Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 8th April 2001

The search for a furniture masterpiece no longer requires an endless trek around antique shops or a bid at an auction house. Discerning purchasers of designer furniture can now shop from the comfort of their living room. This follows the announcement that Sharjah-based Haseeb Rasoul, one of the country's leading interior design and furniture manufacturing companies, has chosen Comtrust to help take its High Quality Designer furniture on-line.

The company joins an ever-growing list of customers to utilise Comtrust, for its on-line retailing requirements.

The launch of www.furnituremasterpieces.com represents a major transition for the 50-year-old company, which has built a reputation in the Emirates for supplying high quality, locally crafted furniture for many of the country's top buildings ranging from palaces to five-star hotels.

Haseeb Rasoul has allied with Comtrust, Etisalat's e-business infrastructure unit, to host its new site, create a payment gateway that guarantees complete confidentiality and security of all Business to Consumer (B2C) transactions made on the web store. Added Security comes in the form of Comtrust's Digital Certificates, which will help www.furnituremasterpieces.com to secure personal and credit card information of their customers.

Saoud Al Shamsi, Sales Manager, Comtrust said that a secure, robust, payment infrastructure is integral to any e-commerce venture to facilitate on-line payments.

"Comtrust was able to provide a comprehensive and integrated solution to the e-commerce needs of www.furnituremasterpieces.com, through its credit card based online payment service. The website is secured by the Comtrust Server Certificate and is hosted with Comtrust", said Saoud Al Shamsi

When a customer decides on a purchase and enters his Visa or MasterCard credit card number on www.furnituremasterpieces.com, it securely connects to the Comtrust payment gateway. This system, in turn, similarly connects to credit-card companies, like VISA and MasterCard worldwide and banks, who authenticate the transaction. This entire process takes less than 10 seconds.

Launching the new web store from the company's exhibit at the Hotels Show in Dubai today, Mr. Faysal Rasoul, Managing Director, Haseeb Rasoul, said: "Until now, marketing our products has required a major investment facilities in order to be able to display our hand-crafted products, which has meant we have always a limited audience.

"The internet however offers a highly cost effective medium for us to take our products to consumers regionally and across the world. We now have a global potential customer base"

During the past five decades Haseeb Rasoul has come to occupy a unique niche in the world of interior design and furniture manufacture in the Middle East. The ISO9002 certified company offers a complete design and build package covering all elements of interior design incorporating creation, manufacturing and installation.

The www.furnituremasterpieces.com site features a collection of fine, world-class furniture, such as focal tables, consoles, oriental chests of drawers and majestic display units. The company also specialises in producing custom-made furniture tailored to meet a client's specific needs.

"The web site with all its features is highlighted on the interactive screen at the Haseeb Rasoul stand D 1 at the Hotel Show 2001 held at the Dubai Airport Expo from 8th to 10th of April.

"Business will increasingly be conducted in cyberspace in the future," he added. "The dramatic pace at which the Internet is growing the world over, especially in the GCC, makes this an ideal time for us to launch this e-initiative," said Faysal Rasoul.