1st July 2011 - KSA

2011-1

info@var-mea.comwww.VARonline.com

ARABIA

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139/14

+97143326621+97143326647121075

Celebrating 1st anniversary in UAE 2011-1 139/14

In Focus - SMC

News - Kaspersky

The surge ahead

2012 products unveiled

 " " ""  "" 

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ARABIA



 1670

Growth at a healthy pace Malaz Technology & Communication is one of the larger systems integration companies in the Kingdom. It partners closely with Avaya. VAR Arabia speaks with Mohammed Munir Al-Mulki, MD of Malaz Technology.

Mohammed Munir Al-Mulki MD, Malaz Technology

continued on pg 11...

Belkin appoints shastech to service the KSA market

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 "" ""  ""  ""  "" "" ""  """"  ""  "    "" " " "" ""  " 11 info@var-mea.comwww.VARonline.com

Belkin has appointed Shastech, a leading distributor with a strong presence in the MEA region, as its new distribution partner for Belkin’s extensive product lines in KSA. Shastech is Belkin’s authorized distributor in KSA and under this new partnership, Shastech will be servicing both the Retail and SMB sectors across the KSA market.

The recent partnership is aimed to further strengthen Belkin’s presence within the KSA market, whereby Shastech will be distributing the full line of Belkin products and shall be responsible for covering all verticals including Power Retail, Corporate, SMB channel and other sectors where Belkin’s products are pertinent.

“We are looking forward to working closely with Shastech to further support our active regional expansion,” explains Youssef El-Arif, National Account Manager MEA, Belkin Ltd. “The key components to partnering with

Shastech were based on their solid experience and successful history in KSA, good channel presence and relationships in both the retail and SMB sector, well determined and effective logistics solutions as well as a team that understands the KSA market very well.”

The latest partnership with Shastech is part of Belkin’s regional expansion plans to develop their local distribution into the KSA market which is a key market for Belkin in the MEA region.

Youssef El-Arif National Account Manager MEA, Belkin Ltd.

Eng. Tariq Al Ghounaim, CEO, Shastech commented: “We are delighted to have been appointed as the official distributor for BELKIN. This business win would not have been possible if we did not have the local expertise in the local market and knowledge of the Saudi customer, his habits, desires, and aspirations add to that SHASTECH’s business principle which revolves around its customers and the values that support the Company’s drive in delivering the best levels of services thus reinforcing customer trust.“

+97143326621+97143326647121075

In Focus

Global Distribution

Gaining more traction Global Distribution Co. Ltd (GD) is a leading value add distributor for Networking & Telecommunication Products in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is a sister concern of Global Arabian for Modern Applications (GAMA), one of the leading systems integration Companies of Saudi Arabia.

VAR Arabia speaks with Shaqueel A.Khan, Network Divison Sales manager at Global Distribution

20111 | 4

  ""  ""   "" ""  6 Solutions as well as Premium Line that has a complete product portfolio including patch cords, patch panels, outlets, keystones and workstation components for Cat 5E, Cat 6, Cat 7, media converters and fiber optic based cabling systems.

We distribute UPS solutions from Opti UPS, which was spun off from the Viewsonic group and KVM switching products and remote connectivity solutions from Aten.

We do distribute cabinets from APW, a manufacturer of standard, modified and custom electronic, networking, broadcast, and security enclosures, and integrated kiosks. We also distribute cabinets from Totem that manufactures server and network enclosures.

Shaqueel A. Khan Network Division Sales Manager, Global Distribution What is the business focus at Global Distribution?

Global Distribution is a 15 year old company. It is part of Gamma group which has five different companies.

Gamma is a leading SI for networking projects and are also authorized e-Umra service providers. Under Gamma, we are Global Distribution, focusing mostly on networking components, both active and passive.

What are the brands you deal with?

At GD, the focus is more on the passive components while our sister concern Gamma focuses more on the active range of components. They work with Cisco as part of enterprise tenders etc.

