Gulf IT market to cross $12 bln by 2011

The Gulf IT market is expected to cross AED 44 bln (USD 12 bln) by 2011, representing a growth of almost 12%, according to the latest IDC reports.
Recent studies also indicate a continuous growth in IT spending in the Gulf, with expectations that it will hit AED 33 bln (USD 9 bln) in 2008, an increase of 15% compared to 2007.
The steady growth in investments around building IT infrastructure, namely systems, PCs, storage, peripherals and networking equipment has driven the hardware market in the Gulf, which accounts for 62.1% of the region’s IT market.
“We focused on our goal of doubling our growth from last year, and our participation at this year’s GITEX is part of our efforts to leverage the booming IT market in the Gulf to achieve this goal,” said Ahmad Zeidan, Channel Sales Manager, NetGear Middle East, a worldwide provider of branded networking products.
“Our leading position in the market is being driven by our capacity to provide the backbone of the most basic to the most complicated IT solutions such as VOIP, 3G communication, and Wi-Max technology CPEs along with brands like Avaya and Intel, among others. These solutions have gained excellent exposure through our participation in GITEX, which has also consistently afforded us valuable information, which led us to understand the demands and requirements of the Arab world. By establishing a stronger presence this year, we are expecting to forge new partnerships with vendors and systems integrators from the UAE, KSA and Egypt to the rest of the GCC and Levant region,” concluded Zeidan.