Computer News Middle East May 2019

ISSUE 327 | MAY 2019 TAHAWULTECH.COM

SOPHIA’S MAKER DAVID HANSON AIMS TO RECREATE OUR COMPASSION, LOGIC AND PHYSIOLOGY SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD GAMES ABU DHABI

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INFOBLOX CEO JESPER ANDERSEN

CUTTING THROUGH THE AI NOISE

EDITORIAL

IT’S BEEN EMOTIONAL

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Unfortunately, it’s time for me to do one.”

I

t’s with a heavy heart that I am relinquishing the editorship of CNME. **Some of this editorial will be a gushing, sickly farewell so look away now if that’s not your cup of tea.** The word ‘privilege’ gets thrown around so often with this kind of notes, but it’s the only way to describe the opportunities that editing the Middle East’s longest running technology publication have brought me. CNME has afforded me some unforgettable experiences which I’ll always be grateful for.

I’ve been so lucky to work closely with the brightest and best in GCC technology, from fiercely intelligent businesspeople to those who represent the world’s household names in tech.

I owe a huge thank you to a lot of people at CPI Media Group who have supported me in my time at the company.

As for this issue, I couldn’t be happier that the cover interview for my final CNME outing is with David Hanson, CEO of Hanson Robotics, the maker of the world’s most famous robot and now Saudi citizen Sophia.

I won’t beat around the bush - David is a genius.

He offers compelling, mind-bending arguments around the ethics of building sentient machines and what it means to be human, and his is up there with the best interviews I’ve done in my five-and-a-half years with this publication.

There’s also a decent piece on page 27, where we learn about the part analytics played in making the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 a huge success.

Unfortunately, it’s time for me to do one. Thank you to everyone who has helped me make this publication a continued success, 27 years after it was founded. Don’t be strangers, let’s stay in touch.

linkedin.com/in/tahawultech

James Dartnell Editor

CONTENTS

Transformation and Technology Specialist Partner

Advanced Computing Partner

ISSUE 327 | MAY 2019

12 Hanson Robotics chairman & founder David Hanson

25 6

34

INFOBLOX CEO JESPER ANDERSEN

10

18

40

CUTTING THROUGH THE AI NOISE

FOUNDER, CPI MEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015)

News CNME rounds up the biggest regional and global developments in enterprise technology, including Uber’s IPO, the UAE’s AI strategy 2031 and Yahoo’s data breach payout.

22

Smooth mover Quest’s general manager and sales director for EMEA Emerging Markets, Amer Chebaro, discusses how the firm is positioned to ease challenges associated with moving to cloud.

42 Why the CIO and CISO

SAS Analytics Summit 2019

roles are getting harder

The SAS Analytics Summit 2019 brought together speakers from Emirates NBD, the Abu Dhabi Department of Health and OSN to spotlight the impact of AI and analytics.

CIOs and CISO’s are regularly moving between positions and companies because of one common mistake, according to Aruba’s UAE country manager Gemal Emara.

44 The personal touch

GBM DX Executive Summit

GBM hosted its DX Executive Summit at the St Regis hotel in Abu Dhabi, where experts discussed the ways that organisations can transform and disrupt themselves.

Risk-averse privacy ideas often prevent organisations from creating great customer experiences, according to Gartner’s vice president and analyst Penny Gillespie.

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NEWS

UBER FILES FOR LONG-ANTICIPATED IPO

after its founders struggled to get a cab on a snowy night and has changed the way much of the world travels.

The filing revealed Uber had 91 million users on its platforms at the end of 2018.

According to Reuters, Uber plans to sell around $10 billion worth of stock at a valuation of between $90 billion and $100 billion. Investment bankers

had previously told Uber it could be worth as much as $120 billion.

Last month, Uber and Middle East rival Careem reached an agreement for Uber to acquire Careem for $3.1 billion, consisting of $1.7 billion in convertible notes and $1.4 billion in cash.

Uber will acquire all of Careem’s mobility, delivery, and payments businesses across the greater Middle East region, ranging from Morocco to Pakistan, with major markets including Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Upon closing, the Dubai-based Careem will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber, preserving its brand. Careem co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha will lead the Careem business, which will report to its own board made up of three representatives from Uber and two representatives from Careem.

“Through this collaboration with our trusted partner Microsoft, we are taking another decisive step in that journey,” Dr Bin Bishr said.

“By upskilling and empowering our people, we are building a platform for change and innovation that will serve our citizens, residents, visitors and businesses for decades to come.”

As part of the agreement, Microsoft’s UAE data centres that are

expected to open this year will be used to support the Government of Dubai’s digital transformation efforts through the adoption of a range of Microsoft technologies.

Microsoft experts will also collaborate with Smart Dubai on use cases and adoption scenarios, and work jointly on roadmaps for rolling out new platforms to other government entities.

Careem co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha

Uber Technologies has finally filed its much anticipated initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing takes the firm a step closer to one of the largest technology stock listings of all time.

The document gave the first comprehensive financial picture of the decade-old company which was started

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SMART DUBAI SIGNS MICROSOFT CLOUD DEAL Smart Dubai has announced a collaboration with Microsoft in its bid to achieve the goal of making Dubai the happiest city on Earth.

The move aims to accelerate digital transformation across the emirate and empower government employees to innovate faster.

Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding signed by Dr. Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, director-general of Smart Dubai, and Sayed Hashish, general manager of Microsoft Gulf, Microsoft will support Smart Dubai in its digital transformation journey by accelerating adoption of Microsoft Cloud technologies, and conduct targeted training sessions as well as upskilling workshops in cloud and other associated technologies.

MAY 2019

www.tahawultech.com

YAHOO OFFERS $117 MILLION FOR DATA BREACH SETTLEMENT

Yahoo has reached a revised $117.5 million settlement with millions of people whose email addresses and other personal information were stolen in the largest data breach in history.

The proposed settlement requires

the approval of US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California.

Koh had rejected an earlier version of the accord because it did not say how much the settlement was worth, or how much victims might expect to recover.

Yahoo, which is now part of New York-based Verizon Communications, had been accused of being too slow to disclose three data breaches from 2013 to 2016 that affected an estimated 3 billion accounts.

According to reports, the new settlement includes at least $55 million for victims’ out-of-pocket expenses and other costs, $24 million for two years of credit monitoring, up to $30 million for legal fees, and up to $8.5 million for other expenses.

In July 2016, Yahoo agreed to sell its internet business for $4.83 billion to Verizon. However, it later revealed that it had suffered a massive data breach in 2014, prompting a price cut to $4.48 billion. Verizon wrote off much of Yahoo’s value in December.

US prosecutors charged two Russian intelligence agents and two hackers in connection with one of the breaches in 2017. One hacker later pleaded guilty.

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UAE IT DECISIONMAKERS PLAN TO INCREASE CLOUD INVESTMENTS: REPORT Over three quarters (88%) of UAE IT decision-makers will increase cloud spend in 2019, according to a new YouGov survey.

According to the survey of 502 UAE-based IT decision-makers, 88% will increase cloud spend in 2019, and 59% of all respondents will increase cloud spend by at least 30%. Overall, 83% of IT decision-makers said their organisations will run partially or fully on the cloud this year.

“Cloud digital transformation is reaching its UAE tipping point, especially for the government and public sector, with more than fourth-fifths of UAE IT decisionwww.tahawultech.com

Gergi Abboud, senior vice president and general manager, SAP Middle East South

makers both increasing cloud spend and running on the cloud in 2019,” said Gergi Abboud, senior vice president and general manager, SAP Middle East South.

About two-thirds (64%) of UAE IT decision-makers said they would be comfortable running their operations on public clouds. By offloading costs to the cloud, nearly 90% of UAE IT

decision-makers project cloud cost savings, with 59% of all respondents expecting at least 30% cost savings.

Last year, SAP became the first multinational business applications company to go live and onboard customers with localised business solutions on a UAE public cloud data centre, the centrepiece of its 5-year $200 million UAE investment plan.

MAY 2019

NEWS

UAE LAUNCHES NATIONAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY 2031

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai

The UAE has launched its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031, which the government believes will reaffirm the country’s position as a global hub for AI and to develop

an integrated system that employs artificial intelligence in vital areas.

The AI Strategy 2031 was launched by the UAE Cabinet during a meeting chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi.

According to Sheikh Mohammed, the move is part of the UAE’s advances with its vision and aspirations through a well-defined plan for the UAE Centennial 2071.

“We have launched a national strategy for artificial intelligence to make an integral part of our business, our lives and our government services.”

The National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 includes eight strategic

objectives, along with a number of initiatives aimed at employing artificial intelligence in vital areas such as education, government services and the community well-being. The strategy implementation will be overseen by the Emirates Council for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transactions, in coordination with a number of local and federal entities.

The eight objectives include: reaffirming UAE’s position as a global hub for artificial intelligence, increasing the competitive edge of the AI sector in the UAE, establishing an incubator for AI innovations, employing AI in the field of customer services to improve the quality of life, attracting and training talents for jobs of the future, attracting leading research capabilities, providing a data-driven infrastructure to support AI experiments, and optimising AI governance and regulations.

The robot receives printing orders electronically through the e-Licensing System and starts printing plates without any human intervention. The system also tracks the lifecycle of the number plate from manufacturing up to scrap using the QR Code affixed to the plate.

Each manufacturing unit can produce 11 thousand plates per day and can automatically print six different types of plates at a time.

The production capacity of the new system is 33,000 plates per day, compared to only 3,000 plates per day for the old system. The new machine can produce a plate every 15 seconds, while the old one used to take about two minutes to print a single plate. The new machine has zero margin for error in the printing of plates whereas the old one has the potential of repeating the printing of some numbers.

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WORLD’S FIRST ROBOTOPERATED NUMBER PLATES FACTORY OPENS IN DUBAI The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority’s director-general Mattar Al Tayer has inaugurated the first factory in the world that uses robots in the manufacturing of vehicle number plates, with a capacity of 33,000 plates per day.

In the near future, the RTA will install 10 similar machines at centres of service providers and will be controlled through RTA’s central factory.

The technology used in the factory was designed and produced by German company Tonnjes Middle East GmBH. MAY 2019

www.tahawultech.com

ETISALAT TO INVEST $1 BILLION IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Etisalat plans to invest $1 billion (AED4 billion) during 2019 in digital transformation, mobile and fibre networks, according to CTO Hatem Bamatraf.

Bamatraf also highlighted Etisalat’s efforts in 5G that he said will pave the

way for the ‘Future of Connectivity’ with innovation and digital transformation.

Bamatraf was the keynote speaker at 5G MENA 2019, and he used his keynote to highlight Etisalat’s continuous investments.

Bamatraf also underlined that Etisalat’s network will also provide the “most advanced” digital and telecom services to Expo 2020 Dubai and its millions of visitors, supporting an expected 300,000 users on peak days.

In terms of 5G readiness, Etisalat is ready to launch the 5G service for all consumers with its infrastructure and network equipped to support all 5G devices set to be launched by global mobile device manufacturers in 2019.

Etisalat’s technical teams are building 5G network sites to make this a reality and enable 5G coverage across the country. With 5G technology consumers will witness unprecedented maximum speeds of 10Gbps.

