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DATA

CENTER The growth in data, which is expected to reach 163 zettabytes by 2025 is one of the factors driving the need for data centers to modernize. .../24

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EDITORIAL

Data at the center

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

A man (human) is nothing without his data! Though we may have terminologies like data governance and data management, it is big-time truth that it is data that governs us today and we are just governing or managing the place it goes to or the channel it goes through. The region is witnessing some significant and serious data strategies taking shape that are helping the organizations to rethink the way in which data is being used for analytics and improved customer service. As an example, Smart Dubai recently hosted the ‘Data First, City’s First Data Challenge’ that brought together all of Smart Dubai’s government and semi-government data strategy partners. The event highlighted the great value that data will bring to the emirate, encouraging all stakeholders to multiply their efforts in terms of collecting data, allowing Dubai to produce more innovative use cases to support the city’s leadership, and government and private entities in their decision-making processes. In our cover story this issue on Data center modernization, we explore how enterprises are deploying newer technologies that generate more meaningful insights from the accumulated date and owing to that how this humungous amount of data is putting increased pressure on the data center architecture. The story explores how there is a clear need and demand for offsite data center in the region and how the emergence of IoT and analytics has added another dimension of complexity to the datacenter infrastructure. ‘Volume to value – Healthcare revisited’ our feature story on the healthcare sector draws in inputs and comments from leading industry players and CIOs on how healthcare industry is gradually shedding silos and making way for automation and intelligence to redefine customer service and monitoring. Also, in focus are special stories from the industry like Commvault, DataCare, Inditech, Heficed etc that further reinforce the usage, management and assessment of data and its importance in modern enterprises. Happy reading! ë

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AUGUST 2019 | VOLUME 07 | ISSUE 01

CONTENTS 22

INTERVIEW

PROVIDING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS AMJAD FATHI AL-OMAR, GENERAL MANAGER, SARIYA IT

INTERVIEW

AIM: TO BECOME A PARTNER OF CHOICE HAMID ANSARI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SYSCOM DISTRIBUTION

INTERVIEW

HOW DATA AND ANALYTICS CAN IMPROVE HR AND FINANCE COLLABORATION

DATA

AT THE

CENTER

DONALD ANDERSON, DIRECTOR, ORGANIZATION & TALENT DEVELOPMENT, ORACLE

The growth in data, which is expected to reach 163 zettabytes by 2025 is one of the factors driving the need for data centers to modernize../24 ADVERTISER INDEX:

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CHANNEL

STREET Emaar to build first 3D printed home in Dubai Emaar Properties plans to build its first 3D printed home in Dubai. This is the first step towards Emaar’s ambition to be a leading adopter of advanced construction technologies. Following a global competition, in which the world’s leading 3D printing technology providers participated, Emaar has awarded the contract to 3D print a model home in Arabian Ranches III. The construction will be facilitated using a local

contractor with the goal of building in-country competencies in 3D printing for the property sector. Building the first 3D printed model home underlines Emaar’s commitment to adopt innovative construction methods to build faster and at a lower cost while achieving higher design and architectural flexibility. Emaar’s use of 3D printing technology will also promote the sustainable use

of resources by reducing waste of construction materials and noise pollution. Upon completion, the 3D printed model home will serve as a reference point for investors to further understand the concept and appreciate the value add that advanced technology brings to the real estate sector. Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties, said: “As the pioneer of integrated communities in Dubai and the trend-setter in the region’s property sector, our plans to embrace 3D printing of homes is an integral part of our digital-first and customer-first strategy. Through this, we are not only positioning ourselves as an early adopter of advanced technology but also creating longterm value for our customers as 3D printing brings numerous advantages such as reduced cost of construction, more efficient use of materials and higher levels of sustainability. With 3D printing technology, to be implemented locally using international expertise, we are also supporting the vision of the leadership to build ‘Smart and Sustainable Cities’ that are tech-driven and meet the aspirations of the new generation of customers. It will also help accelerate the innovation ecosystem in Dubai, inspiring start-ups to contribute towards advanced construction technology.”

DELL TECHNOLOGIES ADDS RUSSIA TO ITS DIGITALLY ADVANCED MARKETS IN META Dell Technologies said that its Middle East, Turkey, Africa region is now being expanded to include Russia, with the change coming into effect immediately. The re-mapping of the CIS markets follows Dell Technologies’ view that these countries have similar needs and customer requirements, leading to Russia joining the digitally advanced markets in the META region. The region will be led by Mohammed Amin, Senior

Vice-President, Middle East Russia, Africa & Turkey (MERAT) and Boris Shcherbakov, VP, Russia will continue to lead the local Russian business operations for Dell Technologies, reporting to Mohammed. Aongus Hegarty, President, EMEA Commercial Business, Dell Technologies said – “With the expansion of our META business to include the Russian market we are looking to increase the focus on this important country and to

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better serve our customers there. We look forward to continuing to build relevance and success for our customers and partners under Mohammed’s strong leadership and focus, and of course with Boris’ continued expertise in Russia, we are confident that we will unlock new opportunities and continue building the momentum.” Mohamed Amin commented – “Russia is a market with significant potential and is poised to dramatically accelerate its

adoption of disruptive technologies in the coming years. This is closely linked with trends we are seeing within the META region as well, so this change will allow us to extend our growth strategy and business roadmap to Russia. Within the META region, we have also built in-depth experience and seen double-digit growth year-on-year, while being the trusted partner of choice to companies as they embark on implementing their digital strategies.”

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Rimera Group opens a subsidiary in the UAE Rimera Group (oilfield services division of Chelpipe Group) has opened its 100% subsidiary RIMERA OVERSEAS DMCC in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its main purpose is to promote Rimera Group’s integrated oilfield services in the global market. These include manufacture and supply of oil extraction equipment and maintenance of oil extraction equipment and OCTG. Sergey Mikhailovsky is appointed as the CEO of RIMERA OVERSEAS. He has extensive experience in the oil and gas sector of Russia and the Middle East. Before coming to Rimera Group, Sergey Mikhailovsky occupied key positions in major Russian oilfield services and steel companies, Novomet Group and TMK GIPI. “Opening RIMERA OVERSEAS in one of the Middle East’s centres of business and finance is a

new step in our company’s export strategy,” says Mikhail Belov, General Director of Rimera Group. “The launch of this subsidiary is in line with the client-oriented business strategy carried out by ChelPipe Group. The company is getting closer to the foreign consumers in order to quickly respond to their demands and to provide goods and services of high quality”. Rimera Group has been active in Russia since 2007. The company’s assets in Russia include the Alnas plant (Republic of Tatarstan) and IzhNefteMash (Republic of Udmurtia), as well as the Rimera-Service maintenance facility network with branches in the country’s major oil-producing regions (Volga Region, Khanty-Mansi and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs).

BIGO STRENGTHENS PRESENCE IN MENA REGION Singapore-based Internet company BIGO, the parent company of video applications such as imo and BIGO LIVE, is strengthening its presence in the Middle East, as part of a strategic global expansion move. BIGO is committed to establishing its first Jordanian office and hiring up to 50 Artificial Intelligence experts in 2019, in a bid to make its applications more relevant to a strong and vibrant youth market in Jordan and the region beyond. His Excellency Mothanna Gharaibeh, Jordan’s Minister for Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, said: “Jordan has always been a melting pot for the Arabic community. With the language and talent pool advantages in the region, we’re delighted to see that budding internet companies like BIGO are keen to set up root here. The company’s choice of establishing a Jordanian office will enable it to produce a highly effective and desirable service to the Arabic community at large.” This investment follows a close interaction with HE the Minister for Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship at the BIGO headquarters in Singapore.

RIVERBED CREATES NEW ATERNITY DIVISION Rivedbed has created a new Aternity division to capitalize on the tremendous growth opportunities in Digital Experience Management (DEM), which includes Riverbed’s End User Experience Monitoring (EUEM) and Application Performance Management (APM) solutions. Aternity, known for its breakthrough innovation and leadership in DEM, delivers a unique set of capabilities that provide rich, transaction level visibility into all drivers of end-user experience — from the end-user device to the application code — in order to enhance the experience of traditional, SaaS, mobile and cloudnative applications. “Riverbed has two very strong and unique market opportunities around our Digital Networking and Digital Experience Management (DEM) platforms. Today, we’re creating the right structure to drive greater focus and deeper expertise for each of these businesses, which will greatly benefit our customers and partners, while enabling Riverbed to fully capitalize and grow in both of these markets,” said Paul Mountford, CEO, Riverbed. Mountford continued, “With a rapidly growing market, it’s clear the formation of an Aternity focused division with the full backing of Riverbed can now be laser focused on innovating and driving success for customers worldwide.”

KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY AMONG TOP 10 SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP BUYERS IN THE WORLD Kingston Technology Europe Co LLP said it is among the top 10 list of semiconductor chip buyers globally as determined by Gartner. Gartner studied the total allocated market looking at total chip spending across many verticals including PC, data center, smart phone,

IoT (Internet of Things) and other applications. Kingston is ranked number 8 having spent an estimated $7.84 billion (USD) for 2018, according to Gartner. Kingston climbed to the top 10 for the first time since Gartner began its design total allocated

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market (TAM) research in 2007. The increase is fueled in part because Kingston is a top memory manufacturer for many of the OEM and ODMs that produce smart devices and Kingston continues to offer value and service in these market segments. In 2018, Kingston produced over

14 trillion Megabytes of memory across all product lines including DRAM, SSDs and embedded solutions, a massive amount that reinforces its strength, position and importance in the industry. Gartner stated that chip spending in recent years has been driven mainly by

the growth in consumption of PCs and smart phones. Gartner further predicts that other growth markets will ignite future demand such as new business opportunities in China focusing on Cloud servers and IoT endpoints that will arise in and after 2022.

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SAR and Huawei Sign MoU to Develop Smart Railway in Saudi

SECONDS

ASPEN TECHNOLOGY ACQUIRES MNUBO AND SABISU Aspen Technology has signed an agreement to acquire Mnubo Inc., a Montreal-based provider of purpose-built artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics infrastructure for the Internet of Things (IoT). Mnubo enables industrial companies to assemble and deploy AI-driven IoT applications quickly, at enterprise scale. The Mnubo technology will accelerate the realization of AspenTech’s vision for the next generation of asset optimization solutions that combine deep process expertise with AI and machine learning. THREATQUOTIENT PARTNERS WITH

Saudi Railway Company (SAR) has selected Huawei as a partner to initiate smart railway and digital transformation in the Kingdom. The companies signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to initiate their partnership during a ceremony held recently at SAR. Dr Bashar Al Malik, CEO of SAR, and Dennis Zhang, CEO of Huawei Tech Investment Saudi Arabia were signatories to the MoU. Through their new partnership, SAR and Huawei will work together to jointly design and innovate in the field of smart railway, including the application of next generation railway wireless network, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, cloud services and 5G across SAR’s

railway network. The collaboration will also include training and knowledge transfer for innovative railway ICT solutions, which will enable SAR to provide a distinctive, high quality and reliable railway service across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dennis Zhang, CEO of Huawei Tech Investment Saudi Arabia, said: “We are looking forward to working with SAR to develop a unique smart railway system that will be designed specifically to the needs of the Kingdom. This is a major infrastructure project that will have a significant impact on the country, and we are honored to have been selected as a partner to bring our technology into making this vision a reality.”

