UAE IT services market hits $1.02bn in 2008 to post 29.1% year-on-year growth

Exceptional growth in outsourced services, particularly in managed network and desktop services, contributed significantly to the sector's solid performance.

Injazat Data Systems, the leading information technology and business process managed services provider in the UAE and the Middle East, confirms this trend as it has been accommodating a surge in demand for its outsourced services, which have contributed significantly to the overall market growth tracked by IDC. Although vendor rankings have yet to be published, Injazat is confident that it will retain its position as one of the top three IT service providers in the country, especially as it has recently engaged in several major contracts and has added Tier IV data centre services to its offerings.

The IDC report identified Combined Government, Combined Finance and Telecommunication as the top three sectors according to IT services spending in 2008, accounting for an aggregate 56%. System Integration, Deploy and Support and Outsourcing were the top three engagement types, with Systems Integration taking the largest share at 29.4%. IDC's growth forecast for the UAE's IT services trade from 2008 to 2013 projects spending to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 12.4% within the period. IT services expenditure is expected to surpass $1.828bn in 2013.

"The robust growth of the industry is an excellent incentive for us to expand our portfolio of managed services. If the IT services business was able to remain buoyant in the midst of the crisis then it will certainly pick up more momentum across all industries during the rest of the year. Key trends that have emerged as a result of the downturn such as managed services will help Injazat maintain its industry leadership as it explores other prospects in the thriving UAE market,"

said Ibrahim Mohamed Lari, CEO, Injazat.

IDC expects the IT services sector to continue growing at a steady rate in 2009 and pick up in 2010 as economic conditions improve and as the market proceeds with natural maturation.

A joint venture between Mubadala Development Co. and HP, Injazat Data Systems has been consistently maintaining a significant portion of the UAE's IT managed services market. Among the major achievements of the company so far in 2009 are key partnerships with prominent organizations such as du, Microsoft Gulf, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, and Northrop Grumman; and the hosting of the first Data Centre Strategies Middle East Forum. It is also the owner of the first Tier IV design-certified data centre in the region and the only one of its kind outside of North America.