EMC inaugurates Riyadh office

The new office will manage EMC's growing list of clients and network of partners throughout the country as Saudi demand for information lifecycle management solutions that manage data more cost-effectively at every point of its lifecycle increases.

A recent IDC report named Saudi Arabia as the Gulf's fastest-growing storage market, especially for software, with EMC as the market leader. As a number of sectors including telecommunications and utilities make advances in privatization, Saudi-based organizations are increasingly recognizing the value of their business data and the need to invest in protecting and managing those assets.

"The drive for Saudi organizations to become more competitive, and the role that information plays in customer and market share retention, are key factors driving the Saudi Arabia demand for information storage and management solutions," said Mohammed Amin, regional manager, EMC Middle East.

"EMC's investment of resources in Saudi Arabia will enable us to better understand the business needs of our existing customers, which include a number of Saudi's most prominent organizations, while targeting new industry sectors and forging alliances with resellers throughout the country," he added.

EMC veteran Habib Mahakian, who has spent the past four years driving EMC sales activity in Saudi Arabia, will manage the new office. Osama Alhaj-Issa will serve as channel manager and be responsible for enhancing the storage leader's partner network across the Kingdom. Members of the company's in-country reseller community, including MATCO, ITS, Ebttikar and NTC, as well as regional partner STME, were on hand to support EMC as it opened the Riyadh office today.

Currently, EMC counts as its customers some of the most prominent organizations in the Kingdom, including major names in the Telecoms, Financial and Oil and Gas sectors.

Within the next twelve months, EMC intends to widen the geographic and vertical reach of its operations in Saudi Arabia, including promoting all the products lines of its newly acquired companies such as Legato, Documentum, Dantz & SMARTS, and to increase the skills base of its channel community.