As Global Distribution, We do include TP Link as part of the SMB networking products range in distribution. We work with BRAND-REX, a supplier of high Performance Data Cabling

You offer premium and entry level solutions. Please elaborate on this strategy Typically we have brands that target buyers who want premium end solutions such as Ministries and enterprises as well as lower cost, medium range solutions for the SMB users.

Ministries for instance would need long lasting infrastructural network solutions. However for an SMB, the

  15  ""  ""  ""   """"  ""     ""   ""  ""  ""   ""    ""  " "" "" "  "" "" ""   

continued on pg 6...

Room for multiple distributors The summer has reached its full glory and a significant number of decision makers in the industry seem to be away in the holiday season.

Quite obviously, we have entered the slow period of the year and this is likely to be so as the holy month of Ramadan follows in August.

There is enough time for introspection by companies as to how they have fared in the first half of the year. Needless to say, this year has been more testing than last year. But by now, there is a firmness that companies are displaying about wanting to get on with it even if there are challenges.

With vendors continuing to invest strongly in KSA channel development, there is always an ongoing momentum that continues to get stronger. There is a significant opportunity for several distributors to seize the momentum in the slower periods and gear up to wrest the advantage from its competitors when the market swings into fast paced action post Ramadan.

KSA is a far too big a market to be dominated by two to three distributors. There could be attractive opportunities for multiple distributors to create substantial businesses of their own. In other words, if some of the distributors that have not been

optimizing their opportunities, they could embark on a hardnosed approach to tighten their go to market strategies, aligning with the right vendors and product lines that are seeing significant demand in the market currently. If you are in the value-add model, there are still some good brands to associate with and that haven’t as yet got a strong distributor stationed in KSA.

In Focus

Global Distribution

2011 1 | 6 4

continued from pg 4 solutions. However for an SMB, the certainty to have a premium solution installed with a guarantee of 20 years for instance is not required since their plans could change in the shorter term.

Is Gamma a significant buyer from you? How do you work with other integrators as well?

Gamma is certainly a huge buyer for us. There are other partners who buy from us like Jeraissy, MIS (Al Moammar Information Systems Co.), etc who are large buyers and work with enterprise customers and the government sector. We don’t approach end users directly, but sell to the SI channel.

Discuss the impact of the global slowdown in the local market Last year, KSA wasn’t as affected as the rest of the region. The Saudi economy is strong. The government has continued to invest in sectors like Education.

All the SMB transact business with mid and higher level clients who haven’t been affected by the meltdown. So in turn, the SMB sector

has also not been affected.

Do your business revenues come mainly from the key cities? How are other markets catered to?

The major revenue comes from Riyadh because so many Ministries are there and decisions are finalized here. Jeddah has a larger addressable consumer and SMB market. By a rough approximation, 60-65 % business volumes are realized in Riyadh, 20-25% from Jeddah and the rest from Al Khobar.

Remote cities like Mecca and Madina are closer to Jeddah and their purchase cycles happen in Jeddah. Similarly in the case of Riyadh and Al Khobar, they are feeder markets for neighbouring cities.

How has the sales been so far this year?

The first quarter has not been too good nor too bad. We are seeing an upswing in new projects.

We expect that the 3rd and 4th quarters would be more competitive. Usually the 4th quarter of the year is the best performing.

       20  ""  ""  " """"      

 2012

2012

Kaspersky unveils 2012 edition products Kaspersky Lab announced the release of the 2012 versions of its home user products. The all-new Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 incorporate the most advanced and effective protection technologies: a sandbox for launching suspicious applications, a program activity monitoring module, a script emulator, a cloud-based reputation database, a virtual keyboard plus many other features.

Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 feature a whole host of new and improved features. In the 2012 versions of Kaspersky Lab's home user products, cloud-based technologies, the cuttingedge of antivirus development, have been improved.

Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 are both high-performance products designed for minimal impact on your computer’s running speed and program operations.

Kaspersky Lab’s products have been streamlined for optimal day-to-day use when surfing the Internet, searching for and viewing web pages, making VoIP calls, watching HD videos and playing online games, etc.

