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NEWS
AKER SOLUTIONS, AVEVA EXTEND PARTNERSHIP
AVEVA has expanded its long-term existing relationship with Aker Solutions to further accelerate the company’s digital transformation strategy and goals. The extended partnership will see the two organisations implementing new engineering capabilities. This will enable multi-discipline teams to work effectively together to develop and maintain the detailed definition of all the key operational items. And also deliver the full range of AVEVA’s process simulation, design, engineering, and lifecycle management technologies.
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The extended partnership which now comprises most of AVEVA’s Engineering offerings, including AVEVA E3D Design, AVEVA Enterprise Resource Management, AVEVA Asset Information Management, and AVEVA Point Manager, will further strengthen Aker Solutions and AVEVA’s relationship.
Aker Solutions is one of AVEVA’s top 100 customers. The renewal of the agreement will extend the existing strategic partnership and secure AVEVA’s position as a leading industrial software solutions provider on the Norwegian continental shelf, said the company.
Kjetel Digre, CEO of Aker Solutions said, “We are pleased to extend our long-term partnership with AVEVA. Digitalization across our work processes is an enabler for our strategy and growth objectives. We are committed to creating a sustainable energy future to address the need to lower the carbon footprint through usage of advanced digital technology.”
Craig Hayman, CEO of AVEVA, said, “Our goal is to work with our customers to help them innovate and drive sustainability and the breath of our portfolio is enabling organisations like Aker Solutions to deploy faster, reduce energy consumption, cut emissions, and collaborate around innovation, boosting sustainable outcomes for all.”
EMAAR’S ALABBAR TO INTRODUCE FIRST FULL-SCALE DIGITAL BANK IN THE UAE
Emaar founder Mohamed Alabbar has announced the opening of ‘Zand’ – a new full-fledged independent digital bank in the UAE. According to the Emaar chief and Zand’s chairman
Alabbar, it will be the “first bank globally” to provide both retail and corporate banking services.
Armed with a complete UAE banking license, Zand is expected to offer innovative financial solutions and will make business and people’s lives much easier by meeting the demands of retail and corporate customers.
“The UAE combines progressive regulations with commercial, financial, and technology hubs. This provides the perfect environment for a world-leading digital bank that can launch in the UAE and scale beyond,” Alabbar said in a statement.
The first full-scale digital bank in the UAE aims to be unique from the perspective of zeroing in on ecosystems and communities of businesses and individuals, allowing it to offer exclusive products and services not usually available from other legacy banks, according to Alabbar.
Olivier Crespin has been appointed as the digital bank’s CEO.
Palo Alto Networks is establishing a new cybersecurity consulting group to help enterprises respond to emerging threats as they navigate an increase in costly, crippling cyberattacks.
The newly expanded Unit 42 combines formerly Crypsis security consultants, who respond to 1,300+ incidents a year, with the company’s veteran Unit 42 threat research team, which has been fighting emerging cyberthreats since 2014. Together, they will help organisations tackle the most complex cyberthreats — from ransomware to state-sponsored espionage — bringing a relentless passion for protecting our digital way of life. Wendi Whitmore leads new Unit 42 organisation that combines threat intelligence and security consulting offerings.
“Our increasing reliance on technology has turned cybersecurity into an existential matter. We wake up every day focused on collecting and analyzing the most up-to-date threat intelligence and applying our analysis to effectively respond to cybe- attacks,” said Wendi Whitmore, senior vice president of cyber consulting and threat intelligence at Palo Alto Networks and leader of Unit 42.
The combined team will deliver a powerful set of services that enable organisations to respond to threats more rapidly than ever and will introduce new proactive services that closely complement Palo Alto Networks product offerings. It will also expand incident response services to more countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The newly expanded Unit 42 will continue to build on what is already one of the world’s most respected brands in cybersecurity. Since it was founded in 2014, Unit 42 has produced more than 650 reports and regularly partners with governments around the globe to fight cybercrime.
