BEIJING, June 16 -- U.S. telecom and network equipment maker Avaya expects its sales in China to grow at a rate that is "several times its GDP growth" this year, banking on the country's robust economy, especially its banking and insurance industries, a senior company official said.

    Avaya, which competes with Cisco, would also look at acquisition opportunities and would devote more resources to transportation, healthcare and telecom sectors to ramp up its business in the country.

    "For us, China is a growth area, one that we will continue to invest and expand," said John DiLullo, president of Avaya's Asia Pacific operations.

    "It is important in multidimensional ways. We not only count on it as sales engine but also see it as an innovation center thanks to the large pool of engineering talent here," DiLullo said.     

    China's robust economy, especially the healthy banking and insurance industries, major target customers, means Avaya would continue to see its business grow rapidly in the country, the executive said.

    "We expect it to grow (at a rate that is) several times the GDP growth," DiLullo said.

    Avaya, a global leader in enterprise communications systems, has already enlisted China's top 10 banks and five insurance companies as its customers.

    But the company will devote more resources and pay more attention to sectors that are potentially lucrative and are receiving a large piece of investment out of the country's 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package.

    "We are going to beef up our presence in the transportation, healthcare and telecom industries and provide them with more advanced solutions to cut costs and raise efficiency," said John Wang, head of Avaya's China operations.

    The company recently helped Vanke, one of the largest property developers in China, consolidate its communications infrastructure by centralizing and streamlining its communications across its 20 branches.

    Avaya, which has a call center in coastal city of Dalian, said its headcount there expanded by 50 percent last year.

    "We will continue to expand our headcount here this year as the business is dynamic," Wang said.

    Avaya leads the Chinese call center market with a market share of 21.8 percent in 2008, according to market research firm Frost & Sullivan.

    A former division of Lucent Technologies and its predecessor firm AT&T Inc, Avaya was taken private by private equity firm Silver Lake and TPG Capital for $8.3 billion.

    (Source: China Daily)