Computer News Middle East December 2015

issue 287 | december 2015 WWW.CNMEONLINE.COM

Kuwait Credit Bank’s 90-second loan approval system Saudi Diesel Equipment Company

flight information Gulf Air’s Dr Jassim Haji fuels fast connections.

STRATEGIC ICT PARTNER

GROUP Chairman and founder Dominic De Sousa GROUP CEO Nadeem Hood

EDITORIAL

Publishing Director Rajashree Rammohan raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5685 Editorial

Best of both worlds At the recent Internet of Things World Forum, hosted by Cisco in Dubai, I was surprised to see the number of industrial automation giants exhibiting at the show. Over the last couple of decades, manufacturing and industrial production have become technology-intensive as companies seek to improve productivity and sustainability. Now, Industrial IoT or the use of IoT solutions in manufacturing is emerging as the missing link in what many considered to be a holy grail – the convergence of IT and OT (operation technology).

Historically, these two worlds have remained in siloes, without any seamless integration. The uses of sensors and M2M communications have been prevalent in manufacturing for years, but largely restricted to the four walls of plants and proprietary networks. With industrial IoT, we have a real opportunity to bridge the gap between these parallel CIOs will have to universes, and enable the integration of production data gear up to cater with enterprise functions to improve asset utilisation, to the needs of a lower costs and reduce time to market. For industrial new generation equipment manufacturers, IoT represents an opportunity to engage with their customers in a different model and of operational generate services and support-based revenue streams like technologies, their counterparts in the IT software world. alongside However, all this is easier said than done. For IT existing IT and OT convergence to become a reality, we will need systems. a completely different architecture based on highperformance systems that are smart and secure. Another challenge is the lack of reference architecture and uniform standards. Manufacturers will have to figure out a way to protect their investments and migrate legacy systems into the IoT world, without compromising security and data privacy.

The impending IT/OT convergence will have far-reaching implications on the CIO role as well. As Gartner points out, CIOs will have to gear up to cater to the needs of a new generation of operational technologies, alongside existing IT systems. That is indeed going to be a fine balancing act on the part of any CIO. Talk to us:

E-mail: jeevan.thankappan@ cpimediagroup.com

Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5678 Editor Annie Bricker annie.bricker@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1643 Deputy Editor James Dartnell james.dartnell@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5684 Online Editor Adelle Geronimo adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5683 ADVERTISING Commercial Director Chris Stevenson chris.stevenson@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5674 Group Sales Director Kausar Syed kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 1647 Sales Manager Merle Carrasco merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5676 Circulation Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh.nair@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5682 Production and Design Production Manager James P Tharian james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5673 Designers Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5680 Neha Kalvani neha.kalvani@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 3751644 DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developer Jefferson de Joya Abbas Madh Photographer Charls Thomas Maksym Poriechkin webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 Published by

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Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor issue 287 | december 2015 WWW.cNmeONLiNe.cOm

Kuwait Credit Bank’s 90-second loan approval system

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Our events

EDITORIAL

Looking ahead December is here, and it is time to, once again, reflect on the previous 12 months in the technology sector and look to the year ahead. This year, CNME has aimed to bring you the latest in technology news, events and trends as well a roster of engaging events. This year has been one of rapidly developing disruptive technologies, shifts in the management of enterprise policy and multinational enterprise mergers – it is an understatement to say that the landscape is changing.

This year, we have seen what may be the final steps to a solid shift in IT management. CIOs have 'come out of the basement' and are are an increasingly invaluable component of overall business strategy. As such, CIOs have switched from gatekeepers to strategy makers.

Much of the technology news this year has been dedicated to the Internet of Things and machine-to-machine communication, both of which are set to have a massive effect on the way consumers interact with the world around us.

In the coming year, IoT is sure to gain traction, and shift from planning stages to becoming a reality. Self-driving cars may be a common sight The lure of in the coming years, and the inevitable debate on analysing large safety and practicality rages on. Companies large pools of data to and small are taking advantage of the cloud, in adopt predictive public, private and hybrid forms and compute and preventative virtualisation is becoming the standard. processes is huge.

Heading into the New Year, there are a great number of predictions to be made. Of course, no one knows for sure - and let's be honest every business has a different set of objectives - but my money is on much greater interest around Big Data.

True, it still remains something of a buzzword, but the lure of analysing large pools of data to adopt predictive and preventative behaviour is huge. It is data analysis such as this that will support businesses in their efforts to personalise the customer experience, and pre-plan for consistent costs such as machine maintenance.

The previous year has given us real insight into the possibilities of the future. It seems that 2015 was a year of movement – from on-premise storage and compute to cloud services; from corporate owned services to sharing economy companies like Uber or AirBNB; and from plans to leverage data and technology to actually seeing those plans come to fruition.

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ISSUE 287 | december 2015

26

CXO corner - rak ceramics' CFO Pramod kumar chand

28

gulf air's dr. jassim haji

16 Mobile masses

32

saudi diesel equipment company

17

Huawei shared its plans to cater for the world's huge Internet demands in the run-up to 2020 at the recent Global MBB Forum in Hong Kong.

In full flow

NetApp highlighted the opportunities and challenges of the impending digital era during its annual conference Insight in Berlin.

20 Sage advice

Bilal Husain, Head of Technology, MoEP, Saudi Arabia, takes us through the IT initiatives he has led in the Kingdom's public sector.

40 View from the top

36

With the UAE having the highest smartphone penetration rate, we take a look at where the telecoms industry is heading in the next year.

44 On the right track

kuwait credit bank

www.cnmeonline.com

CNME investigates which technologies will see higher uptake in the enteprise networking industry in 2016.

48 Path to protection

What lessons have been learned from the IT security space in 2015 and what lies ahead for this volatile industry?

58 The power of one

Commvault Chairman, President and CEO Robert Hammer discusses the company's services and future plans.

62 Dial M for money

Ericsson's Rutger Reman discusses the trends, challenges and opportunities in the m-commerce industry.

70 Intelligent engagements

As machines become smarter, more businesses are leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to improve customer engagement and experience.

102 Avoiding false positives

Creating excellent software comes down to an effective flatplan. We bring you top tips to dodge false positives when performing tests. december 2015

7

FUTURETECHNOLOGY THE REAL POWER of advanced technologies is 9:00 am 9:05 am

The meeting room lights come on, the projector boots up and you are ready for the briefing

The drinks machine in your office is alerted that you will arrive in 5 minutes, and begins making your drink.

You pick up your coffee and get a new schedule for the day on your phone.

9:30 am

0 AM 7:0

G TIN EE NED .

0 M PO ES 7:3 OST NUT NE UR P MI HO S YO IS 0 TP AKE E. 6 R B Y S M A A R T N OT D UR EN YO CAL

2016 forecast: advanced technologies SENSORS

cloud

$10 billion

$207 billion $50.7 billion 130 Enterprise public cloud The business analytics exabytes service spending will reach software market is expected

Wearable electronics will provide $10 billion in product revenue to technology and service providers.

$207 billion.

analytics mobility to reach $50.7 billion.

Wearable electronics will provide $10 billion in product revenue to technology and service providers.

Social $5 billion Enterprises will spend nearly $5 billion on social media marketing, according to Forrester Research

As global businesses step up the search for innovative ways to get ahead of the growth curve, a new generation of ‘future’ technologies – social, mobility, analytics and cloud – have taken centre-stage. Enterprises that embrace these technologies will be able to seamlessly redesign their business models, strategy, operations and processes to meet new business demands.

experienced when you bring them together

7:45 am

Confirmation from your service station that a spare battery is available and is ready to fit on your way to work.

7:30 am

Your car indicates that your battery needs changing, which will take 30 minutes.

7:50 am

Your preferred mechanic gets an alert that you will be passing through in the morning. His calendar is adjusted by 30 mins.

You are at the service station and your mechanic replaces the battery. Your car schedules general maintenance required in 3 weeks.

8:30 am

In 2020, the number of things connected to the internet will be seven times the number of people on earth Together, these technologies allow you to share everything - information, intelligence, insights and opinions - everywhere, all the time, transforming businesses

seamless intuitive experiences

Redefining business processes

Advances in communication technologies will enable a unified customer experience across all channels.

Technology ‘s increasing standardisation will compel businesses to re-examine what their core processes are and where they could derive competitive advantage.

crowdsourcinG peer advocacy Many firms will choose to marry POWER their future to open source technologies, and thereby automatically become part of the constant innovation that will take place in the future.

Customers want to hear and be heard, which creates the power of ‘peer advocacy’, because they trust each other more than other sources of information and reviews.

SOURCE: WWW.WIPRO.COM

Here’s an idea: Design the smallest, fastest, smartest LaserJets ever.

The all-new HP LaserJets.

Now up to 40% smaller and 40% faster.

We started with a blank page and asked “What do businesses need now?” The result is the all-new HP LaserJets, built around a breakthrough in toner chemistry. Thanks to new Original HP Toner with JetIntelligence, the new LaserJets are up to 40% smaller, up to 40% faster and use up to 53% less energy.1

The world’s most preferred printers: Worldwide printer market share, and HP printer brand awareness, consideration, and preference study in 9 markets 2014.

Based on HP internal testing of predecessor devices completed 1/2015 or published information and subject to device settings. Actual results may vary. Faster refers to First Page Out Time (FPOT). For energy efficiency, the HP M252 is 15%, HP M277 is 16% and the HP M553 is 53% lower versus predecessor. For details see hp.com/go/ljclaims © Copyright 2015 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

1

James Dartnell Deputy Editor, CNME

I

Column

EVERY LITTLE HELPS

hope the end of 2015 spells many positive things for all of you, both professionally and personally.

There's no doubting the calibre of your work over the last 12 months.

One prospect that I’m sure many of the region’s chief information officers are licking their lips at is the promise of their 2016 budget.

But for every Middle Eastern CIO that cannot wait to put down the cold hard cash that promises to drive their business, there will be one who is left starved of the requisite resources.

I am in no doubt that, aside from meetings on strategic decisionmaking, the last few weeks and months have been spent convincing your peers and CEOs of the necessity of that all-important IT investment for your business.

Whether it’s an updated ERP system, a greater number of specialist staff or that move to the cloud that www.cnmeonline.com

you desire, a fresh balance sheet gives you the chance to make a new mark on your organisation.

It is clear to anyone who listens to your stories of success that the budget approval process - along with user resistance in particular - is one of the biggest hurdles you will face in the process of enterprise technology adoption.

I’ve spent many an hour hearing of the frustrations and jubilations you all face in this journey. Some of your colleagues just don’t get it. They’re stuck in the dark ages and can’t see IT being anything but a cost centre.

These figures can be an absolute nuisance to deal with, and although many can be convinced with a bit of work, others just won’t budge.

By the same token, the gratitude of those who are afforded the appropriate backing for their desired projects is evident. It makes all the

difference when senior management figures do not need to be convinced of technology’s merits, and habitually consider the overall business impact of any change.

Whichever camp you fall into, I have no doubt that you now have the opportunity to justify whether your board was wrong to deny your request, or to vindicate their support by making the most of your new initiatives.

I hope the CIOs who have been left wanting in terms of financial backing can make the very best of what they are given, and for those who are armed with the necessary resources to prove that their strategic decisions were correct.

I wish you all the best of success for 2016 and that your cutting-edge initiatives can prove to the world and your businesses - that the region's talent is making its mark in IT. december 2015

11

{

CIO Soundbites What will be the hot IT trend for 2016?

Muhammad Ali Albakri, CIO & CFO, Saudi Arabian Airlines “I believe the hottest thing will be how companies and enterprises remodel their businesses to take advantage of the opportunities brought about by the IoT. Early adapters will gain a lot by expanding their reach, producing innovative solutions or products, and creating new demand.”

}

Esam Hadi, Senior IT Manager, Aluminium Bahrain "I believe that the Internet of Things will be the biggest topic in 2016, especially in the GCC region.

IoT is considered as the next frontier, but we have seen many companies adopting technologies and solutions to automate their businesses and be more productive. Homes are getting smarter with devices and sensors that control power, temperature and even food in the fridge.

Cities are becoming smarter by using devices and sensors which help controlling parking, traffic, power and health.”

Tariq Al-Usaimi, CIO, Kuwait Credit Bank “Digitalisation is the topic of 2016. In light of falling oil prices and growth in populations, governments in the Gulf states are forced to do more with less. What better way to achieve that goal than with digitalisation?

All Gulf states have passed new laws governing digital transactions, but until today none have fully taken advantage of them. The only way to keep citizen satisfaction levels high with the lowest spend is to digitalise all operations.”

12

DECEMBER 2015

www.cnmeonline.com

short takes

Month in view

Ericsson, Cisco enter strategic partnership

Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson

Ericsson has entered a strategic partnership with Cisco, which will combine the capabilities of both companies on routing, data centre networking, cloud, mobility, management and control, and global services.

Together, the two tech companies will be offering end-to-end solutions across network architectures for 5G, cloud and IP, and the Internet of Things.

Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson, said, “This partnership fortifies the IP strategy we have developed over the past few years and it is a key step forward in our company transformation.”

As a result of the partnership, Ericsson will extend its addressable market and is expected to generate $1 billion or more of additional sales by 2018. The extended market is primarily in professional services, software and reselling Cisco products. The additional sales are expected to be accretive to operating income already in 2016. The partnership is expected to generate full-year effect from synergies, primarily in expenses of around $115 million in 2018.

Both companies have confirmed that they will continue to explore further joint business opportunities as the partnership progresses.

14

DECEMBER 2015

IBM, Mubadala launch cognit technology solutions Mubadala Development Company and IBM have launched ‘Cognit Technology Solutions’ as the business entity to provide IBM’s computing system Watson to organisations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Cognit has been established specifically to apply IBM’s Watson computing capabilities to local industries and to support a regional ecosystem of entrepreneurs, app developers and startups who are creating Watson apps and services throughout MENA, as well as providing services in Arabic.

Homaid Al Shemmari, CEO, Aerospace and Engineering Services (AES), Mubadala, said, “Cognit will enable technological innovation all around us, providing Watson technology to local forward-thinking organisations across multiple sectors. The joint venture is a significant addition to Mubadala’s ICT portfolio and fortifies our ambition to develop the UAE as a regional ICT hub. Mubadala and IBM are committed to Cognit, and confident about the success of the joint venture.”

“We are very excited to be partnering with IBM to accelerate the deployment of cognitive computing across the UAE and the MENA region and the development of Arabic Watson,” said Sami Issa, General Manager, Cognit. “Unveiling Cognit during UAE Innovation Week underscores the pivotal role we expect to play in igniting innovation.”

Brian Mulada, Chief Financial Officer, IBM Watson, said, “The MENA region is primed for this type of technology. Since introducing Watson through local client engagements, we’ve seen a strong response, and look forward to broadening cognitive adoption by growing the Watson ecosystem through Cognit. Additionally, our partnership with Mubadala is key to accelerating Watson’s ability to understand Arabic.”

In 2016, ABOUT 6.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide, up 30 percent from 2015 Source: Gartner

www.cnmeonline.com

IDC has forecast that lifting sanctions against Iran could see the country becoming the fastest-growing ICT market in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa over the next five years.

HP Enterprise, Intel partner for IoT edge computing Hewlett Packard Enterprise has announced that it will partner with Intel on projects focusing on the Internet of Things.

As part of the partnership, the two companies will also work on developing products for computing at the edges of networks.

The Intel IoT platform is the chip company’s set of technologies for building and running networks of connected things. The platform, according to Intel, is designed in part to help Intel take on silicon rivals that use the mobile-friendly

cybercrime hits 2 Million UAE consumers

According to the findings of the Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report, an estimated 2 million UAE citizens experienced cybercrime in the past year.

Surveying more than 17,000 consumers across the world, including 1,012 in the UAE, the research sheds light on the effects of consumer cybercrime.

Although it is often believed that the older generation is perceived as less tech savvy, the report has shown that millennials, born in a digital era, are more likely to be affected. In the UAE, 42 percent of millennials have experienced online crime in the past 12 months, compared to 39 percent of Generation X. www.cnmeonline.com

Alarmingly, 15 percent of millennials have had their identity stolen and more than half of those millennials surveyed know someone that has had their mobile device stolen. Moreover, in the last year, UAE consumers have spent approximately 30 hours of their time in dealing with the consequences of online crime. It also cost an average of AED 2,331 per person – with UAE respondents losing under AED 5 billion in total.

“We no longer need convincing of the risks – cybercrime has unfortunately become a fact of life in the UAE,” said Tamim Taufiq, Middle East Manager, Norton Business Unit.

“Findings of the report demonstrate that the reality of cybercrime still hasn’t led to widespread adoption of simple, yet secure protection measures. As the UAE becomes increasingly mobile savvy, this should be reflected in the approach all generations make to safeguarding their personal information and their loved ones.”

ARM architecture, but it also includes software and security components that could be used independent of Intel chips.

HPE will build products that act as gateways, collecting, processing and analysing data from a variety of connected sensors and devices. The systems will be based on processors from Intel’s Core i5 and Atom families. The first of its purposebuilt IoT systems are set to become available next month.

In addition, the two companies also announced that they have set up labs where enterprises can experiment with IoT applications and devices. The three IoT Discovery Labs are located in Houston, Singapore and Grenoble, France, where users can test technologies from third parties as well as from Intel and HP.

EES attains Microsoft Gold SAM Competency Emitac Enterprise Solutions (EES) has announced its attainment of Gold SAM Competency in the Microsoft Partner Programme.

According to EES, as a certified Microsoft SAM Gold Competency partner, they can now offer qualifying organisations a complete Microsoft SAM review. By doing so, Microsoft customers can identify if an organisation is completely utilising their software licenses with minimal costs while reducing the risk of non-compliance with EES Software Asset Management services.

“We are delighted to achieve the Microsoft Gold SAM Competency and look forward to this allowing us to deepen our relationships with our customers,” said Madhav Reddy Kolli, Microsoft Business Unit Head, EES. “It will help customers save money while improving visibility and control of their software assets through optimised SAM practices.”

DECEMBER 2015

15

EVENT

Global mbb forum

mobile masses Annie Bricker reports from Huawei's recent Global MBB Forum in Hong Kong, where the company shared its plans to cater for the world's huge Internet demands in the runup to 2020.

n November 3rd, Huawei opened its 2015 Mobile Broadband expo, Global MBB Forum 2015, in Hong Kong, China. The Global MBB Forum 2015 ran until 5th November and was co-organised by the GSMA and Huawei.

Nearly 1,000 leading operators, telecommunications associations, regulatory bodies, standard organisations, analyst firms, vertical industry partners and international media representatives from around the world attended the forum, gathering in Hong Kong’s expo centre to see the Chinese company’s latest offerings.

