Enterprise Channels MEA August 2015

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PA G E S 5 2 VOLUME O3 | ISSUE 01 AUGUST 2015 WWW.ENTERPRISECHANNELSMEA.COM

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AGELESS INDUSTRY

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From Barter systems to Beacon systems, Journey of Retail to US$ 284.5 billion milestone/22

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EDITORIAL

Welcome Back

S A N J AY M O H A PAT R A S A N J AY @ A C C E N T I N F O M E D I A . C O M

Now that Ramadan is over and everyone is back on their feet, we find it the right time to announce that Enterprise Channels MEA is all set to organize its second edition of GEC Open and GEC Awards during October to December 2015. This time with a twist though; GEC Open will be organized in 7 countries including UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The purpose of the event is to bring the vendors’ ecosystems and customers across the industries closer to each other through the game of Golf.

Similarly, GEC Awards will be organized on the eve of GITEX. Through GEC Awards we will award the performers of the MEA IT industry. The awards will be decided through a strict nomination process. The vendors and the partners will have to nominate their products and solutions in individual categories and there will be a jury panel to ratify their credentials. Unlike last year, this year it will be organised in an indoor venue. The objective of this event is to encourage the vendors and their partners to work harder and cater to the needs of the customers in the best possible manner.

Under the GEC banner, we are also open to support the vendors and partners in organizing customised small events for the customers.

Besides, we also intend to support the region from charity perspective. Therefore, this time these events are associated with Dubai Autism Centre, UAE Red Crescent and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences.

It is indeed an extremely proud and joyous moment for Accent Info Media FZ. LLC group that we have already received a good number of enquiries from the industry for association. I am sure that these events will be very fruitful as we have seen tremendous success in our previous events.

This year’s Gitex Technology Week 2015, being organized from 18 -22 October is going to be very interesting as the organizers have picked up latest trending subjects for discussion. Robotics, Big Data, Smart Cities, etc. are the future of the world. These technologies are bound to be pervasive in near future in order to create a safe, error free and targeted interface and communications, therefore Enterprise Channels MEA is also bringing out a supplement “Infra Insight 2015” to cater to the subjects. Our focus will be to showcase the capabilities of vendors, disties and partners, alongwith successful case studies.

I am extremely confident that we will have good patronage from all of you to make these events successful. ë

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2015 CONTENTS

VOLUME 03 ISSUE 01 AUGUST 2015 W W W. E N T E R P R I S E C H A N N E L S M E A . C O M

COVER STORY

THE AGELESS INDUSTRY From Barter systems to Beacon systems, Journey of Retail to US$ 284.5 billion milestone/22

MY VIEWS /32

HARNESSING THE REIGNS OF IT FARID FAROUQ, HEAD OF IT AT DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE

MY VIEWS /42

UNDERSTANDING SECURITY, DELIVERING PERFECTION

INNOVATIONS /48

NETAPP ALL FLASH FAS (AFF) 8000 SERIES

FEATURE STORY Towards a Profitable Paperless Paradise /36

NetApp All Flash FAS (AFF) 8000 series packs world-class performance and the industry’s best data management in a single solution.

STEPHAN BERNER, MD OF HELP AG EDITORIAL::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 04 GUEST TALK /34

CHANNEL STREET:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 06

BYO APPLE WATCH

BIG DATA IN RETAIL::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 29

MANISH BHARDWAJ, SR MARKETING MANAGER, ARUBA NETWORKS, AN HP COMPANY

GUEST TALK : :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 34 GEC OPEN ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 46 INNOVATIONS : ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 48

ADVERTISER INDEX: HELPAG 02, EMITAC 03, HID 07, ESET 09, AOC 11, FINESSE 13, EMT15, BULWARK 17, GEC AWARD19, GITEX 35, OXYGEN 41, GEC OPEN 49, UNIFY 51, DELL 53

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STREET BUSINESSES BETTER MATCH PACE AS UAE GOES TECH SAVVY

Tech savvy consumers in the UAE are more active on social media platforms than the global average according to findings of a new global report commissioned by BT and Avaya. The report also revealed that majority of these consumers will develop a higher loyalty to brands that are transforming their customer experience beyond the traditional call centre.The research revealed that consumers in the UAE are among the most tech savvy in the world, regularly using a wide variety of different social media and communications platforms. These tech-savvy consumers now expect businesses to keep up. As a minimum requirement; customers expect to be offered a variety of channels to communicate with organisations. They also want organisations to offer the technology they are most familiar with.

PC INDUSTRY FACES SLOWDOWN Worldwide PC shipments totaled 68.4 million units in the second quarter of 2015, a 9.5 percent decline from the second quarter of 2014, according to preliminary results by Gartner. This was the steepest PC shipment decline since the third quarter of 2013.

PC shipments are projected to decline 4.4 percent in 2015.

There were many contributors to the decline of PC shipments in the second quarter of 2015, and Gartner analysts highlighted three of the major reasons for the drop in shipments. Analysts emphasized that these inhibitors are temporary events, and they are not changing the PC market’s structure.

Therefore, while the PC industry is going through a decline, the market is expected to go back to slow and steady growth in 2016.

PC shipments in EMEA totaled 18.6 million units in the second quarter of 2015, a 15.7 percent decline from the second quarter of 2014.

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Microsoft Unveils Windows 10 with all Grandeur For Windows lovers, the wait is finally over as Windows 10 is globally available now. Claimed as Microsoft’s most secure, innovative and personal Windows ever, Windows 10 was launched on the 112th floor of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in a fun filled evening with live demos and displays of the new kid on the block.

Some of the key exciting features of the new Windows include; the personal assistant Cortana.

Search your PC and the web from the taskbar to find help, apps, files, settings or anything. Your personal assistant Cortana will be your guide.

Windows 10 makes a big push in terms of apps, both built-in and third-party. Microsoft is providing an opportunity to developers to develop apps that will work across PC, Windows 10 on mobile and Xbox too – essentially on every screen size. This is known as the Universal App Platform or UAP.

Windows comes with great built-in apps for photos, music, movies, and email. There is a new Photos app that provides a complete back catalogue as well as editing and filter capabilities. Sport and News are improved experiences and best of all, these apps all start up nice and quick, too.

Microsoft Edge is the new browser for Windows 10. The Windows Store has thousands more apps— from marquee games to apps that help you stay in touch and be more productive.

The other cities in which Windows 10 was launched are Sydney, Singapore, New Delhi, Nairobi, Berlin, Johannesburg, Madrid, London, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, Beijing and New York City. The software will be released in 190 countries and in 111 languages this summer. It will be available as a free upgrade to current users of Windows 7 and later versions.

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CHANNEL STREET

One Click Access to long term Vaulting constraints of any particular Actifio has entered into a infrastructure. That makes strategic relationship with Actifio the perfect solution Google Cloud Platform that to migrate late lifecycle will provide Actifio customdata – automatically – into a ers with one-click access to cloud-based storage solution Google’s long term vaulting like Cloud Storage Nearline.” solution, Google Cloud said Actifio Founder & CEO Storage Nearline, right from Ash Ashutosh. within the Actifio platform.

Bob Dolinsky, CIO of Now Actifio customers can Sutherland, a global law firm just as easily add a high perASH ASHUTOSH, ACTIFIO FOUNDER said “Google Cloud Storage formance “Vault” profile to & CEO Nearline’s attractive cost per their SLA portfolio, enabling terabyte and fast data availthem to move application ability are things we are considering as we look data directly into Google’s new long-term storage for the right solution to reduce our internal platform, Google Cloud Storage Nearline. Other technology footprint. Being able to access this features of the Actifio integration with Google type of infrastructure through our Actifio copy Cloud Storage Nearline include local storage data virtualization platform would give us the availability, improved data access, compression option to combine the public cloud economics and encryption etc. we want with the enterprise features we have and “Actifio’s application-centric approach to copy need.” data management frees our customers from the

DIGITAL PRODUCTION MARKET GETS MORE COLOURFUL WITH XEROX One of the industry’s most productive digital production color platform got even better with the addition of an extra color option, boosted up press uptime and offering of multiple speed choices – the calling cards of the new Xerox iGen5 Press.

“We launched a digital color revolution when we introduced the iGen platform in 2002,” said Andrew Copley, president, Global Graphic Communications Operations, Xerox Technology. “And we continue to anticipate change and respond with new ways to convert pages from offset. The iGen5 is fully customizable to meet page volume, application type and color needs – all while delivering market-leading press uptime.”

SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC UNVEILS MICRO DATA CENTRE SOLUTIONS Schneider Electric has unveiled its new micro data center solution portfolio for customers looking to reduce latency and add capacity while ensuring a secure and easy to manage IT environment.

Delivered in a single enclosure, the benefits of the new micro data centre solutions include power, cooling and management software to support a self-contained and secure computing environment. The solution addresses the latency, bandwidth and processing speed challenges that customers face with the surge in connected devices and data applications.

Jonathan Duncan, ITB MEA Director for Integrated Solutions & Data Center Applications, Schneider Electric, said: “All enterprises and corporations seek interconnected, faster and safer IT systems to enrich business practices.

Schneider Electric’s micro data centre solution caters to this need through combining design utility with the latest in cutting-edge technology.”

Steven Carlini, Senior Director for Data Center Global Solutions at Schneider Electric, said: “. It is essentially a ‘plug and play’ data centre that is ideal for private clouds and converged IT systems. In addition, IT installation and operating costs could be minimized to a possible price per watt reduction of as much as 50 per cent.”

EMT FINE TUNES ITS SECURITY OFFERINGS emt Distribution has entered into an exclusive distribution partnership agreement with CoSoSys to distribute the entire portfolio of CoSoSys Endpoint Protector Solutions in Middle East.

“With the rise in awareness about data loss prevention in the region, the opportunities for new business are growing at a fast pace,” said, Mohammad Mobasseri, emt

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Distribution CEO. “We will work closely with CoSoSys to lend technical and marketing support to facilitate the growth of business for all our channel partners.”

The company offers a rich portfolio of security products to protect over 11 million users worldwide.

CoSoSys products provide network device control, DLP for Windows and Mac OS X, Mobile Device

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Management (MDM) for iOS and Android, as well as applications for portable storage device encryption and enhancement.

“We are glad to partner with emt Distribution, one of the leaders in value distribution business in Middle East, with local reach and global experience. We are confident that the technical expertise and the wide channel base of emt will help

give us desired exposure and generate enough business opportunities for us to expand in the region,” Said Roman Foeckl, CoSoSys CEO. The distribution agreement entitles emt Distribution to distribute the entire range of CoSoSys products and solutions across the region, including countries like KSA, UAE, Oman, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain among others.

DO MORE

WITH YOUR I.T. SECURED BY ESET

Whether you’re managing your business, or overseeing your company’s IT, ESET’s security products are fast, easy to use, and deliver market-leading detection. We deliver the protection that allows you to DO MORE. Find out more at ESET.COM/ME/BUSINESS

Dubai Internet City Bldg 2, Off 305 Dubai United Arab Emirates Tel +971 4 3754052 - Fax +971 4 4290967 www.eset.com/me - info@esetme.com

CHANNEL STREET IN PUBLIC

“It’s time for public and private intrests to join together to enhance cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection” HAMED DIAB, MENA REGIONAL DIRECTOR, INTEL SECURITY.

Gulf Air Renews Partnership with Mercator Solutions Gulf Air have extended their partnership with Mercator Solutions in regards to Revenue Accounting Solutions for another five years. The agreement was signed between A/Chief Executive Officer Mr. Maher Salman Al Musallam (centre), Director of Information Technology, Dr Jassim Haji, and Director of Accounting, Mr. Ammar Mohammed Alsaad, and Mercator Sales Director MEA/Russia/India & Sub-Continent, Mr. Anthony Gilliam and Mercator Regional Account Director, Mr. Manish Mittal.

Dr. Haji commented in this occasion: “We are proud of this strategic partnership with Mercator

and we are sure that the future with this extension will bring more collaboration and prosperity to both parties. ” Mr. Gilliam remarked about this event: “Our RAPID and RADAR Analytics solutions have helped the national carrier of Bahrain to ensure accurate revenue collections and tracking, plug potential revenue leakages, simplify the billing with other airlines and agents that sell its tickets, and improve decision support for challenges that arise from the aviation industry. We look forward to our continued partnership and support of this leading airline.”

CommScope Global Partner Program Goes the Extra Mile CommScope has introduced a new management tool for the PartnerPRO Network. The Portal is a management software tool for partners that runs on a best-in-class, data management technology created to simplify the process of collaboration for customer projects, ultimately providing customers faster access to CommScope technology.

“CommScope is making a significant investment into this new portal because we are committed to giving our partners the best tools and support to serve their customers,” said Stephen Kowal, SVP, Global Partners, CommScope. “The PartnerPRO

Portal enables a whole new approach to collaboration with features that will fundamentally change the way we work with partners.” Jim Curran, vice president, Enterprise Sales, MEA, CommScope, said: “Our partners in the Middle East and Africa region are an essential element of our success and fundamental to our regional footprint. They understand the regional specifications and provide local insight to help simplify and accelerate network deployments. Therefore, the new platform will help them to serve customers even better and more efficiently”.

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RIVERBED LAUNCHES RATP PROGRAM Riverbed has launched its new Riverbed Authorized Training Partner (RATP) Program in the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa (METNA).

Under this initiative, Riverbed’s certified training partners will be able to offer the full range of technical education courses to customers, employees and partners, in accordance with Riverbed’s international processes and standards of quality.

