The adoption and use of technology in the Gulf is not on par with global markets, said analysts.

But the Gulf has the advantage of not having a legacy and, therefore, a complete Greenfield network with the latest technologies can be deployed.

However, investments being made in the region are not uniform across the Middle East and North Africa mainly due to lack of availability of funds.

Broadband penetration across the region is also not same though it is making inroads in the GCC with operators making huge investments.

Technology companies still see higher adoption levels in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Lebanon mainly due to the high penetration of PCs, internet and most of all a young population.

Emirates Business spoke to industry analysts Samir Al Schamma, Regional Director, Intel, Middle East; Rabih Dabboussi, Systems Engineering Director, Cisco; Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager, Microsoft Gulf; John Hoonhout, Managing Director, HP; Husam Dajani, Senior Vice-President, Oracle Middle East and Africa; and Khalifa Hassan Al Shamsi, Senior Vice-President, Marketing/Consumer, etisalat.