Enterprise Channels MEA April 2018

DELL EMC AND APTEC AT FITS 2018 / 08

PA G E S 5 6 VOLUME O5 | ISSUE 09 APRIL 2018 WWW.EC-MEA.COM

FUTURE IT

SUMMIT 2018

DECODING THE FUTURE

Held under the patronage of The Ministry of Economy, UAE, the event brought together over 150 C-level execs and key decision makers from the region, setting a new benchmark in decoding the digital capabilities of GCC.. / 28

AUSTRALIA AZERBAIJAN BAHRAIN BOTSWANA CANADA CHINA EGYPT GHANA INDIA

INDONESIA IRELAND KAZAKHSTAN KENYA MALAYSIA MAURITIUS MOROCCO NEW ZEALAND NEPAL

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PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES

NETHERLAND NIGERIA OMAN RUSSIA SAUDI ARABIA SCOTLAND SINGAPORE SRI LANKA SOUTH AFRICA

50 QUALIFYING ROUNDS

3,700 C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES

SWITZERLAND THAILAND TURKEY UAE UNITED KINGDOM US ZIMBABWE

EPICOR CUSTOMER EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2018 / 38

PA G E S 5 6 VOLUME O5 | ISSUE 09 APRIL 2018 WWW.EC-MEA.COM

WORKPLACE ON THE

Go mobile or go obsolete. This is the reality that modern enterprises are faced with. / 24 SCR E E NCH ECK: CHAM PION I NG DISTR I B UTION DYNAM ICS /21

INDIAECM012018

‘GO’

EDITORIAL

A Step Close and a Step Closer

ANUSHREE DIXIT A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R A N U S H R E E @ G E C M E D I A G R O U P. C O M

April is indeed an interesting month for us! In this month, we look back to a month before with great pride and we look forward to a month ahead with great anticipation.

The Future IT Summit 2018 that was held on 14th March at The Burj Arab Hotel in Dubai, UAE was successful in setting yet another benchmark in the IT ecosystem with an amazing array of presenters, delegates, partners and sponsors. We are immensely thankful to the Ministry of Economy, UAE for playing a pivotal role in leading the event to such a big platform, as well to the valuable sponsors of the 2018 edition. If I have to summarize the event in one line, it was all about ‘Digitization’. Regardless of fact that the presentation came from the vendor, VAD, SI or Government; it talked about how digitization and human-machine partnerships are playing a key role in determining the functioning of a business today. From robotics, to data analytics and from AI to blockchain driven economy the event was rich in its mature content and helped the audience move a step close to reality and what living in a digital world means.

Moving to May, Enterprise Channels MEA would be presenting its debutant CIO 200 on May 10, 2018— A never-seen-before CIO Awards Roadshow and TECHtalk in the META region. The event is all set to put on stage some eye-opening cases as Vendors/Solution providers gear up to stand the test of end users in a lively and one-of-a-kind talk show. A step closer to bridging the vendor-end user gap. Stay tuned to more updates from the team running towards the event.

The April issue of the magazine is a ‘gala’ issue for us that features some key stories and interview around future-looking solutions that delve into the essence of borderless enterprises, thinking machines, UAE’s digital roadmap and some interesting case studies to add to the flavor of the month. Also, do have a look at the key highlights from the Storage360 Roundtable that was held in association with Toshiba, in KSA and UAE on page 46.

Hope you all had a great Q1!

Happy Reading ! ë

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CONTENTS VOLUME 05 ISSUE 09 APRIL 2018 W W W. E C - M E A . C O M

2018 COVER STORY

WORKPLACE ON THE

‘GO’

Go mobile or go obsolete.

This is the reality that modern enterprises are faced with. /24

INTERVIEW /21

CHAMPIONING DISTRIBUTION DYNAMICS FAISAL MOHAMMED, GM OF SCREENCHECK MIDDLE EAST.

INTERVIEW /40

HOW RELEVANT IS ISO27001 FOR GDPR? ROB VAN STRATEN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, EMEA & APAC, SAI GLOBAL TOSHIBA ROUNDTABLE /48

INNOVATIONS /43

PURE STORAGE AIRI

Enterprises will tap the power of AI for faster innovation and a competitive edge.

Yet AI requires a completely new infrastructure, and its complexities are holding enterprises back from moving into the new era of intelligence.

Architected by Pure Storage and NVIDIA,

FEATURE STORY

HOW ARTIFICIAL WILL BE THE FUTURE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

44

STORAGE 3600 EDITORIAL::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 04 CHANNEL STREET : ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 08 FOCUS STORY: UAE : :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 34 EPICOR SUMMIT ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 38

ADVERTISER INDEX: GEC OPEN 2018 02, SECURITY SMPOSIUM 05, REDHAT 07, FINESSE 09, RITTAL 11, TALARIAX 13, SPIRE 15, PIVOT3 17, VALUEMENTOR 19, ENT ADVISOR 23, CARBONBLACK 37, GISEC 47, MIMECAST 55, CIO 200 AWARD 56

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CHANNEL

STREET HBMSU’s Board of Governors Praise Launch of School of AI H.E. Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chief of Police and Public Security in Dubai and Chairman of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University’s (HBMSU) Board of Governors (BOG), headed the 2nd meeting of the university’s BOG for 2017/2018. The meeting held recently in Dubai discussed the

three agreements entered into by the university with three government bodies as well as launch of the ‘Entrepreneur Club.’ It was also an opportunity to showcase the university’s efforts to promote smart education, digital transformation within the public sector, and innovation in the country, resulting in the government

entities’ higher confidence in the university. Digital transformation, in particular, aims to enhance the government’s performance in line with its mission to adopt smart education in support of the UAE’s shift to a competitive and knowledge-based economy.

Moreover, the board members welcomed the launch of the school

DELL EMC AND APTEC RE-INFORCE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT FUTURE IT SUMMIT 2018 Dell EMC and Aptec , the platinum sponsors of The Future IT Summit 2018, put forward the digital transformation roadmap for the modern enterprises and how the vendor and VAD are strongly positioned to address the overriding demands and requirements of the Opex-savvy enterprises.

Samer Semaan, Distribution Manager at Dell EMC for Gulf and UAE Region was a key speaker at the event whose session focused on ‘Realizing the Digital Future’.

Digital disruption is a mounting force that is reshaping industries in newer ways and touching our daily lives equally leading the way for 2030.

Samer talked about the transformation journey of Dell EMC and the key pillars of Digital transformation, IT Transformation, Workforce transformation and Security transformation. and touched upon they key aspects of advanced security operations and how it all zeroes around one key word, ‘Data’.

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of Artificial Intelligence, which was established in anticipation of the demand for the new set of skills required for the future. The school, one of the UAE’s forward-looking initiatives and strategies, will offer Master’s degrees in Robotics, Data Science, and Game Design, in addition to numerous relevant programs and professional diplomas.

CHANNEL STREET

Microsoft to Open Datacenters in Middle East Microsoft revealed plans to deliver the intelligent, trusted Microsoft Cloud from its first datacenters located in the Middle East, empowering organizations, governments, and businesses to achieve more and recognizing the unprecedented opportunity for digital transformation in the region.

The Microsoft Cloud, comprising Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365, will offer enterprisegrade reliability and performance, combined with data residency, from datacenters located in Abu Dhabi and Dubai with initial availability expected in 2019. Microsoft’s deep expertise in data protection, security and privacy, including the broadest set of compliance certifications in the industry, means customers in the region can

accelerate their digital transformation knowing they have a trusted partner. Each new datacenter will adhere to Microsoft’s trusted cloud principles and becomes part of one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world, already serving more than a billion customers and 20 million businesses.

“Driven by strong customer demand for cloud computing, local datacenters were the logical next step given the enormous opportunity that the cloud presents. In areas like digital transformation, and the development of new intelligent services, our ambition is for the Microsoft Cloud to form a strategic part of the backbone for regional economic development,” says Sayed Hashish, Regional General Manager, Microsoft Gulf.

ETISALAT’S DATA CENTERS ACQUIRE PCI/DSS Etisalat has secured Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certification for its Data Centers in the UAE, which guarantees maximum safety of customer data at all times, and improved quality and service. Etisalat’s data centers at Khalifa City, Jebel Ali and Al Ain are now PCI DSS certified. The certificate of compliance ensures centres to tighten their already stringent security processes and procedures. Other benefits include increased credibility, prevention of data breaches, and a reduction of business risks. Miguel Angel Villalonga, Vice President, Cloud and Data Center, Etisalat Digital, said: “We understand that security is increasingly important for our clients as they have entrusted us with their sensitive and confidential information. The PCI DSS certification is another validation of Etisalat’s capability and commitment to implement international standards and develop advanced data systems to keep our clients’ data safe and secure.

SONICWALL EXCEEDS FINANCIAL GOALS FOR FIFTH CONSECUTIVE QUARTER SonicWall has declared that the company surpassed its financial goals and operational targets for the fifth consecutive quarter. These benchmarks were supported by 80 percent growth in SecureFirst partner registrations and more than $500 million in new partner deal registrations.

“SonicWall, along with our invaluable partner community, continues to gain momentum, delivering on our promise to diligently protect organizations of all sizes from today’s most malicious cyber attacks,” said SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner. “While surpassing goals is a top priority for us, equipping tens of thousands of partners around the world with the knowledge necessary to help protect customers against cybercrime is equally important.”

“SonicWall continues to execute with the pace, efficiency and innovation that surpasses our expectations,” said Dipanjan (DJ) Deb, Founding Partner and CEO of Francisco Partners. “The fact that SonicWall is exceeding our aggressive operating targets, while garnering respected third-party accolades, is a true testament to the company’s diligence and commitment in delivering value to all stakeholders.”

AVAYA COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF SPOKEN COMMUNICATIONS Avaya has closed its acquisition of Spoken Communications (“Spoken”).

The Spoken platform accelerates Avaya’s growth in cloud-based solutions and provides a reliable and highly scalable cloud platform for customers of all sizes. Customers around the world can confidently

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move to the benefits of cloud at their pace and in the way that best meets their needs, building upon the robust functionality of their existing solutions.

Continuing to invest in innovation for the future, Spoken brings a transformative platform with many built-in features that

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MEA

today require third-party tools. This greatly simplified model will make it easier for customers and partners to do business with Avaya. With over 170 patents and patent applications, Spoken’s intellectual property will supercharge Avaya’s move into Big Data, Machine

Learning and AI, as well.

Spoken’s cloud-native, multitenant architecture is already fully integrated with Avaya customer experience technologies, providing a robust cloud architecture for Avaya’s omnichannel offerings.

And because Avaya and Spoken have been working

in a co-development partnership for more than a year, several flexible cloud solutions are market-ready today. Customers will also benefit from Spoken’s specialized agent quality software applications and services, and Spoken’s IntelligentWire contact center automation solutions.

Discover it – the new world of IT solutions.

Discover it – the new world of IT solutions.

The digital transformation in business, trade and industry offers a whole host of opportunities but also throws up new challenges for IT infrastructures. Dealing with complex tasks and huge volumes of data calls for increasingly fast, flexible and efficient IT solutions.

The digital transformation in business, trade and industry offers a whole host of opportunities but also throws up new challenges for IT infrastructures.

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CHANNEL STREET

Retrofitting to reduce Dubai energy demand by 30% by 2030

6

SECONDS

VERITAS ACQUIRES FLUIDOPS Veritas Technologies has completed the acquisition of fluid Operations AG, known as fluidOps. A privately-held software company based in Walldorf, Germany, fluidOps empowers organizations to orchestrate, integrate, manage and optimize structured and unstructured data sources housed in silos across on-premises, private, public and hybrid cloud environments.

SONICWALL PARTNERS WITH LINKQUEST SonicWall has re-entered the Pakistan market once again with a distribution tie-up with LinkQuest. As the authorised distributors

ALI AL JASSIM, CEO OF ETIHAD ESCO

LinkQuest will now offer SonicWall’s award winning security products and solutions to its channel partners and customers. The product portfolio includes Next Generation Firewalls for small to medium to large enterprise deployments, Multi-Engine Sandboxing technology, Email Security, Wireless Security, Secure Mobile Access/Secure remote access, WAN

The positive impact that retrofitting is having on reducing Dubai’s energy consumption will be the central focus at the 4th annual RetrofitTech Dubai Summit & Awards. The premier thought leadership event, which will be held from 10 to 11 April at Roda Al Bustan Hotel, Dubai, will showcase some of the latest innovation and retrofit technology being introduced to the market and the sustainability benefits being gained from the billions of dollars of investment that have been made in the Emirates.

