EMPA thrilled to announce the winner of “SIGNUP & WIN!” competition that we had run in Oct’11. We congratulate Mr. Vinod Kartha, (Director Kleos Infotech LLC) on winning Fujitsu STYLISTIC Q550 Slate PC. All entries were placed into a draw and winner was chosen at random. We received a lot of submissions from all around the Middle East. Thanks to all our participants, and please keep watching our website, read our e-newsletters for information on our upcoming activities and the latest news in the world of consumer electronics!

Leading software publisher WinSoft International has teamed up with EMPA Middle East to make its range of Serif products available to Middle Eastern users.

The agreement signed between WinSoft International and EMPA Middle East will combine WinSoft International’s software localization expertise with the reach of EMPA Middle East’s Promise’s local distribution network.

Hadi Shaheen, WinSoft International’s Regional Manager for the Middle East said “As we are focusing on consolidating our distribution strategy and harmonizing our ME retail channel with the new range of software from Serif it is imperative that we choose a regional distributor with a proven track record. We are excited to welcome EMPA to our distributor network and we look forward to growing the market with them and offering users complex-free and affordable creative products.”

The companies will be reaching out to consumers looking for high-quality, affordable design and publishing software including the remarkable PhotoPlus and WebPlus products. EMPA Middle East will begin by distributing WinSoft International’s Arabic language versions of award winning desktop publishing program PagePlus X5 by Serif.

“We are excited to partner with WinSoft International to promote Serif creative software,” said Shahood Khan, Director of Sales & Marketing at EMPA Middle East. “It is a tremendous opportunity for both organizations as many customers are looking for viable alternatives to expensive software packages. WinSoft International’s web designing and desktop publishing products are simply irresistible.”

Other Serif products localized by WinSoft International soon to be available for the Middle East include WebPlus, a powerful website design program, and PhotoPlus, an easy-to-use photo-editing system.

EdgeWave’s leading Secure Content Management solutions will debut at leading international technology event

San Diego, CA – May 16, 2011 – St. Bernard Software, Inc., DBA EdgeWave (OTCBB/OTCQB: EWVE), a leader in Secure Content Management (SCM) solutions, and EMPA Middle East, a leading IT distribution company in the Middle East, today announced that they will introduce EdgeWave’s portfolio of award-winning SCM solutions to thousands of attendees at the Middle East Communications Exhibition & Conference (MECOM), the only enterprise communication exhibition and conference held in Abu Dhabi, the Capital of UAE. The event is held from May 16th – 18th at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center, Abu Dhabi. Representatives from both companies will be on hand to demonstrate EdgeWave’s Web and Messaging Security solutions at stand G40.

EdgeWave delivers high-performance SCM solutions to mid-enterprise market customers. The company’s email security, anti- spam, virus protection, IM security and Web filtering products enforce acceptable usage policies on hardware appliance, software, and hosted content security platforms. EdgeWave also offers an extensive Hosted Email offering.

"MECOM serves as an ideal event to showcase our portfolio of Secure Content Management solutions,” said Brooke Pietsche, who leads the Middle East business development for EdgeWave. “The Middle East represents a significant technology and growth opportunity and is an important part of the Company’s global distribution plan. Partnering with EMPA at this event provides us with localized industry experience and greater accessibility to an impressive audience across the Middle East.”

As the ONLY dedicated enterprise communications event in the Middle East region, MECOM brings together the largest “C” level gathering of fixed, mobile, internet and satellite operators from the Middle East region.  The three-day event will offer a definitive platform for industry networking, expertise exchange, and business development across many sectors.
 

What: MECOM 2011
Booth: G40
When: May 16 -18, 2011
Where: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center, Abu Dhabi

The first and only liquid cooling HD6990 graphics card

Dubai, U.A.E –May 11th, 2011–TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, announces the world’s first liquid cooling solution for the HD6990 series: The PowerColor Liquid Cooling Solution (LCS) HD6990 4GB GDDR5. PowerColor is working with fabulous cooling manufacturer EKwaterblocks once again to bring the liquid cooling solution to the HD6990, aims to deliver the exceptional thermal performance to increase the headroom of overclocking potential while allowing optimum system stability.

The PowerColor LCS HD6990 has a full water block mounted on the card, fully covering the key components which can be dissipated the heat from the copper base design. It efficiently cools down the GPU temperatures up to 30% than reference board even under full load. PowerColor packages a high-flow 3/8" and 1/2" fittings (barbs) to maximize water flow with captured o-rings to prevent leakage. Gamers can customize their own liquid cooling system with these comprehensive accessories.

With the support of all the latest technologies, the PowerColor LCS HD6990 features a dual BIOS setting, allowing a hardware overdrive option from factory-supported clocks to switch to at 880MHz core speed and 1250MHz memory speed. The card also comes equipped with Volterra’s digital power solution, maximizes its transforming efficiency and delivers the best output quality through its high frequency feature, enabling the most efficient way to boost up gaming experience.

Globally known anti-spyware pioneer Lavasoft yesterday announced that their Internet security solutions Ad-Aware Pro and Ad-Aware Free have both received the prestigious Editors’ Choice from PC Magazine. The Editors' Choice is awarded to products and services that stand out from and above similar products in their categories, according to PC Magazine.

Respected PC Magazine lead security analyst Neil Rubenking, who recently reviewed both versions of Ad-Aware said, “This latest Ad-Aware remains very effective at keeping malware out of a clean system and adds new technology that improves its ability to clean up infested systems. With its simple user interface it's a very good choice for malware protection.”

Rubenking also noted, “Most free antivirus utilities are good at either malware removal or malware blocking, but not both. Ad-Aware Free proved very effective in both areas, almost as effective as Ad-Aware Pro”.

In the new version of Ad-Aware, Lavasoft introduced a new proactive detection method, called Dedicated Detection, designed specifically to detect polymorphic and obfuscated files. The technology analyzes the code, and creates a loose pattern that detects families of related malware. The resulting signatures are extremely powerful, with a single Dedicated Detection signature being able to detect hundreds of thousands of files.

In parallel to Dedicated Detection, Lavasoft introduced MagmaShield - a technology that searches for suspicious operations at certain points in a program. This technology does not rely on patterns or signatures to detect, which makes it entirely proactive.

“Millions of computer users across the world put their trust in Ad-Aware to protect their PC's from viruses, spyware and rootkits. Receiving a distinction such as this, from one of the most respected reviewers, confirms that Ad-Aware provides an industry-leading defense against today’s – and tomorrow’s – cyber threats.” says Johnny Widerlund, CTO at Lavasoft.

To learn more about Ad-Aware, please visit www.lavasoft.com.