STARLINK ThreatQuotient unveiled a strategic partnership and value added distributor (VAD) agreement with StarLink. According to the terms of the agreement, StarLink will promote and distribute ThreatQuotient’s platform, ThreatQ™, through its extensive network of channel partners and solution providers across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. TPL MAPS AND HERE TECHNOLOGIES PARTNER TPL Maps, Pakistan’s first digital mapping Company, and HERE Technologies, a mapping and location platform services, have revealed a strategic partnership in Pakistan, the Middle East and Africa. Data from TPL

CPT WINS CISCO COLLABORATE ARCHITECTURE AWARD Computer & Power Technology (CPT), a part of MIDIS Systems Integration Group has been awarded the ‘Cisco Architectural Award – Collaborate” at the Cisco Partner Summit 2019. The award highlights the incorporation of Cisco’s Collaboration portfolio with Apple B2B products and services for greater customer and employee experiences and business growth. Shadi Salama, Channel Lead East Region, Middle East at Cisco, said, “CPT has embraced workplace collaboration on an internal level as well as with their customers. Besides standardizing their own operations on Cisco Collaboration, they are leading conversations with their customers to transform the way they work. Their innovative approach combines Cisco Collaboration solutions with Apple to deliver a best in class experience for their customers.” “Our analysis showed us the there is a growing need to provide our customers with solutions that transform the way they communicate and interact with a more collaborative technology approach. The “Collaborate” Architecture award from Cisco showcases CPT’s desire to stay ahead of market trends by working closely with global vendors like Apple Education and Enterprise. This includes the Cisco Collaboration range of Conferencing, Contact Center, Unified Communication as well as phone and video device needs,” said, Cesar El-Ferkh, Sales Director at MDS CPT.

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Maps will allow HERE Technologies to offer high-quality maps of the region for all its customer segments, including automotive, transport and logistics, technology, media and telecommunications and the public sector. OPTIMAL IDM AND PRECISE TECHNOLOGIES PARTNER Optimal IdM has partnered with Precise Technologies who will be the exclusive valueadded distributor (VAD) of The OptimalCloud in the META market – Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. The OptimalCloud is a scalable and customizable IAM solution that deploys easily and provides seamless and secure access to thousands of applications using single sign-on technology.

Phone: +971 4 8863850 E-mail: info@asbisme.ae www.asbisme.ae

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AWINGU and AlJammaz Cloud Sign Distribution Agreement

Awingu revealed a distribution agreement with AlJammaz Cloud, a business unit of AlJammaz Technologies and Distribution with headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and coverage across middle east reghion. Awingu’s unified workspace solution provides businesses of all sizes with a highly secure browser-based workspace solution. Awingu aggregated all company files and applications, including SaaS and Windows programs into one secure online workspace. This workspace can be accessed using any device through the browser, allowing for a secure, simple and cost-effective way for companies to implement remote access and “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) policies.

Awingu differentiates itself in the market by it’s easy-of-use and ease-to-install. Deploying Awingu in an existing IT environment can be finalized in as little as one hour. Furthermore, Awingu brings businesses additional security and compliance enhancing features such as a built-in ‘multi factor authentication’, full usage insights, anomaly detection, SSL certificate generation etc. “Awingu is used by businesses to increase security and compliancy, while reducing costs and improving productivity and mobility. With this in mind; VAD is well positioned to drive value creation in the Middle East markets”, says Walter Van Uytven, CEO Awingu.

DTEC APPOINTS SAGE AS STRATEGIC PARTNER Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus (Dtec) has signed a non-exclusive, one-year strategic partnership agreement with Sages. Hans Christensen, Vice President at Dtec, and Viresh Harduth, VP New Customer Acquisitions (Start-up & Small Business) for Africa & Middle East at Sage, signed the memorandum of understanding, under the terms of which Sage will be listed as a recommended service provider to Dtec’s startup community. Sage will also be listed as a strategic partner on the incubation center’s website and will sponsor Dtec events such as the quarterly TechForum series, monthly entrepreneur workshops, and other meet-ups. Speaking on the partnership, Hans Christensen, said: “DSOA is keen to forge agreements with leading international institutions to support the growth and development of local start-ups. Well-integrated accounting, payroll, payment, and customer relationship management systems are key to streamlining functions and operating an efficient business, regardless of its size.”

NEW AVAYA RESEARCH REVEALS CHALLENGES FOR AI ADOPTION IN UAE Almost half of businesses in the UAE are struggling with a knowledge gap when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence (AI), according to a survey of business leaders in the UAE, conducted by Vanson Bourne and sponsored by Avaya. That gap can be attributed to the confusion between “real AI” and “TV/movie AI” as cited by 44% of UAE respondents — higher than the

global average of just 30%. And those organizations that have successfully navigated this potential stumbling block are held back by resource constraints; 40% of UAE organizations claim to lack the in-house skills to facilitate adoption. Given these challenges, it isn’t surprising that 98% of UAE businesses concede that their organization has work to do if it is to get the most out of AI. However,

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UAE organizations are keen to overcome the challenges around adopting AI. The majority say that failing to get on-board with AI now will cost their organization for the next decade. And because of this worry around being left behind on AI, nearly half of UAE organizations (46%) want to adopt more solutions integrating AI-based technologies. “We have often stated that organi-

zations do not need AI — they need solutions to business issues. Applying AI for the sake of AI can be tempting. However, the main focus of any CEO looking to deliver best-in-class customer and employee experiences should be on utilizing AI, if — and only if — it solves a business issue,” aid Yaser Alzubaidi, Senior Director – Digital Engagement Solutions, Avaya International.

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Mediclinic Middle East and NMC Healthcare Join Malaffi Abu Dhabi Health Data Services – SP LLC, the operator of Malaffi, the Abu Dhabi Health Information Exchange (ADHIE), revealed the joining of two UAE healthcare groups – Mediclinic Middle East and NMC Healthcare, by signing the Participant Agreement for their Abu Dhabi-based facilities. Abu Dhabi Health Data Services is established as part of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DOH) and Injazat Data Systems, a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company. Malaffi, will enable healthcare facilities, healthcare professionals and government authorities across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to safely and securely access and share patients’ medical information, to deliver better healthcare quality and improve overall patient outcomes. Malaffi will connect more than 2,000 public and private healthcare providers in Abu Dhabi, that provide healthcare services for more than 3 million people within the Emirate, revolutionizing the delivery of healthcare. Mediclinic Middle East and NMC Healthcare, are now part of the group of Malaffi Participants, together with SEHA (Abu Dhabi Health Services Company), Cleveland

Clinic Abu Dhabi, Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, Healthpoint, United Eastern Medical Services (UEMedical) group and Oasis Hospital, that joined Malaffi in December last year. Collectively, these organizations own and operate 342 clinics and 28 hospitals, which represent 76% of all hospital beds, as well as 57% of all hospital episodes in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. H.E Mohammed Hamad Al Hameli, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said: “We are delighted that more health facilities are joining Malaffi, particularly some of the largest healthcare providers operating in the Emirate. We look forward to reaping the benefits of the Malaffi system in the near future by employing health data to develop policies and robust healthcare programs, as well as enabling healthcare professionals to make informed decisions based on detailed patient records. Furthermore, the Malaffi system will contribute to enhancing the efficiency and availability of health services to the residents of the Emirate by reducing redundant testing, as well as the number of repeat hospital visits.”

WEB CLIPS BITDEFENDER UNVEILS NEW PARTNER PROGRAM Bitdefender launched its revamped Managed Services Provider (MSP) Program. This new partnership structure will offer MSPs, who are increasingly being asked to consult on cybersecurity matters, a competitive advantage through access to market-leading technology, and opportunities to develop their business through the extension of services, while simplifying operational aspects. NEXIGN PARTNERS WITH GIZA SYSTEMS Nexign it has signed a value-added reseller (VAR) agreement with a Cairo-based, leading systems integrator in the MEA region, Giza Systems. The partnership is designed to bolster the abilities of both companies to deliver scalable, agile network solutions, to communications service providers (CSPs) across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Together, Nexign and Giza Systems will work with organisations to accelerate their journey from CSPs to digital service providers (DSPs). SIEMON AND ARISTA NETWORKS PARTNER Siemon and Arista Networks collaborated to share their expert knowledge at the recent ‘Cloud & Infrastructure Development Forum’ in Lagos. The forum delivered insight into key

MOVEMENTS

NUMBER GAME

Nutanix appoints SAMMY ZOGHLAMI as SVP of Sales for the region of Europe, MEA

businesses successfully migrate to the cloud and support a growing digital economy. The partners also demonstrated how the collabora-

$1.5Bn

tion of complimentary manufacturers to deliver a turnkey solution for cloud deployments can add true value to customers. RUCKUS DEBUTS NEW MULTIGIGABIT ACCESS PRODUCTS

A10 Networks appoints

Ruckus Networks (now part of CommScope

ABDULMAJEED

via acquisition) unveiled two new products to

ALOBAILAN as New

complement its growing multigigabit access

Country Manager for KSA

Capillary Technologies appoints VIKRAM BHAT as Chief Product Officer

technologies that can enable pan-African

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UAE’s public cloud spend is set to quadruple to AED 1.5 billion by 2022:IDC

network portfolio. The Ruckus R750 Wi-Fi 6 access point (AP) and ICX 7150-C10ZP switch address the capacity crunch caused by the transition to digital learning. Ruckus is also announcing a new Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem partnership with Soter Technologies to address the student health risk of vaping on school grounds.

CHANNEL STREET

AWS Launches Region in the Middle East Amazon Web Services revealed the opening of the AWS Middle East (Bahrain) Region. With this launch, AWS now spans 69 Availability Zones within 22 geographic regions around the world, and has announced plans for nine more Availability Zones across three more AWS Regions in Indonesia, Italy, and South Africa. “The cloud has the chance to unlock digital transformation in the Middle East,” said Andy Jassy, CEO, Amazon Web Services. “Today, we are launching advanced and secure technology infrastructure that matches the scale of our other AWS Regions around the world and are already seeing strong demand in the Middle East for AWS technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, data analytics, IoT, and much more. We are excited to see how our cloud technology will provide new ways for governments to better engage with citizens, for enterprises to innovate for their next phase of growth, and for entrepre-

neurs to build businesses and compete on a global scale.” The new AWS Middle East (Bahrain) Region offers three Availability Zones at launch. AWS Regions are composed of Availability Zones, which each comprise at least one data center and are located in separate and distinct geographic locations with enough distance to significantly reduce the risk of a single event impacting business continuity, yet near enough to provide low latency for high availability applications. Each Availability Zone has independent power, cooling, and physical security and is connected via redundant, ultra-low-latency networks. AWS customers focused on high availability can design their applications to run in multiple Availability Zones to achieve even greater fault-tolerance. AWS infrastructure Regions meet the highest levels of security, compliance, and data protection.

SNB PARTNERS WITH DORLET, ARCSERVE, RASILIENT SNB Middle East has tied up with three vendors namely Dorlet, Arcserve and Rasilient with the aim to provide the best solutions to the partners across MENA region. As a part of this strategic alliance, Dorlet the designer, developer and manufacturer of access control hardware and security management solutions with 30 years of experience shall be providing both standardized and customized solutions to the channel. Rasilient offers purpose-built, VMS agnostic technologies that allow the clients to use forensic-grade IP surveillance for various applications demanding the ultimate surveillance quality and reliability from the products to protect the respective organization’s interests. Arcserve’s innovation run’s deep in its roots and hence created the first-ever all-inone solution to back up and recover from cloud, virtual, and physical environments – effectively eliminating the need for other point products.

TOSHIBA LAUNCHES SMART APP Toshiba has launched its SMART App that will immensely help its front end customer facing team members and channel partners maximize the value of Toshiba products and deliver a significantly better experience for customers. It’s one of a kind pioneering initiative that has been designed for information sharing and to educate channel sales staff as well as the brand’s customers. The Toshiba SMART App (the first such APP of its kind by any brand in the IT industry) was conceptualised to plug the gap that prevails with regards to the right information being available at the right time for our value chain and the end beneficiary being our valued customers”, averred Santosh Varghese, Vice President, Toshiba Gulf FZE. The SM in SMART refers to Sales & Marketing and exemplifies why the App will be a boon to corporate customers and channel partners alike. At less than 3 MB, the Smart App is incredibly light and the interface is very user friendly. Currently the Toshiba Smart App can be downloaded from Google Play.

