July 19, 2007 -- On June 28th, 2007, EMC Corporation announced that its first provincial level subsidiary was set up in Nanjing. The developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions will create four branches this year and twenty branches in next five years in second and third tier cities.

"China has been one of the most important and fastest growing markets for EMC. We announced a five year plan for China in March, with a key focus on expanding EMC's presence and footprint throughout China. The establishment of Nanjing office is an important milestone in our expansion plans to improve our ability to serve and support our customers and partners in remote cities," Denis Yip, president, EMC Greater China, told Emerging China.

In 2007, EMC plans to open up offices in other second-tier cities - in Xian, Wuhan and Shenyang. Over the next five years it will increase the number of offices in China to 20. There is already a EMC Solution Center in Chengdu.

"This is evidence that IT providers are beginning to care about second and third tier markets in China more and more. The hinterland in China is actually a huge market for IT providers," Jia Cheng, an associate professor of mathematics and computer science at Hebei University, told Emerging China.

The Nanjing office will receive 7.56 million yuan of investment (US$1 million) will have 20 twenty staff.

"We have made use of EMC products for a few years. I think its new office in Nanjing will definitely be convenient for us." Yuntao Ma, of Jiangsu Mobile's Engineering and Construction Department, told Emerging China.

"There is a clear market hint that customers in remote cities have increasing demands for EMC products and services. More and more companies or organizations separate storage from server. Government agents also give more compliance requirements to companies. Our expansion plan in China is in line with customer and partners' needs," added Denis Yip.

Joe Tucci, EMC chairman, president and CEO, announced an investment plan worth of 3.75 billion yuan (US$ 500 million) to the market by 2010 during his visit to China in June 2006, which includes the establishment of a research and development center focusing on the development of cutting-edge technologies and software.