A PHASED PATH TO AI TRANSFORMATION
A phased approach is often the most effective strategy when adopting a new set of technologies. Over a decade ago, that was certainly the case with the cloud. Initially, cloud adoption was met with hesitancy, as enterprises were concerned primarily about data security, control over their infrastructure, and regulatory compliance. Enterprises hesitated to move critical workloads to the cloud because they had concerns about data security, data loss and possible breaches. The lack of transparency from service providers was also a factor.
Many adopted a hybrid approach while beginning their journey to the cloud, using public cloud services for processes and functions that were less critical. For several years, they kept critical workloads away from the cloud. With service providers enhancing their security measures and compliance features, more companies ventured to trust the cloud more and more. Today, across sectors, most enterprises use multi-cloud services and the pace of adoption saw a jump in the year of the pandemic and thereafter. With Public cloud providers establishing regional data centres, cloud adoption has seen more momentum.
While the cloud is pervasive in the enterprise segment today as the cornerstone of digital acceleration, we stand on the cusp of another wave of technology adoption. AI and GenAI adoption are likewise at the stage, where cloud adoption was some years ago. The initial scepticism is making way for a greater interest in adopting AI and ML technologies and the rollout of co-pilots for instance by companies such as Microsoft and Google in their platforms to enable better productivity is accelerating familiarity and usage of AI tools. This increased familiarity will drive the demand for quicker and wider adoption of AI across the enterprise.
Certainly, the UAE will be at the forefront of this new era, driven by its National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence and its efforts at embedding and harnessing the potential of AI across various sectors.
R. Narayan Editor in Chief, CXO DX
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14 » RAISING THE BAR IN CAMPUS CONNECTIVITY
BITS Pilani Dubai Campus sets new benchmark in secure and high-performance campus connectivity in collaboration with HPE Aruba Networking
18 » ADVANCING API INTEGRATION
Uday Shankar Kizhepat, Vice President and General Manager- Middle East and Africa Region, WSO2 discusses the company’s plans for GITEX showcase
20 » CYBERSECURITY IN THE GENAI ERA
Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor, BeyondTrust discusses the impact of Generative AI on cybersecurity
22 » ON A STRONG FOOTING
Santosh Varghese, the Vice President of Toshiba Gulf FZE discusses how Toshiba is geared to address the growing demand for data storage in the enterprise
28 » HOW TO DEAL WITH UNMANAGED DEVICES AND SECURITY
Richard Sorosina, Chief Technical Security Officer EMEA and APAC, Qualys discusses approach to distinguish between trusted and untrusted assets
30 » IT’S TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT DATA RESILIENCE
Rick Vanover, Vice President of Product Strategy, Veeam says it's vital to ensure that AI as part of the tech stack falls within the rest of the business's data governance and protection principles.
32 » AI IS STRAINING AGING IT INFRASTRUCTURES
PAVING THE WAY TO CLOUD VISIBILITY AND SECURITY WITH A CASB
Ram Vaidyanathan, Chief IT Security Evangelist, ManageEngine discusses the role of Cloud access security brokers
Ekta Putran, Head of Sales APAC & MEA – Collaboration, Barco discusses how Video Bars are rewiring the region’s hybrid workplace 24
Modernisation is key to enabling sustainable and economic growth in intelligent automation writes Reshma Naik, Director, Systems Engineering, Emerging EMEA, Nutanix
DATA-DRIVEN DECISIONS RESHAPE POWER AND UTILITIES
New technologies are helping make sense of all data in the sector’s value chain to provide competitive advantages says David Thomason, Industry Principal – Power Generation at AVEVA
DUBAI AI CAMPUS AND GOOGLE CLOUD COLLABORATE TO SUPPORT STARTUP ECOSYSTEM
Google Cloud to offer mentorship opportunities for select startups
Dubai AI Campus, the largest dedicated cluster of AI companies in the region at the DIFC Innovation Hub, home to the first and largest financial technology accelerator in the Middle East, and Google Cloud have announced a collaboration agreement aimed at fostering the growth of the startup ecosystem within the Dubai AI Campus. The collaboration seeks to leverage Google Cloud’s expertise and resources to empower startups in the region and accelerate their expansion.
