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.