November2014

LEXMAR K E M PHASI Z ES N E E D FOR N EXT G E N M PS /20

PA G E S 8 8 VOLUME 02 | ISSUE 04 NOVEMBER 2014 WWW.ENTERPRISECHANNELSMEA.COM

GEC AWARDS 2014 GEC OPEN 2014 /42-66

Intelligence, and extracting useful insights from data in the context of business is an emerging trend in the MEA region and most organizations are not at a stage where they are actively using business intelligence solutions.. /30

AR ROW: “R E DE FI N I NG VAD B USI N ESS” /38

INDIAECM112014

CRYSTAL BALL OF BUSINESS EXECUTION

YOUR CAMPUS. CONNECTED

ONE CAMPUS. ONE SOLUTION. HID Global has the world’s largest portfolio of secure, inter-operable solutions for education, providing physical and logical access control, on and off campus. Combined with a global network of technical support and authorised partners, you’re sure to get the powerful security you need today, with the flexibility you need for the future.

To find out more, visit hidglobal.com/education © 2014 HID Global Corporation/ASSA ABLOY AB. All rights reserved. HID, HID Global, the HID Blue Brick logo, and the Chain Design are trademarks or registered trademarks of HID Global or its licensor(s)/supplier(s) in the US and other countries and may not be used without permission.

6716 HID educators ad3.indd 1

29/08/2014 09:55

THANK YOU for visiting us at GITEX 2014.

Explore. Create. Win. New Generation Smart Systems for IT Infrastructure NETWORKING & SERVER CABINETS IT SECURITY ROOM

COOLING SYSTEMS

POWER SYSTEMS

MONITORING & REMOTE MANAGEMENT

Look forward to seeing you again at GITEX 2015.

For enquiries, mail to : emanuel.i@rittal-middle-east.com Rittal Middle East FZE - Post Box 17599, Dubai, UAE I Tel : +971-4-3416855 www.rittal-middle-east.com

EDITORIAL

Looking at the Horizon

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

It was a fantastic month for most of us who are living in Middle East and working in information technology domain reason being Gitex technology week 2014, in the mid of October, was a perfect week to rejuvenate everyone’s sagging spirit towards monotonous work. It had not only broken free people from their day to day sales pitch but also had brought in the whole year’s sales lead to their door steps.

We had a fantastic time too as we observed our 1st anniversary and stepped into our journey of events. In the first ever kind of initiative we created a perfect blend of sports, CSR and technology awards, a vivid description of such Initiative is there in this issue - how we got associated with Breast Cancer Arabia and whose’s and who of the UAE’s industry fraternity was there to play golf under GEC Open and a narration of the evening Awards under GEC Awards The support we got from the industry is actually fabulous and it certainly indicated and encouraged us to stretch our imagination of bringing more quality events to the region. So probably one of our 2015 events can come in February. We might stick to our style of making a blend of sports, CSR and technology during the event.

Secondly during Gitex we certainly earned a lot many friends and patronage from the industry. We must have interviewed at least 50 individuals who happen to be the senior leaderships of various corporations and got a sense that post Gitex the MEA market is going to be different and government sector will drive the growth.

Like us, many of the venders and distribution organisations earned the confidence of the customers by showcasing their solutions at Gitex. Even companies like Global Distribution and Mindware had chosen the event to make tie ups with vendors like Datwyler and Riverbed respectively.

Similarly many other companies had entered into various strategic tie ups with customers during that five days. Hope every one in this industry will have a great year ahead as they have mapped out their target market. We would definitely like to see a better performing market in this region which we all are waiting for. ë

PRINTED BY AL GHURAIR PRINTING & PUBLISHING LLC.

MEA PUBLISHER: SANJIB MOHAPATRA

MASAFI COMPOUND, SATWA, P.O.BOX: 5613, DUBAI, UAE

SUBSCRIPTIONS INFO@ACCENTINFOMEDIA.COM

COO: TUSHAR SAH00 EDITOR: SANJAY MOHAPATRA sanjay@accentinfomedia.com M: +971 555 119 432 ASSISTANT EDITOR: KARMA NEGI karma@enterprisechannels.com SUB EDITOR: SOUMYA SMITA PRAJNA soumya@accentinfomedia.com REPORTER: MANALI MISRA manali@accentinfomedia.com VISUALIZER: MANAS RANJAN LEAD VISUALIZER: DPR CHOUDHARY DESIGNER: AJAY ARYA

SALES AND ADVERTISING RONAK SAMANTARAY ronak@accentinfomedia.com M: + 971 555 120 490 MARKETING ASSOCIATE VASSILIOS MAFILAS DIVERSIFIED MEDIA CORPORATION vassilios@accentinfomedia.com SOCIAL MARKETING & DIGITAL COMMUNICATION YASOBANT MISHRA yasobant@accentinfomedia.com PRODUCTION & CIRCULATION RICHA SAMANTARAY + 971 529 943 982

04

Edit.indd 4

I N FO M E DIA PUBLISHED BY ACCENT INFOMEDIA MEA FZ-LLC PO BOX : 500653, DUBAI, UAE 223, BUILDING 9, DUBAI MEDIA CITY, DUBAI, UAE PHONE : +971 (0) 4368 8523 A PUBLICATION LICENSED BY INTERNATIONAL MEDIA PRODUCTION ZONE, DUBAI, UAE @COPYRIGHT 2013 ACCENT INFOMEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. WHILE THE PUBLISHERS HAVE MADE EVERY EFFORT TO ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF ALL INFORMATION IN THIS MAGAZINE, THEY WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS THEREIN.

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

16-11-2014 11:12:34

VOLUME 02 ISSUE 04 NOVEMBER 2014 W W W. E N T E R P R I S E C H A N N E L S M E A . C O M

COVER STORY

2014

CRYSTAL BALL OF BUSINESS EXECUTION

Intelligence, and extracting useful insights from data in the context of business is an emerging trend in the MEA region and most organizations are not at a stage where they are actively using business intelligence solutions. /30

MY VIEWS /26

“Doing business responsibly”

SHADI BAKHOUR CANON EMIRATES GENERAL MANAGER

INNOVATIONS /40

PARTY OF THE YEAR

GEC 2014 SPECIAL COVERAGE Creating a Synergy of Sports and Technology /42

An event of Enterprise Channels MEA, ORGANISED ON 11 october, 2014 at the address hotel

PARTNER STREET /38

Redefining VAD Business JEAN-LOUP DESAMAISONCOGNET VP FOR CENTRAL, EASTERN EUROPE AND MIDDLE EAST/ AFRICA/ASIA-PACIFIC, ARROW INFRASTRUCTURE /78

Will Keep on Investing in this Market JOSEPH NAJJAR MANAGING DIRECTOR, RITTAL MIDDLE EAST

EDITORIAL::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 04 CHANNEL STREET:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 06 SECURITY SOLUTIONS ::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 22 MY VIEWS :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 23, 24, 26, 67, :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 72, 73, 74, 76, 80, 84, 86 MY OPINION : :::::::::::::::::::: 28, 29, 35, 36, 77 ENTERPRISE SECURITY :::::::::::::::::::::::: 25 INFRASTRUCTURE::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 68 PARTNER STREET:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::75, 79 OFFICE AUTOMATION::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 82

ADVERTISER INDEX: HID 02, RITTAL 03, BOLLWARK 07, EMT 09, PROLOGIX 11, ARUBA 13, ENTERPRISE CHANNELS 15, BROCADE 17, SAGE 19, COMGUARD 21, CANON 27, UNIFY 87, DELL 88

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

05

CHANNEL

STREET VMWARE VREALIZE SUITE UPDATES CLOUD MANAGEMENT PLATFORM

VMware has added a wave of new cloud management offerings and capabilities including updates to VMware vRealize Suite 6, a cloud management platform purpose-built for the hybrid cloud. VMware also unveiled a major update of VMware vRealize Operations(formerly VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite), the new VMware vRealize Code Stream to enable DevOps teams to deliver frequent, reliable software releases, and the beta launch of VMware vRealize Air Compliance, a new addition to VMware’s family of cloud management software as a service (SaaS) offerings.

“CIOs and IT organizations are seeking greater agility without sacrificing security, efficiency and cost,” said Ramin Sayar, senior vice president and general manager, Cloud Management Business Unit, VMware.

HUAWEI OUTLINES ‘FUTURE OF DIGITAL OILFIELD’ Huawei is all set to connect with energy leaders at ADIPEC 2014, showcasing how a new generation of smarter Digital Oilfield technologies is set to streamline efficiencies, reduce security risks and minimize overhead costs in the energy sector.

Asfar Zaidi, Principal Consultant for Huawei, Enterprise, Middle East said: “Oil companies need to ensure they have a secure and reliable infrastructure, which allows for the use of wireless technologies, cloud, Big Data, High Performance Computer (HPC), Emergency Command Center solutions and Unified Tele-presence services. By having a unified ICT system, operators will be able to intelligently and automatically capture key performance field, refinery and pipeline data reducing the need for engineers to risk spending time in the field.”

06

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

MICHAEL DELL, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, DELL

Dell : Fastest Growing Technology Company “Today, Dell is the world’s fastest growing integrated IT company in the world. Our strategy is resonating with customers worldwide as they look for a stable, reliable end-to-end solutions provider to meet their business and IT needs,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO. “ Dell was the No. 1 storage supplier in the first half of 2014, according to IDC data. They also maintained No. 2 share position in the global x 86 server markets and regained the No. 1 share position in APJ. Also, for the second straight quarter, Dell was the only major vendor to generate year-over-year growth in both rack and blade servers according to IDC data.

Since the addition of software to the Dell PartnerDirect programme a year ago, Dell Software’s channel-related revenue also experienced doubledigit growth.Worldwide Dell grew its PC shipments during the quarter by nearly 10 percentYoY. With new centres in Dubai, UAE and Sao Paulo,

Brazil already opened earlier in the year, the new Chicago investment will give the company a total of 15 centres worldwide for enterprise customers and partners to easily test and evaluate broader end-to-end solutions and services.

Customers using Dell’s solution centres range from large enterprise and public sector organisations, to small and midmarket companies as well as Dell’s channel partners.

Dell Research has developed a proof-of-concept solution called High Velocity Cloud that can, according to Dell’s analysis, support all the mobile device traffic in a medium-size city, such as Austin, with only one quarter of a rack of Dell server and networking equipment.The magnitude of disruption and innovation High Velocity Cloud can bring is exponential. For example, a service that once might have taken six months to roll out could now be rolled out in minutes.

CHANNEL STREET

Riverbed-Ready Technology Alliance Program for Hybrid Enterprises Riverbed Technology at Riverextend the Riverbed Applicabed FORCE 2014 launched the tion Performance Platform Riverbed-Ready Technology for analyzing, diagnosing, and Alliance program with 17 resolving application, network, charter program members. The and end-user performance new program offers technolissues anywhere in the hybrid ogy partners the opportunity enterprise. “The new Riverbedto bring new capabilities to Ready program enhances Riverbed customers, expand our ability to offer integrated the value and impact of solutions that create new D’AURIA, VP CHANNELS EMEA. Riverbed solutions in specific revenue opportunities for our industries and markets, and Riverbed-Ready partners and help customers master the technical challenges of deliver comprehensive tested and validated soluthe hybrid enterprise. tions to our joint customers,” said Nino D’Auria, The program framework enables partners to VP Channels EMEA.

A10 NETWORKS SECURITY ALLIANCE FOR INTEGRATED DEFENSE SYSTEM A10 Networks unveiled the A10 Security Alliance, an ecosystem of leading security and networking companies that are working together to help mitigate threats and automate security operations. By validating interoperability with products from leading security vendors, the A10 Security Alliance has developed specialized solutions for data centers that deliver critical best-of-breed security capabilities required to detect and eliminate advanced threats; lower data breach expenses, and reduce the cost of security operations. The A10 Security Alliance empowers organizations to solve today’s top security challenges with integrated and tested solutions.

TP-LINK TO EXPAND IN AFRICA TP-LINK Technologies is increasing its efforts to grow its channel business in Africa. It has already started working with in-country partners in East, West and Southern Africa.

Will Liu, General Manager, Africa at TP-LINK, Middle East, said: “Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa are markets that are shaping up well for the company in terms of channel business and market development initiatives. We already have partners on the ground that are taking out product to the market through retail and traditional reseller channel.”

DSG LAUNCHES SHARED DISASTER RECOVERY SITE FOR 28 GOVERNMENT ENTITIES Dubai Smart Government (DSG) has announced its partnership with Etisalat to provide a unified Shared Disaster Recovery Site (SDRS) for 28 local government entities with the aim of managing a secure government information security environment, ensure business continuity and contribute to the sustainable development of Dubai as the world’s smartest city.

H.E Ahmad Bin Humaidan, Director General of Dubai Smart Government, said: “The launch of SDRS comes in implementation of the decision issued by HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, on Dubai Government’s information security, which is aimed at devising an integrated strategy that would lead to a unified policy for protecting the government’s information and information systems and at providing a reliable environment for storing and recovering such information and information systems based on the world’s best practices.”

Meanwhile, H.E. Saleh Al Abdouli, Etisalat CEO, said: “This agreement is a strong indication of the trust that Dubai Government has in the capacity of our data centres to store data as per the highest security degrees and recover data in case of disasters. This is supported by a dedicated working team which is skillful in managing data centres round the clock.”

SPMC ADOPTS SAP ERP Saudi Paper Manufacturing Company (SPMC) is initiating what it hails as the largest Cloud computing project in MENA paper industry history.

Phase one of the project will see SPMC adopt the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning solution.

Subsequent phases will introduce SAP Advanced Planner and Optimizer, Manufacturing Integration & Intelligence, Business Intelligence, Business Planning & Consolidation into the mix.

The project, which will be implemented by SAP partner and under supervision of Data Links, comes as SPMC seeks to significantly expand

08

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

ABDULLAH AL-ENAZI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SPMC.

its operations and influence across both the Kingdom and wider GCC region.

“To truly deliver on our growth targets, we need a platform that can serve as a scalable enabler of innovation in real-time, and that brings with it the flexibility and simplicity that only the Cloud can offer. The SAP HANA Cloud Platform is a one of a kind solution, and we are proud to be the first company in MENA to fully embrace what is undoubtedly cutting-edge and increasingly necessary technology” said Abdullah Al-Enazi, Chief Executive Officer, SPMC.

CHANNEL STREET IN PUBLIC

“Saudi Arabia, the largest GCC member, is investing on various digital government initiatives. UAE has ambitious plans to build multiple smart cities and provide several government services ‘online’ ,” ANURAG GUPTA, RESEARCH DIRECTOR AT GARTNER

Interactive Intelligence Generates Revenue of $89.5 million The highlights of the Third-Quarter 2014 include increase in total orders by 46 percent from the third quarter of 2013, with cloud-based orders up 104 percent to represent 68 percent of total orders. Total revenues were $89.5 million, up 15 percent from the 2013 third quarter. Cloudbased revenues increased 70 percent to $14.7 million. GAAP operating loss was $(3.5) million, compared to GAAP operating income of $3.7 million in the 2013 third quarter.

“This quarter showed further evidence of our

success in generating more revenue from our cloud-based services,” said Dr. Donald E. Brown, Interactive Intelligence founder and CEO. “Orders for our cloud solutions not only doubled from the same quarter last year, but moved from less than half to over two-thirds of our total orders received. This growth and shift to the cloud occurred across all of our major geographic markets, and was more prominent among sales to new customers compared to existing follow-on sales.

6

SECONDS

SOPHOS AUGMENTS ANDROID SECURITY Sophos Mobile Security brings a powerful new antivirus engine and web protection technology to the Android platform. Without reducing device performance or diminishing battery life, this powerful engine provides comprehensive malware protection. Sophos received a 100 percent Android malware detection rate in the latest AV-Test.

MANAGE ENGINE SOLUTION PINKVERIFIED

ManageEngine’s ITIL-ready help desk software, ServiceDesk Plus, has received PinkVERIFY certification for incident management process.

This means that ServiceDesk Plus is certified for ITIL V3 compatibility through the PinkVERIFY program from Pink Elephant, a leader in ITIL consulting, education and conferences.

INFOBLOX DELIVERS NETWORK AUTOMATION FOR NEXT-GEN DATA CENTERS

ESET TESTED BEST FOR WEB FILTERING BY AV-COMPARATIVES

Infoblox has further enhanced its NetMRI product

“ESET Smart Security achieved the highest score for an Internet security suite in our web filtering test, blocking 91% of sites overall. We found its parental controls to provide simple, easily configurable web filtering,” stated the AV-Comparatives report.

“Safety for children in cyberspace is our priority and we are happy that independent tests of our products prove just that. However, we do not stop there. We believe that education and awareness also play a key role in safeguarding our youth against the dangers of the web. And so we are taking steps to raise awareness such as by creating content specific to child safety on WeLiveSecurity.com,” added Pradeesh VS, General Manager at ESET Middle East.

This makes NetMRI the first network automa-

that enable it to discover, track, and manage virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) of network traffic—a technology essential to next-generation data centers and multi-tenant computing. tion solution that can change and configure multiple virtually routed networks in multivendor environments.

TOSHIBA LAUNCHES NEW EXTERNAL HDD Toshiba Canvio Basics is a portable external HDD that provides reliable and super-fast file transfers of up to 5GB per second. The HDD is compatible with Microsoft Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7, and is ready to use.

PRADEESH VS, GENERAL MANAGER AT ESET MIDDLE EAST.

AL FALAK ACQUIRES A NEW LOCAL E-COMMERCE SITE Al-Falak Electronic Equipment & Supplies

CYBER ESPIONAGE GROUP WITH POSSIBLE TIES TO RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT

Company has acquired of a new and leading local

A comprehensive intelligence report by Fire Eye- APT28: A Window into Russia’s Cyber Espionage Operations? – details the work of a team of skilled Russian developers and operators, designated by FireEye as APT28,that has been interested incollecting information from defense and geopolitical intelligence targets including the Republic of Georgia, Eastern European governments and militaries, and European security organizations, all areas of particular interest to the Russian government.

This FireEye report offers details that likely linkAPT28 -- a threat group whose malware is already fairly well-known in the cybersecurity community -- with a government sponsor based in Moscow, exposing long-standing, focused operations that indicate government backing.

Ahmad Alshadawi, CEO and President of Al-Falak

10

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

e-commerce sites, www.iPhady.com, to complement its expansion strategy in the KSA. Company, said, “We aim to aggressively pursue growth by enhancing iPhady’s current product portfolio and implementing an international expansion and diversification strategy in the future.”

CHANNEL STREET

DSG Partners with Dubai Chamber

ACCESSDATA GROUP TO SPLIT

Dubai Smart Government residents a high level of hapDepartment (DSG) has piness and contentment,” Bin entered into an agreement Humaidan said. with Dubai Chamber for H.E. Hamad Buamim said: the provision of technical “Promoting customer service support for e/smart shared systems is a key pillar to servservices. The agreement was ing the business community. signed between H.E. Ahmad This is why Dubai Chamber Bin Humaidan, Directoris not that far from shifting PRADEESH VS, GENERAL General of DSG and H.E. into smart services. As part MANAGER AT ESET MIDDLE EAST. Hamad Buamim, Directorof our commitment to H.H. General of Dubai Chamber.

Sheikh Mohammed’s vision “These agreements aim to maintain Conto transform Dubai into the world’s smartest city, tinuity in government work based on the best the Chamber launched three new smart services international standards, thereby offering Dubai during its participation at GITEX 2014.”

AccessData Group businesses will be splitting into two independent, global companies, AccessData and the newly formed Resolution1 Security. The company split will go into effect January 1, 2015.

Tim Leehealey, AccessData’s current CEO and Chairman, will oversee AccessData’s strategic vision and business growth.

He will serve as Chairman of the Board for both AccessData and Resolution1 Security. The company also announced the appointment of industry veteran Keith James as EVP of Global Sales and Marketing. The corporate headquarters are based in Lindon, Utah.

“AccessData has highly successful cyber security and investigations businesses,” said Tim Leehealey, Chairman and CEO of AccessData Group. “The rapidly changing security landscape accelerated our plans to separate the two companies and aggressively pursue opportunities to extend our industry leadership. The split enables each company with the focus, flexibility, independence, and resources to innovate and solve enterprises’ most vexing challenges.”

The creation of Resolution1 Security comes as the industry is witnessing anunprecedented escalation of advanced cyberattacks and high profile retail and financial services breaches. “The cybersecurity market has reached a critical point and Resolution1 Security is at the forefront of defining the future of incident response, namely Continuous, Automated, Incident Resolution (CAIR),” said Brian Karney, CEO of Resolution1 Security.

STARLINK EYEMOBILE POLICY ENFORCEMENT StarLink puts the spot light on cutting-edge and out-of-the-box integration between MobileIron and Air Patrol. As the distributor for both vendors in the region,StarLink focuses this enterprise proficiency towards Enterprise and Government customers, as well as, Channel Partners.

“We are excited to have this integrated Secure Mobility story in our portfolio. With MobileIron’s EMM Platform and AirPatrol’sZoneDefensetechnology, we now have a solution that detects any mobile device in an enterprise, tracks location, checks compliance, and provides immediate MDM policy enforcement in accordance with enterprise security standards.” said Avinash Advani, VP, Business Strategy at StarLink.

NEW GLOBAL CONSULTATIVE TOOL FROM DIMENSION DATA FOR END-USER COMPUTING Dimension Data has launched its End-user Computing Development Model (EUCDM), a new global consultative engagement tool helps organisations learn more about end-user computing, what the impact will be on their ICT operations, and where to begin its implementation.

According to Nadeem Ahmad, Dimension Data’s Global Technology Director, “Our experts have invested hundreds of hours developing this tool to help organisations understand their current end-user computing maturity (their ‘as-is’ state) as well as their future need (their ‘to-be’ state), and identify the gap between the two, which ultimately determines their solution roadmap”.

LOGICOMTO DISTRIBUTE CISCO MERAKI Logicomhas expanded its portfolio with a new agreement with Cisco Meraki, naming Logicom as the official distributor of Cisco Meraki technology solutions in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The agreement came into effect on October 10 2014.

Logicom’s Director of Sales & Marketing, Nicholas Argyrides, said: “We are proud to have both the honor and opportunity to be the first technology distributor to introduce the Cisco Meraki technologies into the Middle East.

Having observed the mounting demand

12

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

LOGICOM’S DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING, NICHOLAS ARGYRIDES

for Cisco Meraki technology solutions we’ve been eager to do our part to replicate their huge success seen in other regions. Our aim is

simple; we plan to passionately grow this vertical, hand-in-hand with our dedicated Cisco channel partners.”

“The acquisition of Meraki addressed the rapidly occurring shift to cloud networking as a key part of Cisco’s overall strategy to accelerate our adoption of software based business models.

We are delighted to be strategically partnering with Logicom to deliver Cisco Meraki technology solutions to customers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia,” commented Den Sullivan, Head of Architectures, Cisco, Emerging Markets.