Latest release includes enhanced Circumvention Defense Network, improved user authentication and expanded application control

St. Bernard Software, Inc., DBA EdgeWave, (OTCQB: EWVE), a leader in Secure Content Management (SCM) solutions, announced on 17th March 2010 the release of iPrism Web Security Version 6.5, which boasts powerful new outbound botnet detection and prevention through a unique partnership with ThreatSTOP, a leading industry expert in anti-botnet technology. This capability enables organizations to prevent costly damage associated with botnets and bot-related malware. With this release, EdgeWave also introduces new anti-circumvention technology using a cloud-based Circumvention Defense Network (CDN) as well as numerous feature enhancements including improved transparent user authentication and expanded application control including Skype and FTP communications. All new features in iPrism Web Security Version 6.5 are available to current customers at no additional charge.

Outbound Botnet Protection via ThreatSTOP
Botnets are among the most dangerous and pervasive security threats, where it is estimated that as many as 25% of computers connected to the Internet may be infected, including 88% of F500 companies. These compromised machines surreptitiously steal user identities, leak private data, and spread new infections, which can cripple an organization. They also conduct illegal activities jeopardizing the organization’s eReputation, such as hosting phishing sites, proxy nets, pay-per-click fraud, launching denial-of-service attacks, and distributing spam. Bot-related malware is difficult to detect and nearly impossible to remediate by conventional antivirus techniques as their dynamic and adaptive capabilities enable them to self-propagate through their own established peer-to-peer networks and avoid conventional reputation-based techniques by leveraging fast-flux DNS redirections and discreetly relocating the command and control hosts that assemble the compromised machines into a botnet.

By partnering with leading industry expert, ThreatSTOP, EdgeWave now delivers unprecedented defense against botnets with no known false positives and zero latency. With its latest release, iPrism Web Security delivers ThreatSTOP’s comprehensive and authoritative threat list, which is updated continuously and fueled by several industry-leading sources of botnet traffic threats. These sources are filtered and correlated against proprietary selection criteria and identify malicious hosts. iPrism inspects all outbound communication attempts using the ThreatSTOP data feed, so that botnets are detected immediately. With this additional layer of defense, iPrism customers are able to immediately identify and block infections. This feature helps to reduce expenses, minimizes data leakage, and enhances a company’s compliance enforcement.

“Customers require an additional layer of security to maintain proactive defense against today’s dynamically changing threat landscape,” said Ron Kaplan, Director of Product Management at EdgeWave. “We’re excited about our partnership with ThreatSTOP and the ability to support customers in building a comprehensive security strategy with new technology offerings. The latest release of iPrism Web Security is a testament to our ongoing efforts to protect organizations from new and evolving threats.”

Enhanced Circumvention Defense Network (CDN)
Various circumvention techniques also pose additional threats to organizations trying to enforce Internet access policies that mitigate legal liabilities, minimize data leakage, thwart security breaches and improve bandwidth use. The arms race between pro-censorship institutions and anti-censorship programmers has spawned a sophisticated selection of client-side applications that are increasingly accessible to enterprise users. These users’ private data and web usage can be hijacked by cybercriminals that in some instances, host the servers used by these tools and other anonymous browsing proxies.
 

An industry-first, EdgeWave’s CDN protects organizations from users’ circumvention attempts by combining cloud-based services with the iPrism Web Security appliance. EdgeWave employs a real-time cloud-based Research Lab to gather intelligence on thousands of externally-hosted non-Web servers that might be used to circumvent network security. CDN detects new releases of circumvention programs as they are deployed, so that customers no longer need to wait months for a new product update. iPrism dynamically captures IPs associated with any circumvention efforts and filters these IPs against known legitimate sites to mitigate false positives and prevents over/under blocking. iPrism updates continuously from CDN, where all communication attempts are inspected and enforced per policy. With CDN, iPrism customers can be confident that they have the strongest defense against circumvention and other network threats, so that they can stay one step ahead of potential security risks.

“The application reports showed 30 Botnet blocks and an eDonkey block,” said John Leonowich, Director of Technology Solutions, Mannington Mills, Inc. “The report also showed valid FTP activity, since our policy is to monitor FTP. It’s not a bad thing blocking security vulnerabilities while performing web filtering. Pretty cool.”

With this release, iPrism Web Security 6.5 also offers customers the following feature enhancements:

• Expanded Application Control
iPrism now detects and applies policy by user or network to Skype and FTP, helping reduce the risks associated with the use of unsanctioned applications. iPrism is port-agnostic when detecting use of these protocols.

• Enhanced User Authentication
iPrism ensures Microsoft best practices by utilizing customer’s existing Active Directory environment without any degraded security standards by eliminating insecure off-box third-party agents or configuration changes. New in v6.5, iPrism provides seamless support of 1-way outgoing trusts and nested groups with one or more domains. Also, new failed login options enable better reliability in the unlikely event that domain controllers temporarily cannot communicate with iPrism. Traffic is uninterrupted and policies remain transparently enforced.

• Custom Filter Enforcement in Hybrid Remote Filtering
iPrism customers can now push custom filters to the iPrism remote client. Unique in the marketplace, iPrism Remote Filtering delivers powerful Web security to remote and mobile employees without requiring any changes to the corporate network, endpoints, or exposing private user data into the cloud, making deployment simple, secure and seamless. By eliminating the need to VPN, access a server in the DMZ, or manage PAC files in browsers, corporate bandwidth is untouched, and zero latency is introduced. With this hybrid technology, comprehensive Internet security is delivered to any off-premises users while providing comprehensive and accurate policy enforcement across all employees, regardless of location.

• Enhanced Network Integration
iPrism provides a more seamless fit in various Cisco-enabled WCCP and Brocade-enabled load balanced environments. iPrism Web Security Version 6.5 is available now. Existing iPrism customers can upgrade at no cost.

For more information regarding EdgeWave and its Secure Content Management solutions, please visit www.edgewave.com.

EMPA Middle East gathered its channel partners from UAE to announce Lavasoft / Iomega latest solutions. Ever since signing up of distribution partnership with Lavasoft five months ago, this was the first event EMPA hosted for its UAE-based partners.

To complement Lavasoft’s Internet Security solutions, teaming up with Iomega – an EMC2 Company giving holistic messaging not only on securing from privacy threats but also storage perspective. This event was primarily hosted to provide awareness; hence we stuck to our basics by providing the fundamentals of Internet Security, and then showed the value of Lavasoft being “The Original Anti-spyware Company”, and why they should focus in this solution.

“In my opinion, partners did greatly benefit from this educational session, and has taken back with them on the growth potential Lavasoft solution has in this region, and the margin opportunities they have says P. Sathyamurthy, Business Unit Manager – Enterprise Solutions at EMPA Middle East FZCO.”


“The event was a good platform to talk about the latest Iomega products such as the eGo USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drives and the Iomega StorCenter network Hard Drives.
We met with some of the key resellers who were able to share a lot of experience and feedback.
We thank EMPA team for organizing such an exciting event, and looking for more in the future, said by Mohammad Jweied, Country Sales Manage (UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar & Bahrain) at Iomega International.”

St. Bernard Software, Inc. (OTCBB: SBSW), a leader in Secure Content Management (SCM) solutions, announced the official re-launch of the company as EdgeWave™ on Thursday, 13th January 2011,  reflecting an expanded portfolio of SCM solutions and services, including web and email security, data protection, e-reputation, and email, all delivered through a choice of on-premise, on-demand, or custom hybrid deployments.