“Etisalat’s network and infrastructure will be ready to provide the service as soon as the 5G mobile handsets are available in UAE. We are aiming to build 1000 5G towers across the UAE during 2019 to enable 5G coverage,” said Bamatraf.

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www.tahawultech.com

MAY 2019

EVENT SAS Analytics Summit 2019

SAS HOSTS ANALYTICS SUMMIT

THE SAS ANALYTICS SUMMIT 2019 BROUGHT TOGETHER SPEAKERS FROM EMIRATES NBD, THE ABU DHABI DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND OSN TO SPOTLIGHT THE IMPACT OF AI AND ANALYTICS IN THE DIGITAL ERA.

S

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business philosopher Anders Indset

MAY 2019

AS hosted its first SAS Analytics Roadshow 2019 in Dubai to highlight how advanced analytics and artificial intelligence solutions are transforming organisations across the region in the digital era.

The one-day event, held at the One and Only Royal Mirage on 17th April, was themed around ‘building a smarter organisation with analytics and AI’ and featured an opening keynote delivered by business philosopher Anders Indset on the quantum economy.

Indset encouraged the audience to think differently when running their businesses, and insisted it was essential for the technology industry to do good for the world.

Throughout the event, SAS industry experts discussed how organisations can leverage AI and analytics solutions to deliver real-world benefits and to transform data into actionable insights and provide business value. Speakers

from SAS customers, including Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Al Hilal Bank, Abu Dhabi Department of Health, and OSN, discussed the impact of analytics and AI on their own organizations.

Governments and business across the Middle East are looking at AI, analytics and other advanced technologies to transform operations and deliver lasting economic and business value. AI could add as much as $320 billion to the Middle East economy by 2030, according to PwC. More than half (60%) of organisations believe analytics have made them more innovative, according to global research commissioned by SAS. “We see a strong desire among regional business leaders and IT decision makers to leverage AI and analytics to drive digital transformation in their organizations and gain competitive advantage,” said SAS’s general manager for the Gulf and emerging markets, Marcel Yammine. “AI has become www.tahawultech.com

mainstream in the region and our customers are looking to SAS to enable them to transform data in actionable insights through advanced analytics. We look forward to working closely with our regional customers and empowering them through their digital transformation journeys.�

Globally, SAS is investing $1 billion in AI over the next three years through software innovation, education, expert services and more. SAS is embedding AI capabilities into the SAS Platform and solutions for data management, customer intelligence, fraud and security intelligence and risk management, as well as applications for industries including financial services, government, health care, manufacturing and retail.

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www.tahawultech.com

MAY 2019

COVER FEATURE David Hanson

CAN MACHINES BECOME HUMAN? DAVID HANSON HAS EMBARKED ON A MAMMOTH TASK – BUILDING MACHINES THAT ARE AS HUMAN AS HUMAN BEINGS THEMSELVES. THE CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER OF HANSON ROBOTICS SHOT TO FAME WHEN THE FIRM’S FLAGSHIP ROBOT, SOPHIA, WAS MADE A SAUDI CITIZEN. HIS ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO BUILD SENTIENT MACHINES THAT ARE COMPASSIONATE, LOGICAL AND A PARTNER TO HUMANITY.

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BY JAMES DARTNELL

MAY 2019

www.tahawultech.com

D

avid Hanson’s next challenge is perhaps his most profound task yet: merging the wires and algorithms of a robot with the best qualities of humanity. Aside from the specifics of how to tackle such a task, Hanson struggles with the moral dilemma such a project poses. His job, as he sees it, is to find the strengths of both to create a new life form that can benefit all.

Hanson, 49, has set his Hong Kong-based company the potentially life-changing task of building a machine that is not only supremely intelligent, but also as human as a human being. That means giving it values that don’t just ensure the right outcome for human beings, but for all life. This conundrum inevitably creates a bewildering web of ethical dilemmas. What does it mean to be human? How do we define what is morally right and wrong? And, perhaps most importantly, what will come of humanity once machines feel our emotions but have superior intelligence?

CNME sat with Hanson on the sidelines of the Maximo Middle East User Group Conference in Dubai for a wide-ranging discussion on

www.tahawultech.com

If we don’t get smarter and just try to shut AI progress down, then we’ll lose the existential roulette and kill ourselves.”

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how he is trying to shape this narrative. The Dallasborn American shot to fame in 2017 when Sophia, the firm’s flagship robot, became the first machine to be given citizenship by a country, when Saudi Arabia welcomed her with open arms in October 2017.

Hanson has never actually visited the Kingdom. The government requested Sophia’s participation in the 2017 Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, but he was unaware of what was in

MAY 2019

COVER FEATURE David Hanson

store for Sophia. “They surprised us,” he says. “I saw it on the news the next day. Our chief marketing officer was surprised by it, too.”

Did he find the news morally objectionable? On the contrary, Hanson believes that machines will eventually need to be treated the same as human beings, and that the Kingdom’s move could be the tip of the iceberg for establishing a system of machine rights. “Sophia is not alive, and there are no machines that are alive yet,” he says. “But they could be alive at the level of a human adult in our lifetime. Babies don’t have the intelligence of an adult but we still give them rights, we nurture them and protect them. They can’t speak English but we still afford them the same respect and rights as us. Can we give our machines that level of respect? Some ethicists say that you can’t, and that by respecting machines this way you’re disrespecting humans, but I disagree. That is potentially a transformative moment in history – when the machines become truly alive, and are synthetic organisms.

You could argue philosophically that those machines could be alive. It already seems in some algorithms

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David Hanson, CEO, Hanson Robotics

MAY 2019

There’s far more mystery than there is science about how the human mind and the human being work.” www.tahawultech.com

that we have living machines.”

He does acknowledge that Sophia is still way off meriting the same treatment as humans. “Sophia doesn’t yet deserve the level of respect and rights that humans do, but as a baby singularity, maybe we should start affording her respect and rights.”

While a sentient machine may be a distant ambition, the development of different forms of AI is increasing at a staggering pace. This raises complicated ethical issues about the ways that machines should be wired to think, and around developing the motivations that guide their actions.

“We have to give AI the right values,” Hanson says. “It can’t be a narrow subset of values like valuing human life above all else. What about other life? If we give it the wrong values and it becomes intelligent then optimises those narrow values, it could kill off opportunities. We have to wire it up in the right way or all kinds of terrible things could happen.”

All that is easier said than done.

While hardwiring a machine is a scientific process, the decisions around what a machine should and shouldn’t do – and think – are anything but. “What’s the algebra of the good versus bad balance? It can’t just be decided by philosophers getting together to debate this stuff, with a socalled ethics committee,” Hanson says. “Some roboticists say that every company needs an ethics committee, but that could shut down progress which won’t help because we need that creativity. I’m not proposing that we regulate the machines, but I don’t know what we’re going to do. We need the www.tahawultech.com

DAVID HANSON ON . . .

HUMANITY THREATENING ITS OWN EXISTENCE “As a species, we aren’t managing our resources well. We’ve set up a quasi stability around the world that’s based on mutually assured destruction. We have nuclear weapons pointed at most of the major nations around the world, which could result in a global thermonuclear winter, which could wipe out all complex life on the planet and leave only microorganisms alive. We survived the last few decades by luck. There were a few near misses like the Cuban Missile Crisis. How long can we survive that game of existential roulette?”

THE WAYS THAT CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES ARE USING AI “Are we sacrificing our souls, spirits and ethics by allowing a social credit system? From the ethical system of the liberal West, yes, China is doing wrong. From the ethical system from within their government, they may not see it that way. We then wind up with the conflicting intersection of ethics. The US is using AI in various ways and they’re probably looking at people, too, they’re just not publicising that they’re looking through your personal data. But we know that there are backdoors into the systems of Google and Facebook. What is the national security system in the US doing with that stuff? The Western security agencies are probably violating privacy just as badly as China, they’re just not letting you know it. It’s scary if technologies are used to deny and restrict our potential.”

machines themselves to be used to estimate the ethical consequences of their use. There are so many challenges, but if we don’t get smarter and just try to shut AI progress down then we’ll still lose the existential roulette and end up killing ourselves. We’ll eventually have global politics spiralling out of control and someone will hit the proverbial red button. We have one choice, and that’s to get smarter and evolve.”

Although Hanson is a proponent of affording AI the respect it will one day deserve, he is extremely wary of what could go wrong if intelligent

machines are hardwired to do evil, or are mismanaged. “There are huge potential negative side effects,” he says. “Machines might become optimised for short-term gains with long-term harms. We’ll be faced with this identity crisis. If the machines are human, then what does it mean to be human? Are we mere machines?”

Nevertheless, Hanson believes that the increasing intelligence of machines will rub off on their makers. Machines, he says, will not be held back by the biological limitations that inevitably restrict human beings. “Our advancement MAY 2019

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COVER FEATURE David Hanson

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of machines could lead to an advancement of ourselves,” he says. “We’re cybernetic beings enhanced by technology. We have many kinds of communication that our ancestors didn’t. They weren’t using text messages or reading the thoughts of their ancestors from 10 generations earlier, but we do because they’re written down. The technology of writing enhances cognition. We are enhanced when we use big-data analytics to get insights into where markets might go. Humans’ ability is limited. We always run up against limitations, which are due to the number of neurons in the brain. Intelligent machines may be able to help us transcend those limitations, and help us become smarter, more compassionate and more appreciative of our own existence.”

Hanson even goes one step further, saying that not only will this enhancement be advantageous to the human race, it could even be a necessity for the continuation of our existence. “The likelihood of us surviving if we don’t get smarter as we get more technologically sophisticated is very slim,” he says. “What if AI is developed for malevolent intent and doesn’t care about us as it gains sentience? And then we’re scared of it so we turn on it, but it values its own existence and turns on us? What if we develop it and it’s in the hands of special interests that might not be looking out for the world’s best interests, and is a tool for oppression? There are so many ways that things could go wrong.”

Hanson is determined to avoid these nightmare scenarios. Science MAY 2019

fiction writer Philip K. Dick, author of the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (which formed the basis of the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner), gives the best interpretation of what it means to be human, according to Hanson.

Dick believed compassion was humanity’s defining trait, and this is what Hanson aspires to embed in the machines that he builds.

“Dick said that an android with true compassion would be more human than a human devoid of compassion,” he says. “I like that. Compassion means feeling with someone.

And yet compassion isn’t enough.

It can’t just be suffering with humans. Humans understand a situation and we seek the best outcome for other individuals. We use our creativity to find a way for everybody to win.

“I want to see our algorithms appreciate humans and have compassion-based understanding, and the creativity and intelligence to see a situation and its potential and find a way to maximise the likelihood of survival. That also means the web of life beyond humans, helping all forms of intelligent being, including AI. I distill it down to one term – existential pattern ethics. You need to have intelligent systems that can

appreciate patterns. That means the patterns of life and sentience, humanity. That level of appreciation is devoid from machines now.”

Developing that appreciation may require an improvement in the understanding of ourselves, Hanson says. Emulating the human being in its entirety may not be truly possible without the assistance of machines, who could further our own scientific research. “We still don’t know how the human mind works in its totality,” he says. “Some neuro scientists argue that we’ve barely started on that discovery.

There’s far more mystery than there is science about how the human mind and the human being work.

