SEATTLE, June 15, 1999 (PRIMEZONE) -- Sonic Systems Corporation of Delaware (NASDAQ: ZSON) announced today it has opened a regional office in Singapore to support its promotional and marketing activities in Asia. The office is located at Canada House and will be managed by Mr. Cheng Gan, Regional Manager.
"The Asian markets for transportation, computing and communications offer great opportunities for a company like Sonic Systems," says Dr. Siavash Vojdani, General Manager of the Sonic Systems Integration Business Unit. "We expect that an ongoing presence will enable us to compete very well for several upcoming projects that suit us and our current partners."
"Singapore's venture funds, including but not limited to a $1 billion dollar 'Technopreneur Fund' established to promote its local technologies, made our decision to develop this regional office easier. These funds give us the opportunity for attractive local joint venture partnerships," adds Vojdani.
Singapore is leading a surge in Asia in the building of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), followed by Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand. Gan expects Singapore to award over $100 million of contracts each year beginning in 1999 for ITS projects such as train traveler information systems, smart card contactless bus ticketing systems, smart card entry systems at checkpoints, and transportation management systems. More than $150 million was spent in 1998 to improve traffic flows at highways in Singapore and at the Malaysia-Singapore borders, according to Gan.
Gan has over 10 years' experience in the telecommunications and container port industries. Prior to joining Sonic Systems, he was Regional Sales Manager at Dynapro Technologies Inc., the market leader in computer operator interfaces, where he set up and managed sales channels for the Asia Pacific region.
By opening a regional office, Sonic Systems Corporation of Delaware is expanding from its operational base in North America, where estimates based on a 1997 study by the Electronics Industries Association and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America point to a market for ITS of approximately $425 billion by the year 2015.
A National Investment and Market Analysis of U.S. markets conducted by Hagler Bailly (Arlington, Virginia) estimates private markets to exceed $340 billion over the next 20 years, with public infrastructure-driven markets in U.S. metropolitan areas projected to exceed $80 billion over the same period. The ITS industry in the U.S. is expected to create almost 600,000 jobs over the next two decades, according to the study.
Sonic Systems Corporation of Delaware is a multi-faceted provider of technology to the Computing, Communications, and Intelligent Transportation Systems industries in support of information movement and management applications.
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Note: Sonic Systems, a Delaware corporation with offices in Seattle, Washington, is in no way affiliated with Sonic Systems, Inc., a California corporation with headquarters in Santa Clara, California, which provides Internet security solutions.