TECHNOLOGY ELIMINATES
‘IMPOSSIBLE’ A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT OF
EDITORIAL
Infra Market Holds Key to the Growth
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
Welcome to InfraInsight 2016. This issue of the magazine is a great piece for the partners and customers to read. We have brought in a variety of perspective from various organizations. We know that the market is growing at a slow pace compared to a few years back but the situation will not be the same for a long time. There is a positive outlook in the market for the infrastructure growth. As per IDC, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) external storage market declined by 10% year on year in 2015. Total shipment value dropped below $2 billion, while total market capacity grew by 27%. Similarly, according to the IDC and Garther estimations the MEA server market will go down in a few percentage. But what is important to note also is that there is an optimism around refreshment of technology and datacenter solutions. This is not hidden from anybody, that UAE is aggressive on implementing IOT solutions. Imagine what kind of impact it can bring on the ecosystem and geography from growth perspective. One should be mindful that IOT solutions requires a new set of capability and expertise by the customer organizations and partners to handle the challenges. There will be security challenge at the first hand and the entire ecosystem need to be alert and equipped to handle the challenge. This will certainly help technology implantation at the core of the infrastructure. The organizations certainly need cloud computing – on prem or off prem or even hybrid, but certainly there will be influx of investment for fine-tuning the capability and ability. Similarly, VDI and Mobility are other technologies which the customers are looking at from an opportunity point of view to sustain the lean patch of the market and bring in more capability at the user end. These two technologies might see very naïve but actually these are complex technologies from the implementation and management point of view. Therefore, the opportunity is actually high in the market. We are committed to traverse the journey with the market on our own way and this issue of InfraInsight will certainly provider great amount of perspective about what is happening at the ground level and what is there in the minds of the customers. Happy reading!!!. ë
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CONTENTS GITEX SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT ISSUE 03 OCTOBER 2016 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
2016
SAY ‘HELLO’ TO A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES
The idea of ‘smart’ city is not just getting innovative and widespread but it’s like a new hope ignited in the minds of countries worldwide to improve their infrastructure and bring about a technological evolution... /56
SECURITY LEADERS
STORAGE LEADERS
08 CISCO
24 PURE STORAGE
VEEAM 02, DARKMATTER
10 HID
26 STORIT
03, EMITAC 05, MINDWARE
12 PALO ALTO
28 NETAPP
07, RIVERBED 09,
14 INTEL SECURITY
30 LENOVO
BITDEFENDER 11, RITTAL
16 MIMECAST
32 CONDO PROTEGO
13, EXCLUSIVE NETWORKS
18 FORESCOUT 20 FORTINET 22 SOPHOS
INFRASTRUCTURE LEADERS
EXPERT COMMENTS
19, GITEX 21, GENETEC 23,
67 DARKMATTER
31 HID 33, MINDWARE2 37,
48 DELL EMC
MINDWARE3 37, CES 39,
36 EPICOR
MINDWARE4 49, MANAGE
70 FINESSE
ENGINE 61, ESET 43,
OMA EMIRATES 25, STORIT 27, STARLINK 29, FINESSE
BULWARK 65, GENOME
60 EMITAC ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS
67, EXCLUSIVE 69, GEC
43 R&M
OPEN 45, BULWARKS 49,
66 ARUBA
GENOME 51, EMITAC 52 ,
58 CITRIX
CIF 63 , PURE STORAGE 71,
46 RIVERBED
DELL EMC 72
36 EPICOR
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MEA
15, DELL EMC 17, NEXANS
44 MINDWARE
47 RITTAL
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ADVERTISER INDEX:
SECURITY
SCOTT MANSON,
CYBER SECURITY LEADER FOR MIDDLE EAST AND TURKEY, CISCO
Eagle’s Eye on the Attack Continuum IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING ONE OF THE INDUSTRY’S MOST COMPREHENSIVE
applies to everyone, and it’s no longer a matter of “IF” attacks will happen, but “WHEN”! According to a Cisco security report, the gulf between perception and reality of cybersecurity readiness is widening. Grounded in all data and reality, the separation between leadership and operations cannot continue especially as attackers have become more proficient at taking advantage of gaps in security to evade detection and conceal malicious activity.These issues are further complicated by the geopolitical motivations of the attackers and conflicting requirements imposed by local laws with respect to data sovereignty, data localisation and encryption.Security needs an ‘all hands on deck’ approach, where everybody contributes, from the board room to individual users, where security must provide protection across the full attack continuum and technology must be bought that is designed and built with that in mind. Countries in the Middle East are witnessing significant economic and technological transformation due to growing business opportunities in large industries such as banking, financial services, insurance (BFSI) and the region’s dominance on heavy industries such as oil and gas. With oil and gas industries having remote and geographically vast operations that are highly dependent on internet networks their vulnerability to cyberattacks only magnify.
ADVANCED THREAT PROTECTION SECURITY PORTFOLIOS, CISCO’S THREAT– CENTRIC AND OPERATIONALIZED APPROACH TO SECURITY REDUCES COMPLEXITY WHILE PROVIDING UNMATCHED VISIBILITY, CONSISTENT CONTROL, AND ADVANCED THREAT PROTECTION ACROSS THE EXTENDED NETWORK AND THE ENTIRE ATTACK CONTINUUM.
How has the year been for you and what were the major milestones that you achieved? Over the last three years Cisco has invested over $3.5B in security, acquiring best of breed technologies and security professionals in the market. Recent acquisitions that broaden Cisco’s capability in the security space includeJasper Technologies, Lancope, OpenDNS, Neohapsis, ThreatGRIDand Sourcefire. Very recently, Cisco announced the acquisition of Cloudlock which specializes in Cloud Access Security Broker(CASB), technology and helps organizations move faster to the cloud. CloudLock delivers cloud security to help track and manage user behaviour and sensitive data in SaaS applications, such as Office365, Google Drive, and Salesforce. Enterprise IT can then enforce a granular security
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policy within these cloud applications. Cisco is willing to partner, even with competitors, and is committed to open-source technologies and communities that help businesses customize their defences and we are committed to investing in threat research through our Talos research team and driving intelligence from Talos into the products we make. Cisco is the industry leader in protecting and preventing known and unknown threats with a 99.2 efficacy rate, according to the latest NFS Labs testing. Cisco’s 2016 Midyear Cybersecurity Report rev What is your view on enterprise readiness for battling the evolving threats? Security is no longer just a technology issue and not limited to any specific operating system, it
How should organizations secure themselves against Insider threats? Cisco’s Talos researchers have observed that organizations that take just a few simple yet significant steps can greatly enhance the security of their operations, including: l Improve network hygiene, by monitoring the network; deploying patches and upgrades on time; segmenting the network; implementing defenses at the edge, including email and web security, Next-Generation Firewalls and NextGeneration IPS. l Integrate defenses, by leveraging an architectural approach to security versus deploying niche products. l Measure time to detection, insist on fastest time available to uncover threats then mitigate against them immediately. Make metrics part of organizational security policy going forward. l Protect your users everywhere they are and wherever they work, not just the systems they interact with and when they are on the corporate network. l Back up critical data, and routinely test their effectiveness while confirming that back-ups are not susceptible to compromise. ë
SECURITY
employee productivity, asset tracking, energy management and employee safety. It is become extremely important for CISO’s to manage these developments, as they serve as critical points of unification for trusted identities that make digital interactions more personal, contextual and valuable, and will pave the way for innovations like building occupant apps for the smart facility that enhance the user experience. HID Global is forging new partnerships with major industry players to create an extraordinary user experienceto help CISO’s meet today’s Identity and access management challenges, and we look forward to unveiling more about these partnerships as deployments progress throughout the year.
MIGUEL BRAOJOS,
VICE PRESIDENT GLOBAL SALES, IAM SOLUTIONS WITH HID GLOBAL
Reinforcing Security Committments HID GLOBAL IS FOCUSED ON DRIVING ADVANCEMENTS THAT WILL USHER IN AN ERA OF CONNECTED AND TRUSTED IDENTITIES THAT BECOME THE HEART OF A MORE SECURE DIGITAL LIFESTYLE, BUILT AROUND THE CONVENIENCE AND UBIQUITY OF OUR EVER-PRESENT MOBILE DEVICES.
Security Market 2016: What have been the Ups and Downs and what was its influence on the region? According to our mid-year update on the 2016 security trends, in the first six months of the year, we noted a continued upward trend in end user adoption of mobile solutions and interest in the Internet of Things, as customers place more value on seamless environments. This is led by trusted digital identities with heightened security and privacy protection. How has the year been for you and what were the major milestones that you achieved? A key highlight for HID Global in the region was the opening of our regional head office in Dubai. The Middle East is a key growth market
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for HID Global, and the new office reinforces our commitment to the region, and to our stakeholders. By expanding our local presence, customers and partners can be assured of local support and expertise. What is your perception of the evolving security landscape and the role of a CISO? From an Identity and Access Management vendor perspective, we are witnessing more attention on privacy in an increasingly connected and a mobile-first world.An explosion of trusted digital identities ushered in new innovation opportunities during the first half of 2016. This trend is being fueled by a growing interest in wearables and use of sensors for IoT-based solutions aimed at new use cases for
What is your view on enterprise readiness for battling the evolving threats? From an IAM vendor perspective, the future for battling evolving threats is in mobilising security and building a new, secure identity lifestyle around the convenience of ever-present mobile devices. Customers continue to want an easier, more trustworthy way to use digital identities to access on-the-go services and applications. They are increasingly investing in solutions that give them the flexibility to incorporate new and better capabilities that deliver a more satisfying connected experience for their users. From our perspective, we are experiencing a dramatic increase in customer demand for mobility, a better user experience, and connected environments.While the definition of mobility is expanding to encompass the broader idea of “on-the-go” convenience and efficiency, smartphones can be used as both a credential and a general-purpose reader for new use case. Wearables will be the next step, and phones will also work with RFID tags to add security and trust to the IoT for proofof-presence applications. How should organizations secure themselves against Insider threats? Security administrators and IT directors will need to review which technologies allow them to best engage with their employees to create an optimal access experience, while ensuring security is maintained. IT Managers looking for a solution to these security risks need to examine the prospect of implementing a strong two or multi-factor authentication solution for mobile access networks and data. These techniques significantly reduce the risk of data breaches while also giving employees complete flexibility to be as productive as possible by utilising additional factors to establish a user’s identity. ë
SECURITY
degrees of prevention through native integration of best of breed capabilities which are increasingly delivered as services, high automation, increasing ecosystem leverage, and seamless deployment in all environments including the cloud. As the primary driver of this paradigm shift, we are benefitting disproportionately compared to the rest of the industry and customers recognize and embrace the uniqueness of our approach and our metrics show we are delivering on their requirements. In Q4 and FY16, we continued to significantly outpace the growth of both the market and our competitors. Regionally, we have secured some iconic projects in the aviation, banking and public sector giving us confidence in completeness of our vision and our value proposition towards continued investments across the region.
SAEED AGHA,
GENERAL MANAGER MIDDLE EAST, PALO ALTO NETWORKS
Next-Gen Security Reimagined PALO ALTO NETWORKS’ FOCUS IS TO BE A NEXT-GENERATIONSECURITY PLATFORM THAT CAN ESTABLISH GREATER AND MORE GRANULAR VISIBILITY AND CONTROL OF THE NETWORK AND ENDPOINTS, REDUCE THE ATTACK SURFACE, PROTECT AGAINST ALL KNOWNAND UNKNOWN ATTACKS. ALL OF THESE ATTRIBUTES IN A PLATFORM WILL ENABLE CUSTOMERS TO BE MUCH MORE READY TO HANDLE EVOLVING THREATS AND FOCUS ON PREVENTING THE ATTACK RATHER THAN RESPOND TO IT AFTER THE FACT.
Security Market 2016: In this region, increased hacker activity in the region is driving customers to put more focus on security investment. This is particularly around targeted attacks in specific industries such as defense, national security and finance. Certain regulations and compliance metrics have evolved to include advanced endpoint protection rather than typical legacy products such as signaturebased antivirus. This is fueling a lot of growth across the region. Not long ago, we announced a new functionality to our Traps Advanced Endpoint Protectionfurther strengthening its exploit prevention capabilities. In May 2016, Unit 42, Palo Alto Network’s threat research team, observed targeted attacks primarily focused on financial institutions and technology organiza-
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tions within Saudi Arabia. Artifacts identified within the malware samples related to these attacks also suggest the targeting of the defense industry in Saudi Arabia, which appears to be related to an earlier wave of attacks carried out in the fall of 2015.We have been seeing an extremely high rate of ransomware attacks across the region. In general we seem to be witnessing a greater focus on compliance from regulatory bodies and authorities. How has the year been for you and what were the major milestones that you achieved? Customers are moving away from point products that do detection and drive manual responses, to real platforms that provide high
What is your perception of the evolving security landscape and the role of a CISO? The CISO is continuously evolving and it is becoming more strategic to the business in most industries,notably in banking and finance, aviation and airports, national critical infrastructure, utilities, oil & gas and so on. If we think of all the latest IT trends (such as IoT, Cloud, SDN) and the role they play in enabling the business, it’s apparent that none of these trends can be successful and sustainable without a mature security design and solution at their core. For instance, can you imagine a smart city or a driverless car if the infrastructure is not adequately secure from adversaries?It is for this reason that the CISO role is much more strategic than 5 years ago and it will continue to be much more relevant in the new digital world. What is your view on enterprise readiness for battling the evolving threats? Enterprises are adopting a more preventive approach to cybersecurity in order to be ready to battle evolving threats. How should organizations secure themselves against Insider threats? The old saying “loose lips sink ships” is very valid here. There has to be rolling training programs that keep educating all staff about evolving threats and the best practices to prevent them. This is not typically easy as it might be seen as impacting productivity in some industries. Each CISO can decide on the frequency and the content on such a program but it has to be continuous training, with relatively high frequency, as our adversaries are always evolving and learning new tricks. ë
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Why Enterprises Need a Multi-Layer Approach to Public Cloud Security Data breaches remain the cause of concern for enterprises, with breaches happening at a lightening fast speed there is a need to have a security at every level to ensure the organizations are well shielded against threats
SCOTT MONTGOMERY, VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, PUBLIC SECTOR, INTEL SECURITY
S
ecurity has long been the principal fear that weighs on cloud investments. While perceptions are improving, Intel Security’s recent State of Cloud Adoption study found that data breaches remain the biggest concern of companies deploying Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and even private cloud models. A 2015 survey by Crowd Research Partners found that nine in 10 security professionals worry about cloud security. There are three levels of security to consider as you build out your public cloud strategy: SYSTEM-LEVEL SECURITY FOR IAAS This is secured plumbing: systems-level components such as operating systems, networks, virtual machines, management utilities and containers. Here, you want to invest in cloud providers that make it easy for you to keep your systems current with the latest patches and updates. The service provider should also provide thorough visibility into your cloud instances so that you can see all instances that are running. One of the challenges of public cloud is that it’s so convenient to spin up new VMs and containers that you may forget to shut them down later. These so-called “zombies” are latent security threats because they present potential attack vectors into more business or mission critical systems. If you plan to use containers, as a growing number of enterprises are, be diligent about the level of security protection they offer. The market for containers is still immature, and security
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– while improving – is considered one of the technology’s weakest areas. Remember, you are responsible for systemlevel security in your Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Server (PaaS) instances. Integrating these security controls and reporting in with your on-premises systems will create efficiencies. Be sure to include the appropriate controls for the type of server employed. These may include tools such as intrusion prevention, application control, advanced antimalware solutions and threat detection. These should all be centrally managed for visibility and compliance in addition to policy and threat intelligence sharing with your on-premises infrastructure. APPLICATION-LEVEL SECURITY This level is primarily about identity and access management. Your best investment here isn’t financial; it’s a policy that limits the ability of users to deploy cloud applications without IT’s knowledge. After ensuring policies are in place that offer IT visibility, the next step is to invest in multifactor authentication and identity management. The first approach uses two or more devices or applications to permit access. Identify management locks down application access by requiring users to authenticate through a secure resource such as LDAP or Active Directory. If your organization already uses a directory, consider investing in cloud brokering software that supports single sign-on so that users can authenticate to all their cloud services through their local directory. This gives IT complete
visibility and shifts access control from the cloud service to your own IT organization. Consider also investing in a secure VPN tunnel so sessions are never exposed to the public Internet. DATA-LEVEL SECURITY This level of protection involves securing the data itself. No cloud provider will take responsibility for your data, but there are solutions you can purchase to help. Many cloud providers, for example, offer encryption as a standard option, but you may be surprised at how many do not, or who encrypt data only part of the time. Anything less than 256-bit encryption is considered inadequate these days. More important is that you have full control of the encryption keys. If a cloud provider insists on owning them, you have no guarantees that your data will be safe. Seek another provider. In addition, make sure your data is unencrypted only when in use. Some providers require that data be transmitted to their facilities in plain-text format. That’s a security risk. Whatever cloud provider you adopt, make sure their security guarantees spelled out in their contract and SLA. A good contract should spell out exactly what procedures will be employed, along with any penalties the provider will face for non-compliance, how they will report upon it, and how you can audit to ensure your contractual terms are being met. A strong SLA ensures that you don’t simply toss the keys to your cloud provider as you’re walking out the door. ë
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in response to new threats safeguarding our customers before they are impacted and help to defend organisations and users from attacks. Our punitive Service Level Agreements (SLAs) ensure that we deliver best-in-breed technology and service to our customers, and having a team on the ground to attend to the needs of the market will further improve our ability to serve them more effectively. Markets covered Mimecast covers all major markets across the globe. Our regional operations cover the Middle East and Africa. Major VADs |Vendors We work with VADs such as Progress Distribution and Bulwark Technologies, who both have extensive networks of resellers to drive our brand and our security solutions across the Middle East region.