The Dubai AI Campus is a dedicated ecosystem for AI and Web3 innovation providing state-of-the-art physical and digital infrastructure at the heart of Dubai International Financial Centre. The Campus includes R&D facilities, accelerator programmes and collaborative workspaces, to attract, build and scale startups in the region. Under this collaboration, Google Cloud intends to offer mentorship opportunities for selected startups with-
Florian Douetteau co-founder and CEO of Dataiku
Dataiku, the Universal AI Platform, has announced the expansion of its LLM Mesh ecosystem to facilitate secure access to thousands of large language model (LLM) gateways, empowering data and analytics teams to build and deploy GenAI-driven solutions at scale by adopting a multi-LLM strategy. Dataiku is also closing a critical governance gap to ensure regulatory readiness and effective management of LLM technologies across the organization with
in the Dubai AI Campus, and work with the Campus on programs such as Google Cloud’s Gen AI Startup School.
Mohammad Alblooshi, Chief Executive Officer of the DIFC Innovation Hub, said: “We are pleased to join forces with Google Cloud to create an optimal ecosystem equipped with resources to enable startups to drive innovation in AI. This partnership is a strategic step in harnessing the potential of emerging technologies. We are confident this collaborative agreement will strengthen the Dubai AI Campus as a favourable destination for startups across the world to scale their AI capabilities. Furthermore, it will solidify Dubai’s position as a hub for technology-focused companies and attract more world class talent and diversified investors to the region.”
Ziad Jammal, Country Manager for Google Cloud in the UAE said “We are thrilled to be working with Dubai AI Campus to
empower the vibrant startup ecosystem in Dubai. This is another step towards supporting Dubai’s forward-looking economic agenda D33 that aims to make Dubai the fastest, safest and most connected city in the world.”
DATAIKU BROADENS LLM MESH
New Dataiku LLM Registry fortifies LLM Mesh with added layer of governance to qualify, document, and frame LLM usage
the LLM Registry, which allows CIOs and their teams to qualify, document, and rationalize which LLMs should or should not be used across use cases.
In a highly-competitive and volatile LLM ecosystem, Dataiku’s LLM Mesh enables organizations to take a multi-LLM approach, switching out underlying models to power GenAI-driven applications with ease. With the expansion, the LLM Mesh now supports many LLM players, including 15 major cloud and AI vendors like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Databricks, Google Cloud, Snowflake (Arctic), and more.
“Our goal is to help our customers future-proof their GenAI strategies and avoid obsolescence — that said, we provide a balanced approach to developing AI applications, while removing the risk
of anchoring a strategy to a single AI provider,” said Florian Douetteau, co-founder and CEO, Dataiku. “The LLM Mesh gives organizations secure access to literally thousands of diverse models for any GenAI use case they’re looking to implement today for a true multi-LLM strategy.”
LLMs constitute one piece of GenAI applications, and the reality of LLM use in the enterprise is complex, as organizations scale to more sophisticated applications. A multi-LLM approach is essential to account for cost and performance management, privacy and security, and to meet regulatory requirements. Dataiku’s Universal AI Platform supports this comprehensive approach, in addition to supporting traditional analytics and machine learning techniques, which allows enterprises to effectively handle the complete development lifecycle of GenAI applications.
ARRAY
NETWORKS PARTNERS WITH REDINGTON
Using Array’s high-performance and secure application delivery solutions, organizations can ensure availability, security, remote access, SSL visibility from any platform, application and business.
Array Networks, leader in application security products announced their strategic partnership with Redington, the leading technology aggregator and innovation powerhouse across emerging markets. Through this collaboration Redington will extend Array’s APV Series Application Delivery Controller, Web Application Firewall, AVX Series Network hyperconverged Infrastructure and range of security solutions to its customers across the MEA region.
As cyber threats continue to evolve, businesses are increasingly seeking advanced security measures to protect their applications. This partnership enables Array Networks to leverage Redington's extensive market presence and deep understanding of local needs to deliver tailored security solutions to reach new customers addressing the unique challenges faced by organizations in the Middle East and Africa accelerating its regional growth.
“We are excited to announce our partnership with Redington in the Middle East and
Africa. As we plan to expand our regional footprint, this collaboration marks a significant milestone for both organizations, allowing us to combine our strengths to deliver enhanced security solutions to our customers. Together, we aim to drive innovation and strengthen our commitment of being the most valued technology enablers empowering businesses with the right security tools they need to thrive in today's digital landscape,” said, Shibu Paul - VP International Sales at Array Networks.
