Network World Middle East | Issue 158

ISSUE 01 / 2019

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THE NEW NETWORK Middle East experts on a more connected year ahead PUBLICATION LICENSED BY DUBAI PRODUCTION CITY, DCCA

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EDITORIAL

Cutting edge Talk to us: E-mail: james.dartnell@ cpimediagroup.com

James Dartnell Editor

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has set out its stall in the data centre business through the launch of its new Moro facility. DEWA’s EVP of innovation Marwan Bin Haidar believes the facility will be the most secure in the world and will serve customers far beyond the Middle East.

Find out more on page 8.

I sat with Huawei’s regional managing director for its Enterprise Business Group, Alaa Elshimy, who shared his thoughts on why the Chinese firm’s hardware gives it the edge over its AI competitors. More on page 16.

The Electronic Government Authority of Ras Al Khaimah has partnered with Avaya to improve a whole host of its government services. Find out how on page 12.

We also hear from a range of regional experts about what to expect from the next 12 months in networking, including how to get the most out of the industrial internet of things, smart campuses and prolonging cabling infrastructure.

“A DEWA’s EVP of innovation Marwan Bin Haidar believes the facility will be the most secure in the world.”

CONTENTS

ISSUE 01 2019

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A quick roundup of some of the latest developments in the world of regional and global networking.

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At your service The Electronic Government Authority of Ras Al Khaimah has partnered with Avaya to enhance its citizen services.

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The “AI edge” Huawei’s VP of Middle East enterprise Alaa Elshimy on the firm’s AI infrastructure advantages.

Stay smart

The year ahead Riverbed’s Elie Dib gives his take on the biggest networking trends that will affect CIOs in the coming 12 months.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s Moro facility is “most secure in the world” according to EVP of innovation Marwan Bin Haidar.

News

Nexans’ product manager Joost Grillaert believes there is a way to prolong the life of LC connectivity in data centres.

DEWA’s “bulletproof” data centre

Long live LC

How to secure IIoT Fortinet’s Alain Penel believes that outdated OT systems pose a serious threat to network security in the age of IoT.

Aruba’s Morten Illum believes that security should not compromise the student user experience on-campus.

The data ecosystem Dell EMC’s Mohammed Amin highlights examples of how the most important technology trends to impact 2019.

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NEWS

ABU DHABI PARTNERS WITH CISCO TO FAST-TRACK DIGITISATION

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isco and Abu Dhabi Smart Solutions and Services Authority (ADSSSA) are collaborating on a variety of initiatives to fast-track digitisation across sectors in the emirate.

The partnership aims to encourage the diversification of technical skills and develop secure infrastructure to accelerate economic growth. One such initiative geared towards achieving this is the talent development

programme. Forming part of Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) programme for the UAE, it will focus on three main areas to stimulate job creation: cybersecurity, IT networking and digital skills.

The talent development programme will see a total of 600 people trained and upskilled in digital competency, including ADSSSA employees, Abu Dhabi government employees, UAE nationals and students.

Dr. Rauda Al Saadi, Director General of Smart Solutions and Services Authority said, “Our partnership with Cisco reflects the Authority’s strength and technological capabilities in transforming government services through worldclass digital technologies, including AI, blockchain, data management, Internet of Things and infrastructure among others.”

HUAWEI SHIPS FIRST 10,000 5G BASE STATIONS Huawei’s rotating chairman Ken Hu has announced the shipment of Huawei’s first 10,000 5G base stations.

“5G will start a technology revolution,” he said at the company’s 9th Global Mobile Broadband Forum – “5G Inspiring the Future” – in London.

“It will bring new power to all ICT technologies, and trigger sweeping changes in business. There will be new opportunities the likes of which we’ve never seen.”

The rotating chairman encouraged industry partners to adopt a fresh mindset as they define new devices, develop

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new applications, and make new breakthroughs in experience. This, he said, is key to maximising the value of 5G. “From all angles, 5G is ready,” Hu said. “It’s ready to use, it’s affordable, and most importantly, demand is real. Of course, there are still some barriers to 5G deployment.”

He summed up his keynote by highlighting Huawei’s four main innovation targets for 5G. “We believe 5G will make an important and lasting contribution to society.

At Huawei, we are working hard to make 5G networks stronger, simpler, more intelligent, and more secure.”

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FEATURE • DEWA MORO

Andrew McAfee, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s principal research scientist

WHY DEWA’S “BULLETPROOF” DATA CENTRE CAN DIGITISE THE GCC Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has launched its own data centre, Moro, which will provide private cloud, colocation and managed services offerings. DEWA’s EVP of innovation Marwan Bin Haidar says the facility will be the most secure in the world and will serve customers in the Middle East and beyond.

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Marwan Bin Haidar, Moro Vice Chairman and EVP of Innovation, DEWA

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ubai Electricity and Water Authority’s head of innovation believes that the department’s newly launched data centre is the most secure on the planet, and that the breadth of services offered by the facility means it will be uniquely positioned to assist customers across the world with their digital transformation efforts.

Moro currently offers a selection of data centre services, including

cloud, colocation and managed services, and is the “first” LEED Platinum facility - a US Green Building Council certification for energy and resource-efficient buildings - in the GCC region.

Now fully operational, Moro already offers its services to “over 22” international and local companies, its technology platform comprising a range of blue-chip partners, including Microsoft, Dell EMC, Cisco, SAP, General Electric,

“We are talking about creating a digital source for the whole region and the whole world.” www.tahawultech.com

VMware, Virtustream, EY and Cisco.

Marwan Bin Haidar, DEWA’s executive vice president of innovation and the future and vice chairman of DEWA’s subsidiary, says the facility is aiming to have a global impact on the technology industry. “Moro is beyond a data centre, it’s a data hub,” he says.

“We are talking about creating a digital source for the whole region and the whole world.

“We have enough resources and technology to make sure that this facility is bulletproof, and we are sure that we have the most secure data hub in the whole world. We have the right partners and several levels of security. We haven’t gone for number two technology partners, only for number one.

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FEATURE • DEWA MORO

We’ve given the partners a hard time because we only want top tier companies here. We’ve designed Moro to be a top tier data centre and have obtained the right certificates for it.”

Bin Haidar believes that the facility is set to be a crucial asset for the UAE’s government in powering a range of digital services. “Moro will be the backbone of all the government’s digital initiatives,” he says. “The whole digital portfolio can be

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delivered from Moro. Moro will enable the right infrastructure from hosting, to AI, Blockchain, IoT and all digital services. Everyone needs storage and compute power, which Moro provides. It’s a key part of the Dubai Government’s 10X initiative, which is about wanting Dubai to be 10 years ahead of others. We need to be digitally enabled to do that.

We can leverage our experience from DEWA along with our big partners to make sure this is a success.”

The facility will also include office space, and Bin Haider believes this is an important bonus for companies looking to set up their IT shop with Moro. “It’s a full ecosystem,” he says.

“The staff that man the facility will be a mixture of people from outside [the GCC], some from DEWA and some from our partners, so we will have the right staff for the right purpose. Beyond that it’s about how we deliver a digital hub that can transform any entity or organisation to become digital.”

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“We have enough resources and technology to make sure that this facility is bulletproof. We are sure that we have the most secure data hub in the world.”

DEWA is striking while the iron is hot, Bin Haidar says, with the organisation already looking to launch other data centre sites under the Moro brand. He believes the project will be a success due to the ways DEWA will target customers from the global market, and not just the GCC. “In digital there are no geographical boundaries,” he says.

“Customers want hosting and all digital services. We have the right combination to give them

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everything they need in one place.

With digital, you don’t need more staff. You need brains, but the rest is done autonomously.