BRANDON BEKKER,
MANAGING DIRECTOR, MIMECAST MEA
Casting a shield around your mailbox MIMECAST HAS JUST MADE AN ENTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST REGION, HAVING A CLEAR FOCUS ON COMPREHENSIVE EMAIL RISK MANAGEMENT IN FULLY INTEGRATED SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE, THE ORGANIZATION IS EXTREMELY POSITIVE ABOUT ITS GROWTH IN THIS REGION. A DEBUTANT AT THE GITEX, MIMECAST WILL SHOWCASE ALONG WITH IT’S PARTNER BULWARK
Major customers Mediclinic Middle East, Memorial Hospital to name a few. Partner programs or partner enablement strategy As a fully channel-based organisation, we have a robust channel program to support our distributors, and integrate our products into their resellers’ service stacks; providing them with the educational tools, sales enablement and marketing support they need to deliver our services to their customers.
DISTRIBUTIONS.
Company portfolio in brief Mimecast has been making email safer for businesses across the Middle East since 2008. Through our security, archiving and continuity cloud services, we deliver comprehensive email risk management in one fully-integrated subscription service. Latest solutions on board The latest solution in our portfolio is Impersonation Protect, which is the first cloud service that directly combats the growing cybersecurity threat from whaling or CEO fraud. Impersonation Protect uses advanced scanning techniques to prevent attacks by monitoring all email traffic for elements commonly used by criminals, including employee and domain names, and other keywords such as ‘wire transfer,’
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‘tax form’ or ‘urgent.’ IT administrators and security organizations can now block suspicious emails or choose to display additional security warnings for employee awareness. Competitive advantage of the portfolio Our focus on customer experience is one area that sets us apart from or competition as we are able to provide around the clock customer support on multiple platforms through our global service delivery team. Mimecast also makes use of a single integrated platform which enables us to evolve our products constantly to counteract the evolving world of cybercrime and better serve our customers’ needs. Our layered security tools makes use of best-of-breed technology and is adaptive
Revenue, Growth in 2016 or estimated growth for 2017 According to our global financial results, Mimecast’s revenue for 2016 was $141.8 million, an increase of 22% compared to the $116.1 million of revenue recognized in 2015. The company expectsthe constant currency revenue growth to be between 22% and 26% and revenue to be between $170.2 million to $175.9 million for 2017. How are you creating a difference Business advantages of working with Mimecast includes having a cloud-based service that’s always-on, it delivers agile and always up-to-date protection without the complexity and cost of traditional offerings. Mimecast has maintained a best-in-class Customer Experience Index score which illustrates our commitment to supporting both our customers and channel partners across the world, 24/7. ë
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SECURITY
are: Paramount, DTS, BT, MDS, Nanjgel, Tatweer, Alpha Data. Major customers Examples of major ForeScoutcustomers are: State of Missouri – US, Acciona – Spain, Granarolo – Italy, Emarat – UAE, Sutton and East Surrey Water – UK, Bremer Bank – US, Post AG – Austria, Omnicom Group – EMEA, The Neinver Group – Europe, Northern Healthcare Trust – UK, Nottingham Trent University – UK, Pioneer Investments – US, Meritrust Credit Union – US.
MICHAEL DECESARE,
PRESIDENT AND CEO OF FORESCOUT
Protecting the Visible and the Invisible FORESCOUT SAYS THAT, YOU CANNOT PROTECT WHAT YOU CANNOT SEE. FORESCOUT CLAIMS ITS UNIQUENESS IN NOT RELYING ON AGENTS TO GAIN VISIBILITY INTO YOUR ENDPOINT LANDSCAPE. FORESCOUT IS NOW LOOKING TO BRING ITS UNIQUE CYBER SECURITY EXPERTISE TO THE REGION, WHICH IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST VULNERABLE PLACES IN THE WORLD TO CYBER SECURITY THREATS.
Company portfolio in brief ForeScout Technologies transforms security through visibility. ForeScout offers Global 2000 enterprises and government organizations the unique ability to see devices, including nontraditional devices, the instant they connect to the network. Equally important, ForeScout lets you control these devices and orchestrate information sharing and operation among disparate security tools to accelerate incident response. Unlike traditional security alternatives, ForeScout achieves this without requiring software agents or previous device knowledge. The company’s solutions integrate with leading network, security, mobility and IT management products to overcome security silos, automate workflows and enable significant cost savings.
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Product-portfolio: l ForeScoutCounterACT l ForeScout Extended Modules l CounterACT Enterprise Manager Markets covered Global 2000 enterprises in Finance, Manufacturing and Retail as well as Government, Healthcare and Educational Organizations. As of January 2016, more than 2,000 customers in over 60 countries improve their network security and compliance posture with ForeScout solutions. Major VADs |Vendors The following two distributors represent ForeScout in the ME: Westcon andStarlink. Through our distribution, we work with many SI partners and resellers in the region, examples in the UAE
Partner programs or partner enablement strategy The ForeScoutPartner Program is designed to accelerate our partners’ business opportunities through best-of-breed solutions, deal registration benefits, a full complement of sales and technical tools, marketing resources, professional services, training and support. Scale, support and competence are the key components of the ForeScout Partner program. To support the required scale, ForeScout maintains a 2-tier channel model. Certified distribution partners provide all logistic support, as well as the sales and pre-sales support to certified and non-accredited resellers. Competence and certification are key to optimizing success in the ForeScout Partner Program. At the base, achieving certification status ensures your organization has the knowledge to position, sell and design the ForeScout security solutions. Not only does it provide your sales team with the skills to position our solutions, certification status also provides your organization with access to the features and benefits available through our channel partner program. Revenue, Growth in 2016 or estimated growth for 2017 As we are privately owned, we cannot disclose any revenue information and/or future looking information. As of January 2016, more than 2,000 customers in over 60 countries improve their network security and compliance posture with ForeScout solutions. How are you creating a difference ForeScout, offers organizations the unique –agentless- ability to see and control devices the instant they connect to the network. In today’s world, new devices join your network every hour. Unmanaged notebooks, smartphones and tablets. Internet of Things (IoT) devices of all shapes and sizes. Rogue endpoints. Servers. These devices significantly expand your attack surface yet are invisible to many security products. ë
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security for our customers. Fortinet is the only vendor capable of delivering an integrated, open and adaptive Security Fabric that can respond to any potential threat across the entire attack surface. The recent acquition of AccelOps, we expanded our Security Fabric by combining security and compliance monitoring with advanced analytics for multi vendor security solutions enabling automated and actionable security intelligent from IoT to the cloud.
ALAIN PENEL,
REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT – MIDDLE EAST, FORTINET
The Fabric of Security FORTINET’S SECURITY FABRIC TIES TOGETHER ALL OUR SOLUTIONS TO PROVIDE AN INTEGRATED, COLLABORATIVE, AND ADAPTIVE ARCHITECTURE DESIGNED TO DELIVER DISTRIBUTED SECURITY FOR GLOBAL ENTERPRISES PROVIDING PROTECTIONS AGAINST THREATS FROM IOT AND REMOTE DEVICES, THROUGH
What is your perception of the evolving security landscape and the role of a CISO? The role of the CISO has become even more crucial in the face of evolving threat landscape. His role not only involves selecting and deploying the best security solutions for itsorganization, but also requires him to look into the financial implications and ROI. Constant monitoring of the threat landscape, changes in the IT infrastructure requirements to keep pace with the organizations growth, and meeting the growing needs for security, has all become part of his role. Our advice to CISO is to eliminate complexity in their network security infrastructure. Based on their requirements, Fortinet are unique in providing the same breadth of capability and performance whether enterprises choose to retain in-house control of their own cybersecurity infrastructure, or use the services of an MSSP partner.
THE INFRASTRUCTURE CORE, AND INTO THE CLOUD. WHILE PERVASIVE DIGITIZATION CONTINUES TO REDEFINE BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY TRENDS LIKE IOT AND CLOUD COMPUTING ARE BLURRING THE EDGES OF THE NETWORK TODAY.
Security Market 2016: The ever-increasing use of cloud technology, the Internet of Things, and a severe skill shortage when it comes to cyber security have been the top three trends that have impacted the network security sector. In addition, according to our survey conducted during the summer in 2016 on the EMEA region, cloud and vulnerability in IT systems have been the two greatest concerns for IT decision makers.From a solution perspective, Fortinet has the products and technology in addition to its Security Fabric to deal with all of the issues and problems of today as well as those of tomorrow. Which security tools and solutions gained the maximum traction from the market?
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Our flagship enterprise firewall platform, FortiGate, is available in a wide range of sizes and form factors to fit any environment, and provides a broad array of next generation security and networking functions. Complementary products can be deployed with a FortiGate to enable a simplified, end-to-end security infrastructure covering: network security, data center security (physical and virtual), cloud security, secure (wired and wireless) access, infrastructure security, content security, endpoint security, application security. How has the year been for you and what were the major milestones that you achieved? We launched this year the Security Fabric technology vision with a complete rethinking of
What is your view on enterprise readiness for battling the evolving threats? Our independent study highlights the urgent need among enterprise-scale organisations from all sectors in EMEA to prioritize end-to-end cybersecurity protection with actionable, threat intelligence capabilities in the face of new digital business challenges. Enterprises need to respond more rapidly and effectively to security breaches by investing in integrated, adaptive cybersecurity architectures for the borderless network. How should organizations secure themselves against Insider threats? The most important enterprises thing is to ensure the access to data. Enterprises must ensure that any activity can be traced to a particular user and to avoid the use of shared admin accounts. In addition, enterprises should use an internal segmentation firewall to control access within their network. This ensures that access to data can be controlled by policies to restrict access to data according to policies which ensure that users have access only to data which is required. ë
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SECURITY
HARISH CHIB,
VICE PRESIDENT, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA, SOPHOS
Entrenching Future Defining Security ACCORDING TO SOPHOS, TRADITIONAL SECURITY SOLUTIONS WON’T BE ABLE TO PROTECT ORGANIZATIONS FROM PRESENT DAY CYBER THREATS AND THOSE OF THE FUTURE. THE NEED OF THE HOUR IS DEPLOYING NEXT-GEN FIREWALL AND ENDPOINT PROTECTION THAT HAS BEEN BUILT KEEPING NEXT GENERATION THREATS IN MIND. THESE ARE THE SOLUTIONS THAT ARE GAINING MAXIMUM TRACTION FROM THE MARKET CURRENTLY.
How has the year been for you and what were the major milestones that you achieved? The year has been good for us and we are very pleased with our performance for FY2016. Sophos had strong, healthy growth across all major regions and product groups. The company continues to deliver on its unique product strategy of complete security, made simple. We believe security should be comprehensive, work as a system and should be simple. In accordance with this philosophy, we continue to deliver highly innovative industrial-strength security products that are simple to use and manage. We keep adding to our already strong product portfolio to meet the changing demands of the market and move in step with the evolving nature
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of the threat landscape. Recent additions to our already strong product portfolio include Sophos Intercept – its nextgeneration endpoint technology to boost protection against unknown exploits, the most updated versions of Sophos Clean and SG UTM, and its recently launched synchronized encryption solution - SafeGuard Encryption8, which can automatically respond to threat incidents from connected endpoint protection. Since enterprise mobility management is now a growing priority, the company has also launched Sophos Mobile Control 6.0, a container solution with Sophos Secure Email that enhances data protection. What is your perception of the evolving security landscape and the
role of a CISO? It is noteworthy to see how security executives or CISOs have catapulted as strategic leaders. Having been assigned greater role and more relevant alignment with other C-suite executives, CISOs have the onus to ensure a secure transition to disruptive technologies while making organizations become more compliant and security aware. At a time, when most businesses suffer from dearth of skilled security talent, CISOs also have to offer strong measures to entrench security in key business processes, deliver effective metrics for reporting and innovative ways like “gamification” to promote security best practices while aligning security with business and IT goals. CISO / CIOs have also come to experience another drastic change, requiring them to shoulder a new onus. Taking a departure from their earlier role that was more confined to operations and coordinating with vendors, today’s CIOs have to choose wisely, while investing in technologies that can help transform business to emerge more efficient and collaborative, yet securely. How should organizations secure themselves against Insider threats? Here are the key items that should be on an organisation’s IT security checklist to guard against Insider Threats: l Organisations must investigate their current security posture and take a good look at their security policy (if they have one) and check whether it complies with their needs. l Create and update security policies taking note of network security, endpoints, remote access etc. l Find and implement a comprehensive next-generation security solution that works as a system and is simple to deploy and which protects the organisation against all kinds of risk scenarios. It’s imperative that any new security solution be tested for various use cases, including insider threats, before it goes live. l In a continually evolving insider threat landscape what will help you address this particular challenge are security solutions with industrialstrength components that span endpoint and network and which deliver synchronized security, directly linking next-generation endpoint security and next-generation firewall to share threat intelligence that enables faster detection of threats, automatic isolation of infected devices, and more immediate and targeted response and resolution. l There should be no deviation from the security policy, but it needs to evolve and walk in step with the changing threat scenarios. If it’s missing something, take note, make changes and implement.. ë
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SECURITY
CHRISTIAN PUTZ,
DIRECTOR, EEMEA, PURE STORAGE
ACCELERATING ‘PURE’ INNOVATIONS ACCORDING TO ACRONIS, THE MOST CRITICAL PARTS OF DISASTER RECOVERY FLASH HAS BROUGHT SPEED AND EFFICIENCY TO EVERY ASPECT OF COMPUTING: SMART PHONES, WEB SEARCHES, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND MORE. BUT COST HAS KEPT THE BROAD DEPLOYMENT OF FLASH OUT OF THE DATA CENTER.