Using Array’s high-performance and secure application delivery solutions, organizations can ensure availability, security, remote access, SSL visibility from any platform, application and business.
Dharshana Kosgalage, Executive Vice President, Technology Solutions Group, Redington Middle East and Africa, said, "We are thrilled to partner with Array Networks to strengthen our security portfolio. Array's robust and innovative solutions
Mohammed Amin President, CEEMETA, Dell Technologies
perfectly complement our existing suite of offerings, enabling us to deliver comprehensive and effective security solutions to our channel ecosystem to help customers secure their digital assets across the MEA region."
TENABLE STUDY SHOWS 68% OF ORGANISATIONS PLAN TO USE GENERATIVE AI TO ENHANCE SECURITY MEASURES
However, only 17% exhibit high confidence in implementation
Tenable, the Exposure Management company, has published a new study revealing that 68% of organisations plan to harness generative AI (GenAI) within the next 12 months to enhance security measures and align IT objectives with broader business goals. Despite this surge in adoption, the study also reveals a worrying trend, as only 17% of organisations demonstrate high confidence in effectively implementing GenAI technologies.
The data is drawn from a global study titled “How to Discover, Analyze and Respond to Threats Faster with Generative AI,” a commissioned study of 826 IT and cybersecurity professionals at large enterprises in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the UK and US, conducted in October 2023 by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Tenable.
An aspect of concern highlighted by the study is the perception of GenAI as a greater security threat than an opportunity among 41% of organisations. This sentiment reflects widespread apprehension regarding cybersecurity risks associated with GenAI implementation. Additionally, internal misuse of GenAI emerges as a prominent concern, with 50% of respondents expressing worry about potential misuse within their organisations.
Moreover, the study emphasises the importance of data quality and integrity in the success of GenAI initiatives. .
“While GenAI offers immense benefits, there are also serious concerns surrounding security, governance, and data quality,” says David Cummins, Senior VP of EMEA at Tenable. “GenAI can help bring data
together from various sources, making it easier for organizations to understand and manage these complexities. However, it's imperative that these decisions are based on reliable data. If you have unique data then you’re going to have unique intelligence guiding decisions — or “gold in, gold out.”
Dharshana Kosgalage
Executive Vice President, Technology Solutions Group, Redington MEA
David Cummins Senior VP of EMEA at Tenable
INFOBLOX UNVEILS NEW ECOSYSTEM PROGRAM
Through the Ecosystem Program, Infoblox collaborates with leading technology partners to simplify integration and innovate together.
Infoblox, a leader in cloud networking and security services, unveiled its new Infoblox Ecosystem Program. Key to the program is a self-service portal that features certified out-of-the-box integrations for leading technology providers. Infoblox-certified integrations undergo rigorous testing, optimization, validation and ongoing updates to ensure seamless compatibility, and are backed by support for Infoblox-developed integrations. These integrations empower NetOps and SecOps teams to break down silos, automate workflows, and strengthen security posture across on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments ─ all in one place.
With the Infoblox Ecosystem Portal, customers can discover, learn, and rapidly deploy more than 20+ new pre-built certified integrations with leading technology partners such as Microsoft, Splunk, HashiCorp and Alkira ─ with no/low code.
With large enterprises now managing over
BARRACUDA TO
76 different security tools on average, this directly addresses business challenges including:
• Visibility Gaps: Fragmented network and security tools can leave blind spots, making it difficult to get a complete picture of the security posture and the activities in the network.
• Silos and Inefficiency: 50% of NetOps and SecOps often operate with different priorities and focus areas, leading to disjointed efforts and inefficiencies.
• Lack of Automation: 64% of organizations who have not invested deeply in network automation say their most recent breach was the result of a known vulnerability.
• Complexity in Security: 91% of security professionals express concern over their organizations’ security complexity.
“Managing and securing enterprise networks is increasingly challenging as business environments grapple with the complexities of cloud adoption and prolif-
SUPPORT
Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Infoblox
eration of IoT/OT devices,” said Mukesh Gupta as Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Infoblox. “The Infoblox Ecosystem Portal makes it easier for NetOps and SecOps teams to collaborate. By integrating certified partner solutions and automating networking and security workflows, we’re enriching the IT technology stack with critical data and creating a more coordinated response.”
