Air express supplier DHL UAE has clinched a distribution contract with in-flight entertainment company Matsushita Avionics Systems Corporation (MAS) under which it will ship parts from MAS' repair and customer support facility in Dubai's Airport Free Zone.

Parts from the 20,000 sq ft facility will be shipped to Matsushita's client companies around the Middle East and North Africa. DHL UAE will also handle the import of shipments to Dubai from MAS' headquarters in the US.

"We are currently evolving products which will satisfy various industry sectors," said David Wild, general manager, DHL UAE, adding that they would include specific logistics solutions.

MAS, a member of the Matsushita corporate family, is known around the globe for its Panasonic, Quasor, Technics and National brand names It established its Middle East-based operations with an office in Dubai on October 1998 before moving to its Dafza facility in July 1999.

DHL UAE also announced it is investing $600,000 in three Hewlett Packard-9000 enterprise servers as part of a major IT upgrade at its Air Express Centre headquarters in Dubai. The servers will replace HP Unix Version 10.20 servers that DHL UAE is now phasing out.

"This investment is in line with DHL's global IT strategy and direction which calls for upgrades throughout our international network," said Avtar Mamotra, IT manager, DHL UAE.

"DHL is a key Emitac account and we have been working closely with the company to ensure the implementation of Hewlett Packard's state-of-the-art systems meets DHL UAE's expansion requirements," said Ram Mohan, group general manager, Emitac.