"The company has evolved dramatically over the past 12 months, and we are rebranding ourselves to reflect our broader mission that builds on our strong web and email security foundation," said Lou Ryan, CEO and Chairman of the Company. "Over the past year, we've taken significant steps to enhance our senior leadership team and increase our talent pool, upgrade our existing products, expand our technology portfolio, overhaul our go-to-market strategy, and achieve greater cost efficiencies. We believe all of these efforts will produce greater customer satisfaction and increase business growth and shareholder value over the long term."

The company's move to re-brand itself as EdgeWave caps an aggressive transformation strategy, including the recent acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Red Condor, the hiring of five seasoned executives, streamlining operations into a new worldwide headquarters facility, a re-tooling of the company's back office operation, the formulation of a powerful new technology portfolio, and the expansion into new markets with new products.

Well-known anti-spyware pioneer Lavasoft today announced a distribution partnership with EMPA to promote its range of online security products in the Middle East.

While established as a globally renowned brand, with over 400 million downloads worldwide of its flagship Ad-Aware software, Lavasoft prioritized local representation of its Internet security solutions in the Middle East, in order to address the increasing demand by those consumers for protection against escalating online security threats. Dubai-based EMPA Middle East, a leading IT Enterprise Solutions & Consumer Electronics distributor, will represent Lavasoft, promoting Lavasoft's world-renowned Ad-Aware Internet Security product range.

"As Internet usage grows exponentially in the Middle East, and with the escalation of online threats and social engineering tactics, security solutions are becoming increasingly important in this region. I am proud to announce Lavasoft's partnership with EMPA to extend our product range to the Middle East,"

says Lavasoft CTO Johnny Widerlund.

Published: Sun, July 4, 2010

Empa to distribute ESET's antivirus solutions across Saudi Arabia; to strengthen ESET's market share and sales in the Kingdom

Dubai, UAE, July 4, 2010: ADAOX Middle East, the regional business development center of ESET NOD32 Antivirus, today announced that they have signed a partnership agreement with Empa, a leading IT distribution company in the MENA region, to distribute ESET’s award-winning antivirus solutions in Saudi Arabia. Empa will promote ESET NOD32 and ESET Smart Security to the corporate, SME and retail segments across the Kingdom.

Speaking on their new partnership, Mr. Naeem Hamami, Country Manager, Empa KSA said, “We are pleased to add ESET to our strong portfolio of best-of-breed products. We pride ourselves on offering only the best products to our customers. ESET has gained a reputation of being a superior product in the security software segment in the Middle East region. Since we were in the process of establishing our value division and at the same time ESET was looking to expand their business further in Saudi Arabia, there was perfect synergy between both our companies. Empa has an extensive portfolio of products in the components, PC, notebooks, networking, storage and power supply segments. The only missing part was a security solution, where ESET will be our first vendor to start with.”

“As ESET looks to strengthen their market position in Saudi further, we are committed to offering them our full fledged support to help them achieve their goals. We plan to promote ESET in the corporate, SME and retail segments through our existing dealer channels in KSA, by appointing selected corporate resellers and through our well established retail arm that will be responsible for promoting product through power retailers,” Mr. Hamami added.

ESET is one of the best security products available in the world today having won more VB100 awards from Virus bulletin than any other antivirus vendor. ESET NOD32 Antivirus and ESET Smart Security are ideal for cutomers who are looking for proactive security solution without affecting their system performance. Apart from being the fastest growing antivirus solution in the world, ESET NOD32 also leads the industry in terms of proactive detection and outperforms its competitors.  It has a very small footprint needing minimal resource utilisation, taking up limited space on the user’s computer and allowing for faster performance. It also manages upgrades on its own and the user has just to set and forget it.
“The Saudi market is important to ESET, which has seen significant growth in the Kingdom over the last couple of years. With the Saudi market being so huge, we felt the need to expand our operations further to tap newer market segments. Empa is a well established distributor in Saudi Arabia with an extensive reach and well-earned reputation for quality and service. We are happy to partner with them as they not only have the required expertise and market knowledge required to promote our products but they also have a proven track record of helping their vendors grow their business in the region. We are confident Empa will help increase ESET’s sales, brand awareness and visibility further in Saudi Arabia,” says Mr. Neo, Neophytou, MD of ADAOX, ESET’s Regional Business Development and Support Center.
Empa is one of the leading IT distribution firms which boasts of top-brand partners such as Fujitsu, Iomega, Intel, Philips, Samsung, Netgear, Toshiba, Transcend and Tripp Lite to name a few. The company's operations are divided into distribution, business solutions and retail, with the retail arm dealing in the distribution of IT products and consumer electronics to 'power retailers' across the Middle East. The distributor has one of the largest operated IT distribution facilities in the region and maintains high quality distribution of all its products via its smart delivery strategy.

Components distributor Empa has nabbed the award for ‘outstanding support’ in the GCC region at a recent Intel channel conference

Published June 3, 2009

Components distributor Empa has nabbed the award for ‘outstanding support’ in the GCC region at a recent Intel channel conference.

The accolade, which the distributor claims is recognition of its efforts in expanding Intel’s brand visibility and sales in the market, was presented to business unit manager Ajay Tozhappa at the CPU vendor’s Distributor Enabling Conference in Greece.

Empa sells Intel products in Jordan, Yemen, Egypt and the GCC, including Saudi Arabia. It is one of three companies with pan-Middle East distribution rights alongside Logicom and Mindware.

Shahood Khan, director of marketing and sales at Dubai-based Empa, insists the award reflects its “commitment” to providing high-quality services to the channel.

“Moreover, the region’s growing demand for quality IT-based products has encouraged Empa to install first-class management systems to ensure the partnership is a success,” stated Khan. “Intel’s latest products and services, combined with Empa’s wide distribution base and business acumen have translated to high sales and successful brand marketing throughout the MENA region.”

In addition to Intel, Empa carries products from vendors such as Fujitsu, Iomega, Intel, Kingston, LaCie, Philips and Samsung.

Published April 26, 2009

EMPA Middle East FZCO, a leading IT distribution company in the Middle East, has announced that it sponsored race driver Alqassim Hamidaddin during the exhibition race that was held to promote the Chevrolet Supercars Middle East Championship 2009-2010.


The exhibition race took place on the sidelines of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix that ran from April 24 to 26, 2009 at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Saudi national Hamidaddin, who graduated from the world-famous Jim Russell Racing School, drove a Chevrolet Lumina during the exhibition race. The Chevrolet Supercars Championship runs from November 2009 to April 2010 and will include seven rounds with two races each. EMPA officials explain that sponsoring a race driver will enable the company to relate its products to technology-enabled modern professional racecar driving.