     2012   2012 2012  2012      2012  2012   "  2012        Eugene Kaspersky   CEO, Co-founder, Kaspersky Lab       Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder   of Kaspersky Lab, says: “The new 2012  2012"  versions continue the long tradition of      excellence that our home user products   have come to be known for. We have      taken yet another huge step in protect   ing Internet users against the most       dangerous, unknown threats out there.”       The Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012 interfaces have been improved and now feature 3D and animated graphics, yet remain straightforward and userfriendly.

20111 | 7

  

NBG4615 Wireless N Gigabit NetUSB Router

NSA320

Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless N Media Router

2-Bay Power Media Server

ZyXEL Communication Corporation P.O.Box 49590 Dubai , UAE Mobile + 971 50 4205540 TeleFax +971 4 346 341 0

1-Bay Digital Media Server

P-2701RL

VoIP Gateway

Web: www.zyxel.com For Distribution candidates in KSA contact: omar.saleem@zyxel.com.tw For sales inquiries: sales@me.zyxel.com Training: http://education.zyxel.com Security portal: http://mysecurity.zyxel.com/mysecurity Partners portal: http://zypartner.zyxel.com service portal (RMA, raising support tickets, tracking...etc): http://service.zyxel.com

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NBG5715 NSA210

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Wireless N-lite 3G Router

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Enterprise Wireless LAN Hotspot/Service Gateway Series

NBG4115

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N4100

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High-performance Wireless N Gigabit Router Powers Up Your Home Network!

PLA-401 v3 USG - 20W

Powerline Ethernet Adapter

ZyWALL Unified Security Gateway Series

ZyXEL reseller program benefits



20111 | 8

"" ""

BenQ BL-Series LED Monitors



Key Features: • Specially optimized for office work stations and built with the latest LED backlight technology, the new monitor cuts down power consumption by 33% a year.

• The new BL-Series LED monitor’s ultra-flexible height adjustment system (HAS) allows workers to tailor the height, tilt, pivot, stroke and swivel adjustment to perfectly fit their individual needs thereby facilitating better productivity and efficiency at work.

• The BL series includes built-in speakers.

• The Eco Sensor feature of the new BL series automatically switches the monitor to Eco Mode.

• The BenQ BL LED monitor also features an anti-glare, matt-finish display to keep distracting reflections to a minimum, giving workers a squint-free, comfortable and easy to read environment.

 ""  % 33 " "  ""  ""    " " " " "" ""

•    •     • • 

www.benq.com

Key Features:  • Lenovo announced its thinnest business laptop ever, the   "" •  ThinkPad X1 laptop, designed for business leaders who "1"   demand the best in performance, mobility and entertainment.   • The ThinkPad X1 laptop incorporates several features new to   "1  " • the ThinkPad X series family including a 13.3-inch super bright 13.3  ""  infinity screen made of Corning Gorilla Glass, RapidCharge battery technology and a Dolby Home Theatre multimedia  ""   feature. """  • Packed into the ultra-thin form factor are second "" • " generation Intel Core processors which are typically 1514  ""  offered on Lenovo’s larger 14 and 15-inch laptops. www.lenovo.com

"1602"

Samsung ML-1670

AXIS Q1602/-E Network Cameras

   "(576×720) "   



•  •  • 

Key Features: • The perfect solutions for indoor and outdoor surveillance in low-light conditions, especially where users require color information in the video to enhance recognition and identification of objects.

• The fixed network camera delivers progressive scan image quality at D1 (720 x 576) resolution, in both indoor and outdoor applications, where light is poor.

• The advanced Lightfinder technology will be especially beneficial in demanding video surveillance applications, such as construction sites, parking lots, perimeter & city surveillance.

• In contrast to conventional day/ night cameras which switch to black & white in darkness, AXIS Q1602 can maintain colors even in very dark conditions.

www.axis.com

1670

 """1670"    ""  "(1200×1200)8.5  " "  " Key Features:

• • •

 

•

• The ML-1670, the new compact laser printer from Samsung, is ideal for personal, home office and small office users.

• It features a streamlined design with a stylish and glossy finish.

• The new models also include Samsung’s AnyWeb Print software that allows users enhanced web- printing capabilities regardless of the browser interface such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or the Mac OS Safari.

