Intel to defy sagging PC demand in GCC consumer market

Intel, the US technology giant which designs and builds the equipment at the root of the world's computing devices, is forecasting a 15 per cent growth in its GCC consumer market by 2016.

The American technology firm Intel, which designs and builds the equipment at the root of the world's computing devices, is forecasting a 15 per cent growth in its GCC consumer market by 2016.

Intel said that a surge in demand for cloud computing solutions was expected in the enterprise market.

This is despite sagging demand globally for personal computers that rely on processors from companies such as Intel.

"Despite what is happening around the world, if you look at the demographics of this region, there are 350 million people of which 50 per cent are under the age of 25," Nassir Nauthoa, Intel's general manager for the GCC, said on the opening day of Gitex Technology Week in Dubai. "PC penetration and broadband penetration is still low, so we are still in a luxurious position of being in a growth market."

Currently, the consumer market makes up 60 per cent of Intel's sales in the region. The firm, which merged with the security provider McAfee in February last year, has been incorporating security solutions directly on to its hardware.

"The merger was around the security issue and some of the solutions are now live," said Mr Nauthoa.

There are on average 80,000 IT security threats unleashed every day, up 20 per cent since last year.

The company believes that by 2015 there will be 15 billion devices connected to the internet. The challenge is providing multi-layered security on these devices.

"Previously, security was defined from the operating system (OS) and above. Today, with Intel and McAfee, we've been working together on developing new technologies that go below the OS and utilise the chipset to give the machines more protection," said Hamed Diab, the regional director of McAfee Middle East and North Africa.

"Over the next five years, about 50 per cent of the enterprise market in the Middle East will have adopted cloud computing services. It is a slowly but surely growing market but this is going to be the top thing that will happen over the next five years."