Rahb Hamidaddin, President, EMPA, said:

"Associating EMPA with motorsports ensures greater brand visibility and complements our core values and the brands we represent. For example, racing is synonymous with speed and by sponsoring a race driver we are subtly promoting the Intel Core i7 processor, which is regarded as the fastest processor at present. In addition, lot of storage devices are used today in cars to record all kinds of valuable data and also liaise with the chips, hence we find a fit with Toshiba which is a leader in storage technology. Also, NETGEAR provides networking solutions and wireless connectivity which is very useful for the mechanics and engineers to do any kind of online activity. So in terms of brand fit, association with a motor racing event made perfect sense and we are confident that we will reap rich rewards on the long term."


The sponsorship reflects EMPA's strong support for sports and competitions. The popularity of the Bahrain Grand Prix also provided an opportunity for EMPA to further boost its regional and national visibility. The Bahrain edition of the Formula One Grand Prix was first held in 2004, with the country becoming the first Middle Eastern host of the race. The inaugural Bahrain event was awarded the "Best Organised Grand Prix" by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.

EMPA's impressive portfolio of IT vendor partners includes Fujitsu, Kingston, LaCie, Philips, Pleomax, Transcend, NETGEAR, Toshiba, SMC and Tripp Lite. The company has been an authorised regional Intel distributor since 1985 and a Biostar distributor for the past eight years. EMPA recently built a new IT distribution facility with a built-up area of 40,700 sq ft on an 84,000 sq ft plot, one of the largest of its kind in the Middle East.

 
Published October 19, 2008

EMPA Middle East FZCO, a leading IT distribution company in the Middle East, has announced that it has been appointed as the authorised Middle East distributor for US-based Iomega Corporation, a global leader in data storage and protection for consumers and small businesses, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of EMC Corporation.

An agreement to this effect was signed today between EMPA and Iomega on the sidelines of EMPA's Gitex Technology Week 2008 participation.

During its Gitex Dubai 2008 participation, EMPA will be showcasing a wide array of products of its partner companies while also highlighting the company's steady growth and performance in the highly competitive Middle East market where EMPA completes 10 years of successful operations this year.

Shahood Khan, Director, Sales and Marketing, EMPA Middle East, said,


"We are pleased to be appointed as the distributor for Iomega Corporation, a company that has built a reputation globally for manufacturing high quality data storage and protection products. As they look to build on their market position in the Middle East, we are committed to offer them our total support to help them achieve their region-specific business goals."


Jan Jensen, Vice President, Iomega International - EMEA & Asia, said, "We look forward to a long term mutually beneficial partnership with EMPA who have a proven track record of distributing products of global vendors. As we focus on consolidating our market presence in the Middle East, EMPA's expertise and experience would prove invaluable."

Commenting on EMPA's Gitex participation, Khan said, "Participation in Gitex Dubai has always been fruitful for us and we are confident that this year will be no different. Moreover, 2008 holds special significance for us since we are commemorating our 10th anniversary in the Middle East this year; a celebration of several noteworthy milestones. We are leveraging the GITEX platform to showcase EMPA's capabilities and reaffirm our excellent market position."

EMPA has been an authorised Intel distributor since 1985 and a Biostar distributor since the past eight years, in addition to being the authorised distributor for major vendors such as Fujitsu, Kingston, LaCie, Philips, Pleomax, Transcend, SimpleTech, SMC and Tripp Lite.

EMPA recently completed a new facility and headquarters in Jebel Ali to accommodate its rapidly expanding operations and workforce, with a built up area of 40,700 sq ft on a 84000 sq ft plot, making it one of the largest facilities in the region for an IT distributor.

Published August 16, 2008

EMPA Middle East FZCO, a leading IT distribution company in the Middle East, and Taiwan-based motherboard manufacturer BIOSTAR Microtech International Corp., recently marked their 8th year of partnership in the Middle Eastern IT market.

EMPA remains the sole agent of BIOSTAR motherboards in the following Middle East countries: GCC (including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman), Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan and Egypt.

EMPA is committed to take advantage of the rapidly growing regional IT market to enhance BIOSTAR product sales.

EMPA will leverage the recent record-breaking performance of BIOSTAR's TPower I45 motherboard in the Overclocking World Record Database (OWRD) to market the manufacturer's products as the top choices in the Intel-based platform.

The OWRD has reported that the top three overclocking records for the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 CPU as of July 2008 are based on systems using the TPower I45 motherboard.


"BIOSTAR's motherboards feature the extreme performance and high computing power required in today's demanding engineering, scientific, entertainment, and gaming applications. The company's overall product portfolio is a reflection of its commitment to offer cutting-edge, industry-leading technology. Our partnership with BIOSTAR affirms our focus on establishing and maintaining ties with the best manufacturers in the IT field,"


said Shahooh Khan, Director- Sales and Marketing, EMPA.

Published June 28, 2008

EMPA Middle East FZCO, one of the largest IT distribution companies operating in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa regions, received an award of appreciation during the Samsung Global Summit 2008 held in Seoul, Korea recently.

EMPA was recognized for its outstanding sales, service, and support of PLEOMAX products

The award reflects EMPA's vital role in expanding the visibility, reach, and sales of PLEOMAX products in the Middle Eastern region. EMPA is currently the authorized distributor of PLEOMAX PC accessories, in Egypt, GCC, Jordan, and Yemen.

PLEOMAX , a subsidiary of South Korean electronics giant Samsung Corp., designs and markets computer peripherals, optical storage media, batteries, and energy saving lightbulbs. Established in 2003, the company leverages parent company Samsung's vast experience in manufacturing and quality controlled sourcing to market its products to more than 40 countries over multiple channels in coordination with its 76 regional offices.


"We thank Samsung for valuing our service to its PLEOMAX products; as one of the largest IT distributors in the region, our reputation is significantly influenced by both our reliable service and the quality of the products we market. The combination of our sound delivery strategies and Samsung's superior product lines truly makes for a very productive distribution partnership,"


said Shahood Khan, Sales and Marketing Director, EMPA Middle East FZCO.

Dubai-based EMPA, established in 1998 at the Jebel Ali Free Zone, recently completed a new facility and headquarters to accommodate its rapidly expanding operations and workforce. With a built up area of 40,700 sq ft on an 84,000 sq ft plot, the facility is the largest operated by any IT distributor in the region.

Published May 22, 2008

EMPA, one of the largest IT distribution companies operating in the MENA region, has announced that it has recently enhanced and expanded its logistics operations to include door-to-door delivery straight from its newly built facility in Jebel Ali South Zone to practically anywhere in the UAE.

The move is part of a strategy to consolidate EMPA's delivery service to improve customer satisfaction and further enhance the company's sales performance.

To ensure an optimum distribution network for the new service, EMPA has finalised agreements with its reputed logistics partner Aramex in the UAE; and is also in the process of finalising talks with logistics partners in Bahrain to implement the same in-country distribution model.


"We are gradually building and improving our logistics operations with the ultimate aim of delivering unrivalled quality service across the region. The new door service facility is another significant development in our continuing quest to provide clients with the best logistical solutions, which are tailor-made according to the specific demands of customers in the UAE,"


said Rahb Hamidaddin, President, EMPA Middle East.

