NetSuite rises in land of the sun

On-demand ERP vendor NetSuite continued its march round the Pacific Rim with its launch in Japan today. NetSuite Release J has been fully localized for Japan's accounting rules and oonventions, regulations and taxation — as well as language, of course. Developed over the past 18 months in partnership with two local joint venture partners, NetSuite is claiming the release is the first SaaS offering to provide full support for Japanese accounting rules and consumption tax.

When integrated with NetSuite's One World offering (launched earlier this year), businesses running on the Japanese version can be consolidated into multi-national, multi-company business systems giving real-time visibility across a global enterprise. Unsurprisingly, some of the first customers for the Japanese version announced at launch are subsidiaries of companies headquartered elsewhere, such as Atlanta Georgia-based Premiere Global Services and Switzerland's Sensirion. But there are also indigenous customers, including Sinsouki, a car parking management firm, and Columbia Music Entertainment, Inc.

The Japan launch follows September's opening of a NetSuite sales office in Hong Kong to serve the Chinese market, along with expansion of existing activities in Singapore and Australia. The moves across the Pacific Rim signal the company's determination to expand international sales as a proportion of its overall business.