Delivering the keynote, Ken Hu, Huawei’s Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO, outlined the company’s roadmap to 2020 with regard to mobile broadband connectivity. “From now until 2020, we have three main targets: supporting 6.7 billion mobile broadband users, supporting a 1Gbps access rate, and supporting one billion connections for the cellular Internet of Things,” he said.

“Achieving these goals will require technology and business model innovation, as well as cross-industry collaboration. Huawei’s mobile

O

16

december 2015

Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO, Huawei.

broadband strategy will focus on spectrum, air interface, network architecture, integrated base stations, and operations based on user experience.”

He continued, “Connecting people remains a top priority, so both quantity and quality matter. The network is the foundation of user experience, but as we focus on the network, we must, at the same time, focus on the user. And in focusing on network performance, we must also keep in mind how users experience the network.”

Guests at the event discussed issues related to Huawei’s most recent theme building a better connected world. This included topics such as the expansion of the MBB pipe using 4.5G solutions, and

how to take advantage of more powerful pipe capability to explore new industry opportunities.

During the forum, 25 speakers from GSMA, CMCC, Telefonica, Vodafone, Orange, Telecom Italia, SoftBank, Google, BOSCH, and more gave engaging presentations to the attendees.

Alongside their host, the 2015 Global MBB Forum exhibition area featured industry partners such as SAIC Motor, BOSCH, Facebook, and Parrot, who demonstrated the latest enabling technologies and business applications.

New technologies highlighted during the event included 5G innovation, the Narrow Band Internet of Things (NBIOT), MBB network evolution and 4.5G applications. www.cnmeonline.com

Netapp Insight

EVENT

Rob Salmon, President, NetApp

In full flow Gathering over 3,500 attendees including industry experts, sponsors, customers and partners, NetApp hosted the 2015 edition of its Insight conference at CityCube, Berlin. nder the theme ‘Building Data Fabric together,’ NetApp's annual technical conference centred on the opportunities and challenges of the inevitable digital era and the company's 'Data Fabric vision'.

Manfred Reitner, Senior Vice President and General Manager, NetApp EMEA, kicked off the session to welcome delegates from over 60 countries, which includes its partners Cisco, Fujitsu and VMware.

Reitner underlined that the main goal of Insight was to create a platform where vendors and customers could share expertise and experiences with each other. “NetApp has always been focused on creating positive outcomes for customers," he said. "Understanding what goals our customers want to accomplish and working with them in achieving such objectives is what we stand for.”

U

www.cnmeonline.com

He also highlighted that their partner ecosystem has been instrumental in helping them turn the NetApp Data Fabric vision into a reality.

NetApp's message was that Data Fabric enables organisations to control how they manage, secure, and move data across the hybrid cloud.

Company President Rob Salmon, then gave his keynote presentation, and emphasised the three strategic elements which, according to him, are key to NetApp’s success – ‘innovation, partnership and culture.’

As for the industry, Salmon reiterated that the IT space has gone through significant developments and changes over the years. "With all the things that are happening in the vendor-customer community right now, the impending digital era gains more importance than ever,” he said.

“Data signifies more power for

organisations in the future. Our Data Fabric enables businesses to control growth, maintain their competitive edge, be agile, and balance risk and cost,” he added.

On the sidelines of the event, Joel Reich, Executive Vice President, Product Operations, discussed how data is at the heart of businesses today.

He also discussed the Data Fabric ecosystem and the necessities in its functioning. “It is quite easy to move data to the cloud, however, ensuring proper integration is where the challenge arises and action is needed.”

Lee Caswell, VP, Product, Solutions and Services, Netapp, also shared several new products and enhancements by the company, which included StorageGRID Webscale 10.2; new SnapCenter; new Commvault IntelliSnap for NetApp; expanded Synchronous Replication with MetroCluster; enhanced Professional Services for Disaster Recovery Solutions; Flash for the price of disk; extension of 3x Performance Guarantee Offer; and a new release of clustered Data ONTAP with Inline Dedupe and Copy Free Transition.

During the course of the four-day event, attendees also had a chance to choose among 300 break-out sessions and earn new certifications. december 2015

17

EVENT

schneider electric

keeping cool

At a media discussion in Conselve, Italy, Schneider Electric experts opened up on how the company’s range of data centre cooling solutions positions it well to ride market trends.

T

he explosion of digital content, e-commerce and the rise of Big Data applications have necessitated a re-look at traditional approaches to data centre design.

“I would like to venture that no industry, including the automotive industry, comes close to the transformation undergone by the data centre industry in the last 10 years,” said Maurizio Frizziero, Product Line Manager, Chilled Water Solutions, Schneider Electric. “In fact, it is not possible to use the data centre technology of five years ago to deal with the volume of data being generated today.”

To manage the enormous amount of data, data centres themselves are changing, right from the technologies going inside the boxes to managing 18

december 2015

the dynamics of growing energy consumption.

The typology of data exchange has changed over the past 10 years as telecom companies are joined by Internet giants and global enterprises with their own data centres, while small and medium enterprises prefer colocation or the cloud to having their own centres.

With the world moving towards greater efficiency, data centres, with their reputation of being a major consumer of electricity, have to evolve.

Ezio Sturaro, Product Line Manager, Precision Air Conditioning Units, Schneider Electric said, “Ten years ago, we were regulating our machines with fixed speed machines working on return temperatures that were 7-12 degrees celsius. Today, we are 10 degrees higher on water, and more or less the same

on air because we are working on the reverse side.”

Frizziero and Sturaro were speaking at a media roundtable organised on the sidelines of Schneider Electric’s Cooling for Future Data Centres event at its Conselve facility in Italy. They were joined by Samir El Hassanin, Director Cooling and Secure Power - EMEA South, Schneider Electric. The objective of the event was twofold: one, showcase the latest advances and trends in cooling products and solutions for data centres from Schneider and second; highlight how the integration of the Uniflair brand, products and solutions portfolio makes the company a more complete cooling solutions provider.

Frizziero noted that with cooling accounting for a significant chunk of the power consumption in data centres, Schneider Electric hoped to use the event to share information about the new cooling technologies while also recommending design guidelines for the benefit of end-users.

He said: “If the design temperature for a chiller 10 years ago was 35 degrees celsius, with up to 45 degrees peak, the today's equivalent is 50 degrees with a peak much higher than that.“ www.cnmeonline.com

According to Frizziero, while design of the unit can mitigate the impact of cooling on power consumption, the gains would be limited or sub-optimal if the data centre has been designed using traditional approaches.

Sturaro pointed out that Schneider wanted to educate end-users on how the company tailors its solutions and products to different climatic zones.

Currently, Schneider Electric’s cooling product portfolio comprises four types of units, namely Computer Room Air Conditioners or CRACS, In Row air conditioners, chillers and air handlers.

Frizziero explained, “Of these, our In Row unit is the only commodity-type product. The rest - CRACS, air handlers, chillers - are related to the building site so they must be customised with options or engineered to order, especially if the customer requirements are highly specific. In fact, we have a team dedicated to customised products in the US, Italy and China, and another team, based in Italy, to support the customisation team.”

Schneider Electric’s cooling R&D and manufacturing facilities are distributed across four geographies – the US, Italy, China and India. The company has a pool of more than 200 engineers and cooling specialists.

“Having R&D across time zones makes us effective in terms of work.

While we work as one team, the work gets divided according to needs, specific products, workload and expertise,” said Sturaro.

A wide manufacturing footprint means the company is able to cater to local and regional markets more effectively. For example, the plant in Costa Mesa, US, manufactures CRACS for the North American market. On the other hand, the facility in Conselve, Italy supplies CRACS, chillers and access flooring to the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia. www.cnmeonline.com

“We have a portfolio that can be adjusted and customised because we have several areas, several standards and different climatic conditions,” said Frizziero. “If a customer wants a particular solution, we can consult with them on implementing it. Of course, free cooling will be a tough proposition in Marrakech than in Oslo but we could look at different approaches to achieve the results that the customer is looking for.”

“Data centres today are looking for reliability, efficiency and flexibility,” said El Hassanin. “They need reliability and flexibility in terms of components, the flexibility to scale up or down as required and we provide all of that.”

Apart from the Building Management System (BMS) software that connects all the units that make up the physical infrastructure of a data centre, Schneider Electric also provides Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software that help smanage both the IT infrastructure and the physical infrastructure as a single system.

To guarantee operations in case of emergencies like cyber-attacks, the cooling units have been equipped with smart features that enable them to control themselves.

“Our units can communicate with each other without interfacing with a BMS,” explained El Hassanin.

“Customers are now asking for smart units to ensure that the data centre is able to operate even in emergency situations.”

Towards the end of the roundtable session, the spokespeople summarised the market dynamics for data centre cooling, starting with power consumption.

Picking out compressors as the biggest culprit when it comes to power consumption, Frizziero said the ideal solution would be reduce the use of compressors.

He said, “The key concept here is that production of cooling shouldn’t be confined to compressors alone. There are solutions like adiabatic cooling and free cooling that partially reduce the impact of power consumption.”

Sturaro added: “Reducing the use of compressors could mean the direct free cooling of water, using the air where needed, or making the best use of the external environment through intermediate heat exchangers on the water side or air side.”

“By combining these approaches with our products, we are able to reduce the impact of the compressor while providing the optimal solution to the customer.”

As the size of data centres increases, their numbers decrease.

In parallel with the trend of large data centres being set up by large corporations with a global footprint, companies that don’t have similar scale or reach but require all the features and needs of reliability and cooling are migrating to co-location data centres and the cloud.

“As data centres get larger, they are also looking for specific designs and solutions, which means we are engaging more deeply with consultants and customers than in the past,” said Sturaro.

Sizing mechanical cooling for higher outdoor temperatures is a trend that is gaining traction. Frizziero explained: “The higher the design temperature, the better the reliability.

The Uptime Institute recommends taking into consideration the highest temperature in the last 20 years and adding five degrees more to get the design temperature. Other important drivers include increasingly crowded roofs, installation of sound barriers to reduce the noise, which also means reducing cooling device airflow and also rise in temperatures due to climate change.” december 2015

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Spotlight

Sage advice Bilal Husain needs a keen eye for detail. The Head of Technology, Finance and Operations for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Economy and Planning has honed his broad capabilities at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has been called upon countless times to act in an advisory capacity for his country’s government.

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y most measures, Bilal Husain is a man in demand. Born and raised in Riyadh, his love of technology began in the early 1980s, when his father brought home a 4.77 MHz IBM XT PC. “I was absolutely delighted,” he says. “It was a coup before the Commodore.” After graduating high school, he began a six-year stint of rigorous higher education at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, where he became a software specialist.

Upon graduating, he spent four years as IT Director for Saudi firm CCCS, where his time was dedicated to driving enterprise document management system projects. “It was a fantastic way to start my career,” Husain says.

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Telecom giant BT came knocking for his services in 2003, where he would work in a business adviser capacity on a number of their new partnerships. “We worked on many projects with a range of telco firms,” Husain says. “One of those was an implementation we launched with STC, which was adopted by other telcos around the world.” In line with his work at BT, Husain would also work in an advisory capacity to Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Council for Petroleum and Minerals Affairs, and King Fahd Medical City throughout the period.

In 2007, Husain’s expertise was in demand for a milestone in Saudi Arabia’s technological development – the establishment of its e-Government programme, where he spent two years as Director of all public e-services projects. Initially providing services for Jeddah Municipality, work then shifted to the Ministry of Labour and other organisations, and Husain was operating in a business development capacity. “It was a transformation in the way services were delivered,” he says.

By February 2010, Husain’s technological and entrepreneurial instincts would take over, as he would found his consulting and technical services firm eTransactions, which specialises in data connectivity and social media management solutions.

The company flourished, and Husain has since sold a 50 percent stake in the company to a Saudi partner.

“I often had special requests from organisations to provide end-to-end solutions,” he says. “I think one of my real strengths was my ability to provide great access to a lot of top companies in the US market, and to seasoned consultants and experts in the industry.” Husain was, and continues to be, an advocate of giving www.cnmeonline.com

the customer exactly what they want.

The work undertaken at MoH by “I strongly believe that one profile, or Husain did not go unnoticed, and in one strategy, does not fit all clients’ April 2015 he joined the Ministry of needs,” he says. “Everything has to be Economy and Planning (MoEP) as Head specially designed and tailored for of Technology, Operations and Finance. each customer.”

Like his previous employers, MoEP Husain’s broad capabilities were was undergoing a period of transition evidenced once again in 2012, as and was in need of transparent and he was appointed Director General coherent IT and financial policies. of Internal Audit for Saudi Arabia’s “MoEP is a small organisation, with Ministry of Labour (MoL). Whilst less than 500 employees,” Husain says. there, he was tasked with overseeing “The role of the Minisitry is changing, a major overhaul of the organisation’s and my audit background has been department. “I had to ensure KPIs heavily called upon to ensure mistakes across ministries were aligned,” he are not made.” The Ministry has since says. “IT security was vitally important established the Office of Strategic for us, so we had to ensure the right Management, in which Husain has been solutions were in place to maintain our heavily involved. “We’ve called upon integrity.” a number of business cases to decide

By August on new initiatives 2014, Husain’s and where our “I strongly believe IT and finance spending should competencies that one profile, or go,” he says. were in demand As Husain’s one strategy, does throughout job title suggests, not fit all clients’ Saudi Arabia’s he is responsible government. for a broad range needs. Everything He was initially of functions, and has to be specially recruited as he believes this designed and Director General only gives him an of Internal Audit, added edge when it tailored for each Inventory Control comes to enhancing customer.” and Follow-up his overall IT Departments contribution for the Ministry of Health (MoH), a to MoEP. “The benefit of having vast organisation which presented experience across operations and 'great challenges' to Husain. “I went finance is huge when it comes to my from overseeing a team of 15 to one work in IT,” he says. “Technology of around 2,000,” he says. “There leaders need to understand the were all sorts of things that needed workings of the whole organisation, attention in the organisation.” By and I have faith in my ability to do January 2015, he was then enlisted as that.”

Chief Strategy Officer – once again at Husain is one of an increasing MoL – to monitor change management number of IT professionals who are processes. “I had to help MoL shift its buying into the power of outsourcing focus to having a performance-driven certain functions of IT, through the culture,” he says. use of managed services. “We’re december 2015

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Spotlight

moving across ministries at the time, currently looking at a number of so had a lot different topics I could options,” he says. “We believe that discuss,” he says. “I homed in on the through a number of sage decisions, digital transformation and virtual by conducting the right POCs, we can organisations. Most panelists were securely move certain functions to US-based, so for me to invited from the third party hosted environments; core Kingdom was an honour.” support services such as email and An advocate of innovation, Husain enterprise project management come relishes using creative solutions in under this bracket.” driving MoEP. He is also extremely Aside from his day job, Husain has grateful for the backing he receives a passion for continuing professional from those above him. “I’ve been development, and has undertaken incredibly fortunate to have a fantastic a range of learning programmes in team and excellent support from some of the world’s most prestigious the minister,” he says. “He wants us universities. “I attended the ‘driving to innovate and try new things, and government performance’ initiative use technology at the Harvard in fresh ways. He John F. Kennedy “The blend of appreciates that School of there is no magic Government,” he expertise that you and that says, “and I hold can pick up from the formula, we can’t accomplish two executive MIT professors and everything at once, degrees from the Massachusetts guests is invaluable at that we need professional Institute of – last time I went, I sage judgement.”

Technology – one was with the head of By the same in leadership token, Husain management and R&D for Boeing and ensures his teams one in strategic Dell’s CTO.” are appropriately innovation.” equipped to tackle Husain believes the challenges they face. “I firmly the opportunity to study at the believe that a team cannot be ready to renowned MIT was an invaluable meet your expectations overnight,” he learning and professional experience. says. “Things ultimately need to pay “It’s a dream for any techy,” he says. off in the long-term.” He also says the “The blend of expertise that you can culture of working with the government pick up from the professors there, agencies for which he has worked has and the other seasoned, executive ensured that he and his peers are not participants – last time I went, I was left wanting in their skillsets. “None with the head of R&D for Boeing and of the organisations have believed in Dell’s CTO – is extremely valuable.” hierarchies,” he says. “We keep shuffling The US is a place seemingly close duties, which means I work across IT to Husain’s heart, and a pillar of his and finance. I believe this allows us to professional learning. He names his succeed across competencies, and is career highlight as being invited to an excellent way to create a productive participate as a panelist at the 2009 and efficient team.”

CIO Symposium in the US. “I was 22

december 2015

TIMELINE 1998 Graduates from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

2003 Begins advisory work at British Telecom

2007 Tasked with overseeing Saudi e-Government programme

2010 Launches startup ‘eTransactions’

2012 Named head of internal audit for Ministry of Labour

2015 Joins Ministry of Economy and Planning

www.cnmeonline.com

TI-99

The early 1980 s saw the popularisation of the home computer. Known today for their line of scientific graphing calculators, in the late 70 s and 80 s, Texas Instruments tried their hand at the home computing game. Released in June 1981 in the United States, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A was an updated version of their unpopular TI-99/4 released two years prior.

The goal was, apparently, to make a more affordable version of the machine.

The 1979 incantation would have set a consumer back $1150, while the TI-99/4A dropped down significantly to $525.

The 1979 version fell short in more ways than affordability. The TI-99/4 had a calculator-style chiclet keyboard and a character set that lacked lowercase text. The TI99/4A added an additional graphics mode, 'lowercase' characters consisting of small capitals, and a full-travel keyboard. Both used 16-bit processors, making the TI-99/4 series the first 16-bit home computers.

Like most machines of the day, the TI-99 series incorporated a video

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display processor (VDP) to handle the generation of its display. The video display processor in the 99/4 was a TMS9918. It lacked a bitmap mode, which was added in the 99/4A. The VDP in the American 99/4A was the TMS9918A giving the machine the 'A' in its name. In the European PAL consoles, this was replaced with the TMS9929A, which also powered MSX machines.

Initially, the TI-99/4A was reasonably successful, taking nearly 35 percent of the home computer market at its peak. However, TI quickly found itself engaged in a price war with Commodore International, and was forced to lower the computer's price in order to compete. By August 1982, the computer was still losing shelf space. TI offered a $100 rebate, and eventually was removed from the market entirely in 1983.

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CXO Corner

Tile tech Keeping track of the finances of any business is no easy job. As Chief Financial Officer of RAK Ceramics, Pramod Kumar Chand, however, is tasked with this key function in an organisation that spans 160 countries, with a large product portfolio. He told CNME how his strong relationship with IT ensures things run smoothly.