DUBAI FESTIVAL CITY MALL CONTRIBUTING TO UAE’S GREEN ECONOMY GOALS Dubai Festival City Mall will become one of the first Malls in the UAE to install solar panels with the aim to support the UAE’s long-term national initiative to build a green economy. The latest generation Panasonic PV panels will be installed on the roofs of both IKEA and Carrefour, which will each produce up to 6.4 GWh of clean energy per year, contributing to 30% of the power used by both companies. “We are a conscious company and are always

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looking for sustainable solutions for our customers and retailers. We are proud to be the first to take up this initiative led by Al-Futtaim, as it not only supports our vision to becoming a greener Mall, but also provides an effective cost saving solution for our partners,” said Steven Cleaver – Director, Shopping Centres UAE, Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate. The solar panel initiative will also be integrated into Al-Futtaim’s new lifestyle shopping destina-

tion in Jebel Ali, ‘Festival Plaza’ which is planned to open in Q4 2019 as part of its CSR program to utilise sustainable and renewable energy where possible. This latest initiative comes shortly after Dubai Festival City Mall announced its new electric charging outlets to power zero-emission electric Tesla cars. The Mall has also recently switched to LED lighting across all its signage within the property, improving its energy efficiency.

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Manufacturing and Diversification Key to Winning in the Global Economy The Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 was the central focus of a panel discussion on the second day of the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. The vision provides for a shift from a dependency on hydrocarbon exports towards an advanced, knowledge-based and industrialised economy. The panel included H.E. Eng. Saeed

Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO, Emirates Steel and Ahmed Al Balooshi, Executive Director, Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), Department of Economic Development, Abu Dhabi, who discussed the multiple diversification initiatives underway in the Abu Dhabi including moving into new target sectors such as aerospace, defence, and automotive. Ahmed Al Balooshi said SMEs were an

essential part of Abu Dhabi’s diversification plans and he explained how the emirate has been revising its policies and legislation to make it easier and more attractive for SMEs to invest in its industrial sector, including changes to labour and land lease regulations and the introduction of local content requirements. Al Balooshi also revealed that a new industrial fund would be launched by the end of the year, which would support the growth of the SME sector.

BT ELEVATES SCHINDLER’S NETWORK TO NEW LEVEL BT has signed a contract with Schindler. BT will provide Schindler with a reliable and secure network and voice solution connecting about 500 sites worldwide. BT will deploy and manage a consolidated global network infrastructure for Schindler, connecting their data centres, offices, factories

and contact centres globally using IP Connect, BT’s highly reliable and secure network service and a global internet solution. This will remove the complexity of dealing with a multitude of network operators. It will offer Schindler better visibility of cost and performance as well as improved end-to-end service quality. Matteo

Attrovio, Chief Information Officer, Schindler Group, said, “A global, secure, integrated network is a crucial element of our digital strategy. It will allow us to move from a fragmented network of suppliers to a global provider who can offer a fully managed, high quality end-to-end network service.”

Ministry of Economy and Borouge Explore Mutual Collaboration Ways A delegation from the Ministry of Economy, led by H.E. Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade Affairs, visited the Innovation Centre of Borouge in Abu Dhabi, The venture promotes a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the UAE and contributes to enhancing the competitiveness of national exports by opening up new markets for the UAE products and industries and promoting their interests, both regionally and globally. The ministerial delegation included H.E. Abdullah Sultan Alfan Alshamsi, Assistant

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Undersecretary at the Ministry of Economy, Assistant Undersecretary for Trade Remedies Sector; H.E. Juma Mohammed Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade Affairs; Dr Adeeb Alafeefi, Director of the National Programme for SMEs and Projects; Khalfan Al Suwaidi, Director of the International Patent Registration Centre at the Ministry; Mohammed Nasser Hamdan Al Zaabi, Director of the Trade Promotion Department at the Ministry of Economy; and Sultan Ahmed Darwish, Director of Trade Negotiations & WTO Department. Ahmed Omar Abdulla, CEO of

Borouge and a number of other senior management representatives were present to welcome the delegation. The Ministry’s delegation was introduced to the latest practices and technologies used at the Borouge Innovation Centre to produce innovative and value creating solutions of polymers and plastic elastomers that serve a wide range of industries including medical, machinery, automotive, electrical and mechanical supplies and other sectors according to the best advanced industrial technology standards.

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In association with IT Leaders, brought by Kinetic International and co-hosted by Global CIO Forum, the World CIO 200 Summit – South Africa Edition on 8th and 9th October 2019, celebrating the achievements of the digital leaders. The IT Leaders Africa Summit will host a number of business opportunities for IT professionals to share ideas. The two-day event will witness a unique gathering of IT decision makers and solution providers. The event is designed with specific briefings, TechTALK’s, excellent networking sessions, etc. The event shares technology insights and celebrates the success of entire industry. ‘TechTALK’ is one of the niche segments where the ICT industry’s leading solution providers

share the dais with four key end users discussing problems, opportunities, challenges and solutions. Setting a global benchmark in 2018, the CIO 200 event has been testified as one of the most objective oriented events in terms of having all the right elements on the platform for spearheading the digital transformation champions. Held under the Global CIO Forum, the CIO 200 is a multi-country CIO felicitation ceremony that recognizes the achievements of the digital leaders of today. The CIO 200 is not a competition but a celebration of the amazing lives of the CIOs and their career span. After touring 10 countries in 2018, the awards in 2019 would be going to 14 countries that include – UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt,

India, Atlanta, Canada, Singapore and South Africa. Starting September from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the roadshow will culminate in a 2-day gala event in UAE on December 10th and 11th with the unveiling of the second edition of BOTS. ‘BOTS— The Book of Titans’, is a special yearbook that celebrates the success of the world top 200 CIOs of the digital world and their projects. The first edition was unveiled in a gala ceremony amidst the presence of VIPs, dignitaries and some renowned CIOs who successfully made it to the list of 200. The World CIO 200 were chosen after a deep-dive into the mega projects and accomplishments of the CIOs based on the nominations submitted for the CIO 200 Awards.

‘DUBAINOW’ APP HITS AED 4 BILLION IN TOTAL VALUE OF TRANSACTIONS PROCESSED The DubaiNow platform and application has processed 7.5 million transactions, worth AED 4 billion, since its launch in 2015, making it the city’s preferred portal for transactions with government services, asserted Smart Dubai and the Dubai Department of Finance (DoF). The application was designed to

provide a single, centralised service platform that offers fast, seamless, and paperless services, allowing Dubai residents to complete all transactions digitally, through a web portal or via smartphone. The platform has grown to house more than 70 government and private sector services from 32 participating entities and within 12

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different categories, including: security and justice, transportation, payments and bills, visas and residency, motor vehicles, health, business and employment, education, housing, and Islam, among others. Her Excellency Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director General of Smart Dubai, said: “Smart Dubai is the government entity tasked

with transforming Dubai into the smartest and happiest city in the world. Technology for us is a means to an end, with the ultimate objective being the happiness and welfare of Dubai’s citizens, residents, and visitors. It is our mandate to offer them seamless and enjoyable services, powered and facilitated by advanced technologies.”

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INTERVIEW

PROVIDING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

“EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY WILL PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN KSA MARKET BY EMPOWERING PEOPLE AND WORKFORCES AND WILL CREATE HUGE JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROJECTS. IT WILL UNDOUBTEDLY OPEN UP NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN SMB SECTOR, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS,” - AMJAD FATHI AL-OMAR, GENERAL MANAGER, SARIYA IT.

AMJAD FATHI AL-OMAR,

GENERAL MANAGER, SARIYA IT

From a business perspective, what growth have you seen so far in 2019? Sariya IT is a growing organization focusing on developing and training the channel partners in order to deliver the best solution(s) to the end users. The 2030 Vision of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the customer’s desire to start the Secure and integrated Digital transformation across various industries helps the IT market a lot to grow during the past two quarters of 2019. Sariya IT has grown about 5.3% in last two quarters comparing with the same period last year 2018. We are well supported by our holding group ‘AlKuhaimi’. Our regional expansion in levant and North Africa is also helping us maintain our growth and even expecting higher percentage growth in the next two quarters before end of 2019. Our goal is to have minimum of 10% YOY(2018 Vs. 2019) by end of December this year. Tell us about your technology partnerships. Are you planning to expand your vendor portfolio? We have signed with five new vendors in 2019 and will announce (very soon) our new distribution ship agreements with three new strategic vendors before the end of 2019. Based on your portfolio, how do you see the reception and evolution of technology in the KSA market? Evolution of Technology will play an important role in KSA Market by empowering people and workforces and will create huge job opportunities in the digital transformation projects. It will undoubtedly open up new opportunities in SMB sector, public and private sectors. There will be new online services, new business opportunities and new concepts of digital marketing which will enable anyone to start his

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own business easier than before and without thinking of the IT infrastructure risk and without thinking of the deployment time / cost. With our current portfolio, Sariya IT offers the best products and services for end users through our channels to ensure continuous improvement and to make sure that the customer is ready for cloud computing. How does your Channel Partner Sales Network accelerate the network and sales volume? Basically, our channel partners are the most important element in our sales process. Our partners are our tool to offer all our products/ solutions by giving us the chance and ability to reach to the maximum numbers of end users in all sectors. They are talking on behalf of us, giving services/solutions on behalf of us and presenting our name in the market. As GEC Media is hosting the Security Symposium, we recognized the top key areas that interest the CISOs - DLP, IT Forensics, Security Intelligence. How do you see the market appetite and what do you have to offer? As you said, the above areas are the most important areas currently. It can be said that those areas are becoming extremely important issue for businesses, with the financial and reputational cost of DLP creating significant issues for unprepared organizations. The Market appetite is completely open to buying products, services, trainings and security consulting that protect firs from such serious challenges, whether DLP, information security in general or IT forensics. Sariya IT portfolio is having many products/ services that can be offered to all end users starting from the basic security assessment till high end level of security either hardware, software or consultancy services. ë

COVER STORY

DATA

AT THE

CENTER The growth in data, which is expected to reach 163 zettabytes by 2025 is one of the factors driving the need for data centers to modernize.

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COVER STORY

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 >

hile we still are a few steps away to reach and realize the future data center, we are today at a very amazing time in the history of technology. If we look back at the dot-cum bubble of 1997-2000 when data centers were booming, companies started to build huge brick and mortar infrastructures and named them IDCs – Internet Data Center. Within a short frame of ten to fifteen years, these brick and mortar infrastructure evolved to become CDCs – Cloud Data Centers. Data center modernization, that started with upgrading aging equipment and gradually aging staffs, has gone through various stages.

AGILE DATA INFRASTRUCTURE – MOVE WITHOUT BEING CONSTRAINED International Data Corporation puts the average age of a data center at nine years old. Gartner says data centers older than seven years are obsolete. The growth in data, which is expected to reach 163 zettabytes by 2025 is one factor driving the need for data centers to modernize. Today, data centers are moving and localizing as per the business needs rather than the IT needs. The digital transformation agenda of the CIOs are giving a new perspective to redefining data centers. From a business perspective, the traditional data center is economically inefficient — most data centers overprovision capacity to support growth and as a hedge against downtime. Ossama El Samadoni, Regional Sales Director, Modern Data Center, META, Dell Technologies says, “Today, I am thrilled to see that most CIOs are preparing a solid digital

PHOTO:SHUTTERSTOCK

transformation agenda. Customers do feel that the emerging new breed of applications along with traditional applications like ERP, SCM, Core banking and others must be maintained and served, while increasing investments in technologies that can also accommodate cloud native applications. On the other hand, dealing with containers, microservices and dockers, making application development agile rather than going through the traditional waterfall methodologies is adding to the challenge.” “Virtualization is having a high impact on the look and feel of the infrastructure as well as the extent of management, automation and provisioning of the compute, storage and network elements to serve diverse set of applications,” he adds.