MSPS ACROSS MIDDLE EAST
Barracuda will empower new and existing MSPs with managed service expertise in email security, extended detection and response (XDR) and remote monitoring and management
Barracuda Networks is bringing its global support for MSPs to the Middle East. The move will enable channel organisations across the region to better support their customers through a comprehensive suite of managed security services. These services include threat prevention, detection, and response across attack surfaces such as email, endpoint, network, and more, creating layers of security around customers’ data, users, and reputation.
The launch underscores Barracuda’s commitment to supporting Middle East partners in creating or strengthening sustainable revenue streams. In its recent ‘The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report 2024’, the company found that globally, IT service providers expect 44% of revenue to come from recurring managed services in 2024, up from 34% in 2023.
“Security skills and resourcing are key issues for companies, and most MSPs believe businesses are relying more on managed services providers to bridge any gaps, while the MSPs themselves are relying more on outsourcing, particularly in areas such as security operations centres,” said Charbel Ghostine, Regional Channel & Alliances Director, META & East Med at Barracuda. “Seven in ten MSPs say they’d welcome more support from vendors. Barracuda is a partner-first organisation and is ideally placed to support MSPs, helping them to thrive in the competitive landscape of 2024 and beyond.”
Barracuda will offer partners in the Middle East its full suite of MSP services. Barracuda is collaborating with regional value-added distributors (VADs) – Mindware and Ingram Micro – to roll out and support its MSP services. The VADs will facilitate onboarding, offer comprehensive training
and education, as well as marketing and sales support in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, and the Levant.
Mukesh Gupta
Charbel Ghostine
Regional Channel Alliances Director
– META East Med, Barracuda Networks
RESECURITY PARTNERS WITH BULWARK DISTRIBUTION
The collaboration will focus on delivering comprehensive security services, including Cyber Threat Intelligence & Digital Risk Monitoring solutions
Resecurity, a leading global cybersecurity company, announced its strategic partnership with Bulwark Distribution FZCO, an associate company of Bulwark Technologies LLC, a leading cybersecurity specialized VAD in the region. This collaboration underscores a shared commitment to delivering superior cybersecurity solutions and bolstering digital protections for customers across various sectors in the Middle East region.
Bulwark, recognized as the leading Cybersecurity VAD in the Middle East with offices in Dubai (UAE) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) currently celebrating 25 years of Cybersecurity Excellence in the region, is proud to join forces with Resecurity. This strategic collaboration amalgamates Resecurity innovative digital protection solutions with Bulwark's extensive expertise in delivering advanced security offerings amidst their wide partner network to the dynamic Middle East market.
"We are excited & thrilled to join forces with Resecurity. This partnership strengthens our commitment to providing enhanced cybersecurity solutions and providing superior digital risk protection solution portfolio to our customers in the region," said Jose Menacherry, Managing Director at Bulwark. "Together, we are set to embark in the journey together & set new milestones in the cybersecurity landscape, ensuring our valued customers are well-protected against the ever-evolving cyber threats."
Resecurity brings a wealth of expertise and cutting-edge technology to the partnership, offering solutions that address the growing complexities of cybersecurity. The collaboration will focus on delivering comprehensive security services, including Cyber Threat Intelligence & Digital Risk Monitoring solutions, to empower organizations to defend against sophisticated cyber-attacks.
LEXAR REPORTS 200 PERCENT REVENUE GROWTH ACROSS GCC
Company gears up to showcase latest range of memory and storage solutions at GITEX Global 2024
Lexar, a global leader in memory and storage solutions, proudly announces an impressive 200 percent revenue growth in the GCC region over the past two years. This milestone reflects a significant increase in market share and unprecedented retail expansion in the region. Lexar, renowned for delivering state-of-the-art storage solutions for photographers, videographers, gaming enthusiasts, and content creators, is geared up to showcase its latest innovations at GITEX Global 2024, the world’s largest technology event, running from 14-18 October at Hall 1, Booth A30, Dubai World Trade Centre.
