Citrix iForum 2003 Middle East held in Kingdom for the first time

The forum was hosted by Citrix Systems Inc, global leaders in virtual software, and organized by Mindware FZ LLC together with Aklaniat (Mindware Saudi Arabia). Citrix has been operating in the region for the last five years and opened its Middle East office in Dubai Internet City earlier this year. Mindware, the first distributor in the Middle East to be awarded ISO 9001:2001, is the sole regional distributor for Citrix and has established its new office with Aklaniat in Riyadh.

Speaking about the forum Mr. Antoine Noujeim, Business Unit Manager of Mindware, said "Previous venues for the prestigious Citrix iForum have been in USA, Europe and Asia. Riyadh was chosen for this year's event because the Kingdom is by far the biggest market in the Middle East and, as a major importer and exporter, has a significant number of business travellers."

"The virtual office - which in effect can be as small as mobile phone, a pocket pc or a laptop, with internet connections - allows access to information and enables business to be conducted any place any time," said Mr. Antoine Aguado, Citrix Middle East Regional Manager, "Citrix provides access to applications, information, processes and people on any device or network connection."

The importance of the Saudi IT market was emphasised by the presence of Citrix Systems' Southern Europe Area Vice President, Frederic Tourisseau who chaired a roundtable session with five of the biggest Citrix Enterprise customers in Saudi Arabia. Discussion focused on why and how these customers implemented Citrix solutions and the benefits shown by return on investment. "The roundtable was an opportunity to meet with important end-users, exchange ideas with them, and obtain feedback regarding the results of using Citrix software and its benefits in terms of total cost of ownership and cost savings," said Mr Tourisseau.

The event was sponsored by no fewer than 23 companies including EMC, HP, Inmarsat, Microsoft Arabia, SAP, SBM/IBM, Sun, Acer, Arabic Computer Systems, Al Alamiah, Natcom, New Horizons, PIT, Veritas, SCS, Four Vision, and Expand. A partner exhibition area allowed attendees to visit Citrix partners and explore solutions, products and technologies around Citrix architecture.

One of the keynote speeches at the conference was delivered by Eng. Bilal Sununu, General Manager of Microsoft Arabia, "Microsoft is a platform provider for Citrix and through our many collaborations we have developed a strong partnership that dates back to 1989 in terms of licensing, development and marketing," stated Eng. Sununu. "It gives us great satisfaction that Citrix has chosen to bring the iForum to Saudi Arabia and we are delighted to be one of the sponsors of this important international event."

During the afternoon the conference was divided into one sales session and two technical sessions which gave attendees the opportunity to listen to issues discussed by Citrix partners and benefit from a comprehensive agenda that included topics ranging from Citrix architecture and adaptive infrastructure to pricing and return on investment.