“We’ve already started adding more sites, and they will be announced soon. One will be outside Dubai,” he says, refusing to comment on specifics of the location. “We have existing clients in and outside of Dubai. They’re from all over the world. We are looking at onboarding customers from all sectors, including banking, startups - you name it. We have a big plan to reach more customers.

With Moro, we can transform more and empower organisations beyond the GCC.” Moro CEO Mohammed Sabunchi echoes Bin Haidar’s comments, and says the organisation is looking to capitalise on Dubai’s status as an emerging business hub for the Middle East and North Africa region, and aims

to win over customers who are looking to set up shop in the region. “We’re certainly looking to capture companies who are planning to open regional centres or back offices here,” he says. “An American organisation who wants to set up in Hong Kong, Dubai or London is a prime example.

They have to do the necessary due diligence and consider the necessary proximity, latency, pricing and quality of service when setting up their ICT infrastructure in a new territory. This is where we compete. A company like General Electric or ABB may want to open a shop because of the growth happening in the UAE. They want to open a hub in the region, and their choice of data centre becomes a question of which country, which city and which data hub or data centre.”

Sabunchi believes Moro’s value proposition lies in the breadth of technology services it can offer to prospective clients. “A lot of the UAE’s 15 other data centres only offer hosting, where you have bring your own hardware,” he says. “Today, we offer more than that. We do digital services and operations, hosting, backup, implementation and security. We give a complete offering and don’t just do one layer, we do five. Within those five layers are about 100 types of services.”

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum set a target for government departments to deliver 80% of their services through digital platforms by 2018, and Bin Haidar says DEWA takes great pride in having exceeded these expectations. “We achieved that target in August 2017, and today, 92% of our customer services are done online,” he says.

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FEATURE • RAK e-GOV

Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Sayyah, general manager of the Electronic Government Authority of Ras Al Khaimah

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AT YOUR SERVICE Compelled to deliver the best possible digital services and customer experience to its citizens, the Electronic Government Authority of Ras Al Khaimah partnered with Avaya to create a unified platform that has transformed a range of government services.

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upporting technology infrastructure of over 20 government departments, the Electronic Government Authority of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK e-Gov) is the cornerstone of the emirate’s digital transformation ambitions. These departments interconnect through RAK e-Gov’s centralised ERP application and data centre, with RAK e-Gov’s IT team serving all these entities.

They include the RAK Municipality Department, RAK Land Department and the Public Works and Services Department. “These departments all depend on us on a day-to-day basis,” says Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Sayyah, general manager of the Electronic Government Authority of Ras Al Khaimah. “We support their IT needs and procurement, and evaluate any solution based on their requirements.”

According to Al Sayyah, RAK e-Gov is determined to transform government services over the next three years, with the aim of delivering an enhanced citizen experience underpinning all of its projects.

“We want to build a digital Ras Al Khaimah,” he says. “Our aim is to deliver ease of use for all citizens, and to make their lives easier by ensuring they can access services through their smartphones instead of coming to physical government buildings.”

RAK e-Gov has always been committed to using the most reliable technology products and standards,

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and began its partnership with Avaya over eight years ago by using the firm’s analogue IP telephony products, which were limited to just two government departments. “We chose to partner with Avaya because they’re an old and trusted name in telecoms,” Al Sayyah says. “So many Fortune 500 companies use them, and they consistently have a really good ranking in Gartner’s magic quadrants.

We evaluated other competitors and we found that Avaya provided the most cost-effective solution.”

Although RAK e-Gov had enjoyed

“We want to build a digital Ras Al Khaimah.” a successful relationship with the Avaya, it felt compelled to migrate its existing call centres, which were siloed across government departments, into a centralised system, with the aim of delivering more effective information reporting, voice recording and a more efficient call management system.

RAK e-Gov opted to move to Avaya’s Equinox Team Engagement solution for video conferencing.

“One of the first” regional organisations to use Equinox, RAK

e-Gov was sold on the solution’s benefits after visiting Avaya’s Dubai Executive Briefing Centre (EBC) - a hub based at the firm’s regional headquarters which showcases innovation opportunities. Avaya’s EBC is a regularly updated with new solutions, and also has bases in New York, London and its Santa Clara global HQ. Avaya’s engineering team conducted necessary testing procedures during periods with lower user demand, and after thorough testing, which took approximately two months, they went live with the upgrade and “shut down” the old systems they had been using.

“The migration was very smooth,” Al Sayyah says. “Although we had been running on old systems, we successfully merged all independent units into a centralised system.

End users weren’t at all disturbed, and it hasn’t had any lasting effect on the way they work. Having a centralised system allows licenses to be managed centrally, and has also granted us high availability. Avaya helped us to build parallel licenses to use in the new system.”

The changes have already had a significant effect on RAK Courts and Public Prosecutions departments, the emirate’s judiciary bodies. The changes now allow all applicable cases to be conducted through Avaya’s video conferencing and telephony system. Avaya’s call

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FEATURE • RAK e-GOV

recording feature now allows the easier submission of evidence, with recorded calls from claimants being admissible in court cases, meaning they do not always have to be physically present in a courtroom.

This connection also runs between Ras Al Khaimah’s central jail and court rooms, meaning claimants don’t have to come face to face with those who have allegedly committed offences against them.

“This keeps witnesses anonymous in some cases,” Al Sayyah says. “This can help to encourage a safer society and could potentially reduce crime rates.

Courts used to bring victims to a physical place, but this video conferencing system eliminates that necessity.”

RAK e-Gov has also applied the technology to deliver another innovative public service - a legal marriage procedure that can be completed via video conference.

The RAK Municipality Department, meanwhile, has been another organisation to have benefited from the changes. Processing times have been reduced by allowing engineers and consultants to transmit changes to documents through Avaya’s

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“We’ve been so impressed with how Avaya’s technology has helped us to transform.” platform, reducing the need for them to physically travel to its offices.

RAK e-Gov now also has a virtual platform to conduct job interviews across departments, with end users only needing an internet connection and device. “We are dependent on talent from a range of countries, and applicants are not always able to be here in person,” Al Sayyah says.

“Having this knowledge transfer ability is a huge value add.”

Al Sayyah has also been delighted with the support offered by technology implementation partner Visiontech, an Avaya Diamond Partner and systems integration specialist. “It’s very important to have a supporting partner,” Al Sayyah says.

“Any issue with our IP telephony or video conferencing is easily resolved, and this is crucial. If these systems went down it would have a significant impact on our operation. Visiontech were very flexible in the way they delivered support, and don’t just do

things by the book. They offered any kind of support we needed in terms of licenses, and have gone the extra mile to make themselves available to us throughout the upgrade process.”

Al Sayyah has been extremely satisfied with the products and services delivered by Avaya, and has been convinced to continue partnering with the firm in the long run. “We always want to explore innovative technologies, and to see how Avaya can help us introduce innovative solutions to our environment,” Al Sayyah says. “In future, we’ll be exploring artificial intelligence and Blockchain and looking for ways that we can deliver an enhanced customer experience to the citizens of Ras Al Khaimah. Avaya has a lot of solutions in the contact centre range, and we’re looking to test them in our environment and see how we can put them to effective use. We hadn’t initially intended to have so many of Avaya’s systems beyond its IP telephony products, but we’ve been so impressed with how their technology has helped us to transform, that our partnership has continued to grow.”

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FEATURE • HUAWEI

“I don’t see there being competition to us in the AI infrastructure space today.”

Vice president and managing director of Huawei’s Middle East enterprise business group, Alaa Elshimy

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HUAWEI: WE HAVE THE AI EDGE With Huawei edging closer to the $100 billion revenue mark, vice president and managing director of the Middle East enterprise business group, Alaa Elshimy, tells CNME why the firm has the edge over its AI competitors, why it is not investing in Blockchain - for now - and why the United Nations could decide what machines should and shouldn’t do.

