Dubai dot.com

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--If you build it, they will come, goes the familiar line. And come they did when Dubai, one of the seven states federated with the United Arab Emirates, built the 400-hectare Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone or TECOM.

A pioneering initiative, TECOM signals Dubai’s shift from an oil-based to a digital economy.

When fully completed, TECOM will propel Dubai to becoming an international hub for the IT industry, e-business consulting, and venture capital.

To date, three of its flagships – the Dubai Media City, Dubai Internet City, and Dubai Knowledge City – are in place. And the good news is that even without the benefit of road shows and marketing campaigns, some of the world’s biggest corporate names have come to set up shop within the zone.

At Dubai Media City, state-of-the art buildings now house broadcast giant CNN, Reuters and MBC, the world's biggest Pan- Arab news outfit.

Over at Internet City, IBM and Canon are two of the familiar names emblazoned on the facades of buildings.

American and British academic institutions will soon have satellite campuses at Dubai Knowledge City.

"The project is part of Dubai leader General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s bigger dream to transform Dubai into a technology-based trading economy, like a great supermarket servicing the Gulf region, the Arab world, the Indian sub-continent and North Africa," says former Citibank executive and now Dubai Media City CEO Abdul Hamid M. Juma.

"Dubai in the early 1970s depended on oil for 78 percent of its economy; now with the creation of alternative sources of income, oil dependence is down to only 17 percent. Dubai produces 173,000 barrels of oil per day, while our neighbor Abu Dhabi produces two million barrels per day. By year 2010, Dubai hopes that oil will just account for only two percent of our economy," he adds.

Entrance to Dubai Media City is heralded by a steel butterfly sculpture. The logo, perched atop a platform surrounded by water jets, symbolizes the freedom to create, says Juma.

A typical building at the Dubai Media City is a glass and steel structure in the Bauhaus style. Three of these are situated side by side fronting a man-made lagoon ringed by an expansive lawn planted to date palms and flowering plants.

Canteens are furnished with streamlined contemporary furniture and some even extend out to wooden sun decks with cafe tables shaded by canvas umbrellas.

Cavernous lobbies gleam with the polish of stainless steel and black granite. One has for its focal point a huge wall mural featuring a collage of blown-up texts and images from both print and television media.

In select areas, wooden stairs and graceful curved wooden panels suspended from the ceiling provide warmth to the otherwise cold feel of steel. This dialogue of wood, stone and steel is often repeated in elevator foyers.

An eye-catching detail is the very innovative use of newspapers as decorative element. These are used to fill clear plastic tubings which are then lined up in a row to form office partitions.

The whole environment has the feel of a high-end luxury resort but at the same time it is well-equipped with the latest in telecommunication facilities.

Those in broadcast, print, public relations, research, new media and music who have set up shop at the city agree that this balance between luxury and efficiency makes for an ideal working environment.

Even those in the film industry will not be able to resist the lure of Dubai Media City when it opens a $30-million studio complex next year.

Like the buildings at Dubai Media City, those at Dubai Internet City are similarly set amid a garden paradise. They are as sleek and modern in every aspect as their Media City counterparts.

At the heart of Dubai Internet City is a command post that functions as the zone’s nerve center. If it were a spaceship, this is definitely the command deck.

A state-of-the-art computer system housed here is fiber-linked to the various buildings within the zone.

Closed-circuit cameras record every activity happening in public areas 24 hours a day.

Should something go wrong in one location, a red light flashes on one of the many computer monitors and the situation is immediately remedied.

The system is very high-tech it can detect anything from fluctuations in temperature to a leaking faucet.

In case of fire, sprinklers are automatically activated and the fire-fighting force alerted.

The system is fail safe that even a power failure is next to impossible. Talk of redundancy, not only does the system have a back-up, it has another back-up for the back up.

So highly advanced is this system that it is Internet Protocol telephone ready, meaning anyone can retrieve e-mail, surf or access data from any telephone within the complex.

To address the housing, recreational and health needs of the zone’s work force, commercial and residential projects arecurrently being developed.

A soon-to-be-completed downtown area will feature malls, specialty shops, restaurants and cinemas. A hospital is also being constructed.

So called "smart villas" are now rising beside a 72-hole golf course. Short of having minds of their own, "smart villas" are computer-controlled making it possible to start up the air-conditioning or the microwave and control the lights. Sensors in the refrigerator can detect when food stocks are dwindling then automatically places an order at the nearest supermarket. The living room of a "smart villa" is also wired to the cinemas allowing residents to view movies in the comfort of their homes.

As in the above-mentioned villas, the zone’s residential towers also have "smart flats."

The most talked about residential development in the zone is Palm Island, so called because it is shaped like a palm, trunk and all of 17 fronds. Within the islands will be the most luxurious villas each with its own private marina.

Residents and visitors to Palm Island will be ferried by boat from a ferry terminal at the edge of a huge shopping mall and aquarium along the zone’s coastline.

From the time the vision was born, it only took seven months to build Dubai Media City and Dubai Internet City. With this as a gauge, it can be said that Dubai's dream of being an IT entrepot is speeding like light through a fiber optic cable.