We’ve got all of this progress, but who knows how far away that horizon is? It could be an infinitely receding horizon before we have true living machines. But if we do achieve that moment in our lifetimes, then the machines will be smarter, more agile, more adaptive, and they’ll be more valuable in the marketplace.”

Hanson Robotics is striving to achieve that moment that Hanson speaks of. It is still a “fairly small” company with fewer than 50 employees, and it is now on its 19th iteration of Sophia. The firm – where Hanson is the founder, chairman

I hope we can build a living machine first, and that gives us a place in the history of AI, machines and human-machine relations.”

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and chief creative officer – aims to replicate human intelligence and characteristics, a mission statement that defines few other companies, Hanson says. “We have this philosophy of making living machines, and very few companies have adopted that as their mandate,” he says. “I hope we get there first, and that gives us a place in the history of AI and human-machine relations. I hope our robots really help people – in therapeutic applications and real use in the home, and in advancing research into next generation machines.”

To be truly human, Hanson says, a machine must have a love of art as well as a mastery of science and mathematics.

It must be able to think critically and emotionally. “We want to make machines that love existence – of humans and other living beings,” he says. “We want machines that love patterns, and therefore love humans, literature and art. It’s also not just pattern recognition, but pattern understanding. Part of that is teaching machines to feel. They need to have emotions, physiology and embodiment. In order for them to really appreciate us, they have to walk in our shoes. They need to appreciate our shortcomings and who we are. It’s important to teach machines human history www.tahawultech.com

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and for them to understand what we’ve done wrong.

How did genocide happen and how can we avoid that in future?

It won’t happen exactly the way things did in the past, so you need to teach machines to generalise and think abstractly.

“You have to teach them to care, too. They could see a pattern and not care. These are the principles I’m looking to apply.”

MAY 2019

EVENT GBM DX Executive Summit

BREAKING THE DIGITAL DEADLOCK GBM HOSTED ITS DX EXECUTIVE SUMMIT AT THE ST REGIS HOTEL IN ABU DHABI, WHERE EXPERTS DISCUSSED THE WAYS THAT ORGANISATIONS CAN TRANSFORM THEMSELVES THROUGH FORWARD-THINKING TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS AND PROCESSES. 18

GBM’s vice president of intelligent network solutions, security and mobility, Hani Nofal

G

BM gathered a range of technology experts to discuss some of the most pressing challenges that organisations now face in transforming themselves. Miguel Khouri, GBM’s general manager for

MAY 2019

Abu Dhabi, kicked off proceedings by announcing a study that GBM has released with IDC which looks at transformation ‘inhibitors’.

“The UAE government has taken major steps to unlock new revenue streams through innovation,” he said. “Public and private sectors

have made strides to enhance technological capabilities across the cloud, AI and big data spaces.

They’ll be crucial in achieving the UAE’s digital transformation aspirations across industries.

Organisations have been looking to achieve outcomes around agility, efficiency and customer experience and satisfaction, as well as new opportunities for profit growth.

Mubaraka Ali Ibrahim, IT director of the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention, discussed the Ministry’s strategy for digital transformation and the ways it is looking to improve levels of patient safety. “There’s no one-model-fits-all for development,” she said. “Patient safety is the most important aspect of digital transformation for us. Quality of service is about delivering the levels of patient service that people need whenever and wherever they require it. There need to be less errors and www.tahawultech.com

the best quality of service. We need to analyse information to decide upon the best ways to do that.”

IDC’s group vice president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey Jyoti Lalchandani followed Ibrahim.

“There are a few key phases of transformation,” he said. “New technology foundations, networked innovation, then sustainable scaling – the age of autonomous systems where machines make decisions for themselves. We’re in the middle of the second chapter of the third platform. As a CIO, you’re grappling with the transformation of the technology industry and new realities of the business. CIOs in the UAE are striving to do more with the same or a lower budget. 65% of companies in the UAE report that budgets will be flat or even decrease over the next year. About 35% say they will

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increase in the coming year.”

GBM’s vice president of intelligent network solutions, security and mobility, Hani Nofal, followed Lalchandani by diving into deeper detail around how organisations can break the “digital deadlock”.

“Organisations want to be more agile, improve operational efficiencies, generate new revenue streams and create new customer experiences,” he said.

“The digital deadlock describes the ways that organisations are unable to transform and become digital. “The key inhibitors include a lack of agile, secure technology infrastructure, having information silos, and outdated, highly manual business processes. You will sleep better at night if the infrastructure is secure and resilient. Less than 1% of total data today can be processed. The most important thing is about how you turn data into insight for business to push forward and innovate.”

Ian Fletcher, IBM’s director of its Institute for Business Value for the Middle East, discussed some of the emerging technologies and trends that organisations will need to consider in the future. “Boeing’s CEO said that he would disrupt his own business before anyone else does,” Fletcher said. “Using our genetic ink, we can now 3D print organs.

A 3D-printed heart was recently developed in Israel. Neuropmorphic computing means we now have

Quantum computing can solve the problem of exponential data.

It’s the big hammer to crack the data nut.” chips that know the synapsis of the human brain. It means chips that have 1 billion nodes on a square centimetre. IBM has kept these things under wraps for a long time, and has put Watson on top of it.

“Quantum computing can solve the problem of exponential data.

It’s the big hammer to crack the data nut. Quantum can read 1’s and 0’s simultaneously. That means it can read a whole library in one go.

Quantum won’t be here in five years’ time - it’s here today. A 50 cubit machine, which is not far off, could break every 6-digit pin code globally in banking. In 100 seconds it can break what would’ve previously taken 2 billion years. Quantum goes straight to the algorithm and skips the application.”

The day rounded off with a panel discussion featuring a range of industry experts, including: Jose Sanchez, SVP, B2B pre-sales, service delivery and customer care, Etisalat; Ali Aljaeedi, head of transport technical infrastructure, Abu Dhabi Department of Transport; Faisal Fayyaz, SE manager, VMware, Middle East, UAE and Gulf region; Omar Ma’ayah, cybersecurity consultant, Cisco and Cherif Morcos, vice president, software solutions, GBM. MAY 2019

19

INTERVIEW Pivot3

CITY OF THE FUTURE PIVOT3’S MANAGER, SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT AHMED WAQAS ABID EXPLAINS HOW THE FIRM IS EQUIPPED TO PROVIDE INFRASTRUCTURE AND CLOUD SOLUTIONS TO POWER THE SMART CITY OF THE FUTURE.

W

hat kind of demand are you seeing from regional governments who are looking to build smart cities?

Every government in this part of the world is looking to develop smart cities. That being said, they need new services. They often make things up as they go along, and add services as they go, with a perpetual trial and error process.

That means that the infrastructure they need has to be elastic, scalable and flexible. The services they need to deliver have unique resource requirements, and that often means they need a hybrid cloud platform and a future-proof infrastructure.

20

Ahmed Waqas Abid, manager, solutions architect, Pivot3

MAY 2019

Tell us about Pivot3’s infrastructure offerings.

We provide infrastructure as a platform. We have the most scalable, resilient and efficient storage in the industry. We provide a highly scalable resilient platform for applications. We’re www.tahawultech.com

the only vendor with hybrid cloud who provides privacy-based management. Different systems have different priorities. The security associated with those apps is also critical. Smart cities are about citizen data. It could be confidential, private data. Not all platforms need encryption, but the customer needs to have the choice of what they want to protect.

What do you offer in the way of hybrid cloud?

We have two strains of business our IoT video surveillance and IT. Most customers want data locality and data privacy. They don’t want data to be out of their geography.

That’s why Amazon and Microsoft are setting up data centres in this part of the world. Pivot3 becomes an on-premise private cloud which integrates with public cloud.

Non-critical data is often cheaper and easier to move to cloud. We provide a seamless gateway to move between on-premise and cloud.

These parts are converging - IoT and hybrid cloud are converging into one platform. We’ve done both sides well over the last few years. We have relationships with technology vendors and the right domain knowledge to deliver IoT. We have an undefeatable combination which we offer to customers.

Why are smart surveillance solutions so important in smart cities?

Now, a lot of video analytics are built around CCTV as a platform, as well as AI and AR. These kind of apps that are built around CCTV help government departments to provide predictive security for citizens.

There’s been a huge transformation in how video www.tahawultech.com

surveillance was previously used. Before, it was a regulatory requirement, now it’s about business intelligence and business transformation.

We’ve been doing infrastructure solutions for the last 10 years for video. It’s different from IT. Video gives you one chance to discover something, and if you don’t use that you won’t get it back.

With IT, you get a second chance.

The camera gets the footage, captures it and puts it on the infrastructure. If you capture it, it stays with you. Infrastructure needs the right kind of architecture to ingest data.

Video storage is unique compared to IT storage. It’s always writing. With IT it’s a 50/50 read-write ratio. Video is 99% write. If data is not stored then you can’t pull it at the right time. Most traditional IT storage vendors fail in video. If there’s a shoplifting incident and you have 10 cameras, if you want to review the last 10 minutes, read performance becomes important.

We’re the only one with a tiered storage architecture. Caching provides read and write throughput which gives storage the performance needed for writing and read speeds.

In our storage, it provides scalable upgrades. A critical component is being able to increase the performance of the infrastructure. All three tiers must be there to scale the system properly.

Storage alone doesn’t give the right performance.

It makes us unique compared to other vendors. We’ve been doing HCI for the last 10 years.

The biggest challenge is efficiency and performance on converged platforms and mixed workloads on the same platform. The advantage of HCI is having all apps on the same platform. Doesn’t make sense if there are silos of platforms. It defeats the object if you’re running different clusters and can’t prioritise which app takes which resource.

We’ve embedded NVMe into our HCI platform. It’s taken the world by storm in terms of storage. It gives non volatile storage, and sits on the PCI bus, delivers RAM-like performance. We’re the first to have NVME on our HCI platform.

If you need sub-millisecond latency, you can have data storage on NVME. It makes us unique.

HCI vendors traditionally used replication for data protection. If one fails then you have another copy. Higher protection means more copies. We’re the only ones who use original coding as native data protection. With Pivot3, the customer buys fewer nodes for the capacity that they get compared to our competitors without compromising efficiency, data protection and performance.

Video storage is unique compared to IT storage. It’s always writing.”

Tell us about your hyperconverged infrastructure offerings.

We provide an appliance-based solution, where compute, storage and network are bundled. It helps customers with scalability.

In a three-tier arch, you need x number of servers and storage.

MAY 2019

21

INTERVIEW Quest

A SMOOTH JOURNEY QUEST’S GENERAL MANAGER AND SALES DIRECTOR FOR EMEA EMERGING MARKETS, AMER CHEBARO, DISCUSSES HOW THE FIRM IS POSITIONED TO EASE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH MOVING TO CLOUD.

W

22

Amer Chebaro, general manager and sales director, EMEA Emerging Markets, Quest

MAY 2019

hat are the main challenges of migrating to cloud?

How can Quest help to tackle those challenges?

We see a lot of momentum in the way that our customers are moving to cloud. Given that public and local cloud providers are opening local data centres, we see an inevitable move to cloud. Quest and One Identity provide tools and services to move seamlessly without any disruption, in a cost-effective and safe way. Protecting data is another important aspect to consider. As highlighted by their latest report, Quest is a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for identity governance and administration. This is because we provide complete www.tahawultech.com

and comprehensive tools for migrating seamlessly to cloud.