Under the leadership of Fissal Oubida, Director for the Middle East, Africa, and Indian Subcontinent, Lexar's footprint across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain has grown exponentially. The
brand’s presence is now solidified in over 400 stores, accounting for nearly 20% of the region’s sales. Esteemed retail giants such as Carrefour, Lulu, Nesto, Sharaf DG, Virgin Megastore, Grand Store, Emax, Jumbo, and iStyle are among the many carrying Lexar’s high-performance, innovative products.
Commenting on this remarkable growth, Fissal Oubida, General Manager and Global Marketing Director – Middle East, Africa, and India, said, “The Middle East is undeniably one of Lexar’s top-performing markets. Our continuous growth in market share and revenue demonstrates the potential of this region. With strategic expansion in place, we are fully committed to meeting the growing demand for advanced memory solutions.” He added, “Thanks to our strong partnership eco-
The strategic partnership between Resecurity and Bulwark represents a significant leap forward in the realm of cybersecurity for the Middle East region. Together, these industry-leading organizations are equipping businesses with the necessary tools and expertise to combat the evolving threats in today's digital landscape.
Fissal Oubida
Director for the MEA, and Indian Subcontinent, Lexar
system of retailers and distributors, Lexar products are now available in more than 400 stores across the GCC.”
At GITEX Global 2024, Lexar will introduce its cutting-edge product lineup, which includes microSD cards, internal SSDs, DRAM, and portable SSDs. These products are engineered to deliver seamless compatibility with a range of devices, including sports camcorders, tablets, smartphones, and drones.
AMIVIZ PARTNERS WITH RUNZERO
The partnership will deliver enhanced cybersecurity visibility across networks
AmiViz, the leading cybersecurity-focused value-added distributor headquartered in the Middle East, is proud to announce its strategic partnership with runZero. This collaboration aims to provide unparalleled cybersecurity visibility and exposure management to businesses across the Middle East, further solidifying AmiViz's position as a premier player in the cybersecurity industry.
The runZero Platform is the only comprehensive cyber asset attack surface management solution (CAASM) that uniquely integrates proprietary active scanning, native passive discovery, and API integrations. This powerful combination offers customers the most complete, in-depth security visibility possible, enabling them to mitigate exposures and reduce compliance risks swiftly.
"Partnering with runZero allows AmiViz to offer our clients a state-of-the-art solution that transforms how they manage and
secure their digital assets," said Ilyas Mohammed, COO at AmiViz. "The runZero Platform’s ability to discover and unify data from IT, OT, IoT, cloud, mobile, and remote assets ensures that our clients can see and secure everything on their networks, leaving no blind spots."
Regional enterprises can now benefit from a holistic view of their security landscape, with the runZero Platform providing total visibility across diverse asset categories. On average, enterprises discover 25% more assets with runZero than they were previously aware of. This enhanced security posture is crucial in today’s complex digital environment, where threats are continuously evolving, and the need for comprehensive management is paramount.
"We are excited to collaborate with AmiViz, a leader in the cybersecurity distribution space," said Joe Taborek, Chief Revenue Officer at runZero. "Our partnership ensures that Middle Eastern enterprises have
GROUP-IB AND SECURITYHQ ANNOUNCE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP
Partnership will strengthen cybersecurity and enhance SOC capabilities
Group-IB, a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime, announced the signing of a global partnership agreement with SecurityHQ, a global independent Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP). With this partnership, SecurityHQ will leverage Group-IB’s Threat Intelligence, Attack Surface Management and Digital Risk Protection to bolster its global Security Operation Centers (SOCs), as well as Fraud Protection services as part of its portfolio to enhance the defences for its financial services customers.
The signing of the MSSP agreement was held at Group-IB’s headquarters in Singapore, between Vladimir Goliashev, Director of MSSP and MDR of Group-IB, and Aaron Hambleton, Director (MEA) of SecurityHQ.
“We are thrilled to partner with SecurityHQ, a recognized leader in the managed security services landscape. This collaboration is a significant step forward in advancing global cybersecurity efforts. By integrating our cutting-edge solutions in Attack Surface Management, Threat Intelligence, and Digital Risk Protection with SecurityHQ’s extensive expertise and operational reach, we are enhancing the capabilities of Security Operation Centers (SOCs) worldwide,” said Vladimir Goliashev, Director of MSSP and MDR of Group-IB. “This partnership not only strengthens our mutual commitment to safeguarding critical digital assets but also underscores our shared vision of delivering unparalleled security solutions. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration that will drive innovation and deliver exceptional value to our clients.”
access to cutting-edge technology that is essential for identifying and securing all assets on their networks, ultimately reducing their risk of cyber attacks."
