Sakhr Software sponsors MDC 2004

This sponsorship is considered the first of its kind in relationships between Arabic & International IT companies.

Fahad Al Sharekh, Business Development Director, Al Alamiah Group/Sakhr Software Co., made the announcement, explaining that this decision comes as a result of several meetings between the top management at Al Alamiah and Microsoft Europe, Middle East & Africa. During these meetings Microsoft invited Sakhr to be a main sponsor of MDC 2004, because of what Sakhr represents to the Arab culture & the Arab markets. Sakhr accepted Microsoft's invitation thus making this collaboration an exceptional precedent for bilateral relations serving the interests of this region.

This announcement means that Sakhr will be a major Platinum Sponsors for Microsoft Middle East Developers Conference 2004, which will be held by Microsoft from 24-27 January 2004, and which is expected to be the largest developers conference in the Middle East.

"Microsoft realizes the importance of Arab developers, for this reason it continues to invest in its allies. Sakhr highly appreciates Microsoft's invitation to work together towards making this unique event a truly exceptional one, an event which will set the precedent for other Arab developers. This invitation represents worldwide recognition of Sakhr's status as the leading Arabic language software developer, and reaffirms Sakhr's alliance & integration with Microsoft," Al Sharekh said.

Sakhr will be the only Arab Platinum sponsor, the highest level of sponsorship for this event. Platinum sponsors include HP amongst others, while Intel is a golden sponsor for MCD 2004.

In its capacity at Platinum sponsor, Sakhr will be managing a specialized workshop for Sakhr Software Co. & its applications. Salah Malaeb, General Manager, Sakhr Software Co., will deliver a speech introducing participants to the various directions of the company's policy, & the strategic horizons for its scope of work. Additionally one of Sakhr's Product Managers will deliver a lecture explaining how to build Arabic language applications using Sakhr Text to Speech (TTS) & Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technologies.

"We will be answering participants' questions, as the main aim of participating & sponsoring this conference is to introduce participant's to Sakhr's speech technologies, & to show them how to enhance the performance of their applications by using our technologies," explained Malaeb, adding," Sakhr has decided to offer a free one week training session to all developers attending this event. The training sessions target developers who wish to advance their skills in using Arabic speech technologies. Participating developers will also be offered a one-year free license for Sakhr's Test to Speech (TTS) & Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)."

Sakhr will have a special booth throughout the three-day duration of the conference, where the company will be exhibiting its top-of-the-range technologies based on Microsoft platforms. The company will exhibit "Ibsar", the unique program for the weak-sighted & the blind, considered the most successful product of its kind based on Sakhr's Speech technology; Arabic handwriting recognition on Tablet PC, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology & the "Idrisi" Search Engine.

"We are very happy that Sakhr's logo will be appearing densely for the duration of the conference, particularly behind Bill Gates as he delivers his opening speech. It is perhaps the first time that a completely Arab company sponsors an event of this magnitude & importance to be held by an international company of this nature, not only in the IT sector, but in any business sector," Malaeb elaborated.

It is worth noting that Sakhr builds most of its applications based on Microsoft technologies. Sakhr is the programming branch of the Al Alamiah Group which includes nine specialized IT companies in total, making it the largest distributor for Microsoft platforms in the region.