CHANNEL STREET

TechAccess Partners with NetScout This new partnership with NetScout will allow TA to offer its channel partners the leading technology in application and network performance management. NetScout’s solutions will be distributed through TA’s extensive channel of resellers and systems integrators.

TA will further enhance the vendor’s offerings through its suite of value added services; conduct training & POC’s at the multi-million dollar solu-

CHRIS CORNELIUS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT SALES & SUPPORT, -– TECH ACCESS,

tion center, sales and pre-sales support, and marketing and

business development.

Chris Cornelius, Senior Vice President Sales & Support, – Tech Access, expressed his enthusiasm for the new venture and said, “TA is now going to enable selected reselling partners to take the NetScout solution to market and penetrate the vast amount of customers who need network analytics and performance management at their fingertips.”

WEB CLIPS AVIRA LAUNCHES 2015 ANTIVIRUS Avira 2015 includes a superior engine as well as enhanced mobile security offerings for both Android and iOS devices that provide digital protection for computers, mobile devices and the internet.For the first time, as part of the product download Avira users will receive Avira Browser Safety (ABS) that keeps users safe while browsing the Internet, and Avira SafeSearch which protects privacy by blocking website-based threats.

SEAGATE SIMPLIFIES CLOUD STORAGE WITH KINETIC HDD Seagate has unveiled the new Seagate Kinetic HDD drive based on the Kinetic Open Storage platform that dramatically reduces total cost of ownership (TCO) by combining an open

INFOR CLOUDSUITE HEALTHCARE AVAILABLE ON AWS Care delivery organizations can considerably lower upfront IT expenditure and total cost of ownership Infor has unveiled the Infor CloudSuite Healthcare, offering care delivery organizations access to solutions within the industry’s leading cloud environment. Infor CloudSuite Healthcare builds upon Infor’s offerings available on Amazon Web Services (AWS), combining software with a proven and comprehensive solution that includes healthcare-specific functionality, analytics and an implementation accelerator for rapid time to value.

source object storage protocol with Ethernet connectivity—greatly simplifying cloud storage architectures.

NTG SELECTED AS ONE OF GLOBAL GROWTH COMPANIES OF 2014 The World Economic Forum (WEF) has selected the National Technology Group (NTG) to be part of this year’s World Global Growth Companies, a prestigious list of the most dynamic, high-growth companies from around the world. Companies named into this list are best described as the trailblazers, shapers and innovators that are committed to improving the state of the world.

MOVEMENTS A10 Networks has appointed Ericsson veteran GUNTER REISS as vice president of strategic alliances.

VIMALSETHI has been appointed to the new role of Managing Director, Synechron Middle East.

Fortinet has appointed NADER BAGHDADI as its Enterprise Sales Director for the Middle East and Yann Pradelle, Vice President for Southern Europe, Middle East & Africa, will relocate to to Dubai to oversee the entire territory.

14

channel street.indd 14

1.3 NUMBER GAME

percent

Increase of spending on IT products and servieces in 2014 over 2013.

RED TAG IMPLEMENTS INFOR SCE Middle East fast fashion leader RedTag has implemented Infor Supply Chain Execution (SCE) for its Dubai distribution center. Implemented on premise, as part of a strategy to manage exceptionally large growth, SCE has been put in place to increase throughput, improve the speed of critical logistics operations, facilitated cross-docking and improved customer service.

FIRST COMMERCIAL APPLICATION OF IBM WATSON IN AFRICA IBM and Metropolitan Health have announced the first commercial application of Watson in Africa. IBM’s Watson is a computing platform able to interact in natural language. By tapping into the power of Watson, Metropolitan Health aims to transform health advisory services to its customers. This is a significant move to enhance and personalize health services in South Africa as well as drive outcomes-based services to citizens.

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

16-11-2014 18:52:38

OU R PU BLICATIONS

Accent Infomedia MEA FZ-LLC I N FO M E DIA

Middle East & Africa : 223, Building 9, Dubai Media City, PO Box 500653, UAE , Tel : +971 (0) 4368 8523 India : 6/101-102, Kaushalya Park, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016 (India). Tel : 91-11-46151993/41055458 Email : info@accentinfomedia.com

CHANNEL STREET

HID Global Showcases Latest Innovations at IFSEC & OSH Arabia HID Global participated at IFSEC & OSH Arabia 2014 held at Riyadh International from November 2 - 4, 2014.

The company demonstrated the power to connect people, devices and applications. In addition to demonstrating its new mobile access solution and iCLASS Seos credential for higher security, the company showcased its broad range of credential management

NAT PISUPATI, REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR, IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA WITH HID GLOBAL.

and layered authentication solutions that address enterprise and government security requirements. ‘‘HID Global is commited to delivering customer-centric secure access solutions in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, and IFSEC & OSH Arabia 2014 gives us the opportunity to connect with our growing number of customers and channel partners,” said Nat Pisupati, regional sales director, MEA, HID Global.

NEW DISASTER RECOVERY PLATFORM FROM BROCADE Brocade has launched a new extension platform that enables enterprises to achieve significantly shorter recovery points and faster recovery times for restoring data and applications in the event of a disaster, or when performing routine backup and replication tasks over unreliable Wide Area Network (WAN) links.

The new Disaster Recovery (DR) platform also extends Brocade Fabric Vision technology between data centers to automate monitoring, increase insight, and simplify troubleshooting over distance to automatically detect WAN anomalies, help ensure performance, and avoid unplanned downtime.

RED HAT EXPANDS OPENSHIFT MARKETPLACE Red Hat has expanded the OpenShift Marketplace, its one-stop shop that enables customers of all sizes to find and try solutions for their cloud applications. Red Hat has simplified the purchasing experience for OpenShift Marketplace, introducing integrated billing that enables customers to buy complementary solutions with ease. Additionally, Red Hat has expanded OpenShift Marketplace to include add-on offerings from several new OpenShift ecosystem partners, bringing even more choice to OpenShift developers.

Julio Tapia, director, OpenShift ecosystem, Red Hat says, “Expanded billing options in the OpenShift Marketplace will give our customers and partners even more ways to enhance their OpenShift Online experience. We are pleased to welcome even more partners as we continue to build the marketplace and plan to offer even more capabilities for partners and customers to access industry-leading cloud applications.”

TALARIAX WINS HEALTHCARE SUPPLIER AWARDS 2014 TalariaX won the 1st rank for Operational Excellence at the inaugural Healthcare Awards 201 ; the project which got the accolades was the “Improved Clinical Services automated by SMS Technology”.

The awards were organised by the National Healthcare Group (NHG) and supported by National University Hospital (NUH) and

16

KhooTeckPuat Hospital (KTPH).

The Operational Excellence Awards recognise suppliers who demonstrate and deliver excellence in the area of performance consistency, quality and customer satisfaction in NHG and/or NUH and/or KTPH. Overall the Healthcare Supplier Awards aim to encourage more strategic win-win

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

initiatives and/or innovations between the Suppliers and the participating hospitals/institutions, leading to enhanced patient care and safety, an overall improvement in productivity and environmental sustainability.

GLOBAL TO DISTRIBUTE DATWYLER SOLUTIONS Global Distribution has signed a Distribution Agreement with Datwyler and will distribute Datwyler’s ICT Infrastructure Solutions to its Resellers across the Middle East.

Datwyler is a Leading provider of proven structured cabling products, system solutions and services for electrical and ICT infrastructures in public and commercial buildings and data centres. The firm was there at GITEX 2014; the Datwyler executives attending the event were Jon Bamford, Managing Director, Datwyler Middle East & Africa, and Moiz Nurein, Regional Sales Manager, Middle East. Mario M. Veljovic, VP Solutions MENA, Global Distribution and Imran Batoaq, Business Unit Manager “IT Infrastructure & Physical Security”, Global Distribution were also there supporting their partner at the region’s biggest technology extravaganza.

“Partnering with Datwyler is a key milestone for “Global” and will ensure we are able to support our Resellers across the region with Best-in-Class Solutions that addresses the “Layer Zero” of any reliable IT Infrastructure.

Our newly formed Business Unit for “IT Infrastructure & Physical Security” will build upon this Partnership with Datwyler and add further complementing Solutions to ultimately address all requirements for Smart Data Centres of all sizes”, said Mario M. Veljovic, VP Solutions MENA, Global Distribution FZE.

www.datacenterfuture.com

CHANNEL STREET

DEWA receives Strategic Web Award Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has won the Strategic Web Award in the Governmental Organisations Category from the Pan-Arab Excellence Award Academy.

“At DEWA, we follow the steps of our prudent leadership in adopting innovation and excellence to provide high-quality services. This, in turn, supports its vision to become a sustainable world-class utility, meets the aspirations of our wise leadership, and achieve customer satisfaction,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.

“The Strategic Web Award is a testament to DEWA’s ongoing efforts to provide the best services to its customers easily and efficiently. DEWA applies the best and latest technologies that enable it to achieve its objectives of satisfying all its customers. DEWA has applied the best and latest standards to raise the efficiency of services so that they are easier to use and meet the needs and requirements of customers,” said Moza Al Akraf, Acting CIO of DEWA.

ARUBA EMEA SEMINAR SERIES: SECURE MOBILITY FOR #GENMOBILE Aruba’s EMEA 2014 tour begun on November 3rd in Brussels, ;focussing on ‘Secure Mobility for #GenMobile’, with presentations and live demonstrations showing best practices for creating adaptive trust models between workers and employers within the enterprise. This includes using contextual data to create secure network perimeters, automating employee-specific network sign-on and device on boarding and detecting and acting upon jailbreaks. Supported by next-generation security specialist Palo Alto Networks, the Seminar Series is designed for IT managers, architects and engineers from all industries to explore how networks can be built around the new breed of employee, for whom mobility is now a central requirement in and outside of the workplace.

MOBILE APP BACKLOG AFFECTS REVENUE New research conducted for OutSystems by independent research company Opinion Mattershas revealed that 85% of companies have a mobile backlog of between one and 20 applications, with a majority (50%) having a backlog of between 10 and 20 apps.

“It’s clear that organizations are struggling to deal with a deluge of mobile app requests, multiple platforms to support, hundreds of change requests, and complex backend integrations,”commented Paulo Rosado, CEO of OutSystems.“ The survey’s findings show that mobility is a key priority. There is a growing demand for mobile apps, which can be a money spinner for enterprises. The top two challenges when building mobile apps are budget (53%) and time (50%). Other challenges ranged from a gap in skills to both business and users having unrealistic expectations to the development environment not currently being right for mobile.

FORTINET DISCOVERS NEW THREAT According to Fortinet, FortiGuard researchers have discovered an even newer variant of the “Backoff ” Point-ofSale malware family, “211G1,” leveraging sophisticated techniques to hinder the analysis process and evade detection.

The newest version, detected as W32/ Backoff.C!tr.spy, is now equipped with code that maps the image to its original base address before continuing to execute, putting even more roadblocks to the analysis process. The malware hides itself in the user’s application data folder but, unlike the previous version, randomly selects a name from a predefined list. The malware is designed to steal credit card numbers off Point of Sale terminals, which could potentially result in millions of stolen cards if a major retailer is hit. Fortinet is one of two security companies able to detect and block this malware.

On November 3rd, FortiGuard researchers detected an updated version of “Backoff,” dubbed ROM, which performed many of the same functions as its predecessor, but leveraged a slew of new techniques that made the threat more difficult to detect and analyze. This version circumvented security controls by disguising itself as a media player with the file name mplayer.exe and dropping a file in the user’s Application Data folder.

FortiGuard researchers have observed that the malware authors are continuing to modify the threat in order to bypass security detection, and recommend that users maintain updated antivirus software to better protect themselves from this evolving threat.

ATLANTIS COMPUTING PARTNERS WITH MINDWARE Atlantis Computing has entered into a distribution agreement with Mindware. “This is a great opportunity for us to expand not only geographically but into new vertical markets spanning government, communications, finance, and oil and gas, as well as the healthcare and transport sectors which are fast-growing industries in the UAE,” said David Cumberworth, VP EMEA at Atlantis Computing. “Our product, Atlantis USX, will allow IT administrators to benefit

18

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

from VDI technology which, until now, has been seen as prohibitively budget-thirsty.”

“Mindware has a strong distribution business unit based on virtualisation and Atlantis, with its unique solutions centred on storage consolidation, desktop virtualisation, performance acceleration and server-based computing, is an ideal fit for us. The Atlantis software is a valuable addition to our portfolio and we look forward to introducing it across the Middle East,” said Vijay

Kumar, business unit manager at Mindware.

Atlantis USX enables businesses to get 10 times more storage capacity out of their existing storage investment, reclaim up to 90% of their SAN and NAS storage capacity and turn under-utilized direct-attached storage (DAS) into enterprise-class storage that delivers all-flash array performance. Storage costs may be lowered by 75% by Atlantis USX, which provides 10 times more effective storage capacity.

CHANNEL STREET

EMW is Aruba’s New Partner in UAE Aruba Networks has signed a strong partners that can help partnership agreement with EMW. grow our business through Under the terms of the agreement, strong presence and underEMW will sell, implement and standing of the local market, service Aruba’s products across all high levels of technical expermarket segments and verticals in tise, value added products the country with a special focus on portfolio that complement government, hospitality, education our solutions and a wide and healthcare. customers base in verticals we Speaking about the partnership, are looking to target. EMW MR BASHAR BASHAIREH, Mr Bashar Bashaireh, Regional is a dynamic and energetic REGIONAL DIRECTOR, GULF Director, Gulf and Pakistan, Aruba AND PAKISTAN, ARUBA company that scored high NETWORKS MIDDLE EAST Networks Middle East said, “Aruba on all these requirements, Networks is highly committed to making them a natural choice”. the UAE market and is constantly looking for

AUTODESK AND LOCAL MOTORS COLLABORATE ON FIRST SPARK 3D PLATFORM Autodesk is collaborating with Local Motors to utilize the Spark platform as Local Motors continues to develop the Strati, the world’s first 3D printed car.

“The Spark platform is set to accelerate manufacturing innovation,” said Alex Fiechter, head of community management for Local Motors. “From capturing our ideas more accurately to guiding Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) and simplifying the creation of machine code, Spark will help us to turn digital models into an actual physical production parts far faster than was previously possible.”

CYBEROAM LAUNCHES AFFORDABLE UTM CR10ING, Cyberoam launched CR10iNG, which is claimed by the company as the fastest and most affordable UTM for SOHO/ROBO markets. The appliance aims to extend enterprise level network security to small and branch offices, making them future ready for security needs.

Abhilash Sonwane, Sr. Vice President- Technology & Products, Cyberoam says,“CyberoamCR10iNGappliance is designed to bring small branch/home office security at par with corporate HQ.It enables secure VPN access for remote and mobile workers, letting them access business apps and servers securely. Additionally, the ability to centrally manage these deployments via a common platform will benefit the IT admins and MSSPs great deal”.

GLOBAL JOINS THE PURE STORAGE PARTNER PROGRAM Global Distribution is now a certified member ofthe Pure Storage Partner Program (P3) and is now authorized to provide services and support for the Pure Storage FlashArray.Global’s Service Centre will now include technical support for Pure Storage FlashArray enterprise storage solution to its offering in the Middle East.

“Pure is excited to have Global Distribution provide support services in the Middle East and is fully committed to ensuring Global’s partners and end customers enjoy the market leading support experience we deliver globally.

At Pure we are committed to providing a superior experience to customers through our business practices and our technology, such as our support capabilities via as Cloud Assist which provide an integrated real time operational management capability.” said Steven Rose, Vice President, EMEA at Pure Storage.

Mario M. Veljovic, VP Solutions MENA at Global Distribution, commented; “Our Vision is to introduce cutting edge technologies and solutions to our Resellers and enable them to offer high performance enterprise solutions to their customers across all industry verticals.Now they can depend on Global to support these products 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are constantly striving to enhance our customer’s experience and adding Pure Storage to our Service Capabilities will support our vision.”

LEXMARK EMPHASIZES NEED FOR NEXT GEN MPS Speaking to media attendees at Lexmark round table conference, Mathias Militzer, general manager, Lexmark Middle East and Africa, highlighted the importance of Managed Print Services (MPS) an offering that continues to evolve in the marketplace. “For many years our approach has been ‘Print Less, Save More’ as we have strived to unlock hidden savings in the

20

MATHIAS MILITZER PRESENTS AT A ROUNDTABLE

enterprise for our customers. Over time, this has evolved from output

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

consolidation to automated fleet management and on to workflow enhancements,” said Militzer.

Driving synergies between print, managing data and business process automation are now the hallmarks of next generation MPS contracts as enterprise customers look beyond print to drive further cost savings and improve efficiency. Today, successful providers are delving

into the true managed service based business models which include content and document management.

This is why Lexmark has evolved its offering to combine hardware, software, solutions and services to be in a position to deliver ‘end to end’ business process automation.

This proposition is at the heart of the next generation of MPS.

R

Deliver On

SECURITY SOLUTIONS

FORTINET

Riding the Ferrari in security market of ME The security landscape has been changing fast; and to keep up to the demands of the market, vendors have to bring out the best and fastest yet most secure solutions. Maya Zakhour, Channel Director – Middle East, Fortinet spoke to Enterprise Channels MEA team about the strength of Fortinet in the Middle East security market. n B Y: S O U M YA < S O U M YA @ A C C E N T I N F O M E D I A . C O M

T

hreats have been evolving rapidly; the traditional security systems that are still implemented across the region are proving ineffective against today’s sophisticated threats.

Looking at the volume of data breach incidents reported in 2013 and 2014, it is very clear that there is a real risk for organisations in the region which are not immune. In such a scenario, the eyes turn to the security vendors and when it comes to network security, Fortinet has definitely made its mark. The company has set its goals clearly on becoming the premier security vendor in the market and is making a mark through its innovations and strategies.

space and power and includes unique features such as Virtual Domain and transparent mode, allowing networks to be segmented, without having to make major modifications to the network.

FORTIGATE-3810D

Talking about Fortinet’s partner strategy, she says that it is focussed on early engagement with strategic partners. Protection and enablement of partners is what they facilitate so that they can deliver the right solutions with full understanding of Fortinet’s go-to-market strategy.

Fortinet participated at GITEX 2014 to enhance their partner ecosystem and reach in terms of customer base. They used the platform to launch FortiGate-3810D, claimed to be the first and only firewall appliance with 100GbE interfaces and 300+ Gbps throughput to meet the stringent performance and connectivity demands of next generation high-speed data centers. The FortiGate-3810D’s 3U appliance form factor saves

22

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

DIFFERENTIATING ELEMENT When asked about the differentiating factor for Fortinet, Maya promptly replies, “We have two main points that differentiate us from other vendors- one, we have end to end solutions; and second is we have very strong product in terms of performance and value”.

MAYA ZAKHOUR, CHANNEL DIRECTOR – MIDDLE EAST, FORTINET

“We have the right combination of product, team and strategy”, says Maya.

We don’t need to even talk of how good our products are; as per IDC reports, we are ranked second in the ME”

PARTNER STRATEGY

FINALLY...

How is Fortinet retaining its uniqueness in this market which is being crowded by security vendors?

“Our product is developed in-house. The core technical team is constantly engaged in analysis of the changing threat landscape and development of suitable products to ensure we are ahead in terms of the competition the market presents. We have the right combination of product, team and strategy”, says Maya. “We don’t need to even talk of how good our products are; as per IDC reports, we are ranked second in the ME,” she adds. ë

MY VIEWS

“The main idea for the company is to mobilise your workspace; we secure devices with MDM and we deliver applications with our 2X Application Server”.

global network of partners. 2X is part of a group of software companies including 3CX and Acunetix.

What about the company’s presence in the Middle East?

In the Middle East, our presence is via our distribution partner, emt distribution.

EKATERINA MAYOROVA,

SALES MANAGER, 2X SOFTWARE

Mobilising workspaces 2X SOFTWARE DEALS IN MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT AND VIRTUAL APPLICATION SOLUTIONS. IT OFFERS A RANGE OF SOLUTIONS TO MAKE EVERY ORGANISATION’S SHIFT TO CLOUD COMPUTING SIMPLE AND AFFORDABLE.

What are the perks of partnering with 2X? An active partner gets Free Not for Resale license of 2X solutions for internal use. Several online training events are organized for partner enablement and education. 2X only sells to resellers or distributors – ensuring that we will not compete with you.

Which are your technology partners?

Our chief partners are Microsoft, VMware, Deep net Security, SafeNet, IGEL, etc.

ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM TALKED TO EKATERINA MAYOROVA, SALES MANAGER AT 2X SOFTWARE ABOUT THE SOLUTIONS OFFERED BY THE COMPANY AS WELL AS ITS PARTNER STRATEGY. EXCERPTS.

What are the main solutions offered by 2X? The company’s product line includes the award winning 2X Remote Application Server (2X RAS), which provides platform independent virtual desktop, application delivery and integrated thin client management from a single software package to any modern operating system, as well as to mobile devices.

2X Mobile Device Manager enables 2X Software’s customers to monitor and manage corporate and

Who are your potential partners?

Microsoft certified IT resellers that sell computer hardware, software or services can be our partners.

employee-owned mobile devices. With 2X MDM, customers can track their devices and remotely lock or delete the data in case of loss or theft.

Moreover, organisations can monitor mobile devices for malware and remove inappropriate apps.

Who are your target organizations?

The scalability of our solutions enable their usage by any organization, be it SMEs or large enterprises.

Where is the company based primarily?

2X is a privately held company, with offices in Malta and the USA, from which it services its

How was Gitex 2014 for you?

It was a great platform to create brand awareness.

We met several customers and potential partners.

We also were able to generate few leads. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

23

MY VIEWS

“kiteworks solution features a threetier private cloud architecture and mobile-first design with integrated productivity tools for secure creation, editing, annotation and sharing of content on mobile devices, including universal access to enterprise content stores.”

PAUL STEINER

MANAGING DIRECTOR, EMEA, ACCELLION

“Extending enterprise infrastructure for secure mobile enablement” ACCELLION PROVIDES ENTERPRISE-CLASS SECURE MOBILE FILE SHARING SOLUTIONS THAT PROVIDE THE EASE-OF-USE EMPLOYEES NEED, ALONG WITH THE SECURITY PROTECTION THE ENTERPRISE ORGANIZATION NEEDS. AS A FURTHER VALIDATION OF ITS EXPERTISE, ACCELLION IS POSITIONED IN

mobile access to enterprise content, and enables secure external sharing while always maintaining integrity of the document of record. kiteworks solution features a three-tier private cloud architecture and mobile-first design with integrated productivity tools for secure creation, editing, annotation and sharing of content on mobile devices, including universal access to enterprise content stores. With kiteworks, organizations are able to leverage secure cloud computing to realize mobile productivity gains, while benefitting from the security controls and features of an enterprise-grade solution What is your market presence in MEA? We are operating through Bulwark and we have a number of large customers across the region.