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he stats on RAK Ceramics are impressive by most measures. The company has a global annual production capacity of 117 million m2 of ceramic and porcelain tiles, 4.6 million pieces of sanitaryware and 24 million pieces of tableware, with a turnover of $1 billion and a distribution network that spans over 160 countries. The company has its headquarters in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, where 12 production plants occupy a site of 2.5 million m2 and employ over 8,000 people. With additional plants in Bangladesh and India, the firm has approximately 15,000 employees worldwide.

In the hotseat for the company’s finances sits CFO Pramod Kumar Chand, who has been with the company since 2014. Prior to joining the firm, he was CFO of RAK Investment Authority, having joined from Indian cement firm Birla Corporation, where he spent the vast majority of his career. He has since relished the challenge of working for an international firm. “Joining RAK Ceramics has given me fantastic global experience,” he says. “Our main advantages are the broad range of products we offer and the fact we are so international.”

Founded in 1991, the company started out with just one plant, but since seen huge expansion. Chand is fully aware that technological initiatives could usher in a new era of even greater growth, but wants to ensure that the company is fully prepared for what could result. “Digitalisation is a massive opportunity for us but is heavily prone to risks,” he says. “It’s important to balance innovation and risk management, and in order to

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context in mind, the firm is one of do this, I have to work very closely the first in the country that plans with our CIO, and keep a close eye to introduce 3D printing solutions on market trends.” On a global scale, to its design phase. “We installed Chand does not believe the trend has 14 digital printing machines last fully impacted manufacturing. “It’s year,” Chand says. “This is bound to not that mature worldwide,” he says. bring fantastic benefits in the design “It hasn’t quite come into play but process, and should also facilitate over time that will change.” manufacturing. It will give our Although digitalisation is never designers a greater perspective on far from the mind of any forwardhow products will look which is a thinking CFO, Chand feels the great value-add.” organisation has one key hurdle to Another component that overcome before any new initiatives transcends design and IT is can really get into full swing.

RAK Ceramics’ website, He firmly believes which Chand says that establishing is due a revamp. the right IT “Our top priority “We’re certainly infrastructure is is certainly to have looking at a prerequisite investing in a for wider full functionality of SAP, new design, success. a process that we class to make the “SAP was as a journey. We believe whole thing implemented that it will improve other more userin 2012 processes and enable us friendly,” before I to push forward with he says. arrived,” he “Granted this is says. “However, digitalisation.” a marketing aspect we are in as well, but user agreement that we experience is increasingly cannot yet call ourselves important in technology.” mature users. We could certainly On the subject of his relationship be better.” Chand is confident that with RAK Ceramics’ CIO, Chand says once their competencies advance, the pair work extremely closely success will follow. “Our top priority together. “We meet pretty much is certainly to have full functionality every day,” he says. “At the moment, of SAP, a process that we class we're having frequent meetings to as a journey. We believe that it discuss our SAP work. We collaborate will improve other processes and together on the steering committee as enable us to push forward with well, which means we need to ensure digitalisation.” our goals are aligned.” Chand adds In the context of the UAE that the effects caused by IT projects marketplace, RAK Ceramics stands never fail to touch on his work. in a relatively niche position. One “Pretty much everything the CIO of the larger manufacturers in the does impacts finance, and for most country, the company’s strategy is projects, and as such, for most IT built around a high quality as well projects, I am the owner.” as quantity of output. With this december 2015

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case study

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Gulf Air

december 2015

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First in flight Gulf Air, the flag carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has a history of flying high.

The firm's Director of IT, Dr. Jassim Haji, relished the opportunity to upgrade its data centre to a first-class package. r. Jassim Haji is hardly one to accept something out of the box. If the solution is not right for the Bahrain’s national airline, the Gulf Air Director of IT is not afraid to find a better fit, or go even further to build the solution with his team in-house. “We, as a company, want to have control over each IT component that we utilise,” says Haji. “We cannot rely on out-of-the-box, end-to-end solutions to meet each of our specific needs.” The answer is simple, says Haji. His team takes each area for potential improvement on a case by case basis. For the IT team at Gulf Air, each solution must deliver perfection in solving each issue.

“This way, we can use the best technology for each IT component across the board,” says Haji.

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“We, as a company, want to have control over each IT component that we utilise.

We cannot rely on out-of-thebox, end-toend solutions to meet each of our specific needs.”

Gulf Air has a history of flying on the cutting-edge of the aviation industry. Founded in the early 1950s, the carrier is one of the oldest aviation companies in the region.

In the 1970s, the government of Bahrain (then an emirate, and now a Kingdom), the State of Qatar, the emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman purchased the majority share of the aviation company, giving each government partial share in Gulf Air. In 1981, it became the first international airline to land in Riyadh, and in 1990, Gulf Air was the first Arab airline to fly to Australia. By 1992, Johannesburg and Melbourne were added to its route map, and it became the first Arab airline to fly directly to each.

In the same vein, Gulf Air has recently been quick on the uptake when it comes to new technology.

The company invests heavily in its IT department across people, process and technology, though this strong position has not come without tribulation. “When the new team came in 2011, we had to deal with some legacy systems that needed addressing,” recalls Haji. “I didn’t want to just keep reacting to issues; we needed to create a system that was pro-active.” The team, he says, had to be willing to take on a dual challenge – firstly, to provide the best solutions, and second, to do so with zero downtime. The result was a two-year roadmap to renovate its data centre and take on a number of transformative IT projects that would change the game for Gulf Air. As a rapidly growing aviation company, Gulf Air requires agility, security and availability. Haji decided that a state-of-the-art, december 2015

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Gulf Air

environmentally friendly data centre was what the firm needed. Gulf Air applied F5’s Application Delivery Control solution as the scaffolding for delivering applications throughout its worldwide network. “We are essentially creating a cloud in the clouds,” quips Haji, referring to the number of virtualisation projects the team has implemented. The company chose Red Hat as its main project enabler. “Red Hat gave us both stability and flexibility,” says Haji.

Its open source model provided the ability to create bespoke solutions, and the team could easily scrap one plan and move to the next if they felt it necessary.

The security of the data that Gulf Air collects is of the utmost importance to the company, and this duty of care would require careful consideration. “We have gone above and beyond when it comes to protecting customer data,” says

“We are no longer only talking tech in the IT department, we are talking strategy.”

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Haji. The airline implemented an ISO 27001-certified Information Security Management System, and created a board dedicated to addressing new information security initiatives.

“Our security architecture is based on defence-in-depth and layered measures,” explains Haji. As such, Gulf Air has deployed HP’s TippingPoint next generation of Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) to protect its IT infrastructure. In all, the IPS has blocked nearly 8,000 attempts to compromise the network per year. In addition, Gulf Air has implemented a privileged user management solution from Wallix, a European software company specialising in access, traceability and audit products.

The IT team gained a great deal of credit in the past year for rolling out its 'Electronic Flight Bag', which replaces the traditional reams of paper required for pilots to carry on board. Those bags include sensitive documents paramount to the safety of a flight. With the digitised version of these documents, there is no longer the risk of losing or forgetting one of these documents, creating a safer situation for all involved.

Although Gulf Air has emerged as a regional aviation innovator in the last two years, Haji has no plans to stop innovating. “We are always striving to do better, and to take on new challenges. For example, we have created the first data analytics tool that utilises Arabic,” says Haji.

The company also has plans to go 'as paperless as possible' and to support other green initiatives by leveraging technology.

“I didn’t want to just keep reacting to issues; we needed to create a system that was proactive.”

Haji credits his team for the success of Gulf Air’s many IT projects.

“Just as the aviation industry never sleeps, my team are also working on new initiatives at all hours,” says Haji. He also notes the support of the C-suite of Gulf Air. “Our CEO has been behind us all the way,” says Haji. “As we see more and more success and positive ROIs, everyone involved is excited to move forward.

“It can make people nervous to be the first ones to take on a new technology,” says Haji, “but because we research our options so thoroughly beforehand, we can move forward with confidence.” In all, the plan to go first has paid off, saving the company nearly 30 percent in operating costs. “The key is that we are not implementing technology for the sake of technology,” says Haji.

“We are no longer only talking tech in the IT department, we are talking strategy.”

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case study

Saudi Diesel Equipment Company

need for speed With its internal departments siloed and lacking process alignment, Saudi Diesel Equipment Company needed unity and efficiency in its technology. Ahmed Alkooheji, Department Head, IT and PMO sought an ERP solution that could provide transparency and clarity for the firm. audi Diesel Equipment Company (SDEC) was established in 1978 and has served both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region since. The company is the sole distributor of some of the most iconic brands in the diesel equipment industry, one that is paramount to the country's growth.

Saudi Diesel services organisations across a range of verticals, including private industry and government agencies throughout KSA. To maintain its rapid growth in the region, the company knew it had to make some strategic changes in its IT infrastructure, and to unify its workflow throughout its many departments.

Ahmed Alkooheji, Department Head, IT and PMO, SDEC, recalls the legacy systems that were in place in 2008. “We had one application for each business process, and some of our processes were still completely manual,” he says. This meant that there was one system for finance, one for human resources, a different system for fleet management and

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more. “This situation crippled our ability to grow our business,” Alkooheji says. With each department working on a different system, it was a chore to coordinate workflows between siloed systems.

The legacy system in place at that time also created a transparency issue within the company. “Because the systems were not connected, we had a lack of visibility of our resources, including our fleet of vehicles, our current and potential customers, our inventory or parts, our accounting, costs, revenue potential, equipment availability and profitability – and the list just goes on,” says Alkooheji.

When it became apparent that their legacy systems were holding back progress, the company hired third party consultants to assess potential improvements in their IT infrastructure. “We needed to make a number of changes,” says Alkooheji. “We needed to support an increasingly complex sales and business process, as well as keep track of our extensive supply chain requirements,” he says. SDEC was also adamant that it needed to integrate

multiple business units to deliver a holistic view of the entire system.

In addition, there were a number of systems that it determined could be automated in an effort to lower costs and streamline functions. In short, the company needed a solution that could replace outdated legacy systems and streamline business processes, while giving it the ability to manage multiple ongoing projects.

The first step to streamlining this siloed system, says Alkooheji, was to take on a new ERP system. “We, of course, started with a thorough RFI and RFP process, we looked at a number of vendors on the market.”

In the end, SDEC opted for Lawson Software, a company that would later be acquired by Infor. “We chose Lawson/Infor because it was nearly a perfect fit for us,” explains Alkooheji.

“They had a local presence, the price was reasonable and they had the functionality that we needed,” he continues. The vendor was also knowledgeable about specific industry needs and terminology associated with a company such as SDEC. www.cnmeonline.com

“We had one application for each business process, and some of our processes were still completely manual. This situation crippled our ability to grow.”

Following the implementation of Infor technology, the benefits were both dramatic and immediate. “Just switching over to the new system allowed us to analyse our current processes,” says Alkhooheji. “If something didn’t ‘fit’ right in the new system, it pushed us to investigate the process surrounding that.” The increased transparency also allowed SDEC to learn about its own business.

“We were able to see a timely snapshot of all of our systems through a single portal,” says Alkhooheji, “and that was key for improving our business.” www.cnmeonline.com

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SDEC was able to replace manual reports with real-time dashboards, automate its reports and improve delivery reliability and customer service levels by instituting backward scheduling to anticipate the demand for parts. In all, they were able to increase productivity by automating tasks and speeding up transactions.

SDEC has stayed with Infor over the years, and has continuously upgraded its systems with the vendor’s new roll-outs. “Infor M3 as an industry focused solution was ready out-of-the-box for each business issue we had. It was all from one vendor, easy to use and simple to implement. In all, SDEC took on a number of components from Infor M3, including supply chain execution and management, financial

"New upgrades have brought us increased functionality and a more user-friendly interface and clearer forecasting methods." management and control, customer relationship management, mobility and localised human resources.

SDEC has leveraged Infor M3 to increase stakeholder value by aggressively pursuing new opportunities, ensure customer satisfaction and reduce costs throughout the company. In 2014, Saudi Diesel took on its latest update to the Infor product.

“New upgrades have brought us increased functionality and a

more user-friendly interface and clearer forecasting methods,” says Alkhooheji. “The new system provided critical support for achieving ISO9001 certification in manufacturing, sales parts and service,” he says.

Saudi Diesel has had a major impact on KSA over the decades, and recently, Infor has been powering their systems. Alkhooheji puts it succinctly - “Infor M3 powers a significant portion of Saudi Diesel."

Zulekha Healthcare Group Signs Up with Finesse for Business Intelligence

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Accelerate your critical applications and eliminate performance silos, using the first enterprise-class all-flash array One of the most trusted names in enterprise storage and data management has released a new product into the market – NetApp All Flash FAS (AFF).

The company has been a leader in the storage market since the 1990s, so its announcement of a new All Flash solution has made the industry perk up its collective ears. With so many startups and yet-to-prove-themselves outfits in storage these days, it is a relief to see a company with experience step up to the plate. The company that has been enabling businesses for decades, is now doing more for the future of storage.

AFFs are clearly the way forward, but unfortunately, many vendors have left customers wanting. Current venders may offer performance advantages over hard disk drive-based systems for these workloads, yet many of them lack critical capabilities in one key area: enterprise data management. NetApp AFF addresses these traditional short-comings, while moving the technology forward.

NetApp AFF systems combine allflash performance with unified data management across SAN and NAS, and expands this management into the cloud. The company aims to combine NetApp Data ONTAP - NetApp’s highly innovative storage operating system - with FlashEssentials, to help you understand the benefits of All Flash FAS and the clustered operating environment - for the most comprehensive, broadest and deepest data management integration

in the industry. The end-game is simple - NetApp’s AFF will accelerate business and streamline storage solutions. It provides the reliability the NetApp is known for, at new levels of performance.

AFF delivers world-class SAN and NAS flash performance with consistent low latency, inline compression and zero write elimination, Always-on De-duplication and Thin Provisioning.

The latest generation of NetApp FAS systems leverages multiple CPU cores and software enhancements to unlock higher solid-state drive speed than any FAS platform before it. Based on a PCIe, Gen3 architecture, the NetApp FAS8000 family can scale out to 24-nodes to provide millions of IOPS at submillisecond latency and support nearly 5PB of SSD capacity.

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case study kuwait credit bank

Cash in a flash

When Kuwait Credit Bank introduced a new loan scheme for women in 2011, it received unprecedented and unmanageable demand in its branches. CIO Tariq Al-Usaimi was compelled to create an artificial intelligence solution that slashed the loan approval time to an astonishing 90 seconds.

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I first got the idea from a billboard on a highway.” Tariq Al-Usaimi recounts the moment he was inspired to transform the way Kuwait Credit Bank (KCB) does business. “I saw other banks advertising that they could approve a customer loan application in 24 hours, or even 30 minutes. I saw no reason why it should take this long.”

Like any CIO, Al-Usaimi passionately believes that technology is a driving force in his business, but he is often left scratching his head as to why others within KCB fail to see its value. “It seems obvious to me that a bank should have high quality technology services for its customers,” he says. “Not only to enhance internal operations, but also to keep customers satisfied and allow us to go to market quicker.

A lot of figures within KCB didn’t seem convinced of its worth – a perception I wanted to change.”

With 40 percent of Kuwait’s population aged 24 or under, he was also especially conscious that the bank should retain its appeal with the country’s youth. “Services need to be accessible in a timely and convenient manner,” Al-Usaimi says. “Customers – especially young people – quickly give up if they do not get quick access.”

Alarm bells began to ring in 2011 for KCB’s IT department, when the company received overwhelming and unprecedented demand for one of its new loan schemes. The programme was targeted at women - who had previously struggled for financial aid within Kuwait - and

"

www.cnmeonline.com

even Al-Usaimi was taken aback at its levels of interest. “The response we got was totally unexpected,” he says. “In truth, we were not prepared for what ensued – which definitely cost us business.” Wouldbe customers were forced to apply in person as opposed to through online platforms, which created queuing issues – and a great deal of paperwork for KCB. “We were in a major need of an overhaul,” Al-Usaimi says. “Things just couldn’t continue in that manner.”

The loan approval process around that time was both lengthy and expensive, with Al-Usaimi estimating that it cost KCB $800 to process each request. “There were nine stages in each application,” he says. “Five employees were involved in that process, which was reliant on paperwork and form filling. The amount of time used by employees was wasteful, while customers were given needless waiting time.

I didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t transfer this process to a fast online platform, and effectively create a branch of KCB in every Kuwaiti home.”

The final straw for AlUsaimi came in 2014, when the Kuwaiti government passed the Law Concerning Electronic Transactions. Article 3 of the act stated that digital transactions would now carry the same legal weight as written signatures in contracts and agreements.

One of the biggest hurdles AlUsaimi would face in his bid to push through any changes was internal resistance. Although the company’s senior management bought into his ideas, the real issue

“It seemed obvious that once electronic transactions carry the same weight as handwritten signatures, contracts of all sorts will shift to online platforms.” was appeasing mid-level managers who felt their importance could diminish. “They feared that the changes would make their roles redundant,” he says. “They realised that there was a chance that they could have less authority, and I suppose it’s only human nature to feel that way.” Overall, Al-Usaimi estimates that it took him roughly a year to convince other management figures of the need for change. “No one understood the implications of the new law,” he says. “It seemed obvious that once electronic transactions carry the same weight as handwritten signatures, that contracts of all sorts will shift to online platforms.”

A cornerstone of Al-Usaimi’s solution would be its ability to interact with other government december 2015

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case study

kuwait credit bank

agencies, which would enable customers’ credentials and identities to be quickly verified, allowing the loan to be approved. “We partnered with the Public Authority for Civil Information and Public Institution for Social Security,” Al-Usaimi says.

“We envisaged a solution where information could be quickly pulled from those agencies to certify details such as an applicant's employment status, so we could swiftly approve or deny applications.” All this information would be swiftly sent to a KCB artificial intelligence system, which would require substantial computing power.

The infrastructure powering the solution comprised four key components, which “brought KCB’s cloud together.” “We relied on Cisco UCS Blade Servers, VMware virtualisation, EMC storage and SAP’s database,” Al-Usaimi says.

However, acquiring this technology was not a straightforward process for KCB’s IT team. “We had to compile a complete study for the management to be fully convinced,” Al-Usaimi says. “We needed a threeyear roadmap for its return on investment and exactly where we stood and would stand in terms of our computer power, software and our data centre.”

On 20th January 2015, having completed all work on the automated loan approval solution, Kuwait Credit Bank issued its first online-approved loan cheque. The impact of the project has had vast tangible and intangible results for the company. “I really think it’s unbelievable what we’ve achieved,” Al-Usaimi says. “It used to take 1080 minutes to approve a loan, and now 38

december 2015

“I didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t transfer the loan approval process to a fast online platform, and effectively create a branch of KCB in every Kuwaiti home.” it can be done in 90 seconds. The process was a matter of pushing papers from desk to desk, queuing and waiting, but this is thankfully a thing of the past.” In terms of direct savings to the bank, AlUsaimi estimates that the total cost saving from the loan approval process is 1.6 million Kuwaiti dinar, or $5.25 million. “The cost of the process has been reduced by 96 percent,” he says.

