GITEX is by far the leading ICT show covering the MENA, Middle East North Africa Region. With its origins dating back to 1981, it currently attracts in excess of 140,000 visitors. This annual congregation is a testament to its success and involves all aspects of IT and communications. Not only does this attract a huge contingent of foreign exhibitors, it also showcases the growing talent and innovation of the region.
This was the first year we visited and exhibited there as Captec as part of the British Pavilion in Hall 3. We showcased our growing range of tablet computers, our well established range of Industrial computers, embedded fanless computers and high end servers. Many of these we already supply to the region to the Oil & Gas and Energy sectors. We also had particular interest in Captec’s design and engineering services for custom computing, particularly where the region requires extra protection given the heat and dust from the arid desert conditions.
My impressions of GITEX started with the overall scale of the exhibition. It’s large. Not quite to the scale of CEBIT in Germany, which is about as close as it gets, in comparable terms? I expect that it won’t be long before this exhibition will start to match it. After all Dubai is a city of superlatives and records. The world’s tallest building and the world’s largest shopping mall, just for starters.
Starting with the most expected, the cohort of computing heavyweights where there in force. Oracle, SAP, Dell, HP, Microsoft, etc, etc… Interestingly Intel, co-located with HP to have a combined stand. Not sure the significance of this. But it did seem odd that Intel would side with a single computing platform manufacturer, when so many others are also its hardware platform partners.
The concentration of large screen displays seemed to be very pervasive, perhaps because as they get larger and larger every year, they also become more imposing, and noticeable. Evolving not just in size, but also in different technologies, LED displays, LED squares, projection, etc.. 4K is pretty much the standard, but 8K very much at the commercial tipping point of being affordable. The crisp quality of these displays is absolutely stunning. Much of the emphasis was on control rooms or digital signage. The biggest on show was a 218” LED HDTV, featuring none other than 7 ft 9 in, Sun Ming-Ming one of the tallest basketball players in the world!
An interesting side shoot of large displays is interactive tables. Again a number of options were available, with size the primary differentiators. Multi-touch coupled with large displays now means that interactive tables can support a large number of users all interacting concurrently. Computing power is also at the levels, where such interactions can be captured and responded to, in real time. Very impressive indeed.
Wherever there are large displays and lots of them, the high end graphics cards manufacturers are not far away. Both Matrox and PNY/nVidia were showcasing their ever more powerful graphics cards. As suppliers of high end graphics workstations and servers we see exciting growth in the displays markets, particularly for control rooms, incident rooms or combined command and control.
At the other end of the display sizes scale, there were tablets everywhere. From 1” wearable watches, through 4” phones, to 10+” tablets, and everything in between. Phablets are clearly the next big thing. A phone and a tablet all in one. It seems a bit too big as a phone and a bit too small for a tablet, but if you only want to carry one device that’s a good compromise.
Besides, as the watch is taking over the phone communications part, it makes sense for the phone to disappear to make room for just the tablet and the watch. That’s my prediction for the future, because the age of wearable technologies is rapidly expanding. Centred pretty much on the watch form factor, most of the offerings were all centred on coupling the phone with the watch. It’s nothing desperately new, Samsung and Apple dominate at the top end, but as its rapidly taking off, many copy-cat manufacturers from the Far East are jumping on the bandwagon. There were some variations on the applications with many of the others focused on the fitness and well being sector. Again, another function becoming increasingly crowded, undifferentiated and commoditised, are wearable technologies.
Captec’s focus was also on tablets. We showcased the wide diversity of rugged and semi-rugged tablets that are now an essential tool in workforce automation, and mobile data terminals. Group charging stations, to manage the charging and storage of the tablets also go hand in hand. We saw a great deal of interest in tablets, which is clearly overtaking all other forms of computing platforms, in so many mobile deployments.
Still on the theme of displays coupled with computers, POS devices were everywhere. A particular favourite of Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean companies. It seems as if they really dominate the market now. The Koreans in particular, as their products are both innovative, and of a very high quality.
Microsoft was busy promoting its new Surface 3 Tablet, as well as drawing attention to the relatively small cohort of mobile phone manufacturers, based on the Microsoft platform. Given the presence and scale of Android across the entire show, it seemed like a small whisper in a very noisy crowd. Can Microsoft really survive in phones? With the growth and dominance of Android and Apple’s IOS, this really remains to be seen. Buying Nokia may well not be enough. It seems to me, like a battle that’s going to be very hard for Microsoft to win. I didn’t see much emphasis on its software, particularly the recent release of Windows 10. Perhaps the focus was so fragmented over many different aspects, and disseminated to many of its partners on its stand, that the Microsoft message was a little more diminutive, than I had seen of the Microsoft of the past. Other big software brands certainly dominated with their core offering, particularly the likes of SAP and Oracle. Both also showcasing all their partner solutions, on their huge stands.
What was refreshing to see, was that Linux is still alive, well and thriving! The likes of Red Hat had a very prominent presence. Some pretty bold statements in their marketing communications as well, such as; “100% of airlines in the Fortune 500 rely on Red Hat”, “100% of commercial banks in the Fortune 500 rely on Red Hat”, “100% of healthcare companies in the Fortune 500 rely on Red Hat”. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of these statements, so it’s pretty impressive credentials. As far as Captec is concerned we support pretty much all flavours of Linux O/S’s, including Red Hat, in our workstation and server hardware. So their success can only benefit hardware vendors that can provide platforms for their O/S. Nice Hats!
