STME has developed a long-term storage strategy for the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI). Based on the STME storage solution, the investment provides JCCI with the facilities to store, retrieve, manage, protect and share all organizational information, moving the chamber toward its ultimate goal of a “paperless” work environment.

Since its establishment in 1946, JCCI has represented the interests of industrial and commercial businesses with regard to governmental authorities and remains committed to protecting and developing new opportunities for its membership. By deploying the STME enterprise storage solution, JCCI plans to achieve significant operational benefits by automating the backup, recovery and protection of data on its members, research libraries, training courses, upcoming exhibitions and conferences and related chamber initiatives.

“Increasing the accessibility and availability of information is vital to advancing a number of JCCI’s objectives, which range from increasing our percentage of ‘small and medium-sized business’ or SMB members, to reducing the administration required by our growing amount of commercial data,” said M. Hakami, director of information & e-services, JCCI. “The STME storage solution provided offers our organization all the advanced functionality and connectivity required for the JCCI’s growing networked storage environment, at a competitive investment level.”

STME has reported that Jeddah is among the Gulf’s fastest-developing markets for storage solutions for both enterprises and the SMB sector. In addition to the JCCI project, the company has recently witnessed a surge in demand from Jeddah’s public sector as well as the retail, insurance and general trading industries.

Sun Names Senior Managers

To capitalize upon the opportunity for expansion in the Middle East, Sun Microsystems has expanded its customer-facing senior management layer. This dedicated team will pursue business in key vertical sectors including banking, telecom and government. Sun also announced plans to significantly enhance the service aspect of its business.

Making these key announcements, Mehmet Iyimen, managing director, Middle East North Africa (MENA), Sun Microsystems, stressed the need for reorganization. “Sun has been serving customers in the Middle East for more than 15 years. From a management perspective, we’re doing things a little differently now because the Middle East market has matured and customer requirements are changing.”

Sun Microsystems MENA has made moves to develop the service side of its business by promoting Shane Carlson and Tom Powell to new roles that will focus specifically on the overall running of Sun’s service arm. Powell, who was previously technology practice manager (EMEA), will now be regional manager-client services (MENA). In his new position as regional manager, manageability services (MENA), Carlson will be responsible for driving the sales team to promote the support aspect of Sun’s business.

Additionally, Samir Mirdad has been promoted to regional business development manager, public sector (MENA), having been in charge of only the Gulf region previously. Also promoted to this position is Sina Kutluay, who has worked at Sun since 1999 in Ankara, Turkey.

Stefan Niemiec is the new business development manager, Telco Sector, and will be responsible for providing all products and solutions to the growing number of telecommunications customers in Sun’s portfolio. The major prospects in new markets across the region prompted Sun to promote Bulent Hicsonmez to sales manager, Levant, Egypt and North Africa (LENA). Focusing on top accounts for Sun across the six GCC countries will be Marc Heger who has been promoted to Gulf regional manager. And Ahmed Farrag has been appointed general manager, Sun Microsystems, Saudi Arabia. Ahmed will now be responsible for handling all of Sun’s major customers in the Kingdom including Saudi Aramco and STC.

Viruses Fuel Security Market

Spending on security software jumped up by 25.5 percent to $52.59 million in the Gulf states in 2003 and is expected to rise 27 percent in 2004. According to a new IDC study, viruses, worms and spam are widely considered to be the largest security threats to businesses in the Gulf and secure content management applications dominate the market. Moreover, IT maturity, security awareness and security adoption rates vary considerably across the region, which has created discrete IT security markets where holistic implementation often takes a backseat to specific threats.

IDC’s Gulf States Security Software 2004-2008 Forecast and 2003 Vendor Share presents the security software market in the Gulf states for 2003 and forecasts expenditure on security software applications through 2008. The study contains market size, vendor market shares, and forecasts for five discrete market categories. It also ranks the major security software providers by their 2003 revenue, and includes a profile of their activities and presence in individual country and vertical markets.

“Organizations are nevertheless beginning to take a more proactive approach to IT security,” said Heini Booysen, senior analyst, IDC CEMA’s Software Group. “With more businesses conducting transactions online or via e-mail, continuity has become essential as disruption can result in substantial losses. In the long-term, this should translate into approaches that adopt a strategic path rather than an adhoc path to implementation of security solutions.”

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ranked first and second in terms of overall investments in security software in the Gulf in 2003. This reflects both their size and their relative level of IT development. Saudi Arabia has the largest population base and has recently been instituting various IT and e-commerce initiatives. The UAE is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the region. Together, these two nations accounted for more than three quarters of the market last year, with the rest of the region’s countries covered in IDC’s study (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar) comprising the rest.

As mentioned, secure content management (SCM) dominated the IT security market of the Gulf states in 2003, accounting for more than 60 percent of total revenue. IDC predicts that this figure will drop to just over 44 percent this year as demand for other security measures picks up speed. Intrusion detection and vulnerability assessment came second, firewall and VPN third, and 3A (authentication, administration, authorization) fourth.

“But this doesn’t mean SCM is going anywhere soon,” said Booysen. “It will continue to account for the largest share of the market for the foreseeable future.”

Symantec and Network Associates together accounted for more than 48 percent of spending on IT security software in the Gulf states in 2003. Nevertheless, the market was relatively diffuse, with more than 25 vendors competing for market share.

“Although the market is expanding,” Booysen said, “vendors need to get actively involved in educating both channel partners and clients, especially if they want to inform users on the benefits of adopting holistic solutions. Also, as the market matures, consolidation is inevitable, and vendors that plan accordingly will have a competitive advantage.”