In a statement issued yesterday, Atlanta, Georgia-based Ross, which is being acquired by online media-turned-software company chinadotcom Corp, says that that jobs will go to China following the completion of the $69m merger which is expected to close the second quarter of this year.
Ultimately Ross’ operations are expected to be integrated with Swedish software maker Industri-Matematik International Corp, a company in which chinadotcom holds a majority stake.
Industri-Matematik jobs in Sweden are also at risk and a combined total of 90 jobs are expected to move to China. chinadotcom has publicly stated its intent to assemble a 100-strong development team in the country by the end of this year, and foresees up to 60% of development work being conducted there in the future.
chinadotcom already develops its own software at a facility in Shanghai.
The news will undoubtedly be a boon for the Chinese software sector which has largely been overlooked by western IT companies in favor of countries such as India for off-shore development. Rampant piracy and low English language skills in China have been blamed for this.
Sun Microsystems Inc is the only major US software vendor to seriously develop software in China, with most all its Web browser development spread across three centers in the country. Many other US companies, notably Microsoft Corp and Oracle Corp, have also set up shop in China, but mainly to localize their product offerings for the Chinese market.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