How can you help to ensure that that transition is seamless?

Gartner highlighted 40 workloads that need to be looked at when moving to cloud. These can be split into bigger categories, such as messaging, file sharing and SharePoint. Based on this, Quest can migrate 40 platforms without any disruption. Our clients can work on their emails while file sharing migrates to OneDrive, while also still being able to access their files during the migration. This is just one example of how seamless our migration can be. We understand users will not accept even five minutes of downtime, so shutting down a mail server for two days while our customers are migrating to cloud is not an option.

There are two main challenges in providing a seamless transition.

The first one is moving workloads, including email, exchange, calendar, OneDrive, SharePoint etc. There are numerous workloads in data centres that need moving to cloud. Planning is key, and it takes a lot of work and the right tools for a smooth migration. In case of any issues or corruption, we need to wrap up with layers of security. To do so we synchronise employees in data centres and cloud, decreasing workload on the security team. We create a single identity management platform that synchronises users by auditing them, whether using ID or in the cloud. www.tahawultech.com

How will the upcoming launch of Microsoft’s UAE data centres ease cloud migration challenges?

With the launch of Microsoft’s local data centres, we have seen a growth in customers that want Office 365 and Azure solutions.

Quest and One Identity are in the best position to help users implement Azure, as an IP cosell partner. The Microsoft team considers us to be part of their technological development and are compensated on Quest licences. They have also globally named us one of five global ISV partners, meaning we are one of five vendors that help Microsoft get promoted and integrated.

versions of our technologies.

Which industries are experiencing the highest demand for cloud services?

In particular, government entities are seriously looking at cloud services, with some countries pushing exclusively into public cloud.

While some countries have clearly defined cloud strategies, some are yet to figure out what direction to take. We partner with customers wherever they want to go, providing a secure, protected and seamless transition.

We understand that users will not accept even five minutes of downtime.”

How can Azure’s smart services benefit customers?

Azure presents customers with a huge amount of opportunities, such as CPU on demand.

Customers have access to resources that they couldn’t have in the past, which opens up new horizons for innovative technology projects or initiatives.

We can help our customers go down this route by helping them move their data to cloud. We can also provide monitoring and managing tools, while customers can do backups and development as they need through cloud

What are the consequences of experiencing downtime during a cloud migration?

Quest’s vision is to help administrators utilise their time effectively. Quest provides tools and platforms that facilitate and fast forward work that administrators usually do through scripting and creating local scripts and processes. These processes are very time consuming, while also being prone to errors and unable to roll back in case there are any issues. Quest provides a seamless way for users to roll back workloads in case of server or link failure. This doesn’t just save time and effort, but also provides the confidence and safety that can help prevent unfortunate accidents during cloud migration.

MAY 2019

23

SCALING

Both Up and Out to Tackle the Biggest Datasets HPE

S u p e rd o m e

F l ex

is

the

i n d u s t r y ’s

only

in-memory computing solution built with a modular design to scale easily and economically, turning astronomical data growth into real-time insights.

Š 2018 2017 HPED HPEDLP LP

To l e a r n m o r e , v i s i t h p e . c o m / S u p e r d o m e

GovTech MAY 2019 TAHAWULTECH.COM

IN IT TO ‫شاركنا‬ WIN IT ‫لنفوز‬ PUBLICATION LICENSED BY DUBAI PRODUCTION CITY, DCCA

GovTech Special Olympics

IN IT TO WIN IT FROM 14TH–21ST MARCH, OVER 7,000 ATHLETES FROM 195 NATIONS PARTICIPATED IN THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD GAMES ABU DHABI 2019, THE FIRST WORLD GAMES TO BE HOSTED IN THE MENA REGION. SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD GAMES ABU DHABI 2019’S CHIEF INTELLIGENCE OFFICER DR YOUSEF AL HAMMADI EXPLAINS WHY ANALYTICS WERE SO IMPORTANT TO THE EVENT. 26

Dr Yousef Al Hammadi, chief intelligence officer, Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019

G

ive us some background on the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi.

From 14th–21st March, over 7,000 athletes from 195 nations participated in the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019.

The event was the world’s largest sports and humanitarian event this year. It was an integral part of local, national and regional plans to expand opportunities for people of determination in line with Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s shared vision of a unified and inclusive society. This was the first time the World Games have taken place in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The Games were the most unified World Games in the 50-year history of Special Olympics. People

MAY 2019

with intellectual disabilities were involved in every facet of the Games, ensuring every spectator, guest, and fan benefited from a more inclusive and interactive experience with Special Olympics athletes.

What part did technology play in making the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi a success?

Technology played a pivotal role in the success of the Games, from using it to monitor the health and safety of the athletes, to providing a seamless experience for spectators, volunteers and media.

For the first time in Special Olympics history, people were able to experience the excitement of a World Games unfold in 360° virtual reality.

As part of a partnership with leading digital creative studio, CreatorUp, spectacular 360° Virtual Reality experiences offered fans the opportunity to engage with Special Olympics athletes around the world in an unprecedented manner.

The official Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 app allowed users to keep up to date on all aspects of the Games from their smartphones. It was an essential tool for thousands of people including volunteers, spectators, athletes and their families and coaches.

Across the 24 sports, fans could access an in-depth event schedule to ensure they did not miss any of the sporting action with real-time games schedules, timings of more than 3,000 award ceremonies and details of non-sporting activities www.tahawultech.com

Technology played a pivotal role in the success of the Games.�

27 such as the Play and Live Unified games. Profiles of every single athlete, team and the sport as well as games results from each discipline were available on the app.

Users could also find information about inter-shuttle bus timings to the 10 Games venues. Using upto-date travel information and live alerts of Google Maps, fans were able to find the easiest way to get to various World Games locations throughout the UAE. The app also featured indoor navigation, which allowed to easily locate facilities or the nearest exits within a venue.

As well as being a vital tool to stay up-to-date with the latest Games developments, the app included features designed especially for the needs of people of determination – ensuring everyone was able to participate fully. www.tahawultech.com

How have technology and analytics changed the sports industry?

One example of this is how the athletes who participated in the Games were able to monitor their performance, keep track of their achievements and stay fit and healthy using the latest wearable sporting technology.

The Local Organising Committee provided access to the use of stateof-the-art smart watches for the duration of the Games. More than 5,000 devices were used.

The watches featured a corresponding smart card to help keep track of each athletes’ location, the number of steps they would take a day, monitor their heart rate and provide a host of essential health, safety and sportrelated data.

The devices allowed the coaches and medical teams to carefully monitor the health of each athlete by quickly and easily detecting any issues of concern, such as an irregular or prolonged raised heartbeat.

All of the data collected from the smart watches over the course of Games is being analysed and will be used to develop specialised fitness and health programmes to aid people of determination and Special Olympics athletes all over the world.

Why did the organisers partner with SAS to deliver analytics services? What capabilities have they given you?

Large volumes of data were generated from multiple sources throughout the Games, and the analytics platform SAS provided MAY 2019

GovTech Special Olympics

28

the LOC with data analysis for operational uses and also for other purposes such as medical and behavioural insights.

SAS provided its artificial intelligence, machine learning and data management platform to analyse traditional and non-traditional data sources like athlete and spectator geospatial data, health data, spectator and volunteer data.

It also supported a globally-sourced team of volunteer data scientists and data enthusiasts who were able to provide data analysis during the event.

The objective was to provide insights into the day to day operations of Special Olympics for planning and optimising logistical arrangements and meal planning to ensure convenience for athletes and delegates in terms of movement from one location to another and lounge access for meals.

The LOC and SAS also used the platform to analyse data related to transport, accommodation, venue booking and event schedules to identify bottlenecks proactively and ensure smooth operations.

The platform was also used to ensure maximum attendance and a positive atmosphere at each event by tracking attendance per event by age group and gender.

What features of the new products/services have you been most impressed with?

Using a combination of wearable MAY 2019

For the first time in Special Olympics history, people were able to experience the excitement of a World Games unfold in 360° virtual reality.”

devices, real-time data streams and geolocation information was very innovative for a Special Olympics World Games and this new approach of applying data analytics is definitely the future of World Games events.

What positive effects have SAS brought to your technology operations?

Over a period of seven days and across the nine venues the Games were held in, it was important to be able to track what was going on where – hence monitoring venue-related activities such as the number of spectators, the various events taking place and where, amongst much more.

The athletes who took part in the Games were extremely vulnerable to injuries during events, and our number one priority was to www.tahawultech.com

ensure that any medical emergency which resulted in complications or compromised the safety of the athletes was dealt with quickly, www.tahawultech.com

efficiently and with the utmost importance. This is why medical emergency data monitoring was introduced. SAS was able to collect

medical emergency information for each athlete and track where they were, what intervention had been done on them, and their status in real-time.

This was the largest country representation achieved in the history of Special Olympics. Many of the athletes were in a new and unfamiliar country, hence the focus on making sure their transportation was seamless.

Unlike the Summer Olympics, where special housing is purpose built for the event, the athletes at the World Games were staying in multiple hotels across the country. Careem transportation data and accommodation system data was captured and tracked in the central monitoring and command room to track arrivals and hotel check-in of athletes.

Using advanced text analysis techniques, SAS was able to generate insights on unstructured data such as athlete comments during registration, social media conversations as well as various operational notes the medical teams were logging.

These helped to create better communication strategies and will improve health and safety policies for future events.

MAY 2019

29

‫لعبت‬ ‫التكنولوجيا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫دورا محوريا‬ ‫في نجاح‬ ‫األلعاب‬

‫‪30‬‬ ‫املعلومات حول مواعيد الحافالت املتوجهة‬ ‫إىل أماكن األلعاب العشرة باستخدام‬ ‫معلومات التنقل الحديثة والتنبيهات‬ ‫املباشرة لخرائط “جوجل"‪ ،‬كما وفر التطبيق‬ ‫أسهل طريقة للوصول إىل مواقع األلعاب‬ ‫العاملية املختلفة يف جميع أنحاء اإلمارات‬ ‫العربية املتحدة‪ .‬وتميز التطبيق ً‬ ‫أيضا بتقنية‬ ‫املالحة الداخلية‪ ،‬مما سمح بسهولة تحديد‬ ‫املنشآت أو املخارج األقرب داخل الصاالت‬ ‫الرياضية‪.‬‬

‫باإلضافة إىل كونه أداة حيوية للبقاء عىل‬ ‫اطالع بآخر تطورات األلعاب‪ ،‬فقد تضمن‬ ‫ً‬ ‫خصيصا لتلبية‬ ‫التطبيق ميزات مصممة‬ ‫احتياجات أصحاب الهمم ما ضمن املشاركة‬ ‫الكاملة للجميع ‪.‬‬ ‫كيف ساهمت التكنولوجيا يف تغيري قطاع‬ ‫الرياضة؟‬ ‫أحد األمثلة عىل دور التكنولوجيا يف تغيري‬ ‫قطاع الرياضة‪ ،‬هو كيفية تمكن الرياضيون‬

