CCIE Agent at GITEX by Eman

I have said it many times; I travel like a child with eyes wide open. I don’t like to let my Texas roots or my American up brining blur my sight or dampen my experiences when I travel. I feel that by leaving what I am normally accustomed to at the airport I can appreciate what I encounter more. So my observations are not done with research or other input they just are what they are.

Now try and picture 5 days among thousands of technology vendors from every corner of the globe mixed in with literally hundreds of thousands of interested visitors looking for everything from arcade games to Transylvanian developers. Really, everything you could imagine! Day one was pretty much a setup day where the vendors came in to setup their booths and prepare the area. Since I was hosted at GITEX by VoiceBootcamp, Inc. as their resident celebrity I was part of the Canadian section at this event. I was quickly sized up for a great looking Ontario shirt by the hosts of our Canadian section of the hall. We were located next to the Australian, Palestinian, American and Indian sections. I quickly learned the lay of the land since I got lost several times in the vast expanse of companies represented. The halls were huge and I was thrilled to be meeting with many different cultures and professionals from around the globe.

I was also very happy to see the many geeks from around the region who attended the expo. Just like the rest of the world’s geeks the Middle Eastern geeks come in all shapes and sizes. Several CCIEs stopped by to spend time with me as well. I was especially happy to meet with many who have read the CCIE Flyer and who I have spoken with before in person and by phone.

While at GITEX I was taken by surprise by the folks from Latitude Systems who dropped by with their Voice CCIE (a graduate of VoiceBootcamp). One of their representatives simply walked over and said, “Hello you wrote a story about us.” I looked at his badge and realized my CCIE Hostage story was what he was referring to. (See CCIE Hostage Standoff on my blog www.ccieagent.com) Since there was nowhere to hide I shook his hand and said hello. It turns out there were no hard feelings (anymore) and they had hired a legitimate CCIE Voice and will be heading back to Silver again soon. This chance meeting was not a bad thing and maybe they have learned the error of their ways. I was really pleased to see they were a couple of great guys and passionate about their business and Cisco solutions. So I guess you learn in this industry that relationships can be forged and honor won on the fields of professional disagreement and contention.

Our first day at GITEX was a very memorable one. In the evening the great folks in Dubai threw a party and I was so impressed by the great camaraderie, food and music. There was a funny incident that resulted in me having some great company for the evening. One of the guys with VoiceBootcamp wanted to get a picture with some of the models that were working the some of the companies’ booths. He asked if I would get them to agree to have a photo with him. So being older and braver then him, I walked over and asked the ladies if they would allow my friend to have a picture with them. Their answer was “no”, but they remembered me for my hat from the show and asked me to join them for drinks. I had a wonderful time to the envy of many of the men attending the party!

These before and after photos prove that the models were having more fun after they asked the CCIE Agent to join them! (I make these sacrifices for you, my network) Eat your hearts out geeks!!!

That night we witnessed a great pair of musical acts. One was a men’s choral group that sang while wielding wands or canes made from palm tree fronds. They sounded great and performed several times that night.

Along with the food was a large helping of culture. The food was very much part of the Dubai mix that the great city has attracted from around the world. But when you were looking for desert nothing beat the Iranian women’s tent where they were serving really great deep fried sweet dough balls. (Kind of like donuts but much better) Their attire was very traditional.

I was really surprised by the masks, combined with the burcas these women were wearing. The mask made me think of Gracho Marx.

Their hands were covered in tattoos. I was really surprised by this when I was looking at the photos I had taken. It was too dark to see these at the party and I only discovered these while writing this.

I did venture out at night with the folks from VoiceBootcamp. I was constant companion of my gracious host Faisal Khan. Always a gentleman he makes sure his students and his entourage is well fed and have evening entertainment. In fact he had several students who signed up for training in Toronto come to Dubai with him to train there. He provided a great chance for these folks to taste the culture of Dubai and his Indian background.

No boring trip to Ontario or California for the students of Voice Boot Camp this time! Faisal is actually toying with the idea of making his VoiceBootcamp venues interesting outside of the classroom as well as within. He told me he wants people to be excited about their surroundings not just his mentoring.

Here we are pictured with our whole crew including students at a Pakistani restaurant where I had my first and second helpings of cow brains. Really I don’t lie about cow brains, maybe the girls I have kissed or the fish I have caught but not cow brains. They were actually quite good, so good in fact did I tell you I had second helpings!?

Out on the town with Fahad (Faisal’s brother), Anil (UCS Marketing), and Rocky (Voice Boot Camp employee).

It’s one thing for me to forget the names of foods, buildings, women, bosses, clients, CCIEs, and people’s children, but I won’t forget Elvis. Yup pictured here is one of Faisal’s brother in-laws who came out to join us in Dubai. Elvis took many of the pictures I have from the trip.

Also along were the Voice Boot Camp technical crew of Don and Elsie. Don was a real hoot and he and I opened the booth most mornings of the show, on time. Elsie is a sweetheart and great sport. We gave her some grief about the Cisco Juicer! Yup the secret new product from Cisco, the Cisco Juicer which will be out before Christmas, stay tuned!

At this great and grand Middle Eastern event one thing was certain though; Avaya was there (with several booths one was massive), Oracle was there, Microsoft was there, Ford was there, bionic Osama Bin Laden was there, the WYSIWYG girls were there (of course they found me), the robot with an attitude was there, Transylvania Software was there (yup vampires who code), but Cisco was not there! Well yeah, in consumer products Linksys was waving the Cisco logo but that’s not really Cisco is it? I mean really, come on Cisco. There in the Middle Eastern market, where I am getting so many requests for Avaya and Juniper skilled CCIEs, competition must be tough. So wave the flag way up high like those of us who support you expect you to do. I wandered around until I found the Linksys booth, over near the video games and the Panasonic TVs. I let the gals running the stand take a break and sat there for a while to get my Cisco fix. It was peaceful and quite there at the Linksys stand where they were giving away Linksys lanyards for anyone who wanted to hang themselves after the show.

I was enlightened during my stay under the only Cisco sign I could find. Enlightenment can come from the simplest acts or tiniest circumstances.

I offer as evidence this photo. (not the same one showing me manning the Linksys booth, the one below it dummy)

Faisal has diversified into selling Cisco solutions under a new company called UC Solutions, Inc. At his booth he had a couple of Cisco phones including the cool video phone as well as the new Microsoft video conference phone. People were stopping by and saying things like, “Oh here’s the Cisco booth”; and “Are you selling these in Dubai”; even asking, “Why is Cisco’s booth so small?” HELLO, this was not Cisco’s booth it was VoiceBootcamp and UC Solutions of course!

So, what I learned from my moment of enlightenment was someone at Cisco chose to miss the wrong event. We had many businesses come by the VoiceBootcamp, Inc. booth looking at the UC Solutions, Inc. phones, conference phones and video phones because not one channel partner from Dubai or Cisco themselves had made their presence actively known.

(Sorry about my rant but heck I always have something to complain about these days as I get old and tired!)

GITEX was a spectacular event and well worth going to if you are a coding vampire or juice maker, security company or ISP, internet search engine or karaoke machine seller, financial services provider or recruiter, reseller or manufacturer, electronics warehouse or data storage company, Geek looking for other geeks or local school kid who wants to sneak in and hold hands without chaperone. The many hundreds of companies present and the thousands of people who came to see us there, attest to the strength of GITEX’s draw and its significance. There are many ways to spend a week in Dubai but I think Faisal helped me find the best way to do it! Thanks Faisal and VoiceBootcamp for a great week.

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