The AmiViz-runZero partnership leverages the strengths of both organisations, combining AmiViz's extensive regional expertise and robust distribution network with runZero’s innovative security technology. Together, they are set to empower businesses with advanced cybersecurity solutions crucial for protecting today’s intricate IT environments.
“Group-IB has consistently stood out in delivering high-quality threat intelligence and comprehensive insights that are crucial for our operations,” said Aaron Hambleton, Regional Director (MEA) of SecurityHQ. “Our alignment in objectives reinforced our decision to partner with Group-IB as we believe that, together, we can provide unparalleled service and protection to our clients.”
Ilyas Mohammed COO at AmiViz
UAE TAKES THE LEAD IN AI TALENT RACE
Over 3,500 of the world’s most prestigious brands investing in AI solutions will converge at the Dubai World Trade Centre, from 14-18 October, for the world’s largest tech and start-up event, GITEX GLOBAL 2024
The global surge in Artificial Intelligence (AI) investments propelled by the increased demand in rising digital industries, from digital health and future finance to cybersecurity and public services, has ignited a race among businesses to secure specialized talents, sustain the relentless pace of their tech innovations, and their position among the early adopters of AI. Goldman Sachs research has forecasted that global investment into AI could reach $200 billion by 2025, while Bloomberg reported that the generative AI alone could have a $1.3 trillion market value by 2032.
This growth is driven by a widespread acknowledgement amongst global leaders that AI solutions are an increasingly vital tool for driving enhanced productivity and higher growth. As Thomas Pramotedham, CEO of Abu Dhabi-based AI enterprise Presight, recently told the GITEX Tech Waves podcast: “Today you’ll see companies applying AI and AI evolving – in five, ten years’ time, it will get smarter, and when it gets smarter, you’ll get more efficiency and shorter routes to answers for difficult and complex questions. In return, that will be to the betterment of society and the world we live in.”
Such as Presight, over 3,500 of the world’s most prestigious brands investing in AI solutions will converge at the Dubai World Trade Centre, from 14-18 October, for the world’s largest tech and start-up event, GITEX GLOBAL 2024. The powerhouse exhibition and conference will bring together the biggest tech community in the world, from experts, founders, and investors to government leaders and senior executives, to showcase their breakthrough AI technologies, discuss mutual synergies, and forge key collaborations to catalyze future advancements in the industry.
GITEX will spotlight the opportunities and challenges surrounding the AI global economy, including ethical development, quantum computing, large language models (LLM), policies and regulations, real implications of AI in edtech, health, and finance, and the future of work and employment. The rapid AI emergence still impacts the job market according to recent studies. In 2022, Deloitte estimated that there were only 22,000 AI specialists in the world while, last year, it was predicted that only half of all AI-related jobs could be filled.
UAE’s Bold Steps in Creating the World’s Future AI Economy
Leapfrogging several global markets, the response of the UAE, which has been increasingly successful as a global hub for the AI industry, consists of a robust longterm government agenda to harness the full potential of AI to empower individuals, communities, and organisations. Aligned with the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence and a clear vision to become the world leader in AI by 2031, the country has invested in integrating AI into public services, energy, tourism, and education.
In Dubai, the leadership has shown profound commitment to making the emirate the world’s fastest, most agile, and future-ready city by launching the Dubai Universal Blueprint for Artificial Intelligence. This highly strategic annual plan aims to accelerate the adoption of AI applications, looking at achieving the targets of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 by adding AED 100 billion, 27.2 billion dollars, yearly to the emirate’s economy and boosting productivity by 50 per cent through the adoption of digital solutions.
GITEX GLOBAL 2024: A Powerful
Platform for AI Experts and Leaders
As the world’s largest tech and start-up event, GITEX GLOBAL is firmly aligned with the widely recognized UAE AI-driven economy, with Dubai as the fastest-growing international hub for AI experts, leaders, academics, and top voices in the industry.
