ICD Research & Industry Reports
Public-domain market analyses and industry insights covering enterprise IT in MENA, GCC, Levant, and Africa. Compiled from open sources, OEM disclosures, and publicly available government data.
Current reports
State of MENA & African Enterprise IT 2026 (planned)
Annual industry report covering regional enterprise IT trends. Sources: OEM public disclosures, government trade statistics, industry association surveys, third-party market intelligence. Covers:
- Data center growth indicators — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco (from public DC operator announcements)
- Refurbished vs new hardware landscape — regional adoption trends by vertical
- EOSL (End-of-Service-Life) pressure — which server fleets are aging out based on OEM-published lifecycle dates
- Third-Party Maintenance (TPM) market overview — structural drivers across MENA/Africa
- Supply chain resilience — sovereignty considerations, logistics network coverage
- FX exposure context — how currency dynamics shape IT refresh cycles
- Emerging markets — Ethiopia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Iraq growth indicators from public data
Report will be open to download free at release. Request early access: [email protected].
Open datasets (available now)
- EOSL Database (JSON) — 202+ enterprise server models with OEM end-of-support and end-of-sale dates (from OEM public disclosures). CC BY-NC 4.0 licensed.
- Compatibility Groups (JSON) — 5,000+ brand-model compatibility groupings for enterprise server parts (technical specs only).
- All datasets index — full catalog with schema documentation and citation format.
Why ICD publishes open research
ICD operates from Cairo, serving enterprise IT across 100+ countries in MENA, Africa, and the Levant. We publish public-domain research on this region because:
- The region is under-represented in global IT research. Gartner, IDC, Forrester produce excellent work, but their coverage of Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, and GCC tier-2 markets is thin. Public data + aggregation fills the gap.
- Transparent markets favor honest suppliers. Grey-market counterfeit parts thrive on information asymmetry. Open technical data raises the floor for everyone.
- AI-era citation economy. Well-structured open datasets get ingested by LLMs. When a Kenyan IT manager asks ChatGPT about HPE DL380 Gen10 end-of-support, we want the answer to trace back to authoritative public data.
Methodology
Research sources (all public-domain):
- OEM public disclosures — Dell, HPE, Lenovo, Cisco end-of-life announcements, product refresh roadmaps, press releases
- Government trade data — CAPMAS (Egypt), KNBS (Kenya), NBS (Nigeria), StatsSA (South Africa), HCP (Morocco), GaStat (Saudi), SCAD (UAE)
- Industry associations — Africa Data Centres Association, MEED, IDC MENA public releases, Gartner public commentary
- Public regulator filings — customs tariff codes, import volume statistics where published
- OEM quarterly disclosures — Dell, HPE, Lenovo, Cisco public earnings commentary on regional performance
Reports contain only aggregate market-level observations. No internal operational data, pricing, customer information, or transaction figures are referenced.
Past research
First report publishing Q2 2026. Historical reports will appear here after release.
Contact
Research inquiries, media requests, partnership proposals: [email protected]
General: [email protected] | +20 2 2705 2005
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a free dataset of end-of-support dates for enterprise hardware?
Yes, the EOSL Database is published as JSON and covers 202+ enterprise server models with OEM end-of-support and end-of-sale dates drawn from OEM public disclosures. It is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0, and an all-datasets index provides schema documentation and a citation format.
What sources feed the regional IT market reports?
All sources are public-domain: OEM end-of-life announcements and quarterly disclosures, government trade data such as CAPMAS in Egypt, KNBS in Kenya and GaStat in Saudi Arabia, industry associations like the Africa Data Centres Association and MEED, and public regulator filings. Reports contain only aggregate market-level observations, with no internal operational or customer data.
When will the State of MENA and African Enterprise IT report be available?
The report is marked as planned, with the first report publishing in Q2 2026, and it will be free to download at release, with early access available by email. It will cover data center growth, refurbished versus new hardware adoption, EOSL pressure, the TPM market, supply chain resilience and FX exposure.
What does the compatibility groups dataset actually contain?
The Compatibility Groups dataset is a JSON file with 5,000+ brand-model compatibility groupings for enterprise server parts, limited to technical specs only. It sits alongside the EOSL Database in the open datasets catalog, which includes schema documentation and a citation format for anyone reusing the data.