Partner programs or partner enablement strategy Pure Storage operates a Channel programme known as the P3 Programme which is focused on enablement and education. It is designed for partners who are focused on Pure, and on selling flash. The more of their resources they commit to being trained and educated on selling a Pure All Flash Array, the more we invest back in them. From a sales perspective, we are also now producing tools for our Partners, similar to the ones we use with customers, such as Flash Selling guides, TCO calculator tools and Evergreen Storage proposals. In parallel, we are applying a lot of focus on enabling our partners’ technical teams. We are training them on building our solutions, including our converged offering (Flashstack), and being able to install and support our product. Some of the additional benefits added to the 2016 programme include: Co-Branded campaign kits so partners can drive the Pure Storage messaging in their particular markets, Using Pure Storage Sales Development Reps (inside sales) to help drive a partners lead activity (“SDR as a Service”) and most importantly, bringing mobile capabilities to the forefront of our daily business to we increase deal velocity for our partners. We’ve just introduced Pure On The Go, a mobile app that gives the partners the ability to register deals, share leads, search content libraries and most importantly configure, price and quote our recently announced //m10 product all on their phone. Rapid ramp to revenue is important to our partners as well as Pure Storage and we are making efforts to make doing business with us as easy as possible.
PURE STORAGE CHANGES THIS THROUGH AN ENTIRELY NEW PLATFORM THAT PROVIDES THE BEST ATTRIBUTES OF FLASH MEMORY, THE MOST ADVANCED OPERATING SYSTEM IN ENTERPRISE FLASH AND THE GREATEST HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE EVER DESIGNED FOR ENTERPRISE FLASH APPLICATIONS.
Latest solutions on board FlashBlade – designed specifically to help enterprises manage unstructured data, FlashBlade is an elastic scale-out, all flash storage platform that delivers all-flash performance to multi-petabytescale data sets at economics of less than $1/GB usable of data. FlashArray//m10 is a complete storage solution for mid-sized IT, as well as an affordable entry point to flash for larger enterprises looking to flash-enable a first key business application. The FlashArray//m10 provides SMEs with an easy-
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to-manage, high-availability storage foundation, affordably: Markets covered From our Middle East HQ in Dubai, UAE, we serve clients across the GCC including UAE, KSA, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Major VADs In the Middle East, we are 100%. We currently have two partners in the region – Global Distribution and Spectrami DMCC.
Revenue, Growth in 2016 or estimated growth for 2017 Pure’s financial year runs from Feb 01 – Jan 31. For the financial year ended Jan 31, 2016, Pure recorded revenues of US$440.3M. Pure Storage recently announced financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended July 31, 2016. Key highlights include: l Quarterly revenue: $163.2 million, up 92.8% Y/Y, and ahead of the guidance range of $153 million to $157 million. l Quarterly gross margin: 65.2% GAAP; 66.3% non-GAAP, up 6.7 ppts and 7.1 ppts Y/Y, respectively, and in line with non-GAAP gross margin guidance of 65-68%. l Quarterly operating margin: -36.4% GAAP; -19.3% non-GAAP, up 38.5 ppts and 41.7 ppts Y/Y, respectively, and ahead of non-GAAP operating margin guidance of -30% to -26%. ë
STORAGE
cations and workloads, flash storage has seen a rapid increase in adoption by leading enterprises, which provides a lower-cost of ownership in performance-intensive environments and much better performance apart from saving on power and cooling; and hybrid data storage systems, which not only offer higher capacity but also greater performance. Today’s all-flash storage systems help enterprises improve both the economics and performance of their workloads. Enterprise storage systems are becoming more hybridized wherein the data is tiered in many places in a box and then finally sent to the cloud. Flash arrays and SSDs are leading the Enterprise storage market followed by disaster recovery, backup and archiving solutions, software-defined storage, hyper-converged infrastructure and Big Data solutions.
RANJITH KAIPPADA,
SALES DIRECTOR, STORIT DISTRIBUTION
DRIVING SOFTWARE DEFINED FUTURE SOFTWARE DEFINED STORAGE IN A DIRECT OUTCOME OF THE DEMAND FROM VIRTUALIZATION THAT STORAGE BE MORE AGILE AND EFFICIENT. TRADITIONAL
How the partners are reacting to the technology changes? Are they able to adapt to these changes quickly or vendors are taking effort to train them or motivate them? Many channel partners lack clarity when it comes to selling storage solutions. Some look at selling storage as individual products rather than selling it as a part of a solution. They need to update themselves on the latest storage technologies and solutions and understand what products they need to sell to SMBs and Enterprises and when they need to offer cloud storage. A little understanding of how to position these products will get the partner more mileage in volume and value sales.
STORAGE IS BECOMING A BOTTLENECK FOR PERFORMANCE AND AGILITY FOR A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT AND BUSINESSES LOOKING FOR A COMPETITIVE EDGE ARE ALREADY INTO SOFTWARE DEFINED STORAGE. CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE BECOMES THE MOST COMPELLING BUILDING BLOCK OF DATA CENTER INFRASTRUCTURE. STORIT AND ITS VENDORS GEAR UP FOR A SOFTWARE DEFINED FUTURE.
Storage Market 2016 Big Data, digital media and content, data protection, and archiving are some of the major drivers behind the increasing demand for storage solutions. The most popular solutions are cloud, virtualization and software defined storage. The main reasons being they are proven solutions that can be easily integrated with the existing infrastructure and all of them have scalable architecture. These are the main game players in the so called 3rd platform of IT Evolution. According to a report by Future Market Insights, the data storage market in the Middle
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East was valued at approximately US$ 1,476million in 2014 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.4% from 2015 to 2025. Virtualization is gaining momentum and storage virtual machines are geared up to provide application agility. Software-defined storage is an important trend for companies looking to save on costs on storage infrastructure and most storage appliance vendors have announced SDS initiatives. OpenStack will continue to gain this year as the ‘open’ alternative to commercial products for data centers. Due to the demands of today’s business appli-
Are you making any special effort to develop the market? If yes how and what is the messaging to the market? StorIT’s priority is to keep our channel partners conscious of skills to successfully propagate and sell the technology solutions of our vendor partners and their vision. We educate and train our partners on product sales, implementation, system integration and technical support through our Reseller Partner on-boarding program. We also offer sales & technical skills certifications, go-to-market sales activity plans, customized marketing plans for individual resellers, demand generation activities and cross-selling/up-selling opportunity identification.Our training and enablement services are more focused towards enhancing our Reseller Partners’ ability to stay on par with the best of breed technologies and enable them to provide world class solutions and services to enterprises. ë
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SECURITY
around for some time and have been widely adopted by Enterprises and Service Providers. FlexPod provides a much simpler way of deploying storage, compute and network in a single validated platform de-risking IT deployments and providing support from a single source. Which are the other technologies that the CIOs to watch out for in 2016? Flash can help CIOs improve the performance of core business applications like databases, it can help achieve big improvements in processing time, reduce server hardware needed, lower database licensing costs, and lead to reduce requirements in terms of floor space and energy usage.
CUSTOMERS.
How the partners are reacting to the technology changes? Are they able to adapt to these changes quickly or vendors are taking effort to train them or motivate them? We work closely with leading technology and reselling partners across the Middle East and Africa region as well as worldwide to seamlessly deliver the latest solutions to our customers. We are committed to provide our partners with services that give them a competitive advantage, leading to profitability and growth. At a foundational level, we provide technical and services enablement for cloud and flash.We also provide training in four areas – sales, pre-sales, post-sales (delivery)and support – that encompass the entire life cycle of our business. Our aim is to provide our partners with the tools to go beyond being ‘box-shippers’ to becoming technical consultants who are trusted advisors for the customers.
Which market verticals are most likely to drive the storage market? Telcos and banking remain traditionally strong sectors as they rely heavily on IT as an integral part of their business, and government regulations increasingly require data retention policies. We are also targeting growth across key verticals in the region to capitalize on our expertise as well as tap into new opportunities. Public sector, health and education are the main priorities with most regional governments investing in these areas. In terms of storage solutions, we are seeing particular growth in oil and gas, which remains a
Are you making any special effort to develop the market? If yes how and what is the messaging to the market? Innovation is a key focal point for NetApp. We are committed to seamlessly connecting different management environments and clouds to meet our customers’ most challenging data needs through the NetApp Data Fabric. The NetApp data fabric offers a cohesive solution that increases efficiency, improves IT responsiveness, and accelerates innovation through the ability to control, integrate, and consistently manage data across the hybrid cloud. It not only enables businesses to take advantage of the economics and elasticity of the cloud but also maintain control of their data. ë
FADI KANAFANI,
REGIONAL DIRECTOR - MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA, NETAPP
Cohesive Solutions for Increased Efficiency EXPANDING ITS HORIZONS IN HYBRID CLOUD STORAGE, NETAPP BELIEVES THAT CUSTOMERS CONTINUE TO SEE THE VALUE IN A CLOUD STRATEGY AND, AS SUCH, MIGRATION TO THE CLOUD WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT 2016. IN THE MAJORITY OF CASES, A HYBRID CLOUD SOLUTION IS PREFERABLE FOR MOST
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strong contributor of many countries’ GDP, while healthcare and media are also experiencing an uptake in storage demand as a result of increased emphasis on video and imaging. What kind of adoption you see in the market for these vis-à-vis the traditional products? In the Middle East, more and more companies are looking at converged infrastructure for achieving technical and business efficiencies. Converged infrastructure stacks such as FlexPod, developed by NetApp and Cisco, have been
SECURITY
Infrastructure (VDI). Cloud storage have not picked up so well in the enterprise space, except for some SMEs, which new technologies are replacing cloud storage or evolving at the same time? Hyper-converged approaches and software defined storage systems are leading the way here. Which are the other technologies that the CIOs to watch out for in 2016? As the hyper-converged technology evolves with time, it will remain the key player that CIOs should look out for. Particularly since more parties are entering the market with increased functionality, which is resulting in the next level of Hyper-Scale.
CHRISTOPHER COOPER, DCG DIRECTOR, LENOVO
Driving the Change WITH THE SLOWING ECONOMY, COMPANIES ARE LOOKING AT ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO REACH THEIR TARGETS THROUGH LESS EXPENSIVE METHODS. AS A RESULT,
How the partners are reacting to the technology changes? Are they able to adapt to these changes quickly or vendors are taking effort to train them or motivate them? The new and evolving technologies that are being introduced require a different approach, and companies need to invest the time and effort to train stakeholders. With the evolving industries, companies need to be quick to adapt to the new technologies, and transform their traditional practices, in order to cope with the changes taking place around them and advance along with partners.
BUSINESSES ARE SEARCHING FOR MORE EFFICIENT MEANS THAT WOULD REDUCE COSTS WHILE INCREASING EFFECTIVENESS LENOVO SAYS THAT BY ENABLING ORGANIZATIONS TO GROW WITHOUT THE CONSTRAINTS OF THEIR CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE/IT SETUP AND THROUGH THEIR AGILE SOLUTIONS, THEY ARE TURNING CUSTOMERS’ IT INTO A GROWTH ENGINE AND THAT US HOW THEY ARE CREATING A DIFFERENCE.
Which market verticals are most likely to drive the storage market? There is no specific market or industry that is more likely to drive the storage market. Nowadays, businesses across different sectors are becoming more interested in storage devices, and that is mainly due to the legislation requirements, current limitations in analytics, as well as companies having to retain all data due to inabilities to know where the value in the information contained lies. The converged and hyper con-
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verged infrastructure have changed the technology landscape, what kind of adoption you see in the market for these vis-à-vis the traditional products? With the slowing economy, companies are looking at alternative ways to reach their targets through less expensive methods. As a result, businesses are searching for more efficient means that would reduce costs while increasing effectiveness. Hyper-converged infrastructure is front of mind in many industries and being used more than ever, especially in areas like Virtual Desktop
Are you making any special effort to develop the market? If yes how and what is the messaging to the market? At Lenovo, we are constantly looking at new and revolutionary technologies that would enable us to further develop the market. We are focused on driving fit for purpose solutions in key growth markets, such as hyper converged infrastructure (HCI). Through our initiatives, we are being selective in targeting specific markets and clients that embrace the change and whose businesses recognise the need to do things differently. We are mapping out the right solutions that would help us better target each opportunity, through the necessary ISVs as well as partners in order to deliver the turnkey solutions. Lenovo’s aim is to leverage existing opportunities through developing top of the line technologies that enhance the way companies conduct businesses. ë
STORAGE
Modernizing Data Centre An increasing number of Middle East organizations are modernizing their data centers to become more efficient, lower costs, and more securely store their data. Among a recent survey of global CIOs, 80 percent say that advanced IT infrastructure reduces risk and complexity, and supports growth and innovation. With more organizations needing on-demand access, there is strong Middle East demand for all-flash storage, such as the recently-released EMC Unity, and software-defined data centers, which are automating processes to free up IT staff from time-intensive maintenance, to work on mission-critical tasks. Condo Protego’s consultative approach and partnerships with leading data center vendors ensures our customers have the flexibility to scale up with the latest solutions to meet their business needs. While cloud solutions are seeing strong take-up, we advise against white box servers, which can be unnecessarily complicated, especially compared to pre-assembled hyperconverged infrastructure.
SAVITA BHASKAR,
COO, CONDO PROTEGO
STORING ‘VALUE’ PROTECTING ‘TRUST’ AS THE REGIONAL ENTERPRISES SEE GREAT SURGE IN STORAGE SOLUTIONS AND THE CUSTOMER DEMAND GRAPH TOUCHES NEW SCALE EVERYDAY, CONDO PROTEGO IS MAKING SURE THAT ORGANIZATIONS GET BEST OF BREED SOLUTIONS. CONDO PROTEGO’S CONSULTATIVE APPROACH AND PARTNERSHIPS WITH LEADING DATA CENTER VENDORS ENSURES THAT CUSTOMERS HAVE THE FLEXIBILITY TO SCALE UP WITH THE LATEST SOLUTIONS TO MEET THEIR BUSINESS NEEDS.
Modernizing Enterprise Storage All-flash storage and software-defined storage are two of the fastest-growing markets in the Middle East. Modernized storage is being adopted by every industry vertical, especially by the public sector, banking and finance, retail and distribution, transport, tourism, oil and gas, and education. All-flash storage, especially EMC Unity and VMAX-All Flash, is seeing strong take-up among organizations that need real-time data. As more organizations virtualize their storage, cutting operating costs by up to 50 percent, there is a resulting demand for converged and hyper-
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converged infrastructure. Hyper-converged infrastructure is ideal for organizations ranging from SMEs with small IT teams, to larger enterprises with hundreds of branches, such as banks or government agencies. One of the biggest challenges facing Middle East CIOs is to determine which storages solutions best meet their business needs. The first step is to work with a channel partner that takes a consultative approach to develop a digital roadmap, quantify storage needs, and then deploy a bespoke solution. Partnerships with leading vendors such as EMC and VCE are key for delivering world-class solutions.
