Travelling Bentley Museum reaches Muscat

This unique visit forms part of a tour that was organized by a committee of experienced volunteers, headed by Peter Cameron. The tour is literally an instrument of culture and a traveling museum that includes not only 33 Bentley's, but also 37 classic Rolls Royces, some dating back as far as 1912.

'As the official distributors of Bentley in the Sultanate of Oman, it is a pleasure for the Zubair Automotive Group to support this unique initiative,'

said Mr. Stuart Faid, Group General Manager of Zubair Automotive. Besides promoting tourism, the tour also has the objective to raise money for charity. Zubair is therefore hosting 'A night with the classics', a prestigious charity event on Sunday 8 March to celebrate this unique initiative.

The event will be attended by the tour group of around 150 people, who include top international industrialists and artists from the entertainment world and of course select cars will be available for viewing at the venue. The organizers of the event guarantee a memorable evening, which will also feature entertainment from the Deco Strings and The Rat Pack (a tribute group to the original members, including Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr. and Frank Sinatra) in the beautiful ambience of the Amphitheatre at the Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa.

The proceeds of the evening will be donated towards charity through one of Oman's leading charity houses-Dar Al Atta'a (The House of Giving). 'We are also asking for donations of items that can be auctioned during the course of the evening to help raise funds and increase the donation that will be presented to Dar Al Atta'a to assist them in the wonderful work they do throughout the Sultanate and our region,' concluded Mr. Faid.

Loick Peyron joins Oman Sail for Extreme 40 programme

Famous French skipper Loick Peyron has joined the Oman Sail Extreme 40 campaign for this summer's iShares Cup Sailing Series..

Peyron, one of the most important forces behind the evolution of modern multihulls, will compete in the European Series which kicks off in Venice on 15 May. Training with the Oman Sail Racing Team in Muscat, Oman for the first time last month, he commented "There are several reasons why I'm very happy to be joining the Oman Sail Team in the upcoming iShares Cup, and not the least of those is the fact that I've always been fascinated by maritime history, traditions and heritage. So spending time in Muscat confirmed my impression that the Sultanate of Oman did have an ancient and strong seafaring tradition, and the efforts developed by the Oman Sail structure to revive it are inspiring. There is definitely potential, and it's refreshing to see so much enthusiasm. Having been around for a bit of time now, I think I have some experience worth sharing, and I've always believed in passing down the knowledge."

The Extreme 40 campaign sets the bar high for the up and coming Omanis in the Oman Sail Racing Team and gives them a top class International event to aspire to in the future. The clear long term objective is that an increasing number of the crew will be Omanis, working their way up through the newly formed Oman Sail Academy and Oman Sail Racing Team.

Peyron has made an international name for himself racing on both offshore and short courses in multihull sailing, and for the past few years on the Decision 35 circuit on Lac Léman, Switzerland. Peyron most recently returned from his Vendée Globe campaign onboard 'Gitana', unfortunately dismasted in the Southern Ocean after leading the race for a total of 15 days.

"The iShares Cup is a very competitive circuit, and multihulls have long been my weapons of choice. I'm thrilled to now take part in the iShares Cup. I have been keeping my eye on the Extreme 40 class since its conception, and I remember having a conversation about it with its designers even before it was built: yet I've only had the chance to finally sail one recently, given my rather tight schedule. The Extreme 40 is certainly powerful and seaworthy, which is important given the diversity of venues, as in some places, swell or chop can be expected! Close-combat racing is something I've always enjoyed, and if I understand things correctly, we'll be lining up against some top guns so I couldn't be happier."

Supporting sponsors and further team announcements will be made over the coming weeks.

The Oman Sail Team will race two boats at the following iShares Cup events:

Event 1 - Venice, Italy, 15th to 17th May
Event 2 - France, 3rd to 5th July
Event 3 - United Kingdom, 1st to 3rd August
Event 4 - Kiel, Germany, 28th to 30th August
Event 5 - The Netherlands, 25th to 27th September
Event 6 - TBC, Spain, 10th to 12th October

