Systronics LLC, a Dubai-based Accpac solution provider, has announced that MultiChoice Middle East Inc., the Middle East's largest platform provider of subscription management services & pay TV, will implement Accpac Advantage Series with IBM DB2 universal database as a foundation for their technology migration project.

The project, according to Accpac, is the first regional implementation of its Advantage Series distributed with IBM DB2 universal database as a standard component, the result of its global software bundling agreement with IBM announced earlier this year.

MultiChoice Middle East Inc., headquartered in Jebel Ali, has been running its accounting department on older Accpac versions. "We have been continuously happy Accpac customers. However, our Middle East business is growing and our support to our customers is taking new astem upgrades as the business grows and changes. Along with our belief in the strengths of the brand, we have got the best value for our investment given that Accpac has IBM DB2 as its default database," says Khaled Abu Namous, general manager, Multichoice Middle East Inc.

Systronics will be handling the design and implementation of the project. Zareh Tutunjian, general manager for Systronics says: "MultiChoice Middle East Inc. has very delicate needs when it comes to managing its customers, the channel and progamme providers operating in Middle East such as Al Awael, Pehla, FirstNet etc. The technology that serves to manage customer-related processes and interaction needs to achieve precision and continuity in operations, as well as provide future scalability options as MultiChoice grows its customer base and introduces new initiatives to the market. This is exactly what Accpac on IBM DB2 delivers."

DB2 is a database server designed for deployment in a small or mid-size business environment. Among its many features are self-configuring, self-optimising and self-managing capabilities, new federated capabilities that enable customers to integrate information as Web services, and sophisticated business intelligence capabilities that allow customers to easily organise stored information to perform faster and more insightful queries. Bashar Kilani, software group manager at IBM Middle East and North/West Africa, continues: "The capabilities of IBM DB2 coupled with Accpac's modular suites of business applications that can be web-based, highly customised, and designed to scale as a company grows is a perfect combination to meet the needs of the Middle East medium-sized enterprises."

Earlier this year, Accpac announced a global agreement whereby it will distribute IBM's DB2 universal database as a standard component of its Advantage Series and Pro Series accounting software and other end-to-end business management applications. Marc Van der Ven, general manager for Accpac, says: "The Multichoice project is a prime example of the business benefits that Accpac customers receive when we leverage and build our strategic alliances with world-class database vendors like IBM."