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Today, hyperscalers dictate the pace of innovation and disruption in IT and this will only increase in the years ahead. As the usage of cloud increases, changes made to cloud platforms and cloud technologies by hyperscalers will have an immediate impact on an enterprises’ IT operations.
One such example of a hyperscaler making an impact on IT operations, is the recent acquisition of security services vendor Mandiant by Google Cloud. Google’s agreement to buy Mandiant for $5.4 billion in cash will have an impact on a number of segments of the cybersecurity sector.
With the acquisition of Mandiant, Google adds the Mandiant Advantage platform for detection, response, validation and attack surface management.
Moving ahead, two opinion contributions catch our attention and provoke thought this month.
Dean Lacheca at Gartner explains that a rapid pace of change like a digital transformation is not sustainable inside government IT organizations. By default, many governments have an embedded culture of being risk-averse, leading them to revert to legacy processes and mindsets, rolling back positive momentum.
Achieving true digital transformation within governments requires commitment to emerging technologies and capabilities. Transition to digital government means organisational change, which can be difficult to achieve at times. It is for this reason that there are diverse levels of advancements in digital transformation from one government to the next.
There are three common practices amongst digitally advanced governments: focus on transformation and optimisation; calculate and report on digital success metrics; adopt contemporary practices and delivery models.
And in another opinion contribution, Dr Stefan Sigg at Software AG questions whether competitive and survivor enterprises can move at the speed of digital transformation without having software development teams inhouse. He raises a fair point: building up software development experience and robust processes inhouse takes a lot of time and involves succession of failed projects. But the challenge is not only about internal abilities, it is also about external threats.
This is the race to digitalisation between industry incumbents who re-learn software and software companies mostly start-ups who learn an industry. Whoever can do it better and faster will disrupt the other side.
As the threat levels of the pandemic dissipate, schools, universities, and business events are beginning to see cautious resurgence of face-to-face engagement and networking. Flip these pages to catch a glimpse of GEC Media’s Future IT Summit with 30+ speakers and panellists, and the region’s flagship cyber security event, Gisec 2022.
Happy reading ë
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APRIL 2022 VOLUME 09 ISSUE 06
10-11
IGOAI, Council of Representatives Bahrain, organise virtual summit on Data ‘Future of Everything’
12-21
GISEC 2022 makes a comeback
22
Global Manufacturing CIO Forum launched on sidelines of Future IT Summit
39-65 COVER STORY
Future IT Summit 2022 recognizes top IT industry and enterprise executives
24-33
20-24
34-35
Google’s Acquisition of Mandiant: Hyperscalers will run cloud security in parallel
36
06 VIEWPOINT
Pace of change is not sustainable for governments
37
Tata Communications: Partnering to roll out smart city, IoT solutions
88
“I see myself more as a woman of influence and strength,” Ranim Atour, Infoblox
78-79
89
“We recognise there is no perfect candidate, it is the person that matters most,” Bridgett Paradise, Tenable
Many governments have an embedded culture of being risk-averse, leading them to revert to legacy processes and mindsets, rolling back positive momentum.
DEAN LACHECA Senior Director Analyst, Gartner.Digitally advanced governments are willing to transform and optimise, calculate and report on digital success metrics and adopt a range of contemporary practices and delivery models.
Pandemic-inflicted global disruption caused government organisations to renew their focus on, and accelerate the transition to, digital government. For CIOs, achieving true digital transformation within government requires a full commitment to emerging technologies and capabilities that can scale across an organisation.
The transition to digital government means organisational change, which can be difficult to achieve at times. This is reflected in the diverse levels of advancements in digital transformation from one government organisation to the next.
The recent Gartner survey explored the differences in objectives, practices and makeup of digital initiatives that have led to successful transformation implementations. If you focus your priorities in the same way, you can expect to deliver on your digital government strategies more effectively.
Although digital governments leverage practices such as journey mapping, human-centred design and design thinking, co-creation and voice of the customer, user research, there are three common practices.
65% of digitally advanced governments and 42% of remaining governments report widespread use of agile project delivery, making it the most widely used practice. Even so, it is challenging to perform effectively in a government environment and very often a struggle to scale beyond the IT function. In fact, just 28% of digitally advanced governments have also successfully scaled adoption of enterprise agile.
3
Half of digitally advanced governments have incorporated product management into their operating models, whereas only 20% of non-digitally advanced governments have done the same. Doing so has a direct impact on the planning and development of government services, including other contemporary service design practices like journey mapping, co-creation and event mapping.
35% of digitally advanced governments report widespread use of DevOps practices; 21% of less advanced respondents cite use. Employing a DevOps model enables developers to increase productivity and improve coordination with infrastructure.
For most governments, the pace of change during a crisis is not sustainable. Many governments have a strongly embedded culture, and that culture is often risk-averse. This may lead them to quickly revert to legacy processes and mindsets, rolling back positive momentum.
As a government CIO delivering digital transformation strategies and programs build executive sponsorship for investment in digital by working with department heads and business line leaders to clearly define their vision for digital’s role in achieving the organisation’s mission.
Scale the impact of digital across the organisation by expanding its scope to include transformational activities that align with the organisation’s digital vision.
Build a line of sight between measurable digital outcomes and measurable business value by working with department heads and business line leaders to identify tangible metrics of success. ë
Financial institutions have had to transform their services and business models’ countless times over decades to keep up with technological and cultural changes, which is no mean feat considering the amount of data and sensitive information they’ve always held.
However, as a result, some legacy systems can be a point of vulnerability to these institutions, leaving them open to fraudsters as older technology often doesn’t have the most robust authentication methods in place.
Digital transformation provides banks with an opportunity to build everything with a digital-first mindset. Organisations need to observe online consumer behaviour and then use technology to build processes to accommodate that.
Financial services institutions’ failure to consider a digital-first approach can have immense implications for the safety of customers. For example, authentication processes that have been merely digitised, such as one-time passwords, are particularly prone to exploitation by criminals.
The pandemic demonstrated this all too clearly, as thousands of people faced a deluge of scams involving text messages. Nearly a quarter of respondents 24% from our latest research say they receive more texts from scammers than their own friends and family.
Financial institutions that rely on the digitised version of outdated processes like this are fuelling the rise in scams and fraud by creating opportunities ripe for cyber-attackers.
Financial institutions need the right technologies to become digitalfirst. The way they verify and authenticate their users must involve tech that seamlessly integrates into user journeys without causing unnecessary friction.
An example of this is behavioural biometrics. It is vastly superior to physical biometrics in many ways, primarily because it’s device-agnostic – not reliant on a single device. And in an age where customers use a
SAEED AHMAD Managing Director, Middle East and North Africa, Callsign.
variety of devices and channels, device agnosticism is vital to ensuring the user experience is preserved in a safe, secure, and non-disruptive way.
Customers expect frictionless journeys, and this type of tech can be seamlessly incorporated into any point of the process, making it a far better authentication method that’s fit for a digitalfirst financial services industry.
Behavioural biometrics uses millions of data points to verify that a user is genuine, when layered with device and threat intelligence, and removes the single point of failure so often at the heart of digitised authentication methods, an OTP for example.
Customers expect frictionless journeys, and behavioural biometrics integrates seamlessly adding no friction to the authentication process making it an authentication method that’s fit for a digitalfirst financial services industry.
Financial institutions need to look at the very technological foundations on which their businesses are established and ensure they’re appropriate to deliver the best digital service for their customers. Simultaneously, they must consider all their customers’ needs when it comes to authenticating their identity and make this a priority rather than an add-on when innovating processes from the ground up. ë
Where customers use a variety of devices and channels, device agnosticism is vital to ensuring the user experience is preserved in a safe way.
Legacy systems can be a point of vulnerability for these institutions
The world of new-business building is highly industry-specific and even customer-specific. This means that probably the core value-generating software part needs to be developed by your own company - or by close partners. One issue with this new type of enterprise software is that it’s potential for standardisation is very low, perhaps even zero.
In contrast, traditional business software use cases like accounting are typically very well-defined and standardised in ERP packages.
A fundamental challenge for most enterprises is that they do not have or have lost the ability to create their own software in a scalable manner. Over the last decades, many IT organisations morphed into software operations teams with comparably low need for training to perform large software development projects.
This is a consequence of the huge success story of standardised business software, delivered by SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, and the like. In the early days of software, companies were building their own business applications on top of some basic technologies such as a database and an applicationoriented programming language.
In the past, we saw huge software development departments with deep knowledge and skills create some complex software. But this muscle van ished over time. Hence, the impact of the current wave of digital transfor mation means they need to train this muscle again, on an even higher level of mission criticality.
Building up experience and robust processes takes a lot of time and often involves a succession of failed projects. But the challenge is not only about internal abilities, it’s also about external threats. This is the race to digitalisation between industry incumbents who re-learn software and software companies mostly start-ups who learn an industry.
Amazon for example is not really a retailer; it is, was a software startup that realised the potential of e-commerce, built a software platform, and taught itself how to sell books. It solved a technology challenge and learned enough industry knowledge.
There is also a cultural dimension to that. Digital transformation can also radically change the relevance and importance of previously key roles in organisations. In the case of the catalogue retailers, for example, the role of the chief procurement officer, who decides which products make it into
This is the race to digitalisation between industry incumbents who re-learn software and software companies mostly start-ups who learn an industry.
International Group of Artificial Intelligence in association with the Council of Representatives Kingdom of Bahrain, organised a virtual summit of the Second International Conference of Data ‘Future of Everything’ on 30 March 2022. The conference focused on how data has captured the entire world.
THE EVENT WAS JOINED BY TOP INDUSTRY LEADERS INCLUDING:
l Her Excellency Fawzia bint Abdullah Zainal, Speaker of House Representatives, Kingdom of Bahrain
l Dr Jassim Haji, President, IGOAI
l May Li, Marketing VP, Huawei ME
l Eva-Marie Muller-Stuler, Partner, Consulting Ernst & Young Middle East
l Dr Sawsan Hilal, Assistant Professor, Coordinator of MSc in Big Data Science and Analytics, University of Bahrain
l Dr Eman Mohamed Khorsheed, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of Bahrain
l Dr Idoia Salazar, Co-Founder and President, OdiseIA
l Dalal Buhumeida, Event MC
The event was started with a welcome note by Her Excellency Fawzia bint Abdullah Zainal, Speaker of House Representatives, Kingdom of Bahrain and Dr Jassim Haji, President, IGOAI where they offered a warm welcome to all the guests and speakers. The event was moderated by Dalal Buhumeida.
May Li, Marketing Vice-President, Huawei ME spoke on ‘Data and AI in 5G enabled digital verticals.’ Speaking on the current situation of 5G deployment and how it is going to impact different verticals sectors and their challenges, May Li said, “5G is truly accelerating and has become mainstream in leading markets. So, if we look at it as a consumer market, with the technical capability it is also accelerating the digital transformation in verticals sectors.”
Dr Eva-Marie Muller-Stuler, Partner, Consulting Ernst & Young Middle East discussed the building of trusted artificial intelligence and described the five pillars of trustworthy artificial intelligence including Transparency, Fairness, Explainability, Privacy Protection, and Robustness.
Dr Sawsan Hilal, Assistant Professor, Coordinator of MSc in Big Data Science and Analytics, University of Bahrain spoke on ‘Big Data –Today’s World Big-Game Changer’ and talked about the big data sources and said from all the activities of our daily life we are generating big data. She also took all the attendees on a journey concerning big data as a hot term for the current era to mention its domain of applications and highlight its potential besides the challenges.
A NEW HYBRID METHODOLOGY FOR TIME-SERIES DATA ANALYTICS WITH AN APPLICATION ON LONG-TERM ENERGY LOAD FORECASTING FOR THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN
Dr Eman Mohamed Khorsheed, Assistant Professor and Department of Mathematics, University of Bahrain explained the classification of load forecasting in terms of planning horizon’s duration – short term forecast, medium-term forecast, long team forecast.
Dr Idoia Salazar, Co-founder and President, OdiseIA spoke over ‘Data and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges for Education’ and said these days everything is moving at a fast pace and we have many impacts of different technologies. Idoia also talked about the ongoing cyber-attacks and fake news and described how it is confusing for people by collecting data.
The conference was concluded with an interesting fire chat session with all the speakers and was moderated by Dalal Buhumeida.
HE Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Obaid Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, opened Gisec 2022. His Excellency toured the three-day event accompanied by dignitaries including His Excellency Dr Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security, UAE Government and His Excellency Hamad Al Mansoori, Director General, Dubai Digital.
With more than 300 global cybersecurity brands showcasing technologies, Gisec is hosting leading international and regional innovators such as Huawei, Spire Solutions, Microsoft and Etisalat on how to tackle increasing threats resulting from a rise in remote working and rapidly accelerated digitalisation.
Gisec is organised in close partnership with UAE’s influential cyber entities, including UAE Cyber Security Council, Dubai Electronic Security Centre, Dubai Police, Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, and will curate and prioritise the region’s strategic cybersecurity agendas.
The UAE Cyber Security Council will host the
Global Cyber security Congress and the first ever National Bug Bounty programme, hosting over 100 international ethical hackers, while dedicated conference tracks will probe the cybersecurity landscapes in Saudi Arabia and Africa.
HE Abdullah Khalifa Obaid Al Marri opens Gisec 2022. Gisec is organised in close partnership with UAE’s influential cyber entities.The 10th edition of Gisec opened at Dubai World Trade Centre as industry leaders unite to uncover the latest in global cybersecurity trends and discuss ever-increasing digital challenges.
Delivering the keynote speech on the first morning of the three-day show, HE Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security, United Arab Emirates Government, discussed the shared responsibility required to tackle the volatility of cyberspace and how collaboration is essential to successfully protecting against global cybercrime.
“If we look at the current landscape, awareness and collaboration are key to building a culture of cybersecurity readiness,” said Al Kuwaiti. “We need to innovate and work towards building the next generation of cyber security professionals. The UAE Cybersecurity Council has a timeline, and the plan is to export the UAE’s cybersecurity model across the region.
That collaboration can be epitomised by the UAE Cyber Security Council’s National Bug Bounty Programme, where 100 ethical hackers will work in real-time at Gisec to hack, identify, and solve software flaws discovered across different scenarios and mainframes, including electric cars, mobile phones, and drones.
Among the speakers on opening day, Stephen Kavanagh, Executive Director of Police Services at Interpol, delivered his address to the industry discussing how the public and private sectors must play collaborative roles in the response to cybercrime.
“Today, we find ourselves in a new world,” said Kavanagh, the former Chief Constable of Essex Police in the United Kingdom. “We need a clear vision where all parties work together. Interpol is increasingly bringing data and expertise from the private sector to assist law enforcement. It is unrealistic to think law enforcement can recruit and retain the best brains, so that is where they turn to the private sector.”
Also speaking on the main stage was MK Palmore, the former Head of the FBI’s San Francisco Cybersecurity Investigative Branch. Palmore outlined how global development is forcing businesses to reassess their priorities to prevent large-scale cyber-attacks.
“By 2025, 42 billion devices will be connected to the internet,” Palmore said. “This is a huge expanded digital surface area to protect, so offers huge opportunities for cyber criminals. It is no surprise then that, from an infrastructure and security standpoint, our reliance on digital services as we look to maintain society and business operations has become the No1 issue for organisations.”
During the next two days, conference attendees will continue to hear from a host of prominent speakers, including renowned hacker Jayson E Street; Mesfer Almesfer, Chief Information Security Officer, NEOM; Professor Isa Ali Pantami, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Nigeria; and His Excellency Amir Hayek, Israeli Ambassador to the UAE and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel, among others.
HE Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security, United Arab Emirates Government. Stephen Kavanagh, Executive Director of Police Services at Interpol.
On the occasion of Gisec, Cisco released its predictions on emerging trends, based on research from the company’s threat intelligence group Talos. The report details cybersecurity trends, highlighting the most common attacks, biggest targets and 2022 predictions.
Healthcare was the top targeted sector throughout the majority of 2021. The main reason adversaries are continuing to target this industry is due to healthcare providers’ often underfunded cybersecurity budgets and extremely low downtime tolerance, the latter of which has been intensified by the pandemic.
Ransomware dominated the threat landscape in 2021. Cisco Talos researchers observed two trends emerging in ransomware engagements: a proliferation of adversaries, and an increased reliance on commercially available and open-source tools. Throughout 2020 and in the beginning of 2021, Ryuk was the primary ransomware family observed. As the year went on, it began to gradually disappear, similar to several other wellknown ransomware types. What followed was a greater variety of actors culminating in the last quarter of the year.
Regarding attack vectors, Cisco Talos found that the adversaries most commonly exploited internet-facing applications and used phishing and business email compromise attacks to target end users.
For 2022, Cisco Talos is monitoring the situation around Log4J vulnerabilities, supply chain and third-party risks, the potential revival of Emotet, and the environment around ransomware.
Log4J vulnerabilities have caused widespread concern among customers and the security community at large, and we could easily see an increase in related incidents in 2022. As many researchers have pointed out, this incident has far-reaching implications based on Log4J’s wide use within enterprises, and the difficulty some organisations might have in finding and patching everything that is vulnerable.
The past year was an indicator of things to come in terms of supply chain and third-party risk. When adversaries target a large Managed Service Provider MSP or open-source software incorporated into countless enterprise products, they greatly expand the potential pool of victims. It is expected that supply chain and third-party risk will continue to pose significant threat to enterprise security, as numerous actors such as ransomware groups leverage these attacks to pivot to high-value targets.
At Gisec 2022, Huawei is demonstrating use cases and discussing best strategies to protect Middle Eastern enterprises in the current digital era. Huawei will demonstrate its resilient communications networks, scenarios and latest use cases in enabling industrial digitisation, intelligent cloud solutions, smart low-carbon datacentre, smart campus solutions, end-to-end cyber security assurance system, 5G security, cloud security, secure digital power solutions, and secure networks at the leading cybersecurity event. During the event, Huawei regional and global experts will participate in various panel discussions and deliver keynotes on trending security topics.