EMPOWERING THE MOBILE WORKFORCE ManageEngine’s ADSelfService Plus, its selfservice password management solution, now updates Windows cached credentials. With this feature, ManageEngine now provides remote users with immediate access to their machines after they reset their passwords, solving one of the most frustrating forgotten password issues facing today’s mobile workforce. “ADSelfService Plus helps users solve password issues on their own and work uninterrupted even when they are away from the office,” said Parthiban Paramsivam, director of product management at ManageEngine.

SIMPLIFIED SOLUTIONS JOINS EPICOR INSPIRED PARTNER NETWORK As a VAR, Simplified Solutions will focus on bringing Epicor next-generation software solutions to the rapidly growing Middle East hospitality industry. The VAR partnership will pave the way for the promotion of Epicor iScala ERP as a cost-effective, state-of-the-art enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for the hospitality industry.

JOURNEY TO WINDOWS 10 SMOOTHER WITH CITRIX According to Nabeel Youakim, Vice President,

VOLUME AND VIBRANCY IN ONE

Product Management, Windows App Delivery,

Canon Middle East has launched three new large format printers – the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF830, iPF840 and iPF850 - to bring reliable, precise and productive printing to architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), reprography and CAD environments. Businesses that require eye-catching prints, such as indoor poster and point of sale printing environments, will also appreciate the addition of the latest High Chroma magenta ink for enhanced colour reproduction and more vibrant results.

“High-volume, continuous printing is a fundamental tool for these businesses and needs a powerful and dependable large format printer. The new imagePROGRAF models deliver speed, accuracy and colour vibrancy, making them ideal for both print-for-pay and print-for-use environments.” commented Hendrik Verbrugghe, Marketing Director, Canon ME. The new series also offers substantial cost savings over time, which is especially important for high-volume environments.

XenApp and XenDesktop in the coming year as

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Citrix, “We anticipate tremendous demand for our IT organizations depend on Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop virtualization technology to enable successful Microsoft Windows migrations, which are ideal opportunities for enterprises to embrace virtualized mobile workspaces.” Many organizations will also take the Windows migration event as an opportunity to further their cloud adoption strategies.

Trigon LLC UAE, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain +971 4 342 6060 kamran@trigon-gulf.ae

CHANNEL STREET

A Motivating Step from Cyberoam Janotra- Regional Manager Sales, In a novel step towards Middle East, Cyberoam said boosting the morale of its “Cyberoam has been a 100% channel, Cyberoam is all set channel driven company with to reward cash incentive offer partners playing an instrumental - Cyberoam Sales Bonanza role in extending the company’s - for its Middle East channel reach and support. Our partners partners. The offer is targeted constantly engage with the end towards sales representatives customers keeping us abreast of who are Cyberoam account their challenges and requiremanagers within its partner ments eventually allowing us to companies. Under this offer, RAVINDER JANOTRAREGIONAL MANAGER SALES, innovate and bring in advanceincentives are set according to MIDDLE EAST, CYBEROAM ments to our solutions. This offer the model numbers - higher is just a gesture to acknowledge our partners’ the model sold, higher the incentive gained. The contributions and also motivate them to secure offer is valid only for Cyberoam appliances sold more organizations with next generation security within 1st July 2015 and 30th September 2015. from Cyberoam.”

Explaining the objective of this offer, Ravinder

ACCOR CHOOSES RUCKUS WIRELESS Accor Hotels, one of the world’s leading hotel operators with 3,700 hotels located in 92 countries, has started implementing Ruckus Smart WiFi products and technology across their hotels inGCC and Egypt. The Ruckus Smart WiFi network infrastructure will support free & premium WiFi availability across leading Accor brands including Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, ibis and ibis Styles. AccorHotels’ collaboration with Ruckus Wireless in the region began a few years ago, withthe deployment of Ruckus Smart WiFi networks initiated a year ago. To date, AccorHotels has completed deployment of well over 800Ruckus ZoneFlex™ access points (APs) within these hotels.

QATAR AIRWAYS ON CLOUD WITH OOREDOO Ooredoo and Qatar Airways have expanded their strategic partnership, with the national airline moving both its primary and backup data to Ooredoo’s cloud-hosting platform.

The move to Ooredoo’s first-of-its-kind cloud-hosting platform will enable Qatar Airways to deploy the latest generation of cloud backup and security solutions quickly and cost-effectively, in a flexible and scalable manner. The cloud-hosting platform, which was launched recently in partnership with Microsoft offers a host of features including advanced cyber security, customer relationship management and file-sharing applications all on Ooredoo’s bigger and faster network.

EXPANDING FOOTPRINT WITH DOUBLE GROWTH

NIDAL OTHMAN, MD AT STARLINK

StarLink has unveiled its financial results for H1 2015 which ended on 30th June, 2015. The exceptional performance in the first half of 2015 enabled StarLink to deliver more than double the revenue achieved in the same period last year.

“This phenomenal achievement, fueled by record sales in the second quarter of 2015, puts us on track for our annual revenue goal of $100 Million. This year we observed huge growth in some of our new markets, such as South Africa and Egypt, motivating us to expand our Africa footprint in H2, plus launch our European presence” said Mahmoud Nimer, GM at StarLink. Nidal Othman, MD at StarLink added, “We will also continue to build on our best-of-breed portfolio later this year.

Simultaneously we will expand our GCC and regional teams taking our employee count to 250 by year-end. The majority of new-hires slated to be on-boarded will be technical, in order for us to continue providing value-add on-the-ground locally in each country that we cover to meet the needs of our Channel Partners.

IS AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY THE NEW VICTIM? Recently, Fiat Chrysler Automobile (FCA) announced that it would recall 1.4 million vehicles in the US to install software that would prevent hackers obtaining control of the engine remotely, including the steering wheel and other systems in cars. The successful breach allowed hackers to take control of Chrysler’s systems, and they were able to take control of a Jeep.

Neil Campbell, Dimension Data’s

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Group General Manager, Security comments: “The hack indicates two things. Firstly, the Internet of Things is going to create – and indeed has already created - far more opportunities for hackers to both invade privacy and, in cases like this, escalate the risk from damage to ‘soft’ targets, such as reputation and revenue, to actions that place human lives at risk.

Secondly, many well established

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industries that have not yet had to deal with IT security as a serious threat will be massively underinvested in IT security technologies, services and processes.”

“With the IoT trend driving innovation and connectivity within their product or service range, industries that are running up against these kind of exposures for the first time will need to engage more closely with industry bodies

and IT security services providers in order to come to grips with the risks they’re facing.

Campbell’s advice to organisations is to continually monitor their IT infrastructure and the IT security industry – not only for threats, but for new approaches to managing threats. In addition, organisations need to recognise that people can be both their strongest and the weakest link when it comes to IT security.

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CHANNEL STREET

Who Gets the Biggest Slice of Cake?

ESET has rolled out its summer sales incentive program for channel partners in the Middle East. Extending over a three month period from the 1st of July to the 30th of September, the program rewards high performing sales personnel from the company’s reseller partners and encourages them to close larger deals for the company’s range of next-generation business security solutions.

“When we re-engineered our range of security solutions for businesses, we engaged with a number of large global enterprises to ensure that we had a portfolio of technologies capable of protecting even the most complex IT infrastruc-

tures,” said Pradeesh VS, GM at ESET Middle East. “We now want our partners to target large businesses in the region and close bigger deals. Therefore our new incentive program is structured not only around sales numbers but links rewards to deal size.”

The aim of the program is to drive sales of ESET’s new range of business security solutions which were launched earlier this year. These products offer maximum proactive protection with low impact on company infrastructure, and pack a wealth of new features, such as Botnet Protection, Exploit Blocker, Anti-Phishing and Anti-Theft.

WEB CLIPS ABU QAFRH EMBRACES EPICOR SOLUTIONS Abu Qafrh Holding Company (Abu Qafrh), has selected the Epicor iScala 3.0 enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to reduce operational costs and streamline its human resources (HR) department. The solution will be implemented with the support of Vertical Solutions, an Epicor authorized Value Added Reseller (VAR) and a member of the Epicor Inspired Partner Network in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

ARTEC 3D BRINGS SCANNING WONDER TO KUWAIT Artec 3D and Kuwait-based company 3D Utopia, unveiled the world’s first high-speed full-body 3D scanner for 3D portraits for the

META BYTE IS METRICSTREAM’S PARTNER OF THE YEAR

first time in Kuwait at Arraya Shopping Centre

Meta Byte Technologies has been awarded by MetricStream as ‘Partner of the Year 2015’ for establishing excellence in innovation and implementation of MetricStream solutions in the Middle East, and for their contribution in generating the highest aggregated sales for the Middle East region. The award was presented by MetricStream at a prestigious awards ceremony in Bangalore, India on April 24, 2015.

“Meta Byte is proud to receive the Partner of Year award, which truly reflects our commitment and team efforts. We have achieved this recognition after a year of exceptional contribution for achieving milestones in customer acquisition, and product innovation,” said Salil Dighe, CEO at Meta Byte Technologies. “The strategic partnership between Meta Byte and MetricStream demonstrates a continued commitment to provide outstanding value to our customers in the region,” added Dighe.

manufacturing industries to guarantee quality

on 15th July 2015. These high-precision scanners are used in the aerospace, medical and control, capture even the slightest specifics, down to wrinkles on clothes.

CLIMBING THE NEXT STEP OF PARTNERSHIP Cyberoam and FDC International have decided to take their distribution tie up to the next level. FDC will now be responsible for distributing Cyberoam products in UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan

MOVEMENTS ALEX WALLNER, Area Vice President for Central Europe and Russia, has taken on additional responsibility for NetApp’s business operations in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.

JOSEPH HANANIA has been appointed as the Head of the GDO Segment of Xerox.

ALEXANDER FOROOZANDÉ has been promoted to the position of Regional Channel Manager, Middle East, Turkey & Africa at Infoblox.

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NUMBER GAME

5.5 percent

Gartner says worldwide IT spending to decline 5.5 percent in 2015. Analysts attribute the decline to the rising U.S. dollar

and Lebanon. This decision is in line with Cyberoam’s objective of strengthening its footprint in emerging network security markets. The region known for its oil business has been taking cyber threats seriously after the cyberattack on Qatari Natural Gas Company hit headlines in 2012. Cyberoam believes this is the right time to entrench its presence in the region NO MORE A ‘THANKLESS TASK’ More than half of IT admin staff (55%) are not thanked by colleagues for carrying out essential IT tasks on their behalf, a new poll has shown. ManageEngine which carried out the survey, has released the results in conjunction with the 16th System Administrator Appreciation Day on Friday 31st July, as part of a campaign to give staff in other roles an insight into what a system administrator’s job entails.

CHANNEL STREET

Fortinet’s New Cyber-security Wonders Fortinet has launched the FortiGate 400D and the FortiGate 900D next-generation firewalls (NGFWs). These new appliances further bolster Fortinet’s portfolio while delivering five times greater NGFW performance than competing products.

Fortinet’s new FortiGate 400D and 900D NGFWs are engineered to deliver highperformance security and specifically tailored to meet the grueling demands of mid-sized and enterprise organizations today and into the future. Leveraging Fortinet’s legendary FortiASIC-accelerated performance, both

Appliances utilize Fortinet’s proprietary Network Processor 6 (NP6), providing the FortiGate 400D with throughput performance of 16 Gbps and propelling the FortiGate 900D to speeds of 52 Gbps. Available immediately, the FortiOS operating system guarantees improved Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) stream performance high-throughput, broad security, deep inspection, rich analytics, granular controls and easeof-use. Reinforced with industry-leading threat intelligence from FortiGuard Labs, the FortiGate 400D and 900D deliver the best-in-class protection and performance.

GROWTH BEYOND THE GRAPHS ESET is all set to take the security market by a storm. According to Gartner Market Share: All Software Markets, Worldwide, 2014 report, ESET has recorded growth of 8.0% during 2014 in the consumer security software and endpoint protection platform (enterprise) markets, improving its market share from 4.0% in 2012 to 5.1 % in 2014. “Being ranked in the top 5 vendors by market share in consumer security software and endpoint protection platform was our target for this year and we are happy to see that we have achieved that result.” said Ignacio Sbampato, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at ESET. “We feel this growth is a confirmation that more and more companies and consumers around the world trust our solutions to protect their devices and data.”

WALL STREET FIRMS TARGETED FireEye has released a comprehensive intelligence report that assesses that a financially motivated advanced threat group has been carrying out ongoing attacks against publicly traded companies in a likely attempt to play the stock market. Designated by FireEye as FIN4, the group has been observed collecting information from nearly 100 publicly traded companies or their advisory firms. “Advanced threat actors conducting attacks to play the stock market to their advantage has long been a worry but never truly seen in action,” said Dan McWhorter, VP of threat intelligence, FireEye. “FIN4 is the first time we are seeing a group of very sophisticated attackers actually systematically acquire information that only has true value to a criminal when used in relation to the stock market.”

A BRAND NEW AVATAR

FIROSH UMMER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, EMEA, PALADION NETWORKS

Paladion has introduced the company’s new corporate logo. The rebranding of the logo reflects a blend of simplicity, intelligence, direction and attention to detail.

The company has gained a firm hold over international markets as a security specialist through innovation, technology and modern research and development practices.

