Dotcom dizziness

Macau equity-buzz, driven by both property development and the many new hotel and casino projects, sometimes seems reminiscent of late-90s-era dotcom-mania, especially on Hong Kong's Hang Seng stock index. But there's no going back to the days of drho.com: the whimsical website that promoted the gambling empire of Dr Stanley Ho (alas, the site--which presented Macau's premiere tycoon as a James Bond-type figure--has "gone 404"). Sociedade de Turismo e Divers'es de Macau (STDM), founded and managed by Ho in 1962, remains the largest business group and corporate employer in Macau. According to veteran journalist Harald Bruning, publisher of The Macau Post Daily newspaper, STDM also owns 80 per cent of SJM (Sociedade de Jogos de Macau). The remainder is owned by Stanley Ho personally and top STDM executives, said Bruning.

While Ho's SJM remains a formidable player in the MSAR's gaming industry, the Macau magnate been joined by Las Vegas showmen Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson, who envision vast swathes of neon, much located on newly reclaimed land. But Macau-watchers say Ho may have the last laugh, citing his savoir faire vis a vis the entertainment desires of the local populace--the Vegas boys, many say, are too rooted in the Wayne Newton/Siegfried and Roy mindset to appeal to local tastes.

Vertical industries like hospitality and gaming deploy vast amounts of enterprise IT--their volume can even approach verticals like banking and aviation in some cases. With the vast increases in casinos and hotels underway in Macau, opportunities for major players in the enterprise space abound. Microsoft opened their MSAR office last year (see box: "Microsoft Macau"), with HP following suit this month--these pioneering branch offices currently house sales staff.

Gaming and number-crunching