Autodesk 2009 Annual Report Download - page 86

principally in Singapore and Switzerland. We generally localize and translate our products into German, French,
Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Korean and simplified and traditional Chinese.
We employ experienced software developers. We also use independent firms and contractors to perform
some of our product development activities. We plan to continue to manage significant product development
operations internationally over the next several years. We believe that our ability to conduct research and
development at various locations throughout the world allows us to optimize product development, lower costs,
and integrate local market knowledge into our development activities. We continually assess the significant costs
and challenges, including intellectual property protection, against the benefits of our international development
activities.
In addition, our business strategy has historically depended in part on our relationships with a network of
over 3,400 third-party developers who develop and sell their own products that further enhance the range of
integrated solutions available to our customers.
The technology industry is characterized by rapid technological change in computer hardware, operating
systems and software. In addition, our customer’s requirements and preferences rapidly evolve, as do their
expectations of our software. To keep pace with these changes, we maintain an aggressive program of new
product development to address demands in the marketplace for our products. We dedicate considerable
technical and financial resources to research and development to further enhance our existing products and to
create new products and technologies. We continually review these investments in an effort to ensure that we are
generating sufficient revenue or gaining a competitive advantage to justify their costs. For further discussion
regarding risks from our product development and introduction efforts, see Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”
MARKETING AND SALES
We license or sell our products and services globally, primarily through indirect channels consisting of
distributors and resellers. To a lesser extent we also transact directly with customers who are primarily large
corporations. Our indirect channel model includes both a two-tiered distribution structure, where distributors sell
to resellers, and a one-tiered structure, where Autodesk sells directly to resellers. We have a network of
approximately 1,700 resellers and distributors worldwide. For fiscal 2009, approximately 86% of our revenue
was derived from indirect channel sales through distributors and resellers, and we expect that the majority of our
revenue will continue to be derived from indirect channel sales in the future. We employ a variety of incentive
programs and promotions to align our reseller channel with our business strategy. Sales through one distributor,
Tech Data Corporation and its affiliates, accounted for 14%, 14% and 12% of our net revenue for fiscal 2009,
2008 and 2007, respectively. No other distributor or reseller accounted for 10% or more of our revenue.
Our customer-related operations are divided into three geographic regions, the Americas, Europe/Middle
East/Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific, and are supported by global marketing and sales organizations. These
organizations develop and manage overall marketing and sales programs and work closely with a network of
domestic and international sales offices. Fiscal 2009 net revenue in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific
regions was $782.3 million, $1,003.4 million and $529.5 million, respectively.
We also work directly with reseller and distributor sales organizations, computer manufacturers, other
software developers and peripherals manufacturers in cooperative advertising, promotions and trade-show
presentations. We employ mass-marketing techniques such as web casts, seminars, telemarketing, direct mailings
and advertising in business and trade journals. We have a worldwide user group organization and we have
created online user communities dedicated to the exchange of information related to the use of our products.
In addition to sales of new software licenses, we generate revenue through our maintenance program and
upgrade program. These programs are available for a majority of our products and offer our customers two
alternative means of migrating to the most recent version of our products.
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