The survey, carried out by global IT and data security company Sophos, polled 181 IT professionals at the show.

Unsurprisingly, 58% of those polled felt that viruses were still the biggest threat to their corporate network. Of the respondents, 34% rated device theft or loss as the biggest threat.

More surprising perhaps was the fact that 32% of survey respondents said hackers were the biggest threat. Hacking is still a tiny percentage of the overall threat but the perception that it is an issue is most likely due to several high-profile attacks in recent months and the media coverage around this, Sophos said.

The fact that only 16.5% said social media was the biggest threat was a suprise. Given that social media is widely used in the Middle East and is one of the major vectors for cyber criminals, this indicates that there is still a lack of understanding around social media and the threats it can pose to IT security, the company said.

Kamel Heus, MD, MEA, Sophos, said, “To date, encryption has had a low rate of deployment in the Middle East, and there is a lack of regulation around data protection. However, it’s no real surprise to us that almost two thirds of those surveyed felt their corporate data would not be secure if a mobile device was lost. Mobile device security was a really hot topic for us at GITEX Technology Week 2011 this year, and in general the topic has quickly risen to the top of security agendas as organisations are beginning to get really concerned about the potential for damage if these devices are lost or stolen.”

The apps will be made available to customers over the coming weeks on BlackBerry App World and will continue to be available until December 31, 2011, the company said.

“Our global network supports the communications needs of more than 70 million customers,” said RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. “We truly appreciate and value our relationship with our customers.  We’ve worked hard to earn their trust over the past 12 years, and we’re committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect, today and in the future.”

The complete selection of premium apps will become available to download at BlackBerry App World over a period of four weeks beginning Wednesday, October 19th.

According to RIM, the selections over this period will include SIMS 3, Bejeweled, N.O.V.A, Bubble Bash 2,  Photo Editor Ultimate, DriveSafe.ly Pro, iSpeech Translator Pro, Drive Safe.ly Enterprise,  Nobex Radio Premium, Shazam Encore and Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant. The company also said that three more apps will be added to this extensive list of apps soon.

RIM’s enterprise customers will also be offered one month of free Technical Support.  Current customers will be offered a complimentary one month extension of their existing Technical Support contract and customers who do not currently have a Technical Support contract will be offered a one month trial of RIM’s BlackBerry Technical Support Services – Enhanced Support, free of charge, RIM said.

We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience,” added Lazaridis. “We have apologised to our customers and we will work tirelessly to restore their confidence.  We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again.”

Last week, many customers experienced service interruptions and delays over a period of approximately three days in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, 1.5 days in Latin America and Canada, and one day in the United States. Global teams worked around the clock to contain the issue and minimise the impact to customers as much as possible, RIM said and as of Thursday, October 13, RIM reported that service levels returned to normal.

His Excellency Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO, DEWA

Samsung Electronics and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) established an exclusive partnership which allows customers to utilise and benefit from DEWA services through a tailored application on Samsung Smart TV’s that was announced during GITEX 2011.

With the partnership, DEWA is set to be the first company in the region to develop a utility application for Samsung’s Smart TV range, the company said.

Through the newly developed Samsung Smart TV DEWA application, customers can check and pay their bills, find out more about the latest DEWA news and events, find out information and locations of customer service centers, find the location of more than 200 payment centres and request a new connection at a later stage. The service will be available on all Samsung Smart TV’s by the end of November.

On this occasion, His Excellency Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of DEWA, said, “In line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, aiming to achieve customer satisfaction through excellence in delivering services, adopting best practices, and introducing the most up-to-date technologies and solutions to its e-operations so as to promote the strategy of our judicious government. In this respect, DEWA is going to launch its application compatible with Samsung Smart TV. This step will, definitely enable DEWA’s customers to use this TV to pay their electricity and water bills, as well as all the other eservices delivered by DEWA.”

“This achievement adds to the series of achievements made by DEWA, especially in the field of enhancing customer service, as well as achieving the highest levels of satisfaction and diversification in services delivered. DEWA makes relentless efforts to enable its customers to use the most state-of-the-art technologies with the purpose of saving customers’ time and effort,” His Excellency Saeed Al Tayer further added.

Commenting on the partnership, Young Soo Kim, president of Samsung Gulf Electronics said, “Through our Smart TV’s and advanced user friendly interface, Samsung is committed to adding value to both business enterprises and consumers, by enabling service providers to conveniently avail their customers customised applications that cater to their needs from the comfort of their home. We are very pleased with our agreement and look forward to a long term business partnership with DEWA.”

DEWA’s decision to partner with Samsung is based on Samsung’s global and regional leadership in the TV market and state of the art technology, DEWA representatives said.

His Excellency Ahmed Bin Humaidan, director general, Dubai eGovernment Department

In line with its efforts to offer a range of innovative channels based on its ‘customer first’ approach, Dubai eGovernment announced on the sidelines of the GITEX Technology Week 2011, the signing of joint agreements with Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation, Dubai Public Prosecution, Noor Dubai Foundation and Dar Alber Society; to confirm their inclusion in Dubai eGovernment’s ePay gateway.

The joining of these four entities to the ePay gateway further consolidates Dubai eGovernment’s portfolio of eServices, bringing it to a total of 24 government entities that use the ePay gateway to offer eServices to their individual and corporate users; who can now make instant online payments through a broad network of banks and multiple payment options, in line with Dubai eGovernment’s Customer First strategy.

