David Altman - US Export Council

David Altman, The US Export Council.

The US Export Council specializes in facilitating market entry for US companies to the Middle East and Africa. Its consultants include former government, foreign trade, legal, investment, media and marketing experts.

We offer consulting, marketing and media skills to U.S. companies and access to our network and services within the US on behalf of our internationally based clients.


The US Export Council started officially in January 1992 and today has clients in six countries including the United States, UAE, North Africa and Southern Africa.


In 1993, with the support from U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, President Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, we developed the annual "Made In USA Expo" in Johannesburg. Bringing the first US companies to a Post Apartheid, South Africa. These events, soon became the largest showcases of US Products and Services in Southern Africa.


According to the US Department of Commerce, the US Export Council's efforts in the area of bi-lateral trade generated in excess of $2 billion in new exports from the United States to Southern Africa, in addition to numerous joint ventures, investments and technology transfers.


In South and East Africa, Mr. Altman was instrumental in opening the doors to the first formal trade and investment between Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa in over thirty years.


We also played a role in South Africa's first Post Apartheid $750 million bond issue, which was managed by Goldman Sachs in London and the Swiss Bank Corporation.


Similarly, in Kuwait in 1995, 1996 and 1997 under the auspices ofU.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the U.S. Department of Commerce, our team launched the first "Made In USA" events in Kuwait City which produced joint ventures and significant additional U.S Exports
to that region.


Building on these successes, we have over a decade, consulted with dozens of U.S. companies, guiding them in successful entry to high growth markets in The Middle East and Africa.


In the United Arab Emirates we recently concluded a deal with Tejari a division of Dubai World providing electronic access for small and medium sized US exporters to the Middle East export markets.


We also provide targeted services to internationally based clients looking for business opportunities and market entry in to the U.S.


Prior to joining the US Export Council, Mr. Altman was President of East West, a management and marketing company based in Los Angeles and Milan, Italy for 10 years.


Mr. Altman serves on the Advisory Board of Disaster Psychiatry Outreach in New York and has worked in support of Amnesty International, UNICEF, The International Rescue Committee, El Rescate and the Red Cross


Mr. Altman also serves as President of his media firm, Jungle Media Ltd. which in addition to film finance, and public relations has produced films for television, most recently Dead at Daybreak, released as "Orion" an award winning, foreign language detective series, based on the best selling novel by Deon Meyer. 


Founder Global Leadership Institute (GLI) in New York, a social entrepreneurship venture.

GLI was formed to help build Southern Africa’s capacities and address urgent matters of human concern. Partnering with leading institutions and experts in Southern Africa and around the world, programs created by GLI are designed to teach essential leadership skills, analytical thinking, long-term planning, collaborative decision-making and problem-solving


Mr. Altman was the Founding Publisher of South Africa, The Journal of Trade, Industry and Investment which received a Golden Ink Award in New York for publishing excellence.


http://www.usexportcouncil.com

Abu Dhabi’s investment in AMD ensures a new plant near Albany, New York

Now's the time to recall why Advance Micro Devices Inc., isn't just an important company, it's a critical one. If it wasn't for AMD, we might still be writing stories about the latest, greatest 32-bit x86 servers.

The news is that AMD is splitting off its manufacturing company in an $8 billion investment deal from Abu Dhabi. The general view by analysts is this: AMD has been struggling and separating its manufacturing helps to strengthen its ability to focus on chip development.

Foreign firms that own manufacturing capacity here employ millions of U.S. workers, and it is government policy to encourage this investment. But foreign investment can also help with the transfer of technology and manufacturing capability outside the U.S.

The investment by Abu Dhabi is very different from something like Belgium-based InBev NV/SA's $52 billion purchase of Anheuser-Busch Cos. You can brew beer at home and dream big. But you need billions to start a chip company and change a market. Abu Dhabi's is taking a key role in a fundamental part of the tech economy, and by extension, U.S. economy.

Competition routinely forces tech vendors to change paths and develop better products, but rarely do the stories get as good as AMD's assault on Intel’s x86 universe.

In April 2003, AMD released Opteron, its first 64-bit x86-compatible server chip. It gave users the ability to run 32-bit and 64-bit x86 applications on the same chip.