Salim Al Kindi & Emily Caroe

Courtesy: www.bymnews.com

Majis selects IFS Applications to Effectively Manage Its Business Growth

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announced today that is has been awarded a contract by Majis Industrial Services Company S.A.O.C.(MISC) a leading provider of various water utility services at the Sohar Industrial Port Area, Oman - to provide them with an advanced ERP solution to better manage the demands of their growing business and expansion plans. The implementation will see IFS working closely alongside Zawawi Business Machines (ZBM) to deploy IFS state-of-the-art customized ERP solution especially designed for energy and utility companies at MISCMISC in Oman. The IFS ERP solution boasts advanced functionalities enabling MISCMIS to effectively manage a multitude of critical business processes including Finance, Asset Management, HR, Payroll, Supply Chain, Customer billing and projects. MISCMISC also wanted an ERP solution that maximized the performance of their assets hence the IFS solution chosen also encompassed essential asset management and maintenance elements. With the completion of this solution deployment, MISCMISC will be able to maintain a more competitive edge through reduced investment costs as a result of enhanced asset utilization and network reliability by having timely access to all relevant data.

"IFS ERP solutions boast flexible and scalable functionalities and will equip us with the necessary tools to simplify and integrate our business processes," M.G.Premanand, Financial Controller, Majis Industrial Services CompanyMajis Industrial Services Company S.A.O.C "We wanted a partner whose ERP solutions boast strong enterprise asset management, service management as well as business intelligence functionalities as these are important for our company to grow and maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly challenging environment."

Ian Fleming, Managing Director, IFS, Middle East, Africa & South Asia commented on this partnership: "We have worked closely with a number of enterprise businesses in Oman for a few years now and have gained a thorough insight and understanding of the nature of their IT demands.

"MISCMIS is the first Utility customer in the GCC to implement our Utilities solution. Our Utilities ERP solutions have been deployed at over 140 organizations around the world and MISCMISC will be the first Utility customer in the GCC to benefit from our industry expertise in this field. We are delighted to work with MISCMISC and we are confident that our solutions will help them to achieve their growth plans in record time," he added. IFS has a strong track record and history in the utility industry world-wide and hence have an in-depth understanding of MISCMISC specific needs,

In keeping with IFS policy of minimizing disruptions to business workflow, it was important that the new ERP solution implementation went ahead seamlessly at the customer's site. The implementation plan was broken into a number of different phases, allowing for a shorter time-frame for ROI for the customer and also reduced risks versus a "big-bang" implementation.

MISCMISC is a Government of Oman owned company currently providing chlorinated sea water for industrial cooling applications, with future plans to engage in providing process water, potable water, sanitary waste water collection and treated industrial waste water collection services.

The energy and utilities industries are key to IFS where it has more than 140 customers involved in power generation, transmission & distribution and water & sewage. These include the world's largest hydropower plant, Three Gorges (P. R. China), nuclear power plants OKG (Sweden), PBMR (South Africa) and Qinshan (P. R. China), grid operators such as Svenska Kraftnät (Sweden), Statnett (Norway) and TenneT (The Netherlands) as well as distributors such as Vattenfall (Sweden), Fortum (Sweden), and Hafslund Energi (Norway). Reliable and safe Asset management and workforce management are critical processes in the energy and utility industry, to which IFS has provided solutions for more than 20 years.

- Ends -

About IFS
IFS (OMX STO: IFS), the global enterprise applications company, provides solutions which enable organizations to respond quickly to market changes - allowing resources to be used in a more agile way to achieve better business performance and competitive advantage.

IFS was founded in 1983 and now has 2,600 employees worldwide. IFS has pioneered component-based ERP software with IFS Applications, now in its seventh generation. IFS' component architecture provides solutions that are easier to implement, run and upgrade. IFS Applications is available in 54 countries in 22 languages.

IFS has over 600,000 users across seven key vertical sectors: aerospace & defense; automotive; high-tech; industrial manufacturing; process industries; construction, service & facilities management and utilities & telecom. IFS Applications provides extended ERP functionality including customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), product lifecycle management (PLM), corporate performance management (CPM), enterprise asset management (EAM) and maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) capabilities. More details can be found at www.ifsworld.com

About MISCMISC is a Government of Oman owned company engaged in providing various water utility services at the Sohar Industrial Port Area. Currently providing chlorinated sea water for industrial cooling applications, we will soon engage in providing process water, potable water, sanitary waste water collection and treated industrial waste water collection services.

For further information please visit http://www.misc-oman.com/index.asp

For more information, please contact:
Sawsan Ghanem, Active PR
Tel: +9714-3900228
E-mail: sawsan@activepr.biz
Shamim Kassibawi, Active PR
Tel: +9714-3900376
E-mail: shamim@activepr.biz

Courtesy: www.zawya.com