‫‪www.tahawultech.com‬‬

‫الذين شاركوا يف األلعاب من مراقبة أدائهم‬ ‫وتتبع إنجازاتهم والحفاظ عىل لياقتهم‬ ‫البدنية وصحتهم باستخدام أحدث‬ ‫تكنولوجيا رياضية قابلة لالرتداء‪.‬‬

‫حيث وفرت اللجنة املنظمة الساعات الذكية‬ ‫الحديثة طوال فرتة األلعاب‪ .‬وتم استخدام‬ ‫أكرث من ‪ 5000‬جهاز خالل األلعاب العاملية‬ ‫االوملبياد الخاص أبوظبي ‪.2019‬‬

‫تحتوي الساعات عىل بطاقة ذكية تساعد‬ ‫يف تتبع مواقع جميع الرياضيني‪ ،‬وعدد‬ ‫ً‬ ‫الخطوات التي يمشونها يف اليوم‪ ،‬فضال عن‬ ‫مراقبة معدل ضربات القلب باإلضافة إىل‬ ‫عرض مجموعة كبرية من البيانات املتعلقة‬ ‫بالصحة والسالمة والرياضة‪.‬‬ ‫كما سمحت األجهزة للمدربني والفرق‬ ‫الطبية بمراقبة صحة كل ريايض بعناية‬ ‫من خالل اكتشاف أي مشاكل مثرية للقلق‬ ‫بسرعة وسهولة‪ ،‬مثل ضربات القلب الغري‬ ‫منتظمة‪.‬‬ ‫حيث كان يتم تحليل جميع البيانات التي‬

‫تم جمعها من الساعات الذكية خالل دورة‬ ‫األلعاب الستخدامها يف تطوير برامج اللياقة‬ ‫البدنية والصحة املتخصصة ملساعدة أصحاب‬ ‫الهمم والرياضيني يف األلعاب العاملية‬ ‫االوملبياد الخاص يف جميع أنحاء العالم‪.‬‬ ‫ملاذا تعاون املنظمون مع “ساس" لتقديم‬ ‫خدمات تحليل البيانات؟ وما القدرات‬ ‫التي قدموها لك؟‬

‫تم توليد كميات كبرية من البيانات من‬ ‫مصادر متعددة يف جميع أنحاء األلعاب‪،‬‬ ‫كما قدمت منصة التحليالت من “ساس" إىل‬ ‫اللجنه املنظمة تحليل البيانات لالستخدامات‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وأيضا ألغراض أخرى مثل الرؤى‬ ‫التشغيلية‬ ‫الطبية والسلوكية‪.‬‬

‫قدمت “ساس" نظامها للذكاء االصطناعي‬ ‫والتعلم اآليل وإدارة البيانات لتحليل‬ ‫مصادر البيانات التقليدية وغري التقليدية‬ ‫مثل بيانات التعرف عىل مواقع الرياضيني‬ ‫واملتفرجني والبيانات الصحية وبيانات‬

‫‪MAY 2019‬‬

‫جوف تك‬ ‫االولمبياد الخاص‬

‫شاركنا لنفوز‬ ‫استضافت دولة االمارات العربية املتحدة من ‪ 14‬مارس ولغاية‬ ‫‪ 21‬مارس‪ ،‬األلعاب العاملية االوملبياد الخاص أبوظبي ‪،2019‬‬ ‫والتي شارك فيها أكرث من ‪ 7000‬ريايض من أكرث من ‪ 195‬بلد‬ ‫حول العالم لتكون بذلك أول دولة يف الشرق األوسط وشمال‬ ‫أفريقيا تستضيف األلعاب العاملية‪ .‬ويف حديث مع الدكتور يوسف‬ ‫الحمادي‪ ،‬الرئيس التنفيذي للذكاء االصطناعي يف األوملبياد‬ ‫الخاص‪ ،‬شرح لنا أهمية تحليل البيانات لهذه الفعالية‪.‬‬ ‫‪31‬‬

‫‪,recffio ecnegilletni feihc ,idammaH lA fesuoY rD‬‬ ‫‪9102 ibahD ubA semaG dlroW scipmylO laicepS‬‬

‫هل لك أن تزودنا ببعض املعلومات عن‬ ‫دورة األلعاب العاملية االوملبياد الخاص‬ ‫أبوظبي ‪2019‬؟‬

‫شارك يف ال ‪ 14‬وحتى ‪ 21‬من مارس ‪،2019‬‬ ‫أكرث من ‪ 7000‬ريايض من ‪ 195‬بلد حول‬ ‫العالم يف األلعاب العاملية االوملبياد الخاص‬ ‫أبوظبي ‪ ،2019‬الحدث الريايض واإلنساين‬ ‫ً‬ ‫جزءا ال يتجزأ‬ ‫األكرب لهذا العام‪ .‬والذي كان‬ ‫من الخطط املحلية والوطنية واإلقليمية‬ ‫لزيادة الفرص املتاحة ألصحاب الهمم بما‬ ‫يتماىش مع خطط حكومة أبوظبي والرؤية‬ ‫املشرتكة لدولة اإلمارات العربية املتحدة‬ ‫ملجتمع موحد ومتضامن‪ .‬كما كانت املرة‬ ‫األوىل التي تقام فيها األلعاب العاملية يف‬ ‫منطقة الشرق األوسط وشمال إفريقيا‪.‬‬ ‫كانت هذه األلعاب التي استضافتها دولة‬ ‫االمارات األلعاب العاملية األكرث تضامناً‬ ‫يف تاريخ االوملبياد الخاص والذي يمتد اىل‬ ‫‪ ٥٠‬عام‪ .‬وتم إشراك األشخاص من ذوي‬ ‫اإلعاقات الذهنية يف كل جانب من جوانب‬

‫‪MAY 2019‬‬

‫األلعاب‪ ،‬ما يضمن لكل متابع وضيف من‬ ‫اختبار تجربة أكرث شمولية وتفاعلية مع‬ ‫الرياضيني يف األلعاب العاملية االوملبياد‬ ‫الخاص‪.‬‬ ‫ما الدور الذي لعبته التكنولوجيا يف‬ ‫إنجاح األلعاب العاملية االوملبياد الخاص‬ ‫أبوظبي ‪2019‬؟‬

‫لعبت التكنولوجيا دورًا محور ًيا يف نجاح‬ ‫األلعاب من استخدامها ملراقبة صحة‬ ‫وسالمة الرياضيني‪ ،‬إىل توفري تجربة سلسة‬ ‫للمشاهدين واملتطوعني ووسائل اإلعالم‪.‬‬

‫ألول مرة يف تاريخ األلعاب العاملية االوملبياد‬ ‫الخاص‪ ،‬تمكن الجمهور من متابعة احداث‬ ‫االلعاب العاملية من خالل تقنية الواقع‬ ‫االفرتايض ‪ 360‬درجة‪".‬‬

‫وكجزء من شراكتنا مع االستوديو اإلبداعي‬ ‫الرقمي الرائد‪“ ،‬كريتور آب"‪ ،‬تمكنا من‬ ‫تقديم تجارب الواقع االفرتايض املدهشة‬ ‫‪ 360‬درجة للمشجعني لنوفر بذلك فرصة‬

‫للتفاعل مع الرياضيني األوملبيني الخاصني‬ ‫يف جميع أنحاء العالم بطريقة غري مسبوقة‪.‬‬

‫سمح التطبيق الرسمي لدورة األلعاب‬ ‫العاملية االوملبياد الخاص أبوظبي ‪2019‬‬ ‫للمستخدمني بمواكبة جميع فعاليات‬ ‫األلعاب من هواتفهم الذكية‪ .‬وكانت أداة‬ ‫أساسية آلالف األشخاص‪ ،‬بمن فيهم‬ ‫املتطوعون واملشاهدون والرياضيون وأسرهم‬ ‫واملدربون‪.‬‬

‫كما كان بامكان املتابعون من الوصول إىل‬ ‫فعاليات ‪ 24‬مسابقة رياضية‪ ،‬مع ضمان‬ ‫تعرفهم عىل نتائج األحداث الرياضية يف‬ ‫الوقت الحقيقي‪ ،‬باالضافة اىل عرض توقيت‬ ‫اكرث من ‪ 3000‬تكريم وتتويج للرياضيني‪،.‬‬ ‫وعرض تفاصيل االحداث الغري رياضية مثل‬ ‫فعالية "إلعب وعش بتضامن"‪ .‬كما وفر‬ ‫التطبيق للمتابعني معلومات عن الرياضيني‬ ‫والفرق املشاركة باإلضافة إىل نتائج‬ ‫املسابقات الرياضية‪.‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫كما تمكن املستخدمني أيضا من الوصول إىل‬

‫‪www.tahawultech.com‬‬

‫جوف تك‬ ‫االولمبياد الخاص‬

‫“ساس” قادرة عىل جمع‬ ‫معلومات الطوارئ الطبية لكل‬ ‫ريايض وتتبع مكان وجودهم‪ ،‬ما‬ ‫ساهم يف قدرتنا عىل االستجابة‬ ‫للحاالت الطارئة بشكل سريع‬

‫يعترب هذا أكرب تمثيل للبالد يتحقق‬ ‫يف تاريخ األلعاب العاملية االوملبياد‬ ‫الخاص‪ .‬حيث كان العديد من‬ ‫الرياضيني يف بلد جديد وغري مألوف‪،‬‬ ‫لذلك ركزنا عىل أن تكون وسائل النقل‬ ‫متوفرة عىل الدوام وسريعة وسلسة‬ ‫االستخدام‪.‬‬

‫وعىل عكس األلعاب األوملبية الصيفية‪ ،‬تم‬ ‫توفري مساكن خاصة لهذا الحدث‪،‬‬ ‫حيث كان الرياضيون يف األلعاب‬ ‫العاملية يقيمون يف فنادق متعددة‬ ‫يف جميع أنحاء البالد‪ .‬وتم جمع‬ ‫بيانات انظمة النقل وأنظمة‬ ‫بيانات نقل “كريم" وتتبعها يف‬ ‫غرفة املراقبة والقيادة املركزية‬ ‫لتتبع الوافدين وتسجيل وصول‬ ‫الرياضيني للفنادق‪.‬‬

‫وباستخدام تقنيات تحليل‬ ‫النصوص املتقدمة‪ ،‬تمكنت‬ ‫“ساس" من تكوين رؤى‬ ‫حول البيانات غري املهيكلة‬ ‫مثل تعليقات الرياضيني‬ ‫أثناء التسجيل‪،‬‬ ‫ومحادثات وسائل‬ ‫التواصل االجتماعي‪،‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فضال عن العديد من‬ ‫املالحظات التشغيلية‬ ‫التي تقوم الفرق‬ ‫الطبية بتسجيلها‪ .‬وقد‬ ‫ساعدت هذه يف إنشاء‬ ‫اسرتاتيجيات اتصال‬ ‫أفضل تعمل عىل تحسني سياسات الصحة‬ ‫والسالمة لألحداث املستقبلية‪.‬‬

‫‪www.tahawultech.com‬‬

‫‪MAY 2019‬‬

‫‪32‬‬

‫املتفرجني واملتطوعني‪ .‬كما دعمت‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فريقا ذو مصادر عاملية من علماء‬ ‫البيانات املتطوعني وعشاق جمع‬ ‫وتحليل البيانات الذين تمكنوا‬ ‫من تقديم خدمة تحليل البيانات‬ ‫خالل الحدث‪.‬‬

