NEWS

GLOBAL DRILLING CONTRACTOR BORR DRILLING LEVERAGES IFS CLOUD

Christian Pedersen, IFS

IFS, the global cloud enterprise software company, has announced international offshore drilling contractor Borr Drilling is upgrading its existing IT platforms to latest IFS versions including IFS Cloud, IFS Cloud Services and IFS Success Services. Borr Drilling owns and operates 28 jack-up rigs of modern and high-specification designs providing drilling services to the offshore energy exploration and production industry worldwide.

IFS Cloud will support mission-critical business processes, including enterprise asset management (EAM), onshoreoffshore data replication, supply chain management, and global financials. Comprehensive and on-demand insights into the condition of the platform is critical when drilling for oil and gas. Maintenance is also a high priority for rig owners as it is contributes to both uptime and cost savings.

The IFS solution meets SOX compliance and lets its customer manage maintenance, supply chain, and finance quicker and more efficient, connecting data across all these functions. It also features inbuilt replication between Head Office and rigs. IFS Cloud can be used onshore and offshore by all rigs and global support organisations.

“IFS is a key strategic partner to Borr Drilling and we are very happy to continue our digitalisation journey with IFS’ latest products and technology,” says Kjetil Gran, IT Director at Borr Drilling. “IFS Cloud provides us with the comprehensive end-to-end functionality in a single platform that simplifies mission-critical business processes and provides the insigths we need to make key decisions. I look forward to continuing our partnership with IFS.”

“Energy is a key focus industry for IFS,” said Christian Pedersen, Chief Product Officer at IFS. “We are proud to be able to support rig, FPSO and complex vessel owners with critical oil & gas industry functionality through IFS Cloud.”

GARTNER PREDICTS GLOBAL IT SPENDING TO GROW 5.1% IN 2022

Global IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 5.1% from 2021, according to the latest forecast by Gartner.

Despite the potential impacts of the Omicron variant, economic recovery with high expectations for digital market prosperity will continue to boost technology investments.

“2022 is the year that the future returns for the CIO,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. “They are now in a position to move beyond the critical, short term projects over the past two years and focus on the long term. Simultaneously, staff skills gaps, wage inflation and the war for talent will push CIOs to rely more on consultancies and managed service firms to pursue their digital strategies.”

Gartner forecasts that the IT services segment – which includes consulting and managed services – is expected to have the second highest spending growth in 2022, reaching $1.3 trillion, up 7.9% from 2021. Business and technology consulting spending, specifically, is expected to grow 10% in 2022.

Through 2025, organisations will increase their reliance on external consultants, as the greater urgency and accelerated pace of change widen the gap between organisations’ digital business ambitions and their internal resources and capabilities, according to Gartner.

“This will be particularly poignant with cloud as it serves as a key element in achieving digital ambitions and supporting hybrid work,” said Lovelock. “Gartner expects the vast majority of large organisations to use external consultants to develop their cloud strategy over the next few years.”

In 2020, within the enterprise application software market, the cloud market became larger than non-cloud market for the first time, due in part to the coronavirus pandemic. By 2025, Gartner expects it to be double the size of the non-cloud market. Cloud is responsible for nearly all of the 11% spending growth within the enterprise software segment in 2022 as organisations focus on upgrading their software stack to software-as-a-service (SaaS) to support continued flexibility and agility.

UAE-BASED ADFOLKS OBSERVES 300% GROWTH IN CLOUD CONSUMPTION

Adfolks, a UAE-based engineering services company, has announced that it has seen a 300% increase in cloud consumption by companies in the UAE and wider GCC region since 2020. CIOs have started to leverage the power of cloud for better efficiency, security, and faster return on investments. According to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc., the enduser spending on public cloud services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will total $ 5.7 billion in 2022. Adfolks, a 5-year-old tech venture supports digitally forward-thinking enterprises including Dubai Airports, DP World, Mashreq, EMAAR, Arab National Bank among several others to deliver market differentiation through smart technology solutions powered by cloud-based technologies.