The Dubai Supreme Council of Energy has set

the goal of reducing energy demand by 30% by 2030. To achieve this goal, retrofitting and refurbishing existing buildings has been identified as a core strategy to reduce overall energy demand.

Dubai’s Etihad Energy Services Company (Etihad ESCO), which specialises in retrofitting buildings in Dubai, will aim to increase the share of central cooling in the Emirate to 40% by 2030. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) is currently retrofitting more than 30,000 buildings in the Emirate to ensure energy efficiency and manage energy demand.

Optimization solution and Next Gen Endpoint.

COMMVAULT JOINS HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE COMPLETE Commvault has joined Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Complete, Through the reseller program, HPE and its global network partners will now be able to sell Commvault’s powerful portfolio of data protection software, including the Commvault Data Platform, fully integrated with HPE Storage products.

PAESSLER SIGNS DISTRIBUTION PARTNERSHIP WITH VAD

‘98% UAE CONSUMERS KEEN TO USE BIOMETRICS FOR PAYMENTS’ SAYS VISA

TECHNOLOGIES

Visa has revealed the results from a survey of 500 consumers in the UAE that explores awareness and perceptions of biometric authentication, which finds consumers have a strong interest in biometric technologies that make their lives easier. New forms of authentication, such as fingerprint, facial, and voice recognition, can make unlocking accounts and payments much easier and more convenient than traditional passwords or PINs – which are difficult to type onto tiny keyboards, easy to forget and can be stolen. Neil Fernandes, Head of Risk, Middle East and North Africa, Visa said: “For the payments industry, now is the time to integrate biometric technology into banking apps and customer payments experiences, particularly given more than three quarters of consumers cited they would likely switch away from companies that do not.

Identity and authentication is the key to securing digital payments and the industry is gradually moving beyond what you have and what you know to who, what and where you are.

The partnership is part of Paessler’s business

Paessler partnered with VAD Technologies to distribute Paessler’s PRTG Network Monitor. development strategy to expand into new geographical and technological markets.

“As Paessler continues to grow worldwide expanding into new geographies like the Middle-East and North Africa, there is a clear need for a distributor able to support our existing and new partners locally,” said Jürgen Thiel, Head of Business Development & Alliances at Paessler. “After assessing possible partnerships, it was clear that VAD’s distribution approach fits very well into our strategy”.

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CHANNEL STREET

Proofpoint & Exclusive Networks Reinforce Advanced Protection

As the value-added distributor for Proofpoint in the region, Exclusive Networks is gearing up to complement the vendor’s long-standing position in the market of securing beyond the bounds of traditional network perimeters and connected endpoints.

Proofpoint, a leading next-generation cyber security company protecting people, data and brands from advanced and unknown threats, is enhancing its channel and go-to-market strategy to create innovative cybersecurity solutions for an ever-increasing addressable market. Exclusive Networks, a regional Value Added Distributor (VAD) for Proofpoint, is preparing to work with Proofpoint by offering Proofpoint solutions with its highly successful Cyber Attack Remediation & Mitigation (CARM) framework and kick-off a series of targeted initiatives designed to educate new partners. As business evolves and expands into new territories of digitalization, all eyes are on mitigating and remediating the associated risks and ensuring the seamless delivery of processes.

The vendor and VAD are re-enforcing the existing relationship, with the latter paving way to capitalize on the growth opportunities presented by an expanded Proofpoint cybersecurity product portfolio across the Middle East, now incorporating SMB-aligned solutions, as well as

leading targeted attack protection offerings. This expansion complements the vendor’s long-standing market leadership in secure email gateways.

“Exclusive Networks Middle East are excited to continue the success that we have witnessed across our European counterparts. Our Channel Partners can now benefit from Proofpoint’s extensive portfolio offering a market leading Secure Email Gateway, Email Fraud Defense, Digital Risk Management, SaaS Protection and Advanced Threat Protection. We now have the opportunity to educate the market on the evolving landscape of advanced threats and cloud adoption. Furthermore, the region is witnessing an enormous adoption of Microsoft Office 365, where the need to safeguard users against advanced threats, empower insight and keep users connected during the events of downtime is crucial. Proofpoint is a key to ensure that this migration and new service layer is protected,” says Oliver Downs, Alliances Manager, Exclusive Networks ME. “As we continue to see increasing demand from Middle East businesses for innovative, effective cybersecurity solutions, expanding our established partnership with Exclusive Networks across the MEA region is imperative,” said Nik Churchley, Director, EMEA Channels for Proofpoint.

ATTIVO NETWORKS ACHIEVES RECORD RESULTS IN 2017 Attivo Networks revealed results for 2017 and continued market momentum generated by increasing global demand for its deception-based threat detection and response solutions. The company achieved record revenue for both the full year and in Q4 with increased adoption in energy, financial, government, healthcare, legal, retail and technology industries. Significant 2017 achievements also included the company’s closing of two new rounds of venture funding totaling $36 million and the debut of the Attivo ThreatDefend Deception and Response Platform, which addresses the escalating market need for enterprise technology advancements required to outmaneuver modern-day attackers and provide an actionable defense against in-network threats.

“2017 was an extraordinary year for Attivo Networks from every operational vantage point and our accomplishments are a testament to the hard work of our entire organization,” said Tushar Kothari, CEO of Attivo Networks. “As customer adoption increases, our next-generation deception solutions are now protecting millions of endpoints across the enterprise networks of a growing number of Fortune 500 corporations. Attivo Networks is well positioned to capitalize on this momentum, accelerate our growth and extend our technology and market leadership in 2018.”

VMWARE INTRODUCES INDUSTRY’S FIRST INTELLIGENCEDRIVEN DIGITAL WORKSPACE Vmware has unveiled new innovations to its Workspace ONE platform that make it the first and only intelligence-driven digital workspace to improve user experience and enable predictive security across the perimeter-less environment. Now gener-

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ally available worldwide, Workspace ONE Intelligence, a new cloud-based service integrated with the Workspace ONE platform, uniquely combines aggregation and correlation of users, apps, networks and endpoints data. Also today, VMware launched

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the Workspace ONE Trust Network, combining data and analytics from Workspace ONE with a new network of trusted security partner solutions to deliver predictive and automated security. Lastly, VMware introduced Workspace ONE AirLift – a new Windows 10

co-management technology that will help organizations modernize their approach to PC lifecycle management (PCLM). “Empowered employees are at the heart of digital transformation.

However, providing employees with the tools they need to improve

productivity introduces operational complexity and increased cyber threats as apps, devices and networks proliferate and the security perimeter dissolves,” explained Sumit Dhawan, senior vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware.

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CHANNEL STREET

Juniper Networks Simplifies Threat Response

WEB CLIPS EATON AMPLIFIES MACHINE OPERATORS’ PERFORMANCE IN HIGH PRES-

Juniper Networks has made new enhancements to its unified cybersecurity platform, empowering customers to run their businesses with confidence and efficiency across locations and clouds. The volume of data presented to overworked, understaffed security teams can be overwhelming, in part because of the time it takes to manually analyze and correlate threat data from multiple sources. As a result, organizations require unified cybersecurity solutions that can interoperate with existing devices and visualize data in a way that is prioritized and

actionable.

To address this need, Juniper Networks today revealed newly engineered enhancements to its unified cybersecurity platform – a platform that is open for integration and fueled by automation. These enhancements simplify security operations by accelerating time to detection and orchestrating mitigation. The result is improved productivity and a stronger security posture across enterprise networks and cloud workloads whether in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or private data centers.

SURE APPLICATIONS Eaton has introduced its redesigned FF-series Quick Disconnect Couplings to help mobile machine manufacturers meet market demand for high pressure and high pulse pressure solutions. Suitable for a wide variety of industries, applications include attachments for agriculture machinery, wheel loaders, excavators, bulldozers in construction, trailers within commercial vehicle, maintenance equipment within rail, attachments on forestry equipment such as tree cutting, vibro hammers in on and off shore plus snow grooming equipment.

MIMECAST LAUNCHES NEW API

BITFURY AND EMERCOIN BRING INNOVATIVE BLOCKCHAIN PROJECTS TO THE UAE

DEVELOPER PORTAL

In the company’s first official visit to the UAE, the Bitfury Group launched its regional operations and held seminars in Dubai and in Abu Dhabi with Emercoin to showcase blockchain projects that will improve services for companies, governments and individuals around the world. The event in Dubai was held in Dubai Design District and in Abu Dhabi was with KryptoLabs, an incubator based in Masdar City. Bitfury invited developers, blockchain enthusiasts and other industry experts to shed light on the team’s innovative services, frameworks and applications for the next generation of blockchain solutions: Emercoin, Exonum and LightningPeach. “We are excited to share our expertise here with other members of a community that is dedicated to raising appreciation for the technology and moving it closer to universal adoption,” said Alex Botezatu, head of Software for Bitfury.

portal designed to extend business and cyber

Mimecast has launched the Application Programming Interface (API) developer resilience for email with a consistent, scalable and uniform API. The portal is a dedicated site for developers to easily access sample code, documentation and pre-built integration packs.

DED AJMAN WINS ‘BEST GOVERNMENT APPLICATION - GCC’ CATEGORY The Department of Economic Development in Ajman (DED-Ajman) was awarded the ‘Best Government Application – GCC’ category of the Sharjah Government Communication Award. DED-Ajman’s winning smart applica-

NUMBER GAME

MOVEMENTS Avaya Appoints SHEIKHA NA’AMAH AL QASSIMI as GM

Citrix Appoints TAJ EL-KHAYAT as Regional Director for MENA

CLAUDIA VERGUEIRO MASSE named CEO for Siemens Oman

1.5bn

$

Worldwide IoT Security Spending Will Reach $1.5 Billion in 2018, says Gartner

tion was recognized for its many features, including the online services that they offer via the department’s website and through the smart app itself. The range of fully automated services cover the submission of applications to payment and delivery.

BATELCO & IGA SIGN FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT Batelco has been selected by the Information and eGovernment Authority to help implement the migration of a number of ministry platforms to the Amazon Web Services (AWS). The agreement is in line with the iGA and Batelco’s commitment to support the Government in its digital transformation strategy for the Kingdom of Bahrain. The selection of Batelco as the authorized partner for AWS in Bahrain supports the national government decision to migrate its Platforms to the AWS.

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CHANNEL STREET

DSOA Launches ‘Hala’ Initiative, Empowering Digitalized Customer Services Following the success of ‘Day without Service Centers’ initiated by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and launched by the Department of Finance in October 2017, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), the regulatory body for Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), has rolled out its ‘Hala’ initiative to achieve a comprehensive digital transformation of its services to customers.

Dr Mohammed Al Zarooni, Vice Chairman and CEO of DSOA, and Abdulrahman Saleh Al Saleh, Director General of the Government of Dubai’s Department of Finance, inaugurated the Hala initiative in the presence of officials from DSOA and the Department of Finance.

The Hala initiative aims to motivate customers to use digital platforms to seamlessly process all queries. Introducing the concept, Dr Al Zarooni said: “Hala will serve as a key contributor to DSOA’s 2021 Strategy that is based on the UAE Vision 2021. The initiative is founded on the

direction of our wise leadership to strengthen Dubai’s position as the smartest and happiest city in the world. We are committed to maintaining growth levels and forging partnerships with international corporations across all sectors, while onboarding businesses in the technology field towards ensuring the country’s continued march to sustainable development.”

He added: “As part of the Hala initiative, the DSOA Customer Happiness Center will transform into a reception suite that delivers advanced smart services to all segments of the society, including elders and people of determination. In order to stay updated and relevant, we are committed to training employees of high caliber to handle our smart service offerings and remain innovative with advancements in the sector.”

Hala follows a successful experiment, in October 2017, where DSOA, alongside more than 34 public and private entities, temporarily closed its service centers, with the aim of encouraging business partners to use the smart services in place.