THE LEADERS QUADRANT OF GARTNER MAGIC QUADRANT FOR ENTERPRISE FILE SYNC & SHARE. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA SPOKE TO PAUL STEINER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, EMEA, ACCELLION.

How was Gitex 2014 for Accellion?

I feel the Gitex was better for us last year relative to this year. This time though the footfall has been considerable, the number of serious buyers is less than the previous year.

Which is your latest solution?

The kiteworks solution is Accellion’s next genera-

24

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

tion secure mobile file sharing and collaboration platform. kiteworks provides organizations with an intuitive, re-imagined user interface that empowers users to seamlessly access, share, and manage content across devices with a streamlined and consistent experience across mobile, web, and desktop. It connects to existing content systems to provide a single user interface for

What is the Accellion partner program like?

The Accellion partner program provides a comprehensive set of resources, training and support to enable resellers and distributors around the world to build business differentiation and create revenue streams from the sale of Accellion products.

Which are your main partners?

Our technology partners include Amazon Web Services, Fidelis Security Systems, Good, MobileIron, Symantec and VMware. ë

ENTERPRISE SECURITY

HID GLOBAL

Connecting People, Devices and Applications Constantly revamping its portfolio to combine security with convenience, HID Global has been providing innovative solutions for security identification. Working towards end-to-end solutions and celebrating 20 years of FARGO, HID seems on a roll with its focus intact on robust quality, innovative designs and industry leadership. n B Y: S O U M YA < S O U M YA @ A C C E N T I N F O M E D I A . C O M >

I

n the winters of 1983-1984, in a small city in the United States, a small group of engineers once sat together in a lake house fishing; conversation went on and suddenly they had this idea to print on a card; and taking it from there, they developed a technology to print not on paper but a plastic card and hence started FARGO. Since then, it has come a long way of 20 years with several milestones in between. HID Global is marking 20 years of innovation and leadership with its FARGO line of solutions. FARGO solutions have steadily evolved embracing the industry migration to more secure, contactless smart cards and a wide variety of new personalization features and capabilities.

At GITEX 2014, under the theme ‘Your Security Connected,’ HID demonstrated the power to connect people, devices and applications with its portfolio of interoperable and future-proof secure identity solutions - including smart applications, smart devices and smart technology.

In addition, it also demonstrated its interoperable secure identity solutions that address smart applications for enterprise, banking and government customers.

Nat Pisupati, regional sales director, Identity and Access Management, Middle East and Africa with HID Global says, “ HID Global is

HARM RADSTAAK

MANAGING DIRECTOR EMEA, HID GLOBAL

“We have been very active in the domain of secure identity solutions and are constantly acquiring new milestones” a trusted provider of secure identity solutions ; we are committed to collaborating closely with

NAT PISUPATI,

REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR, IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, HID GLOBAL

“We are committed to collaborating closely with channel partners in order to address end users requirements effectively” channel partners in order to address end users requirements effectively. We are always ready to assist our channel partners, end users, OEMs, systems integrators, security and IT managers to understand their key secure identity challenges and how our solutions can assist them.”

The highlights of HID Global’s latest suite of solutions and services include iCLASS Seos credential technology providing organizations with higher security. iCLASS Seos enables customers to use multiple applications and technologies on smart cards, smartphones and other mobile devices. ActivID Enterprise Authentication and Smart Employee ID Solutions are employeecentric solutions using a single credential for access to the cloud, data and door. These provide secure and convenient user access experiences and protects against the latest cyber threats and attacks. ActivID Appliance enables banks to take authentication beyond passwords and easily deploy risk-based authentication solutions that prevent fraud and secure transactions using our latest threat detection and transaction signing technology. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

25

MY VIEWS

talking of a non Canon MFP. Canon machines consume 0.8 watts when on idle mode. So, not only we save on electricity, but also on costs.

At Canon, we don’t say things; we DO. Previously, we had these cheque printers that used a very toxic ink. Just for this reason, we stopped production of these toxic sets.

We are the only company in UAE that has the 14001 ISO environmental management standards, despite the fact that we are a printing company. This is a very prestigious certification we renew each year. Secondly, we received the CSR level for the past three consecutive years from Dubai Chamber of Commerce as a company dedicated to responsible business.

SHADI BAKHOUR,

CANON EMIRATES GENERAL MANAGER

“Doing business responsibly” CANON WAS THE SUSTAINABILITY PARTNER FOR THE 15TH EDITION OF THE HOTEL SHOW. BEING A STAUNCH ADVOCATE OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF KYOSEI, THEY AIM TO GROW THEIR BUSINESS RESPONSIBLY WITH THE BELIEF THAT A

Why does Canon choose to go directly instead of through channel partners?

We have a strategy of being closer to customers.

Even in markets like UAE, Qatar that are booming in economy; we decided to go direct.

Are you looking into other solutions apart from imaging?

Yes, we are now looking at digitizing workforce.

Instead of printing a lot, we are building workforce which is digitized that consumes no paper. We have several solutions for document management and document capture supporting the paperless office objective.

SUSTAINABLE ORGANIZATION INTEGRATES THE INTERESTS OF SOCIETY WITH CONSIDERATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM SPOKE TO SHADI BAKHOUR, GENERAL MANAGER, CANON EMIRATES ABOUT THIS DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE ORGANIZATION AND THE WAY THEY OPERATE TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY.

Canon seems to be very active on the sustainability front. What’s the story behind the buzz?

One of our core pillars in Canon is environment. We reflect this as part of our corporate social responsibility. A main part of the Canon philosophy is Kyosei; Kyosei in Japanese means living and working together for the common good. So, it’s kind of reciprocation between what we do and how we contribute to the region we operate in. It starts with our employees and ends with our customers.

The industry we operate in – the printing industry is all about consuming more paper, printing toners, toxic things but Canon today is driving this in totally the opposite direction. First of all, we are educating our customers to cut down on printing. Print smartly rather than just go on printing thoughtlessly. So, instead of printing an A4 sheet, or 50 page document one-sided, we

26

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

enforce duplex printing. When you do that, you save enormously on paper.

A recent study showed that each individual prints on average 45 prints a day. In a year, he prints 9000-10000 prints; each 8000 prints you do, you eliminate one tree. So, if a company that produces or consumes hundreds of thousands of prints a month, you are demolishing way too many trees. In other words, in a year, they are demolishing big number of trees. This number can be cut by half if duplex printing is practised.

The second approach of Canon is the usage of environment-friendly products that consume less electricity.

All of us switch off the lights when we leave office, if we are environmentally conscious. But have you ever thought or heard of anyone asking to switch off the multi-functional or printing device? NEVER. When these machines are in idle mode, they consume 35-50 watts; this is we are

What is the potential of hospitality industry?

The potential is tremendous; the hospitality industry has showed exceptional growth in the past decade. The data repository they possess is next only to banks. Unless all this information is preserved and secured, customers are in for big trouble. So, hospitality industry is focused on constant upgrading of IT systems, improving cost efficiencies and most importantly their fleet management.

Are the smaller organizations equally receptive to the concepts of sustainability?

The bigger you become, the more complicated your system becomes; the smaller you are, the more controlled your system is. So, if one has a small firm, he doesn’t need to outsource the fleet management to Canon or companies alike.

However, as the system gets complex, this needs to be handled by the experts. Outsourcing of these complex systems leads to great savings and one can be up-to-date with technologies and most importantly, the focus on core business stays strong. ë

Optimise yOur print infrastructure

y g E T A STr

You know that technology has the power to transform your business â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and that innovation is nothing without vision. And as you strive to take your role and your organisation further than ever, we make you this promise: weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be with you every step of the way.

BE EXCEPTIONALwith Managed Print Services from Canon Canon Emirates LLC, Tel: 80022666, www.canon-emirates.ae

MY OPINION

what differentiates our portfolio. 2014 has been a great year for us because DWTC adopted Avaya Networking Solutions. That was the best branding one could hope for; everyone was curious to know why and how we managed the networking for the DWTC. Which other major projects has Avaya been into of late?

We have had several major associations, for example with the Dubai Police, Mashreq Bank, etc. With our latest banking innovation, the bank comes to wherever one wants and all banking solutions can be accessed very easily. One no more needs to go to the bank for the transactions.

We have also done major projects in fabric architectures. The Kempinsky and Mall of Emirates are running on Avaya fabric for enhanced user experience. So, different verticals like hospitality, service providers, exhibition centres etc are using our technology and we are very excited to be associated with them.

MAAN AL SHAKARCHI

SALES DIRECTOR

AVAYA NETWORKING SOLUTIONS, META AND INDIA

Offering LIVE Solutions, not just CONCEPTS AVAYA HAS BEEN A LEADER IN BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS, PROVIDES SOLUTIONS DIRECTLY AND THROUGH ITS CHANNEL PARTNERS TO LEADING ENTERPRISES AROUND THE WORLD. THEY HAVE BEEN CONSTANTLY COLLABORATING WITH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS FOR EXPANDING THEIR BUSINESS; ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM SPOKE TO MAAN AL SHAKARCHI, SALES DIRECTOR, AVAYA NETWORKING SOLUTIONS, META & INDIA.

What do you attribute major credits for Avaya’s success?

The key differentiator we have is the simplicity in rolling out the network infrastructure. People these days are used to going online and signing for cloud services. But this ease hasn’t permeated the corporate IT structure completely yet. So, IT departments, CIOs are looking for ways to make sure that our networks and IT infrastructure is going at the same business speed that the users are accustomed to and they are going out and doing their own consumer services. So, this gap right now needs to be filled and the fabric architecture gives the ability to very quickly provision your services, roll them out instantly without having to go through the complexities of the old networking where you had to configure box by box. It now makes your network a private cloud and you can build the services that you want on top of this private cloud.

EXCERPTS...

How was Gitex 2014 for Avaya?

It was absolutely phenomenal. We had one of the busiest Gitex ever. People actually had to line up for our demonstrations. Every year when we build and prepare our stand, it ends up looking nice and people say it’s the best one ever till now and then we end up setting higher targets for every next year. 2014 Gitex was phenomenal in terms of footfall, both in terms of quality and quantity of customers. We had lot of exposure to people coming from across the region; there were a lot of

28

My Opinion AVAYA .indd 28

visitors from Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, KSA etc. also came in. So, it wasn’t just UAE rather extended all across the region.

What kind of visitors did you mostly come across?

Mostly we encountered IT decision makers like network managers, directors, CIOs- people who wanted to see what’s new in the technology market. Avaya is into contact centres, networking, video collaboration, so visitors wanted to see

Aren’t Govt agencies relatively more sceptical about new technologies?

In Dubai as well as in the region in general, there has been a fundamental shift from being the followers in terms of technology to leaders. We were presenting in one of our corporate events and people were seeing what we are doing at DWTC. And we had customers from Russia, London, USA, coming and taking interest in learning from the technologies being implemented in the DWTC. So, the region is gradually coming up to be at the forefront of technology innovations. ë

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

16-11-2014 19:02:36

MY OPINION

“We assist in proper positioning of the product, provide support. Plus, our duty is to enable the partners, support them with lead generation and credit facilities if the need be depending on their capabilities. ” compared to the other fast moving products.

We assist them in demos, talking to customers, convincing them, doing the PoC etc.

JOSE THOMAS,

MANAGING DIRECTOR, BULWARK TECHNOLOGIES

“Adding Value to Security Solutions” BULWARK TECHNOLOGIES HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY ADDING VALUE

What is your vendor selection strategy?

We look at the product capabilities, how they are positioned in the market compared to the competition and also the way they can support us. Because without their help and support, we wouldn’t be able to push their product in the market.

You have a security portfolio; do you plan to venture into other domains as well?

Yeah, we might go for different domains in the coming months.

WHILE DISTRIBUTING IT SECURITY AND OTHER IT SOLUTIONS IN THE MEA MARKET. COLLABORATING WITH BEST-OF-BREED COMPANIES AND LEADING PRODUCTS, THEY DO HAVE A GREAT PARTNER NETWORK IN THE REGION. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM SPOKE TO JOSE THOMAS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BULWARK TECHNOLOGIES. EXCERPTS.

Are you looking to extend your portfolio?

We don’t usually increase the portfolio as such.

But then security is a very dynamic area, technology changes every day. So, we have to keep an eye on that. We have to constantly monitor the gaps we have and accordingly we acquire new solutions if required. It’s a continuous process; we keep evaluating solutions and if we feel there’s a need, we take action accordingly.

What kind of value addition does Bulwark provide?

There are two types of products we have- one class is that of the fast moving products like the anti-virus or UTM; these are the solutions wherein we just enable our partners to do their job. We assist in proper positioning of the product, provide support, conduct demos, PoCs and after-sales support. Our duty is to enable the partners, support them with lead generation and credit facilities if the need be depending on their capabilities. We also participate actively in events to create product awareness in the market. For the high end security solutions, we are with them all the time because the sales cycle is much higher

There are brands which are not that well-known in the market; how do you create brand awareness for those?

We do that through media, direct mail shots, events where there are chances of lot of interactions. We also conduct partner events and enduser road shows to talk about the technologies.

What is Bulwarks looking forward to?

We are trying to make our channel stronger so that they are able to support their partners and make more satisfied customers.

Which are the regions being covered by you?

We cover all the GCC countries and we also cover some others like Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya and Egypt. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

My Opinion BULWARK.indd 29

29

16-11-2014 19:04:57

COVER STORY

BI

Crystal Ball of

Business Execution

Business Intelligence will remain a key industry driver for many years, and will probably continue to be as confusing to everybody as it already is. Companies will increasingly have even more data that needs to be managed – more data sources, more rows of data etc – so the need to manage this will become ever more complex and important. Intelligence, and extracting useful insights from data in the context of business is an emerging trend in the MEA region and most organizations are not at a stage where they are actively using business intelligence solutions. n B Y: S O U M YA < S O U M YA @ A C C E N T I N F O M E D I A . C O M > n P H O T O : S H U T T E R S T O C K

B

usiness Intelligence delivery could be something as rudimentary as paper based reports showing you some historic data in an archaic way, or a top of the line cutting edge drag-and-drop graphical user interface allowing for KPI’s, template reports refreshed on a monthly, weekly or daily refresh cycle, with fancy and complex ad-hoc querying capabilities, all this putting the reporting in the hands of the end user.

However, the trends and questions that Business Intelligence attempted to address is still very much alive and getting more and bigger by the day. Since the adoption of Business Intelligence and the hope of it solving the burning business issues like a loss of customers, a drop in performance, or a dip in profitability and in increase in cost, the environment has moved on.

30

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

TRENDS OF BI/BA ACROSS MEA According to industry analysts, the Middle East and North African business intelligence (BI) software market is forecast to reach over US$180 million with significant increase on previous years. Although the BI software revenue in MENA is projected to grow to US$260 million by the end of 2016, we still see that most of the Middle-Eastern organizations, particularly in Public Sector are still relying solely on refining their Business Intelligence approach which is to provide dash boarding, analytics and reports to business users. So, BI will remain one of the fastest growing software markets, despite sluggish economic growth in some regions, as organizations continue to turn to BI as a vital tool for smarter, more agile and efficient business.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE VS BUSINESS ANALYTICS From Qlik perspective, there are two things worth differentiating: The first is the business aspect of Business Intelligence (BI) — the need to get the most value out of information. This need has not really changed in over fifty years. And the majority of real issues that stop us from getting value out of information (information culture, politics, lack of analytic competence, etc.) haven’t changed in decades either.

The second is the IT aspect of BI — what technology is used to help provide the business need. This obviously does change over time — sometimes radically. On the other hand, business analytics (BA) is the practice of iterative, methodical exploration of an organization’s data

COVER STORY

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL BI IMPLEMENTATION l

Set clear business goals

l

Prioritize your goals

l

Outcome-Focused, not Feature-Focused

l

Recognize your non-negotiable criteria

l

Utilize built-in tools first

l

Clean and harmonized data only

l

Identify key metrics beforehand

l

Easy to use tool with a consumer-inspired UI

l

Iterative Approach to delivery

l

Right team and resources

l

Make the technology work for you, not the

other way around l

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just stop at a more intelligent business

l

Clear and Supportive Executive Sponsor

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

31

COVER STORY

KERRY KOUTSIKOS, REGIONAL DIRECTOR – MEA & TURKEY, QLIK

ROBERTO GUGLIELMI, SOLUTION CONSULTANT, INFOR

“With the ever-growing demand for intuitive, easy-to-use BI solutions, Qlik is offering its unique Business Discovery solutions and data visualizations.”

“We provide a common platform for both analytics (actuals) and performance management (budgeting and planning) natively integrated with our ERP applications.”

with emphasis on statistical analysis. Business analytics is used by companies committed to data-driven decision making.

At Infor, the belief is- with Business Intelligence, they identify the IT platform and provide technology to support the business need. With Business Analytics (or simply Analytics) they refer to the “business” content delivered atop the Business Intelligence tool. This is primarily based on best practices, with industry specific content, but generically designed to let the customers to adjust according to their needs.

According to Carel Badenhorst - Head Technology Practice Middle East & Africa, Turkey and Pakistan, SAS, Business Analytics is not Business Intelligence in the traditional sense, it is not pretty reports that do not tell a proactive story, it is a methodology for predictive decision making, enabling all organizational users to make trusted decisions on a future that did not happen yet, and be confident that the future predicted by business analytics will happen. Mathematics is fantastic. Business Analytics needs to interact with Business Intelligence systems, but merely as a way to make your reports intelligent.

As BI analyzes historical data-, the data businesses generate through transactions or by other kinds of business activities- and helps businesses by analyzing the past and present business situations and performances. By giving this valuable insight, BI is needed for enterprises as it helps decision-makers make more informed decisions and supplies end-users with critical business information on their customers or partners, including information on behaviors and trends.

Sudheer Kumar Raju, Director & Global CTO, Finesse says, “For at least past two decades emphasis among enterprises has been making business more BI driven as a differentiating strategy. The BI penetration gap between people, process and strategic planning is huge and therefore there is still huge potential for BI penetration in to enterprise with newer technologies to take BI anywhere and anytime”.

BI needs to become easy, fast, device agnostic and analytically advanced (BA). With the growing prominence of big data there has been a significant shift in the scope of Business Intelligence. Not long ago BI was providing filtered

32

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

NEED OF BI

CAREL BADENHORST, HEAD TECHNOLOGY PRACTICE MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA, TURKEY AND PAKISTAN, SAS

“SAS focuses on answering questions by understanding the past, detailing the reasons for aberrations or anomalies happening right now.”

reports, slice & dice, drill down and stacking the data into analytical cubes and limited sets of data. Now BI encompasses a range of data and analytics from across the enterprise and is likely to be online, mobile and on cloud.

LATEST INNOVATIONS As the demand for Business Intelligence continues to rise and the challenges of Big Data present themselves across industries, Qlik is keen to offer a valuable combination of technology and business expertise across eight core sectors including financial services, life sciences, healthcare, communications, public sector, energy and utilities, retail and services, and manufacturing and high tech.

Qlik has long experience in providing QlikView, the market-proven BI platform for the rapid creation of guided analytics. Qlik delivers true self-service BI that empowers business users by driving innovative decision-making, Qlik is making it easy for business analysts and BI developers to create cutting-edge BI apps that users can enhance and extend as business needs change.

COVER STORY

MARIO M VELJOVIC, VP SOLUTIONS MENA, GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION FZE

“We see the MEA market growing faster than other regions of the world as MEA-based organisations increasingly need to make sense of an increase in the size of data sources.”

Qlik has recently introduced the general availability of Qlik Sense, the next-generation self-service data visualization application. Qlik Sense empowers everyone to create and explore flexible, interactive visualizations using their intuition. It delivers the ease-of-use business users require to create compelling visualizations, reports and dashboards with drag-n-drop ease, while ensuring centralized data security and governance.

Infor also has a long history in the business intelligence and performance management solution. It has its own multidimensional database, Infor BI OLAP Server, and several front-end solutions including Office Plus, an Excel add-in, and Application Studio, a web-based front end for building reports, dashboards and analysis interfaces. Content from Application Studio can be used to build up custom dashboards in a web browser or on iPads with Infor Motion and BI Dashboards. For data analysis and data mining, Infor resells Bissantz’sDeltaMaster product as Infor BI DeltaMiner, and applications for planning and budgeting as well as legal consolidation are also available.

RICHARD NEALE, DIRECTOR, EMEA MARKETING, BIRST

“Birst’s two-tier architecture means you can use Birst against your existing analytic data sources as well as rapidly combining new ones”

The latest Infor Dynamic Enterprise Performance Management suite (Infor D/EPM) provides a complete end to end solution to enterprises, from just providing the technology stack up to the delivery of components for strategy, planning, compliancy and risk management.

The analytical methodology that SAS emulates within organizations is called Analytics Life Cycle. It can be applied successfully to all industries who want to use business analytics.

The benefits of using this methodology are trustworthy decision making through mathematically accurate and quality based analytical base table creation; exploratory analysis or visualization; Prediction, Scenario Based Analysis, Data Mining, Text Analytics and Optimization to validate the story told through exploratory analysis, and operationalizing analytics.

Birst has recently partnered with SAP where Birst is now certified to integrate with SAP HANA Cloud Platform, Birst and its partner can also resell HANA Cloud Platform to provide instant analytics where the customer gets the benefits of agility from using cloud-based BI and analytics and the speed of HANA.

Finesse is a System Integration company and works very closely with some of the BI product companies such as Qlik, Tagetik etc. “We have also introduced specific business solutions for Banks, Financial Institutions, Healthcare Organizations, etc. Our Integrated Solution for Budgeting, Planning, Forecasting & Consolidation provides deep business insights to the CXO’s” says Eljo JP: Director, Business Development.

Finesse.

Samer Dilkan, Senior Solution Architect, Finesse adds, “As a system Integrator, we do provide solutions from different vendors like Oracle, SAP and QlikView etc. However, our commitment is primarily to our clients and we provide solutions which suits best to our client requirement”.

TOP CONCERNS OF CIOS The role of the CIO has been evolving over the years. The volume and variety of data is increasing rapidly as businesses try and understand customer behaviour throughout the lifecycle of the relationship.

When it comes to BI, the CIOs will be facing the following concerns: l Working with the right tools and right partners l securing devices and data that are increasingly going beyond control l adapting to an increasingly tech-savvy workforce l capitalizing on the growth of data l handling integration across platforms l driving growth l centralization of data l BI infrastructure and administration l simplified integration to business applications l user productivity and satisfaction l mobile accessibility l In-context transaction processing, prediction and statistical forecasting.

MAIN CHALLENGES IN AWARENESS AND ADOPTION OF LATEST BI SOLUTIONSThe BI market consists of BI platforms and corporate performance management (CPM) suites. According to Kerry Koutsikos, Regional Director – MEA & Turkey, Qlik, the BI market in MENA slowed from a growth of 23 percent in 2012. There were a number of factors slowing the market in 2013. l First, the challenging macro had an effect.