Microsoft reiterated its commitment to securing the hybrid workplace
of the future through its participation at Gisec. “Security has never been more critical for our customers given the evolving threat landscape and the move to hybrid work that so many companies are now forced to navigate,” said Sayed Hashish, General Manager, Microsoft UAE.
“At Microsoft, we have been hard at work to empower our customers to defend themselves against cyber threats, and we have earned their trust: we generated $15 billion in security revenue in 2021, up nearly 45% from the prior year. This makes Microsoft the biggest security company in terms of revenue and allows us to further strategically invest in our security offering: in 2020, we committed to invest $20 billion over five years, a four-fold increase from previous rates, to speed up its cyber security work.”
The company continues to safeguard the hybrid workplace by providing organisations of all sizes with a host of solutions, such as Microsoft’s Defender for Cloud, which is the only cloud provider with native multicloud protection for the industry’s top three platforms, and Microsoft Defender for Business, which helps companies with up to 300 employees defend against cybersecurity threats, including malware, phishing, and ransomware in environments with Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices.
The company is demonstrating the inherent security strengths of Microsoft Cloud, as well as how regional stakeholders can use Microsoft’s Zero Trust approach to create safer environments for themselves, their employees, and their customers.
The UAE’s Cybersecurity Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Huawei to collaborate in the strengthening of local strategies and efforts related to cybersecurity. The agreement was signed at Gisec.
As per the memorandum, both parties will work towards strengthening strategic collaboration in cybersecurity based on the Public-PrivatePartnership model. This will help promote cybersecurity innovation, drive development in cybersecurity capabilities, and nurture a strong cybersecurity ecosystem.
As part of the memorandum, both parties have agreed to work together in building visibility and promoting thought leadership in the area of cybersecurity, cooperating in the field of cybersecurity research and development through an independent think tank that both parties will establish, and jointly establishing a Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to deliver talent training that addresses the cybersecurity capacity-building needs for Emiratisation.
The partnership comes as spending on security including hardware, software, and services is also on the rise across the region, predicted to grow 7% to $3.76 billion in 2022 according to IDC.
In addition, the agreement aims to create an open, transparent, and trustworthy environment between the UAE Government, Huawei, and other technology vendors.
HE Dr Mohammad Hamad Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity, UAE Government, said: “We are excited to be signing this agreement with Huawei in line with our mission of developing a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy and creating a safe and strong cyber infrastructure in the UAE. This step will also help drive our efforts to establish the UAE as a leading global hub for cybersecurity for the benefit of the nation.”
“WE ARE HERE TO COLLABORATE, PARTNER WITH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS FOR DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES”
The 10th edition of Gisec which opened on 21 March, hosted a second day defined by the signing of transformational partnerships and global cybersecurity experts sharing their unique expertise.
A number of high-level memorandum of understandings were signed on day two of Gisec Global, covering business-critical cybersecurity solutions and promises of enhanced collaboration.
The UAE Cybersecurity Council signed partnerships with Huawei, Amazon Web Services and advisory firm Deloitte to increase cloud adoption and knowledge sharing.
Huawei and CSC will work towards strengthening strategic collaboration in cybersecurity based on the Public-Private-Partnership model. This will help promote cybersecurity innovation, drive development in cybersecurity capabilities, and nurture a strong cybersecurity ecosystem. In addition, the agreement aims to create an open, transparent, and trustworthy environment between the UAE Government, Huawei, and other technology vendors.
AWS will work with the CSC to enable faster adoption of AWS cloud services by the UAE’s public sector and regulated industries – including healthcare and financial – by leveraging AWS’s global cloud infrastructure.
This opens opportunities for government entities and other strategic industries to accelerate innovation and digital transformation in line with the UAE’s economic and national agendas.
Deloitte’s MoU will enable the firm and the CSC to collaborate and leverage Deloitte’s experience in the field of cybersecurity and expertise in the UAE, as well as drawing on and implementing internationally recognised good-industry practices as part of the UAE cybersecurity agenda.
Gisec also hosted the Global Cybersecurity Congress – an annual gathering aimed at unifying efforts on local, national and global cross-sector levels and organsied in collaboration with the UAE CSC. The congress intends to help shape national security and defence strategies to combat evolving threats.
Addressing topics such as Cloud Security and Compliance and Threat Intelligence and Cyber-Defence for Military and Law Enforcement, the congress was opened by HE Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security, UAE Government, who discussed the importance of cyberspace on international peace and security.
“We are not here to compete, but we are here to collaborate, build on these relationships and partner with the public and private sectors for different perspectives and to share knowledge, and we have seen this through the MoU’s we have signed over the last two days with international entities,” said Dr Al-Kuwaiti.
Running across the three-day event, Gisec Global is hosting a number of content sessions designed to spotlight best practice in cybersecurity across the region, with a specific focus on Africa, Israel, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
The event also featured discussions regarding how Saudi Arabia’s new mega-project and smart city, NEOM, has approached and developed builtin cybersecurity programmes to repel cyberattacks
Mesfer Almesfer, Chief Information Security Officer at NEOM, said there exists no black and white approach to integrated cybersecurity platforms at the design stage of a project.
“If you are starting a new green environment, it is a very good opportunity for entities to build something from scratch with no legacy systems to try and manoeuvre around, which can cause issues,” he said. “You should always keep cybersecurity as default from day one, work with your architects and planners to ensure enhanced resident experience is factored in from the outset.”
Ibrahim Mohammed Alshamranie, Chief Cybersecurity and PrivacyOfficer, Saudi Arabia, Huawei, meanwhile looked at how artificial intelligence has the ability to profoundly change industry and organisations.
As organisations continue to struggle with visibility into advanced cyberthreats, SOC teams are left overwhelmed with seemingly never-ending security alerts and false positives, leaving IT Security leaders doubtful of their attack readiness.
CyberKnight announced at Gisec that it has signed a distribution agreement with Seclytics, the pXDR platform that aligns and streamlines SOC workflow. Seclytics’ Augur gives organisations exceptional visibility on threats providing smart automation and orchestration to help beat alert overload and take back control of a SOC.
The platform does not rely on blocklists, or malware signatures based on past attacks: Augur’s predictive intelligence is proactive, seeking out and identifying threats long before attacks are launched.
Predictions are over 97% accurate, and more importantly, they produce an extremely low rate of false positives, 0.01%. This means that organisations can trust predictions enough to act and even automate enforcement.
There has been a significant rise in demand for tools that help manage remote workforce and fight the many security risks involved in this new way of working. ManageEngine’s discussions with visitors at the booth during Gisec 2022, indicate that this trend is likely to continue in the coming years as well. We expect to see a steady rise in adoption of technologies that help organisations effortlessly migrate to cloud-delivered and service-led products.
Most importantly, we believe organisations are more likely to develop a strong interest in adopting innovations like extended reality, hyperautomation, conversational AI and more that are emerging in the cybersecurity and cloud space.
ManageEngine’s key focus this year at the event was the recently launched cloud access security broker component of ManageEngine’s SIEM solution, Log360, and discuss how the rapid growth of cloud infrastructure services is driving increased interest in securing data, applications and workloads in cloud computing environments.
The vendor also spoke about the endpoint data loss prevention and anti-ransomware capabilities of ManageEngine’s unified endpoint management solution, Desktop Central.
ManageEngine’s discussions mainly involved combating the evolving cybersecurity threats in the region and how ManageEngine’s suite of IT security products can help organisations in this aspect. In particular, the vendor discussed advanced ML-powered threat mitigation capabilities offered by ManageEngine’s SIEM tool, Log360.
It offers both in-depth cloud security analytics as well as real-time active directory auditing. Customers came to know that the product is available both on-premise and on-cloud.
Dragos, a global vendor in cybersecurity for industrial control systems and operational technology environments, announced the opening of its UAE office in Dubai during its debut appearance at Gisec.
The announcement closely follows Dragos’s expansion in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia in November 2021 and sends a strong signal of the company’s commitment to UAE. Dragos’s focus on protecting the industrial sector in the region supports UAE initiatives such as Operation 300bn, which calls for the sector’s GDP contribution to leap from $36 Billion to $82 Billion, or AED 300 Billion, by 2031.
Included in Dragos’s new office, located in Dubai Internet City Innovation Hub, is space for the company’s OT cybersecurity talent, including incident response, penetration, and threat intelligence professionals. Also included is a training centre to upskill talent for OT cybersecurity readiness.
The company has a team of OT risk analysts, threat researchers, and incident responders, and codifies their expertise into scalable technology that delivers the most effective protection against industrial threats
In parallel, the company has partnered with key government entities to provide training and threat intelligence and is in the midst of building an advanced, future-ready ecosystem with OEM manufacturers and channel resellers.
Dragos offerings include:
l Platform – combines ICS, OT network sensors, a scalable data architecture, and expert analysis modules for asset inventories, vulnerabilities, threats, and streamlined response.
l Intelligence – ICS, OT specific news, research, and analysis on industrial cyber threats, industry targeting, vulnerabilities, and actionable defence recommendations.
l S ervices – experienced professionals delivering OT security assessments, risk management, threat hunting, and incident response services.
Delinea will showcase a number of its flagship privileged access management PAM solutions at Gisec, including live demos of its Privileged Account and Session Management, Privilege Elevation and Delegation Management, and Remote Access innovations and capabilities. Delinea Secret Server, which was updated just this January, reduces risk, complexity, and cost while securing organisations’ data, devices, and code across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments.
As it looks to demonstrate to Gisec attendees how they can secure remote access for hybrid workforces, the company will highlight how PAM provides central, policy-based controls that enable remote workers stay secure and productive. Delinea is co-participating at Gisec with its regional distributor, Shifra.
Delinea was formed in 2021 through the merger of PAM leaders Thycotic and Centrify and rebranded in February 2022. Peter Geytenbeek, Director, EMEA Channel and Distribution at Delinea and Kamel Heus, the company’s recently appointed VP Sales for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa EEMEA are due to attend Gisec.
With 61% or more breaches attributed to compromised credentials, Gisec attendees will be looking to solve the challenges they face around securing identities in an increasingly hybrid world.
Acronis revealed that daily malware detections in UAE have been on the rise in the month of March, a worrying trend that exposes the critical need for cybersecurity in the region, especially for small business size companies.
Over the last two weeks we have seen a rapid increase in new cyber threats, which could be a concern. The latest data indicates malware detections alone have increased by 122%. This goes to show that cybercriminals are working overtime to develop tools and tricks that enable them to counter-fight the solutions being put in place.
During Q4 of 2021 over 12,640 ransomware attacks were successfully blocked on average per month by Acronis, a 0.2% jump from Q3 2021. In the same period, Acronis’ cyber protection solutions also blocked 1,156,773 malware attacks on average per month representing a 74% jump from Q3. Acronis also successfully blocked over three million malicious URLs on average per month further demonstrating the effectiveness of strategic approach and technology.
According to the Kaspersky Security Network findings released at Gisec 2022, cryptomining attacks in the UAE doubled in 2021 as compared to 2020. The country also witnessed an increase in financial malware attacks on Android by 42% in the same time period. The Middle East overall paints a similar picture, wherein cryptomining attacks increased by 7% and financial malware on Android increased by 6% in 2021 as compared to 2020.
On the bright side, all malware attacks in the country saw a decrease by 22%, and ransomware attacks too dropped by 25% in 2021 as compared to 2020. While the plummeting numbers are a promising sign, experts are noticing a change in tactics used by cybercriminals targeting the UAE. More complex and targeted cyberattacks are being devised and launched, suggesting that cybercriminals are focusing more on quality than quantity.
Cryptominers steal computing power by exploiting all applications, servers, and platforms that can support their mining operations. Such attacks result in organisations experiencing IT infrastructure performance lags and high electricity bills, which are less noticeable than the usual red flags in cybersecurity such as disruption of services, financial losses or file encryption due to a ransomware attack.
During the second half of 2021, Kaspersky reported that almost 40% of all ICS computers were attacked by malicious software at least once. Cyberattacks on these systems can impact production operations, result in financial losses and affect people’s lives. The goal of such attacks can be both cyber sabotage and cyber espionage.
Lookout is participating at Gisec with CyberKnight and will speak on the X-Labs Stage about how to Achieve Enhanced Cloud Security and Protect Against Ransomware. Most organisations have lost control of their data security as they migrate to the cloud. Organisations have also left doors open in the collaboration tools.
Lookout will use Gisec as a platform to showcase the Lookout SSE platform. The Lookout SSE solution enables organisations to secure their data while supporting a modern, anywhere anytime workforce with consistent cloud-delivered security policies regardless of where data is stored.
In addition to integrating Cloud Access Security Broker CASB, Zero Trust Network Access ZTNA and Secure Web Gateway SWG into a single platform, Lookout SSE integrates policy and data security enforcements deeply across web, SaaS and private applications.
Lookout SSE consolidates CASB, ZTNA, and SWG with Endpoint Security into a unified platform that reduces cost and complexity while simplifying management of security and access across all endpoints, clouds and on-premises infrastructures. By analysing telemetry data from users, endpoints and the data they are accessing, Lookout dynamically enforces policies with varying degrees of granularity.
Gisec 2022 is poised to re-energise public-private sector collaboration as nations and companies explore disruptive new solutions to tackle growing global cybersecurity challenges.
It has been organised in-partnership with UAE Cybersecurity Council, Dubai Electronic Security Centre, the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority and Dubai Police.
Gisec 2022 will host over 270 exhibiting brands and bring together over 10,000 information security, technology professionals, business leaders and changemakers from over 70 countries.
The latest edition of Gisec will focus on ethical hacking through a number of interactive onsite features and activations taking place throughout the three days. One of the highlight activations comes in the form of the largest live Bug Bounty hunt ever to take place in the UAE.
In support of the UAE Cyber Security Council National Bug Bounty Program, 100 ethical hackers are flying in to take part in the Gisec Bug Bounty programme, where they will be tasked to hack, identify, and fix certain software flaws in a number of different scenarios and mainframes – including electric cars, mobile phones and drones.
The MEA cybersecurity market expected to reach $2.89 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 7.92% over the next four years, according to Mordor Intelligence,
Now split across five stages, this year will feature the Government Stage Hosted by the Dubai Electronic Security Centre DESC, and new content tracks focusing on healthcare, telecoms, critical infrastructure and finance.
Some of the headline speakers across other stages include HE Dr Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security, United Arab Emirates Government; notorious hacker Jayson E. Street; Stephen Kavanagh, Executive Director Police Services, INTERPOL; MK Palmore, Former Head of FBI San Francisco Cybersecurity Investigative Branch, US; Mesfer Almesfer, Chief Information Security Officer CISO, NEOM; Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Nigeria and HE Ambassador Amir Hayek, Israeli Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel among others.
CyberKnight will highlight to regional IT Security leaders, the importance of observability and visibility while addressing cybersecurity challenges. At the events, CyberKnight will also showcase its Zero Trust Security methodology – The ZTX Framework, alongside market-leading international cybersecurity vendors.
“Due to the onslaught of ransomware and targeted attacks impacting customer operations in the region over the last couple of years, CyberKnight’s theme for GISEC this year is Business Interrupted: Insight into navigating the precarious cybersecurity landscape,” commented Avinash
Advani, the Founder and CEO at CyberKnight..
The technologies that will be represented by CyberKnight at GISEC include:
l Crowdstrike - EDR, EPP, Threat Intelligence and IR
l Armis - Agentless IoT and OT Device Security
l Lookout - Mobile Threat Defense and Mobile App Security, CASB, SASE and Zero Trust Network Access - ZTNA
l Netwrix - Data Access Governance, AD Security, File Integrity Monitoring
l Illumio - Zero Trust Microsegmentation
l Appgate - Zero Trust Remote Access
l Cyware – SOAR + TIP
l RedSeal – Cyber Risk Modelling
l PhishRod - Security Awareness, Training Platform and Phishing Simulation
l IronNet – Network Detection and Response
l Immersive Labs – Cyber Skills Development and Training Platform
l Utimaco - Hardware Security Modules and Key Management
l HelpSystems - Data Classification, Email Security, Managed File Transfer, VA,PT
l S olarWinds – IT Management and Remote Monitoring
l S eceon – aiSIEM, aiXDR
l BlueCat - Secure DNS, DHCP, IP Address Management
SANS Institute will showcase a range of offerings, from core training courses, Capture-the-Flag events, security awareness products, knowledge assessments, NetWars tournaments and Cyber Training academies, to educate visitors on how SANS can support organisations in training, recruiting, and retaining cybersecurity staff.
There is an ever-growing cybersecurity skills gap and need for trained personnel within organisations. With a growing shortage of people available on the job market, it is becoming increasingly challenging for organisations to find the right talent for the right jobs.
SANS will offer visitors the opportunity to experience the SANS Secure Middle East 2022 training course, which will take place in Riyadh this month, through their Live Online training format.
ManageEngine will showcase its full range of IT security solutions, including the recently launched cloud access security broker component of its SIEM solution, Log360.
The evolution of CASBs has brought about several benefits, including compliance, data security, threat protection and overall data and traffic visibility. Implementing a CASB goes a long way in preventing data leaks and gives much-needed visibility into the usage of shadow applications. Traditional security defense mechanisms are no longer adequate.
ManageEngine will also showcase its unified endpoint management tool, Desktop Central; SIEM solution, Log360, which has user and entity behavior analytics capabilities for proactive threat analysis using AI and ML; PAM360, which enables enterprises to establish strict privileged access governance and monitor privileged operations. The company will also highlight Device Control Plus and Application Control Plus, which enforce the principle of least privilege for employees using various devices and applications.
