In collaboration with Microsoft Gulf, XpertLearning, the leading provider of e-Learning solutions in the Middle East, will provide the Imagine Cup Gulf winners with access to online courses to sharpen their presentation skills ahead of the Imagine Cup World Finals in Warsaw, Poland.

Now in its eighth year, Imagine Cup has grown to be the premier student technology competition in Gulf and worldwide that aims to encourage young people to apply their imagination, their passion and their creativity to technology innovations that are focused on finding solutions to real world problems.

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Microsoft Gulf and GEMS Education, kindergarten to grade 12 private school operator, signed an agreement today to provide its students with a software purchase offer as part of the GEMS Education Software programme. The offer is valid from June 10th to June 20th, 2010 and is limited to one Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus license per GEMS Student. It would be made available through the retailer E-Max at their outlets across the UAE.

Under the agreement, GEMS students will now be able to buy the latest Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus, with media DVD, at a discounted price. his special offer includes the media DVD and perpetual license for home use.

Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus includes: Excel 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Word 2010, Access 2010 , InfoPath 2010, Communicator, Publisher 2010, OneNote2010, SharePoint Workspace 2010 and Office Web applications. GEMS students stand to benefit from the new and enhanced features that Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus has to offer such as enhanced collaboration and social networking tools; email and a seamless online/offline experience.

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Microsoft Kuwait today announced that Warba insurance company has chosen to partner with the leading IT solutions provider to introduce its latest technologies and enhance operational efficiencies to help serve customers better. Since its inception Warba Insurance has been committed to providing customers with all classes of insurance, reinsurance and related investment activities.

The partnership will enable Warba Insurance to provide an expanded range of service offerings including data privacy and security that will serve as a key factor mapping to the customer’s current requirements and future plans. The partnership will leverage Microsoft’s best-in-class technology development capabilities and help Warba Insurance serve their customer base in Kuwait and the region through an advance technology platform.

Anwar Jawad Bu-Khamseen, Chariman of The Board of Directors, Warba Insurance Company, said ”It is Warba Insurance’s vision to continuously provide our customers with world-class solutions and address their diverse insurance related challenges in Kuwait and the rest of the region. Through this partnership with Microsoft Kuwait, we aim to help our clients further improve the flexibility and reliability of their IT capabilities, while at the same time maximizing the value of their investments.”

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Microsoft Gulf is hosting regional finals of Imagine Cup 2010 in Dubai at Atlantis Hotel on Monday, 3rd May 2010. 10 teams from universities across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and UAE will battle it out to win the chance to represent the region at the global finals of Imagine Cup being held in Warsaw, Poland July 3-8, 2010

• Day/Date: Monday, May 3rd, 2010
• Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm
• Venue: Atlantis Hotel, Convention Centre, Room C
• Microsoft Representative: Charbel Fakhoury, Regional General Manager, Microsoft Gulf

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According to a recent independent study, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 has been found to be the most secure browser currently available in the market. The study, which was conducted by security research company, NSS Labs revealed that IE 8 was the most successful browser in blocking various phishing and malware attacks as compared to Apple Safari 4; Firefox 3.5; Google Chrome 4 and Opera 10.

As per the findings, IE 8 caught 85% of live threats and surpassed Apple’s Safari 4 by a 56% margin. Till date, IE 8 has blocked over 350 million online threat attempts since its release in March 2009. In addition, Internet Explorer 8 also holds more than 62.12% of the global browser market share.

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Microsoft Gulf today received an honorary plaque from the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing/ Dubai Convention Bureau in recognition for its efforts in hosting the first Tech-Ed Middle East in the UAE with the aim of developing the region’s technology industry.

Tech-Ed, Microsoft’s premier, three day technical education and networking event was one of the main highlights of Dubai’s extensive exhibitions calendar and it attracted over 1500 IT professionals from across the UAE and 38 other countries. Attendees benefited from world-class speakers demonstrating the latest in technology solutions, designed to enhance business productivity and meet the demands of tech-savvy consumers.

