Salesforce.com, provider of cloud-based business applications (most famously CRM) and the Force.com application development platform, announced Tuesday a plan to expand its data center infrastructure in Asia by adding a new site in Japan.

The provider has signed an agreement with NTT Communications to establish a new location within an NTT data center in Tokyo to support its customer base in the country, according to a salesforce.com news release. The company expects to complete the new data center sometime in 2011.

Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Mark Benioff attributed the move to "explosive growth" of the company's business in Japan. "NTT Com has been a trusted partner for many years, and we look forward to expanding our relationship with them on the new data center to support continued customer success in the region,"he said in a statement.

The announcement cited a report by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in forecasting that the Japanese cloud service market would to about 2.4bn yen by 2015. The same ministry reported that the country's information and communications infrastructure was among top in the world in terms of speed, cost and broadband technology.

As of end of July, salesforce.com's CRM customer base was about 82,000 strong. Some of its most notable clients include Allianz Commercial, Dell, Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE, and SunTrust Banks.