The solution’s ability to interact with the other government agencies to verify customer data has provided another vital benefit to the organisation – the capacity to vastly reduce user input error when applying for a loan. This has had a transformative knock-on effect – the potential to slash the possibility of fraud against the bank. “If person X has passed away, and an imposter attempts to pose as that person, the system will instantly recognise that the loan cannot be approved,” Al-Usaimi says. “You see artificial intelligence everywhere – in cars, homes, on mobile devices – but only in the back end of banks. We wanted to bring it to the front end, so the customer could feel

the benefit of it via a quick and seamless loan approval.”

The solution can also account for potential spelling mistakes made on behalf of legitimate customers, as well as comprehending the nuances of name-spellings in English or Arabic. “It can recognise that a name like Tariq, or Muhammad, which has a variety of spellings, could have been misspelt by the customer,” AlUsaimi says. “It can then correct this with minimal waiting time.”

Customers still wishing to make their application in-person at a KCB branch are able to do so, while the service is available 24/7 online, in keeping with Al-Usaimi’s pledge to deliver it inside 90 seconds. “This in itself is nothing new, but is a huge step forward for us,” he says.

Al-Usaimi attributes a large portion of the project’s success to his talented and innovative team, who devised the ingenious concept. “One of my team members suggested that we build a system to automate the whole process,” he says. “That person, along with two other programmers, has been the driving force behind this initiative. I have them to thank for everything.” www.cnmeonline.com

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Telecoms World Outlook 2016

View from the tower The state of the region’s telecoms is to an extent polarised. While markets such as the UAE have the world’s highest smartphone penetration rate, other providers are in the midst of catching up with the demand for digital services, and providing greater bandwidth for rural areas. Here’s what the Middle East can expect in 2016.

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in association with

s can be said for a number of crucial aspects of enterprise IT, the telecoms industry is in the midst of a disruptive and exciting time. Over the coming 12 months, the rise of digital services is sure to influence which types of packages are offered by mobile network operators, and the regional technological landscape.

As providers look to offer an increasing number of cloud-based services and mobile IDs, they could begin to look at a growing number of value as opposed to volume-based products, indicating a shift for their business models. “Mobile network operators will keep launching enhanced valueadded digital services to their subscribers,” Sherry Zameer, Senior Vice President, Telecommunication Solutions, Middle East and Africa, Gemalto, says.

“With mobile phones at the very heart of the digital revolution, and mobile subscriptions graduating to the centrepiece of a user’s digital lifestyle, services are increasingly going digital.”

Sherif Khairallah, Sales Director, SI/SP and Cloud, Global Growth Markets, Avaya, is also in no doubt that digital services will play a key role, and that technology providers need to set the standard in this delivery. “Service providers need to provide their customers with a digital customer experience – so they need to digitalise themselves internally and the services they offer to the market,” he says. “Internal digitalisation includes things like providing an omnichannel relationship between them and their customers in dealing with tickets, service requests and so forth, and they also need to look at the services they provision to the market.”

A

“With the mobile phone at the very heart of the digital revolution, and mobile subscriptions graduating to the centrepiece of a user’s digital lifestyle, services are increasingly going digital.”

Sherry Zameer, Senior Vice President, Telecommunication Solutions, Middle East and Africa, Gemalto

www.cnmeonline.com

The UAE certainly represents a fascinating prospect for telecom providers. A range of factors, including the increase in the number of affordable Android smartphones on the market, has contributed in helping the country to world’s highest mobile penetration, with 73.8 percent of users owning a smartphone. The country’s telecom providers have also sought to expand outside of their home market, an example Zameer believes could be copied by others in the coming year. “For the rest of the region, the UAE is an example of the potential of telecommunications, whether through smartphones or smart devices,” he says. “As part of their growth strategies, UAE-based telecom operators have already been expanding their footprint outside the country and into Africa and Asia.”

In spite of the undeniable advantages the country possesses on this front, it remains important that the nation stays abreast of international developments in the industry, and is able to offer services that ensure the country makes the most of this opportunity. Khairallah believes the UAE, and the Middle East as a whole, are well aligned with progress in other markets. “If you correlate what telcos in the region are doing and what they are doing in Europe and the US, there is not much difference in their priority lists – so IoT, digitalisation, SDN and data centre virtualisation are the same here as they are elsewhere,” he says. “A few years ago you could maybe say the region was lagging behind but now exposure to technology and future directions are not different; sometimes we are even ahead of the others.”

A change in attitude towards over the top (OTT) players is also taking place, and will play on the minds of regional telco players in the following year. Opinion is divided as to whether OTT players pose a threat or an opportunity to providers, but those in the Middle East could well become more open to collaboration, as opposed to competition. Indeed, with regional travel an essential part of the business landscape, it may make increasing sense to form partnerships with OTT service providers. “In the region, we are expecting to see roaming rates going down,” Khairallah says. “This will especially be the case in the GCC, as service providers realise that high roaming rates aren’t earning them money – people just go to OTT suppliers, so the SPs are december 2015

41

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Telecoms World Outlook 2016

“In 2016, we also expect to see areas like voiceover-LTE develop as bandwidth increases – IoT is going to drive demand for bigger bandwidth, so everyone is looking at how they can deliver that.”

Sherif Khairallah, Sales Director, SI/SP and Cloud, Global Growth Markets, Avaya

looking at lowering charges so they can get more services.”

One of the biggest growth markets which will shape the technological landscape over the next five years, and is set to kick off in 2016, is the Internet of Things.

The huge increase in communication between machines – an array of objects connected to the Internet – is set to play a huge part in the Middle East, with Smart City initiatives underway throughout the region. “With the onset of the Internet of Things and machine-to-machine communications, mobile network operators now have the opportunity to increase their subscriber base by owning the M2M and IoT value chain,” Zameer says. “The subscriber is no longer necessarily a person with a smartphone; they could be just about anyone with a sensor-embedded device, since connectivity is the backbone of any M2M and IoT value chain. MNOs remain integral to their success, and will therefore have to work with device manufacturers and systems integrators within this ecosystem to deliver on the growth expectations of M2M and IoT.” The IoT, however, will not become a reality unless increased Internet speed can be delivered. “In 2016, we also expect to see areas like voiceover-LTE develop as bandwidth increases – IoT is going to drive demand for bigger bandwidth, so everyone is looking at how they can deliver that,” Khairallah says. “We are going to see bigger bandwidth as we go into IoT, with 5G and so on.” www.cnmeonline.com

Although the Middle East already has a number of international players and rising stars in terms of its cities, the reality is that the region’s rural populations often have less access to high quality telecom services.

In the short-term, however, challenges of high CAPEX and OPEX and international connectivity remain inhibitors to wider adoption. Once these hurdles are overcome, those who live far away from cities have the potential for greater ease of government services, more modern healthcare solutions and better education.

“Many MNOs believe that affordable mobile broadband connectivity in rural and remote locations within the region will prove a game-changing opportunity,” Zameer says. “Many factors - technical, environmental, economic and regulatory need to be addressed to provide appropriate solutions. Where the local policy environment is supportive, and regulatory conditions offer practical flexibility, operators will need to thoroughly assess the commercial and technical feasibility of possible sharing arrangements. By implementing LTE networks, mobile and WiMAX, MNOs are now bringing mobile broadband services to rural and remote parts in cost-effective bundles.”

“Cloud and remote services will help rural areas, especially in sectors like education and healthcare,” says Khairallah. “Delivering the same level of services that are experienced in cities is vital, and we will see technology playing an increasingly important role.” december 2015

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network World Outlook 2016

On the right rack

The transition from hardware to software and on-premise to as-a-service models puts unprecedented pressure on the network. What lies in store for the networking industry in 2016? Which technologies will see higher uptake, and which will be phased out?

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O

ver the last year, more and more organisations have recognised the critical role of IT in enabling business growth, thus bringing more focus on the network. The enterprise network has gone through great strides in 2015 and willhead towards an even more exciting period as the industry continues to evolve.

Amanulla Khan, Managing Director MEA, Linksys, says, “In 2015, a confluence of technological and IT trends relating to mobile and cloud created dramatic changes in how and where people worked, computing workloads were processed, and work applications were delivered.”

Meanwhile, Cherif Sleiman, General Manager, Infoblox Middle East highlights three key trends that shaped the enterprise networking space in the region during the past year. “Firstly, we have seen a continued push to adopt virtualisation within organisations,” he says. “Next is the cloud; the continued push towards virtualisation goes www.cnmeonline.com

Strategic Innovation Partner

hand-in-hand with companies now moving within the roadmap of cloud adoption. Finally, we have seen a significant increase in security investments in this area, especially in this region where geopolitical conflicts are present.”

Research by Gartner underlines that by 2016, around 87 percent of IT leaders are expected to increase security spending. Moreover, 77 percent of technology decision-makers plan to ramp up their cloud security expenditure for mobile and cloud-based services. Agreeing with this and reiterating Sleiman’s thoughts is Glen Ogden, Regional Sales Director, Middle East, A10 Networks, who explains, “A lot of people now are focusing on network security,” he says. “This is mostly driven by the fact that we are in a region where there are geopolitical conflicts. There were increased possibilities of government to government cybercrime and I believe that with all these challenges in play we will see an upsurge in investments in security both at government and enterprise levels.”

Ogden also adds that another driver for investments in security in the coming year is the rise in Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) traffic.

“Google is now ranking web pages that have SSLs higher than those that don’t,” he says.

“This then creates several concerns from organisations, because with SSL encrypted sites they could no longer inspect these pages. So there are a lot of interest now for SSL insight or inspection.”

“In 2016, the region will see the continuing evolution of software-defined networks (SDN) and network function virtualisation (NFV),” stresses Khan. “The emergence of containerisation technology will highlight the changing landscape of the networking industry.

According to him, these new and disruptive technologies will enable businesses to create a homogeneous networking environment that abstracts away the physicality of traditional networks. “This will then provide networks the ability to seamlessly connect workforces with the workloads and work apps that organisations need, from anywhere,” he adds.

Gartner highlights that by the end of 2016, more than 10,000 enterprises worldwide will

www.cnmeonline.com

have deployed SDN in their networks, a tenfold increase from end-of-year 2014.

Recent industry reports also suggest that more companies will begin to recognise the benefits of SDN. As technology infrastructures become increasingly strained, enterprises will look to build networks that will enable them to have improved resource efficiency. However, questions still remain as to how mature the Middle East region is when it comes to fully adopting and benefiting from SDN. “For the proper adoption of SDN, it requires the three trends which I have mentioned – virtualisation, cloud and security,” says Sleiman. “These three elements are powerful enough to pave the way for more SDN projects. However, I think that the term SDN today is being used very loosely to imply some virtualisation or automation within networks. The true meaning of SDN is generally about service orchestration and automation, regardless of the underlying infrastructure. In this region, we have a much bigger chance of succeeding in this transition than other regions because we don’t have a lot of legacies.

“From the very beginning we have based our infrastructures on next-generation standards. Hence, from that perspective we are capable enough to fully harness the potentials of SDN. As for the maturity among people working in this space, that depends on the progress in the mentality that IT organisations have,” explains Sleiman.

On the other hand, Ogden believes that SDN is still quite a complicated area. “There are two views to consider when it comes to SDN,” he discusses. “We have the propriety view, an example of this is the case of Cisco where they have propriety SDN technology and then they ask their partners to adapt that technology. Then you have the non-propriety or open-source aspect of SDN which is not commercially operated.

“I think this is where the issue of maturity is raised. IT players still need to decide whether they should go for propriety

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network World Outlook 2016

solutions or open-source. As the market matures through 2016 and the carriers start more of these solutions, I think we’ll get an answer for that. But as for now, I believe that it is still too early to say,” stresses Ogden.

Khan agrees with this, underlining that SDN in the Middle East region has not developed equally and the segment is progressing at different speeds and maturity, based on external competitive landscapes or internal operations requirements. “We nevertheless, see that SDN is one area that is widely adopted and is maturely applied by the companies relying heavily on the Internet, such as e-commerce companies and cloud service providers,” he says.

Today’s enterprises vie for technologies that can help them agilely transform IT to adapt to the challenges of competitive digital business. And, enterprises aspire for networks that are not only easy to deploy and maintain but also let them achieve tangible business outcomes.

“In a tight economy, few network infrastructure investments can be made without cost justification,” says Khan.

“If a company hasn't yet jumped on the new network infrastructure deployment bandwagon, or is stuck at the pilot stage, projecting ROI may help them turn the crank on broader networking deployment. Doing so may also highlight financial differences between various networking design alternatives, helping companies make more cost-effective choices.”

In his view, Ogden opines that for companies to achieve tangible ROI in the coming year, there needs to be a good customer-base for a specific network solution before it becomes profitable. “A good example is LinkedIn,” he explains.

“If there’s only one person on LinkedIn it will not be any useful and it wouldn’t make any sense. So, an area that answers the need of multiple end-users will generate the most ROI.” As for the verticals which will see the highest levels of spending on networking technology in the coming year, all three www.cnmeonline.com

experts are in agreement that mostly government and telecom sectors will be leading investments on the networking industry.

With the Internet of Things swiftly becoming reality, more organisations are beginning to recognise the need to invest in flexible and scalable technologies to generate competitive advantage.

Sleiman emphasises the fact that the Internet of Things is all about creating a hyper-connected world while ensuring that business-critical tasks do not get overwhelmed with the data surge brought about by numerous devices. “Within this space, numerous entities come together to deliver a service or create an experience.

The three key trends that I have mentioned are, as of now, the building blocks that are paramount to the fruition of IoT,” explains Sleiman. “Therefore, for the IoT business models to be truly successful and profitable in the coming years, organisations need these three factors to become mainstream.”

In his view, Khan states that 2015 so far has been the tipping point of everything to do with Internet of Things with data, processes, people and devices linking together with each other. “Companies in the Middle East are at the forefront at deploying solutions that make the Internet of Everything come to life,” he says. “As mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have become more affordable, we're seeing a massive rise in mobility across the Middle East and Africa. This in turn is fuelling the growth for Internet of Things and associated networking solutions across the board.”

With the developments in the region’s IT landscape that took place over the year 2015 – with Global Industry Analysts projecting the global market for network analytics to surpass $1.9billion by 2020, and IDC forecasting that the global SDN market will reach $8 billion in revenue by 2018, the coming year surely has nothing in store for the networking industry but continuous growth. december 2015

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Security AdvisEr Outlook 2016

Path to protection When it comes to IT security, the writing has been on the wall for some time. What lessons can be learned from 2015, as even more high profile organisations have fallen victim to cyber-attacks? And what lies in store for the year ahead?

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ecember marks the end of a another tumultuous year in the world of cybersecurity. With organisations like Anthem and the United States Office of Personnel Management having fallen victim to significant cyber-attacks, 2015 revealed a noticeable increase in the sophistication and severity of cybercrime. As companies look ahead to the coming year and the promise of new, exciting technologies and security solutions, they must also reflect upon the lessons 2015 has left behind.

With the increasing popularisation of BYOD, cloud computing and other disruptive technologies, enterprises have had their plates full in coping with expanding attack surfaces. The sometimes tedious logistics securing BYOD schemes and the challenges of securing cloud data proved to be formidable challenges for many companies. Aditya Girish, Territory Manager Middle East, Koenig Solutions, points out that the changing threat landscape has become such an issue that IT security is no longer solely an IT discussion.

“The transformation of security issues into a boardroom priority is one of four major trends we’ve seen develop over the last year,” says Girish.

“The other three important trends to note are the increase in onion-layered

security incidents, ransomware attacks, and insider threats,” Girish explains.

Perhaps the most compelling of these four trends from a management perspective is the involvement of other C-level executives in the issues of cybersecurity policy and solutions.

A greater volume and quality of data stored in private, hybrid and public clouds has motivated cybercriminals’ spirit for innovation. “2015 has shown us that cybercriminals have become more creative in their approach,” says Andrew Lintell, Director of Sales, Identity Assurance, EMEA, HID Global, “both in how they gain access to networks and how they steal data. Everything from mobile phones to banking apps and enterprise data centres are vulnerable.” The increased variance of cyber-attacks is what prevents some enterprises from embracing policies like BYOD. However, while BYOD schemes offer another access point for creative cybercriminals, they also reinforce the idea that an enterprise's cybersecurity is in everyone’s hands.

Wolfgang Kandek, CTO, Qualys, agrees that the increase in attacks and the greater attention paid to IT security from the C-suite may be tied to the amount of data being stored digitally. “More data is being saved online than ever before,” says Kandek. “With cloud computing and Big Data becoming more common,

“We saw mobile variants of ransomware, and most notably the StageFright attack showed how malware could be carried in an innocuous MMS video message.”

Simon Bryden, Consulting Systems Engineer, Fortinet

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Security AdvisEr Outlook 2016

many companies have placed the lion’s share of their vital information into digital form. This creates a juicier and more vulnerable target for cybercriminals.”

Looking back at the most significant cyberattacks of 2015 reveals some interesting information on the developing trends of cyber criminality. Not all attacks are financially motivated, and the targets seem to vary as widely as the methods. Kandek points out, “On the non-commercial side, the US Government’s Office of Personnel Management had 21.5 million personnel records compromised.

These records did not have commercial information involved, so the motive was not financial. However, it represents the biggest potential political cyber-attack that has been publicly disclosed.”

Of course, financial gains are a major motivation for cyber-attacks as well. As Kandek explains, “On the commercial front, there were a range of attacks that affected companies and individuals. Attacks on point of sale terminals were very popular with several new families of malware all targeting retail.”

One consistent trend of cybercrime this year is the move away from attacks starting from physical points of entry. As Girish explains, “Crimeware and miscellaneous error messages that led to the unintended download of malware made up 25.1 percent and 29.4 percent of all cyber-attacks of 2015 respectively.” This shows a significant contrast to what might be considered a dying breed of cyber-attacks that require more physical approaches. “POS intrusions and payment

“2015 has shown us that cybercriminals have become more creative in their approach.”

Andrew Lintell, Director of Sales, Identity Assurance, EMEA, HID Global

“The transformation of security issues into a boardroom priority is one of four major trends we’ve seen develop over the last year.”

Aditya Girish, Territory Manager Middle East, Koenig Solutions

50

december 2015

card skimmers accounted for 0.7 percent and 0.1 percent of attacks respectively.” This trend aligns with the advent of Big Data and a continued move of both commercial and consumer users to the cloud.

