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Gitex 30th Anniversary An Unprecedented Triumph For ICT Business In Middle East, Africa And South Asia
Published Jan 3, 2011
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GITEX, one of the world’s top three ICT events is set to deliver even more new innovative elements, building on the back of the hugely successful 30th anniversary edition, continuing three decades of unrivalled ICT business opportunities.
The constantly evolving exhibition will bring the latest innovations, concepts and strategies to the Middle East as part of its commitment to drive the region’s technology industry. New features in key sectors such as communications, security and internet commerce will provide unrivalled insights into the challenges and opportunities in the Middle East ICT market.
The all new GITEX Digital Media will focus on all things “e” from search engine optimisation to online shopping and the inaugural GITEX Smart Card highlights the cutting edge technology surrounding mobile digital security. Due to popular demand, GITEX Cloud Conference, the largest cloud platform in the Middle East will feature an expanded 3 day conference for the 2011 edition, with even more high calibre ICT captains of industry.
Helal Saeed Almarri, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai World Trade Centre, organiser of GITEX, said: “The unprecedented achievements at this year’s 30th anniversary of GITEX prove beyond doubt that the ICT opportunities in the Middle East are exceptional. From the incredible showcase of cutting edge technology and knowledge exchange with top global industry leaders, to an unparalleled business networking platform providing exclusive business opportunities GITEX's successful delivery across all spectrums has surpassed the industry's expectations.
It has once again affirmed that with continued leadership and innovation, GITEX shall continue to excel in further integrating the worlds of business and technology each year in Dubai.
More than 136,000 ICT professionals attended GITEX 2010, attracted by the unrivalled opportunity for new business with more exhibitors than ever before and the groundbreaking new elements to the show, including the Global Leaders Summit, featuring world class industry leaders, GITEX Cloud Confex and GITEX Mobile Apps World.
Over the course of the five day event, many exhibitors struck crucial high value deals and even more will benefit from established leads.
Without fail, there is always something new at GITEX,” said Milad Jabbour, President and CEO, Genius Edimax, which launched several new products during the week and enjoyed record interest. “In the first two days of this year alone, we recorded a 30 to 40 per cent increase in business leads over last year,” he added.
GITEX was also a great success for Panasonic, who presented the world’s largest 152” 3D Display and the world’s first 3D Camcorder. That was followed with news of a commitment to be the No1 green innovation electronics company. Anthony Peter, Associate Director and Group General Manager, Panasonic Marketing Middle East, said the response was overwhelming: “This could only be possible on a huge stage such as GITEX. Our association with the event has always paid rich dividends in terms of business leads, and this year we saw double the number of visitors to our stand.
In one of the many new international alliances, FiCall, a leading regional provider of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services, signed a memorandum of understanding with UK-based Center Group Global, in a deal worth US $120 million. His Highness Prince Abdelaziz Bin Meshaal Bin Abdelaziz Al Saud, Chairman of the Board, Ficall, said: “This was the first partnership for Ficall on such a large scale, which came about as a result of being at GITEX. This anniversary was a fantastic platform to create business leads.
In another GITEX business breakthrough, one of the region’s leading satellite service companies, Lunasat, announced a merger with IDMI, which accounts for 60% of Lebanon’s high speed internet connection. “We chose GITEX as the time and place because it really has become the business centre of the telecoms industry in the Middle East. It was an amazing event for us,” said Ziad T Monla, CEO of Lunasat, which has been an exhibitor with GITEX for seven years.
Since its humble beginnings in 1981 with just 46 exhibitors, GITEX continues to grow in strength and depth and has evolved into a global business driver with 3,500 companies attracting worldwide clients.
Khalifa Alforah, SVP Marketing, Etisalat, said: “From being simply an exhibition, over the last thirty years, GITEX has grown to become a trendsetter, giving a glimpse into the future of technology and pioneering initiatives. This year in particular has been a milestone event.
Many global ICT companies used this year’s event to significantly raise their profile in the region and attracted new audiences to their products and services. Dana Murugan, Senior Marketing Director, Oracle Middle East and Africa, added: GITEX is simply the ideal platform for Oracle to showcase the breadth and depth of its technology solutions, underline its market leadership, and renew its commitment to current and potential customers in the region.
Charbel Fakhoury, Regional General Manager, Microsoft Gulf, said: “GITEX has been an excellent opportunity for us to showcase our technology and product innovation. The event represents a great chance for senior management and decision makers to take a more holistic view of where they want to focus over the next year and we have received huge interest across the board.
The event also emphasised its importance as a knowledge sharing platform for the most pressing technological issues of the day. In a drive to increase regional ICT prospects, 2010 introduced essential new industry elements, including GITEX Mobile Apps and Content World, GITEX Cloud Confex and GITEX Global Leaders Summit sponsored by HCL.
Electronics giants, Sharp recorded similar figures. This was a great year for us at GITEX. We saw far more visitors walk through the doors, with an average of up to 40 percent more traffic to our stand,” said Tom Shimizu, General Manager Business Solution Division.
Almarri concluded: “The exceptional regional and international business networking opportunities presented at GITEX, which led to lucrative partnerships and business alliances for companies throughout the region, have cemented the Middle East’s position as the one of world’s fastest growing technology markets, and is a great testament to the advancement of the region’s ICT business community. And while this was hailed as most successful edition to date, we will continue to strive to ensure that each GITEX is even better than the last to support such tremendous opportunities.
GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK also highlighted Dubai World Trade Centre’s leading position as a world class venue with the advanced infrastructure to accommodate global event capacities. The recently opened Dubai World Trade Centre metro station catered to approximately three times the average volume of passengers during the week, and traffic management for the tens of thousands of visitors was hailed as a great success, with more shuttle buses and dedicated transport services than ever before.
GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK will return from 9-13 October 2011 at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
For more information:
Kurt Parry
Dubai World Trade Centre
T: 9714 308 6124
E: kurt.parry@dwtc.com
Posted by
VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
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