India's apex electronics and software council has offered its expertise to help Gulf countries and companies to face the growing threat to security over the worldwide web.
"India has faced security threats from a long time and we have developed systems and software to successfully face attacks over the internet whether they are targeted at federal or state institutions or the private sector," DK Sareen Executive Director of India's Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), told Emirates 24|7.
"The threat is very real and is growing. Almost all countries in the world face it every day. We see that this region has not yet realised the reality of the threat - and we are ready to help states and corporates prepare themselves," he said.
"We offer several advantages - proximity will help get continued and timely support while at the same time systems can be custom-designed at a price that will be far lower than what can be had from the West," Sareen said.
He said tomorrow's wars will be fought over the internet too. A country can be disabled if its systems are brought down.
Kamal Vachani, Regional Director for ESC, said the Indian consular authorities have extended full support to ESC in its effort to spread awareness about the need to be prepared to face internet based security threats to the region.
Sareen said this region - including Iran - is a focus area for ESC. "Iran is a big market too for us. We service it mainly via the Gulf, but also directly. We are not affected by the sanctions."
As a part of the plan to assist the member exporters diversify and expand their global base, ESC is initiating several efforts globally. Amongst many is the organising of Indian ICT industry participation at Gitex 2010 in Dubai between October 17-21 and first time participation in The Internet Show in Abu Dhabi on September 21-22.
India has a great stake in the booming Middle East, Africa, Asia (Wana Region) and European markets for which Dubai is the gateway, said Sareen.
ESC has been participating at the Gitex consistently for several years and the participating Indian companies under ESC’s banner have reported high satisfaction by forging significant business, joint ventures, strategic and marketing tie-ups.
This year, 50 Indian ICT companies are exhibiting at the India Pavilion and 10 Indian IT companies at The Internet Show in Abu Dhabi, which indicates the growing interests of the Indian companies in the Middle East Region says Sareen.
The Middle East is one of the fastest growing ICT markets in the world. High growth prevails across all segments, and the market is driven by economic diversification and various e-government initiatives including finance, communications, and manufacturing. The IT spending in the Gulf is expected to reach $16 billion by 2011.
India’s total ICT exports in 2009-10 are estimated to be $56 billion. Out of this, electronics hardware is $5.4 billion whereas the software services were to the tune of $51 billion.
The share of electronics hardware exports from India to Middle East has increased from 12.53 per cent to 14.81 per cent making Middle East, the third top destination for India’s electronics hardware export during the year 2008-09. It is estimated that electronics goods export to Middle East during 2008-09 is valued at $1bn up from $411m in 2007-08 registering a growth of 145 per cent.
Export of software and related services to Middle East has also registered an excellent growth of 161 per cent. Export of software and services increased from $569m in 2007-08 to $1.48bn in 2008-09.
The overall growth in exports of Electronics and software to Middle East countries during 2008-09 is estimated to be 154 per cent, which is very healthy says Sareen.
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Quelle/Source: Emirates 24/7 Business, 21.09.2010
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