It has steadily extended its portfolio to serve a plethora of clients across sectors. The new branding exemplifies how the brand has evolved over the years and emerged as an industry forerunner geared up to enter a new phase of its journey. Firosh Ummer, MD, EMEA, Paladion Networks, said: “Today’s evolving cyber threat landscape looks radically different from the Virus outbreaks, Trojans and Worms that characterized the late 80’s and 90’s. These constantly shuffling approaches and strategies have given shape to a new culture and practice at Paladion. A change therefore was in order. The new brand and values reflect these advancements in the way we do things.”

EGYPT BECKONS TP-LINK TP-LINK is all set to roll out a comprehensive programme focusing on developing its channel business in Egypt. Roger Gong, Country Manager, Egypt at TP-LINK Middle East, said the company has decided to strengthen its B2B and B2C SOHO and SMB networking business in Egypt as the country is steadily turning around from

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the upheaval it has experienced in the past three years.“We have been working so hard to communicate the new business and partners initiatives, and we are working closely with each channel segment to ensure that we lay a solid foundation upon which our business will develop and grow,” he said.

Gong pointed out that TP-LINK is

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building tight alliances with channel partners and developing distributors so that they can start to position their business functions as service providers for reseller partners.

He said looking ahead, TP-LINK will be enhancing its Channel Partner Programme and after-sales service. “We have started the process of setting up our own after-sales

call center as this is an important part in our growth,” he said. “Our partners in Egypt can expect to see a broadened product portfolio in the second half of the year and beyond.

This is one of TP-LINK’s great advantages. We’ll also work together with channel partners and serve them better than before.”

CHANNEL STREET

Smart Choice for Everyday Computing AMD has unveiled the newest addition to its A-Series line of desktop processors. The A8-7670K APU provides a superb experience for Microsoft Windows 10, mainstream workloads, and eSports online gaming.

“AMD takes great strides to deliver innovative technology that provides the performance and convenience customers need today and tomorrow. The AMD A8-7670K APU is no exception.” said Kevin Lensing, Sr. Director, Client Business Unit at AMD. “The new addition of the AMD A8-7670K

IBM AND MUBADALA BRING WATSON TO THE MENA

APU allows us to deliver more options for discerning mainstream PC buyers,” said Zack Shutt, Vice President at Xidax. “AMD’s latest driver and feature support allow incredible new entry points for impressive gaming technologies such as FreeSync™ and Virtual Super Resolution.”

Some of the cutting edge competitive features of the processor include; Exceptional performance on today’s modern workloads with 10 compute cores, protection for sensitive data etc. The A8-7670K APU is available now at select e-tailers and participating system vendors.

EXTENDING CAPABILITIES AND MORE R&M has expanded the capabilities of its innovative R&MinteliPhy automated infrastructure management system with the inclusion of additional displays. The expansion means that R&MinteliPhy uses fewer IP addresses than before, allowing the system itself to monitor large data networks.

“The additional displays enable alarm messages and instructions to be displayed in each network cabinet, irrespective of whether they are fitted with an analyzer or not,” says R&M Product Manager Reinhard Burkert. “Cabling faults can therefore be localized even faster.

MAC IN UAE JUST GOT BETTER WITH MS OFFICE 2016 Microsoft’s final version of Office 2016 for Mac is now available in UAE . Office 2016 for Mac is now available in 139 countries and in 19 languages, with the Arabic version expected later this year. Office 365 subscribers can get the newest version of Office for Mac immediately. Ihsan Anabtawi, Regional Manager - Applications and Services, Microsoft Gulf said “Microsoft has gone a long way to give Mac users a better experience with the Office 2016 for Mac to echo our deep commitment in enabling people and organizations to do more and achieve more with Microsoft offerings. We have added features like improved Mail Merge in Word, Propose New Time in Outlook and support for External Data Connections in Excel. Users will now seamlessly work across devices and platforms with similar interfaces, while the cloud connection that comes with Office 2016 for Mac will help to enhance collaboration, leading to increased productivity.”

IBM and Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala), the Abu Dhabi-based investment and Development Company have entered into an agreement to bring IBM Watson to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

According to Homaid Al Shemmari, CEO of Aerospace & Engineering Services at Mubadala. “We are confident that together we can continue to acceleratethe region’s knowledge-based economy by empowering businesses to capitalize on new opportunitieswith this world-class technology.”

“This collaboration is another important demonstration of IBM’s commitment to bringing Watson to all corners of the world and accelerating adoption of cognitive computing as the new technology standard for innovation,” said Mike Rhodin, senior vice president, IBM Watson. “Mubadala’s strong relationships throughout the MENA region will enable local organizations and entrepreneurs access to Watson to transform their work.”

“Bringing IBM Watson to the region represents the latest major milestone in the global adoption of cognitive computing,” said Mounir Barakat, executive director of ICT at Aerospace & Engineering Services, Mubadala.

Mubadala and IBM will establish the joint venture through Mubadala’s wholly owned information technology services subsidiary, Injazat, which will be the exclusive provider of Watson technology in the region.

HELP AG ON CLOUD 9 WITH NEW PARTNERSHIPS Help AG has signed new partnership agreements with Bit9 + Carbon Black in the GCC. “This allows us to better mitigate and remediate cyber attacks and breaches. We can protect customer endpoints and perform rapid large scale investigation in the event of an attack. This accelerates remediation, allowing us to get customer IT systems up and running

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with minimal impact on business,” says Stephan Berner, MD at Help AG. “Also, because we will be using this technology ourselves, we will be capable of providing an unmatched level of expertise and support to our customer base .” Bit9’s Connect Partner Program includes a number of Help AG’s existing vendors such as FireEye, Palo Alto Networks, HP,

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RSA, and Splunk. Elaborating on this synergy, Stephan says, “This was a factor in our strategic decision to partner with Bit9 as combining best-in-class technologies to deliver comprehensive IT security solutions is a core principle of our business.

We are keen on growing this partnership to benefit the enterprise businesses that choose our security

services and systems integration offerings.” Jessica Couto, Director, World Wide Channel Sales, Bit9 + Carbon Black, said: “We look forward to the extensive range of opportunities that this partnership will bring, and we believe that this joint venture will allow us to foster stronger relations with key customers across various sectors.”

GEC AWARDS GLOBAL ENTERPRISE CONNECT

2015

15th October 2015 Raffles Dubai, Wafi Mall 7:00 pm onwards

GET INSPIRED We at GEC understand the crucial importance of competition, inspiration and recognition. These are extremely vital to success in any field whatsoever. Hence, just like in 2014, we shall be glad to give away awards to the ones taking the lead in the ICT revolution across the Middle East region. The best shall be awarded, and the rest shall definitely be inspired to put up a tougher fight next time.

BROUGHT BY

ORGANISED BY

GLOBAL ENTERPRISE CONNECT

FOR DETAILS VIS IT WWW.GECOPEN.COM

Contact: Ronak Samantaray <ronak@accentinfomedia.com> + 971 555 120490

FOLLOW US:

Gec Open

GECOpen

Enterprise Channels MEA

www.enterprisechannelsmea.com

CHANNEL STREET

COMPUTING EXPERIENCE AT ZENITH AMD has unveiled the new AMD FirePro S9170 server GPU, the world’s first and fastest 32GB single-GPU server card for DGEMM heavy doubleprecision workloads.

Designed with compute-intensive workflows in mind, the AMD FirePro S9170 server GPU is ideal for data center managers who oversee clusters within academic or government bodies, oil and gas industries, or deep neural network compute cluster development.

Sean Burke, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Professional Graphics group said, “The AMD FirePro S9170 server GPU can accelerate complex workloads in scientific computing, data analytics, or seismic processing, wielding an industry-leading 32GB of memory. We designed the new offering for supercomputers to achieve massive compute performance while maximizing available power budgets.”

“There are some HPC workloads which require as much data as possible to stay resident on the device, and so the 32GB of memory provided by AMD FirePro S9170, the largest available on a single GPU, will enable the acceleration of scientific calculations that were previously impossible,” said Simon McIntoshSmith, head of the Microelectronics Research Group at the University of Bristol.

To address future needs for HPC development, AMD FireProS9170 server GPU supports the latest version of OpenCL while ready for the OpenMP and OpenACC developer tools with planned availability in Q3 2015.

Growing with the Partners Channel partners now have new ways to drive revenue and strengthen client relationships with Xerox’s Personalized Application Builder and enhanced Global Partner Program.

“We’re bringing solutions and services to our channel partners with speed and efficiency so they can capture a piece of the significant SMB document management market opportunity,” said Chris Govier, General Manager, Middle East Operations, Xerox. “Our mission is to help partners expand their profitable revenue by connecting Xerox technology and services to their unique solutions so they can help their customers simplify everyday business processes.”

Available for partners in the US, Europe and

across developing markets including UAE, the Personalized Application Builder is a set of tools, training and marketing resources that enables partners to personalize solutions to meet their customers’ unique requirements – and then differentiate themselves by branding the solution under their own name.

“With Xerox’s Application Builder program we can increase our value to existing clients and gain new customers by delivering personalized solutions,” said Gunnar Fransson, CEO, xllnc. “The applications help us achieve credibility as an IT and MPS provider, allowing us to secure a larger share of our customers’ IT budget.”

FORTINET TO DELIVER MORE WITH MERU Fortinet has closed the acquisition of Meru Networks. With this, Fortinet expands on its secure wireless vision and enterprise growth focus, broadens the company’s solutions portfolio, and expands its opportunity to uniquely address the $5B global enterprise Wi-Fi market with integrated and intelligent secure wireless solutions.The addition of Meru’s intelligent Wi-Fi solutions to the Fortinet portfolio extends the delivery of a secure, uninterrupted user experience – anytime anywhere – providing peak performance in environments requiring high capacity load and a high-density of wireless users, such as enterprise, education, healthcare, and hospitality. Fortinet and Meru customers will benefit from Fortinet’s commitment to providing secure, uninterrupted connectivity for their highly mobile end-users, while offering channel partners a broader solutions portfolio to take to market.

‘ALL EYES ON THE CFOS’ With oil prices slowly recovering from the dramatic fall last summer which forced global organizations to put multi-million dollar projects on ice, ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has detailed the key areas in which chief financial officers (CFOs) working in the sector can galvanize the finance function in the fight to future-proof their business in an ever more volatile market. Speaking on the report, Jamie Lyon, the author and ACCA’s head of corporate sector says, “We have all seen the impact of volatility in the market hitting the cost base and impacting capital expenditures over the last year or so. The big question now is how low and how long the oil price will remain at present levels.” “Corporate reporting challenges are also a key test for CFOs, particularly in relation to asset impairment and stranded assets” Lyon says.

STORAGE THAT MATCHES THE SPEED After a successful three-year collaboration with NetApp, this year marks the fourth consecutive year the Sauber F1 Team has worked with the company as a Technical Partner.

NetApp provides the Sauber F1 Team a reliable, flexible and unified storage infrastructure for all

20

IT services involving engineering, business and administration at its headquarter in Hinwil, as well during the Formula One weekends around the globe.

In 2007 the Sauber F1 Team and NetApp started working together, building up their partnership in early 2012 when

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NetApp became Technical Partner of the Sauber F1 Team.

This year NetApp provided the Sauber F1 Team with an upgrade to a system of the FAS8000 series, which delivers significantly higher performance and an increased storage capacity.

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team

Principal, Sauber F1 Team said, “The quality and quantity of the new system doubled our storage capacity as well as tripled our data access performance.

We are pleased to continue our successful collaboration and look forward to strengthening our long-term partnership .”

ENTERPRISE APPS

Payment Successful!

With that smartphone in your hand, your PoSS (point of shopping and point of sale) is on a single device. The era of mWallet has proliferated the popularity and need of next-gen mobile capabilities like NFC and mobile payment apps, which has created a unique marketplace for technology vendors and retailers alike to explore and exploit the mobile technology that is revolutionizing the retail industry and make way for the mobile currency. n WORDS: ANUSHREE <ANUSHREE@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM>

S

martphone penetration in countries like UAE is hovering at nearly 75% and broadband penetration expected to hit 100% anytime soon. With this statistics in hand, it is not surprising to see why a big chunk of retailers and billers from the region have deployed a mobile optimized website. According a study published by Global Card Processing, the top 3 global challenges in mobile payment are directly related to the front-end consumer experience; mobile checkouts, biometrics and the cross-platform solutions available in the market.

The payment processing arena has shifted significantly of late, driven by demand for more intuitive, efficient, seamless and modern capabilities among retailers.

“One of the major trends in the market has been the birth and rapid coming-of-age within mobile point of sale, as consumers and corporate purchasers alike are showing their willingness and desires to use tablets, smartphones and other gadgets to complete transactions”, says Marcelle Malhab, Business Development Manager – MEA B2B, LG Electronics Gulf.

OMA Emirates has introduced the ‘Mobile Solutions’ -one of the industry’s first audio-jack and Bluetooth based NFC/contactless mobile card acceptance solution. “It is a future-proof solution for contactless payment acceptance by providing support for both magnetic stripe, contactless and EMV cards, and is fully compatible with any Mobile Solutions mCommerce platform including the mPOS application, management portals and gateway to instantly accept all of the

latest NFC payment methods”, says Niranj Sangal, Group CEO, OMA Emirates – Solution Gulf.

Renjan George, MD of DVCOM Technology states that utility and Online Shopping Companies have created their own mobile applications enabling users to make quick payment through the mobile applications conveniently. “We provide OpenSource solutions, which allow technology partners to build their own solutions on top of it to complement their businesses and revolutionise the mobile payment capabilities”, adds Renjan. 3iInfotech has an inbuilt API which helps build a bridge between the external vendors and the internal database. “This tool can connect employees to any banks as and when required.

