Gulf IT market to cross Dhs44bn by 2011

In line with its aims to leverage the soaring IT sector, Netgear, a worldwide provider of technologically advanced and branded networking products, has announced that it will be showcasing advanced networking, storage and entertainment solutions at Gitex 2008, stand Z-Q1 in Zabeel Hall Q1, which will run from October 19 - 23, 2008 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Recent studies by IDC also indicate a continuous growth in IT spending in the Gulf, with expectations that it will hit Dhs33bn in 2008, which is an increase of 15% compared to 2007. The steady growth in investments around building IT infrastructure, namely systems, PCs, storage, peripherals and networking equipment has driven the hardware market in the Gulf, which accounts for 62.1% of the region's IT market. Given this outstanding business atmosphere, Netgear is aiming to repeat its successful participation in last year's event, where it has closed partner agreements with companies looking for robust and flexible networking setup and support.

"We focused on our goal of doubling our growth from last year, and our participation at this year's Gitex is part of our efforts to leverage the booming IT market in the Gulf to achieve this goal," said Ahmad Zeidan, Channel Sales Manager, Netgear Middle East.

"Our team is very eager to unveil the latest networking, wireless and data storage technologies from our global range products that are designed to address the needs of SMBs. As the region's largest IT exhibition, Gitex is a powerful platform to launch our products and build up the NETGEAR brand as a total networking and storage solution provider for the SMB market."

Showcased at Netgear's booth are some of the technologically-advanced media and entertainment systems which will be include the Netgear EVA8000 Digital Entertainer - a standalone unit designed to stream various types of audio and video content from your PC to your TV. The company will also underline convenient transmission of High Definition (HD) video streaming through its products for the new smart home generations during the event. Furthermore, the company will showcase the award-winning Netgear ReadyNAS Duo Home Media Server - an intelligent network storage solution that allows centralisation and organisation of digital media throughout the home to a growing variety of network-attached devices. Among other high technology products, which will populate Netgear's booth are Netgear ProSafe Advanced Smart Switches and the ProSafe Control Center.

"Our leading position in the market is being driven by our capacity to provide the back bone of the most basic to the most complicated IT solutions such as VOIP, 3G communication, and Wi-Max technology CPEs along with brands like Avaya and Intel, among others. These solutions have gained excellent exposure through our participation in Gitex, which has also consistently afforded us valuable information, which led us to understand the demands and requirements of the Arab world. By establishing a stronger presence this year, we are expecting to forge new partnerships with vendors and systems integrators from the UAE, KSA and Egypt to the rest of the GCC and Levant region," concluded Zeidan."

Netgear offers affordable, easy-to-install security and software products, which merge reliability with high performance for the benefit of small and medium businesses. It specialises in delivering a wide selection of products grouped under the Ethernet networking, broadband and wireless networking segments and comprising switches, adapters, wired and wireless routers, and gateways, enables users to share internet access, peripherals, files, digital multimedia content and applications among multiple personal computers and other Internet-enabled devices.