On 17th March 2022, GEC Media Group launched the Global Manufacturing CIO Forum on the side-lines of The Future IT Summit in the presence of Pratap Patjoshi, CIO of Mercedez-Benz India and Binita Prasad, Head of IT, Sany Heavy Industry India.
Speaking at the launch, Ronak Samantaray, Co-founder and CEO, GEC Media Group said, “Today we are launching the Global CIO Manufacturing Forum, but before that I would like to go two years back when the CIO manufacturing forum actually started back in India. It has been a great journey and then we decided to take it to the global platform as The Global CIO Manufacturing Forum; as we all know that manufacturing is a key element of the industry. As a CIO there is a big responsibility on the shoulders as to see how technology can help.”
Pratap Patjoshi, CIO of Mercedez-Benz India attended the launch of the Global CIO Manufacturing Forum in Dubai and said that in every forum, manufacturing is an integral part and that they had started that in India two years back and now they were there to launch it officially.
Global CIO Manufacturing Forum represents IT Executives and CIOs in the manufacturing sector globally. GMCF is a non-profit community of CIOs and IT leaders whose mission is to facilitate networking, sharing of best practices and executive development, and to collaborate on issues faced by the CIOs and IT Executives. The forum would also foster the growth of knowledge sharing platforms that will help the CIOs of the manufacturing sector develop relevant skill sets to realise the full potential of digital solutions and technologies that drive productivity.
The Global CIO Manufacturing Forum grows IT leaders, speaks with one voice on issues facing CIOs, and builds a vendor-neutral community for safe exchange of ideas and best practices.
Evanssion, a value-added distributor specialised in Cloud Native and Cyber Security across Middle East and Africa, has announced that it is strengthening its partnership with Noname Security, a leader in API Security, to ensure the region is well-equipped to defend against API attacks.
There is a massive gap in the visibility on the API layer from the perspective of consumption and exposure of information through the API. This leads to lack of governance and posture management of APIs. Hackers have tapped into these vulnerabilities and are actively targeting these APIs due to misconfiguration and anomalous behaviour of the API.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, less than 50% of enterprise APIs will be managed, as explosive growth in APIs surpasses the capabilities of API management tools. Securing APIs has thus become a pressing issue to address for CIOs, CISOs, and decision makers as they continue to protect data in this evolving threat landscape.
Last year in October 2021, Evanssion signed up an exclusive distribution agreement with Noname Security, headquartered in California, USA, to allow adoption of its API security platform in the Middle East and Africa region.
Noname Security delivers the most powerful, complete, and easy-to-use API security platform. The company finds and inventories all APIs; detects attacks, suspicious behaviour, and
misconfigurations using AI-based behavioural analysis; prevents attacks and integrates with existing remediation and security infrastructure; and actively validates APIs before deployment.
Unlike other solutions that only monitor API traffic, Noname analyses API traffic as well as application and infrastructure configurations to provide better API security posture management, API runtime security, and active API SDLC testing. Only Noname Security can find all shadow APIs and API misconfigurations before the company is impacted.
Together with the API security leader, Evanssion is working with some of the largest banks in the financial industry and airline providers in the country to make API Security a reality for the Middle East and Africa region. The past five months has seen tremendous growth for Evanssion and Noname in the EMEA region.
Omnix, an end-to-end digital solutions and services pioneer, announced a joint offering with TeamViewer, a global provider of remote connectivity and workplace digitalisation solutions, to simplify business processes and streamline remote troubleshooting and management.
The collaboration will enable both companies to build a strong partner alliance for new innovative solutions and support Omnix’s ethos of driving regional business as a trusted digital solutions provider. Both companies aim to improve business operation models and boost productivity with TeamViewer’s advanced remote access, remote IT management and specialised Internet of Things and Augmented Reality solutions.
Omnix specialises in analysing IT infrastructure and business needs, deploying digital transformation solutions and covering aspects such as people, processes, technology, governance, data and analytics. Through its partnership with Omnix, TeamViewer will have access to quality resources, a dedicated and experienced team, and localised support.
The company will utilise its in-depth knowledge of the global markets to promote TeamViewer by engaging sales channels, and running demand led marketing campaigns to raise awareness among the GCC target audience. Omnix will also set up an experience centre head office in Dubai, where customers will get to see the benefits of the technologies and know more during interactive in-person workshops.
TeamViewer has been installed on over 2.5 billion devices and operates in almost all countries globally. Aligning with Omnix’s goal of harnessing latest technologies to advance businesses processes and enable digital progress, the partnership with TeamViewer represents an ideal fit to optimise long-term business performance for regional customers.
AHMAD AL QADRI, Chief Executive Officer, Evanssion.
DIRK MARICHAL, Vice President EMEA, Noname Security
Red Hat announced that Red Hat Training and Certification is expanding its offerings for partners in order to advance their skills journey with open hybrid cloud technologies. Red Hat partners can now access Red Hat Training self-paced online courses at no cost in order to develop critical skills around Red Hat solutions in key areas such as cloud computing, containers, virtualisation, automation and more.
Since 2013 Red Hat has provided enablement for partner organisations through the Red Hat Partner Training Portal, a training and accreditation platform designed to empower partners and supply them with the reliable guidance needed to support sales, improve customer service and deliver Red Hat-related service engagements.
Based on feedback from partners, Red Hat is extending enablement materials for partner associates acting as customer-facing IT support, consultants, solutions architects, system administrators and developers. Red Hat Training courses previously only available to customers, are now open to partners with no fee required.
Keeping pace in an industry that demands constant innovation means organisations must rely on a skilled workforce to support digital transformation, technology development and customer services. Red Hat Training and Certification offers a curriculum of self-paced learning and hands-on labs to help IT professionals broaden competencies and validate skills with Red Hat technolo-
The Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones, a national institution, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for a strategic partnership with the Middle East and Africa region’s leading value-added distributor Spire Solutions known for introducing some of the world’s best cybersecurity technologies to the region.
The official partnership signing ceremony was attended by member of the SAFCSP Board of Directors and General Supervisor of Cybersecurity Eng. Mohammed Alshamrani, Hamad Alaqeel, Spire’s Founder and President Sanjeev Walia, Chief Revenue Officer Mohieddin Kharnoub, Chief Growth Officer Naveen Bharadwaj, and some other employees from both the organisations.
gies. In fact, a Red Hat commissioned IDC study found that organisations using Red Hat Training courses can achieve a three-year return on investment of 365% and increase productivity by enabling associates to learn at their own pace through online modules and labs.
Partners can now access comprehensive Red Hat Training courses at no cost in order to build critical skills in delivering open hybrid cloud solutions
The initial Red Hat Training offerings that are open to partners include 17 courses, available in eight languages, accessible through the Red Hat Partner Training Portal and paving the way for future skills development through accreditation and certification. With these courses, partners are better positioned to accelerate skills development and achieve Red Hat Certification.
This strategic partnership aims to support and nurture Saudi youth throughout the year by:
l Providing a series of short courses on some of the latest cybersecurity technologies as part of CyberHub.
l Motivating them with real-life stories of successful people in the cybersecurity domain as part of Cyber Nights.
l Facilitating internships at leading technology companies focusing on cybersecurity, data analytics, artificial intelligence AI, machine learning ML, and more.
Red Hat training previously available to customers, now open to partners with no fees
Following its recent transformation announcement and embracing of a new identity, e& formerly known as Etisalat Group, expanded its partnership with Microsoft, entering the next phase of collaboration that will see the two companies accelerate value creation, push the boundaries of innovation, and achieve more for the benefit of their customers.
Under a partnership agreement, the parties will enhance a long-term strategic collaboration, embarking on e&’s journey to go beyond the realms of traditional telecommunications to transform the lives of its customers and advance the digitalisation journey of enterprises.
Senior executives met at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond to seal the partnership,
including Hatem Dowidar, CEO, e&, Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft, Sayed Hashish, General Manager of Microsoft UAE and Masood M Sharif Mahmood, CEO, Etisalat UAE.
The agreement, which is e&’s first strategic partnership alliance after its repositioning, will focus on e& harnessing the versatility of the Microsoft Cloud and partner ecosystem to create new solutions, accelerate value creation for businesses of all sizes, as well as engage customers and empower e&’s employees.
The collaboration between the organisations will be structured around three strategic pillars: l Focus on business-to-business engagement across large enterprises, governments, small
and medium-sized businesses, by helping them in their digital transformation journey.
l Re-invention of the consumer experience, with a focus on empowering consumers, broadening, and enriching the e& services portfolio.
l Setting the foundations to power e&’s transformation journey by modernising networks and platforms, building ecosystems and transforming e& and Microsoft have been strategic partners for many years, playing a key role in the UAE’s transformation into one of the world’s smartest nations.
In 2019, Microsoft launched its muchanticipated UAE datacentres in collaboration with e&. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, Etisalat UAE, the telecoms pillar of e& in the UAE collaborated with Microsoft to enable Microsoft Teams availability across the UAE. Soon after, e& launched its first customer service powered by Microsoft Azure, enabling SMBs to grow and scale their operations. Last year, it partnered with Microsoft for 5G and Edge to lay the foundations for next generation use cases.
In 2021, e& enterprise was named Microsoft Country Partner of the Year for the UAE in recognition for providing outstanding solutions and services to customers in strategic industries such as government, healthcare, and financial services. e& enterprise has also been instrumental in accelerating customer journeys on remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic by offering Teams Direct Routing as a service, to help save costs and enable business continuity for multinationals.
The forum saw 10 organisations recognised as winners of the Huawei Middle East Partner Performance Awards 2021—an annual celebration highlighting the exemplary performance of partners across Huawei’s partner ecosystem.
More than 1,000 leaders from across the Middle East’s ICT ecosystem have come together to recognise progress in the region and to chart future priorities for shared success at the Huawei Middle East Virtual Partner Forum 2022. In attendance were many of the region’s most prominent ICT distributors, channel partners, carrier partners, as well as Huawei’s global partners including industry ISV partners and various cloud and digital power partners.
During the event, Huawei unveiled its latest partner policies for this year in addition to introducing a set of new programs and promotions for Middle East partners. Huawei executives also laid out the company’s strategy for business expansion in the commercial segment and the company’s capabilities for fast delivery of equipment. By the end of 2021, more than 2,000 partners were registered and working with Huawei to serve the enterprise market alone.
ViewSonic, a leading provider of innovative visual solutions for work and play, and has partnered with Rove Hotels, to bring for the first time ever in the region, a unique stay and play opportunity for gamers. ViewSonic has collaborated with Rove Hotels and Playtonia to bring to life a hotel room exclusively for gaming - the Gamer Caves available at Rove Downtown
and Rove at The Park. ViewSonic has added two ELITE XG2705 27-inch gaming monitors in the room to provide guests with a set of monitors that are just perfect for all kinds of gaming. The Gamer’s Cave includes lots of games for guests to choose from including Valorant, CS GO, Red, Dead Redemption 2, GTA 5, Overwatch, DOTA and
many more.
The XG2705 27-inch IPS 144Hz gaming monitor from ViewSonic is designed for hardcore and casual gamers alike as it provides the perfect combination of hyper-responsive control and vivid IPS colours. It is a sleek 3-side borderless, esports-inspired monitor with 1ms response time, and AMD FreeSync, along with output fluid, and seamless visuals for every gaming scenario.
The monitor incorporates wide-viewing angle IPS technology, that is paired with 144Hz and a 1ms response time, to give gamers the responsiveness they expect and the rich vibrance they deserve. Rove Hotels chose this set of monitors to enhance their gamer guests’ experiences with a superior gaming monitor’s capability.
The Gamer Caves are a unique concept that brings a gaming rig as a hotel room for guests. The rooms feature gaming wall decorations, neon wall lights and an LED light strip for added ambience that is ideal for gamers. This exciting concept is sure to appeal to gamers across the region. ViewSonic has been on the forefront of adapting as per and catering to changing demands of gamers, and the XG2705 gaming monitor is proof of that concept that gamers can experience for themselves during their stay and intense gaming sessions.
The UAE Cybersecurity Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Amazon Web Services to enable faster adoption of AWS cloud services by the UAE’s public sector and regulated industries, including healthcare and financial services, by leveraging AWS’s global cloud infrastructure. This opens opportunities for government entities and other strategic industries to accelerate innovation and digital transformation in line with the UAE’s economic and national agendas.
The AWS global cloud infrastructure spans 26 geographic regions around the world, with plans to launch in eight more regions, including the UAE. Organisations using the AWS global cloud infrastructure can access advanced technologies from the broadest and deepest suite of cloud services to drive innovation including compute, storage, networking, database, analytics, machine learning, Internet of Things, and more.
Under the MoU, a steering committee will also be established with representation from CSC and AWS to consult, cooperate, and share best practices in cloud cybersecurity.
AVEVA, announced a global partnership with Alizent, a global leader in solutions enabling and accelerating the digital transformation of asset intensive industries. Aware of the increasing complexity that future industrial environments will require, AVEVA and Alizent combine forces to empower industries such as energy, power, water, food and beverage, and metals and mining to transform critical asset maintenance operations.
The partnership will provide customers with bespoke solutions having enhanced confidentiality and cybersecurity, increased operability, and with continuous evolution over the long term. Leveraging seamless Industrial AI powered data within the cloud, users will be able to connect, automate, monitor and optimise industrial assets, processes and operations.
Guaranteeing continuous operation to meet customers’ needs 24x7 while improving the performance of their production units is an everyday challenge for asset-intensive industries. To help them face this challenge, the AVEVA-Alizent partnership will provide an end-to-end asset lifecycle solution including data infrastructure, APM, and services. Consequently, key users will be able to anticipate, adapt and make the production flows of each of their units more reliable and therefore more available, while optimising the performance of plant operations.
For customers, the strength of this partnership lies in superior
Khazna Data Centres, UAE’s largest datacentre provider achieved the Uptime Institute’s Tier III certification of Constructed Facility for its Apollo 5 and Apollo 6 datacentres. Earlier this year, Khazna was awarded the same accreditation for its Apollo 3 and 4 facilities.
Datacentres are both drivers and enablers for all digital business matters. From adopting new and innovative technologies and establishing unified IT frameworks for better collaboration and productivity, the data flows created and used by organisations are more robust than ever. In the current landscape and the unmatched pace of technology, datacentres are becoming increasingly complex to manage, design and build. As datacentres have evolved and become more interconnected than ever, speed to
global solution deployments that can be adapted to address regional and local needs with an end-to-end approach that supports all components in their operating environments. Alizent’s industrial expertise in global asset lifecycle capabilities benefits global customers that recently achieved energy consumption optimisation and improved the efficiency of energy production units. By connecting teams across projects, AVEVA and Alizent will unlock higher levels of reliability and operational flexibility while harnessing the power of AVEVA’s AI-infused market-leading Asset Performance Management portfolio to model, predict and prescribe optimal performance for each asset. Enhancing production performance, adjusting production seamlessly and improving performance throughout the entire unit lifecycle will become the new standard for asset-intensive industries using solutions from the AVEVA-Alizent partnership.
market and the cost per megawatt have become the key drivers of their design and construction.
Khazna Data Centres is setting up efficient design and delivery, at a quicker pace, halving the time it takes to get the datacentre operational compared to traditional construction methods. The wholesale model adopted for Apollo datacentres addresses enterprise datacentre requirements by presenting highly secure, ultra-modern wholesale datacentres that are fully equipped with the latest technologies.
Uptime Institute’s Tier III certification was achieved after a diligent assessment and evaluation by expert teams from Uptime Institute. This certification assesses datacentre reliability, availability, maintainability, and overall performance needed to provide continuous and efficient operations.
KIM CUSTEAU, Senior Vice President, APM and MES, AVEVA.IBM announced launch of Client Engineering team in Middle East and Africa for clients and business partners. Located across four countries – UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and South Africa, IBM Client Engineering will drive innovation across the MEA region by providing an enhanced customer experience, focused on co-creation, technical eminence and speed.
Client Engineering teams consists of designers, solution architects, data scientists, cloud engineers, security experts, business transformation consultants and more who work on the agile co-creation of IBM technology and Consulting solutions for their clients – all within 6-8 weeks. The team of creators uses technologies such as Cloud, Data, Automation and Security
Google Cloud announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding MoU with Ooredoo Group for a strategic technology partnership which will further advance Ooredoo’s digital offerings. The MoU, which was signed at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona, Spain, will see Google Cloud play a prominent role in the enhancement of multiple end-user and enterprise services being offered by Ooredoo for the countries in which it operates and Ooredoo’s connectivity and datacentre services for advancing Google’s cloud proposition.
to deliver innovative solutions that address business use cases and challenges in industries such as government, financial services, telecommunications and travel and transportation, among others.
In addition, the Client Engineering teams will have deep expertise in AI, automation, site reliability and security to help optimise business operations and improve client outcomes in the region.
Across the region, Client Engineering will also leverage access to the Global Industry Solution Centres and their expertise and solutions to advise clients across industries on solving their most critical business challenges at speed - including those clients in some of the most highly-
While some will work towards the creation of a Minimal Viable Product, other engagements will lead to a prototype which integrates features of a product or service, or Proof of Technology designed to test whether a specific technology is a viable solution.
Teams will also engage, scope and deliver MVPs faster through accelerators for open hybrid cloud, data fabric, customer care, business automation, observability and security and build client journeys in automation, Data and AI, AI applications, and Security.
The partnership will see Google Cloud support in the development of Ooredoo’s service offerings across a set of its markets with a new TV and entertainment proposition based on Android TV and will leverage the strengths of both organisations to make innovative media services available to Ooredoo customers. Ooredoo will explore to make Google’s subscription-based products, namely Google One, YouTube Premium and Google Workspace available within its markets for both end-user and business customers as subscriptions or bundles.