Charbel Fakhoury, Regional General Manager, Microsoft Gulf said, “We are glad to have hosted the first Middle East edition of Tech-Ed in a global city like Dubai in association with the Dubai World Trade Center. Bringing Tech-Ed to the Middle East for the first time underlines the company’s long-term commitment to creating meaningful partnerships with organizations and technology professionals in the Middle East. In addition to substantial regional attendance, we also had a sizeable representation of Emirati delegates from both the private and public sectors. Microsoft is investing in the region to foster local talent and develop the skills of the IT populace to help them compete in the global arena. We are very pleased that the event was successful in bringing together the region’s best and brightest IT professionals to discuss key technology trends and share best practices that will transform and drive the success of businesses in the region.”

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Microsoft Gulf showcased its next generation of infrastructure and application platform products at Tech.Ed Middle East 2010 including Internet Explorer (IE) 9; Microsoft Office 2010; SQL Server 2008 R2; Visual Studio 2010 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Together with its partners in the region such as Dell, Intel, HP and AMD, Microsoft leveraged Tech.Ed to demonstrate a slew of advanced technology offerings to IT professionals, developers, partners and customers.

Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager, Microsoft Gulf said, “The essence of Tech.Ed is to showcase our current and future offerings and what makes them the most powerful platforms that businesses today are looking for to achieve significant productivity and efficiency gains along with a dynamic technology infrastructure. This is our largest technology event globally and bringing it to the Gulf for the first time is proof of our commitment to the Middle East. Together with our partners, we aim to develop leading-edge technology and increase opportunities for skills development to spread the value of information and communications technology in the region.”

Microsoft also announced the launch of two new offers for Visual Studio customers looking to upgrade to the 2010 version. The first offer enables customers who purchased Visual Studio 2005 or 2008 Standard Edition to upgrade to Visual Studio 2010 (without any level of MSDN) at the previous Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition USD $299 retail price. This offer will be available for six months, starting April 12, 2010.

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Etisalat announced its partnership with Microsoft Gulf for Tech.Ed Middle East 2010 as a Strategic ICT partner. Set to run from March 1st -3rd, 2010 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Tech.Ed is Microsoft’s premier technical education and networking event held across 10 global locations. At the event, Etisalat will showcase its comprehensive end to end ICT and Managed Telecom product portfolio.

Etisalat and Microsoft are collaborating on emerging technologies to create compelling solutions for customers by sharing and reviewing respective product roadmaps. The collaboration involves the development of solutions across several areas such as On-Premise and Off-Premise Unified Communications, Mobility, Hosted Business Applications and IPTV (TV over Broadband) in addition to many others.

Abdulla Hashim, Senior VP, Business Solutions, Etisalat said, “We are proud to partner with Microsoft for this event. With our end to end Managed telecom, ICT expertise and state of the art infrastructure, Etisalat can provide a very strong value proposition to drive productivity and optimize efficiencies across the value chain. Our participation at the first edition of Microsoft Tech.Ed demonstrates our commitment to drive the use of ICT for better business outcomes in association with Microsoft. This event is also an excellent opportunity for us to raise awareness about our ICT offerings for the benefit of technology professionals and demonstrate the role we play in helping companies deploy innovative solutions that enhance business performance while reducing operational costs.”
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As recognition for its commitment to empowering women with technology, Microsoft Gulf received the ‘Best Arab Corporate Social Responsibility Award’ of the Year from the Union of Arab ICT Association, IJMA3. The Arab GoldenChip Awards recognize the top organizations in the region who have contributed to the development of ICT in the Arab world.

Aiming to harness ICT towards the fulfillment of critical regional economic-development challenges, IJMA3, an international non-governmental/profit organization presented the award to Microsoft for its overall Citizenship program and its significant contribution in empowering women through programs such as the Women in Technology (WIT) across the MENA region. The WIT program helps equip women with business and technology skills and encourages them to participate in today’s global workforce and gain economic independence. By 2010, WIT will train more than 10,000 low to middle income women in underserved communities across the MENA region.

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Furthering its commitment to transform Kuwait into knowledge based society, Microsoft announced that it has signed the Partners in Learning agreement with the Ministry of Education in Kuwait for technical co-operation. The signing of the agreement is driven by the need for technology education and infrastructure in Kuwait as the program recognizes the educational value of technology in schools and is designed to foster digital inclusion. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the Undersecretary of the Kuwait Ministry of Education, Tamather Al Sidirawi, and Country Manager, Microsoft Kuwait Ehab Mostafa.

Under the Partners in Learning initiative, the Ministry of Education will receive technology training, tailored curriculum development, access to the latest technologies and the ability to empower schools to raise the levels of ICT literacy. It also enables innovative teaching with the aim of bridging the digital divide.

