GITEX 2013 Review
Global and regional IT stakeholders from the vendor, distributor, systems integration, solution provider, reseller, service provider and telecoms community turned up for the Middle East’s premier ICT event GITEX Technology Week 2013.
In previous years, GITEX was used as the platform for announcing ground breaking new products and technology. As is the norm at the week-long technology fair, which this year saw the number of international exhibitors increase by 26%, with a grand total of 61 countries present, participants did unveil some of their innovative products and technology offerings even though these may not have been as revolutionary as regular visitors to the show have always anticipated. Channel Middle East was there and brings you this round-up.
GCT promotes innovation
Specialist accessories distributor GCT returned to GITEX Technology Week to showcase a range of innovative accessory products from vendors that include Genius, Edimax, Lafeada, Divoom and GX Gaming.
The distributor said it used GITEX to highlight innovative accessories that include the Genius HS-920BT wireless stereo headset, ECO-u261 compact universal power dank with safety protection, Genius all-in-one Cam Mouse and the GHP-200A noise isolation earphones.
Milad Jabbour, president and CEO, GCT, said the key differentiator between GCT and rivals lies in the way the company has been developing innovative lifestyle consumer products and offering the solutions to the market at affordable prices.
Jabbour said GITEX gave the company the perfect platform to hear from existing partners and recruit new ones that want to do business with GCT. “At GITEX we demonstrated to potential partners the innovative products we have developed together with our vendor partners,” he said.
Jabbour explained that GCT also met various partner segments including mobile shop dealers, traditional PC resellers and specialist partners that target the corporate segment of the market.
StarLink brings new solutions strategy
Starlink, a regional distributor of IT security solutions, came to GITEX Technology Week 2013 with a brand new go-to-market strategy for its solutions portfolio.
Nidal Othman, managing director, explained that four customer “stories” were used to engage organisations with Starlink’s vision for enterprise security. The stories were told as a means to focus the end-user on particular areas of concern with their business.
“We are not into infrastructure security; we are not into IDS [intrusion detection systems] or antivirus or firewall,” Othman said. “We concentrate on next-generation security solutions that can complement infrastructure solutions.”
Starlink started with the story of access control, which concerns the location and sensitivity of data. Four different products, from vendors such as SafeNet and Dell Software, are used to identify, monitor, encrypt and certify data for specific types of use across a number of users types, assigning appropriate access levels.
The advanced threat protection story was told to focus the user on protecting sensitive data from attack or theft. The five vendor products in this category include those from Blue Coat and FireEye and they are used to analyse, visualise and remediate attacks.
Technology solutions vendor Dell Middle East returned to GITEX Technology Week with a refreshed tablet array for its channel partners in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The vendor said the new tablet offerings have a business, corporate and education focus, and run both Android and Windows platforms.
Neil Hand, vice president, Tablet & Performance PC Group, Dell Inc, said the pepped up array of tablets include the new Venue 7-and 8-inch Android range, and Venue A8, A10 Pro and 11 Pro Windows array.
Hand said the new portfolio is targeted at a varied audience from your entry level consumer to the high-end business user. “Although we might have sent out mixed messages with our tablet offerings, Dell remains committed to this segment of the market and is looking forward to developing this business in the Middle East,” he said.
“We have paid a lot of attention to this business in the past 12 months as we aim to grow the market share of Dell in this segment.”
Hand explained that the company used GITEX to highlight the various tablet models and how these integrate with other solutions in the PC group. “We are optimistic that the new tablet offerings will give our channel partners the competitive edge they need in this cut-throat market,” he said.
Hand said Dell is aiming to capitalise on its success with the desktop and notebook business especially in the education segment in the Middle East with its tablets business. In the past three years, Dell has sent out mixed messages about its tablet strategy.
TP-LINK showcases dual-band router
Home router vendor TP-LINK was at GITEX Technology Week 2013 to introduce its new Archer 7 802.11ac wireless dual-band gigabit router, which is designed for a range of uses in consumer network environments.
The vendor said the router supports simultaneous wireless speeds of up to 1300Mbps at 5GHz and 450Mbps at 2.4GHz. The device is intended to support day-to-day applications such as e-mail and Web browsing on the 2.4GHz band, while the 5GHz band is used for bandwidth-intensive or latency-sensitive applications, such as multiple HD video streams or several online gaming sessions.
Shenzhen, China-based TP-LINK began operations in 1996, rising to become a major brand in its domestic market by 2003. In 2005 the company began expansion into overseas markets and started participating in trade shows in the US, Taiwan and Germany. The company attended GITEX for the first time in 2007.
“TP-LINK holds 42% of the worldwide consumer [router] market,” said Jason Xu, vice president, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA) at TP-LINK.
“GITEX has helped TP-LINK a lot in our development of the Middle East and Africa market, and after the first year here we realised we had to be well prepared [for the event],” Xu added. “ It has brought us a lot of valuable customers and partners.”
During previous attendances at GITEX, TP-LINK has forged relationships with regional distributors such as FDC and Jebel Ali-based MES.
