Time travellers
The Gulf states have come a long way, fast. Now they need to think about where they are going, says Max Rodenbeck
DUBAI'S Internet City looks rather unreal, like an architect's model come alive. Mirrored façades gleam. Ever-blue sky glistens in reflecting pools. Smart-looking office workers mingle in open plazas. Yet the business conducted here is real enough. Two hundred firms employing 4,000 workers are installed already and another 100 are due to arrive this year, including big names such as Cisco, Sun and Oracle, following in the wake of Microsoft. By 2010, if the momentum keeps up as planned, the city's bold ambition is to host some 80,000 “knowledge professionals”, making it the IT hub of a region stretching from Bologna to Bangalore.
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “Time travellers”
From the March 23rd 2002 edition
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