System Integrators 2011
THE REGION'S LEADING SYSTEM INTEGRATORS published as a supplement to:
System Integrators 2011
Publisher Dominic De Sousa COO Nadeem Hood Managing Director Richard Judd richard@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9126
We like SIs!
EDITORIAL Dave Reeder dave@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9106
Often the unsung heroes of the IT industry, SIs (System Integrators) are the invaluable link between IT vendors and clients with complex projects. Solutions today are rarely simple - they demand technologies from a range of vendors plus skills across a number of disciplines. Large vendors and their services divisions can scale and cope, but the invisible glue of the industry is the band of highly skilled, highly experienced and highly competent SIs. These are the companies that can help clients scope a project, make recommendations of the right technologies, source the right elements, implement, test and then support - all mostly with major vendors claiming the wins and implementations as their achievements. In truth, of course, it's all about teamwork. However, SIs have the real advantage of being able to be honest brokers, of having the ability to source products and solutions across a palette of suppliers and, critically, being in close touch with clients. It may not be a widely praised role, but without it this region would not have seen the breadth and depth of major ICT implementations over the ten years, often leapfrogging in complexity and imagination those in more mature markets. So we take this opportunity to focus on 20 of the region's top SIs. We urge you to research them more full and discover their full capabilities. We guarantee you'll be pleasantly surprised!
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CONTENTS Al Moayyed Al-Futtaim Technologies Ali Bin Ali Technology Solutions Alpha Data Emirates Computers Emitac EMW Global Technology Services (GTS) Gulf Business Machines (GBM) help AG Injazat ITQAN Jeraisy CCCS Key Information Technology (KIT) MDS Computers Paramount Computer Systems Saudi Business Machines (SBM) Seven Seas Computers Teksalah
online@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9100
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Š Copyright 2011 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.
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TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Ali Bin Ali Technology Solutions
www.alibinali.com/it/
ABATS is an IT solution provider, founded in 2002 to provide application services and related consulting and System Integration services to the Qatar market. ABATS strongly believe in building a longterm relationship with customers based on mutual benefits and on common trust. It believes that the market is in need for a total solution provider that perceives the customer business needs and delivers the right technology solution, coupled with the proper after sales support.
ABATS has complemented its internal skills by building special relationships with some of the leading regional and international solution providers to be able to offer the Qatari market with comprehensive implementation capabilities. These companies include Satyam, IntelDyne and Raya, all of which are leaders in their domains with world class reputation and with the ability to bring to projects thousands of skills in a variety of IT domains.
Alpha Data
www.alpha-data.com
Established in 1993 to provide state of the art solutions targeted at compute intensive applications, Alpha Data is committed to making the latest FPGA technology accessible to customers. Its products are interoperable with industry standards such as PMC, PCI, CompactPCI, PCI Express and VME with popular operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux and VxWorks. Alpha Data's technology strategy involves
ensuring that customers are first to market, with extended time in-market. In order to achieve this Alpha Data provides: • The largest and fastest FPGAs available • Software for industry standard operating systems • Choice of industry standard platforms • Seamless migration from development to embedded environments • High performance flexible I/O
Emirates Computers
www.emiratescomputers.ae
Three decades of experience have established Emirates Computers as a leading systems integrator and technology solutions provider in the Middle East. As a partner of choice for leading technology providers such as Cisco, Nokia, Oracle, Microsoft, Dell, EMC, Sun Microsystems, Vignette, Tandberg, Citrix, NCR, SGI, Roland and others, it covers our markets end-to-end, catering to both enterprises and consumers.
More than 30 years of experience and a deep understanding of the industry and local markets put it in a unique position to act as technology enablers and integrators to help clients achieve their objectives. Over the years, it has developed a culture of goodwill and good practice enabling it to deliver the right product and solution, with the right attitude for quality service at competitive rates.
Emitac
www.emitac.ae
Motivated by continuous pursuit for perfection and excellence, Emitac stands for innovation and creativity, with strong dedication to deliver exceptional quality to customers. Its product and service mix extends along its customers' value chains, giving them powerful competitive advantage. For three decades, Emitac has been providing
value-added technology that drives leading regional and multinational organisations. Today, having employed a highly skilled workforce and a sound technology infrastructure, it is on the path to continuous development. Its constant drive for operational excellence constitutes the group's powerful business philosophy.
Global Technology Services (GTS) A full-fledged IT company actively providing IT services in the Middle East and Africa. In addition, it is the IT service provider for the entire ENOC Group of companies. The core businesses of GTS are: • Oracle Utility Customer Care & Billing Solution provider • ERP implementation (Oracle E-Business Suite)
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and CRM • Business Intelligence (BI), Data Warehousing (DW) and OLAP/ROLAP/MOLAP • Oracle Corporate Performance Management • Onsite and offsite support services GTS is a Certified Platinum Partner and winner of Middle East Business Excellence Award given by Oracle.
Microsoft Partner of the Year
For the second consecutive year, ALMOAYYED Computers has won the Microsoft Partner of the Year Award. This reafďŹ rms our position as a market leader and is conďŹ rmation of our excellence in innovation and implementation of Microsoft based technology. For over three decades, we have been the partner of choice for the region's government organizations and MNC's. We're proud to continue to serve them with a spirit of excellence.
First Bahraini ICT Company to win Channel Middle East Award
Ranked among ACN's Top System Integrators in the Middle East
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Venkat Raghavan, General Manager, Al-Futtaim Technologies
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Al-Futtaim Technologies A
l-Futtaim Technologies is a leader in converged Systems Integration and a member of the Al-Futtaim group. It provides complete business solutions to large, medium and small customers that include networking solutions, IP telephony, infrastructure, contact centre solutions, business applications, ELV systems, professional audio visual solutions and managed services. The solutions are further complemented by services that include project management, installation, testing, commissioning and after-sales maintenance contracts. Al-Futtaim Technologies partners with best-in-class vendors such as Panasonic, Alcatel-Lucent, Eutech and Microsoft Business Solutions, amongst others, to deliver a full spectrum of solutions to customers. Al-Futtaim Technologies is based out of the UAE and has branch offices in Doha, Qatar and across Pakistan to service these burgeoning markets.
State of the market Venkat Raghavan, General Manager of Al-Futtaim Technologies, outlines the current state of the market and how the company is addressing new technology and customer trends.
How does Al-Futtaim Technologies view the current state of the market? Are we back into a major project investment phase or still at a focus on smaller, ROI-heavy projects? Regionally speaking, there are major projects that are either on-going or on the anvil - examples are in the power sector, education and health. In some pockets within this geography, there is a need to consolidate, as much infrastructure has
been laid in advance. On the other hand, within corporate enterprises there will be always a focus on ROI whenever an investment is considered in IT. There should always be a business driver for IT.
What vertical sectors are currently delivering most revenue to you? Are you seeing projects delayed in some sectors? It is difficult to pinpoint a particular sector as in our case the distribution has been quite spread. Our revenues in new customer acquisitions have come from the power sector, hospitality and infrastructure. On the other hand, the finance and services sectors have also contributed significantly from the client base.