• It features a first page output time (FPOT) of a mere 8.5 seconds and an impressive 1200x1200 dpi print resolution, filling both the need for speed and quality most efficient manner. www.samsung.com 



What’s

 "1"

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Laptop

20111 | 9

 "550 55  "

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 550 Ti Multiview



Key features: • The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 550 Ti Multiview is the latest mainstream graphics card capable of delivering a seamless triple-display computing experience.

• The latest ZOTAC GeForce GTX 550 Ti Multiview helps deliver a quality visual experience that combines Microsoft DirectX 11 compatibility, NVIDIA CUDA technology and triple simultaneous displays at a mainstream price point.

• The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 550 Ti Multiview is powered by the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti graphics processor with 192 lightning-fast unified shaders paired with 1GB of DDR5 memory.

  "550  " •    "  550 " • " "11"  "  "  "550  "  "550" "5"192 1

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 "3×74" 

Key features:

 "3×74"    "3×74"  "75"  "560   " ""3"""17  www.asus.com

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ROG G74Sx 3D gaming notebook • The G74Sx 3D is a high-performance notebook for gamers who ho don’t want to drag a full PC around to gaming events, or do not ot have room at home for a full desktop set up.

• The G74Sw 3D has the clean, angular lines of a stealth fighter and the power to match, thanks to the latest second generation Intel Core quad-core i5 and i7 processors.

• NVIDIA GTX 560M graphics ensure blistering frame rates at native resolutions and high detail settings on the 17-inch Full HD screen, while NVIDIA 3D Vision offers players a new dimension to games and movies.

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

 "" ""  "" ""       "  "   82.6%        " " % 81 1.6  2% ""2010   "" "  " 8""    "" ""    % 10.1   "  "     % 11.82010% 10.92011 2010   "" "" 201192.7% 2010 % 92.4  % 20 2011   ""   "" "" ""     "" "" "" 

 20117.1%       ""  89   74   2011      2010   2015177    ""   2%                2010      % 5   2015 

    2011  7.1%              ""     6.5%      2011    2011     846   2010 6.6%   2011% 11.7   

Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars) Compu ng Hardware Enterprise So ware IT Services Telecom All IT

2010 Spending 375

2010 Growth (%) 12.1

2011 Spending 419

2011 Growth (%) 11.7

244

8.4

268

9.5

793

3.1

846

6.6

2,015 3,427

7.3 5.9

2,140 3,672

6.9 7.1

Source: Gartner (June 2011)

In Focus

SMC Networks

The surge ahead

Mohammed Muzaffar MD, Accton Technology Corporation, SMC Discuss your focus on Saudi Arabia?

We have taken steps to increase our focus on markets such as Saudi Arabia where we have not been as strong as we would like to be. It is a huge market and you wouldn’t do justice to it if you just ship goods to the market there without support. We are looking at strengthening our presence there by having a few of our manpower resources there to develop our business there. Currently we are dependent on the intelligence that our distributors are able to provide us about the market trends, updates etc. We want to have a direct feel of the market there and will be looking at fixing certain issues in the market by this quarter.

What is the distribution strategy in KSA? We have held on to the belief that we wouldn’t want to encourage unhealthy competition by having multiple distributors in KSA. We have wanted to develop the market and its various segments with one distributor. We may however revise this strategy depending on the need of the large market but nothing has been finalized as yet.

We have done well in the market but one of the challenges has been recovering payments.

Please discuss your product lines in different segments?

In the soho market, we have products like ADSL routers, Broadband routers, unman-

SMC Networks is a subsidiary of Accton group which owns Edge Core as well in the networking brands segment. SMC focuses on the soho and SMB segments while while EdgeCore has a suite of products for the enterprise segment. Mohammed Muzaffar , MD at Accton Technology Corporation speaks with VAR Magazine in the following interview aged switches wireless adopters etc. In the SMB and enterprise product categories, we have layer 2 and layer 3 switches. We also have PoE switches both layer 2 and layer 3, Fibre switches etc.

