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Sunaina Rana/ Emirates Business
Reichle& De-Massari (R&M) is an independent Swiss family business with more than 52-years of experience in the information and communications technology market. Since its establishment in 1964, R&M has grown into one of the leading providers of passive cabling solutions for high-quality
communication networks.
R&M is now a multinational
organisation that is represented by subsidiaries or its own marketing
organisations in over 30 countries. In the company’s constant endeavour to increase its penetration into new markets, Nabil Khalil, Executive Vice-President of R&M Middle East, Turkey and Africa, talks to Emirates Business about the company’s
venture in the region.
What are the major segments that R&M focusses on?
R&M develops and manufactures passive cabling solutions for high-quality communication networks (Layer 1) which contribute significantly to operational reliability and safety in voice, data and video transmission systems worldwide. Our high performance cabling solutions are used in offices, data centers, by network operators, in homes and in industry.
We continuously reinvest in our R&D capabilities in order to drive innovation. Annually, R&M invests 5 percent of sales into the research and development of both copper and fiber-optic cabling systems. This has enabled us to offer an extensive product portfolio spanning over 5000 highly customisable products which cater to a broad range of industry verticals including petrochemical, infrastructure, security services, telecom, finance, education, healthcare,
automotive and utilities.
For how long have you been a part of the Middle East market?
We have been present in the Middle East for18 years and have invested in this region to develop first level supports in supply chain for speed, marketing for reach, technical engineering for flexibility, and training and consultancy for expertise. We believe that strong engagement with our customers is key to understanding their needs and the nuances of the markets in the Middle East which is why have established a local presence in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Oman,Egypt, Morocco and Turkey. We also have an extensive network of partners that enables us to serve our customers in Bahrain, Egypt, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, and Tanzania.
Recently we have increased our penetration into both West and East Africa.
Our headquarters in Dubai, at the Dubai Airport Freezone (DAFZA), has transformed from being a sales office to a regional operations hub.
This headquarters boasts of state-of-the-art training facilities and lab equipment that enable us to regularly host hands-on partner enablement and training sessions as well as client training seminars. We also have physical offices in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Turkey
Can you share highlights of company’s achievements?
Thanks to our focus on both copper and fiber-optic solutions, we have engaged in a number of successful deployments for both public and private sector organisations in the Middle East.
In 2012, we inaugurated the region’s first-of-its-kind patch cord assembly facility at our regional office in Dubai which in addition to meeting the regional demand for this versatile cabling solution will also serve our customers in the Asia Pacific region including India, China, Japan, Singapore and Australia. We further expanded on our local production capability when we opened our new 1,500 sq. mts. solution assembly and production facility in MODON Industrial City 2 in Riyadh last year. We have also been able to tap into the Kingdom’s home-grown talent pool to build a motivated and sustainable workforce for this facility.
What are your regional goals that you are aiming to achieve in the next few years?
Our objective for the Middle East has been to establish ourselves as the structured cabling vendor of choice for telcos, public and private sector organisations and to capitalise on opportunities by offering the most innovative products with the highest Swiss quality and degree of customization.
This year, we are focussing on the launch of two highly innovative solutions, R&M Netscale which is the industry’s highest density fiber optic cable management solution for data centers, and the SYNO dome closure, a product designed to givenetwork operators more freedom for FTTx projects.
In addition to serving our customers with the best solutions and service, we will continue to grow our strategic partnerships with leading IT companies such as FNT, ABB, and Fluke Network who have regularly co-hosted Data
Center Network Days with R&M.
