Bahrain-based 2Connect has announced plans to expand its portfolio of products and services in the Saudi Arabian market.

Launching of its state-of-the-art managed information technology and related services through a branch office marks 2Connect IT Services' first steps towards becoming a regional entity.

'We are energised about our new avatar,' said 2Connect managing director Fahad Al Shirawi.

'2Connect is now building upon its role as a network operator and exploring new avenues of delivering value to our clientele.'

With a fully-staffed office in Riyadh looking to provide managed IT solutions, the company is to start operations as early as next week.

It offers smart building management solutions, customised systems integration suites, fully-outsourced managed security, wholly-managed network environments and a full range of unified communication products.

'2Connect has always been proud of being in the forefront of the communication revolution and this new venture is another extension of our core mandate - to make the life of our customers a little bit easier,' said Al Shirawi.

'On a larger scale we are looking to provide our solutions to not just individual organisations or buildings but also entire private campuses and even cities,' Al Shirawi said.

'However, it is important to note that at this stage, we are looking at a partnership model to be able to quickly expand with a win-win setup.

'In Bahrain, 2Connect can deliver the necessary bandwidth for such services to function properly at a reasonable cost.

'In the region, the only country with enough competition to allow for cost-effective connectivity that will enable us to treat a wide area network as if it is a local area network is Saudi.'-TradeArabia News Service