‫‪33‬‬

‫حيث أن الهدف كان تقديم‬ ‫نظرة ثاقبة للعمليات اليومية‬ ‫لألوملبياد الخاص لتخطيط‬ ‫وتحسني الرتتيبات اللوجستية‬ ‫وتنظيم الوجبات لضمان‬ ‫الراحة للرياضيني واملندوبني‬ ‫من حيث الحركة من موقع‬ ‫إىل آخر والوصول إىل‬ ‫الصالة لتناول الوجبات‪.‬‬

‫واستخدمت اللجنة املنظمة‬ ‫و “ساس" ً‬ ‫أيضا املنصة لتحليل البيانات‬ ‫املتعلقة بالنقل واإلقامة وحجز األماكن‬ ‫وجداول األحداث لتحديد أماكن االزدحام‬ ‫بشكل استباقي وضمان سالسة الوصول إىل‬ ‫األماكن املحددة‪.‬‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وتم استخدام املنصة أيضا لضمان أقىص قدر‬ ‫من الحضور وخلق األجواء اإليجابية يف كل‬ ‫حدث من خالل تتبع الحضور لكل حدث‬ ‫حسب الفئة العمرية والجنس‪.‬‬

‫ما هي ميزات املنتجات ‪ /‬الخدمات‬ ‫الجديدة التي أعجبت بها ولفتت‬ ‫انتباهك؟‬

‫مع استخدام مزيج من األجهزة القابلة‬ ‫لالرتداء‪ ،‬كانت تدفقات البيانات يف الوقت‬ ‫الفعيل ومعلومات تحديد املوقع الجغرايف‬ ‫مبتكرة للغاية بالنسبة لأللعاب العاملية‬ ‫االوملبياد الخاص‪ ،‬ويعترب هذا النهج الجديد‬ ‫لتطبيق تحليالت البيانات مستقبل األلعاب‬ ‫العاملية‪.‬‬

‫‪MAY 2019‬‬

‫ما العوامل اإليجابية التي جلبتها‬ ‫“ساس" إىل عمليات التكنولوجيا‬ ‫الخاصة بك؟‬

‫لعبت "ألول مرة‬ ‫في تاريخ األلعاب‬ ‫العالمية االولمبياد‬ ‫الخاص‪ ،‬تمكن‬ ‫الجمهور من متابعة‬ ‫أحداث األلعاب‬ ‫العالمية من خالل‬ ‫تقنية الواقع‬ ‫االفتراضي ‪ 360‬درجة‬

‫كان من املهم أن نكون قادرين عىل تتبع‬ ‫ما يجري عىل مدار سبعة أيام وعرب التسع‬ ‫أماكن التي أقيمت فيها األلعاب‪ ،‬باإلضافة‬ ‫إىل مراقبة األنشطة املتعلقة باملكان مثل‬ ‫عدد الجمهور واألحداث املختلفة التي تجري‬ ‫ً‬ ‫فضال عن الكثري‬ ‫خالل الفعاليات الرياضية‪،‬‬ ‫من املعلومات الهامة التي تساهم يف إنجاح‬ ‫الحدث‪.‬‬ ‫كان الرياضيون الذين شاركوا يف األلعاب‬ ‫أكرث عرضة لإلصابات أثناء املسابقات‬ ‫الرياضية‪ ،‬وكانت أولويتنا هي ضمان‬ ‫التعامل مع أي حالة طبية طارئة تؤدي‬ ‫إىل مضاعفات تؤثر عىل سالمة الرياضيني‬ ‫واالستجابة لهذه الحاالت بسرعة وكفاءة‬ ‫وبأهمية قصوى‪ .‬لهذا السبب عمدنا إىل‬ ‫مراقبة بيانات الطوارئ الطبية‪ .‬وكانت‬

‫‪www.tahawultech.com‬‬

INTERVIEW Infoblox

5G CHANGING ARCHITECTURE INFOBLOX CEO JESPER ANDERSEN SAT WITH JAMES DARTNELL TO DISCUSS THE OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS THAT 5G WILL BRING, THE CHANGE HE HAS BROUGHT IN HIS TENURE IN CHARGE, AND THE ROLES OF CEOS AND CIOS IN THE DIGITAL AGE.

34

W

Jesper Andersen, CEO, Infoblox

MAY 2019

hat are your overall impressions of the Middle East?

I always like coming here. From an IT point of view, it doesn’t have the same legacy issues as the West. There has been lot of growth here, but I can’t really generalise the whole Middle East.

The economy is a bit more depressed in the UAE with the www.tahawultech.com

Qatar situation, but Oman and Saudi Arabia are opening up.

There’s no doubt that this part of the world understands the value of modern technology. I like that.

It helps to drives our technology.

There is a real demand which helps drive top line growth, and not just for vendors. Clear examples are Microsoft Azure data centres opening in the UAE, or AWS in Bahrain – it’s a great part of the world for IT at the moment.

Three-and-a-half years ago we started doing well in Saudi Arabia thanks to some very large customers coming on board.

The country is modernising and opening up. With Aramco going public, we hope to drive more IT initiatives. It represents one of the larger growth opportunities for us.

What are you hoping to achieve from your visit to the region?

It’s time well spent for us to support and grill Cherif Sleiman’s MEA and APAC teams a bit!

Teams in these fields know the market well. It’s unfair for us to sit in the US and think we know better. We’re here to learn what opportunities they see and how corporate can help.

The economy in the is UAE is a tad sluggish, but it's growing well in Saudi Arabia and Oman. We’re expecting 20% growth in the next couple of years.

What kind of opportunities are you seeing in the telco space?

Will 5G be a game changer for your business?

Without a doubt. Telcos are expected to evolve fast here. I expect South East Asia and the www.tahawultech.com

Middle East to be early adopters of new technologies.

IoT is also quickly developing here.

For example, Dubai Police patrol the streets with cameras. There is also natural organic growth with DNS caching servers for du and Etisalat.

Subscriber services can also create great filtering with DNS, which offloads a lot of traffic. It can deliver pre-filtering, which is starting to emerge.

The fabric for 5G is based on NFV and SDN, so the hardware is not a major game changer.

However, we see a changing architecture with 5G. With more mobile sites, the need is to move into a flexible consumption model, which we began to do two years ago. For example, Etisalat is already using all our latest service provider technology on a consumption model.

thanks to our cyber capabilities.

From IP addresses, domain names, fingerprinting at crime scenes – we play a key role in cybersecurity set up. When I joined Infoblox, security sales were nothing in our company, now they’re in the high teens and growing. Our MEA team is leading the charge, and security accounts for well over 20% of our regional revenue. We are trying to do everything we can.

A lack of security results in dire implications. Cyber terrorists are well-funded, so it comes down to a cat and mouse game.

The ability to automate DNS use is very important. Service providers face a daunting challenge on 3/4G networks.

It’s one thing if we get hacked compared to someone hijacking a car or medical equipment.

What happens when bad guys take over your car? You probably won’t have an autonomous car for long.”

Do technological changes around 5G also create new security risks?

As a consumer of some of these services, I am concerned.

If service providers don’t do their very best, the situation can be very concerning. What happens when bad guys take over your car? You probably won’t have an autonomous car for long. However, this is also an opportunity for us at Infoblox

What have you tried to implement in your tenure as Infoblox CEO? How have the challenges you’ve faced changed over that time?

My predecessor did a fantastic job, but the company didn’t have a clear strategy for what happens in the cloud world. At the time, the board felt the need for a product person. My first two years consisted of establishing that vision and strategy, while also hiring a great team. As we MAY 2019

35

INTERVIEW Infoblox

got the team in place, it became more comfortable and we could change focus.

As a CEO, my focuses are vision and strategy, as well as people and culture. Other areas rely on functional leaders. It’s my job to communicate around vision and strategy all the time and to be an advocate and custodian of our culture.

I think new CEOs shouldn’t ever forget those priorities, and sometimes need to dive into functional areas. Products and services may come first, but we also need to be easy to do business with.

36

How do you see the CEO-CIO relationship in the digital era?

The business strategy should be completely enabled by the CIO, and this has never been more critical.

On the other hand, it’s key for CEOs to be tech-savvy. Any organisation needs to have a digital strategy, which can be hard if the CEO doesn’t have a tech background. I firmly believe CIOs are becoming one of the two or three most important functional leaders in a company, if not the most important.

This is why any organisation needs to have a CIO who is fully integrated within the business.

Business leaders can now just buy SaaS apps, but they need to have the ability to drive the business, and if that is done isolation without an integrated solution the company will suffer.

A lot of functions have to change. The CIO has to have the pinnacle role in the organisation.

MAY 2019

Our customers and partners are also demanding we do things differently, so we have to undertake our own digital transformation.

We’re not so unlike CNME readers. As we grow, our CIO has to be involved with every single level of that change.

What is Infoblox’s approach to R&D? We have significantly increased our engineering capacity.

When we were acquired by Vista, we had 723 employees, now we have more than 1,000, which is significant from a market and engineering point of view. We have definitely been fortunate.

One of my proudest achievements is our customers, as it reflects on the quality of our products.

DNS simply cannot go down, just like electricity and water. If it’s not available, patients can die, so quality is our top priority. Our BloxOne cloud-based platform leverages AI and ML, both of which are necessary to combat modern cyber threats and to develop the best threat intelligence. We use 17 trillion passive DNS queries to train our threat intelligence algorithms.

Everyone has done a fantastic job. We have 51.3% market share globally, which is a great stat for us, as well as 56% of the Forbes 2000, which I am most proud of.

I am also very proud of our net promoter score, which is now 58, as shown by our annual customer survey. It’s as high as you will see and it’s not something achievable without everyone working together.

I firmly believe CIOs are becoming one of the two or three most important functional leaders in a company, if not the most important.”

Is the global shortage of cybersecurity professionals something that concerns you?

It is no doubt a concern. It’s clearly happening in midsize businesses that can’t hire enough security people. They can’t move fast enough or outsource things. It’s not a panacea, but many don’t have a choice.

According to Gartner, there are 3 million cybersecurity vacancies.

However, we can now use automation and help reduce the number of employees required.

The good thing about this crisis is that innovative companies will help fill this gap.

When I was a developer, we needed Unix servers in-house, but today college graduates can use cloud to create solutions quickly.

This can be promise and curse, as it makes it harder to decide what to bet on.

www.tahawultech.com

THE SHORT TAKE JAYESH PATEL, THE HEAD OF EMIRATES NBD’S DIGITAL BANK, LIV, GIVES CNME A QUICKFIRE INSIGHT INTO WHAT HE LOVES AND HATES.

Favourite song Ghetto superstar by Nas Favourite book Barbara Minto - The Pyramid principle. It’s nerdy but fabulous. It tells you how to think.

Favourite sports team FC Barcelona

Who do you admire?

Elon Musk. He’s awesome.

Favourite animal Elephant – they’re smart.

Favourite country Kenya

What are you proud of?

My family

Favourite app or technology service Spotify - I love it.

You become a billionaire overnight. What do you do with the money?

Figure out how to make $10 billion more.

Favourite food Curry, all curries.

Favourite comedian Eddie Murphy Least favourite food I’m not a big fan of weird food – I’m not that experimental.