What technologies are front of mind with your customers at present? Where are the key areas of interest? In terms of new builds, especially hospitality, there has been an accent on convergence. These clients see a value in bringing the low current systems such as building automation systems and security systems, together with ICT solutions. For instance, integration is desired between guest room automation systems and telephony in bringing unique experience to the guest in the hotel. In the enterprises, it is about enhancing productivity, promoting collaboration between employees and, of course, the all important customer retention, which means there is an investment in the technologies and software applications that aid them.
What sort of projects come up for discussion most often? In the financial sector we see that the clients are looking at taking contact centre
platforms to the next level. Contact management needs to go beyond voice and incorporate text chat for instance over the Web. In another prominent services organisation, they are looking at customer knowledge management essentially business intelligence - mining their customer information for rendering more focused and targeted services.
In terms of solutions offered to the market, which do you view as critical for customers and which are 'nice to have'? It depends on the sector. But I think anything that saves on costs including enhancement of productivity and promotes client retention and new customer acquisition is a must have. Gadget improvements are nice-to-haves!
Are the different sectors (enterprise and SME) looking for different things at present? SMEs used to settle for lesser functionality in the past. It is not the case now.
What technology areas are you looking at now to invest in for 2012 and beyond, in terms of skills, product sets and so on? We are investing in our capabilities of applications development and integration. This will be in the areas of contact centres and, in general, in XML integration.
What's the biggest challenge facing Al-Futtaim Technologies at present? In the business of technology services delivery, we are reliant on knowledge workers and therefore the challenge has always been in the human capital. The recruitment, training and retention of the people and getting the best out of them! It is no different now, and in times of varying economic activity, it is the additional challenge of balancing the team strength.
Al-Futtaim Technologies
PO Box 5866 Dubai, United Arab Emirates P: +971 4 397 7800 F: +971 4 397 2244 www.alfuttaimtechnologies.com
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ALMOAYYED Computers
SM Hussaini, General Manager
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he ICT industry in the Middle East is a highly competitive space with companies jostling each other for lucrative contracts and recognition. However, our position as a market leader for innovative and large scale IT projects in the Kingdom of Bahrain for over three decades has placed us in an enviable position. Recently, for the second year in a row, ALMOAYYED Computers has won Microsoft’s prestigious Partner of the Year Award, putting us in an elite group of countryspecific partners. Key to our success as an IT company is our unmatched experience and expertise, our partnerships with top global tech
brands, our impeccable corporate practices and our skilled sales and support team. The relationships between these factors form the core of our company, which extends to all areas of our operations. As a leader, I believe in a flat organisation which values transparency. As a company, we’re more than just the solutions we deploy and the systems we implement. All members of our team work well together, respect one another and adopt common organisation goals. The tone of success is established within these core ideals. As a result we remain the technology partner of choice for a vast majority of IT users in Bahrain for over 30 years. Growth has been a keyword for us in the recent years. From winning key government contracts for the standardisation of the IT infrastructure across 60 ministries in the Bahrain government to the implementation of core banking solutions for major banks, our robust and strong presence underlines our commitment to the region. Our key partnerships in the region include HP, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Symantec, Citrix and others, to name a few. The on-going journey is to continue to apply best-ofbreed corporate practices to effectively solve customer challenges and meet the expectations of both internal and external stakeholders. During this time of recovery, we are focused on building on our loyalty to our customers and partners and scaling up to meet complex business needs across multiple verticals and sectors.
Business focus
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he flagship division of the Bahrain based conglomerate - ALMOAYYED International Group - ALMOAYYED Computers was among the first companies in the Kingdom to focus solely on Information Technology. Today it is the leading systems, solutions and technical services company in the island Kingdom.
Almoayyed Computers is an ICT powerhouse with a clear focus on key sectors of government, finance, education and retail. A seamless combination of product offerings, services, personnel and strategic partnerships have made the company the ICT service provider of choice among companies across the
IT innovation in the financial sector With Bahrain playing a vital role in promoting Islamic banking and being the financial hub for the region, ALMOAYYED has taken the lead in partnering with key players in this arena. The company is helping a good majority of banks to reap benefits by implementing banking solutions. Its range of IT solutions include consultancy and core applications forming a all-inclusive bouquet of deliverables required by the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector, in addition to various infrastructure offerings. General Manager SM Hussaini, elaborating on his company’s dominance in this sector says, “Our solutions for the BFSI sector are not static and unbending. We ensure our customers specific needs are met by offering customised on-demand services, thereby ensuring smooth operations that are built to their specifications and practices.” These policies have gone a long way towards ensuring the company’s dominant status in this sector. By far, it is a preferred choice of a majority of banking and financial institutions in the region.
Product areas The company is a one stop solution base, beginning with strategy and building on to execution and exhaustive, ongoing support and troubleshooting. Some prominent offerings include: ERP, CRM, banking solutions, BI, IP telephony, data centre solutions and supply chain management. Partnerships include HP, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Symantec, Citrix, etc.
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Key milestones
region. “The need of the hour was to identify strategic sectors for business growth and subsequently innovating and implementing exact solutions to meet critical business needs,” according to General Manager SM Hussaini. The company addresses enterprise wide IT needs through its offerings of products and services that cater to market-specific vertical needs as well as horizontal infrastructure requirements. It provides end-to-end IT solutions and represents global brands in software, hardware, networking and security arenas. ALMOAYYED Computers' well-defined application, infrastructure and services portfolios cater to a variety of industries/ business sectors including government, banking and financial institutions, educational institutions, real estate companies, healthcare sector, trading and hospitality companies and retailers in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Speaking on its focus on specific sectors in the market, Hussaini elaborates, “We ensure a robust market presence in both the public and private sector by enhancing on our value offerings, besides the initial implementation and integration. If a customer decides to spend substantially on his IT infrastructure, he will expect a return on his investment. This can be in terms of increased productivity, automation of mundane tasks, etc. For us this is the key to sustained growth in various sectors.
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Implement the solution and then spend quality time ensuring its constant uptime and optimal productivity.” Over the past few years, governments have focused on IT productivity and implementation. In Bahrain, the government has initiated key projects geared towards a more e-friendly government sector. ALMOAYYED Computers is very much a part of this vision and has been the technology provider of choice for varied government organisations. From the standardisation of IT infrastructure across 60 government ministries, implementation of ERP solutions for the Kingdom’s leading education evaluation authority to streamlining the electronic integration of public sector in the country, the company has scored a series of key contracts in this all important sector. “We’re very much a part of Bahraini Vision 2030. By doing what we do best, namely IT implementation and systems integration, we’re helping develop existing and high potential growth sectors. It is a source of great pride within our company,” says Hussaini. “The fact that we push for government contracts brings into focus our commitment towards enhancing Bahrain government’s ICT infrastructure.” In an important deal for the company, it has partnered with the Bahrain e-Government Authority in streamlining the electronic integration of public sector in the country.