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n the intensifying race to build autonomous, intelligent machines, Huawei believes it has sharpened its competitive edge in beating the world’s other technology giants.

“I haven’t seen anyone so far from an ICT point of view that has come up with specific set of products that will make AI happen,” Alaa Elshimy, Huawei enterprise business group’s vice president and managing director for the Middle East, says. “We’ll differentiate ourselves in AI through our hardware. We’re an infrastructure company and we’re very clear on that. When Microsoft

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presents its AI solutions, 90% of what I’ve seen is more on the software side of things and is about developing AI for business processes.”

Elshimy also believes that while the world’s biggest technology companies have made progress in embedding AI in their software, they have failed to reciprocate in terms of their hardware. “Some of them are not prioritising hardware enough in the delivery of AI, including some of the biggest ERP and database players,” he says. I don’t see there being competition to us in the AI infrastructure space today.”

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FEATURE • HUAWEI

Another area in which Huawei is going against the grain is its approach towards Blockchain - or lack of one. While the tech industry has incessantly sold the prospect of the distributed ledger technology being as transformative as the internet, Huawei is steering clear, for now at least. “We are not investing in Blockchain software as of now, it is more of an ecosystem play for Huawei,” he says. “In my view, I see Blockchain as a pure software play. We will have Blockchain services in our cloud eventually, but we don’t invest in Blockchain per se. It could be added to our strategy as we go, but we believe in focusing in what we’re good at, and we can’t try to do everything at once. We want to focus purely on ICT infrastructure and cloud services.”

Huawei’s 2017 revenue totalled a jaw-dropping $92.5 billion across its carrier, consumer and enterprise business groups, with the latter accounting for 9.1%, or $8.4 billion, of the firm’s global business, and Elshimy believes the firm is edging ever closer to hitting what represents a significant milestone.

“We’re obviously working hard to hit the $100 billion mark,” Elshimy says. “In all humbleness, I’m almost sure we’ll hit that target this year.

If it happens, we have to celebrate it, as it positions us as the clear number one for ICT players. It also puts more responsibility on the organisation to keep growing.

It means the company vision is correct, the strategy is right, and that we need to continue to deliver and drive the company forward in the same direction. We have a responsibility to bring value.”

Elshimy attributes a large portion of the firm’s success to its

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“We want to focus purely on ICT infrastructure and cloud services.” relentless pursuit of R&D, which he says has continually delivered world-firsts in technology. “Huawei spent $13.8 billion on R&D in 2017,” he says. “We’re the first to have introduced a 32-core Intelbased server, the first to bring

an AI chipset to a camera and the first to bring full-stack, AIpowered intelligent computing for the mobile data centre. We’re clear that we want to be number one, and know have had come from behind to be in that position.

The ecosystem is so important, and goes across everything we do. We’re working with vertical players, and that’s a key pillar of our strategy.”

As well as launching a $140 million global AI education initiative - which will help Huawei collaborate with developers, partners, universities and research institutions - Huawei recently launched its AI Ascend chipset series, which Elshimy believes represents a significant

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step in Huawei’s bid to build a hardware platform that can fulfill AI ambitions for customers of various sizes. “If you need to run algorithms for certain applications, you need a chipset and the infrastructure to run in the best possible way,” he says. “This is our key differentiator. We’re the only one to deliver the entire stack from a computing point of view, and we deliver this through our Ascend chipset and neural networks. No one else has that today.”

He adds that Huawei has already shown how the chipset can provide tangible results across a range of major verticals. “We’re building use cases for different industries, and I haven’t seen anyone doing anything similar to that,” he

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says. “With this chipset, you can increase the productivity of credit card application handling from 50 requests to 1,200 per day. It can increase the effectiveness of cancer detection by a factor of 50.

It can reduce traffic by 8%.”

In spite of his firm belief in Huawei’s AI portfolio, Elshimy acknowledges that there remains a long journey ahead for organisations to not only understand its technologies, but also to deliver effective, enterpriselevel implementations. “There are a lot of issues that need considering, like which part of the business or which process should AI be applied to?I Where will you get the best ROI? This has to be done carefully in phases. Make it happen gradually then expand it. You need goal, and you’ll go down blind alleys without one.

“AI reminds me of the early days of cloud when it had 100 different definitions. There are misconceptions around it. To deliver IoT and AI, you need three elements - cloud, connectivity and devices. All three are important pieces, but any customer that is looking to transform needs the combination of the three to deliver business solutions.”

“To deliver AI you need three elements: cloud, connectivity and devices.”

On a regional level, meanwhile, Huawei is already collaborating with some of the Middle East’s most influential organisations, but believes work still needs to be done to ensure enterprises engineer a clear path for technological success. “Almost 35% of customers in the Middle East and Africa region are taking their digital transformation investments beyond servers, storage and networks, but a lot of companies are still not necessarily delivering the best experience. Companies are not always strategically clear on their priorities, or what part of their business they need to apply a transformation to. There’s still a level of fear in taking these steps.”

He says that a selection of industries have shown the biggest appetite for technology spend and innovation. “I think smart and safe cities will see the highest areas of spend next year,” he says. “We’re also expecting a lot of business in the energy and transport industries.”

Elshimy believes there will also be broader ethical issues that will need to be tackled head on if AI is to gain widespread acceptance by society. “In my view, its biggest challenges today are around regulation and ethics,” he says.

“Take autonomous cars. They’re expected to reduce accidents by 80%, but they still need to be programmed with answers. If an autonomous car is on course to run over a pedestrian, but if it swerves it will hit a wall and kill the passenger, what should it do?

It’s an ethical debate. As well as teaching the machine to make the decision, it needs regulations, which should maybe be decided at a United Nations level.”

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OPINION • ARUBA

“Security teams are the enablers of the experiences that users are beginning to demand.”

HPE ARUBA’S VICE PRESIDENT FOR EUROPE, THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, MORTEN ILLUM

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WHY A SECURE CAMPUS SHOULDN’T LOWER THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE HPE Aruba’s vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Morten Illum, gives his take on why security teams are the gatekeepers for delivering the best possible network experience.

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or all the benefits of mobile connectivity, cloud and IoT, these technologies give hackers many more opportunities to find gaps in cyber defences and make their way inside our networks. For educational institutions that have a vast campus and user base, a variety of devices trying to connect to their network and a huge amount of data passing through their systems, this presents a real risk.

However, as universities battle each other in a bid to attract new students and provide the best possible experience on campus, rather than take a conservative approach to IT, they need to strike the right balance between productivity and security. Otherwise, they risk impeding student productivity in favour of security. It’s all about getting the right mix, so that we avoid being prohibitive.

So, what does this balance look like in practice? First off, managing the

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way the network is run and understood by users and those administering it.

Then there’s the cultural aspect of managing expectations and meeting user demand.

Initially, you’ve got to have a network that is granular enough to show you the individual people and devices connecting to it. The devices we choose, the locations in which we work and the people we send data to can change without warning.

When patterns of network usage can change at any time and thousands of devices are connecting each day – we need networks that can keep up and adapt policies in real-time. Using behavioural analytics, we can analyse the entire network collectively, using machine learning to find the very small changes in activity that will alert us to the likelihood of a breach, and avoid exploits that result in loss of personal information.

Next, it’s about remembering that while reminding users of

security risks, processes and tools that are in place to protect them is critical, it doesn’t have to mean IT should be seen as a barrier.

Security teams are the enablers of the experiences that users are beginning to demand, and can support the way the world is moving. They don’t need to be seen as the gatekeepers denying access to the tools that are needed to work in a new, immersive environment we live in.