CISCO BRINGS VISIBILITY AND INSIGHTS WAN Cisco revealed new innovations built to bring visibility to IT’s biggest blind spot: the wide-area network (WAN). Made up of disparate networks outside of the control of IT, the WAN connects employees to applications, no matter where those employees might be. The fragmented nature of the WAN means that IT often has limited ability to specifically determine problems and get real-time information. Now, Cisco is helping IT by providing the capability to forecast WAN problems before they happen, while quickly isolating and fixing issues when they do occur.

Cisco introduced innovations to provide IT with the vital visibility and insight into the WAN that will help keep businesses up and running: Cisco SD-WAN vAnalytics provide IT with visibility, forecasting for applications and bandwidth planning, “what-if ” scenarios, and actionable recommendations.

SOPHOS MOBILE 8 NOW AVAILABLE Sophos Mobile 8, the latest version of its Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) and mobile security solution is now available. This new version lets system administrators manage and secure corporate-owned and personal Mac, Windows, and mobile endpoints in the cloud-based Sophos Central management platform to deliver a simpler management strategy for businesses of any size.

This unified approach to endpoint management ensures consistent security policies and secure access to resources regardless of an employee’s choice of device. Sophos Mobile 8 adds a range of management features like MacOS management and configuration, Windows 10 application management, and extended Android and iOS management functionality.

“Mobile devices continue to be the fastest growing malware target,” commented Dan Schiappa, senior vice president and general manager of Products at Sophos. “Personal and IoT devices on the network represent a significant threat to corporate security due to management and discovery issues.

With Sophos Mobile 8, IT admins in any size of business can manage and secure all their MacOS, Windows, and mobile endpoints from a single management platform. This streamlined approach to security management helps both administrators and users save time and effort, improving productivity across the business.”

SAP REDEFINES INTELLIGENT & CONNECTED DRIVING EXPERIENCE AT MWC SAP SE will enable the Middle East’s Smart Cities and smart future of connected vehicles, Internet of Things, cloud, and telecommunications, as revealed at Mobile World Congress 2018. “The Middle East is at

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the global forefront of Smart Cities innovation, with telco transformation enabling autonomous vehicles that can transform government, transport, and logistics sectors,” said Bulent Unsal, Head of Telco – Middle

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East and North Africa, SAP. “At Mobile World Congress, we have seen strong success in showing how real-time cloud-based data analytics and Internet of Things innovations can transform businesses and

daily lives.” SAP has added new partners and customers to the SAP Vehicles Network solution, an open, standards-based services marketplace. New secured and tokenized payment options from MasterCard

Corporation, navigation capabilities from HERE and on-demand delivery services from Postmates further expand and enrich the portfolio of services SAP Vehicles Network offers.

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䌀夀䈀䔀刀 匀䔀䌀唀刀䤀吀夀

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䴀漀爀攀 琀栀愀渀 ㈀ 攀渀琀攀爀瀀爀椀猀攀 戀甀猀椀渀攀猀猀攀猀 眀漀爀氀搀 眀椀搀攀 琀爀甀猀琀 嘀愀氀甀攀䴀攀渀琀漀爀 琀漀 瀀爀漀琀攀挀琀 琀栀攀椀爀 搀愀琀愀⸀

CHANNEL STREET

MENA IT Spending to Reach $155 Billion in 2018; Gartner

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) IT spending is projected to reach $155 billion in 2018, a 3.4% increase from 2017, according to Gartner.

Gartner analysts are discussed the key IT and business issues that are driving the evolution of digital business during the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Dubai. In 2018, the MENA region will exhibit its highest IT spending increase in the last 3 years.

Spending in communication services, mostly by consumers, is the segment that will largely contribute to the rise in IT spending in MENA this year.

Software is projected to exhibit the strongest

growth in 2018, with a 12.7% increase year over year. Software spending has also been growing at a double-digit rate the last two year. The growth has been driven by companies pursuing new functionalities in major back-office systems like supply chain management, enterprise resource planning and customer service. “There are insufficient local hyper-scale and large-scale data centers to support cloud systems, which cause local organizations to derive cloud offering from abroad,” said Peter Sondergaard, Executive VP and Global Head of Research at Gartner.

ORANGE CYBERDEFENSE LAUNCHES MOBILE DECONTAMINATION TERMINAL FOR USB FLASH DRIVES Seventy percent of employees use USB flash drives from outside the company and connect them to the company network, and 68 percent take no precautions before inserting them into their work computer. USB flash drives, whether they are new or used, are major sources of infection for company IT systems. They are in widespread use, particularly in certain sectors such as in industry, education and healthcare, both for sharing documents and for updating software.

Orange cyberdefense has launched a new mobile terminal to remind people to decontaminate USB flash drives. Available until now as a fixed 70kg booth or as a software version installed on computers, the Malware Cleaner solution is now available in a “mini-terminal” version.

COMMSCOPE HELPS MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA ADAPT TO CHANGE As operators prepare for the coming of 5G, they face complexity and challenges in the transition towards these networks. Because today’s evolved 4G network will be the cornerstone for 5G, service providers will need to continue to bring wireless access closer to their customers.

During 5G MENA, CommScope will demonstrate how operators can maximise their existing investments and build a bridge to next generation technologies.

“Constant change is the status quo across the Middle East and Africa (MEA). That makes 2018 a time for pragmatism, a time to get down to what’s really possible,” said Femi Oshiga, vice president of Service Providers, MEA. “That is why densification, virtualization, optimization and simplification of networks will continue to be at the forefront of operator goals for the coming year. Those are important initiatives as operators maximize their network investments and start to see measurable business outcomes from a number of emerging 5G technologies.”

African and Middle Eastern endconsumers, who make up more than 20 percent of the global population, are increasingly mobile and social.

At least 50 percent of Africa’s urban population is online, primarily through their mobile devices, which play an increasingly important role in socio-economic development

PALADION TO SHOWCASE ITS CYBER AI PLATFORM AT THE ARTELLIGENCE FORUM Paladion will participate in Artelligence Forum, scheduled on 25th – 26th April 2018 in Dubai, as a Silver Sponsor. The event will bring government leaders, business leaders & technol-

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ogy innovators together to explore the applications of Artificial Intelligence across different industries.Paladion is consistently rated and recognised by independent advisory firms for its

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capabilities in Artifical Intelligence in Cyber, Security Automation, and next generation cyber security.

Speaking about AI in cybersecurity and this initiative, Amit Roy, EVP & Regional

Head EMEA, Paladion, said, “Cyberattackers are leveraging AI to increase the speed, volume, and sophistication of attacks. Enterprises must evolve to combat such threats. Enterprises

today must recognize the ineffectiveness of a rules and signature based defence on modern attacks, and adopt AI driven cyber security to defend against AI based cyber threats.”

INTERVIEW

CHAMPIONING DISTRIBUTION DYNAMICS BESIDES HAVING A KEEN EYE ON THE TARGETED MARKET REQUIREMENTS AND DEVELOPING PRODUCTS AND

SOLUTIONS IN LINE WITH THE DEMAND INCLINATION, SCREENCHECK IS FOSTERING THE GROWTH OF A THRIVING WORKING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE EMPLOYEES. WINNING THE TOP 10 HAPPY IT COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN 2018 AWARDS WAS A SIGNIFICANT TESTIMONIAL OF THE SAME. OUR EXCLUSIVE RENDEZVOUS WITH FAISAL MOHAMMED, GM OF SCREENCHECK MIDDLE EAST.

products are niche. We do not have any main stream IT products in our distribution portfolio.

What distribution/supplier dynamics have you witnessed in the market in the last 4 months?

The market dynamics have changed radically.

The system integrators are expecting the value addition in terms of service from the distributor. Distribution is no more about box-pushes.

Distributors are forced to add value to the products, either supported by the manufacturer or by their own. Otherwise they will not be able to distinguish themselves in the market. We see that the distributors who are not able to add value are drastically dropping the prices in order to achieve the top line. They cannot continue this long time.

FAISAL MOHAMMED,

GM OF SCREENCHECK MIDDLE EAST.

How has ScreenCheck closed Q1 2018? What kind of milestones have you crossed?

Q1 2018 closed on a good note. We are seeing a surge in the market momentum as companies are increasing their investment and spending in security solutions that increase the efficiency and botton line. Organizations have realized the importance of running the business in a most efficient manner. Thanks to the lessons learned from the bad times.

Few milestones we defined in terms of market expansion and diversification to adjacent seas have been successfully completed on time. Today,

we have a full-fledged operation in Saudi Arabia which can cater to the entire country with wellappointed system integrators in place. IOT being the futuristic portfolio for us, we have added few products in that line which have started generating business for us in Q1 2018 which is a good sign of IOT acceptance in the market. We believe innovation is the key for sustainable growth.

It is very important to know the target market segment requirements to develop the product sales and marketing strategy. Many large distributors fail to understand this and follow the same strategy for all the products. One good thing about our product portfolio is that all the

You recently won the Top 10 IT Companies to Work for in 2018 Award? What do you have to tell about it? What is the most ‘Happiest’ factor about your organization?

ScreenCheck, from the day of inception, believes that Human Capital is the main pillar of success for any organization. Our business is driven by our employees and the management is there to give them the basic guidelines and support. Our employees are fully empowered in their capacity to take decisions.

We conduct different employee engagement programs to improve employees’ professional skills, personality development, emotional intelligence etc. As a company which is focused on human capital we have adopted work from home concept to have a healthy work- life balance for our employees. More than half of our workforce today work from their homes and come to the office only when needed. Series of entertainment and sports activities are conducted throughout the year to keep them engaged and fit.

We have created a culture in our organization where result matters. This result-oriented culture makes every employee accountable for the outcome of what he is doing. ë

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CASE STUDY

Security and Data Management Vital for University Integrity “One Identity” Reduces Turnaround Time from Two Days to Five Minutes at Canadian University of Dubai.”

O

ne Identity”, a Quest Software business specializing in Identity and Access Management (IAM), successfully implemented a centralized solution at the Canadian University of Dubai which has enabled better visibility and reporting of processes, management of security, and quick turnaround of password resets and account provisioning down from a period of 24-48 hours to 5 minutes.

The Canadian University of Dubai faced a problem at the beginning of each term, especially after the summer vacation when staff and students returned to the campus and had forgotten their passwords which created huge bottlenecks for IT security. Further, to compound this issue, the University had different systems used in different departments, without a central way to manage security roles and the provisioning of accounts. Because of the decentralized and disparate nature of the University’s systems, two connected issues arose.

Firstly, it was time consuming to provision the accounts in the different systems and then to ensure there was no ‘role creep’ that usually resulted in unauthorized added privileges, which become a major security risk. The second, and more pressing issue, was assuring the data integrity of the students and the Canadian University of Dubai. “Security is more critical than ever because data is the new wealth. We need to protect our brand identity, and we need to protect the students’ data because we hold a lot of student information and we are responsible for protecting that data from internal and external threats. One Identity was very supportive of our security needs, and they were involved in helping us

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take it to the next step,” explained Mohammad Fayaz, IT Applications Manager, Canadian University of Dubai.

In deciding on a solution for the Canadian University of Dubai, One Identity began with consultations to understand the University’s requirements precisely. “We soon came to understand, that the University would be best served by two of our solutions: The One Identity Manager Solution which is a powerful enterprise provisioning governance solution, and the One Identity Password Manager—a password management solution,” commented Daniel Wright, Sales Director, One Identity.

The implemented solution provided a central repository which made identification of all permissions within different systems across the University possible, drastically cut down on the time taken for problem resolution such as password resetting, provisioning of accounts, and security management from 24-48 hours to five minutes. The solution had the net effect of mitigating security risks by providing the Canadian University of Dubai with better visibility, fast and effective problem resolution, and reporting.

Further, the One Identity solution was easily configured to communicate with the University’s SMS gateway. Security plays an important role in any organization but for a university, any security mishap could negatively affect student enrolment and confidence in the system.

