Author Archives: Staff Writer

Third party conference resource company HelmsBriscoe has joined the throng of companies cashing in on the Middle East’s booming MICE market. The US-headquartered firm, which specialises in tailor made venue selection, site organisation, ground handling, contracting, meeting registration and on-site assistance services has set up an office in Dubai.

Blue Coat Systems, the secure content and application delivery vendor has agreed to buy the assets of Network Appliance’ s NetCache business for a reported US$30 million. The acquisition brings together the number one and two players in the proxy caching market.

With Sino-Arab trade at an all-time high, ECN investigates the impact Chinese manufacturers are having on the Middle East consumer electronics and appliance markets.

TDIC and Atlas join forces to deliver new tourism offering, The Emirates Pearl Gulf View Resort

MICE clients are becoming increasingly adventurous according to established travel management company, MMI, which recently set up a dedicated MICE division.

On the eve of the launch of its mobile handset range and with the company poised to further expand its extensive portfolio of consumer electronics products, ECN touches base with Touchmate.

Avaya might have scored big at the World Cup, but the true measure of the maturity of converged networks may well be their acceptance in the conservative Middle East. Either way, dual and triple play are here, and network managers must raise their game to use converged networks effectively.

Nowhere in the pages of history has a place transformed itself from an unknown town on the edge of the desert to an international hub for business and leisure travel as quickly as Dubai has. Fifty years ago the emirate was an empty patch of desert on the coast of the Arabian Gulf with little more of note than a small but busy port. Today, Dubai is a playground for the rich and famous in the Middle East, a thriving centre for conferences and expositions, a top destination for beach resort holidays, a skiing destination, a top venue for spa and health holidays, and a vibrant cosmopolitan city where a melting pot of cultures live harmoniously.

Microsoft has released a new add-on for Windows XP, which allows users to create a private folder to store sensitive data.

Unless networking skills development gets a rapid boost in the Middle East, economic growth in different countries throughout the region could be impacted significantly.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Information (MoI) recently confiscated five computers loaded with pirated software following raids on five computer companies in Kuwait City.

Dubai’s first community cord blood bank has set its sights on lowering the incident of genetic disease in the UAE through stem cell research. Privately-owned cell banks, however, are at the centre of an escalating row over their worth.

UAE doctors are campaigning for increased awareness of peripheral vascular disease (PVD), amid fears the condition is going untreated.

US researchers have called for three common asthma inhalers containing the drugs salmeterol or formoteral to be removed from the market.

A combination treatment regime of rosuvastatin (Crestor) 40mg and ezetimibe 10mg has been hailed as a new option for high-risk patients.

A pacemaker that can warn patients if they need urgent medical assistance, and allows remote monitoring by physicians, has been branded ‘revolutionary’ by cardiologists.

Since posting my comment on race and crime in five-star hotels in the Middle East on www.itpbusiness.net and running it in Hotelier I have received numerous letters in from readers. It seems we really hit a nerve with this subject.

With growth of 5%, the Middle East’s ice cream sector presents an opportunity for producers and retailers.

I have talked to numerous young doctors who would cherish the opportunity to receive high quality specialty training close to home. This is one of the key challenges being addressed by the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center Institute for Postgraduate Education and Research (HMSDC).

While the overall FMCG retail sector in the UAE remains fragmented, the larger supermarket and hypermarket groups are taking an increasing share of the market. And as this happens, so competition between the rival players becomes key to creating a healthy sector.

The Holding Group of companies expects its billings to top US$381 million this year, with the fastest growth coming from its public relations and direct marketing businesses.

The cost of securing outdoor advertising sites in Saudi Arabia has rocketed by up to 300%, it has been claimed.

The BBC has landed itself in hot water with rival broadcaster CNN for an advertising campaign promoting its Arabic e-newsletter that uses the American broadcaster’s “Be the first to know” strapline.

British media giant Emap has signaled its intention to expand further into the Middle East market after it bought online business news portal AME Info.

UAE fixed telephone users can now send and receive SMS messages, but both the sender and recipient will have to have a specially-enabled telephone set.

Saudi Telecom Company (STC), the largest mobile operator in the Middle East is to deploy its recently announced 3G network on equipment from Huawei Technologies.

A contract’s procurement method can mean the difference between success and failure. Angela Giuffrida meets one expert on the subject who warns the UAE construction industry that unless it embraces and develops new methods, it will be unable to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Three thousand workers employed by Arabtec Contracting Company staged a protest last Sunday which turned violent.

Up to 30,000 HR positions will need to be filled by end of 2007, which could result in skills shortages.

Contractors are grappling with an acute shortage of labour camps across the UAE, as well as a hike in rental prices.

Contractors have launched a furious response to proposed increases in the cost of cement in the UAE. The UAE’s contractor association has vowed to fight for its members if cement prices are increased by US $2.70 (AED10) per tonne.

Global real estate major Emaar Properties has taken a significant step in its international expansion programme, becoming the first Middle East property developer to open a full-fledged office in China. The office is intended to act as a beachhead for Emaar’s ambitious investment plans for the world’s second largest economy.

International management consultants the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have announced plans to open offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, to serve the GCC countries.

The Middle East’s economic prospects are more deeply dependent than ever upon the political stability of the region, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Airbus is looking to tackle the narrowbody market after revealing plans to upgrade its A320, with an aimed 4-5 % efficiency gain.

Elite Jets, the Dubai-based business jet provider, has completed its first sale of a Hawker 850XP business jet and is in negotiations to secure a second.

Blogging is beginning to take off in a big way in the Middle East. But will it ever be a credible marketing medium, asks Tim Burrowes

Dani Richa has been Impact BBDO’s chief ideas man for two decades. But he tells Richard Abbott he’s still feeling fresh

I am not a big fan of numbers and maths was my least favourite subject at school, which is one of the reasons why I became a journalist. But in this week’s news section there are numbers everywhere.

“Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink”. So says Samuel Taylor Coleridge in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. This world-renowned author may have written that there was water everywhere. But not, it would appear, on construction sites in Dubai, despite the fact that the world we live in is made up of three-quarters water and just a quarter land.

Construction of Corus’s new warehouse in Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ) is unlikely to attract much attention, whereas what will come out of the facility when it is up and running later this year will turn more than a few heads.

Demand for this particular man-made product has never been higher. It can be recycled easily, it is cost-effective and very eco-friendly.

Damac chairman Hussein Sajwani has had to endure some bad headlines recently, but says his company is perfectly placed to become a regional real estate giant. By Tamara Walid.

The new superjumbo A380 has been delayed, costing Airbus billions and the chief executive his job. Can the company ever recover from this crisis? By Anil Bhoyrul.

In business, you can either make history or be history. Noel Forgeard, until last week the boss of Airbus, has managed the dubious distinction of achieving both in the space of a week. But the torrid, unglamorous end to his once high-flying career may not be the last chapter in this sorry tale – for him or Airbus.

Symantec is cutting its investment in network and gateway security appliances and will stop manufacturing hardware for the products.

Intel has given up on efforts to establish itself in the mobile phone market and agreed to sell its communications and applications processor business to telecom chip maker Marvell Technology for US$600million.

Storage giant EMC has purchased one of the biggest names in the data security sector — RSA Security. The US$2.1 billion acquisition is the 25th buy EMC has made in the last three years.

Middle East Airlines (MEA) has implemented Mercator’s Rapid passenger revenue accounting system. MEA said the solution would give a clear indication of how its business was performing and enable the airline to make quicker decisions.