Intel didn’t have anything like it. Hewlett-Packard Co. was focusing on Intel's Itanium as its 64-bit platform. It rejected Opteron as an “unnecessary complication” to its strategy.

Until Opteron, the x86-world was at risk of turning into a Soviet-style planned economy.

As Computerworld writer Russell Kay pointed out in a 2004, "the industry-leading vendors had stunningly misread what the market wanted …"

And did they ever.

The high performance computing users –- the fastest upgrading club in the world –- jumped on Opteron. They immediately recognized the chip’s capabilities and its perfect fit for Linux.

The business users were right behind and big server vendors, including HP, responded with Opteron-based servers. Customers wanted them.

In 2004, in New York City in the Rainbow Room, Hector Ruiz, chairman of AMD, met with analysts and press to talk about the chip. This was a great time for AMD.

Ruiz called Opteron a "wrecking ball" aimed at guess what?

But Opteron wasn’t a wrecking ball. It was a life saver. It gave customers new options and forced Intel to react and improve. Intel is better company today because of AMD.

Abu Dhabi’s investments ensure that a new fabrication plant near Albany New York will be built, no small thing in this economy. Oil money is the only money flowing right now. The country has already invested heavily in AMD and the two are now tightly linked. Will that turn out to be the best for competition and the U.S.?

The economic problems will eventually recede and the more fundamental issues will emerge overtime, namely whether the U.S. will retain intellectual and manufacturing capital in this critical sector of its economy. AMD is critical to keeping competition in the chip market, and so now is Abu Dhabi. That's the new reality today.

Patrick Thibodeaux Computer World

US EXPORT COUNCIL PROVIDES ASSISTANCE TO US COMPANIES SEEKING ACCESS TO HIGH GROWTH MARKETS OVERSEAS. http://usexportcouncil.com/

David Altman - US Export Council

David Altman, The US Export Council.

January 1991 – 2010 

Providing assistance to American firms seeking access to the high growth markets in the Gulf States, Middle East and Africa.

The US Export Council specializes in facilitating market entry for US companies to the Middle East and Africa. Its consultants include former government, foreign trade, legal, investment, media and marketing experts.

We offer specialist consulting, marketing and media skills to U.S. companies and access to our network and services within the US on behalf of our internationally based clients.


The US Export Council started officially in January 1992 and today has clients in six countries including the United States, UAE, North Africa and Southern Africa.


In 1993, with the support from U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, President Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela, we developed the annual "Made In USA Expo" in Johannesburg. Bringing the first US companies to a Post Apartheid, South Africa. These events, soon became the largest showcases of US Products and Services in Southern Africa.


According to the US Department of Commerce, the US Export Council's efforts in the area of bi-lateral trade generated in excess of $3 billion in new exports from the United States to Southern Africa, in addition to numerous joint ventures, investments and technology transfers.


In South and East Africa, Mr. Altman was instrumental in opening the doors to the first formal trade and investment between Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa in over thirty years.


We also played a role in facilitating South Africa's first Post Apartheid $750 million bond issue, which was managed by Goldman Sachs in London and the Swiss Bank Corporation.


Similarly, in Kuwait in 1995, 1996 and 1997 under the auspices of U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the U.S. Department of Commerce, our team launched the first "Made In USA" events in Kuwait City which produced joint ventures and significant additional U.S Exports
to that region.


Building on these successes, we have over a decade, consulted with dozens of U.S. companies, guiding them in successful entry to high growth markets in The Middle East and Africa.


In the United Arab Emirates we developed an online trading platform with Tejari a division of Dubai World providing electronic access for small and medium sized US exporters to the Middle East export markets.


We also provide targeted services to internationally based clients looking for business opportunities and market entry in to the U.S.


Prior to joining the US Export Council, Mr. Altman was President of East West, a management and marketing company based in Los Angeles and Milan, Italy for 10 years.


Mr. Altman served on the Advisory Board of Disaster Psychiatry Outreach in New York and has worked in support of Amnesty International, UNICEF, The International Rescue Committee, El Rescate and the Red Cross


Mr. Altman also served as President of his media firm, Jungle Media Ltd. which in addition to film finance, and public affairs has produced films for television, including Dead at Daybreak, released as "Orion" an award winning, foreign language detective series, based on the best selling novel by Deon Meyer.


As a publisher, Mr. Altman received a Golden Ink Award in New York for publishing excellence.