We are focusing on consolidating and increasing our market reach in the SMB market. SMB is not a volume market and customers are looking for support. In soho, there is not much support required or expected. So the SMB market is not quite price sensitive. Further, the SMB business has been traditionally a strong segment globally for Accton, the parent company for SMC and we want to ensure we are able to create that success in this region as well.

Do you work on the regional distribution model?

We have tried the regional distribution model earlier but it wasn’t working out well.

Regional distributors seem to be keen on working with bigger brands and don’t want to invest in market development efforts for the brand. We are interested in working with active partners who can help strengthen the brand in new markets and not just be interested in taking the margins. We would be keen to work with smaller distributors in different regions and making the efforts to develop our business.

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 " "" ""  "" "   ""                 ""   ""      ""  ""       

NETGEAR hosts roadshow with partner Acronis NETGEAR hosted a special roadshow event with its global technology partner, Acronis, a leading provider of easy-touse disaster recovery and data protection solutions for physical, virtual and cloud environments in Dubai. The event saw the launch of NETGEAR’s new Global Partner Program for resellers and the release of Acronis Backup & Recovery 11, the latest edition of Acronis' backup and disaster recovery family. The move complements the latest industry reports from IDC, which point to an expected 4.5 per cent CAGR for the storage software market between 2010 to 2014.

The roadshow was part of NETGEAR’s strategic move to mark a stronger market presence in the Middle East region and increase awareness on the key benefits and advantages of using world-class networking and storage solutions. Ahmad Zeidan, Channel Sales Manager, NETGEAR Middle East, discussed the new Global Partner Program and how resellers can gain key benefits from the incentive program. He also talked about the ReadyNAS storage solutions package and showed why businesses today should adopt and install reliable and effective networking, storage and security software.

Ahmed Zeidan Channel Sales Manager, Netgear ME

In Focus

Malaz Technology & Communication

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When did you start operations and what have been your focus areas?

We started operations in 2002, and started right away with the focus on IP Telephony market. We started providing contact centre solutions to our customers, mainly in the telecom sector. We have provided some of the largest contact centre solutions in the Kingdom including for STC, one of our largest customers. By 2006, we started providing solutions for other sectors including large universities in the Educational sector, other private sector companies, Banks and so on.

Where are your offices in the Kingdom?

The head office is in Riyadh and we have branches currently in Jeddah, Al-Khobar and Madina. We have plans to open more offices in other cities including Hail, Tabuk, Taif etc to cater to customer needs more closely.

Please discuss how your contact centre business is growing?

We have been growing at a steady pace year on year. Today, across the Kingdom, we have some significant installations with prestigious clients.

We have the biggest PBX installation in King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah.

This project involved about 30,000 licenses. We made the handover recently and technically, this deployment has been a huge success and a credit to my technical team.

We are upgrading systems for Saudi British bank; we are maintaining the call centres across the Kingdom for operations and maintenance.

Since we started, we have seen 20-25% year on year growth. This year, we are expecting not less than 30-35% growth.

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"" " """" " ""                    preferred partner for HP storage.

As one of the large Avaya partners in the Kingdom, how do you see Avaya’s business growth faring?

Avaya has the best solutions for the contact centres worldwide. Avaya has a good share of the market and this has been strengthened ever since the Nortel business was also bought out.

How strong is your team?

We do the integration between voice and data. We design, develop and maintain the call centre solutions and have a large pool of trained engineers to do this. We have 25 engineers certified on Avaya’s Technologies; this I believe could be one of the biggest team of engineers in the region.

Do you also do business in Africa? Is this through direct operations or through partners?

We have partner in Egypt in Cairo.

They are building call centres in some of the African markets for customers and they have signed up an agreement with us to assist them in building some of the centres.

Discuss expansion of your portfolio?

We have Avaya hardware and software in our portfolio. We include passive networking components from Excel that offers complete, end-to-end networking solutions. We have added Netgear switches and NAS products to our portfolio as we do have networking requirements that come up in our projects.

Do you see recurring revenues from customer upgrades and maintenance?

There is very little maintenance work that comes along because the systems are mostly working fine. For upgrades, every two or three years is a natural option since Business customers would ideally look to add new applications that are available.

