Oracle is to realign its Asian sales operations to provide more focused and specialized teams to replace the "generalized" sales force it has now, according to Derek Williams, executive vice president for Oracle Asia-Pacific.

Williams said that the new structure would reflect that being used by Oracle in the U.S., which had proved successful.

"In our U.S. experience, once we turned on the focus, along came the revenue," said Williams in a conference call. "We will add specialist expertise to help the local geography."

The specialized teams will concentrate on three main areas: vertical industries such as finance, health, utilities and government; the Asia-wide core database technology market; and a business applications unit, particularly for Oracle's E-Business Suite 11i.10.

"It's not just about databases any more, but about integration," Williams said. "It's not about a segmented game."

The realignment will see Oracle increase its headcount in the region, Williams said.

The new structure reflects the growing importance of Asia to Oracle, according to Williams. Asia now accounts for 26 percent of Oracle's new worldwide licensing revenue and 16 percent of its total revenue, proportions which have grown over the last year.

In the first quarter of Oracle's 2005 fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31, revenue in Asia was up 11 percent over the same quarter during the previous year.

Williams said that Oracle's business in China "has never been better", dismissing remarks made by a rival software vendor this week that the PeopleSoft imbroglio had caused Oracle to drop off the competitive map in China.