ALMOAYYED Computers' most recent achievement is winning the Microsoft Partner of the Year for 2011. This is the second consecutive year the company has won this prestigious Microsoft acclaim. “Winning this award for the second consecutive year is a key milestone, reaffirming our efforts and practices within the ICT industry in Bahrain. Our leadership position in this arena combined with our aligned efforts with Microsoft has led us to effectively serve the competitive and ever-growing GCC market,” says General Manager SM Hussaini. “This underlines our strong project management capabilities and in-depth know-how of Microsoft technology while implementing the IT needs of the region. During this time of recovery, this motivates us to further deliver quality-oriented, innovative solutions to our clientele.” In another recent regional power list, the company was ranked among the Top 20 Systems Integrators in the Middle East. The company has also won the 2010 Commercial & SMB Reseller of the Year Award from Channel Middle East magazine, making it the first Bahraini company to win this acclaim. And, earlier this year, Cisco chose Almoayyed Computers as its Certified Partner for Data Center Unified Computing in the Gulf. It is the sole Bahraini ICT company to achieve this coveted distinction. The status confirms that company meets the rigorous standards set forth by Cisco in terms of selling, designing, installing, and extending support services for its Unified Computing technologies. In addition, the company has achieved a series of certifications and partnerships from global technology leaders such as Microsoft, HP, Cisco, Symantec, Citrix, Oracle. etc.
ALMOAYYED Computers
Division of ALMOAYYED International Group PO Box 26259 Manama Kingdom of Bahrain P: +973 17700777 F: +973 17701211 www.almoayyedcomputers.com
EMW Expertise:
EMW Credentials:
Extensive information and communication technology experience Top performers: education, hospitality, finance, media, retail and public Extensive project management experience Extensive call center experience Local, regional and global customer base Impressive clientele list Consultancy services
NWME Award for the Systems Integrator of the Year 2011 Rated among the Topmost System Integrators in the Middle East Region 2011 ICT Achievement Award for the Systems Integrator of the Year 2010 Arab Technology Award for Enterprise Systems Integrator of the Year 2009 NME Award for Best Networking Integrator in the Middle East 2008 Top 10 Companies to Watch ITP Network Middle East Innovation Award Foundry Network Exceptional Contribution Award Juniper Best Partner System Engineer MEA Award Trapeze Smart Mobile Best Performing Partner – Middle East Region Avaya Partner of the Year 2007 for Converged Solutions Avaya Best IP and Mobility Implementation Award
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
EMW ME Commitment to the market EMW ME is among the top ten Systems Integrators powering IT implementations in the Middle East. Having supplied products and services for who-is-who in this market for the last eight years and being winner of the Best Systems Integrator for four consecutive years, we pride ourselves as "Customers First" advocates. Our business focus has evolved over the years from the traditional to the disruptive in terms of transforming business requirements to successful IT solutions and within budget. We are driven by customer demands which last year had been all about cost savings and doing more with less which gave us the opportunity to realign ourselves review our solutions portfolios and invest heavily in those who are of interest to our clients. This year, however, we are seeing movement
Serjios El-Hage, CEO, EMW ME on stalled projects fewer green fields more of upgrades/expansions which were overdue. Most of the investments we've seen are geared towards commercial money making enterprises rather than public sectors due to their budget
Company overview E
MW is a multinational company headquartered in the USA, founded in 1995 by engineers and managers who formerly held senior positions in well known telecommunications and IT companies to pursue their vision for this new company, based on the principles of excellence, integrity and above all respect and care for the customer. EMW provides excellence in Systems Integration and technical services in the fields of IT, networks and telecommunications to commercial, government and organisations.
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In 2004, EMW commenced operations in the UAE to capitalise on the available opportunities in the region. In the Middle East, we specialise in end-to-end infrastructure and business enablers which include various vendor specialisations and partnerships that are best of breed across the globe. We pride ourselves on delivering solutions and expertise coupled with support in a record time around the clock 365 days a year. EMW has the ability to build and customise specific requirements to meet or exceed our customers' expectations in line with industry standards.
cuts and austerity measures. Sectors such as hospitality are starting to spend again in order to keep up with demand, traditionaly during summer months when the tourist season is low. Another niche area we invested heavily in based on CxOs' feedback is managing and securing smart devices, since 198% mobile penetration in the UAE alone can pose multiple breaches in their enterprises. Statistics also show that the whole industry is moving away from traditional desktops to smart devices shedding CAPEX without compromising productivity. Add the cloud to the mix and you have yourself a true secure mobile office where everything is accessible from anywhere through your mobile.
Within a short span, EMW is already recognised in the region as a smart convergence and applications expert. We are certified and specialised in several industry leaders: Arista Networks, BlackBerry RIM, BlueCoat, Brocade, Cisco Systems, ININ, Juniper Networks, Metelco, Microsoft, MobileIron, TeleOpti, TigerTMS and Trapeze Networks. Our technical staff is dedicated to performing very challenging and complex projects that require various level of expertise in this multi vendor environment. EMW is one of the few local solution providers that represent the above vendors. EMW continuously introduces proof of concept technologies that differentiates the leaders from the followers. These are totally configured and tested by EMW first then deployed in controlled environment at
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
existing or new customers. Our commitment is to show enterprise how technology enables them to achieve their business objectives in the most cost effective manner over converged platforms which combine the traditional with the non-traditional. It is the process of disruptive innovation at its best that creates the demand where there is none. EMW leads by example, provides real life unbiased independent case studies and unfettered access to existing customers that have deployed similar enterprise wide solutions and engage in constructive discussions on the benefits that can be realised to our new customers. Almost all our high profile customers' wins comprise of very complex and highly integrated solutions and whoever started with us then is still with us today. This is our litmus test and the catalyst to our continuous success. We are a company with local presence but global reach. Our core business is providing information and communication technology services in the areas of planning, engineering and implementation; project and program management; systems integration; operations and maintenance; and training. Our competencies range over all aspects of inside and outside plant; feeder, access and inter-office networks; switching, transmission, multiplexing and data communications equipment; network management, operations support, and asset management systems; information assurance; web enabling; applications software; and beyond. While staying abreast of today's technologies, we keep a watchful eye on technology trends, and are very serious about future-proofing our solutions.
Customers Local customers include: • Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority • Commercial Bank International • DHL • Jumeirah Group • University of Sharjah • Showtime • PAN Emirates • Radisson Blu, Dubai Media City
Systems Integrator Award 2011 - again!
Nadeem Hood, COO of CPI, presented the Systems Integrator of the Year 2011 Award to Serjios EL-Hage, CEO of EMW ME
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MW won the Network World Middle East Award for Systems Integrator of the Year 2011, recognising EMW's excellence in delivering projects on time and on budget ensuring customers receive best of breed technologies for their current and future business needs. Speaking on the occasion, CEO Serjios EL-Hage commented, "We are honoured to be recognised as the leading Systems Integrator in the region for the fourth consecutive year. EMW is ecstatic to have received this award and we thank our customers. suppliers and the panel of judges that made it possible. Winning re-enforces our value add and commitment to this market on account of our services and support capabilities to always deliver high-quality in a multi-vendor environment. We constantly strive to utilise our unrivaled global experience and consummate expertise to exceed our customers' expectations in terms of performance, reliability and cost of ownership.' EMW ME has also won several accolades over the years including the ICT
Achievement for the Systems Integrator of the Year 2010, Arab Technology Award for Enterprise Systems Integrator of the Year 2009 and Network Middle East Award for Best Networking Integrator in the Middle East 2008. Arabian Computer News classified EMW among the 'Topmost Systems Integrators in the Middle East'. Other accolades include 'Top 10 companies to watch', 'Network Middle East Innovations Award 2006', 'Avaya Partner of the Year for Converged Solutions', 'Avaya Best IP and Mobility Implementation Award', 'Foundry Networks Exceptional Contribution Award', 'Juniper Best Partner System Engineer MEA Award' and 'Trapeze Smart Mobile Best Performing Partner Middle East Region'.