"The success of this new venture will provide the momentum to adopt the same delivery model across other key markets in the region. As such, our clients can be rest assured that EMPA will remain the most practical choice in terms of efficiency, flexibility and cost-effectiveness," added Hamidaddin.

Since the launch of the door delivery service recently, EMPA has revealed an enthusiastic response from customers, who have benefited greatly from the 24-hour service facility.

EMPA's distribution and delivery service is also distinguished by its high degree of flexibility as it is able to accommodate even smaller quantities for distribution.

The service comes at very nominal rates for delivery.

The expanded distribution and delivery network is likewise part of a much greater initiative to improve the company's overall performance.

EMPA has already streamlined its internal procedures and workflow mechanisms to reduce process times and facilitate faster documentation.

Published April 01, 2008

EMPA, one of the largest IT distribution companies operating in the MENA region, has announced that it has recently been awarded the 2007 Philips Best Distributor Award following its successful distribution strategy for Philips LCD monitors across the Middle East.

The award, handed out in Istanbul, Turkey, recognised EMPA's stepped-up efforts to provide optimum market exposure to the Philips brand.

EMPA also announced that its successful partnership with Philips has been further boosted with the recent signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which extends the partnership to cover Pakistan and the whole of the Middle East and Africa region.

"It is an honour to be recognised by Philips as its best distributor in the region. This award reflects the successful strategy that we have implemented and the hard work and dedication being exerted by the whole EMPA organisation and our network of partners. This distinction will also serve as an inspiration for us to maintain our commitment to service excellence and will help fuel our expansion program to address the huge global demand for IT products," said Shahood Khan, Director - Sales and Marketing, EMPA.

EMPA has also recently completed a new facility and headquarters in Jebel Ali to accommodate its rapidly expanding operations and workforce, with a built up area of 40,700 sq ft on a 84000 sq ft plot, the facility is the largest by any IT distributor in the region.

"EMPA is committed to fulfilling the requirements of brands we distribute, providing them with excellent access to key markets. It is also our mission to satisfy the expectations of all consumers by bringing world-class products to as many areas as possible in the Middle East, ensuring that they get their hands on their favourite brands wherever they are in the Middle East an beyond," concluded Khan.

Published February 25, 2008

EMPA, one of the largest IT distribution companies operating in the MENA region, has announced that it has successfully set in motion contingency measures that have minimised unnecessary disruptions and helped to restore normalcy in its operations following a fire that hit its main warehouse in Jebel Ali recently.


As a sign that it is getting back on track, EMPA employees involved in critical operations have already resumed work at a new facility, which is part of the company's new headquarters also located in Jebel Ali.

The company has confirmed that its sales office was not affected by the incident and it is now and fully reactivated the IT infrastructure of its marketing hub. Moreover, EMPA has already mobilised a dedicated internal crisis management team immediately after the incident to address queries and reassure customers, while all primary vendor partners have been fully briefed and constantly updated on the situation.

"EMPA is doing everything possible to minimise customer discomfort, working extra hours to remove obstacles that cause unnecessary delays to the full recovery of operations. I assure our customers that the company is fully prepared to meet various emergency cases as all our staff members have been sufficiently briefed on their responsibilities in situations like this. We are pleased that the whole EMPA organisation has responded commendably well," said Rahb Hamidaddin, EMPA President.

"The company also received an outpouring of support from customers and partners. The whole EMPA family is touched by such strong show of support, which only shows the trust we have gained from our customers. Naturally, this has further boosted our enthusiasm to resolve all issues within the shortest time possible," added Hamidaddin.

EMPA, which distributes a number of leading global brands, has assured customers and partners that damaged products will be immediately replenished as they all have full insurance coverage. Moreover, the transition period may be further shortened as EMPA has already planned long ago the transfer of all its stocks to its new headquarters in Jebel Ali.

New Jebel Ali office helps Empa to resume operations following warehouse fire

Published February 25, 2008

IT distributor Empa claims it has successfully implemented contingency measures to offset the side effects of the fire that tore through its Jebel Ali warehouse in December last year, destroying million of dollars of stock.

The company claims that employees involved in critical operations have already resumed work in a new facility elsewhere in Jebel Ali that is forming part of the company's new headquarters in the Dubai-based free zone.

"Empa is doing everything possible to minimise customer discomfort, working extra hours to remove obstacles that cause unnecessary delays to the full recovery of operations," asserted Empa president Rahd Hamidaddin. "I assure our customers that the company is fully prepared to meet various emergency cases, as all our staff members have been sufficiently briefed on their responsibilities in situations like this," he added.

At the time of the blaze Hamidaddin was quick to reassure resellers that Empa will do everything it can to minimise the disruption caused by the fire. Empa counts the likes of Asus, Biostar, Kingston, LaCie, MSI, Philips, and SimpleTech among its vendor partners. But it was Intel - long term partners of Empa - which was rumored to have been the vendor most affected by the fire with sources claiming that it had over US$5m worth of stock wiped out.

Empa has now promised partners and customers that damaged products will be immediately replenished and that the stock was fully covered by the company's insurance.

"The company also received an outpouring of support from customers and partners," said Hamidaddin. "Naturally, this has further boosted our enthusiasm to resolve all issues within the shortest time possible."

According to Empa it has not been as adversely affected by the fire as it might have been thanks to the fact that prior to the blaze it already had plans in motion to move into new premises in Jebel Ali. The cause of the fire has, as yet, not been established.

Published October 24, 2007

Empa Middle East, a leading IT distributor in the Middle East and North Africa region, has announced that it has been recently appointed as the authorised distributor for the Samsung Pleomax range of PC accessories, including mouse, keyboard, speaker, webcam, USB hub, card reader and Bluetooth devices.

The company's appointment as a distributor for Pleomax comes at a time when Empa is focused on consolidating its presence in the Middle East and North African markets.

Shahood Khan, Director, Sales and Marketing, Empa Middle East, said,


"We are pleased to be an authorised distributor for Pleomax in the region, as it signifies another prestigious addition to our growing list of renowned brands in our portfolio. Pleomax offers a range of stylishly designed, user-friendly and innovative computer peripherals that are seeing huge demand in the regional markets, and we are looking forward to complementing Pleomax's growth strategy while also strengthening our market presence."


K.H.Bae, Chief of MENA Operations, Samsung Pleomax, said, "Empa's excellent track record as a distributor for several top companies in the region was one of the reasons we decided to partner with them. They have an in-depth knowledge of the local market and possess the required expertise to help us achieve our targets for the region, and we are keen on building a long and mutually beneficial partnership with them."

Empa Middle East has been an Intel distributor since 1985. In addition to this, Empa is the authorised distributor of well known brands such as Asus, Biostar, Fujitsu, Infineon-Aeneon, Kingston, Samsung memory, MSI, Philips, Lacie and Toshiba. Empa has a market presence in Saudi Arabia, North Africa, CIS, Egypt and Levant, and UAE and the GCC countries. The company's operations are divided into distribution, business solutions and retail, with the retail arm (e-retail) dealing in the distribution of IT products and consumer electronics to 'power retailers' across the Middle East.