The telecom Giants were out in force and in presence. Occupying pretty much the largest stands, with lavish displays and all manner of equipment on show. Not much of an area of interest or relevance to this largely computing centric blog, but an important component in the increasingly convergent technologies of IT & Comms in the digital world. At the heavyweight end of communications, the likes of Huawei, Ericsson & co. had an imposing presence in the comms halls. Here also exhibited some huge local companies, like Etisalat, which showcased a very dominant presence in all aspects of the modern high-tech middle-east society. Everything from healthcare to education.
But of the most lavish halls, the one dedicated to showcasing the high-tech adoption of the region was the Government hall. Where all aspects of Government tech automation was on display. What was unexpected was seeing McLaren and Lotus sports cars for police and ambulance vehicles. Whilst these will clearly be a very small sub-section of the emergency services vehicles fleet, I guess fast response is a benefit when these vehicles are called upon.
The government of Dubai almost had the entire hall to itself to showcase the deployment of “Smart” City and eGovernment. Some of the displays were somewhat extravagant, such as the McLaren Police car and the Lotus ambulance I have already mentioned. But some were quite impressive. The one that impressed me was the Mobile Court. A large double decker bus, kitted out with what looked like a courtroom internally. It may be that in a country where rural populations are so spread across a large geography, that bringing the court to the people, is more practical than bringing the people to the court.
China was evident everywhere. You couldn’t walk far without coming across a cluster of Chinese companies under their China Pavilion style. Virtually every hall had a Chinese presence, closely followed by Taiwan and Korea. These are clearly the power houses of computing and electronic products feeding the ICT industries represented at GITEX. There is still a significant quality gap with the Chinese offerings. Whilst they win the contest for cheapest, they certainly don’t for quality and reliability. But, they are improving consistently so they are not to be underestimated. Just look at how far Huawei, Lenovo and such brands have come in such a short space of time.
It’s also interesting to note how the Taiwanese celebrate their innovation. They boldly showcased their innovation and design by dedicating 2 substantial stands in different halls to celebrating the successful winners of innovation awards in different categories. No other Nation dedicates anywhere near the same prominence to celebrating the successes of its companies. We should do a lot more of that.
The Korean pavilion and the various associated companies around the halls had a wide diversity of innovative products on show. The dominant growths of Samsung and LG over the past few decades have spawned a cohort of innovation in Korea which continues to unleash itself on the global markets every year. Unlike the Chinese products which are generally of a relatively low quality. The Korean products are ergonomic and stylish, whilst having a strong feel for quality and reliability. They dominant areas are in POS. mPOS and hand held terminals. But their innovations in education ICT are equally impressive, particularly in classroom automation.
There was equally a proliferation of mobile robots. Rather odd. Featuring a number of functions, they can be remotely controlled to undertake mobile interactive meetings, or can be used for remote access teaching, consultation etc… I am not yet sold on their future contribution to technology advancement, but let’s see what applications emerge. It looks like a large tablet on a Segway to me.
Just like “Tablets are everywhere”, the associated world of Apps pervaded the halls extensively. Most concentrated in the Indian pavilions, there were companies offering outsourced apps development. Both Indian and Middle East innovative SMEs are after this exploding markets. It doesn’t require large companies to develop small agile apps for hand held devices so the potential market is large enough to support a large pool of these.
Racks and associated integrated systems made a big presence in the comms halls. All manner of rack systems, with its associated accessories were extensively represented. Evidence that there is very much a growing data centre base emerging in the Middle East. Modular rack cells seemed to be a new trend. Seemingly allowing total scalability, for a very small deployment to a very large cluster of servers, to house large scale data centres. Many of the modular cells even included their own self contained air conditioning systems. Enabling a complete mini-data centre to be parachuted, pretty much anywhere.
I was very impressed with the French and German Pavilions. Whilst the British pavilions were spread across multiple halls, the German and the French grouped all together, and created a more imposing presence. There was something about their stand designs that also made them very imposing, and stylish, in my opinion. Budget always plays a part, but it looked like they had put much more budget towards their pavilion than the British one. It’s in the hands of the powers that be, but maybe in future years a bit more might be needed to stand a chance against the competition. Even though the British pavilion may not have been the most lavish of the Europeans, we did have a welcome celebration. Celebrating Mark Birchall’s 20th year at GITEX with TradeFair support with a delicious walnut cake. Very much deserved, as they have wonderfully supported British companies in their pursuit of Export markets. Thanks Mark & co!
The scope and scale of GITEX was seemingly endless. Computing applications in as many different diverse form factors and functions that can be imagined. During the show we were also very honoured by a visit from his Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed toured a number of stands and met with senior officials and VIPs from Dubai World Trade Centre, the event organiser, government departments and leading ICT companies.
GITEX is very much a reflection of the growth and influence of Dubai in the region. A city that has transformed itself into a very high tech hub, with an encompassing diverse economy, from tourism to corporate finance. It’s a testament to the vision, courage and investments made over decades, into the infrastructure of the region. It inspired me to buy the Sheikh’s book, “My Vision, Challenges in the Race for Excellence”. What they have achieved in Dubai and the UAE’s is really quite remarkable. So I look forward to reading all about it.
It’s wonderful to see that ITC is an industry where innovative companies can emerge from as humble an origin as a bedroom based developer creating groundbreaking apps. All that is required is innovation and determination. After all where did the likes of Google, Facebook and Alibaba come from? It’s the largest industry in the world and one that helps humanity to improve and enhance its quality of life. GITEX is pretty much an encapsulation of all of its muti-faceted aspects. It’s certainly exciting times to be in the technology business!
Finally, it simply would not be an exhibition if it did not include some form of “Show” or attention seeking gimmicks. Here is a small selection that I think added to the entertainment of the event. Whatever next!
I can’t wait for next year’s GITEX 2015.
See you then!
And just a few more photos to complete the set. They do like their sports cars!