SAP sets up support center in China

Enterprise-software maker SAP said Wednesday that it has opened a global support center in the Chinese industrial city of Dalian.

The facility will service SAP customers in Asia-Pacific countries including China, Japan and Korea.

In China alone, SAP has more than 2,500 software installations and more than 800 customers, including some big local names such as Lenovo, Haier, Cosco, China Telecom and Shanghai Power. SAP is investing about $12.2 million in the center.

This is the second SAP facility opened in China since last year. In 2003, SAP established SAP Labs, a research and development center, in Shanghai.

"The SAP Global Support Center in Dalian will provide SAP customers across Asia-Pacific with direct support from highly qualified staff who know customers' local business needs and speak their language," SAP executive board member Gerhard Oswald said in a release. The support staff will be native speakers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and English.

SAP already has similar centers in Ireland, Spain, Australia and India. The new China center will be a part of SAP's service and support network and will serve customers from other parts of the world as well.

Some of the other information technology giants that have recently set up shop in China are Oracle and Dell.