Company databases and networks are not the only areas that cybercriminals have targeted over the last year. “mobile attacks have also been on the rise,” says Simon Bryden, Consulting Systems Engineer, Fortinet. “We saw mobile variants of ransomware, and most notably the StageFright attack showed how malware could be carried in an innocuous MMS video message. “This was particularly harrowing, since applications such as Google Hangouts process these types of videos in the background. Essentially, this means the device could theoretically be infected without the user actually playing the video.”

Reflecting on the past year of cyberattacks can be a powerful tool in planning for the future. Using what has been done, analysing the weak points in responses and protection, and studying the ingenuity of those who seek to cause harm with technology can create powerful new approaches in policy and prevention that can ultimately shift the balance in the fight for data security.

Bryden has analysed the cyber-threat landscape of 2015 and points out some very useful patterns. “It has been widely demonstrated that the real damage is done not at the time of the breach, but in the weeks or months which follow,” he says. “During this time, a cyberattacker will move laterally in the victim network, seeking out and infecting critical www.cnmeonline.com

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Join our conversation on Twitter at #HNCME

2015

Security AdvisEr Outlook 2016 systems, gaining administrator rights, and exfiltrating data. In the case of the Office of Personnel Management this year, attackers were inside the network for more than 200 days. If the attack can be detected early, the damage can be reduced or eliminated completely.”

Early detection is certainly one strong point an enterprise should strive for when crafting their approach to IT security for the upcoming year. Staying one step ahead of attackers, though difficult, is another goal that should be a part of every enterprise IT security policy.

Kandek sees an opportunity for greater security and less risk as the future develops, and suggests that companies break away from traditional IT security approaches.

“They're failing," he says. "Instead, we should be looking at the future of IT and how we embed security into everything by default. For example, with users and companies alike using more cloud-based applications, the number of applications that

www.cnmeonline.com

“With cloud computing and Big Data becoming more common, many companies have placed the lion’s share of their vital information into digital form. This creates a juicier and more vulnerable target for cybercriminals.”

Wolfgang Kandek, CTO, Qualys

have to be based on the internal network is reduced. As more apps and services are consumed from public cloud providers, the attack surface for those internal networks will shrink.”

In a world as fast-paced and constantly evolving as technology, 'saying out with the old and in with the new' is commonplace. In the case of saying farewell to 2015, it may be worth lingering an extra moment before waving goodbye.

december 2015

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solutions World Outlook 2016

On the horizon

As regional CIOs of enterprises and SMBs alike face budgeting and political struggles to gain backing for their desired initiatives, they find themselves spoiled for choice in terms of exciting, disruptive technologies. Which solutions stand the best chance of catching their eye in the coming year?

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www.cnmeonline.com

or many IT decision-makers across the Middle East, it’s increasingly becoming a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’.

When will they make the jump to housing portions of their applications and data on some sort of cloud platform? When will they invest in Big Data solutions that can provide them the cutting edge in the marketing stakes? And when do they then plan to leverage social media for unique insights on existing and potential customers? The fact also remains, that for many of these decision-makers, such solutions are increasingly appealing for other business units.

Bashar Kilani, Territory Executive, IBM Middle East, sees these trends and more as having a standout impact in the coming year. “As per our latest C-suite study, cloud computing and services, mobile solutions and the Internet of Things will be the leading technologies in 2016, followed closely by the introduction of cognitive computing,” he says.

Wael El Kabbany, Vice President, Middle East and North Africa, BT, believes the combination of these trends has the power to transform the role of the CIO, whether they choose to embrace them or not. “There are many talented people in the IT industry in the Middle East today,” he says. “However, we are witnessing that, as we reach 2016, CIOs face a Darwinian moment: their role is changing faster than ever. They face pressures and increasing demands from all directions, including the rise of shadow IT.” El Kabbany adds that an increasing need for IT initiatives that involve other department heads has shifted the goal posts. “The call for greater collaboration between the IT department and other business units is getting more attention than ever,” he says. “The shift to the cloud, mobility and social media, as well as the growth of digital marketing and commerce, is also likely to lead to CIOs having less control in IT procurement and deployment.”

The broad theme that unites all these trends from a technological perspective is digitalisation. Potentially having a hugely

F

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disruptive effect on business models, as well as job demand in the Middle East, it may dictate that certain businesses branch out into completely new lines of business. “The massive business shifts introduced by cloud, mobile and IoT will also change professions, and define new value chains across industries,” Kilani says.

“We will see a huge number of tech companies emerge around new opportunities, while many of today's tech companies will have to re-invent themselves or transform their business model.”

The subject of cloud is one that continues to divide enterprise IT figures in the Middle East, and creates a dilemma – between opting for its enhanced operational benefits, or taking the perceived safer route and avoiding it altogether. While a host of regional companies have made the jump and outsourced a large number of less businesscritical functions to a private cloud, the public cloud still lags, while there is still huge room for growth in terms of hybrid options. Regulatory issues also envelope the topic. Innate concerns surrounding the physical location of data centres and issues surrounding data ownership endure, but various enterprise behemoths are showing an increasing willingness to establish data centres in Dubai. Regardless of its perception, the trend stands to hugely disruptive to the way both IT departments and organisations as a whole are run.

El Kabbany believes that the trend will soon be so pervasive that on-premise solutions could become a thing of the past. “Cloud computing is becoming the norm for enterprise IT delivery,” he says. “Cloud provides limitless possibilities.

According to Gartner, nearly 50 percent of large enterprises will have cloud deployments by end of 2017. The total spend on cloud services globally, will increase from $110 billion in 2012 to $210 billion in 2016.”

Kilani sees huge opportunities in this space, “Cloud remains a major game-changer in the region as more enterprises shift workloads to the cloud,” he says. “The challenge of managing the hybrid cloud will remain the focus of CIOs december 2015

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solutions World Outlook 2016

for a number of years to come as they manage their workloads between the private and public space. Furthermore, 2016 is expected to be the year of accelerated acceptance of ‘as-aservice’ solutions - from SaaS, PaaS and IaaS to complete outsourcing of IT-as-a-service.”

Looking ahead, he believes software will be designed and rewritten for this eventuality.

“Globally, we believe that 85 percent of applications will be developed for the cloud. We are seeing a similar trend in the Middle East.”

Although the idea of the Middle East’s enterprises and SMBs being burdened with legacy infrastructure may not be entirely true, the fact is that many businesses are in an pivotal state between it being an opportunity and a threat. On the one hand, CIOs who are dissatisfied with their infrastructure have the opportunity to opt for Greenfield IT solutions. On the other, the threat of companies with leaner operations, and – worse still – digitally competent competitors are an ever-present that can’t be easily ignored.

Kilani sees cause for optimism in the progress the Middle East has already made, and believes more of this will follow. “The region has already demonstrated IT leadership at a global level across several sectors such as government, aviation, telecommunication and more,” he says. “The region does, for example, enjoy one of the highest mobile penetration rates globally and a strong connected IT and telecommunication infrastructure.”

“As we reach 2016, CIOs face a Darwinian moment their role is changing faster than ever. They face pressures and increasing demands from all directions, including the rise of shadow IT.” Wael El Kabbany, Vice President, Middle East and North Africa, BT

“Globally, we believe that 85 percent of applications will be developed for the cloud. We are seeing a similar trend in the Middle East.”

Bashar Kilani, Territory Executive, IBM Middle East

www.cnmeonline.com

Meanwhile, El Kabbany acknowledges that there is work to be done, yet overall infrastructure spending will drive its IT counterpart. “According to IDC’s analysts, Smart City and transport projects are expected to help stimulate overall IT spending in the Middle East,” he says. “The Middle East and North Africa is a vast region where each country is in a different stage of development, so the challenges in ICT also vary. Briefly, the challenges are linked to availability of connectivity and bandwidth, the weakness of infrastructure to provide secure communications and the lack of skills to deploy and manage new projects.”

The perception of the evolving role of the CIO will doubtless play a huge role in the coming year. Those who act as savvy business partners to the CEO, who can seamlessly articulate the business benefits of technology will be those most likely to gain backing for the heavily sought after initiatives. “Successful CIOs ultimately need an array of skills, business acumen and determination,” El Kabbany says. “They must be adept at horizon scanning: looking at what their industry and others are doing and assessing what's applicable to their business. Being commercially focused is also a vital requirement as is the ability to balance speed of delivery with reliability and security. As an individual and leader, the CIO of 2016 needs to possess the grit, persistence and the flexibility it takes to deal with the pace of change.” december 2015

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interview

Robert Hammer, Chairman, President and CEO, Commvault

The power of one

Commvault has recently launched the next-generation of its product portfolio, which it says, delivers a broad spectrum of innovation to help customers address data management challenges. We caught up the company’s Chairman, President and CEO, Robert Hammer during his maiden visit to Dubai.

W

hy did you decide to drop the Simpana brand name with the new release of your portfolio?

That is a marketing question. As the company expands and gets into healthcare platforms and such, it is cumbersome to have layers of brands.

When you sit down with a customer and lay out what you can do with our platform versus other products out there in the market, it resonates really well.

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You have opened up your platform to third parties. How does that add value?

What we are trying to do here is solve a number of problems – some are traditional and some are broader. On the traditional side, in terms of backing up, there is too much data, which means the traditional backup function had to go away. Moving data from an application, writing it on an array and then indexing it on that array is not very efficient; it takes time and you are putting the data on very expensive devices. If you can

index the data as it is written and apply attributes that are critical to that data, your backup shrinks to basically zero.

So you are writing to our platform now, not to an array per se, which allows you to instantly recover data, which is production-ready. And you are talking about doing this on an object basis, not volume basis. With our platform, your can transport more data between different environments faster, and in some cases, it can be 10 times faster.

Now, the real value lies in what you do with that data. Data protection

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interview

Robert Hammer, Chairman, President and CEO, Commvault

is a static issue; the real value goes beyond that to federated searches for a lot of things across these different infrastructures such as cloud, mobile and different hypervisors. How do you securely move data between these infrastructures and how do you enable access? And if you can do that, how do you index and manage the data where it resides without moving it? It requires lots of sophisticated analytics and is a a lot more complicated. Customers are looking for outcomes, and those are the kind of problems we are trying to solve.

You have integrated backup, archiving, data management and protection onto a single platform.

But this doesn’t give customers the flexibility of choice.

The single platform is critical to providing a single management layer, indexing layer and repository layer. But yes, some companies may want to buy point solutions for certain use cases such as testing and DR. We started to enable our customers to buy standalone solutions well over a year ago – they can buy our products in modules, or the whole stack or take a best of breed approach, depending on what they are trying to do.

Can you really shrink backup windows to zero and recover instantly?

It is not zero, but essentially zero.

Recovery may not be instantaneous but take a few seconds. However, the copy doesn’t have to be restored – it’s just moved within seconds to users in production-ready form for applications to use it.

Are you taking a hybrid approach to backup?

You have to have a platform that is ubiquitous across repositories, and seamless for users. If you are moving from on-premise to a cloud or hyperconverged environment, the movement of data has to be seamless and it is not easy because these different 58

december 2015

If cloud becomes pervasive, do you think tapes and discs will disappear?

It already is. The movement to cloud infrastructures, whether private or public, is happening rapidly. Then you have pure Web-Scale infrastructure, which allows data centres to scale up workloads without scaling up Is cloud-based backup gaining steam? individual servers. In the enterprise, Cloud-based backup is indeed getting popular. But if you are moving petabytes OpenStack and OpenCompute are gaining momentum for building out of data from on-premise to the cloud, it cloud and virtual environments. This is is not very efficient and is costly. Cloud a huge shift in the market. To answer is being used for DR and selectively your question, I don’t think tapes for archiving and backup. If you want will disappear, but will be used for to apply universal data policies across physical, virtual and new infrastructures, long-term archival and you still need and search across repositories, it becomes discs for instant recovery. Now, the technology is making it possible to put very difficult unless you have a platform your tapes on the cloud. like ours.

Users are moving their workloads You are facing competition from into virtual environments, and these workloads have different requirements in relatively new players such as Veeam and Actifio, besides traditional terms of management and protection. competitors like EMC and Symantec.

How do you plan to differentiate How do you tackle this challenge? yourselves?

We do understand the different None of those companies have an requirements of different workloads, online platform. They don’t have the and with the new platform we are providing not just Java-based admin UIs, capabilities to index data right down to the application level, across multiple but simple, web-based UIs as well. We have also automated highly complex data repositories. Veeam has done a good job at the lower end of the market. But, management tasks. when you start to scale and talk about any kind of granularity, they don’t Have you made any changes to the licensing model with the new release? compete with us in that space.

We haven’t yet. There will be alternatives Commvault has partnered with that provide customers with the vendors such as NetApp and Fujitsu flexibility tied to different ways of to offer backup appliances. Do implementing our platform. So if users you have any plans to get into the want to use our platform in an as hardware market? a-service model, we will provide them We are a software company and with different pricing models. purpose-built appliances are a delivery mechanism. If a customer Big Data is quite a buzzword now. Do wanted to use a physical box for a you have any plans to foray into that remote site, we want to accommodate space? them. But with the way the market We have built quite a few business is going with cloud and new types analytics applications and have done a of infrastructure, more and more lot of partnering in that area. We have of those appliances are going to be our own data scientists and capabilities, virtual. We do and continue to offer and very soon we are going to come out appliances for certain use cases. with a significant healthcare solution. infrastructures don’t talk to each other.

What we have done with our platform is to put that translation layer in place and secure the whole movement of data, understanding the context and federating it to make it seamless.

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interview

Rutger Reman, President, Ericsson Industry and Society Unit, Middle East Region

W

hat is driving the widespread introduction of mobile payments systems in

Dial M for money

The mobile payments market is growing at a rapid pace along with the adoption of mobile phones, and is slated to reach $78 billion by 2019. The Middle East and North Africa region is said to be the biggest market for mobile money services, supplemented by enhanced network connectivity.

Rutger Reman, President, Ericsson Industry and Society Unit, Middle East Region, discusses the trends, challenges and opportunities in this space.

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the region?

The m-commerce industry is set for huge growth and is expected to process over $800 billion globally by 2016.

There are two key drivers of mobile payments – in developing markets banking the unbanked will open new opportunities for revenue streams, while developed markets will see the increase of payments going mobile.

It’s no secret that mobile financial services are poised to be a global game-changer; looking at the numbers alone one sees the incredible figures that are really driving the expansion of this industry. Globally, 1.5 billion people have a bank account, while over 6 billion have access to a mobile device.

Making mobile payments access better could potentially triple the business of money for financial service providers, banks and operators.

Conventional retail is undergoing a convergence on mobile phones with the emergence of mobile retail and social retail. Society today uses their mobile phone for everything, from communication to video streaming and researching products, so the next natural step for them to take is mobile shopping – the demand is there. In fact, in a few years the mobile wallet is expected to replace conventional credit and debit cards, which is further propelling the demand for m-commerce.

Operators have a huge stake in the mobile money market, instead of being dumb pipes - there are growth benefits for all stakeholders involved, from operators and banks to countries and consumers. It also opens the doors to leverage innovation in new and exciting ways.

www.cnmeonline.com

The freedom to spend, send and receive money with a mobile phone is quickly becoming an essential part of life for billions of people. It’s a cornerstone of the 'Networked Society', a strong driver of ubiquitous access to mobile money and a great business opportunity. It also calls for change. A change where existing payment networks are connected and interoperable – making m-commerce as easy as cash.

Does it offer an opportunity for operators to create additional revenue streams?

Mobile money offers operators immense potential in terms of business.

It gives them the opportunity to become a payment gateway for all mobile wallet solutions. This industry will open doors for operators to become more than telecoms providers; it gives them the opportunity to become integrated lifestyle partners.

From buying a coffee to paying bills or sharing money with the family back home, current financial services are either too complex, time consuming or expensive for all the small transactions that we make every day. M-commerce enables both operators and banks to mobilise this 'long tail' of small transactions by making payments simpler, more affordable and easily accessible for the whole value chain.

The mobile phone is a single platform that can offer a multitude of services from data connectivity, security, financial transactions, mapping and more. Operators are perfectly poised to take advantage of this and create ubiquity across the entire ecosystem. They can turn these small revenue streams into big business by offering every client the benefits of being a banking customer: convenience, security, inclusion and empowerment. www.cnmeonline.com

What are the key strategic success factors for operation in the mobile money service space?

For m-commerce to gain traction in regions with low financial inclusion, a number of factors must be addressed.

Of course, regulatory climates also introduce new complexities. Therefore, a range of business models must be considered when determining how to best approach a market. These include regulation linking mobile operators and financial institutions, supportive government policy, security, consumer education and local system capacity.

We drive this change of making money more open by orchestrating collaboration between banks and operators and developing secure, flexible m-commerce platforms that help build an interconnected and transparent financial ecosystem.

At Ericsson, we believe that when banks and operators collaborate to make money open, everyone will benefit.

Will telecom operators need to upgrade their network and billing infrastructure to offer mobile money services?

As mobile money becomes increasingly integrated into societies we will witness the evolution of intelligent networks. Today, outdated legacy systems are the foremost barrier of mobile money growth – because user demand and business opportunities are robust. However, most assets are already in place and have been tested on a global scale – so there is no need to build the infrastructure from scratch. Mobile phones act as payment terminals and phone numbers act as identifiers. The assets are already there.

Mobile wallet solutions will have a positive impact on the entire

ecosystem, from network operating centres, to the dynamics of the infrastructure and the use of Big Data. In terms of usage, customer experience becomes paramount.

The regulation of traffic, rich data communications and myriad other factors have to come together and offer a seamless experience.

What are the security and privacy implications of mobile money?

How can mobile operators address these?

Money transfers, regardless if they are cash, credit card or mobile will always come with security concerns. If we think of credit cards, their use and security measures have evolved with technology. As the mobile commerce category develops it will come with its own threats. However, these threats are mitigated by the layers of security that already exist within the ecosystem – security that has been laid down by the various stakeholders including mobile and app manufacturers, banks and the operators themselves.

In addition, mobile money is much safer to use and carry around than cash, and it gives people quick access to use and transfer funds. For people living in developing nations, who are unable to access regular bank accounts, commonly referred to as 'the unbanked', mobile money services give them a safe way to save and transfer money without the risks that come with cash.

Ericsson M-Commerce solutions are comprehensive and interconnected services and products built on a scalable and secure open platform - so that operators can offer flexible plans and competitive prices to people everywhere, including more than a billion mobile users who don’t have bank accounts. december 2015

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ANALYST VIEW

Tracey Grant, Program Manager, Digital Media and Broadcasting, IDC MEA

Telcos as T Content Providers – But Why?

he focus of telcos are evolving and traditional dynamics are being replaced. Historically, they have been responsible for connectivity, but now business models are being revitalised with the development and growth of new services. The telcos of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are beginning to converge their traditional abilities and the delivery of attractive and compelling content is opening up valuable new revenue streams.

