New HP PSG Country Manager

HP Middle East has appointed Khaled Hejazi as the new country manager of Personal Systems Group (PSG) to lead its operations in Saudi Arabia. Based in Riyadh, Hejazi’s priorities over the next six months will include delivering the highest quality service to HP’s partners and customers and the development of key strategies that will enable partners to grow. He will also focus on strengthening partner relationships in the region, to help increase awareness of the HP PSG brand and its product portfolio.

Hejazi’s career with the company commenced in 2000. He served as the regional distribution manager for over three years following which he was appointed as the country manager of HP’s SPO business in the Kingdom.

FSC Continues Upward Trend

Fujitsu Siemens Computers’ (FSC) business in the region has continued its upward trend in Q307, and reported a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 45.2 percent in the Middle East and Africa region’s desktop and notebook market, according to analyst group IDC.

Fujitsu Siemens Computers ranked among the top five notebook vendors in Saudi Arabia during the third quarter, and has registered a YoY growth of more than 542 percent, as stated in IDC’s preliminary results. In the UAE, the company recorded a YoY growth of 173 percent in the notebook segment, while the market grew by 69 percent.

“Q3 has been a remarkable growth period for Fujitsu Siemens Computers, with contributing factors including the increase in demand for mobility devices, and the regional uptake of wireless connectivity.

With the help of our in-country partners in the region, we have improved our market presence through channel activities, roadshows and workshops,” said Stephane Rejasse, managing director for the Middle East, Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

SemaNoor Launches Google Apps

SemaNoor has launched the Google Apps for Education suite of products in the Kingdom. SemaNoor will make Google Apps available to schools, universities, educational districts and the Ministry of Education across Saudi Arabia as part of their e-Learning Program for communication and collaboration.

Google Apps for Education is a free, web-hosted suite of products for schools, universities and educational institutions that want to provide high quality communication tools to their users without the cost of installing and maintaining software or hardware. It comprises advanced solutions for schools that include Gmail webmail and Google Docs word processing and spreadsheet facilities. The service enables people to create, collaborate on and share information between multiple users at the same time and access their e-mail and documents from anywhere they have an Internet connection.

SemaNoor’s directive to use Google Apps was part of the Ministry of Education’s initiative to support advanced technologies and enrich the educational system in Saudi Arabia.

“This initiative is a significant leap in SemaNoor’s e-Learning program providing unique online solutions,” said Emad Al-Dogaither, CEO, SemaNoor. “Our goal is to facilitate the education system in Saudi Arabia to become more effective and richer in content. We are thrilled to engage in an unprecedented e-learning initiative that will make the Saudi educational curriculum a leader in the region.”

Training Academy for KEC

Knowledge Economic City (KEC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Oracle to establish a proposed Oracle training academy inside KEC. The training center is to provide engineers to cover the current shortage of professional manpower needed to run the smart city. KEC Chief Technology Officer Mohammed Shah commented that there is a worldwide shortage of skilled IT engineers, so the Oracle initiative will create a home grown solution to help KEC meet its ambitious development goals, as well as provide good career opportunities for young Saudis in Al-Madinah.

As a start Oracle will make its software available to local educational institutions and furnish the expertise needed to help “train the trainers.” Later the two organizations will work together to identify opportunities in which they can use their collective strength to enhance Oracle-based skills.

KEC CEO Tahir Bawazir added that the signing of the MOU with Oracle is the first stage in a process that will produce many beneficiaries, from the academy graduates who get jobs through to the employers who have their IT staff needs met. Indirectly, the community as a whole will also benefit because there is a multiplier effect that occurs each time a new job is created.

He said the training and employment of local youth is expected to lead to a more skilled work force in Al-Madinah, which in turn creates further competitive advantages for local companies.

Online Patient Assessment Program

King Fahd Medical City has launched the region’s first rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patient assessment program. The program, designed for use by doctors across the Middle East and North Africa region, is a web-based portal with the capability of tracking the evaluation, treatment and improvement of patients suffering from the illness - rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune condition that affects 1 percent of the population, and three times more women than men. The portal, accessible at www.rheum-me.com, prompts the user to provide specific information in relation to patient demographics, diagnosis, disease severity scores, co-existing conditions such as heart disease or diabetes, treatment history and current treatment.

The information in the database will be managed by an external administrator to ensure that patient confidentiality is respected. Dr. Khalid A. Qushmaq, consultant rheumatologist, chairman of the department of medicine at King Fahd Medical City and chairman of the organizing committee said, “Access to specific patient information will only be available to the patient’s doctor. Each user will be bound by a confidentiality agreement preventing the sharing of sensitive information between any external parties.” Additionally, the patient assessment program will allow doctors to evaluate patient information through a reporting system. The reporting capabilities of the system will facilitate the creation of local and regional clinical trials and will for the first time allow the development of accurate, much needed, health economic data to improve the management of this chronic condition across the region.

Job Search Application on Facebook

GulfTalent.com has launched its online job search application on the Facebook platform. The move enables over 42 million Facebook users worldwide to view, search, recommend or apply for job opportunities with employers in the Gulf and throughout the Arab world. “The Gulf region relies heavily on international talent, with over 50 percent of its current workforce consisting of expatriates,” said GulfTalent.com Managing Director Yasser Hatami. “The launch of this job search application on the Facebook Platform will bring the region into closer contact with the professional community worldwide.” While the vast majority of Facebook users reside outside the Middle East, the site also enjoys a significant following within the region — among both nationals and expatriates. Based on data from Alexa, the web information company, Facebook ranks among the top ten most popular sites in most Arab countries.