Jalajel, with four years' experience in UAE and KSA markets, will play a key role in Opennet MEA's aggressive expansion strategy in the Middle East by heading its Business Development Department

United Arab Emirates, October 31, 2006: Opennet MEA, the Master Distributor and Certified Training Centre of Red Hat Linux products for GCC, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and all African French-speaking countries, has appointed Ramzi Jalajel as its new Business Development Manager. His recruitment is part of Opennet's new aggressive expansion strategy in the Middle East to meet the large enterprises and SMB needs through its existing network of over 200 channel partners.

"We are pleased to have Jalajel on board," said Anis Krichen, regional manager, Opennet MEA. "His appointment is key to our expansion plans and will help us to educate and tap into the "as-yet" untapped enterprise segment with out new Red Hat solutions in the systems and storage management segment."

The ambitious Dubai-based, Tunisian company has assigned Jalajel to handle its Business Development Department where he will be responsible for developing and enhancing the relations directly with the end-users as well as working closely with Opennet's channel partners to deliver the best-of-breed Red Hat technologies.

Jalajel said, "The Middle East markets have a huge growth potential. There are still many end-users and system integrators who are still not aware of the advantages of deploying Red Hat solutions. My challenge is to change this image and educate them about what Red Hat can offer from different technologies, including unique solutions that cover the system management and the storage management."

Jordanian by birth, Jalajel has a total of seven years' experience in the Middle East with four of these spent in Saudi Arabia and UAE markets, especially with government accounts. This will be a strong asset in his new role in working with channel partners to meet the needs of enterprises in each of the key market segments.

Jalajel said, "I really believe that Opennet MEA is the right business partner for resellers and end-users in providing the best Linux technology, Red Hat presently ranked second among the 100 fastest-growing companies in US as reported in Business 2.0 and Forbes Magazine."

Prior to joining Opennet, Jalajel held the position of Channel Product Manager with Fortinet, pioneer and leading provider of multi-threat solutions, since July 2006. He was in charge of the products throughout KSA, Levant and North Africa regions. Jalajel was based in Saudi Arabia between August 2005 and July 2006 while working as Territory Manager for the KSA and Levant markets with Al Masa IT Distribution. Previously, he acquired a substantial experience as Major Account Manager of Intertec Systems LLC.

-Ends-

About Opennet MEA
Opennet MEA is the Master Distributor and Certified Training & Education Center of Red Hat Inc. in the following regions and countries: United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and all African French-speaking countries. Launched in 2003 in Dubai as head quarter for the Opennet Middle East & Africa operations, Opennet MEA aims to transfer its expertise on deploying Red Hat Linux to its covering regions by providing full range of consulting and professional services and assisting organizations and companies with the assessment, design and implementation of Linux solutions for ensuring high availability, reliability, performance, scalability and manageability within IT environments.

The Major Share Holder of Opennet is GMH, one of the Top 5 Holding Groups in Tunisia with more that $ 400 Million of Total Sales in Various Industries for FY'2005.  

For more information on Opennet MEA, please visit www.opennet.ae

About Red Hat Inc
Founded in 1993, Red Hat is the premier Linux and open source provider. Rated as CIO Insight Magazine's Most Valued Vendor for the second consecutive year, Red Hat maintains the highest value and reliability rankings among its customers and is the most recognized Linux brand in the world. Red Hat serves global enterprises through technology and services made possible by the open source model. Solutions include Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating platforms, sold through a subscription model, and a broad range of services: consulting, 24x7 support, Red Hat Network. Red Hat's global training program operates in more than 60 locations worldwide and features RHCE, the global standard Linux certification.

For more information on Red Hat strategy, please visit www.redhat.com

LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT is a registered trademark of Red Hat Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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