No insects or seafood.

Favourite fictional character Batman Favourite TV show The Grand Tour, or the old Top Gear Habit that irritates you most Too many things irritate me.

When people are unclear about what they want.

Least favourite celebrity Kim Kardashian

MAY 2019

What scares you?

Heights. And not knowing everything.

Greatest strength I’m never happy with the status quo. That pushes me to make sure we do better.

Except in sport, I’m happy to be below average!

Favourite film The Shawshank Redemption

38

Any hidden talents?

Carving. Sculpting out of anything - soap, wood.

Best thing you’ve ever bought My TV Actor to play you in a film Matt Damon Item you’d save from a house fire Nothing. There’s nothing material that I’m attached to.

My passport.

You can have dinner with anyone from history. Who? Adam Sandler. The movie I’ve watched most is Happy Gilmore. I’m not sure what that says about me! There was a period where anything he touched was amazing.

www.tahawultech.com

Lenovo XClarity Controller The Server Management Engine for Future-Defined Data Centers Lenovo XClarity Controller is embedded in every ThinkSystem server on a separate microprocessor, and is designed to help you standardize, simplify, and automate foundation infrastructure processes.

A fresh and uncluttered experience coupled with improved responsiveness and Redfish compliant REST APIs can help you spend more time deploying agile methodologies and continual-delivery systems and ramp up infrastructure delivery.

Feature comparison across editions. Upgrades completed via Software Key. Core Features

Standard

Advanced

Enterprise

X

X

X

Standards-Based Interfaces

Out-of-band modernized & streamlined web interface

User Authentication

LDAP-based user authentication

X

X

X

Inventory Status & RealTime Monitoring

Collect hardware & environmental information for asset management, maintenance, health, performance, & diagnostics

X

X

X

Diagnostics

System diagnostics, log collection, and fault handling

X

X

X

X

X

X

In-band & out-of-band updates to UEFI, XClarity Controller, LEPT, and related driver packages for OS installation

X

X

X

Installation of Linux, Microsoft Windows, & VMware vSphere

X

X

X

X

X

Updates

OS Installation

Remote OS installation Boot capture

X

Replicate UEFI, XClarity Controller, & RAID settings to other servers

X

X

X

Usage tracking

X

X

X

Cloning

Energy

Lenovo XClarity Energy Manager entitlement

X

KVM and virtual media Remote presence

X

Collaboration across users within the remote session

X X X

XClarity Controller comes with all Lenovo ThinkSystem & Thinkagile Hardware Platform.

Mobile App available on:

©

Configuration

Lenovo 2019. All rights reserved. Lenovo and the Lenovo logo are trademarks of Lenovo.

CIM, IPMI, SNMPv3

INSIGHT Avaya

CUTTING THROUGH THE AI NOISE AI IS ALREADY DRIVING VALUE ACROSS A RANGE OF BUSINESS FUNCTIONS, WRITES AHMED HELMY, CTO, AVAYA INTERNATIONAL.

40

A Ahmed Helmy, CTO, Avaya International

MAY 2019

rtificial intelligence is fast-becoming a catch-all phrase to make whatever you’re doing sound smarter. These days, it’s used to describe all manner of technologies – from basic automation all the way to the robots from The Terminator.

This is understandable. Make no mistake – the widespread adoption of AI is going to www.tahawultech.com

profoundly impact the way that people, organisations and governments operate. But with so much noise about what the future holds, it’s difficult to determine the real value that AIbased solutions can drive for your business today.

The fact of the matter is that organisations do not need “AI” — they need ‘real’ intelligence.

It just so happens that this real intelligence is being powered by AI-based solutions.

The practical uses of AI may not yet deliver all-knowing humanoid robotic assistants, but they’re certainly driving value across a range of business functions.

Take the simple chatbot as an example. Innovations around AI have turned the chatbot from an annoyance to an integral part of the customer experience. Even the simplest bots, so-called ‘rulebased-chatbots’, have come on leaps and bounds. Rule-based chatbots are now able to hold basic conversations using “if/ then” logic. A human operator – typically a digital marketer – will map out the bot’s conversation using logical next steps and clear call-to-action buttons.

If you’ve run into a chatbot on social media, there’s a good chance that it’s rule-based.

Today, there are more than 300,000 Facebook chatbots in action, and a little less on Twitter.

They’re mostly used to automate customer service, online sales and marketing. They communicate with users using a call to action button, and they’re proving www.tahawultech.com

extremely effective at resolving simple queries – you could be an insurer giving out quotes, or a telecoms firm explaining the latest offers – and all those routine requests could easily be handled by a rule-based chatbot.

Things are moving beyond rule-based bots very quickly with the adoption of ‘real’ artificial intelligence. This is what you see with what we call natural language processing bots. NLP assists machines with understanding human language, so instead of the visitor having to navigate through buttons and menus (as they have to with rule-based bots), they can simply have a conversation with the bot in the way they would message a friend.

Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa are NLP bots. Their AI capabilities include the ability to understand human language in the form of voice and text and give intelligent replies or carry out certain tasks.

What’s making them even better, though, is the addition of machine-learning into the mix.

This makes bots optimised for learning about the visitor or user, retaining information on them,

and predicting a conversation’s next steps.

The end result?

A bot that you can converse with naturally and use to perform relatively advanced functions. Perhaps you want to pay your utility bill using money from your current account – all you’ll have to do is ask.

The bot will have the intelligence to not only register the request from your natural language, but will also know to check the balance of your outstanding bill, check the balance of your current account, and facilitate a payment between the two.

The world is full of these simple interactions that are actually quite difficult to automate. The good news is that, as AI becomes more powerful and pervasive, we’re seeing time-intensive, routine operations being put into the hands of machines – freeing up time for human operators. And these solutions are available today.

To cut through the noise around AI, you can ask yourself a simple question: do I follow a vendor selling science fiction, or do I follow a vendor that provides comprehensive use cases delivering clear outputs?

Artificial intelligence is fast-becoming a catch-all phrase to make whatever you’re doing sound smarter.”

MAY 2019

41

INSIGHT Aruba

WHY THE CIO AND CISO ROLES ARE GETTING HARDER

42

Gamal Emara, UAE country manager, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

I

t’s your worst possible nightmare: a hacker has breached the company’s network and shut down its operations. Millions in revenue is being lost. And the worst part – you’re blamed for it.

This is becoming an all too familiar scenario for CIOs and CISOs tasked with securing their companies’ networks. No sooner have they entered an organisation and put security systems in place than

MAY 2019

CIOS AND CISO’S ACROSS INDUSTRIES ARE REGULARLY MOVING BETWEEN POSITIONS AND COMPANIES BECAUSE OF THIS COMMON MISTAKE, ACCORDING TO ARUBA’S UAE COUNTRY MANAGER GEMAL EMARA.

they find themselves blamed for a successful breach of the company.

So, where does it all go wrong?

NETWORK VISIBILITY IS NOT A NICE-TO-HAVE Most CIOs or CISOs allocate their funding towards securing their data centre. However, when it comes to implementing a system that provides them with full visibility of their network, they consider it simply ‘nice-to-have’.

They implement basic security elements like a firewall and assume they’ll be OK. But, in reality, should an attack happen at the edge of the company’s network, the only way they can possibly know is by doing a deep dive to investigate each and every occurrence that might indicate a breach.

We all know this simply isn’t possible though. When a user is locked out of their account, the IT department will rarely ever take the www.tahawultech.com

time to investigate why. They simply unlock the account and move on to the next problem.

It’s true that when a user is locked out, it might be because they forgot their password, but it could also be an indication of something far more sinister.

EVERY LOCK-OUT IS A POTENTIAL ATTACK For example, Aruba recently had a case where a client kept on getting locked out of their system. Not realising there was a problem, they kept unlocking the system and moving on.

That is until one Sunday morning, when around 1,000 lock-outs occurred simultaneously. We discovered that these lock-outs were a direct result of hackers attacking the network in order to access sensitive information.

The most concerning part of all this was that the devices being used to launch the attacks were, in fact, the company’s own devices, which had actually been stolen some time ago.

YOUR GREATEST VULNERABILITY IS UNGUARDED So while CIOs essentially have no idea if and when attacks are happening at the edge, this is exactly where an organisation’s greatest vulnerability lies. Think of the average digital environment today – thanks to IoT, there are more connected devices than there have ever been before.

Each device is a potential gateway for a major breach. Think of the consequences of the massive www.tahawultech.com

data breaches which have been occurring across the world – millions are being lost on a regular basis.

One only needs to take a look at the statistics to see the odds of escaping one of these attacks are not good. In fact, according to the 2016 Global Megatrends in Cybersecurity report, 67% of companies with critical infrastructure suffered at least one attack during the course of those 12 months.

analytics solution that sits on top of a company’s security solutions, for example, its firewall. Based on its analysis of these security solutions, the analytics technology creates profiles for individual users. Then if activity outside of a user’s typical profile takes place on the network, it immediately alerts the security officer.

Say for example, a particular user typically logs into the company network from the UAE between 8am and 10pm, but then one day that user logs in from Russia at 2am, the analytics solution will immediately know something is wrong. This analysis can go as far as detecting when a user is typing more slowly to how they would normally. Then once the analytics technology identifies a network intruder, the network access control solution automatically kicks them off the network.

Combined, these two technologies effectively ensure CIOs have visibility, as well as complete control of their entire network.

It’s the only way to truly ensure you aren’t the next CIO a network breach sends packing.

No sooner have CIOs and CISOs entered an organisation and put security systems in place than they find themselves blamed for a successful breach of the company.”

HOW CAN CIOS AND CISOs SECURE THEIR POSITIONS? The only way a business can possibly remain secure under these circumstances is if the CISO or security team receives notifications as soon as something deemed outof-the-norm occurs on the network.

Essentially, an end-to-end system that can detect attacks and respond rapidly is vital. It needs to cover the entire network from the data centre to the edge.

A combination of a network access control solution that is device agnostic, and covers everything from a company’s vending machine to industrial IoT equipment, combined with an

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43

ANALYSIS Gartner

HOW TO BALANCE PERSONALISATION WITH DATA PRIVACY RISK-AVERSE PRIVACY IDEAS OFTEN PREVENT ORGANISATIONS FROM CREATING GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES, ACCORDING TO GARTNER’S VICE PRESIDENT AND ANALYST PENNY GILLESPIE.

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I Penny Gillespie, vice president and analyst, Gartner

MAY 2019

f you were asked to hand over your email address in return for a free pizza or a discount on your daily coffee, would you do it? How often do you tick ‘agree’ without reading an app’s privacy policy?

Despite having less trust in brands to use their data ethically, millennials are more willing to provide companies with information in exchange for convenience and personalised experiences, according to a recent www.tahawultech.com

Gartner survey. This is the privacy paradox — the apparent inconsistency between customer concerns about privacy and actual online behaviour.

Companies often operate under the misconception that personalisation and privacy are conflicting efforts, not symbiotic opportunities. The privacy paradox sets up potential conflict between data and analytics leaders, customer experience (CX) leaders, marketing leaders, security and risk leaders, and other business and IT stakeholders.

It undermines CX initiatives, frustrates customers and limits new business value.