EMW ME
PO Box 454518 Dubai, United Arab Emirates P: +971 4 368 6700 F: +971 4 390 8680 www.emw-me.com
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TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Gulf Business Machines (GBM)
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ounded in 1990, Gulf Business Machines (GBM) is the leading IT solutions provider in the region fulfilling the IT requirements of local, regional and international organisations in the GCC. A spin-off from IBM, GBM is the sole distributor for IBM - excluding selected IBM products and services throughout the GCC, except for Saudi Arabia. GBM's momentum was further enhanced in 1999, when the team secured the Cisco portfolio. GBM now holds the highest level of recognition in the region from Cisco, the Gold Partner Status, in addition to the Learning Partner status. Today, GBM is one of the largest IT solutions providers in the Middle East, with more than 20 solid strategic partnerships forged with internationally-recognised IT solution providers. This means that GBM can offer an extensive range of IT infrastructure, IT solutions and services ranging from consulting, resource deployment, integration and aftersales support. GBM's experience and expertise span among multiple sectors and particularly e-government, banking and finance, telecommunications, retail and oil.
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TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Leading the market
Founded in 1990, Gulf Business Machines (GBM) is the leading IT solutions provider in the region - a position regularly acknowledged by Middle East press awards. CEO Cesare Cardone explains how the company has prospered even in challenging economic times.
Cesare Cardone receiving the Reseller Middle East System integrator of the year award 2011
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or many companies in the IT sector, we were living in a paradise before the global financial crisis - growth was easy and enormous. The problem was, when growth is easy, people tend to ignore their mistakes. When times get harder, then you must take notice of them and learn from them so you invest in the right opportunities. Whereas, before the crisis, customers would buy for the future - in other words, they bought for growth now in times of budgetary restraint, they're looking for partners of good standing with the right technologies. And that's GBM. Although we're no longer at the 30-50% growth of the boom years, we've just closed the half year on 18% growth - that's a tribute to how we've refocused our business over the last couple of years. The big change in the market has been the shift by customers from capital
investment in infrastructure to leveraging their systems for real benefit. That has meant more spend on things like managed services and disaster recover, where GBM is strong. We've also developed new focused offerings for gaps in the market - business continuity, for example. Yes, we are strong on technology in this area but it's equally about processes and discipline, so our strong experience and skills base work well for us. This shift from capex to opex is, I think, a sign of the increasing maturity of the regional market. For us, from the six locations we have in the region, the name of the game is simply this: what are the right niches for us to invest in that will deliver the right solutions to customer demands? Equally important, however, is knowing which niches don't play to those same strengths. For example,
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a large market but do we have the right strengths for it? In a sense, our challenge is this: we have a massive portfolio of products and technologies, but where are we most credible? Business continuity is clearly an enormous opportunity for us. Virtualisation is clearly another one. It's very mature and many of our customers are investing here. In fact, I expect just about all of our customers to be involved in virtualisation. And the cloud? Of course, virtualisation underpins it but I think there is more enthusiasm for private cloud at present, although budget allocation does seem a problem area. The public cloud is more complex but I think there's a real opportunity for new SMBs as it will deliver to them both growth and flexibility. Security remains a real issue, however, and I don't believe we'll see many mission critical systems entrusted to the public cloud for a while. A big issue for the whole industry is skills, although I have seen a dramatic improvement in the 11 years since I joined GBM. My view is simple: the strength of GBM rests in our collective skills so we will continue to invest heavily in training and in developing our staff. At present, we have around 1,000 staff across the region and are adding maybe 20% to that annually. So we have the technologies, we have the skills and we have the experience. Our challenge is how to leverage our enormous product line and complex offerings. I believe we are rising to that challenge and the depth and breadth of our customer base is testimony to that. [As told to Dave Reeder]
Gulf Business Machines PO Box 203 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates P: +971 2 627 5165 F: +971 2 627 2498 www.gbm4ibm.com
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TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
HELP AG Where we are in the market help AG is an enterprise security reseller and security system integrator with a full spectrum of enterprise security services and solutions. We are currently the leader in information security in the UAE, which can be testified by leading end customers, leading IT security vendor principles and the fact that we have the best human resources available on the market especially where our technical team is concerned. We have a unique position because we specialise solely on information security, which is seen as one of the top 5 investment areas by the enterprise customers. We've seen tremendous growth during the last three years, despite the financial crisis we grew 80-100% every year which gave us the unique position to reinvest back into qualified service delivery and support services portfolio linked to our clients who can obtain information security excellence from us. Our strength is well known on the market and it is the quality of our technical services. Our truly unbeatable key differentiator and what forms the core of our business is our superior level of technical expertise and our technical focus. We at help AG operate with 80% of our workforce being technical engineers and consultants and 20% of our workforce forming management, administration and back office staff. Our support services are unique in the local information security market. We're able to align with the principles delivering support services on their behalf and professional services we deliver on behalf of the majority of our vendors. We introduced a professional customer support ticketing system allowing us to track open customer support cases with customers in a more sufficient and automated fashion, enhancing overall support delivery of help AG services. help AG currently handles more than 500 support incidents a year all within SLAs between customers and help AG. Customer support system currently allows the customer
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to engage with help AG in different ways: toll free tell number 24/7, e-mail integrated ticketing system, access to help AG support services over our Web application, which is accessible by customers. All active support customers are activated with unique account system allowing immediate SLA reporting and case tracking. Next generation evolution of our support system allows integrated smart phone access and delivery of iPhone client application, which will allow customers to easily access and track cases on the go. Currently no other partner in the Middle East delivers the same tools and functionality on their helpdesk as we do. The advantage to the customer is that they can easily track cases and status, which saves them time and allows for more efficient and professional support experience. We addressed the issue of not having demo equipment by partners and vendors in the sufficient way by introducing the concept of help AG Lab, which carries test equipment of every focused technology supported and deployed by help AG Middle East allowing both help AG engineers and customers ease our access when testing functionalities and solutions. Currently help AG Lab consists of products of value of more than a million dollars. These demo boxes are constantly either at help AG Lab facilities or used in the proof of concept and test deployment and verifications at the customer sites. help AG works in close collaboration with leading manufacturers of IT-security – qualification, certification and processes are the guarantees for quality in implementation
and operation. Best Practice (eg according to ITIL) and the adherence to standards (eg ISO27001 and ADSIC) ensure a structured procedure for project implementation, consulting and operation. help AG has the only ISO expert in the region as chairperson of SC27 (working body of SC 2700X). Even if there's a lack of features coming from the vendor solutions, we do have the resources to develop applications to overcome the limitations posed – a truly unmatched level of technical skill and innovation within the reseller community. As an information security services and solutions provider we are much more focused on end customer requirements - if we talk about information security it is all about confidentiality, integrity and availability of information and data. Having said so, the vertical markets we work in are diversified - from financial institutions to government entities, ISP, Telcos and energy. Every customer with a complex information security requirement is either our existing customer or potential prospect. As we talk about IT security details, as a general rule customer projects should not be disclosed, however what we can say is that out of ten financial institutions, eight of them are working very closely with help AG like Dubai Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, ADCB and others. The same applies to other vertical markets. All help AG customers are 1,000+ user companies, which captures the enterprise market in the Middle East.
