ICT Cluster Strategic Partner for 4th Annual NME Innovation Awards

Dubai Internet City (DIC), the largest managed ICT cluster in the Middle East today announced it is the ‘ICT Strategic Partner’ for the Network Middle East (NME) Innovations Awards 2008 as part of its endeavour to highlight the vital role of innovation in the industry.

To be held at Mina A'Salam in Dubai, the 4th Annual NME Innovation Awards will recognise individuals and organisations that have demonstrated outstanding skills in driving industry standards and adopting innovative network infrastructures across the region.

Malek Sultan Al Malek, Executive Director of DIC, said: “It gives me great pleasure to be part of an industry event that enables us to support our business partners through celebrating talented and visionary individuals who push the boundaries of excellence. Such initiatives that recognize excellence, inspire new discoveries and pave way for scientific advancement.

“An annual event such as the Network Middle East Innovations Awards will add significant value to the region’s industry by creating an attractive business model that encourages growth while offering fresh investment opportunities.”

Each year, Network Middle East sets out to honour projects, people, suppliers and service providers that have excelled in the regional networking sector over a 12 month period. The gala event will give away 15 awards in a range of categories, recognising the most influential end user organisation in Middle East networking, most innovative use of new technology, best security product range and best data centre deployment.

Winners will be chosen by a team of judges from the industry comprising networking professionals and industry analysts who have worked and studied the region's IT adoption and usage for many years.

According to IDC, IT spending in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) will cross AED146.8 billion (US billion) in 2008, with the six GCC countries accounting for nearly 23 per cent. Last year, IT spending in the GCC region stood at AED29 billion (US.92 billion). The hardware market’s share was 62.1 per cent, followed by the services sector at 24.3 per cent and packed software at 13.6 per cent.

Hosting most of the Fortune 500 companies as well as more than 1,000 specialised industry leaders from diverse segments of the information and communication technology sectors, Dubai Internet City has emerged as one of the largest ICT clusters in the world, catering to the region’s increasing focus on knowledge-based economy.

For more information, please visit http://www.itp.net/events/nmeawards08/