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ComputerWorld
September 28, 2001
Rocky road to recognition
About 30 companies took part in last week's TechVenture Asia 2001, the region's premier technology financing conference and investment forum. Sophia Heng talks to three of them about the current economic uncertainties and the rocky road to recognition.
by Sophia Heng
GridNode: Expansion grid
The current economic slump, which is expected to be worsen in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster, will not stop Singaporean startup GridNode from expanding into the Asia Pacific region.
"The technology bubble burst has actually reduced investors' confidence. The World Trade Center disaster just exacerbates it, but not that much more," said Leow Chee Tong (above), founder and chief executive officer of GridNode.
The company leverages on peer-to-peer technologies for business-to-business (B2B) integration and collaboration. For example, it has incorporated ICQ into enterprise business communications to lower the total cost of ownership," said Leow.
As for the market outlook, Leow thinks there will be a slowdown for one or two quarters. "However, I am confident that the United States will recover from the disaster in the next three years. The economic downturn had already affected our expansion plans and we were already prepared for the worst," he said.
"For an Asian-based company, we're still quite shielded from this. Business still has to continue despite all this. Our profitability is not affected because our short-term market is in the Asia Pacific region," said Leow.
GridNode will be more prudent and focused in terms of their expansion into the Asia Pacific region, which is their primary market.
"At the moment, we wish to build our fundamentals and use Asia to jumpstart our operations because it is familiar ground. We will use Asia to strengthen our business model, increase our customer base and enhance our product offerings," said Leow.
GridNode plans to expand into Japan and China. It aims to seize opportunities that will emerge with Japan's adoption of B2B, which is still in its initial stages. The demand for business communications infrastructure in China also makes it a lucrative market for GridNode to tap into. The adoption rate for technology in China has increased tremendously, according to Leow.
In the long run, GridNode will invest more resources in the US market, but not before they scrutinise the US economy closely.
GridNode is at www.gridnode.com.
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