It’s little wonder they are jumping onto the content bandwagon, but what is motivating them? Content costs are high and it is a new skillset currently not catered for internally, but with the decline in traditional

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ANALYST VIEW

revenue channels, there are many reasons to actively search for new revenue streams, and content is a key driver of subscriber retention.

The ability to personalise and display a true understanding of their customers is a key factor driving telcos to enter this unknown arena.

Mobility exaggerates consumer desires to devour media, and if a telco is already providing a consumer with voice, Internet, and mobile services, the provision of TV content is usually a welcome add-on.

It goes without saying that video is being consumed more and more across the region, and data usage is rising rapidly alongside this. Today’s consumers are showing an increased appetite for uninterrupted and unbuffered content access, meaning the growing popularity of video is a winwin situation for telcos if data usage revenues grow alongside the uptake of telco-operated content services.

The MENA region is extremely youth-centric and digitally enabled, and we already know that video is driving conversation, brand affinity, and the retention of customers. Valueadded services such as the ability to watch content on-the-go and across devices are being rolled out by telcos across the region, albeit slowly. Overthe-top (OTT) providers have quickly embraced the concept of viewing content in whatever form and on whatever device, and now a 'mobilefirst' mentality is gradually creeping into content strategy and delivery for telcos as well.

Reducing the level of churn is an essential focus for the telco community, and a happy customer is typically a long-term, paying customer. If another essential service such as content is provided to them, the customer becomes less likely 64

december 2015

Tracey Grant, Program Manager, Digital Media and Broadcasting, IDC MEA

capitalise on the strong to churn. Installing an demand that clearly additional set-top box "The exists. after having the MENA region At this point, telco configure it’s worth noting all the other is extremely youththat there is services is a centric and digitally a reluctance lot like hard enabled, and we already to pay online work, and we for services know that know that video is and products consumers driving conversation, right across prefer the brand affinity, and the region, an path of least attitude that is resistance the retention of proving to be a key when it comes customers." challenge for all OTT, to in-home - and Pay TV, and IP service mobile - entertainment, providers. Given this reality, connectivity, and telcos find themselves in a prime communication. position courtesy of their integrated As such, we are beginning to see billing capabilities, enabling them to telcos playing to their strengths. They leverage their position of trust to add realise that content delivery cannot content as an easy and convenient only be profitable but also help to additional service. Rather than reduce customer churn. Providing consumers having to actively pursue a holistic experience, all from and join a new - potentially unknown one contact point, is an attractive - OTT service, or having to deal with a proposition for consumers who variety of pay TV operators to establish already deal with multiple service a full bouquet of content like movies, providers and are being bombarded sport, and series, they can go direct to by brands. their already established and trusted As well as helping to retain telco and access all these services in existing customers, an inevitable one easy and convenient step. increase in the average revenue per There is still a long way to go user (ARPU) is seen when further for telcos to really competitively services are added. That said, if match the offerings and experiences telcos are to actively participate in available directly through this new sphere, they must offer broadcasters or with OTT service service personalisation and develop providers, but they occupy an a deep understanding of what they enviable position as established and customers want to watch and how. trusted brands in the market. As Across MENA, but primarily in the such, consumers are open to them GCC, telcos such as Etisalat, du, aggregating and delivering content, and Ooredoo are fine-tuning their and by positioning themselves as packages and delivery methods as future-focused organisations keen part of their content service rollouts. to cater to the MENA region’s large But these are still early days, and youth market, telcos are on the right the region as a whole continues to trajectory to gain – and then retain – offer significant opportunities for their future audience. telcos looking to enter this space and www.cnmeonline.com

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Greg Mayfield, Director, Product Marketing, Blue Coat

Insight

Eliminating security blind spots

S

SL/TLS encryption is widely used to secure communications to internal and external servers, but can blind security mechanisms by preventing inspection of network traffic, which increases risk.

Gartner predicts that by 2017 more than half of network attacks targeting enterprises will use encrypted traffic to bypass controls. With attackers preying on the security gaps created by encrypted traffic, there are various common network traffic inspection errors being made by organisations today.

Lack of attention. Gartner finds that in-depth defence effectiveness gaps are being ignored. For example, most organisations lack formal policies to control and manage encrypted traffic. Less than 50 percent of enterprises with dedicated Secure Web Gateways decrypt outbound Web traffic. Less than 20 percent of organisations with a firewall, an intrusion prevention system or a unified threat management appliance decrypt inbound or outbound SSL traffic.

Inaccuracy. Enterprises inaccurately throw money at all kinds of solutions, from IDS/IPS and DLP to NGFW, malware analysis and more.

While these solutions address a variety of issues, they only offer SSL inspection as an add-on feature, and oftent have www.cnmeonline.com

limited visibility into just web/HTTPS traffic. In this case, multiple appliances must be deployed to support the inspection of processor-intensive SSL traffic, which is costly, ineffective and operationally challenging.

Hesitation. Starting and stopping often plagues IT security teams when it comes to encrypted traffic decryption projects. The complex set of laws and regulations on data privacy typically impedes decisionmaking by the legal, HR or compliance teams. Furthermore, the risk of conflict and dissatisfaction with employees often derails these encrypted traffic decryption efforts.

Playing with a weak defence.

Malware uses SSL to do its damage.

For example, according to Gartner, the pervasive Zeus botnet uses SSL/TLS communication to upgrade after the initial email infection.

Letting the environment cloud your game. The rapid adoption of cloud apps and services dramatically expands and complicates the IT environment, accelerates SSL/TLS encrypted traffic use, and expands the risk surface for attacker exploitation.

Modern applications such as social media, file storage, search and cloudbased software increasingly use SSL/TLS as their communications foundation. Monitoring and scouring these applications and services for malicious content and activity is highly

recommended. At least, the expanding use of these applications creates more questions about when to strategically encrypt and decrypt.

A number of solutions and steps can be taken by organisations to eliminated several security blind spots in their networks such as: • Take inventory and plan for growth. Assess the SSL encrypted network traffic mix and volume in your organisation.

• Evaluate the risk of uninspected traffic. Gather information and collaborate with your nonIT colleagues in HR, legal or compliance. Then review and refine established policies from a security, privacy and compliance standpoint and then create a joint action plan to resolve any vulnerabilities.

• Enhance your network security infrastructure with comprehensive encrypted traffic management.

Empower existing NGFW, IDS/IPS, anti-virus, DLP, malware analysis (sandbox) and security analytics solutions with the ability to detect all threats – even from formerly encrypted traffic - and process them accordingly.

• Monitor, refine and enforce.

Constantly monitor, refine and enforce the acceptable use policies for encrypted applications and traffic in and out of your network. december 2015

69

Opinion

Donald Brown, CEO, Interactive Intelligence

Intelligent engagements

A

rtificial intelligence (AI), computers behaving like humans is no longer science fiction. As the technology industry progresses, machines are getting smarter and companies across the globe are beginning to realise ways to leverage AI to improve consumer engagement and customer experience.

Research by Gartner indicates that in a few years 89 percent of businesses will compete mainly on customer experience.

And, within five years, consumers will manage 85 percent of their relationships with an enterprise without interacting with a human – moving to the ‘DIY’ customer service concept.

That’s why more companies are using social and digital platforms to empower customers and enhancing their contact centres with new AI technology.

Interactive voice-response systems that enable agents to target and personalise communications with customers is one such example. Agents can now be armed with intelligence about why a customer is calling before even picking up the phone.

The added layer of personalisation and customisation brings back an element of humanity that has gone missing, and it is occurring without driving up costs.

Surprisingly, consumers are even willing to pay a bit extra for such service, if need be. In the United States, a poll of over 2,000 adults by research firm Harris found that 70 percent said they would be willing to pay more for a brand with a good customer service reputation. Even more of them - 86 percent - said they would very likely switch brands after a bad customer service experience.

In many respects, AI is like a freight train racing down the tracks. Steady advances in hardware and software are sparking immense progress in how 70

december 2015

machines help interact with customers.

Google’s voice recognition technology, for instance, improved to 98 percent in 2014 from 84 percent just two years earlier. Facebook’s DeepFace technology now recognises faces with 97 percent accuracy. As for IBM’s Watson, its technology is 2,400 percent ‘smarter’ today than when it achieved its Jeopardy TV show victory in 2011.

Voice recognition systems themselves now perform tens of millions of online searches every month.

AI-assisted speech recognition

Additionally, AI-aided speech recognition helps improve customer service. Key words can be spotted to trigger service enhancements. The word ‘supervisor,’ for instance, could alert a manager to join a call and alleviate any issues with a customer. Systems can also be programmed to listen for competitor mentions. With AI, healthcare organisations can monitor for words or signals that indicate a heart attack may be occurring.

Financial institutions are experiencing similar progress. Take a customer who regularly calls the bank on a Friday to check her balance. Using AI, the bank possesses the intelligence to send the customer an automated message with her bank balance before the customer picks up the phone.

By detecting behavioural patterns, a business can also choose the best channel for communicating with customers. Not every customer requires a lengthy and personal phone call. Reaching out via email or leaving an automated voicemail can prove just as effective in terms of customer satisfaction and is far less costly than a live agent phone call. It simply

requires an understanding of what each customer prefers based on collected data and demographics.

Keys to driving success with AI

From a business’ perspective, certain elements are critical to succeed with AI. These include expertise, historical and accurate customer data, in order to understand patterns and act on them, loads of research, and cloud storage for the mountains of data being generated.

The cloud maintains data across many interactions and systems and delivers the capacity to maintain and aggregate data. This enables offline analysis across millions of customers to develop complex models. Only a few years ago, this wasn’t possible with on-premise systems.

It’s increasingly becoming clear that AI advances are helping to bring humanity back to customer experience.

Cognitive technologies are making it possible for: • Faster actions and decisions that satisfy today’s consumers who seek speedy responses.

• Better outcomes, whether it’s a resolution more tailored to a customer’s problem or quicker diagnosis of a health issue.

• Improved efficiency of operations and employees, including call centre personnel and others.

• Reduced costs, especially with lower labour costs from automated telephone customer service.

• Greater scale through performing major tasks that are impractical to perform manually.

• Innovations in products and services, from adding new features to improving customer service and launching new approaches.

For businesses, therefore, the return on investment incorporates all of the above, especially lower costs and the intangibles – happier and more loyal customers. www.cnmeonline.com

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Opinion

Mohammed Dualeh, Regional Sales Manager –MENA, Pure Storage

Flash forward Mohammed Dualeh, Regional Sales Manager –MENA, Pure Storage, writes about what IT managers ought to know about all-flash storage systems

A

lthough a majority of storage systems installed around the world are still based on hard disks, a recent 451 Research report determined that flash storage is rapidly catching up and is now accepted as mainstream. This is true for the Middle East where IT storage infrastructure is still greenfield and enterprises have an appetite for adopting the latest technologies.

All-Flash storage guarantees higher performance Although flash is a storage medium by nature, it bears no similarity to hard disk in terms of performance, 72

december 2015

endurance and generic behavior.

The benefit of hard disks over flash storage, is that they are able to store data at lower costs, per raw gigabyte. But the benefits stop there!

While flash storage enables thousands of IOPS per SSD, hard disks struggle to provide more than one hundred IOPS per HDD. Some argue that this shortcoming of hard disks can be overcome by opting for hybrid arrays (combination of a little flash storage with a large number of disks). However as soon as the hybrid flash tier is bypassed or overrun due to an increase in random access or a change in the datasets, the performance and

more importantly the latency, will suffer enormously. This is because the read-write speed of hard disks is very slow (in the double-digit millisecond range).

All-flash arrays on the other hand, can sustain high performance and consistent sub-millisecond latency because there is no tiering layer as all the data is kept on flash storage. The lowest common denominator to performance and latency is the all flash tier.

Asymmetry in read-write processes of flash arrays improves endurance The performance benefits of flash storage are already wellwww.cnmeonline.com

Opinion

Mohammed Dualeh, Regional Sales Manager –MENA, Pure Storage

known; the short latency times and the capability to supply hundreds of thousands of IOPS, ensure that virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs) respond significantly quicker, virtual server infrastructures (VSIs) can be managed on a more predictable and simpler basis, and databases and business analytics applications can be expedited.

To achieve these performance benefits and to be more reliable and also more affordable, than mechanical disks, flash storage cannot be treated like mechanical hard disks. For example, in case of flash storage, read processes are free and write processes expensive – behavior which is the opposite to that of hard disks.

The read and write processes are largely asymmetrical, because it takes a lot more time to delete a flash cell and write it again than to read it. So when designing a storage system based on flash storage, this asymmetry is the key to guaranteeing a predictable, high performance and highly available experience. To extend the life of the flash storage array, you will want to significantly minimize the number of write processes, while not being concerned about read processes.

Data reduction makes flash storage competitive If you look at the price per gigabyte, despite the rapid drop in price, flash storage still costs more than hard disk storage. State-of-the-art AFAs cancel out this discrepancy by simply reducing the raw capacity required to store the usable and active data.

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“If you look at the price per gigabyte, despite the rapid drop in price, flash storage still costs more than hard disk storage.”

1. Data duplication: Ensures that each data block which is stored on the array is unique 2. Data compression: Reduces the capacity needed to store each of these individual data blocks 3. Thin provisioning: Combining supporting procedures such as storage reclamation (SCSI t10 UNMAP) and zero or pattern removal, provides thin provisioning to guarantee that storage capacity is used only by active applications and user data, and not by volume managers, formatting, and deleted data.

Flash arrays thus remove everything superfluous which automatically accumulates when storing data on hard disks. Allflash arrays consequently enable companies to speed up their databases in order to reap business and competitive benefits, and to make mobile users happy with the high-speed response of the VDI environment. Flash Storage ensures that cloud environments (in other words VSI environments) are simple to provide and operate, and that even the most demanding business-critical tasks can be executed. It is impossible not to

recognize the all-flash advantages for VDI, VSI and Database environments.

The all-flash data center is coming Now that the price hurdle has been removed and all-flash storage systems today cost the same as hard disks, it is no surprise that companies are turning their backs on hard disk systems, and making the switch to flash storage. It is only a matter of time before flash is used as volume storage, for example for seismic analyses, design and CAD, Big Data Analytics, or the Internet of Things (IoT).

The analyst group, 451 Research's view that the drop in prices is an advantage for allflash systems is another driver for the enablement of the allflash data center. Why should companies forgo the simplicity and the operational savings which result from consistently higher performance and lower latency if it doesn’t cost more than traditional disk storage? The next few years will probably answer these question.

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Insight

David Bermingham, Microsoft MVP and Technical Evangelist, SIOS Technology

Keep it in sync W

hile cloud computing has proven to be beneficial for many organisations, IT departments have been slow to trust the cloud for business-critical Microsoft SQL Server workloads.

One of their primary concerns is the availability of their SQL Server, because traditional sharedstorage, high-availability clustering configurations are not practical or affordable in the cloud.

Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure both offer service level agreements that guarantee 99.95 percent uptime - fewer than 4.38 hours of downtime per year of IaaS servers. Both SLAs require deployment in two or more AWS Availability Zones or Azure Fault Domains respectively. Availability Zones and Fault Domains enable the ability to run instances in locations that are physically independent of each other with separate compute, network, and 76

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storage or power source for full redundancy. AWS has two or three Availability Zones per region, and Azure offers up to three Fault Domains per 'Availability Set'.

This arrangement guarantees that 99.95 percent of the time at least one of the locations Availability Zones or Fault Domains - will be operational. In the event of a failure of one location, a load balancer will redirect traffic to the instances in the other location.

For web servers and other nontransactional applications this can be sufficient for high availability.

However, simply redirecting clients to a different instance of SQL does nothing to address the fact that each instance will now have a different data set. Something needs to be done to ensure that the data remains in sync between the SQL instances and that client redirection is done seamlessly with minimal downtime.

For a company experiencing

downtime in their Microsoft SQL Server and other important application environments, the modest service fee refunds - a 10 percent refund for falling short of 99.95 percent uptime, and a 25-30 percent refund for falling short of 99 percent uptime - may be of little consolation in the event of a cloud outage. According to analyst firm CloudHarmony, Amazon EC2 and Amazon EBS combined had 46 outages ranging from 19 seconds to 2.8 hours from mid-June 2014 to mid-June 2015. Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines and Object Storage experienced 242 outages ranging from 10.4 minutes to 13.16 hours during the same period.

High availability in cloud environments To make the cloud practical for business critical applications, you need a way to mitigate downtime using high availability protection – traditionally failover clusters.

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Insight

David Bermingham, Microsof MVP and Technical Evangelist, SIOS Technology

“You simply use purpose-built SAN-less clustering software or add it as an ingredient to your Windows Server Failover Clustering environment. �

In a failover cluster, two or more servers are configured with shared storage - typically a SAN. In the event of a failure on the primary server, software such as Windows Server Failover Clustering moves the application operation to the secondary server. Since both servers share storage, operations can continue without data loss.

Seamless failover/failback also enables software updates and patches to be installed while minimising downtime associated with planned maintenance.

The problem is, in most cloud environments, including in both AWS and Azure, cluster-aware shared storage is not available. This gives DB administrators two basic options: keep Microsoft SQL Server and other critical applications onpremise or add replication software to create a SAN-less cluster in the cloud.

Clusters for high availability within the cloud SAN-less clusters offer a simple, highly efficient way to implement a failover cluster in a cloud. You 78

december 2015

simply use purpose-built SAN-less clustering software or add it as an ingredient to your Windows Server Failover Clustering environment.

The software uses efficient replication to synchronise storage in two or more servers may it be physical, virtual, or cloud.

By continuously synchronising the data from primary to remote storage using real time, block-level replication, the storage appears to WSFC as a traditional SAN regardless of the type of storage or where it is located. SAN-less clustering software is designed to be storage agnostic; that is, it is capable of working with the local or direct-attached storage normally used in public clouds, as well as with SANs iSCSI storage and network-attached storage.

Of significance in HA cloud configurations, synchronisation software also handles write acknowledgements in a way that assures satisfactory performance over a WAN link to an Availability Zone or Fault Domain in a distant data centre. Some solutions even offer data compression and

advanced bandwidth management techniques to further improve WAN performance.

Being agnostic to storage systems also facilitates use of hybrid cloud configurations where, for example, a cluster protecting SQL applications in an enterprise data centre using a SAN can be extended to a cluster node in a cloud. This configuration provides a costefficient DR option without the cost and complexity of managing your own secondary data centre.