GOING THE AI ROUTE Analysts are recommending AI as a feasible tool for running a highly efficient data-driven data center. Gartner has claimed that more than 30% of data centers that don’t deploy AI and machine learning won’t be operationally and economically feasible by 2020. Azz-Eddine Mansouri, General Manager of Sales at Ciena Middle East says, “To meet the demands of the data-driven and always-on society, enterprises are deploying technology that enables them to generate meaningful insights and actionable information from volumes of raw data. Artificial intelligence and machine learning allow enterprises to integrate intelligent data into all facets of customer interaction. However, these technologies are also creating vast quantities of data that are putting data centre interconnect (DCI) networks under strain.” The implementation of AI is also considered as a good solution for enhancing security in data centers. According to reports, AI can

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COVER STORY

“THE CHANGES WITHIN THE DATA CENTER ENVIRONMENT ARE SO FREQUENT AND RAPID THAT DATA CENTER MANAGERS OFTEN FIND THEMSELVES REACTING TO EVENTS AND CRISES INSTEAD OF IMPLEMENTING A PROACTIVE STRATEGY.” EHAB KANARY, VICE PRESIDENT OF ENTERPRISE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA AT COMMSCOPE

“BEING ABLE TO CONNECT AND GAIN ACCESS TO INFORMATION QUICKLY IS STILL A NECESSITY AND AS SUCH THE ADOPTION OF A DCI-OPTIMISED NETWORK WILL SOON BECOME THE METHOD OF CHOICE.” AZZ-EDDINE MANSOURI, GENERAL MANAGER OF SALES AT CIENA MIDDLE EAST

“ORGANIZATIONS THAT ADOPT CONVERGED SYSTEMS DELIVER APPLICATIONS ABOUT FIVE TIMES FASTER, PROVIDE NEW SERVICES FOUR TIMES FASTER AND REDUCE DOWNTIME BY ABOUT 96%.” OSSAMA EL SAMADONI, REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR, MODERN DATA CENTER, META, DELL TECHNOLOGIES

learn normal network behaviour and detect cyber threats based on deviation from that behaviour. Experts also suggest that the implementation can detect malwares upto a certain extent and help detect loopholes in DC systems. Additionally, AI-based cybersecurity can screen and analyze incoming and outgoing data for security threats thoroughly.

INTELLIGENT OPERATIONS – PREDICTS, PRESCRIBES AND ACTS According to Dell Technologies, the emergence of IoT and analytics has added another dimension of complexity to the Datacenter infrastructure. “This makes it necessary to adopt technologies like Hadoop, Splunk and other specific purpose built analytics engines. In addition, this has also increased the demand to leverage immersive computing and the need to merge compute and storage with massive requirements for performance,” says Osama.

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All the above challenges and drivers have put the technology community to respond with a proper approach that must provide agility, scaling, performance and management; these are the most important aspects of data center modernization. CommScope has identified three key areas that a successful strategy to address the above challenges: Migration to higher speed that defines the need for data centers to support increasingly faster speeds throughout the network; Infrastructure management which includes managing both the physical aspects of the cabling as well as the operational connectivity of the network; and Cloud performance that considers the ability to effectively migrate on-premise applications to either a private or public cloud will depend in large part on your physical layer infrastructure. But be careful how you plan. “Resilience and redundancy are major concerns to data center managers, whether they oversee private or public, cloud or colocation facilities. The changes within the data center environment are

so frequent and rapid that data center managers often find themselves reacting to events and crises instead of implementing a proactive strategy,” says Ehab Kanary, Vice President of Enterprise, Middle East and Africa at CommScope.

ENERGIZED, EFFICIENT, EFFECTIVE Data centers are increasingly powered by renewable resources like solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectricity. Add to that some innovative cooling solutions and you have a new generation of data centers on the rise that are some of the greenest facilities in the world. The data centre’s energy efficiency will remain a focus for most data centre managers. Taking steps to be more energy efficient and to have a more sustainable data centre -- does not necessarily mean massive changes to the facility and the equipment housed within it. Ehab says, “According to the blog post, “EnergyEfficient Data Center Design,” energy efficiency

COVER STORY

“THE NETAPP DATA FABRIC CONCEPT ENABLES IT TEAMS TO MANAGE DATA BETWEEN ON-PREMISES, PUBLIC CLOUD AND HYBRID MULTICLOUD ENVIRONMENTS TO DELIVER MORE INTEGRATION VALUE TO THE NETAPP HCI SOLUTION.” FADI KANAFANI, SENIOR DIRECTOR MIDDLE EAST, NETAPP

“LAST YEAR, WE INVESTED MORE THAN AED 20 MILLION ON INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES ON OUR TIER 3 DATA CENTRES IN DUBAI INTERNET CITY. THE UPGRADES WERE INTENDED TO ENSURE THAT WHILE EHDF IS THE MOST EXPERIENCED AND MATURE DATA CENTRE OPERATOR IN THE REGION WITH AN UNPARALLELED TRACK RECORD OF UPTIME AND AVAILABILITY.”

“POWER DISTRIBUTION UNITS (PDUS) CAN PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN ANALYSING HOW POWER IS BEING CONSUMED AND THE MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON POWER USAGE A PDU CAN PROVIDE, THE BETTER DATA CENTRE MANAGERS WILL BE ABLE TO IMPROVE THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF THE FACILITY.” PREM RODRIGUES, SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR FOR MIDDLE EAST, INDIA AND SAARC, SIEMON

YASSER ZEINELDIN, CEO, EHOSTING DATAFORT

is the holy grail for data center owners and operators seeking low operational expense and minimal environmental impact. Proximity to renewable energy resources place data centers in prime position to take advantage of “free” cooling techniques.” Adding yet another dynamic to the data center energy and workload efficiency, Prem Rodrigues, Sales and Marketing Director for Middle East, India and SAARC at Siemon says, “Compared to Basic PDUs (which simply distribute power to IT devices) and Metered PDUs ( that display the total amount of power used by all the devices connected to the PDU), Smart PDUs offer a greater level of funcionality in that they monitor power usage right down to the outlet level. They enable the user to find out how much power exactly is being consumed by each connected device and also help determine if individual equipment operates within the intended ranges for energy use and help detect the highest power consumers.”

THE HYPE OF HYPER Fadi Kanafani, Senior Director Middle East, NetApp says, “We have brought our own experience from building the FlexPod®converged infrastructure solutions to the HCI market. NetApp HCI is an enterprise-scale hyper converged infrastructure that delivers predictable performance on a highly flexible and efficient architecture and is simple to deploy and manage. The NetApp Data Fabric concept enables IT teams to manage data between on-premises, public cloud and hybrid multicloud environments to deliver more integration value to the NetApp HCI solution. After all, modernization of data centers comes down to a seamless delivery of a hybrid multicloud experience.” A hyperconverged infrastructure essentially brings together everything that makes a data center into a functioning complete solution. All components work together perfectly and can be easily managed from a central console. That’s

exactly what companies need to move their digitization forward. Yasser Zeineldin, CEO of eHosting DataFort says, “In recent years there is an increasing need to adhere to governmental rules and regulations which highlight and focus on data protection. Compliance is critical both within the home country as well as the laws of the country in which the data centre is situated. While it is not only applicable to specific industries such as oil and gas, finance and healthcare, it has now extended into regional requirements such as the European Union’s GDPR to protect the data and privacy of individuals.”

FINALLY As data centers and its operative models become more and more sophisticated, the industry is finding it increasingly difficult to cope up with equally skilled professionals. Experts are predicting escalating costs and higher operational complexities owing to the lack of required skills. ë

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INTERVIEW

COMMVAULT WALKS IN SYNC WITH DX AMBITIONS COMPLEX INFRASTRUCTURE ENVIRONMENT OF MODERN ORGANIZATIONS ARE BECKONING FOR A SEAMLESS SOLUTION THAT PROVIDES A SINGLE PANE OF GLASS VIEW. COMMVAULT IS BUCKED UP TO ADDRESS THIS OPPORTUNITY IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH ITS UNIQUE ABILITY TO WORK ACROSS MULTIPLE TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS. ON NEW IMPLEMENTATIONS, PARTNER PROGRAMS AND MUCH MORE.

WAEL MUSTAFA, AREA VICE PRESIDENT MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH AFRICA & TURKEY AT COMMVAULT

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 >

Data storage metrics dictionary will soon be in a dire need to coin new terminologies to live up to the data explosion in modern enterprises. The speed with which organizations are moving from terabytes to petabytes to exabyte is putting data management and data protection solution providers in a highly complex situation. Interoperability with both public cloud and on-premises environments is the need of hour and on the top priority list of CIOs that can boost the company’s competitive advantage without having to worry about backup. Wael Mustafa, Area Vice President Middle East, South Africa & Turkey at Commvault says that the company has had a very positive year in terms of business as well as the reception of the Commvault Hyperscale that satiates the digital ambitions of businesses while safeguarding their operations. “We are seeing a double-digit growth in the region. With our Hyperscale, customers have now actually started seeing the value of simplification that we offer, be it on the solutions or the licensing models.” Wael adds that they are seeing a huge shift in

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customer’s business models as they are rapidly moving from legacy strategies to more innovative strategies in cloud archiving, backup, data management etc. “With the rapid proliferation of data in the organizations, the customers have started realizing that their old technology does not fit their business model anymore. As the companies juggle between cloud, on-prem and hybrid environments, customers are looking ahead to redefine their business strategies with a solid data management software solution that addresses their end-to-end needs.” The company recently had a major implementation with Emirates Steel. Emirates Steel implemented Commvault Hyperscale to address their challenge with underlying technology scattered across different environments and running on aging hardware. Emirates Steel’s digitalization efforts include moving its SAP modules to the cloud through Microsoft public cloud solutions. “Backup was a challenge with underlying technology scattered across different environments and running on aging Dell hardware,” said

Mohammed Azam, IT Infrastructure Head at Emirates Steel “I initially liked Rubrik’s simple interface but realized at the Commvault GO event, that . Commvault HyperScale proved a more effective solution with an interface that was just as user-friendly but with the critical difference that we installed it easily and it works perfectly across our complex environment.” Two Commvault HyperScale™ clusters replicate data between the company’s data center and disaster recovery site to provide robust business continuity capabilities. “Commvault gives us confidence that we can recover rapidly from any scenario, including potential ransomware attacks,” said Azam. “We can now restore a critical database in less than 90 minutes compared with three hours previously.” Talking about this project, Wael says “As data evolves as the new oil for business, we at Commvault are in a unique position to show the value of what we can offer to our customers to support their transformation ambitions and show how we can support not only their current infrastructure, but future as well. Our Hyperscale solutions offer increased data availability, 360-degree visibility, and business continuity assurance.” Adding on to this futuristic vision, Commvault is also making some serious enhancements to its partner programs. In a recent announcement, the company claimed to have launched the simplest and most profitable partner program in the company’s history. The new tools and capabilities available through the Partner Advantage program are designed to help partners accelerate business, expand the path to multiple revenue streams and consistently win more business. A true transformation strategy is one that strikes the right equilibrium between customers and partners and Commvault has been taking active strides towards that. ë

INTERVIEW

AIM: TO BECOME A PARTNER OF CHOICE WITH A MISSION TO DELIVER THE BEST SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES, SYSCOM DISTRIBUTION AIMS TO BECOME A PARTNER

OF CHOICE. HAMID ANSARI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SYSCOM DISTRIBUTION DISCUSSES WITH ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA THE CHANGE IN THE MARKET SHIFT, THE RIGHT APPROACH TO PARTNERS AND SUCCESS STORIES.

