A WELLINGTON company is looking to Asia for business supporting IBM's AS/400 minicomputer systems.

Team400 provides technology add-ons and services for the IBM AS/400 business computer, which is used extensively in finance, manufacturing and distribution.

It has implemented a $150,000 deal in Sri Lanka using Sovereign, a professional banking package it markets for Auckland developer SSG.

Managing director Rumi Shivaz says the Sri Lanka deal is a stepping-stone into Asia, with Singapore and the Philippines listed as Team400's next targets.

Team400 marketing director Sunesh Samarasinghe says the company has found a marketing and support partner in Sri Lanka, and is attracting interest from other parts of Asia.

Mr Shivaz estimates the company's first year of export revenues will yield about $500,000.

Team400 positions itself as a systems integrator, says Mr Shivaz, and is interested in signing up new products and technologies to further its growth. "If a product is good, with stable support, we are interested," says Mr Shivaz. "But we don't want a range of products that do nothing."

Last year Team400 became New Zealand agent for BusinessLink Web, an Australian technology which plugs in to the AS/400 and makes it Web-ready.

The company touts BusinessLink as a tool for cutting costs and getting AS/400 systems on the Web "in hours rather than months".

BusinessLink consists of a hardware and software combination. A "black-box" plugs into the AS/400, and acts as a middle tier between Internet and AS/400. Clients who connect through the Internet see a Java interface on their PC, which provides a secure connection to the AS/400 system.

Mr Shivaz describes the technology as "almost plug-and-play".

"Lots of e-business implementations take months to do. This is a very quick solution. It can even be set up by remote," he says.

Team400 has installed BusinessLink for a range of New Zealand companies that use AS/400 systems including Sony, Amway, Dick Smith, Whicliffe Press and software company JD Edwards.

Richard Orzecki, technology manager at JD Edwards, says his company tested BusinessLink and found "minuscule" response times over the Internet.

BusinessLink is priced between $15,000 and $100,000 (plus gst), including hardware, software and implementation.

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