For its enterprise customers, Google Cloud and Ooredoo Group have initiated a collaboration powered by artificial intelligence AI which enables Ooredoo’s current contact centre to streamline its operations and create a more personalised and intuitive customer care experience. Upon a successful implementation of the AI solution, Ooredoo together with Google will package their AI based Contact Centre Solution and resell it to enterprises in Qatar later this year to modernise customer care. The MoU will also extend existing Direct Carrier Billing DCB partnerships between Ooredoo and Google to drive monetisation in newer markets.
Google Cloud will become an intrinsic part of Ooredoo’s multi cloud strategy and will be a key partner in several regional initiatives for datacentre connectivity, colocation facilities, and point of presence in the region. Tied into the government’s vision to accelerate innovation, the agreement will also see the establishment of an innovation lab by Google Cloud and Ooredoo Group to foster new ideas, testing, development and training. The lab will create agility from conception to productization of several ideas for a target audience which includes Ooredoo internal teams, developer communities, start-ups as well as enterprise partners.
StarLink, celebrated joint successes and growth with channel partners at the 2022 Partner Summit held on 03rd March, virtually. The company conveyed a strong message of solidarity and empowerment to secure and transform the future.
The event was a tremendous success especially with our esteemed channel community joining us from different geographies - that is the best part of having a virtual experience. We took the opportunity to shine the spotlight on our partners for their exceptional commitment and perseverance.” said Ahmed Diab, COO, StarLink. “We are proud to be part of their growth trajectory and to see them emerge as technol-
ogy experts with focus on delivering integrated solutions to enterprises which has jointly helped us become an integral part of our customers’ success story.”
StarLink Partner Summit 2022 was power packed with the latest on the channel roadmap as well as new initiatives and business strategies to elevate the partnership to the next level. Three new initiatives – StarLink Cloud, StarLink Extra, StarLink Fund, were launched that has been designed from a technology adoption perspective. These initiatives will empower partners to enhance their business and grow as leaders in their relevant fields of expertise.
The University of Sharjah and VMware have signed a memorandum of understanding to launch a VMware IT Academy to enable IT students at the university to gain accreditation in transformative digital solutions in areas including app modernisation, cloud, networking, security, and digital workspace.
The MoU was signed by Dr Salah Taher AL Haj, ?Vice Chancellor for community Affairs, on behalf of the university, and by Ahmed Auda, Managing Director, Middle East, Turkey, and North Africa METNA, VMware, to promote mutual collaboration in information technology, train students, and offer educational resources, in addition to organising events, workshops, and seminars within the field.
According to the MoU agreement, UOS and VMware will collaborate to train university students and individuals qualified in information technology via the VMware IT Academy.
The VMware courses, which will be taught by specially trained and accredited instructors, will be available to students in the College of
Computing and Informatics at the University of Sharjah.
Dr Salah Taher AL Haj expressed his happiness over the joint collaboration will contribute to the community and the university’s ability to serve students.
The MoU agreement was attended by Prof Maamar Bettayeb, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, Prof. Abbes Amira, Dean of College of Computing and Informatics, in addition to attendees from VMware including Kelly Latza, Senior Manager UAE, and Roberto Lecca, Territory Manager, Dubai and Northern Emirates.
University of Sharjah to launch VMware IT Academy with accreditation in app modernisation, cloud
Newcom Computer systems was awarded as the Best Distributor for the 3rd time in the row. Recently organised event “Rise Logitech partner summit” on 22nd of Feb 2022, Newcom was awarded as the Best Distributor of the year 2021 – 2022. Newcom being Logitech’s authorised partner for the AMECA region has outnumbered with their performance for the FY 2021. Logitech, a world leader in professional video collaboration solutions had invited 100 + tier 1
partners, distributors, and solution integrators to outline it business strategy. A full-day event was filled with learning, fun, and team bonding activities where the event started at Grand millennium followed by a great evening at top golf Dubai.
Newcom has a strong distribution network with 2,000+ trusted partners spread across the Middle East and Africa region along with the support of our valued partners that include sub-distributors, wholesalers, power retailers, online retailers, system integrators, and valueadded resellers and distributors.
Along with Logitech, Newcom provides an enterprise IT solution with renowned brands such as Samsung, Hikvision, Targus, Rapoo, ViewSonic, Norton, J5create, Tucano, HP, ESET which puts us into a place as one of the leading distributors in UAE. The range of these products spans Monitors, gaming accessories, video Conferencing devices, docking stations, cables and adaptors, cybersecurity products, and much more.
Logicom, announced a new distribution partnership with VAST Data, the data platform company for the AI-powered world, as it continues international expansion. Under the agreement, Logicom will help VAST Data accelerate adoption of its high-performance Universal Data storage platform by broadening reach with key channel partners and markets in Middle East and North Africa.
VAST Data works with key companies across the enterprise ecosystem to deliver a high-performance data platform. VAST’s disaggregated and shared everything architecture allows customers to scale compute and storage resources independently. VAST Data’s Universal Storage ships as a production-ready, integrated appliance.
Channel customers can purchase Universal Storage through Gemini, VAST Data’s storage business model that redefines the storage buying experience. Gemini is a software offering, delivered to customers as a simple managed service on pre-defined hardware. It provides the flexibility for customers to refresh hardware on their own timetable without the need to repurchase software, enabling customers to license as little as 100TB and scale as needed.
Qatar Free Zones Authority and Thales held an inauguration ceremony for Thales headquarters and the newly established Digital Competence Centre in Qatar Free Zones. The Centre was inaugurated by HE Ahmad bin Mohamed Al-Sayed, Minister of State and Chairman of Qatar Free Zones Authority, and Mr. Patrice Caine, Chairman and CEO of Thales in the presence of Frederic Sallet CEO of Thales Qatar, as well as members of QFZA and Thales Senior Management. The inau-
MicroStrategy announced a strategic partnership with Magnoos Information Systems, Software Value Added Reseller in the Middle East and Africa region and part of Midis Group. This partnership centres on developing platform-neutral analytics driven solutions to help organisations consume business insights with ease and facilitate quick decision-making with actionable intelligence.
MicroStrategy makes this process simpler and easier with its industry-first HyperIntelligence solution. The cutting-edge HyperIntelligence solution directly injects Artificial Intelligence and analytics capabilities into third-party business platforms such as Oracle and SAP ERP Suite, IBM Maximo, Microsoft Dynamics and other platforms used by organisations. With zero-clicks required, intelligence on customers, products, customer journeys, preferences etc., is fed directly into applications and devices used by employees in the form of simple cards.
HyperIntelligence eliminates all these steps and allows the healthcare professional to hover over a keyword such as a patient’s name on their web application or even in an email and gain real-time insights with zero clicks. Essential intelligence is combined and delivered in a card format that will pop up on the screen and the card will contain all the required information. Furthermore, the user can drill down on any of this card information in a seamless fashion. Integrating the HyperIntelligence solution directly into websites or applications takes employee productivity to a new level.
guration was followed by a tour in Thales’s new offices at the Business Innovation Park in Ras Bufontas Free Zone.
Building on QFZA and Thales’ strategic collaboration agreement signed last year, the new Centre will serve as a hub for digital innovation across digital security, mobility, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity sectors. By fostering partnerships, facilitating the development of local digital competencies and creating skilled jobs, the Centre will support the continued growth and development of Qatar’s technology sector.
Thales has offered its service in Qatar for more than 40 years and has offered technologically advanced solutions for the aerospace, transportation, digital identity, defence and security markets. Over the last few years, Thales has extended its footprint in Qatar, in various areas including security for critical infrastructures, air transportation, cybersecurity, and Digital Identity and Security.
Since the start of its operations and despite global challenges, Qatar Free Zones Authority have succeeded in attracting 69 local and international licensed companies working in the information technology sector, to run their operations from the Free Zones in Qatar.
Logitech Video Collaboration brought together more than 100 tier-1 partners, distributors, and solution integrators to outline its channel strategy, showcase its latest solutions, share best practice, and celebrate recent successes.
The full-day event, which took place at Grand Millennium Hotel in Dubai, included talks by Logitech executives Nancy Thomas, global head of distribution for video collaboration; Brooke Ellingworth, EMEA vice president of distribution; Eamon O’Doherty, Enterprise Director, Fast Expanding Markets, and Loubna Imenchal, head of video collaboration, Africa, Middle East, and Central Asia.
The event included an awards ceremony to recognise outstanding success in the partner community, in addition to training sessions, and a teambuilding event at Topgolf Dubai.
Logitech is experiencing rapid growth in its video collaboration business in the Middle East, as hybrid working models remain popular even as the impact of the global pandemic abates. Cutting-edge solutions, including the Logitech Rally Bar video conferencing solutions for small, medium and large rooms, and Logitech Scribe, an AI-powered whiteboard camera for meeting rooms and classrooms, have cemented Logi-
tech’s lead in the video collaboration space.
In 2021, Logitech was ranked #1 worldwide in video conferencing hardware by Synergy Research. Logitech accounted for nearly fifty percent of all video conferencing devices sold in the Q1 FY21, and over thirty percent of the industry’s revenue, the research firm stated. Logitech was also named the market Leader in Video Conferencing Devices by Frost and Sullivan, recognising the company that has achieved the greatest market share resulting from outstanding performance, products, and services.
Earlier in February, Logitech announced its latest video collaboration innovation in the form of RightSight 2 software which simultaneously presents both a close-up view of the individual speaker and a view of the entire meeting room during video calls, with the aim of creating more equitable experiences for hybrid workers.
In September, Logitech unveiled Logi Dock, an all-in-one docking station with one-touch meeting controls and a built-in speakerphone, to simplify personal workspaces and improve the video meeting experience for remote and hybrid workers using platforms including Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.
Google Cloud’s strategy is to enable customers to utilise existing investments, on-premises, Google Cloud Platform, other clouds, a combination, and so on.
l Mandiant divested the FireEye products to pursue a vendor-agnostic strategy
l Mandiant wanted to be data-ingestion-neutral
Google’s agreement to buy Mandiant for $5.4 billion in cash will have an impact on a number of segments of the security sector. Google Cloud already has Chronicle, its security information and event management SIEM offering, to which it added security orchestration automation and response SOAR capabilities through its acquisition of Siemplify in January 2022.
Now, with the acquisition of Mandiant, Google adds the following:
l Mandiant Advantage platform for detection, response, validation and attack surface management
l The incident response services for which Mandiant is well known
l The Mandiant managed detection and response, MDR platform along with threat intelligence
Gartner does not believe that Google Cloud will expand further into the endpoint protection platform, endpoint detection and response space, by seeking to acquire an EPP, EDR player.
Previously, on a Gartner webinar, Mandiant laid out the strategy of the new Mandiant following the sale of the FireEye products business to STG.
Attendees heard the following:
l Mandiant would pursue a multivendor extended detection and response XDR strategy
l Mandiant planned to partner with everybody.
Mandiant management also mentioned its relationship with Microsoft Defender, where Mandiant wraps its MDR services around Microsoft’s endpoint security technology.
Subsequently, Mandiant made a few product announcements that could be compelling. One was the integration of attack surface management into the Mandiant Advantage Platform, and the other was the announcement of its alliance with SentinelOne, where Mandiant Advantage would be integrated with SentinelOne’s Singularity XDR.
Google Cloud has said that it is deeply committed to supporting the technology partners of both companies, including the endpoint ecosystem. This sounds like the strategies and partnerships Gartner clients heard about from Mandiant in November 2021 will be maintained, including the Microsoft endpoint partnership.
Google Cloud’s strategy is to enable customers to utilise their existing investments, regardless of where they might reside on-premises, Google Cloud Platform, other clouds, a combination and so on. Even if competing SIEM vendors do not want to partner, Google can run in parallel to those solutions, much like Microsoft Sentinel runs in parallel with existing SIEM solutions.
FRANK MARSALA VP Analyst, Gartner.
Google’s agreement to buy Mandiant will have an impact on a number of security segments
Mandiant’s services provide an excellent opportunity, should they pursue it, to add useful and sophisticated threat, strategic readiness, orchestration and workflow content to Chronicle. The ability to support poly cloud SIEM monitoring and threat detection via Chronicle and provide MDR services with Mandiant will challenge both SIEM and MDR vendors.
Vendor-delivered service wrappers are expected to increase as security product vendors are being asked to provide services on their products. According to Gartner, by 2025, more than 25% of technology vendors will offer a vendor-delivered service wrapper, up from 10% in 2021.
By acquiring Mandiant, Google Cloud gets to participate in the strong growth of the MDR segment. It is possible that the strong growth of MDR services, coupled with Google’s acquisition of Mandiant, could ignite additional consolidation of MDR pure-plays by other security vendors that may want to step up their MDR capabilities.
MDR is an extremely fragmented market and Gartner has noted well above 100 providers in our research and will likely remain fragmented, even with some consolidation, given the variety of MDR service delivery styles and the range of buyers in the market. ë
Excerpted and adapted from Gartner Invest Insight: Potential Implications of Google’s Acquisition of Mandiant, 24 March 2022.
Consolidation will continue to take place as organisations recognise the value of leveraging a platform-based approach to securing their infrastructure.
Google has always placed high importance on cybersecurity. This acquisition is further proof of how seriously Google takes security as they build and maintain one of the world’s most forward-thinking technology companies.
In addition to the $10 billion the company committed to advancing cybersecurity, they also have internal teams like Project Zero and initiatives like BeyondCorp that help shape the direction of the cybersecurity industry.
This is another consolidation of two major players in cybersecurity, which will continue to take place as organisations recognise the value of leveraging a platform-based approach to securing their infrastructure.
Google will be able to integrate Mandiant’s industry-leading threat intelligence to better protect its customers in both the consumer and enterprise.
This will strengthen Google Chronicle and its ecosystem of partners, so that customers benefit from an enriched threat intelligence dataset for extensive threat detection, incident investigation, response and remediation.
Threat intelligence and security research are critical to the advancement of cybersecurity and defense against threat actors.
Organisations that can provide security solutions backed by sizable threat intelligence datasets will always have the edge because they can proactively protect their customers as threats become present in the market.
Google Cloud has said it is deeply committed to supporting the technology partners of Mandiant and Microsoft
CrowdStrike recently launched its identity threat protection and log management solutions, to offer a 360-threat protection experience to our customers.
At CrowdStrike, the cloud-native platform incorporates protection of workloads using AI-powered next-generation anti-virus engine and builds detection and response capabilities. CrowdStrike recently launched its identity threat protection and log management solutions, to offer a 360-threat protection experience to our customers.
Today every organisation has shifted or is in the process of shifting part of its workloads to the cloud and this journey will only accelerate in the future. At CrowdStrike, customers are encouraged to future-proof security investments, by adopting cloud-native technology, that can cover workloads, whether hosted onpremises, in private or public clouds.
This ensures scalability and strong visibility into the organisation’s digital footprint, a key requirement in securing the modern enterprise. Remote work trends have accelerated adoption of collaboration tools and cloud solutions and rendered on-premises security such as firewalls and proxies less efficient.
The vendor’s threat intelligence and incident response services have been engaged throughout the year in responding to attacks related to ICS and OT environments. With everything that is happening in the world, CISOs responsible for OT environments can apply threat intelligence capabilities on top of their monitoring tools. Without proper sets of data such as strategic e-Crime and nation-state reports, relying merely on feeds of malicious IOCs, domains, URLs, will not be able to protect them from advanced cyberattacks.
The sheer number of vulnerabilities discovered last year in Microsoft software and the massive exploitation of vulnerabilities in SolarWinds software as well as the open-source library log4j2 have been a stark reminder that even the most secured environments can be penetrated via the Achille’s heel of software delivered through the IT supply chain.
CISOs are encouraged to invest in postexploitation detection and response technologies, as there is absolutely no way of being fully immune to supply chain exposure.
CrowdStrike helps to uncover threat actor activity regardless of their entry point and we are in the best position to help our customers close the security gap, by applying next-generation detection technologies, layered with 24x7 threat hunting service that monitors and alerts for unusual activities, across endpoints and networks, with record speed. ë
ROLAND
The vendor’s threat intelligence and incident response services have been engaged throughout the year in responding to attacks related to ICS and OT environments
Tata Communications is building a foundation for an Internet of Things in the Middle East through intelligent and sustainable smart city solutions.
Tata Communications has a strategic engagement with Zain Saudi Arabia to collaboratively fuel digital transformation journeys of enterprises and government organisations in the region by integrating our advanced technologies with their widespread network.
With this collaboration, the combined ecosystems will deliver solutions and platforms to remodel cities with smart street lighting, smart waste management, connected workplace, healthcare and connected cars.
Tata Communications is building a foundation for an Internet of Things ecosystem in the Middle East through intelligent and sustainable smart city solutions, integrated infrastructure, and collaboration solutions. Tata Communications offers solutions that are powered by stateof-the-art devices running on our dedicated network, along with the platform, applications and insights.
Smart city solutions are a focus for its IoT business which Tata Communications is leveraging to augment the country’s journey towards accelerated good governance. The bouquet of smart city solutions is enabling municipal corporations in the region to adopt innovative, scalable and sustainable governance solutions.
Tata Communications has a smart city vertical that delivers seamless end-to-end managed services experience for customers with orchestration that is agnostic across technologies such as GSM and Low Range Wide Area Network, and compliant with various hardware vendors. Tata Communications ensures professional project management and subsequent customer
lifecycle management with the help of Service Delivery and Service Assurance teams.
Tata Communications is committed to propel the digital transformation journey for customers in Saudi Arabia. Tata Communications has the support of a robust partner ecosystem in the country across Original Equipment Manufacturers, Regional System Integrators, Service Providers, Mobile Operators and Global System Integrators.
