At the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC), Kirk Skaugen, Intel Corporation vice president and general manager of the Data Centre Group, outlined the company’s vision to achieve ExaFLOP/sperformance by the end of this decade. An ExaFLOP/s is quintillion computer operations persecond, hundreds times more than today’s fastest supercomputers. Reaching exascale levels of performance in the future will not only require the combinedefforts of industry and governments, but also approaches being pioneered by the Intel Many Integrated Core (Intel MIC) architecture, according to Skaugen.
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South African based broadline distributor, Tarsus Technologies has confirmed the availability of an expanded range of networking products resulting from HP’s acquisition of 3Com, and has committed to securing new opportunities for the brand in the corporate, small business and home markets. “We’ve received a number of encouraging queries over the past couple of months,” says Peter Engelbrecht, HP networking product manager at Tarsus, “and we’re glad, now that the confusion is over and the relevant parties have been appointed, that we can begin capitalising on the numerous gaps in the local market for these new products.”
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Avnet Technology Solutions, a global distributor leader and part of Avnet, Inc has extended its focus on the fast growing African market by investing heavily in the resources with a dedicated team of highly skilled sales, technical, financial and marketing professionals to expand its footprint across the continent. Avnet is also expanding its portfolio of products, solutions and services for solution providers on the African continent. A recent IDC forecast states that IT spending on the African continent will grow by 10% to touch US$ 25 Billion in 2011. South Africa is expected to grow by 7.5% in 2011, while Egypt will continue to grow rapidly at over 15% and the spending in the rest of Africa will grow at 12% to go past US$ 10 Billion in 2011.Read More…

ChannelTech Middle East and Africa (CTMEA) talks to Andy Zollo, vice president, SonicWALL EMEA on the vendor’s plans to pioneer new initiatives in the MEA region. A lot has been said about 2011, what is SonicWALL’s main focus for the MEA channel this year? SonicWALL views the Middle East and Africa region as the fastest growing geography that the company covers and that’s why we have put in and will continue to invest in the channel in this emerging market. The investments we have been making relate to technical resource and support, as well as marketing and brand awareness channel initiatives. For instance, we’re just starting a technical resource in Saudi which will be established soon and provide on the ground in-country support. We’re also looking for a direct touch because, as we expand into the enterprise market and we need more of that customer touch ourselves so that the channel should deliver on the opportunity. It’s all about providing comprehensive support to our channel ecosystem and getting the balance. Overall, the partner landscape needs to be balanced with distributors to improve our market reach and base. They’re two types of distributors we engage with and these are typically those who adopt the SMB range of products and enterprise focused partners that engage with top tier system integrators, VARs, and solution providers. We have a clear global two tier channel policy and everything goes through the channel. Even as we deploy direct touch, the channel can be reassured that everything goes through distribution and all those direct touch initiations are passed on to channel partners to fulfill the deals.Read More…

Juniper Networks has appointed Adrian Pickering to the role of area vice president, Middle East and Africa. Based in Dubai, Pickering will be responsible for driving sales and operations across the Middle East and Africa region for both service provider and enterprise markets reporting to Sean Dolan, senior vice president, EMEA. “I am joining Juniper Networks at a pivotal moment with strong sales, support and headcount in the region,” says Pickering. “Recent high profile customer deployments and increased investment in training and channel partners locally have provided great momentum and gives me a great platform to continue driving activity and expansion with my team.”Read More…

Golden Systems Middle East (GSME), a regional distributor of IT products in the Middle East, has revealed that the University of Wollongong team has won the first place at the Press Play “Split Second” PC Assembling Competition held at the Living Rooms Video Games Café in Dubai Festival City. American University of Sharjah (AUS), BITS Pilani Dubai and Middlesex University were the other participating teams at the first PC Assembling competition in the Middle East, which organised by The Republic (TR), a club for university students and the youth in the UAE.Read More…

Western Digital introduced WD Nomad, a durable rugged case designed to protect My Passport portable hard drives from drops as high as seven feet, moisture and spills and other mishaps associated with active, on-the-go lifestyles, such as those of outdoor photographers, adventurers and other road warriors. The WD Nomad rugged case features a polycarbonate exterior and shock-absorbing elastomer cushion inside. It conforms to strict military standards (MIL-STD-810G) for ruggedness. The heavy-duty latch and silicon liner seal out dirt, dust, and moisture.
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Intel recently announced that Eng. Taha Khalifa has promoted as Sales Manager, Intel Reseller Channel Organization for the Middle East and North Africa region. Currently, Taha has been serving as the Country Manager for Egypt and the new role would see him relocate himself to Dubai starting August 2011. Taha joined Intel in 1995 and has spent 11 years with Intel US where he assumed several senior engineering, marketing, and management positions in the Intel Architecture Group and the Software Services Group.Read More…

In order to drive significant competitive advantage and ensure best practice across the organisation, Federal Foods LLC has announced it will implement SAP ERP business solutions software. As a leading food products marketing and distribution company in the GCC, Federal Foods with head office based in Dubai, caters to the full spectrum of retail, food services and wholesale sectors. To compete with the fast moving landscape of the food and beverage industry, the implementation of SAP ERP will optimise the business in seven key areas: financial accounting, cost controlling, human resources, plant maintenance, sales and distribution, materials management and business warehousing.
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Omnix International today announced that it is on track to reach its goal of AED 500 million in total revenue for the fiscal year 2011, which covers the period of January to December 2011. The company has also expressed confidence in keying in 40 per cent growth this year with the roll out of the latest range of Autodesk Infrastructure Suite of solutions in the Middle East market. The announcement was made during the roadshows held recently at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The roadshows are part of the company’s recent move to introduce its integrated package of new BIM based software, which includes the 2012 editions of AutoCAD, Autodesk Navisworks and Autodesk Revit Architecture, Structure and MEP.

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Epicor and HCL Technologies recently announced a services partnership to meet the growing demand for the award-winning next-generation Epicor 9 enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite. The partnership expands HCL’s presence in the broader midmarket segment while bringing effective global implementation and services capabilities to Epicor’s existing and new ERP suite customers. Under this partnership, HCL will expand overall Epicor services capacity, helping meet the demand for services and speeding the implementation for Epicor’s ERP customers. The demand for implementation services is strong with close to 400 customers worldwide live on Epicor 9 ERP and a further 1 , 500 projects in process having been shipped to more than 2 , 100 businesses in 60 countries, including shipments to over 900 new customers.
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Seagate Technology partnered with Redington Gulf to distribute its award-winning portfolio of retail products in the region. Redington Gulf will distribute Seagate’s GoFlex and Expansion ranges of external hard drives and the company’s BlackArmor network attached storage solutions for small and medium enterprises across the region. Sofocles Socratous, Sales Director for the Middle East, Seagate said, “Teaming up with a distributor as well-entrenched as Redington Gulf is a strategic move in this high growth market. Redington’s strong business relationships, its in-country infrastructure and its impressive network of offices and warehouses will help strengthen our reach within the Middle East. The continued growth in demand for digital storage by consumers and businesses, presents a significant window of opportunity for us. This partnership is a great fit given Redington’s experience of successfully working with global technology brands.”
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