Sakhr's 'Ibsar' wins Microsoft's best product award for 2004

The award was presented at an annual event hosted by Microsoft for its partners in the Arab region held recently in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Al Alamiah Group & Sakhr Software Co. are two of Microsoft's leading strategic partners in the Middle East. Al Alamiah Group is the largest distributor of Microsoft platforms in the region and Sakhr uses Microsoft platforms in developing its exceptional systems & innovative solutions aimed at individuals, government & educational institutions.

"We are delighted to receive this award which is a true indicator of the appreciation of Sakhr's pioneering, distinctive & high quality products," stated Mahmoud Shikha, Projects Managing Director, Al Alamiah Electronics. He added, "Our far reaching alliance with Microsoft has had a very positive effect on both our organizations. Al Alamiah has always been the vital key to the region's markets, a partner that fully understands & appreciates this region's culture."

"Ibsar" is a comprehensive solution for the blind & the visually challenged, as it encompasses a strong screen reader which transforms the contents of the screen to high quality human voice, thus enabling the blind & visually challenged to interact with all PC applications, in both Arabic & English, in the same manner as their sighted counterparts.

"We congratulate Sakhr & Al Alamiah on this achievement. The truth is we have become accustomed to finding the most technologically advanced software at Sakhr," stated Emad Hamed, Partners Manager, Microsoft Arabia. He added, "The total solution provided by Al Alamiah, KSA, which includes the system "Ibsar", a top-of-the-range PC and professional training is a tremendous package which aimed at a dear segment of our society suffering from blindness & weak-vision. The package offers a comprehensive & unique solution to these PC users, allowing them to surf the net like everyone else."

"Ibsar" is based on Arabic & English TTS, Text-to-Speech and OCR engines. "Ibsar" helps the blind & visually challenged to read books, printed documents and electronic files without any assistance. It also helps them to efficiently write in Arabic or English, to save these documents and to print them in brail format.

"Our company is the pioneer in Arabic language NLP (Natural Language Processing) technologies. It is therefore natural that our products would gain the appreciation of all our giant IT allies," commented Salah Malaeb, General Manager, Sakhr Software Co. He added, "The fact that our technologies and our products are based on globally recognized IT platforms further enhances the status of these platforms worldwide and opens up new possibilities for servicing our clients."

"Ibsar" is a comprehensive solution enabling the blind & the visually challenged to use the Internet and to browse websites in both Arabic & English, using a simple, user-friendly method designed specially for them. "Ibsar" also allows the blind & the visually challenged to send, receive & read email, thus making it easy for them to remain in touch with the outside world. "Ibsar's" program includes a key-board tutorial for beginners, providing step-by-step instructions so that users attain complete proficiency of the keyboard in order to effectively operate "Ibsar".