MIC, a leading Saudi investment house with presence in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) region, has acquired STME, a leading data storage and IT solutions provider in the region.

As part of the acquisition process, STME has appointed Salah Abu Shaar as the new CEO who will lead the operations of the company.

'The acquisition will strengthen STME’s position in the regional IT sector as we can effectively leverage advanced, well- established and industry-proofed solutions,' Salah Abu Shaar said.

'Our role is to help businesses of all sizes to manage, store and protect data effectively and cost-efficiently. We continually assess new technologies and bring them to the region to enhance our portfolio and offer our customers value added services,' he remarked.

'Using proven best-of-breed technologies, STME provides IT solutions that manage and protect business-critical IT assets in organizations ranging from SMEs to major multinational corporations,' he added.

These solutions will enable businesses to achieve increased operational efficiency as clients are able to focus key IT resources on strategic initiatives, continuous monitoring of the IT infrastructure, proactive identification and problem resolutions, enhanced staff productivity, improved storage utilization and greater scalability while maintaining simplicity in management, high-level data security and protection, easy access and seamless integration.

Commenting on the acquistion, Suleiman Al Assaf, chief executive officer of MIC, said, 'STME is a valuable addition to our ICT portfolio. It has a strong regional base and its operational strengths complement our other investments well.'

'ICT remains one of the more buoyant sectors within the crisis and so we expect the acquisition of one of this industry’s key players to generate substantial returns,' he added.

According to analysts and based on recent market research the enterprise data segment will continue to grow at the rate of 30 to 60 percent per year, proving that the demand for IT solutions has not been adversely impacted by the economic slowdown.-TradeArabia News Service