Author Archives: Staff Writer

Layer three switch specialist Extreme Networks has boosted its Middle East and North Africa channel coverage with the appointment of OnLine Distribution as its second value-added distributor in the region.

Majid Al Futtaim Investments will open ‘City Centre’ shopping, entertainment and leisure brand in Bahrain.

As financial markets begin to take an interest in human resources practices and metrics, organisations will be under increased pressure to deliver results.

The Intel Corporation announces the availability of five new processors for desktop computers that deliver entertainment and IT benefits for consumers and businesses.

Doha’s Khalifa Stadium, which will be home to the 2006 Asian Games, has recently been fitted with PA, video screen control, broadcast cabling and distributed interactive TV systems by Qatar-based AV integration company, TechnoQ.

Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa has opened Ithaa, the world’s first aquarium-style undersea restaurant, at the resort. Designed in New Zealand, constructed in Singapore using materials from the United States and then shipped to the Maldives, Ithaa sits six meters below the waves of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by a coral reef and encased in clear acrylic, offering diners 180-degrees of underwater views.

Home networking vendor Linksys has put together a special promotion alongside UAE internet service provider eCompany and security software vendor Symantec for new broadband subscribers.

Sell out crowd bodes well for tournament sponsors.

Tech Access, Sun’s regional channel development provider, has put Saudi expansion at the top of its ‘to-do’ list for 2005. Previously handled out of Dubai, Tech Access now plans to build up its operations in Riyadh.

U.S. Robotics has announced that Yusuf Syed, regional manager of its Middle East operations, has passed away after a courageous yearlong battle against illness.

Nahkeel developers rally to show Henman the best of the Dubai property market.

Aptec Components has picked up GCC distribution rights for Taiwanese components vendor Palit’s range of Nvidia VGA products.

Acer has confirmed its intention to launch a PC assembly operation in Saudi Arabia. The decision puts Acer on a level footing with HP, which opened a Saudi assembly line last year.

HP has unveiled the xw9300, its first AMD Opteron processor-based workstation. The two vendors are now embarking on a regional road show in the Middle East to present the product to potential customers and channel partners alike.

An integrated deep computing visualisation solution revolutionises business for oil and gas companies.

Top global fund manager keen to expand regional presence via DIFC hub.

Eastern Networks has announced the second SWIFT regional conference, which will explore infrastructure issues facing the Middle East’s financial sector.

TV production company, Dawn Production, has deployed Pinnacle solutions at its Cairo and Mecca and Medina facilities.

As part of its efforts to refurbish its Manama-based news facility and streamline its existing workflow, BRTC will soon take delivery of Pinnacle’s news production, server, editing and character generator technology.

Few CEOs have had to endure a roller-coaster ride as Bruce Claflin has faced in his time at 3Com. The company, once a dot-com darling, has endured some painful restructuring and a succession of losses, but now it claims to be back on track.

Le Meridien Mina Seyahi aims to introduce a new dining experience to its F&B portfolio next month. Casting off in mid-March will be The Dhow restaurant: a renovated traditional dhow from the creek turned into a trendy seafood restaurant.

Napoleon once claimed that the British are a nation of shopkeepers. If so, then surely the Middle East is a region of shoppers: everybody loves a bargain here.

Few CEOs have had to endure a roller-coaster ride as Bruce Claflin has faced in his time at 3Com. The company, once a dot-com darling, has endured some painful restructuring and a succession of losses, but now it claims to be back on track.

When HP completed its take-over of Compaq in 2002, Carly Fiorina, chairman and CEO of the “new” HP, symbolized the new order by ringing the bell to open trading on the New York Stock Exchange floor. On February 8 the bell finally tolled for her, with the HP board’s decision to ask her to step down from her position, over “differences” in strategy.

Wanted: CEO for a large multi-national IT corporation. Must be able to execute on a difficult strategy and keep a lot of people happy.

Lebanon’s government has pledged to tackle its high telecommunications tariffs in a bid to attract more regional support centres to the country.

