ALKHOBAR, 28 October — This week I’ve got three new things for my readers to try on the Internet. I need to give everybody something to do besides staring incessantly at the satellite news channels. First of all I want everybody to put to use some of that information they’ve been absorbing for the past few weeks and win some cash at the same time.
Go to csfbdirectme.com and scroll down the home page till you find the "What’s new" section. Click on "Play STOCK MARKET CHALLENGER," and sign up and start winning.
CSFBdirect-eUnion Stock Market Challenger allows users to experience the stock market risk free. You’ll be able to learn the basics of investing and manage your own $100,000 virtual portfolio. There are six monthly rounds in the challenge. Each round lasts three weeks. The top performer across all six games is eligible to win the Grand Prize — a 2002 Cadillac Escalade. In addition, over $2,000 will be awarded each round amongst the top 5 participants. The second round finished on Friday, but you can get in on round three, which begins Nov. 12.
Playing the markets requires information. CSFB has its own research available but if you’re looking for news or trends you might turn to a search engine. So go test the beta version of the sites put up by TypeNetwork. This company based in the Saif Zone in Sharjah is creating a subject-specific search solution of 2,000 vertical portals categorized into subjects, products, cities and countries. The idea here is to try and deliver more targeted information rather than the two million possibilities that can result when a query is typed into a regular search engine.
TypeNetwork currently has 250 active portals. I tried some of those available such as typenews.com, typemusic.com, typerecipie.com, typesoftware.com, etc. Currently the password to enter each portal is "type." I accessed a lot of good information through the portals although it should be pointed out that they are definitely Western and UAE biased. For example, at typenewspapers.com, major Western newspapers were easily accessed but I had to click through six hotlinks to reach Arab News. There is a typeuae.com but no typesaudi.com. Even at typemiddleeast.com I couldn’t find a map for the Kingdom that had the correct borders. Nevertheless, I found the vertical portal idea at TypeNetwork amusing, although I’m not sure if I’d be willing to pay to use it.
For those of you who are total news junkies at least get something more out of the experience than anthrax terror. On Oct. 17, BBCArabic.com launched their new e-Education initiative. A part of the standard BBCArabic site, the innovative interactive zone offers beginners and intermediate English learners online modules specially designed by the BBC for the global Arab online community.
The first three modules in the e-Education zone are "London Diary," "Real Lives, Real People," and "Words in the News." London Diary follows the lives of two Arab students coming to London for the first time. Users will learn English through the students’ experiences in the city. Real Lives, Real People allows users to hear English through the real life experiences of real people living and working in London. Words in the News offers Arabs a real-time guide to news in English. Updated weekly and drawing on a real BBC report, users will learn by reading, listening and using the key English words found daily in the BBC’s English news coverage. Summaries of each report are given in Arabic. The modules incorporate a high level of interactivity, including a series of exercises with the ability to check results instantaneously.
BBCArabic.com won the award at GITEX Dubai 2001 for the Best Arabic Online Content Provider. BBCArabic.com is the only Arabic online news content provider that offers fully integrated radio service as well as video streaming capability. The BBC has been broadcasting in Arabic to the Middle East for over 60 years.
On that high note, let’s move on to the national pavilion that attracted the most attention at GITEX. They had just a small space, all the way at the rear of Hall 8, but everyone made it a point to pay a visit to the Palestinian delegation. Their team put on an excellent show, despite the turmoil engulfing their people back home. "IT in Palestine: People and Potential" would never have been possible without the support of Anderson, the Islamic Development Bank, Dubai Internet City, Dubai World Trade Center and the United States Agency for International Development. They should be applauded for their contributions to improving the lives of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian IT Association of Companies (PITA), together with the Palestine Trade Center (Paltrade) organized the Palestinian participation in this year’s GITEX. Seven IT Companies from Gaza and the West Bank, representatives of PITA, Paltrade and other interested private and governmental agencies were on hand during the show to receive visitors and answer their questions. The Palestinian pavilion was stocked with a wide array of booklets and fact sheets to inform the public about the IT sector in Palestine and encourage investors.
