The 23rd edition of the GITEX IT exhibition opened today, breaking all records in terms of net area, number of exhibitors and companies and participating countries since its inception.
The event was inaugurated by Deputy Ruler of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Finance and Industry and Chairman of the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, and Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defense General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.
“GITEX 2003 has broken all previous records set over the last two decades recording best-ever growth in exhibitors, gross floor space, participating countries and overall reach,” said DWTC Director General, Mubarak Bin Fahad. “The show has grown remarkably from last year with a substantial double-digit increase of 26 percent in the number of exhibitors, 14 percent in the number of participating companies, 19 percent in the net area and 19 percent in the number of country pavilions.”
Sheikh Hamdan and Sheikh Mohammed visited the Dubai Internet City Pavilion which is four times larger this year than in 2002 with many of the world's leading IT companies exhibiting under their umbrella in the Dubai Internet City Community Zone which is situated in the new Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum Hall.
The two officials then proceeded to inaugurate the E-Access system that has been introduced by the DWTC at GITEX 2003 to better serve exhibitors and visitors to the exhibition and enable swift and easy access to exhibitions.
GITEX 2003 features 19 national pavilions, 774 exhibitors, 1,703 companies and a net area of 22,754 square meters. There has been a considerable increase in interest among companies with many of the industry's key players well represented including industry leaders like IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, HP, Samsung, Toshiba, Canon, NEC and Acer.
GITEX 2002 attracted a diverse profile of visitors to the show that included 75 percent from the Middle East, 15.5 percent from Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe and seven percent from Europe and North America among others. In total almost 65,000 visitors from 109 countries visited the show in 2002.
Participating exhibitors at the event are displaying an entire range of IT related products and services with a significant focus on e-business and e-commerce solutions. Other products include uninterrupted power supply solutions, desktop publishing, digital imaging and information management Internet products, mobile computing and WAP technology, networking and business communication, office automation, computer hardware and many others.
While the main exhibition is focused largely on trade professionals, consumers looking to purchase computer equipment and electronic gadgetry are witnessing the ultimate shopping experience with highly attractive bargains on offer from well known manufacturers. GITEX Computer Shopper currently on at the Airport Expo Dubai between October 18-24, 2003 is the retail component of GITEX and targets those seeking to purchase equipment for personal use. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