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HAMID ANSARI,

MANAGING DIRECTOR, SYSCOM DISTRIBUTION

yscom Distribution was established with an aim to provide quality products and services to customers in the region. “We believe in delivering the best-ofbreed technology to customers and facilitate extracting maximum potential from pioneering products for improved business pace and scalability. We are the one-stop solution for networking, security, telecom, software, and other IT requirements,” said Hamid Ansari, Managing Director, Syscom Distribution. Being one of the major distributors for reputed brands in the region, Syscom Distribution has always acted an extended arm and walked an extra mile to give value to their vendor products. “We are the value-added distributors for Allied Telesis, Belkin and Cambium Networks. We are also the Value Added Partners for significant brands in the region namely Cisco, SonicWALL, Belkin, HP, Avaya, Fortinet, etc. We are fortunate that our partnership levels have improved over a while. For instance, there are only a handful of diamond partners for Avaya and we are proud to be one amongst them. We have taken measures to establish these brands. No vendor will support a partner if justice is not done to the product. We have a strong partnership with the vendors as they have seen our aggressive and structured approach towards building their brands. Our partnership has grown from strength to strength,” he added. The distributor-vendor relationship lasts long only if the products have been given the correct leverage. Syscom Distribution leaves no stone unturned in promoting their vendor brands. From email marketing campaigns to special promotions, the company has stayed ahead in the industry. “We dedicate our focus to one product every week. We also get major support from our vendors in terms of product

trainings for our employees,” said Hamid. Security being one of the core focus of the company, Hamid says – “Data security has become extremely vital and we ensure to keep customers secured with our niche products. We have unique products from SonicWall, Fortinet, etc which focuses on pure-play security. We also educate our clients and customers on the importance of using the right products. We advise them not to use shortcuts because it could be cheaper but they might end up paying a huge price.” Although there has been an economic slowdown, Syscom Distribution has seen a 30% YoY growth. “We have aggressive expansion plans. Earlier we opened an office in Saudi Arabia and will soon have a local presence in Oman. We want to onboard more products in cybersecurity, IoT and AI,” he said. The company attributes its success to its team of highly skilled professionals. “We hire employees who will give focused attention to specific vendor products. We are investing in the right calibre when it comes to the candidates that we are hiring. People are the biggest assets for any organization. Hiring the right candidates for the right products is our major approach,” Hamid said. Syscom promises to achieve beyond horizons by continuously delivering efficient solutions coupled with exceptional quality and innovation. In his closing note, Hamid recalls the inception of Syscom. Although the company was established in the year 2013, the experience of Hamid goes back to 26 years. “I entered this market when the technology was not very advanced. Having been a part of the evolving technology landscape for more than two decades, this experience gives me an edge to make any business decision or grow the business or face challenges,” he concluded. ë

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INTERVIEW

ADDRESSING CUSTOMER PAIN-POINTS WITH UNIQUE APPROACH

AN ENTERRPRISE SOLUTIONS BASED COMPANY, THINK TRIBE TECHNOLOGIES FOCUSES ON HARNESSING VARIOUS TECHNOLOGIES TO DELIVER RIGHT SOLUTIONS TO THE CLIENTS. STEVE RAJU, DIRECTOR - OPERATIONS FOR THE COMPANY DISCUSSED MORE ON THEIR SOLUTIONS AND PLANS FOR THE REGION.

STEVE RAJU,

DIRECTOR - OPERATIONS,

THINK TRIBE TECHNOLOGIES

Tell us about Think Tribe Technologies. When was the company established? Think Tribe Technologies is a technology organization based out of Dubai. We came into existence in the year 2013. We work with complementing software applications and have delivered solutions in various areas like consumer retail, retail fashion, hospitality, hand-held devices, omni-channel, BPA, integration and many more. Tell us in brief about your solutions. How does your solution offering ensure value and productive efficiency? We offer end-to-end enterprise solutions and excel in the implementation of these solutions

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with our unique implementation methodology. As we are in the Enterprise Solutions domain, our main forte is ERP (Microsoft Dynamics). Besides this: l We are also Platinum partners for, LS Retail, natively integrated with Microsoft Dynamics ERP. l Handheld solutions for advanced warehouse management as well as inventory management. l Omni channel solutions like LS Omni l Codeless platforms for BPA which enables integrating and enabling of processes in a quick and efficient manner, using drag and drop l Codeless Applications Platform l Soft4RealEstate and Soft4Leasing l Exelsys HRMS to manage information on human capital in every kind of organization l xPayroll an add-on built on the Dynamics 365 Business Central platform to handle all aspects of payroll. l EasyRewardz CRM Suite, a customer experience solution for retail organizations to manage B2C customer relationships and loyalty management. Name your major customer success stories. What were the implementations made and what are the benefits? We have major success stories in the Apparel Group, Rivoli Group, Dubai Holding Group and many more. The solution comprised in most of these has been a combination of LS Retail, LS Hospitality, Microsoft Dynamics ERP systems, BI tools etc and /or upgrade to a higher version of the current setup. The major benefit of most of these implementations has been, being updated on the latest in technological enhancements in these solutions. Also, the optimization of all processes is another area where such implementations have benefitted. In most cases though, it has always been interwoven solutions seamlessly integrated so that the final solution enables technology-automated

processes resulting in optimized processes for the business and higher productivity for the end users. Businesses are becoming more conscious of cost, speed, efficiency, and effectiveness. There is a natural drive towards BPA in every boardroom debate. How can you help organizations drive their BPA objectives? Our implementation approach and methodology are unique and ensure that we deliver what has been agreed. It all starts during the pre-sales phase where we observe and take down possible requirements and pain points as much as possible, so that what has been agreed by both the client and our teams is what is finally delivered. This is further reinforced during the analysis phase of the project, which is a deep-dive session, where more information about every manual process and pain point is noted. The possible solutions to these are then shared with the client. Keeping in mind the cost and duration of the project, the delivery plan is adhered to, though in some cases, we do tweak the delivery plan to accommodate crucial and critical processes. This is done with the agreement of the client, so that at the end of the project, every pain point is addressed in terms of automation. In a simple case, it can be a simple upgrade where the current manual process in an older version has been now been made available as an automated process. In other scenarios, if it is a critical process for the client, we also ensure that what is truly needed in terms of an automated process, is accommodated as a custom module in the implementation.As much as possible, we try to stay away from customizing the system and help and guide the client to adopt standard processes. Many a times, this is not an easy task! ĂŤ

FEATURE STORY

KUWAIT

FORGING A NEW ROAD! For more than a decade, Kuwait’s effort to revamp its economy hadn’t moved beyond the blueprint. But now, efforts are initiated to deliver the goals of the Vision by both the government and the citizens.

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FEATURE STORY

n B Y: D I V S H A B H AT < D I V S H A @ G E C M E D I A G R O U P. C O M > n PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

s one of the richest countries in the Gulf region, Kuwait is striving to fulfill its economic promise. The nation has begun looking beyond oil with Kuwait Vision 2035. Kuwait has accomplished projects worth more than $60 billion towards its Vision Kuwait 2035 strategy with a further $100 billion still to be invested, according to reports. Recently Kuwait inaugurated one of the world’s longest sea bridges. The Sheikh Jaber Causeway is 36 kilometers long – making it the fourth-longest bridge in the world. Currently, the nation is also building the largest port in the Middle East – Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port – constructing a new passenger terminal at Kuwait International Airport, a petrochemical complex, oil refineries, and renewable energy complexes.

THE KUWAIT NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN The Kuwait development plan is designed to transform Kuwait’s economy through 164 strategic programs. The plan features seven “pillars” which will ensure diversification and growth. The government hopes to increase direct foreign investment and to position Kuwait as a hub for the global petrochemical industry. They also look to invest in tourism and infrastructure, target high-population areas through urban development programs and introduce social and economic empowerment programs. The seven-pillar program aims to secure the country’s future through economic diversification and sustainability.

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FEATURE STORY

“BUSINESSES CAN THRIVE IN THIS COUNTRY BECAUSE OF THE OVERALL STABILITY AND THE BUYING POWER OF CONSUMERS,” HAIDER ALI, AGM, BURHANTEC

“OUR PLAN IS TO GIVE COMPETITIVE, DEPENDABLE, MAINTENANCE FREE AND USER-FRIENDLY SOLUTIONS WITH RAPID IMPLEMENTATION TO ALL MULTINATIONAL AND LOCAL COMPANIES WHO WILL BE TAKING PART IN THE VARIOUS ROLE FOR NEW KUWAIT 2035,” DANNY C K, SALES MANAGER, GLOBAL SUPPLYS

Kuwait’s smart city project is the country’s vision to transform into a hub for trade, finance, and tourism – cutting its dependency on oil revenues. According to reports, South Saad Al Abdullah city in Kuwait is billed as the Middle East’s first development to be both green and ‘smart’. The project is being developed in partnership with South Korea and once finished, it will home around 400,000 people. Whilst South Saad Al Abdullah is still a few years off, smart technologies are already being built into other new housing developments like South Al-Mutlaa, close to the capital. Fiber optic networks, a key technology in the telecom sector is a crucial element of the smart cities plan being developed as part of the New Kuwait 2035. Aimed at linking Kuwaiti residences and public and private entities, the GCC country’s Ministry of Communications is installing fiber-optic networks in a three-phase program published reports. The Kuwaiti government has spent billions

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of dollars to date on projects that will help it accomplish the goals of New Kuwait 2035. The solution providers are no behind. Danny C.K, Sales Manager for Global Supplys said – “Major chunk of the business come from infrastructure projects that have been awarded as a part of the New Kuwait 2035 Vision. We plan to give Competitive, Dependable, Maintenance Free and User-Friendly Solutions with rapid implementation to all Multinational and Local Companies who will be taking part in the various role for New Kuwait 2035. Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Smart Robotics, 3D Print, Mobile Internet are the few technologies which will dominate in the next decade. So, we learn, Revision, Adapt. Change, Get Certified and aim in becoming the market leader in that Technologies. “Kuwait is one of the most stable and dependable economies in GCC. There have been evolutions in almost all the sectors in the last few years but IT, Construction and Telecom sectors have seen the most tremendous growth. We see exponential growth in our businesses and expect it to grow at a steady pace in the coming years. Businesses can thrive in this country because of the overall stability and the buying power of consumers. We plan to invest further in our IT and fashion business, as there is a sharp increase in demand. These demands are going to grow exponentially as the population and infrastructure grow. The investments are hence proving to be a boon with great ROI’s and hence we are very happy keeping our reserves and assets here,” commented Haider Ali, AGM, BurhanTec.

than $100 billion in important verticals like oil and gas, electricity and water, healthcare, education, construction, information, and communications technology, etc. According to BurhanTec, the government of Kuwait has introduced corporate legislation to encourage foreign direct investment in the country. Those who plan to invest have been provided with a vast array of lucrative options and various investment facilities. The major sector that is predominant in the country is the oil and gas sector. The government has plans to diversify other sectors and increase entrepreneurship in the country. For this, they have facilitated better law flexibility and loan facilities. Seeing Kuwait’s market growth in other sectors is further supported by the fact that the number of start-ups has increased substantially. Global Supply’s points out the investment opportunities precisely – “Smart City & IoT is a key element of the New Kuwait 2035 vision and can expect a major investment. To Transform Kuwait into a Financial and Trade hub, all infrastructure should be developed. So, Investment opportunities are wide open in all sectors. It is the best time now to invest in your area of expertise Technology, combined with the latest Future technologies that will dominate the world. One who can take the risk, predict which technology will dominate, and invest will have the advantage of the successful Future.”

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Undoubtedly, Kuwait is striving to forge its road and will certainly secure its long-term economic prosperity and sustain high standards of living to 2035 and ahead. ë

The nation is working towards investment partnerships and opportunities valued at more

THE FUTURE AHEAD

INTERVIEW

TAKING THE ROBOT OUT OF HUMAN

AT AUTOMATION ANYWHERE’S RECENT LAUNCH IN THE MIDDLE EAST, ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA HAD A CHAT WITH MILAN SHETH, EXECUTIVE VP - IMEA, FOR THE COMPANY. AUTOMATION ANYWHERE IS USHERING A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION REVOLUTION LIKE WE’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE AND MILAN WAS HAPPY TO SHARE SOME PLANS FOR THE REGION WITH US.

