Cisco Networkers 2010 opens in Bahrain amid high hopes of success and achievements
“Cisco Networkers 2010”, one of the largest conferences in the ICT industry in terms of number and quality of the participants, will open in Bahrain today (Monday). The three-day event, held for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa and, will be under the patronage of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. The event, with an agenda for five parallel conferences, was launched on Sunday with the Technical Seminar and the Executive Leadership Forum, attended by senior leaders of Information Technology and Communication in Bahrain, the Gulf States and North Africa.
“Introducing the eGovernment programme within Bahrain was a significant qualitative shift for the community,” Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, the CEO of Bahrain eGovernment Authority, said. “Providing eservices through the programme is not only enough to create a huge change in the community, therefore those in charge of the eGovernment programme need to present new projects and innovative events to aspire for change in the society and enable greater understanding of technology and eservices.”
 Al Qaed said that “Cisco Networkers” Conference would contribute to this process of change by providing training opportunities for hundreds of Bahrainis in a short period and through minimal cost. The conference consists of several activities in parallel, and provides many training opportunities for participants to obtain international certifications in the field of information technology and networks. “Since sending staff abroad to attend such conferences requires a large budget to be spent on travel expenses as well as the employee’s absence from work for a period of up to one week, hosting this conference in Bahrain is a great opportunity for the governments and participants to save such expenses,” Al Qaed said.
Most of participants will be from countries in the region and therefore coming from a familiar work environment. “The first success has been achieved since the number of participants has exceeded all expectations, especially that his is the first time that the conference is hosted by Bahrain. We have around 3,000 participants, the same number that attended “Cisco Networkers” in Barcelona, Spain, but that covered the vast markets of Europe and Russia who are technically advanced,” Al Qaed said.
According to organizers, more than 2,500 have registered to attend the sessions and workshops of the conference presented by professionals and executives from more than 64 countries. Around 300 international speakers from Cisco’s senior professionals will present papers and lectures during the conference, while about 100 media people will participate in the conference. “Bahrain enjoys a developed infrastructure and modern systems in the ICT sector. The kingdom was recently ranked 13th worldwide, third in Asian and first in the Middle East, Arab and Gulf, according to the UN report on eGovernment readiness 2010,” Al Qaed said. “Bahrain has successfully jumped eight ranks, the highest increase among Gulf states, in the Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010 issued by the World Economic Forum,” he said.
