USD 1M Tech Access Solutions Centre opens at DIC

The new facility, the first CDP-run Authorised iForce [SM] Ready Centre in the Middle East and Africa, is a collaborative effort between global IT player, Sun Microsystems Inc., and its regional Data Centre Channel Development Provider (CDP) Tech Access FZ LLC.

"The centre will play a key role in regional customer engagement and provides a focal point for Sun's iForce initiative - 'collaborating for customer success' - across the greater Middle East," said Ellie Warner, Channels & Marketing Manager Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East & Africa, Sun Microsystems.

"It will provide Sun and its partners a base for the creation of 'sets' of pre-defined, pre-integrated solutions utilising 'best of breed' architectures, targeted at the region's horizontal and vertical market sector growth."

"The key to the global success of iForce, and one we expect to emulate here, is its ethos of 'proof of concept'. We use a 'test before you invest' customer approach," said Warner.

Tech Access/Sun anticipate a return on initial investment by 2003. "We estimate the centre will leverage around US $500,000 worth of business per quarter by the close of 2003. We anticipate this increasing to US $1.4 million by 2004," said Sardar M. Ghalib, Chairman of the Board, Tech Access.

The new DIC-based, 130 square metre centre is staffed by 12 people, a mixture of sales and dedicated technical engineers, and will be integrated into its standard regional pre-sales activity. Aside from its state-of-the-art technology infrastructure, the centre comprises a presentation area and project briefing rooms, allowing solution emulation and customer interaction.

"The Tech Access Solutions Centre can add considerable value to the technology expertise in the Dubai Internet City community," said Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Chief Executive Office of Dubai Internet City. "Basing itself in Dubai Internet City can help the Tech Access Solutions Centre easily reach its customers as well as operate with maximum efficiency and minimum hassle. Dubai Internet City also provides a rich community environment that can help the centre quickly form productive partnerships and collaborations."

Sun says the very nature of the iForce initiative made it a foregone conclusion as to where the new facility would be built. "iForce is about collaboration within the technology community for mutual gain and DIC is home to the largest number of technology players in the Middle East. This, coupled with its cutting edge broadband communications infrastructure, make it ideal for the latest addition to the growing iForce network," said Warner.

The iForce initiative was launched by Sun in 2000 with the creation of two centres based on a concept of 'collaboration for customer success'. By the close of 2001, Sun's global iForce initiative had generated an estimated 4,500 engagements. Today Sun owns four centres worldwide and supports a network of 43 Authorised iForce Ready centres of which the Tech Access Solutions Centre (An Authorised iForce Ready Centre) is the latest addition.

"By drawing out customer requirements through dialogue, we are able to put together the best technology provider mix from among the iForce community to meet these needs. Before clients spend a single dollar, a specific solution set has been created, deployed and tested according to the customer prerequisites at an iForce centre. This approach has enabled Sun and its partners to achieve between 70 - 100% conversion on 'proof of concept' engagements," said Warner.

A key element of the iForce initiative is its community of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), system integrators, professional service providers, e-integrators, enterprise service providers, application engineering firms and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

"If we are to effectively service customer requirements across a broad range of industries and an even greater number of I.T. application variations then it is paramount we develop an extensive community of technology specialists," said Warner.

"We have identified a number of potential 'value add partnerships'. To date we have secured working relationships with Oracle, BMC Software, Veritas, Legato, SolutionNet, Intershop, XYBASE, INFOSYS to name but a few. These partnerships reflect the initial solution set offering at the centre," she continued.

Within the horizontal sector, solution offerings include an Oracle e-business suite, a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) implementation programme designed for the small-to-medium (SME) space as well as a number of solutions catering to general business. The initial target vertical sectors include finance, oil and gas, travel and tourism with various solutions catering to each.

"We also have a number of solutions in development catering for other sectors such as health care and insurance," said Ghalib.

Tech Access also says it's currently in the process of delivering a complete 'net-based' environment to manage and facilitate the entire regional customer engagement process of the iForce initiative.

"The new CRM engine will enable us to drive customer engagement via an implemented process set. We will be able to effectively and efficiently define and support marketing campaigns, target appropriate custom, assess the interaction and success of campaigns and manage quality lead output of the partner community," said Ghalib.

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