Mobiserve Holding, the leading solutions provider for telecommunication infrastructure and engineering services in the Middle East and Africa announced today the recent awarding of its ISO 9001, ISO 1400, and BS OHSAS 18001 certifications. The international ISO accreditations and British standard BS OHSAS accreditations are in line with the company’s philosophy of adhering to the highest standards for its quality, environmental, occupational health and safety management systems. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are the most widely recognized, internationally accepted independent quality and environmental management standards while the British Standard BS OHSAS is the most recognized standard for occupational health and safety management.  Mobiserve Holding earned the certifications for its quality management systems as well as environment and safety management pertaining to its broad range of turnkey telecommunications and integrated solutions including telecom network roll-outs, network operations, maintenance, and upgrades, satellite communications solutions, the manufacturing of telecom towers and shelters, business process outsourcing (BPO) and managed services.  The compliance with the ISO and British BS OHSAS standards was certified by a leading certification body accredited by the German Accreditation Council, and a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). Certificates issued are recognized as valid certificates in all countries with an IAF member. More»

Google’s Doodle magic is once again a rage on the Internet. This time Google paid tribute to American cartoonist and animator Winsor Zenic McCay with an interactive doodle “Little Nemo in Slumberland”. The doodle recreates the adventures of the main fictional character from the illustrator's comic strips, which first appeared on 15 October 1905 in the New York Herald. This doodle is a tribute to the marvellous creativity and the creation of various fictional characters which have enthralled and captured the million of hearts with their exciting adventures. The Google Doodle is the first of its kind to feature an interactive, motion picture comic strip. This time Google goes a step ahead to create an entire story. The interactive comic strip provides a small tab at the lower right area for visitors to click to see the continuation of the story. Clicking on the tab at the end of the story will take the visitor to a search results page for Winsor Zenic McCay. More»

Souq.com, the largest online retailer in the Arab world, has become the first Arab company to win the Best Interactive Facebook Application for Retail Award in the MENA region, underscoring its continued leadership in developing innovative services for its users across the Arab World. The award was presented to Souq.com Egypt at the 8th Pan Arab Web Awards ceremony held recently in at the Maritim Jolly Ville Hotel & Resort in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and was attended by leading business figures and government representatives from across Europe, Middle East and Africa. "Being the number one online retailer in the region means that we have a responsibility to continue to innovate and deliver services that keep Souq users coming back," said Omar Soudodi, general manager of Souq.com Egypt. "Innovation like applications for popular social sites such as Facebook enables us to provide users with experiences that are engaging and entertaining, thus complementing the overall service experience they get from using Souq.com." Souq.com's award winning application allows Facebook users to enjoy an entertaining social buying experience and to express their opinions on products and goods while enabling Souq.com to be involved in these conversations and source products and services that users truly desire. The Facebook Awards, an initiative of the Pan Arab Web Academy, aims to serve as an inspiration for budding Facebook developers while rewarding them for their talent and encouraging their innovative spirit to deliver world class applications. "Souq Egypt has a strong following on Facebook with around 370,000 fans with 10 percent talking about Souq, a high percentage rate when the average engagement is around 1 percent for retailers. We also received over 1,000 comments on one post which clearly highlights the level of engagement that Souq users have and we look forward to continue to develop innovative tools, applications and services to keep our users returning," said Soudodi. More»

Egypt's state-owned Food Industries Holding Company (FIHC) has issued an international tender to purchase up to 30,000 tonnes of soyoil, a Cairo-based trader said on Sunday. The oil is for arrival from Nov. 15 to Dec. 7, he said. Deadline for bids is Oct. 16. Last Thursday, the trader said FIHC was seeking up to 20,000 tonnes of sunflower oil for the same arrival dates and with the same bidding deadline. More»

Passwords have long been used by enterprises to permit secure access to vital applications, data, systems and networks. This tired-and-tested form of authentication is still widely deployed as the first line of defense, protecting sensitive corporate data and applications from external threats. However, in today's world, as the dependence on information technology grows exponentially, many corporations are now struggling to manage and store passwords securely for their employees. More»