Data Protection, Backup, and Recovery In an increasingly M2M world and the Digital Economy, Middle East organizations are adopting the latest data protection, backup, and recovery solutions, especially from the industry leaders such as Veritas and EMC. Secondary continuity plans and disaster recovery are strong options to consider, but may not be appropriate for every Middle East organization. Channel partners can help organizations weigh their objectives, workload, and data retention to determine if these solutions meet their business needs. In deploying continuous data protection, which provides any-point-in-time-recovery, Middle East organizations should understand that not all data needs to be protected the same. Channel partners should aid organizations in separating their data based on importance and platform, and balance costs against protection needs. Cloud-to-cloud backup could help organizations further enhance the speed at recovering data while reducing costs. For security, data loss prevention is vital to monitor, protect, and manage confidential data. With email and the Web the two most common channels for data loss, Middle East organizations should be prepared to deploy DLP systems that best protect data among an increasingly mobile workforce ë
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generation InfiMAN 2x2 product family, complemented by a brand-new smart antenna base station sector unit (known as the Qmxb) and a new range of subscriber terminals fitted with 300 mW (25 dBm) radio transmit modules. These latest additions to our Point-to-Multipoint family were designed specifically for high-density WISP applications, video surveillance deployments in areas where unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum is congested and for Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) wireless connectivity in urban environments. Major customers Deployment of a wireless PTP and PMP infrastructure for Mada Communications (today part of the ZAIN group of companies) in Kuwait and Lebanon. l Modern infrastructure for both Najran and King Abdulaziz Universities, two of Saudi Arabia’s oldest education institutions. l Deployment of a broadband monitoring network for real-time video surveillance over a 120-km highway in the region of Ain Sokhna in Egypt. l Large network deployment for ITC Saudi, comprising of thousands of links for all its corporate customers in the Kingdom. l Installation of both fixed and nomadic solutions for Daleel Petroleum oilfields in Oman. l
KAMAL MOKRANI,
GLOBAL VP, INFINET WIRELESS
‘LINK’ing enterprises with Infinet Wireless INFINET WIRELESS IS ALL CHARGED UP TO UNVEIL THE INFILINK XG MODELS DURING GITEX. APART FROM WORKING ON LARGE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN KSA AND EGYPT THE COMPANY IS HEAVILY INVESTING IN ENABLING ITS PARTNERS. KAMAL MOKRANI, GLOBAL VP, INFINET WIRELESS GETS CANDID ABOUT INFINET WIRELESS GITEX PLANS, CUSTOMERS, PARTNER PROGRAM AND 2017 PLANS.
Company portfolio in brief InfiNet Wireless is one of the largest privately owned Fixed Broadband Wireless Access (FBWA) development and manufacturing companies in the world. Since its foundation, InfiNet has maintained organic growth through innovation and its ability to deliver complete customer satisfaction throughout. Latest solutions on board At GITEX this year, we will unveil the InfiLINK XG 1000, the latest addition to our Point-to-Point product portfolio. Designed specifically to meet the backhauling needs of wireless internet service providers (WISPs) and enterprise backhauls for applications like digital oilfields, the InfiLINK XG 1000 is able to provide throughputs of up to 1 Gigabit per second over the air in 5 GHz license-
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free frequency bands, effectively doubling the capacity of InfiNet’s previous highest performing product, the InfiLINK XG. In addition, we will also be launching an extended range of our award-winning InfiLINK XG models which now support new frequency bands such as 2.x GHz, 3.x GHz and 4.x GHz, as well as the previously launched 5.x GHz and 6.x GHz bands. With spectral efficiency as high as 13 bps/Hz and a real throughput of 130 Mbps in just 10MHz of spectrum, and up to 480Mb/s in a 40MHz channel, the InfiLINK XG models are ideal for unlicensed backhauling in the standard Wi-Fi frequency bands, for mobile operator backhauls and high-capacity access, in-band small-cell LTE backhaul and public safety networks. Finally, we will be launching our new
Partner programs or partner enablement strategy The primary aim of our partner programme is to empower our partners to effectively sell and support Infinet’s solutions and services to their own customers. When someone partners with Infinet, it is for the long term – a partnership based on trust, mutual respect and commitment. We invest heavily in enabling our partners to succeed through a continuous training and up-skilling programme. Our certification programme gives them solid product knowledge and market information, and significantly improves their selling capability and competitiveness. Revenue, Growth in 2016 or estimated growth for 2017 Being a privately-owned company, we do not disclose our actual revenues but I can say that our revenue in the Middle East has been growing by 35% year-over-year for the past three years and I fully expect us to continue growing at the same rate in the foreseeable future. For instance, and without disclosing too much info at this point in time, we are currently working on some large infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia and Egypt which will most probably double our revenue from the region in the next 18 to 24 months. ë
INFRASTRUCTURE
Competitive advantage of the portfolio Every customer has different needs, and requires different technical, business, and regulatory requirements when it comes to deploying an ERP solution. Our consultants work closely with each customer to identify the right deployment model to meet their specific needs. The Epicor cloud strategy is based on two basic principles: first, providing our customers a choice in how they want to deploy their ERP software, and, second, providing easy access to solutions that connect and extend the value of their Epicor system such as the incorporation of a mobile framework. Epicor ERP allows customers to easily migrate between cloud and on premises deployments with littleimpact on end-user efficiency. Indeed, most customers are unaware of the physical location of their application and data (before or after a move to or from the cloud). This means that customers can stay confident that as their needs change, they are able to easily migrate to the cloud (and perhaps back again).
HESHAM EL KOMY,
SENIOR DIRECTOR, CHANNELS, EPICOR SOFTWARE
Blending customization with efficiency
Major VADs |Vendors We have over 40+ value added resellers and partners in the region. Key partners include RheinBrucke IT Consulting DMCC, Simplified Solutions FZCO, FujiSoft Technology LLC, RiSOLVE Technologies LLC, Index InfoTech and Knowledge Web Consultancy.
HESHAM EL KOMY, SENIOR DIRECTOR, CHANNELS AT EPICOR SOFTWARE GIVES INSIGHTS ABOUT EPICOR’S RECENT EPICOR ERP WHICH WAS LAUNCHED IN MIDDLE EAST. EPICOR IS CONFIDENT ABOUT ITS EFFICIENCY AND THE SATISFACTION THE ERP WILL PROVIDE TO THE ENTERPRISE SINCE IT MEETS SPECIFIC CONSUMER DEMANDS. EPICOR ALSO RELEASED UPDATES TO ITS EPICOR ISCALA ERP SOLUTIONS AS WELL.
Company portfolio in brief Epicor Software provides flexible, industry-specific software designed to drive business growth for our manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industry customers. More than 40 years of experience with our customers’ unique business processes and operational requirements are built into every solution-in the cloud, hosted, or on premises. With this deep understanding of industry requirements, Epicor solutions manage complexity, increase efficiency, and free up resources so customers can focus on growth. Latest solutions on board We recently launched the rollout of our cloudfirst strategy for Epicor ERP across the Middle East. Epicor ERP is built on the five principles
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of collaboration, mobility, choice, responsiveness and simplicity. The modern ERP solution provides a wide breadth of industry-specific functionality that supports business growth, reduces complexity and streamlines processes across businesses. We have also recently released updates to our popular Epicor iScala ERP solution. iScala is designed for the worldwide divisions and subsidiaries of multinational corporations and local or regional companies that may have significant cross-border trading requirements. Building on previous versions, the latest release features a range of new functions and capabilities to help organisations meet specific regulatory and legislative to gain a further competitive edge in the global marketplace.
Major customers Epicor has more than 20,000 global customers in over 150 countries. In the region Epicor has more than 650 customers and some of our key customers include Zaker Trading, Mabani Steel, Knightsbridge Chemicals, Oman Optic Fiber, International Rubber Company, OilServ, EMDAD, Saudi Mechanical Industries, Heinz Africa & Middle East and Kanoo Group. Partner programs or partner enablement strategy Epicor partner with value-added resellers that are leaders in their field, either within a vertical or a geographic area, and we havebuilt a program thatoffers substantial benefits and support. Epicor partners are an extension of our direct employees and work closely with every department within Epicor. How are you creating a difference? The strength of Epicor business solutions lies in a simplified approach totechnology, inspired by our customers and how they work. With many solutions built on 100% Microsoft technology, Epicor solutions foster growth by increasing efficiency in operations and communication. ë
BACKUP AND STORAGE
With headquarters in Dubai Internet City, Dubai, UAE and an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Veeam serves customers in the GCC, Levant, Pakistan and Afghanistan through its partner network. Major customers In the last few years, Veeam has had tremendous success in the O&G, banking, government and education across the entire region.OSN, The Electronic Government Authority (EGA) of Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd. (GASCO) are some of the premier customers.
GREGG PETERSEN,
REGIONAL DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND SAARC, VEEAM SOFTWARE
Veeam’s Virtual Voyage with Availability WITH VEEAM’S INCREASING CUSTOMER BASE AND RECENTLY REVEALED NEXT GENERATION OF AVAILABILITY, THE ORGANIZATION HAS WELL DEFINED PLANS LAID OUT FOR THE YEAR 2017. BEING AN ESTABLISHED PLAYER IN THE BACK UP AND RECOVERY ARENA, VEEAM’S PARTNER PROGRAMME AND NEW UPDATES MAKE IT A TOUGH COMPETITION FOR OTHERS. GREGG PETERSEN, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND SAARC, VEEAM SOFTWARE REVEALS THE COMPANY’S GITEX PLANS AND MUCH MORE.
Latest solutions on board Veeam recently announced the next generation of Availability: Veeam Availability Platform for the Hybrid Cloud.In a game-changing move to address these challenges, Veeam Availability Platform for the Hybrid Cloud provides businesses and enterprises of all sizes with the capabilities to ensure Availability for virtual, physical, and cloud-based workloads in the Hybrid Cloud through the following capabilities: Competitive advantage of the
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portfolio Veeam is disrupting existing markets by including capabilities in our software that others sell as expensive, separate components. Virtualization is now the new standard for the enterprise data centre – it’s the norm rather than the niche. Veeam’s availability solution leverages virtualization as well as cloud and storage technologies, being a must-have layer in the modern data center. Markets covered
Partner programs or partner enablement strategy The VeeamProPartner Program is designed to help partners create new opportunities to grow their business quicker and make it more profitable. As a ProPartner, the company gains exclusive access to resources that will drive both license and service business, create new opportunities, increase profitability and close deals faster. A comprehensive VeeamProPartner Program provides partners with the tools they need to become trusted advisors to customers and gain long-term competitive advantages. There are 4 main features to the ProPartner Program: Easy, Engaging, Predictable and Profitable. Revenue, Growth in 2016 or estimated growth for 2017 Veeam is a fast evolving company, showing steady growth. Globally the company announced a record 38 percent year-over-year (YoY) growth in total bookings revenue for Q2’ 2016. Veeam also recorded a 40 percent YoY increase in total bookings revenue from enterprise deals and has surpassed 200,000 paid customers across the business. The results in the Middle East below show that regional enterprises are embracing Veeam’s innovative approach of delivering availability solutions. This continued growth is a testament to the success of Veeam`s vision and execution, carrying thecompany toward its goal of $1 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2018. l 22 percent year-over-year (YoY) growth in total bookings revenue in the Middle East for Q2 2016 l By the end of Q2 in ME: 1700 clients and 778 pro-partners l The Veeam Cloud & Service Provider (VCSP) program reported an increase of 200 percent in the number of transactions year-over-year. ë
wh a. Yep, the impossible just happened.
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ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS
Jordan: TjDeeD Technology LLC Qatar: Qatar Computer Service l Kuwait: Future Technology Systems Co l Saudi Arabia: Trust Information Technology l Saudi Arabia: IT Pillars l Saudi Arabia: Naizak Global Engineering Systems l Oman: Zawawi Business Machines LLC l l
Major customers Most of the major names in all regional industries are ManageEngine customers, including Abu Dhabi Education Council, Khimji Ramdas, Averda, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Lamprell, Zulekha Healthcare Group, and NMC Healthcare.
NIRMAL MANOHARAN,
REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF SALES, MANAGEENGINE
Creating a seamless integration MANAGEENGINE IS GEARING UP FOR GITEX 2016 AND WILL BE EXHIBITING PRODUCTS FOR NETWORK AND APPLICATIONS MANAGEMENT, IT HELP DESK, ACTIVE DIRECTORY AND LOG MANAGEMENT, SECURITY MANAGEMENT AND IT ANALYTICS. THE COMPANY HAS ENTERED THE SELF-SERVICE IT ANALYTICS MARKET WITH THE LAUNCH OF ANALYTICS PLUS.
Company portfolio in brief ManageEngine’s enterprise IT management software covers unified IT management; data center infrastructure management (DCIM); network management; server, desktop, and application management; and security. Latest solutions on board Recently, ManageEngine entered the self-service IT analytics market with the launch of Analytics Plus. Other recent releases include OpManager Plus, the world’s first truly integrated network management platform, and Key Manager Plus, an identity management solution that provides visibility into SSH environments. Competitive advantage of the portfolio
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ManageEngine’s solutions stand out for their scalability, DIY model, seamless integration with third-party tools, affordable cost, and ease of use. Markets covered In the Middle East, ManageEngine is available in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Jordan. Major VADs |Vendors ManageEngine’s partners in the Middle East include: l UAE: Elitser Technologies l Saudi Arabia: Alnafitha International for Information Technology l Oman: Digital Waves IT Solutions (DWITS) l Kuwait: Burhan Technology Co. W.L.L l Bahrain: Hilal Computers - Al Hilal Group
Partner programs and training ManageEngine believes that training and certification programs are critical for organizations to build their IT skills and implement best practices. In the Middle East, there is a high level of interest for all certification programs, including the Product Expert Program, Domain Expert Program, and Solutions Expert Program. Beyond certification programs, ManageEngine also holds periodic user conferences, seminars, trainings, and webinars, all designed to keep IT professionals current on the latest trends in IT and ManageEngine product releases and enhancements. The ManageEngineUser Conference is a yearly event in both the United States and Dubai aimed at creating a platform to facilitate peer learning, IT best practices, and ManageEngine product training for customers, resellers, and channel partners. Training sessions focus on the skills needed to simplify IT management and maximize business productivity. These sessions also help IT teams and partners better understand how IT management tools can be used to provide higher service levels through proactive management and automation. How are you creating a difference With continuous product innovation from the get-go, ManageEngine has been able to design products that contextually integrate, scale to the needs of SMBs and large enterprises alike, and work together seamlessly. Evaluate any ManageEngine tool for free for a month before purchase. ManageEngine also believes in nurturing the IT ecosystem—most ManageEngine products have a lifetime free version for a limited number of users or devices. ë
CABLING
in order to drive innovation. Annually, R&M invests 5 percent of sales revenues into the research and development of both copper and fibre-optic cabling systems. This has enabled us to offer an extensive product portfolio spanning over 5000 that are highly customizable as per our customers’ unique requirements. Our quality and reliability are also a differentiator. In fact, customers who use our end-to-end cabling solutions and have them implemented by our certified integration partner are able to avail of our 25-year system warranty which speaks volumes for the confidence we have in the quality of our solutions. Major VADs |Vendors We maintain strong ties with a number of vendors in the region and regularly conduct our Data Centre Network Day (DCND) event in collaboration with them. Participants of this event have included ABB, FNT, Fluke Networks, TTK, Alpha Technologies and Micronova.
NABIL KHALIL,
EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT OF R&M MIDDLE EAST, TURKEY AND AFRICA
Empowering a ‘connected’ enterprise R&M HAS BEEN PROACTIVE WHEN IT COMES TO CABLING SOLUTIONS. NETSCALE SOLUTION WAS LAUNCHED THIS YEAR BY R&M, WHICH IS PACKED WITH INNOVATIVE FEATURES AND A RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY THIS SURELY HAS TURNED HEADS OF POTENTIAL CLIENTS. ASSOCIATING A GREAT IMPORTANCE TO R&D THE ORGANIZATION AIMS AT PROVIDING BETTER AND INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO CATER TO THE DIVERSE ENTERPRISE NEEDS.