View from the top
G
enerally speaking we are very optimistic about 2011 and 2012 due to the fact that the market is maturing all the time and government sector as well as enterprise organisations understand more and more the importance of applying information security not only with regards to hardware and software but
also policies, procedures, processes and the most important factor - people. 90% of IT spending today goes on infrastructure despite the fact that 70% of vulnerabilities happen on the application layer. Organisations needs to spend their budget much more cautiously by accepting risk exposure. We spend a lot of time coming up
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Stephan Berner, Managing Director, help AG
Award winner
A
t the recent Reseller Middle East Awards, help AG received the Enterprise Reseller of the Year award, for the strength of its technical services and strategic consulting added to its portfolio of products. The product portfolio includes over 15
with skillset matrixes to identify technical consultants' strength and weaknesses and put a plan together where the engineers and consultants get trained in alignment with our business objectives. Our technical consultants are certified on every product we carry. We invest very heavily in our technical people and their training to continue always being the top partner of choice for enterprise customers with the most complex technical environments in the Middle East. All our principal vendors such as Juniper, F5, Iron Port, Palo Alto, Blue Coat, Symantec/ PGP, Arbor and others use help AG as their professional services resource. We can easily say that we have increased consulting and PS business by over 200% just in 2010. help AG is regularly utilised
vendor solutions built around the data centre and new technologies like Web application firewalls and advanced malware protection. In 2010, help AG signed on new vendors including Palo Alto, Sourcefire and Fire Eye. Currently help AG is the only authorised service partner and training centre in the Middle East for Palo Alto and in a short span has already received the MENA Partner of the Year award. help AG was also presented Partner of the Year award, based on its strength in the enterprise security area and professional services, by Symantec in
Alexandra Pisetskaya, Marketing Communications Manager, receiving the award for help AG
by the vendors as their final resort for handling issues at customers’ sites where other companies have failed and this specifically has brought help AG consultants to various customers all over the Middle East and outside the region. Talking about IT in general and security in particular, it is a fast moving market and technologies shift every three months. It is expected by our customers that we are not only up to date with the state-of-the-art technologies on the market, they also rely on our knowledge on identifying new risks, threats and vulnerabilities that might cost them money. Currently our product portfolio consists of technologies from over 15 leading IT vendors. We have solely brought new technologies to the Middle East market, the most recent ones being Nitro Security, Palo Alto, Sourcefire, Fire Eye and Mi-Token.
2010. After Symantec’s acquisition of PGP, help AG is the only master specialised PGP partner in the Middle East. Revenue from Symantec’s portfolio grew 500% over the previous year. help AG is amongst the largest F5 resellers in the region and the only certified Gold Unity partner. It has successfully implemented protection for some critical Web applications in the region ranging from e-banking Web sites to government Web sites. help AG was recommended to its customer base by the vendor as being competent to manage complex environments. It has similar vendor recommendations from Cisco Iron Port, Sourcefire, Infoblox, Juniper Networks and, from this. professional services business increased by over 200% in 2010-11.
help AG
PO Box 500741 Dubai, United Arab Emirates P: +971 4 440 5666 F: +971 4 363 6742 www.helpag.com
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TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
to find success because of the level of trust our clients place in us and the breadth of our accomplishments.
ITQAN
The company
State of the market General Manager Feras Al Jabi provides an overview of Itqan's position in the market and the technology trends impacting its customers.
We have been more fortunate than many of our competitors during the challenging economic situation of the last two years because, for a number of years, we have focused on sections of the market which are stable and have potential, in terms of IT spending. The public sector and energy industry are not cyclical and dependant on outside factors as is so much of the regional IT market's customer base. Also the major capital restructuring we have seen in some parts of our markets has not really affected us because the size of the projects we undertake - typically under $1m - can be signed off under a CIO's direction. In terms of government and energy, we saw 2009 use the momentum of the previous year's spend; now, in 2011, we're seeing the cycle start again as hardware needs replacing and software needs upgrading. At the same time, customers are looking hard at new technology areas such as cloud, virtualisations and new CPUs. Of course, it's true that our clients have been looking for more specialised solutions and services to justify their investment. That means new suppliers have entered the market, such as global systems integrators new to this market. Does that worry us? Of course, more competition is a challenge; equally, some new players to the market have wanted to leverage the reach and reputation of Itqan, so that has helped us. So, for example, we've taken on SumTotal
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Feras Al Jabi, General Manager, ITQan Systems, the leader in talent management software solutions. Overall, looking at our markets, we can say that spending is a consistent trend 65-70% on infrastructure and the rest on services and software. So spending is on new hardware and networking technologies rather than, for example, ERP systems. One thing that is clear in the market is the drive to outsource support and maintenance - a shift from capex to opex. Our challenge? Predicting the growth of spending and so the need to allocate resources against trends. Project finance is also an issue - banks are completely negative at present on supporting IT projects. As to the future, we expanding - not into new vertical sectors but into territories. Last year we opened an office in Al Ain to support and expand our client base; shortly, we'll be serving the Western Region via Madinat Zayed. Both of these areas have very good potential for us. And we've made some very good sales and implementations so far this year - major projects for, amongst others, ADCO, the RTA and the Ministry of Health. In a market where there's lots of new competition, we believe Itqan will continue
ITQAN is the UAE's leading systems integrator known for providing enterprise clients with world-class solutions addressing their local business needs. It offers state of the art technologies including portals and content management solutions, imaging, archiving, document management and workflow automation solutions, healthcare information solutions, ERP, infrastructure solutions and CRM. With a multi-national team of more than 100 IT professionals, the company has offices located in major UAE cities and several business partners across the Gulf. Established in 1984 as Al Bawardi Computers, it became ITQAN in 1997 and is 100% nationally owned. ITQAN is the Arabic word for 'perfection'. As a hardware reseller in its early years, the company was the first to bring Compaq into the Middle East market, followed by the launch of Microsoft Middle East operations in 1991 to provide office automation services through 'Gold Partnership' status. As the market evolved, ITQAN re-positioned its portfolio offerings and re-structured the organisation to focus on application solutions. In 2000, it began to offer implementation services for on-line government services, document management and healthcare management solutions, demonstrating real added value to customers. With its growing focus on implementing application solutions, ITQAN has built a dedicated team of highly skilled professionals and a set of operational competences that form the underpinnings of its competitive advantage. Today, ITQAN is the preferred local systems integrator and application solutions provider for major market sectors such as government, semi-government, oil and gas, real estate, telecommunications, banking and finance. The company is a recipient of numerous quality and excellence awards:
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
The Best System Integrator - Arab Technology Awards 2007, The Best ICT Company - Arab Technology Awards 2006, Microsoft Winning Customer Award in 2006 and 2004, Gulf Excellence Forum Award 2000, Middle East Information Technology Award as the IT Company of the Year 1999 and Dubai Quality Appreciation Award.