“The potential of cloud is massive and based on our own findings, currently, CIOs in the region have just skimmed the surface. We strongly believe that organisations in GCC can immensely benefit and race towards a positive ROI by utilising the power of cloud. We frequently run cloud assessment modules for enterprises on their legacy systems and help them make informed decisions on integrating cloud within their IT strategy. Adfolks over the years has enabled the CIOs in GCC to put a roadmap with immediate and long-term goals by adjusting the variables as per the need, for instance, scale, cost and licensing,” said Arun Mohan, CEO of Adfolks.

The company works closely with CIOs to chart their digital transformation journey and focuses on building internal capabilities around upcoming tech trends. These areas are prudently chosen with close collaboration with platform providers in the cloud space.

“When Microsoft started providing Azure cloud services in the region, cloud wasn’t a core component in the IT strategy for most enterprises. Skillsets in the market for all aspects starting with advocacy, training, consulting, and actual delivery, and managed service were limited in the early days. With cloud adoption gaining momentum in the region, the case for digital transformation has never been more urgent. Strategic partners like Adfolks not only bring together the power of Azure with their services and infrastructure expertise but also help enterprises in the region develop resilience and transformation while ensuring stringent compliance and regulatory guidelines. Microsoft has pledged to invest $20 billion over the next five years in cybersecurity, quadrupling its previous annual investment,” said Yvonne Chebib, Global Partner Solutions Lead, Microsoft UAE.

Organisations in the MENA region have started migrating their on-premises IT infrastructure deployments to SaaS, IaaS and PaaS cloud environments. Savings arising due to this migration are eventually routed back into the local economy, thereby making a significant contribution to the country’s digital economy.

Prior to the pandemic, the organisations had one unified office with all employees in one place. With decentralisation, the boundaries of the organisation have become ambiguous. Data is all over the place, demanding a need for a comprehensive and consolidated security strategy including a strong cloud framework.

SAP, STC PARTNER FOR ENHANCED SERVICES AND DIGITAL SOLUTIONS

stc, the digital enabler of digital and telco services in KSA, signed an agreement with global technology company SAP to enhance its services through a range of digital solutions. The mutual agreement aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 and will see both organisations sharing their experiences and global best practice to address customer challenges.

Saud AlSheraihi, Vice President, Product and Solutions, stc said, “This mutual cooperation between stc and SAP is a continuation of stc’s strategy to be the digital enabler in the region by helping clients to accelerate their digital transformation. Through this partnership, we look forward to exploring potential future business opportunities, while capitalising on SAP’s global experience in innovative technologies and Solutions by stc’s investments in local capabilities and system integration expertise.”

The signing took place at LEAP, KSA, a global platform for future technologies and disruptive technology professionals from around the world, witnessed Eng. Riyadh Muawad, Chief Business Officer of stc, Omer Alnomany, CEO of Solutions by stc and Mr. Christian Klein, CEO of SAP.

Ahmed Al-Faifi, SVP & MD of ME North of SAP commented, “stc is among Saudi Arabia’s most forwardthinking organisations, and together, we will leverage our resources to deliver innovative business models and application of technology. Our shared customers will benefit from increased efficiencies and cost savings that result from digital transformation solutions.”

SOLARWINDS DATABASE PRODUCTS NOW ON AZURE MARKETPLACE

SolarWinds has announced its database performance monitoring products— SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer (DPA), SolarWinds SQL Sentry, and SolarWinds Database Insights for SQL Server—are now available as fullytransactable solutions in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, an online store providing applications and services for use on Azure. Organisations can now fulfill their license subscriptions for SolarWinds database performance management products with their Azure consumption commitment benefit under their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC).

“We have a singular focus on helping our customers and organisations around the world accelerate business transformation, and one way we’re accomplishing this is through our participation in the MACC-transactable program,” said Rohini Kasturi, Chief Product Officer, SolarWinds. “Through the program, SolarWinds is a preferred vendor for governed marketplace spend. Users with committed Azure spend can use those funds to purchase our database performance monitoring products directly without the typical procurement cycles, giving them quick and streamlined access to some of the broadest and most secure database coverage available in the industry.”