The synergies drawn from each unique partner seeks to deliver seamless experiences for end users and enable next-gen technological advancement for global MNCs. Tata Communications continue to expand and strengthen our capabilities and are also working towards becoming a full service, carrier neutral provider to the OTTs, large enterprises and MNCs in the region. The recent acquisition of Type B telecom license in Saudi Arabia is part of this endeavour. ë
Attivo solutions leverages machine language to create custom decoy network and identity assets and analytics to reduce the identity attack surface.
In the wake of the pandemic, organisations must consider implementing new security strategies to safeguard remote employees, secure their sensitive data, and protect against cyber threats. Attack surfaces have expanded dramatically with the shift toward remote work, putting identity at the forefront of security. Organisations must now defend identities across the enterprise with identity-based, least-privilege access programs and defences to detect attack escalation and lateral movement on-premises and in the cloud.
Attivo Networks Identity Detection and Response solutions help organisations implement identity-first security. The solutions provide exposure visibility, reduce the identity attack surface, and prevent and detect cyber-attacks.
IDC estimates that there will be 55.7 B connected devices globally by 2025. Increased connectivity means increased risk, and organisations with connected OT should be alert to these risks and have procedures to respond and remediate attacks.
The Attivo ThreatDefend Platform leverages machine language to create custom decoy network and identity assets and analytics to reduce the identity attack surface by revealing endpoint, and cloud identity risks and entitlement exposures. The platform uses machine language to profile every VLAN it can see, crafting custom decoy systems to mimic production assets.
It also profiles the threats to create decoy lures to seed at the endpoints. The Attivo IDEntitleX, ThreatPath, and ADAssessor solutions analyse exposures and entitlement risks and
endpoints, AD, and the cloud and remediates them to reduce the identity attack surface. Adopting cloud technology has increased the attack surface for attackers to exploit. One way to minimise the attack surface is through Cloud Permissions Management, CPM. The objective of CPM is to control permissions or entitlements to cloud assets. The Attivo Networks IDEntitleX solution combines CPM capability with insight into events in Active Directory or on corporate endpoints to derive a fuller picture of what is happening in a customer’s infrastructure and take remedial action across different domains.
The Attivo BOTsink solution provides continuous threat detection on Industrial Control Systems ICS SCADA devices used in critical infrastructure. The BOTsink server lures attack-
tics, techniques, and procedures.
Supply chain attacks leverage vulnerabilities to gain access to the target network. The Attivo Networks ThreatDefend Platform combats supply-chain attacks and related malware by deploying decoy systems and deceptive assets on the endpoints, including decoy credentials and fake file shares. It detects attackers stealing in-memory credentials or dumping passwords to steal and use the decoy credentials.
The Attivo Endpoint Detection Net suite includes the ThreatStrike solution, which provides deceptive lures to redirect attackers towards decoy assets or detect when they use decoy credentials in the network. The EDN suite also detects various memory dumping techniques attackers use to steal credentials.
ers to engage with decoys using deception technology, providing real-time detection of BOTs and advanced persistent threats APTs within the networks. These can also provide actionable forensic insight to study the attacker’s tac-
9 of 10 attacks leverage credentials and Active Directory is exploited in virtually every ransomware attack. Attivo identity security solutions have skyrocketed in sales and the company has made substantial investments this past year in field channel sales, technical, and marketing personnel so our partners can understand, address, and capitalise on this opportunity. ë
One way to minimise the attack surface is through Cloud Permissions Management
Carrying forward its legacy of the past eight years, The Future IT Summit and Catalysts Awards 2022 successfully held at Conrad Hotel, Dubai on 17th March 2022. The event brought together some of the major names of technology and included a series of insightful presentations, round table meetings, fireside chat, and incisive panel discussions on transform lives through innovation and emerging technology such as AI, CLOUD, BIG DATA and IoT, and futureproof for your business and organisation with the theme ‘#evolvetechnology - AI & CLOUD’.
The Future IT Summit 2022 event partners include Dell Technologies and Mindware; Zero & One and AWS; Epicor; HPE and Emitac; Logitech and Ingram Micro; Freshworks and VAD; Ingram Micro and NetApp; Pure Storage and teksalah; AMD, Automation Anywhere, SecureNet, HTP Global Technologies, Nakivo, Scality, Virsec, Finesse, Infoblox, Raqmiyat, and Sherpa Communications.
The event was started with an opening keynote by Ronak Samantaray, Co-founder and CEO, GEC Media Group and he extended a warm welcome to all the honourable guests and speakers with utmost gratitude for joining him in-person at FITS 2022.
THE SPEAKERS AND PANELLISTS INCLUDED:
l Hanan Huwair, Executive Director - Business Technology, Dubai Holding Asset Management
l Arul Jose Vigin, Head of Information Technology, DIFC Courts
l Charbel Zreiby, Channel PreSales Director MERAT, Dell Technologies
l Dr Tom McCarthy, Chief Technology Officer, ASPIRE
l Samer Semaan, Channel and Alliance Manager, ME, Pure Storage
l Basil Ayass, Industry Veteran
l Ehab Eid, Head of IT Operations and Infrastructure, Emirates Schools Establishment
l Sheridan Moodley, Group CIO, MASAFI
l Mohammad Qattash, Cluster Director, Information Technology, Fairmont the Palm
l Dinesh Chandra, Regional Vice President, Automation Anywhere
l Taufiq Rahman, Senior Director, Ecosystem Epicor
l Mohammad Al Jallad, CTO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa
l Elie Kamel, Regional Channel Lead, NetApp
l Arun Shankar, Editor, GEC Media Group
l Awais Bin Imran, Information Security Officer, Noor Takaful
l Kashif Rana, Group CIO, HSA Group
l Damir Jaksic, CIO Digital transformation, KEO International Consultants
l Ahmad Al Abbadi, Regional Sales Manager Gulf, Pakistan & Levant, Infoblox
l Loubna Imenchal, VP & Head of Logitech for Enterprise business AMECA Logitech Africa Middle East Turkey Central Asia
l Thomas Gigi Mathew, Group Head-IT & Digital Transformation, Ittihad International Investment
l Mario M. Veljovic, General Manager, VAD Technologies
l Debbie Botha, Global Chief Partnership Officer, Women in AI
l Yasmin Al Rawi, Artificial Intelligence Researcher and Trainer, Ajman university I wire connect
l Veronica Ustinova, CTO and Co-Founder at Theeye, Property Technology + AI
l Shameema Parveen, Co-Founder & CEO Edutech, Middle East & India
l Salma Awwad, Founder and CEO, Sawwad
l Zaid F. Ghattas, Commercial Lead, META AMD
l Manal Allam, IT Head, Merck Group Middle East
l Ali El Kontar, Founder and CEO, Zero&One
l Shrenik Jain, CIO, Senior Vice President IT, Siemens
l Debbie Botha, Global Chief Partnership Officer, Women in AI
As we look forward, there are even greater challenges for our world to overcome. The ongoing social, economic, environmental, and ethical issues we face are rather challenging to say the least. The issues are undeniably complex, yet if we confront them with tech-driven ambition, we can not only improve our lives but protect our interests and futureproof our business models against the disruption. There are many valuable lessons to be learned, and FITS 2022 was thrilled after collaborating with leading tech innovators and pioneers from across industry, as well as government bodies, and common interest groups.
The summit featured enterprise use-cases, inspirational keynotes, panel discussions, tech talks, artificial intelligence fireside chats.
THE SPEAKERS AND PANELLISTS INCLUDED:
Hanan Huwair, Executive Director, Business Technology, Dubai Holding Asset Management opened the 8th edition of The Future IT Summit and shared her thoughts and experiences.
FUTURE IT LANDSCAPE - THE LAUNCH OF A SPECIALISED COURT FOR THE DIGITAL ECONOMY BY DIFC
Arul Jose Vigin, Head of Information Technology, DIFC Courts spoke over ‘Future IT Landscape - The launch of a specialised court for the digital economy by DIFC’ and highlighted the DIFC Courts, Case Progression, Different types of wills; innovation timeline; Courts of the Future; What will you do if your Robo-Advisor fails or artificial intelligence fails and said, “there are enough number of solutions getting deployed and those solutions if go wrong, where do you change them and how do you fix that problem in terms of dispute. So, the solution for that was the launch of digital economic code.
Charbel Zreiby, Channel Pre-Sales Director MERAT, Dell Technologies talked about how we can help our customers simplify their edge so they can generate immediate, essential value where speed matters and briefed Edge empowers Industry 4.0 and beyond, 2021 analyst predictions, Use cases, Your experience the Edge every day, a tale of two trains - analytics and AL at the edge and said, “The edge, We are seeing massive interest and momentum, and a lot of business happening around the edge today.”
Dr Tom McCarthy, Chief Technology Officer, ASPIRE joined the FITS 2022 in person and discussed ‘21st Century Challenges and How Technology is Being Used to Solve Them’ and highlighted Industry 1.0 to Industry 4.0, Technology alters the way we answer existential questions, Food Security, Sustainable energy, Maritime Security and spoke over what technology can do for the challenges we have faced in the 21st century and challenges that it presents for business but also for the research performing organisation.
Samer Semaan, Channel and Alliance Manager, ME, Pure Storage enlightened the 8th edition of The Future IT Summit 2022 with ‘Future Data Experience’ and briefed Futuristic vision, We live in a new world of smart apps, virtual machines – VMS and said, “we have our software live workforce that is going to sit on any run, any application, any dynamic distribution, any infrastructure, not only through storage any infrastructure, any cloud at any stage whether its development production or pre-product any state that you have is going to provide storing the data which is going help back up and make a restorative copy in case of disaster and it gives you the mobility to move those development.”
Ehab Eid, Head of IT Operations and Infrastructure at Emirates School Establishment; Sheridan Moodley, Group CIO at MASAFI; Mohammad Qattash, Cluster Director Information Technology at Fairmont the Palm; Taufiq Rahman, Senior Director Ecosystem at EPICOR; Dinesh Chandra, Regional Vice President at Automation Anywhere; Mohammad Al-Jallad, Regional Manager at HPE joined an expert panel discussion on ‘Other than managing and taking the IT organisation to the highest level, how can CIOs truly drive innovation inside the enterprise’ which was moderated by the Basil Ayass, Industry Veteran. The questions discussed by the panellists included:
l As a CIO or lead IT manager how would you define innovation within the IT organisation. What are the factors that can facilitate or inhibit innovation inside the IT organisation? What gives you the best satisfaction in the innovation journey inside the IT organisation?
l In your experience and opinion as a CIO or, when you view an organisation and business from outside, what are the characteristics that strike you and make you feel an enterprise is innovatively using technology for business success?
l From an organisational point of view, please describe how business heads and CIOs can jointly drive innovation for improvement, market success and long-term commitment? Who is best positioned to lead the overall innovation journey of the enterprise? What are the drivers and facilitators of this journey? What gives you the best satisfaction in this innovation journey with business?
Elie Kamel, Regional Channel Lead, NetApp talked about Unleash the power of Data to successfully transform your IT and meet business demand and briefed Covid-19 catapulted transformation – Pre-Covid 19 priorities and Post Covid-19 priorities, what we believe about digital transformation and how they help organisations to build their data fabric to accelerate digital transformation and said, “one of the most disruptors that pushed the digital transformation is effectively the change in how business deliver the change of workflows. Currently I have signed a HVAC that will allow me to be a flexible worker meaning spending most of my time at home and rest a very minimal time at office.”
EXPERT PANEL: REDUCING COMPLEXITY IN YOUR SECURITY ENVIRONMENT AND SWITCHING TO AUTOMATION AS A SOLUTION TO SKILLS
Awais Bin Imaran, Information Security Officer at Noor Takaful; Damir Jaksic, CIO and Digital Transformation at KEO International Consultants; Kashif Rana, Group Head of IT at HSA Group; Ahmad Alabbi, Regional Sales Mngr. UAE, Levant, Pakistan, Bahrain at Infoblox; and Loubna Imenchal, Vice President and Head of Logitech for Enterprise Business AMECA at LOGITECH joined an expert panel on “Reducing complexity in your security environment and switching to automation as a solution to skills shortages” which was moderated by Arun Shankar, Editor, GEC Media Group.
The questions discussed by the panellists included:
l In your opinion, do you believe that increasing number of point solutions, expanding attack surface, legacy and siloed cyber security solutions, digital transformation, skills shortages, growing sophistication of threat attacks, are adding to the pain points and complexity for CISOs and the security organisation.
l In your opinion, have security vendors started innovating their solutions and products sufficiently with automation and intelligence, using artificial intelligence and machine learning, to reduce the above challenges of the CISOs and the security organisation, thereby improving their resilience to mitigate supply chain type of attacks and advanced threat attacks.
l Other than increasing automation and intelligence being built-into cyber security solutions from vendors, using artificial intelligence and machine learning, what are the other best practices that CISOs can consider preparing for current day and future day challenges, internally and externally.
Thomas Gigi Mathew, Group Head-IT and Digital Transformation, Ittihad International Investment shared his expertise over ‘A CIO Outlook to Technology Landscape in 2022 and Beyond’ at the 8th edition of the Future IT Summit and highlighted Top IT trends of 2022 and said that the technology has enabled us to do work from home during the pandemic and this is going to be the new normal. We are going to see this to be happen more and more and organisations are really looking to operate without a physical facility.
Mario M. Veljovic, General Manager, VAD Technologies discussed about, “Today what we see in the market is something which we call the physical and digital merger because today people want to have a seamless experience in order to achieve this and obviously have to team up with companies which are focused on this and who wants to actually drive the customer experience.”
Yasmin Al Rawi, Artificial Intelligence Researcher and Trainer, Ajman university I wire connect; Veronica Ustinova, CTO and Co-Founder at Theeye, Property Technology + AI; Shameema Parveen, Co-Founder and CEO Edutech, Middle East and India; Salma Awwad, Founder and CEO, Sawwad joined panel discussion and narrated their experience on ‘Benefits and challenges of integrating IT in an entrepreneurial strategy’ which was moderated by Debbie Botha, Global Chief Partnership Officer, Women in AI.
During the panel discussion they have talked about:
l Please describe in brief your business model and the role of technology and IT in delivering the business objectives. How much is technology and IT an integral part of your business. You can use any scale for scoring?
l How did you build the technology and IT strategy of your business? How comfortable are you with technology and IT? You can use any scale for scoring? Did you need to bring in a technology consultant to help develop your technology and IT strategy?
l If your technology and IT strategy is weak, would it have compromised your business success? Do you have any apprehensions about coping with technology and IT in the future? What is your recommendation for an entrepreneur for whom technology and IT is not a strength?
l As part of your business, which emerging technology or trend excites you about the possible benefits that it can yield for your business in the medium or long term?
Zaid F. Ghattas, Commercial Lead, META AMD spoke over ‘AMD Cloud Momentum: enabling boundless innovation and scale’ and said, “High performance computing and adaptive computing we focus on multiple areas. From an AMD perspective cloud is extremely important for 5G communication structure AI and analytics adaptive intelligence systems gaming is also important.”
Manal Allam, IT Head, Merck Group Middle East shared her knowledge on “How AI and IOT will advance medical devices and how this will improve people’s quality of lives” and highlighted the Rise of the machines in medicine, AI playground – Huge data sets; Next genetic sequencing, Surveillance of healthcare associated infections; Next Generation Radiology tools; and understanding disease mechanism and clinical research.
Ali El Kontar, Founder and CEO, Zero&One spoke over ‘5 Cloud Migration Pitfalls’ and discussed, “Don’t see it simply as a cure for your current data centre woes. Build it and they will come well and don’t bet on that. Don’t think of cloud migration as a big bang event for your organisation, and how to avoid pitfalls.
Shrenik Jain, CIO, Senior Vice President IT, Siemens narrated their expertise over ‘The Cloud Challenge’ and said, “We have people who are defining and deciding strategy for when you adapt to cloud who potentially know very little about cloud and this is where we as IT leaders come into the place to help them understand the pitfall.”
Debbie Botha, Global Chief Partnership Officer, Women in AI talked about ‘Delight your Customers and Super Streamline your Operations with a Cognitive Enterprise’ and explained how data and artificial intelligence travels through the cognitive enterprise, how to fall fast, learn faster to be truly data and artificial intelligence driven, Uncover the sweet spot of a Cognitive enterprise for a competitive advantage, address the importance of diversity and inclusion and how data and artificial intelligence travels through the cognitive enterprise.
The Future IT Summit 2022 also witnessed two roundtable sessions held by Epicor on the theme of ‘Creating Value Through Smart Processes’ and by Automation Anywhere on the theme of ‘AARI - Improve employee productivity with a cloud-delivered digital assistant for everyone’. The Epicor’s session was addressed by Sridhar Rajagopal, Senior Solutions Engineer, Epicor on ‘Unpacking smart processes, what they are, what do they mean to your business, creating value using smart processes and latest trends effecting businesses and Mario Foster, Group Chief Information Officer, Al Naboodah on ‘Digital Transformation Journey’.
On the other hand, Dinesh Chandra, Regional Vice President, Automation Anywhere shared his experience on businesses are always looking for ways to increase their competitive edge. Automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks with digital assistants results in better customer experiences, increased employee productivity, and decreased cost of operations for companies. Users of intelligent automation report improved average handle time, first call resolution rat, and customer retention rates as some of the advantages of an on-demand digital assistant.
The Future IT Summit and Catalysts Awards 2022 announced the winners of Catalyst Marketing, Catalyst CIO, and Top Ten Best IT Companies to Work with and Titans Badge of Honour.
