Dr. Knut Löschke, Chairman of the Board of PC-Ware Information Technologies AG, explains the move as follows: “Basically we are following in our customers’ footsteps. In addition Russia represents one of the strongest growing markets in the world, both now and for the foreseeable future. Currently growth rates over 30% are being achieved in some IT market sectors in Russia. It is therefore just a logical step to expand our business in this direction. In collaboration with a trusted and very effective partner in Russia, who is also represented everywhere in that country, we will approach the market. Furthermore we enlisted the services of an experienced German logistics company. We are starting our company in Moscow with a young team of German and Russian staff.”

The development of the IT business in Russia reads very impressively. According to the IT industry association, Russoft, the value of the country’s software exports rose from 352 million US dollars in 2002 to over one billion US dollars in 2006. In addition Germany exported 1.8 billion euros worth of hardware to Russia in 2005 – over three times as much as five years ago. PC-WARE regards the Russian market as promising high margins. Above all there is strong growth in services in the systems provider sector.

In addition to licensing management and software asset management, the company will therefore particularly offer system house services such as IT infrastructure solutions and services, guidance and consultancy.

Dr. Löschke continued: “In 2006 there were approximately 1,700 foreign companies operating in Russia. These included many of our existing customers, particularly those in the high wage and energy sectors such as the automobile/automotive industries and commerce. We will use these existing links to establish ourselves in the Russian market. The relevant figures such as turnover and profit potential for our customers in Russia are very convincing and are on an upward trend. Customers operating internationally are also increasingly demanding support to be based locally in Russia.”