INTERVIEW
EQUINIX
CLOUD-FIRST DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION CNME Editor Mark Forker managed to secure an exclusive interview with Kamel Al-Tawil, the newly appointed Managing Director, Middle East and North Africa at Equinix, to find out about his new role - and how the global data center leader is planning to utilise its expertise to capitalise on the recent surge in cloud adoption across the Gulf region.
A
44
l-Tawil might be
had leadership roles with NCR
alliance partner datamena of
new to Equinix,
and EMC.
the ECX fabric.
but he certainly isn’t new to the IT
Al-Tawil expressed his
exciting announcements of late
industry here in the Middle
and praised its data center
and the major one has been the
East, where he is regarded
capabilities, which have recently
launch of the Equinix Cloud
as a key decision-maker and
been expanded to Oman.
Exchange in association with
influence in the development of
“I joined Equinix in
our partners datamena. The
the IT ecosystem over the last
September of this year, but
Equinix Cloud Exchange is our
25 years.
we have been an extremely
enterprise cloud connectivity
busy over the last 3 months.
solution that enables enterprises
great distinction and prior to
We have 3 data centers in the
and service providers to connect
his appointment at Equinix,
UAE, and our flagship hub in
to a multi-cloud environment.
Al Tawil was responsible for
Dubai is the most connected
We have started to see a huge
leading Oracle’s business
facility in the entire Middle
uptake on these solutions and
applications and cloud strategy
East region. In addition
we’re also witnessing aggressive
in his capacity as Vice President,
to this, we also recently
expansion plans in the region,”
before joining Oracle he also
expanded our data center
said Al-Tawil.
He has enjoyed a career with
operations to Oman, where
The Equinix Cloud Exchange is our enterprise cloud connectivity solution that enables enterprises and service providers to connect to a multi-cloud environment.” DECEMBER 2020
“We made a number of very
delight at joining Equinix,
We then spoke about the
we opened our latest data
impact COVID-19 has had on
center in Muscat, to cater to
so many industries not just in
the needs of the region and
the Middle East, but on a global
build on the submarine cable
scale. However, he stressed
density that exists in the
how many businesses that
Oman,” said Al-Tawil.
adopted a progressive mindset
The new Managing Director
to emerging and disrupting
at Equinix also highlighted its
technologies before the
aspirations to drive cloud-
pandemic were in a much better
first digital transformation in
position to be able to adapt,
the MENA region following
evolve and cope with the new
the announcement with its
demands of the market.
www.tahawultech.com