API interacts with the database information of

the banks and customers but remains a fully secured platform reducing the safety risk to staff and recipients.”saysMr. Ashish Dass, President -EMEA, 3iInfotech.

Meera Kaul, CEO of Optimus says that the much-hyped mobile wallets, and the mobile POS payment solutions are just some of the ways in which mobile technology is revolutionizing the retail payment landscape. In fact, digital wallets are mere extensions of traditional credit and debit card services, with a reliance on intermediaries to process transactions. “We use the current mobile payment techniques accepted in the region. The

Optimus mobile payment solutions go beyond traditional mobile wallets, offering powerful system architecture that is intuitive, responsive, agile, all without compromising on security. The solution is specifically developed using highintegrity development processes that are typically used for security-critical applications, with enhanced encryption technology, faster real-time payment authorization, transaction monitoring, offering rapid deployment, scalability and interoperability” says Meera.

Software AG is penetrating this aspect of the market through WebMethodsMobile, a highly integrated solution designed to effectively enhance an organization’s payment system.“Our solution also dramatically mobilizes businesses’ SAP solution by strengthening the value chain, mitigating cost, saving time, implementing relevant mobile applications and enabling SAP business suite functionalities and processes in mobiles phones.”says Rami Kichli, VP, Software AG, Gulf & Levant.

The mobile payment market is estimated to reach $142 billion by 2019, according to Forrester research. For retailers, the convergence of smartphone and the technology surrounding them cannot go unnoticed. Hacking has hindered customer adoption of mobile payments till late but increased innovations in NFC have highly nourished the tokenization facility and security measures like biometric authentication have rendered mobile payments more secure. So, the battle field is open for the retail players—it is time to make the right partnerships in secure solutions and take the mobile payment industry by storm. ë

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COVER STORY

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE RETAIL AND DISTRIBUTION SECTOR

The Ageless

Industry

Baby boomers to Gen Y, the retail has been such an industry that has been travelling in parallel with the generations. Modernism is a term that defines it across the generations. But fact of the matter is that a plethora of challenges always tailbacks the retail sector in rising above the customer expectations, blame it on the ever evolving customer/ consumer behaviour, ppp, or the advent of various smart technologies that have been determining the demands of the consumers for advanced personalization, single transaction platform, omni-channel experience etc. So where is the retail sector heading to? n B Y: A N U S H R E E < A N U S H R E E @ A C C E N T I N F O M E D I A . C O M > n P H O T O : S H U T T E R S T O C K

W

ith a coach full of experts on board, we take a journey through the Retail Kingdom. From Barter systems to Beacon systems, the industry has seen, lived, and accepted all the dynamics of trends and technology to reach a predictedUS$ 284.5 billion milestone. A close look at the tech vendors, disties and apparatuses fuelling the journey and nourishing the kingdom and what they have in store for the future.

ROUTE OF RETAIL “Perhaps the most prominent trend in the retail sector in the last few years has been the dramatic increase in the popularity and usage of eCommerce. This is a trend that is driven by conve-

22

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nience.” saysPradeesh VS, GM of ESET Middle East. “The factors that have facilitated its growth however can be listed as rise in the number of devices connected to the internet, better and faster internet connectivity, wider availability and usage of credit cards and payment channels that are vital to online trade, and of course the resurgence in the economy. The retail industry is one that has constantly evolved from single product outlets to departmental stores. “The recent evolution witnesses an effective usage of marketing and technology combined to enhance the shopping experience making it unique for the shopper by the retailers. Technology and online marketing promotions of brands, products and services etc. paved the way for retailers to extend Online Shopping Portals and e- Commerce sites to the

COVER STORY

homes empowering the users to shop online any product or service needed.” saysRenjan George, Managing Director of DVCOM Technology.

Mr. Rami Kichli, Vice President, Software AG, Gulf & Levant believes that the market is now heading towards the large box market concept in order to adapt to the dynamic and changing tastes, demands and habits of consumers. “These changes are always creating new market gaps that provide a wealth of opportunities for retail businesses. Aside from these trends, e-commerce will also greatly shape and influence the retail industry, opening a new dimension within the sector which offers huge potential. The retail market in the Gulf region, and in Saudi Arabia in particular, still remains largely untapped and is ripe for a flourishing new era.

Smart payments and online payments are the tools that changed the entire landscape of e-commerce. As MeeraKaul, CEO of Optimus says, “The proliferation for state-of-the-art payment gateways has been necessitated by a growing demand for e-commerce and mobile-commerce, as well as encouraged by the government, for example in a country like UAE.”.

APPEASING THE CUSTOMER APPETITE ‘Going to store’ seems like a statement echoing from the past. In the present day, the store comes to you or you carry the store wherever you go.

The store in your hand is also getting improvised daily with retailers trying to personalize the store as much as possible. As Gregg Petersen,

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COVER STORY

GREGG PETERSEN, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST AND SAARC, VEEAM SOFTWARE

“So far we have only seen the beginning. The new reality requires a robust IT infrastructure, and the retail industry needs to adapt to this or perish.”

MR.AMANULLA KHAN, DIRECTOR-MEA OF BELKIN INTERNATIONAL

RENJAN GEORGE, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF DVCOM TECHNOLOGY

“The near future holds vendors investing in category management to help retailers plan, decide and use their shelf space to drive most profitability. ”

“Big Data is the way to make bigger decisions in improving customer satisfaction by listening to their aspirations and demands”

KEY SOLUTIONS AT A GLANCE 3i Infotech solutions help maintain the zero

the evolving market, LG has developed a public

vides exactly this – data gathered across multiple

inventory feature which is favoured by the digital

display network that replaces traditional static

touch points & interaction points, is structured,

retail market. ORION iGo, our mobility application

signage to give retailers better content manage-

integrated and analyzed to unlock insights sur-

is facilitated to enhance the customer reach and

ment control. We also provide incomparable cus-

rounding consumer behavior to tailor messaging

reduce revenue losses. 3i Infotech’s ORION 11j

tomer service. Our vertical market managers and

and marketing, leading to increased customer

offers connectivity and integration with most of

application engineers customize effective and

conversion rates, enhanced customer retention,

the social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook

scalable digital signage solution tailored to our

and improved customer loyalty.

and Yammer.

customer’s specific needs.

n DVCOM: As a Value Added Distributor, we con-

n

The OMA ‘RETAIL SUITE’ provides technology

able information by capturing customer activity

stantly evolve and deliver voice communication

to retailers using any CRM with customer data and

across channels to engage each individual at the

based solution and services catering to the retail

linking its services and providing a mobile friendly

right time, through the right channel with a rel-

sector providing them with a state-of-the-art next

application to work around it by using social

evant interaction. This is particularly beneficial for

generation OpenSource based IP Telephony, Call

media. Mobile Solutions’ one of the industry’s first

retailers, as it allows businesses to implement a

Centre, IVRs and more complimenting solutions

audio-jack and Bluetooth based NFC/contactless

more comprehensive digital marketing strategy

to enhance their businesses.

mobile card acceptance solution which supports

by coupling customer-defined preferences and

Apple Pay, MasterCard contactless and Visa pay-

past transactions (e.g., historical data) with cur-

LG retail signage solutions can enhance the cus-

Wave using Ingenico devices

rent information such as location, weather, traffic

tomer experience while improving ROI. To cater to

n

n

n

24

LG: From the store front to the point of sale,

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Optimus data analytics offering for retail pro-

n

Software AG’s CEM Solution delivers action-

and social media (e.g., real-time big data)

COVER STORY

MANISH BHARDWAJ, SR. MARKETING MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST & TURKEY AT ARUBA NETWORKS

“Until recently, technology hasn’t kept pace with these crucial arms of the retail business. That’s changing with advances in location-based technology.”

PRADEESH VS, GENERAL MANAGER AT ESET MIDDLE EAST

“While through our online store, we are capable of delivering an assured quality of service, we need to be confident that customers who visit brick and mortar outlets also receive the same level of quality and commitment.”

THE ARUBA SOLUTIONS Aruba Meridian-powered mobile apps and location capabilities give customers a unique and memorable shopping experience wherever they happen to be – at home, in the store and anywhere in between. The new platform enables retailers’ marketing and IT departments to partner more effectively resulting in increased customer loyalty, satisfaction and revenue.

Reliable guest Wi-Fi that’s always on Aruba’s answer to the mobile engagement challenge starts with an ultra-fast, highly scalable Wi-Fi infrastructure and ClearPass Guest capabilities, which securely connect visitors to the network via a browser-based portal. The Wi-Fi network remembers opted-in guests during future visits, and the one-time registration process provides context around each user’s unique identity, what devices they use, and their specific interests.

Meridian content management In addition to delivering the back-end technology for guest mobile engagement, the Meridian platform includes the Meridian Editor content management system, which gives venues a quick and simple way to create and improve their own customized mobile apps. A highly visual, cloud-based content management system, the Meridian Editor makes it easy to enter location-specific information like places of interest on a map, directions, onsite events, and services.

Aruba Location Services powered by Aruba Beacons Identify a visitor’s location at a venue and work with Meridian-powered mobile apps to deliver many location-aware services to guest mobile devices.

Regional Director, Middle East and SAARC, Veeam Software aptly puts it across, “Always on, always available” – This is what is required of retailers today.” Digitalisation of the retail space has increased the sales market, offering us the opportunity to personalise products and services.

Needless to say, it is also equally important to keep an eye on all the channels. As consumers today are research savvy, the retailers need to create an ultimate omni-channel experience that would keep them engaged. “The impact of anywhere, anytime access to the Internet can have a considerable and lucrative impact on retail outlets. Inspired by these technology-enabled consumers, retailers are offering mobile apps to engage with customers.”says Manish Bhardwaj, Sr. Marketing Manager, Middle East & Turkey at Aruba Networks. He asserts that the first wave of enterprise mobile apps generally failed to take advantage of technologies that personalized the experience of consumers based on who and where they are. Niranj Sangal, Group CEO, OMA Emirates – Solution Gulf says, “We at OMA Emirates have been working on solutions to empower retail outlets to use customer data with their preferences and enhance it with services like m-commerce, Loyalty and other value added services using social media.”

Voice sales channel is also one of the key facets of the retail industry. DVCOM is ideally contributing to that field with their mobility in telephony. “Mobility in telephony is one of the key component in reaching out to consumers at a large scale impressing them on the products, offers, new launches and special deals in the market right just in time when needed.” Says Renjan. Software AG is addressing the increasing demand for this new platform by offering smart signage that has been developed with advanced features. Software AG’s product features a component that responds to viewing audiences by showing the right ad or offers the right service to the right demographic at the right time and adjusting the playlists and content. “Such a feature will ensure that businesses communicate their message and present their product in the most efficient manner.”says Rami. “The essence of our omni-channel retailing solution is the ability to harmoniously link the digital and physical selling environments affording customers the best choices for their lifestyle.” says MeeraKaul.

CONTENT ON THE GO….

As the saying goes ‘Content is the King’…… so the retail kingdom needs to make necessary provisions to ensure the glory of the king.

Digitalisation of the retail space has increased the sales market, offering us the opportunity to

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COVER STORY

MR. ASHISH DASS, PRESIDENT -EMEA, 3I INFOTECH LTD

“3i Infotech solutions help maintain the zero inventory feature which is favoured by the digital retail market. These are the features that the retail industry is looking to adopt.”

NIRANJ SANGAL, GROUP CEO, OMA EMIRATES – SOLUTION GULF

MARCELLE MALHAB, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER – MEA B2B, LG ELECTRONICS GULF

“OMA Emirates’ belief is that data must be transformed into customer insights and followed up by action.”

“One of the major trends in the market has been the birth and rapid coming-of-age within mobile point of sale….”

COUNTRY-WISE CONTRIBUTION TO GCC RETAIL MARKET 10 %

08 %

06 %

9.4% 7.9%

7.7%

04 %

6.8%

6.8% 4.4%

02 %

0% Saudi Arabia

2010

UAE

Qatar

2011 E

Source: Alpen Capital

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Kuwait

2013 E

Oman

Bahrain

2015 E

personalise products and services. “Customers can browse through products and compare them with competitive products; in line with the market trend we offer personalised buying experience to customer through the digital platform. We interact with customers on social media allowing them a space to offer their feedback and watch videos demonstrating the features, benefits, management and setting up of our solutions.” Content is such an avenue that needs to be added in all the right proportion. As Renjan says, “Content curation must be reformed by providing discerning information to ease the decision making process of the consumer.”

According to Meera,from a Retailers perspective, Content Curation is the step before Thought Leadership. “While the latter requires considerable investment in resources and time to create unique content, Curation is the process of republishing existing content within a niche space to engage with customers, often with a simple additional input on part of the retailer.”

Curation strategy, that is aligned with their target

COVER STORY

audience, & business needs, whether it is driving higher sales, demonstrating expertise, making contacts with influencers, or brand building.”

“This trend provides a wealth of opportunities for retailers who can utilize this platform to harness the collective weight of the curated content to help their brands gain a wider reach.”he says.

According to Alpen Capital Report, the GCC markets have also shown a healthy appetite in the luxury retail sector with the segment expected to grow to US$ 9.4 billion in sales by 2018. Airport duty free sales are expected to touch US$ 6.6 billion in 2018 based on the high passenger traffic in the region. Additionally large scale regional events such as FIFA World Cup 2020 in Qatar and EXPO 2020 in Dubai will boost the sector.

SWIMMING THROUGH THE CHANNELS The inherent pattern of customer’s decision-making process navigates across multiple channels.