After all, students have expectations to be online at all times, and we need to be catering to these expectations in order to prepare them for the future of work. Quite simply, students will not be as productive without a seamless, connected experience as they move across the campus and IT and security teams have a real opportunity to take charge of this movement, without becoming the department of ‘no.’

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INSIGHT • NEXANS

HOW TO EXTEND THE LIFETIME OF LC CONNECTIVITY Joost Grillaert, product manager, Nexans Cabling Solutions, believes that LC connectivity still has a key role to play in access networks.

JOOST GRILLAERT, PRODUCT MANAGER, NEXANS CABLING SOLUTIONS

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ntil relatively recently, a significant increase in the use of parallel optics and MPO/ MTP connectivity was widely expected. However, changing IEEE protocols that affect cabling in data centres are making this less likely. What could that mean for LC connectivity?

Let’s start by pointing out that it is possible to migrate from 1G

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to 10G with LC connectivity in the access network - the largest part of the cabling infrastructure. We see new life for duplex LC in lower speed networks, moving from 10G to 25G to 50G. Parallel optics will remain in core networks migrating from 40G to 200G to 400G. To explain how we arrive at this point of view, let’s take a look at some historical developments. In 2005, most access networks were

based on 1G copper or 10G fibre LC connectivity. However, as core network speeds increased, IEEE released a new protocol in 2010.

40G, based on parallel optics, used four fibres to send and four fibres to receive data. This required the new MTP connector, which drastically changed cabling infrastructure.

In 2010, forward-looking data centres knew that they would

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probably require a 100G core network in five years’ time.

However, achieving that using the protocols of the day would require 20 fibres. They also knew they might need 40G on the access network by 2015, which would require MTP connectivity.

The solution: installing MTP trunks between racks and panels, and adding conversion modules.

Traditional LC duplex patch cords were to be used at the front. Moving to 40G involved swapping out conversion modules and replacing them with MTP adapter modules. LC patch cords would be exchanged for MTP patch cords. This made it possible to migrate from LC connectivity to MTP connectivity.

However, this migration path has one significant disadvantage.

A single MTP connector could support six 10G ports and connect six devices. Switching out the conversion module would leave only one 40G MTP port, supporting only one device in the rack. IT managers would have to decide whether to keep the port count high using large amounts of extra cable, or to install additional cabling when a migration was in order.

In 2010, the first generation of 100G was developed, which required 20 fibres. In 20152016, IEEE developed a second generation of 100G on multimode fibre, reducing the number of fibres to 8, which made fibre cabling easier. Evolving technology had made it possible to increase the transceiver speeds from 10G to 25G. During this development, IEEE realised it would be interesting to develop a 25G multimode standard for the downlinks, based on – remarkably - LC connectivity.

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LC: still going strong In 2010, many data managers saw only MTP connectivity in future access and core networks. However, new IEEE protocols have changed this and LC connectivity still has a role to fulfil in the access network.

The LC connector is being extended in the access network up to speeds of 25G. Speed may be reduced from 40G to 25G, but previously installed cable infrastructure may remain in place. In the core network, 8 fibre 100G can be used.

The trend mentioned above will be extended even further:

“The approaches we propose should make it possible to use the same cabling infrastructure for the next three generations.”

IEEE is working on new protocols built around line speeds based on multiples of 50G. Related task group 803.3cd is close to finalising its activities and we expect the standards may be published in early 2019. New speeds in scope are 50G, 100G and 200G. This will allow the use of 50GBASE-SR on duplex LC and 200GBASE-SR4 on MTP 8 connectors.

At the end of 2018/2019 we’ll have the option of using transceivers for 200G that require only 8 fibres. In access networks, the life of the LC has been

extended to support migration from 10G, to 25G to 50G. In the core network there will be a migration from 40G to 100G moving on to 200G using MTP. Implications for data centre networks The core network between core switches is a relatively small part of the network.

The much larger access network from the core switches to the access switches or servers can use copper, but in many data centres, fibre is the preferred solution. The approaches we propose should make it possible to use the same cabling infrastructure for the next three generations. No migration of cabling infrastructure in the access or core network will be required.

In the core network, we suggest installing parallel optics and MTP trunks. That approach should make it easy to migrate from 40G to 100G and 200G. In the access network we propose LC connectivity, which makes it possible to migrate from 1G or 10G to 25G or 50G. Moving forward, there is no real need to migrate from LC to MTP connectivity. There are two possible approaches in the access network. You can install MTP trunks between panels and conversion modules from MTP to LC inside the panels, which allows very fast installation. You simply clean the MTP connector and hook up 12 fibres at once. There’s an alternative for access networks that allows you to migrate from 10G to 50G, based on LC preterms.

The typical migration path used around 2010, which involves installing MTP trunks and swapping out MTP conversion modules is no longer viable.

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INSIGHT • RIVERBED

WHAT CIOS CAN EXPECT IN 2019 Riverbed’s regional vice president for the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa Elie Dib gives his take on the top issues that CIOs should expect to face over the next 12 months.

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he financial sector - moving away from legacy The financial sector has had a tough time with its digital transformation. In 2018, financial institutions have been riddled with layers of legacy software, making changes to their infrastructure a delicate and costly operation that was rarely risk-free. Financial organisations need to move away from legacy and adopt a more agile infrastructure by partnering with financial technology startups.

In 2018, as banks and financial institutions double down on digital services, and try to make themselves more competitive with the use of highly agile Fintech, it will be crucial that they offer a satisfactory and

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seamless customer experience. In order to do so, better visibility and performance will be required — even on the edge of the network. The financial services sector will have to adopt SD-WAN and visibility solutions to monitor performance, quickly bring products to market and adapt services to support the move from legacy to agility.

IoT The coming year will be one of massive change for IoT as manufacturers will continue to improve much-needed builtin security they had previously sacrificed to keep production costs low. As the general public is not yet fully aware of the security risks of

Riverbed’s regional vice president for the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa Elie Dib

IoT devices, there will be no massive dip in IoT adoption, even if the new security measures lift IoT prices up.

At the same time, very publicised data breaches and the implementation of GDPR will continue to create a shift in attitudes about IoT. This will take the form of a wake-up call and the realisation that there is no quick fix to security breaches. As organisations realise that avoiding IoT breaches is a tall order, and that the burden of proof of GDPR compliance falls on them, most businesses will try to mitigate the number of possible fines.

On the positive side, the challenges IoT is facing require innovative solutions and may lead to further developments that will help

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to combat future threats and give other technologies such as machine learning a boost.

Outages and digital resilience Outages will continue to plague all industries, especially the financial and retail sectors. Businesses need to have more visibility. They will require a single source of truth over their software architecture. Digital visibility tools can provide the equivalent of an MRI diagnosing the whole software architecture or parts of it and potentially finding vulnerabilities before incidents occur.

Once businesses have improved their overall visibility, they will be able to take more pertinent and relevant steps to proactively improve their resilience and ensure that customers will be less affected by IT outages in the upcoming years than they were in 2018.

Skills gap Data science talent will remain scarce in 2019, and the demand for data scientists and data analysts will continue to increase. As data lakes get larger and larger, the challenge of managing and leveraging huge amounts of data will become crucial to business operations, to the point of becoming the main point of focus of business development and planning.

In the upcoming year, organisations will become fully aware of the impact data has on overarching success and understanding customers.

Technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning will be able to provide actionable insights, while analytics will become key for organisations that are looking for an edge in a competitive market, and seeking to satisfy increasingly demanding digital customers. The talent to efficiently leverage these insights and to analyse the data will become invaluable.

