JM: What does Viador do?
DL: Viador is a business intelligence tools ISV.

JM: What type of Business Intelligence tools?
DL: We provide reporting and OLAP analysis tools for customers that need to do reporting and analyze their data such as financial analysis.

JM: What customer base do you have; who uses your tools?
DL: Our customer base is quite broad. We have Fortune 500 companies like Citibank, Verizon, JP Morgan; and we also have medium-sized shops like Spectra Marketing, which provides a hosted solution (ASP). Viador also has a very strong presence in China. We are one of the largest business intelligence tools companies in China right now in terms of the support infrastructure.

JM: So you do business all over the world?
DL: Yes. Actually, we have been in business since 1996. We have customers in China, Japan, Europe, Russia, United States.

JM: Your product works with an application server, correct?
DL: Yes; it can be integrated with WebSphere Application Server natively.

JM: Does it work with any other application servers?
DL: Right now, our strategy is focused more on the WebSphere application server, from both the technology and the business perspective.

JM: Why is that?
DL: From the business perspective, we have a long history with IBM - since 1996, when the Internet just started. We worked with IBM to deploy a lot of solutions and we have a joint customer with IGS. Recently, in 2002-2003, we elected to integrate Viador technology with IBM WebSphere technology natively. Actually, a lot of our customers want to extend the usage of WebSphere technology, they want something that integrates into their existing environment instead of a proprietary application server like most of our competitors. That occurs when a customer already has WebSphere and they are looking for a better return on their investment by leveraging the application server they have.

JM: Why do you think most of them have WebSphere as opposed to, say, BEA products?
DL: From the perspective of our customer base they are looking for solutions that go beyond just an application server. They are looking for a vendor that can offer them a wider spectrum of technologies. They brought DB2 and WebSphere together, so it becomes a very strong driving position to our customers. Some of our customers use WebSphere instead of BEA WebLogic because the product offering from IBM is much broader, it goes much beyond an application server. Some of our customers actually have concerns as to whether BEA will be a viable stand-alone company.

JM: So you have had customer concerns as to whether BEA is going to be around either as an independent company or at all?
DL: Exactly. So if they need more than just an application server to run their organization, they prefer a vendor that offers more than just an application server. IBM offers more of those things, like the database management, messaging systems.

JM: Have you had any customers look at WebSphere and WebLogic head-to-head and were you involved in it?
DL: All of my encounters have been to look at that in the U.S. market.

JM: How about over in China? What is the perception of WebSphere and BEA in China?
DL: BEA is perceived as the market leader in application servers over there, but there is a growing trend that customers are looking for a complete integration package rather than just an application server, which IBM offers.

JM: That's the fastest growing information technology country on Earth.
DL: Yes.

JM: What is the impression in China and Hong Kong of WebSphere and WebLogic? Let's look at them one at a time. When people think about WebSphere in Asia, what do you hear them saying?
DL: In China BEA entered the application server market much earlier than IBM. However, WebSphere comes in very strong as well; IBM is investing a lot of resources to push the WebSphere offering, including such things as training, seminars, etc. Customers are getting more and more interested in WebSphere, especially IBM's focus on solution offering really align with customers' interests.

JM: Since you have a unique view of what's going on in China, where do you see the application server market going in the next one to three years?
DL: IT in China pretty much is endorsing the application server. They like the fact that they can leverage the application server scalability, load balancing, security, etc. Now, they can focus on their own application and domain expertise. Moving forward, customers are looking for a total solution, so the vendor that can create an ecosystem that provides a complete solution will be the winner in this market. The key success factor is how each vendor can get quality partners to fill their solution gap.

Another trend in China is Linux. The fact that IBM is pushing Linux big time is a favorable factor for them. Some Chinese companies even have a preference for Linux as an operating system.

JM: Why do you think Chinese people prefer Linux over any other operating system?
DL: This is again a very interesting thing. I think the government and the IT industry is pushing for Linux. With Linux, China now has a different angle to penetrate the IT industry, not just as a consumer, but as a producer. Another perception is that Linux does not have IP issues, people associate Linux with open source. So, that solves the perception issues on IP.

JM: Whose perception?
DL: I mean the buyer's perception with respect to the IP right. In general, Linux is associated with open source and they can develop something on top of it.

JM: So they can do what they want with Linux, where, say, with Microsoft, they can't.
DL: Right.