Pradeesh says, “As a vendor, we understand that having the right channel eco-system is a vital factor to this. While through our online store, we are capable of delivering an assured quality of service, we need to be confident that customers who visit brick and mortar outlets also receive the same level of quality and commitment. This is

why it is essential to invest in partner recruitment and training. And it is definitely beneficial to have a VAD that is capable of delivering the support needed to ensure this.”

“The roles within the channel in recent times have integrated. The integration and overlap in roles have helped the channel partners to work together to produce better results” saysAmanulla Khan. Renjan says, “We communicate with our partners/customers on the channels they prefer.

We conduct continuous partner engagement programmes both internal and at places outside to share new technologies and brands launched.”

OMA Emirates has launched the OMA Retail Suite that provides retailers with customer insights. “The Software AG Digital Business Platform allows users to implement integrated requirements and real-time applications”, says Rami. Optimus provides a platform driven innovative solution for Retail to ensure the crosschannel optimized experience for customers.

The digital store platform basically provides the framework to dock all solutions into one single platform, from point of sale, to flexible buy and return anywhere functionality, baskets, appointments, endless aisles, payments etc.

THE GROWING KIDS ON

THE VEEAM ADVICE FOLLOW THE 3-2-1 RULE

The UAE's retail market continues to grow steadily with retail space growing by

7 percent in 2014 to reach 1.6 million square meters and sales growing

6 percent to $70.9 billion.

THE BLOCK

Emerging technologies are rewriting the retail rules. POS evolution, wearables, iBeacons and augmented reality are some of the technologies all set to change the retail landscape. “Wearables, smart countertops and facial scanning are just some of the technologies that retailers should be looking at implementing in their stores over the next few years. We see our contribution in almost all but specifically in digital signage we foresee a drastic change”,saysMarcelle. At LG, retail is considered a major leading vertical for digital signage and certain brands are considering digital signage as an essential standard in all their shops.

“We believe that the GCC is still an untapped market for these products. In terms of verticals, retail stores are one of the key drivers of the digital signage business. This is due to bundled solutions facility they can offer. Resellers have the opportunity to bundle solutions, accessories, and services on our high resolution and engaging LG

For a comprehensive data protection, organizations should

Doing backups without

have three copies of the data, stored on two different kinds of media, with one of them stored offsite. This is a simple and reliable solution to keep the data intact.

regular testing of data

TEST RECOVERY

recovery is a waste of both time and resources. Introduce tests that show that all IT platforms work as they should. It is also important that company employees know the procedures that apply in the event of a shutdown and subsequent recovery.

BRIDGING THE AVAILABILITY GAP

82% of CIOs say there is a gap between the level of availability they provide and what end users demand.Veeam bridges this gap by providing customers a new kind of solution - Availability for the Modern Data Center which delivers Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) of less than 15 minutes for all applications and data.

An ideal recovery target should be less than 15 min-

PRACTICE INCREASING SPEED OF RECOVERY

utes for all applications, without compromising quality and functionality. To be risk-aware and engage in proactive surveillance is not enough.

You have to practice increasing speed of recovery in a production-like test environment.

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COVER STORY

MEERA KAUL, CEO, OPTIMUS

“With the region poised to be a watershed for e-commerce, our solution offering for retail allows for this ubiquitous customer, providing integrated platforms and modules for a flawless customer experience.”

screens and help to up sell and make more profit in their total proposal. “she adds.

OMA Emirates has been working with its solution on POS for over two decades and has been associated with top vendors worldwide.

OMA Emirates and Ingenico have partnered in the region for over a decade, and provides cutting edge POS based solutions to this market. Today POS has changed the perception of being used not just for payments but increases the number of services which can be enabled on the same POS for e.g. Utilities payment, Government fees, Value Added service (e-remittance, E-voucher, MPOS, Loyalty etc.). “In the past OMA Emirates’ started its contribution keeping Retail industry in mind where a POS was connected to an ECR machine and an integration was done to ease long queues and easy reconciliation and today loyalty and other services are introduced to make sure more revenue is generated for the retailers. OMA Emirates has been constantly increasing the services and the new Retail Suite that we have introduced adds value and enables retailers work with

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MR. RAMI KICHLI, VICE PRESIDENT, SOFTWARE AG, GULF & LEVANT

“Cross-channel harmonization of processes and the provision of relevant information in real time are becoming the integral components of a strong retail business with an eye to the future.”

Information Management, bringing in the use of social media and finally empowering retailers

THE LG PROPHECY n The bezel to bezel size of video walls is expected to go slimmer n Below 32” digital signage is expected to find its way in the market n Outdoor LED Panels are expected to be more advanced and have the capability to accommodate this region’s conditions n Major manufacturers are adopting the LED Matrix (pitch) technology and add it to their SKUs n Software companies will focus more on interactive solutions n Cloud based solutions will find its way into the market

with e-commerce/M-commerce. “says Niranj.

In 2013, Software AG had already showcased Smart FactoryKL’s Augmented Manufacturing which piqued the interest of many visitors. Augmented Manufacturing from SmartFactoryKL features a context-sensitive work area that guides an individual, with the help of augmented reality, through complicated production processes. The system, in combination with the ARIS MashZone, runs as an app on tablets and provides innovative and state-of-the-art support for workers in the assembly industry. “We at Software AG look forward to developing a specialized roster of products and services in the field of wearable devices and augmented reality. Wearable devices and the Internet of Things are already being integrated to diverse areas of everyday life, and explorations into a wide range of applications are just scratching the surface. This trend holds great potential and possibilities that may lead to real-time personalized services for every person on the planet. Businesses need to understand the value of collecting and mining the vast amount of data available to identify opportunities in time and before their competitors. “says Rami.

Ashish of 3iInfotech says that Cloud computing is an inevitable step to achieve Augmented Reality. Information on cloud also facilitates wearable computing. Since we are already providing cloud based applications, this gives us an edge to develop expertise in Augmented Reality and Wearables.

Wearable devices will generate 5% of sales for the Global 1000 by 2020

FINALLY… A small glimpse into the future tells us that mobile and digital payments are all set to consume the majority of the retail transaction space.

Integrated cloud based solutions, omnichannel retailing, predictive and intuitive technology will bridge global trends and consumer behaviour.

The near future holds vendors investing in category management to help retailers plan, decide and use their shelf space to drive most profitability. With the importance and dependency on digitalisation, E-tail is a market that should be considered. Working with an aggressive plan of action, e-tailers would be a segment to be included into business plans. The ability of getting information on a single click will be a trend that catches on among shoppers especially with the ability to reserve products online and to be picked up in-store. In-store trip planners will ease the process of the customer visit further as well. With the pace with which technology is changing the retail landscape, the US$ 284.5 billion milestone is just at the doorstep. ë

BIG DATA

The BIG trend in retail: Cherish or perish Big data is not a new terminology for the retail, only the exploitation of it has been rampant in this decade. It has been evident that retailers who leverage their big data are in better shape to come up with more customer rewarding and customer preferred products and are better positioned to understand the market dynamics. n WORDS: ANUSHREE <ANUSHREE@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM>

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he new-gen customers, whom I would fondly like to address as the ‘TechieTricky’ customers, are not easy to satiate. The retail is no more a ‘sell and forget’ business.

A mere sign board that reads ‘See you again’ is definitely not enough to bring back a customer to your doorstep. The days of one shop per corner has diminished from the face of earth long ago and now in order to connect and have a deeper understanding of the customer demands and choices—Big data is the true catalyst.

According to Mr. Ashish Dass, President -EMEA, 3iInfotech, effective analysis of large volume and variety of customer data helps retailers gain a deeper, encompassing understanding of each customer to create a smarter shopping experience. The sources of the large data can vary from POS systems, online transactions, loyalty management programs etc. “Retailers can penetrate into the customer preferences, get a deep insight of the shopping patterns and achieve precise customer segmentation. This enables them to devise highly poised and effective promotion management schemes.”says Ashish.

“Retail Time Experience Tracking system is taking Big Data to another level in the retail sector”,opinesMr.Amanulla Khan, Director-MEA of Belkin. Renjan George, Managing Director of DVCOM Technology says that initiatives like customer loyalty and engagement programmes collects lot of data for retailers to impress them more on their forthcoming brands, stores, offers, etc.

At Optimus, the belief is that analytics can help guide competitive pricing, new product lines, promotions and deals, enhance product manage-

ment as per seasonal retail needs, target products to customers, enable strategic content curation, and even help curate shopping experiences in-line with customer tastes and preferences.

Basically, Data, that has been analyzed to arrive at key findings and insights can help guide all

marketing endeavors of a retailer.“At Optimus, we are ready with a Big Data product and solution portfolio to enable retailers to optimally extract the maximum value from their data capture. “Our solution helps manage data to build a holistic, 360 profile of the consumer, with analytical tools and mathematical models that help marketers to

deliver tailored and seamless brand experiences to consumers, across channels – online, physical store & mobile – to eventually drive enterprisewide profitable growth”, says MeeraKaul, CEO of Optimus. .

Software AG’s CEM Solution delivers actionable information by capturing customer activity across channels to engage each individual at the right time, through the right channel with a relevant interaction.Mr. Rami Kichli, VP, Software AG, Gulf & Levant believes that Big Data helps analyze customer activities in order to gain insights on trends in consumer demands, tastes and interests and enable companies to design and develop their services and customer interactions to meet the client’s desired objectives and foster satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy.

Big Data plays a huge role in customizing marketing messages to target customers in a more efficient and effective manner. “This is particularly beneficial for retailers, as it allows businesses to implement a more comprehensive digital marketing strategy by coupling customerdefined preferences and past transactions with current information and push relevant offers, creating instant promotions, and building marketing campaigns. Using a set of customizable smart tools, the CEM Solution Accelerator allows retailers to create, manage and execute smarter campaigns through any channel.”says Rami So building brands with Big data doesn’t sound as a choice anymore, right? It is the need of the hour. For forward thinking organizations, big data is the biggest tool to taste success and progress in this immensely competitive market. The stage is set… it is time to unleash the advanced analytics on big data. ë

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GEC IFTAR

Glimpses of the

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beautiful evening GLOBAL ENTERPRISE CONNECT IFTAR 2015 AT THE ARMANI HOTEL, DUBAI

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MY VIEWS

FARID FAROUQ,

HEAD OF IT AT DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE

Harnessing the Reigns of IT for Spell bounding Spectacles WHEN WE HEAR THE WORD DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE (DWTC) IMAGES OF EXHIBITIONS, BUSY HALLS, COUNTLESS FOOTPRINTS OF EXHIBITORS AND VISITORS FLASH ACROSS OUR MINDS. IT IS NOT EVERY DAY THAT YOU HAVE A CANDID TALK WITH A MASTER MANAGEMENT MIND BEHIND ALL THE SYNCHRONIZED OPERATIONS OF THE WORLD CLASS EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS. ANUSHREE DIXIT OF EC MEA IN CONVERSATION WITH FARID FAROUQ, HEAD OF IT AT DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE ON HIS ROLE AS THE CHARIOTEER OF IT OPERATIONS AT AN ORGANIZATION THAT STANDS AS AN EPITOME OF TRADE AND COMMERCE.

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MY VIEWS

You have been commanding the regime of IT for over 2 decades now.

How do you perceive the evolution?

IT once used to be an altogether different component of an organisation. IT used to get involved in developing key applications; you had your own data centre to host your data and everything was hosted internally. It was not only an IT house but a development centre as well. Flash forward to the present day— the scenario has changed radically.

Today we see a lot of reliance on ready-made applications and a gradual shift from internal development. The evolution has been further fuelled by the ‘Cloud’—you no more need to host your applications and it has also minimised the toil that goes into implementation. The expertise that the IT department needs today is very different from the expertise needed 20 years ago.

How has the relationship between CIOs and technology/solution providers evolved with this change?

CIOs are getting closer and closer to technology vendors as we are relying on their solutions;key mission critical applications are also outsourced from external vendors. So we look forward to work with vendors with whom we can establish partnerships as well rather than making it a one or two transactions or an open and shut deal.

The concept of partnership has evolved; it is not just an agreement on a piece of paper or a mere contract anymore.

What is your definition of smart enterprise at DWTC? Our definition of smart enterprise is ensuring the utmost satisfaction for our exhibitors and visitors.

We host a great number of mega events annually such as GITEX Technology Week, Gulf food etc…. welcoming over 2.45 million visitors a year.

All the exhibitors use some or the other smart technology to exhibit their products or to make demonstrations, regardless of the event being IT or non-IT. Our responsibility is to ensure that exhibitors achieve the standards that they expect from us and ensure smooth demonstrations. We provide them the connectivity and support to put up a great show all year round. Technology also penetrates in various other areas where we need to guide visitors to their respective exhibition areas or halls. In line with the expectations of the exhibitors, visitors and the technology we are improving greatly YoY. Playing host to such mega events round the year is an uphill task—especially in terms of ensuring security. In the wave of IoT, how is

DWTC fortifying its security gates?

When people used PCs mounted on a stand, the risk was minimum. As technology advances, so does the risk. Our exhibitors and visitors come with a large number of smart devices that are connected to our networks. At this moment, our prime concern is to ensure their security. First we understand the various applications that the exhibitors or visitors use, browse or connect to and then we make sure we have the right solutions in place to protect them. Security is always listed on the top in our strategic projects here at DWTC and we take it very seriously.

And does DWTC have its own BYOD policy in place?

All visitors and exhibitors bring their own device. We don’t have a choice there. But yes, we do have set policies for that as well. No matter how many people connect to our system— our network would not be hampered.

