Last updated: 11 April 2014
GITEX Technology Week 2012 has begun. If you haven’t come across GITEX before, you’re sure to hear more about it this week and in the years ahead, as it is the largest show on new technology in the Middle East, attracting 138,000 visitors.
With high mobile penetration and a young population with an appetite for new technologies, the Middle East has truly embraced the digital revolution. Among the hot topics we can expect to see covered at the event are cloud computing, digital strategy, mobile money, NFC, eGovernment services and M2M.
So what technologies has the Middle East been deploying recently? Well, for starters, six of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman) have already deployed eID cards. And here at Gemalto, we’ve already supported 30 Middle Eastern banks in their migration to highly secure EMV smart banking cards, and delivered nearly 30 million contactless bank cards so far.
Earlier this year, Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s leading financial institution, began working with us on the world’s largest rollout of a smart banking card instant issuance solution. We have also been heavily involved in the public sector, working with Oman Information Technology Authority (ITA) as a contractor to secure the country’s eGovernment services.
