His Highness Sheikh Hamdan and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed visit GITEX 2004

The entourage undertook a detailed tour of the exhibition taking the time to talk to individual exhibitors and visitors. The visit covered all the halls at DWTC including the hardware, software, networking and communications areas, including the country pavilions among others.

GITEX 2004, the largest technology exhibition in the Middle East, is the technology hub for professionals from the region and worldwide. The event attracts thousands of people from various industry verticals. This year's event has strong participation from industry associations of different countries, who are helping their home IT industry capture a slice of the growing IT markets in the Middle East.

GITEX is hosting a record number of over 2,428 companies. Wireless, IP telephony, Data Storage, CRM, Business Software and Security Software will be some of the focus areas.

The event is a central marketing investment for many local companies, which use the platform to showcase their products and services to the region.

GITEX has 21 national pavilions (up by 10%), 930 exhibitors (up by 20%) 2,428 companies (up by 42%) a net area of 27,489 square metres (up by 20%), all underlining an impressive and sustained rate of growth.

Conveniently interlinked, the exhibition area is categorised into three zones; Software, Hardware and Communications/Networking, hosting industry majors like Acer, Samsung, Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, HP and many others, who are showcasing the latest innovations in these sectors.

GITEX also features 'The Pavilion,' located in a 3,300 square metre area adjacent to Halls 5, 6 and 7 to cater to the exceptional demand for space this year. This new area houses part of the British , German and Chinese country pavilions in addition to hardware companies and media providers.

Dubai Internet City's Community Zone occupies 1158-square metre area anchoring Concourse 2, between Halls 7 and 8. Sheikh Rashid Hall and Hall 8, dedicated to software majors and some country pavilions is the place to visit for investment opportunities in winning technologies that can help businesses run more profitably.

While the attractions of GITEX 2004 bring with it an opportunity to visit some of the biggest brand names in the IT industry there are a number of delegates from various countries from around the world who are taking part in GITEX.