[May 10, 2013] AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, technology briefs Tweet May 09, 2013 (AME Info - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- EMC TO OPEN NEW GCC OFFICES IN 2013: IT solutions and enterprise storage specialists EMC Corporation has announced it will open up to eight new offices across EMEA this year. Speaking to press at EMC World in Las Vegas, Mohammed Amin, EMC's Senior Vice President and EMEA Regional Manager, said the firm will open seven or eight new offices across Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2013, with branches set for Oman and Kuwait. The firm currently has a team of 1,200 based across the region with 400 employees situated in and around its Cairo Center of Excellence, but Amin spoke of a willingness to invest further in more 'technical expertise' in Mena. SYRIAN INTERNET BACK AFTER 19 HOURS OFFLINE: The internet in Syria is functioning after a nationwide blackout took the country offline for more than 19 hours, BBC News has reported. Web monitoring firm Renesys noted signs of activity at around 5.30pm today. Local state-run media reported an optical fibre cable fault as cause for the disconnectivity, but BBC sources have dismissed this explanation as unlikely. David Belson, of Akamai, said: "Our monitoring shows that Syria's international internet connectivity is through at least four providers, and published submarine cable maps show connectivity through three active cables. As such, the failure of a single optical cable is unlikely to cause a complete internet outage for the country." Syria previously experienced a shutdown for three days in November 2012. Some activists say President Bashar al-Assad's regime is attempting to disrupt rebel communications. MICROSOFT SEES SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE AS THE FUTURE: Microsoft has said that, over the next 10 years, most people will voluntarily pay for subscriptions instead of purchasing boxed software, PC World has reported. "We think subscription software-as-a-service is the future," Microsoft said on its official Office blog. "Within a decade, we think everyone will choose to subscribe because the benefits are undeniable." Microsoft's comments on subscription follows Adobe's announcement that it was dumping Creative Suite as a software package and replacing it with its Creative Cloud subscription service. ___ (c)2013 AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) Visit AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) at www.ameinfo.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]