Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 30^th June 2002

Comtrust, the business unit of Etisalat providing e-business solutions, staged a comprehensive seminar programme in Dubai today, highlighting the benefits of dedicated Internet hosting. Talking to over 70 representatives from the public and private sector, leading industry experts from Comtrust outlined issues regarding reliability, security, 24x7 support, performance services and Internet bandwidth. To highlight local business issues, Comtrust customers, Rotana Hotels and the Department of Finance also presented their web hosting experiences to the attending delegates.

Combining both technical and business perspectives, the seminars are designed to promote the values of Internet hosting in the region, a market that is still in its infancy, compared to advances occurring in the industry abroad. Omran Sultan Al-Owais, General Manager, Comtrust said “There is a growing trend of organizations identifying the need for reliable and secure dedicated hosting services, tailored to meet the needs of growing complexity of their businesses. We, at Comtrust, are eager to promote the role of eHosting in the region and ensure organizations continue to spend big portion of their IT outsourcing budgets within the UAE.”

He continued, “Companies utilizing the services Comtrust provides, enable them to take full advantage of our technical expertise, experience and resources in this field. Our customers have realized that Comtrust is a better place to host, manage and support their critical Internet applications. In doing so, they have seen substantial reductions in their operating costs.”

In recent years, many companies in the UAE and the Middle East have been using hosting facilities overseas. However, due to significant financial investment from Etisalat, state-of-the-art ehosting facilities in the world now exist in the UAE. With the Internet Data centers, technical resources and local experience in place, Comtrust can provide a competitive, cost-effective alternative to hosting in the US and Europe.

Comtrust’s aim is to provide a one-stop-shop for telecom and Internet hosting requirements for companies’ ebusiness strategies. With the latest facilities in the UAE, Comtrust can additionally offer physical access to hosted equipment, and direct contact with locally based technical and support personnel. With this in mind, Comtrust offers customers that extra personal guarantee to resolving operational issues in time.