyo.

The move to set up Linuxcare KK will add to the company’s working relationships with regional firms and expand its presence in a market that is increasingly gravitating toward the open-source platform. Linuxcare KK will work with Asian systems integrators, hardware manufacturers, independent software vendors (ISVs) and others to provide support for Linux enterprise solutions.

Linuxcare also recently established a regional data center in Hong Kong, increasing its ability to provide service offerings to international customers, including consulting, customization, development, integration and migration. The company also provides technical support, courseware covering the major Linux distributions through its Linuxcare University, and vendor-neutral product certification and benchmarking.

Strategic Moves on the Japanese Market

“Linuxcare has a deep appreciation of the value that the Japanese place on service excellence,” stated Jay Powell, Linuxcare’s managing director of Asia Pacific Operations. “We welcome the opportunity to work closely with partners and customers to meet their individual requirements.”

The Linuxcare KK operation will provide localized service offerings for Japanese clients. The Linux-related services provider began strategic moves into Japan and the larger Asia-Pacific region in summer 1999, establishing a strategic partnership with Hitachi Electronics-subsidiary Densa Techno Tokyo K.K. (DTTS). Linuxcare has been helping DTTS to expand its Synthesis Linux Solution Center.

Linuxcare also added to its regional investment in fall 1999, striking a strategic deal with Inter Space Planning Corporation (ISP) to test ISP-deployed AQUILA servers in order to provide Linux compliancy certification on all major distributions. The company also offered service and support in the Japanese market for ISP customers who use Linux.

According to International Data Corp. (IDC), the Japanese market is taking the Linux OS seriously. The number of Linux-based servers in Japan is expected to hit 65,000 by 2003, a marked increase over the 1998 total of 2,200.

About Linuxcare

Linuxcare recently struck a strategic alliance with e-commerce consulting firm Windward Consulting Group, Inc. to push Linux-based solutions to application, Internet and telecommunication service providers. Under the terms of agreement between the companies, Linuxcare will provide product certification, professional services, technical support and training for client Linux environments.

The company has established strategic partnerships and customer relationships with several industry mainstays, including Dell, IBM, NEC and Sun.