Headliners include the most powerful tech giants driving AI dynamics globally, such as Adobe, Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Builder AI, Dell, G42, Google, HPE, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Open AI, and Oracle, among many others. Middle East’s premier companies and organisations advancing AI and projecting the region’s native tech to the world, such as Presight, e&, Technology Innovation Institute (TII), and Khazna, will also present their products and innovations at the show.
DATA BREACH COSTS FOR BUSINESSES CONTINUE THEIR UPWARD TRAJECTORY
The energy sector reported the costliest breaches across industries at SAR 36.90 million on average. AI/Automation deployments cut breach costs by SAR 12.31 million
IBM released its annual Cost of a Data Breach Report revealing the average cost of a data breach for businesses in the Middle East reached SAR 32.80 million in 2024. This represents an increase of nearly 10% this year, from SAR 29.90 million in 2023. According to the organizations analyzed, the top three factors that amplified breach costs for local businesses were security skills shortages, non-compliance with regulations and security system complexity.
In the Middle East, lost business, detection and escalation, post-breach customer response and notification costs also drove the year-over-year cost spike in the region, as the collateral damage from data breaches has only intensified. In line with 2023 trends, lost business costs —operational downtime, lost customers, and reputation damage, among others— continued to top the list, reaching an average of SAR 12.84 million per breach in 2024, up from SAR 10.02 million last year. This was followed by post-breach customer response costs at SAR 9.01 million in 2024, compared to SAR 8.86 million in 2023; detection and escalation costs at SAR 8.42 million, up from SAR 8.36 million; and notification costs at SAR 2.53 million, rising from SAR 2.36 million last year.
The 2024 report highlighted that the energy sector participants experienced the costliest
breaches across industries, reaching SAR 36.90 million on average per breach. The region’s financial industry ranked second, with an average cost of SAR 35.81 million per breach, while the industrial sector came in third place at SAR 34.52 million.
Other key findings in the 2024 IBM report for Middle East include:
• Security staff shortage – When analyzing the costs for local organizations, the report found that the shortage of security skills contributes to the average increase in data breach costs by SAR 1.62 million. This highlights the pressing need for businesses to bridge the gap.
• Lack of compliance and complexity –Another factor identified was non-compliance with regulations, which contributed to data breaches costing businesses an average of SAR 1.25 million more. The third factor was the complexity of security systems, which cost an average of SAR 975K.
• Main initial attack vectors – At 19%, stolen or compromised credentials was the most common initial attack vector and represented an average cost of SAR 33.60 million per breach. Followed by attacks using zero-day vulnerability at 16% (SAR 32.31 million). In third place were phishing (SAR 34.75 million), business email compromise
(SAR 32.15 million) and cloud misconfiguration (SAR 30.62 million), accounting for 10% of incidents each. Social engineering, in fourth place, had an average cost of SAR 36.05 million and was involved in 8% of breaches studied.
• Data breach and storage – The 2024 report stated that breaches involving data stored across multiple environments had an average cost of SAR 34.23 million, while breaches in the public cloud cost an average of SAR 35.92 million, with each type accounting for 31% of the incidents. Followed by private cloud, which represented an average of SAR 30.66 million, and on-premise at SAR 27.36 million per breach, with both accounting for 19% each. This emphasizes the significant financial impact of breaches on organizations and underscores the need for enhanced security measures to protect sensitive information across multiple environments.
• Impact of leveraging security AI and automation – Organizations in the Middle East that extensively deployed security AI and automation experienced lower data breach costs, with an average cost of SAR 26.54 million compared to those that did not, who incurred costs of SAR 38.85 million. In addition, these technologies also benefit the data breach lifecycle. Organizations that extensively used security AI and automation had an average time of 198 days to identify a breach and 57 days to contain it. In contrast, organizations that did not deploy these technologies had an average time of 294 days to identify a breach and 78 days to contain it.
The 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, conducted by Ponemon Institute, and sponsored and analyzed by IBM is based on an in-depth analysis of real-world data breaches experienced by 604 organizations globally (including 39 in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) between March 2023 and February 2024.
RAISING THE BAR IN CAMPUS CONNECTIVITY
BITS Pilani Dubai Campus sets new benchmark in secure and high-performance campus connectivity in collaboration with HPE Aruba Networking
The need for robust Wi-Fi infrastructure has increased exponentially on the campuses of educational institutions. With students, faculty, and staff increasingly using more digital tools and cloud-based services, fast and uninterrupted Wi-Fi is today critical for institutions looking to enable seamless connectivity.
