Taking more than a byte out of the market

A woman using an ATM at a China Merchants Bank office in Nanchang, capital city of East China's Jiangxi province. The Shanghai-headquartered bank plans to use Teradata's smart analytical technology to upgrade its data warehouse management, especially the data concerning its customers. [Photo/Provided to China Daily]

Smart technology company looks to China for higher data growth storage

It might be common knowledge that an automatic teller machine is equipped with an accounting device to record customer transactions 24 hours a day. However, what makes the ATM smart enough to distinguish customer behavior and prevent illegal transactions might be a question for many.

Teradata is providing a solution with technology that enables an ATM to analyze every single transaction and identify any unusual activity according to its records, company officials said.

The ATM smart technology makes up just a small portion of Teradata's business. The enterprise data warehousing solutions provider, headquartered in Dayton, in the United States, now has several hundreds of Chinese corporate customers in finance, telecommunications, logistics, post, manufacturing, medical, retail, tourism, e-commerce and government organizations, according to Aaron Hsin, president of Greater China Area, Teradata Corp.

"Teradata has not only engaged its cooperation deeper with top-ranked State-owned companies but is also growing its customer base in the country's booming private business sector," said Hsin.

Along with China's fast-growing e-commerce, Teradata is cooperating with many business-to-customer and business-to-business websites, including eBay Shanghai, Mobile Market and Yihaodian.

On April 24, Teradata announced that China Merchants Bank, the country's sixth largest bank, had joined the ranks of its customers. CMB plans to use Teradata's smart analytical technology to upgrade its data warehouse management, especially the data concerning its customers.

Hermann Wimmer, president of International Group, Teradata, said the Chinese market contributes greatly to his company's global business, which saw two-digit growth last year.

"Teradata's business growth in China is, on average, faster than its global development," he said.

Wimmer, of German origin, has been responsible for Teradata's business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific since 2004. He believes Chinese companies are bigger than their overseas counterparts because they have a huge customer base in a country with a population of 1.3 billion. He said that Germany, for example, has a population of only 82 million.

He predicted 6 to 10 percent growth in Teradata's business worldwide this year. The growth in China is expected to be above the average of the company's worldwide business in 2013, he added.

"We are going to invest more and hire more people in China to prop up our growth and make Teradata strong enough to gain the upper hand in the battle with its competitors," Wimmer said.

International companies are major players in the country's data management market. Well-known brands, including Teradata, Netapp and Oracle, have been operating in China for more than 10 years.

The data management market is growing faster than ever as billions of users of PCs, smartphones, tablet PCs and other individual electronic devices are producing an increasing amount of information.

According to International Data Corp, the world is now entering an era of big data with a total size of 2.7 zettabytes, which will double by 2015. A single zettabyte contains one sextillion bytes, or one billion terabytes. YouTube, for example, uploads at least 48 hours of new videos every minute.

"China is a perfect marketplace for Teradata and the most important growth market," said Wimmer at the Teradata Universe China, the company's annual conference in Beijing on April 23.

"The middle class in China matches the total population of Europe. The Chinese middle class and their businesses all need new and up-to-date analytical technology," he said.

The NYSE-listed company saw its global revenues reach $2.7 billion last year, up 15 percent from the previous year. The company's fourth quarter earnings reached $740 million, an increase of 11 percent year-on-year, according to Teradata's latest financial report.

But, its annual global revenue growth decreased 4 percentage points from 2011, mainly because of the slow economic recovery worldwide.

According to Wimmer, the United States now contributes 60 percent of Teradata's annual revenue, with the remainder coming from other markets.

Breaking down the company's revenue, data analytical products make up 49 percent, consulting services account for 29 percent and the rest is made up by maintenance services.

Teradata technology is helping a growing number of utilities analyze the vast amount of data produced by their "smart" meters and power grids, which can help increase company efficiency and reduce customer costs, officials said. It now has more than 2,500 corporate customers worldwide, which made it possible for its earnings per share to increase 23 percent year-on-year and reach $2.85 in 2012.