Organisations that take advantage of the offer can simplify the purchase, deployment, management, and renewal of SolarWinds database products to receive the in-depth performance and environmental data teams need to optimise the performance of Microsoft SQL Server and other leading database platforms running on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments.

SolarWinds database performance management solutions provide intelligent recommendations based on best practices for faster troubleshooting to help accelerate data delivery while controlling costs. The cross-platform solutions help data pros manage complexities and provide them with the visibility needed to proactively optimise the performance of databases—to mitigate the risk of business interruptions, regardless of where the databases run.

SolarWinds database performance management products available through MACC include: • Database Performance AnalyzeR -

Database management software built for performance monitoring, analysis, and tuning with support for multiple database platforms. • SQL Sentry - Database performance monitoring for the Microsoft Data

Platform, with fast root cause analysis and visibility across the Microsoft data estate. • Database Insights for SQL Server - A package of both DPA and SQL Sentry that provides broad coverage with detailed database and system metrics for Microsoft SQL Server databaserelated Microsoft Services and other leading database platforms, to help solve and optimise performance for the largest environments.

CISCO UNVEILS INNOVATIONS TO HELP BUSINESSES SUPPORT HYBRID WORK

Cisco has announced new innovations that make it easier for organisations to support hybrid work models with people working from home, in the office, or anywhere.

Businesses of all sizes are adjusting to the major digital transitions that have reshaped IT plans and operations over the past two years, spanning hybrid cloud to connect private and public clouds, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) for the adoption of IoT, and hybrid work to connect everyone and everything securely. Hybrid work success is not simply the ability to support a remote workforce. It is the ability to adapt to change as it happens, and that starts with the network.

“Hybrid work doesn’t work without the network,” said Todd Nightingale, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Networking and Cloud, Cisco. “The capabilities of the network empower the capabilities of the workforce. The more performance, agility, and flexibility built into networks, the stronger the workforce. Our new wireless networking solutions together with the new Catalyst switches powered by Silicon One enable hybrid work productivity and agility by connecting everyone and everything from everywhere.”

New wireless networking and access innovations announced include: • Wi-Fi 6E (Catalyst 9136 and Meraki

MR57): Wi-Fi 6E technology expands capacity to exceed gigabit performance.

The new Cisco Wi-Fi 6E products from

Catalyst and Meraki are the industry’s first high-end 6E access points that address the most demanding hybrid business environments. • Cisco Private 5G: Cisco’s Private 5G managed service delivered together with global service provider and technology partners, offers a wireless experience that is simple to start, intuitive to

operate, and trusted for digital transitions to hybrid work and IoT. • Catalyst 9000X Switches: New

Catalyst 9000X models extend the family and deliver the backbone that provides the speed, bandwidth capacity, and scale needed to support 100G/400G network access for transitions to hybrid work in the campus and extending the branch with zero trust security and power efficiency. • Introduction of Cisco Silicon One to the Catalyst Switching Portfolio: Cisco

Silicon One, originally deployed in web scale and service provider networks, continues to prove its capabilities and programming flexibility to support networking innovation across enterprise networks. The new Catalyst 9500X and 9600X Series switches are powered by the Cisco Silicon One Q200.

PRINCE SULTAN UNIVERSITY AND VMWARE PARTNER TO LAUNCH INNOVATION CENTER

Prince Sultan University (PSU) and VMware have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch an Innovation Center equipped with VMware software and resources to give students, researchers, and businesses hands-on experience with transformative digital solutions for app modernisation, cloud, networking, security, and digital workspace.

The MoU was signed under the patronage of H.E. Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Saudi Arabia.

The Innovation Center, which is expected to start operating in the first half of the year, will help foster a culture of learning and build real-world information and communications technology (ICT) skills, while providing a valuable resource to research projects underway at PSU by

(L-R) Saif Mashat and Dr. Ahmed Yamani

expanding access to VMware’s solutions.

The Innovation Center will also be used to demonstrate the benefits of VMware’s solutions to local customers and partners, with the aim of helping accelerate digital transformation amongst the local business community.