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Furthering its commitment to the development of the UAE’s education sector and the creation of a knowledge based society, Microsoft Gulf hosted an event themed around the digital lifestyle of a student in partnership with Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) at the campus of the Abu Dhabi Men’s College.

At the event, Microsoft showcased and demoed several of its key consumer products including its latest operating system, Windows 7; Windows Phone; Windows Live Services; Internet Explorer 8; XBOX 360 and Windows Media Center and showed how the company is delivering on its vision for a digital lifestyle where devices, services and applications work together seamlessly.

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We are almost a month away from the first ever TechEd in Middle East. This will be no doubt the biggest IT event of the region. It is Microsoft’s premier technical education event that takes place across select locations globally as shown in the video above. This event will be from March 1-3, 2010 at the Dubai World Trade Center. Registration for Tech.Ed Middle East 2010 is open now with early bird offer that is valid until January 31, 2010.

“Tech.Ed is Microsoft’s premier, global platform that provides hands-on learning, deep product exploration and opportunities for IT professionals to connect with the industry and Microsoft experts. If you are developing, deploying or managing Microsoft solutions, then Tech.Ed Middle East is the conference that will help you solve today’s real-world IT challenges and prepare for tomorrow’s innovations. We are very pleased to bring the first Tech.Ed Middle East to the region. This event is expected to bring together the region’s best and brightest IT professionals to discuss key technology trends and share best practices that will transform and drive the success of businesses in the Middle East.” – said Charbel Fakhoury (profile), General Manager, Microsoft Gulf [via ameinfo]

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Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre signs Master Business and Services Agreement (MBSA) and a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft Gulf. Agreement was signed by HE Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, Director General, ADSIC and Charbel Fakhoury, Regional General Manager, Microsoft Gulf and witnessed by Linda Zecher, Global Vice President, for Microsoft’s Public Sector business.

“E-Literacy is a key enabler to help Abu Dhabi transformation efforts into a successful knowledge-based society, as such, putting technology to work for people throughout the country will enable us to strengthen our economy and create greater opportunities for young people to fulfil their potentials. We value Microsoft’s support as we take positive steps towards utilising technology towards social and human capital development.” HE Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori – Director General, ADSIC

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Microsoft Gulf at Gitex introduced a wave of innovative new software solutions under the title of  ’New Efficiency‘ in line with its commitment to using technology to accelerate economic recovery. Addressing a press conference at Gitex, Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager, Microsoft Gulf said,

“As countries in every corner of the globe work to emerge from tough market conditions, Microsoft is committed to providing innovative technology products and services that will provide the fuel to help reignite the engine of economic growth. We believe that our software solutions for the new efficiency can help companies manage the short and long end of a downturn by driving down costs and improving operations. This year is an exciting year from a product launch and innovation perspective and it will really lay the foundation for Microsoft in the region for the next 2 years.”

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Charbel Fakhoury joined Microsoft Corporation in December 1998 as the business development manager for eastern Mediterranean countries covering Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus, Syria, and Malta.

In January 2001, he was promoted to country manager for the same region. In March of the same year, under Fakhoury’s leadership, Microsoft opened a representative office in Jordan, followed in 2002 with the opening of the Cyprus office, with the objectives of reaching out to customers, partners and IT professionals, and to participate in countries’ visions for an IT based economy. In 2001, Fakhoury achieved the MGS (Microsoft Global Summit) Award for his outstanding contribution to Microsoft from Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft Corporation. In June 2002, Eastern Mediterranean region became one of the five Middle East sub-regions based in Lebanon. In January 2003, Fakhoury was promoted to general manager of the newly established subsidiary where part of his responsibilities included demonstrating how Microsoft can help local economies benefit from the digital evolution and realize their potential.

His experience with leading technology companies and understanding of the Middle East market has been instrumental to Microsoft in establishing its presence in the region. Before joining Microsoft, Fakhoury worked as sales manager for Sun Microsystems in the Levant region, and previously as sales and marketing manager at Automation and Computer Technologies in Lebanon. Fakhoury received a Bachelor degree in Computer Science from the Lebanese American University in 1990. He is also a board member of the American Lebanese Chamber of Commerce focusing on ICT development, RDCL, PCA, in addition to other memberships with local and international associations.