The Middle East and Africa grew only marginally faster than the worldwide growth rate of 8

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

33

COVER STORY

SUDHEER KUMAR RAJU, DIRECTOR & GLOBAL CTO, FINESSE

“Now BI encompasses a range of data and analytics from across the enterprise and is likely to be online, mobile and on cloud”

percent, which breaks the strategic assumption that many of the large vendors have held for years - that emerging markets are growing at a much faster rate according to Gartner. l Secondly, confusion still reigns around how to best leverage analytics on big data. Much big data investment happened outside traditional BI in experimental silos, infrastructure and services. l Thirdly, growth in IT budgets is flat and IT-led traditional BI tools are over-bought.

Therefore, some market share leaders targeting those constituents showed sub-market growth.

The typical business issues and challenges are the following: l Data all over the organization, in silos l No single source of truth l Inability to link strategy to results l Efficient and automatic consolidation of data l Lack of visibility into business performance l No centralized toolset for building and sharing business plans The main reason for the slow adoption of BI is “the leap that exists between academic understanding and physical adoption” says Carel Badenhorst - Head Technology Practice Middle

34

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

East & Africa, Turkey and Pakistan, SAS. “Most organisations believe themselves incapable of taking part in analytical decision making because it sounds so difficult and expensive. The key to success, however, is to work with a trusted partner with multiple decades of experience to show you the path to take on what could look like an otherwise perilous journey”.

As Mario M. Veljovic, VP Solutions MENA, Global Distribution FZE puts it across, “It’s not about coloured and flashy Dashboard, it’s about Data that will help you to Analyse your business and make better decisions for the Future. Last but not least, most of the BI Vendors have not developed a compelling Go-To-Market Strategy that includes the Reseller & Distribution Channel as a key enabler and multiplier”.

Right now, BI platforms are showing a slow but steady shift in emphasis from reporting centric to analysis centric tools. Advanced analytics is also growing quickly, showing the increasing focus organizations give to predictive and prescriptive analytics.

FUTURE OF BI Industries experience a revolution either when a new technological breakthrough occurs or when it matures to a point where the benefits of its outputs (product or service) reach a tipping point that can spread to the masses. Think of the industrial revolution, electronics revolution, desktop computing, Internet & smart phones and you will see an emergent pattern.

The 2013 Gartner Hype cycle indicates that “Big Data” is entering the phase of Inflated Expectation. As we make our way through this macro revolution, in the short term though we are likely to see a few slower but fundamental shifts in the field of Business Intelligence (BI) that will be the catalyst for the next explosion in adoption.

Qlik sees the future of BI through Simplification, Specialization and Personalization. l Simplification – Every product needs to end up in the hands of its final user. BI has successfully transitioned from the obscure backrooms of IT into the realms of analysts. l Specialization –Similarly, each industry and each firm is as unique as would be their data and practices. Specialist systems built on emerging technologies such as machine learning, knowledge engineering, artificial intelligence and the like will provide invaluable insights to the Executives on matters specific to their industry vertical to enable better decision making. l Personalization – Most of the current solutions are too hard to use and too complicated to implement and maintain. Smart BI, with sophisticated technology that is almost transpar-

ent, resulting in personal digital assistants will unlock the vast under-tapped potential of the BI promise.

At Birst, they believe that the future of BI is in the cloud and increasingly mobile consumption of analytics.

AREAS MOST RECEPTIVE TO BI “SAS- The wonderful thing about business analytics is that it is like Switzerland was during the Second World War: truly impartial. When done correctly, business analytics brings value to data, irrespective of who is asking the question” says Carel Badenhorst - Head Technology Practice Middle East & Africa, Turkey and Pakistan, SAS. Qlik sees that the Middle East markets that have exceptional interest and big implementations are retail, public sector, telecoms and regional / global conglomerates. In addition, there is a potential to see the finance sector achieving a big growth alongside the utilities in the coming years.

Infor solution is already available for several markets or verticals: aerospace and defense, automotive, general manufacturing, financials, hospitality. The vertical approach is more and more driving the overall development for analytics. Fashion, healthcare and life sciences, public sector are the emerging verticals.

SAS feels the markets that are most responsive at the moment are the Financial Sector and Telecommunication companies. There is also an incredible interest in Retail and Government organisations, progressive in their usage and understanding of the value of data.

Almost all regions of Middle East are showing an increasing interest in Business Intelligence.

Above all Saudi, UAE and Oman are the most active in this field.

The investment an organization does in business intelligence software is relevant and mistakes are often expensive. The risk of a BI failure is just around the corner. Empowerment, data cleansing, information in silos, self-service tools are basic rules a CIO has to follow avoiding the BI project being a sure failure, since the beginning.

FINALLY… As Roberto Guglielmi, Solution Consultant, Infor says, “The next generation of enterprise software won’t just collect, report, and distribute information. It will anticipate problems and respond with solutions. It will uncover opportunities and recommend next steps. It will drive strategies in all areas of business, from recruiting and staffing to asset management and pricing”. ë

MY OPINION

“We are looking at expanding manageability to the Internet of Things and for this we are starting with the QNX Endpoints out there.”

NADER HENEIN,

REGIONAL DIRECTOR, PRODUCT SECURITY ADVISORY DIVISION, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

We don’t aim for “good enough”; we aim for “best in class” MOBILITY, SECURITY AND MANAGEABILITY ARE UNDOUBTEDLY THE KEY AREAS FOR ORGANIZATIONS AND WORKFORCES ALL OVER. THE INTERNET OF THINGS HAS ARRIVED AND IS HERE TO CREATE BIG RIPPLES. NADER HENEIN, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, PRODUCT SECURITY, ADVISORY DIVISION, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA TALKS TO ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA ABOUT THE CHANGING TRENDS IN ENTERPRISE MANAGEABILITY AND HOW BLACKBERRY STRIVES TO BE THE BEST MANAGER.

What are your latest offerings for the enterprises?

We provide the Blackberry Enterprise Solutions.

The latest is the BES 12; with that, it’s possible to manage one’s blackberry devices, iOS devices, Android devices as well as Windows devices.

Our focus is security and productivity. And then we have Blend; BlackBerry Blend is software you can download for your computer and tablet that

seamlessly brings messaging and content that’s on your BlackBerry smartphone to your computer and tablet. There is no need of saving to a cloud, or transferring information between devices; all you need to do is login to your Blend ID and all your info is just there.

How has the manageability scenario changed over the recent

times?

From manageability perspective, mobile phones, tablets, laptops and desktops are just the tip of the iceberg. We are looking at expanding this manageability to the Internet of Things and for this we are starting with the QNX Endpoints out there. And that’s what the BES is aimed at; it will not just manage smartphones and tablets. We have been managing mission-critical software for God knows how long and we understand that when it comes to managing these, efficiency, speed and expertise all matter.

How is Blackberry positioned in the changing cyberthreat landscape?

A lot of news that we hear these days is because people have gotten into this very comfortable position thinking “oh, it’s all good”. We are too relaxed about our private information, we are too relaxed about what we put into our devices and what we are allowing those devices to have access to and carry forward that information. All the apps that we use especially the free ones, they collect our data because they need to make revenues somehow and that they do either by selling data or advertisements. Every piece of data has a value.

No services you use are free in the true sense.

Our focus is not just security. Security is what the enterprise cares about. Our focus is on retaining privacy of information. We put all the security features of the enterprises at the finger tips of the end users as well. We don’t aim for “good enough”; we aim for “best in class”. We don’t compare ourselves with others; rather we strive to be the best that can be possible.

So, what does the future hold for the sector?

What we can look forward to is nothing that people expect. Technology is changing like never before; it’s time to expect the unexpected. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

35

MY OPINION

Focused Distribution of Evolving Technologies The success of channel business is more often than not attributed to excellent relationships and harmony between the vendors and their distributors. Enterprise Channels MEA decided to delve deep; we talked to Ram Praveen P T, Business Unit Manager - ProValue Division of FDC and Pradeesh VS, General Manager, ESET Middle East (one of the premier vendors of FDC)

What kind of value addition do you provide as a VAD to the vendor?

Ram- FDC ProValue presents its vendors with market propositions including models of incorporation in channels and retail. We have provided bundling opportunities, marketing campaigns, promotional value, sales, market analysis, branding activities. We have been given the task of managing and promoting the partner ecosystem on behalf of the vendor.

The VAD market in ME is becoming too crowded; how do you plan to retain your uniqueness, your differentiability factor?

Ram - FDC ProValue has always partnered with Brands which provide unique and premium solutions and have customized our strengths for their growth. We have been able to provide great relevance to the vendors and our channel partners which is unique by its terms. This would be valid from the fact that most of the vendors have signed with us exclusively and we are committed to provide a strong and steady growth path for them. From Channel perspective, ProValue has now transformed to being relevant to trends, demands, knowledge share and thus giving to partner society a unique market share.

Having understood that Relevance is Key, we have launched our Channel Partner Program – “Relevance”. FDC ProValue’s Relevance is to creating the uniqueness of growing partners not just growing because of partners.

36

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

FDC ProValue has been awarded Best Emerging VAD and Also claimed spot into one of the top 10 industry trend setters in VAD space.

What is your partner/vendor selection strategy?

Ram -FDC is Focused Distribution Concept.

ProValue has followed the same path. We have partnered with Vendors who are in that area of business growth where our value propositions match perfectly. This means, we have chosen vendors who are at various junctures of growth plans and where ProValue’s customization makes maximum relevance to each Vendors growth plans. When it comes to partners, it’s almost similar. We choose partners who are willing to change towards the newer trends, attaining knowledge to grow and are breaking barriers traditionally set and going beyond.

This has created an accelerated growth path for ProValue’s Vendors and Partners as a community.

What is FDC’s marketing strategy for the region; you may choose to not reveal the secret sauce but give us a brief insight may be?

Ram - Our Marketing Activities are broadly divided into Vendor Marketing and ProValue Solutions Marketing. Each Vendor is unique when it comes to marketing strategy requirement. With years of experience in on boarding and providing right strategies to each vendor, our Marketing Team provides analysis and guidance to vendors on which type of marketing activity is

RAM PRAVEEN P T,

BUSINESS UNIT MANAGER

PROVALUE DIVISION OF FDC

“FDC is Focused Distribution Concept.

We choose partners who are willing to change towards the newer trends, attaining knowledge to grow and are breaking barriers traditionally set and going beyond.” required for each stage of business. This includes Branding, Promotions, Rebate structures, Events, Road shows, conferences, etc. Similarly, ProValue has geared in utilizing the experience in providing collaborative models and solutions to our vendors.

What prompted your association with ESET in the market which is flooding with security solutions from so many different vendors? How long have you been associated with them?

Ram- ESET is one of the premium brands when it comes to security solutions and we are glad that as ProValue, we are associated for the region exclusively and has been of great mutual value and benefit. FDC has been associated with ESET for almost 3 years. ë

MY OPINION

On what basis did ESET chose to associate with FDC? Pradeesh -FDC stands among the top 3 distributors in the region and enjoys and excellent reach throughout the Middle East. This makes them the right distributor for us to be associated with. Our relationship with FDC dates back to more than 3 years and we have witnessed growth year on year.

ESET was the start off product for FDC business unit and we have done a good job together.

PRADEESH VS,

GENERAL MANAGER, ESET MIDDLE EAST

“ESET has always been an evolving company and evolving to the customer needs.

With each iteration of the solution, we try to address the new threats that emerge. IT security is dynamic and constantly evolving and we will constantly add more features to keep our users protected. “

When it comes to end point security solutions, ESET seems to be doing a good job; so would you attribute a part of this success to your distributors as well? Who are your major distributors in this region?

Pradeesh -ESET consumer products are distributed by FDC in the region. We have been able to work together with FDC on an exclusive basis and ensure that enough focus is given to taking the consumer product to the next level. We have launched several promotions together and all of them have made their impact in the market. We have Sarriya IT , FDC, iPoint distributing the consumer products. We also have other distributors for our business product. At the end of the day, ESET is a channel driven organizations so our success is definitely tied in to the support we receive from our partners. Our distributors have also played a role in our ESET Partner Program which received a very positive response from our channel.

How was GITEX 2014 for ESET ME? Pradeesh - GITEX 2014 was very good for ESET as we witnessed very good foot fall at our stand.

We employed a novel approach for our presence at GITEX this year and divided our stand into three sections which allowed not only networking and customer engagement, but also facilitated training and social media interaction. This helped drive awareness about security trends and our products. We were thus capable of catering to everyone from partners, to customers to casual show attendees.

ESET has been in the GCC market for 10 years so people are aware of the product and this year we have put more limelight on the new features, mobile security and also our new technology alliance with DesLock.

ESET has a great market presence even outside of UAE and extending all the way till Africa. So, did you

meet potential customers and/or partners from these areas during GITEX 2014?

Pradeesh -GITEX brings people from around the region and this year we managed to meet good partners from Egypt. We are bringing in a dedicated team to handle this section as it needs lot of focus and we are hoping to see some good business after the revolution.

ESET has a great market presence even outside of UAE and extending all the way till Africa. So, did you meet potential customers and/or partners from these areas during GITEX 2014?

Pradeesh -GITEX brings people from around the region and this year we managed to meet good partners from Egypt. We are bringing in a dedicated team to handle this section as it needs lot of focus and we are hoping to see some good business after the revolution.

Give us five points why enterprises should chose ESET over other security solutions.

Pradeesh – 1. Lightest & Fastest Endpoint Security 2. Simple & Straightforward Solution 3. Proactive protection 4. Easy to Manage 5. Local support Centre ESET Smart Security Solutions is creating waves in the market already; so what’s up next? New innovations in the existing line of solutions or new solutions or niche specific solutions; what can we look forward to?

Pradeesh -ESET has always been an evolving company and evolving to the customer needs. We have added the Botnet Protection and Enhanced Exploit Blocker that protect against exploits and offer anti-phishing and social media scanning capabilities. These new features provide users of ESET Smart Security 8 with an enhanced level of security, whether they are checking email, surfing the web or checking their bank balance online.

ESET Smart Security® 8 also includes proven features such as Anti-theft, Parental Control and Personal Firewall. With each iteration of the solution, we try to address the new threats that emerge. As you know, IT security is dynamic and constantly evolving and we will constantly add more features to keep our users protected. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

37

PARTNER STREET

ARROW

Redefining VAD Business There are a lot of mergers and acquisitions happening globally on regular basis but every mergers and acquisitions does not end up successfullydue to the compatibility and cultural issues but as far as Arrow Electronics’ acquisition of Computerlinks is concerned, it does not look to have such issues as both the companies complement each other very well.

n B Y: 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 >

D

uring the 2nd quarter of 2013, the news of Arrow Electronics acquiring Computerlinks at a cost around $317 million had taken every ICT aficionados aback reason being both the companies’ strength were in different things. When Arrow was focussed on electronics components Computerlinks was successful in IT distribution space.

Therefore, there were concerns among the partners in the MEA region if Arrow can handle the product portfolio of Computerlinks rightly, if Arrow can maintain the vendor relationship properly and last but not the least if the parent company can engage the channel partners the way Computerlinks used to do. However, with the passing of time the perception kept on changing for better and the concerns fizzled out in to thin air. Today Arrow has positioned itself as super VAD in the region.

Arrow Electronics brings resources and strength of being part of a Fortune 150 companies and it is a $21 billion company that is committed to the IT channel.

Jean-Loup Desamaison-Cognet, Vice President for Central, Eastern Europe and Middle East/Africa/Asia-Pacific, Arrow, said, “This acquisition aligns with Arrow’s strategy to continue growing enterprise computing solutions while also expanding into new markets.

Computerlinks shares Arrow’s commitment to value-added distribution to best support IT suppliers and solution providers, and it brings a strong team both within the executive suite

38

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

and across the business. On a global scale, the addition of Computerlinks strengthens Arrow’s presence in the Middle East.”

From an offering perspective, Arrow fosters strong relationships with suppliers such as Checkpoint, IBM Security, McAfee, RSA, Infoblox, Gigamon, in the security segment and in infrastructure and networking segment with EMC, VCE, F5, Arista.

In the MEA region Arrow offers comprehensive solutions that Computerlinks was offering earlier addressing the emerging domains, ranging from systems/hardware to software/security, from storage/networking alongside services and training. Along with that Arrow offers all necessary services that a super VAD can offer.

Jean-Loup said, “We are able to advise our partners on best-of-breed technologies for cloud, virtualisation, Big Data and BYOD, from the leading vendors in these areas including EMC, VCE, Extreme Networks, F5, and RSA amongst others. These long-term vendor relationships mean that we have had staff experts in all of these domains for many years and have been certified to the highest levels to provide presales support to resellers and their customers. Their recent convergence into a “3rd Platform” has inspired us to spread these skills more widely across our teams to enable us to advise and support partners on combining solutions that will best address these and other opportunities.”

“We also provide total professional services to complement all our vendors including consulting, educational and support services enabling

our customers to ensure they offer the best possible solutions to their end users. Complete consulting services from basic rack and stack to complete managed site deployments covering vendors such as EMC, RSA, F5, Q1, Checkpoint and throughout our vendor portfolio. Arrow believes in educating customers to maximise their investments; we are Authorised Training Centre for F5, RSA Q1Labs and Infoblox delivering certified training on all the vendors’ courses and modules. To further enhance our educational offering, Arrow has been awarded the contract to deliver IBM Education Services in the Middle East covering the majority of its courses,” he added.

Given the fact that MEA region has too many VADs offering similar kinds of services, however Arrow has a certain differentiation from others which include as following: l Fundamental elements, including data storage, servers, enterprise software, network, security, unified communications and virtualisation l Industry leading toolsets to foster confidence and agility to the channel and customers l Strong business alliances with the world’s leading IT vendors for innovative solutions l A whole business service model, from initial consultation, planning and design, through engineering build to implementation l White-labeled services to create brand awareness while reinforcing your customer relationships

PARTNER STREET

JEAN-LOUP DESAMAISONCOGNET

VICE PRESIDENT FOR CENTRAL, EASTERN EUROPE AND MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA/ASIA-PACIFIC, ARROW

“Computerlinks shares Arrow’s commitment to value-added distribution to best support IT suppliers and solution providers, and it brings a strong team both within the executive suite and across the business.”

l Sales, marketing and business-building support, including go-to-market plans l Administration services, including integrated billing, metering and management of contracts with multiple service providers Arrow serves as a supply channel partner for over 100,000 original equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturers and commercial customers through a global network of more than 460 locations in 58 countries. The company has 16,500 employees worldwide. Arrow has offices in Dubai in the Middle East and five offices across India, Singapore and Australia.

According to IDC report, Saudi Arabia’s IT market is the largest in the Middle East and will remain so in next few years. To extend its service offerings, Arrow wants to expand its coverage

and capture the growth opportunities in the Gulf. Jean-Loup added, “We plan to establish a new office in Saudi Arabia which is expected in operation Q2 2015.”

From the channel strategy perspective, Arrow has a comprehensive portfolio of products, software and services, which enable the VAD to offer its partners complete solutions that fulfils the requirements of their customers. Jean-Loup commented, “We complement our established, Tier-1 vendors with emerging vendors and technologies to ensure that we are always at the leading edge. We support our partners commercially and technically to make markets for these solutions. As a Value Added Distributor we work as an extension of our vendors and provide sales enablement tools and marketing resources.

Our staff is all trained and certified to the highest levels and operate as trusted advisors to our resellers.”

Arrow has an extensive program of training and enablement that are offered to our partners to prepare them to extend Arrow solutions to their end customers. On various avenues Arrow works with them to create demand, supporting them commercially and with marketing campaigns. One of the exemplary initiatives that the company had set by participating in Gitex 2014, Dubai, where the company had a large double decker stall in order to accommodate all its technology partners with dedicated kiosks. The brands the company had displayed prominently included EMC, Extreme Networks, RSA Security, F5, Firemon, Gigamon, Skybox, VCE, Websense, Trend Micro, McAfee and Infoblox.

FINALLY...

With the resources strength and deep pocket of Arrow the operations of Computerlinks is in better hands now. Therefore the partners who were feeling a little dizzy about this relationship should be assured that they would get better services from Arrow. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

39

PARTY OF 2014

PARTY OF T

40

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

PARTY OF 2014

F THE YEAR

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

41

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Creating a Synergy of Sports a AN EVENT OF ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA ORGANISED ON 11 OCTOBER, 2014 AT THE ADDRESS HOTEL

42

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

HIGHLIGHTS

s and Technology

KAREN TURDIE OFFICIAL FROM BREAST CANCER ARABIA ADDRESSING GEC AWARDS AUDIENCE

ENG. MOHAMMED AL SHEHHI IT DIRECTOR – GENERAL CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY (GCAA)

“For me, it’s not about winning an award, its about a tremendous amount of encouragement I receive to keep getting better”.

N

ever underestimate the power of a conversation over coffee; be it great romances or strategically important political discussions ...coffee can bring out interesting outcomes?

GEC was also one such topic that rose over the brewing coffee beans at the Accent Info Media office... the discussion started with multi-ethnicity in Dubai and ended....well....it just doesn’t seem like ending anytime soon?

It has begun and it is here to stay...the beautiful city of Dubai plays the gracious host to people from multiple ethnicities and cultures; business blooms every moment of the day in this land. Being a business hub of the region, it is the headquarters of several enterprises. All the enterprises are working day in day out to cater to the rising demands of the end users, chase rising profit graphs and make their marks; but in this race, something tends to take a back seat and that is the CONNECTion in the true sense of the word. This is where we thought an intervention is required urgently and the entire theme of GEC stemmed out of that.

DR.JASSIM HAJI DIRECTOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, GULF AIR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

“Gulf Air has been pioneer in implementing ‘Private Cloud Computing’ within the region and aviation industry. Part of its strategy and Cloud Computing was to develop products and services that benefit its customers, the environment and productivity.”

GEC OPEN 2014 WINNERS Nearest The Pin Hole # 6: Adesh Subhash Gawde Nearest The Pin Hole # 17: Cedric Fevre Longest Drive Hole # 1: Sidney de Souza Longest drive Hole # 15: Darren King 3rd Place: Shiv Kumar (33 Points) CB 2nd Place: Graham McIntyre (34 Points) 1st Place: Alex Kuk (36 Points)

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

43

So many meetings, so many events, but how much do we really CONNECT to the people we meet? What’s the main reason behind this? Of course, there might be plenty of factors responsible but the major ones we figured out was – we mostly meet up for a fixed purpose or increase some figures on the balance sheets. So, we came up with the GEC Open Golf Tournament for the top level executives from IT and associated verticals; a day of undiluted fun, a day whose entire purpose is games, enjoyment and relaxed interactions. When we started, we honestly had no clear idea about the receipt of the industry to this initiative but as the days passed, the excitement started unfolding and then there just was no looking back. The air has been exciting since the registrations begun and there just seems to be no stop to it.