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These new technologies are bringing up another challenge for managers: how to educate the business on data analytics. Beyond the technical skills needed, the business skills to understand the technology required to do the job and how to implement it to get maximum performance will be key. In order to obtain these skills, companies might try to upskill employees, but only if there is a likely return on investment. As it is easier for businesses to hire outside the organisation, the struggle for data analytics will very likely intensify in the upcoming year.

Performance monitoring Businesses are only now beginning to realise the importance of understanding their customers’ and

“The financial services sector will have to adopt SD-WAN and visibility solutions.” their prospects’ digital footprint.

As such, in 2019, data science and predictive analytics will become the main drivers of customer success.

AI and ML applications will multiply, gathering a significant amount of data that will require a detailed understanding of these applications. The superficial understanding we are seeing at the moment prevents organisations from delivering a truly seamless and optimal customer experience. This will not be the case in the upcoming year: data science techniques and predictive analytics will become

much more mainstream in order to take full advantage of blooming technologies like ML. Customer-centric businesses Digital transformation was originally focused on the adoption of new technology solutions. However, in the coming year, this will start to evolve.

As data science and data analytics capabilities expand, customers are beginning to demand and expect increasingly personalised services.

From the package a telecoms company is offering, to a mortgage, clothing or simple grocery shopping, digital consumers expect goods and services to be specifically tailored to their tastes and personal experiences.

In the coming year, businesses that are able to offer consumers a tailored experience through the use of advanced data analytics, ML and AI will reap great benefits. The use of new technologies like blockchain will also help increase the level of personalisation.

CFOs and digital finance teams in collaboration: Financial teams will have to drastically change and adapt in the upcoming year. The increasing appeal of financial technology companies for both customers and talent will require traditional banks to adapt and become more agile. As such, financial teams will need to develop better data analytics skills. Data scientists will become the key player of any financial team and predictive analytics, and AI and ML talent will become increasingly necessary in the financial world.

Furthermore, financial teams will continue to adapt in the upcoming year and CFOs in every company will rely more and more on data and analysts on their team. Consequently, CIOs and CFOs will work more closely than ever and the most successful companies won’t have siloed data.

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INSIGHT • FORTINET

HOW TO SECURE THE INDUSTRIAL INTERNET OF THINGS Fortinet’s regional vice president for the Middle East Alain Penel believes that the digital age requires a rethink of operational technology systems.

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n many organisations, traditional IT and critical operational technology (OT) networks are being merged to take advantage of the speed and efficiency of today’s digital marketplace. Typical OT networks are comprised of switches, monitors, sensors, valves, and manufacturing devices managed by an ICS system through remote terminal units (RTUs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) over a serial or IP connection.

Since these systems manage sensitive and sometimes dangerous environments, they demand safe and continuous operation. To achieve that, they have traditionally tended to be air-gapped from the IT network to avoid the sorts of intermittent network or device crashes that IT systems can tolerate.

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These systems are built upon highvalue OT assets that can range into the billions of dollars. A system crash on a manufacturing floor can stall production for hours and potentially ruin millions of dollars in materials.

Even worse, having to reset an open furnace or a 10,000-gallon boiler processing caustic chemicals can have far more devastating consequences than temporarily losing access to an online printer.

Since the primary goals of an OT environment are the safety of employees and local communities, while ensuring the constant availability and uptime of the network, its connected devices, applications, and operating systems are rarely updated.

In fact, because these systems can operate for 30 to 40 years in their OT environments, they depend on dated

Fortinet’s regional vice president for the Middle East Alain Penel

configurations that remain unpatched.

And because patching and updating devices can require shutting down entire systems, most OT managers follow the “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” rule. As a result, many older OT systems are notoriously vulnerable to malware and other threats that IT networks are naturally protected against. Complicating the problem further, many of the devices and systems installed in an OT network are also notoriously fragile. Even processes as benign as active device scanning can cause them to fail.

Digital transformation is impacting the security of OT environments The challenge is that today’s digital marketplace requires organisations to respond faster to consumer demands than traditional OT

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processes can deliver. The addition of modern IIoT devices to OT networks enables organisations to automate what were traditionally static, and mostly manual OT processes, as well as create smart physical environments such as office buildings, manufacturing floors, inventory warehouses, or physical plants. Effectively competing in the digital economy also requires integrating things like real-time data collection and analysis and remote management tools into OT networks to realise greater efficiency.

Beyond the need for an efficient and timely response, an additional challenge is surfacing as a result of digital transformation. System complexity brought about through the amalgamation of OT technology is raising the stakes, and the complexity of security integration, even higher.

In smart buildings, for example, there exists a system of systems running simultaneously, including electrical grids, communications, security systems such as badge readers and access controls, fire protection, HVAC systems, and elevators. To manage these IIoT, OT, and IT systems centrally, they are increasingly being merged into a single control system. And in an environment where OT teams are managing multiple buildings simultaneously, this may also entail enabling remote management through a cloud-based platform.

Bolt-on security is not an option Of course, given what we know about most OT environments, the implications of digital transformation and convergence from a security perspective are self-evident.

As a result, a more systematic solutions approach is essential to solving modern OT security challenges. Attempts to address risk by simply deploying off-theshelf firewalls, sandboxes, and IPS systems into OT environments present an unacceptable, disruptive, and uncertain outcome. Security

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tools need to be purpose-built to understand the sorts of protocols, communications, and services that have been deployed to preserve safety and availability while implementing OT security.

Instead, organisations need to start by designing security into the OT environment at the highest level to address the bigger picture that provides the absolutes of availability, safety, and security without having to bolt security onto the network as an afterthought. Lacking an architected and integrated strategy, security can quickly scale out of proportion if you try to secure and manage each

“Resetting an open furnace or a 10,000-gallon boiler processing caustic chemicals has far more devastating consequences than losing access to a printer.” of these systems separately. As an example, in building automation systems an integrated, segmented, and layered approach enables security to extend beyond merely locking down the HVAC system, to delivering real-time analytics and control that ensures integrity while safeguarding other systems such as fire suppression.

Visibility, control, and zero trust This journey towards securing modern OT environments is begun by establishing continuous visibility.

Network access control solutions can help with inventorying and managing IIoT devices, including keeping track of every connected device on

your network, even as devices join or leave or move from one location to another. But control in the OT environment also entails baselining normal traffic and predefining approved functions that yield recognition and real-time response to any behavior that is out of scope.

Fortunately, device behaviors within an OT environment tend to be static and predictable, so anomalous behaviors are more likely to be immediately apparent and identified.

Imagine one of your engineers, Ron, has been sitting at an HMI workstation managing the same line for 15 years. He’s never given you any cause for concern, so you trust him implicitly. The advent of convergence, however, presents new severe OT risk, and what worked historically is now being replaced with systems that are suddenly interconnected and highly vulnerable devices that can be compromised remotely.

The integration of IIoT devices into OT networks is inevitable for any organisation looking to remain competitive in today’s digital economy. The challenge is to implement security without compromising availability or safety.

Due to the very converged disposition of modern OT networks, this requires: • Implementing purpose-built security devices designed for OT environments to protect the network from IT, the cloud, and the Internet • Establishing continuous visibility into devices and their behaviors with a combination of network access control and behavioural analytics • Moving towards a zero-trust security model built around the exercise of considering that you may already be compromised • Implementing basic controls such as two-factor authentication and segmentation to isolate critical functions will limit system exposure in the event of a compromise

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FEATURE • RUCKUS NETWORKS

THROUGH THE WIRE Newly appointed president of Ruckus Networks, Ian Whiting, was recently in Dubai and spoke to Network World Middle East about factors that are driving its growth across the UAE and the Middle East.

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uckus Networks, an ARRIS company, says the UAE government’s push towards engaging and connecting citizens is a key driver for the company’s regional growth.