Pleomax is a brand of Samsung Corporation that designs and markets an extensive line of products ranging from PC accessories, storage media and batteries. Pleomax seeks to provide consumers around the world with IT consumables that are essential, simple to use and highly affordable. Through its 76 regional offices, the company offers its products in over 40 countries through multiple channels.

Published October 07, 2007

Empa Middle East, a leading IT distributor in the Middle East and North Africa region, has recently announced that it will be the authorized Middle East distributor for the designer 500GB external hard drive - Golden Disk - being launched by LaCie, the leading global manufacturer of computer peripherals for PC, Apple and Linux users.

Golden Disk is created by the famed industrial designer Ora-Ïto, and offers a unique jewel style, with the outside finish also containing a small percentage of real gold. This liquid-inspired device is poised to become the focal point for all design-conscience customers looking to add glitz to their work environment.

The Golden Disk can connect to any universal high-speed USB 2.0 interface and its fan-less operation means that the disk is silent during operation. Cross-platform compatibility allows the Golden Disk to be used on either a PC or Mac, and the plug-and-play setup works fluidly with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Mac OSX.

Shahood Khan, Director, Sales and Marketing, Empa Middle East, said, "We are pleased to be the authorised distributor for the Golden Disk in the Middle East, and we are certain that this product is going to create a buzz in the regional markets for its aesthetic value and novelty. Further, the 500GB capacity of the hard disk makes it ideally suited for storing large amounts of music, photos, videos and other data."

Lise Manteau, LaCie Desktop Solutions Product Manager, said, "The Golden drive encompasses all that is glamour, while having the capabilities to perform flawlessly at unmatched performance levels. Coming preloaded with utilities for automatic backups, the Golden Disk shines with its ease-of-use when needing to exchange information with friends and family."

The LaCie Golden Disk will be available in the Middle East at leading retail outlets from the end of October 2007.

Empa recently opened its new office in South Zone, Jebel Ali Free Zone, in line with its objective of enhancing infrastructure facilities and aligning with its rapid growth. The office is built on an 84,000 square feet plot, which also houses a warehouse.

Tripp Lite, the world's leading manufacturer of power protection equipment, has appointed Dubai-based Empa as a Regional distributor of Tripp Lite's products in the GCC in a bid to leverage the heightened demand for power products.

Published July 30, 2007

The move follows a profitable first half for the US-based company in 2007, which posted an impressive growth in sales in the GCC region.

As Tripp Lite's distributor in the region, Empa ME will distribute Tripp Lite's extensive power protection portfolio, which includes UPS systems, Surge suppressors, Line conditioners, Power inverters and KVM switches. Empa will also offer Tripp Lite's cables and connectivity products, Power strips and PDUs, notebook accessories, rack systems and network management accessories. Empa's appointment as Regional distributor follows the closure of Tech Data ME, Tripp Lite's former channel partner in the region.

Commenting on the agreement, Vipin Sharma, Vice President, EEMEA & India Sales, Tripp Lite, said,


"Organizations have become increasingly aware of the impact of power quality, supply and protection to their businesses, spurring a high demand for our state-of-the-art power protection products. To be able to leverage this tremendous response, we selected Empa ME as our new partner, as it has a proven track record of growth and a diversified channel network in the region that will enable them to drive sales and consolidate our position in the GCC."


Empa is a leading regional distribution company, which was founded in 1998 at Jebel Ali Free Zone with dedicated divisions for Distribution, Business Solution and Retail. In a span of 8 years, the company increased its value from USD 10 million to USD 100 million in 2006 with a network that covers the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Leveraging its state-of-the-art ERP and IT systems, the distributor recently launched E-Retail as a retail arm, which offers a turnkey solution combining competitive pricing, services and support.

"As one of the region's leading players in the IT industry, we are always keen on partnering with established international brands that will enable us to provide best-of-breed solutions to our diverse customers. Being Tripp Lite's strategic partner in the Middle East will allow us to cater to growing demands as well as further our market stronghold," said Rahb Hamidaddin, President, Empa.

Tripp Lite has ensured localized assistance to its customers in the GCC through well-trained service and sales teams in various service centers and over 15 in-country distribution offices spread across the region. In addition, it has helped clients handle mission critical businesses by offering onsite support warranties through authorized business partners. With its stringent manufacturing processes and high quality products, the US-based company has attained ISO 9001 and SASO & Bureau Veritas certifications.

Ten former members of TDME's components team have joined rival distributor Empa Middle East.

Published June 11, 2007

Ten former members of TDME's components team have joined rival distributor Empa Middle East. The list of employees hired by Jebel Ali-based Empa includes Shahood Khan, who quit his position as head of TDME's components division last week.

Khan had been heading the ex-Tech Data division since it fell into the hands of Aptec Holdings earlier this year, but today began the post of sales and marketing director with Empa after resigning from TDME last week.

Nine of Khan's former Tech Data Middle East and TDME colleagues have joined him at Empa, where they are taking up a variety of sales, product and operational roles within an enlarged components team that oversees brands such as Asus, Kingston, Lite-on and MSI.

This includes Nasir Habib and Chandan Das, who worked as TDME product managers for Intel and Samsung respectively, as well as senior account manager Pramila Mendez. Maha Hamdan, who looked after the Saudi and Kuwait territories, and Walid Abu Hassan - previously inventory, planning and procurement controller at TDME - are also among those who have joined Empa.

"The number one thing we were looking at was the growth plan and Empa has a strong growth plan," commented Khan. "Secondly, it can do a real in-country operation. We used to face a lot of issues in Tech Data because we could not have a local sponsor, but Empa doesn't have these kinds of issues. They are financially sound and have a very good reputation in the market. They have got a smaller operation, but the company is quite solid and there is a lot of growth potential," added Khan.

Rahb Hamidaddin, president at Empa, confirmed the addition of 10 new employees, all of whom took up their new posts today. "Empa has swiftly recognised the need to scale up its operation and to avail most of the vacuum created by Tech Data's exit, as well as the need for additional resources to make that scaling up successful and fruitful," he said.

Hamidaddin continued: "In all businesses, people are the most important resource and we feel that we have employed a very competent and experienced team that will work hand in hand with our existing people to take Empa to another level. This level will require reaching a wider channel breadth as well as adding key vendor distributorships to align its business with the new targets."

Rahb Hamidaddin, president of regional components and systems distributor Empa, has outlined his vision to take the company deeper into the retail space with the formation of a new distribution entity catering specifically to that market.

