OMS appointed as first Mid East training partner for Symantec

Under the agreement, OMS will train Symantec resellers, partners and customers from Egypt, the Levant and North Africa at its state-of-the-art training centre in Cairo and the partnership should see OMS develop into a major competency centre for Symantec.

Philip Bourne Senior Director for Symantec Education Services EMEA visited Egypt for the appointment of OMS and said he believed the investment of time and resources by Symantec and OMS will assist in driving IT risk management skills in the Egyptian market as well as offering customers even more compelling reasons to choose Symantec solutions.

"The combined efforts of Symantec and OMS will see this facility become one of the most important centres of ICT learning in the region," said Bourne. "Aside from strengthening Symantec's market offering and its channel relationships, the centre will also add to Egypt's growing status as a leading provider of solutions via an enabled workforce, providing employment opportunities in the international market-place."

Ahmed Kabeel, Chief Executive Officer, OMS, commenting on the investment made in the training centre, adding weight to its claims as a leading edge facility said:

"OMS has invested over US$500,000 to date on developing a world-class training facility with five training rooms and a cutting-edge datacentre utilised for high-end technical training," he said. "The training facility already holds authorised training partner status for several other major IT brands and this agreement with Symantec will prove to be an exciting addition to Egypt's rapidly emerging status as a centre for ICT excellence."

The training agreement will bring together OMS's core competencies and Symantec's leading security and availability solutions to provide comprehensive training for Symantec's channel partners and customers. A major focus is to ensure that future collaborations strengthen OMS's position to be recognised as a major regional competency centre for Symantec.

"OMS has had a long and successful relationship with Symantec in the sales, services and solutions domain as a Platinum Partner," commented Mohamed Elnakib, Egypt Country Manager, Symantec.

"The company is also highly respected member of the ICT community in the Middle East with a reputation for the quality of its intellectual capital, depth of resources, high standards of facilities and it has received recognition for its operational achievements with awards on both a local and a regional level."

Symantec's accreditation process follows stringent guidelines and the complex training and certification process ensures the level of knowledge and quality of training expertise that the market would expect from the world's fourth largest software vendor.

Skills development for OMS trainers has already been completed and six consultants have achieved the necessary Symantec accreditation as certified instructors, covering Symantec security and availability business lines. Initially OMS will run an average of eight courses per quarter, training over 200 people per year. The courses will focus principally on Symantec's market leading Net-Back Up, Storage Foundation and Cluster Server solutions. In addition, Symantec Education at OMS will offer several vendor neutral training courses and solutions that address advanced knowledge in key areas related to security, availability and business continuity.

"The security and availability of data for the enterprise and the small to medium business markets is becoming increasingly complex and important," said Kabeel. "New threats and challenges occur on a daily basis and for Symantec's customers to ensure their businesses get a better return on investment from Symantec products, training is a crucial element."