Organisations are losing their best chances to create great customer experiences due to needlessly riskaverse privacy ideas that limit the use of personal data. The key is to bring value to customers and keep data use in context.

CUSTOMISATION IS KEY The objective of personalisation is to enrich the experience of the individual, but few brands deliver.

Only 12% of consumers say they get customised assistance from brands, according to Gartner research.

With the diminishing value of the traditional four Ps of marketing (product, price, promotion and placement) due to internetenabled price visibility and product availability, customer experience has become the primary differentiator among organisations.

Data privacy concerns often lead enterprises to use only nonpersonal data, such as anonymised information or aggregate behaviour www.tahawultech.com

Customers expect to be recognised and want their experiences personalised” data, which may be helpful but is not always compelling to customers.

Customers expect to be recognised and want their experiences personalised. If they don’t get it, they may go elsewhere.

Organisations that combine identity data with behavioural data will outpace those that don’t.

ADDRESS THE PRIVACY PARADOX I suggest eight steps you can take to mitigate risk while driving revenue: • Understand privacy principles and requirements such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as personalisation based on personal data from legal counsel, business advisory or other education avenues. Reframe the discussion and actions to focus on using personalisation and data privacy to enable, not annoy, your customers.

• Recast the relationship between personalisation and privacy as symbiotic by defining the requirements for accessing and

using individual-level data. This creates a more refined, trusted and contextualised optimal CX. • Focus on the customers. Use their data to enhance their experience with your brand and make them more efficient, while staying in context.

• Enlist the help of legal counsel as well as compliance and public relations advisors to incorporate the balancing role of privacy with business process and innovation into their analysis of marketing, CX, new data product development, security protocols and risk assessment.

• Educate stakeholders across the organisation on how privacy often supports creating an optimal CX. Use case studies to illustrate the role of privacy and personalisation in creating trust and generating business value.

• Become a thought leader by augmenting generic personalisation tactics with personal data. Create new data products and drive new revenue sources by delivering compelling experiences to your customers.

• Collaborate with CX and commerce leaders to expand personal data collection, use and sharing. Build customer trust by establishing best practices for transparency, incorporating privacy and employee training on ethical data use.

• Reduce stakeholder friction by ensuring that critical customer analytics initiatives include only the specific individual-level data needed to align the CX, customer preferences, requirements and interests.

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45

ANALYSIS Citrix

HOW TO INVEST FOR INNOVATION AND TRANSFORMATION CITRIX’S VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF INTELLIGENCE OFFICER CHRISTIAN REILLY

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F Christian Reilly, vice president and chief intelligence officer, Citrix

MAY 2019

or modern CIOs, success is not about the technology; it’s about using technology to drive business innovation and value. It’s about providing an always-on, secure digital workspace — without a costly outlay of capital. And it’s about efficiently and securely expanding into new markets and regions.

In other words, success is defined by strategic technology investments that enable the business and drive innovation.

Success is, of course, easier said than done. www.tahawultech.com

Today, a large part of success is about reining in costs while extending services to a wider array of people, devices, and things. The modern IT organisation must become a partner to the business — not a cost centre — that is integral to competitive value and strategic investment.

Controlling fixed assets only underscores potential waste. With a complete understanding of the physical servers, data, devices, and apps in your purview, you‘ve taken measures to manage, control, and secure them.

It’s now time to focus your critical resources on accelerating business outcomes instead of managing day-to-day IT tasks. And you’ve made moves in that direction by adopting a cloud strategy that accelerates innovation and agility while ensuring flexibility and control. So what now?

Simplifying hybrid cloud networking Enterprises are embracing multicloud solutions to gain organisational agility, accommodate existing and new applications, and ensure apps reside in optimized environments. IDC reports that 82% of businesses believe complex network infrastructure hinders their ability to migrate apps to the cloud. When you simplify, secure, and optimise your networks for performance, you give your users simple secure access to the applications and data they need — from any device, anywhere.

Leveraging advanced analytics In an IDG survey, close to 80% of CIOs said they would prioritise spending on data analytics in 2018 and 2019. Though the vast majority of business processes are still governed by and carried out by people, advanced analytics, such as machine learning, uses data to automate work that was once considered peopledependent. This improves the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of computing processes so workers can focus on higher-value tasks.

Implementing digital workspaces A digital workspace unifies access to the all of the apps users rely on — Windows, mobile, web and SaaS — with performance and security that adapts to user context. Engineered to increase visibility and simplify management of all your apps, data, users and devices, a digital workspace helps you realise the full benefits of hybrid and multi-cloud strategies.

Making these investments now can help set up your company

www.tahawultech.com

— and the IT organisation — for a winning future.

With careful planning and alignment with business goals, these investments can position IT as a change agent and prepare the business for the future.

A Deloitte survey suggests that “IT budgets in high-performing companies (HPCs) account for a lower percentage of overall revenue, which could mean that CIOs in these companies make more efficient use of their technology dollars.”

It goes on to say that “CIOs in HPCs are also more likely to have annual budget increases and less likely to have a budget decrease.”

What winning strategies can you apply now? Advance your cloud plan at your own pace. Look for services you can host and deliver them from wherever you choose — including legacy on-premise infrastructure — giving you the freedom to go all in with cloud, start service by service, or take a hybrid approach. Regardless of where services reside, apps, devices, and data should be easily integrated and managed through a single console for a unified user experience.

Success is defined by strategic technology investments that enable the business and drive innovation.”

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47

OPINION Accenture

THE POSTDIGITAL ERA IS COMING ACCENTURE’S TECHNOLOGY LEAD FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND TURKEY, DAVID DESCHAMPS, GIVES HIS TAKE ON WHY RESPONSIBLE TECHNOLOGY USE WILL BE KEY IN THE DIGITAL AGE.

48 David Deschamps, Accenture Technology lead in the Middle East and Turkey

T

he pace of technological change sweeping across business and society is breathtaking—and it is taking us from the digital age towards a new reality, a new era that has been coined the postdigital era.

Think about where we are today. $1.25 trillion will be spent on digital transformation globally in 2019, and that number will skyrocket to $1.97 trillion in global spending on digital transformation of businesses in 2022, according to the IDC. Over 60% of global GDP will be digitised with growth in every industry driven by digitally-

MAY 2019

enhanced offerings, operations, and relationships.

What does this mean?

Enterprises are at a crucial new turning point. In an environment where everyone says they are going digital, we will need a new set of rules to be successful.

Digital is indeed still important, but now it is simply the price of admission for doing business – it is no longer a differentiation advantage. What’s the secret to creating competitive advantage in this post-digital world we foresee?

In the post-digital world, differentiation comes from applying digital in powerful new ways. It’s an era where www.tahawultech.com

building trust with customers, employees, business partners and communities through a responsible approach to technology is the top priority for all C-suite executives who want to grow and succeed.

What will this post-digital era look like?

According to Accenture’s newly released Technology Vision 2019, this era will be marked by individualisation and instant on-demand capabilities that will make it possible for businesses to capture and deliver on momentary markets.

The next wave of technology will make it possible for products, services and even people’s surroundings to be deeply customised. Companies will be able to understand consumers, employees and business partners and their goals better than ever before, and they’ll have the agility to move even closer and act in the moment to people’s needs.

By combining individualisation with instant on-demand capabilities, businesses will be able to cater to individuals in every aspect of their lives, careers or business relationships. In order to do this, organisations will need to deliver as needs change at a moment’s notice.

The pace of innovation will never be slower than it is today. Because let’s face it, the world is complex and lightningquick: 94% of business and IT executives we surveyed say the pace of innovation in their organisations has accelerated over the past three years due www.tahawultech.com

to emerging technologies. As Moore’s Law approaches its limits and new types of computing emerge, technology is reaching deeper into every aspect of people’s lives and work experiences.

Many of these technological advancements are positive.

We’ve seen dazzling displays in healthcare diagnosis using artificial intelligence, virtual reality and digital twin technology.

More than half (3.9 billion) of the global population is now online and using the Internet, which represents a more inclusive global information society.

And people are applying technology for good in powerful ways — from adopting blockchain for humanitarian efforts, to improving agricultural practices and reducing waste in the global food supply chain.

But some of technology’s impact has a downside that’s driving “techlash.” Just witness the geopolitical positioning happening for AI superpower status, as well as the surge of public sentiment demanding enterprises to be accountable for what they build and launch to market. Technology is even reaching into complex areas, like gene editing and surveillance capitalism, that raise new ethical questions for society.

As you chart your course to harness the boundless new

opportunities to take your business in new directions in the post-digital era, it’s imperative that our guiding principle is innovation with purpose – that creates valuable business outcomes and impact, while navigating the opportunities with responsibility.

Where opportunity and responsibility meet The post-digital era will disrupt and reshape business and industries, bringing powerful new capabilities and possibilities. But that does not mean digital is not over — quite the opposite because most of the journey is still ahead, but post-digital requires new rules.

As every business does indeed become a digital business, however, leadership will depend on how fast your company can continue the journey to master artificial intelligence, extended reality, distributed ledger technology, quantum computing and more.

The post-digital era offers enterprises a tremendous opportunity to innovate and grow their business, along with an unprecedented and urgent mandate to focus on building trust and responsible innovation.

Addressing the privacy, safety, ethics and governance that come along with this level of technologyenabled access is paramount.

The pace of innovation will never be slower than it is today.”

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COLUMN Glesni Holland

#SpaceGoals

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D

espite having only come together as a unified country in 1971, it didn’t take long for the UAE and its ambitious leaders to set their sights further afield – and I’m talking far, far beyond its dusty, desert borders.

Nearly 50 years later, the nation has just confirmed the identity of its first Emirati astronaut - Hazza Al Mansouri, who is due to take flight to the International Space Station later this year.

The UAE has taken huge leaps forward in cementing its role as a major player in the race to space over recent years. Launching its 100 percent Emirati-designed and built satellite in October 2018 has been one of the country’s most notable achievements to date, but it certainly won’t stop there.

MAY 2019

Al Mansouri’s trip, due to take place in September this year, aims to gain valuable insight from on-board the ISS to propel the progress of the Emirates Mars Mission; whereby the UAE hopes to land a spacecraft on the red planet by 2021, marking the first ever Arab mission to another planet.

From 4,022 candidates, aged between 17 and 67 and from 38 different fields of work, Al Mansouri underwent multiple interviews and vigorous testing before he was selected to represent the nation in this landmark eight-day trip.

Each of these initiatives are stepping stones to reaching the UAE’s ultimate goal: to build a scientific city on Mars by 2117. Danish architect Bjarke Ingels is currently developing a $136 million mock-up of this Martian city in Dubai’s desert. Set to be 1.9

million square feet – twice the size of Alcatraz Island, we’ve been told to expect 3D-printed walls made from the desert sand and multiple science labs. Experts are also working hard to develop technologies that can provide future Martian colonies with food, water and energy, because we can’t have Martians eating stale potatoes for the rest of their days, can we?

It’s easy to believe that private companies (i.e. Elon Musk and SpaceX) are taking over the space race, when in fact, significant progress is being made right on our doorstep. While the possibility of colonising Mars may seem farfetched to many, the reality is that it is not only possible, but could also happen within our lifetime. Our children may even have the choice between living on Mars and Earth in years to come… www.tahawultech.com

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