What are your views on cloud adoption? Public, private or hybrid—

always an option that can be considered. Again, it depends on whether it would add value to my business. We don’t look at it just as a cost saving strategy. It is about adding value to the organisation. Against the widespread belief of the CIOs existence being at stake, I am of the belief that our existence is ALWAYS at stake …but we have to evolve ourselves. We will be able to protect ourselves only by evolving. Change is happening around us;we either reject or accept it. Evolution is the key to success.

What’s your strategy of choosing your technology providers or partners? Is it big brands all the way? What determines your selection- brand legacy or innovative technology (irrespective of where it comes from)?

While choosing partners, we look for an organisation that will support us in achieving our business objectives and one that will provide long term sustainability. Many big brands are our partners, but it is not only big brands all the

“OUR DEFINITION OF SMART ENTERPRISE IS— ENSURING THE UTMOST SATISFACTION OF OUR EXHIBITORS AND VISITORS”

which one do you vouch for and why?

For me, cloud is a gateway to achieve my organisations objectives. We are in an era where our choices are numerous but before making the choice, one must understand the objective of the business and what the business needs. As IT heads, we scrutinize which of the available solutions will add value to the business. If cloud gives value to my business, I will go for it. It all depends on the nature ofdata I am hosting on it. There is no one- size- fits- all solution for that. The way data is treated depends onthe organisation’s business model, mind-set and management.

How open are you to the idea of entrusting parts of your operations to a third party service provider under the managed services model?

Entrusting your business to a third party is

way. Sometimes, some big brands don’t evolve with time but for small companies—evolution is the key to sustenance. We are open to and work with smaller organisations as well. Innovation is the most important criteria for us in today’s time.

Risks are involved in every partnership but that doesn’t stop us from venturing into them.

What has been your approach to digital transformation? What would you call yourself as- digital resistor, digital explorer, digital player, digital transformer or digital disruptor?

I think our exhibitors should answer this (He smiles). I believe that being an IT head; you don’t fit into any one terminology. Whenever there is a new technology, you have to be an explorer; whenever change is needed you have to be a transformer. Your role changes with the circumstances; but the journey towards a smarter world stays constant. ë

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GUEST TALK

ARUBA NETWORKS

Going to the office?

BYO Apple Watch The launch of the Apple Watch heralds the transformation of BYOD into BYOX. How can businesses accommodate #GenMobile’s adoption of wearables, while still staying in control? n WORDS: MANISH BHARDWAJ, SR MARKETING MANAGER, ARUBA NETWORKS, AN HP C O M PA N Y

“Gorgeous”. “Beautiful”. “Actually useful”. “Epic”. The accolades from the reviewers of the Apple Watch keep pouring in, and the new device – though not the first of its kind in the market – holds the potential of becoming as ubiquitous as the iPhone or the iPod. However, the expected popularity of the Apple Watch raises interesting challenges for CIOs and IT managers. The Apple Watch is merely a herald of an expected tsunami of BYOD smart devices and Internet-of-Things wearables into the workplace, potentially opening up new risks to corporate data privacy and security.

It’s highly likely that the first Apple Watches in the workplace will be personally owned. Yet, these devices will be able to interact with corporate networks; and access, download and store company data. Other wearables (not the current version of the Apple Watch) come with built-in cameras. In fact, one of the more interesting features of the Apple Watch is the ability to tether to, and control, iPhones over a remote connection.

IT departments will be understandably worried about the impact of the Apple Watch on the workplace. Even though many

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organisations have already adopted BYOD policies, several new conundrums will pop up.

At the very top of the list: is it appropriate to allow wearable devices to connect to enterprise networks? What if the device is already tethered to a smartphone that has already been given access?

Bear in mind that, according to a study by Aruba Networks, the new generation of employees – dubbed #GenMobile – expect mobility

help them manage their work and personal lives better.

If the decision is made to accept Apple Watches and other wearables into the organisation, will existing BYOD policies that govern the use of corporate data be enough- will new policies be required?

When tinkering with these policies, CIOs have to keep in mind the fact that there will be other IoT-based devices coming along that could be embedded into an

at the workplace to be a given, so any blanket decision to ban such devices from the workplace will be highly unpopular. In fact, almost two thirds of study respondents say they use mobile devices to

employee’s clothing or even office pantry appliances. In fact, the acronym “BYOD” will soon have to be replaced with “BYOX”, with the “X” symbolizing “practically anything”.

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Once policies have been amended appropriately, then - and only then - can CIOs turn their attention to the underlying communications network. Many IT organizations have already put in place solutions that can secure any mobile device that connects to corporate Wi-Fi; giving them complete visibility of the number, type and frequency of mobile devices assessing their network. What’s more, these platforms are also capable of enforcing flexible security policies that are capable of analysing – and acting on - the context of how an employee uses the mobile device. For instance, an employee using an Apple Watch at a coffee shop to access corporate data may not be granted the same level of access as one who uses a PC during office hours. Depending on the context, different policies can be applied to make sure that the right balance between flexibility and security is met.

Given these considerations, CIOs will need to skilfully juggle the competing requirements to arrive at an enlightened BYOX policy that is most appropriate to company’s needs.

The Apple Watch certainly won’t make that juggling act any easier.

But it will certainly make it more beautiful. ë

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FEATURE

MANAGED PRINT SERVICES

P In Printing Pain OR Profit ?

Almost 75% of offices print on a daily basis. In such a scenario, MPS comes as a magic tool that saves on time and money. Though a complete transition to a service model might be still far off, it’s needless to say that the exciting journey towards making businesses smooth and sustainable has started and the pace is surely riding an upward curve. n W O R D S : S O U M YA < S O U M YA @ A C C E N T I N F O M E D I A . C O M >

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LEADING THE BRIGADE MAGIC QUADRANT FOR MANAGED PRINT AND CONTENT SERVICES

CHALLENGERS

LEADERS Xerox HP Ricoh

Lexmark

Canon

Konica Minolta

Kyocera Document Solutions ABILITY TO EXECUTE

T

he market is relatively buoyant with 51% of organisations (either already using or planning to use MPS) indicating they plan to increase expenditure on MPS over the next year (according to the latest reports from Quocirca). Though hardware sales figures might be still high in the Middle East compared to other regions, the transition to a service-based model has surely begun. Many organizations have already looked at the basic MPS to reduce cost and optimize legacy environments. Some markets are more advanced than others; the United Arab Emirates for example has shown to be a strong growth market for MPS, thanks to its political and economic stability. Other markets are on the contrary seeing a rise in MPS, because of the pressure imposed by hardships to better manage budgets.

The benefits of managed print services can be plentiful and profitable, depending on how comprehensive the deployment is, with MPS specialists within the IT channel absolutely key to SME’s realizing these benefits. By entirely outsourcing the management of print infrastructure to channel specialist and vendor provided solutions, companies of any size can reduce over-expenditure on time and money, as well

Toshiba ARC

NICHE PLAYERS COMPLETENESS OF VISION Source Gartner (November 2014)

VISIONARIES As of November 2014

FEATURE

as removing headaches such as maintenance issues and worries about downtime, with channel providers ensuring the proper support is provided in a timely fashion. MPS is also flexible, with solutions agile enough to provide functionality on whatever infrastructure your enterprise works on, whether it’s on-premise or cloud.

As a result of the digitization of business processes and content in the enterprise, Quocirca estimates that around 20 per cent of enterprises have moved to next generation contracts that incorporate document workflow and additional services such as MDS (managed document services) and IT services (ITS). The tightly contested MPS market is characterised by a cluster of leaders, with Xerox remaining in the lead.

Other market leaders are HP, Ricoh, Lexmark and Canon with Lexmark showing strong growth and continued investment in and enhancement of both its MPS and ECM portfolio. Konica Minolta has made significant progress since last year, with strong growth in MPS revenue, which has helped expand its market penetration. (Source- Quocirca 2015) As such, for channel dealers, industry expertise remains a key differentiator as these providers expand their business process automation capabilities and look to drive more business value.

Understanding what these businesses need is half the battle, and to appeal to SMEs, providers must realize this. “Lexmark has a long tradition and extensive experience of working in the MPS space with its IT channel partners and their customers, from SMEs to large enterprises, benefiting from this”, comments Mathias Militzer, GM, Lexmark Middle East and Africa .

“Xerox is making investments to drive enhanced service performance through predictive analytics and a focus on consistent delivery through integrated back-end platforms. This makes us the leading Managed Print Services provider. With service delivery being a key MPS market driver and a clear differentiator, we continue to strive to raise the bar”, remarks the confident Andrew Horne, General Manager, Xerox Emirates. He adds that they work with the client on agreed expectations and utilize processes which enable end-user satisfaction and accelerate adoption.

Canon Middle East offers managed print services (MPS), a program that gives enterprises full control over their office print devices. The program involves the deployment of a Managed Print Services solution that ensures active management and continual optimisation of an organisation’s print infrastructure and related

business processes.

KYOCERA Document Solutions offers Managed Document Services (MDS) rather than Managed Print Services (MPS). Rather than focusing on a company’s print processes alone, KYOCERA MDS looks at an organization’s entire document workflow, addressing not only its printing, but also its copying, scanning, archiving and faxing.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, HONEY!!

Hard copy and electronic documents remain integral to today’s business communication.

However, “document production is a significant business expense - costing up to 3% of revenue and according to studies, only 20% of the print costs are visible costs”, Hendrik Verbrugghe Marketing Director, Canon Middle East tells us. Many organisations don’t have the time, staff or expertise to effectively monitor or manage their print environment. MPS providers like Canon work with organisations to understand exactly what they are spending on print and where they are spending it. This information can then be used to design a print solution that will cut costs and reduce inefficiencies. “In fact, Canon MPS has already helped customers to

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FEATURE

VERRY STRONG

MARKET LEADERS

Xerox (+) HP (+) Lexmark (+)

Ricoh (+)

Canon (+)

STRONG PERFORMERS MARKET PRESENCE

Kyocera (+)

MUBARIK HUSSAIN HEAD OF IT, PETROSERV LIMITED

“We are using Nashuatec MPS (local partner-Mannai).Our main challenges are with remote sites which have very little physical infrastructure as the MPS software is hosted on a local machine and if a site does not have regular stable power it can cause printing issues .MPS brought down Capex costs and we have a low Opex cost when acquiring new printers.” reduce print-related costs by up to 60%”, remarks Hendrik. “With regular reviews, Canon can ensure that the company’s ROI will be achieved and targets are met now and in the long term”, he adds.

One of the primary outcomes that customers wish for is to reduce cost and improve efficiency, and there are also options to reduce CAPEX and OPEX. Xerox Emirates offers a leasing facility which enables customers to finance the capital cost of equipment if it is required. OPEX is generally reduced as a result of the efficiencies that are introduced as part of an MPS solution.

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Konica Minolta (+)

Toshiba (=)

CONTENDERS Other venders

Customer base*

LOW WEAK

Completeness of offering Quocirca MPS vendor positioning

So MPS is a flexible answer to pressure on OPEX and CAPEX.

PLAYING IT SAFE Since security breaches can damage a brand and result in severe fines, it is protection that pays dividends in the long-term. When asked about the security considerations Canon looks into, Hendrik tells us that a Canon MPS audit will reveal potential improvements to endpoint print security in a company’s infrastructure.

Canon can then implement enhancements so the company can keep information away from those not authorised to see it, as well as achieving regulatory compliance.

Canon’s advanced document management software systems such as uniFLOW which are part of the Canon MPS offering address several security concerns with features such as hard disk encryption, secure password printing, hard disk removal and scanner locks. For instance, with Universal Login Manager (ULM) solution delivers convenient user authentication through proximity cards or picture logins. The Xerox approach integrates into clients’ existing IT environment and network with minimal disruption, “so MPS becomes a more welcome part of their business”, says Andrew. During the transition from their current state to the ideal future, Xerox helps connect everything to the client’s IT environment in a secure and compliant way. Turning on

VERRY STRONG

solutions for secure printing from mobile devices and taking over the responsibility of managing the print servers and print queues through Xerox solutions such as ConnectKey along with software partners solutions help protect from SMBs and large enterprise customers.

“Our alliance with Cisco provides cloud-based services and technology solutions that combine intelligent network and print”, Andrew tells us.

“It also enables customers to simplify print and network infrastructure management, improve business processes results and reduce overall costs. McAfee embedded Control software use a whitelisting method that allows only approved files to run, offering significantly more protection than traditional black listing tactics, or continually building higher walls around printers.”

A variety of secure pull printing solutions is available on the market to enable mobile workers to print their documents securely. KYOCERA Document Solutions offers KYOCERA MyQ. KYOCERA MyQ 4.4 Business Pro edition offers Job Roaming, allowing print jobs to be pulled from any device within the corporate MyQ Cloud, regardless its location. KYOCERA Mobile Print allows users to scan or print securely from a smartphone or tablet PC via a wireless network (iOS and Android). AirPrint allows users to print documents directly from their iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or any kind of Mac. AirPrint works seamlessly with many Apple apps, including Safari,

FEATURE

WHO SCORES WHERE? (SOURCE- QUOCIRCA) l Strong end-to-end hardware and software and services portfolio l One of the broadest product ranges in the industry l Only MPS provider that also provides personal systems professional services for HP desktops, laptops, tablets and other mobile devices as a complete end-user workplace services offering l Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

Broad and mature MPS portfolio Depth and scale of service offering l Tight synergy between its document outsourcing and BPO businesses l Strong analytics and reporting capabilities l l

XEROX

HP

LEXMARK

l Acquisitions in the business process automation space l One of the broadest MPS and ECM portfolios in the industry l New brand identity l Business process automation capabilities and industry alignment l Mature MPS infrastructure and proactive capabilities

RICOH

Global scale l Unified service and delivery infrastructure l Effective approach to business process automation l

l Mature set of MPS offerings targeted at businesses of all sizes l Broad end-to-end hardware and software portfolio l Expansive and loyal partner network l Expanding mobile print and cloud services that offer advanced device management

TOSHIBA

l A company in good health, with both its hardware and services business growing. l IT infrastructure management services are particularly a strong differentiator in the midmarket

CANON

KONICA MINOLTA

KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS l Major supplier of A3 MFPs and works with partners to fill the gap in its A4 portfolio. l ECO-MDS” leveraging the Toshiba Carbon Zero Scheme, Managed Energy Services and its ECO-MFP product l Broad range of both proprietary and third party solutions.