Company portfolio in brief R&M develops and manufactures passive cabling solutions for high-quality communication networks (Layer 1) which contribute significantly to operational reliability and safety in voice, data and video transmission systems worldwide. Our high performance cabling solutions are used in offices, data centres, by network operators, in homes and in industry. We are one of the few cabling manufacturers that is equally strong in both copper and fibre optic cabling and our extensive portfolio has over 5000 products. Latest solutions on board Our focus in 2016 has been on R&M Netscale solution that we launched earlier this year. Netscale is the world’s highest-density fiber cable
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management solution, and the first to feature integrated intelligent infrastructure management functionality. Designed as an ultra-high density platform that utilizes the smallest diameter uniboot patch cord for minimal cabling bulk, this solution boasts up to 67% higher density than its competitors and promises to eliminate a host of cable management problems that plague data centres today. Its combination of market leading features saves considerable amounts of -costlyspace at large companies in the financial, pharma, colocation and telecom segments as well as edge data centres. Competitive advantage of the portfolio We continuously reinvest in our R&D capabilities
Major customersMcDonald’s Saudi Arabia:, Muscat International Airport:, Kempinski, Al Mouj Muscat, Oman, Daman, Ghabbour Auto in Egypt. Partner programs or partner enablement strategy R&M supports and encourages professionals in network technology and structured cabling with its Qualified Partner Program (QPP). It enables them to increase their expertise and the quality of their projects and thus gain satisfied customers. The global network of qualified and certified R&M partners gives customers the following advantages l competent, professional advice on site l Always provides the ideal cabling solution pursuant to ISO/IEC 11801, EN 50173-x and TIA/EIA 568-x l A compelling and unique Warranty Program, covering 5 years product, 25 years System and lifelong application warranty With QPP, R&M ensures multinational customers the same high quality standard worldwide. How are you creating a difference? We have been highly active and successful in the region having delivered many high profile projects for Government, Telecom, Health Care, Oil & Gas, Retails, Transportation, City Development and Hotels. We have established ourselves as the leading and preferred vendor for Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Networks by the regional operators in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, andOman. ë
INFRASTRUCTURE
From Empa to Logicom to Mindware, how do you see your journey? All I will say here is that “one never stops learning”. It has been amarvelousjourney and I am deeply thankful to everyone I have worked with and who have, willingly or unwillingly, helped me improve as an individual and as a professional. At Mindware, I am particularlycontented with the Management’s business philosophy &approach. I have met some fascinating people around here which, unquestionably, makes things even more exciting for me.
NICHOLAS ARGYRIDES,
CHIEF OF SALES & MARKETING AND DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER AT MINDWARE
Tailoring Solution-based Selling NICHOLAS ARGTRIDES. CHIEF OF SALES AND MARKETING AND DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER AT MINDWARE SAYS THAT THE MARKET AND THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE POSITIVE FOR THOSE WHO ARE BOLD ENOUGH TO SIEZE THEM. MINDWARE IS GEARING UP FOR HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL EXPANSION IN 2017 WITH A GREAT NUMBER OF PROJECTS IN HAND.
You have joined Mindware at a very crucial time. What are the challenges and opportunities that you foresee in your current role? The main challenge of our business is, principally, to balance the channel &vendor needs in a profitable mannerfor the distributor. Given the rather harsh commercial climate the region is recentlyundergoing, such a task requires the careful handling of credit availability to the market and close alignment with both partners and suppliers. Despite sounding like a cliché, the opportunities arising from the current business environment are numerous and available to those who are bold enough to seize them. I am confident that, with the help of the Mindware team, I will be able to contribute my part to the future accom-
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plishments of this fine organization. Tell us about your previous role and the experience that you bring in to the regional market? My career to date mostly revolves around IT distribution across the Middle East and South Eastern Europe; from hardware to software, to solution-selling and e-commerce. Since 2003, when I permanently moved to the Middle East, I have had the good fortune to work with most global IT vendors and with a sizeable number of remarkable resellers. My engagement in the region helped me get involved with several technology verticals such as security, storage, and mobility along with newer concepts such as the IoT and the Cloud.
GITEX is just round the corner, how are you planning to best position Mindware in the region once again? What would be the crucial offerings of the company? During this year’s GITEX, we are eager to display our new, redesigned Mindware that’s tailored to focus on solution-based sellingwhile remaining lean and agile thus also cateringfor our traditional business.Please allow me to leave it here for now; for more details, we invite everyone to visit us at our GITEX booth in Hall 3, D3-01 at the World Trade Center! What benefits would the DellEMC merger bring to Mindware and your customers? Would there be any change in your go-to-market strategies owing to this merger? The merger is great news for Mindware as we have been working with both conglomerates for a number of years now; we have close relationships and deep understanding of both company cultures. As the Dell-EMC union is still work-in-progress, we are yet to see if any substantial changes will impact the GTM strategy in the region. For all purposes, at Mindware, we are ready to tailor our commercial tactics if and when necessary. What is in store for 2017? Is there any new vendor or new technologies that you will be taking on board? Both horizontal expansion (based on geography) and vertical expansion (based on technologies/ vendor portfolio). Projects such as a Cloud Marketplace and Client Services are also running in parallel. It is worth noting here that the recent weak business climate in the region has been contributing into the surfacing some significant commercial opportunities and, at Mindware, we certainly have our radars focused on a number of such prospects. ë
WORLD CORPORATE CHALLENGE
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ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS
Major VADs |Vendors Our VAD partners in the region are Mindware and StarLink. We also maintain close ties with key technology providers such asMicrosoft, VMware, SAP, Gigamon, Zscaler, BlueCat, and Ixia as a part of our Technology Alliance Program. This program enables our partners to integrate Riverbed products with their own solutions, thus leveraging our advanced technologies and market-leading products to enhance their competitive advantage.
TAJ ELKHAYAT,
REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA AT RIVERBED TECHNOLOGY
The ‘Steel’ of Hybrid Enterprises RIVERBED HAS BEEN IN THE LIMELIGHT FOR ITS STEELCONNECT WHICH WAS LAUNCHED THIS YEAR. RIVERBED HAS BEEN A STAUNCH PROPAGATOR OF DIGITALIZATION AND HELPING ORGANIZATIONS IN TAKING CONTROL OF THEIR COMPLEX HYBRID NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURES. TAJ ELKHAYAT, REGIONAL VP,
Partner programs or partner enablement strategy In April 2016, we updated the Riverbed® Performance Partner Program to drive greater incentives and investment for partners and enable them to expand across three key areas: building an embedded solution & services program; driving joint engagement; and accelerating repeatable revenue in the smaller enterprise and mid-markets. Revenue, Growth in 2016 or estimated growth for 2017 Our revenue in FY ’14 was $1.1 billion. Then in 2015, we partnered with Thoma Bravo to go private and in our first year, we have improved all financial success metrics from growth to profitability. In the region, we enjoy a strong penetration into the Banking & Finance, Telecom, Military & Defence and Oil & Gas segments and continue to see anincrease in business from these verticals.
MEA AT RIVERBED TECHNOLOGY TALKS ABOUT RIVERBED’S FUTURE PLANS, PARTNER PROGRAMS AND COMPETITIVE PORTFOLIO.
Company portfolio in brief Our Riverbed Application Performance Platform™ consists of the following products: l Riverbed® SteelCentral™. l Riverbed® SteelHead™. Latest solutions on board This year, we launched Riverbed SteelConnect, the industry’s first and only product to unify network connectivity and orchestration of application delivery across hybrid WANs, remote LANs and cloud networks. SteelConnect dramatically simplifies and streamlines the process of designing, deploying and managing distributed networks, enabling organizations to modernize their network architecture to realize the full potential of digital transformation. At GITEX, we will launch SteelConnect 2.0.
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The latest version will include new platform integrations, native dynamic routing, and support for large-scale deployments. Competitive advantage of the portfolio Riverbed is an enabler of the digital transformation. The breath of our portfolio and deep integration between the solutions that comprise the Riverbed Application Performance Platform allows us to offer the most comprehensive set of solutions to address the needs of the hybrid enterprise. The Riverbed Application Performance Platform helps simplify, optimize, protect, and orchestrate applications and data across the hybrid enterprise by delivering visibility, optimization and control.
How are you creating a difference? In the broadest sense, we are looking to help regional enterprises on their digital transformation journey as cloud infrastructures and hybrid networks become more software-defined. A prime focus has been around helping customers achieve visibility and control of their complex hybrid network infrastructures. We intend to increase our focus on the Service Provider, military & defence and Oil & Gas sectors in terms of solutions as well as reference architectures. We will also aim to have more reseller and systems integrator partners who embed our technologies into their reference architecture and customer developed solutions. This will mean working together with them to design the Riverbed Application Performance Platform into their reference architectures. Finally, we will continue to strengthen local ties with Riverbed Technology Alliance partners such as EMC, VMware and Microsoft to create more joint opportunities. ë
DATA CENTER
tions & Rittal DCIM software. l Rittal Physical Security Solutions including the Micro Data Centre & IT Security Room. Competitive advantage of the portfolio Rittal : Efficiency focused and (SMART) – Scalable Modular Architecture solutions. Markets covered Rittal : Middle East and North Africa.
MR. JOSEPH NAJJAR,
MANAGING DIRECTOR, RITTAL
Rittal Goes the ‘Smart’ Way WITH STRATEGIC ALLIANCES WITH IBM, AND A DYNAMIC ROLLOUT OF NEW GENERATION SMART SYSTEMS FOR THE IT INDUSTRY, RITTAL IS WALKING STEADFAST AS A LEADER IN ADOPTING THE INDUSTRY 4.0 REVOLUTION.
Company portfolio in brief Rittal, headquartered in Herborn, Germany, is a leading global provider of solutions for industrial enclosures, power distribution, climate control and IT infrastructure, as well as software and services. The IT Infrastructure portfolio includes Networking Enclosures, UPS systems, Cooling systems, Data Centres with Physical Security
Latest solutions on board Rittal : Products taking centre stage this year will be the (SMART – Scalable Modular Architecture) solutions for SMB, SME and Large Enterprise businesses including… l Network Enclosure TE 8000, l Datacentre-in-a-Box tailored products, l TS-IT frame and its variants with the In-Rack cooling solution, l Outdoor IT Racks, Different Cooling solu-
How are you creating a difference? Rittal: Innovation on products and their efficiency clearly separates Rittal with Quality. We are proud to be a leading adaptor to the Industry 4.0 revolution… talking about the merging of IT and industry, i.e. the way in which a virtual, software-supported world is networking with the real world. Further, introduction of Efficient and Scalable offerings to niche verticals (non-oil) based will offer growth for channel and Rittal. GITEX is one such recognised platform where we will showcase our ‘New Genera-tion Smart Systems’ for the IT Industry. Rittal and IBM have signed a global alliance agreement, which had previously applied for the EMEA region. Rittal is thus one of the world’s leading IT infrastructure providers regularly working together with IBM’s resiliency services in planning, constructing, operating and servicing data centres. Rittal has worked with IBM since August 2015 for all of Europe and the Middle East and Africa (EMEA region). As part of this, IBM is increasingly supplying Rittal IT infrastructure components in its project business for resiliency services. These include such products as: l IT racks l climate control solutions l power supply and monitoring systems l security solutions and services l standardised RiMatrix S data centre. Efficiency and Innovation are the key topics as Rittal perfectly blends these 2 success factors within all its products and solutions - which will be a galore at the GITEX 2016 platform. Rittal enhances its commitment to ‘Customer Growth’ focusing on the needs of Small and Medium sized entities as well on their journey to meet the industry demands ë
O CTO B E R 2 016
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GUEST ARTICLE
Hyper convergence: A Mid-Market Opportunity Hyperconvergence generates economies of scale and reduces complexity, meaning mid-sized organizations can think about new opportunities to grow their business. By approaching customers about hyperconvergence in the right way, and backed by a strong portfolio of products from Dell EMC, the channel can reap the rewards
A new opportunity is emerging for the channel in the mid-market, thanks to the potential benefits offered by hyper-converged infrastructure By uniting the technology stack of storage, compute, virtualization and optionally network,in a single integrated system, hyperconverged infrastructure cuts integration and maintenance costs and provides a means to introduce new capabilities without shelling out for additional hardware. Hyperconvergence provides the option to leapfrog systems based around separate servers, storage and virtualisation systems, makes it worthy of serious consideration by organisations that haven’t made the move to the cloud – many of whom are in the mid-market. Indeed, the potential of hyper-converged infrastructure has been recognized by analyst house IDC which expects the market to grow by 60 percent per year until 2019, hitting close to $4 billion in sales. And most of this growth is predicted to come from the mid-market. The case for the mid-market A major benefit of hyper-converged infrastructure for mid-sized organisations is the economies of scale they bring. By pre-configuring the different technology elements as an appliance, there is no need to integrate the different elements, reducing complexity and significantly cutting deployment time. And whatever the customer wants from its IT services, resources can be quickly allocated to cater for it – whether it be virtualisation, app
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development and testing, analytics, remote sales, HR or inventory management. The ability to scale on demand also significantly benefits mid-market organisations – unlike traditional infrastructure they no longer need to size for the future so see significant life cycle savings. With hyper-converged systems, organisations can buy just want they need for today’s workloads and simple scale in the future when needed. Making hyperconvergence work for the channel Hyperconvergence is a simple sell for the channel – by buying compute, storage networking and vritualization in a single appliance, the customer is able to save money and time. It also simplifies product lines that channel partners can sell. Selling hyperconvergence is also an opportunity for channel partners to make the leap from a transactional relationship with customers to something far more consultative, advising midmarket customers on the role hyper-converged infrastructure plays as they transition to the cloud. Channel partners must gain an understanding of the application and business challenges hyperconvergence will address for individual customers. For example if there are concerns around IT management or space restrictions, hyper-converged infrastructure offers a ready solution. Or if organisations want more flexibility to expand their physical infrastructure at speed, again, there
n PHILIPPE FOSSE, VICE PRESIDENT OF CHANNEL FOR DELL EMC EMEA
is a place for hyperconvergence. By approaching customers about hyperconvergence in this consultative way and using the right language, channel partners can also open up the possibility of reaching higher up the value stack to support customers as they undergo further digital transformation. The potential for hyperconvergence to reduce costs means customer budgets can be shifted to higher-value activities related to specific business needs. This could include building mobile apps for customers, strengthening disaster recovery or making the shift from physical to virtual desktops – all of which offer scope for channel players to increase their involvement. EMC’s strength in hyper-converged infrastructure appliances IDC has said products like VCE VxRail Appliances offer “a huge opportunity for the channel in the lucrative midmarket segment.” And traction is strong for the VxRail Appliances, which has generated significant opportunities in Europe in the first fourth months of availability on an average customer investment of $70,000. Dell EMC is well positioned in terms of the products it offers in the hyper-converged appliance space – something that the channel can take advantage of. If channel partners can get their value-added services right, with Dell EMC’s technology at the centre, they can achieve a sustainable and profitable business model for the future..ë
SERVICES
SRINIVASAN CR,
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL PRODUCT MANAGEMENT & DATA CENTRE SERVICES, TATA COMMUNICATIONS
Offering End-to-End Infrastructure Visibility OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS TECHNOLOGY HAS CAUSED SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE WAY ENTERPRISES CONDUCT BUSINESS. THE EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF CONNECTED DEVICES, EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA, ANALYTICS, CLOUD COMPUTING TOGETHER WITH THE ACCEPTANCE OF BYOD ARE ALL RESULTING IN A MAJOR TRANSITION IN THE WAY BUSINESSES ENGAGE WITH TECHNOLOGY. TCS HELPS TO CONSOLIDATE THE DISPARATE ELEMENTS OF IT ARCHITECTURE INTO A ROBUST SINGLE SOLUTION AND PROVIDES A 360 DEGREE VISIBILITY.
