NEC CI builds regional channel with reseller appointments

NEC Computers International is continuing its push into the Middle East, with the appointment of enterprise resellers for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. The PC manufacturer, the sixth largest in Europe, has already begun building its regional presence through InterFRONTIERS, its regional development unit, but the reseller appointments mark the next stage in building the Middle East channel.“These are among our first reseller appointments in the Middle East,” explained Lenia Iacovides, managing director of InterFRONTIERS. “We envisage the development of a regional corporate reseller channel in an effort to achieve the highest possible penetration and an increased Middle East market share.”The resellers that have been appointed are Saudisoft, Qatar Advanced Technology (QATEC) and @Computers of Bahrain. Each will target their home markets with the range of NEC products, which includes PCs, servers and Internet solutions.NEC has some 10.5% market share in Europe, with its NEC and Packard Bell ranges of PCs, and the company hopes to be able to capitalise on the growth of Internet usage in the Middle East to replicate that market share. “Saudi Arabia has 570,000 Internet users and its IT spending will grow 16% annually by 2006, while Bahrain’s Internet penetration stands at 16.7% of the population, the second biggest in the Gulf,” said Iacovides.