Smart city initiatives in the UAE are more advanced than anywhere else in the region and combined with increased use of IoT, especially within the industrial space, are enabling Ruckus to deploy its connectivity solutions in the country.

“Governments in the region, especially in the UAE, are looking to serve the public with innovative technologies,” Ruckus president Ian Whiting told CNME. “Ruckus technology brings high-quality connectivity for the best usercommunication experience.

“In a city like Dubai, it is more about engaging citizens and connecting them. We offer a solid platform and innovative solutions.”

Today, citizens are most often online - from shopping and video streaming to accessing numerous public services. These require the deployment of huge bandwidth, and network solutions often lack the ability to support growing infrastructure, according to Whiting.

Especially in Africa and India, there is a huge population living with “underserved” infrastructure, with connectivity issues in hundreds of thousands of remote communities. “We work with companies like Google and Facebook in bringing those communities into the digital world,” Whiting said.

Earlier this year, Ruckus announced that it is joining Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi Certified

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ecosystem, a programme that allows access point manufacturers to build Wi-Fi hardware compatible with Express Wi-Fi. Operators participating in Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi initiative will deploy the Ruckus virtual SmartZone controllers and certified indoor/ outdoor Wi-Fi access points in high-traffic public areas in several parts of Africa and Asia.

The products feature Ruckus’ adaptive antenna BeamFlex technology. The patented technique “increases connection quality

“While the number of applications have increased, they also require great wireless technology.” and range, delivers better voice and data communication and significantly improves power efficiency”. Ruckus, Whiting said, in partnership with big companies, are bridging the digital divide.

Ruckus’ target vertical markets span hospitality, education, government, service providers, residential projects, sports and entertainment venues and transportation centres.

Similarly, there has been an increased deployment of IoT solutions across industrial and manufacturing units. “While the

number of applications have increased, they also require great wireless technology,” Whiting said. “Conditions are usually not so good for network penetration.

There is often a bottleneck for the multitude of apps and sensors to perform at their optimum level.

Either it requires building a new network or enhancing the system by using our technology.

“By using a Ruckus network, you are able to get to market faster because of our rich features. Mobility, services and the integration to the network are keeping us busy. At Ruckus, our main aim is to enable mobility.”

Giving an example of a recent deployment for West Japan Railway Company, Whiting said the government was keen on enabling free Wi-Fi services to encourage tourism.

Wireless LAN access points are being used for the Wi-Fi service offered on JR-West Shinkansen passenger cars to meet the demand for reliable internet connectivity.

Ruckus, Whiting said, is a vertical-focused company. “We identify the vertical and go about working towards that,” he said.

“We mainly work through system integrators. The growth within the Middle East region for us has been phenomenal. We are anticipating the growth to continue exponentially.”

Ruckus will also continue its focus on third party security integrations. “Our strategy is to partner,” he said. “All the big security players out there are constantly innovating. Having an open architecture is our preferred option. We let customers choose the best solution.”

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OPINION • CISCO

NOT A DRILL: WHY CYBER PRACTICE IS ESSENTIAL Cisco’s cybersecurity director for the Middle East and Africa Fady Younes advocates IT security teams carrying out rehearsals so that they are prepared for the event of a network breach.

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ehearsals and drills are part of life. Every workplace takes the threat of fire seriously. Fire exits are clearly marked, fire extinguishers available, and every once in a while, a fire evacuation of the building is rehearsed. Everyone knows what the fire alarm sounds like, where the nearest exits are and how to make their way to the assembly point.

If I ever do discover a fire, I’m confident that I’ll know how to react, and importantly what number to phone in order to summon a team of experts to rush to the scene and swiftly deal with the incident.

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CISCO’S CYBERSECURITY DIRECTOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA FADY YOUNES

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But what about other incidents?

It’s surprising to read in a UK government survey of large companies that although 54% of boards view cyber risks as a top business concern, 68% of boards have not received any training in how to respond to a cyber incident, and 10% have no plan whatsoever.

Newspapers are peppered with stories of organisations who have fallen victim to cyber-attacks.

The devastation caused across the world by the self-propagating worms WannaCry and Nyetya are also evidence of the risks to which organisations are exposed.

These incidents should not be seen as the inevitable punishment of the poorly prepared. Any published incident can be used as case study, a real-life example of a cyber breach, which can be used to improve the security posture of any organisation.

Ultimately, a case study should stimulate debate and reflection. The key questions to consider are: could this happen to us? How would we identify if this has happened to us? How would we respond? How could we reduce the likelihood of this happening?

Identifying attacks Identifying a fire is easy. Flames, smoke and heat are a giveaway.

Buildings have smoke detectors to raise the alarm when a hint of smoke is discovered.

Cyber incidents are not necessarily easy to spot. A system infected by ransomware is clearly an incident. However, an unresponsive website may be caused by many issues, or it may be a denial of service attack. Identifying what is happening requires having access to someone with the skills to analyse what is happening.

Malicious network traffic can be identified through the triggering of network signatures or connections to blacklisted destinations. But this

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only functions as a warning system if the correct network signatures or blacklists are enabled, and only if someone is watching for alerts.

Walking through a case study allows an organisation to reflect on whether they would detect such an incident, and how the alert would be raised.

For example, a system hit by ransomware is likely to be discovered by an end user, but would the user know who to contact to resolve the issue? Similarly, if another worm similar to WannaCry was to enter the

“68% of boards have not received any training in how to respond to a cyber incident, and 10% have no plan whatsoever.” internal network and make multiple connections to devices on port 445, how would this be identified?

Who would determine that this was malicious activity?

Responding to attacks Detecting an incident is only half the story. Once an incident has been detected, a swift response is required. Practicing responses highlights the gaps between what is desired and what can be delivered.

Once a deficiency is identified, it can be addressed and resolved so that when an actual response is required, the result is smooth and effective.

In many cases, it might be clear that specialist skills or external liaison is required. In these cases, do you know who you will call? Is the number you have still valid? Do you know the name of the person to whom you will talk? Do they know you?

Periodic rehearsals allow relationships with third party providers to be established, so that when an actual incident occurs the call does not come out of the blue.

The provider knows who you are and what they are required to do.

Don’t neglect the non-technical response. Clear communication of the incident is also necessary. What will be communicated to clients? By whom and when? What are the legal implications if a vital data set was to be leaked? Who will advise and what are their requirements?

Practice makes perfect Everyone understands the concept of a fire drill, it is put in place to ensure that people know how to respond in a genuine emergency.

The nature of cyber incidents requires the same approach. Identify likely scenarios, conduct them as a walk through exercise first and then simulate an incident to test that your detections and responses are as expected.

At each stage adopt a plan, do, check, act model. Plan what you are going to rehearse then do it.

Check what worked and what didn’t work as expected. Act to make improvements and changes based on what was learnt.

It’s unlikely that any response to a real incident will ever be perfect, but through practice you can ensure that real-life incidents will cause as little disruption and have as little impact as possible.

Implementing a cyber-drill today will help you prepare for the cyberattacks of tomorrow.

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OPINION • PURE STORAGE

THE YEAR OF CHOICE FOR UAE ENTERPRISES Pure Storage’s vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, James Petter, believes UAE enterprises now have the opportunity to take advantage of a multi-cloud environment.

PURE STORAGE’S VICE PRESIDENT FOR EUROPE, THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, JAMES PETTER

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t’s hard to believe we’re now 15 years into ‘cloud’. It’s been great to see adoption levels increase in the UAE over the past year or so, in line with a marked shift and a real maturity in how organisations are thinking about their cloud strategies. In fact, according to IDC, spending on public cloud in the UAE is expected to almost quadruple, from approximately $119.6 million in 2017 to $411.4 million in 2022.

