South Africa's Internet Economy Prospers
ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN ANCHOR: The global economic slowdown has been difficult for many businesses. In the United States, the high-tech industry has been particularly hard, but while these companies are downscaling in the U.S., the reverse appears to be taking place among some high-tech players in South Africa. Russ Lindstrom (ph) of SABC reports.</s>RUSS LINDSTROM, SABC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These employees are actually reaping rewards from the telecommunications slowdown in the United States. South African-based private tech company Azisa has seen its resources grow three-fold in 18 months, and revenues surge plus 600 percent. Azisa develops technology components and software products for the telecommunications and Internet commerce industries. The company conducts 80 percent of its work for U.S. businesses. This company is profiting from the U.S. downturn. The reason: Azisa fills a niche.</s>CYNTHIA OLMESDAHL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, AZISA: I think there are two aspects to that, one is the drivers that motivate and power customers to</s>LINDSTROM: And high growth is what U.S. software company Oracle sees in South Africa. Oracle is says it expects earnings in its South African operations to exceed 25 percent in the next financial year, compared to 7 percent growth this year.</s>ROBIN MORELLO, ORACLE, SOUTH AFRICA: When the</s>LINDSTROM: With the slowdown in the U.S., the only thing</s>MALCOLM RUTHERFORD, DIMENSION DATA: Pressures on product margins are immense. And we need to -- and we are in the process of moving the business toward a much more services-oriented environment. We believed we had 18 months to do that, we gave that figure at the time of the listing. I think the economic conditions that we see</s>LINDSTROM: Still, DiData is protectively poised for tough times in the short-term, but believe that the revolution started by the Internet has only completed its first life cycle and is now entering a period of sustainable but less spectacular growth. So, while market players are picking up the pieces of the IT boom and bust abroad, emerging economies like South Africa, which have developed the high-tech sector to capitalizing on dot-com fluctuations. Russ Lindstrom (ph), SABC, Johannesburg, for CNN WORLD REPORT.