Companies can use SAN-less clustering software solutions that are fully integrated with WSFC, enabling them to implement them in a cloud without the need for specialised training or changes to standard IT operations.

Other SAN-less clustering software can be used to support Linux (as well as Windows) environments where it monitors the complete application stack, manages application failover, and synchronises storage. It enables complete configuration flexibility and provides a simple, cost-efficient HA and DR solution where traditional clusters are impossible or impractical.

The ability to leverage the familiar and proven Windows Server Failover Clustering technology in both Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure clouds makes SAN-less clustering software an affordable solution that is worth considering for SQL Server and other business critical applications.

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Survey BIG DATA

Big Data and Hadoop

A survey conducted jointly by SAS and Intel in Middle East, Africa and Turkey, reveals trends around adoption, intentions and maturity of one of the hottest IT trends of 2015.

B

ig Data has become a hyped and misused concept, giving rise to confusion. At a high level, however, we are talking about the three Vs of volume, variety and velocity in general. This survey found that over a third (37 percent) of the 266 companies polled do not have a data infrastructure capable of meeting the demands tied to new types of data.

The three Vs: • Volume: Many factors contribute to the increase in data volume: transactionbased data stored through the years, unstructured data streaming in from sources including text, images, video, logs and increasing quantities of sensor and machine-to-machine data.

• Velocity: Data is streaming in at unprecedented speed and must be dealt with in a timely manner. Reacting quickly enough to deal with data velocity is a challenge for most organisations.

• Variety: Managing, merging and governing different varieties of data, both structured and unstructured, is something many organisations still grapple with.

The interesting part is the new insight obtained from analysing this data. In the 80

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past, organisations were constrained in how much data could be stored and what types of analytics could be applied to them. Analysts were often limited to analysing just a sample subset of the data in an attempt to simulate a larger data population, even when using all the information would have yielded a more accurate result.

Hadoop – Still the new kid on the block That little elephant icon is to be seen all over the place. The distributed open-source framework has caught the attention of many organisations searching for better ways to store and process large volumes and varieties of data. A number of IT professionals from departmental heads and business executives to data analysts and analytics managers are actively considering Hadoop as a storage and analytics platform.

Hadoop delivers enormous processing power – the ability to handle virtually limitless concurrent tasks and jobs.

That makes it a remarkably low-cost complement to a traditional enterprise data infrastructure. It can overcome the bandwidth and coordination issues

associated with processing billions of records that previously might not have been saved. Hadoop handles Big Data. It does it fast. It redefines the possible when it comes to analysing large volumes of data, particularly semi-structured and unstructured data.

Hadoop distribution vendors have invested a great deal into making it mature and enterprise-ready, and a proven data platform is now available.

In many cases, however, information is valueless unless it can be used in a business context. We at SAS Institute have seen big interest from companies wanting to process and analyse these new kinds of Hadoop data.

A thirst for data Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of all those polled see an increasing need to collect and analyse more data in their companies. This comes as no surprise as today the data deluge comes at us from every possible angle. We have more tools than ever before for creating and consuming data and more tools than ever before for making sense of that data. Where once most of the data we made use of was structured in database columns and rows, today it is mostly

www.cnmeonline.com

Survey BIG DATA

Other

unstructured and arrives in myriad formats from web pages, presentation slide shows and word processing documents to still images, audio and video.

Even devices that once would have been ‘dumb’ generate data. From traffic lights to factory machinery, more objects are equipped with sensors and the communications capabilities to report on their status, temperature, speeds, light and much more. Even the metadata generated by devices can have enormous value when queried.

Most companies recognise that data is the raw material from which it is possible to generate insights, transform business models, create efficiencies, and detect suspicious patterns indicating fraudulent activities and more.

But collecting data for the sake of it is a fool’s errand. Only by querying that data and applying analytics can its riches be revealed.

Uncovering unstructured data Almost the same number that said they need to collect or analyse more data, said they see a need to collect new types of data (59 percent), such as unstructured data, that cannot easily be stored in traditional relational 82

december 2015

database management systems.

The close numerical correlation suggests that unstructured data such as word processing documents, web pages, images, audio and video, makes up the vast majority of the data they want to analyse.

It’s well known that unstructured data is growing faster than structured data and is already much the larger of the two. IDC has estimated that the quantity of unstructured data stored on enterprise storage platforms specifically surpassed that of structured data for the first time at the beginning of 2015, with the volume of unstructured data now growing so rapidly that it will account for 80% of capacity in 2017.

It’s little wonder that organisations want to mine this data for all sorts of purposes. An online retailer might want to see the ways a website visitor interacted with its pages, a media organisation might want to analyse and archive a video without having a human make manual notes, a company might want to be able to find an email or document for governance reasons, for example to satisfy a request from a regulator or legal agency. A brand might want to see how people feel about it by mining social networks to analyse sentiment over time.

It’s time to upgrade Of those that do see the opportunity to make data shine, more than a third (37 percent) have less faith in their current infrastructure and in particular its ability to support the three Vs. That’s probably a realistic assessment.

The sheer volume of new data, the mixture of data types and the speed at which it can be shuttled between systems ask tough questions of our servers, storage systems and networking fabrics.

Many data centres in operation today weren’t designed to cope with the influx of new data - with the scale of it, or the fact that it can traverse the world in the blink of an eye. Relational database management systems, business analysis tools and networks were installed without anticipating what was to follow.

The global recession made it difficult for IT leaders to demand data centre refresh cycles and it is only in recent times that the budgets, tools and skill sets have aligned to the point that organisations are examining their hardware and software assets to deal with the challenges and opportunities of the new face of data analytics.

Of those who think their current infrastructure is short of the mark, over half (58 percent) think they need to upgrade existing infrastructure, and www.cnmeonline.com

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Survey BIG DATA

equivalent statistics for firms based in Western Europe.

Just 5 percent of respondents on aggregate have already deployed Hadoop, another finding that suggests, for now at least, Hadoop remains a niche solution within all three regions.

However, only 5 percent said they will not consider it, indicating that most are happy to keep an open mind on future Hadoop usage but need to know more about it before they can make a decision one way or another.

over a quarter (27 percent) see a need for infrastructure designed specifically for new data analysis. A further 10 percent indicated that they needed to look at cloud solutions, and as ‘analyticsas-a-service’ type propositions with payas-you-go tariffs have mushroomed, this seems rather low and indicates that cloud still has some way to go in analytics at least. It’s notable that the survey as a whole shows a strong leaning towards upgrading in-house systems or colocation infrastructure.

One other note: just 2 percent volunteered that they are taking a Hadoop approach: more evidence, that as we shall see when taken in the round, suggests there might be more hype than reality about Hadoop’s place in analytics today.

As for the 63 percent who believe they have the infrastructure in place to deal with the three Vs, this might suggest a degree of complacency.

Looking at the data by geographic splits, Middle East respondents were far more likely to consider their data centre capability as satisfactory (74 percent versus 48 percent in Africa and 42 percent in Turkey). This might be explained by better funded IT operations in this wealthy part of the world.

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What’s Hadoop?

Jumping to Hadoop, when the audience was asked if it considered the architecture for storing and analysing data, the numbers might appear surprising for those that have heard the media and other pundits obsessing over its successes. The research suggests that uptake and even consideration of Hadoop lags behind the buzz. In fact, there is surprisingly low awareness of Hadoop as a technology.

Large numbers of respondents from the Middle East (73 percent) and South Africa (77 percent) said they were not aware of Hadoop compared to Turkey, where the figure was only 33 percent, indicating much greater familiarity with Hadoop in this country specifically.

Organisations in Turkey also appear to be more actively engaged in current deployment, with 18 percent reporting Hadoop systems were currently under implementation, compared to just 1 percent in the Middle East and 2 percent in South Africa. A third (33 percent) of Turkish respondents also predicted that their employers would make a strategic decision on whether to deploy the technology in 2015 or later – figures were far less pronounced in Africa (10 percent) and the Middle East (1 percent) and much closer to

Obstacles To gain insight into what might slow down Hadoop’s progress, the survey asked only those with current or planned Hadoop implementations, or those evaluating it what they thought would be the main obstacle that would prevent them from deployment.

Interestingly, the top answer was more to do with soft issues than technical reasons with almost a third of respondents (31 percent) citing resources and competencies. Addressing the skills gap will clearly be a near-term challenge for Hadoop.

Security is an omnipresent risk factor in modern IT so it’s also no surprise that almost a quarter (24 percent) referred to it as the primary obstacle for Hadoop adoption. There is no specific known risk vector today that is unique to Hadoop but some buyers will want to see proof that Hadoop does not become a conduit for vulnerabilities before strategically adopting.

Hadoop remains a fairly new technology and a consistent theme among critics is its lack of maturity.

Clearly this will be addressed over time as new tools arrive to fill in the gaps and current features mature but for now, uncertainty about technical maturity remains a concern, cited by one in five (20 percent) of current, committed or potential future users as the main barrier to Hadoop adoption.

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Insight

Flagged credentials The tech industry has recently been a facing a new challenge as cybercriminals have started building Big Data warehouses and selling stolen data. David Geer, Contributing Editor, CSO, probes the issue and identifies ways enterprises can combat the threat.

W

hile cloud computing has proven to be beneficial for many organisations, IT departments have been slow to trust the cloud for business-critical Microsoft SQL Server workloads. One of their primary concerns is the availability of their SQL Server, because traditional shared-storage, high-availability clustering configurations are not practical or affordable in the cloud.

According to McAfee Labs, attackers are linking stolen personally identifiable information (PII) sets together in Big Data warehouses, making the combined records more valuable to cyber-attackers. The coming year will see the development of an even more robust dark market for stolen PII and usernames and passwords, according to McAfee Labs.

A new type of criminal is combining warehousing and selling stolen data including access credentials and PII that are targeted to specific markets, industries, companies, and purposes, 86

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according to the McAfee Labs 2016 Threat Predictions and McAfee Labs’ Director of Threat Intelligence Christiaan Beek. McAfee has seen the hacker underground and dark markets moving in this direction over the past seven months, Beek asserts.

Attackers are applying a data warehousing and Big Data analytics business model to stolen data, increasing its value and the damage it can do. The McAfee Labs 2016 Threat Predictions report says, “Leveraging analytic techniques used in the world of Big Data, these criminals will look for links and correlations throughout their trove of stolen information, reverse engineering personal identities and selling that intelligence to the highest bidder.".

The McAfee Labs’ report highlights that this technique will enable thieves to circumvent commonly used techniques to verify identity - social security numbers, birthdates, last four digits of credit cards, or answers to typical security questions - and

essentially sell legitimate credentials and make it more difficult for security defences to identify suspicious behaviour. Cybercriminals may even be able to use behavioural analytics to figure out what purchases can be made with stolen payment card info that will not trigger an alert.

Indicators of developing attacker data warehouses include the nature of the data offered for sale. “On one of the websites, we saw that you could ask for data and passwords by industry sector,” says Beek. Attackers are also swapping data from different breaches with each other so that they can build up stronger user profiles. “We see discussions in closed forums where one group is exchanging files with another group just to benefit each other’s operations in this way,” he affirms.

These warehouse approaches could grow, using the same kinds of analytics on harvested PII data that legitimate businesses do on their Big Data stores.

They could identify patterns and create robust databases that connect www.cnmeonline.com

Insight

“Adopt the fewest, most affordable security technologies, policies, and enforcements that together meet the broadest array of applicable standards.

Then acquire one-off solutions for any unmet standards that remain.”

information about the person’s place of employment with their personal profile and quickly reach far beyond the data that the criminal started with. “They could achieve a lot without ever noticeably breaching a company,” says Beek.

The resulting threat The threat, explains Beek, is that an attacker could fly under the radar, so to speak, and mimic the purchasing habits, login periods, and location of the user’s stolen PII so well that it would be very hard to detect it.

The more data an attacker already has about a user based on the information they purchased from one of these warehouses, the easier it will be for them to find and collect more user data, complete the user profile, and access anything that user touches.

We see discussions in closed forums where one group is exchanging files with another group just to benefit each other’s operations in this way.

“When attackers can get this information through the underground, they don’t have to go out on the Internet to get it, and they don’t end up creating a footprint that the enterprise can follow,” Beek adds. “Attackers could prepare in secret, launch a major attack the first time they strike, and the 88

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enterprise would not have any early warning signs in order to prepare.”

What enterprises can do Stay abreast of evolving standards across and within industries on how to protect PII. The ISO/IEC 27018:2014 standard, “Information technology - Security techniques Code of practice for protection of personally identifiable information (PII) in public clouds acting as PII processors” is a standard that leaves place for amendments and revisions as the landscape changes. The NIST Special Publication 800-122, ‘Guide to Protecting the Confidentiality of Personally Identifiable Information (PII)’ covers determining, reducing the number of instances of PII you really need to store, where you need to store it, and how securely you should store it, says Beek.

How enterprises can fight back • Stay up to date on evolving standards • Adopt the most affordable security technologies • Acquire one-off solutions to any unmet standards • Create obscure default security questions Other standards include the DHS ‘Handbook for Safeguarding

Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information’. The OMB, GSA, and other government organisations have PII rules and guidelines. PII standards exist within industries such as finance and healthcare and wherever industry and regulatory requirements demand them.

Adopt the fewest, most affordable security technologies, policies, and enforcements that together meet the broadest array of applicable standards. Then acquire one-off solutions for any unmet standards that remain.

Vendors continue to develop better obfuscation and encryption technologies and techniques for PII even as experts share their thought leadership in how to better leverage existing measures for securing PII. Security questions at logon time are one such measure that needs tweaking. “Enterprises need to obscure default security questions so that people’s answers are not easily retrieved from their public social media accounts or other readily available information,” says Beek.

Meanwhile, the party concerned can be clever with the answers they choose to use in response to those default sign-on queries.

Try exchanging your answer to question A with your answer to question C, for example, and then memorise it. Attackers won’t get so far so fast when your pet’s name is ‘ChevySilverado’ and your first car was a ‘Mittens’. Likewise, enterprises waiting for better PII security tomorrow should ensure today that any third-party vendor or enterprise customer who even might touch the PII that they are responsible for also enforces PII security measures that meet or exceed acceptable standards.

www.cnmeonline.com

© 2015 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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interview

Jacob Chacko, Business Lead, SMB and Commercial, Middle East and Turkey at Aruba Networks

RETAIL THERAPY

Jacob Chacko, Business Lead, SMB and Commercial, Middle East and Turkey at Aruba Networks, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, writes about the use of digital technologies in the retail sector to transform customer experience.

In-store retailing has been under rising pressure from increased costs of doing business, as well as the growth of online shopping. Yet, bricks-andmortar sales still accounts for the majority of retail spend. According to a new publication from Hamburg-based yStats.com, the e-commerce market in the Middle East and Africa has the potential to grow at small double-digit rates in the next five years, led by countries such as the UAE and driven by improving Internet penetration, rising ownership of mobile devices and payment cards. However, despite substantial growth in the Middle East over the past couple of years, the region is still behind a number of other emerging economies in the e-commerce stakes due to factors such as delivery challenges, a preference for face-to-face, lack of choice due to limited range of online products and services, no price differential as compared to in-store purchases, consumer privacy concerns, prevalence of cash-on-delivery and others.

We believe the retail model of the future will be a radically different experience from today, largely driven by the changing shopping demands of the younger hyper-connected consumer. Bricks-and-mortar retailing will remain to be a significant part in retail, however the lines between channels will erode at the benefit of both the customer and the business.

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Advances in technology will significantly improve the relationships between retailers and customers, much the way analytics is already doing to online shopping.

Real opportunity lies in responding to this change, focusing on delivering a truly integrated and seamless omnichannel experience.

The future of retail is an exciting one, and over the next few years we expect to see a number of key developments taking place in stores around the globe: The emergence of the smart personal shopper Online retail will continue to exist for customers who want to buy a specific product and have it delivered to their home. But those who enter a store do so to learn, to view and feel items and to speak to a person. As the physical environment of a store changes, communication barriers between customers and employees such as counters will be removed, enabling staff to provide a more personalised experience.

Mobile technology will revolutionise the sales process and experience. Tomorrow’s retail staff will be unleashed from the sales counter, and given the equipment to connect with customers across the entire store, offering a more consultative approach. In fashion

retail for example, assistants will be able to show customers a range of outfits and styles a particular item could work with.

With a real time view of stock and availability, they will be far more capable of closing sales, only recommending items that are both in stock and in size, while offering further choice and reducing wait time for shoppers.

The rise of immersive engagement Walking past a store, a customer’s phone buzzes, offering them to try on the same pair of jeans they saved in their online basket a few days ago.

Enticing them in, as they’ve already shopped online, for today only they will get an additional 10 percent off all purchases.

Location-aware technology will identify customers’ mobile devices, enabling upsell and cross-sell offers based not just on what they’re viewing, but also what they’ve purchased before. As customers roam the store, engagement programmes will link with in-store beacons to dynamically offer up suggestions at various points along the store path.

Here, the loyalty programme and the new found freedom of the retail assistant will combine and, with a shared purchase history, the best retailers will enable assistants to make personal style recommendations, based on customer preference and items they may already own.

Experiences will extend loyalty beyond purchases too, offering experience enhancements such as VIP parking spots when customers approach retail stores, and recognising regular customers on entry.

The end of cash and plastic Part of matching the new connected consumers’ expectations will be

www.cnmeonline.com

"Location-aware technology will identify customers’ mobile devices, enabling upsell and cross-sell offers based not just on what they’re viewing, but also what they’ve purchased before." delivering a seamless, frictionless payment experience, removing any barriers slowing down the speed of a retail sale. Eliminating queues from stores, roaming staff, now empowered by mobile technology will be able to transact with customers in seconds, as shoppers keep focus on the purchase experience rather than the cost.

One of the most important factors to consumers, payment security requires additional compliance with higher security standards, ensuring consumers are protected from fraudulent activity and avoiding the irreparable reputational damage and financial costs associated with a breach in payment security for the retailer.

This adoption of mobile, digital payments will further enable retailers to offer things like on-demand delivery options, where products can be delivered straight to the customer’s home or even car.

For retail businesses, this will also likely lead to higher revenues. Just as the shift from cash to plastic showed consumers are willing to spend more when not parting with cash, so too www.cnmeonline.com

will sales be further strengthened by further dissociation from the traditional bank instrument, the card.

The road to the future These hyper-connected consumers already in the marketplace have a rapidly growing share of spending power. This always-on generation demand things like fast internet access and a more seamless, digital experience they’re already getting from other services.

While new innovations are being tested and tried in today’s market, much of this development is stifled by existing and fragmented existing IT infrastructure, negatively impacting the customer experience, and slowing the consumer adoption of new technologies that could help drive the retail business forward.