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But as a consequence, today, regional enterprises may feel like they have to compromise in order to bridge the divide between on-premise and public cloud. It’s a divide that is now set against the backdrop of the increasing imperative for enterprise application mobility, driven by the likes of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics.

While each approach carries its own benefits, what organisations

really need is flexibility and choice when it comes to infrastructure. This choice should be based on business objectives, not constrained by what the technology can do or where it lives.

Flexibility is key here — business objectives change all the time, and organisations need the freedom to adjust and adapt where necessary.

Workloads and applications should live where it makes the most sense for them to live.

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Overcoming barriers to hybrid cloud The obvious solution is a hybrid approach. Most CIOs have now moved beyond simple ‘all on-prem’ or ‘all-cloud’ strategies, to realise that both are powerful tools in delivering on their IT strategies.

They are opting instead for hybrid cloud with a real commitment to using both. This however is easier said than done, and poses many challenges itself.

Firstly, most enterprise applications run on-premise, and migrating them to the cloud can be tricky. By that same token, most web scale applications are built in the cloud and so migrating them on-premise can be equally difficult.

Today’s organisations cannot afford disruption or downtime, making seamless and agile movement across different clouds a business necessity.

In addition, on-premise and cloud storage have different features and APIs, rendering development of applications that run seamlessly across both nearly impossible.

Modern requirements If these barriers were not enough to cause regional enterprises a headache, there’s the added complexity that faces all modern organisations - data. Data is now considered the new currency for businesses, but keeping this data in check and using it to its full advantage is no easy feat. To put this in to context, according to IDC, the volume of data generated by the Internet of Things alone will be as much in 2025 as the amount of all data created in 2020. That’s a tremendous amount of data, which will dictate the needs of a business’s infrastructure. Once this data dictates a different set of requirements, enterprises will need

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to have the ability to quickly and seamlessly move an application born in the cloud to an on-premise environment (or vice-versa).

No longer a case of either-or At present, many local businesses are being forced to compromise, as opposed to having the ability and agility to design an infrastructure that works for them. Fortunately, the tide is changing, and we are entering into the era of AND, not OR. As storage providers, we want customers to have the flexibility to maximise benefits of multi-cloud, and now we can offer that bridge

“What organisations really need is flexibility and choice when it comes to infrastructure.” by unifying the cloud. Simply put, businesses no longer need to compromise — modern data solutions enable UAE enterprises to deliver on their cloud vision in three unique ways.

Build: Organisations will be able to build private clouds on-premise or in hosted environments to deliver storage-as-a-service with the performance, availability and ease of use that every business needs and deserves.

Run: Businesses will have the ability to run applications in onprem or hosted environments, yet also run them seamlessly in

the public cloud. Having a single storage platform will deliver consistent storage services, resiliency and APIs ― meaning applications can be built once and then run anywhere in the hybrid cloud model.

Protect: A new model for data protection— and this is a crucial point. The traditional disk and tape-based data protection model is failing to keep up with the demands of the cloud era. Data sizes are growing, customers expect global availability, and having PBs of backup data stuck in a vault is no longer acceptable. The combination of flash and cloud allows customers to re-invent data protection, enabling both fast local recovery from flash and low-cost long-term retention and data re-use in the cloud.

Data is the lifeblood of any organisation and there needs to be flexibility for businesses to maximise value from this data. The era of the cloud divide is coming to an end, ushering in the age of choice where public and onpremise worlds can now co-exist, bridged seamlessly with a common storage layer, so applications and data are free to move easily between owned and rented clouds.

The ultimate result for UAE enterprises? They can take advantage of the agility and flexibility of a hybrid environment to develop applications faster and have the freedom to ensure applications no longer have to be linked to any one type of infrastructure. This in turn allows them to create a data centric architecture that’s right for the business, and one that puts enterprises on the right path for future success.

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INSIGHT • DELL EMC

2019: THE YEAR OF THE DATA-DRIVEN ECOSYSTEM Dell EMC’s senior vice president for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa Mohammed Amin gives his take on what the IT industry can expect from the year ahead.

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hile bold predictions were made in 2018 – some coming to fruition a bit faster than others – there’s still much to do in advancing artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. Autonomous systems are continuing to take shape as organisations build the digital backbone to support them.

So, what’s in store for 2019?

More immersed than ever before Virtual assistants continue to be pervasive in consumer technology – smart home technologies, ‘things’ and connected cars – learning your preferences and proactively serving up content and information based on previous interactions. We’ll see this machine intelligence merge with augmented and virtual reality in the home to create truly immersive experiences – like a virtual sous chef that can help you whip up an easy

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Dell EMC’s senior vice president for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa Mohammed Amin

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meal for the family. You’ll be more connected to your personal health with even more intelligent wellness tracking devices that can capture more information about the body, like heart rate variability (HRV), sleep patterns and more that you can easily share with healthcare providers for better care.

Immersive intelligence will also follow us to work. Our PCs and devices we use every day will continue to learn from our habits and proactively boot up with the right apps and services at the right time. Advances in natural language processing and voice technologies will create a more productive dialogue with machines, while automation and robotics will create faster, more fluid collaboration with technology to get more done.

With augmented and virtual reality applications creating on and off-site immersive experiences, people will have access to the data they need to do work whenever, wherever they are.

The next ‘gold rush’ of tech investments Organisations have been stockpiling big data for years. In fact, it’s predicted that by 2020, the data volume will reach 44 trillion gigabytes, or 44 zettabytes. As they derive more value from that data – with insights driving new innovations and more efficient business processes – more investments will be born out of the technology sector. New startups will emerge to tackle the bigger challenges that make AI a reality: data management and federated analytics where insights can be driven from virtually everywhere, and data compliance solutions for a safer, smarter way to deliver amazing outcomes.

5G will push us to the edge The first 5G devices are slated to hit the market sometime next year with the much-anticipated nextgeneration network that promises to

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completely change the data game in terms of speed and accessibility.

Low-latency, high-bandwidth networks mean more connected things, cars and systems – and a boat-load of AI, machine learning and compute happening at the edge, because that’s where all the data will be generated.

It won’t be long before we begin to see micro-hubs lining our streets – mini data centres, if you will – that will also give rise to new ‘smart’ opportunities for real-time insights happening on the corner of your street. Cities and towns will become more connected than ever, paving the way for smart cities and digital infrastructure that we predict will

“We’ll see more clouds pop up as data becomes increasingly distributed – at the edge in autonomous car environments or in smart factories.” be thriving in 2030. It’ll be a game changer for industries like healthcare or manufacturing, where data and information being generated out in the field can be quickly processed and analysed in real time – versus having to travel back and forth to a cloud – and then readily shared with those who need it.

Data forecasts will call for more clouds Last year, we predicted the arrival of the mega cloud – a variety of clouds that make up a powerhouse operating model as IT strategies require both public and private clouds. So far that’s holding true.

The public versus private cloud debate will continue to wane as organisations realise that they need to effectively manage all the different types of data they’ll be processing.

A recent IDC survey pointed to more than 80% of respondents repatriating data back to on-premise private clouds – and we can expect that trend to continue, even with projections for public cloud growth.

Multi-cloud environments will drive automation, AI and ML processing into high gear because they give organisations the ability to manage, move and process data where and when they need to. In fact, we’ll see more clouds pop up as data becomes increasingly distributed – at the edge in autonomous car environments or in smart factories, in cloud-native apps, in protected on-premise centres to meet a host of new compliance and privacy standards and of course, the public cloud for a variety of apps and services that we use every day.

Move over millennials Millennials are going to have to make room for the next generation, with Gen Z (born after 1995) badging into the workplace over the next year – creating an increasingly diverse workforce spanning five generations!