HOW FAR WE SUCCEEDED IN ACHIEVING WHAT WE SET TO Your happiness is decided by the goals you set for yourself and in our case we were smart enough ;)

HOW FAR WE SUCCEEDED IN ACHIEVING WHAT WE SET TO Your happiness is decided by the goals you set for yourself and in our case we were smart enough ;)

GLOBAL PLAYERS FROM MORE THAN 15 COUNTRIES

ENTERPRISE PLAYERS FROM SEVERAL VERTICALS RANGING FROM IT TO FINANCE TO AVIATION, RETAIL, HEALTHCARE

TIME FOR THE INDUSTRY TO PAY BACK TO THE SOCIETY When we were planning a day of fun, we were concerned enough to see that the event doesn’t end up just as a blingy outing for our own good only.

As an organization, we understand the importance of corporate social responsibility and taking that forward; we associated with Breast Cancer Arabia that is intimately associated with facilitating treatment for those breast cancer patients who can’t

CONNECT AN ENTIRE DAY OF FUN, GAMES AND NETWORKING

RYAN SMITH, GEC OPEN GOLF CO-ORDINATOR

bear the expenses unfortunately.

WHY CSR? Every individual, every company is concerned for their own good; and frankly, there’s nothing wrong in that. But then it is our responsibility to pay back suitable returns to the earth, to the soci-

44

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

ety at large. Donations and active involvements from us can change so many lives. We think of the smile we may put on somebody’s face and that is inspiring enough for us to do something for them.

Of late, several organizations have crafted CSR policies and have been actively involved in

philanthropy and charity causes. But how many times have the enterprises come together as an industry in solidarity for a cause? With GEC Open, we have tried to take a small step in that direction; the path is long, but with participation from all of you, we know we can definitely create an impact.

We have known people who have lost lives to breast cancer and we are really glad to be playing at a game dedicated to the cause.

I think the recipe of sports, networking and a noble cause clearly renders a distinctive air to the GEC Open and I am excited to be a part of it.

Apart from the fun the day undoubtedly promises, it’s a great platform for branding and networking and we are really looking forward to it.

It feels great to be at the first GEC Open and we are happy to be associated with EC MEA.

It’s great to be interacting with people from different verticals on a chilled out platform of golf.

One in eight women will develop breast cancer.

95% SURVIVE WITH EARLY DETECTION

EARLY DETECTION SAVES LIVES CHECK OFTEN AND ENCOURAGE THOSE YOU LOVE TO DO THE SAME

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

45

ORGANISER

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

HOSTED BY

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

15 COUNTRIES

46

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

60 PLAYERS

INCLUDING CIOS, CTOS, VERTICAL HEADS,

TOP EXECUTIVES FROM IT, FINANCE, HEALTHCARE AVIATION, EDUCATION, ETC.

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

47

48

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

49

We at HelpAG appreciate that the event supports the cause of breast cancer

It feels great to receive the first GEC award and we are happy to be associated with ECMEA

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really a commendable event; Unify is really glad to be associated with it.

50

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

This being the first event of EC MEA; I think you guys pulled it off

The organization of the event is really great and we look forward to many more such events.

It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really feel that EC-MEA is just one year old; the event is commendable, the reception was great.

It feels lovely to see a packed house.

Celebrating

Anniversary

of Enterprise Channels MEA

KAREN TURDIE, OFFICIAL FROM BREAST CANCER ARABIA

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

51

DELL

Listening to the Market

MARKETING DIRECTOR OF DELL MIDDLE EAST, BASIL AYASS RECEIVING THE AWARD OF TOP VENDOR FOR DATA CENTRE SOLUTION FROM DR. JASSIM HAJI, DIRECTOR, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, GULF AIR

Using Dell cloud solutions on demand provides the customers real-time access to infrastructure, productivity and business-process applications.

Dell cloud-as-a-service solutions help organizations of all sizes deliver business results and rapid time-to-value. If you’re a new small business, this can mean setup in days as opposed to weeks or months. For midsized or enterprise organizations, cloud computing brings you closer to your colleagues, partners and customers, and simplifies delivery of everything from email to X-ray images.

The Middle-East’s expectations of IT – today – find strong synergies with Dell’s mission and point of views. Dell delivers innovative end-toend technology solutions that are easier to buy, use, and grow, and are ready for constant change.

Today Dell has strongest-ever product and services portfolio and capabilities to address the full range of technology requirements – all to deliver comprehensive solutions with best value, ease of use, and flexibility.

Many vendors talk about standards, openness, modularity, scalability, advanced platforms, and end-to-end solutions, but there are lot of things that happen — often behind the scenes — that make IT more complicated than it already is. Dell’s unique design philosophy truly sets them apart from all other technology providers today. ë

“As the technology industry witnesses tectonic shifts in trends, players, and the very way business is done today, Dell is singularly focused on its customers and channel partners. This is what has driven us for 30 years, and is still a key driver for our big strategic decisions – such as the pivotal decision to go private. This is also what drives our technology decisions and innovations, and we are committed to providing end-to-end IT solutions and innovations that serve our customers and solve real business problems. From the endpoint to the data-center to the cloud, customers value the certainty and predictability of working with Dell. Along with this strategy, and the Dell traditions of business and innovation, we have made significant investments in the past few years in the MiddleEast. While we will continue to invest and surprise the market, these awards speak to the position and relationship we have with Customers in the Middle East today. Thank you!“ 52

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

SHAMS HASAN ENTERPRISE PRODUCT MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST

DELL

Accelerating Service Delivery ENG. MOHAMMED SAEED AL SHEHHI, IT DIRECTOR, GCAA GIVING THE AWARD OF TOP VENDOR STORAGE SOLUTIONS TO KAMLESH LAL, DISTRIBUTION MARKETING MANAGER, DELL, MIDDLE EAST

Increasing IT operational efficiency is critical for business success in the 21st century.

Adopting virtualized and cloud-based computing models can help increase flexibility, improve agility, enhance efficiency, support a mobile workforce and reduce costs. These changes can deliver notable benefits to the business, but they can also add IT complexity and introduce risk. IT groups need ways to speed the deployment of cloud computing environments and simplify IT management for evolving data centres.

Dell offers a broad portfolio of data centre solutions that can help you achieve your IT modernization objectives and meet business needs while simplifying IT management. Deliver robust services across any combination of cloud delivery models. Accelerate service delivery by supporting a full range of cloud platforms and automating key management tasks. And optimize IT by streamlining deployment, provisioning, scaling and on-going administration for your physical, virtual and cloud environments. ë

DELL

Engineering at its Best

SANJIB MOHAPATRA, PUBLISHER, ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA, GIVING AWAY THE AWARD OF TOP VENDOR CLOUD COMPUTING SOLUTION TO MARKETING DIRECTOR OF DELL MIDDLE EAST, BASIL AYASS

Dell delivers innovative end-to-end technology solutions that are easier to buy, use, and grow, and are ready for constant change. In today’s IT market vendors cannot manage by providing isolated technologies – storage or compute or networking.

Customers seek vendors who can convince them that their business is in the right hands. A long term relationship of trust, expertise, and ROI is the need of the day.

Dell believes powerful technology should be more accessible and affordable to more people.

Dell Flash-Optimized Storage solutions enable IT administrators to target specific applications with optimized, high-performance, low-latency storage, resulting in more efficient VDI environments, OLTP, high-end structured databases (SAP, Oracle, SQL), and big data analytics.

Combining the speed of flash SSDs with the capacity of HDDs has enabled faster access to hot data, while keeping cold data that is not critically needed on highcapacity HDDs. Dell PowerEdge VRTX has been making waves since its release; accolades have been many- InfoWorld “2014 Technology of the Year — Best Server”; InfoWorld. com Test Center “Editor’s Choice” award; PC Pro “Server of the Year” for 2013; CRN Server of the Year; “Best in Show” — Interop Japan. The PowerEdge VRTX integrates servers, storage, networking and management in a compact chassis with officeoptimized dimensions, acoustics and security.

Dell Fluid Cache solution for SAN is the perfect solution without compromising data. Dell Fluid Cache solutions enable data centre’s to easily and flexibly scale up cache to rapidly meet the changing demand of enterprise application I/O. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

53

DELL SECURITY

Evolved as a Leader

SHAHNAWAZ SHEIKH, DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL DIRECTOR, D SOFTWARE, A LOCAL OFFICE PARTNER OF DELL SOFTWARE, RECEIVING THE AWARD OF TOP VENDOR ENTERPRISE SECURITY FROM PAUL DEVLIN, DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION & PLATFORMS (BIG DATA, HANA AND MOBILITY) FOR MENA AND FIRDAUS SHARIFF – VP OF MARKETING – MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

“It’s a great feeling to receive the award right from the first edition of GEC Awards covering Middle East region. I wish Accent Infomedia a great success in the years to come and wish them the very best towards their growth plans in the region.”

54

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

Dell SonicWALL offers a comprehensive line up of industry-leading network security and data protection solutions, including firewall, secure remote access/ SSL VPN, anti-spam/email security, and continuous backup and recovery, plus centralized management and reporting, and 24x7 technical support.

Dell SonicWALL provides intelligent network security and data protection solutions that enable customers and partners to dynamically secure, control, and scale their global networks. Using input from millions of shared touch points in the SonicWALL Global Response Intelligent Defense (GRID) Network, the SonicWALL Threat Center provides continuous communication, feedback, and analysis on the nature and changing behavior of threats. SonicWALL Research Labs continuously processes this information, proactively delivering countermeasures and dynamic updates that defeat the latest threats.

Dell SonicWALL has over 5500 end user across GCC countries and on a quarterly basis, Dell SonicWALL trades with over 230 unique resellers.

It covers all of the GCC with local presence in UAE, Saudi and Qatar. The company organises partner roadshow, sales training, technical training etc. for its partners. Dell SonicWALL has 25 -30 sales training sessions per year and 20-25 technical certification trainings sessions per year.There is a clear and establish multi-tiered partner programme (registered, preferred and premium). There is also the Dell Partner Advantage Programme.

Dell SonicWALL is working on an average of 50 projects with resellers in addition to the hundreds of resellers managed on their own.Canadian University Dubai, Topaz, Jacky’s Electronics, First Group, Al Shaya, Saudi Airlines, Qatar Navigation, Baskin Robbins and Dubai Airport are some of the names that they are associated with. ë

XEROX

Ahead of the Curve

ANDREW HORNE, GM, XEROX EMIRATES RECEIVING AWARD OF BEST OFFICE AUTOMATION SOLUTION FROM BASIL AYASS, MARKETING DIRECTOR, DELL MIDDLE EAST.

“I am happy to have received GEC Award from ECMEA, which shows the overall strength of XEROX in the office automation solution space.”

ARUBA NETWORKS

Xerox Emirate has MIF (machines in field) of over 12000, serving over 3500+ clients of which 185 are proactive Managed Print Services contracts.

Xerox offers wide range of technology & solutions in the market. The product range consists of multi- function printers, production technology, softwares& solutions and Managed print services.

In terms of growth in H1 2014 year over year, Xerox has seen a growth of 3% in the volume A3 segment of the laser market (both colour & mono). Xerox has also seen a growth of 42% in volume & 18% in value in the A3 colour MFP segment.

The production colour market has seen a growth of 5% in units and 2% in revenue.

The A4 colour market has seen a growth of 5% in units and 2% in revenue. The A4 colour MFP segment has seen massive growth volume increase by 46% growth & value increases by 243%. However, Xerox has seen a decline in the mono segment of the MFP and production market. Xerox also offers all necessary incentives such as rebates, channel training, bid support, global account penetration, marketing interlock funding, e-tools, sales incentives and saes operational excellence awareness.

In addition, Xerox Emirates offers quarterly demand generation offer campaigns which consist of discounts on equipment, free copies or warranty and bundle offers to the end customer. Monthly & Quarterly training workshops are conducted on the ground across different market across the region. However, there are online trainings available on individual products/ solutions and a range of products and solutions. ë

Providing Secure Mobility

TEAM ARUBA NETWORKS RECEIVING THE AWARD OF TOP VENDOR MOBILITY SOLUTION FROM SANJIB MOHAPATRA, PUBLISHER, ENTERPRISE CHANNES MEA.

“It’s a great honour for Aruba to receive this award as it shows our commitment, dedication and hard work in developing mobility solutions in the region. ” MANISH BHARDWAJ, MARKETING MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST & TURKEY, ARUBA NETWORKS

Aruba Networks brings international experience and a full suite of leading technology solutions to the Middle East region. It works with organisations across regional growth sectors including oil & gas, finance, hospitality and events, education and utilities to enable secure mobile device connectivity for employees and guest device management, as well as application performance and network reliability.

In the 2014 Wired and Wireless LAN Magic Quadrant, Aruba has captured the #2 spot based on its ‘completeness of vision’ and ‘ability to execute’. Combined with the Gartner NAC Magic Quadrant, Aruba is now in select company … a vendor that enjoys “Leader” status in multiple Gartner MQs! Aruba’s FY14 third quarter was a real powerhouse from a revenue perspective with sales growing 28% year-over-year and almost every product category and geography surging.

Aruba has been recently recognized by the third-party Dell’Oro Group, which quite expectedly confirmed that Aruba gained more than 2% market share in Q3 alone.

In addition, nearly every analyst now acknowledges that our leadership in “11ac” and Mobile NAC is unrivalled and our go-to-market is being executed with a great degree of precision and success. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

55

SAGE

Growing Stature

REGGIE FERNANDES, REGIONAL DIRECTOR - MIDDLE EAST, SAGE RECEIVING THE AWARD OF TOP VENDOR FOR ENTERPRISE APPLICATION FROM MARKETING DIRECTOR OF DELL MIDDLE EAST, BASIL AYASS.

“We are extremely delighted to have won this award. Our modern and innovative enterprise solution Sage ERPX3 has created a strong and positive impact in this region.

I would like to thank Enterprise Channel magazine for recognising our efforts.”

UNIFY

Brings Great Value

TEAM UNIFY RECEIVING AWARD OF TOP VENDOR FOR UC FROM SANJIB MOHAPATRA, PUBLISHER, ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA.

“We are extremely delighted to have won this award. Our modern and innovative enterprise solution Sage ERPX3 has created a strong and positive impact in this region.

I would like to thank Enterprise Channel magazine for recognising our efforts.”

56

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

Sage is recognised as the most valuable supporter of small and medium sized companies by creating freedom for them to succeed. The company provides small and medium sized organisations with a range of easy-to-use business management software and services - from accounting and payroll, to enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and payments.

From the products’ perspective, Sage 50 is for small accounting software,for the mid-range market, the company has Sage 300 ERP and then Sage ERP X3 is for the bigger ones.

The new Sage ERP X3 comes with the latest innovation conferring seven benefits namely usability, mobility, control, intelligence, responsiveness, profitability and expansion. So, as a result, organizations get more done and faster, go where business takes, control over business processes, get the insight when required; serve customers better, create cash flow and expand business. Dubai has always been a strong hold for Sage and significant revenue comes from the UAE sector. The change Sage sees this year is that KSA has also picked up for the company for the first time. With Sage ERP X3, Sage is placed quite strategically and gives tough fight to all its competitors. From the second half of this year, the company will make strong inroads with big road shows in Jordan and expect to close big deals therein. The company is also entering into strategic alliances in Saudi Arabia to drive our business in that region. ë

Unify, formerly Siemens Enterprise Communications, is a global communications software and services company. In the Middle East and Africa region, Unify has customers in a number of vertical markets including, but not limited to, local government, hospitality, finance and healthcare in excess of over 300 top customers across the region.

Unify offers the market’s most comprehensive unified communications offering. This includes the broadest product portfolio, the most open architecture resulting in a broader, more unified solution. The companyhas been recognized by Gartner asMagic Quadrant Leader, Unified Communications 2013,“Excellent” in Critical Capabilities for Unified Communications and 2013 Magic Quadrant Leader, Corporate Telephony 2013, Unify has been recognized as a leader in the 2014 Forrester Wave: On-Premises Unified Communications and Collaboration Report, receiving the highest score.

Unify offers several hundred training courses on our solutions, many of which are instructor-led and all are offered on-demand. In addition to Unify training courses, Unify Academy offers over 5,000 courses in topics ranging from technology and fundamentals, business learning and personal competencies. These courses are offered to the channel partners and our Unify channel employees. Unify is working on numerous major opportunities across the region with excess of approximately 60 million AED in Middle East and 80 million AED in Africa. ë

SAP MENA

Leader of the Pack

PAUL DEVLIN, HEAD OF ANALYTICS, SAP MENA IS RECEIVING THE AWARD OF TOP VENDOR BIG DATA & ANALYTICS FROM ENG. MOHAMMED SAEED AL SHEHHI, IT DIRECTOR, GCAA

“SAP is honored to be the winning recipient of the GEC prestigious award. There is immense value that can be unleashed by connecting this information and we continue to see our customers lead with competitive advantage by the real time power of collective insight.”

In line with SAP’s “Run Simply” cloud strategy, SAP is encouraging adoption of SAP HANA, the cloud-based platform that integrates all SAP solutions into one real-time platform. SAP HANA analyzes data from multiple sources to ask and receive interactive real-time responses.

Globally, SAP is the fastest growing company at scale in the cloud, gaining market share and expanding six times faster than its largest competitor.

Worldwide, SAP has more than 3,600 SAP HANA customers and more than 1,200 customers for SAP Business Suite on SAP HANA. SAP has increasingly robust cloud credentials in the Middle East and North Africa region, with a 300 percent increase in MENA cloud deals from 2012 to 2013. Speaking to the strong demand in the MENA region, SAP has more than 45 customers for HANA in MENA, which represents 256 percent growth year-on-year -- and the company sees forward momentum.

Leading regional customers include Spinneys Dubai, the leading UAE-based food retailer, which has combined SAP HANA with the leading visualization and analysis capabilities of SAP BusinessObjects to explore and analyse vast quantities of data from different sources more effectively, at record speeds.

SAP HANA is also evolving into the leading technology platform with more than on 1,500 start-up companies building applications on SAP HANA and new strategic partnerships with HP and VMware. ë

Harnessing the Value of Information STORIT

SUREN VEDANTHAM MANAGING DIRECTOR, STORIT RECEIVING AWARD OF TOP VAD INFRASTRUCTURE FROM SANJAY MOHAPATRA, EDITOR, ECMEA.

“Extremely delighted to be chosen as the best VAD in the region! We thank the organizers for the recognition which is a testimony to the superlative commitment by team StorIT to constantly keep pushing the bar of competency in the enterprise technology space ”

Incorporated in Dubai in 2002, StorIT is a Specialist Value Distributor with an unmatched expertise in the areas of Data Storage, Data Protection, Data Management, High Performance Computing and Big Data Analytics solutions and services. With an inimitable model of Reseller Channel Development based on creative ideas and a constant desire to outwit itself, StorIT has been introducing ground breaking value services never before attempted in the Middle East and even beyond.

StorIT has been the pioneer, 12 years ago, in introducing to the Reseller Channel a truly holistic value services model based on turnkey solutions right from Demand Generation, Needs Analysis, Consultancy, Solutions Design & Architecture, Proof of Concept, through Project Implementation & Technical Support, thus setting new standards in Distribution in the region.

With a flair to constantly re-invent and re-invigorate, StorIT continues to be a trailblazer in the ‘VAD’ model of business.StorIT has a beautiful channel training initiative under ‘Taalim’. Taalim has been successful in organizing more than 48 training workshops covering more than 200 Reseller Partners through the year 2013.

StorIT takes pride in its longstanding successful relationships with its Technology Partners who have been a part of its growth over years. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

57

SPECTRAMI

Taking a Different Approach ANAND CHOUDHA, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT SPECTRAMI RECEIVING THE AWARD OF SPECIALIST VAD OF THE YEAR FROM SHAHNAWAZ SHEIKH DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL DIRECTOR, D SOFTWARE, A LOCAL OFFICE PARTNER OF DELL SOFTWARE

“Winning ‘Specialist VAD of the Year’ is certainly special to us and we extremely happy to be recoginsed for adding true value to the business of value addition distribution.”

To be among top 5 payers

EMT

ASAL JAFARZADEH COO, EMT DISTRIBUTION RECEIVING THE AWARD OF EMERGING VAD OF THE YEAR 2014 FROM SHAHNAWAZ SHEIKH DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL DIRECTOR, D SOFTWARE, A LOCAL OFFICE PARTNER OF DELL SOFTWARE

“The ‘Emerging VAD of the Year’ award by ECMEA re-enforces our position as a leading force in value added distribution domain.”

CEO, EMT DISTRIBUTION

58

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

Spectrami is formed with a vision of catering niche technologies to the current market and establish itself in forefront of such practice. The company deals in solutions ranging from Security, Infrastructure solutions to Datacenter and network practices. The company strives to give world class service to its partners and have one of the highest partner satisfaction index in the industry.

It wants to be synonymous with bringing and servicing technologies which will make difference to customers in improving the way they do business.

The key differentiation the company brings is a strong understanding of the market and industry and assembling a team of people able to deliver on partners business requirements. The company through industry recognized processes and best practices has created an agile ecosystem that will be rapidly able to deliver on partners and customers business requirement The company has a spacious office based out of Jumeirah Lake Towers in Dubai and has invested substantially in technology and state of art training center as enablers to deliver a compelling value to customers.

The company identifies solutions and products relevant to the market which were hitherto having minimalistic or negligible visibility and be able to deliver on partner enablement for effective solution delivery.

Engaging in marketing activities such as Roadshows, Tech cafes and Tech workshops using enablers like CRM for increasing brand awareness and market penetration. ë

emt Distribution is one of the emerging VADs in the region. The company owned by EMT Holding, a European holding company, is a channel company with over 15 years of experience in IT Product distribution and with offices in Adelaide, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, Austria, UK and the Philippines. EMT Distribution is well positioned to provide pre-and post-sales support with its team of experienced product specialists.

We were focusing on few things last year, like Partner Program improvement, adding new products and increasing brand awareness, and after 1 year our internal evaluation and external review shows that we have 100% achieved our goals. This year, we intend to be among top 5 Security Value Added Distributor in the ME region.

As the focus has been working with best of breed technologies and vendors, emt this year has successfully launched seven new brands in the region including AlienVault, Avira, WhatsUp Gold from IPSWITCH, GWAVA, GalaxKey, Bee-ware – DenyAll – ICS, etc. emt has a very good partner program, which the company regularly updates to make it more exiting for partners. The company will focus on emt Academy this year, which will be a great advantage for its partners to sell and support solutions but also for training and knowledge transfer. ë

BULWARK

Plays with New Brands

JOSE THOMAS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BULWARK TECHNOLOGIES RECEIVING THE AWARD OF VISIONARY VAD 2014 FROM PAUL DEVLIN, DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION & PLATFORMS (BIG DATA, HANA AND MOBILITY) FOR MENA AND FIRDAUS SHARIFF – VP OF MARKETING – MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

“We are elated to receive this award. We want to thank the team at Enterprise Channels, our partners and customers for their support through the last 15 years. Our success depends on them.”