Published December 6, 2006

Rahb Hamidaddin, president of regional components and systems distributor Empa, has outlined his vision to take the company deeper into the retail space with the formation of a new entity catering specifically to that market. Channel Middle East understands that Empa will launch a new distribution vehicle called “e-retail” in the coming weeks as it looks to increase its emphasis on the retail channel. The unit, which is set to target retail accounts in the UAE and Saudi, will initially be staffed by a team of eleven people. Six of those will concentrate on the UAE channel with the remainder taking care of Saudi. “Market trends clearly favour the end-user to do more business with the power retailers and we want to be a major player in that,” explained Hamidaddin. “These customers have a different cycle of business, different requirements and different product lines from our existing channel. That is why we need a new entity which understands the challenges of the retail business, and we have to align our goals and targets with that.” Empa, which carries brands such as Intel, LaCie and Asus, claims it is in negotiations with a number of consumer-focused vendors that it is keen to bring to the portfolio, although it is not yet in a position to reveal details. The renewed focus on retail is also being accompanied by a move to a new 7,600 square metre HQ in early 2007.

Empa currently uses two standard warehouses with limited room for expansion, but the centre it is switching to in Jebel Ali will afford it far more capacity. “The new HQ will offer a much better environment, facilities and future expansion areas,” said Hamidaddin. “The warehouse will handle our entire inventory, even in peak seasons where we usually have to use a third party logistics provider. This will increase productivity in general, and our customers and employees will reap the benefits,” he added. While its imminent expansion has got Empa feeling quietly confident about its prospects for growth in 2007, Hamidaddin does not hide from the fact that the last 12 months have been extremely challenging for the local distribution sector: “This year has been another very difficult year for the IT distributors with several runaways causing instability and slow business for most of the year. And in the wider region, Saudi also suffered a stock market crash that put the brakes on many businesses,” he reflected. He claims the company has emerged relatively unscathed from those events with “minimum financial losses from the runaways” and an approximate 10% reduction in revenues.

Hamidaddin also maintains that Empa will end the year with a profit. Meanwhile, Hamidaddin has commented for the first time on the recent departure of VP Savas Yucedag after 11 years with the company and denied that Empa is currently seeking a direct replacement. “We have no immediate plans to replace Savas as we have great confidence in the existing team to take the new load,” he said. “I will become more involved with the day-to-day business to insure stability and continuity. Savas was a great asset to Empa and we will miss his presence, but his involvement with Empa for so long has left its marks and many of our people have been trained by him.” Empa — which has been operating in Dubai for eight years — serves the wider MEA region although the bulk of its business originates from the UAE, Saudi and Egypt. The company, which achieved sales of US$107m in 2005 according to the Channel Middle East Power List published earlier this year, stocks everything from barebones and hard disk drives to fully built notebook PCs.

Storage device vendor Lacie has strengthened its Middle East channel reach, signing up Empa as a regional distribution partner. The latest appointment aims to increase availability of Lacie products in the region as the vendor attempts to emulate its European market strength in the fast-growing Middle East arena.

Published March 5, 2006

Storage device vendor Lacie has strengthened its Middle East channel reach, signing up Empa as a regional distribution partner. The latest appointment aims to increase availability of Lacie products in the region as the vendor attempts to emulate its European market strength in the fast-growing Middle East arena. Fatiha Abdou, Middle East sales manager at Lacie, said: “We have appointed Empa to expand our distribution channel in the Middle East. We selected the right partner — one that already had skills in the storage space because of their existing portfolio.”

Empa will carry Lacie’s entire portfolio throughout the Middle East market. Lacie already works with strategic resellers in the region such as Dubai-based Pro Technology as well as in-country partners in both Lebanon and Egypt. “The existing partners have a strong focus in concentrated areas such as the Apple market and the professional market,” continued Abdou. “We have very ambitious plans for 2006 and the way to reach out to the wider market was to sign a regional distribution partnership that would extend our presence in the consumer resell and retail space.” “We believe that the Middle East market has great potential and frankly, what we want to achieve in the region is to become the leader in the external storage device market — a position that we already hold in Europe,” she added.

Abdou reckons that Empa will play a pivotal role in helping Lacie boost its channel breadth in key markets such as Saudi Arabia and the Levant. France-based Lacie, which recorded sales of US$120m for the quarter ending December 2005, offers a wide range of external storage devices.

Empa has added another vendor to its rapidly expanding portfolio, and will now distribute Philips CRT and LCD monitors in Saudi Arabia.

Published October 4, 2005

Empa has added another vendor to its rapidly expanding portfolio, and will now distribute Philips CRT and LCD monitors in Saudi Arabia. The present deal will only include Saudi Arabia, but Philips says there is room to extend these rights in the future, depending on performance. Empa is now the only distributor of Philips monitors in Saudi Arabia. “We were looking at distributors where our principals are not as strong. Saudi Arabia is the biggest market in the GCC and we saw that Empa has a very good setup in the country. We want to double our current business in Saudi Arabia, if this leads to more later on then we will see,” said Khalid A Tuer, regional general manger at Philips Middle East and Africa.

Philips has an in-country distribution model and splits the markets of the Middle East into three areas – distribution, retail and corporate. Empa will address only the distribution business to begin with, moving volumes of product. Empa has two offices and a dedicated team of staff working in Saudi Arabia. “Traditionally we are very strong in the standard distribution channel. Once we have a significant market share we will look at expanding into the other areas,” said Savas Yucedag, vice president at Empa Middle East. “The investment requirements are different for the separate areas of distribution. We have to look at who is geared to do what type of distribution best, and if Empa has the strengths to address the other areas of the market, definitely we will move forwards,” said Jehad Abu Shakrah, sales manager multimedia devices at Philips Middle East.

Philips monitors join Toshiba HDD drives and Infineon memory modules as additions to Empa’s portfolio in 2005. The distributor describes monitors as one of the few ‘missing categories’ in the product lines it carries. Yucedag also hinted that there may be another vendor addition in the pipeline before the end of the year. “Distribution is changing from the traditional core components business towards finished goods. The end user is demanding more finished products and more branded products rather than locally assembled systems. This is the direction that Empa is heading, we want to offer more finished goods for end users,” concluded Yucedag. The focus from Philips will be on its LCD monitors, though it claims its sales remain split to around half between CRT and LCD monitors at present.

Empa Middle East has been named as an authorised distributor for Toshiba Storage Device Division components. The distributor will sell Toshiba hard disk drives (HDDs) and optical disk drives (ODDs) across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Published August 7, 2005

Empa Middle East has been named as an authorised distributor for Toshiba Storage Device Division components. The distributor will sell Toshiba hard disk drives (HDDs) and optical disk drives (ODDs) across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The agreement gives Empa non-exclusive rights to sell across the MENA region through a direct buying relationship with Toshiba. Empa says it will bring a local touch to the vendor’s channel, as Toshiba’s other distributors with MENA rights, Avnet, Ingram Micro and Asbis, have pan-European agreements, giving them a much larger number of countries to cover. “We have been solidifying our presence quarter to quarter.

We have a fifteen man operation in Saudi Arabia spread across two branches. We also have our stocking point and offices in the UAE and we are hoping to establish offices in Egypt soon. As things change in the market we adjust to it. Five years ago you could serve all countries from the UAE, but now we have to give local attention to the local channel,” said Rahb M.Hamiddadin, president at Empa. “A local distributor brings more focus than a distributor covering a large area and spreading as much product as possible. With a good combination of local and pan European coverage we can reach the most people,” added Stefan Dalheimer, European sales manager, channel and integration business storage device division at Toshiba. Empa will sell the full range of 2.5” and 1.8” HDDs from Toshiba as well as new 0.85” drives, when they become available in the first half of next year. The new hard disks will be mainly used in mobile phones.