Quality has always been a driver to ITQAN. It has achieved three ISO standards - ISO 9001-2008, ISO 27001information security standard - and was the first system integrator in the region to achieve ISO 20000 (Service Management standard). It was also the the first system integrator to receive the Sheikh Khalifa Appreciation Certificate (2005-2006)
WRDC gets the ITQAN ECM treatment
T
he Western Region Development Council (WRDC) plays a key role in working closely with the relevant government entities within the Abu Dhabi Emirate to improve social development, education, healthcare and infrastructure for the region. It is also the organisation’s role to promote Al-Gharbia province locally, regionally and internationally to attract investment and tourism. Seeing the importance of the organisation and the crucial role it plays in the country, WRDC needed an Intranet portal to boost employee productivity through enabling collaboration, access to information and resources via the automation powered by workflows and business processes. The portal would also work as a document management system, where documents would be archived and eventually stored, resulting in a comprehensive repository of information. In this age, IT cannot be a mere luxury or a support tool. On the contrary, it’s an indispensable and necessary catalyst for better corporate performance. WRDC, being a relatively fresh organisation, realised this very early on and subsequently called for bidders to propose the best portal solution. In short, WRDC needed an easy to use Web interface that allowed end users to view targeted content, easily navigable using either organisational or functional page taxonomy. Secure content needed to be routed to groups, organisations and individuals as required. And a richtext content management system would
allows system administrators to deliver content plus a WIKI environment that allows end-users to create their own page content. In addition, the system needed easy to use search facilities, customisation features, easy templating, analytical reporting and integration with existing enterprise applications such as Business Portal (Moss 2007), Time Reporting system, IT Helpdesk system, using SOA. To meet these needs, ITQAN utilised Microsoft’s SharePoint 2007. Seeing that a document management system was required alongside the portal, ITQAN collaborated with Websio for the scanning and archiving component of the project. The main Websio product used in this implementation was SharePoint Scanner Plug-in 2010, which is a tool for scanning documents right into a document library. The plug-in uses advanced compression technologies to enable best document quality with the smallest file size. SharePoint Scanner Plug-in 2010 Professional also includes option to convert image to text (perform OCR): scanned documents may be saved as searchable PDF.
and has also received the Dubai Quality Appreciation Award as the IT Company of the Year (Services) in 1999. Its strategy is to be close to customers. With offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Al Ain and the Western Region, it is currently not more than about 100km from its clients in UAE. A further office in Ras Al Khaimah is being planned.
This implementation actually came about after WRDC were exposed to a highlight in ITQAN’s resume of portal implementations, which is the portal for Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC). WRDC was greatly impressed with the ADEC portal, which prompted its partnership with ITQAN for this IT venture. There were particular customisations that caught WRDC’s attention in ADEC’s portal and wanted their replication in this portal, such as the surveys feature, weather forecast, prayer times, event focus, employee search, and specific e-services. Besides possessing the functionalities of a portal in terms promoting collaboration, creating automation and easing access to information, WRDC’s portal contained a uniquely comprehensive and advanced document management system that encompassed document digitisation, records management, document exchange, maintenance of authority files, interfaces for internal users, storage management and dissemination. The complete document management provided in this portal improved the level of efficiency in WRDC, allowing its users to accrue their efforts into more productive and worthy activities. The portal is also integrated with Microsoft Active Directory and this integration enables the employee search function that is included in the portal.
ITQAN
PO Box 22079 Dubai, United Arab Emirates P: +971 4 335 4200 F: +971 4 335 4100 www.itqan.ae
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TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Key Information Technology (KIT) K
IT has been in the forefront of Information Technology solution provider in the UAE and the Middle East since 1980. With 250+ employees, offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and representation in the Middle East, KIT is very well positioned to fulfill the IT needs of business in the Middle East. KIT is an IT solutions provider in enterprise computing, servers, storage, networking, power protection, hospitality - PMS & POS, system integration, printing solutions, project management, security, wireless, mobile solutions, software, consulting and outsourcing.
KIT caters to the IT product and service needs of governments, corporates, multinational companies, hotels and restaurants, banks, educational institutions, healthcare, small and home offices in partnership with world leading brands like Dell, APC, Micros Fidelio, Microsoft, Symantec, Acer, Cisco, Avaya, Bartech Novell, Tiger, 3Com, Oracle and Verbatim. The alliances with application developers, service capabilities, service provider status, investments in infrastructure and spares bring tremendous benefits to big and small customers in the most cost efficient manner.
Cloud expertise for hospitality sector
K
IT is harnessing the cloud to supply Micros Fidelio's hospitality solutions to the independent hotel market in the United Arab Emirates. "KIT recognises the cost and maintenance of servers and infrastructure is something many independent hoteliers have reluctantly dealt with until now.
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The combination of the world's leading hospitality software from Micros and KIT's know-how have resulted in a highly attractive, fully featured, cost effective solution," according to Sudhakaran Nair, KIT's General Manager. "Micros' solutions improve operational efficiency and increase occupancies
whilst KIT's skills take the technology headache away. Together the solution drives revenue, reduces costs and improves bottom line profits." The Micros hotel solution - Fidelio Suite8 and Micros e7 - is unlike traditional systems. Suite8 hotel management system is seamlessly connected to the outside world with on-line travel sites, such as Expedia and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Combined with sophisticated and easy to use rate management tools, the system provides hoteliers with a platform to ensure their properties are always fully occupied. Micros' e7 POS encompasses all of the basic functions and is designed to run in a standalone environment without a back office computer or server with the benefit of being capable of scaling up. Together these applications offer the independent hotel market the ideal, modern solution. The private cloud computing initiative has spanned multiple business verticals. It applies especially well to the hotel sector where IT is not usually considered as important. With a skilled team of engineers and 24/7 support, the independent hospitality industry will benefit from a corporate group's IT team. Micros Fidelio is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Micros Systems. It supplies enterprise applications to the global hotel, catering and the retail sector. There are currently more than 330,000 Micros systems installed in full-service and fastfood restaurants, hotels, motels, casinos, leisure, entertainment and trading companies in more than 160 countries across all continents. Furthermore, there are hotel management systems, central reservation systems and customer information solutions in use in more than 26,000 hotels across the globe. In addition, 100,000 retail stores worldwide work with POS and loss prevention solutions from the subsidiary Micros Retail.KIT is an IT solutions provider in enterprise computing, servers, storage, networking, power protection, hospitality - PMS & POS, system integration, printing solutions, project management, security, wireless, mobile solutions, software, consulting and outsourcing.
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Dell Compellent storms market
D
ell has been busy making waves in the storage market in the Middle East over the past few months. It has just completed a roadshow across the region to train its top partners and launch the Compellent Fluid Data solutions to its enterprise customers in the UAE and other Gulf countries. Compellent Technologies was only acquired by Dell back in March 2011 and it has already sold the solution to several customers in the Middle East. This acquisition is the latest step Dell is taking as it completes its transformation into a comprehensive solutions provider
of IT infrastructure and services. Compellent is a rapidly-growing provider of highly-virtualised storage solutions with automated data management featuresfor enterprise and cloud-computing environments. The big promise to customers is that this solution can help cut storage costs by up to 80%. Basil Ayass, Enterprise Product Manager at Dell Middle East, explains "I believe that Compellent Fluid Data will transform the storage landscape just like server virtualisation software transformed the server landscape a few years ago. Put simply, Compellent allows customers to keep
the right data on the right storage at the right costs. This results in less hardware, less headaches and gives the customer the power to do more with their IT budget." A highly virtualised approach to storage can complement server virtualisation by providing ready access to critical data, while avoiding unnecessary hardware purchases and the associated power, cooling and management expenses that go along with them. Overall, a virtualised data centre infrastructure expedites backup and recovery operations, avoiding gaps in productivity and backlogs in business transactions. Dell Fluid Data architecture enables organisations to break through the rigid boundaries of traditional storage systems with a single, scaleable platform that is as dynamic as the data center it lives in. In addition, the Compellent SAN is backed by Copilot Support, which goes beyond traditional support offerings by often identifying and resolving problems before they happen. With a powerful data movement engine, intelligent storage management features and a single scaleable platform that helps eliminate the need for forklift upgrades, Dell Compellent solutions are designed to provide a cost efficient, enterprise-class infrastructure with virtually limitless growth potential. In addition, we at KIT specialise in various enterprise solutions which include virtualisation and cloud, networking, storage, hospitality, power protection, cooling and data centres.