COMGUARD

Home to more than twenty brands, Bulwark Technologies has established an excellent track record in delivering world-class products and excellent customer service. The wide product portfolio includes everything an enterprise requires to secure their data. Bulwark Technologies started operations in 1999 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates with the aim of bringing the best in technology to the Middle East. Working with resellers and system integrators, the value-added distributor delivers the right solutions to end customers. The solutions are focused on IT Security, Reporting, Communications, Helpdesk and Analytics.

As a value added distributor representing technologically advanced principal companies, we work with channel partners and system integrators to deliver the right solution to the end customers in United Arab Emirates and other GCC countries.

The main area of activity of Bulwark is products and solutions related to IT Security / Reporting / Unified Communication / Web Analytics. The products and solutions offered by the company are increasingly becoming key components in the major IT projects in this region through the System Integrators. Bulwark providea the products, technical expertise, services and act as a one point contact for the IT Security needs of our partners.

Bulwark Technologies provides a comprehensive set of support options that will match your needs. ë

Understanding Security Better Than Others

DR. JASSIM HAJI, DIRECTOR, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, GULF AIR, GIVING THE AWARD OF SECURITY VAD OF THE YEAR TO COMGUARD FZ LLC AND IS RECEIVED BY AJAY SINGH CHAUHAN, CEO, SPECTRUM GROUP

“I would also like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to each one of you who have been significant to our growth as an organization.”

A Value Added Distributor is one that delivers typically high value technologies, investing time and resources on mastering products from a marketing and technical perspective, in offering services like lead generation, proactive sales, pre-sales and post-sales support / trainings, etc.; which in turn increase the worth of the products being distributed. Having invested extensively on highly skilled and technically qualified personnel, ComGuard easily fits into the bracket of being a value added distributor, by not just offering top-notch pick, pack and ship services but also wrapping it with training and support services that provide an added edge of value to our VARs.Backed by a strong vision and sustained growth, ComGuard’s distribution portfolio covers 14 countries across the Middle East and APAC with a roster of more than 1,000 partners.

As a key Security VAD in the region, ComGuard represents a diverse range of world-class security vendors with solutions ranging from security software, enterprise (SIEM), enterprise and disk encryption, public key infrastructure solutions and security business intelligence. We have recently signed up with new security vendors including Kaspersky’s new Fraud Prevention Suite, Sophos, Niksun, Nexthink, Content Keeper and GhangourCloud, bridging technologies like web and content filtering, BYOD solutions, Cyber Security, Network Analytics and mDLP, amongst others. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

59

Going Great on Infrastructure

GBM

HANI NOFAL DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENT NETWORK SOLUTIONS, GBM RECEIVING THE AWARD OF TOP PARTNER FROM TUSHAR SAHOO, COO, ACCENT INFO MEDIA

“GBM are delighted to have received such a prestigious award. As the region’s number one provider of IT solutions we leverage industryleading technologies and service capabilities to drive real business results for customers and we are pleased to have had that recognised by the GEC”

AL ROSTAMANI COMMUNICATIONS

A Trusted Partner

CYRIL MATHEW PHILIPS, DIVISIONAL MANAGER - ICT RECEIVING AWARD FROM THE CHANNEL MARKETING MANAGER, ELHAM ALIZADEH AND GENERAL MANAGER, PRADEESH NAIR, ESET

“We as Al Rostamani Communications are proud to receive the GEC Award 2014 as the Top Partner of the Year - Networking Solutions. We are in the IT & Telecom System Integration Business for the last 15 years, and awards like these reflect our commitment to our customers” 60

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

GBM has a sophisticated set of capabilities that that spans across a wide bandwidth of offerings and a top-of the line services. GBM’s strength lies in three main pillars including People, Partners and Clients. GBM is a solution provider and therefore the company’s capabilities excel to meet the needs of the market in general and our clients in specific. On a high level, their Lines of Business include Business Solutions, Technology Services, Products (Hardware and Software), Technical Support Services, Intelligent Network Solutions, Learning Services and Security.

GBM has multiple specializations that facilitate its strong position in the region. One of the most obvious is being the descendants of IBM as sole distributors of selected IBM offerings Another important distinction worth noting is that GBM is a Cisco Gold partner since 1999 and the only Cisco Master Specialized Partner in Security and Unified Collaboration across the Gulf. This is besides multiple other major specializations in the areas of cloud and virtualization, technical servicers, business continuity, software services and disaster recover among others.

GBM provides multiple services and products under: IBM Software & Hardware, Networking Solutions, Business Continuity and Data Centres, Technical Support Services, Learning Services, Business Consulting, Outsourced & Managed services, NOC & SOC Services. GBM has recently focused to build and excel in its Cyber Security offerings and Disaster Recovery & Cloud Services. ë

A member of Al Rostamani Group, Al Rostamani Communications LLC (ARC) is a leading IT & Telecommunication solutions provider and systems integrator, offering innovative, integrated technology solutions and professional services to customers in UAE and other GCC countries.

ARC represents world leaders in technology which includes, SchneiderElectric, Alcatel-Lucent, NEC, Cisco, HP, D-Link, Digi, Fujitsu, McAfee, Symantec, Sonicwall, Nagravision, Telcordia, Aztech, Sagemcom, Mediatrix, Samsung, Spirent. ARC’s loyal and trusted customers are in various segments which include, Telecom Service Providers, Government, Oil & Gas, Utilities, Financial Sector, Education, Hospitality, Health Care, Industries, Transportation, Retail, Trading, Real Estate & Construction.

With a turnover of 30 million US dollars, provides end-to-end solutions for IT &telecommunication Communications products and solutions. The company is specialised in systems integration. With 200+ customers, the company is one of the trusted partners in this region. ë

HELP AG

Niche Player

“Over the last year Help AG evolved and further enhanced its expertise. The award we have been presented by Enterprise Channels MEA is recognition of these achievements and we are very proud of it.”

STEPHEN BERNER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HELP AG

With impressive audited revenue of USD26.5 Million in 2013, Help AG is one of the niche players in the IT security domain. Help AG is focused solely on IT security and is capable of delivering solutions that address each and every aspect of this field of specialization. The company has an impressive partner portfolio which includes some of the industry’s largest security vendors. Our vendor partners are AccessData, AlgoSec, Blue Coat, Cyber-Ark, F5 Networks, Fire Eye, HP Enterprise Security, Infoblox, Juniper, Mi-Token, nCircle, Palo Alto Networks, Proof Point, Riverbed, RSA, SourceFire and Symantec. The solutions the company delivers include application hardening, content control and acceleration, data loss prevention, data security and encryption, endpoint antivirus and security, IP address management, mobile security, modern malware protection, network security, network access control, network behaviour control, next generation firewalls, remote access solutions, SCADA security, SIEM security and web application firewalls. Despite boasting a portfolio of world leaders, we do not let vendors dictate terms and always implement the products that best fit the needs of our customers.

The company is capable of building upon and enhancing vendor solutions when they fail to meet customer requirements. All this is backed by their world class support services. Its support division, the Help AG Security Assistance Center, saw some remarkable growth in both manpower and skill sets in 2013. ë

Master of Application Integration FINESSE

TEAM FINESSE RECEIVING AWARD OF TOP PARTNER FOR APPLICATION INTEGRATION, FROM GENERAL MANAGER, PRADEESH NAIR AND THE CHANNEL MARKETING MANAGER, ELHAM ALIZADEH, ESET

“We are very excited to have received the GEC Awards as the Application Integration Partner of the Year 2014. We consider this as an endorsement to our vision & strategy.”

SUNIL PAUL, CO-FOUNDER & COO OF FINESSE.

Finesse, a ‘Red Herring Global Top 100 System Integration companyprovide Technology Solutions and services to Banking, Education, Energy, Healthcare, Hospitality and Retail segments.

Finesse solution offerings are primarily focused on: Business Intelligence & Analytics Enterprise Content & Business Process Management Governance, Risk & Compliance areas Finesse believes in Unified communications and is determined to deliver business information and tangible value through: Cloud-Ready Solutions Mobile Devices Social Media Platforms Finesse brings together advanced technology, robust infrastructure, a large pool of talent and a proven global delivery model to provide a wide range of IT services to its clients cost-effectively and seamlessly.

Finesse consultants possess excellent functional, operational, and technical knowledge in Banking, Education & Healthcare domain and the leading products / solutions currently used by global organizations. This experience has proven invaluable to Finesse clients as our teams identify and implements industry best practices and leverage on real life experience to implement solutions that are proven and best suited to our clients; Finesse system integration services include the supply, installation and integration of hardware, software, and onsite support services. to innovate by developing new products & services. Finesse operates globally through our offices spread across APAC, MENA & AMERICAS. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

61

IBT

Young but Efficient

JAI MULANI, CEO, IBT REACEIVING AWARD OF MANAGED SERVICES PROVIDER FROM SANJAY MOHAPATRA, CHIEF EDITOR, ENTERPRISE CHANNES MEA

“I am happy to have received the award. I am really happy that ECMEA is growing and taking the market to a different level.”

ESET

Adapting to the Condition PRADEESH NAIR, GENERAL MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST, ESET RECEIVING AWARD OF BEST SECURITY SOLUTION 2014

“To succeed in a region that is often cited to have a shortage of skills in the channel, building and maintaining an effective partner ecosystem is key. This award from ECMEA recognizes this commitment and we are very proud to receive it.”

62

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

IBT is an end-to-end ICT solutions provider & well established Company based in Dubai, UAE, providing Consultancy and Total Turn-Key Solutions in the IT and Telecommunication Industry.

IBT is one of the fast growing companies in UAE with over 120 qualified professionals. We strive to build long term relationships based on mutual trust resulting from meeting customer expectations.

IBT designs, implements and supports the full lifecycle of services surrounding todays IT technology and provides ongoing co-managed solutions that allow large, mid-sized and smaller companies to maintain and safeguard their business-critical ICT operations.

IBT has been providing Remote Managed Services and On Site Maintenance delivered through our NOC Center which is functioning 24x7x365.

The monitoring and management of converged technologies today includes networks, systems and applications for both performance and security. These often include the monitoring of advanced technologies and applications such as IP Telephony, Video and Wireless which are being implemented by companies to support critical business functions.

By providing the IBT resources in the form of engineering talent, reporting and customized escalation plans, world class toolsets, compliance and security expertise, IBT clients can leverage our services at a fraction of their cost. ë

ESET, the pioneer of proactive protection and the maker of the award-winning ESET NOD32 technology, is a global provider of security solutions for businesses and consumers. For over 26 years, the Company continues to lead the industry in proactive threat detection. By obtaining the 80th VB100 award in June 2013, ESET NOD32 technology holds the record number of Virus Bulletin “VB100” Awards, and has never missed a single “In-the-Wild” worm or virus since the inception of testing in 1998. In addition, ESET NOD32 technology holds the longest consecutive string of the VB100 awards of any AV vendor. ESET has also received a number of accolades from AV-Comparatives, AV-TEST and other testing organizations and reviews. ESET NOD32 Antivirus, ESET Smart Security, ESET Cyber Security (solution for Mac), ESET Mobile Security and IT Security for Business are trusted by millions of global users and are among the most recommended security solutions in the world.

ESET Middle East has its regional office in Dubai Internet City and manages an extensive partner network in 11 countries: United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan Egypt and Libya. The company has over 13,000 customers in the Middle East and does business over 10 million US dollars. ESET has been recognized as an industry leader on numerous occasion and our products have received awards from some of the most reputable independent agencies including Virus Bulletin, AV-Comparatives, etc. ë

MINDWARE

Empowering Partners

MINDWARE HAS RECEIVED THE AWARD OF TOP VAD BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

“On behalf of Mindware we thank Enterprise MEA for the GEC award for VAD Business Solutions. We look forward to providing our partners more return to their business in the future.”

MARIO GAY- GM, MINDWARE

PROLOGIX

As the leading distributor of quality IT products to the Middle East and North Africa, Mindware’s extensive portfolio includes leading global brands reaching out to over 2,500 resellers throughout the MENA region. Mindware’s commitment to customers is unrivalled.

Mindware’s culture has grown out of the understanding that customers are their primary concern. Through strategic partnerships, Mindware is able to concentrate on bringing effective solutions to the market. Mindware’s focus on personal service, competitive pricing and fast delivery is paramount. With a logistics center within the Jebel Ali Free Zone, they offer value added distribution to all the channels they serve.

Headquartered in Dubai Internet City, Mindware has developed sales on reach and distribution networks across the region to serve their customers face to face. Their coverage spans across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus and North Africa. Mindware’s office opening in Lebanon in 2000 was the beginning of the company’s expansion plans, which continued with the opening of Mindware’s Saudi Arabia office in 2003 and Mindware Egypt office in 2004.

Mindware is the first IT distributor in the Middle East to have been awarded the prestigious ISO 9001:2000 certification for their focus on excellence and maintaining an audited quality system.

This month the company has changed its logo to demonstrate its positive growth. ë

Plays to the Market Needs

TEAM PROLOGIX RECEIVING THE AWARD OF BEST VAD TELECOM SOLUTIONS 2014 FROM DR. JASSIM HAJI, DIRECTOR, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, GULF AIR

“It has been another successful year for Prologix as we have grown our business by leaps and bounds together with our partners.

We enjoy the reputation of being a premium VAD in the region and cherish this recognition.

Our aim is to continue bettering our services and products portfolio to comprehensively cater to the needs of our customers.”

ADITYA SAHAYA-DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Prologix Distribution is the distribution arm of Prologix LLC, an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company. The company is in operation since 1998; is headquartered in Dubai and has footprints all across UAE, GCC, rest of the Middle East and Africa and SAARC countries.

A well-known and leading VAD in the region, Prologix Distribution’s offices and warehouses are located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kenya, Nigeria, India and Sri Lanka.

Prologix Distribution is an authorized distributor for world’s leading technology products. The top brands of the world in RF & Microwave, Wireless & Networking, Test & Measurement, Telecommunications, Security Surveillance etc., feature in Prologix’s partner list.

The company augments its vast and unbeatable product portfolio with its expertise in pre-sales, installations, post-implementation support, powerful logistics that accelerate deliveries, 24/7 sales and technical support service and service calibration and support center.

The company is committed to deliver service with unmatched quality and value to its broad network of channel partners which includes resellers, system integrators, ISPs and WISPs as well as end-users. A strong emphasis is laid on technologies and solutions which are tailored to key verticals like Telecom, Real Estate, BFSI, Government, Oil & Gas, Education and Hospitality among others. The company regularly identifies and introduces to the market technology solutions which help meet the specific IT needs of the region. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

63

CANON

Giving Back to Society

SHADI G. BAKHOUR, GENERAL MANAGER CANON EMIRATES LLC. RECEIVING THE AWARD OF BEST CSR COMPANY 2014 FROM AJAY SINGH CHAUHAN, CEO, SPECTRUM GROUP

ANURAG AGRAWAL MANAGING DIRECTOR, CANON MIDDLE EAST,

“We are honored to receive the GEC 2014 Award for the Top CSR Initiative of the Year. This award is a testament to our efforts and we will continue to align ourselves with CSR campaigns that resonate with Canon’s values and leadership.”

Canon is involved in several CSR initiatives in the region aimed at fostering community and humanitarian partnerships.

Canon’s CSR activities fall under three categories: Business, environment and society.

As part of its Kyosei mission, the company strives to reduce CO2 emissions throughout the Canon Group at all stages of production lifecycle, from materials procurement to disposal and recycling. Canon was the first company to acquire certification under Japan’s Carbon Footprint Program for multifunction office systems. Also, they were recertified to ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard, underpinned by Canon’s clear targets set to manage the environmental impact of its products and operations across the region.

Canon continues to invest heavily in sustainable best practices. In addition to being awarded the Dubai Chamber CSR Label in 2012 and 2013, the company was recognized for the ‘Best Environmental Practices in the Arab World’

CSR SNAPS

64

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

award by the Arab Organization for Social Responsibility.

Other initiatives include Canon’s participation in the Dubai Marathon where 65 employees showed their community spirit and love for sports by running alongside the world’s elite athletes. More recently, the company trained young Emiratis on photography equipment to showcase their abilities during the Havea-Go competition of the 2014 Emirates Skills exhibition.

Similarly, Canon Middle East is commitment to supporting local communities across the region, employees of the global leader in imaging solutions raised funds for the ‘Adopt a School’ initiative by Dubai Cares, a philanthropic organisation working to provide children with access to quality primary education in developing countries Also the company has renewed Gold membership with Emirates Wildlife Society in association with WWF (EWS-WWF), in line

with its continued efforts be a socially responsible and environmentally conscious company through supporting leading NGOs. In 2013, the Government of Fujairah appointed EWS-WWF to spearhead the development of WadiWurayah National Park.

This is an area of outstanding natural beauty in Fujairah’s Hajar Mountain range that requires conserving as one of the UAE’s most valuable natural environments.

Finally, Canon Middle East serves as an active partner in the communities it operates in, by working with governments, scientific, academic, humanitarian, and arts and culture organisations, to integrate corporate social responsibility across all elements of the business. ë

GCAA

Man with vision

MR. MOHAMMAD SAEED AL SHEHHI OF UAE GENERAL CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY RECEIVING AWARD OF BEST CIO 2014 FROM SANJAY MOHAPATRA, EDITOR, ECMEA

ENG. MOHAMMED AL SHEHHI IT DIRECTOR – GENERAL CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY (GCAA)

“For me, it’s not about winning an award, its about a tremendous amount of encouragement I receive to keep getting better”.

As the IT Director of the General Civil Aviation Authority, Mohammed Saeed Al Shehhi has proven to be a transformational leader committed to adding results-oriented value to the organization. His vision of standardizing, modernizing and mobilizing services within the authority has led to unprecedented success in the field of Information Technology. He is a certified Lead Assessor of EFQM quality framework and has lead assessment for various institutions for ShaikhKhalifa Excellence Program. Through the development of a sound business strategy with measureable KPIs, he has been able to contribute to the profitability of the organization which has enabled the authority to maintain a sustainable advantage in the aviation industry.

With more than 18 years of experience, hehas built a reputation for leading the way in building a well-planned strategy and to support his initiatives he has designed an advanced IT infrastructure, Enterprise Business Management System (i.e. Leadership Dashboards, Knowledge

MANTRA OF HIS SUCCESS

Management, etc.), Cloud solutions, Mobile applications and establishing an environmentally friendly “Green IT” department etc.

Mohammad has led the IT department to be the first to reach Federal government targets and to become IMS certified comprising Information Security, Service Management and Business Continuity standards in the industry.

Under Mohammad’s leadership, the General Civil Aviation Information Technology (IT) department was recognized by the Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Program as the best Federal Department and best e-Service implementation awards. Mohammad received the SKGEP award from Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Under Mohammed Al Shehhi’s leadership, the IT department has grown from a two member team to a well-structured IT enterprise.

His recent achievement was the official launch of SAMAE mobile application, which is the first of its kind in the aviation sector. SAMAE

enables stakeholders & customers to access all GCAA portfolio services from any smart device (Andriod/IPhone/Blackberry/Apple) at their convenience anytime/anywhere.

Mohammad’s technical expertise in the area of technology infrastructure implementation and management led to the modernization of GCAA IT infrastructure. When he joined GCAA, the IT department had a very basic infrastructure which was not adequate to support GCAA business operations. Mohammad took the initiative to rebuild the entire IT Infrastructure in terms of security, advancement, reliability and scalability.

This ensured the efficiency in GCAA operations and improved customer satisfaction.

Mohammad established a state of the art DR Site with RTO & RPO less than 4hrs, for business critical operations where live data replication ensures availability of data in the event of unforeseen events. ë

“Under the leadership of Mohammed Al Shehhi IT Director – General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) GCAA IT transformed more than 220 internal and external services into e-services thus making GCAA 100% paperless.

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

65

GULF AIR

Adopting eFlight Bags

DR. JASSIM HAJI, DIRECTOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, GULF AIR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RECEIVING AWARD FOR GREEN TECHNOLOGY 2014 FROM REGGIE FERNANDES, REGIONAL DIRECTOR - SAGE MIDDLE EAST

DR.JASSIM HAJI DIRECTOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, GULF AIR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

“Gulf Air has been pioneer in implementing ‘Private Cloud Computing’ within the region and aviation industry. Part of its strategy and Cloud Computing was to develop products and services that benefit its customers, the environment and productivity.”

Gulf Air has significantly reduced the use of hardware materials such as cables, wires, printers, desktops, servers that consume power, paper and time, adopted virtualisation, wireless networking, e-ticketing, Voice-Over-Internet-Telephony (VOIP) instead of wired telephones, and promoted recyclability and/or biodegradability of defunct products and waste.

Forthcoming green measures include e-form automation, Sky Meals application to reduce meal wastage through improved analysis and planning, introduction of wireless communications on the aircraft for “black box” recorders and replacing magnetic tapes with electronic recordings, online interface for information exchanges and reporting and, Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) that removes the need for paper based flight plans and manuals, to name a few.

Electronic Flight Bags offer advanced information management and deliver more accurate per-

MANTRA OF HIS SUCCESS 66

Under the leadership of Dr.Jassim Haji, Gulf Air, as a corporate entity has been actively pursuing a ‘green policy’ in its business functions. The fully revamped Data Centre has been redesigned with energyefficient blade technology and virtualisation.”

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

formance calculations, creating significant time and cost savings while increasing safety and streamlining the management of flight information. Gulf Air will move from a paper-based flight manual to an electronic process with Electronic Flight Bags rolled out across the airline’s fleet by early August 2014.

The company also has opened a state-of-theart, energy efficient Data Centre at the airline’s headquarters.

Gulf Air, as a corporate entity has been actively pursuing a ‘green policy’ in its business functions. The fully revamped Data Centre has been redesigned with energy-efficient blade technology and virtualisation that cuts the power requirement by 50% and uses 30% less airflow, making it one of the most environment-friendly IT centres in the country.

The award goes to Gulf Air looking at the risk involved in the operation and challenge to change the infrastructure. ë

MY VIEWS

MOHAMMED ABOU KHATER,

RAY KAFITY

REGIONAL MANAGER (META) DEFENSE &INTELLIGENCE

VICE PRESIDENT - MIDDLE EAST TURKEY AND AFRICA (META)

“We totally depend on signature less detection engine” GITEX 2014 WAS A GOOD PLACE WHERE VENDORS DEMONSTRATED THEIR PRODUCTS AND SOLUTION TO A LARGER AUDIENCE SO ALSO DID FIREEYE

Are your Apple solutions inspired by the latest buzz about apple devices being safe no more as thought to be?

I think it was a myth that Apple devices are 100% secure and bullet-proof against attacks. Now hackers are becoming so innovative that they can breach the Apple OS and all the applications associated with it.

If you look at enterprises, 50% of them use Apple, which means a hacker would have to spend 50% of his time to develop some sort of new attacks or new mechanisms to penetrate some networks. What we have done now is something unique in the industry. We are probably the first or the only vendor who are protecting all the three operating systems. This is a door opening for so many business partners in the market because it is a key differentiator for them in front of their customers. When you as a partner you sit in front of your top customers, you need to have that relationship so that the customer considers you as his trusted adviser. With our recent

innovations, we are basically adding that missing element to the partner community.

