Infor sees Amazon link to lift revenue

New York-based enterprise software vendor Infor expects revenue in the Chinese market to double within three years after it announced yesterday a tie-up with Amazon to launch cloud-based applications.

Banding with Amazon's cloud services, Infor's industry-specific service and subscription-based delivery model will help cut costs for firms, including the over 42 million small- and medium-sized enterprises in China, said Charles Phillips, Infor's chief executive, yesterday.

"It's the second-generation cloud services in the industry," said Phillips, referring to separate cloud services for different industries.

The new cloud services to be launched are targeted at enterprise clients in food & beverage, fashion, industrial manufacturing, hospitality, aerospace and automotive industries. The demand from SMEs is also expected to fuel growth in Chinese revenue, said Phillips, a former president of Oracle.

Infor China's revenue grew 20 percent year on year in the first half of 2014, the latest figure available, according to the company, which declined to reveal further details.

In 2013, Infor revenue reached US$2.8 billion globally, with the Asia Pacific region supplying 9 percent.

Public cloud computing service revenue in China is expected at US$717 million in 2014, up 46.7 percent year on year.The annual growth rate is forecast at an average of 33 percent until 2018, according to US-based International Data Corp.

Alibaba, China Telecom, China Unicom, and Microsoft have all invested in public cloud computing servies.