The Vision of Titans states, ‘Not everybody makes it to The Titans…. But the Best’. The Titans ‘Badge of Honor’ is not an award that determines the capability, it is an Honor that echoes the supremacy of the CIOs. The Badge was bestowed to the Top 25 CIOs who made it to the Top Story of Titans in the year 2021-22 and the winners include Nagesh Ashwartha; Ashraf Salah; Saif AlSiskek; Roger Tabbal; Shrenik Jain; Abdul Rahman Jaroudi; Sunando Chaudhuri; MN Chaturvedi; Manish Bindra; Samit Jha; Umesh Moolchandani; Krishan Kant; Paul Robert; Mustansir Aziz; Eoin Daly; Antonio Campos; Qusai AlMaqdadi; Jayesh Maganlal; Sreejith Chakraborthy; Akash Lall; Gigi Mathews; Vibhin Vijayakumar; Vijay Jain; Kashif Rana; Eyad Kashkash; Shinoj Sebastian; and Mohammed Qattash.
The Catalyst awards puts forth the industry’s most coveted title and favourite awards ceremony of recognizing the trailblazers in the industry who have been uplifting the brand and reputation of their respective organisations in these difficult times with various cutting-edge initiatives, platforms and market-penetration and truly acting as ‘Catalysts’ in the ever-changing market landscape. This award ceremony included Catalyst CIO, Catalyst Vendor and Catalyst Channel categories and the winners were Arul Jose Vigin; Hamad Khalifa Al Nuaimi; Abdulla Ali Ahli; Abdalla Al Ali; Sreedhar Suragouni; Soheyl Kadjani; Hakam AbuZarour; Gogem Artug; Eyad Kashkash; Sreejit Chakrabarty; Sunil Kumar Nair; Dr Abdulla Nasser Alnoaimi; Hussain Saifuddin; Taha Tkito; Nawaf Mohamed Abdulrahman; Jaleel Rahiman; Bader Al Qubaisi; Pradeepkumar Nair; Manal Allam; Aliasgar Bohari; Muhamed Noufel; Sabin Subramannian; Najwa Hamzeh; Anish T Varughese; Samit Jha; Kashif R. Rana; Umesh Moolchandani; Mohannad Hennawi; Mustansir Aziz, Arnab Debroy; Aditya Kaushik; Mubarik Hussain; Ahmed Al Ahmad Fahad Deshmukh; Damir Jaksic; Jayesh Maganlal; Dinesh Kumar; Ayman Medakka; Fayaz Ahamed Badubhai; Hemanth Kumar Shetty; Karthikeyan Gurusamy; Vijay Jain; Gregory Naidoo; Vimal Rama Chandran; Madhukar Chaturvedi; Shrikant A. Kabboor; Manish Bindra; Ken Maas; Shinoj Sebastian; Vibin Vijayakumar; and Nithin Geo Thomas.
The winners of Catalyst Marketing Awards were Faraz Ali Khan; Tarannum Saqib; Maha Kibrit; Varsha Krishnamurthy; Rasha Islim; Mohan Babu Murugesan; Avinash Gujje; Francea Lobo; Aditya Puri; Kamlesh
McDonald.
The FITS 2022 also witnessed two special awards in the CIO Categories where Mario Foster has been awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award; Venkatesh Mahadevan with IT Person of the year and Techneplus has been awarded as ‘Emerging Company’ of the year.
The Top Ten Best IT Companies to Work for in 2022 is a one of its kind recognitions in the region for the IT Fraternity that would celebrate the ‘Exuberance’ of the people working in an organization. This special recognition felicitates and recognises both fast-growing and established companies in UAE that offers tremendous career advancement opportunities together with leading-edge employee perks and benefits and most importantly valuable employee engagement.
TP-Link MEA; Infoblox; Infinite Blue; Aptec- an Ingram Micro Company; Raqmiyat; AMD; Dell Technologies; ASBIS; NetApp; Bahwan CyberTek; felicitated as the ‘The Top 10 IT Companies to Work for in 2022’ by Tushar Sahoo, MD, GEC Media Group.
Lal; Ranim Atour; Neeraj Kumar; Suresh Venkataraman; Charline Fahed; Dev Mehta; Hassan Hamadani; Sandy Issa; Neethu Paul; Vishal Dogra; Rajeev Dutt; Nikhil Sangvi; Loubna Imenchal; Lena Halbourian; and Ben
Acer is offering a wide variety of powerful products with the latest technology to support flexi-working and maintain high productivity for employees in the region. Leveraged by their partnership with tech giants Intel and Nvidia, the product portfolio at Acer encompasses exciting features to help employees stay connected and productive anytime, anywhere.
As remote work becomes the norm, Acer is providing a range of products and features to make it easier for employees to adapt to new hybrid working models while overcoming some of its challenges and optimising productivity.
Acer TravelMate P2: TravelMate P2 is perfect for those looking to venture outdoors and away from the confines of a desk. The notebook amazes with vast capabilities, from its highly advanced Wi-Fi 6 which will provide the smoothest internet surfing and video conferencing experience with 5-times the speed.
Nitro 5: With varied options of Nitro 5,
customers can choose either a 11th Gen Intel i7 processor or an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU. This is paired with Nvidia’s RTX 30 Series GPU and a refresh rate of up to 144Hz which allows employees to conquer their in-game enemies and any last-minute work requests.
Acer Swift 1: For those who prefer being on the move, Acer’s sleek and affordable laptop Swift 1 offers an impressive design along with a tall 16:9 aspect ratio display, for an accessible and reliable workaround to a stationary desk.
Restlessness and desk fatigue are commonalities during busy work weeks; however, Acer has provided solutions such as ComfyView anti-glare filter making it easier to see in bright sunlight. In addition to that, the display allows for anyone to get work done better, as it makes the words and videos look crisper with sharp details and more colours. Acer’s Swift 1 is the optimal solution for any desk fatigue with its sleek and easy-to-carry small charger, while still giving a premium feel for its design overall.
Dataiku, unveiled the Dataiku cloud stack accelerator on Amazon Web Services — a new way of rapidly deploying and managing Dataiku’s data, analytics, and artificial intelligence platform on AWS. The new accelerator enables customers to quickly get Dataiku up and running on a secure AWS cloud computing environment in hours using three easy steps. Once deployed, everyone across the company, from data science to line-of-business teams, can access the easyto-use, low- or no-code Dataiku environment in their web browser to prepare datasets, build reports and dashboards, and create machine learning ML and AI models.
Seattle Seahawks is deploying Dataiku on AWS, building models, and creating insights in hours
The accelerator works with AWS so anyone can quickly and easily tap into the power of AI for their business. The accelerator allows companies to:
l S eamlessly access data stored on AWS with access to Amazon Simple Storage Service Amazon S3 and managed SQL services.
l Connect, transform, and analyse datasets from Amazon Redshift with Dataiku no-code visual data preparation or custom SQL code.
l Build and scale ML models using the latest Dataiku AutoML and code
l Use AWS machine learning services to include computer vision or text analytics in Dataiku projects.
l Operationalise and manage models with Dataiku MLOps, including pipeline and model monitoring, data drift detection and alerting, A, B testing, and model retraining.
l Use Dataiku Govern to reduce model risk with governance plans, approvals, and sign-off for model deployment.
l Dataiku includes the cloud stack accelerator at no additional cost.
New accelerator enables customers to get Dataiku up and running on AWS using three easy steps
Oracle announced availability of Multiple-VM Autonomous Database on Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer. Multiple-VM Autonomous Database enables organisations to create and run isolated, highly available Autonomous Database instances on Exadata Cloud@Customer systems that are also running non-autonomous Oracle Databases. This helps customers lower costs through better infrastructure utilisation and makes it easier for customers to adopt Autonomous Database. Multiple-VM Autonomous Database is available at no charge via an over-the-air update for existing Exadata Cloud@Customer customers.
With Multiple-VM Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@ Customer, organisations can set up isolated autonomous database environments for dev-test, staging, and production that implement different access rules, quotas, and availability policies to meet corporate governance requirements. Application developers have instant access to a self-service database application development platform that delivers mission-critical capabilities while supporting all modern data types, workloads, and development styles.
In addition, Multiple-VM Autonomous Database helps improve developer productivity by creating a private database as-a-service environment with auto-tuning, auto-scaling, and auto-management capabilities that reduce the amount of time and effort
required to deliver data-driven applications.
Leveraging Oracle Exadata infrastructure for performance, scalability, and availability, Multiple-VM Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer makes it simpler to deploy cloud-native and mission-critical databases. Exadata Cloud@Customer has been successfully deployed by organisations worldwide, including Algar Telecom, Caja Los Andes, Deutsche Bank, Lalux, MacMaster University, Maxim’s, MoMRAH, n11.com, and Texas A&M University to achieve cloud benefits faster with lower complexity, risk, and expense.
Customers across the globe have access to Multiple-VM Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer today via the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure OCI console and APIs. It provides a consistent experience with that of the Oracle public cloud but running on-premises in the customer’s data centre to satisfy data residency and security requirements.
Enterprise, access to the Java Management Service, and the flexibility to upgrade at the pace of their -
Oracle recently introduced Java Management Service JMS, a new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure OCI native service to help manage Java runtimes and applications on-premises or on any cloud. JMS delivers the information needed to manageagement Service is included for OCI workloads
Java 18 is the latest release under Java’s six-sive collaboration between Oracle engineers and other members of the worldwide Java developer community via the OpenJDK Project and the Java Community Process JCP. This provides aing continued performance, stability and security
ness across organisations and industries of all sizes.
Lenovo introduced customised IT infrastructure solutions for midsize businesses, with a complete series of easy-to-use solutions and services to help them achieve intelligent transformation and grow their business. Designed to help growing businesses, the suite of edge-to-cloud flexible IT infrastructure solutions includes new server, storage and service offerings that help organisations easily overcome resource limitations, optimise for remote work and accelerate innovation.
Leveraging Lenovo’s optimised servers, storage and services, companies can unlock more value and accelerate growth with remote work and hybrid cloud solutions. Lenovo’s expanded portfolio features new single-socket ThinkSystem V2 Servers, newly enhanced Lenovo TruScale Infinite Storage and a range of awardwinning services.
With robust reliability, the new ThinkSystem V2 servers provide a flexible, energy efficient and low-noise solution for constrained spaces inside and outside the data centre. The new single-socket ThinkSystem ST50 V2, ST250 V2 and the SR250 V2 servers offer companies simple solutions that are easily tailored for running their business, including support for business-critical applications in retail, manufacturing and financial services.
In combination with ThinkSystem servers, the Lenovo ThinkSystem DM5100F storage system is an award-winning affordable, feature-rich all-flash SAN storage solution that adapts to new workloads over time, allowing businesses to start small and grow, as well as manage data from the edge to the cloud.
Lenovo helps customers efficiently and simply manage their data and infrastructure solutions, using the built-in Lenovo XClarity management software. With Lenovo XClarity, companies have an easy-to-use dashboard that can standardise, simplify and automate IT management tasks, enabling systems to be configured in as little as three minutes and preventing up to 90% of service calls.
For companies that have remote and branch offices, enabling remote work is challenging. Lenovo TruScale for Hosted Desktops
enables remote workers to be productive with enhanced security from anywhere. To make it even easier, Lenovo offers Professional Services Tokens, which can be purchased for hourly increments of IT technical expertise and service support.
Historically, 43% of cyberattacks target small and midsize businesses. Of those that experience a security breach or cyberattack, nearly 60% go out of business. Lenovo’s solutions for business continuity help reduce the risk of downtime.
Lenovo offers ThinkSystem V2 servers with ThinkShield Security and award-winning ThinkSystem DM storage solutions with built-in automatic ransomware protection. For example, with Lenovo’s backup and recovery solution, businesses can help better protect themselves from security risks, data loss and unforeseen disruptions.
Trimble announced introduction of latest versions of its Tekla software solutions for constructible Building Information Modelling, structural engineering and steel fabrication management: Tekla Structures 2022, Tekla Structural Designer 2022, Tekla Tedds 2022 and Tekla PowerFab 2022. With the introduction, Trimble continues to advance the constructible process, which offers significant improvements in construction productivity, efficiency, and quality. The latest Tekla software supports sustainable construction and offers more automated and connected workflows across all project phases and stakeholders.
Building on Trimble’s dedication to sustainable workflows, Tekla Structures and Tekla Structural Designer now offer dynamic embodied carbon calculation functionality, for both the design and detailing processes, through an Embodied Carbon Calculator. This visual and dynamic calculations tool allows users to assess the environmental implications of their design choices live quickly and transparently within the Tekla software. Structural engineers can use it to compare different design options and their respective carbon loads.
Environmental professionals on design teams can also rely on Tekla’s existing integration with OneClick LCA’s purpose-built carbon calculator for Environmental Product Declarations EPD reporting. Combining constructible data from the Tekla software with One Click LCA and its extensive EPD database allows for the embodied carbon emissions of materials in a design—down to every nut, bolt, or rebar—to be calculated for their entire lifecycle.
Structural BIM software Tekla Structures version 2022 enhances the design-to-fabrication workflow with in-product intelligence to create fabrication drawings, reducing the time spent creating and editing drawings. For the concrete detailing industry, the new Tekla Structures introduces reinforcement rebar assemblies. Primarily used in Design for Manufac-
ture and Assembly DfMA workflows, this new feature solidifies the Tekla portfolio of automated element fabrication tools. Also new for the 2022 version of Tekla Structures is the inclusion of an Embodied Carbon Calculator extension, offering dynamic calculations and visualisation of the CO2 impact of structural design choices to Tekla Structures users.
The Embodied Carbon Calculator functionality that was already introduced for Tekla Structural Designer in 2021, has now been further enhanced for viewing, reporting and sharing of carbon data. By using Tekla Structural Designer, structural engineers can in the early schemedesign phase calculate the embodied carbon of various alternative proposals, optimising the design and materials to produce a low-carbon design. The related information is easy to communicate from within the software through reports, charts and data export.
To improve collaborative design-to-detailing workflows, the structural design software Tekla Tedds now allows for easy sharing of structural design information and documentation via the Trimble Connect® collaboration platform. The latest version also includes new calculations and updates to existing calculations for faster, more reliable structural element design.
Steel fabrication management software suite Tekla PowerFab 2022 solves a common engineering problem with enhanced nesting and material management for splicing and splitting. With a streamlined system implementation, new customers can enjoy a smoother migration path from their previously used fabrication Management Information Solution MIS to Tekla PowerFab. This helps avoid tedious manual work and supports taking the new system into use with confidence, as the data from past projects is automatically saved, as required. The software also provides improved visibility and control with a new shipping calendar in the web-based Tekla PowerFab Go.
IceWarp Middle East rolls out its special pricing offer where businesses can save up to 70% across plans. With Microsoft 365 expected to increase their pricing and Google announcing the end of G Suite legacy free edition, IceWarp’s family of applications becomes a highly sought after and lucrative option, especially with their transparent and reasonable, only pay for what you use model. The ability for users to mix and match plans makes IceWarp an ideal choice for enterprises of any size looking to minimise costs yet offer the best email and collaboration platform to its workforce across levels.
With over 50+ million users globally, IceWarp delivers an innovative all-in-one collaboration platform that offers real-time collaboration tools, simplified sharing options, and smooth integration of various virtual office functions in the interface users are used to.
IceWarp offers users the unique ability to use it alongside widely used enterprise collaboration software, so they don’t have to learn to work on a new interface but can enjoy the
savings and convenience that comes from it. With work communication giants increasing their prices, IceWarp is giving organisations an opportunity to offload full or a part of their requirements to its more beneficial and value for money platform.
IceWarp’s special pricing offer allows users to seamlessly switch from Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace or any other platform to IceWarp with the added advantage of paying for 12 months and enjoying 15 months of
subscription. Moreover, users can enjoy free migration of up to $3,000 as well as be able to customise subscription plans and save up to 70% on the total cost to their company. With local data centres in the Middle East, the brand provides round-the-clock, all-year local OEM along with 24 x 7 phone and email support to its customers. The plan includes Business email, Conferences, TeamChat and Documents, along with Web, mobile and desktop versions of IceWarp apps.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is expanding with 11 new compute, networking, and storage services and capabilities that enable customers to run their workloads faster and more securely at lower costs. New offerings provide customers with truly flexible core infrastructure services, automatically optimising resources to match application requirements and significantly reduce costs. Leading global organisations including Vodafone, Samsung Securities, GoTo and Cox Automotive on OCI to run all types of workloads, from microservices to AI.
With today’s announcement, OCI is providing customers with even more simplicity and flexibility so that scaling can be affordable and easy without painstaking re-writes.
OCI Compute gives customers the option to deploy on bare metal or virtual machines. OCI bare metal instances deliver high performance to enterprise applications, which gives customers maximum control and isolation.
Flexible virtual machines enable customers to maximise total cost of ownership from their workloads with features, such as flexible memory, sub-core burstable CPU, and preemptible instances, enabling them to tune and take advantage of compute elasticity so they consume only what they need. The ability to scale within a compute instance, as well as scale out by adding more instances, enables customers to gain elasticity without re-writing their applica-
tions and reduces the risk and costs of migrating to the cloud.
OCI Networking helps customers connect securely to OCI’s virtual cloud network VCN and dynamically create isolated, secure environments for their workloads. All necessary capabilities, including application firewalls, load balancing, and network peering have been streamlined to simplify provisioning and management.
In addition, flexible load balancing throughout the network stack enables customers to optimise their performance and costs. As a result, OCI Networking can handle global scale networking workloads with some of the lowest costs in the market.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure announces 11 new additions in compute, networking, storage for 2022
Dell Technologies has unleashed Dell PowerVault ME5, a series of three new entry storage models that are purpose-built and optimised for SAN and DAS environments.
The storage solution is poised to address a wide range of smallto-medium business SMB business challenges, including keeping pace with data growth, improving operational simplicity, supporting newer and higher value workloads and delivering business outcomes much faster. PowerVault ME5 does this with a modern software design that offers twice the performance, throughput, capacity and memory of its PowerVault ME4 predecessor.