MILAN SHETH,

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT - IMEA, AUTOMATION ANYWHERE

Tell us more about Automation Anywhere and its solutions. Our vision at Automation Anywhere is to take the robot out of the human. We want to free up human workers from mundane and repetitive tasks that they have performed for years, and instead focus on more creative solutions to existing business problems. To fulfil this purpose, we have created the ‘Intelligent Digital Workforce’ - an intuitive RPA platform that works alongside human workers and is embedded with cognitive and analytics technologies to drive efficiency higher. Our platform is implemented by more than 3,100 customer entities and 1,600 enterprise brands to scale their business operations with RPA, while delivering near-zero error rates. We also have ‘IQ Bots’ to help enterprises sort through piles of unstructured or semi-structured data. These bots can cognitively sort through emails and low-res documents in 190 languages, thus removing the need for manual processing of such data. What’s more, our mobile app provides a centralized dashboard to control these bots from anywhere. Lastly, the Bot Store is a leading marketplace for bots and digital workers where we have ready-to-deploy bots that can be integrated by customers looking for immediate automation solutions. How do you see RPA changing the current business landscape in the region? Enterprises in the Middle East region are quickly adopting RPA solutions now, and the next 12-18 months will witness significant growth. Our lead investor, Softbank Vision Fund as you know is backed by multiple sovereign funds in the Middle East and we are excited to invest for more growth opportunities in this region. Companies are realizing that implementing automation can help them save substantial

resources, and so they are quickly moving on from testing to implementation stages. High mobile penetration rates in the region are also driving adoption of new technologies, as is a key focus in the region to build ‘governments of the future’. We believe that RPA has a crucial role to play here. There is increased acceptance in the region that digital transformation must be embraced to create a new economic environment and there is strong belief that outsourcing and shared services can provide the impetus that the region needs. When combined with automation and new robotic technologies, new jobs can be created, and the region’s economic growth can be guaranteed. As an Executive VP, what are your top priorities for this region? Since the region is in a high growth phase with regard to RPA, our focus remains on developing localized solutions to meet the unique customer requirements. We’re aware that engagement models that work in other parts of the world may have to be tweaked here, and we are in constant conversations with our partners and customers to devise the best models. The financial services industry and oil and gas, in particular, are dominant industries here, and we are aiming to adapt engagement models for these sectors and others. Government mandates in the region are encouraging RPA adoption and growth in the region as well, and we are excited to play a significant role in this transformation. The intention is to quickly translate the fast growth we are seeing in the region into business results and pave the way for regional enterprises to realize the potential of RPA. Reducing traditional delays and removing redundancies will be our primary objectives, but we are also highly motivated by giving regional customers the opportunity to come up with unique and creative innovations. ë

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GUEST ARTICLE

DATA AND AI’S ADVANTAGE IN IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FOR TELCOS Telcos are most successful when customers feel as though their operator truly understands them. Data is the key to building that trust because it can reveal insights that lead to effective problem resolution, and identify customers’ needs, wants, and opportunities. To take things a step further, CSPs can also invest in automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to support proactive customer engagement by automating business processes and solving issues on-the-fly. Data analysis can be the differentiator, because it provides the insight telcos need to create a better customer experience overall. With this in mind, CSPs may be even better positioned to tap into the data’s value than digital players, because they have the resources to invest in a long-term change, deep knowledge of both their business and the industry, plus — most importantly — many years of customer behavior data such as call and SMS history or location-based data, which is a manifestation of customers’ specific needs. CSPs know to go beyond network data in order to get a 360 view of the customer and can factor in the NPS (net promoter score), service tickets that users have opened with customer service, rate and subscription plans and more, in order to get the full picture. Customer experience is the new competitive frontier for telcos, and it would appear traditional operators are losing the battle to best-in-class digital players such as Google, Amazon and Apple. As a result, customer expectations for digital experiences are being set in other industries, and those expectations are trickling into the telco space; so CSPs must be ready in order to stay relevant. DATA SUPPORTS EFFECTIVE DECISION-MAKING Recently, the CEO of a CSP wanted to find out what was causing customer churn. Though he had an idea, he wanted to see proof in the data. The analysis showed that his intuition was correct: The customers who spent the most money were leaving in search of a better deal elsewhere. However, he hadn’t known about a second group of customers who were also leaving —

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n H E N R I Q U E VA L E , H E A D O F N O K I A S O F T W A R E - M E A , NOKIA

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customers who paid too little. Those customers weren’t engaged and didn’t get enough value from the service. The insights gleaned through data analysis enabled the telco to design several marketing campaigns to address these two potential problems. First, if a customer called and indicated that they were paying too much, the telco gave them the option to lower their rate. Second, the telco reached out via email to customers who were paying too little and offered a better deal expand their services and get them engaged enough to stay. Intuition is almost always right, but it is not a holistic view of the situation. Data analysis helps to complete the picture and find trends that you might not otherwise see.

streaming application, but is also dangerously close to reaching the monthly data cap. By analyzing the IP address’ traffic patterns, a telco can uncover the perfect moment to offer this customer a data package that includes unlimited Netflix streaming. Now, imagine if this entire process was automated — from AI-driven analysis to automated offer generation to immediate fulfillment and accurate billing. In this scenario, it’s possible for the customer to hear about a perfectly tailored service package at the peak moment of interest (e.g. right at the data limit). This is how customer perceptions toward CSPs start to change, when they view offers not as an annoying or unwelcome intrusion, but as a relevant and perfectly timed solution to an immediate problem. And it’s already possible, especially as AI continues to make its way into the CSP technology stack.If CSPs are to remain competitive with encroaching digital service providers, it’s time they start viewing certain aspects of their business as assets and not liabilities. Telcos may be the “legacy” player in the game, but that legacy includes decades of customer data, plus the resources to invest and maximize emerging technologies like AI. The opportunity is ripe for personalized customer engagement, and AI-powered data analysis can enable it. ë

AI ENABLES DIGITAL TIME At the same time, data analysis can do more than reveal opportunities based on past information. When it’s supported by AI, real-time data analysis empowers CSPs to analyze usage and customer behaviour in-the-moment — driving contextually relevant engagements in this era of instant gratification. For example, imagine a specific mobile customer uses Netflix more than any other video-

GUEST ARTICLE

HOW DATA AND ANALYTICS CAN IMPROVE HR AND FINANCE COLLABORATION

In order to remain competitive, businesses need to streamline internal collaboration and improve efficiencies to achieve success. One great place to start is with HR and finance.

Business leaders are looking for HR and finance to come together to provide insights that drive better decision making for the organization overall. In a recent Oracle study, we examined the current state of data and analytics collaboration between HR and finance teams. According to the report, 88% of HR and finance professionals agree that data-driven collaboration will improve business performance and 95% are making it a priority in 2019. While this doesn’t come without its challenges, an integrated HR-finance approach to business will unlock significant opportunities. BUSINESS BENEFITS OF A JOINT-ANALYTICS STRATEGY When HR and finance departments work in silos, they may have multiple versions of the truth when it comes to data and analytics. Even data as seemingly simple as employee headcount can have disparities across departments. But when both teams are able to partner together, they benefit from achieving one single source of truth and a common approach to framing analytical questions. This enables both teams to deliver a consistent, 360-degree view of metrics to business leaders and have a stronger, more cohesive set of analytics to make data-based decisions. Additionally, an integrated analytics strategy across HR and finance will better equip both teams to tackle initiatives that have dual talent and finance strategies at play. Take workforce planning for example: When determining how

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to grow and develop an organization’s workforce, a joint HR and finance strategy is key. With this, finance and HR departments can partner to achieve a complete understanding of what kind of talent, what types of roles and how many new employees the business needs or is able to acquire. The HR team will be able to bring a perspective of where and how to source this new talent, while the finance team can determine key expense metrics such as how many new hires the business can afford. Lastly, through an integrated approach to data, HR and finance teams will both benefit from each other by acquiring new skill sets and strengths from respective teams. The study found that while both HR and finance need to improve skills on translating data into actionable decisions, the two teams are committed to making it a business priority in the next year. HR teams will also be able to learn from finance how to tell an effective story with data, while finance teams will be able to leverage HR’s business relationships to tell their data story in a meaningful way to key stakeholders. BREAKING THE BARRIERS TO COLLABORATION In order to achieve an integrated analytics approach to HR and finance, both teams will need to overcome barriers. According to the report, HR and finance teams cited short-term mindsets (71%), mismatched skills (64%), and cultural

n D O N A L D A N D E R S O N , D I R E C T O R , O R G A N I Z AT I O N & TA L E N T D E V E L O P M E N T, O R A C L E

habits (60%) as the biggest hurdles to collaboration. In order to overcome these barriers, both teams need to learn how to speak the same business language. While we found that HR teams are already leveraging analytics, the next step is to translate the data beyond its standard references of retention, engagement, etc. into financial implications that relate directly to business impact. For instance, being able to say a 1% increase in engagement in a unit results in $250k more profit, will resonate with business leaders across the board. Once HR is able to translate talent strategy into business strategy, the HR and finance teams will be able to more seamlessly work together in ways that drive better business results. GET STARTED BY STARTING SMALL Overall, once organizations are able to overcome the collaboration barriers and develop a joint HR-finance strategy based on data and analytics, the business opportunities will be endless. To get started, we recommend beginning small and finding one or two opportunistic moments for collaboration. For an HR practitioner, we suggest connecting with a like-minded colleague in the finance department who is similarly interested in collaborating on analytics. From there, you’ll be able to build a bigger and stronger foundation to scale across both departments. ë

CHANNEL REVIEW

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CHANNEL CHIEF – CITRIX How do you plan your day? Each of my working days is carefully planned. I do not have a “to do” list but rather a planned time in my calendar for every task. I also add some contingency time for “the unexpected”. Key to success is prioritization and ability to delegate. Considering I am traveling across the region almost every week I have to balance my time between interactions with our valued partners and customers, interactions with Citrix teams and daily routine tasks. Citrix solutions are helping me to work more efficiently. Anywhere. At any time. And on any device or network. This allows me to dedicate some time to my family and friends. What is your daily routine when it comes to work? I start every day with a cup of coffee and… my mobile device. First I review the schedule of my day and then I read some news to be up to date with what is going on in the World and technology. Then I scan through my mailbox and take action on the most important messages. Once done I start executing on the tasks that are scheduled in my calendar. No matter if I am traveling, at office or home office I am always online. I find it crucial to plan some time for self-development and coaching of my team. Each evening I review what I have achieved and what are the priorities for coming day. What is your role and responsibility? My current role is Partner Director, Emerging Markets. Effectively I am responsible for Channel Business across a very large geography comprising of Russia&CIS, Eastern Europe, MENA and Sub Saharan Africa. This is almost 100 countries, most of them with the fastest growing economies in the World. My priority is to build a successful team, empowered to drive channel ecosystem transformation across the region.

PIOTR FADERSKI,

PARTNER DIRECTOR, EMERGING MARKETS, CITRIX

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What are your plans for the company and partners? Citrix helps companies power a better way to work. It’s what Citrix does to help companies to deliver a great user experience for their employees, to make sure they’re productive, and to ensure their IT team is able to maintain control over all the apps and data. We have recently presented Intelligent Workspace that will revolutionize how people work. In order to make it happen we need an ecosystem of capable, innovative partners to drive this message jointly with Citrix teams to customers. We have in place world class Partner Programs supporting these efforts. ë

INTERVIEW

RETAIL READY

BY DEFINING, DESIGNING AND DELIVERING TECHNOLOGY-ENABLED BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, INDITECH MIDDLE EAST HELPS COMPANIES TO MAXIMIZE PROFIT IN THIS COMPETITIVE WORLD. SAREESH POLASSERY, SALES DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER SHARES WITH ENTERPRISE CHANNEL MEA, THE EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN THE RETAIL INDUSTRY AND THE INNOVATIONS THAT WE CAN EXPECT IN THE RETAIL SECTOR BEYOND 2020.

Inditech’ s service offerings span supply of latest technology products; Specialty Retail Applications and Services, Powerful In-store Analytics, Customer Engagement Solutions, IT infrastructure services, Point of Sale (POS) services, system integration and IT Service & Support Contracts. Inditech also operates through its subsidiaries in KSA, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Djibouti, Tanzania, Lebanon, South Africa and Mauritius thus increasing its breadth and depth of solutions and services offered to its customers.

SAREESH POLASSERY,

SALES DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER, INDITECH MIDDLE EAST

Tell us about Inditech. Which are the regions that you operate in? Inditech provides a complete range of IT services, especially, to Retail verticals by leveraging from our core competence in the Retail business model, POS domain and business expertise, high-quality customer support and strategic alliances with leading POS global technology providers.

