In a move that has been applauded by the channel, industry veteran Ali Jomaa has been appointed to lead Juniper in Saudi Arabia. Yet to be confirmed by Juniper or Jomaa himself, Juniper channel partners have verified Jomaa’s new position and are looking forward to the industry heavyweight taking on behemoth Cisco.

OneCard, the Arab world’s largest multi-function secured e-payment services, has signed a unique strategic agreement with eWaseet, the region’s first and largest classified advertising newspaper supplement.

Aimed at providing the public with a simple online solution for advertising their wares, OneCard’s users will now be able to set up, to design, and to place online as well as in print classified ads in a matter of minutes on eWaseet's website.

CIO Saudi met with the VP for IT at Saudi Aramco, Abdulrahman Al- Wuhaib to discuss how he and his team are taking the enterprise forward through technology adoption and business best practices and how SAP is underpinning his enterprise efforts and how he's pushing hard for the company to implement e-business across the organization.

It’s probably the largest local company you’ve never heard of, but for the past two decades Advanced Electronics Company (AEC) has been a powerhouse in the Saudi technology industry. With strategic alliances with Cisco, Acer, HP, Oracle and an exclusive partnership with Indian giant HCL, AEC is a rising star in the Kingdom. In a one to one with CIO Saudi, AEC’s CEO Dr. Gassan Al-Shibl explains why the Saudi giant was present at Gitex, how Saudi end users are still not adapting enough to technology, and why research and development should be a top priority for the Middle East.

NEC Computers announces the release of the SAS version of the NEC Express5800/120Eh2 server. With higher technical specifications than other products available in this market sector, NEC Computers is focusing on server scalability to meet the current and future needs of high-growth companies.

The HP Color LaserJet CM4730 MFP series is the perfect tool for mid-volume workgroups of 6 to 15 users in both small and medium businesses and enterprise environments. This fast, colour MFP enables businesses to be more productive with print, copy, send-to functionality, fax (optional), plus HP and key partner solutions close at hand.

So the chase for Jomaa has ended with the man joining Juniper. The networking vendor has made a shrewd choice, especially in the light of the current climate where a number of multinationals have sought to appoint Saudi general managers for what I’ve been told are political reasons. Is the Saudi IT landscape moving in the right direction when it comes to leadership? Or is today's current political landscape influencing decision makers in Europe and the US as they look to develop their Kingdom-wide operations?

I love releases on financials from local operations of multinationals. Either they don't quote figures, only "double digit" growth percentages, or they put out ridiculously high figures. As recession looms large over the US market won't a dose of truth do the Middle East channel some good or are we doomed to remain ignorant as to the true potential of the Middle East technology industry?