Key Information Technology (KIT) PO Box 6856 Dubai, United Arab Emirates P: +971 4 398 9999 F: +971 4 398 8440 www.kit.ae
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TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Injazat Data Systems
www.injazat.com
An industry recognised market leader in the region for IT, data centre and managed services delivered from the region's most sophisticated and advanced facility, the Tier IV design certified premier data centre facility. Injazat has over five years of experience serving a diverse range of customers and has developed a broad portfolio of capabilities to successfully address any organisation's most pressing technology challenges. Injazat supports customers in achieving
their vision and allows them to focus on what they do best, while it does what it does best. As a joint venture between Mubadala Development Company and Hewlett-Packard (HP) Injazat draws on local expertise and presence combined with a global technology partnership network and over 50 years HP global and regional experience, Injazat continues to develop market leading services to meet the dynamic needs of customers today and in the future.
Jeraisy Computer & Communication Services Company (JCCS)
jccs.jeraisy.com.sa
In less than two decades, JCCS has become the single largest provider of IT solutions within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. JCCS caters to the following range of businesses: • Enterprises: This group has become the largest supplier of IT solutions such as corporations, government agencies, utilities and education. • Service providers: This includes companies that provide information services such as telecommunication carriers, ISPs, cable companies and wireless communication providers. • SMEs: This category includes companies that seek to
install data networks of their own and establish a connection to the Internet. JCCS provides a host of IT and telecommunication solutions tailored to suit each individual client's requirements: • Computing: A complete portfolio is available due to close partnership with HP and Sun. • Communications: Avaya • Networking: Cisco, Juniper and Paradyne • Site preparation: MGE UPS Systems, Merlin Gerin. • Software: Microsoft, Oracle, Citrix, FileNet, BEA and e-Business services.
MDS Computers
www.mdscomputers.ae
An IT Systems Integrator providing different products and services ranging from hardware, software and consultancy. Being nominated as the Microsoft Gold Partner in the UAE, the Preferred Partner of
HP awarded HP Software Platinum Partner, MDS Computers provides full IT solutions for enterprise customers and small//medium sized businesses including hardware, networking, security and infrastructure.
Seven Seas Computers
www.sscomp.ae
A premier ISO 9001:2008 certified end-to-end ICT solutions provider that delivers technology solutions and services in business software, data networking, business continuity and data centre, enterprise and high availability, voice solutions, information security, intelligent building management systems (IBMS), smart homes, value added IT services, corporate procurement and consulting. Its domain expertise is in banking, hospitality, oil and gas, real estate and medium to large
family businesses. Seven Seas partners with leading technology vendors including HP, IBM, Microsoft, Computer Associates, Cisco, Foundry Networks, Stonesoft, RSA, Symantec, Avaya, Mitel, Legrand, Brand Rex, Infraplus and BT Syntegra, among others. Seven Seas' strategic intellectual property includes its flagship application, momentohs, an innovative and integrated modular enterprise software for the hospitality industry.
Teksalah
www.teksalah.com
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A young company providing solutions in the field of Information and Communication Technologies and ensuring technology support for organisations throughout their IT infrastructure management lifecycle. Its expertise as solutions advisor spans the following verticals of technology services - network and IT infrastructure services, IT infrastructure security services, information access, Unified
Communications, infrastructure management lifecycle and managed services. Deploying innovative technologies efficiently, it enables enterprises to leverage IT to achieve and enhance operational efficiency, speed, cost efficiency and productivity. With standard best practice template solutions guiding every design, it delivers projects on time and in the most efficient manner.
Information Security...
paramount @ssuring Value
Paramount Computer Systems FZ LLC Dubai T: +9714 391 8600 F: +9714 391 8608
Abu Dhabi T: +9712 672 4288 F: +9712 674 5520
puja@pcsuae.com
Qatar T: +974 455 1641 F: +974 455 1827
Kuwait T: +965 2247 1409 F: +965 545 6303
Bahrain T: +973 17727 177 F: +973 17728 444
www.paramountassure.com
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
paramount @ssuring Value
Paramount Computer Systems F
ounded in 1992, transformed in 1999 and re-invented in 2007, Paramount as a company is 'Work in Progress'. Paramount is the leading regional provider of technology and services for securing the Information assets of enterprises. From the development of a security policy, security awareness training, through to the delivery of complete end-to-end solutions that encompass perimeter security, secure content management, identity and access management and vulnerability, risk, policy and compliance management, Paramount has enabled various enterprises in the
Core competencies
"Information security is pivotal to the success of any business; size and aspirations not withstanding. The dynamics of risk requires continuous enhancements and updates to Information Security controls and technology deployed. Regulatory compliance is providing substantial impetus for companies to invest in addressing information security challenges."
Premchand Kurup, CEO, Paramount Computer Systems Paramount Consultancy Services
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Gulf region to understand, monitor and mitigate the risks in their information infrastructure. Paramount has established a reputation for providing practical solutions that are both business driven and cost-effective. This has enabled the company to secure the IT infrastructure of leading government undertakings, banks and financial institutions, airlines and transportation companies, telecommunication authorities, universities and large corporates in the region. Paramount follows the 'People, Process and Technology' approach when it comes to delivering Information Security to its customers. Therefore the company always seeks to partner with international vendors that share the similar viewpoints.
Technology portfolio
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For nomination and general enquiries on the ICT Achievement Awards 2011, reach:
Sathya Mithra Ashok | 04-4409111 | sathya@cpidubai.com
For sponsorship enquires reach:
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Strategic ICT Partner Gold Sponsor
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Technology Partners
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
paramount @ssuring Value
Key success factors 20000, CCNA, CCNP, MCSE as well as certification from various vendors – Juniper, McAfee, Websense, RSA, etc. This makes Paramount the largest reservoir of security talent in the Arabian Gulf Region.
Process:
O
ur key success factors have been our consistent focus on the three pillars of our business: People, Process and Technology.
People: We have ensured that we have an enterprising leadership and management team, a significant knowledge base and a value added network whereby we get access to domain knowledge to address specific customer issues, eg delivering on the SCADA domain. The team size has grown to 93 professionals with a string of leadingedge security certifications- CISA, CISSP, CISM, CGEIT, ISO 27001, ISO
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Paramount is ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 27001 certified and has been the first company in its space in the Middle East to be so certified. We ensure strict adherence to the EFQM excellence model in the running of the company. We have a very comprehensive strategy process; people process and budget process which forms the corner stone of our operating model.