How is your Android security different in the over-crowded android protection market?

Most solutions look up for signatures; we took a different approach. We totally depend on signature less detection engine and that’s the key differentiator we are bringing to the market.

Market share of Android is massive; more and more people are using mobile phones, tablets etc. for their day to day activities. That brings more risk to the organizations. Hence we focused on Android protection.

Do you think trade shows and exhibitions are not that important as they earlier used to be?

For our technology, it is very important to be a part of GITEX. First, it’s a good platform for us to create more awareness about the technology.

Reports show that people are still spending lots

of money in traditional security thinking that it resolves problems. Hence, more awareness is required. GITEX is a great platform for customers, end users and partners to know more about advanced threats, targeted attacks, etc.

Are you collaborating with Govt. agencies as well?

We are collaborating with various Governments across Middle East because each one of them has an initiative for e-governance to their citizens. A lot of Governments are also providing nationwide initiatives to protect critical infrastructures from any cyber attack; so yes we are working with them to provide protection from the NEW threats.

How informed do you think the enterprises are when it comes to cyber security?

The statistics are showing that we are still far behind the hackers for various reasons. They are well-organized, well-funded. There are solutions in the market that can resolve the issue.

Awareness requires more of collaborations and intelligence to come up with the right defense mechanisms. We do see enterprises investing in security, roping in consultants for penetration testing and services. But still, lots more need to be done.

Fire Eye is distinct due to the intelligence it has that helps in connecting the dots which can’t be possible by mere deployment of equipments and software. We gather intelligence from various locations globally which give us much broader picture on the state of affairs. One key thing about protection is early detection. Fire Eye helps there and gives the edge when it comes to protecting one’s data from next-generation threats. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

67

INFRASTRUCTURE

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Datwyler to Leverage Global Strength in MEA As the Middle East and Africa market is moving on a high growth trajectory, it is obvious that there has to have sustainable resources of infrastructure at the back to support the growth. And the government is talking about creating smart cities, which means every infrastructure at the back end has to be well connected and communicated to enable the services to be successfully delivered to the citizens. In this opportune moment, Datwyler, the Swiss Datacentre solutions provider, has made an entry into the market by tying up with Global Distribution.

S

ome say it is good time to start a business in UAE, others say Nay! It is too late. But to me no time is a bad time for starting any business in any region – only thing one needs to take care of is to have right partnership in place. I am not sure whether Datwyler had any presence through any distributor or resellers in the UAE or GCC region in the past but now that they have associated with Global Distribution, which shows a lot of promise in the market, is really a game changer for Datwyler.

Asked about why tied up with, Global Distribution, Managing Director of Datwyler Middle East & Africa, Jon Bamford, said, “Global Distribution is a very interesting partner for us in the region. Although Datwyler is a wellestablished global organization and a 1.5 billion dollar entity with businesses in more than 100 countries, but in the Middle East, we are relatively start up. We have strong products with good reputation of being Swiss brand for 100 years but what we need is to penetrate this market with the support of a right partner. Global Distribution for us has strong footprint across a number of countries. And we believe that they have the passion and ability to touch a lot of customers quickly through their partners and demonstrate the value proposition that we can offer.”

Mario M. Veljovic, VP- Solutions MENA,

68

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

INFRASTRUCTURE

Global Distribution, said,”For us it is very important to find a partner on whom we can really rely on. Obviously when you set up a new business unit, it is important that the vendor you choose, you evaluate that very carefully and make sure that there is no bad impression from your reseller community and from the end customers from the stand point of reliability and quality of the products. There are so many cabling companies but we could not see any one really matching the way we see the market and, how we value our relationship, commitment and compliance within the market place. We found Datwyler emanates same kind of passion and commitment that we have. Plus, Datwyler is a global company with significant market share in many other markets.”

Datwyler has adopted a strong on boarding process with 30, 60, 90 days plan. The Think tank has done the ground work in terms of analyzing the customers that the company would like to work where they see immediate opportunities.

At a time when the company is planning a 30-90 days schedule to recruit, enable and develop resources, the management is also ensuring that they have to stock up products in order to showcase and even fulfill smaller projects immediately.

Obviously a lot of marketing activities will go along with that and there will be co-investments

JON BAMFORD, MANAGING DIRECTOR, DATWYLER MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA AND MARIO M. VELJOVIC, VP SOLUTIONS MENA, STANDING MOIZNUREIN, REGIONAL SALES MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST, DATWYLER AND IMRAN BATOAQ, BUSINESS UNIT MANAGER “IT INFRASTRUCTURE & PHYSICAL SECURITY” GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

MARIO M. VELJOVIC

VP- SOLUTIONS MENA, GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

“For us it is very important to find a partner on whom we can really rely on.” from both the sides.

John added, “We have a financial commitment which is confidential between us at the moment but we have a very strong ambition. It is marriage we have to work through the good days and bad days. We will have good people to have the initial things rolling.”

Mario added, “It is going to be a flagship product within our portfolio for IT infrastructure and physical security market. We do not want to bring in competing brand. We have gone out and done a solid research in last couple of months and made the decision now. For us it is very important to remain focused.”

When Global Distribution has already taken the business unit manager to lead this business, the company is in the process of investing in creating resources on the sales and pre-sales side for the GCC region. Plus, Global’s existing infrastructure will surely support the newly built up BU from marketing, technical support and supply chain perspective.

It is certainly a growing market. The proliferation of data communications is surely happening in this region but the explosion of data

communication is yet to be seen. Therefore the opportunity for the physical data cabling market is in abundance. So when we look at the market we could see it as good as 10 billion dollar marker per year. Now, what share Datwyler should notch up! Well it all depends on how both the companies perform the tango with each other in the market place. However, John expects to garner at least 10 million dollar worth of business in next three years.

However Mario puts it modestly: “It is not that we are putting on a target but we want to have a healthy business for us to have a decent return on our investment. But the fundamentally we want to have a lot of happy customers. Because the more happy customers we have the more business we will have.”

FINALLY...

With the new super massive data centers coming up in the region and surveillance projects are taken up seriously along with other data intensive projects, the opportunity for cabling market is really large and Datwyler will try to do all things right in the market to have a leadership position. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

69

st

Anniversary THANK YOU ALL Thank you all for supporting Enterprise Channels MEA for bringing out so many meaningful magazines and supplements.

Please subscribe to these magazines by dropping a mail to info@accentinfomedia.com or if you wish visit www.enterprisechannelsmea.com to read the magazines.

st

Anniversary THANK YOU ALL Thank you all for supporting Enterprise Channels MEA for bringing out so many meaningful magazines and supplements.

Please subscribe to these magazines by dropping a mail to info@accentinfomedia.com or if you wish visit www.enterprisechannelsmea.com to read the magazines.

MY VIEWS

“Hitachi Data Systems basically tries to understand how a business operates, its long term strategies and according matching the IT infrastructure to the requirements”

ized state, cut down on costs for the customers and ensure that proper solutions are available to them.

TONY REID

COO EMERGING EMEA HITACHI DATA SYSTEMS

Tailoring IT for Businesses Worldwide

How is the region of ME suited to your business?

The infrastructure in Dubai is so good that it very well supports the large data centres. But as with all IT departments, here also, they are expected to do more with less investment. Our function is the enablement of these IT folks.

You have business in Africa as well; is it different out there?

Africa is a fascinating market. We have hubs in South Africa, Lagos and Nairobi. The business model is very different out there. It’s a tough market.

IDC’S STATISTICS PROJECT A RAPID RISE IN BUSINESS DATA, BY 40% TO 50% GROWTH YEAR ON YEAR. HENCE, IT IS CLEAR THAT VOLUME OF DATA THAT BUSINESSES NEED TO STORE, MANAGE AND REPORT ON IS BECOMING MORE DIFFICULT TO ADMINISTER. TO HELP ENTERPRISES DEAL WITH HUGE AMOUNTS OF UNSTRUCTURED HDS CAME UP WITH THE CONCEPT OF BUSINESS DEFINED IT; ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM TALKED TO TONY REID, COO EMERGING EMEA. EXCERPTS.

So, what’s the main focus driving HDS? Our theme runs under the banner of BUSINESS DEFINED IT. Our view is that the business now has much more influence on IT decisions than ever before. One of the reasons for that is it’s very easy for a business to go and choose services from outside suppliers. So, the IT department needs to get closer to the business, understanding the exact requirements and making sure the right kind of solutions are obtained. Hitachi

72

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

Data Systems basically tries to understand how a business operates, its long term strategies and according matching the IT infrastructure to the requirements.

Which areas do you focus on ?

Our focus lies in large data centres. We are very successful in financing services, manufacturing, retail, oil and gas. We provide everything from the storage infrastructure up through the service deck. We transform the data centre into a virtual-

What are your MEA expansion plans?

We have been investing heavily in MEA region for last few years. Dubai is our hub for the ME and we shall continue to invest as our business grows.

What is the relevance of Gitex for HDS? Gitex is important to us primarily because of the branding opportunity. We have finally attained that state where people no more question what Hitachi Data Systems is. We met a lot of customers, press and partners at Gitex 2014.

What do you have to say about your partners?

We operate solely through partners. We have a great relation with our distribution partner, Tech Access who have been doing an excellent job. ë

MY VIEWS

Companies. So, basically two very big companies are coming out of the giant HP Company. This will give each of the two companies flexibility and agility to be able to compete quicker, faster and stronger; because the competitive landscape and customer dynamics for the two are quite different so now they can be more focused.

The feedback from our channel partners has been extremely positive; similar sentiments have been witnessed in the customer meetings at GITEX 2014 as well. So the trend is definitely a positive one. We are very happy and excited and wish to keep up bringing more value to our customers and channel partners.

What do you have to say about the job cuts at HP? How is it that a company of this stature needs that for diverting more funds into R & D? The numbers are being misinterpreted; the numbers of job cuts that are being talked about start from 2012, not like all at once now. The numbers announced by our CEO are not that big when you consider the huge size of HP workforce and the only motive is to enhance the efficiency of the organization.

ALAA ALSHIMY,

VP ENTERPRISE GROUP AND MD, MIDDLE EAST, MEDITERRANEAN AND AFRICA

“Splitting for growth; not for chaos” BREAKUPS SEEM TO BE THE IN THING IN TECH SPACE OF LATE. HP’S RECENT ANNOUNCEMENT CONFIRMING ITS SPLIT HAS CREATED QUITE A BUZZ IN THE MARKET; THERE HAVE BEEN REMARKS THAT THE COMPANY IS IN CHAOS. VERY FEW HAVE GIVEN A POSITIVE ANGLE TO THE DEVELOPMENT; ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA SOUGHT TO HEAR THE STORY FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH; WE TALKED TO ALAA AL SHIMY, VP ENTERPRISE GROUP AND MD, MIDDLE EAST, WHO REFUTES ALL CLAIMS TO HP’S DOWNSIDE AND FIRMLY PUTS ACROSS THE COMPANY’S STAND AS A LEADER IN THE MARKET.

We have been hearing all kinds of remarks about the recent announcement of the splitting of HP which makes us kind of skeptical and curious at the same time.

Could you shed some light on that development?

I shall ask you one question- do you know how does the human body grow? The cells grow and when they grow big enough, they split into two.

So, the concept of split and growth has been

always there in business. The recent split that’s in news is also a “SPLIT AND GROW” strategy for us.

We are the largest company in ICT today with the largest and most comprehensive portfolio. We decided to split into two companies because we believe both the areas are very big and strong in themselves. Each will be in the range of $56-57 billion. From size and stability point of view, both HP Inc. and HP Enterprise are equally big businesses. Both are in the top Fortune 50

Gitex is undoubtedly a great platform to enhance brand visibility; but what’s the significance of such an event for an extremely visible company like HP? First and foremost point is we need to continue to grow as they say success is never a final destination. Maintaining the top spot is always a tougher task than attaining it. Being the number 1 comes with a lot of responsibility that we have for the industry. Our customers and markets look up at us and we need to stand up to that. HP is expected to bring the innovations, be the first to bring a new idea, a new solution, be the first to solve a business problem; so we are making a lot of investments. We need to keep up the visibility, extend our networking and cooperation to customers and channel partners; that is where GITEX comes in as an excellent platform.

Enabling our partners is in our DNA and lies at the core of our business.

What’s HP’s partner selection strategy?

We have different levels of partners- gold, silver and business partners. We look for the right competencies and what the partner got to showcase.

The reach of the firm in market and its financial stability is also equally important. Another key point we look for is the customer acceptance the potential partner has. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

73

MY VIEWS

“What we have done is we rewrite the entire application from scratch; in parallel, we collect unbiased users’ feedback to improve the experience of users. Work is beautiful today because we have invested heavily in user experience and user interface”.

MONZER TOHME

REGIONAL MANAGER, INFOR MIDDLE EAST

In ERP, One size doesn’t fit all INFOR HAPPENS TO BE THE THIRD LARGEST ENTERPRISE APPLICATION

constantly adding new resources. We have loyal channel partners supporting us in the region.

How was Gitex 2014 for Infor?

It was good because we managed to generate quite few good leads. The prime purpose was to show Infor as a brand. We received positive feedbacks from new customers visiting our stand and showing interest in knowing about our propositions, solutions offered by us to the market. We were approached by many new partners showing interest in Infor solutions.

VENDOR WORLDWIDE. THEIR UNIQUENESS LIES IN THEIR INDUSTRY SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM TALKED TO MONZER TOHME, REGIONAL MANAGER, INFOR MIDDLE EAST ABOUT THE COMPANY’S GRADUAL PENETRATION INTO THE MIDDLE EAST MARKETS. EXCERPTS.

So, Infor doesn’t believe in the One Solution Fits All concept when it comes to ERP; is it?

Yes. We build specific functionalities for specific industries. As of today, we focus on 12 key industries.

What makes you unique in the market?

First, we produce specific solutions for industries.

Moreover, we focus on enhancing user experience. Most players keep on adding functionalities to improve their products as a result of which the

74

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

output becomes too technologically heavy. What we have done is we rewrite the entire application from scratch; in parallel, we collect unbiased users’ feedback to improve the experience of users. Work is beautiful today because we have invested heavily in user experience and user interface.

What are Infor’s expansion plans in the region?

We have put together a specific strategy and vision for the Middle East. We are investing and expanding our operations in the region. We are

How do you visualize competition in the ERP domain?

Competition is healthy. Our approach to the market is very unique and industry focused. We don’t just sell any ERP to any vertical. We focus on specific verticals. In the verticals where we reign, it’s hard for other players to beat us. We are very selective. We also enjoy brand loyalty.

Which are your key industries?

These include healthcare, public sector, industrial manufacturing, hospitality etc.

What lies next for Infor?

We have an investment plan and strategy for the coming three years. Part of that is opening Infor offices across different geographies across the Middle East. We also wish to expand the team in local markets. ë

PARTNER STREET

PROLOGIX

Uniquely positioning vendor solutions in market Prologix Distribution is on a roll with a remarkable fiscal year 2013-14 and a successful show at GITEX 2014 with top technologies showcased and a record number of booth visitors.

ADITYA SAHAYA, DIRECTOR - PROLOGIX

P

rologix Distribution is the distribution arm of Prologix LLC. In operation since 1998; the company is headquartered in Dubai and has footprints all across UAE, GCC, rest of the Middle East and Africa and SAARC countries.

The company adds value to its product portfolio with its expertise in pre-sales, installations, post-implementation support, powerful logistics that accelerate deliveries, 24/7 sales and technical support service and service calibration and support center. . A strong emphasis is laid on technologies and solutions which are tailored to key verticals like Telecom, Real Estate, BFSI, Government, Oil & Gas, Education and Hospitality among others.

GITEX 2014 for Prologix Distribution was bigger than its predecessors of previous years.

The fiscal year 2013-2014 was quite remarkable for them. The VAD presently boasts of strategic partnerships with 40+ global vendors.

Over 18 vendors had setup their individual booths in the Prologix stand in Za’abeel Hall GULFCOMM and were able to cater to customers enthusiastically. The vendor booths included Motorola Solutions, Totolink and Peplink showcasing Wi-Fi & Networking solutions; Cambium Networks, Trango Systems, Simoco and Sub10 Systems dealing with RF & Microwave and related technologies; AFL, Empirix, Fluke Networks, Spectracom, Keysight Technologies

demonstrating their strength in various areas of Test &Measurement; Avaya and Sangoma Technologies showcasing their dominance in Telecommunications; LevelOne&Secura’s solutions for Security Surveillance and finally Epson &Afinia’s technologies for the education vertical in which Prologix specializes.

Graham Kunz, Product Marketing Manager at Empirix said, “GITEX is a great platform to meet the plethora of operators from all the countries across the region. What works best for us is that for all these operators, Customer Experience is the No. 1 initiative; Empirix has an excellent opportunity here as we are the best in providing CEM solutions and get a chance to showcase the same to them.”

Lee Kellett, Director of Product Marketing at AFL said, “Prologix Distribution is our sole distributor in the UAE and I’m very pleased with the way AFL solutions are understood and uniquely positioned by the Prologix sales team helping in an excellent market penetration.”

Doug Vilim, VP of Global Sales at Sangoma Technologies said, “Prologix Distribution is doing a great job as a Value Added Distributor by putting together technologies which complement each other in order to build solutions for System Integrators. This is a very important feature for Sangoma especially when it comes to Session Border Controllers, Gateways and Lync Express.” Aveek Roy, Regional Director – MEA & APAC said “This is our first time with

Prologix Distribution in GITEX and we would like to congratulate the Prologix marketing team for putting up a great show in terms of stand location, branding, demo equipment display etc.

It’s been a fantabulous show and we look forward for many more”.

David Zeng, Sales Manager at Totolink said, “Totolink is one of the leading Korean brands with 8% markets share in South Korea. We are very pleased with Prologix as our partner in the region. The show has been a great platform to showcase our latest 11AC router and I have been able to meet customers who are keenly interested in this product.”

John Seaman, VP-Sales at Trango Systems said, “It is a splendid GITEX this year as we have new products generating lot of excitement regarding 5GHz microwave backhaul and Trango will continue bringing new solutions to the market.

Prologix is doing a great job in the region. The roadshow series in East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda which Trango and Prologix participated together earlier in August this year are yielding great results.”

Aditya Sahaya, Director-Business Development at Prologix Distribution hailed the show as extremely fruitful and thanked all the vendors for their active participation. He also extended his thanks to the customers for visiting the Prologix booth and expressed his desire to embark on a very long business partnership with all of them. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

75

MY VIEWS

that a large number of organizations are at risk.

The approach needs to shift from prevention to monitoring and response.

How does Log Rhythm help in such a scenario?

We help our customers solve two problems; the first is reducing the mean time to detection, i.e. detecting the breach activity before it becomes a problem and impacts the network. Secondly, we help our customers in reducing the mean time to response, which refers to the remediation after detection of the breach. Earlier detection and response work hand in hand.

What’s the relevance of Gitex Tech Week for you?How was Gitex 2014?

Gitex is a central place for meeting customers, partners and distributors and update about our growth strategies and innovations for the region.

It’s a place to generate leads, identify new projects and penetrate further into the market. The 2014 edition was quite a good one, with important meetings, interactions and exposure.

ROSS BREWER,

VP AND MD, INTERNATIONAL MARKETS AT LOGRHYTHM

Managing Security Intelligently LOG RHYTHM HAS BEEN A THREE TIME GARTNER MAGIC QUADRANT LEADER IN SIEM (SECURITY INFORMATION AND EVENT MANAGEMENT). NOT ONLY DOES ITS SECURITY INTELLIGENCE PLATFORM, EMPOWERS ORGANIZATIONS TO DETECT AND RESPOND TO THE MOST SOPHISTICATED CYBER THREATS, IT ALSO PROVIDES UNPARALLELED COMPLIANCE AUTOMATION AND IT INTELLIGENCE TO GLOBAL 2000 ORGANIZATIONS, AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM TALKED TO ROSS BREWER, VP AND MD, INTERNATIONAL MARKETS AT LOGRHYTHM. EXCERPTS.

Log Rhythm provides security intelligence platforms; what’s the current status of enterprise security worldwide?

We can no longer protect our networks. According to Gartner report- Prevention Is Futile in 2020; securing enterprises in 2020 will require a shift to information- and people-centric security

76

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

strategies, combined with pervasive internal monitoring and sharing of security intelligence.

If you listen to the 60 minutes interview of the Head of the FBI, he clearly said that there are two kinds of large companies in America- those that have been hacked by the Chinese and those who don’t know that they are hacked by the Chinese.

So, when the FBI Head believes so, it’s very clear

Do you think the Middle East Region is at a higher risk from cyber attacks than other regions?

The Middle East got a tone, geo-political issues with respect to being a target on a country by country basis depending on the region you consider. Historical and political reasons make the region a massive target. For example, if you take Dubai, it’s a shining light on the planet for growth, success and prosperity and lot of people will want to take that away.

What is your marketing strategy for the region?

Our marketing strategy is multi-faceted; we attend large events like Gitex to connect with the organizations that don’t know us. We work very closely with our distributors to have them work and bring partners together. We educate our partners about business opportunities and how to maximize their profits. Then, we work on a partner by partner basis to further our expansion strategies. We also work closely with the Press and the Analysts community.

Are you on the lookout for new partners?

We are always looking for new partners; but the main thing for LogRhythm is enabling and making our partners successful. We make longterm investment with our partners. We recruit partners for coverage, not overlap so that dilution is prevented. ë

MY OPINION

“The response Gitex 2014 gave us was unprecedented. Not only we met partners we had engaged with post-GISEC, we also met new people. We met different sections of the industry from system integrators to resellers to consultants, and also end-users”.

ASHOK KUMAR V

CHIEF OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EMEA & SAARC, TALARIAX

corporate messenger server. It works in tandem with SendQuick; SendQuick becomes your SMS- email server gateway. SendQuick believes in Enterprise Mobility; anything that facilitates enterprise mobility is our forte.

“After SMS, it’s WhatsApp for Enterprises” TALARIAX SENDQUICK HARNESSED THE DESIRABLE QUALITIES OF MOBILE

How far have you succeeded in attaining visibility in the Middle East?

We are a Singapore based company with a client footprint of 20+ countries worldwide. Today we are a Asia Top 100 Red Herring Company as well.

We still have to get more visibility and exposure in this part of the world. We have few remarkable clients in Bahrain, KSA, UAE; but still I feel, a lot of people are yet to know about us.

MESSAGING, TO ELEVATE AND PROLIFERATE THE USAGE OF SMS AT THE ENTERPRISE LEVEL, TO ASSIST ORGANIZATIONS WORLDWIDE IN TRANSFER OF INFORMATION QUICKLY AND EFFECTIVELY. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM TALKED TO ASHOK KUMAR V, CHIEF OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EMEA & SAARC, TALARIAX ABOUT THE COMPANY’S GRADUAL PENETRATION INTO THE MIDDLE EAST VIA DISTRIBUTION PARTNERS.

