Kevin Turner inaugurates Microsoft Gulf 2007 CIO Summit in Dubai

The forum brings together key members of the IT industry in the region to share strategic perspectives and business best practices. Microsoft enterprise technologies and services were also showcased at the event, providing attendees with the opportunity to trial technologies that will benefit businesses across the region. In addition it provided inside information on how Microsoft deploys and manages its own technologies in an enterprise-wide environment.

"Investment in innovation and research and development is key to the success of business and growing economies," said Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft Corporation. "Microsoft will be investing approximately $8bn in research and development over the next year in order to contribute to the continuous development of innovation and market leading products."

"Collaboration and mobility of the workforce are two of the key areas Microsoft is dedicated to currently, matching the demand for companies to provide their workforce with mobility solutions that provide a flexible and efficient work environment to improve performance," he added.

The CIO Summit is an invitation-only event that gives CIOs exclusive access to Microsoft executives and provides strategic perspectives for them as business leaders and IT visionaries. Not only does this forum showcase key Microsoft enterprise technologies and services, it also provides insights from independent analysts such as IDC that discusses regional technology trends. This year we are also honored to have as a special guest speaker Mr. Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer Microsoft Corporation.

"The Microsoft CIO summit is a reflection of the increasing importance of the role played by information technology in the public and private sector in the Gulf. The CIO is responsible for so much more than ensuring that their organisations have effective and secure IT systems. CIOs have the capability to drive productivity and create new ways of working, to improve standards of governance and corporate reporting and even guide business development and growth," said Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager, Microsoft Gulf.

"This conference aims to give CIOs an in-depth understanding of the technologies and trends that are shaping the industry, and to give them an insight into how these technologies can transform their own organizations," he added.

The summit aims to address the key issues that are facing CIOs in the Middle East today, such as delivering more effective and secure systems to maintain productivity, how to operate on a global stage with global standards of governance, and meeting growing requirements for accountability to shareholders and regulatory authorities.