“We have a reputation to safeguard, because we do not want to be just another statistic of an organization that has been hacked. One identity provided us the confidence and capabilities to grow with the product which is important because the product does not

MOHAMMAD FAYAZ,

IT APPLICATIONS MANAGER, CANADIAN UNIVERSITY OF DUBAI

“Security is more critical than ever because data is the new wealth.” end just with the project implementation but is constantly evolving and changing due to the security landscape. We have to be as dynamic and adaptive,” added Fayaz. ë

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COVER STORY

WORKPLACE ON THE

‘GO’ 24

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Go mobile or go obsolete. This is the reality that modern enterprises are faced with. Mobile innovation is not only key for gaining a competitive edge, but also attracting talented workforce going beyond the traditional office parameters. The global mobile workforce is estimated to reach $1.75 billion in 2020 and account for 42 percent of the global workforce according to clearbridgemobile report. Today, companies are poised to create strong mobility programs than ever.

n B Y: A N U S H R E E D I X I T < A N U S H R E E @ G E C M E D I A G R O U P. C O M > n P H O T O : S H U T T E R S T O C K

O

ne can easily say that enterprise mobility is one of the technologies that has not needed the thrust from the IT department to be implemented or enhanced. The rising and an organization wide demands for increased connectivity and collaboration made the way for enterprise mobility to create more business value.

It’s the era of mobile-first. It is the new business mandate and the new value imperative.

THE CHANGING WORKPLACE AND RISING ABOVE THE CLICHES In the debate of employees spending more time on personal devices VS increased productivity due to device freedom, the latter has emerged as winner in

the majority of the cases. While real-time customer support and increased communication did propel the adoption of enterprise mobility, there are still inherent fears of security in the road to wider adoption.

In 2017, there was a heated discussion among the enterprises on the preferred OS models. There was no clear winner. While iOS was the preferred OS when security was a priority, Android was chosen for its flexibility. “Bring your own device” (BYOD) technology integrates with company security protocols to interface securely with enterprise communication and collaboration software. The protection is a twoway street: In addition to securing sensitive company data, BYOD also protects employees’ personal data from potential prying eyes within the company.

A smart building for today’s workplaces must

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COVER STORY

“At Citrix, we believe the future of enterprise mobility management is bright and that the possibilities for businesses are vast if the appropriate strategies are in place.”

-ALI KADDOURA, COUNTRY MANAGER, UAE, CITRIX

“In a rapidly changing society where there is a great deal of available information and knowledge, adopting and applying information at the right time and right place is needed to maintain efficiency in both classroom and real-world settings.”

-EHAB KANARY,

“Strategy articulation is key to ensuring that these disparate technologies are integrated into a cohesive suite to leverage mobile maturity that will, in turn, ensure complete digital transformation.”

-ASHOK KUMAR V,

support shared areas for teams to collaborate and innovate. Co-working spaces like those offered

by WeWork are popular, where different tenants rent space and incubate cutting-edge technology.

“Major players in the traditional commercial real estate market are exploring co-working models for their licensees, as well. In all these scenarios, mobility is a requirement, enabling people to come and go. For this level of mobility, users need reliable, high-bandwidth networks to pull data from the cloud. Industry bodies like TIA/EIA are creating standards that outline the cabling networks needed,” says Ehab Kanary, Vice President of Enterprise, Middle East and Africa.

enterprise- or employee-procured, all of which lead to highly mobility of the enterprise have been proven highly efficient for the enterprises.

A recent report published by GSMA states that operators in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region will be amongst the first in the world to launch commercial 5G networks.

The new study, which was published at the GSMA Mobile 360 Series – MENA conference in Dubai, forecasts that there will be more than 50 million 5G connections across the MENA region by 2025, with 5G networks covering approximately 30 per cent of the region’s population by that point. Commscope believes that it’s critical that the industry is responding to operators’ needs for options that will make in-building wireless more affordable for building owners and commercial real estate companies. Driving down costs and barriers to in-building wireless implementation will be critical for supporting the emerging demand for connected smart buildings.

CHIEF OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EMEA & SAARC, TALARIAX PTE LTD

VICE PRESIDENT OF ENTERPRISE MEA, COMMSCOPE

A SMART AND CONNECTED ENTERPRISE WEAVES THESE KEY ELEMENTS TO ITS ARCHITECTURE; n Greater Connectivity And

Information Sharing

n Optimization and collaboration n Flexible working arrangements n Standardized UC models for effective communication n Well defined perimeter and outsider/insider security

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MOBILE MATURITY— A KEY PILLAR OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION It is time for the mobile natives to take over.

The need for easy and fast access to information and the concept of an anytime, anywhere workplace have accelerated the demand for cutting edge mobile device management solutions.

With the penetration of mobile devices and cloud based applications, the dependence on PCs and even laptops have decreased to a great extent Consolidated central device management and security, judicious and selective outsourcing of some support functions, and driving compliance to IT standards for mobile devices, whether

BLOCKCHAIN, AI, MACHINE LEARNING CREATING THE WAVE While there is not much being spoken about the use of blockchain in enhancing the mobile landscape, but going forward in 2018, it would be very interesting to see how the emerging cognitive platforms of AI and machine learning

COVER STORY

STATS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM VARIOUS INDUSTRY REPORT

62%

IBM Institute For Business Value found that 62% of IT leaders with a well-defined mobile strategy achieve ROI in 12 months or less

$73.30bn

The BYOD and enterprise mobility market size is predicted to grow from $35.10 billion in 2016 to $73.30 billion by 2021

6.2

An average enterprise deployed eight apps, has 2.6 in development and 6.2 planned for the next year, according to Gartner

330bn

will redefine enterprise mobility. AI has rapidly emerged as the driving force behind efficiency, with the new generation employees fostering an environment to work faster and smarter.

Voice assistants like Bixby, Cortana and Siri etc are driven by AI and are increasingly making work-life interaction smart and interesting at the same time.

“On a practical side, we will see AI being deployed to determine best routes and methods to establish communication with another, while a simple to do list on phone can work out your schedule for the day. This is more in line with personal preference and may not cause infringements - if security is not compromised.

Omni-channel gateways with A2P capability will ensure interoperability as a result Human - Machine convergence,” says Ashok Kumar V, Chief of Business Development, EMEA & SAARC, TalariaX Pte Ltd.

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE OF EMM According to futuristic reports, the journey of EMM will traverse from managing devices to managing assets. Wearables are making a position of their own in the enterprises and concerns have been raised in data access management owing to the increased penetration of smartphones.

“At TalariaX, we aim to be the central information delivery infrastructure that communicates messages from devices, applications, and users to people that are mobile. Today, we do that by leveraging all possible alternatives available ie., SMS, email and social network messaging. A2P is fast becoming the norm. We are in that space as well. AI, Machine Learning, and Quantum Computing will lead to complete digital transformation driving on the back of Blockchain and wireless networks creating watertight transaction integrity. All the above will converge onto a user’s mobile devices (BYOD) such as phone to start with or some sort of wearable device (maybe accessories or even clothes) in the foreseeable future. EMM will evolve into a multi-disciplinary approach that will manage security, compliance, access, data transfer, oversight, and audit - in a disparate landscape of devices and applications built on a heterogeneous mix of platforms.

FINALLY Like never before, cloud services are climbing up the demand ladder. Smart phones and smart devices are flooding the workplace. What the employees and the employer have to keep in mind is that— not every data on the device is cloud-worthy. ë

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FUTURE IT

SUMMIT 2018 DECODING THE FUTURE

Held under the patronage of The Ministry of Economy, UAE, the event brought together over 150 C-level execs and key decision makers from the region, setting a new benchmark in decoding the digital capabilities of GCC.

T

he much awaited 2018 edition of The Future IT Summit, held under the patronage of The Ministry of Economy, raised curtains to a full-house attendance on 14th of March at The Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, UAE. Attended by over 150 key decision makers— including top government officials and leading CIOs, the Future IT Summit 2018 explored in depth the various aspects of digital transformation where the key delegates engaged in a unique discussion on the key role that the GCC countries and organizations are playing in

THE SPEAKERS OF 2018 EDITION COMPRISED; The rise of AI: Transforming Business with Data and Artificial Intelligence KEVIN ASHBY, Partner Marketing Advisor Microsoft MEA Future IT Landscape_KSA: MOHAMMED A MAHNASHI, ICT Advisor Ministry of Finance Jump Start Digital Transformation in Middle East and Africa JUAN JOSE DE LA TORRE, Digital Transformation Leader IBM Middle East and Africa Future IT Landscape_OMAN: ABDULLAH HAMOOD KHALIFA AL RAQADI, Director General - IT Ministry of Health - Oman

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redefining their position in the global economy map.

It’s no surprise that 2017 was a year of disruptive trends locally and globally. We saw an explosion of start-ups pitching every aspect of technology to public and private enterprises, from digital technology platforms to Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. In the enterprise space, we are seeing a shift in attention with more traditional businesses actively engaging in digital transformation strategies.

What’s driving this shift?

The summit commenced with the traditional ribbon cutting ceremony by the patron. Mr.

Realize your Digital Future SAMER SEMAAN, Distribution Manager Gulf & UAE Dell EMC Future IT Landscape- Bahrain: ABUBAKAR ARSHAD, Cyber Security Advisor TRA An integrated approach towards managing Data Privacy and Cyber Security risks within the digital transformation ROB VAN STRATEN, Executive Vice President, SAI Global Planning a Simplified Backup & Cloud Data Management Strategy MOHAMMED TAMIMI, Regional Director Rubrik Artificial Intelligence and Robotics SAEED KHAN, Vice President & Head - Sales (Middle East) AGC Networks

EsamAlfalasi, Director of IT, Ministry of Economy graced the occasion with other key delegates from KSA, Bahrain, Oman and UAE. Mr. Esam, in his inauguration speech, spoke about the relevance of digitization in developing the economy of any country and the pivotal strides of the Ministry of Economy, UAE in the same.

The day began with the prestigious Titans Badge of Honor 2018 that celebrated 2 years of the premium CIO’pedia— The Titans, by recognizing the valuable contributions of the CIOs and IT Heads of the Middle East, Africa and Turkey who have played an instrumental role.

The expert panel discussion on GCC Organizations’ Digital Transformation Readiness Roadmap was moderated by Dr. Usman Zafar, Business Management, Technology Executive UAE and chaired by Abdullah Al Barwani, GM IT Security, Omantel; Anshul Srivastav, CIO, Union Insurance; Dr. Ayad Aldaijy, Advisor to the Saudi Arabian Minister of Environment, Water & Agriculture and Former CIO; and Adam El Adama, SISO/Head of Information Security, ADNOC. The Catalyst Awards 2018 celebrated its 4th edition this year on 14th March at the Burj Al Arab Hotel.

Carrying forward its legacy, it honoured the trailblazers of the industry who have been empowering the brand recognition of their organization with their unwavering commitment and passion. Held in conjunction with the Future IT Summit 2018, the event witnessed some of the path-breaking innovations by CIOs from diverse industries. The event not only honoured the Catalysts but also provided a business-to-business platform for technology providers to showcase their innovations.

THE TOP 10 IT COMPANY AWARDS RECEIVED TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF NOMINATION IN ITS SECOND EDITION. THE WINNERS WERE

Spire Solutions

NetApp

Sophos

TechSource

Dell EMC

ScreenCheck ME

Veeam

Oma Emirates

StorIT

Exclusive Networks

The Catalyst Awards recognized CIOs from the Middle East, Africa and Turkey region who have mastered the art of innovation and emerged as true business enablers of modern organizations. Going by the fact that digitization has left no sector untouched, Catalyst Awards brought in new sectors this year – Legal & Judicial Affairs, FMCG, Services, Power & Utilities and Facility Management.