Middle East customers should for now be safe from the current global storage server disk drive shortage, but that may change when bigger capacity drives arrive on the market, a senior executive at EMC said last week.

IBM and Intel are expanding their joint initiative for the oil and gas sector, with major upgrades to their Energy Competency Centre (ECC) being rolled out this week.

Satellite telecommunications firm Thuraya has switched from using Oracle Financials software to Microsoft’s Great Plains ERP suite, claiming the solution better suits its budget and needs.

IPv6 has been on the technology roadmap for many years without making huge inroads. However, with vendors recently releasing IPv6 ready products and service providers actively testing IPv6 in the region, 2005 could be the year that it finally takes off.

Orthogon Systems has released OS-Spectra, its next generation broadband wireless Ethernet bridge. OS-Spectra provides a secure point-to-point broadband link to connect separate networks at up to 125 miles at up to 300Mbytes/s throughput.

Emirates Media begins IT restructure by installing four Foundry FastIron 800 core switches.

Cash-rich Symantec is investing big these days but if it isn’t careful it could be riding for a fall.

Diabetes is on the rise across the globe, but in the Middle East it has reached epidemic levels with devastating results. David Robinson looks at what’s behind the crisis.

For 15 years, a fragile peace has held sway over the different religious and political factions in Beirut. At 1.46pm on St. Valentine’s day, Monday February 14, 2005, it was shattered by a 300kg bomb. Anil Bhoyrul examines the fall out from the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, and looks back at his extraordinary life.

Rafik Hariri failed to control the militias who had every motive to kill him. IT is easy to blame Syria for the murder of Rafik Hariri. Israel already has as have many prominent Lebanese. President George W. Bush has all but done so. But blaming Syria is the easy option, and shows a failure to understand the sectarian divide that exists today within Lebanon. Rafik Hariri is rightly credited with rebuilding the Lebanese capital, and turning the war-ravaged Beirut into a blend of fashionable limestone buildings, trendy shops and restaurants. But what he failed to do during his years in office was unite the country’s Shiite Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Druze and Christians. He also failed to root out the various terror gangs that operate out of the city.

Cisco has launched a range of security products under the umbrella of the Adaptive Threat Defense (ATD) phase of its Self-Defending Network security strategy.

AS LEBANON buried former prime minister Rafik Al Hariri last Wednesday, international pressure mounted on Syria to ease its grip over the country. The Sunni Muslim billionaire’s death in a car bomb attack last Monday has revived memories of the 1975-90 civil war and put Lebanon’s troubled ties with its powerful neighbour back in the spotlight.

FRANCE Telecom (FT) is negotiating with the Jordanian government to increase its share and take a controlling interest in Jordan Telecom (JT). The announcement was made last week in Amman as JT launched new services to mark five years of partnership with FT.

SHIITE politician and former exile Ibrahim Al Jaafari has emerged as the front-runner to become Iraq’s new prime minister as negotiations to decide the line-up of the next government enter their final stages.

THE PROPOSED merger between BankMuscat and the National Bank of Oman (NBO) is again in doubt after an American law firm sent new information regarding NBO’s financial history to the merger’s auditor, KPMG.

RENOWNED British architect Sir Michael Hopkins labelled Dubai’s new buildings as “terrible” after a recent visit to the emirate.

No less then 18 official sponsors to benefit from the region’s premier tennis event.

Regional and international companies line up to support the Middle East’s leading tennis event.

Islands aren’t always what they first appear to be.

Cement shortage was probably the number one issue facing the construction industry last year. CW looks at what actually happened and learns that this year may be no better.

Following an 87.5% hike, expert urges the government to regulate charges to reasonable levels

Abu Dhabi plans new US $14.71 billion Water City

Kuwait-based investment company, Gulf Investment House, has set up Innovest Capital, Inc., a US-based firm that will serve as GIH’s real estate advisory arm for US real estate activities.

$420 million contract signed for dredging and reclamation works