Service Portfolio Tata Communications is a leading global provider of A New World of Communications™ to multinational enterprises and service providers. With a strong presence in both developed and emerging markets, we are a key enabler of information and communication technology globally with a broad range of services including network services; voice, data and mobility solutions; unified communications & collaboration tools; managed security; content management; media and entertainment services; and cloud and data centre solutions.
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With the rise of digital transformation, enterprises are looking for an IT infrastructure that can deliver flexibility and agility alongside fail-safe security. The cloud is the new IT architecture for enterprise, but enterprise WAN is not optimised for the cloud. Although the cloud promises greater agility and performance, connectivity can be slow, inflexible, and in some cases high cost. Meanwhile, the public internet cannot meet demands for secure, reliable, and predictable performance. As the enterprises attach more
value to disaster and risk management how do you perceive DRaas as a service gaining more momentum? Almost all businesses today across industries have an online presence and require a range of different cloud and Internet-powered enterprise applications to collaborate and communicate both internally and with their customers. To put this into perspective: imagine global Software as a Service (SaaS) providers, who offer services like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), workflow systems and other applications in the cloud. They are the backbone for multiple enterprises globally. For companies like these, even 15 minutes of downtime due to a natural disaster, human error or power outage could lead to a domino effect, resulting in non-availability of services, huge disruption to their customers and eventually millions in compensation claims. Therefore in today’s digital economy, a company’s ability to recover from these events has become critical. Despite businesses’ increasing dependence on reliable, superfast networks and 24/7 access to applications and data in the cloud, it’s surprising to see that the lynchpin of some organisations’ disaster recovery (DR) strategy still seems to be to cross their fingers and hope for the best. Many have focused their IT budgets and resources on their primary data centre, cloud infrastructure and network so that they are set up as effectively, reliably and securely as possible, and ensuring regulatory compliance and withstanding scrutiny by auditors. To address our customers’ DR needs on a global scale, we have strengthened our IZO™ Private Cloud with a new DR functionality. It gives our customers complete visibility over their IT infrastructure in real-time, and enables them to segregate availability for different kinds of applications, depending on how critical they are for their business. What makes DR with IZO™ Private Cloud different is that it is underpinned by our global network (the largest and the most advanced of its kind in the world) and our cloud availability zone footprint – ensuring the sovereignty of our customers’ data, and application recovery without latency. We are also continually expanding our IZO™ Private Cloud to offer our customers maximum flexibility in choosing the most suitable availability zone for their business. Before the Internet and cloud computing became so crucial for all businesses, a couple of hours of downtime might have been manageable. But in today’s world where data is the new currency, organisations need to be certain that their infrastructure will never let them down. ë
A Miller Heiman Group Distribution Partner
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05.10.2016 18:54:21
TECHNOLOGY THAT EXCITES
A SNEAK PEEK INTO THE HOT TECHNOLOGIES THAT IS MAKING WAY TO
GITEX 2016 IOT
32.4%
Expected to grow from USD 130.33 Billion in 2015 to USD 883.55 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 32.4% between 2016 and 2022
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
94%
In 2017, the global AI market is expected to grow approximately 94 percent from 2016 levels, reaching an forecast size of 1.25 billion U.S. dollars.
MACHINE LEARNING
1000%
According to Data Science Central, Machine analytics will be the fastest growing area of big data, which will have CAGR greater than 1000%
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TECHNOLOGY THAT EXCITES
ACTIONALBLE ANALYTICS
CYBER SECURITY
5.2%
10.6%
Global revenue in the business intelligence (BI) and analytics market[i] is forecast to reach $16.9 billion in 2016, an increase of 5.2 percent from 2015, according to the latest forecast from Gartner
NET NEUTRALITY
According to marketsandmarket research The cyber security market size is estimated to grow from USD 122.45 Billion in 2016 to USD 202.36 Billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.6% during the forecast period
DRONES
2.05bn
Net neutrality VS Zero rating— who would win the battle?
DIGITAL MARKETING
10%
According to a Gartner Strategic Planning Assumption, by 2018, over 40% of marketers from global organizations will have insourced programmatic advertising capabilities, up from about 10% today
UAV/Commercial Drone Market size is forecast to be valued at USD 2.05 billion by 2023; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights,
BIG DATA
50%
IDC predicts revenue from the sales of big data and business analytics applications, tools, and services will increase more than 50%, from nearly $122 billion in 2015 to more than $187 billion in 2019
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SMART CITIES
SAY ‘HELLO’ TO A WORLD OF
POSSIBILITIES The idea of ‘smart’ city is not just getting innovative and widespread but it’s like a new hope ignited in the minds of countries worldwide to improve their infrastructure and bring about a technological evolution. As newer vendors and solutions surface the IT sphere their collaboration will give a birth to painting a smart city for the future generations. n B Y: S O N A L L U N A W AT < S O N A L @ 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
Y
ou drive around your city with a smart phone tracking your destination on an application, as you drive through you notice the solar street lights, the endless tracking cameras and the smart lights for public at the crossing, then you park your car and take your parking card and scan it at the parking ticket kiosk or simply drop a text message to pay your parking fee. What if these didn’t exist? What if at every turn you had to stop your vehicle and ask for directions? What if there wouldn’t be any traffic management system and it was all manually carried out? What if you had to wait in a queue and pay your parking fee to a person at a counter? Gone are the days when the processes were manually handled, it’s the world of automation and robotics…a smarter and technological sound world just serving you at your ease.
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SMART GOVERNMENT = SMART PLANS ‘Digitalization’ is the backbone of most of the government operations in Middle East. The advanced visions and plans chiseled by the governments across GCC have been fundamental in changing the face of the nations. A separate department for smart city and its related functions have been set up by every country. The eGovernance wave has been taken quite seriously by the government and there are portals to ensure transparency and a healthy public and government relationship through services that will create a balanced civic functioning. Making a city well equipped definitely attracts more foreign investments as well as tourism which helps in the economy prospering. The Transport authorities of GCC actively engage in partnerships and
ventures to improve the public amenities related to transport and communication. Well connected means of transport and a safe environment for public creates a systematic silhouette for the citizens. Implementation of tracking traffic, smart parking, home automation, M2M solutions, smart healthcare and public safety etc. has been a priority for the governments to achieve a happier nation. Organizations have clearly understood the seriousness of the smart city developments and therefore provide solutions which make the planned ideas a reality. Understanding the pivotal role of smart cities and the need of having a technological sound environment, GITEX 2016 also has a dedicated focus on smart cities, with exhibitors showcasing solutions and added benefits of IoT.
SMART CITIES
10 THINGS THAT MAKE CITIES SMART
Robust IT Connectivity and digitization
Affordable housing
Sustainable Environment
Health & Education
Safety and security of citizens
Good governance, eGovernance and citizen participation
Efficient Urban Mobility and public transport
Sanitation, including solid waste management
Assured electricity supply
Adequate water supply
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SMART CITIES
MIDDLE EAST’S ‘SMART’ MOVE UAE In the beginning of the year 2016, Etisalat and Du revealed their collaboration in UAE for a government project called ‘Taawun’, for smart infrastructure in new developments which will include 50 projects will act as the pilots for all new developments.With the EXPO 2020 occupying the minds of governments and organizations there are major developments witnessed in the infrastructure sphere and eCommerce.Dubai and Abu Dhabi is deploying over 5,000 WiFi hotspots to offer free internet.
QATAR Lusail city project in Qatar is one of the most talked about project worldwide. Technology partner Ooredoo has successfully completed the Smart Metering trial for Lusail city, it also aims at providing a host of smart services as part of its growing next-generation portfolio. Also, FIFA 2022 is acting as a major boost to improve infrastructure in the country.
OMAN Oman is also not behind when it comes to matching pace with his counterparts, one of the major IT development was the introduction of Mobile ID which was developed by the government in collaboration with Finland’s Valimo. Other developments include ePassport, Cisco connected transportation, eVisa and G cloud.
TURKEY Intelligent transportation systems are being installed in many cities in Turkey. Smart projects on collection and separation of waste through smart systems. Turkey will spend over $5billion over the next 5 years for implementation of smart grids, smart metering and intelligent street lighting. Turkish Government is enforcing usage of LED street lighting.
BAHRAIN
KUWAIT The government has signed an MOU with Korea Land and Housing Corporation to conduct a feasibility analysis of the Saad-Al- Abdullah and form a joint company with the Public Authority for Housing Welfare for design, construction and operation. Solar cells are also being considered to power the project and the overall design is described as avoiding ‘visual pollution’ by forcing inhabitants to use specific colors for buildings.
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA FINALLY Internet of Things has contributed greatly to achieving the smart city dream. M2M age and
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Bahrain Bay is one of the smart city project which aims at pioneering an innovative metropolis and integrated community. Construction projects like New terminal for International Airport Manama, Nuclear Power Plant, Hawar Island development, Bahrain Investment Wharf and many others are the ones at forefront.
KSA has spearheaded four new economic cities in line with smart city planning. King Abdullah Economic city was the first out of 4 intelligent cities.Zain KSA and Nokia have signed an MoU to collaborate on an initiative targeted at transforming Jeddah into a model for smart cities by 2018.
endless ideas to automate lives has changed the way people function in daily lives. The 24/7 connected era has made technology a source
of comfort, but will it be a slave in real sense or will it master our lives? Only time can reveal the ‘smartness’ of the smart city age. ë
SECURITY
gained the maximum traction from the market? Itbecame apparent that the efforts which were put in over the past few years in creating awareness and education in the market around the need for APT/sandbox technology, came to fruition, with consistent momentum of deals closing in this space. Also, NGFW and web-filtering sales continued to gain traction and were strong contributors to revenue, although year-on-year growth percentages declined.Security intelligence powered by threat intelligence continue to be hot topics with SIEM becoming almost commoditized, and most large organizations putting SOCs in place or planning to do so shortly. The most innovative technologies seem to be emerging from the next-generation endpoint security, behavioural analytics and deception domains, all in an effort to minimize incident response time.
NIDAL OTHMAN,
MANAGING DIRECTOR, STARLINK
Redefining Security Dynamics ACCORDING TO STARLINK, ENTERPRISE READINESS IS PROGRESSIVELY IMPROVING BUT THERE IS STILL A BIG GAP. MANY LARGE ORGANIZATIONS NOW HAVE THE FUNDAMENTALS IN PLACE, WITH FOUNDATIONAL THREAT PROTECTION INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY AWARENESS PROGRAMS. BUT THE UNDERSTANDING OF NEXT-GENERATION THREATS AND HOW ATTACKERS THINK IS STILL NASCENT.
Security Market 2016: Ups n Increase in the number of cyber threats impacting the region: This fact has kept the MEA region a top priority for IT Security vendor investment. Some new vendors have even invested in MEA immediately after the US before the rest of Europe. n IT Security has now become a Board-level priority: Due the point above many organizations aretreating IT Security budgets with the same level of importance as keeping the lights on (IT Operations budgets). l Downs n Oil prices: The impact of falling oil prices impacted the Middle East region significantly with several customers postponing or cancelling projects. Many projects that did go forward were l
severely affected with heavily delayed payment cycles. n Geopolitical conflict (The war in Yemen, Syria crisis, ISIS, Turkey coup): Such issues saw a sharp rise in the number of cyber-attacks impacting the respective countries, or originating from them. n Currency fluctuations: In South Africa where the currency went on a free-fall, there were major impacts on existing projects that either got delayed or diluted significantly in order to be closed within the expected timeframes. n USDcurrency reserves: In Egypt, the limited USD currency reserves made it challenging to send money outside in order to pay vendors and capitalize on the rampant growth observed in the market due to the economic revival. Which security tools and solutions
How has the year been for you and what were the major milestones that you achieved? StarLink has achieved tremendous success over the course of last year. Some of these milestones are highlighted below: l StarLink named Gemalto Middle East Distributor of the Year l Security Business Partner Advisory Council 2015 – Middle East/Africa Region l StarLink named Top Guardium Business Partner, Middle East l Reseller Middle East – Best Growth Initiative of a Distributor – StarLink l MobileIron – Excellence in Marketing Award 2016 l StarLink Accelerates North America Expansion l StarLink Egypt transformed into North African Hub l StarLink doubles it footprint in KSA l StarLink Announces Partnership with Veracode l Trend Micro Strengthens MENA Distribution Channel with StarLink l StarLink Becomes Distributor for Darktrace in Middle East and Turkey l StarLink Extends EMEA Coverage into Europe l StarLink signed as recorded future master distributor in META l StarLink advances European expansion with key appointment and London office opening l StarLink enhances ForeScout mea distribution landscape l LogRhythm enhances distribution across the Middle East Turkey and Africa with StarLink ë
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INFRASTRUCTURE
The business intelligence and analytics solutions are revolutionizing the enterprise infrastructure. The potential of this application is so enticing and enormous that the enterprises are beginning to realize it as a solution which could catapult the enterprise into an exponential growth path. How do you see the evolution of the next generation of data center? The next generation Datacenters should evolve tocater toubiquitoustechnologies such as Smart technologies and Internet of Things (IoT). This is feasible only by transforming the traditional datacenters to datacentres which transcends the physical and geographical boundaries.
MOHAN SUNDARAM,
PRESALES HEAD, ENTERPRISE INFRASTRUCTURE, EMITAC ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS
Stepping Beyond Traditional Perimeters WITH ITS RECENT REBRANDING, EMITAC ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS IS ALL SET FOR A NEW VOYAGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. AFTER ESTABLISHING A STRONG FOOTPRINT IN THE UAE AND COMPLETING 40 YEARS OF SUCCESS IN THE COUNTRY, EMITAC IS ALL SET TO STEP INTO OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE GCC. NEW LEADERSHIPS, MANAGED SERVICE OFFERINGS, EMITAC CLOUD AND A NEW OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE IN INDIA ARE JUST SOME OF THE MANY STEPS WHICH EMITAC IS TAKING.
Which segment of infrastructure will be the most sought after in 2017 and why? The focus being on agile and flexible infrastructure, the most sought after segment would be Hyper-convergence, Business Intelligence and Private cloud (IaaS).These should in turn drive the mobility and client virtualization demand. How has the adoption of the converged and Hyperconverged infrastructure been in the region? What are the latest trends? The converged Infrastructure,being the building block for the convergedSystems and Hyper-
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convergence, has captured the imagination of one and all for modernizing and transforming their datacentre infrastructure. Hence the Hyper-Convergence and Converged Systems have been widely adopted. This adoption has enabled customers to consider cloud adoption, Client virtualization, Mobility, Business Continuity, Business Intelligence & Analytics, Smart technologies etc. as their logical next step. These would be the trends to watch out for as well. Which applications or solutions have revolutionized the enterprise infrastructure of late?