MCAFEE: COVID-19 CYBER-ATTACKS CONTINUE TO ESCALATE
The latest McAfee Threats Report: April 2021 examines cybercriminal activity related to malware and the evolution of cyber threats in the final two quarters of 2020. In Q4, McAfee Labs observed an average of 648 threats per minute, an increase of 60 threats per minute (10%) over Q3.
Both quarters also saw COVID-19-related cyber-attack detections increase by 240% in Q3 and 114% in Q4, while Powershell threats rose again by 208% due to continued increases in Donoff malware activity.
Raj Samani, McAfee fellow and Chief Scientist, said, “The world—and enterprises—adjusted amidst pandemic restrictions and sustained remote work challenges, while security threats continued to evolve in complexity and increase in volume. Though a large percentage of employees grew more proficient and productive in working remotely, enterprises endured more opportunistic COVID-19 related campaigns among a new cast of bad-actor schemes.”
He added that ransomware and malware targeting vulnerabilities in work-related apps and processes were active and remain dangerous threats capable of taking over networks and data, and has costed millions in assets and recovery costs.
HUAWEI IDENTIFIES SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL TO SUPPORT UAE’S DIGITAL GOALS
From the sidelines of the SAMENA Leaders’ Summit, the President of Huawei Middle East, Charles Yang, has provided an update on the company’s business globally and across local markets, with his comments following Huawei’s release of its annual earnings results for 2020.
In particular, the executive noted that the UAE government has had the foresight to invest in digital infrastructure long before the current pandemic, and that investments in areas like 5G and AI have paid off significantly. Huawei has in turn worked on numerous joint innovation projects to support the UAE’s digital ecosystem and bolster ICT talent development, supporting national development strategies outlined by entities such as the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology.
“Digitisation in the Middle East has accelerated remarkably over the last year, with global network traffic having increased by around 50% during the pandemic,” notes Yang. “The ICT industry thus has an important responsibility to create new social and business value for governments, organisations, and individuals. We are fully committed to this value creation. We already bring the power of technologies like 5G to key events such as the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, and are now aligning with governments to support mega-events like Expo 2020 in the UAE and the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. We will keep innovating to create value for our customers and to support economic recovery and social progress.”
To that end, Huawei has said that it used the last year to further enhance its operations despite a challenging global environment. That led to achieving revenue and profit growth during 2020 overall. Part of that came down to an unwavering focus on R&D and joint innovation programs in areas like 5G, AI, and cloud, says Yang, with Huawei establishing 13 Open Labs around the world to support open collaboration for shared success.
INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION TO SIGNIFICANTLY BOOST THE KSA ECONOMY BY 2030
Intelligent automation offers the potential to double the economy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to $1.6 trillion, adding an additional $293 billion by 2030, according to new research commissioned by Robotic Process
Automation (RPA) software provider
Automation Anywhere.
Results of the Saudi Arabia:
Showing way to the world research, from Ernst and Young (EY), also showed that the KSA has an opportunity to drive technologyled productivity through intelligent automation deployments. Intelligent automation is a combination of RPA and artificial intelligence to accelerate digital transformation.
The EY modeler computed the impact of incremental automation adoption across all sectors of Saudi Arabia for three scenarios: • Optimistic scenario – 50% incremental intelligent automation adoption by organisations across the region will add $ 293 billion to the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) • Moderate scenario – 30% incremental adoption will add $ 184 billion to the nominal GDP • Conservative scenario – 15% incremental adoption will add $ 103 billion to the nominal GDP The KSA has laid strong foundations by actively promoting private and public partnerships for its Vision 2030, a strategic framework to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation, and tourism.
According to the new research, industries that include government services, public sector, banking, insurance, energy and materials, offer the best opportunities to maximize intelligent automation while achieving the Vision 2030 goals.
ORACLE ENRICHES THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE WITH ORACLE JOURNEYS
Oracle has announced a new platform to deliver a more intuitive, personalised, and streamlined employee experience within Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM). Oracle Journeys helps organisations create a one-stop shop for employees as they navigate all aspects of work and complete complex tasks. The new capabilities enable HR teams to create, tailor, and deliver step-by-step guidance to walk employees through events as diverse as onboarding, having a baby, returning to the workplace, launching a new product, or growing their career.