Many SMB customers, like their enterprise counterparts, want to simplify their IT operations, reduce risk and deploy faster and more scalable storage platforms to keep up with modern applications and data growth. The new PowerVault ME5 arrays remain the simplest, most cost-effective way to meet their infrastructure requirements and desired outcomes. PowerVault ME5 is set to
help SMBs boost productivity and economic growth by improving their access to data and staying competitive.
PowerVault ME5’s design is highly suited to support a broad set of application workloads including High Performance Computing File Systems with BeeGFS, PixStore and NFS file systems, Safety and Security CCTV at the Edge, Microsoft and VMware Virtualisation, up to 500 Virtual Desktops, select Edge use cases Oil and Gas Exploration and Cloud Gaming and many more without compromising performance or availability SLAs.
PowerVault ME5 is also well suited for the Original Equipment Manufacturing OEM with its OEM-ready design. While PowerVault ME5 can be configured as an all-flash array, SMB customers will appreciate that PowerVault ME5 is an affordable hybrid storage choice for any of these application environments that don’t demand the low latencies of all-flash and NVMe - yet still necessitate important availability, reliability and security characteristics.
Infor, the industry cloud company, announced that Galva Coat Industries, a landmark plant in the industrial area of Abu Dhabi that produces a wide range of steel products, has selected Infor CloudSuite Industrial, a cloud-based, industryfocused, enterprise resource planning solution, to enable the digitalisation of the production process and delivery, in its effort to become the leading producer of lighting poles and guard rails across the region.
Based in Abu Dhabi’s Musaffah industrial area, Galva Coat was founded in 1995 and spe-
cializes in the design, engineering and manufacture of various steel products. Galva Coat has been the pioneer and the market leader in the field of lighting poles in the UAE and Middle East for 25 years. The organisation is widely recognised for its unmatched value system quality and relentless pursuit of excellence. Galva Coat uses highly sophisticated advanced technology, modern production facilities and skilled staff.
Galva Coat has decided to move its ERP forward to the cloud and away from a legacy on-premises version as a crucial part of its
digital transformation. After evaluating various options, the company chose Infor CloudSuite Industrial, powered by Amazon Web Services, to enable order management with CRM, planning, shop floor operations, time sheets management, supply chain including vendor portals and customer portals, finance and analytics.
By implementing the multi-tenant Infor CloudSuite Industrial, running on the Infor OS operating services platform and powered by AWS, Galva Coat is aiming to automate and integrate its production control systems and plant maintenance solutions and provide meaningful real-time analytics across operations to its senior management.
The deployment will start in April and is expected to go live before December. ITWare, one of Infor’s long-standing ERP channel partners in the region focusing on Infor’s CloudSuite solutions, worked closely with the Infor team during the entire presales cycle and will be leading the implementation efforts.
Alpha Pharma, a local pharmaceutical manufacturer with the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, and a part of the healthcare distributor Cigalah healthcare company in Saudi Arabia, has inked a partnership with global technology company SAP to enable its digital transformation as part of a wider business strategy.
The new partnership aims to streamline Alpha Pharma’s operations in the areas of finance, supply chain, logistics, production, and HR, while also aligning the organisation with the digitalisation goals of Saudi Vision 2030. Recognising the benefits of
a digitalised management approach, Alpha Pharma plans to deploy solutions including SAP S4HANA, SuccessFactor, Private Cloud
and the core offering of RISE with SAP to centralise and streamline a number of key business functions.
Established in 2017, Alpha Pharma is a subsidiary of Cigalah healthcare company with a direct investment of SAR 296 million. The pharmaceutical plant boasts the capacity to produce up to 1 billion tablets, 300 million capsules and 30 million bottles of syrups and suspensions per year that complies with international Current Good Manufacturing Practice cGMP standards. The plant also maintains high quality across manufacturing stages while focusing on continues improvement and minimal operator intervention.
MURAD AL-SAGGAF, General Manager, Alpha Pharma.
Cisco Saudi Arabia and Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The aim of the MoU is to develop a cooperation in field of digital transformation and explore ways to accelerate digital health services to patients, as part of SBAHC’s continuous efforts to contribute to the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 and creating a vibrant society.
Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City, SBAHC is a leading nonprofitable and worldwide healthcare institution providing special-
ised rehabilitation, surgical and medical services. SBAHC had served more than one million patients over the past years and developed the skill and know how that had made this institution accredited by the most prestigious and high-quality international accrediting bodies.
The MoU further foresees a collaboration between Cisco and SBAHC in the area of technology skills and capabilities in the digital domain as well as assessing the potential of deploying Cisco solutions.
Oracle announced that Information Systems Associates, a UAE-based provider of advanced technology solutions for global travel and aviation, has migrated its mission-critical systems to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to build a resilient business operation that can successfully manage fluctuating travel demands resulting from the pandemic.
ISA gains access to OCI’s unmatched elasticity and scalability to manage a highly seasonal travel reservation workload, drive cost effectiveness and boost operational agility. During the pandemic, as travel demand plummeted, ISA was able to reduce operational costs on Infrastructure with OCI, without compromising on performance and security. Following the success of this cloud adoption, ISA has initiated
a sustained upgrade of its IT infrastructure with OCI’s cloud native technologies and platforms.
Established in 2005 and headquartered in Sharjah, UAE, ISA is a leading information technology company specialised in the aviation industry. It provides customer assets with rapid deployment capability and low set-up costs, allowing companies in the airline, airport, travel, and tourism sectors to yield faster Return on Investment ROI while freeing up resources for further or alternate investment.
ISA plays an active role in the global aviation industry, which was severely affected by the pandemic. The need to migrate its core travel reservation application to a highly elastic cloud solution was vital to maintaining profitability and operational excellence.
NICK REDSHAW, Senior Vice President, Cloud, Middle East and Africa, Oracle.
Tech Mahindra announced collaboration with APPSLINK, a Global award-winning Oracle Partner specialising in Oracle Human Capital Management and Enterprise Resource Planning implementations. This partnership is aimed at addressing country-specific payroll coverage for Oracle SaaS Customers and focusing on standardisation, compliance, and statu-
tory requirements in payroll for organisations of every size and in countries where Oracle payroll localisation is not present.
Payroll7 is a state-of-the-art, cloud based localised payroll solution that is built on a rulebased engine. Payroll7 can co-exists with Oracle SaaS HCM modules as an integrated module. As part of the partnership, Tech Mahindra
Global technology leader, Epson, awarded Tatweer Educational Technologies, the technological arm of the Saudi Ministry of Education, for adopting Epson’s display solutions in Saudi Arabia, benefitting from innovative and immersive in-class technology solutions.
Epson’s continuous commitment to transform the education sector strongly supports the strategic partnership with TETCO, helping promote hybrid education development and launch of smart classrooms. With this strategic partnership, in line with initiatives including Saudi Arabia’s National Vision 2030, Epson successfully completed the supply and installation of 30K interactive projectors in 2019 as a part of Future Gate project. This will boost engagement and interactivity between students and teachers, enable hybrid learning, and strengthen the learning experience and outcomes for the youth.
Epson’s interactive display projectors help deliver education for in-person, remote and hybrid learning, where students can engage and interact. For example, Epson’s EB-1400 series have scalable screen sizes of up to 155 inches, helping every student get a clear view of the classroom.
and APPSLINK will leverage the combined strengths and collective core competencies of the organisations to help enterprises take better advantage of cloud payroll solutions. Tech Mahindra will bring its extensive Saas, PaaS, IaaS capabilities while APPSLINK brings its proven business expertise, valuable insights, and a long track record of enterprise-grade Payroll implementations & managed services.
Currently the localisation is available in majority of Asian, African, European countries. Leading NGO in Africa covering over 10+ countries run their payroll engine on Payroll7 solution implemented on Oracle HCM cloud by Tech Mahindra. This allows them to handle country-specific statutory, legal, and regulatory requirements while meeting their unique payroll needs for large workforce. The partnership will be offered as horizontal solution across industry verticals.
Tech Mahindra believes in DigitALL philosophy for comprehensive Business Transformation. Digital technologies catalyse the transformations – they humanise businesses by helping them think, sense, connect, communicate, secure and act better than before. As part of NXT.NOW framework, which aims to enhance ‘Human Centric Experience’, Tech Mahindra focuses on investing in emerging technologies and solutions that enable digital transformation and meet the evolving needs of the customer.
Infor, the industry cloud company, is expanding its presence in Saudi Arabia as it seeks to help organisations across sectors including industrial manufacturing, distribution, healthcare and automotive, digitally transform with industry-specific cloud solutions.
Saudi Arabia was the highest growth region for Infor Middle East Africa in FY21, and the company is expanding its workforce in the Kingdom across various business lines. This includes the appointment of Islam Elberimbali as sales director for Saudi Arabia in January to spearhead the firm’s growth, which will be key to achieving Infor’s target of tripling its business in the MEA region by 2025.
Saudi Arabia’s cloud market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate CAGR of 35.5% between 2021-2030 to reach a value of $10.5 billion in 2030, according to QuantAlign Research. This growing availability of cloud will be a boon for organisations in Saudi Arabia, which is encouraging digitisation efforts as part of diversification plans under Saudi Vision 2030.
But while cloud is a key pillar of digital transformation, organisations will also need to adopt specialised, industry-specific cloud-based software solutions to maximise the potential of their
Infor is already working with numerous organisations in Saudi Arabia, including Saudi Bugshan, Zahid Tractor, Hafil Transportation Co., AutoWorld and a growing number of premier car dealerships, on ambitious digital transformation initiatives.
AutoWorld, which is part of SEDCO Holding, a pioneer in auto leasing in the kingdom, recently completed its deployment of Infor CloudSuite Equipment and Infor People Solutions to help spearhead its digital transformation supported by Infor Consulting Services and running on Amazon Web Services .
Zahid Tractor, a Saudi Arabia-based Zahid Group company that supplies construction machinery and commercial vehicles, successfully deployed Infor M3 for Equipment to streamline and gain visibility across all departments in 2021.
Infor also works extensively with Saudi Bugshan, a conglomerate that comprises 47 companies. The organisation, which is involved in food & beverage, distribution & trading, healthcare, real estate, hospitality, education, and automotive, deployed solutions including Infor LN for manufacturing to provide a single integrated digital platform and help it transform and automate key business functions including human capital management, customer relationship management, finance, procurement, warehouse, and supply chain management.
Infor targets manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, automotive in Saudi with cloud solutions
Infor, the industry cloud company, announced that Geminite Cement Industries, one of the Middle East’s leading players in building materials production and distribution, has selected Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise, a powerful cloud-based, industry-focused, enterprise
resource planning ERP solution.
Geminite is part of the Gemini Group and is building the first fibre cement boards production plant in the UAE. The company chose Infor CloudSuite to empower its digital path to optimise delivery against a surging demand
for cement boards across the region. The UAE construction market is expected to reach a value of US $133.53 billion by 2026, according to research from Mordor Intelligence.
Khalifa Industrial Zone, Abu Dhabi KIZADbased Geminite Cement Industries is the manufacturing arm of Gemini Building Materials GBM. The company is one of the largest stockers and importers of building materials like gypsum plasterboards, false ceilings, drywall metals, and more, in the region, with a portfolio of renown global brands, such as Knauf, Gyproc, and Saint-Gobain products.
The company is in the final stages of commissioning its state-of-the-art process-based fibre cement boards facility, which is expected to commence production during the next two to three months.
By implementing the multi-tenant Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise, running on Infor OS powered by Amazon Web Services AWS, Geminite is aiming to automate and integrate its production control systems and plant maintenance solutions, removing the need for manual data entry.
Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise’s ability to capture data from across the business will enable management and operation teams to create production costing reports, giving a 360-degree view of the business, while raising efficiency across departments with a paperless, process-based approach.
Chief Executive Officer, Majid Al FuttaimLeisure, Entertainment and Cinemas, Ibrahim Al-Zu’bi, Chief Sustainability Officer, Majid Al Futtaim – Holding, and Renaud Capris, Chief Executive Officer, Enova.
The strategic partnership will ensure the implementation and maintenance of energy conservation measures ECMs related to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems HVAC, air handling units AHU and full control through Enova’s Hubgrade platform. Upon completion, VOX Cinemas will achieve a guaranteed utilities saving of 14.8% on its energy consumption baseline with a targeted annual saving of 1.3 GWh and the reduction of 305 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Enova, a joint venture between Majid Al Futtaim and Veolia and the regional leader in integrated energy and multi-technical services, has signed a new energy performance contract with Majid Al Futtaim Leisure, Entertainment & Cinemas, the region’s premiere leisure pioneer, for the implementation of a range of energy
conservation measures across two VOX Cinemas in the UAE.
Guided by Majid Al Futtaim’s sustainability strategy, Dare Today, Change Tomorrow, the EPC will reduce energy use by 14.8% year-onyear for the next six years.
The signing was attended by Ignace Lahoud,
After being piloted at VOX Cinemas Mercato Mall and City Centre Ajman, Majid Al Futtaim Leisure, Entertainment & Cinemas together with Enova will replicate a similar performance guarantee model in the next 12 months across various assets and locations across the UAE and wider region.
VOX Cinemas will achieve guaranteed saving of 14.8% on its energy consumption from Enova
The real digital winners will be those who embrace continuous transformation to maintain relevance and build competitive advantage faster than competitors.
channels to accommodate changes in demand, build innovation into the DNA of the business, and be ready to divert resources into new areas or challenges at the click of a button.
Digital transformation has dominated boardroom agendas in recent years, driving modern ways of working, new business models and enhanced customer value. In particular, the pandemic has accelerated many digitalisation initiatives as organisations have faced an urgent need to embrace remote working models and accommodate extreme shifts in demand.
The value of technology has been played out in full, making investment more justifiable, and boards much more bought in to the need for change. In parallel, cloud as a deployment model, along with modern API-led integration capabilities, have driven a step change in what is possible. Not only does the cloud facilitate greater scalability, security, and the ability for CIOs to invest in new technologies, but it allows data from across the entire organisation, including entities, to be consolidated to create in-depth, dynamic insights.
In turn this allows the art and science approaches to running a business to converge and deliver enhanced value in the process. But while change in this vein is of course hugely positive, there is a flaw.
This is because in most cases at least, transformation typically denotes a one-off event. A complete change in someone or something according to the Oxford dictionary, transformation is typically tied to a single event, or series of events which are linked to the same goal.
In digital terms, this often takes the form of a one-off project, such as new ERP, or series of projects forming a wider programme focused on overhauling the customer experience, which takes an organisation from one place to another.
While digital transformation is undoubtedly a crucial means of modernising, expediting decision-making, and using innovation and creativity to enhance both experiences and financial performance, if the transformation simply ends following go live of the underpinning technology, the benefits will inevitably diminish over time.
To maintain a true digital environment which has the resilience, scale, and flexibility to adapt to change, mitigate risk, and navigate market uncertainty, a one-off transformation is simply not going to cut it. We are operating in an economy which is evolving at a pace never experienced before, and new industries and job roles are emerging all the time in line with this.
Against this backdrop, companies need to continuously explore new business models and
Many businesses would be candid enough to admit that this represents a huge step change in the way planning is undertaken. But to create the kind of digital culture necessary to thrive in the modern economy, transformation must be perpetual.
While this might seem like an oxymoron, it is an approach grounded in fostering the right environment, rather than a focus on selecting the right technology. This shift from digitalisation to perpetual transformation requires the right talent management approach, skills, dedicated investment and vision, not just for the short, but the long term.
There is a good reason Amazon is frequently cited as a good example of a company which embodies this approach. In the company’s words, at Amazon, innovation does not take place during a moment in time, like a hackathon or an incubator, it takes place as part of everyday work. In practice, every meeting and decision made, ensures the customer is vigorously advocated for to earn trust and underpin the company’s ambition to constantly improve the customer experience.
Part of this ambition means constantly inventing for customers, being externally aware, and looking for new ideas outside of the company, not being limited by not invented here caveats. Framed within the core value of long-term thinking, something which has been cemented within Amazon since its inception,
the innovator continually refines, and improves its offerings based on customer feedback.
For majority of enterprises continuous transformation must start somewhere, and typically, this will be the kind of business transformation project we have witnessed in recent years. But savvy, forward-looking companies are building in a means of developing, reviewing, and investing in processes, practices and systems which ensure capabilities are continually updated to reflect the changing demands and nuances of that particular business as it grows, and in line
with the fast-paced nature of markets today, can change direction as needed.
The pandemic has had long term effects on businesses, testament to which is a recent survey of manufacturers which pointed to an acknowledgement that the manufacturing industry will never go back to the way it was pre-pandemic.
While the report highlights that 95% of those surveyed have concerns about their current supply chains, a further 91% having increased their investment in digital transformation by
way of response, and as a result are hoping for a faster, greener, more resilient future.
Continuous transformation is, without a shadow of a doubt, the future, and in order to stay one step ahead, creating a transformational culture must be a priority. Through challenging the status quo to review and refine the customer experience and evaluate both the operating model and information available to facilitate it, organisations will build models centred around agility, speed, scale and resilience.
In years to come, digital transformation might be the buzzword we associate with the digital revolution that we are all living through currently. However, the real digital winners will be those who embrace continuous transformation as an ethos to maintain market relevance, adapt to change and build competitive advantage faster and more tangibly than their competitors. ë
ALSHAMI Vice President, Solution Consulting, Infor Middle East and Africa.
We are operating in an economy which is evolving at a pace never experienced before
As you might expect in such a nascent and rapidly evolving area of technology, most organisations are still at the very earliest stages of their journey to full-stack observability. The latest report from AppDynamics, The Journey to Observability, reveals that a large majority of technologists across the Emirates continue to rely on multiple, disconnected tools to monitor IT availability and performance across the IT stack.
And while these current solutions are doing an important job in allowing technologists to identify issues and take appropriate action within a specific domain, the lack of connection and interoperability between these tools means that IT teams simply cannot understand dependencies up and down the IT stack.