Under the patronage of HE Eng. Atef Al Tal, Minister of Information and Communications Technology and hosted by the Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN), the Middle East Network Operators Group (MENOG) conference was inaugurated at the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman. The October 7-8 MENOG meetings offer network engineers and other technical staff the opportunity to share their experiences and knowledge, and identify areas for regional cooperation. HE Engineer Nader Thneibat, Deputizing for the Minister of ICT, indicated that this event is an important forum to discuss and learn latest technology innovation in communication infrastructure and network operations. Meanwhile, deputizing for HE Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh, Chairman of ASREN, Dr. Salem Al Agtash, delivered a speech entitled "Prospects in Regional Research and Education Network" on behalf of Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh saying:"His majesty King Abdullah II has always been setting the grounds for us to work hard to promote technology and bring home all what is required to create platforms of innovations, boost communications infrastructure and build prominent ICT business and industries." "MENOG is an important venue that brings international experts, network operators, businesses, innovators and researchers together to discuss the challenges and solutions in this field and we are proud to be part of it," he added. More»

Facebook is now used by 1 billion people every month, or one in every seven people in the world, its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has confirmed. The milestone means Zuckerberg has achieved his stated ambition of reaching 1 billion active monthly users just two years and three months after the social network reached the half billion mark. Facebook reached 900 million active monthly users in April. Facebook has recorded 1.13 trillion Likes, 140.3 billion friend connections and 219bn shared photos since it launched in February 2004. More than 300m photos are uploaded every day and 62.6m songs played. "Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life," wrote Zuckerberg in a Facebook timeline update on his personal account. "I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too." The announcement will also be a welcome distraction for the disastrous Facebook IPO. Facebook is still reeling from the share collapse, which launched at $38 a share in May only to drop steadily to $21 on Wednesday. More»

Facebook Inc. (FB) unveiled a gift- giving feature that will let users buy and send items to their friends without leaving the site, as the owner of the world’s most popular social network seeks new ways to add revenue. The gift service is starting off in the U.S., and will have hundreds of options with more added daily from partners such as Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) and 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. (FLWS), the company said. Facebook, which acquired gift-giving application Karma earlier this year, will share an undisclosed percentage of the revenue with partners. “Every day, millions of people share special moments with their friends on Facebook by saying ‘Happy Birthday,’ ‘Congratulations,’ or simply, ‘I’m thinking of you,’ ” Facebook said in a statement. “Now there is another way to celebrate those moments.” Facebook, under investor scrutiny about its ability to make money from its more than 950 million members, is adding features to boost revenue. The Menlo Park, California-based company is also facing competition for user attention and advertising from rivals such as Google Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Facebook reported in July that second-quarter sales increased 32 percent, down from growth of 45 percent in the previous three months. More»

The Saudi telecom sector has strong growth potential with profit growth largely driven by value-added services (namely broadband), costs efficiencies, and international operations for STC, NCB Capital , the GCC's leading wealth manager and the Kingdom's largest asset manager, said in a report Wednesday. Farouk Miah, Head of Equity Research at NCB Capital , said: "We believe that the corporate segment in general and the ICT segment in particular (e.g. data security, cloud computing) is a source of continued growth for the sector with it a key target for Mobily." In its new report, NCB Capital remained Overweight on STC, with a PT of SR51.8 (upside of 30 percent), and Mobily with a PT of SR81.9 (upside of 20 percent) and Neutral on Zain KSA, with a PT of SR11.3 (downside of 5 percent). "Focus on the broadband market for all three players remains key, with expansion in network capabilities being sought as a point of differentiation. Valuations remain attractive with the sector trading at 8.0x 2013E P/E," Miah added. "Although the upside on STC is greater, Mobily remains our preferred stock, given its strong fundamentals, excellent execution record and good dividend visibility." More»

CISCO is participating in GITEX Technology Week, to be held Oct. 14-18, 2012 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. This year, Cisco will showcase its innovations under the theme of "Intelligent Networks Transform Your Business" that will examine how organizations can harness the power of intelligent networks to simplify and speed up the deployment of both current and future technologies to drive business transformation. In an increasingly connected world where information dissemination and consumption is growing, the need for an intelligent and reliable network has never been more apparent. Cisco, in collaboration with its sponsor partners Emircom (Data Center and Virtualization partner) and B-Smart, will showcase its various solutions under the theme 'Intelligent Networks Transform Your Business', across an unprecedented 8 exclusive demo areas each dedicated towards Cisco's solutions across its portfolio which include Data Centers/Virtualization, Borderless Network and Collaboration solutions: More»