What should be a CIO’s roadmap for developing a competitive infrastructure? With agility and flexibility becoming the mantra of CIOs the obvious roadmap would be to transform their infrastructure into a hybrid infrastructure which can enable a data driven organization. This data driven approach would catapult the organization in the higher sphere of growth. Which sector has shown the maximum potential in terms of growing up to the most competitive infrastructure? The telecom and the government sectors have shown maximum potential in building highly agile hybrid infrastructure as they are fully aware of the business enablement such infrastructure provides for scale, performance and elasticity. Emitac Enterprise Solutions launched its new corporate brand identity Gitex. The new EES identity is a combination of both the legacy and future direction. The company has undergone a significant transformation since its inception and the new brand identity reflects the spirit of dynamic transformation that we embrace within our organizational culture to serve our customers every day, every time, with unwavering enthusiasm. As a part of expansion, EES also opened its offshore development center in Bengaluru, India. The dedicated team at the offshore facility works as a virtual extension of EES’s internal team. They will be responsible for developing, testing, and deploying software solutions and applications offshore. Furthermore, their quality management expertise is leveraged to maintain optimum code standard. Access to the dedicated team of talented software professionals and business analysts powers future success and growth of our customers businesses. ë
IOT
SHUKRI EID,
MANAGING DIRECTOR- EAST REGION, CISCO MIDDLE EAST
Cisco’s IoT journey intensifies IOT HAS BEEN TAKING THE WORLD BY SURPRISE, WITH PATH-BREAKING TECHNOLOGIES TAKING CENTRE STAGE. CISCO HAS CONTRIBUTED LARGELY TO THE IOT SPHERE. ALONG WITH COMPREHENSIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND SOLUTIONS TO QUENCH THE THIRST OF ENTERPRISE ACCELERATION. CISCO HAS ACTIVELY BEEN INVOLVED IN VARIOUS SMART CITY PROJECTS CONTRIBUTING TO THE INFRASTRUCTURE ADVANCEMENTS. IN CONVERSATION WITH MR. SHUKRI EID, MD- EAST REGION, CISCO MIDDLE EAST TALKS ABOUT CISCO’S IOT JOURNEY.
What is your IOT strategy? What all solutions you have for the market? Cisco’s vision to change the way the world works, lives, plays and learns, has been the bedrock of our 30 year journey, guiding us to focus on the principles of predicting the future, whilst building on the past, to jointly create new markets and lead industry transitions with our customers and partners. Our long-standing success has come from our ability to catch market transitions, and by delivering products, solutions and services - transitions that add significant value to our customers and partners. But, it is not what we make. It is what we make possible. One of the most significant market transitions of our time lies in front of us - the Internet of Everything. The network is at the center of this market transition and is the key to creating these intel-
ligent connections. We will capture this transition as we have for three full decades and become even more relevant to our customers, partners and shareholders, continuing to transform and capture market transitions and solve customers’ business challenges. The Cisco IoT System is a comprehensive set of technologies and products for enterprises to help accelerate the transition to an intelligent, IoT-based infrastructure. This broad portfolio of infrastructure technologies and products can enable customers to connect, manage, and control previously unconnected devices. The system helps organizations gain deeper insights with analytics on IoT data, better security for their physical and digital assets and data and helps them innovate by creating and deploying IoT applications from the cloud to the fog.
The Cisco IoT System comprises six pillars, or building blocks, each with a portfolio of products and technologies: l Network connectivity l Fog computing l Data analytics l Security - cyber and physical l Management and automation l Application platform Each of the six pillars offers a cohesive and comprehensive set of IoT technologies and products that, when combined together, become an integral part of the overall IoT solutions. These pillars of the Cisco IoT System work closely together to reduce integration costs for customers. Cisco IoT System allows organizations to conquer challenges with IoT deployments with: l Actionable data l Resilient security l IT and OT convergence l Innovative infrastructure Moving operational systems to the Internet of Things (IoT) can be challenging. Without building an entirely new infrastructure, it is possible to: l Connect operational systems l Link the operational network to IT systems l Provide end-to-end security l Use data more effectively IoT Services from Cisco help organizations accelerate the transformation of their operational network to an IP-based industrial network. This is accomplished through strategy development, architectural assessments, network architecture design, deployment assistance, and technical support. Cisco and key partners can plan and build a network infrastructure that improves: l Productivity l Intelligence l Security l Flexibility l Business decision making Together with an ecosystem of partners, at Cisco we have created a powerful, integrated platform that incorporates top technology, applications and business models to help governments improve the way communities and cities are designed, built and run – from lighting to waste management, from parking and traffic services to safety and security. Major Projects with Saudi Telecom Company (STC) , du , Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) DEWA, Etisalat, Omantelintegrated , Jordan Healthcare Initiative, The Algonquin College in Kuwait , The American University of Kuwait (AUK), Energy City Qatar (ECQ). ë
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GUEST ARTICLE
Data Security is Key to Building Trust in Your Brand Regardless of the technology that comes in, Security would undoubtedly be the center of everything. As enterprises across the world gear up for the advantages and disadvantages of IoT, eHDF says that it is a mandate for business to keep security on top of their business agenda with a special emphasis on Managed Security services.
The Internet of Things (IoT) brings in an estimated 10 billion connected devices and is expected to exceed 50 billion by 2020. This digital economy is also the breeding ground for greater number of cyber threats and attacks where cybercriminals are using sophisticated technology. Most organizations are not equipped to tackle this onslaught to detect and defend theircrucial data and it is clear from several global reports that while security breaches have an economic impact, it also this has a far reaching effect on compromising organizationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; confidentiality, integrity and brand equity. The 2016 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis done by IBM and Ponemon Institute indicates that the average total cost of a data breach for 383 companies that participated in the research has increased from $3.79 to $4 million. And, the average cost paid for a lost or stolen record containing sensitive and confidential information increased from USD 154in 2015 to USD 158 this year.The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were part of the 13 countries where the research was conducted. There are direct implications to data loss
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where it takes time, effort and budgets to tackle the IT security. On the other hand, companies work hard to build their credibility, quality and specializations. In an event of a security breach, the negative impact on the perception and trust levels within the customer and supply chain base is detrimental to the future business growth of organization. Data security is now becoming an integral part of every organization where greater emphasis is being laid on creating a safer environment in a more proactive manner. According to the Global Risks 2015 report by the World Economic Forum, 90 percent of companies worldwide recognize that they are insufficiently prepared to protect themselves against cyberattacks. Companies are looking at implementing a more well-rounded and futuristic approach to security which will help in restraining risks, guarding their brand and their intellectual property as well as ensuring the safety of their customer and supplier data. Security needs to be extremely sophisticated and up-to-date to deal given the current threat landscape and needs to monitor and analyze data in real time as well as to be able to repair any damage to the IT infrastructure in case of cyberattacks. Training and enhancing knowl-
n S A C H I N B H A R D W A J , E H O S T I N G D ATA F O R T, D I R E C TOR, MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
edge of all employees to curtail security risks is a heavy burden on organizations. Additionally, a severe shortage of cybersecurity professionals makes it extremely expensive to hire them. The tools and specialized skills needed for security requires large budgets and an increasing number of organizations are now more open to outsourcing these tasks by commissioning professional Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) who are in a strong position to deliver comprehensive solutions to meet the specific requirements across all business sectors. MSS also come with the assurance of up-to-date IT infrastructure and qualified security personnel who are equipped to take a more proactive rather than reactive to their IT security approach. The 24/7 monitoring of critical networks provides vigilance into any possible cyber threats and helps curtail the huge negative implications of cyberattacks. In a nutshell, it is important for businesses big or small to place security high on their business agenda. Availing of the specialized services of MSSPs to help in continuous monitoring and management of the networks to curtail cyber threats and attacks helps in building consumer trust that is imperative for the survival of brands. ĂŤ
THE CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE FORUM 2016 13 DEC 2016 | BURJ AL ARAB HOTEL, DUBAI, UAE
THE NEXUS OF GCC COUNTRIES FOR FUTURE ECONOMY Unveiling the investments, roadmap, technolgies and key infrastructure pillars that put GCC on the map of global competitiveness ORGANISED BY
SECTORS IN FOCUS
BROUGHT BY
Sustainable Energy
Healthcare
Financial Services
http://gec360.org/TCI2016/
Transportation and Logistics
Telecom
GUEST ARTICLE
Digital BoardroomOne Step Ahead At GITEX Technology Week SAP is demonstrating the latest solutions in workplace decision-making with the Digital Boardroom, and Smart Cities with construction sites, stadiums, and mega-event organizer and visitor experience.
SAP is one of the world’s leading technology and enterprise software companies, with 320,000 customers in 190 countries, and solutions across 25 lines of business.SAP MENA is one of the fastest-growing regions, with more than 1,350 customers, 1,600 qualified SAP consultants, and 120 business partners in 16 countries. The Middle East is posting strong demand for real-time cloud solutions running on the SAP HANA in-memory platform and the SAP S/4HANA business suite to reduce complexity and drive innovation in the Digital Economy. We are also seeing strong interest in the recentlylaunched SAP BW/4HANA next-generation data warehouse application. No other company has the breadth and depth of channel support for cloud solutions, which also include Mobility (SAP Fiori), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human Capital Management (Success Factors), Customer Relationship Management (Cloud for Customer), and Supplier Relationship Management (Ariba). Major co-innovation verticals and customers over the past year include Government and Smart Cities with DEWA, FEWA, and RAK eGov; Sports with Aspire Academy; Transport and Logistics with Aramex and Nakilat;Telecommunications with du; Energy with DEWA; Banking and Finance with UAE Exchange; Retail with Qatar’s AAB. SAP also focuses on SMEs, which comprise more than 80 of our global customers. In MENA,
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SME sales grew 45 percent year-on-year, thanks to a network of 50-plus dedicated SMB partners. Channel partners play a major role. MENA is one of EMEA’s fastest-growing markets in the SAP Global Alliance Partner Program. MENA’s channel program and presence has grown by double digits since September 2014. Award-winning innovative deployments include real-time truck analytics for the UAE’s Bion Group; cloud-based customer service for Riyadh-basedalfanar electrical construction products manufacturer, and SAP ERP and SAP Dealer Business Management system for Abdullah Abdulghani& Bros. Co., one of Qatar’s largest auto distributors. While we do not break down Middle East financial figures, SAP globally posted 20.8 billion Euros in revenue in FY2015, which aims to grow to at least 26 billion Euros by 2020, and increase cloud subscription and support revenue from 11 percent of revenue in 2015 to 29 percent by 2020. Our Training and Development Institute (TDI) counts more than 100 University Alliance Partners and trains more than 13,000 students, along with initiatives for training students, recent graduates, and the unemployed.In 2016,TDI also launched its second Startup Focus program to support MENA entrepreneurs in Big Data analytics startups. As a result, TDI has built skills and knowledge in the region worth an in-country value of USD 101 million, and is sharing Middle East
n PAT R I C K H AYAT I , V I C E P R E S I D E N T G L O B A L C H A N NEL AND GENERAL BUSINESS, SAP MENA.
best practices by launching pilot programs in Brazil and Spain. Helping youth acquire Digital Economy skills, SAP supported Africa Code Week, with over 20,000 youth learning coding skills. We are launching Refugee Code Week this fall, offering tangible and job relevant education for 10,000 refugees in the Middle East. The Startup Focus Program, by global enterprise application and software company SAP, already helps more than 3,400 selected startups in the fields of Big Data, predictive, or real-time analytics across the globe to accelerate the development of their solutions, and assist in bringing their solutions to market. The program includes free support from technical SAP HANA experts to help startups productizing their ideas and making the best use of the SAP HANA cloud platform. Participating startups have access to a community network of entrepreneurs, partners, investors, thought leaders and industry experts. They also have the opportunity to pitch to the venture community. Furthermore, the program offers marketing and sales enablement support to help participating startups capturing SAP’s 320,000+ global customer base and sell their market-ready solutions.After a use case is submitted and shortlisted by SAP, eligible startups can join the program and put the power of SAP HANA into their startup. ë
GUEST ARTICLE
Cloud is growing, but will it be your organisation’s downfall?
According to Epicor, ERP solutions aren’t just software. They are tools that can be used to help grow your business profitably, offering flexible solutions that provide more accurate information in real-time, driving smarter, faster decision-making, and enabling customers to quickly meet changing market demands to stay ahead of their competition.
The reality today is that most enterprise applications are well on their way to being cloud based. We’ve seen it with simple workloads such as HR and payroll, travel and expense management, and in the last decade we’ve seen the cloud as the new normal for customer relationship management (CRM) deployments. 1. Freedom of Choice Put quite simply, not all cloud ERP systems are created equal. Specifically, very few ERP vendors respect your right to choose the deployment model that is most appropriate for you, and revise that decision down the road as your business grows or technical needs change. Your right to transition between on-premises, multi-tenant, and single tenant is an important one. It recognises that the “best” deployment model for you today might not be the best model in a few years, or even a few months. By providing the choice of Multi-Tenant (with its compelling economics and seamless upgrades) or Single Tenant (allowing more administrative control and administrative ownership), you can choose the model that works best for you. 2. Compelling Cloud Economics Despite the cloud having proven its value beyond just good financial sense, there is no doubt that for companies of all sizes the economics of cloud deployment are undeniably compelling, moving
from capital to operational expenditure.Some of the more hidden economic benefits of the cloud include: • Not being as capital intensive as an on-premises deployment because of the subscription-based pricing model. • Better and more instant scalability, allowing clients to add (and sometimes remove) users to their system on demand and saving them from having to invest in hardware and software at the “high water mark”. • 3. Better IT Resource Utilisation At the end of the day, most IT departments are stretched pretty thin, and find themselves spending too much time on low-value (but admittedly critical) activities such as verifying backups, applying security updates, and upgrading the infrastructure upon which your critical systems run. There is tremendous business benefit to assigning those tasks back to your ERP vendor as part of a cloud deployment, freeing up your IT department’s time to work on more strategic business projects such as creating executive dashboards, deploying mobile devices, and crafting helpful management reports. 4. The Cloud is More Secure Today, it’s hard to imagine a client who could
n H E S H A M E L K O M Y, S E N I O R D I R E C T O R , E P I C O R SOFTWARE
possibly create a more secure operating environment than leading cloud providers. Indeed, Gartner reports that “Multi-tenant services are not only highly resistant to attack, but are also a more secure starting point than most traditional in-house implementations.” Security today is a comprehensive, end-to-end mindset that has to be built across every layer of the ERP environment from the physical network interface cards to the user passwords. It means a holistic approach to anticipating and minimising possible natural, human, and technical disruptions to your system to ensure uptime and peace of mind. 5. Business Consistency and Process Alignment Globally Increasingly, companies have staff working across multiple locations and they aspire to provide the efficiency of a single unified ERP system across the enterprise to support them. Deploying a single cloud ERP globally (where the only infrastructure requirement is Internet access) removes many operational obstacles, and gives you the confidence that your continued expansion efforts can be accommodated without a significant IT effort by simply enabling that new location in your existing cloud-based ERP system.With consistency comes improved transparency and increased efficiency. ë
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AMMAR ENAYA,
REGIONAL DIRECTOR, ARUBA, HPE, MIDDLE EAST & TURKEY
Redefining Mobility and IoT ARUBA HAS BEEN EXTREMELY ACTIVE IN THE REGION FOR ITS ENHANCED MOBILITY AND IOT SOLUTIONS. IN AN ATTEMPT TO ENHANCE THE MOBILITY EXPERIENCE OF ENTERPRISES, ARUBA HAS LAUNCHED ARUBA MOBILE FIRST PLATFORM TO PROVIDE NERWORK INSIGHTS. MR.AMMAR ENAYA, REGIONAL DIRECTOR ARUBA, HPE PROVIDES INSIGHTS ON PARTNER PROGRAM, GROWTH IN MOBILITY SOLUTIONS AND ARUBA’S CONTRIBUTIONS.
Latest solutions on board Aruba has launched the Aruba Mobile First Platform, a software layer that uses application programming interfaces (APIs) to provide third-party developers and business leaders network insights to improve applications and services. The platform accelerates integration and innovation of mobile and IoT at the speed of the developer ecosystem, rather than the pace of a single vendor. The days of one-dimensional networks designed for static functions are over. Modern networks must be able to easily adapt new application requirements on-demand. With actionable insights about the use of specific mobile apps and the operational technologies powered by IoT, they need to help organizations justify future digital technology investments.