We need to expand our business as only one line of business cannot give us the growth we are expecting. Natural expansion would be in networking and then into network security, which is still anew domain for us. In addition, we had signed up with HP as a

Discuss you focus areas in terms of customer segments?

We are looking at enterprise customers mostly. We have major clients in the Educational sector, Banking sector as well as Branch offices. This year, we will focus on customers in the government sector.

  2003 ""    "" 2006                ""   300,000     % 20-25  % 30-35   ""   25  ""     ""  "" "" ""       ""  "" "" ""    ""  

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News continued from pg 1...

Adobe Systems signs Alfalak Distribution as KSA Distributor Adobe Systems MEN announced that Alfalak Distribution, a leading IT distributor in Saudi Arabia, has been appointed as an official Adobe Distributor specifically for the Saudi Arabian market. Alfalak joins the company’s strategic network of Middle East and North African distributors which includes Logicom, Mindware, DISWAY and Grapheast. Alfalak will be supporting the full range of Adobe products to ensure availability for business users and retail outlets.

“During the past year, we have been carefully reviewing our distribution strategy in Saudi Arabia to ensure that we understand the needs of channel partners and customers, and have the ability to deliver products efficiently and effectively across the Kingdom,” said Abdallah Saqqa, General Manager, Adobe Systems Middle East and North Africa. “Alfalak has an extensive understanding and widespread penetration of the market in the Kingdom and we’re pleased to welcome them to our network.”

Ahmed Ashadawi, CEO and President, Alfalak Electronic Equipment & Supplies Co. “Alfalak is consist in delivering premium quality products and services and we believe in the superiority of Adobe products.

This new partnership reflects our emphasis on partnering with the best technology providers to offer our customers across our markets with optimal solutions, while complementing the growth initiatives of our strategic partners.”

In Focus

Cyberoam

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Courting partners Cyberoam is one of the leading vendors in the UTM market and is continuing to forge strong channel partnerships in its quest to make further inroads. Hemal Patel, CEO at Elitecore technologies which owns the Cyberoam brand speaks with VAR Magazine in the following interview.



 "" ""  ""  "" ""  ""     depends on VARs for all support. There is an opportunity for us to help the partner tap more opportunities and help gain more partners.

Hemal Patel CEO, Elitecore Technologies Please discuss your focus on the channel?

We are extremely channel focused. The primary market that we focus on is SMB worldwide. In this region, the SMB market is quite vibrant and suits our go to market strategy.

Initially when we entered the region, we had to rely on gaining resellers on margins. Lately, it is not just margins that are drawing them now but the value that we deliver for our partners.

We provide flexibility on commercial terms including special pricing, protected pricing etc and we get approvals done very quickly. We provide completely free Training support for our VARs unlike some of our competitors. We have resources 24 by 7 for providing presales support. We do handholding for the first couple of years. When you make it easier for the partners to deploy solutions, they become loyal towards you over time.

We have seen this happen in our case.

How do you review your consolidation in the UTM space?

On an average in the Middle East, we have been in the top three. We are number three in the region and believe that are closing in on second placed competitor. I won’t be surprised if we are able to dislodge them by end of this year. In two years, we intend to take the number one spot.

What is your next challenge?

We are now focusing on developing the MSSP channel in the region. The SMB

We are working on providing new opportunities for partners. For instance, partners may be looking to provide security services. To do it on their own would be expensive. Instead, we are planning the launch of a Cloud based central console that will be offered as a free service for our partners. 1st November is the proposed launch date for this. A partner can connect his customers to a cloud based console and can monitor their network with a login user ID given and provide services. The partner can then use this as a revenue driver. The objective behind this initiative is to add more partners.

Are you tapping opportunities beyond the SMB? While the UTM is still not a commodity device, the SMB segment wants more functions each year but not a higher price. So we are looking at growing in other segments as well.

We are looking to tap into the enterprise market as well as in the soho markets. The home segment users not only need desktop security but with the flurry of devices now in use, these users also need some gateway level security.

That is a separate channel segment as well and we need to look at that. It would be a price sensitive market.