“With our homes doubling as offices over the past year, we’ve grown accustomed to the way technology improves our lives as consumers, and employees want that same experience at work,” said Chris Leone, Senior Vice President of development, Oracle Cloud HCM. “As offices reopen, it will be critical to provide consistent and positive experiences both in the office and for remote workers – but it doesn’t stop there. Organisations need to provide guidance throughout an employee’s entire career, from training to finding a mentor, returning to the workplace, and eventually traveling safely. Oracle Journeys will help HR teams provide value beyond traditional HR processes by tailoring unique experiences for their workforce.”
Oracle Journeys guides employees through tasks and key milestones while delivering quick access to resources they need across HR and the entire organisation. It also makes it easy for employees to take action as they move through various events. The new features in Oracle Journeys help HR leaders by enabling them to move beyond standard HR workflows to create personalised, step-bystep guidance for any task – be it personal, professional, operational, or administrative. By providing easy access to AI-recommended processes tailored to individual needs, the solution helps employees save time and improve productivity.
NUTANIX, AL HUSSEIN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY TO FOSTER CLOUD SKILLS
Nutanix has signed an agreement with Al Hussein Technical University (HTU), a Crown Prince Foundation initiative, aimed at collaborating and enhancing students training programs, exchanging technical expertise and developing computing infrastructure at HTU.
Based in King Hussein Business Park in Amman, HTU was established as a Crown Prince Foundation Initiative to promote technical education in Jordan and the region and grants bachelor and technical degrees in engineering and computer science.
The agreement signed at HTU, stipulates that the university is accredited by Nutanix as an official Nutanix academy. It grants HTU the necessary technical facilities to hold specialised courses in the field of cloud computing, and train HTU staff on the latest computing techniques in order to qualify as certified trainers. The agreement also provides internationally accredited training courses for HTU students, to enable them to obtain Nutanix certificates, in addition to holding workshops and specialized training courses.
HTU President Prof. Ismail Al-Hinti, commended Nutanix for its role in training HTU students on the latest software and technologies related to cloud computing and appreciated the company’s efforts in developing a specialized, exclusive course for HTU students entitled ‘Basics of Hybrid Cloud Computing’. The course, conducted remotely via Zoom video conference and delivered by a Nutanix certified trainer over a three day period, was attended by twelve students.
SOFTWARE AG: DX INVESTMENT WILL CONTINUE IN 2021
Software AG has recently released the global ‘Situation Report’ based on responses from IT Leaders on their views around digital transformation investment strategies. The research highlighted some priorities and assumptions that companies have in common, and some areas where opinion is divided on the best way forward.
IT leaders were unanimous in their belief that digital transformation is expected to accelerate significantly over the next few years with entities set out to continue investing across data and analytics, quicker processes, customer experience and integration. The predicted growth is attributed to technology implementation strategies in line with goals that include cost efficiency, customer experience, security, employee safety and environmental policy.
The interviewee companies strongly believed that their IT infrastructure and business is resilient, with a split in companies that considered to diversify their technology portfolio and those that preferred consolidating on technologies. A large majority of experts also stated that innovation will play a key role and technologies such as Cloud computing, 5G, Integration, IoT will be vital in tackling challenges as economies move towards a more digital future. In terms of the beneficiary of digital investments, customers, employees and ‘the business’, were all cited as top priority. Simultaneously IT leaders also predicted customer expectations to rise in the next year, given the digital shift new technologies have caused, resulting in a new kind of modern customer.
Rami Kichli, Vice-President, Gulf and Levant, Software AG said, “The UAE Vision 2021 aims to transition the country into a technology-based knowledge economy as it embraces innovation expeditiously. In 2020, despite the challenges, Software AG grew 40% given the rapid surge in demand for business resiliency through digital. This is a reflection of the country’s emphasis on a digital first approach.”
