Kings of components

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20 Dubai-based channel experts you need to know.

Channel executives from finished goods vendors and distributors tend to enjoy a high profile in the market, but what about the components sector? Regardless of a thinning local systems builder market, the Middle East has always played host to a thriving PC components trade and that's very much the case today.

Over the coming pages, we've taken up the challenge of documenting 20 crack executives from the components channel. The list only features individuals based in Dubai given its peerless status as the components hub for the entire MEA region.

Therefore, channel experts that would normally have a solid case for inclusion, such as Kingston's Antoine Harb or Seagate's Christian Assaf, are omitted.

As you will see, executives working for distribution companies with authorised components contracts tend to gravitate towards the top of their list courtesy of the fact that they handle multiple brands and a wide variety of components hardware.

Factors such as regional coverage, market experience and scale were all taken into consideration when determining the ranking.

With most components manufacturers reluctant to deploy local resources in the Middle East, only half a dozen vendors make it into the Top 20. And while it could be argued that this super six are only specialists in their own components domain - as opposed to a distributor that manages numerous components technologies - they play a vital role in the market due to their brand and channel strength.

Last, but definitely not least, you'll also find plenty of names from Jebel Ali and Computer Street that lay claim to an extensive components offering. The business models of these traders and sub-distributors may not always be as clear cut as a classic IT distribution house, but their influence extends way beyond the Gulf to markets in the CIS, East Africa and even further afield.

This list is by no means definitive. While we have attempted to identify 20 of the Dubai-based components channel's top movers and shakers, the reality is that there are many more who are shaping the direction of the market.

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