Technology : We are currently partnering with the three of the largest IT Security Vendors – McAfee, EMC and Juniper. We also have niche relationships with startup technology companies from USA. Paramount is also responsible for the initial launch and continuing success of several leading vendors in the GCC, such as Trend Micro, IBM Internet Security
Systems, Tipping Point, RSA, Imprivata, Apere, Lancope and nCircle. Paramount is usually the first port of call for any security technology vendor seeking to gain a foothold in this region. But above all the key to our success is the clarity of our vision; our adherence to clearly articulated values; our focus on excellence; our customer orientation and our relationship with our employees, our alumni and our shareholders. Our underlying philosophy in all our relationships has been to search for WIN-WIN.
Key market areas Apart from the following GCC countries we cover - UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain - we plan to enter two key markets: Saudi Arabia and Brunei. We are very strong in the following verticals: banking , government, telcos , airlines and oil and gas.
Paramount Computer Systems PO Box 25703 Dubai, United Arab Emirates P: +971 4 391 8600 F : +971 4 391 8608 www.paramountassure.com
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Saudi Business Machines (SBM) I
Banking sector success
deliver value and customer service that is second to none. Our aim is to develop long term business relationships with our customers and business partners and to advise and support them with the most up-to-date Information Technology solutions available in the rapidly evolving marketplace.
SBM's capabilities
Ali Dulaim, President and Chief Executive Officer Saudi Business Machines (SBM)
The local market Saudi Arabia has the biggest IT market in the Gulf region, with a forecast value of $3.3bn in 2010 expected to rise to $4.6bn by 2014. Despite the economic slowdown last year, the Kingdom will continue to be a lucrative market for technology products and services over the forecast period as it invests to upgrade its IT and communications infrastructure. Certainly Saudi Arabia appears better placed than some other markets in the region to recover strongly from the current economic slowdown. As a market leader in the industry, we are committed to our customers' success by working closely with them on their present and future growth plans and ensuring we
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Today, SBM is the Kingdom's leading IT company providing end-to-end enterprise IT solutions across all industries. Its capability as a total solutions provider is further enhanced with its portfolio of services in networking, systems integration, consultation and implementation, business recovery and operations support. SBM also provides tailored maintenance and support services for a vast range of IBM and non-IBM products. SBM has a full company organisation designed to make it flexible and adaptive to the changing and developing requirements of its customers and has access to IBM's worldwide practices, resources and knowledge bases to implement major ICT solutions in Saudi Arabia. SBM's network division has performed large investment in engineers' skills and technology that resulted in SBM's major strength in the telecommunication and network field over the last years. SBM is ranked the number one Gold Partner in Saudi. SBM's focus on quality is demonstrated by the fact that it was one of the first ISO 90012000 Certified Services Organization in KSA in June 2001.
n banking, SBM played an instrumental role in bringing global standards to the local industry. Working with some of the biggest names in banking such as NCB, Rajhi, HSBC and many more, SBM has successfully undertaken benchmark projects, which have re-defined the history of banking. For Al-Rajhi, it has replaced its core banking system, along with the branch system, for the 200 bank branches. It has also automated the call centre, using Siebel, with full integration and back-end applications, providing better customer experience and allowing for complete e-customer care. SBM also developed the largest enterprise data warehouse and business intelligence program. And delivered the Corporate Banking and Retail Banking workflow implementation system and a state of the art Internet Banking System, the Rajhi Bank Portal, which can be used for all banking services. For NCB, SBM has also replaced the core banking, GL and branch systems for 350 branches. SBM developed the Web portal and hosting for the NCB Web site (www.alahli.com). It was jointly designed in conjunction with IBM and has been hosted at the IBM/DIC eHosting centre in Dubai Internet City. It has also re-launched its Tadawul Web site, with more robust performance, using a financial portal. Banking today would not be the same without the monumental developments facilitated by SBM. The quantum leaps in improvement in speed, accuracy and personal attention, has resulted in greater efficiency and ultimately superior customer satisfaction.
TOP 2O | SYSTEM INTEGRATORS 2011
Oil and gas sector success
I
t would not be possible to talk about building the infrastructure in the Kingdom, without referring to the contribution SBM has made to the oil and gas industry. A few are mentioned below. SBM implemented the Ras Tannura Refinery Management System (RMS), together with IBM IGS. The project encompasses 1,200+ users, connecting 45 refinery buildings using ATM networks. SBM and IBM have also implemented a state-of-the-art help
Banking sector success In the telecom industry, SBM has provided fundamental support for the major players in the regional industry, STC and Etisalat. Of its many functions, SBM developed the largest Telecom Customer Care and Billing implementation in the Middle East for STC, supporting the largest customer base with around 18 million GSM and LL subscribers. SBM's role included system integration, data migration, documentation, Arabisation, training, provision of HW and customisation to ICMS. The project took seven successful years in the provisioning of AMS for
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desk, for the SAP Knowledge Center Help Desk. The solution includes warm transfer of the trouble-tickets user sessions and voice calls, to the next escalation level. It has also replaced the dispatch system, including the installation and commissioning of hardware, software and other services. Another key venture was the development of the Saudi Aramco Identification System. This saw the implementation of a client/server environment, in a WAN, utilising two RS/6000 running Oracle Parallel Server with 80 Windows NT clients. The solution includes picture identification cards with signature and finger printing. Moreover, SBM and Catalyst of the USA implemented a pilot Warehouse Management System in Abqaiq. The WMS System utilises a handheld wireless radio frequency (RF) scanner system. Though surely not comprehensive, the above mentioned projects are examples of the size and sophistication of SBM solutions.
landline and GSM applications, with more than 70 consultants made available for operation support. SBM also delivered the business support systems and one of the biggest Oracle solutions in the telecom sector, including HRMS, finance and procurement. For Etisalat, the second mobile operator in KSA, SBM developed a complete enterprise solution. This was completed at record time, going live in less than six months with a fully integrated system, made of multiple market leading applications. A specialised delivery team was mobilised with around 100 specialists, providing a reliable and scaleable solution, despite continuously evolving customer requirements. SBM is now supporting Mobily through a team of outsourced professionals
Government sector success Our government projects are ones which we are immensely proud of. Due to their sheer size and scale, they have allowed SBM the opportunity to be challenged both creatively and intellectually, offering unique support at key times. In 1991, in the midst of the Gulf War, SBM restored the IT system of the Ministry of Interior (MOI), through the SBM IS centre. This allowed the Kuwait Ministry of Interior to access IT systems and data locally, in Jeddah and, remotely, from Taif. SBM also supported the US Military by providing US CONNECT Services (Prodigy and IBM), where users were able to send mail via Internet, routed to the IBM network. More recently, SBM implemented an e-collection method, the Government to Business (G2B) System, to eliminate the handling of money in all MOI offices, transferring the process to local banks. It also automated all pension fund departments, achieving integration with banks and other government organisations. The automation included: application development, MIS/EIS implementation, workflow implementation and Oracle Finance implementation, in addition to deployment and support. Automating some critical government functions, has allowed for a substantial improvement in services to the betterment of Saudi lives. In a faster world, SBM’s expert solutions are sometimes not only preferable, they are necessary.
Saudi Business Machines (SBM) PO Box 818 Riyadh 11421 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia P: +966 1 299 3000 F: +966 1 465 3111 www.sbm.com.sa