How was Gitex 2014 for TalariaX? It was phenomenal this time. We had introduced new products at GISEC this fall and were curious to see how things go on. The response Gitex gave us was unprecedented and really huge. Not only we met partners we had engaged with postGISEC, we also met new people. We met different sections of the industry from system integrators to resellers to consultants, and also end-users.

What did TalariaX bring to the Gitex 2014?

We showcased our existing portfolio of products.

We came with new improved brochures, focused on discrete areas, alert notifications, third party application integration, etc. We brought out application centric literatures. Apart from that, we introduced Coop Server, which is something like WhatsApp for the corporates. It will be a

So what kind of marketing strategy you have in place for the region?

Part of it is to approach the market through print publication. We have EDMs sent out to niche audience.

Who are your main partners in ME? We started with UniSys Solutions in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. We have Bulwark operating across UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman. We have BMB Lebanon as a partner in Levant.

Now that Gitex has ended, what is TalariaX going to focus on?

We want to consolidate our market. We wish to ensure products rolling out because there hasn’t been significant uptake of products. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

77

INFRASTRUCTURE

RITTAL

Will Keep on Investing in this Market Gitex 2014 was particularly a very good event for most of the exhibitors as they had a better number of walk-in customers and partner to their booth this year compared to the last year.

Rittal Middle East, which was also part of this expo, had its fair share of success. n B Y: 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

JOSEPH NAJJAR, MANAGING DIRECTOR, RITTAL MIDDLE EAST

R

ittal Middle East, the leading IT Infrastructure & Datacentre vendor had a smart approach to the Gitex 2014. Following over the years, the company had not only put up an Innovation Stand at the venue but also made it really swanky in order to attract more walks-ins and accommodate more solutions.

Asked about the company’s objective behind this year’s set up, Joseph Najjar, Managing Director, Rittal Middle East, said, “We have designed our stand based on our Smart Solutions. The solutions we have introduced (which areespecially for Middle East) include Data Centre, Smart Systems including the Smart Package, Compact Server Room, TS IT rack with LCP Cooling – aimed at small and medium customers. Additionally we have introduced a new IT enclosurewith protection categoryIP 55 for the oil & gas sector, a much sought-after product in the Middle East.”

When Joseph says Smart Solutions:it means the productsare delivered as pre-configured &pre-installed units easing out additional installation timeframes. Of course there are different sizes of Smart Solutions to meet different needs, where you can start off with an all encompassed rack installed with UPS, Cooling, Environmental

78

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

Monitoring, Access Control, Power Distribution & Fire Detection & extinguishing System, and add more such racks as your IT infrastructure grows, making it a truly scalable solution. Joseph added, “In the past the customershad to purchase every product independently, assemble and install them after preparing the site. With the Smart Solutions, Rittal has made it easier adopting a plug and play approach. Rittal is one of the pioneers to bring out this type of solution.

From the customers’ perspective, the Smart Solutions are ideal for the education, healthcare, construction, Banking & Insurance and government verticals/ arenasas these segments have distributed work environments and keep on expanding their operations time to time.

Another major highlight this year was the soft launch of Rimatrix S, Rittal’s standardised data centre modules. With a single part number the customer can now place an order for a pre designed standardised data centre module, saving time and other resources. Rittal offers these data centre modules in a standard room, container or an IT security room. Pre certification by TUV and a guaranteed PUE of 1.15 elevates the value offering of Rimatrix S, making it a real icing on the cake.

While Rittal has given a lot of thrust on the smart solutions this year, conventionalsolutions

“We are one of the important subsidiaries within our worldwide operations.

Acknowledging the high growth in the ME region, our expectation is also high.” stand equally important - As showcased and displayed on their Innovation stand.

FINALLY...

From a corporate growth perspective, Joseph concluded, “Rittal Middle East works as a family.

We are one of the important subsidiaries within our worldwide operations. Acknowledging the high growth in the ME region, our expectation is also high. We will keep on investing in this market to expand our market share and attain growth.” ë

PARTNER STREET

SAP

SAP Woos SME Businesses with Cloud Solutions SAP HANA’s cloud delivery option sets the stage to lure and consolidate its position in all market segments including SMEs

E

ven though it came into the region (Middle East and North Africa) in 2007, as opposed to its competitors who came during the late 1990s, SAP has seen high double digit growth YoY in the past few years, based on its innovation portfolio and thrust on Cloud computing. Having established its position in the high-end market, SAP MENA is now focusing on placing its stake in the SME market in order to become the key relevant player for their software needs.

Firdaus Shariff, VP, Marketing – Middle East and Africa, SAP MENA said, “If you look at our global market statistics, 80% of our customers are in the SME space, while here in the MENA region, we are still combating the perception that SAP is only for large companies. We have a very strong portfolio for SMEs, with solutions that are very reasonably priced and quick to implement.”

In addition, SAP is also trying to position itself as one of the major players in Cloud computing. At Gitex 2014, the company showcased its Cloud solution portfolio in addition to its Innovation solutions. Opposed to the common perception that SAP is only relevant for very large establishments like Oil & Gas, Telcos and BFSI, the company is now in a different avatar. SAP today has solution offerings relevant to needs of various industries as well as business area heads

such as HR professionals and Marketers. As an example, employee life cycle management was demonstrated at the company’s stand at GITEX, demonstrating capabilities for managers to evaluate employees, build career maps, as well as succession plans at the click of a button.

They also showcased the power of SAP HANA, SAP’s in-memory solution, through their anti-collision management solution for smart cities. They demonstrated how on a real time basis, SAP HANA was able to process situational data received from construction sites at Airline, Roadway or Railway projects, and could be used to prevent vehicles and equipment from colliding with each other. The company also demonstrated their smart vending machines at their stand, which can identify and remember a consumer’s buying habits.

“At Gitex, we have showcased our predictive analytics solutions to bring forth the capabilities of Big Data. And customers are able to do all they need through the use of our mobility platform, in order to access the data they need at any time, in any place, on any device” said Shariff.

To support various applications being demonstrated on SAP technologies, the company had 16 partners participating on its stand at GITEX.

FINALLY… With Cloud as a clear focus area on the SME

FIRDAUS SHARIFF,

VP, MARKETING – MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, SAP MENA

“If you look at our global market statistics, 80% of our customers are in the SME space while here in the MENA region, we are still combating the perception that SAP is only for large companies.”

segment, SAP in the MENA region is all set to enthral the market with its innovations. Where it can succeed is if it were to adopt more openness and ease in its demeanour to the market than its competitors. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

79

MY VIEWS

another 50% growth on numbers from 2013. We have also seen a growth of 25% Y2D across our Wireless range. Our growth strategy is all about focusing on partners, giving them the tools to win business and ensuring they are trained to a high standard, whilst providing the best customer service and support in the industry.

What is the vision and mission of Minerva?

Minerva’s vision and mission is to be the best partner a customer could want for all things wireless. We focus only on wireless, which means we have a very specialized knowledge base and resources to support partners who may be more generalists. Our growth in the region has been recognized by our vendors with Minerva being awarded the ‘Motorola Solutions – Biggest YOY Growth 2013’ and the ‘Ruckus Wireless – Fastest Growing Distributor 2013’

ALEXANDER ALLEN,

CEO, MINERVA

Creating Niche as Networking VAD THE ROLE OF VADS IN THE HIGH GROWTH MEA REGION IS IMMENSE AS THEY SUPPORT THE PARTNERS AND CUSTOMERS ON EVERY POSSIBLE MANNER. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA SPOKE TO ALEXANDER ALLEN, CEO, MINERVA TO

How many products do youdistribute and what are the competitive advantages of these products?

Minerva is a distributor of Motorola Two Way Radio, Tetra Radio and SmartPTT dispatch software application. For Broadband Wireless and Wireless LAN we supply Cambium Networks, Ruckus Wireless, Firetide, Sub10, Nomadix, 3Roam and Cloud4Wi.All of our products are from world renowned vendors who are specifically chosen to ensure that we are able to offer our customers leading products which deliver business-critical technology solutions. Some, such as Motorola and Cambium Networks are by far the leaders in their fields. Everyone knows of Motorola’s reputation in 2-Way Radio and Tetra Radio systems, but Cambium Networks may be new to some people. Cambium Networks was created when the Wireless Broadband business was spun out of Motorola. This has allowed them to focus and develop products at a faster pace and it clearly shows as they now have both the largest range and the most technically superior portfolio of outdoor wireless products in the industry..

UNDERSTAND THEIR VALUE PROPOSITION IN THE MARKET. EXCERPTS…

Brief us about Minerva’sinception and growth?

Minerva has been in operation since 2003 and we deliver technology solutions across market verticals from small commercial to large multinational operations, including Government and Public Safety. We started off focused on all

80

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

things Wireless (WLan and Wireless Broadband) and made the move into 2-Way Radio about 5 years ago (which we also consider to be part of the “all things wireless” range). This year we have substantially increased sales across our vendors with our growth rates continuingyear on year, especially in two way radio, where we will see

What are the advantage of Minerva vis-à-vis other distributors in the region?

The advantage of working with Minerva is all about trust, honesty and reliability. We are a distributor who does what we say we are going todo. We have excellent customer service, we will never mislead a customer about delivery times (as so often seems to happen in this region), we offer competitive pricing, stock availability and we are dedicated to developing long term customer rela-

MY VIEWS

tionships by providing superior customer service and support. We have a dedicated technical team in house who assist in the design and delivery of any Wireless and Two Way Radio solution. Most importantly we stand by the pre-sales work our team does. If there are any issues in a design we pay to fix them rather than trying to pretend we didn’t make a mistake and get a customer to pay more. This level of trust and honesty is what wins us loyal customers.

As a VAD, do you also provide services to the customers and partners?

As a distributor Minerva do offer services to our partners which include project design and consultancy, site surveys, installation support, pre and post-sales support and technical trainings to both partners and their end users. We don’t sell directly to end users, only through partners.

What is your geographic spread across the region?

Minerva’s head office and logistics centre is in Dubai, UAE which is the regional hub from which Minerva serves to GCC, Middle East,

Sub Saharan Africa, North Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan markets.

Are you able to service partners and customers in the countries where you do not have direct presence?

Yes of course we can. As we don’t sell directly to end users, it is not important for us to be in country. Most of the service and support our customers need is provided remotely – including installation configuration support. Of course, our sales team do make trips to support our partners with end users and we run trainings outside of the UAE as required. On rare occasions our partners may require technical support for a complicated installation, so one of our technical team will visit the country, but this is very unusual.

How many customers you service and name few of the large accounts?

We don’t disclose such data as many of our large accounts are involved in Defence and National Security.

What are your plans for coming

years in terms of products, services and enhancing capabilities?

Our plans for the coming years are to stay focused on all things wireless, adding resources to deepen our knowledge or improve our service and support to our partners. We have no major plans for acquiring product ranges outside of our current set as they are all great products, but we may add some accessory and peripheral / application based products that enhance the main product range.

How was your Gitex 2014 experience?

Overall our experience at GITEX was very positive. Our presence allowed us to meet with many of our partners from across the MEA region, it gave us an insight into the current market and we were able to generate new leads and new business opportunities.Exhibiting at GITEX gave Minerva an excellent opportunity to showcase our range of products and services and with representatives from both Minerva and our vendors we were able to share technical and product expertise to all of the GITEX visitors who attended from across the region. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

81

OFFICE AUTOMATION

AOC

Focusing Futuristic Solutions Thomas Schade, Vice President EMEA, MMD Monitors & Displays and Vineeth Sebastian, Regional Sales Director-MEA at MMD and AOC talked to Enterprise Channels MEA about the innovations AOC is bringing in display solutions and their expansion plans in the MEA. n B Y: S O U M YA < S O U M YA @ A C C E N T I N F O M E D I A . C O M >

O

ver the recent years, there has been a quite dramatic change in display solutions. The shift has been towards larger screens and higher resolution.

Thomas Schade, Vice President EMEA, MMD Monitors & Displays says, “apart from the technical progress, the real innovation is taking better care of the end-customers and differentiation from the competitors”.

82

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

AOC AT GITEX At Gitex Technology Week 2014, AOC showcased the latest range of monitors. Additionally, they showcased AOC tablets and AOC GSMs. Thomas proudly commented, “We have been in the monitors market since several years and have maintained our distinct leadership position. Our recipe of how we go to the market is the recipe for success and that recipe can also work for new categories of products”. He believes that AOC

being a global player, equipped with the perfect balance of local understanding holds a distinctive place in the market.

FUTURISTIC SOLUTIONS FOR ENTERPRISES When it comes to enterprises, they mainly offer a wide range of advanced monitors. They cater to different verticals like healthcare, corporate, gaming etc. which they address with specific

OFFICE AUTOMATION

THOMAS SCHADE

VICE PRESIDENT EMEA, MMD MONITORS & DISPLAYS

“For me, partner selection is extremely important, not just in private life, but also business life. Not only the abilities matter, but the attitudes count even more. What we are looking for is long term success and that means we want to build sustainable business step by step.” products. They have introduced anti bacterial monitors for use in the healthcare sector. The other interesting innovation is the soft-blue technology. It has been proven scientifically that in every LED light, there is a certain degree of blue light which is bad for the eyes. Soft Blue is a technology where the Blue colour is not filtered out, rather the frequency of blue light is raised to a level where it absorbs 94 percent of the blue light leaving six percent, which is good enough to generate appropriate picture without yellow tinge.

Soft Blue technology is used in a particular range of Philips monitors for now and soon will be followed in AOC displays. AOC is also bringing in smart monitors that send one messages about your sitting posture, and have auto-sensors to

switch off the displays when not in use.

VINEETH SEBASTIAN

REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR-MEA AT MMD AND AOC

“Africa is the most growing region. First of all, we want to focus our energies around it. Englishspeaking Africa is what we shall target for tablets and smart phones. For display solutions, we aim at South Africa.”

FOCAL REGIONS AOC’s prime focus is on Africa. According to Vineeth, “Africa is the most growing region. First of all, we want to focus our energies around it.

English-speaking Africa is what we shall target for tablets and smart phones. For display solutions, we aim at South Africa. ”

FINALLY...

PARTNERS AND DISTRIBUTORS The majority of channel activities of AOC are managed by the distributors. In Africa and KSA, they have partnered with Redington. For UAE region, the distribution is managed by Jumbo and Gulf Shadows.

Talking of partners, Thomas had the wittiest point to put forward- “For me, partner selection is extremely important, not just in private life, but also business life. Not only the abilities matter, but the attitudes count even more. What we are looking for is long term success and that means we want to build sustainable business step by step.” ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

83

MY VIEWS

DAVID WHITTON,

KODAK ALARIS’ REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

Scanning Specialists with rich legacy ACCORDING TO ANALYSTS, THE MARKET FOR DOCUMENT SCANNERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST REMAINS BUOYANT WITH ENCOURAGING GROWTH RATES IN THE MAJORITY OF SCANNER DEVICE SEGMENTS. IN THE DESKTOP AND DEPARTMENTAL CATEGORY KODAK ALARIS GREW DOUBLE IN THE LAST 12 MONTH, AND MAINTAINED ITS TOP POSITION IN THE PRODUCTION SCANNER SEGMENTS. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM SPOKE TO DAVID WHITTON, KODAK ALARIS’ REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA. EXCERPTS.

How was Gitex 2014 for Kodak Alaris?

It was a wonderful event in terms of the quality of leads we generated.

Kodak Alaris is a new venture; so what is the current state of affairs of the firm?

We are growing very strongly. And are having a great business in the Middle East and our figures

84

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

show that.

What are the latest solutions that have been launched?

From the hardware perspective, we have launched high speed efficient new IBML ImageTrac 6000 series scanners. These super high performance intelligent scanner solutions are able to handle up to 438 pages per minute which enable to increase productivity and efficiency whilst reducing

operational costs.

We also launched the new Kodak Info Input Solution- a secure browser-based thin client document capture solution for organisations seeking to leverage investments into existing ECM infrastructure; it eliminates the need for ‘thick’ client infrastructure, deployment and supports driving down on-going IT costs.

A highly modular ECM and CEM solution, Kodak Info Insight provides intelligent understanding and management of incoming documents and customer communications regardless of format and structure. In addition to reducing processing costs, it enables organisations to be far more commercially responsive and proactive to help increase customer satisfaction and ultimately create new business opportunities.

In conjunction with the Kodak Info Input launch we also brought out a dedicated desktop scanner - the Kodak ScanMate i1180 - specifically developed to allow easy connection to thin client environments or browser-based applications. Able to process 40 pages per minute, the i1180 launch is key given research shows that 87% of business applications are now web-based yet research shows that only 2% of firms actually leverage web technology for document scanning.

How do you plan to maintain your position in this market which seems kind of biased towards few key players when it comes to office automation?

MY VIEWS

There are many who sell multi-functional devices but we are a scanning specialist. Multi functional devices have limited usability. We have been in this business since 1985. There are three leaders in document scanning; these are Kodak Alaris, Canon and Fujitsu. We have the Kodak heritage; we have been in the trade since long and are here to stay.

Moreover, we have more component software.

We are not just a commodity box. We like to be able to add more functionality for our channel partners because that gives them more of an opportunity for margin, more chances to integrate with professional services for revenue generation. We strive to ride higher up the channel partners’ priority list.

Shed some light on your Knowledge Share initiative.

Knowledge Share is all about exchange of knowledge by collaboration. So, we help our partners grow by sharing the best expertise each has got.

It’s a channel friendly initiative.

Information Management is evolving fast.

Paper is still an issue but it’s declining overall as an increasing amount of content is created electronically using a raft of devices. And the ability for organisations to manage this complex information flow, link it into business processes and then make decisions and respond – quickly in real time– is becoming ever more crucial. At GITEX this year, we showed visitors how we address this through our Knowledge Share initiative.

Are there specific regions where you are faring better than others?

Though we are a one-year old company, we got

paperless offices?

Scanning is more of a slow burner. There will come a time where everything will be electronic

“SCANNING WILL BE SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS FOR AT LEAST TEN, MAY BE EVEN TWENTY YEARS BEFORE WE REALLY EMBRACE FULLY PAPERLESS OFFICES”

the Kodak heritage. So, we play in all the GCC countries. We have strong presence in KSA, Oman. We are the only document scanner company with Arabic speaking personnel here in Dubai. The Middle East is our focal point for several years now.

What are your expansion plans for the region?

We are adding skilled manpower to head KSA. We are hiring more service personnel too. We operate through channel partners and resellers.

We are trying to focus on margin opportunities and value creation.

How has scanning business changed over all these years especially with the buzz around

but before that all the info have to be digitized.

And the amount of such data is mind boggling.

Scanning hence will be significant business for at least ten, may be even twenty years before we really embrace fully paperless offices.

Talking about paperless office, the discussions have been going on since the 90s. And I don’t think we are any nearer in achieving it. It’s all about a cultural shift.

Saying all that, it’s worth mentioning that we are not just an analogue company. We are playing in the digital space as well. We are into extracting information from papers, or from email interactions or social media accounts; helping companies look into what all is running on the internet pertaining to them. We are bringing together Electronic Content Management and Customer Experience Management. ë

N OV E M B E R 2 014

MEA

85

MY VIEWS

“At times, it takes days, or even months to detect a threat, and then remediating it and fixing it can take even longer. We can reduce that time considerably with our Resolution 1 Security Solution for enterprises.”

Resolution 1 Platform.

JOHN BENTLEY

DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND INDIA AT ACCESS DATA

Security- where speed matters FOLLOWING CLOSELY ON THE PATH TAKEN BY HP, ITS PREMIER SECURITY PARTNER ACCESS DATA HAS ALSO TAKEN THE SPLIT ROUTE TO FURTHER ITS GROWTH. THE GROUP RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THE SPLIT OF ITS BUSINESSES

What is your market strategy for this region?

The strategy is to move forward with our advanced products. Resolution 1 Platform is the focus for our enterprise customers. We plan to work with high quality partners who provide a greater level of integration and offer solution support instead of just product centric approach.

Does Access Data choose to work exclusively with partners of the stature of HP? No; we have already got a partner for some of the smaller organizations. We also have an external partner channel for some enterprises as well. But with the advanced solutions like Resolution 1, we need to work in collaboration with similar type of solutions so that both parties can be benefited.

INTO TWO INDEPENDENT, GLOBAL COMPANIES, ACCESSDATA AND THE NEWLY FORMED RESOLUTION1 SECURITY; AIMING TO ALLOW EACH COMPANY TO CAPITALIZE ON ITS UNIQUE BUSINESS MODEL BY DELIVERING DEEPER, MORE FOCUSED CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND SUPPORT. ENTERPRISE CHANNELS MEA TEAM HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK TO JOHN BENTLEY, DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND INDIA AT ACCESS DATA BEFORE THE SPLIT NEWS

What are your expansion plans?

Well, we have got very aggressive expansion plans. That’s both good and challenging at the same time. We are looking at doubling our growth rate.

CAME IN. EXCERPTS.

How was Gitex 2014 for Access Data?

It went extremely well. Having our booth with our partner HP, we had a lot of synergy, a lot of joint activity. A lot of customers visiting the stand moved from HP to us and vice versa. The collaboration has been really remarkable. We met both partners as well as end users. We had few very high quality customers who were serious for

86

N OV E M B E R 2014

MEA

business.

What prompted you to be at Gitex?

The main purpose was to give us greater visibility in the region. We are investing here, so wish people to be more aware of Access Data. We also wished to enhance our collaboration with our partner, HP and so we chose to be on the same stand as them. We want people to understand our

What’s the highlight of Resolution 1 Solution?

Resolution 1 is what we call a continuous automated incident response platform. The ideal of it to significantly reduce the time it takes to first of all detect any kind of threat, then remediate that threat, try and fix it and to cut down the time it takes usually by making it much more automated.

At times, it takes days, or even months to detect a threat, and then remediating it and fixing it can take even longer. We can reduce that time considerably. ë

Connect.

Share.

Give.

Take.

Solve.

Save.

Smile.

Unify.

Introducing Unify.

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

Copyright Š Unify GmbH & Co. KG, 2013

*Based on internal Dell analysis in July 2013 based on Dell Compellent flash-optimised vs.spinning disk arrays and an internal test performed by Dell in March 2013 with Storage v6.310 on dual SC8000 controllers running OLIP type workloads using IOmeter with a 100% random, 70/30 read/wirte mix and 8K sector transfer size achieved this IOPS performance.

Actual performance/latency will vary based on configuration, usage and manufacturing variability **Based on internal Dell analysis performed in May 2013, comparing similar Dell Compellent offerings to EMC VNX Family, HP 3PAR StoreServ, HP EVA, IMB V7000, IBM XIV, Hitachi Data Systems HUS 100 Family,and Oracle Sun ZFS Storage Family and competitive US list pricing from Gartner Inc, Cp Storage, as of June 2013. Š 2013 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.