C&W launches regional headquarters in Dubai

Dubai: US-based communications provider Cable & Wireless Worldwide announced Saturday the opening of its new regional headquarters at Dubai Internet City (DIC), the region's largest managed ICT business park and a member of TECOM Investments.

"Following a three-year presence in the region, the strategic move will allow C&W Worldwide to better serve its growing customer base in the Middle East and Africa and follows the company's deployment of an extensive telecommunications network across the Middle East in 2008," the provider said.

It will establish Points of Presences (PoPs) in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Manama, connecting customers based in the region back into the MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) network. Since the deployment, C&W Worldwide has been providing connectivity to global enterprise customers including HSBC.

Malek Al Malek, Managing Director, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone, said: "The region continues to build a telecommunications infrastructure with a view to modernising a business environment that can encourage a healthy flow of investment."

He added: "It brings us great honour to have global telecom player Cable & Wireless Worldwide on board. The new office at DIC comes as further evidence of the company's continuing success and commitment to the region."

DIC is also looking forward to working closely together with C&W, particularly on ways the telco industry can play a more strategic role in boosting the greater economy.

"Setting up their regional headquarters in DIC will allow close proximity to all clients across Middle East and Africa. Customers and partners in the region will be able to easily access services and technologies from Cable & Wireless," Al Malek said.

Booming market

C&W Worldwide said it provides improved services and support to meet the needs of its enterprise customers moving operations to the booming Middle East market. The services will also enable C&W Worldwide's customers to route increased levels of data traffic in the EMEA region, where internet usage is expected to grow substantially.

Jim Marsh, Chief Executive Officer, Cable&Wireless Worldwide, said: "This investment further strengthens our resolve and ability to serve our enterprise customers on a global scale.

"We are committed to providing the best levels of service and aim to meet the needs of our customers in growing markets, such as the Middle East and Africa. With our solid understanding of this market, we will provide local customers with relevant SLAs in a manner very different to those seen elsewhere in the world." C&W Worldwide has strong partnerships in the region with leading local telecommunications companies, allowing it to connect customers to their other facilities around the world with seamless, consistent services.

The company's global network provides multinational companies in the Middle East region with an advanced portfolio of Internet Protocol (IP) based managed communications services including hosting, and security.

Gassan Latif has been appointed to lead C&W Worldwide's efforts in the region.

Dubai Internet City is home to many Fortune 500 companies and more than 1,300 specialised industry leaders. It has emerged as one of the largest ICT clusters in the world, providing the backbone to the industry and catering to the region's increasing focus as a knowledge-economy.