This will create a rich range of experiences in life and technology.

98% of Gen Z will have used technology as part of their formal education. Many already understand the basics of software coding and expect only the best technology to be a part of their work experience.

Gen Z will spark a new evolution in technology innovation for the workplace and create more opportunities for technology literacy and on-site learning for new skills with older generations of workers.

AR and VR will become increasingly commonplace and close the skills gap across an aging workforce – while giving Gen Z the speed and productivity they demand.

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INSIGHT • NEXIGN

HOW MEA TELECOM OPERATORS CAN SUCCEED IN 2019 Nexign’s regional director for the Middle East and Africa Ahmad Sayed believes that congestion management solutions can increase elasticity in telecom infrastructure solutions.

I

n an expat-heavy region, there’s one common consumer habit — phoning home.

Some users are connected immediately, others experience lags, others give up and try again the next day.

As communication service providers (CSPs) face the new generation of consumers ― millennials and younger — they are increasingly under pressure to get things right the first time, every time. That is the nature of digital natives, and to cater to their demands, the solution is also digital.

Holidays are not the only time that core and radio networks face peak hours. Business hours in commercial areas, big events such as sporting tournaments and concerts, and locations such as airports and metro stations also present challenges in resource allocation. Operators have to invest heavily in their networks to

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NEXIGN’S REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA AHMAD SAYED

handle the explosive traffic growth generated by over-the-top (OTT) services and user-generated video.

These operators know that the new generation of consumers is also the new generation of business managers.

‘Traffic congestion’ is no longer an excuse for performance degradation; it is a problem to be solved.

Light at the end of the tunnel It’s hard to make a business case for the significant capital outlays necessary to expand resource pools, just to cater for events that do not happen every day.

Meanwhile, the market is baying for such a change. What if there was a solution that introduced elasticity into infrastructure, allowing the radio-access network (RAN) to tailor connection speeds to specific circumstances?

Enter congestion management a feature that is now supported by

some telecom vendors. CSPs with access to a business support system (BSS) solution that offers a RAN congestion-awareness function (RCAF), find themselves better able to solve a lot of problems. Operators can increase the number of satisfied subscribers and give them fast access to priority applications even in peak-use periods. Additionally, they can dynamically manage temporary failures on radio and core networks, improving user experience for high-value subscribers, and prioritising mission-critical communication traffic for dedicated groups of subscribers.

Prioritised plans This function presents new opportunities for monetisation.

Subscribers can pay premium rates for prioritised service plans.

Users that opt for these premium subscription plans will have faster

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connection speeds in congested locations than those of users on normal plans, but during noncongested periods or in noncongested areas, all users will experience the same speeds. In this scenario, the operator can build incentives for users to move to premium plans and ensure optimum connection speeds regardless of network conditions.

Speed limits for heavy users Operators can limit heavy users’ activity in congested locations, to provide a better UX to the majority of common users. This step is essential when an operator offers unlimited data plans to their subscribers. All users, including heavy data consumers, will enjoy the same speed in non-congested periods and areas, but high-priority users with high average revenue per user (ARPU) and low monthly data consumption will have a much better UX in congested locations.

Application control A further advantage of RCAF is the ability to optimise license fees for third party telecom vendors, while still increasing network capacity and providing enhanced user experiences for all subscribers.

Because each application requires different connection speeds to deliver a great user experience, operators can prioritise internal resources, text messengers and partner content-providers over other applications, such as video streaming, P2P traffic or software updates. Users on congested networks will not experience any performance degradation for priority applications but will see a slide in performance for

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other applications. And a single default bearer can be used for all applications, without the need to raise several dedicated bearers for different priority applications.

Third-party application partners Let’s consider the future. Let’s assume that the operator has forged strategic partnerships with

“We often talk of ‘digital transformation’ instead of specifics.

RCAF has proven, obvious applications in the battle for consumer loyalty.” several third parties by opening up its core platform to integration with many others. It has enriched its offerings, eliminated barriers to new markets and broadened its talent pool; customer engagement and brand loyalty are at an all-time high.

The congestion management function serves this ecosystem as well. In times of congestion, the operator can inform partner applications and content providers of users that are experiencing performance dips. A third-party

application can be notified when a subscriber enters or exits congested conditions to optimise content delivery. Providers of these applications can compress or transcode traffic into formats that require less bandwidth, or they can send lower-resolution content.

And a third-party video-streaming platform can select codecs with low data consumption rates for users in congested locations.

Full speed ahead The benefits of applying RCAF are obvious and far-reaching, encompassing monetisation, customer experience and resourcing issues. It is nothing less than the ability to dynamically manage service quality, either scheduled or in real-time. It is a nuanced tool that allows digital service providers to consider and prioritise technologies, locations, applications and users, in view of ARPU and immediate or projected congestion states.

RCAF enables the delivery of mission-critical communication as a service. It leads to increases in subscriber loyalty, by coupling ARPU to service levels during congested periods. And it attracts high-value subscribers willing to pay a premium for enhanced connection speeds during busy times.

We often talk of ‘digital transformation’ instead of specifics. RCAF has proven, obvious applications in the battle for consumer loyalty. As operators continue the move to becoming digital-service providers (DSPs), RCAF will be an indispensable tool for differentiation, alleviating the need for massive capital investment in infrastructure.

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FEATURE • ORACLE

HOW ORACLE PROVIDES A UNIQUE VIEW OF UAE INTERNET Oracle’s senior director of Internet research and analysis for its Cloud Infrastructure division, Dave Belson, explains how the firm’s new service helps UAE businesses monitor the volatility of internet traffic.

T

he level of Internet activity in the UAE follows a clear and regular pattern over the course of a week.

From Sunday to Thursday, it climbs rapidly each morning and plateaus for several hours before dropping and levelling out again, this time for a shorter period. Activity then drops further, reaching its lowest ebb during the night before the daily cycle starts again.

During the weekend, peaks of activity during the day are lower, and there is just a single plateau, which lasts longer.

Information such as this is available on the Oracle Internet Intelligence Map, a tool for businesses to monitor volatility in Internet traffic.

Launched in June and powered

by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, this web portal allows users to assess levels of Internet traffic globally and determine if outside factors might be causing disruption to their own

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operations. They can also assess activity in particular countries, including the Emirates.

“We have a measurement agent hosted in a cloud provider in the UAE,” said David Belson, a senior director of Internet research and analysis at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

The map shows, for example, country-level security threats that could impact internet performance, along with connectivity statistics and transit shifts.

“We have historically kept it close to our chest over the last few years.

It’s an opportunity for us to share and to be more open and to give back to the Internet community,” said Belson.

Belson said the map could be used, for example, to assess the impact that a particular event, such as the arrival of extreme weather, was having in a given area.

“If you are a site or web application owner and you’re getting complaints, you live in the UAE, you’re getting trouble getting on

Oracle’s senior director of Internet research and analysis for its Cloud Infrastructure division, Dave Belson

your application, you could look at this and see there’s significant disruption. You could be assured it’s not your application. It’s a high-level troubleshooting tool,” said Belson.

The tool, which works with Oracle’s cloud infrastructure, could also help companies cut the amount of Internet downtime that they suffer.

Global maps show hotspots of potential disruptions and indicate traffic shifts in the previous 48 hours.

Myriad factors might cause country-level alterations in the level of internet traffic. While extreme weather events can disrupt traffic, the run-up to them might lead to an increase in activity as citizens seek information about what is about to happen.

Oracle’s Internet Intelligence division, known as Dyn Research before its acquisition by Oracle, has been constantly monitoring the Internet for more than a decade and that data has been recorded.

The tool can be accessed at internetintel.oracle.com/index.html.

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