Future of telecom in the Middle East addressed on last day of Gitex 2004 Conferences

The conferences were being held in conjunction with the Gitex Exhibitions at the Dubai World Trade Center, 5th Floor Theatre Room Dubai UAE.

Mr. Joerick Santiago, International Marketing Program Manager, ADC's Wireline Division addressed the session on 'Convergence Wireless Solutions' In his presentation Mr. Santiago explained the basics of WiFi - wireless business access to the internet, public WiFi access point requirements and minimizing right of way and tariff sharing negotiations. He also presented a business case study on ADC's survey of 3 cities on North America - Toronto, Philadelphia and Minneapolis on deploying a hot zone.

The session on 'Measuring End User Quality of Experience' was taken by Mr. Marin Debelic, Regional Sales Director, Southern Europe & Middle East, Argogroup. Mr. Debelic's key message for Middle East organizations was "Rich device knowledge is essential to measuring the real user experience. The industry should think about quality from a user perspective. Using iterative processes service quality can be easily improved. There is great value in developing a consistent industry-wide approach."

Mr. Jawad Abbassi, Founder & President, Arab Advisors Group addressed an interesting session on 'Mobile Telecom Services in the Arab World.' In his presentation he outlined the Arab world's communication markets, the effect of competition and provided several insights into the MENA user's habits and needs. On the wireless office in the Middle East, he said "It is already there, people who need it, will use it. Regional telecom and wireless providers can bring them closer to wireless office through awareness and competition."

Mr. Laurent Delifer, Co-President, COO and Founder, NavLink Inc. presented on the topic 'Network Convergence - Getting More for less' The session included a discussion on the historical evolution of network convergence, operator's challenges and the IP / MPLS opportunity. "IP / MPLS helps you meet your challenges by decreasing operating expenses, creating new revenue streams and increasing competitiveness", he added.

The final session of the day was on 'Communication Application Convergence - A New Way of Thinking about Communication Services' by Mr. Tim Stone, Cisco Systems Marketing Manager, IP Communications EMEA. Mr. Stone dealt with user challenges and the communications market, IP communications applications and creating converged services. "It's not just about cheaper phone calls - it's about transforming the communications experience. User requirements are constantly changing and flexibility, context and business agility is the key to success in today's telecom sector", he added.

Mr. Ali Al Kamali said about the telecom sessions, "Over the past 6 days we have had a variety of sessions answering key IT issues relevant to the Middle East. Today's sessions had a very clear focus - telecom and wireless communication technologies. We had interesting presentations on network convergence, communication application convergence and a very detailed study presented on the mobile telecom services in the Middle East."

With more than 600 IT professionals from business and government organizations in the Middle East participating, the Datamatix Gitex Conferences have become the largest IT conferences in the Middle East. More than 20 international and regional technology experts addressed sessions on several IT issues relevant to the region.