Asia/Far East
China
Government support/laws: Fair. China's trade policy, censorship and strict regulation have hampered offshore development efforts, but that's begun to turn around with government showing more interest in supporting the IT sector.
Quality initiatives: 57,783 ISO 9000 certifications.
Major providers: Asia Info (www.asiainfo.com), Commverge Solutions (www.commverge.com), eSoftBank (www.esoftbank.com).
Majort customers: NA.
Cities/Centres of outsourcing: Beijing/Tianjin, Chengdu (Sichuan), Dalian/Shenyang, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
National IT organisation: Ministry of Information Industry (MII; www.mii.gov.cn).
Size of industry: 5000 software companies employ 200,000 professionals.
Total labour force: 734.3 million.
Areas of expertise: Application development, application maintenance, QA testing, systems integration.
India
Government support/laws: Strong, with such perks as 10-year tax holidays for software/IT services exporters.
Quality initiatives: Highest number of CMM-certified companies in the world - 37 companies meet CMM minimum standards; 5554 ISO 9000 certifications.
Major providers: Tata Consultancy Services (www.tcs.com), Infosys Technologies (www.infy.com), Wipro Technologies (www.wipro.com).
Major customers: 260 of Fortune 1000, including 3M, Amazon.com, Cigna, Nortel Networks.
Cities/Centres of outsourcing: Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai (Bombay).
National IT organisation: National Association of Software and Services Companies in India (NASSCOM; www.nasscom.org)Size of industry: $US6.2 billion; 900 export-only companies employ 415,000 professionals.
Total labour force: 439 million.
Areas of expertise: Application maintenance, application development, e-business, packaged software implementation.
Malaysia
Government support/laws: Good. Prime Minister envisions Malaysia as a global high-tech corridor and has invested $US10 billion in high-tech parks.
Quality initiatives: 3195 ISO 9000 certifications.
Major providers: Formis Computer Services (www.formis.com.my), Heitech Padu (www.heitech.com.my), Sapura Information Technology (www.sapura.com.my).
Major customers: NA.
Cities/Centres of outsourcing: Cyberjaya, Kuala Lampur.
National IT organisation: Malaysian Technology Development Corp. (www.mtdc.com.my).
Size of industry: NA.
Total labour force: 9.6 million.
Areas of expertise: Application development, application maintenance, e-business.
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