NEWS RELEASES
EGGLETON WELCOMES AGREEMENT TO DISTRIBUTE CANADIAN SOFTWARE IN JAPAN
November 29, 1996 No. 223
EGGLETON WELCOMES AGREEMENT TO DISTRIBUTE CANADIAN
SOFTWARE IN JAPAN
Minister for International Trade Art Eggleton, today witnessed an agreement
between Canadian software company AlterSys Inc. and Ebara Densan, a large Japanese
corporation. The agreement is valued at $10-15 million.
"This new software licensing agreement attests to Canada's strong capabilities in
software development and in particular to the efforts of small and medium-sized
companies, such as AlterSys, to chart out new terrain in markets like Japan's,"
said Mr. Eggleton. "It bodes well for continued impressive Canadian export growth
to Japan in this sector."
Under the three-year exclusive agreement, Ebara Densan will be the sole
distributor in Japan for AlterSys' "PCP Virgo" software, which is used in the
automation and management of industrial processes in fields such as food
processing, biochemical processing, mining, metal processing and electrical
utilities. The agreement includes an option to extend sole distributorship for an
additional two-year period.
AlterSys Inc. is based in Longueuil, Quebec, and has been in operation since 1988.
It is a partly owned subsidiary of Nouveler/Hydro-Québec, a large corporation
whose annual revenues exceed $7.3 billion. AlterSys is active in 11 other foreign
markets: Argentina, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Russia, South
Africa, Taiwan, and the United States.
Ebara Densan engineers and manufactures electrical and electronic equipment. The
company employs about 500 people and posted approximately US$220 million in annual
revenues in 1994. Ebara Densan's parent company is Ebara Corporation, an
engineering firm with expertise in a wide range of industrial processes and one of
the world's two largest producers of industrial pumps.
Japan is the world's second largest software market and Canada's second largest
trading partner. In 1995, two-way trade surpassed $24 billion, and Canadian
exports to Japan alone increased by 24 per cent to $12 billion. Canadian software
exports to Japan grew to about $150 million in 1995, representing about 1 per cent
of our total software exports and 5 per cent of Japan's software imports.
In 1995, Canada's information technology industry, including telecommunications,
software, hardware, processing and services, generated revenues of $54 billion.
Total exports in this sector rose from $7.5 billion in 1988 to $19.5 billion in
1995.
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For further information, media representatives may contact:
Nicole Bourget
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister for International Trade
(613) 996-6271
Media Relations Office
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(613) 995-1874
This document can be accessed through the Department's Internet site:
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca or by entering "Ni-Ka Online" in most search engines.
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