CATALYST CIO IT Man of the Year – UAE Esam Alfalasi, Ministry of Economy IT Man of the Year – Qatar Mubarik Hussain, Petroserv IT Man of the Year – Oman Abdullah Hamood Khalifa Al Raqadi, Ministry of Health IT Man of the Year – Bahrain Abubakar Arshad, TRA IT Man of the Year – KSA Mohammed Ali Mahnashi, Ministry of Finance CIO in Retail Kumar Prasoon, Al Safeer Group CIO in Banking & Finance – Smart Platform Sivakumar V, Dubai First

CATALYST VENDOR CIO in Real Estate & Construction – Service Provider Mohammad Shahzad, RDK Group

CIO in Transportation & Logistics – Digital Transformation Ahmed Askar, Al Sahraa Group

Branding Daniela Harczi, NetApp

CIO in Healthcare – Unified Communications Aliasgar Bohari, Zulekha Hospitals

CIO in FMCG – UAE Lasheen Ummar, Masafi

Enterprise Marketing Channel Nagham Halaby, Veeam

CIO in FMCG – Oman Saket Wagh, Enhance Oman (WJ Towell Company)

Integrated Marketer Urvendrasinh Gohil, Sophos

CIO in Automotive – Oman Dileep Somani, OTE Group

Enterprise Marketing Security Services Binoy Koonammavu, ValueMentor

CIO in Automotive – UAE Sebastian T Samuel, AW Rostamani Group

Enterprise Marketing Networking Ignatius Avinash Emanuel, Rittal Middle East

CIO in Capital Markets & Investments Ashith Piriyattiath, Al Masah Capital

Enterprise Marketing Infrastructure Carly Stephens, Pivot3

CIO in Legal & Judicial Affairs Arul Jose Vigin, Dispute Resolution Authority

Emerging Marketer Melita Rodrigues, Oma Emirates (All 4 One Planners)

CIO in Power & Utilities – Consumer Venkatesh Mahadevan, Dubai Investments PJSC

Strategic Marketer Neethu Paul, Epicor

CIO in Power & Utilities – Business Fahad Deshmukh, Jazeera Emirates Power

Innovative Marketer Gillian Elson, Mimecast

CIO in Services Akshay Lamba, Deloitte

Sales – Emerging Market Shahnawaz Sheikh, SonicWall

CIO in Facility Management Javeria Aijaz, Farnek

Enterprise Marketing Storage Santosh Varghese, Toshiba

CATALYST CHANNEL

Enterprise Sales Mohammed Tamimi, Rubrik

CIO in Healthcare – Automation Ali Ghunaim, Canadian Specialist Hospital CIO in Healthcare – HIS Mohamed Gamal Abdelmksoud, Al Zahra Hospitals and Clinics CIO in Hospitality Rabih Merhy, Rotana Hotels CIO in Oil & Gas – Procsessing& Refining Adam El Adama, ADNOC Sour Gas CIO in Oil & Gas – Services Shumon A Zaman, Lamprell Energy Limited CIO in Aviation ErsinInankul, IGA Turkey CIO in Education Firoj Kumar Rauta, Skyline University College CIO in Media & Broadcasting Ronald Dsa, OSN

CIO in Banking & Finance - Smart Platform Industry Data Security Standard Hasan Isam Naser Muhi, Kuwait Finance House Bahrain

CIO in Telecom Ali Saleh Mohamed Al Ali, Thuraya Telecommunications Company

CIO in Banking & Finance – Core Banking Ahmed Albalooshi, Al Baraka Banking Group

Government CIO Hussam Juma, Dubai Customs

CIO in Banking & Finance - Corporate Banking Ramesh Varma, Al Masraf Bank

Government CIO Mohammad Khaled Al Hassan, Regulation & Supervision Bureau

CIO in Banking & Finance – Digital Banking Nitin Bhargava, Mashreq Bank CIO in Banking & Finance – Foreign Exchange & Remittance Surendra Shetty, UAE Exchange CIO in Real Estate & Construction – Commercial Mario Foster, Al Naboodah Group Enterprises CIO in Real Estate & Construction – Residential Ahmed Al Ahmed, Nakheel PJSC CIO in Real Estate & Construction – Holding Company Ajay Rathi, Meraas Holding

Government CIO Farid Farouq, Dubai World Trade Centre Government CIO Ahmed Mohammed Kajoor, Dubai Municipality Government CIO Dr. Ayad Aldaijy, Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture Government CIO Noor Ali Al Noman, Sharjah Department of e-Government (DeG) CIO in Transportation & Logistics – Blockchain Adam Lalani, Tristar

Branding Faisal Mohamed, ScreenCheck ME Visionary Marketer Nadia Jawad, AGC Networks LLC Corporate Communications Manisha, Finesse Strategic Marketer Mallika Sharma, Exclusive Networks Enterprise Marketing Storage Manju Mathew, StorIT Enterprise Sales Hiren Bhatia, Finesse Visionary CEO of the Year Sanjeev Walia, Spire Solutions

Enterprise Marketing Security Manal Abi Rafeh, Fortinet Visionary Marketer Hassan Hamadani, Pure Storage Marketer of the Year Haidi Nossair, Dell EMC The sponsors and partners of the 2018 edition were; Ministry Of Economy: Patronizer; Dell EMC and Aptec: Platinum Sponsor; Microsoft: Strategic AI Partner; IBM: Strategic Digital Transformation Partner; SAI Global: Exclusive GRC Partner; Screencheck: Exclusive Secure Identity Solutions Partner; Rubrik: Exclusive DRaaS Partner; Exclusive Networks: Exclusive Security VAD Partner; Fortinet: Strategic Security Partner; AGC Networks: Strategic SI Partner; Epicor: Enterprise Application Partner; Supporting Partners: Rittal, Mimecast, Toshiba, ValueMentor, Finesse, ADNOC, Omantel, Spire Solutions; Supporting Government Partner: ITA, Oman, Ministry of Finance KSA, Ministry of Health Oman, TRA Bahrain, Ministry of Environment and Climate, KSA.

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FOCUS STORY

FOCUS UAE

INNOVATION THE KEY TO FUTURE From robocops to autonomous vehicles, UAE is already a home to number of futuristic projects.

Dubai Expo 2020 will further boost the development plans and will be an incentive for establishing more projects that will consolidate the UAE’s position globally.

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he United Arab Emirates has always been a step ahead of the innovation curve. From flying drones to 3D printed buildings, the country is set to be the world capital of the future. But of course, no plan for the future can be complete without the implementation of technologies. So, how has UAE adopted the newly emerging technologies?

ROADMAP FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE In October 2017, the UAE government launched ‘UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence’ and also took a step ahead in appointing a minister in charge for AI. The strategy is first of its kind in the region and the world and it aims to: achieve the objectives of UAE Centennial 2071; boost government performance at all levels; use an integrated smart digital system that can overcome challenges and provide quick efficient solutions; make the UAE the first in the field of AI investments in various sectors and create new vital market with high economic value. The UAE’s AI strategy covers development and application in nine sectors: Transport, health, space, renewable energy,

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water, technology, education, environment, and traffic.

Also, recently, the Dubai Municipality developed its ‘Wasteniser’ project as its proposal for the Dubai 10X Initiative, a venture overseen by the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF). The project aims at converting the city’s solid waste into a source of energy by using Artificial Intelligence to address current and future waste-related challenges and maintain sustainability.

The Abu Dhabi Police unveiled its vision of the future - robotic cops and firefighters, outer space patrol and smart police stations. Its 2057 strategy envisions a safe city, a more positive and happy community, genomic police, and wide-ranging use of AI. With such advancements taking place in the country, the solution providers too need to keep pace with the digitization. Ahmed El Shrif, Director, Kronos Middle East explains how their solutions are in line with Sheikh Mohammed’s Vision – “We understand that to keep up with the pace of digitalization in UAE, it is essential to integrate UAE’s strategy for Artificial intelligence (AI) into our services and products. With AI embedded into the core of our workforce dimensions, we help companies identify risks in real-time and improve forecast accuracy. Our AI and machine

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advanced machine learning to automate daily time-consuming decisions.”

TRANSFORMING DUBAI TO AUTONOMOUS MODE

“With AI embedded into the core of our workforce dimensions, we help companies identify risks in real-time and improve forecast accuracy,” -AHMED EL SHRIF, DIRECTOR, KRONOS MIDDLE EAST

“Connected cars is a rising phenomenon in Dubai looking at the high-purchase power of individuals buying cars and improved technologically-reliant infrastructural systems,” -THEODORE POLYKANDRIOTIS, VP OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT BLACKWIRE

24.2bn

Expected to yield 24.2 billion in revenue

277,000

Expected to create 277,000 new jobs

5%

Expo 2020 itself has generated 5% of new jobs

25mn

EXPO 2020 learning algorithms are helping organisations drive better business outcomes. Kronos has also

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Expecting 25 million visitors of which 17 million will be international Predicted to boost the economy of the emirates

introduced an industry-first, personal digital consultant, Workforce Advisor. It uses AI and

The DFF in conjunction with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) launched the ‘Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy’.

The strategy aims to transform 25% of the total transportation in Dubai to autonomous mode by 2030, involving 5 million daily trips, saving AED 22 billion in annual economic costs.

In line with the strategy, RTA recently launched the first on-road tests of the world’s first autonomous pods. Designed to travel short to medium distances in lanes dedicated to these pods, they can be coupled together with other pods or ‘modules’, in as little as 15 seconds, and can also be detached with an equal ease.

To make the country’s vision come true, innovative information technology providers play a vital role in turning such visions into realities. Blackwire, takes the leap to make all vehicles on UAE’s roads connected by 2021. “Connected cars is a rising phenomenon in Dubai looking at the high-purchase power of individuals buying cars and improved technologically-reliant infrastructural systems such as petrol stations and traffic management systems,” said Theodore Polykandriotis, VP of Business Development at Blackwire.

DUBAI BLOCKCHAIN STRATEGY The UAE is planning yet another transformation – to become the world’s first blockchain powered government. His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Dubai Blockchain Strategy in October 2016 and with a roadmap to it to improve efficiency, go paperless and eventually shift all government services to the blockchain by 2020. The healthcare sectors in particular have started embracing blockchain to prevent a breach of network. A blockchain system can prevent breaches by using multi-signatures and cryptography. Also, the Dubai Tourism is introducing blockchain in a business to business market place for the tourism industry in the next 24 months in a bid to boost tourist numbers.

BUILDING THE FUTURE The future is easy to forecast when the country embraces technology for development. The UAE is boldly looking towards its visions with various strategies that will build on the successes achieved over the years. All I can say is – In UAE, the future begins Now! ë

Visit us at GISEC 2018 stand C14

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28/03/2018 16:54

EPICOR SUMMIT

SURESH CHANDRASEKHARAN, CHIEF SOLUTION ARCHITECT, RHEINBRUCKE

We have a clear go to market strategy and we have the serviceable addressable market. We have certain market segments rather than going and approaching every industry.

We have also developed certain additional components within Epicor in terms of providing extra support to our customers.

For 2018, we have developed and introduced a product - a payroll for the region and Epicor has recognised it. We are also introducing a product for Strategic sourcing and procurement. We have customers who have already implemented the product on Epicor platform. Our focus for this year is on cloud and how quickly can we come up with a clear methodology, based on the customer needs, whether we can have the whole product deployed in a months’ time, or three months’ time.

Epicor Customer Excellence Awards 2018

E MONZER TOHME, REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA AT EPICOR SOFTWARE

“According to results from our global growth survey, 47% of respondents believe that better technology is the key to their organisations’ ability to gain a competitive advantage and thrive. Customers are at the centre of everything we do at Epicor and to that end, we are committed to providing solutions that fit our customers’ business requirements, so they can innovate with ease and transform into ‘grow getter’ organisations,” said Monzer Tohme, regional vice president, Middle East and Africa, Epicor Software. “On behalf of Epicor, I would like to not only congratulate all the winners but also thank them for choosing Epicor ERP as the catalyst for their business growth.”

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picor revealed the winners of the 2018 Epicor Customer Excellence Awards program for the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region, at the recent Customer Summit MENA, in Dubai. The global awards program, now in its third year, recognizes innovative organizations that have successfully transformed operations by deploying Epicor enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions and services to achieve excellence in business efficiency, customer experience, and overall performance.

