Aconex will provide its online information management service to facilitate the construction of five IKEA stores in China. Aconex provides a web-based platform for managing project information such as drawings, documents and correspondence. Through using the system, IKEA and its project partners are able to view, distribute and track their files at any time and from any location. IKEA will use Aconex on its Shanghai Pudong, Shenyang, Nanjing, Dalian and Shenzhen store developments.

Mats Nilsson, Deputy Property Manager at IKEA China, said: “Aconex is a great tool to share large documents and implement IKEA processes across the projects.”

Leigh Jasper, Aconex Chief Executive Officer, said: “The design and construction of these stores will involve thousands of documents being exchanged between team members in China and IKEA’s headquarters in Europe. Aconex will improve productivity by enabling project participants to access and share their information in real-time. IKEA will also be able to control its risk exposure by having the ability to track the status of tasks and ‘who did what and when’ on the projects.”

Aconex, www.aconex.com, is the world’s largest provider of online collaboration to the construction and engineering industries. The company services US$210 billion worth of projects across 65 countries. Other projects that have used Aconex include the construction of the Venetian Macau casino resort in Macau and the redevelopments of the Mandarin Oriental hotel and Ocean Park theme park in Hong Kong.

IKEA, www.ikea.com, has been operating in China since 1998. It currently has five stores in the country, with plans for a further two in 2008. The Company employs 118,000 staff in 40 countries and had sales totaling US$30 billion in 2007.