With the emerging technologies in the retail industry, how are you meeting the most challenging requirements of this sector in the region? Define with your solutions. Ideally, Customer Experience improvements that drive revenue growth, make each experience count and data driven operations helps retailers to grow. Our specialty retail solution offering helps retailers to address their unique requirements, 1. RETAIL PRO : Powerful POS & Retail Management for Specialty Retail l Intuitive, tailorable POS l Robust pricing & promotions l Store operations & back office l Performance & KPI reporting l Replenishment & inventory management l Customer & employee management l Available on iOS, Android, and Windows l For mobile, laptop, and desktop devices 2. RETAIL NEXT : Comprehensive In-Store Analytics The first retail vertical IoT integrated platform to bring e-commerce style shopper analytics to brick-and-mortar retailers, RetailNext is a pioneer in focusing entirely on optimizing the shopper experience. l Benchmark your stores with Traffic l A ‘virtual’ view into your store and trends

Direction mapping Optimize fitting rooms l Know where your shoppers go. l Visualize shopper movement throughout the entire store l Optimize window and displays effectiveness l Save time on investigations with robust video management l Understand the full shopper journey l Test new store concepts l l

3. X-Retail Unified Customer Experience: Xretail proposes a new platform to provide a unified commerce (Retail) experience to your customers across digital and physical channels. Let your customers start the purchase process from one channel and complete it in another channel and integrate purchases with your ERP/ POS system. Your customer can buy online, pick-up in-store, and ship to home or store. l AI & Personalization l Enhanced SEO l Payments integrations l Inventory Management integrations l Shipping module integrations. What innovations can we expect in the retail sector in 2020? And how ready are you to address those innovations? We are expecting more innovation in, l Marketing, advertising, and campaign management l Store operations l Customer intelligence Inditech’s innovative technologies are ready to offer solutions to fulfil Retailers requirement. Name your major customer success stories. Our leading retailers in the region are Al Futtaim Retail, Emaar, FENDI, Bodyshop, Philipp Pline, Nike, Patricia Pepe, EsteeLauder, Louzan Fashion, BetterLife etc.. ë

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VERTICAL ANALYSIS

VOLUME TO VALUE HEALTHCARE REVISITED

Finding a doc, booking an appointment, getting the right insurance, filling up the OP form, getting your reports, removing the complexity in surgeries……. The list is never-ending if you try to figure out the ways in which automation and intelligence are redefining the healthcare industry.

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VERTICAL ANALYSIS

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here is a fundamental shift in the healthcare industry in going from volume to value. The recent disruption that puts customers at the center of all operations has been forcing the healthcare service providers to adopt ‘retailization’ of the services and make it more and more intelligence-driven. We take a look into how digital disruption has been penetrating into the sector in 2019.

PAPERLESS TREATMENT The dream of becoming a paperless hospital might be on the wish-list of all hospital authorities

today. Though we have all the policies, strategies and solutions in place, many institutions are facing some dire challenges in making the vision a reality. According to InterSystems, in this digitally connected era, it is important to understand that patient documentation is vital in communicating the patient’s condition and organizing their care according to the patient’s needs. That’s where technology comes into play! By adopting Electronic Medical Records (EMR), providers are now able to provide seamless patient outcomes efficiency and help streamline the health system’s revenue cycle. Ali Abi Raad, UAE Country Manager,

InterSystems, “Many health systems have already adopted electronic health records, but now I expect the region to put a strong focus on the sharing of this information – essentially adopting information exchange systems. By sharing patient data across different health systems, patients can get the best possible care no matter where they go for treatment. This is extremely critical in emergency situations.”

BEING A PART OF THE ECOSYSTEM Today, there is no value in a standalone product. A product justifies or augments its existence

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VERTICAL ANALYSIS

“WHILE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS AN AI-POWERED DOC-BOT MAY NOT BE IN COMPETITION WITH A HUMAN DOCTOR’S BEDSIDE MANNER IN THE NEAR FUTURE, IT HAS A CRITICAL ROLE TO PLAY IN HOW THE HEALTHCARE ECOSYSTEM TOOLS ITSELF UP FOR A MORE CONNECTED, INTEGRATED DIGITAL FUTURE.” RASHEED AL OMARI, PRINCIPAL BUSINESS SOLUTION STRATEGIST AT VMWARE MIDDLE EAST, TURKEY AND NORTH AFRICA

“WE HAVE SEEN THE RISE OF TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS AND APPS ENCOURAGING HEALTHIER INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND MANAGEMENT OF HEALTHIER LIFESTYLES, PUTTING CONSUMERS DIRECTLY IN CONTROL OF THEIR OWN HEALTH.”

“MANY HEALTH SYSTEMS HAVE ALREADY ADOPTED ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS, BUT NOW I EXPECT THE REGION TO PUT A STRONG FOCUS ON THE SHARING OF THIS INFORMATION – ESSENTIALLY ADOPTING INFORMATION EXCHANGE SYSTEMS.”

OZLEM FIDANCI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AT PHILIPS MIDDLE EAST & TURKEY

ALI ABI RAAD, UAE COUNTRY MANAGER, INTERSYSTEMS

“THE NATURAL TRANSITION IS FOR AI TO DRIVE COMMUNICATION ENABLING VARIOUS APPS AND EXTENDING TO ACTUAL USAGE AT THE CLINICAL STAGE. ALL THESE ARE DRIVEN BY THE NEW AGE PATIENT AND CARE SEEKER COMMUNITY WHICH IS BECOMING MORE DEMANDING WHERE TRANSPARENCY AND A SMOOTH PATIENT JOURNEY IS CONCERNED.” ANIRUDH GUPTA, CO-FOUNDER OF HEALTHIGO

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only when it serves a collective objective of an ecosystem. While doing this story and talking to all the contributors of the story, we did come across some interesting inputs and comments on the various challenges and opportunities that the industry is facing, but one input was really thought-provoking. Rasheed Al Omari, Principal Business Solution Strategist at VMware Middle East, Turkey and North Africa says, ““There is a growing appreciation of the fact that organizations within a sector only stand to gain if they consider themselves as part of a system, rather than a stand-alone operation. In the healthcare context, this means that the idea of IT infrastructure needs to shift from an organizational asset to an industry platform. With sensitive data masked, the entire industry – as well as the relevant authorities – will greatly benefit from a pool of data that all organizations feed in to.”

‘AI’DING THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR Philips believes that Artificial intelligence is a huge opportunity for healthcare to help over-

come system challenges. As AI is integrated more seamlessly across clinical workflows and applications, it will help make healthcare more predictive, more precise and more accessible for more people, also improving patient and staff experience. “Philips Sonicare Solutions Teledentistry Service enables professional, remote dental consultations to connect directly with consumers, Philips’ Sonicare complete oral care solution has become even more wide-reaching,” says Ozlem Fidanci, Chief Executive Officer at Philips Middle East & Turkey. All users need to do is take one to six pictures of their teeth and gums with their smartphone, send them off via the Philips Sonicare app, and they will receive the results of a teleconsultation within 24 hours. The Philips Sonicare app acts as a ‘virtual hub’ for personal oral healthcare helping users to manage their complete oral care on a daily basis and share brushing data with their dental practitioners, putting personalized guidance and advice at their fingertips. According to Healthigo, AI powered Apps as an aid to the doctors and care givers facilitates better treatment and outcomes. “Personalized

VERTICAL ANALYSIS

CIO SPEAK SHIJIN PRASAD,

HEAD OF IT, CURE MEDICAL CENTER ON ‘GOING PAPERLESS’

“CAPTURING PATIENT DATA IN REAL TIME AND ANALYSING WITH AI AND ML DRIVES THE OPPORTUNITY TO UNDERSTAND BETTER THE EFFICACY OF TREATMENTS AND MEDICATIONS, ALLOWING BETTER TARGETING AND LESS WASTE.” GAMAL EMARA, COUNTRY MANAGER – UAE AT ARUBA, A HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE COMPANY

UNLESS THE HEALTHCARE MOVES TO DIGITAL, IT SHALL NEARLY BE IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVIDE MEANINGFUL HEALTHCARE TO THE MASSIVELY GROWING POPULATION. AI SHALL PROVIDE THE BULK OF PATIENT CARE. IT SHALL DERIVE DECISIONS BASED ON DIGITAL INPUTS, WHICH SHALL BE FAST, ACCURATE AND AVAILABLE AT THE POINT OF CARE. DIGITIZATION IS NOT AN OPTION NOW. PAPER IS ALREADY ON ITS WAY OUT IN HEALTHCARE. ANTO PIUS,

MANAGER- INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, ASTER DM HEALTHCARE ON ‘TELEMEDICINE’

TELEMEDICINE IN OTHER WORDS, ENTERPRISE-WIDE VIRTUAL CARE SOLUTION ENGAGES PATIENTS IN A MORE CONVENIENT WAY THAN IN-PERSON. STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT TELEMEDICINE PROMOTES CONTINUITY OF CARE, DECREASES THE COST OF CARE, AND IMPROVES PATIENT SELF-MANAGEMENT AND OVERALL CLINICAL OUTCOMES. IT IS BECOMING A PART OF THE STANDARD OF CARE THAT SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. UNNI MENON,

and contextual information shared by the doctor helps the patient get involved in their continuum of care. With data feeds possible today from different sources like EMR, wearables, diagnostic and life support systems; discovery and treatment of ailments are becoming easier and will become an invaluable aid in better patient care,” Anirudh Gupta, Co-Founder of Healthigo.

DIGITAL STRIDES Aruba HPE sees ‘Edge’ as one of the core element is going closer to digitization, and one which is more than just a technical concept. According to Aruba, the new edge network combines AI, ML, and automation to continuously learn, predict, and adapt to changes, needs, and threats in real time. The new edge network utilizes technologies and software to make sense of the resulting insights, enabling businesses to act and respond, optimizing the experience for the customer or user wherever they are. Pushing intelligence out to the edge will drive change in the design of our products, services, processes, and organizations, and transform how decisions get made – giving greater autonomy to the devices at the edge. Gamal Emara, country manager – UAE at

IT MANAGER, GARGASH HOSPITAL ON ‘ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE’

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS ALSO TRANSFORMING THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR. AI IN HEALTHCARE HAS IMMENSE POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE COSTS. AI POWERED TECHNOLOGIES WILL DRIVE MEANINGFUL CHANGE ACROSS THE ENTIRE PATIENT JOURNEY. I AM SURE THIS TECHNOLOGY WILL CHANGE THE LOOK AND FEEL OF HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY IN THE NEXT DECADE.

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, “The opportunity at the Edge is driven by many things, including smart applications powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), mobile devices, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, data analysis, next-generation Wi-Fi, 5G communications, and “edge-to-cloud computing.” The evolution of automation is also opening new avenues in conducting complex surgeries and treatment. Though robots are still not considered to be cent percent reliable, the trend is certainly rising. “There are instances wherein

robotics is proving to be more reliable and consistent than humans, especially in the cases of complex or microscopic surgery. These advances are not really new, and can be seen as the evolution of automation from the first industrial revolution. Where we stand today, well within the fourth industrial revolution, the transition is from machines that work to machines that learn, and the universe of possibilities that this now opens up. Going back to the earlier point, the sector as a whole needs to consider data as the platform on which the future is built,” says Rasheed. ë

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ENTERPRISE ADVISER

rought by Enterprise Adviser and powered by Dell EMC and Redington Value, the ‘Ready for Today and Tomorrow’ roundtable was held successfully on 29th July at Burj Rafal Kempinski, Riyadh. The roundtable witnessed the top IT decision makers of Riyadh from various verticals who engaged in interesting conversations on Dell EMCs’ capabilities in IoT,

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Analytics and digital transformation. As the Middle East region keeps pace with its agenda to develop cities and enterprises that are intelligent and cohesive, safety, security and data management has become paramount. Modern enterprises are prepping up to gain an edge over the IoT future and there is a huge demand for unlocking the full potential of IoT data to take more accurate decisions.