Dr. Ahmed Yamani, president of PSU, said, “The Innovation Center is intended to spur innovation, research, and learning at the university, and amongst local businesses and partners that are interested in embracing a cloud-first approach. By helping a diverse range of people and organisations gain experience with VMware’s solutions, the Innovation Center will play an important role in furthering Saudi Arabia’s digitisation agenda in line with Vision 2030.”

The Innovation Center will be equipped with the full range of VMware’s solutions and will showcase disruptive technologies like edge computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning and Kubernetes. By experiencing these technologies, it will help users to build digital foundations and embrace the next wave of innovation.

VMware is dedicated to empowering educators in Saudi Arabia. In June 2021, PSU and VMware started discussions to build a Regional VMware IT Academy to support youth digital skills development in line with the aims of Saudi Vision 2030.

SANS INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES INTERACTIVE TRAINING PROGRAM IN SAUDI ARABIA

SANS Institute has announced the SANS Secure Middle East 2022 training program, to be held in-person at the Crowne Plaza Riyadh RDC Hotel & Convention Centre, from March 19 to March 31, 2022. At SANS Secure Middle East 2022, participants will develop and master essential information security skills and techniques needed to secure critical information and technology assets, whether on-premise or in the cloud.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) ranks second to the US as a global leader in cybersecurity, yet due to the increase in digitalisation and an accelerated digital transformation spurred by the pandemic, we can see that the cyberattack landscape in Saudi continues to grow,” said Ned Baltagi, Managing Director, Middle East and Africa at SANS Institute.

In Saudi Arabia, according to a recent VMWare report, a survey of 252 Saudis indicated 84 percent stated cyberattacks had increased due to remote working conditions, reinforcing the need for more accessible security information and upskilling practices.

“At SANS we encourage students to develop dynamic and proactive security strategies built on a foundation of Detection, Response, and Prevention,” continues Baltagi. “Events such as SANS Secure Middle East 2022 is an opportunity for professionals to enhance their approaches and revitalise their confidence in managing and leading security teams, ultimately becoming all-rounder experts in cybersecurity.”

This interactive event will be delivered by industry-leading professionals and has a mix of in-person training and live online streams for the offered courses. Participants will have a comprehensive experience supported by content that is aligned with GIAC certifications, that will equip them with the knowledge and practical skills that are vital in protecting organisations, detecting anomalies and stopping intrusions ahead of time.

The in-person modules are

Ned Baltagi, SANS Institute

conducted by renowned cybersecurity experts, namely, Ian Reynolds for SEC401: Security Essentials: Network, Endpoint, and Cloud; Jason Jordaan for FOR508: Advanced Incident Response, Threat Hunting, and Digital Forensics; Brian Ventura for MGT512: Security Leadership Essentials For Managers; and Mark Williams for MGT514: Security Strategic Planning, Policy, and Leadership.

For In-Person Live Stream training and Live Online classes, Bryce Galbraith will lead SEC504: Hacker Tools, Techniques, and Incident Handling; Jason Jordaan for FOR500: Windows Forensic Analysis; Justin Searle for ICS410: ICS/SCADA Security Essentials; and David Szili for FOR572: Advanced Network Forensics: Threat Hunting, Analysis, and Incident Response.

RACKSPACE TECHNOLOGY EXPANDS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH CLOUDFLARE

Rackspace Technology has announced an expanded strategic partnership with Cloudflare to offer expert services for Cloudflare Zero Trust, to help businesses reach their cloud-centric goals faster, support remote workers, and provide a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) for their cloud applications, data, users, and devices. Rackspace Technology is offering managed services for Cloudflare Zero Trust through the Rackspace Elastic Engineering for Security portfolio which is available to customers globally.

“We want to forge partnerships that really bring best-in-class cloud solutions to our customers. Our cloud-first delivery model supports businesses globally as they transform their networks, modernise applications, and now to help adopt zero trust security architectures,” said Gary Alterson, Vice President of Security Services for Rackspace Technology. “We are partnering to evolve our service models with Rackspace Elastic Engineering support for Cloudflare Zero Trust to meet the demands of our customers for expert guidance on zero trust cloud architectures.”

