TERADATA: AMERICAN COMPANY WITH PAKISTANI TIES GOES

UNCLAS ISLAMABAD 004302 SIPDIS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN ECON PREL EINV EIND EINT PK SUBJECT: TERADATA: AMERICAN COMPANY WITH PAKISTANI TIES GOES PUBLIC ¶1. (SBU) A/DCM and Economic Officers watched (via satellite feed) American company NCR spin off its new subsidiary Teradata into a stand-alone company by ringing the New York Stock Exchange opening bell on October 1. The new Managing Director of Teradata, Khuram Rahat (also the former Managing Director of NCR Pakistan) then unveiled the company's new logo. Rahat stated that Teradata will focus on its customers and on establishing Teradata as a leader in technology consulting. ¶2. (SBU) Also attending the ceremony was Norwegian-owned TeleNor Pakistan Limited CEO Tore Johnsen. Telenor is one of the most successful cellular telecom firms in Pakistan. NADRA's (National Database Registration Authority) Chairman Brig.General (rtd) Saleen Moeen also attended. Teradata began development of NADRA's state-of-the-art biometric identity card. Included among Teradata's clients in Pakistan are four of the seven top telecommunication companies and a large number of banks and financial institutions. ¶3. (SBU) Pakistan is core of Teradata's Global Consulting Center (GCC) operations for its worldwide operations. The GCC is a call center and offers software development/IT solutions. Teradata Pakistan plans to hire 250 new employees over the next year to add to its nearly 300 current employees. ¶4. (SBU) Parent company NCR (National Cash Register Company) is known for making the first mechanical cash registers. Now, the NCR logo can be seen over ATM machines and is known worldwide as a leader in data warehousing and information technology. Teradata will take over the data warehousing business and offer consulting solutions to corporate customers, while NCR focuses on products. Teradata will also be added to the S&P 500 Index and the NYSE Archa Tech 100 (SM) Index, an indication that it is a stock worth watching. NCR shareholders, including executives in Pakistan, received one share of Teradata common stock for every one share of common stock they held in NCR as of September 14, 2007. NCR has a market capitalization of $4.3 billion and Teradata has a market capitalization of $5.0 billion. Both NCR and Teradata's stock has been trading around $25 a share this week. ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: Currently Teradata's India operations handle U.S. customers; however, the Pakistan GCC is well positioned to move into the U.S. market. With increasing labor and other costs in India and a pool of well-educated IT professionals, Pakistan is experiencing growth in many outsourcing, call center, and IT operations. With its deep client base firmly established in Pakistan's strong telecommunications and financial sector, Teradata is poised to take advantage of continued growth in these sectors. END COMMENT. PATTERSON