Mail, Photos, iWork and PDFs in iBooks

MAKING A CHOICE & PUTTING THE BEST FOOT FORWARD Canon’s MPS segment has uniFLOW Secure Printing solution in its portfolio. uniFLOW

allows users to send sensitive documents to any network printer and only print when they are there to collect them. This could be a printer on a different floor, building, city or even in a different country. So everyone can choose when and where they print, safe in the knowledge that their documents remain secure.

l Sustainability, through its long-life ECOSYS technology, which is known for high reliability, low total cost of ownership (TCO) and reduced environmental impact. l Strong integration with its hardware and software portfolio

“Xerox has the bandwidth and strength to support integration and document security on a global scale”, says Andrew. That’s critical for large enterprises and small businesses alike. Among Xerox’ most competitive & distinct solutions are the Next Generation MPS. With so many mobile workers, and the transient nature of business in

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FEATURE

MATHIAS MILITZER

GENERAL MANAGER, LEXMARK MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

HENDRIK VERBRUGGHE MARKETING DIRECTOR, CANON MIDDLE EAST

“Lexmark has a long “Xerox is making tradition and extensive investments to drive experience of working in enhanced service the MPS space with its performance through IT channel partners and predictive analytics and a their customers, from focus on consistent delivery SMEs to large enterprises, through integrated back-end benefiting from this.” platforms. This makes us the leading MPS provider.”

“Canon MPS has already helped customers to reduce print-related costs by up to 60%. With regular reviews, Canon can ensure that the company’s ROI will be achieved and targets are met now and in the long term.”

responsibility targets”.

Andrew remarks, “Xerox Corporation is one of the leaders in our focus on environmental sustainability and right from the engineering design to the use of our products in the field there is evidence that we are assisting out customers to reduce their carbon foot print as well as our own”. All Xerox products qualify for “EnergyStar” power saving features to reduce consumption, and within the UAE, Xerox is engaged collecting used toner cartridges for recycling. “In 2015 YTD, over 1000kg of used cartridges have been collected from our customers as part of our local efforts to support the environment”.

Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai. Last year, Canon Emirates signed long-term MPS agreements with luxury resorts Yas Viceroy, Anantara Dubai The Palm Resort & Spa and the Movenpick Hotel Jumeirah Lakes Towers. Canon Emirates also entered into a new MPS deal with Etihad Rail.

By implementing the new Xerox MPS tools, Dubai Culture has successfully addressed a number of challenges that indirectly affected the overall workflow efficiency experienced previously. The successful transition with Xerox Emirates also helped DWTC save energy, reduce waste, strengthen security and save costs.

SMARTEST SECTORS IN THE REGION

The main challenges companies face with print management is cost control, closely followed by downtime – two factors that can be addressed through MPS adoption. Organizations also want to reduce carbon footprint and incorporate more sustainable ways in today’s environment. As MPS moves up the value chain, analytics promises to be the next key differentiator amongst leading MPS providers. In all cases, MPS is poised for growth in the Middle East ë

the region, Mobility is increasingly becoming a common request from the market place. In keeping with this market feedback, recently Xerox also launched Digital Alternatives. Another competitive print solution is Xerox Mobile Print Solution which empowers today’s mobile users with the freedom to send print jobs from any email-enabled device. As Andrew tells us, it is “simple, convenient and secure”.

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE BUSINESSES One of the key drivers in uptake of MPS is the role played in environmental sustainability.

Hendrik comments, “Sustainability is one of the core pillars of our organisation, reflecting our corporate philosophy of ‘Kyosei,’ meaning living and working together for the common good. As part of the MPS installation, Canon proactively ensures that an organisation’s printer fleet is managed to be profitable, flexible, as well as reducing the entity’s overall carbon footprint through less printing and lower power consumption, therefore helping organisations be more productive and achieve their corporate social

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ANDREW HORNE

GENERAL MANAGER, XEROX EMIRATES

A U G U ST 2015

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According to Gartner, organisations can save up to 30% of print-related costs with effectively managed print services. Verticals such as hospitality, banking, finance, medical, oil & gas are seeing a great uptake of MPS solutions.

GETTING INSPIRED Canon Emirates recently signed a deal with

FINALLY…

CONTACT US: dl-sales-middleeast@arubanetworks.com

MY VIEWS

STEPHAN BERNER,

MD OF HELP AG

Understanding Security, Delivering Perfection EVEN THE BEST OF TECHNOLOGIES CAN’T PROTECT AN ORGANIZATION’S ASSETS UNLESS THEY ARE MANAGED EFFICIENTLY. THAT IS WHERE THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF A TRUSTED AND ABLE PARTNER COMES TO THE FORE. MR STEPHAN BERNER, MD OF HELP AG, IN A CANDID CONVERSATION WITH SOUMYA FROM EC MEA ,TELLS US HOW BACKED WITH GLOBAL EXPERTISE AND A STRONG LOCAL PRESENCE, HELPAG IS ON A ROLL IN THE REGION.

How has 2015 been for Help AG so far?

Help AG has stayed firmly on its exponential growth curve through 2015. We have implemented a number of strategic growth initiatives including the launch of our Managed Security Services (MSS) division, signing of partnership

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agreements with four new vendors- Bit9, Elastica, OPSWAT and SafeNet, and the opening of a fully functional operations center in Saudi Arabia that enables us to deliver all our implementation, consultancy, service and support offerings from within the Kingdom.

We continue to see healthy penetration in a

number of key verticals. If we had to estimate the breakdown of our business through 2015 according to revenue per segment, it would be along the lines of Government 32%, Banking 30%, Oil & Gas 16%, Education 12%, and Misc 10%.

Over our last interaction at GISEC

MY VIEWS

2015, you were talking of the grand plans and expectations from the newly launched services division- the Managed Security Services from Help AG. How has that shaped up and how is it being received by existing and potential clientele?

Yes, our MSS division has been operational for over 4 months now and there is a very positive market response. The prime reason for this is the time and effort we invested prior to introducing the service. This included a year-long evaluation phase to help us identify and address the prime customer grievances with MSS offerings.

What made you make this transition into security services model? And what makes you think it does fit the region’s requirements?

The transition was a natural progression for Help AG. From the onset, we focused on building an unmatched level of technical expertise and maintained and 80:20 technical to sales personnel ratio. As a systems integrator, we were- and remain- one of the few that could build upon the capabilities of our vendor’s technologies when the solution fell short of customer requirements.

Our increasing focus on delivering services is therefore bred out of a market need for specialization. Deploying even the best security technologies will not safeguard organizations if they are incorrectly managed. Unfortunately, even large enterprises in the region simply do not have the required resources. This where Help AG steps in and offers the most broad range of security services delivered by extremely well qualified professionals to help customers get the most from their security investments and identify potential vulnerabilities before they escalate into issues.

A lot is being talked about the effects of fluctuating oil prices on the businesses in the Middle East region.

Have you been feeling the heat too?

Actually, IT market forecasts from all the prominent research firms show that there is an up-tick and spending is set to increase. This growth is particularly rapid in the security space. There has been a visible change in the industry’s view on IT security. Deals such as Cisco’s acquisition of IronPort and Sourcefire highlight that even the largest of vendors recognize this as one of the fastest growing segments. Since we are firmly placed in the top of this segment, we continue to be financially healthy without any sort of third party financing such as venture capital, debt or credit.

Needless to say successful partnerships are the oil for the channel economy; what have been the latest updates on that front for Help AG? New partners or new partner programs on the cards?

Just this year, we signed new partnership agreements with Bit9, Elastica, OPSWAT and SafeNet. Every new technology we add to our portfolio has to meet the requirements of our customers and the security requirements we see coming up.

Our security analysis team is a great source of knowledge and insight into these needs. For us, vendors must be evaluated from both a technical and commercial perspective, and all aspects of a solution need to be correct.

Till 2016, you are focusing on your existing markets in UAE & Qatar, expansion into KSA and promotion of the MSS. So, how’s the expansion plan into the KSA shaping up?

It’s going very well. KSA is without any doubt an interesting and challenging market with huge

believe that allowing our customers to see in real time how Help AG security analysts operate in the Security Operations center gives them confidence that they are placing their trust in the right organization.

GITEX 2015 is coming up in few months; so what’s going to be the focus this time? While the expo aims to focus on IoT, how is Help AG matching the pace and the strategy?

While we will attend GITEX to engage with existing and potential partners, we do not participate in the exhibition ourselves. This is the result of a strategic decision to instead participate in a big way at GISEC. As a dedicated security platform, GISEC is far more relevant to Help AG and it gives us exposure to a more niche audience.

Have there been any changes in your expansion strategies? Are there any markets other than UAE, Qatar and KSA that have caught your fancy of late?

“AS A SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR, WE WERE- AND REMAIN- ONE OF THE FEW THAT COULD BUILD UPON THE CAPABILITIES OF OUR VENDOR’S TECHNOLOGIES WHEN THE SOLUTION FELL SHORT OF CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS. ”

potential. For us it was essential to identify and recruit the right professionals to run our KSA business. This we successfully accomplished when we hired Grant Taylor, a well reputable and recognized information security expert, already in May. Grant is instrumental to put the right team in place and follow our pro-active and quality service driven business approach.

We have to think global but act local, hence we will focus on bringing the best local and international talent on board, implement a strong information security practice, and having the top class security analysts to provide vulnerability assessment and penetration test services to serve the kingdom out of Riyadh. We expect to have a team of 14 specialists by the end of 2015.

What other plans up your sleeve to promote MSS? One of the key ways in which we have promoted our MSS and other services has been by establishing a 100 square meter office space to showcase and demo different services to customers. I

It is still early days for our presence in Saudi Arabia so our core focus will be on developing our business there before we look at another expansion. Our strategy has always been to grow while building a robust and sustainable business.

Last year, we grew our business in Qatar by 120% and we can say with confidence that it is a mature market for us. This gave us the confidence to look at the next big market. In a similar fashion, we will first establish a stable and profitable business in KSA. How has been the relative performance of the business in the UAE and Qatar?

We have been faring extremely well in both countries. In 2014, we did business of $38 million, up from $26 million in the previous year.

This impressive 70% year on year growth was achieved primarily through incremental business with existing customers, demonstrating their faith in Help AG and reinforcing our position as the Middle East’s trusted security advisor. ë

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43

INFRASTRUCTURE

HUAWEI

Rethinking Enterprise Solutions with Huawei ‘The recently held global Huawei Network Congress (HNC) 2015 in Beijing stood witness to the legacy of Huawei’s unwavering commitment as it unfolded an accolade-winning bunch of enterprise solutions. Hany Hussein, VP of Channel & Alliances, Enterprise, Middle East at Huawei shares the Huawei vision for breaking conventions and rulling the roost with a dedicated partner network. n WORDS: ANUSHREE <ANUSHREE@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM>

A

s the market focus shifts to analytics based solutions, enterprises are under constant pressure to accommodate business needs to process huge amounts of data that can leverage the competitive advantage. Hany Hussein, VP of Channel & Alliances, Enterprise, Middle East at Huawei says, “Big Data is a topic of heated discussion across industries today which we have identified as part of our company strategy to drive and support businesses with the necessary robust infrastructure and cooperation of key alliance partners to enable analytics-based solutions. Part of the foundation of our new channel strategy comes from embracing the latest technology trends in the region and understanding the needs of the partner eco-system in the enterprise business.”

In line with its commitment to open technology standards, Huawei is refurbishing its channel partner strategy that is all set to grow Huawei’s network of partners and identify new business opportunities in the enterprise market. “As part of our strategy, we want to enlarge the channel partner program and develop our training and certification programs that we run with our training partners. The Huawei Service Certification Program (HSCP) will be a major focus for us this year as we look to improve the services we provide to our partners.” says Hany. To enhance

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the partners’ capability in addressing the market, Huawei is committed to developing the right tools to engage and empower partners, providing expanded training and certification programs and more robust technical knowledge platforms that will enable them to deliver exceptional value to end users. Hany adds, “We ultimately want our partners to be successful and identify new opportunities for growth this year – we play a large role in this and want to offer the highest levels of support. We will continue to work with selective partners and develop a close knit and transparent partner network. We will also develop stronger incentives and provide our partners with more opportunities to maximize their profitability.

The HNC 2015, held in Beijing stood symbol to this commitment with the launch of a series of innovative enterprise solutions. At the event, Huawei introduced the world’s first softwaredefined networking (SDN)-based Agile Internet of Things (IoT) Solution. The solution enables objects to connect to the Internet and communicate with each other, while enabling convenient network management and maintenance.

