Dubai, U.A.E., October 22nd, 2009 - Mercator, the Dubai-based IT division of the Emirates Group, teamed up with Microsoft at GITEX 2009 this week.

Head of Mercator, Patrick Naef, addressed an audience during the opening keynote speech at GITEX to discuss the adoption of Windows 7 by the Emirates Group.

Mercator is one of only two Middle East and African companies to take part in the Windows 7 Early Adopter Programme and one of 40 companies worldwide. Back in February 2009, Mercator chose to take part in the programme to compliment its own vision of being leader in innovation and latest technology adoption.

Charbel Fakhoury, Regional General Manager, Microsoft Gulf, said: "Windows 7 promises to provide secure, more consistent and highly compatible user experience based on its application of latest advancements in different technological areas, being ready for the latest hardware while also running smoothly on existing hardware investments."

Following a due diligence exercise in understanding the scope of work and legalities, the technical initiative began in May. What followed was five months of hard work in testing the multitude of applications that make up the Emirates Group in a lab environment. This included anything from ensuring antivirus software worked with the latest updates to Emirates Group corporate applications.

Patrick Naef, Head of Mercator, said: "With the assistance of Microsoft we found the migration process to be largely smooth and the issues faced in application compatibility were all manageable. Microsoft has provided excellent dedicated support throughout the project lifecycle, which was supported by weekly meetings, regular communications, some consultancy and endorsement from the Emirates Group senior management team."

Mercator's commitment to proceed with the project, and adopt Microsoft's latest flagship operating system for the Emirates Group, is built on the existing strategic partnership between both companies. In January 2008 Mercator and Microsoft jointly set up an innovation lab in Dubai to develop new products and services for the travel industry using Microsoft's cutting-edge technologies.

At GITEX, Mercator also exhibited on the Microsoft Partner Pavilion to demonstrate applications developed by Mercator using Microsoft Dynamics as a platform and explain how Mercator can provide application development and hosting platforms for Microsoft Dynamics, Exchange and Unified Communications.

Mercator recently launched a new service called Mercator Business Technologies which essentially means a single local vendor who can design, source, procure and project manage the deployment of an entire IT infrastructure. This includes infrastructure design services, IT consultancy , IT system auditing and governance, sourcing of hardware, software and infrastructure, project management, software development services, procurement and implementation service, data centre hosting, call centre services, 24x7 on site or remote support.

Caption for photo: Pictured at GITEX 2009 are: (left) Steven Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Division and (right) Patrick Naef, Head of Mercator.

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Dubai, U.A.E., 24th October, 2009 -  More than 80 delegates from 30 international airlines travelled to the U.A.E. recently to see innovative technology for which Dubai has become renowned throughout the airline business worldwide.

Delegates travelled to Dubai from airlines based in all five continents and included airline CIOs, Heads of Commercial Operations and senior managers. The dedicated forum was hosted by Mercator, the Dubai-based business technology provider and held at the Emirates Group Headquarters, opposite the new Emirates Terminal Three at Dubai International Airport.

The two-day event also showcased IATA's 'Fast Travel' initiatives and how they respond to growing passenger demand for greater convenience and more control over their journeys - one relatively recent example is the introduction of self service check in counters which already save passengers a great deal of time.  There were talks by IATA representatives, Mercator partners and senior managers, panel discussions and product demonstrations, with a host of positive feedback being received from existing Mercator customers.

Duncan Alexander, Vice President, Sales and Market Development, Mercator, said: "We are delighted to use this event to highlight to industry professionals our latest product - Jupiter - a value proposition which includes a consolidated suite of applications closely integrated with Mercator's airline reservation and airport control systems, MARS and MACS.  The combination is designed to give airlines greater business and system integration, return on investment, process improvement and significant cost reduction.

"Mercator has continually enhanced and maintained the core of its reservation and departure control technologies. The current global economic climate presents a need for all airlines to keep costs down while we at Mercator have invested time and money in developing our portfolio to offer products whose concepts have been developed not only internally but externally with major industry players, such as Farelogix and Calidris."

At the end of the first day, delegates had the rare opportunity to see a fast travel initiative first-hand as they toured the Emirates crew check in facility which links the basement of the Group's Headquarter building with Terminal three.

Excellent feedback was received from many who attended the forum. Mahmood Abbas, Head of Revenue Accounting for Gulf Air, said: "I would like to thank Mercator's team for kind hospitality and fruitful Solutions Forum."

About Jupiter: Jupiter is a consolidated suite of applications and solutions which includes a wide range of integrated solutions, covering reservations, internet bookings, departure control, customer relationship management and loyalty.  In addition the offer includes, Revenue Integrity, Revenue Accounting and Management Information and Staff Travel Systems.  All of these services can be purchased for a fee based on a per passenger boarded basis significantly below other providers.  In addition Mercator can enable GDS by-pass facilities, based on Farelogix, yielding considerable savings to airlines to further offset current costs of distribution.

About Farelogix:  Farelogix is a leading provider of lower-cost, high value distribution and optimization technology to the global travel industry.  Farelogix counts among its customers some of the largest travel companies in the world.  Farelogix is a privately held company with offices in Toronto, Canada and Miami, Florida.

About Calidris: Calidris is the leading provider of Revenue Integrity and Business Intelligence solutions for airlines around the world.  Calidris combines a suite of innovative business software tools with best practice frameworks and expert business process engineering to deliver a highly flexible and powerful solution that can be tailored to individual customer requirements and business needs.   Its real-time solutions are saving its customers millions of USD every month. Calidris' technology is at the heart of the business operations of some of the world's leading airlines including British Airways, Emirates and Cathay Pacific.

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