Enterprise Advisor in association with Dell EMC and Redington Value explored in depth how organization’s leaderships can stay competitive by moving analytics to the edge. Dan Sithambaram, Director, Citrus Consulting) and Wissam Wehbe, OEM & IOT Sr. Engineer – META, Dell Technologies put forward some excellent presentations on the digital transformation topics. ë

ENTERPRISE ADVISER

BROUGHT BY

29th July 2019 BURJ RAFAL HOTEL KEMPINSKI SFAW | Meeting Room Riyadh, KSA

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INTERVIEW

DELIVERING RIGHT PRODUCTS WITH THE RIGHT APPROACH ESTABLISHED WITH THE FOCUS ON DATA BACKUP TAPES, DATACARE TODAY HAS GROWN TO BE ONE OF THE LEADING IT WHOLESALERS DEALING WITH DATA MEDIA, PRINTER SUPPLIES AND CONSUMER IT PRODUCTS. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE SALES DIRECTOR OF THE COMPANY, AKASH JAIN.

n B Y: D I V S H A B H AT < D I V S H A @ G E C M E D I A G R O U P. C O M >

ounded in the year 2003 by Suresh Shetty, DataCare LLC recognized the potential of the storage market and addressed it accurately. Today the company has grown to become one of the leading IT wholesalers, dealing with Data Media, Printer supplies, Consumer IT products, and hardware. “At DataCare, as the name suggests, we care for data,” said Akash Jain, Sales Director, DataCare. “DataCare was established with the focus on data backup tapes. Slowly as the storage industry evolved, we accumulated alternative storage techniques too like NAS and SAN. Today, our core

focus is 3 principal areas – Storage , Printer Supplies and Services.” The company has partnered with multiple leading vendors like HP, IBM on the Removable tape storage front. On the Network Storage side, DataCare has partnered with QNAP and Synology. On the enterprise-grade, Network, Surveillance hard drives, they have partnered with Seagate and WD respectively. “For most of these vendors, we are the largest partners in the Middle East region,” commented Akash. DataCare additionally has some niche products on the printing side. “We have products from Printronix/Tally Genicom,

TOP PRIORITIES

12 3

To provide customers quality products and solutions

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To be extremely cautious during credit offerings

To educate the team and empower them to stick to our vision.

INTERVIEW

AKASH JAIN,

SALES DIRECTOR, DATACARE LLC

“We provide our customers with quality products and solutions for a lesser price and extended warranty. A mix of the right approach and right solution is what we offer to them.”

the heavy-duty printers and supplies which are the only manufacturer of Line Matrix printers in the world.” The company believes they are ahead of the competition in the market because of their turnkey solutions and pricing structures. “We provide our customers with quality products and solutions for a lesser price and extended warranty. A mix of the right approach and right solution is what we offer to them.” Being a tech-savvy company, DataCare invests more time and revenue into online marketing to

boost the product demand of its vendors. “We can proudly say that, among our competitors, we have the most updated website with every information. We make sure that the products we sell appear in the first three pages of any search engine. We also write blogs and articles on our products and keep them updated. We also sell our products B2C on our own site and on online selling platforms like Amazon. We further create awareness of our products in the market by investing and advertising on Google.” The company also has some exceptional in-

house marketing strategies and also use messaging platforms like WhatsApp to promote products. With a huge customer database, DataCare has invested in a 360-degree approach to promote its products – making use of a mix of marketing strategies like participating in exhibitions like GITEX, Search Engine marketing, Social Marketing, YouTube marketing and WhatsApp marketing. Being in the market for the last 18 years, Akash has seen the market evolving rapidly. “From traditional word of mouth business to email marketing to WhatsApp, the shift has been massive. Today organizations rely on chatbots and other services for their business. The adoption of technologies is high in the region and channel partners are following the trend to keep pace with the competition,” commented Akash. DataCare has always been peculiar when engaging with a vendor partnership. “We choose vendors who have unique products that the market demands. We are cautious when signing up with a new vendor as we first review the value addition that it offers. We deliver niche products to the market that have a diverse set of features. A right product and right technology from the vendor is what we look for,” he concluded. ë

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GUEST ARTICLE

ROBOTICS IN BUSINESS: HOW BUSINESS ORIENTED ROBOTS LOOK LIKE

Robotics in business is about optimizing individual processes and freeing up people for humanonly tasks. However, robots will never completely replace humans as emotions and critically thinking are beyond their capabilities.

Robots, looking as we usually imagine them or see in movies – androids or other humanlike robots –still are on their way to a wide use in our business and private life. For now, they are mostly engaged in promotion and entertainment at public events and conferences. Needless to say, they get the wow effect, but still are of little use to business. Nevertheless, developers managed to delegate some tasks to machines, such as security, control, and medical services. In practice, robots essentially automate jobs that people do and conduct many functions which would typically be performed by people. These are free-standing terminals or devices powered by certain software and imitating people’s actions. One of the most remarkable achievements here is health check terminals automating pre-shift, pre-trip and other medical examinations. These devices test blood pressure, stress level, alcohol or other intoxication, as well as blood oxygen level, which makes them desirable at large and advanced manufacturing enterprises where many people pass through entry checkpoints, with only one medical officer being there to check their health before hard and dangerous work. Each medical examination takes a few seconds at best, and to err is human, so slips happen all the time. Facts are stubborn things: according to statistics of The Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD), Public Health Division, Health Statistics Analysis, occupational accident followed by death make up 3.9% (129 cases) of all death cases in Abu Dhabi

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Death rates are particularly high in the fields of construction, manufacturing, transportation, and communications. For comparison, the number of deaths recorded by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of Bahrain as a result of work accidents amounted to 27 within the first half of 2018. According to another source, the most serious accidents were caused by falling from the top of the scaffolding. A good case to make the point is an access control system examining employees at checkpoints. The robot’s task is simple – quick and adequate health check. In case of deviations, the gate won’t open, and the employee will be instructed to visit a medical officer who in turn, examines ten people instead of a hundred. This allows more time for a quality check – work smarter, not harder. Pictures, videos, check-in time, and express testing results are stored after every examination. Such a robot can comprise a comprehensive heath check set including a blood pressure meter, a pulse oximeter, a pupillometer and a breathalyzer. For example, a pupillometer says, whether an employee is all there or not, so to speak. This device recognizes exhaustion, slow CNS response to a visual stimulus, and any substance affecting reaction and both physical and mental state in general, like drugs or drinks. Another robotics case study is drones, which are extensively used to assist in security matters at large-scale sites, in malfunction diagnostics at power lines, oil and gas trunk pipelines. Drones are multifunctional devices. Currently, field specialists are largely enthusiastic about their

n PAV E L TATA R I N T S E V, T E C H N I C A L D I R E C T O R , N N T C

use for video monitoring, search and rescue operations, and incidents investigation. Flying cameras (drone with a camera) are needed in cities and special services centers for situation analysis. So far, a drone operator – a person out in the field – has transmitted data to colleagues from the headquarters typically using voice or text messages. Today, the market offers drone control systems. This allows drone operators in the field to create a flight assignment and receive telemetry data and video right on the fly. Meanwhile, a command center operator can see the location of either one drone or a whole pack of them on a 3D map, stream the video from a particular drone and even remotely manipulate the camera with a joystick. Two levels are connected by communication channels (for example, LTE). Specific technology has been developed and used to integrate commercially available drones with existing situation centers. A combination of aerial video shooting, remote camera control, and video analytics systems helps emergency operations and dispatch control centers obtain comprehensive information, assess emergency scale and coordinate team activities. Of course, the look of these robot assistants is far from humanlike, but such robot-based solutions greatly facilitate a smooth run of a business, where the human error has always been the number one cause of unanticipated expenses. No matter how good robots are, they only act as the eyes and hands of humans who still are responsible for decision-making in every particular situation. ë

GUEST ARTICLE

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TRENDS 2019 Business intelligence industry in 2019 is all about using artificial intelligence for data interpretation, having heightened awareness of data management, and moving software to the cloud

The growing operational capacities are shaping new trends in the business intelligence (BI) industry. The tendency to migrate the BI software to the cloud where the data is stored, further implementation of AI-powered technologies, and establishing reliable data governance practices are among the top current trends in business intelligence.

to be high in IOPS (input/output operations per second). The computing power of the server matters equally, so does the network speed. As certain types of business intelligence operations are time-sensitive and carried out while competing with rival enterprises, they need high speed, low latency connection to be able to gather and process the data quickly enough.”

AI-DRIVEN PREDICTIONS BASED ON DATA Current AI-driven business intelligence platforms can assess the data quicker and more accurate than ever before. As a result, AI-powered business intelligence will slowly start to not just assess what had happened in the past but also predict future outcomes. In general, while the whole business intelligence sector will continue to be even more AI-oriented than it is today, the quality and amount of insight the data can provide will drastically improve, too. Together with the growing amount of data to crunch, the infrastructural needs will also become increasingly important. “As a network infrastructure provider, we are already seeing the increasing technical demands of our business intelligence customers,” said Vincentas Grinius, CEO of Heficed, a cloud, dedicated server and IP address provider. “Business intelligence enterprises depend on storage to gather and retrieve the data, and the storage needs

DATA MANAGEMENT The process of collecting and processing data is increasingly becoming a target of public scrutiny, and not without reasons. Growing fears and reports regarding mismanagement of personal information are influencing the BI sector, too. After the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became implemented on May 25th, 2018, companies handling extensive amounts of data were forced to take their data governance seriously. Also, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of how their personal data is dealt with. In 2019 and beyond, the business intelligence platforms, as well as other businesses, will have to be aware of how they collect, store, share, and monetize the data. Failing to ensure that their data is well managed, business intelligence organizations could face painful backlashes. On the one hand, the mismanagement of data can lead to enormous fines and settlements. On the other hand, while AI and business intelligence engines are

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developing side by side and are becoming more capable, poorly managed data would exponentially increase the risk of data misinterpretation. DATA GRAVITY: SOFTWARE FOLLOWING THE DATA The final trend is closely linked to the concept of data gravity, which suggests that applications and data attract one another. If the data is moving to the cloud, that is where the software will follow. “When it comes to business intelligence, the theory of data gravity appears to be true for two simple reasons: latency and throughput. The higher the latency, the bigger the delay before data travels; the higher the throughput, the larger amount of data travels through the network successfully. In essence, to run an efficient operation, business intelligence platforms prioritize low latency and high throughput, and that is why these companies are migrating their software to the cloud storing their data,” added Grinius. Both good latency and throughput can be best achieved if the data and the application processing the data are located not too far apart from one another. Given the continuous increase in amounts of data collected and analyzed by business intelligence platforms, the software will continue to follow the data to the cloud where it is stored. ë

INNOVATIONS

KEY CAPABILITIES n Designed to handle repeated piece picking, error-free n Operational 24/7 n Operating costs can be reduced in the long term and staff shortages overcome. n Can handle products weighing up to 1.5 kg and can reach 1100 mm n Smart software allows it to identify and develop picking strategies of unknown products n Can pick up to 1,000 items per hour n Seamless integration into the SynQ warehouse management system n Intuitive user interface ensures fast rampup and smooth operations

ITEMPIQ Swisslog launched its latest robot-based solution ItemPiQ, designed for repeated, reliable picking of a wide range of items to fulfill fast delivery of orders at low operating costs. With ItemPiQ, item picking for e-commerce, retail and pharmaceuticals can be fulfilled rapidly and accurately. The robot cell is designed to handle repeated piece picking, error-free.

R&M CAT. 8.1 CABLING SYSTEM R&M launched its universal Cat. 8.1 cabling system in the Middle East. The company’s new Cat. 8.1 connection module is based on the design of its Cat. 6A module - a top product which has won the iF Award. This solution for data centers and office LANs supports up to 40 Gigabit/s Ethernet (GbE) – the fastest data transmission rate that local networks with structured copper cabling can achieve today. KEY CAPABILITIES n Supports the new performance level of 25 GbE (25GBASE-T) n Is suitable for four-pair Power over Ethernet (4PPoE) n Features R&M’s PowerSafe quality seal n System complies with both standard families: ISO/IEC 11801, Class I, and ANSI/TIA-568.2-D n Suitable for data center and office cabling n Guaranteed 40GbE performance for 24-meter permanent links, and up to 30-meter channel depending on the patch cords used n R&M PowerSafe rated

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