However, while it may sound like this report paints a gloomy picture, the reality is quite the opposite. UAE technologists have made fantastic progress with their plans for full-stack observability over the past 12 months and the vast majority are feeling incredibly optimistic about what they can deliver in 2022.
2021, the year that full-stack observability truly took off
Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the past 12 months is the fact that more than half 55% of UAE businesses have now started out on the journey to full-stack observability, and another 38% are planning to do so in the next 12 months. That means that a staggering 93% of regional organisations will be somewhere along the journey to full-stack observability during 2022.
After a great deal of discussion about the need for technologists to have greater visibility into availability and performance across their IT estates over recent years, 2021 was the year that the talk turned to action. Technologists across all sectors have been building out their monitoring capabilities and bringing together existing tools to generate a more
consolidated view on IT availability and performance across their IT environment.
The arguments for full-stack observability are widely understood. Increased complexity of IT infrastructure, soaring customer expectations for exceptional digital experiences, and heightened concerns about the potential impact of an IT outage are all reinforcing the urgent need for technologists to have a unified view on IT availability and performance across their IT environments.
Added to this, an increase in the deployment of microservices and container solutions has highlighted the need for technologists to be able to monitor cloud native environments alongside legacy on-premises architecture.
Full-stack observability provides technologists with unified, real-time visibility into availability and performance up and down the IT stack for compute, storage, network and public internet, from customer facing applications through to back-end infrastructure.
It enables IT operations teams to quickly and easily identify anomalies, understand dependencies and fix issues before they impact the end user. And when this performance data is linked to business metrics, technologists can assess issues and prioritise their actions based on business impact.
Importantly, the research suggests that the need for this type of observability is now being understood beyond the confines of the IT department. 96% of technologists state that appetite for full-stack observability within their organisation has increased over the last 12 months. And remarkably, almost all 99% UAE technologists report that the wider business has been supportive of their efforts to implement full-stack observability, in terms of providing the necessary budget and resources.
The accomplishment of the past 12 months is the fact that more than 55% of UAE businesses have started out on the journey to full-stack observability.
Technologists are starting to escape constant firefighting of trying to identify and fix performance issues
Encouragingly, technologists are reporting some very good results from their efforts over the past year. 94% of UAE technologists delivered some level of improved visibility across their IT stack in 2021. And within these organisations that have made progress, technologists are able to point to a broad range of benefits.
For a start, greater visibility into IT availability and performance means that technologists are not having to spend so much time trying to identify anomalies and understand dependencies up and down the IT stack. This is boosting productivity and reducing operational costs in the IT department. Having more unified data is also enabling closer collaboration between teams.
But perhaps the biggest benefit, certainly for regional technologists that have been working long hours under relentless pressure
throughout the pandemic, is the fact that they are starting to escape the constant firefighting of trying to identify and fix performance issues before they impact end users. All of a sudden, they are finding time to take a step back and think strategically; they are beginning to focus on more fulfilling, higher-value work that can really drive the innovation agenda and deliver competitive advantage for their organisations. Technologists primed to realise their fullstack observability vision
On the back of these positive results, technologists across the Emirates are feeling positive about their progress to date and confident about what they can achieve in 2022. They recognise that the transition to full-stack observability is a complex, multi-stage journey that takes time and sustained effort, and they are aware that there is still work to be done.
JOE BYRNE Executive CTO, AppDynamics.
However, there is a widespread feeling that the momentum organisations have built up over the last 12 months can catapult them forward into 2022 and beyond. 95% of UAE technologists report some level of confidence that their organisation will reach its full-stack observability goals in 2022.
What the progress of the last 12 months has done more than anything else is give technologists, and wider business stakeholders, a glimpse of what true full-stack observability will bring to their organisations. They are seeing how unified, real-time visibility into IT availability and performance can be a springboard for delivering market-leading digital experiences and creating true differentiation in a digital world.
Regional technologists see 2022 as a pivotal year in their transition to full-stack observability and they are excited about the impact they can have. Indeed, they feel the shift to full-stack observability will be transformational for their business.
Organisations may still only be taking their first steps on the journey to full-stack observability, but they are determined to claim the game-changing benefits that await them when they reach their final destination. ë
To reach new performance highs, engineers are taking a heterogeneous approach, consisting of integrated CPUs and GPUs and iterative optimisation.
Technologists have now found innovative ways to overcome challenges to usher in what is being called the exascale era of computing. An exascale system is one that can perform a quintillion floating-point operations per second FLOPS. That’s a billion billion or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 - which means exascale machines can solve calculations five times faster than today’s top supercomputers, and also run more complex, higher precision models.
To reach these new performance highs, engineers are taking a heterogeneous approach, consisting of integrated CPUs and GPUs and iterative optimisation of both hardware and software in order to reach new levels of performance and efficiency at a lower cost per FLOPS.
Nowhere is this better demonstrated than with the Frontier supercomputer being developed at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility in the United States, which is set to make history as the world’s first operational exascale supercomputer when it is switched on
later this year.
The machine, which will accelerate innovation in science and technology and help the US maintain leadership in high-performance computing and AI, is powered by 3rd-gen EPYC CPUs and Radeon Instinct GPUs and will deliver more than 1.5 exaflops of peak processing power. There is an even more powerful Exascale-class system, called El Capitan, anticipated to be built at Lawrence Livermore National Labs in 2023 in the United States.
Japan was first to market with its own FUGAKU 1.42 exaflops peak performance supercomputer and China is reportedly operating a less publicised Sunway Oceanlite 1.32 exaflops peak performance system.
Europe is taking a more collaborative approach with the government-funded European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, which was initiated and pursued by the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe. The initiative pools resources to fund world-class integrated European high-performance computing and data infrastructure
and support an innovative supercomputing ecosystem.
The continent’s supercomputing efforts is also bolstered by Horizon Europe, a seven-year European Union scientific research framework that is investing nearly €80 billion to fuel discoveries and world-firsts, including the development of EU-based exascale machines.
Take the Hawk supercomputer, currently the 24th system in the Top 500 list of world’s fastest supercomputers, installed at the University of Stuttgart HLRS. This machine - an HPE Apollo 9000 system with 5,632 nodes spread across its 44 cabinets, each node carrying EPYC CPUs - delivers around 26 peak petaflops of performance. HLRS is enabling customers in the automotive segment to run structural analysis and fluid dynamic simulations.
There’s also Lumi, a pre-exascale machine located at the IT Centre for Science CSC in Kajaani, Finland that demonstrates the power of this next era of supercomputing. Lumi, which utilises similar technology as Frontier with its custom EPYC Trento CPU and four Instinct MI250X GPU accelerators per node, will be capable of executing more than 375 petaflops or more than 375 million billion calculations per second, with a theoretical peak performance of more than 550 petaflops per second.
What makes pre and exascale machines particularly interesting is a memory coherency. This technology, not yet available to the general market, means there is a single copy of data accessed by both the CPU and GPUs, without the need to keep separate copies for each. This, in turn, reduces overhead programming, improves performance, and frees up system resources, helping bleeding edge systems like Lumi to run more efficiently.
Lumi also boasts innovative free cooling technology, which enables waste heat to be utilised in the district heating network of Kajaani, further reducing costs, and CO2 footprint. This technology is anticipated to reduce the entire city’s annual carbon footprint by 13,500 tons – an amount that equals the output from 4,000 passenger cars. ë
Thanks to this massive computational capacity, the machine – which already ranks amongst the world’s top supercomputers – is enabling European researchers to solve problems across different areas, from weather and cybersecurity through to drug discovery and personalised medicine. It is making breakthroughs in the area of climate change too; Lumi enables climate scientists to run high-resolution climate models, which can provide better insights for climate impact studies.
The continent now wants hardware that exceeds the performance of the world’s fastest Fugaku supercomputer in Japan. It is an ambitious and complex project and will take time, which is why the current democratisation of high-performance computing is so important. It would require continuous focus and investments from multiple European nations to develop home-grown hardware, tools and scalable software if Europe is serious about operating its own, exascale class systems.
Supercomputers, also called computational or parallel clusters process complex simulations by splitting compute problems into smaller jobs, simultaneously running on multiple server nodes, interconnected by one fast network. The price-performance of such systems is constantly improving, helping to make high performance computing more affordable.
Nowadays a compute problem that would take weeks to process on a multi-million-euro system twenty years ago can be accomplished in just a few hours on a single server, equipped with compute GPUs.
The hardware architecture with multiple computational GPUs used today in high performance computing space has many similarities with AI and ML implementations, and the intersection of the technologies is also bringing more advanced AI solutions to the mainstream, with high performance computing potentially enabling training models on ever larger datasets to optimise compute cluster use.
From 2002 to 2009, supercomputing performance doubled almost every 12 months. However, this rate dropped to every 2.3 years from 2009 to 2019, which has been credited to several factors such as the slowdown in Moore’s Law and technical constraints such as Dennard scaling.
What makes exascale machines interesting is memory coherency
Infobox’s Ranim Atour shares her thoughts on marketing as a career and passion, role of diversity, and the impact of hybrid work, with Enterprise Channels MEA.
Why have you pursued marketing as a career?
Marketing excited me because it allowed me to pursue my passion in connecting with people, owning campaigns and projects while collaborating with other shareholders in the organisation, like sales, channel, solution architect, and others; and is a main contributor to the organisations’ sales and generated pipeline.
[EC]
I felt that this career path suits my personality and energy. A marketing career is cool and fun, it involves a lot of creativity, being a trendsetter, understanding the customer’s behaviour, monitoring market trends, and meeting the market’s needs.
Marketing is a dynamic role, you keep accelerating your skills and knowledge and facing new challenges every day, which is exciting! Add this to the cybersecurity world that is essential in todays and future business needs; I think this mix is great. The marketing career path, especially in cybersecurity is tremendously motivating and very rewarding.
[EC]
Being a woman in technology, what advise do you have for anyone considering a career in the industry?
Look for a diverse network. Diversity can help a person grow on so many levels, everyone in your network has an influence on you, whether directly or indirectly, especially when they have a different viewpoint than you, there so much to learn from everyone around you.
Look for opportunities that you feel confident taking on, and always start on positive ground. Keep the positive vibes even when things do not work out, mis takes are a learning experience.
Lastly, do what you love, it is much more fulfilling to find a job that keeps you interested, and you are passionate about, rather than choosing a career path because it feels like a safe choice.
Studies show diverse teams are more productive. Today, many organisa tions are adopting the modern mindset that emphasizes bringing fair ness to the game and ensuring society’s representation is accurate in the work world, particularly in the cybersecurity space. I believe that building an equal-opportunity culture isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also the smart thing.
It’s very interesting how much a person can learn from diversity. I know this as I
experienced it through the past years of my life, where I have had the opportunity to live in Germany, France, Turkey, UAE, and Jordan, which allowed me to grow on so many levels. I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to live in different countries that gave me a huge cross-cultural background, which is much needed to grow in today’s world.
[EC]
You recently won the Catalyst Award for Best Competitive Marketing Strategy. How do you feel about that?
I am very proud of the accomplishments and the campaigns I’ve worked on within this year, and happy to see that all the efforts are paying off! It has been a great year on all levels, I am super glad to see some of the campaigns I have introduced, like The Deep Dive in Dubai, is a trendsetter campaign and many players in the market followed our lead.
[EC]
Do you consider yourself to be a powerful woman?
I see myself more as a woman of influence and strength! ë
“I SEE MYSELF MORE AS A WOMAN OF INFLUENCE AND STRENGTH,”
Tenable’s Bridgett explains what makes the vendor different leading to recognitions of Best Company Culture, Best Company for Diversity, amongst others.
There is nothing culturally different between cybersecurity, IT or any sector for that matter. It is more about progressive organisations versus those that hold a more rigid or traditional view of the workplace and employees within that.
The pandemic has forced many organisations to reconsider this stance, particularly as many had to shift to accommodate work-from-home mandates globally. The standard approach of desks within a physical building has been replaced by a hybrid workforce, able to work from anywhere. The biggest challenge for most has been how to secure this fluid and, in most cases, eroded perimeter.
Diversity empowers us to achieve greater creativity and innovation, allowing us to think outside the box, and drive innovation that allows us to grow closer to our customers, partners, and communities.
We recognise there is no perfect candidate, in terms of experience or expertise, it is the person that matters most. The approach is to look for people that have the same values and who will thrive as a member of the team.
The challenges for cybersecurity companies mirror that of IT, and other sectors. Tenable has an expansion plan for the year ahead, in terms of headcount, so attracting and retaining the best talent is important to us. But it is more than that.
The culture at Tenable is one where every employee feels seen, valued, welcome and has a sense of belonging. Like many, we have adopted a hybrid working policy giving each and every employee the freedom to do their best work, unhindered by the confines of a physical office or desk.
We invest in our people, with each employee given access to professional development activity funding and tuition bursaries that can be used to further their careers. We want our people to feel confident in their ability and performing at the top of their game, which we know will make them attractive to our competition, and we strive to make everyone feel recognised, empowered to be their best, and competitively remunerated so they don’t want to leave Tenable.
We seek to cultivate our diverse and inclusive workforce, building an environment that we believe helps us all achieve exceptional business results. To do this, we offer a number of internal employee resource groups.
These groups offer a space for employees with a shared connection to come together and learn from each other. They also provide opportunities for our employees to learn about the uniqueness of other cultures and things we might share in common.
We strive to be a career destination where employees from all backgrounds are
welcome and empowered, treated with fairness and respect, presented with opportunities to make a difference, and provide opportunities to grow.
We do not have tools to monitor and track employee life, but we do offer tools and resources that our employees can access anytime they feel they need a boost or helping hand.
We believe that mental health is a critical part of overall health and wellness, and it is important employees feel their best so they can continue to do their best, so we offer resources to help our team plan how they can make mental health a top priority.
Our Employee Assistance Program offers specialised assistance to help manage many of life’s complexities by supporting mental, physical, social, and financial well-being.
Around the tenable community, we have a number of peer-inspired initiatives, including a Peloton Slack channel, running and walking groups, and other opportunities for like-minded individuals to get together and network. ë
“WE RECOGNISE THERE IS NO PERFECT CANDIDATE, IT IS THE PERSON THAT MATTERS MOST,” BRIDGETT PARADISE, TENABLEBRIDGETT PARADISE Chief People Officer, Tenable.
Software intelligence company Dynatrace announced the appointment of Jawad Toukna as the new Regional Director for Middle East. The Dubaibased executive brings 20 years of IT experience to the role where he’ll focus on propelling Dynatrace’s expansion in the region, while building a scalable, collaborative work environment.
Dynatrace is expanding operations to the UAE to meet escalating regional demand for software intelligence at a time when organisations continue to digitally transform and migrate to dynamic multiclouds. Jawad’s extensive background in sales and driving strategic business growth will be highly valuable to Dynatrace as it continues to scale business operations globally. In his previous role, Jawad helped drive strategic go-to-market programs and alliances partnerships for the MENA region of Forcepoint.
Axon Technologies appoints Alain Kallas as Senior Director, Cyber Services
Axon Technologies announced appointment of Alain Kallas as Senior Director, Cyber Services. As part of the company’s leadership team, Alain will help expand Axon’s business, and drive sales in the UAE and globally. Leading customer engagements and upselling to existing strategic accounts and channel partners, Alain will also work closely with Marie Ange, Axon’s Channel and Presales Manager, on key strategic channel accounts. He will help the company identify and win major deals and steer Axon into the next phase of growth and maturity. A key part of his job role also involves engaging with other team leaders inside Axon on how to bridge the gap between sales and delivery.
GoDaddy
Blatform, the world’s first Business as a Service platform powered by blockchain technologies and cryptocurrency, announces that Selina Bieber has been appointed to its Advisory Board as an independent advisor.
Selina is the General Manager for GoDaddy in the MENA region, where she drives regional growth through key marketing and business investments, in parallel to defining and enhancing the regional GoDaddy offering to meet local customer needs. Having launched several markets for GoDaddy, Selina will bring critical go-to-market experience to the Blatform business to support initial platform launches and broader international growth.
Cloud Box appoints Shahid Alam Bhatti to manage projects and delivery of services
As part of its regional expansion plans, Cloud Box Technologies, announced appointment of Shahid Alam Bhatti as Head of Projects and Service Delivery. In his new role, Shahid will provide leadership to the company’s technical development teams and on time project completions to valued customers.
As a seasoned program and project management professional, Shahid brings with him extensive experience with managing national and multi-national programs and projects across functional departments and stakeholders. He has delivered multiple projects for public and private sectors in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Adam Towns who led Mimecast through its 2015 IPO, joins Dataiku as CFO
Dataiku, announced appointment of tech veteran Adam Towns as Chief Financial Officer. Towns, who previously took Mimecast through its successful IPO and oversaw a 15-fold increase in revenue, joins a rapidly scaling company with 60% year-over-year ARR growth, surpassing $150M in ARR.
“The demand will only continue to grow to empower anyone to run successful AI to make better decisions, solve complex problems, and run businesses more efficiently,” said Towns. “This massive market potential, combined with Dataiku’s already outstanding track record, culture, and team, made it an easy decision to come on board.”
Forescout appoints Ihab Moawad as Regional Vice President of META
Forescout, announced appoint ment of Ihab Moawad as Regional Vice President of Middle East, Turkey and Africa. In this role, Moawad will expand Forescout’s regional presence and investment to better serve organisations and government agencies as they navi gate the challenging cybersecurity threat landscape.
TRANSFORMATION IN SECURITY
TRANSFORMATION IN NETWORKING
TRANSFORMATION IN BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
TRANSFORMATION IN IT & COMPUTING
JULY-NOVEMBER 2022
#L
WHERE TECHNOLOGY IS BORDERLESS, AMBITIONS ARE FEARLESS, AND LEADERSHIP IS LIMITLESS
