UK enterprise sofware outfit Autonomy has formed a three-way venture with multimedia search firm blinkx and China Netcom Broadband Corp to bring next-gen search and access techonology to Chinese consumers. Talk about fulfilling eastern promise...

By Deirdre Molloy

[Register and post your own comments on this article below...]

Pretty soon online consumers in China will be basking in the kind of media search service that we in the west are still just waking up to. And two thirds of the credit will go to British or part-British-run/founded companies.

Not that we're one's to wave the flag at NMK - being a solidly international band in outlook. But still it's nice to see talent from these parts taking services online to a new, improved level elsewhere, particularly the massive market of China - which has the largest online population in the world.

This joint venture with one of China's largest telecoms will bring next generation technology to rapidly expanding Chinese consumer internet market, allowing Chinese consumers to search and access a wealth of multimedia content for the first time. And multimedia search outfit Blinkx are are doing the branding. Uniquely designed to cater for second generation Web content such as audio and video material, together with traditional text retrieval, blinkx, the integrated search specialist bringing together the desktop, Web and TV, will provide front end branding for the service.

From Cambridge to Beijing

In turn, the Cambrige, Uk-based Autonomy Corporation plc, a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, is a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise. Autonomy's technology powers applications dependent upon unstructured information including call center, customer relationship management, knowledge management, enterprise portals, enterprise resource planning, online publishing and security applications.

Autonomy's customer base comprises more than 1,000 global companies and organizations including, among others, BAE Systems, Ford, Ericsson, Shell, Nestle, AOL, BBC, Reuters, Hutchison 3G, Royal Sun Alliance, Sun Microsystems, Philips, Boeing, Coca Cola, GlaxoSmithKline, Citigroup, ABN AMRO, Deutsche Bank, Nomura, the New York Stock Exchange, Daimler Chrysler, Kraft Foods, Lloyds TSB, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

"With the rapid growth of the Chinese internet market, with broadband available in over 30 million homes, over 300 million mobile handsets and the volume of available multimedia content increasing at a phenomenal rate, it is clear that the technology leaders with full multimedia search capabilities and local support will be the leaders of the future," said Autonomy's Mike Lynch.

What's more the CTO of blinkx, Suranga Chandratillake, was also the former CTO of Autonomy, a trailblazing UK-based company launched in the late 1990's.

ipTV - a new frontier

The anticipation around services such as TV over the Internet (ipTV) demonstrates the growing demand for sophisticated technologies that will make multimedia content readily and easily accessible to Chinese users. Building on Autonomy's extensive experience in processing text, voice and video content, blinkx's experience and exposure in the consumer market, together with CNCBB's significant market penetration, the service is set to revolutionize Chinese consumers' online search experiences, the partners believe.

The announcement throws into yet starker relief the huge potential for UK and other European companies to find clients, willing partners and lucrative new markets for leading-edge services in the east. And behind the big-venture headlines, many smaller UK companies are exploring their options and already doing business in the vibrant eastern markets of China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and elsewhere.

Are you looking East, or are you already in the process of setting up shop, exporting to or outsourcing there? NMK wants to know as we plan to hold an event on this topic early in 2006. Email your details, experience or interests in this market to deirdre.molloy@nmk.co.uk

Related articles:
Profero's Postcard from China: Chinese Travel: Starting Online