In the enterprise segment, we are looking at possible acquisitions. We want to acquire a company that has expertise in building enterprise systems. Enterprise users have shown resistance in the past to use an UTM since they have the money to spend on separate solutions but that perception is also changing and we will make use of this opportunity.

                          ""                  ""    

Epicor looks to expand channel partners in growing Saudi Arabian IT Market Epicor Software has announced plans to expand and strengthen its channel program in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with a focus on adding partners with value-added industry and market expertise to support the growing demand for its next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. The “Saudi Arabia Information Technology Report Q1 2011” forecasts excellent growth opportunities with the value of KSA’s IT market to reach $4.9 billion USD by 2014 from the forecast value of $3.6 billion USD in 2011.

The report shows that the Saudi government continues to regard development of the country’s information communications technologies (ICT) industries as a national priority. Saudi Arabia’s governing Shura Council has a strategic objective for the IT industry to raise its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) to 20 percent by 2020. Another key goal is to raise broadband penetration to 31 percent by 2013.

“The state of the Saudi Arabian IT market and the steady growth of the country’s economy presents tremendous opportunities for Epicor,” said Basil Daniells, vice president, sales for Epicor. “Moreover, the government continues to push ahead with the development of information and communication technology throughout the Kingdom, especially in terms of major infrastructure projects.

Given this scenario, we are keen on strengthening our presence in this market, and accordingly we are looking for suitable channel partners to meet our expansion goals in the Kingdom.”

Basil Daniells Vice President, Sales, Epicor

In Focus

Avnet Technology

20111 | 13

"" ""

Avnet Technology Solutions expands HP Appoints New ESSN distribution agreement with HP Director for Middle East

Avnet Technology Solutions, a solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet, expanded its distribution agreement with HP. Under this expanded agreement, Avnet will now distribute HP’s selected networking products in the Middle East, including Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Yemen.

"" ""  ""   

“Avnet will now be able to offer our Middle East channel partners all elements of HP’s converged infrastructure, including networking, servers, storage and software solutions,” said Venkat Raman, sales director-Gulf and Levant, Avnet Technology Solutions, Middle East. “These products are critical elements our reseller partners can draw upon to develop integrated data centre solutions that address the business challenges of their customers. By leveraging this expanded technology portfolio, along with our solutions-focused market approach, financial strength and dedicated networking sales and technical team, reseller partners will be able to address a wider range of customer requirements and more profitably grow their networking businesses.”

"" """ ""   ""       

As an authorised value-added distributor for HP’s networking products, Avnet will be responsible for providing HP’s reseller partners with sales and technical enablement, logistics and operational support, and programmes and services to develop business growth opportunities in the region. In addition to this support, Avnet is investing in channel initiatives and will hold a series of road shows aimed at growing the market for HP networking solutions.

Avnet will also offer training and educational programs designed to further increase the data centre and networking skills of its channel partners across the region.

  """"  ""   ""  """"   """ " "" "  ""   ""     ""  

Commenting on the relationship, Alfred Chrispanous, ESSN Distribution Manager, HP Middle East, said, “We are happy to engage with Avnet and believe that our association will allow us to enhance our penetration in the SMB market, and help us gain incremental business in the region. Avnet is committed to investing in the resources our partners need to be successful in the networking market and has proven programmes in place to help them capture the growing converged infrastructure market opportunity in data centres.”

HP delivers innovative networking solutions to help organisations improve their time-to-value, operational excellence, and ability to leverage networking technologies.

HP announced that Alaa AlShimy has been appointed to the position of Enterprise, Storage, Servers and Networking (ESSN) Director for the Middle East, effective June 1st. Alaa has taken over from Fawwaz Qadan who has been appointed as the Director of HP Networking for Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa (MEMA).

In his new role, Alaa is responsible for managing growth and cost control for the ESSN revenue streams in Middle East focusing on the end to end business and operational management in the region.

Prior to this role, Alaa was the Regional Director for HP Networking for the Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa (MEMA) region, and grew the networking business by over four times in the last two years.

Alaa AlShimy ESSN Director, HP Middle East



20111 | 14

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