Because of this, retailers are already starting on the back foot. To build a successful platform for innovation across multiple channels, they must ensure the technological needs of today’s customers are fully met, otherwise they face being left in the dust. Focus on enriching the customer experience immediately, and set the stage for rapid innovation in the coming years. december 2015

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How to dive into the data flood Virtually every kind of company will eventually have to become a data-driven enterprise. It's a matter of competition. Here, experts share strategies for making the most of IoT data.

W

hile cloud computing has proven to be beneficial for many organisations, IT departments have been slow to trust the cloud for businesscritical Microsoft SQL Server workloads.

One of their primary concerns is the availability of their SQL Server, because traditional shared-storage, highavailability clustering configurations are not practical or affordable in the cloud.

Virtually every kind of company will eventually have to become a data-driven enterprise. It's a matter of competition.

Here, experts share strategies for making the most of IoT data.

It’s an Internet of Things (IoT) world, with everything from heating systems to manufacturing control systems to RFID tags collecting data -- and if you’re in an enterprise that data is coming your way, if it’s not already there.

That’s both good and bad. Good because locked up in that data is information that can make your company improve efficiency, work smarter, find new sources of revenue and more. Bad because few companies are prepared for the incoming data flood.

www.cnmeonline.com

To help you handle it and design the best strategy, we’ve sought advice from the pros -- IoT pioneer GE; Intel, which has gone all-in to IoT; and several companies that specialise in helping enterprises deal with IoT big data issues.

This article provides an in-depth look at the issue and possible solutions to it.

A look at the issue Before we get advice from the pros, let’s take a brief look at the scope of the issue.

Datameer, which sells a big-data analytics platform, says that by 2019 there will be 35 billion devices connected to the Internet. Some 40,000 exabytes of data will be generated by sensors that will be built into Internet-connected devices.

What type of data are we talking about? It could be anything. For example, manufacturing companies use sensors to check on their factories and equipment, to make sure everything runs smoothly, and improve the manufacturing process.

Retailers can use it to better track sales and tie sale information to the supply chain. Everyday appliances will collect data as well.

So it’s no surprise that a joint survey

by Accenture and GE found that big data is top of mind for enterprises. Eightyeight percent of executives surveyed said that it was one of their top three priorities, and 82% said they would build or add to their existing big data platform or their analytics capabilities in the next three years.

The long view from GE By all accounts, GE is one of the IoTand-big-data pioneers, both using the technology in its own businesses, and providing services for companies that want to take advantage IoT data. GE is in many businesses, from aviation to energy management, healthcare, oil and gas, transportation and more, with factories spread around the world, and so it’s had to face the IoT data flood before most other companies. Based on its experiences, it sells products and services for IoT and data, notably in its GE Intelligent Platform division.

Rich Carpenter, Executive Chief Software Architect for GE Intelligent Platforms Software says that the first challenge for most companies looking to make use of the IoT data flood is to gather december 2015

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Insight that.“Some companies start by picking the data -- and it’s a tougher task than you one manufacturing plant, and try to might imagine. make data collection and analysis perfect “We face this problem a lot in our before moving on. But it can take forever own business,” he says. “We’ve got to solve all problems, even in one plant.

400 global factories and a surprisingly We’ve learned that a more prescribed large amount of that equipment is not solution works. Get yourself 70% of connected, because a lot of equipment the way there in a plant, and then scale was installed before the Internet that across your entire enterprise. That became popular.” brings you significantly more value He says that GE breaks down much more quickly.” its equipment into three categories: Carpenter also says virtually every completely unconnected equipment, kind of company will eventually have to equipment that is capable of being take IoT data into account and become a connected but needs work to complete data-driven enterprise. the connection, and equipment that is “This isn’t just for manufacturers either already connected or can easily or companies that already know they be connected. GE then devises dataneed to get into IoT, “he says. “All collection strategies for each type. companies need it, whether it’s for asset But merely gathering data from IoT management maintenance, ERP, supply devices isn’t enough. IoT data can come in chain, or helping a mobile workforce many different formats, which might not work more efficiently.” be compatible with one another or with data analytics software.

Intel advises: Look at your In industrial settings, GE installs databusiness goals first collection appliances that it calls field Vin Sharma, Intel’s Director of Strategy agents, which have secure, authenticated for Big Data Analytics, Data Center Group, connections to a public or private cloud agrees with Carpenter that just about any for data storage. Not only do the devices enterprise will one day need to make use send the data securely, but they also of IoT data. determine what kinds of data to collect, “Agriculture, manufacturing, what protocols to use to collect them, and healthcare, there are obvious reasons how the data should be stored. why all of them want and need IoT data,” Once the data is collected, companies he says. “But our expectation is that need to make sense of it and mine every organisation will want to make it for useful information. That’s use of all the data available to difficult enough. Even more them, which means IoT challenging is to take data. I’m struggling to that information and imagine an industry then use it to make that won’t need changes in the "Once the data is this kind of way a company collected, companies information. works, such as Retail, for by making a need to make sense of example, manufacturing it and mine it for useful can gain a lot plant more information. That’s of value by efficient. monitoring its Carpenter difficult enough." inventory of goods warns that many with RFID tags and companies get stuck beacons. Ultimately, in this phase. He has the goal for many advice how they can solve 94

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companies will be to get a 360-degree view of their customers, whether it’s a patient in the healthcare industry, a farmer in the agricultural industry, or a consumer in the retail industry.”

Sharma says that perhaps the biggest mistake that companies make with IoT data has nothing to do with technology, and everything to do with understanding their own business goals.

“A common problem is that companies don’t have a very clear definition of their business objectives before starting, and of the analytics problem they want to solve.” he says. “There’s a nebulousness, and that translates into long delays for deployment. But with companies that have a very crisp and clear idea of what they want to accomplish, things tend to move very quickly.”

Sharma uses the apparel industry as an example of the importance of clearly defining the business problem before embarking on any IoT project.

“Let’s say the accuracy of the inventory in my stores isn’t where I want it to be,” he says. “That forces me to overstock clothing, which generates waste and reduce my margin. And this goes all the way down the supply chain. So I know that that improving the accuracy of my in-store inventory will improve my profitability. That gives me a very clear definition of the problem I want to solve.”

With that goal in mind, the company can design a system to get more granular and accurate data about its inventory of in-store goods, for example by using RFID sensor arrays.

The second major issue, he says, is with the scope of the IoT projects that companies undertake -- often, they’re too large and become unwieldy and very difficult to deploy and manage.

“We see many companies succeed when they carve out a very specific measure scope first for a proof of concept, and then for a small pilot. After that, they can scale it both horizontally

www.cnmeonline.com

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Insight and vertically across their business.”

He points back to the apparel example of needing to get a more accurate view of inventory. He suggests first doing a pilot at a single store in a single location, and working all the issues out. After that, he says, they can scale to all of their 300 stores, and then add additional types of data collection to the deployment.

Using cloud-based Hadoop platforms Even enterprises that have clear definitions of the business problems they want to solve won’t be able to make use of IoT data unless they have the analytics platform to handle it. Increasingly, open source Apache Hadoop is being recognised as a premier platform for that.

The reason: it offers distributed storage and processing for very large data sets by using computer clusters that can be built from low-cost, commodity hardware.

But Hadoop is not easy to deploy, and is beyond the technical expertise of many enterprises. In addition, many companies don’t want to build the massive platforms that the flood of IoT data can require.

So a number of companies have sprung up that offer cloud-based, end-to-end Hadoop platforms, built for handling big data, including IoT data. That way, enterprises can focus on data analysis, rather than wrangling with building, deploying, and managing an entire platform.

Datameer offers one of those platforms. Datameer first built its platform in 2009, and Andrew Brust, the company’s Senior Director of Technical Product Marketing and Evangelism, warns companies not to get caught up in the current IoT hype.

“Right now, IoT is in the prime of its hype cycle, so it sounds as if the data problems that enterprises face is entirely new. But at its core, it’s not really a clean slate. What we’re talking about in general is streaming data and analytics. The main difference is that there are a lot more www.cnmeonline.com

enterprise, you’ll have much things from which "Hadoop better retention as well.” we can gather Altiscale also offers data now, is not easy to a cloud-based Hadoop and there’s deploy, and is beyond platform. Mike a greater the technical expertise Maciag, Altiscale frequency Chief Operating of of many enterprises. In Officer, believes that gathering addition, many companies working with IoT that data.” don’t want to build the data is different in One of significant ways than the biggest massive platforms that working with big data issues with the flood of IoT data in the past.

IoT data, he can require."

“In many cases, IoT says, is that it data is an aggregation of many comes from many pieces of small data into humongous different devices using data,” he says. “There’s a constant many different protocols and stream that grows into hundreds of data standards that aren’t necessarily terabytes and then petabytes. Also, it’s compatible with one another. In some very often unstructured data, and so it cases the data is highly structured, and in may need a lot of manipulation before it other cases, it’s not. can become useful. What’s also unique “The biggest piece of advice I can give is that much of the data is born in the people is to look for technology and tools cloud and coming from the cloud to that let you create an abstraction layer you.” on top of all of the IoT data. That way, He says that this, in part, changes when you get many different data types, the way companies need to think about you’ll still be able to handle it, because data. In the past, he said, companies the platform will be able to handle new used to extract data, transform data, standards as they come down the pipe. and then load it into a database. With And look for a product that will be able IoT, he continues, “That has changed to to integrate data from as many different extract it, load it, and then transform it.” sources as possible.”

Because of that, he recommends, Brust also says that it’s important “Make sure to store all the data that to hire the right people with the right comes in, and don’t throw it away, even analytics skills. Data scientists are in short if you don’t know yet what to do with it. supply, he acknowledges, but he believes It may become valuable one day, when that it’s not necessary to hire people with your company comes up with new that job title. strategies and ways of doing business.”

“The whole notion of the data And that – coming up with new scientist has a lot of mystique around strategies and new ways of doing it, but you shouldn’t get boxed into business – is at the core of why a corner and think that you need enterprises need to begin developing to hire someone with that exact an IoT big data strategy now, or skill set,” he says. “If you have good else improve their existing one. As technical people who are skilled in GE’s Carpenter says, “It’s a matter of data warehousing and IT work, you competition. You need to run your can provide them with the training business based on real data rather than and expertise they need to get the job what you imagine. Your competitors done. Not only will you then get the are going to be doing it. If you don’t, right resources, but by offering that you’re going to be left behind.” kind of opportunity for people in your december 2015

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Opinion

Len Rosenthal, Vice President, Marketing, Load DynamiX

Storage equilibrium

M

ost organisations who are looking to add SolidState Drives (SSD) to their storage environment, are often mindful of finding ways to avoid under-provisioning and ensure performance and scalability. However, to meet cost goals and avoid unnecessary spending they should steer away from over-provisioning. Workload profiling can help orgnisations achieve the critical balance.

A recent survey of 115 Global 500 companies by GatePoint Research showed that 65 percent of storage architects say they are doing some sort of pre-deployment testing before making their investment decision. Alarmingly, only 36 percent understand their application workload I/O profiles and performance requirements. They don’t know what workload profiling is and how it can be used to accurately evaluate vendors against the actual applications that will be running over their particular storage infrastructure.

Workload profiling explained Workload profiles, often called I/O profiles, are data and statistics that directly relate to storage activity and loading in real (observed) production storage arrays. It characterises the realistic, sometimes massive, application workloads that strains networked storage at an infrastructure level. Profiles typically comprise a mix of virtualised applications, such as databases, that can have significant random I/O content.

I/O profiles contain information on reads vs. writes, the mix of random versus sequential data access, the data and metadata commands, file and directory structures and IOPs to name a few of the key metrics.

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Two key steps to creating a workload profile:

Gather production data: The first step entails accessing the storage array logs and other statistics available from each of the production storage array’s proprietary tools. Every vendor has their own way of reporting storage I/O and utilisation data and most storage admins know how to run these tools and utilities over a predetermined period of time.

This data provides the foundation of the workload-to-performance relationship.

The data can be input into a storage workload modelling application.

Workload modelling: The second step entails creating the models based on the array data. There are tools available commercially that can take storage array log data and directly import it into the workload model. These models can then be used to vary the assumptions and perform a number of possible outcomes and worst case scenarios that users can review. Such applications can maintain libraries of repeatable scenarios that can be used to stress a storage system under a realistic simulation of the workload(s) it will be supporting in production.

Workload modeling enables the comprehensive performance testing of any flash or hybrid storage system under the actual conditions that it is expected to operate. With highly accurate simulations, storage performance can be fully predictable.

Applying workload profiles After creating our workload profiles, we can typically use them to validate storage solutions with a number of testing.

An example of which is limits finding, which entails determining the workload conditions that drive performance

below minimal thresholds, and the documenting of storage behaviour at failure point. Another is functional testing, this is the investigation under simulated load of various functions of the storage system like backup.

One can also try error injection, which requires an analysis of the solution under simulated load of specific failure scenarios (e.g., fail-over when a drive or controller fails). Lastly, users can also try soak testing, this include conducting an observation of the storage system under load sustained over extended periods of time potentially around three days to one week, or sometimes more.

Performance and load testing with workload profiles can also be used to tune and validate flash and hybrid storage infrastructure in critical areas.

Why is workload profiling important?

Workload profiling can offer vital insights into the existing or planned SSD infrastructure of an organisation, empowering storage professionals to optimise cost while assuring performance and reliability goals are met.

With a robust storage performance validation process in place, engineers and architects can optimally select and configure networked storage systems for their workloads by aligning performance requirements to purchase and deployment decisions. With such insight, application performance can be predictably assured and storage costs can be significantly reduced for production storage systems. It simply enables storage architects and engineers to make better, more informed decisions by eliminating the guesswork related to storage performance. www.cnmeonline.com

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Launches and releases

Brand: Apple Product: iPad Pro

Product: InnJoo Brand: Fire 2 What it does: Fire 2 is an LTE enabled, 5.0-inch, Dual SIM card smartphone with HD display. The new device runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop OS, with 720 x 1280 HD IPS display and is powered by a MediaTek’s Quad-Core 1.0GHz MT6735P processor. It has 1GB of built-in RAM that comes with 8GB of inbuilt storage and supports expandable storage via microSD card (up to 128GB). It also sports a 13MP auto focus rear camera and 5MP front camera.

What you should know: According to InnJoo, Fire 2 was designed especially to cater for the growing demand for LTE connectivity in the Middle East. The device is available in three colours – champaign gold, titanium grey and rose gold. The new device will be available exclusively on Souq. com and is priced at AED 299 in the UAE and SAR 299 in Saudi Arabia respectively.

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What it does: The latest addition to Apple’s iPad line, the iPad Pro, has a 12.9-inch Retina display which is nearly double the CPU performance of iPad Air 2.

The tablet also allows editing of 4K videos, designing presentations and more. At the heart of iPad Pro lies the new A9X, Apple’s third‑generation chip with 64‑bit desktop‑class architecture. It also sports four new high‑fidelity speakers which could create an ideal audio experience for users.

What you should know: Released along with the new iPad Pro are two accessories that complement the device, the Smart Keyboard and the Apple Pencil. The Smart Keyboard is a full-size keyboard which connects with the tablet through the Smart Connector, while the Apple Pencil takes advantage of iPad Pro’s multi-touch technology for sketching, painting or drafting designs..

Brand: Toshiba Product: Portégé Z20t What it does: The Portégé Z20 is a 12.5-inch convertible Ultrabook with a detachable keyboard. The device is equipped with Intel Core M processors, and has an 8GB RAM and 256GB of fast SSD storage. The device runs with Windows 8.1 Pro OS. What you should know: The convertible Ultrabook is equipped with a svelte dock that houses a spill-resistant keyboard. The hinge on the back of the device allows you to elevate the keyboard for maximum typing comfort.

Toshiba also underlines that the Portégé Z20t has a high-precision pen and a screen equipped with anti-glare coating that works together to give users a comfortable viewing experience. december 2015

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Backlog

8

ways to avoid false positives

Success in the new age of software development depends on increasing the velocity of delivery - meaning speed, agility, and efficiency - while continuing to meet customer expectations when it comes to quality. Ultimately, creating excellent software faster comes down to an effective pipeline.

Part of making that pipeline effective is optimising your automated testing and minimising the false positives that those tests produce. When tests fail because code is flawed, progress is slowed, but at least it’s for a good reason. When tests fail for reasons apart from the code, that’s a complete waste of time.

False positives can be particularly challenging with UI testing, and we see this challenge often with Selenium and Appium, two popular test automation frameworks. We often find tests that were written with various assumptions that aren’t always reliable, especially in the world of modularised dynamic applications and changing network conditions.

False positives could be considered the arch nemesis of your beloved build and CI pipeline, crying wolf and instilling doubt in your developers and raising questions about the value of your test automation. Fortunately, organisations are taking these problems seriously, and we have observed a number of best practices around protecting against false positives in testing. Even better, most of them are very straightforward.

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Here are eight ways to protect your build from false positives.

1

Reliable environment configurations.

It’s important for the 'image' used for running the tests to be static, as small changes to the environment can cause unexpected problems with behaviour and thus reliability.

2

Use a dedicated environment.

Ideally, you want each test to run on a dedicated environment that has never been used before and will never be used again. Caching operating system state or trying to run multiple test sessions simultaneously on the same environment can cause conflicts - especially regarding UI and focus events.

3

Keep your tests short.

It is a best practice to separate your tests into small modular pieces that focus on one piece of functionality. It’s easier to debug, reproduce the issue, and address it.

A modular approach also encourages building features as small, selfcontained components, which promotes reusability.

4

Keep your tests independent.

It’s important to avoid the temptation to write tests that exercise a comprehensive UI workflow. You want minimal setup to set state or navigate to the component and a teardown. Independent tests provide the bonus of enabling straightforward parallelisation.

5

Use the right locators for object identification.

That means using IDs, names, and CSS locators instead of coordinates, UI, and so on. This also encourages you to build your application with testing in mind, making use of components that are self-contained and easy to interact with.

6

Set up and tear down application state.

This ensures that each and every script starts from a known or controlled state in the application.

7

Use dynamic object synchronisation.

It’s good practice to implement a library to handle object synchronisation in the framework. Faster execution and fewer false positives result from instructing the driver to wait for the UI to reach an expected condition before moving on to the next step.

8

Automate test reruns.

Having logic to detect failures and automatically rerun tests can help smooth out your build results. When a test fails three times in a row, you know it is really broken.

Following this playbook will help ensure your application’s health by enabling you to zero in on real, potential bugs. Teams will see their productivity increase as they stop wasting time on false positives, and as a result, quality code can be released sooner, allowing products to get to market faster.

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