the English language over the Arabic in the IT industry and correcting the misconception that the western developed solutions can be adapted to adequately meet the needs of the Arab users.   In its dedication to provide Arab users with state-of-the-art intelligent solutions, Sakhr faced many difficult challenges that discouraged many other players, both the international and the local. These challenges have included the lack of any government funding, which led Egysign to embark on an ambitious research and development project involving over two million man-hours, entirely funded by private investment and fueled only by its firm belief in the value of the Arabic language for its individual, corporate and government clients.   Currently Egysign Cairo employs about 150 of experienced staff who develop programs in the fields of Speech, Translation, Search, Automatic Reading, Education, and Content Management.