Comverse's logo is white on blue, but today the company was decorated all in red to welcome Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Comverse CEO Kobi Alexander flew in especially from the US to walk side by side with Zemin on the red carpet, and take him on a tour of the company. Company staff who attended the brief ceremony at the entrance, watched the Chinese President from the top floors, and clapped their hands when he made it to the door. Zemin did not pass up the opportunity, and waved back.
The visit was very important to Alexander, because Comverse wants to expand its operations in China. At the beginning of his speech, Alexander emphasized that the visit was a great honor to Comverse, which was selected to host the Chinese President. Alexander stressed that Comverse would like to be part of the technological revolution in China, and work in mutual cooperation with the Chinese.
Members of the large delegation accompanying Zemin on his visit to Israel did not conceal their delight with Comverse's presentation. The delegation is made up of 100 Chinese journalists and 50 administrative staff and members of the presidential party. The journalists were enthusiastic over the technology enabling e-mail transmission over cellular telephones. One journalist said that everybody, including the President, was enjoying the visit very much.
On the day of his visit dedicated to economic issues, Zemin left Comverse for ECI, where the visit took on added pomp and circumstance after President Ezer Weizman joined Israel's Ambassador to China Ora Namir, who is accompanying Zemin on his tour.
ECI is also very active in China, and its $50-75 million annual sales there are among the highest among Israeli companies. ECI is one of the first Israeli companies to have penetrated China. According to ECI, nearly all international calls and most satellite telephone calls are carried out using its equipment.
In the course of ECI's presentation, Zemin was invited to call his office through IP telephony equipment. As he was talking to his office staff, he watched them over the Internet, to the accompaniment of delightful exclamations by his party.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 18 April, 2000