HP Takes Home Top Vendor Award
HP Middle East recently took home the top award at the inaugural Middle East Retail Academy Awards ceremony held during the gala dinner at the Digital Consumer Channel (DCC). HP was awarded Overall Vendor of the Year. Additionally, Wael El Chami, consumer sales manager for HP, took home the Retail Channel Manager of the Year award. During the awards ceremony, hundreds of senior executives from the regional vendor and retail community voted live using electronic devices to determine the winners of the 14 awards on offer.
HP Middle East has also announced changes in its senior management. Bernhard Isemann has become Solutions Partner Organization (SPO) Manager for the region with immediate effect. He replaces Salim Ziade who has been named as SPO Director for Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa (MEMA). In his new position, Bernhard will be reporting to Serdar Urcar, PSG general manager, HP Middle East.
Bernhard joined HP in February 2007 as Enterprise Storage & Server business lead through the channel in the region for SPO, focusing on building the Mid-Market as well as the Enterprise Business in the Middle East. Since joining HP, Bernhard has been responsible for setting up the Value Add Distribution initiative for ISV’s to penetrate landline and mobile operators in the region and the launch of the HP “Openforce” program.
SPS to Distribute HUMAX
Samir Photographic Supplies (SPS) has acquired distribution rights for HUMAX satellite receivers for Saudi Arabia. HUMAX is a world leader in satellite receiver technology and the agreement is set to introduce the Saudi television audience to features and conveniences they have yet to experience.
SPS will soon be launching new models of HUMAX digital receivers. One of them, the HUMAX iCORD Digital Receiver model IRCI-PVR — also called the Personal Video Recorder — comes equipped with an innovation that will change the way viewers watch television in Saudi Arabia. Incorporating a built-in hard disk drive, the satellite receiver can record four channels simultaneously, while playing back a previous recording from the HDD.
Viewers will be able to choose to record their favorite programs while they are away or watching another program, which they can playback any time they want. While watching a program on TV, they can also “pause” the program if they are interrupted, and restart — the moment a program being watched is paused, the intelligent devise starts to record it for later viewing. Equipped with the latest technology and design, the iCORD Personal Video Recorder (PVR) is ideal for digital satellite broadcast reception offering up to 80 hours of recording capacity with its integrated 160GB hard disk drive.
Robust Future for Region’s IT Sector
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, has supported research predicting strong projections for the Middle East IT sector. Samsung Electronics confirmed that thanks to the large size of the region and strong engagement in major telecommunications deployments it sees impressive growth ahead.
“Over the next decade, GCC countries are projected to spend approximately 25 percent of their infrastructure development funds on the expansion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT),” said Madhav Narayan, general manager, IT Division, Samsung Gulf Electronics. “Regional development in markets such as Saudi Arabia, which has witnessed a rise from 2.5 million mobile phone users 5 years ago to 20 million in 2008, is driving rapid growth in the sector. In the next five years, Saudi Arabia’s mobile penetration is expected to catch up with the UAE and Qatar and rise to 100 percent. In addition, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Communications who are investing heavily in ICT infrastructure, Iraq will have one of the best network infrastructures in the region by the middle of 2009.”
According to IDC, IT spend in the Middle East and Africa region will surpass $40 billion in 2008 with the GCC accounting for approximately 23 percent of total spend. Samsung Electronics’ primary focus in the IT industry is in the areas of printer and display solutions. In 2007, Samsung global printer division revenues reached $3 billion, $80 million from the Middle East and Africa region, with 12 percent global and 20 percent EMEA market share. This year will be a challenging one for Samsung Electronics, with a commitment to raise global printer division revenues to $4 billion and $150 million in the MEA region.
“In 2008, Samsung Electronics aims to focus on the corporate market where the demand for high-speed printing is strong, representing approximately 60 percent of revenues,” said Narayan. “We are confident that these objectives will be achieved by introducing highly functional, design orientated printer products which increase operational efficiencies for our customers.”
