Zain Group holds unique technology event in Bahrain Ritz Carlton Hotel

The inaugural Zain Technology Conference was recently held over three days at the Bahrain Ritz Carlton Hotel. The aim of the event was to meet vendors, review the latest technologies and discuss shared issues and concerns in a friendly and relaxed environment.

The first day was devoted to Zain group communication with presentations from Zain Group CEO, Dr Saad Al Barrak, Zain Group CTO Khaled Al Omar and other senior executives, while days 2 and 3 were given over to vendors and “five parallel technology tracks” that included, core networks, transmission, radio networks, value added services and intelligent networks.

In addition, vendors had their own stands from where they could show off their latest technologies and field questions. Those present included Acision, Airwide, Alcatel-Lucent, Astellia, Bluecoat, Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei, ITS2, JnetX, Juniper, METCO, Motorola, NSN, Qualcom, Tango, Tecnoman, Tekelec and ZTE.

Among the blue chip companies present, Ericsson, presented the next generation of charging systems and showed how the core network will evolve from today’s Multi Service Network into a shared processor blade cluster solution. Its radio presentation focused on how radio networks will evolve into a multi-standard soft radio environment built for future needs in voice and mobile broadband with an accent on Zain’s current networks.

Nokia Siemens Networks mission was to help Zain offer an enriched customer experience while increasing operational efficiency. During this event, the company took practical approach on how to do this by sharing its strategy and technology roadmaps and showcasing interactive end-user services, including a live LTE demo in the popular Experience Lounge.

Finally, Huawei presented all leading product roadmaps related to Zain's business, with a series of solution exhibition and service shows, including One network, Outsourcing, MBB, Low ARPU market solution, New services and Site solution.

The event coincidentally took place soon after the announcement by Zain Bahrain that it will be implementing the first LTE technology in the region via a $25 million investment. This revolutionary technology will see customers benefit from extremely faster download speeds resulting in improved voice, data and multimedia services.

October 27, 2009