Dear Industry Colleagues,

As yet another successful year draws to a close, it is time for reflections and reviews, for forecasts and fresh strategies. I would like to take a moment to look back at some of the highlights of the past 12 months and share with you a glimpse of what is coming ahead in 2013.

Interestingly, the question that CIOs and industry experts often asked me was whether 2012 would be the year of the cloud. For us at eHosting DataFort, indeed it was!. The opportunities couldn't have been more exciting. We were one of the first service providers in the region to launch cloud services this year and we also acquired a number of anchor customers for the private cloud offering, beating local and international competition.

We implemented several technology innovations for our customers this year. A private cloud deployment for EFS Facilities Services offered flexibility and agility for their business while maintaining complete control and security on the IT infrastructure. Projects with organisations such as Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, VoiceTrust, ING Investment Management and Dunia Finance helped us demonstrate our expertise in deploying cutting-edge technology solutions based on diverse customer requirements.

Most organisations across the region have realised the importance of safeguarding their critical data in the event of any disaster. eHosting DataFort, in association with IDC, hosted a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity forum in Dubai. This event brought together CIOs and senior IT executives from across the industry. Expert-led presentations at the event focused on identifying business critical processes, designing the right continuity programme for specific customer needs, and deploying disciplined and tested methodologies to address these needs.

Building on the trends and accomplishments for 2012, growth predictions for the Middle East are significantly optimistic. In 2013, we look forward to working with customers from across verticals on managed services and cloud technologies to ensure their ability to benefit from the immediate efficiencies and agility that these services offer. We expect the content & media business to flourish as well as their need for managed solutions. We also anticipate repatriation of some of the UAE businesses who have been hosting outside the region. This is driven by the improved economics of the bandwidth as well as latency improvements. We also expect public cloud offerings to pick up, although we think that 2014 will be the year for public cloud in the region.

Finally, and as we look forward to an even brighter and more exciting year ahead, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued and invaluable support in 2012, I wish you and your families a very successful 2013.

Cordially,

Yasser Zeineldin