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The Aruba Mobile First Platform unlocks the ability for an ecosystem of developers and technology vendors to freely innovate, utilizing the rich contextual information the Aruba infrastructure collects from mobile and IoT devices, and dynamically customize networking functions in real-time. As a result, customers can improve existing and create new applications to enhance the customer experience, improve business operations, and drive new revenue opportunities. Major customers Emirates Palace hotel, Radisson BluHotel, DMC Gulftainer, Yas Mall ,GEMS Group of Schools, AmwajRotana hotel ,Abu Dhabi Airports , DWTC , Aramex
Partner programs or partner enablement strategy Aruba is introducing the Partner Ready for Networking program. This new channel program takes the best elements of the Aruba PartnerEdge and HPE Partner Ready programs to create a new program that enables partners to capitalize on the burgeoning enterprise mobility market opportunity. The new Partner Ready for Networking program delivers predictable profitability via deal protection and a simple structure that makes it easy to calculate deal profitability at the front-end and back-end. Channel partners benefit from expanded revenue opportunities by rewarding them for specializations in cross-selling and up-selling both wireless and switching solutions. Partners also have the opportunity to increase margins for expertise in recognized mobility competencies and the program offers enriched back-end incentives for specialized networking expertise. The ability to sell extensive services, including managed services such as Aruba Central, will further enhance partner margins and enable them to attain trusted advisor status with their customers. The Partner Ready for Networking Program offers a dedicated partner portal, streamlined one-page deal registration with simplified approval process, easy to understand program requirements with a single point of contact, and planned MDF and lead generation tools and services. With the new Partner Ready for Networking program, partners will significantly improve their competitive position while maximizing their revenue opportunities with a more predictable revenue stream. How are you creating a difference Aruba is redefining the IT Edge with Mobility and IoT Solutions for organizations of all sizes globally. The company delivers IT solutions that empower organizations to serve GenMobile – mobile-savvy users who rely on cloud-based business apps for every aspect of their work and personal lives – and to harness the power of insights to transform business processes. With infrastructure services offered as software from the public or private cloud, Aruba enables secure connectivity for mobile and IoT — under one roof. Aruba allows IT professionals to build networks that keep up with these changes by migrating away from expensive-to-operate and proprietary infrastructures, which were originally designed for fixed network connections within the physical connections of the corporate headquarters. ë
GUEST ARTICLE
International cyber security regulation needs to become standard
In order to build digital resilience, it’s just not enough to identify the key operators in the fields of critical infrastructure and try to raise their security standards though. Requiring operators to report security breaches is only part of the battle; the point of any law or regulation must be to reduce the overall risk to public safety
The growing importance of ensuring cyber security remains a central theme on which nations can build their digital transformation programmes was made clear in the second half of last year when the European Union (EU) reached agreement on cyber security rules across all its members. Companies critical for the delivery of essential services across the energy, transport, health and banking fields were instructed to ensure that their infrastructure is robust enough to withstand cyber attacks and notify authorities if significant incidents occur. The ruling marked the first time the EU has ruled directly on cyber security and is clearly a response to the exponential growth in cyber security incidents. The emphasis on critical national infrastructure is an overdue recognition that as software and control systems become increasingly integrated, cyber attacks can have devastating and lasting impacts in both the cyber and physical worlds. As one of the largest economies in the world, this step by the EU is significant. The interconnected nature of digital networks means a threat to one is a threat to all, and perhaps it is time regulators and government agencies everywhere also considered a closer level of cyber security cooperation than ever before.
The developments in Europe offer a positive example of what can be gained through closer alliance, and the types of measures that need to be put in place to achieve a greater cyber security posture. The time to effect these changes is now. The Internet is less than 30 years old and it was never built for security. It’s only in the last 20 years, as it has morphed into a platform for global commerce, that this has become a fundamental concern. The field of cyber security law is new and approaches to combating threats are still evolving. Inevitably, the effectiveness of any new regulations must lie in the details of their implementation. Reporting a security breach may already be too late in the game. We need to protect the confidentiality and integrity of entire systems with preventive technologies and, should an incident occur, respond quickly to remediate vulnerabilities before they are compromised by adversaries. New regulations need to mandate technological and procedural controls across the full spectrum of prevention, detection, response and recovery. Additionally, key regulations need to address industry leading vendors of critical infrastructure with regards the inclusion of security measures in their base infrastructure.
n MR. HARSHUL JOSHI, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT O F C Y B E R G O V E R N A N C E , R I S K A N D C O M P L I A N C E AT D A R K M AT T E R .
We believe in truly integrating cyber security operations with global and national regulations. We believe a holistic approach to security ought to be followed, anticipating current and upcoming regulations and adapting them to the specific needs of governments and companies from the executive, to the procedural, and extending to technological implementation. Trust should be stamped through both hardware and software from inception with all systems hardened and, where appropriate, encrypted. Implemented correctly these bricks provide a strong defence. It is worth watching and learning from the EU’s unfolding cyber security regulations as they pass through their final stages in the European Parliament. It is vital that they enhance the security of the EU’s nations, and the countries in the GCC that trade with them. T hese rules began life as a proposal in 2013 and are set to only be passed into law this year. In the same period, according to Moore’s law, computing power would have more than doubled. Any regulations that are implemented will need to walk the tightrope of being sufficiently robust to force companies into action, without being so specific that they are overtaken by the relentless advances of technology. ë
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workers who are in the field most of the time. In order to remain competitive, they require new servers, workstations and better tools. XenDesktopand XenApp enable IT to provide immediate access to corporate and legacy applications on any Windows 10 device, corporate or BYOD, without the time and cost of manual deployment across every location in the business. Old laptops and PCs, thin clients and other non-Windows 10 compliant devices can deliver the same highperformance experience as those using newer endpoints.
ARTHUR DELL,
DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES, MIDDLE EAST, TURKEY AND AFRICA, CITRIX
Management on finger tips STREAMLINING COMPUTER NETWORKS AND TURNING TO VIRTUALIZED SOLUTIONS HAS BEEN A MAJOR PART OF COMPANY OPERATIONS. CITRIX’S ON-PREMISE AND CLOUD SOLUTION XENMOBILE HELPS THE MANAGEMENT OF MOBILE APPS, DATA AND DEVICES. PROVIDING A SOUND AND SECURED SOLUTION TO ELIMINATE ANY THREAT IS THE MAIN GOAL OF CITRIX . ARTHUR
With mobile workers increasing like never before, security is a significant threat. How far has there been a merger of security and mobility solutions? What have been your initiatives in this regard? At Citrix, our solutions are trusted to protect the most sensitive information, giving IT powerful options to control application and data access across any location, network and device. Employees, contractors and partners have the flexibility to choose how they work with seamless and secure access to their workspace with the resources they need whether remote, mobile or in the office. End-to-end visibility of connections, traffic and user activity allows IT to address privacy, compliance and risk management priorities without compromising productivity. Citrix solutions also integrate with third-party security vendors for advanced levels of system management and identity, endpoint and network protection.
DELL, DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES , META, CITRIX IS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT CITRIX’S MOBILITY SOLUTIONS AND SECURITY GOING HAND IN HAND.
What are the current opportunities and challenges in workplace virtualization? With the rapid advancement of cloud based technologies and applications, more companies are turning to virtualization solutions in order to streamline their computer networks and step into the modern age. Within this space lies many opportunities for organizations to address their specific business needs, such as productivity, simplified IT processes, and reduction in cost all while adhering to stringent security compliances. Some are hesitant however to make the leap for a few reasons. The first is the migration of operating software. Many users are delaying the move to Windows 10 Over 65% due to the massive drain on manpower and resources caused by moving over from XP to Windows 7. Citrix XenApp and
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XenDesktop mitigate this by transforming OS upgrades and browser updates into non-events, provisioning new apps to thousands of users in minutes. Second is the presence of security loopholes. With desktop virtualization however, IT shifts to a single point of access, with sensitive info kept secure in the central data center, limiting actions based on both user identity and the endpoint devices. This results in better security, data protection and compliance management. Personal devices can flow freely into every organization, users can enjoy a complete mobile workspace on any device they choose over any network while IT maintains full security and control regardless of device ownership. Another concern is that many businesses are burdened with aging PCs, high IT costs, and
Which are the top-notch mobility solutions in your portfolio at present and in this competitive market, what kind of edge do they have over their rivals? Our premium offering -XenMobile, is a comprehensive solution to manage mobile apps, data and devices, available both on-premises and in the cloud. Meaning organizations won’t need to piece together products from multiple vendors to keep their mobile workers productive. Users have single-click access to all of their apps from a unified corporate app store and IT can easily configure, secure and support mobile devices. With XenMobile technology, IT can meet their compliance and control needs while giving users the freedom to experience work and life their way.XenMobile has also been recognized by various third-party research organizationssuch as Gartner, Frost and Sullivan, and Forresteras for enabling workplaces of the future. ë
MY VIEWS
l Polycom® RealPresence® Trio™: The first smart hub that transforms the iconic three-point phone into a powerful voice, content and video collaboration solution. The RealPresence Trio smart hub is not only easy to use, but also easy to set up and the technology has broad interoperability and deep integration across multiple UC platforms including Skype for Business, Genband and BroadSoft.
Competitive advantage of the portfolio Polycom’s portfolio of video, voice and content solutions are driven by the company’s and longstanding commitment towards providing flexible collaboration solutions for any environment that deliver the best user experience, the broadest multi-vendor interoperability and unmatched investment protection.
AHMED SOUSA,
REGIONAL MANAGER AND SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT, META, POLYCOM
Creating the Workforce of Tomorrow POLYCOM WANTS TO CREATE A ‘WORKFORCE FOR THE FUTURE’ AND IT IS WORKING TOWARDS THAT BY BRINGING TO FOREFRONT INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS WITH FEATURES THAT CAN CUT BARRIERSOF COMMUNICATIONS. VIDEO, VOICE AND CONTENT SOLUTIONS CREATES AN IDEAL PICTURE FOR THE COMPANY. POLYCOM WORKS WITH SYSTEM INTEGRATORS AND RESELLERS AND HAS A CLARITY ON CREATING A LONG TERM RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM. AHMED SOUSA, REGIONAL MANAGER AND SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT, META, POLYCOM TALKS IN-DEPT ABOUT POLYCOM AND ITS SOLUTIONS.
Company portfolio in brief As a global provider in video, voice and content collaboration solutions, Polycom helps organisations unleash the power of human collaboration. More than 400,000 companies and institutions worldwide defy distance with secure video, voice and content solutions from Polycom to increase productivity, speed time to market, provide better customer service, expand education and save lives. Latest solutions on board Some of Polycom’s latest solutions are listed below: l Polycom® RealPresence Centro™: Regarded as the industry’s first purpose-built solution, the RealPresence Centro introduces a brand new paradigm for group conferencing that drives deep
engagement and highly productive meetings by bringing people to the centre of collaboration. It anticipates the needs of its users, displaying exactly who and what you need to see at all times. The four brilliant touch-screen displays and intuitive interface allow for an easy touch-to-join experience and installation is as easy as plug and play. l Polycom® RealPresence ClaritiTM : A collaboration infrastructure that delivers Polycom’s powerful HD voice, content, video and web collaboration to businesses of any size. Deployable on-premises, in a private hosted cloud or through a partner-hosted service, the RealPresence Clariti solution allows customers, including small and mid-sized businesses, to connect and experience the power of enterprise-grade visual collaboration.
Major VADs |Vendors Key Value Added Distributors in the region include FVC, WestCon, Sitec. Major customers Key customers in the region that includes SOLB Steel, International Horizons College and American University in Kuwait. Partner programs or partner enablement strategy Polycom works closely with and offers a lot of support to system integrators and resellers. The Polycom Choice Partner Program provides a simple framework for partners to invest and grow in. The program gives knowledge, support and tools to help integrators deploy UC solutions. In addition, partners are rewarded with more benefits as their commitment to Polycom increases. The program offers rewards, resources and recognition for performance and revenue growth.Polycom sells 100% through partners so their channel programs are designed to help educate partners in these trends to help them be successful. To provide support, Polycom runs regular events and forums to share best practice. The idea of the network is to help provide better support to their channel partners and to align programs to better address their business needs. How are you creating a difference Polycom is striving to create a difference by enabling the Workplace of the Future through the latest portfolio of video, voice and content sharing collaboration solutions that promote flexible working and create collaborative workplaces for employees across the SMB, education and healthcare sectors. ë
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Finesseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Big Data & Analytics for O&G to enhance IoT adoption. Amongst the most influential industries across the globe, it is the Oil & Gas sector that affects businesses the most. While this sector goes through one of the most transformative periods in its history, it will ultimately redefine the energy business as we know it and can subsequently impact all businesses and life around the world.
To be able to balance the supply and demand of oil across the world, oil and gas producers are increasingly adopting automation solutions so as to efficiently extract, store, and transport oil and gas. Add to it, environmental regulations are forcing oil and gas producers to implement automation solutions in the extraction process to comply with cyber security and Stringent Government Policies and Environmental Regulations. This is where the oil manufacturing companies need enterprise-wide integrated applications, especially those that are integrated with their operational ERP software. Companies are turning increasingly to IoT and Big Data & Analytics to be able to improve decision making, gain insight into the latest threats and to leverage on best industry practices. More and more companies are adopting IoT technologies to cut costs, improve efficiencies, and to optimize the use of their assets. They are also moving to cloud computing, mostly a hybrid model as typically a majority of the data this industry deals with is significantly sensitive. Today IoT is transforming the operations of different worksites including oil & gas, mining and construction. These technologies enable a connection between various worksite sensors,
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track employee locations using GPS devices, pinpoint vehicle and equipment coordinates, and receive alerts through text, email, and phone calls if an incident occurs. Thus, with IoTtechnologies, worksite managers are now beingable to quickly address safety and productivity problems, all whilst maximizing site operating efficiency. Another way IoT is influencing the oil and gas industry is all about how industrial mobility and augmented reality provide powerful support to field workers; how to work in intelligent 3D virtual representations of oil rigs, refineries and plants; and how robotics and autonomous machines help to get safely and quickly to places hard to reach. This helps to prevent unscheduled maintenance delays, which usually run into millions of dollars in costs for companies. While many industries are still grappling with Big Data and analytics, the oil and gas industry has long dealt with large quantities of data to make technical decisions. So Big Data is not new to this industry; what with the need to learn what lies below the surface and how to bring it out, energy companies have, for many years, invested in seismic softwares, visualization tools and other digital technologies.
n E L J O P Y N A D AT H , D I R E C T O R - B U S I N E S S D E V E L O P M E N T AT F I N E S S E
These Big Data can then be used to get analytics that aid in maximizing assets, optimizing the supply chain and reducing costs while improving supply-and-demand forecasts. These analytics help in controlling costs while maintaining health, safety and environmental standards. Thus companies can use actionable insights to improve their business decisions and thus directly impact business performance positively. Finesse has a very successful practice for Big Data and Analytics. Our solutions and platforms give analytics and insights into ways to maximize assets, optimize supply chain and reduce costs while improving supply-and-demand forecasts. Oil and Gas companies can track leading indicators to adjust their operations to changing market conditions. They can very effectively reduce costs by gaining holistic business visibility of their key assets and supply chain. Maintaining asset integrity in the field, while balancing scarce engineering resources becomes an easy task with these analytics. An important part of tracking health, safety and environmental incidents throughout the supply chain is very imperative and some of our solutions help these companies take care of it. ĂŤ
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