The following companies are the 2018 Epicor Customer Excellence Award winners in the MENA regional program: United Arab Emirates (UAE) based, Al Naboodah Group Enterprises is the Business Transformation winner, chosen for clearly demonstrating best-in-class business transformation and measurable business value from its Epicor ERP implementation The winner in the Technology Innovator category is Epicor ERP customer Al Muqarram Auto Parts Trading (A-MAP). The organisation was selected for demonstrating how it has used technology to drive innovation throughout the business to achieve measurable success The Customer Experience award winner is UAE based, BMB Group who has transformed customer experience through the implementation and adoption of Epicor ERP across its six companies located in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, UAE and USA Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions, from the UAE, was recognised for demonstrating measurable business benefits with Epicor Cloud ERP and is the winner in the Cloud Deployment category UAE based Western Furniture LLC won the Rapid Time to Value award for demonstrating a fast implementation and deployment of Epicor ERP through motivated project teams, efficient and effective staffing, training, and production readiness

EPICOR SUMMIT

MELT SPIES, GROUP EXECUTIVE: CORPORATE SHARED SERVICES, AL NABOODAH GROUP ENTERPRISES LLC

“We started with Epicor in 2016. We went live in two phases— at the end of 2016 for HR and Payroll functionality and rest of the business functionality went live on October 2017. We ran different business divisions on different platforms and we always signed ERP systems but on different instances. That led to a lot of duplication and very difficult conversation when it came to extracting information. Epicor gave us the ability to maximize our synergies. For the first time now, we run on one database what we call the ‘golden global record’ for customers and suppliers. we can form better decisions on better accurate data. The real value is the end-to-end view of business that we have

N R SUBRAMANIAN, HEAD FINANCE, MULTIPLEX INTERNATIONAL

SCOTT HAYS, SENIOR VP – PRODUCT MARKETING, EPICOR

“By 2025, one third of the world’s workforce is going to be from the millennial generation and I just heard this new word for the next generation—Centennials. So, Centennials are going to be in the workforce in 2025 as well, and they bring with them fresh ideas, and a fearlessness about things that can introduce opportunities for business but also some risk. We are going to be announcing a new product offering at our Insights 2018 user conference in Nashville, Tennesse in May, that has got some additional capabilities around Field service automation, some additional capabilities around governance risk and compliance. Often times those come in at the international level, so we have to keep an eye out on what’s going on with government regulations in all 150 countries that we do business in, and we have customers in, and then we provide country specific functionality to help meet those regulations when the time comes, so things like VAT and GDPR regulations, we are always on top of that and delivering new country specific functionality.”

“The key aspect that we were looking for in a software was the cost and the compatibility, ie the ease of use and how the software will help us grow in the next 10-15 years. Epicor aptly fitted to fulfil our requirements. Before implementing Epicor, we went through three to four software. Our domain is FMCG distribution and we have brands that we source from across the world. The software that we prior to Epicor used were not full-fledged ERP systems. The requirements of data management became very complex which the existing ERP could not fulfill.

With Epicor, we get a deeper analysis of our business and that helps us take timely decisions.. Today, we are here to know about the latest offerings of Epicor and look forward to some key networking opportunities.”

RAJU M V, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CORK INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

“Epicor as a product is very strong and feature-rich, specially in verticals such as manufacturing, distribution, trading etc.

Apart from being cost efficient and user friendly, the Epicor management has been doing a great job in taking the product across the market in a very strong way. The management is also very approachable and all these aspects define what future-rich means. We make sure that the client is taken care of not just before or during the sales, but after the implementation as well.

One of the biggest strength of the newly released Epicor ERP 10.2 is that the version is completely rewritten and not just an add-on. Wherever this upgrade has been implemented, there has been a real value addition in performance.”

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INTERVIEW

How Relevant is ISO27001 for GDPR? ISO27001 IS OFTEN USED TO BASE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF IT RISK MANAGEMENT (IT GRC) SOFTWARE ON AND ITS CONTINUOUS CONTROL TESTING HELPS ORGANIZATIONS TO MEET THEIR INFORMATION SECURITY OBJECTIVES, WITHIN THEIR RISK APPETITE. ISO27001 BASED ISMS HELPS TO REALIZE COMPLIANCE WITHIN GDPR, BUT ALSO COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS COULD, OR PERHAPS SHOULD, COME AS A RESULT OF A WELL IMPLEMENTED ISO27001 BASED SYSTEM AND FRAMEWORK.

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t SAI Global we are an established provider of standards such as ISO, we are a leading supplier of GDPR learning solutions and a global vendor for out-of-the-box IT Risk Management software, which helps streamline GDPR programs. From the many conversations we have around these disciplines, we are frequently asked about the relationship between ISO27001 and GDPR. This is a very relevant question, let’s unpeel the onion.

The ‘appropriate technical and organizational measures’ defined by GDPR are best when based on, and solidified by, a compliance framework which ensures data processing is performed in compliance with GDPR requirements. However, there is no specific GDPR compliance framework and there is no way (yet) to obtain GDPR compliance certification.

There is a choice here: either you develop a compliance framework yourself, (perhaps with help of an external advisor) or you implement and deploy a publicly available compliance framework, or multiple ones. The second option is based on standards and best practice and can usually be implemented faster and more cost efficiently than the first, tailor made, approach.

In addition, GDPR explicitly identifies the use of standards as an effective way for demonstrating compliance with the requirements.

Often there are two standards mentioned in relation to a GDPR compliance framework: ISO27001 and BS10012. In essence, ISO27001 forms the foundation for an Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) while BS10012 is a Data Protection Specification for a Personal Information Management System (PIMS), which is a well-designed framework for managing personal data. A PIMS may provide some of the processes necessary to ensure GDPR compliance, based on the identified regulatory and contractual requirements relating to personal information. But for GDPR

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compliance this is not sufficient as GDPR requirements include: “ The ability to ensure the ongoing Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability and Resilience of processing systems and services.” and “ A process for regularly testing, assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of technical and organizational measures for ensuring the security of the processing.” (GDPR Article 32, Clause 1).

In order to achieve this, a comprehensive security framework needs to be implemented to embed the additional processes for GDPR compliance, including protection of (access to) information systems. This is where ISO27001 comes in, which is the international standard that describes best practices for an Information Security Management System (ISMS).

ISO27001 encourages organizations to seek additional sources of best practice. BS10012 is certainly that, but more limited in scope and could be an addition to ISO27001 for GDPR. In summary, the implementing of ISO27001 as part of an overall ISMS is a good way to ensure GDPR compliance and embedding BS10012 certainly helps, although there are other actions to consider beyond the ISO27001 scope such as; policy review/design and attestation, training of employees and IT vendor risk management. GDPR should be recognized as an opportunity to implement, or improve the implementation of a solid ISMS. This ensures compliance with GDPR and other regulations and protects the organization’s information, its IT assets and ultimately, the organization’s reputation and ability to generate revenue.

ISO27001 based processes provide an opportunity to be certified, but certification is not a substitute for being GDPR compliant and does not cover all GDPR requirements. Additional measures will have to be implemented to demonstrate compliance with the regulation and to stay out of trouble. ë

ROB VAN STRATEN,

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, EMEA & APAC, SAI GLOBAL

“The implementing of ISO27001 as part of an overall ISMS is a good way to ensure GDPR compliance and embedding BS10012 certainly helps, although there are other actions to consider beyond the ISO27001 scope such as; policy review/design and attestation, training of employees and IT vendor risk management.”

INTERVIEW

AUTOMATING BUSINESS DECISIONS IN A CLOSE CHAT WITH MUSTAPHA HLIL, PARTNER & ALLIANCES MANAGER – CEMEA, RED HAT ON HOW THEY ARE

HELPING ORGANIZATIONS AUTOMATE BUSINESS DECISIONS, THEIR MAJOR PARTNERSHIPS AND ROADMAP FOR THE YEAR.

Please tell us about the decision manager 7. What are the key benefits and features of OpenShift Application runtime?

Decision manager is a platform that helps managing the type of decisions to be made when it comes to companies building applications. Today in the marketplaces, companies are either buying or building their own applications. So, to get these environments to work together, we had the Business Rules Management System (BRMS). It was designed to allow companies to quickly build up applications that are driven by business processes. We went a step further which is simplifying their development and deployment of anything that is rules based by innovating Red Hat Decision Manager 7. It’s not only rebranding BRMS, but it’s a completely new intuitive interface. To design and develop applications, you need an easy platform to run applications on. And this is where the extension of the Red hat OpenShift happens with the OpenShift application run time. An OpenShift is about managing containers. So, this manager offers not only simplified development offer but it also allows you to take small bits of applications and bring them into the DevOps world meaning merge and development and operations. So, between the Decision Manager and OpenShift application manager run times, that gap has been bridged.

MUSTAPHA HLIL,

PARTNER & ALLIANCES MANAGER CEMEA REGION, RED HAT

How do you think hybrid cloud is accelerating digital transformation?

Digital transformation is not just moving everything from paper to digital. That takes the changes in the processes and a change in the culture in the processes and then the underlying technology. We are making it simple with Red Hat Decision Manager. For culture, OpenShift bridges the gap between

the old culture which is the developer and a development team. OpenShift provides the platform that directly bridges between the two where you can develop and test and even put it to production. OpenShift allows the business users to have the applications ready in a quicker and a more efficient manner so allowing the digital transformation happen quickly.

What were your major partnerships of last year and how has the market been for Red Hat in 2017?

We are growing and this is reflected by the investments we are making in the region. We have opened three new offices in the region.

We decided to stick to strategy that is based on partners. We have a network of specialised value-added partners locally and globally.

We have partnered with Atos around the managed OpenShift. If we go more globally, we bring together Google, Facebook and IBM to promote what we need to encourage communities to develop. Opensource attracts younger population and by teaming up with Google Facebook, we are addressing that young population.

In addition, we have Qualcomm. Telecom is an important area for us and we are leader in network virtualization. We bring in new cloud providers like Alibaba who offer open source solutions on a pay as you go model. We also bring in Microsoft and Azure.

What is Red Hat’s road map for the year 2018?

For 2018 and the years to come, our roadmap is to consolidate our partner base, to continue doing business through the partners and to drive the adoption of cloud. We want to continue partnerships globally and bring them down to the regions. ë

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INTERVIEW

Spire Solutions Invests in Cyber Security Technology Research

SANJEEV WALIA,

CEO OF SPIRE SOLUTIONS

In line with plans to scale up its presence in the region, value-added distributor Spire Solutions has just inked an agreement with leading research and advisory firm Gartner. The service agreement, signed by the two companies at the Gartner Symposium/ ITxpo, will allow Spire Solutions to tap into Gartner’s unparalleled expertise and bring global cyber security practices to the Middle East.

Sanjeev Walia, CEO of Spire Solutions, described this agreement as another significant milestone for the company as it steps into its second decade of providing information security solutions and services to the region. ‘We will leverage this partnership and Gartner’s global insights to strengthen our offerings to the channel and our customers. We are certain that Gartner’s body of knowledge will prove fundamental in assisting local organisa-

tions in building a cohesive and effective security environment,’ noted Walia.

Spire Solutions provides key technologies such as threat exposure management, end-point detection and response (EDR) and threat hunting, and business risk intelligence (BRI) to the region’s organisations. The value-added distributor is now planning to expand its operations in KSA, while improving its standing in the UAE, and securing a larger market share in Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

‘Our presence and our team is growing in line with the rising demand for capable, efficient cyber security solutions in the region. We believe that given this promising trajectory, we can increase our engagement by the end of 2018, and are investing in technology and market research to better align our solutions and services to the region’s needs,’ added Walia.

Helping Customers Succeed EVGHENIY KUCHIYASH,

BDM, EIM, TERRALINK

Terralink provides consulting and implementation of business solutions like enterprise content management, workflow and business automation, resource planning and financial management, & builds and supports the enabling IT infrastructure for collaboration and communication. “We are working with leading vendors like Opentext and SAP. We are experienced in implementing a full range of solutions – from specialized document archives to complex workflow solutions,” said Evgheniy Kuchiyash, BDM, EIM. “We have extensive portfolio in working with oil and gas sectors across the world like Shell, British Petroleum, etc. When we considered to step into Robotic

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Process Automation (RPA) business, we decided to implement it first in the company.”

Terralink’s go to market strategy for this particular region is to offer highly experienced personnel at a moderate price bringing the talents from all over the world and building local companies here to support development. He says - “Our strategy is to build competencies inside the company. Our other go to market strategy is working closely with vendors like SAP & Opentext because they are the kind of driver of this transformation. At the end of the day, customers look for success and we believe we can help them achieve it.”

