With industry analysts predicting the Gulf's intelligent transport systems (ITS) sector will see investments of $300 million over the next five to ten years, a US industry specialist says that the Middle East’s existing infrastructure is better positioned than that of Europe, to reap the benefits of new technology.
"One advantage the Middle East has over Europe's ITS expansion is that it doesn't have congested townships and cities for laying out new infrastructure," said Chief Operating Officer, Meridian Technologies Manny Patel.
The New York firm will be amongst 10 international ITS specialists to participate in the Gulf Traffic exhibition, to be held at Dubai's Crowne Plaza Hotel from October 26 – 28. Meridian Technologies projects additional revenue of between 25-28 percent to come from the Middle East in the next year alone and has almost doubled its marketing budget for regional development.
"Since the launch of our Dubai headquarters last year, we have crossed the million dollar sales mark and this will triple by the end of 2003," said Patel. "Over the next year we will add two new sales offices in the Middle East and finalize agreements with dealers and distributors across the region as demand for our products has boomed in the last two quarters."
At Gulf Traffic, Meridian Technologies will launch into the Middle East the world's first Multidrop modem, designed to provide real time graphical user interface (GUI) with a PC-based application for the entire network.
The sold-out event has also received exhibitor confirmations from as far as Turkey and New Zealand, Europe, the Middle and Far East. Some 350 Middle East and international delegates from the transport sector are expected to attend a multi-speaker conference, which will have three distinctive segments dedicated to mass transit, with particular emphasis on Mass Transit, ITS and Urban Planning. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