Empa will also stock a full range of Toshiba’s ODDs, including products aimed at the retail market. Empa focuses on components distribution and serves markets across the GCC, Egypt and the Levant. The distributor’s main customers are local assemblers and volume focused resellers. It has been developing a relationship with Toshiba for nearly two years and has distributed the vendor’s products for six months on a trial basis prior to this agreement. “We are very close to our customers and the most important thing is that we keep them up to date with the information on availability and pricing. Our strategy is to understand the different specific needs of each country,” said Imran Khan, storage product manager at Empa.

Dalheimer claims that Toshiba 2.5” HDDs hold 20% to 25% of the total addressable market (TAM) in the Middle East. The TAM of the Middle East is estimated at 90,000 units per quarter. In the ODD space Toshiba is hoping to achieve 15% to 20% of the TAM. Empa believes that the addition of Toshiba to its product portfolio will drive continued sales growth across the Middle East. In a market where economies of scale matter, Empa believes that the ability to drive revenue growth has become a critical factor. “There are a small number of distributors in the region getting the lion’s share of the market expansion, and Empa is definitely one of those. It is going to be harder for the smaller distributors, so I see that in two years from now there will be a lot less distributors in the region but stronger regional distribution players,” concluded Hamiddadin.

Empa has added Infineon Technologies to its product portfolio and launched the memory vendor’s latest Aeneon memory modules in the Middle East. Empa will exclusively distribute the full range of Infineon memory products to the Middle East, North Africa and CIS markets.

Published July 24, 2005

Empa has added Infineon Technologies to its product portfolio and launched the memory vendor’s latest Aeneon memory modules in the Middle East. Empa will exclusively distribute the full range of Infineon memory products to the Middle East, North Africa and CIS markets. “We will be supplying to thirty countries in the region. The initial reaction from the market has been very positive, particularly in the UAE, although we see Saudi Arabia and Egypt as key markets too. Memory is the component we are driving most at present,” said Savas Yucedag, VP at Empa Middle East.


The Aeneon memory range is the first line of products the vendor has introduced aimed at the price sensitive segment of the market. This is a segment where Empa is keen to offer more products, particularly to target the Egyptian market, where it is hoping to set up a local office soon. Infineon, which hails from Germany and has a strong presence worldwide, says the Middle East was the only gap in coverage on its map. “We were looking for a strong distributor with a good presence in the region, and were instantly attracted to Empa because of its ties to Intel. They have a very good name in the market here and we are sure that we can be mutually successful with the Infineon brand,” said Wolfgang Shex, senior director business development and marketing at Infineon.

“We want to move towards the OEM market more, and in particular with our new Aeneon range, we are targeting white box manufacturers, which we see as a market with large potential in this region.” Aeneon products were introduced to other regions in December 2004 and Infineon claims to have sold over two million Aeneon memory modules worldwide since. In June this year it launched the second generation of this product, the DDR2. “I have been working with Infineon products for a while, and I am looking forward to seeing the Aeneon products come to this region. The markets I work in have reacted very well to Infineon so far,” said Ali Attar Bashi, managing director at Computer Time Trading, an Empa reseller based in both Dubai and Baghdad, Iraq. The partnership between Empa and Infineon is in its fledgling stages and no sales targets have yet been agreed, but Shex is confident that Infineon products can gain a sizeable market share as the brand becomes more established. “We want to grow to a significant size, around 25% to 30% of the market, but it will take time, and we are still new in the region. Empa is invaluable to us, because of its local knowledge,” said Shex. “Now that we have brought Infineon to the region we are heavily focused on the marketing of the brand, we have already started with e-mails blasts and marketing calls. We will be working hand in hand with Infineon to give its products the best marketing,” added Yucedag.

EMPA has picked up distribution rights across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for Kingston’s digital media products.

Published June 6, 2005

EMPA has picked up distribution rights across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for Kingston’s range of digital media products. Empa reckons that sales in key markets such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt will help produce regional sales of at least US$300,000 per month for the latest addition to its portfolio. Shaik Sawood, memory product manager at Empa, said: “Kingston’s digital media range includes flash cards and USB flash drives. These products complement what Empa already offers through its own brand Spika range and we believe that we have the wholesaler, reseller and retailer breadth to be successful with Kingston digital media products.” Empa currently distributes Kingston memory modules in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but Sawood reckons that the digital media range offers better margin potential. 

“We can offer customers a broad vendor portfolio of products including components and this is one of the key advantages that channel partners working with Empa receive,” added Sawood. “Not only do we hold stock in Jebel Ali but we work with in-country channels and use our own operations to make sure there is local stock availability for resellers.” As the popularity of digital media products increases in the region, it has become an increasingly attractive area for ‘no name’ brands and counterfeiters to operate in. Those resellers buying Kingston are able to enter the product serial number on a dedicated website to ensure that they have received genuine product. Empa has worked hard to boost its product portfolio in recent months and shows no signs of slackening the pace during 2005. Sawood admitted that even more distribution agreements are planned for the coming months, but refused to name potential vendors or even disclose the product area that Empa was looking at next.

Empa Middle East, the regional IT distributor, has been assigned by Acer as the Authorized Acer Service Provider for the CIS region.

Published February 24, 2005

This assignment comes shortly after Empa's agreement with Acer to distribute Acer product range from desktops, notebooks, tablet PCs, servers and storage, handhelds, monitors to projectors in the CIS region.

"Nowadays in IT industry, the product specifications, features and prices are almost similar for all major vendors. Customer service is then the point of differentiation", said Adnan Siddique, RMA and Service Department at Empa. "Acer Care Service Center will cover 3 major areas in pre and post sales support of Acer products; product support service, repair service and spare parts support service. And for an end user, we are an extended arm of Acer, providing the highest level of technical support, product information together with continueous support. By this, we are certain that our customers get the maximum support whenever needed", added Siddique.

Published February 17, 2005

Empa Middle East, the premier IT distribution company in the region, has signed up with Asus as an authorized distribution partner in UAE and Eastern GCC countries.

This allows Empa to distribute Asus notebooks and PDAs to all their customers in the named countries.

"Based on our experience in distributing notebooks in other territories, Asus notebooks will have strong acceptance in the GCC countries where we are very strong and continuously enlarging our customer base." said Armagan Demir, VP Sales & Marketing at Empa. "Empa is traditionally very strong in IT component distribution business. Finished products distribution is a different type of business and Empa would like to expand in this segment as well. We are certain that this agreement will bring success to Empa & Asus.", added Demir.

Asus, one of the largest IT manufacturing companies of Taiwan, is well known for high quality and innovative technology products. Asus offers a complete product portfolio including motherboards, graphic cards, notebooks, PDAs, optical disc drives, barebones, networking products and other IT products.