Around One hundred companies took part in the Group's 2011 Connection Point in Dubai

Dubai, UAE - March 28th, 2011

News facts:

Oracle applications users and representatives of the IT industry from 20 countries , recently converged on Dubai to take part in the Third Annual Connection Point event of Oracle Applications User Group, the annual forum of interaction between Oracle executives, users of Oracle applications from the private and public sector, system integrators, and IT industry.

Around 210 representatives attended the two-day event which was sponsored by world's leading companies such as TCS, Fujitsu, Avnet, Google, Dell, Chainsys, SOLIX, Excel4Apps and Inatech,in a clear indication of the growing importance this high-profile forum has acquired  in the MENA region.

Participating companies represented a mix of industries ranging from the IT sector to finance, telecoms, retail, manufacturing, distribution and maritime, from both the private and public sectors. The different sessions of the forum were attended by Oracle senior EMEA executives as well as CXOs, CIOs and line of business managers from the MENA region.

Cliff Godwin, Senior Vice President, Applications Development - Oracle, kicked off the program of the forum with a strategic presentation on the value delivered by the current release of Oracle E-Business Suite applications and how Oracle E-Business Suite applications integrate into Oracle's overall applications strategy.

The OAUG's Connection Point provides an ideal platform for interaction and networking between Oracle executives, oracle Applications users, Oracle partners and representatives of the industry. They exchange ideas on business technology, business solutions and applications of the future.

This year, participants discussed 35 keynote topics led by Oracle executives as well as partners and customers who highlighted their success stories with Oracle applications.

Supporting quotes:

Paul Battershill , President of the OAUG - ME, said: "Despite the currently delicate political situation in the region and the post financial crisis environment, participation at the 2011 OAUG ME grew by 32 pc in comparison to 2010 and 260 pc to 2009 when the OAUG - ME was first launched. This growth testifies to the ever-growing number of Oracle users in this part of the world just as it  strongly indicates the importance the IT industry and business community attach to this unique Forum", said.

"As an Oracle applications user in the Manufacturing sector, we are a member of the OAUG- ME and we take advantage of this unique opportunity provided by OAUG Connection Point to update our knowledge of Oracle solutions and industry trends. Also, we share our experience of Oracle applications and feedback with various other customers from the region", said Saeed S. Al-Zahrani, CIO - IT & Projects Director - Saudi Cement Co. (SCC)

"With the formal acquisition of SUN by Oracle in place, we see a tremendous growth potential in the region for Oracle hardware and software. Customers are now looking at implementing the total Oracle STACK that provides all the components (Application to Disk) essential for Enterprise. We also see Oracle Exadata and Exalogic to be the key growth areas as it is evident from the huge pipeline for these products. The coming years of the OAUG Connection Point will witness users from new sites exchanging ideas and notes on the performance and the savings in the Data Centre real estate. We feel that OAUG Connection Point Dubai will be the right platform for the hardware users also to interact.", said Haresh Ahuja, General Manager, Accel Frontline.

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© Press Release 2011