China’s Ufida strengthens bond with IBM

The already close working relationship between IBM and one of China’s largest software vendors, Ufida Software Co., got a bit cozier on Wednesday with the announcement that Ufida has added support for DB2 and IBM middleware to its business application lineup.

Ufida hopes the closer relationship with IBM will open doors to more potential customers in markets around Asia.

IBM helped Ufida complete the migration of its products to the DB2 V9 database and the WebSphere Application Server, with Big Blue developers working alongside Ufida’s staff. Previously, Ufida’s enterprise resource planning software only worked with Microsoft’s SQL database and .Net middleware.

The addition of DB2 support to its product lineup should help Ufida’s joint sales efforts with IBM. Nearly all of Ufida’s customers are in China, and the company wants to expand internationally, setting up offices in Japan and Hong Kong, which is part of China but operates with a great deal of autonomy.

IBM has been trying to help Ufida reach new markets. For example, IBM and Ufida are working together to sell its application software to an unnamed Japanese customer in Tokyo. IBM provided the initial sales connection and is helping Ufida localize and port its software for Japan.

Down the road, Ufida is hoping IBM will provide introductions to additional customers in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other parts of Asia, the company said.