His Excellency Ahmed Bin Humaidan, director general of Dubai eGovernment Department, said, “We are pleased to expand our ePay network of partners, whose faith in our secure ePay technology will lead to greater adoption of eServices by our customers, ensuring a connected and integrated government approach. Thanks to our ePay portal, our customers find it very convenient to pay for government transactions online, using credit cards or direct debit from their participating banks.”

His Excellency Bin Humaidan pointed out that the amounts collected through the ePay portal rose by 52% to AED 2.66 billion through 2 million transactions over the first nine months of this year compared with AED 1.75 billion through 1.26 million transactions in the same period last year.

He added, “These agreements gain special importance because they are concluded on the sidelines of GITEX Technology Week 2011, which provides an ideal platform for a connected government, through a network of online services that match the highest quality and excellence criteria in line with the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, for achieving government interaction and easing the lives of the public interacting with the government.”

Dubai eGovernment launched the ePay gateway back in 2003 as an innovative electronic channel to facilitate payment for governmental and private transactions. Only three departments initially availed of the gateway, but with the recent joining of Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation, Dubai Public Prosecution, Noor Dubai Foundation and Dar Alber Society, this number has now increased to 24.

His Excellency Khaled Al Kamda, director general, Community Development Authority

The Community Development Authority (CDA) in Dubai is presented it’s entire range of e-services particularly the Integrated Case Management System (ICMS) at GITEX Technology week 2011.

“Information technology is advancing rapidly. Participating in GITEX has enabled us to learn about the latest technologies used in various sectors such as telecommunications, aviation, health, tourism and industry,” added His Excellency Khaled Al Kamda, director general of CDA.

The ICMS-, introduced by CDA at GITEX 2011, is an innovative technology that helps to manage and follow up on special cases in the Dubai community, which require special efforts in social inclusion and enabling people to be part of the development process, the authority said.

Representatives said that the system is linked with other systems such as the National Identity initiative and others related to CDA such as the call centre, e-mail and SMS service. The system has advanced features including the provision of entering data directly from the field through mobile devices thus enabling researchers to build a database in a faster and easier way, CDA reported.

CDA also provides various other electronic services for the public such as registering volunteers and recording complaints on human rights violation as well as enrollment in the “AlKayt” employment programme for people with disabilities.  Electronic channels are also employed in enhancing internal communications with CDA employees.

The CDA is a government entity mandated with enhancing the social development in Dubai to achieve the Dubai strategic plan 2015 which was announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum on February 2007.

Gautam Chakrabarty, Deputy General Manager, Marketing, Business Solutions Division, Sharp Middle East

Sharp Middle East recorded increased interest in its LCD solutions compared to last year, as the inaugural Infocomm exhibition became part of GITEX Technology Week, representatives of Sharp said.

Sharp reported a marked increase in the percentage of business leads compared to GITEX 2010: more than 50% increase over last year. The focus on end-to-end solutions, saving costs for customers and improving return on investment, targeted at the professional Audio Visual (AV) industry during Infocomm helped boost the improved numbers, according to the company.

“The addition of Infocomm to GITEX Technology Week has paid dividends, with an increased interest in our new products and solutions from Audio Visual industry professionals,” said Gautam Chakrabarty, deputy GM- Marketing, Business Solutions Division, Sharp Middle East. “Seeing our latest applications making an immediate impact on their debut in the region has been a huge plus, with the interactive venue maps being an excellent example of how our touch screen LCDs can provide flexible solutions to almost any industry.”

The public debut of one of Sharp’s latest innovations attracted a lot of attention, with the 20 touch screen LCD venue maps located around the Dubai World Trade Centre proving a hit with visitors, Sharp said. The screens saw more than 10,000 people use their smartphones to access more detailed information of exhibitors, including the exact location of the stand, it was reported.

More than 15 industry applications making use of Sharp’s versatile LCD solutions were demonstrated, giving a glimpse of what can be achieved using the technology. The solutions highlighted included the semi-outdoor applications of the new high brightness enabled LCD panels, with ideal uses including hospitality and events. These were showcased alongside touch screen applications, which were also developed for the retail and banking industry. Adaptive digital advertising, education, entertainment and communications using digital signage are additional sectors served by the latest Sharp solutions.

The power saving benefits of the newest developments were also displayed, with real time energy consumption indicators placed between panels with local LED dimming technology, and those without.

Sharp’s alliance with software company Quividi developed the interactive digital advertising solution, which was also one of the highlights of the stand. The LCD screen was integrated with software developed by Quividi which profiles the person standing in front of the screen, automatically adapting the advertisement on the screen to match the person.

The education focused solutions also proved popular, with a small touch screen LCD used as a digital lectern while the display is linked to a video wall. The brand new 70 inch touch screen was also showcased as a digital whiteboard.

“These innovative solutions can be applied to almost any industry, adding value and reducing costs thanks to the complete end-to-end nature of the installations. This has proved attractive to Infocomm and GITEX visitors this year, and we’re sure that many of these new applications will be utilised in exciting ways,” added Chakrabarty. “We’re looking forward to Infocomm returning next year.”