INTERVIEW

Putting Clients Success First Rimini Street specializes in third party support for enterprise software, particularly Oracle and SAP products, rather than relying on add-on support services from the vendors themselves. “In a nutshell, we deliver support and skilled engineering expertise available at a fraction of the cost, and our clients receive the highest level of both value and customer service every day. We replace the vendors maintenance contracts and support our clients for SAP and Oracle. We provide better services at half the price,” said Dirk Schuller, Account Director - DACH and Middle East. “Our premium third-party support services enable clients to optimize existing enterprise software investments, extend current capabilities to leverage hybrid IT, and transform their businesses into digital enterprises with help from intelligent and agile technology roadmaps.”

Top priorities for 2018 l To partner with a local company and get to know how to work best in the Arab World. l To promote Rimini Street

DIRK SCHULLER,

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, DACH & MIDDLE EAST

Realizing the True Potential of PPP IBRAHIM ASHSOHAIL,

TAMKEEN TECHNOLOGIES

“Tamkeen is an IT Service provider. We provide services for the government sectors in Saudi.

We have multiple approaches and a variety of IT products and services that we are proud of. We are focused on providing results-based solutions desired by our customer. Our core strength is our flexibility and speed in understanding the challenges faced by the customers and providing them with solutions based on that,” said Ibrahim Ashsohail, TAMKEEN Technologies.

‘We are unique in our approach to traditional IT projects in Government. Our preferred

model is PPP (public private partnership). We provide government solutions for free but we also have a business development arm, in which we try to create premium services and sell it to customers and cover our cost from that.”

“We are located in Riyadh and our major customer base is government. We have a direct approach to customers but for business development we go through our partners. We are at Gartners to present our projects and success stories that we have built over the past years and show that public private partnerships has the potential to solve real IT challenges.”

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FEATURE STORY

HowWillArtificial Be The Future of Artificial Intelligence?

While artificial intelligence is bringing new possibilities, it is also raising questions. How quickly will they evolve and change the way we do business? Will it be a threat or a boon?

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t is impressive to witness how technologies catch up with imagination. Artificial Intelligence (AI) which was once a phenomenon restricted to science fiction movies has now become a reality and a part of our everyday lives. In a chat with a CIO at the Future IT Summit 2018, he explained how Amazonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alexa has become his best friend. Alexa can carry out a number of functions via voice interactions, such as playing music, making online purchases and so on. And with AmazonGo, AI allows shoppers to simply walk out of a shop with their purchases and automatically get charged, sending an invoice directly to their mobile phone. So, we can see that intelligence now is no longer exclusively human. Machines can recognise a human face as well as drive a car. And in the wake of 4th industrial revolution, governments and organizations across the Middle East have realised the shift towards this emerging technology.

FEATURE STORY

“A Lot Of Brands Have Happily Accepted Ai, However There Are Still A Few Who Are Trying To Grasp The Technology,”

“It’s Not Humans vs.

Machines, its Humans and Machines. AI should augment human capabilities,”

-MUJEEB RAHMAN, COO, BEBUZZD.

-ALAA YOUSEF, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SAS IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

“Like any technology there will be those that will misuse it but in the main I think it will enhance our lives and let us focus on what is more important,” -DR. PROF PIERRE BRUNSWICK, CEO OF NEUROMEM TECHNOLOGIES

“Since technology has kept it pace of development, human intelligence has also kept pace to upgrade skills and new learning systems ” -FADI KANAFANI, REGIONAL DIRECTOR – MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA, NETAPP

RISE OF AI IN MIDDLE EAST The contribution of AI to the economies of Middle East are on par with economies in Europe and Asia according to reports. In October 2017, the UAE Government launched ‘UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI)’, that largely aims to speed up the government’s productivity and improve the performance of all official

departments. The country also appointed Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, a minister for artificial intelligence to spearhead the development of its AI strategy.

Also, according to a research by IDC, UAE is at the forefront of trialling AI systems in the Middle East. Dubai has been at the forefront of automating processes. Dubai has introduced robo-cops, aiming to transform nearly 25% of its patrolling taskforce to robots by 2030. The emirate has also started testing the world’s first autonomous taxi-pods.

Organisations are also using AI to help improve business efficiency as well as productivity of their employees. “As technology and society continue to advance, we are noticing more and more organizations looking for powerful solutions to improve and streamline operations. In the past few years, the essential elements have come together to push AI beyond the research labs into the marketplace. In the current scenario, a lot of brand have happily accepted AI, however there are still a few who are trying to grasp the technology,” said Mujeeb Rahman, COO, Bebuzzd.

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia awarded Sophia – the robot, its citizenship, signalling its willingness to embrace AI as it develops its non-oil economy.

The growing focus of artificial intelligence also gives rise to two biggest concerns – AI getting out of control and AI taking over jobs.

ARE ROBOTS TAKING OUR JOBS? Since technology has kept it pace of development, human intelligence has also kept pace to upgrade skills and new learning systems says Fadi Kanafani, Regional Director – Middle East & Africa, NetApp. So, the threat of machines taking over humans can be safely considered a myth. Recently Capgemini surveyed 1,000 organizations that have deployed AI-based systems, and found that 2/3rds experienced no job reduction due to AI, and 4/5ths of them actually created more jobs.

According to Gartner, by 2020, AI will generate 2.3 million jobs, exceeding the 1.8 million that it will remove.

A very interesting statement from Alaa Yousef, Managing Director of SAS in the Middle East – “It’s Not Humans vs. Machines, its Humans and Machines. AI should augment human capabilities. People will rely on AI to do non-routine jobs, jobs that require a lot of cognition, creativity.”

Artificial Intelligence can free people from their routine activities that are physically difficult and often stressful. Vinod Krishnan, Head of the Commercial Business for MEA at Amazon Web Services (AWS) gives a good example on this. “Machines are very good at, and sometimes even outperform, tasks that are complicated for a human to do, such as finding the optimal route in a warehouse for a certain number of orders

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“AI might one day provide another attack vector for cybercriminals. But that point—while distressing—is irrelevant,” -SUNIL GUPTA, COO & PRESIDENT, PALADION.

“Machines are very good at, and sometimes even outperform tasks that are complicated for a human to do,” -VINOD KRISHNAN, HEAD OF THE COMMERCIAL BUSINESS FOR MEA AT AMAZON WEB SERVICES (AWS)

and transporting heavy goods to the point where it is sent to the customer. For supposedly easy tasks, by contrast, the robot is overwhelmed; an example is recognizing a box that has landed on the wrong shelf.”

So, how do we bring together the best of both?

By letting intelligent robots learn how to identify the right goods from humans, take on various

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“The future is bright; provided we as humans accept the limitations, know the risks, mitigate threats and leverage on the computing capabilities,”

“We start with solid business use cases, contextual data and good governance, management and control to quickly add value to the way work gets done,”

-AADESH GAWDE, PRINCIPAL R &D AND INNOVATION AT PROVISE CONSULTING

-PAUL HARDY, CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER -EMEA, SERVICENOW

orders, and navigate their way autonomously through the warehouse on the most efficient route. This is how we take away the most tedious part of the task and shift resources to more interaction with the customer. This is not making humans redundant but, rather, it helps gain more personal and economic freedom — for interpersonal relationships, for our creativity, and for everything that we humans can do better than machines.

The famous physicist, Stephen Hawking had stated – “The rise of powerful AI will be either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity. We do not know which.”

Fortunately, these concerns are not ignored by the tech industry. In September 2016, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Google and IBM joined forces to ensure the benefits of AI are maximized in society and safety issues are addressed.

For ServiceNow, the approach is very simple.

“We start with solid business use cases, contextual data and good governance, management and control to quickly add value to the way work gets done. Without these core attributes, anything I suppose, could get out of hand,” said Paul Hardy, Chief Innovation Officer - EMEA, ServiceNow. Aadesh Gawde, Principal R &D and Innovation at ProVise Consulting believes that the future is bright; provided we as humans accept the limitations, know the risks, mitigate threats and leverage on the computing capabilities. “We are Intelligent species who made computers let’s not forget that.”

AI – A THREAT TO HUMANITY? The potential benefits of AI are huge and success in creating it would be the biggest achievement in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, if we do not learn to avoid the risks.

“AI is a technology and like any technology there will be those that will misuse it but in the main I think it will enhance our lives and let us focus on what is more important while AI will provide us with the tools we need to do our jobs better,” said CEO of Neuromem Technologies, Dr. Prof Pierre Brunswick.

Sunil Gupta, COO & President, Paladion believes that we will still need human cyber security experts to ask the AI questions, evaluate the AI’s recommendations, and decide what action to take. “AI might one day provide another attack vector for cybercriminals. But that point—while distressing—is irrelevant.”

FINALLY AI is for sure set to transform in many ways, but it is also important to know that, there are still certain areas where human touch cannot be replicated. And with all the hype, let us not underestimate the supercomputers we carry around our skulls! ë

THE 6 KEYS TO UNLOCK YOUR GISEC 2018 POTENTIALS WE CARVE THE PERFECT PLAN FOR YOU!

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LEAD GENERATION (SURVEY) The crucial step towards attaining your ROI

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TOSHIBA ROUNDTABLE

B

usiness is evolving and the nature of data is changing. The need for storage is critical and will always remain.

Toshiba and Enterprise Channels MEA recently hosted two focused roundtable, Storage3600, in KSA and UAE on 19th and 21st March 2018 respectively. The explosion of big data and the penetration of IoT devices have driven the need for increased memory capacity in enterprises and day-to-day life equally.

Innovations in speed, capacity and interfaces have been re-writing the DNA of next generation enterprise storage. As data dwells in the modern enterprises as the new currency it becomes equally important to have a next-generation vault that is intricately built to not only store it but secure it as well.

The roundtable, which was a unique mix of channel partners and customers was highly successful in redefining the future of enterprise storage in the kingdom. Delegates discussed the future and business potential of mission critical,

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with a

surveillance and near line drives and how they are disrupting the storage market of the kingdom.

Santosh Varghese, GM of Toshiba Middle East and Africa kicked off the event in both the countries with an insightful presentation on Toshibaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innovation history and how the company has been leading the forefront of mission critical storage drives.

The vendor is reaffirming its commitment to the channel ecosystem with some key product launches for storage and back-up and some enhanced offerings for the SMB and enterprises.

Since entering the hard disk market in 1967

14-inch model, Toshiba has led the industry for half a century. The company has repeatedly succeeded in making its products more compact and achieving higher capacities before other companies in the market have.

According to Toshiba, within the next 5 -10 years, it will be physically impossible to manufacture sufficient number of SSDs to replace the existing HDD installed Base.

In an attempt to be at the edge of the market demands, Toshiba invests 6% of its net revenue in R&D, ie about 3 billion dollars in invested every year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have a unified approach for storage when it comes to being vertical centric. Our solutions and devices are compatible with any workload and any vertical. we are not providing any industry specific solutions but a generic backbone in terms of capacity enhancements.â&#x20AC;?

TOSHIBA ROUNDTABLE

KSA

KEY DISCUSSION POINTS: • The journey from private cloud to public to hybrid and some real implementation stories.

• The new BYOD (Bring your own drives) • Customer preferences in buying hard drives independent of the storage brand and integrating it in cloud • Bring your own device was one of the interesting topics that Toshiba brought to the table. According to the team, with this concept, customers can go for a solution but later on when they scale up they can bring their own hard drives that can assuresavings upto 30%.

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TOSHIBA ROUNDTABLE

OPINIONS DR. AYAD ALDAIJY, ADVISOR & FORMER CIO, SAUDI ARABIAN MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, WATER & AGRICULTURE: “Its very easy to use and

manage complex technology but very difficult to manage human. Hence it is very important to focus on the user here. Since we are government, we have implemented the change, hence we know the situation. Why do we need the cloud?

We are fine without the cloud as well. Change strategies shoud be applied for better interaction on the technology.”

KALEEMULLAH BHAT, ACCOUNT MANAGER, ABDULLAH FOUAD GROUP: “The market is changing. Initially there was a slight reluctance in having cloud, but now the transformation is happening and we are ready for the next step.”

MOHAMMED WAKED, SALES MANAGER, ARABIAN COMPUTERS:

“No one can deny that data is the most important asset in a company. Unlike the government sectors, private sectors are heavily focusing on the cloud. There is a high demand for backing up the patients’ record and healthcare sector is heavily fousing on how DR strategies.”

