Orange Business Services is setting its sights on the overlap of business and consumer solutions for the future. Convergence is the encompassing umbrella under which the growing call for mobility is being heard. And as it takes its place in the global market, vendors and users alike are finding new mobile convergence applications and solutions to be critical to their immediate and indeed their future success. "We are seeing a growing convergence between business and consumer products as they cross-pollinate. This in turn is helping us to achieve our aims of assisting our customers to leverage IT and telecoms to create new business opportunities by implementing communication-critical applications. This not only improves business efficiency, but also allow organisations to harness data to create new revenue-generating services or to enter new markets," said Barbara Dallibard, CEO of Orange Business Services. Orange has identified the need for a range of mobility solutions and is taking efforts to address this.Dallibard was addressing a group of business and IT journalists at a recent press event held at the Orange Innovation Labs in Paris, France. Among the other products and solutions unveiled was Orange's first workstation virtualisation package, known as IT Plan. It is designed to allow the user secure access to his workstation from any computer regardless of the type of connection, and is operated on a simple monthly payment plan tailored to each individual user. All the information, both personal and shared, is stored in Orange datacentres, as are the applications, such as office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), e-mail programs and those business applications specific to the particular company. According to Dallibard, Orange has identified the need for a range of mobility solutions which enable employees to access necessary information anywhere ,at any time, with any type of connection. Real estate developers and telecoms are being targeted by Orange Business Services as it continues to expand its footprint in the Middle East. "Our partnerships with developers and telecoms are in part due to the regulatory constraints of the region. These regulations mean we can not operate as primary solutions providers. We have, as a result, turned to offering a specific range of services in the Middle East. They are what I call solutions for operators. Often it's a case of build, operate and then transfer to the operator. We put in place the likes of core networks and remote sites with service features and this has seen us focus on real estate developments and telecoms," said Philippe Koebel, senior vice president for emerging markets, Russia and indirect channels at Orange. Speaking exclusively to NME, Koebel said: "We are now the telecoms operator of the Pearl Island development in Qatar where we are providing the full network for the development. And only recently did we install an IPTV application in the Beirut city centre." The property development industry in the Middle East is estimated to be worth trillions of dollars, and Koebel finds that increasing value is being placed on the technologies installed in these developments. "It's no longer a case of things like IPTV and fibre to homes being an added feature. Instead it's become something that prospective buyers are demanding of the developments. That's where we add value," said Koebel. Koebel has a wealth of experience in emerging markets having worked extensively throughout the EMEA and Asia Pacific. "While the Gulf and the region as a whole are still emerging markets, they are set apart from other global emerging regions. Orange measures the level of maturity in emerging markets according to the number of multi-national companies whose headquarters are situated in that region. The Gulf is the first of worldwide emerging markets to attract headquarters and leads the rest in the number of headquarters located in any region." This level of maturity has caused Orange to focus a considerable amount of its energy in the region. A direct result of this is the Orange Master service centre, which was opened in Cairo in the beginning of 2008. "We have over 1500 highly qualified engineers based in Egypt in the service centre. At the same time we have established an innovation lab there," Koebel enthused. Orange's revenue from its operations in the emerging region (Africa, the Middle East and Asia Paicific), is estimated to be 20% to 25% of its total revenues worldwide. "We have seen growth rates of between 18% to 25% in our Middle East operation over the past two years and all predictions point to continued growth," said Koebel. Koebel admitted that his organisation faces a unique set of challenges operating in the Middle East. "Firstly, when we look at the Middle East we cannot do everything we would like to do due to regulations. The regulations have begun to be relaxed of late but we try to work with the leading telecoms operators in the specific areas." "We are also affected by the skills shortage and the fact that all of the market's biggest players are in direct competition for the best people." Koebel explained. The lack of sufficient bandwidth together with the subsequent high cost of the available bandwidth is another challenge that Orange has had to face. "Bandwidth requirements are growing almost daily which is becoming increasingly difficult. We need to quickly acquire the bandwidth to meet increasing demands. Telepresence, the new buzz, is a high consumer of bandwidth. Networks need to be upgraded very quickly to handle this," said Koebel. The challenge of a lack of bandwidth has at the same time, presented Orange with an opportunity to add value to its services. "Bandwidth is used by business and consumer services alike and we have purchased large mobile operators in the region, including some in Egypt and Jordan. Bandwidth requirements can be shared across them which enable us to use available bandwidth in a highly effective manner across consumer and business service needs." Orange has targeted the region as a greenfield environment and is eager to make the most of its opportunities. "We believe in the Middle East and its potential. With the creation of smart cities across the region we want to not only build infrastructure but also over time expand and grow the range of services we offer. There are no existing fortresses here and it is a greenfield environment with very real possibilities which we are eager to explore," concluded Koebel. ArabianBusiness

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