With 2005 almost behind us as I sit and ponder how we have grown especially in the APAC region, I am amazed at our growth in this part of the world.

• From zero to a full fledged office in Bangalore, India!
• Added great partners in Japan, India, Malaysia and Australia!
• Started to serve several APAC customers!
• Successfully completed a number of trainings here!
• Had a lot of speaking engagements!
• WOW!
  
  

Exactly a year back when I took up the challenge of expanding into the APAC region, esp India, I was nervous and really did not know what to expect. This was my maiden “business” attempt and had absolutely no clue what it is to “fight” with the bureaucracy and the “license Raj”. Now a year later, looking back the path I traveled, I have to accept that this was one of my major achievements ever. The experience gained is worth its time in Platinum! Marc, Brad and Ben: Thank You for providing this lifetime opportunity! Hey, I have tons of stories to tell my grand children, sitting around the dining table in front of the fire place!

The interest shown by the community, by the System Integrators, by the product developers in APAC has been truly overwhelming! Not a day passed by without some organization calling me! We have successfully added several partners in Australia, Japan, India and Malaysia and several more are on the anvil – watch out for more announcements from this region in the next couple of months!

The community in this region has literally embraced us. Wherever we go for the road shows, presentations, we have had tremendous response. Ben Wang was telling me that people were willing to pay $$s to hear him speak in a restaurant in Tokyo. After my talk in Linux Asia 2005, I had people flocking to take pictures with me! Can you visualize the JBUG launch in Hyderabad which had more than 200 people flocking and became a "standing room" only session? I am told that the Bangalore and Hyderabad groups have regular meetings and the interest in growing day by day! In the queue are several cities in this region who want to start their own User Groups!

We have major plans for the coming months and we are sure that you will find us in a city near you – wherever you are!

Overall we have had tremendous growth which even I did not expect. From the bottom of my heart – I extend our gratitude to our partners, our customers, the developer community who support us and to my family for having accepted me making calls at 2:00 AM and glued to my laptop at 3:00 AM – (this is something I preach against, but failed to follow this year! One of the prices you pay for working from home!)

I wish you all a very HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2006!

We at JBoss consider "Every Year" as the "Election Year"! So we will strive even better to beat your expectations and serve you more!