PITA, which was founded in Ramallah in early 1999, is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization for locally registered companies working in the IT sector. According to PITA, a decade ago, IT-related economic activity in Palestine consisted mostly of small-scale reselling and distribution operations. Over the last five years, massive private and public investment have changed the face of the IT sector, with an estimated 25-30 percent annual growth over the years 1997-2000. Today there are more than 100 IT-related companies based in Palestine, and 30 percent of the industry’s turnover is from software development. All segments of the IT industry are represented in Palestine: Hardware (agents and PC assemblers), software development, consultancy, ISPs and enterprise solution providers. International companies with a local presence include subsidiaries or VARs from HP, IDS, Siemens, Microsoft, Oracle and others.
Investors interested in the IT sector in Palestine were given full information on investment and trade activity in the West Bank and Gaza through the Paltrade representatives who were very active during GITEX. Paltrade promotes direct licensing, franchising, trading and joint venture opportunities with Palestinian firms. Firms investing in Palestine enjoy a wide array of advantages from five-year tax holidays to free access to the EU and US markets.
According to Palestinian Minister of Trade Maher Masri, both the private and public sectors in Palestine are working together to use IT as a driving force to improve life in the West Bank and Gaza.
"We believe that the IT sector in any country is a basic sector," said Masri. "We have seen the developments in this sector worldwide and we have noted that IT has become a leading sector in most economies. We believe that lagging behind in this area will have a negative impact on our future growth and our integration with international and global markets. We feel that being here in Dubai is very important to introduce the IT sector in Palestine to the rest of the world through this exhibition. At the same time we want to have the chance to look and see what is going on in other countries in the area of IT."
I asked the minister how he could expect investors to bring funds into Palestine given the current political situation and high level of violence.
"At the moment we are not really marketing Palestine in the physical sense," explained Masri. "The IT sector in Palestine is building its own infrastructure and expanding its capabilities. We are working hard to train people so we can expand the pool of human resources available for the IT sector. We think when we build the human resources we are building for the future. The political climate will change to our favor. That’s when the time will come for investors to come to Palestine and invest in IT and other sectors. So what we are doing this year is doing our in-house homework and preparing ourselves for the future. That is not to say we would not like to have investors start up some joint ventures with us in incubators or in training programs or in developing systems. Such investments are basically done in human beings. They are not done in buildings that could be destroyed by a bomb or by an Israeli shell. It is in the human being and therefore that investment is a lasting one. The risk here is also much less than when you invest in a manufacturing industry or something of that nature. So there are areas where people can come and invest in IT at this time, develop their ties and relationships with us, and then be ready to help us grow rapidly once the political situation improves."
The Palestinian delegation was very satisfied with their experience in Dubai.
"I think that this exhibition has served to put the Palestinian IT sector on the business map. People were very impressed at what we have achieved and the standard of IT business in Palestine, despite all the obstacles," said Ibrahim Barham, Chairman of the Board of Directors, PITA.
One of the major successes during GITEX was an agreement to establish a Palestinian office at Dubai Internet City (DIC). Barham called the proposed DIC office "an exciting development which will position the Palestinian IT sector to develop a strong presence not only in the UAE, but in the whole region."
All of the companies present at the exhibition either signed or expect to sign agreements with regional and international partners based in Dubai and elsewhere as a result of contacts made at GITEX. One non-exhibiting company, Jaffa.Net, attracted the attention of Microsoft with a patented Internet-time concept.
Those in the Kingdom who couldn’t get out to Dubai to meet the Palestinian delegation during GITEX will still have an opportunity to meet them right here in Saudi Arabia. Word is that the Palestinian trade representatives and the Palestinian IT companies will be coming to Riyadh in April for GITEX Saudi Arabia.