MOHAMMED MAHNASHI, ICT ADVISOR, MINISTRY OF FINANCE:

“‘Trust’ is a very key factor when it comes to migrating to cloud. With Vision 2030 we have more avenues for partnership. We need vendors like Toshiba who can walk with us through all the layers of the cloud and the infrastructure.”

ABDUL RAUF, CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF EXECUTIVE, GROWNOMY: “The main

concern with bringing your own device would be the compatibility. We are in a software defined era today and the concern is that can these drives plug and play. More than compute, the data tier is more critical . as long as there is assurance on this, more companies will be going for it.”

BASTIAN JAMES, PRODUCT MANAGER STORAGE, TOSHIBA GULF FZE.:

“Toshiba storage products in the consumer segment has a sizable volume. The success of our business is by in-country channel development and engagement. We will adapt similar strategy for NL / Surveillance category also.The products in this segment are well qualified for the industry. We are confident with our channel engagement, this segment will have a

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TOSHIBA ROUNDTABLE

UAE

KEY DISCUSSION POINTS: • The demands of digitization • Aligning with regulatory and compliance bodies for surveillance • Rising above the buzzwords • Intelligence-driven storage • Data analytics trends

OPINIONS SANJA HORYLOVA, PRODUCT LINE MANAGER, ASBIS: “Data in cloud is vulnerable. Each cloud has a purpose and it depends on the user what kind of data he wants to share and what not. We are working on constant investments in our sales team and at the same time in inside sales . We still hear a lot of vendors going and presenting to the customers about Box 1, 2 and 3 . Vendrs need to do a good groundwork. We believe in the technology of Toshiba and have been jointly approaching the market with this in mind.”

VENKATESH MAHADEVAN, CIO, DUBAI INVESTMENTS: “The spend on devices has dipped. More and more organizations are moving to hyperconverged and people do feel somewhere that they are losing control over the data while they migrate. We, as an organization are still using tapes and believe that they will be here for some more days. Moving away from sales to solution approach is needed for the market.”

A.DODAMANI, HEAD OF CHANNEL & SALES, ZIO TECHNOLOGIES: “We are serving at the pleasure of the customers- Being an SI, this has been our core business mantra since inception. If vendors are not serving the customers, they are serving those who serve the customers, ie the SI. We do not position a product, but a solution that drives the business. Each customer comes with their own criteria and design intent and it is the responsibility of the vendor to make sure that the components he is offering appeals to the end user.”

FAHAD DESHMUKH, IT MANAGER, JAZEERA EMIRATES POWER: “Technology landscape is a cycle of various stakeholders, from the innovators till end-users. Each and every level the information has to passed properly. CIOs are directly involved in the strategy. We align with the management and understand the business objectives. To achieve these objectives, we align with tech vendors. We encourage Toshiba to have more of such communications, meetings, to be held to understand what is available in the market. Sometimes your decision can be amended based on these learnings.”

LOAY ALNAKHAL, ICT AMBASSADOR, DUBAI MUNICIPALITY: “Innovation is the need of the hour. We are looking for something beyond storage, security, authorization and cloud. We are in the lookout for solutions that are more innovative. We need the storage devices to be intelligent to analyze the content of the doc stored and decide who it is relevant for and which department can use it.”

SUMAIYA MUHAMMED, MARKETING MANAGER, SNB MIDDLE EAST: “At SNB we provide end-to-end solutions to our system integrators and eventually to the end-users. We create a solution that is accompanied by training. The market is dominated by buzzwords, but we have to give adequate time to the customers to ponder over their needs. Toshiba has been one of our strongest vendor in terms of their product offerings that best suits the modern enterprises’ demand for critical storage.”

DANIEL NARGUNAM, CHANNEL MANAGER, VAD TECHNOLOGIES: “When we as a distributor start selling any new technology we have to do a lot of POCs from our side before approaching the customer. A majority of the resources are available online today.

Our expectation from a vendor today is to see how they can contribute to expand our business and how we can generate leads together.”

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TOSHIBA ROUNDTABLE SATISH ARYA, GM - MEA, WATCHNET: “Before signing up for any project, it is very important for the solution providers to understand the scalability. For vendors, it is most important is to educate the customer, this will open avenue for both you and the customer to introduce more

technologies to the infrastructure. It’s a hand-held relation.”

THOFFIK V, DIRECTOR, INTERDEV TECHNOLOGY: “There should be a radical shift from the sales pitch to resource pitch. Our request to every vendor is that we need a substantial support to empower our go to market strategy.”

ANIL WARANG, REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION MANAGER, LINCTUS GLOBAL: “We are fairly new to the adoption of cloud.

We keep hearing news of million dollars’ worth data being hacked every other day. So it will take some time till we are convinced that cloud is safe. We are getting to know more about cloud and also scrutinizing some investments. Training from vendor will definitely go a long way in understanding the product positioning.”

MOHAMMED ZAZZA, BDM, DAHUA TECHNOLOGY: “Not all companies are welcoming the cloud with joy, specially the government entities and large enterprises, most of the organizations using cloud are using it more on a personal level. When it comes to surveillance, we term it as sensitive information that the customer wants to store in his premises. We need more branding on the hard disk, more R&D to show what technology drives your solution.”

GANESH MALPUTE, BUSINESS AND CHANNEL HEAD, VIZOCOM: “The awareness is low in emerging markets. The basic knowledge has to be transferred. Words like Al are new to them. Toshiba should seriously look into the marketing strategy that they are looking into in the emerging markets. Rather than a regional strategy they should have an in-country approach. Vendors should take care of the interest of the system integrators in creating a best approach towards the customers. “ MOHAMED ISMAIL, IT MANAGER, CITY AGILITY: Give us a solution that we need not reinvent when we go to a customer. When a wheel is already reinvented, we just need to take it to the customer and this is what we expect from the vendor MOHAN BABU, BUSINESS HEAD, BITS SECURE IT: As an SI, our prime responsibility is ti understand and fulfill the customer need. We do not provide solutions to the customers blindly, but also give suggestions.We also need that kind of input from vendor for our training team. What value we add to the customer makes a big difference.

PRASHANT THAKUR, PRODUCT MANAGER - MEA REDINGTON: “In a market that is dominated by digitization, being bounded to legacy is out of question. Storage vendors need to make clever and strategic alliances apart from steering their offering towards digitization.

Santosh Varghese concluded the session and event saying that Storage is sometimes a forgotten industry. But today, storage is emerging as one of the most popular business, owing to the rise of IoT and AI. He also added that these roundtable is a new initiative in which they wanted to connect and bring some bring boring technology products and make it look interesting and then integrate all your valuable suggestions and ideas and take it back to the R&D. After all innovation is not just about a product… it is about the entire ecosystem.

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INNOVATIONS

Dell EMC VEP Family Dell EMC introduces its Virtual Edge Platform (VEP) family, the first-to-market software-defined wide area network solution (SD-WAN) with the new Intel® Xeon® D-2100 processor, to help speed digital transformation by connecting the enterprise edge to the cloud via universal Customer Premise Equipment (uCPE). The new virtualized solutions will enhance or displace expensive fixed-function access hardware.

As a leading use case, the Dell EMC VEP provides next-generation access to the network via SD-WAN. By enhancing WAN operations and economics, service providers and enterprise customers can drive growth,

strengthen competitive differentiation and improve the end-user experience.

To control costs, reduce complexity and enable scalability for growth, many service providers and enterprises are modernising infrastructure, not only in the data center, but out to the network edge, including branch offices.

Using software-defined architecture, Open Networking and virtualisation to improve network access, organisations can accelerate their digital transformation goals to take advantage of new market opportunities more quickly, flexibly and efficiently.

KEY CAPABILITIES n future-ready and purposebuilt universal Customer Premise Equipment for virtual networking and softwaredefined environments n First-to-market with SD-WAN solution using the newly-released Intel® Xeon®-D processor n Validated, tested solutions with Silver Peak, VeloCloud and Versa software simplify and accelerate deployments n The Dell EMC VEP platform provides the performance, programmability and time-to-delivery to rapidly adapt new service requirements such as routing, firewalling and deep-packet inspection n The Intel Xeon Processor D-2100 product family’s performance, power and form factor have been tuned for higher performance-per-watt for SD-WAN and uCPE n It delivers more than 1.5x faster CPU performance, up to 2x improvement in packet processing, 2x memory bandwidth and up to 4x memory capacity.

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LEVITON E2XHD UNIVERSAL HIGH-DENSITY PANELS IT managers want better protection for their mission-critical applications with shielded connectivity that still allows fast deployment and simple maintenance.

Leviton delivers that solution with the release of two universal panels for its popular e2XHD Snap-In Cassette Patching System. These flat and angled 1RU panels support fiber, UTP, and now shielded connectivity. The e2XHD Snap-In Cassette Patching System includes 1RU high-density universal flat and angled patch panels, copper and fiber snap-in cassettes, and accessories for additional cable protection and management. e2XHD cassettes quickly snap in and pull out of the panels for easy installation and maintenance. Copper cassettes are available empty for field termination or can be pre-terminated with UTP or shielded connectors for quick deployment. Panels also accommodate Atlas-X1 shielded Cat 8 pre-terminated trunks. Fiber cassettes are pre-terminated for fast deployment and assured high performance.

KEY CAPABILITIES n Panels allow a mix-and- match of Leviton fiber and copper snap-in cassettes n High-density 1RU panels support 48 copper ports n Fiber MTP cassettes provide a simple migration path to 40 Gb/s or 100 Gb/s networks, are n pre-terminated, and are available in 12 or 24 fibers, OM3, OM4, OM4+ or single-mode n e2XHD copper cassettes are available empty for field termination, or can be pre-terminated n with UTP or shielded copper connectors, including Cat 8, for quick deployment. Pren terminated solutions ship directly from Leviton’s Chicago or Glenrothes (UK) factories for n fast global service n Atlas-X1 and eXtreme copper connectors easily snap into the cassette after termination

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INNOVATIONS

Pure Storage AIRI Enterprises will tap the power of AI for faster innovation and a competitive edge. Yet AI requires a completely new infrastructure, and its complexities are holding enterprises back from moving into the new era of intelligence. Architected by Pure Storage and NVIDIA, AIRI is purpose-built to enable data architects, scientists and business leaders to extend the power of the NVIDIA DGX-1 and operationalize AI-at-scale for every enterprise. With AIRI, cloud, enterprise and government organizations can accelerate time-to-insight and bring new, impactful innovations to humanity, faster.

KEY CAPABILITIES HARDWARE n NVIDIA® DGX- 4x DGX-1 Systems n 4 PFLOPS of DL Performance, 15x 17TB Blades, 1.5M IOPS n ARISTA, 2x 100Gb Ethernet Switches with RDMA SOFTWARE n NVIDIA GPU CLOUD DEEP LEARNING STACK n NVIDIA Optimized Frameworks n AIRI SCALING TOOLKIT n Multi-node Training Made Simple

Honeywell Ar/ Vr Simulator Honeywell announced a cloud-based simulation tool that uses a combination of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to train plant personnel on critical industrial work activities. With as much as 50 percent of industrial plant personnel due to retire within the next five years, the Honeywell Connected Plant Skills Insight Immersive Competency is designed to bring new industrial workers up to speed quickly by enhancing training and delivering it in new and contemporary ways. Honeywell’s advanced training solution combines mixed reality with data analytics and Honeywell’s 25 years of experience in worker competency management to create an interactive environment for on-the-job training. It uses Microsoft’s HoloLens, the world’s first and only self-contained holographic computer, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets to simulate various scenarios for Honeywell’s C300 controller – such as primary failure and switchovers, cable and power supply failure – that train and test personnel on their skills.

KEY CAPABILITIES n Similar to a flight simulator, trainees can safely experience the impacts of their decisions. n This approach improves skill retention versus traditional training methods by up to 100 percent and reduces the length of technical training by up to 150 percent. n Additionally, the employees’ training progress is tracked as part of a formal competency management system. n Directly links industrial staff competency to plant performance by measuring the training’s effectiveness based on real outcomes n Honeywell Connected Plant turns data into insight that enable plants and businesses to run better

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