The Rackspace Technology Elastic Engineering for Security service provides consultative services to help businesses of all sizes around the globe gain access to Rackspace Technology security experts who are available on-demand to help businesses customise, optimise, and manage their Cloudflare security platform. By adding Cloudflare Zero Trust into our Rackspace Security Service portfolio, Rackspace Technology can provide customers with a modernised SASE architecture that can grow rapidly with direct alignment to our customers’ strategic cloud initiatives.

Broad adoption of zero trust architectures is taking place across the world, as a critical component to secure cloud architectures. In fact, a recent Rackspace Technology Survey of Global IT Leaders revealed 49% of organizations believe that adoption of zero trust security practices can help tackle their most prevalent cybersecurity challenges with network, platform, and web application attacks.

Rackspace Technology is a key worldwide Cloudflare System Integrator and Accredited Managed Services Partner, providing expert services and always-on support (24x7x365) for the Cloudflare platform.

NEW NUTANIX PRODUCT PORTFOLIO EASES PATH TO HYBRID MULTICLOUD

Nutanix has announced the global availability of its simplified product portfolio to align with rapidly evolving customer requirements.

According to the firm, the Nutanix

Cloud Platform delivers a consistent operating model across all types of clouds: public, private, and hybrid.

With this launch, the company has further streamlined customers’ digital transformations by delivering an easyto-consume set of solutions.

In addition to making it easier for customers to execute on their hybrid multicloud strategies, the new portfolio removes the complexity often associated with enabling a full range of hybrid cloud services across multiple environments. This is achieved by simplifying packaging, metering, and pricing to enable customers to plan for changing needs more easily, including workload expansions, cloud preferences, tech refreshes, and more. Customers can further accelerate their cloud journey by taking advantage of Nutanix validated designs and deployment best practices for common use cases.

The company has built an enterpriseready, unified cloud platform with its market leading HCI (hyperconverged infrastructure) solution as the foundation. The new, simplified portfolio includes:

• Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure

(NCI) provides a complete software solution including virtual compute, storage and networking for virtual machines and containers, that can be deployed in private data centers on the hardware of your choice or in public clouds with built-in resilience, self-healing, performance, disaster recovery capabilities, and security.

Running NCI on public cloud, Nutanix

Cloud Clusters (NC2), enables customers to accelerate their journey to hybrid cloud for agility, elasticity, and application modernisation while maintaining the operational efficiency of a unified cloud environment with common management and policies across clouds. Key use cases include cloud bursting, disaster recovery, and datacenter lift and shift.

• Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM)

brings simplicity and ease of use to building and managing cloud

deployments by driving consistent governance across private and public clouds, helping customers accelerate their cloud journey. NCM delivers intelligent operations including monitoring, insights, and automated remediation making it easier for enterprises to deploy, operate, and manage their applications.

• Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS)

delivers distributed and software defined storage for multiple protocols (volumes, files, objects) to support a variety of workloads deployed anywhere – private, public, or hybrid cloud – with license portability in between. A single point of management for all storage resources eliminates complexity of multiple interfaces and enables non-storage experts to handle most day-to-day storage and data management tasks.

Intelligent analytics integrated into the solution provide data visibility and deep insights for governance and security of data.

• Nutanix Database Service (NDB)

simplifies database management across hybrid multicloud environments for database engines like PostgreSQL, MySQL, Microsoft

SQL Server, and Oracle Database, with powerful automation for provisioning, scaling, patching, protection, and cloning of database instances. NDB helps customers deliver Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) and easy-to-use self-service database experience on-premises and public cloud to their developers for both new and existing databases.

• Nutanix End User Computing

Solutions deliver virtual apps and desktops to users worldwide from public, private, and hybrid cloud infrastructure. They provide a per-user licensing option for NCI that simplifies capacity planning by matching the infrastructure cost model to that of the end user computing platform. They also include a simple, fast, and flexible

Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) platform that can run end user workloads on NCI, on public clouds or on hybrid clouds.