The place to be at!

Participation at Gitex is highly rewarding and far exceeds expectations, say industry players

From 46 exhibitors in 1981, the first year of Gitex, the exhibition has grown steadily and spectacularly to host over 2,000 exhibitors in its current 24th edition.

Gitex 2004 takes place at the Dubai World Trade Centre Complex and Airport Expo in Dubai, the former being the trade event and the latter for the general public. The extraordinary growth of the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in Dubai and the region is undoubtedly indebted to Gitex through the years.

Every year has brought in more participants and country pavilions eager to showcase their wares and capture a market in this region.

Most participants come back each year for a bigger and better presence. Vendors, OEMs and business partners have accepted Gitex as a strong platform where they can showcase new products and technology, corporate developments, etc. The big names in the IT industry jostle with small and local ones for visitor attention. But the unanimous opinion of all players is that participation in Gitex has always brought high rewards for them, both immediately as well as later during the beginning of the next financial year. Participants also agree the show exceeds expectations most of the time every year and they're ready to participate now in the next edition!

According to Mathew Vincent, Divisional Manager, Al Sayegh Brothers Trading, "Gitex has been bringing in more visitors every year. Many visitors who can influence decisions, such as the IT managers of companies, benchmark different products and recommend them in their purchases for the next year. So we got results from the exhibition months later. Gitex offers us a good platform to showcase our products to thousands of people. We've had very good returns and have done much better in the Shopper last time than many of our competitors. This time, we'll be looking for partners to represent our products, especially LG Keyphones in other countries.

In terms of sales, this Gitex we're expecting a definite 20 to 30 per cent increase for products that we brought out last year and we expect to generate a lot of interest for new products, since this is the time people wait to see and buy new products. Our turnover is also expected to increase during the exhibition."

"Gitex is one of the most anticipated IT exhibitions of the year and serves an excellent opportunity for Siemens to showcase and launch its latest mobile phones, cordless phones and additional technologies," says Asim Sukhera, Vice-President, Siemens Mobile Phones, Middle-East and Africa.

As the telecommunications industry becomes increasingly competitive in the region, we view the exhibition as an ideal opportunity to assert our position as one of the top three players in the Middle East and Africa market. Moreover, the show is perfectly timed for us this year since we are launching a revolutionary cordless phone, being the first colour display Gigaset SL100/150," he says.

Siemens mobile has participated at Gitex for the past four years and consequently, has experienced a substantial increase of interest in its latest technologies, exclusive offers and promotional activities available at its stand. The event is indeed integral in communicating to consumers what top IT brands have to offer in terms of new products, services or key brand news and Siemens mobile has communicated these angles with great success," says Sukhera.

"The Middle East is a very important growing market for Toshiba and as an early adaptor of new technologies and products, Gitex is an excellent opportunity for Toshiba to meet with customers and share its latest technologies and products. It has always exceeded our expectations and we expect this edition also to do the same," says Lester Govias of Toshiba Gulf.

"Due to maximum visitors, brand awareness of our products has increased. We are getting mass publicity almost all over the Middle East. Indeed, it matches all our expectations," says Kazim Mankani of QMS Minolta Office Automation.

Yaser Shan, Marketing Manager ­ Middle East and East Africa, Imation, says, "One of the most important aspects of this exhibition is extensive brand and product exposure to a relevant audience.

Gitex also allows us to meet and exchange valuable information on individual markets with our business partners, corporate customers, and OEM partners from around the region. From a channel perspective, I believe this a very strong event that generates an enormous number of leads that we divert to our distributors.

Growing participation

"We are happy to see the growing number of participants every year. Also the sustainability of existing client base is evidence that this event is growing not only in size but also improving in the quality of participation. This provides an excellent opportunity from the perspective of showcasing new products and technologies. From a storage company's point of view, this event helps us optimise the exposure of our new line of media and other storage products. We do consider this as one of the most important annual regional events.

"At the moment, possibly for at least another couple years, we see Gitex as an important event for the regional IT industry. However, in due course of time, there may be a marginal drop in the number of participants as this event might turn into a more focused exhibitions platform."

Microhit Technologies is a Dubai-based company dealing in telecom, wireless IT solutions etc and markets laptops, PDAs and tablet PCs made by Itronix and the Kirk duct phone systems. Chandran of Microhit says, "Gitex has always been a good experience for us and has helped us get more exposure. Last year, we received tremendous response from industry players in the Middle East, Iran and Africa. We have been able to sign some good deals all over the region thanks to Gitex."

Recently published reports quote heads of various companies in the sector who too have expressed their appreciation of the show. Masaru Tamagawa, Managing Director, Sony Gulf FZE, says, "The Middle East is a very discerning market and Gitex and Computer Shopper have always been ideal platforms for Sony to introduce and showcase its array of superior consumer electronics products."

Adds Philip Ashkar, Director of Sales and Marketing, Acer Computer (M.E.) Ltd, "Gitex provides us with the platform to meet new customers and show them what we do. At Acer, we continue to return to Gitex because of the strong business benefits the exhibition delivers."

"Gitex provides BenQ with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate our innovative, well-designed and affordable technology to business leaders and consumers in the Middle East," says Robert Dung, Managing Director, BenQ Middle East. As a direct result of participating at Gitex last year, BenQ increased its level of business in the region by more than 10 per cent.

"We expect that being at Gitex 2004, coupled with our new range of products, will result in us significantly expanding our business in the region," he adds.

Abdullatif Al Mulla, General Manager of Microsoft South Gulf, says, "At this year's Gitex we will have our largest presence ever, to give visitors the chance to see how all of Microsoft's applications work together to as part of integrated solutions."

"Gitex provides us with the opportunity to promote Exact as a truly regional company with offices across the Middle East. Having a direct presence in these markets allows us to ensure high levels of support for our customers as well as generat