Huawei also unveiled its Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Big Data Security Solution at HNC. The solution protects the core information assets of enterprises from APT attacks by providing fully-connected network protection covering cloud, pipe, and devices. Shedding

more light on this, Hany says“Huawei is keen to demonstrate how it is building Business-driven ICT Infrastructure (BDII)which we believe will lead the way to the next industrial revolution by facilitating in-depth integration of ICT infrastructure development and software applications, development of innovative infrastructure, and joint innovation efforts with partners.

As Hany beautifully puts it across, “Providing technology innovation is the core commitment that Huawei is proud to give to its customers.”

Huawei is also committed to enhance the journey of partners to success and business growth in the region. “We believe that the support of our partners and their value-added propositions towards understanding the market, the industry and unique needs of the customer will provide a more compelling experience for the end–user engaging with Huawei technology. In turn, the impact that will be made on the end-users will ultimately, bring ample opportunities to our channel partners for business growth.”

Huawei has laid out a new four-point channel strategy to support its Middle East partners. The four pillars are-a greater Partner Focus, Partner Enablement, Partner Profitability and augmentation of its regional Partner Program Huawei believes that the traditional approach to simply just sell or ‘shift’ boxes to the end users is not enough to stand apart from the

INFRASTRUCTURE

HANY HUSSEIN,

VICE PRESIDENT OF CHANNEL& ALLIANCES, HUAWEI, ENTERPRISE, MIDDLE EAST, HUAWEI

competition and certainly not enough to keep their customers engaged in the long term. It is about providing strategic business counsel and acting as a trusted advisor to the end-users through the valued partners that will help positively drive business through innovative business solutions. “By

taking on a select and close-knit network of partners, we believe that our customers will not only have a better experience working with Huawei technology but will also be able to better understand the value-added propositions we offer in the form of services and solutions.” ë

“Entities in the Middle East continue to choose Huawei for the company’s unique ability to address their needs through customized, innovative and flexible solutions, creating maximum value for their business.”

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GEC OPEN

GEC OPEN

Re-Kindling

the Passion for Sports and Humanity GEC Open—Our Initiative to Feel Human While Being Human; To Feel Good Whilst Doing Good- The region’s only corporate golfing and networking event n WORDS: ANUSHREE <ANUSHREE@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM>

“It has become appealingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity” Albert Einstein.

E

nterprise Channels MEA is all set to put to rest the fears of Einstein. As a leading IT media house, we root ourselves to the belief that, we bind the industry together, every day.

Whatever we do is a collective and connective initiative towards the betterment of humanity and society at large because at the end of each business day, we retire as human beings and every morning we wake up to do something special that makes us feel human while being human.

Enterprise Channels MEA’s tour de force GEC Open is all set to flag off on 15th October 2015.

Taking forward the success legacy of 2014, this year the corporate networking golf tournament

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is all set to rule the green turfs of seven countries in GCC, Europe and Asia. As we hoist our flag in these seven countries, we wish to build a bridge, bring in the best practices, share success stories and explore the benchmarks and pathbreaking projects that have been defining these countries and share it with the other counterparts— we understand it as our true corporate and social responsibility.

While going closer to several countries, the 2015 journey also aspires to take humanity closer to business. In this vision, Dubai Autism Centre, UAE Red Crescent Authority and KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences) have joined hands by associating with the initiative. DAC, KISS and UAE Red Crescent are the official charity partners for the 2015 GEC Open. Every time a player gets on the golf course, many children and many lives are empowered, nourished and educated.

“We are extremely happy to announce that GEC Open 2015 will be held in 7 countries. The kind of trust that the IT industry had shown on us to make 2014 GEC Open successfully in Dubai, UAE has certainly prompted us to take it to other countries. We are extremely confident of the support and trust from the entire IT industry of the

region to make it a grand success. Our heartfelt gratitude to Dubai Autism Centre and UAE Red Crescent for joining us and we sincerely hope that this association would play a great role in serving humanity,” said Sanjay Mohapatra, Editor, Enterprise Channels MEA. GEC Open 2014 was in association with Breast Cancer Arabia. We, thus, are striving to continue our legacy in awakening care and compassion amongst the players towards the society at large and encouraging them to put their best foot forward in reaching out to the lives of the less fortunate.

Founded in 2001, Dubai Autism Centre is the largest, most innovative and comprehensive non-profit organization in the United Arab Emirates serving children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.” We, at Dubai Autism Center, are continuously striving to spread social awareness of Autism. We are extremely happy to be associated with the GEC Open 2015, a great corporate platform with high profile attendees and top leaders from seven countries, helping us to serve our purpose in reaching out to the world to empower individuals with Autism”. saidMohammad Al Emadi, Director General – Dubai Autism Center.

GEC OPEN

MOHAMMAD AL EMADI,

DIRECTOR GENERAL – DUBAI AUTISM CENTER

“We, at Dubai Autism Center, are continuously striving to spread social awareness of Autism. We are extremely happy to be associated with the GEC Open 2015, a great corporate platform with high profile attendees and top leaders from seven countries, helping us to serve our purpose in reaching out to the world to empower individuals with Autism” Established in 1983, the UAE Red Crescent Authority is a volunteer humanitarian organization that supports official authorities in times of peace and war.

“The spirit of poverty eradication through education has been the essence of my life at KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences). Our effort towards establishing a poverty free country has been a great challenge but has never daunted our drive. We have strove with a single-minded focus to bring smiles on the hapless faces for which the institute has been coveted with “Special Consulta-

ACHYUTA SAMANTA,

FOUNDER (KALINGA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES) & ISA LAUREATE-2015

“The spirit of poverty eradication through education has been the essence of my life at KISS. It would indeed be a great pleasure and opportunity to be associated with GEC Open 2015, which will immensely be supportive of our noble cause and facilitate our reaching out to the world of like minded individuals and organizations in our stride on this Mission.”

tive Status” by the United Nations, the highest recognition of the world body, the UN for any NGO of the world. It would indeed be a great pleasure and opportunity to be associated with GEC Open 2015, which will immensely supportive of our noble cause and facilitate our reaching out to the world of like minded individuals and organizations in our stride on this Mission. “TOGETHER WE CAN AND WE WILL”, remarked Prof.

AchyutaSamanta, Founder (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences) & ISA Laureate-2015 GEC Open 2015 is the only corporate golfing

event held during the week of GITEX wherein Corporate Executives and corporations will have the opportunity to test their skills on the best golf courses of the region. It’s an exciting synergy of sports, business and humanity that gives you the opportunity to showcase your brand to participants, including key decision makers and powerhouses in the industry and fellow vendors, from across the globe. This tournament offers you a rare and valuable face-to-face networking opportunity.

It’s time to put the best club forward! ë

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INNOVATIONS

KEY CAPABILITIES n NetApp OnCommand Performance Manager 2.0: This new software release gives users a comprehensive dashboard to automatically evaluate performance and troubleshoot issues to maintain optimal system operation. n Workload Wizard: This wizard provides automated setup for Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server installations to simplify storage settings and host server connection setup.

NetApp All Flash FAS (AFF) 8000 series NetApp All Flash FAS (AFF) 8000 series packs world-class performance and the industry’s best data management in a single solution. It ships with NetApp Data ONTAP FlashEssentials innovations, which increase flash performance and efficiency.

The AFF8000 line is built to take high-performance flash storage into the mainstream. The AFF8000 series delivers the most complete all-flash offering for the enterprise. Customers benefit from built-in data protection, multiprotocol support, scale-out performance, and seamless data

movement from flash to disk to cloud.

Other features include quality of service, multi-tenancy, and NetApp’s best-in-class application integration for simplified configuration and management of SQL and Oracle databases, virtualized servers, and VDI workloads.

Customers benefit from built-in data protection, multiprotocol support, scale-out performance, and seamless data movement from flash to disk to cloud.

The All Flash FAS incorporates software optimizations derived from

NetApp’s advanced technology development lab. These innovations include a flash-optimized read data path, inline compression, and zero-based inline deduplication. FlashEssentials is included in clustered Data ONTAP, the foundation for Data Fabric, NetApp’s vision for the future of data management. NetApp’s approach enables customers to have control and choice in how to manage, secure, and move data from flash to disk to cloud.

PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK AT INFO@ ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM

BROCADE FLOW OPTIMIZER SDN APPLICATION Brocade Flow Optimizer is an open and agile policy-based SDN solution that detects and manages large Layer 2 through Layer 4 traffic flows in service provider and enterprise networks. It enables proactive traffic visibility and traffic engineering of the network, allowing customers to take specific actions based on established policies and in turn, eliminate network congestion and mitigate network attacks resulting from large volumetric traffic flows.

The Brocade Flow Optimizer application is supported on the Brocade MLX Series Routers as well as the Brocade ICX Switches. The Brocade Flow Optimizer provides an integrated, higher-performing, more scalable, and cost-competitive solution. Customers can significantly simplify their network operation as well as reduce operational cost. By using this architecture with SDN applications such as the Brocade Flow Optimizer, organizations can improve visibility over network traffic and simplify forwarding control.

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KEY CAPABILITIES n Provides real-time network visibility with policy based detection and management of large Layer 2 through Layer 4 traffic flows n Improves overall customer experience and eliminates network congestion n Avoids expensive network failures and service interruptions n Helps the IT team gain realtime event logging and traffic statistics using a simple and user friendly Web-based GUI.

GEC OPEN GLOBAL ENTERPRISE CONNECT

BAHRAIN | UAE | INDIA | SAUDI ARABIA OMAN | TURKEY | QATAR I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H

BROUGHT BY

ORGANISED BY

GLOBAL ENTERPRISE CONNECT

WWW.GECOPEN.COM

INNOVATIONS

KODAK i2820 Document Scanner

Schneider Electric Micro Data Centre Solutions

KODAK i2820 scanner is a top of the range addition to Kodak Alaris’ award-winning i2000 Series Scanner platform, adding new features and enhancements that address the challenges faced by users with heavy-duty desktop scanning needs. The scanner reverses the build-up of paper and makes businesses more productive. Dual indirect LED document illumination requires no warm up time and delivers outstanding image quality which means information is captured clearly for more accurate OCR. Integrated Perfect Page technology corrects image imperfections to minimize the need for rescanning with Smart Touch technology allowing specific processes to be programmed for staff to then start multiple step scanning at the touch of a button. This includes creating PDFs, attaching documents to emails, organizing them in folders or sending them to Cloud services.

With the inclusion of KODAK Capture Pro Software Limited Edition, users can test the popular application and upgrade to the full version if they need to address more complex batch scanning requirements.

Incorporating a new engine in the scanner driver, Kodak Alaris is now offering support for nine different barcode types including PDF 417, Code 3 of 9, Interleaved 2 of 5 and EAN 8 and 13.

The benefit is clear: better operator productivity as more sheets can be loaded per batch so staff can whizz through workloads faster. Further, it supports Windows, LINUX and Apple Macintosh and can be enhanced with optional DIN A4 and A3 flatbeds for the scanning of exceptional, fragile or bound documents. It also has the abilityto scan in duplex and colour.The KODAK i2820 document scanner is available with a list price of approximately AED 6,900/-.

Schneider Electric micro data center solution portfolio is ideal for those customers who are looking to reduce latency and add capacity while ensuring a secure and easy to manage IT environment.

Delivered in a single enclosure, the benefits of the new micro data centre solutions include power, cooling and management software to support a self-contained and secure computing environment.

The solution addresses the latency, bandwidth and processing speed challenges that customers face with the surge in connected devices and data applications.

Available in the Middle East through Schneider Electric’s channel partners and distributors, Schneider Electric’s micro data centre’s physical infrastructure solutions include the enclosure, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), power distribution, management software (DCIM), environmental monitoring, cooling and security – all tested in a factory environment, assembled, packaged and then shipped complete.

Solutions include SmartBunker SX: traditional for IT rooms, SmartBunker CX: optimized for office environments, SmartBunker FX: ruggedized for any environment and SmartShelter: multi-rack, ruggedized for any environment

KEY CAPABILITIES n Larger input tray capable of holding 100 pages. n Offer scanning speed of 70 ppm n In terms of daily volume, the new scanner is rated at 8,000 pages.

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KEY CAPABILITIES n Simplified management n High levels of security n Optimised installation and operating costs n Configured, delivered and installed in the shortest possible time n Reliability via standardization and factory testing

Connect.

Share.

Give.

Take.

Solve.

Save.

Smile.

Unify.

Introducing Unify.

Unifying business communications for the new way to work. unify.com

Copyright Š Unify GmbH & Co. KG, 2015

Scale smarter.

Manage easier.

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New PowerEdge servers can be configured up to 99% faster 1 and boost IOPS by up to 10x.2 Whether your business relies on data to predict the future, improve outcomes or engage more customers, the next generation of PowerEdge servers with Intel® Xeon® processors will help boost application and workload performance — so you can scale smarter, manage easier, innovate faster.

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To Learn More, Visit Dell.com/accelerate Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon and Xeon Inside are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

1 Based on Principled Technologies report ‘Simplifying systems management with Dell OpenManage on 13G Dell PowerEdge servers’, September 2014, commissioned by Dell, testing Dell’s 13th generation R730 with Enterprise-level Dell systems management. As compared to manual configuration.

2 Based on product specifications for Intel S3700 SATA SSD and Express Flash results from the Storage Networking Industry Association.

3 Based on Dell internal analysis August 2014 comparing SATA SSDs to Express Flash - PCIe-Gen3 x4 testing random reads. ©2015 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell, the Dell logo and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc. in the United States and other countries.

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