Sun Microsystems upbeat on Indonesia

Sun Microsystems upbeat on Indonesia

By Tantri Yuliandini

SINGAPORE (JP): Computer giant Sun Microsystems sees promising
opportunities in Indonesia as local, traditional companies start
to embrace the Internet, Sun's vice president and managing
director for Asia South Lionel Lim said.

"The Indonesian market is an important and growing market for
Sun," Lim said adding that the establishment of PT Sun
Microsystems Indonesia in September last year was an affirmation
of its commitment to the country.

Sun Microsystems Indonesia is a joint venture between
California-based Sun Microsystems Inc. and PT e-Metrodata.com, a
subsidiary of publicly-listed PT Metrodata Electronics.

Lim said Sun's commitment in the energy and telecommunications
sectors had allowed the business in Indonesia to grow steadily
over the years despite the deep impact of the Asian economic
crisis in late 1997 on the country's economy.

He added that eight out of 10 telecommunications and energy
companies in Indonesia are using Sun technology, including
cellular operators PT Excelcomindo Pratama and PT Telkomsel, and
oil and gas companies PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia and Unocal
Indonesia.

Sun Microsystems Indonesia's sales director Wibisono Gumulya
said that sales had been very good for the company over the last
year, increasing by up to 108 percent between July and December
2000 compared to the same period the previous year.

"It's because for sometime (because of the crisis) companies
have been suspending their investment on IT. And now they are
beginning to invest on account of AFTA," he said.

AFTA, the ASEAN Free Trade Area, will be implemented among the
members of the Association of South East Asian Nations in 2003.

Wibisono said Sun's mission in the country was to capture
those companies that are just beginning to embrace Internet
technology.

"The companies are thinking that if they don't invest (in IT)
now, they will be left out of the race when AFTA is implemented,"
he said, adding that more and more local companies have an IT
budget this year.

"Sun has the products for the Net economy and Indonesia has
the potential," Lim said.

Lucky I. Ismail, Sun Microsystems Indonesia's channel manager,
said that the joint venture enabled Sun to capture the solution
provider market and dot-com market, which it had not been able to
do in the past.

"Before, our customers were mainly in the energy and
telecommunications industry, now we are able to enter as a
solution provider for dot-com companies and service providers,"
he said, adding that about 80 percent of internet service
providers (ISPs) in Indonesia used Sun's platform.

Wibisono said that the joint venture was 49 percent owned by
Sun which had invested more than $5 million.

"We hope Sun's physical entrance into Indonesia will make
companies feel more confident and secure about using its products
than they were when Sun only distributed its products through
Metrodata," he said.

Metrodata had been distributing Sun's products since 1990,
Wibisono added.

Sun Microsystems' executive vice president for global sales
operations, Masood Jabbar, said that after the dot-com bubble
burst last year, people were becoming more wary about putting up
their money for start-ups.

"Profits are back in ... The world got sick of profitless
ventures," he said at a symposium here.

Jabbar said that the Internet economy was still growing, but
that the reckless investments in dot-coms were over, people were
now investing more wisely than they had been doing over the last
two years.

"Now the bricksters are clicking," he said, referring to the
traditional companies, also known as brick and mortar companies.

These companies are the ones who have the profits, and the
capital to revert to the Internet, Jabbar added.

He noted that the Asia-Pacific region has the highest economic
growth rate in the world, citing IT spending at more than $70
billion in the region, excluding Japan, compared to worldwide
spending of $1 trillion last year.

Citing data from IDC, Jabbar said that there were more than
160 million cell phones in the Asia Pacific region in 2000
compared to 600 million worldwide.

He added that the Asia-Pacific region was substantial and
strategic for Sun's business.

"And Sun provides end-to-end solutions to ensure the quick
adoption of e-business and being poised to take full advantage of
the Internet," Lim added.