March 20th, 2012 — Issue 31 January/February 2012
In its fourth quarter earnings release Ericsson warned of short-term challenges as operators remained cautious with their spending plans, as a result of factors including macro-economic and political uncertainty. Anders Lindblad, Ericsson president of Region Middle East placed Ericsson’s Q4 and 2011 performance in regional perspective
Lindblad said one of Ericsson’s strengths is being more pro-active with customers than any of its competitors
March 16th, 2012 — Issue 31 January/February 2012
Within large enterprises tensions are known to arise between the chief marketing officer, the chief information officer, and the chief financial officer over the resources that ought to be allocated to IT systems in order to keep the business running effectively. Khaled El Amrawi, Intel’s regional director for enterprise solutions in the Middle East, explains how cloud computing can help smooth over differences in management’s strategic IT outlook for a business, and allow the enterprise to benefit from significant efficiency gains
Khaled El Amrawi says in terms of a cloud computing strategy, it begins first with virtualisation of non-core data before mission critical ones are added
March 12th, 2012 — Issue 31 January/February 2012
Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) have experienced a slow start in the Middle East and Africa. However, Effortel, a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) that began life as an MVNO believes conditions may be right to see a rapid ramp-up of the offering in the region in the coming years 
Andriulis warns that prospective MVNOs need to understand the market niche they intend to target, and that some of the most boring and practical matters are the ones that matter most
March 8th, 2012 — Issue 31 January/February 2012
In November 2011, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) announced its strategy to focus on mobile broadband, customer experience management, and services, together with the launch of a massive restructuring programme that would include a headcount reduction of 17,000. Comm. spoke to NSN’s head of Middle East, Igor Leprince, regarding how these changes would play out in the region 
Igor Leprince became head of Middle East for NSN effective October 1, 2011
March 4th, 2012 — Issue 31 January/February 2012
Near field communications (NFC) is starting to make mainstream headlines with many pilots and commercial roll-outs taking place. However, just as with the arrival of 3G, ATMs and chip and PIN bank cards there’s a whole lot of consumer education that needs to take place before people will understand and, more importantly, trust the technology.
Christelle Toureille – Marketing director, Telecommunication Solutions in Middle East, Gemalto
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