BITS Pilani Dubai Campus (BITS Pilani), a world-leading institution, stands at the forefront of innovation and excellence in Technology education. Over the past year, it has collaborated with HPE Aruba Networking, a leader in high-performance networking solutions, to address their requirement for advanced and extensive Wi-Fi at their prestigious campus in Dubai Academic City. This deployment, done largely over two phases last year and a third phase completed this year, helps to enhance the dynamic and interactive campus environment, including all indoor and outdoor spaces such as auditoriums, convocation halls, and outdoor fields.
Professor Souri Banerjee Director at BITS Pilani Dubai Campus
The new system puts security at the forefront with solutions that offer a complete view of network activities. These ensure robust security and empower the institution to establish and enforce stringent network access policies, safeguarding the data and privacy of its users. The solution includes AI and ML tools to provide real-time insights into network performance and help manage troubleshooting issues in no time. Since the completion of the campus and hostel deployment last year, both areas have enjoyed enhanced connectivity, including the auditoriums, convocation halls, and outdoor fields.
HPE Aruba Networking wanted to provide optimal Wi-Fi performance in line with current requirements and capable of handling future needs for the next several years. The entire deployment includes high-speed and high-capacity Wi-Fi infrastructure, consisting of high-performance Wi-Fi 6E Access Points, Routers, and Switches
According to Zeeshan Hadi, Country Manager for UAE & Africa at HPE Aruba Networking, the solutions team has focused on significantly transforming the overall experience for the customer.
“As the institution was relying heavily on a lot of online collaboration and thought sharing specifically on online platforms, they wanted to enable an exceptional experience for their students and their staff. We provided the customer with a state-of-the-art solution built using Wi-Fi 6E access points, which are among the fastest in our portfolio”, says Zeeshan.
He adds, “We have so far focused on Wi-Fi and the switches related to the Wi-Fi network, concentrating on critical infrastructure and thereby making it easy for our customer to set clear priorities in their budget spending. With this, we have fully upgraded BITS Pilani’s Wi-Fi backend infrastructure and left out whatever is not very critical. They are planning to upgrade the remaining infrastructure.”
HPE Aruba Networking offered a completely new perspective to the customer for the investment that they're going to make for the coming 5 to 7 years.
Professor Souri Banerjee, Director at BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus (BPDC), says, “The implementation of the latest advanced Wi-Fi from HPE Aruba Networking has significantly enhanced and transformed the way our students and faculty members connect and collaborate across the campus. The seamless, high-speed connectivity enables everything from digital lessons to real-time collaboration on projects.”
AI-based network management
AI-based platforms have become crucial for network administration with their capability to help orchestrate network access and provide monitoring, and real-time visibility into any potential anomalies. This eases the work for teams managing complex networks and ensures higher efficiency and security. To simplify and optimise the network management and streamline operations, BITS Pilani’s IT team uses HPE Aruba Networking Central. The cloud-based networking solution empowers the team with AI-powered insights, intuitive visualizations, workflow automa-
tion, and edge-to-cloud security to manage campus, branch, remote, data center, and IoT networks from one dashboard. HPE Aruba Networking Central is a key accelerator to automate and orchestrate a lot of workflows for BITS Pilani.
With over 600 students that live in the hostel on the campus, they needed a superior connectivity experience on the move and from anywhere between their classrooms to their hostel rooms. The high speed W-Fi network from HPE Aruba Networking helps
THE SOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS
The deployment has over 1200 Wi-Fi 6E Access Points from HPE Aruba Networking and over 50 network switches. This includes multi-gigabit ports for areas that need high throughput and outdoor APs to connect the large playground on the campus. HPE Aruba Networking has deployed some ruggedized outdoor switches as well and are working on some upgrades that the customer is going to look at over the next year.
Among the Access Points deployed is the AP 655, an ultra-high-density access point that has been deployed in areas like the convocation halls, which can service large gatherings and events. AP 635 has been deployed for classrooms and meeting rooms while AP 615 has also been installed for walkways and common areas. For the hostels, the AP-503H, a wall-mounted AP has been deployed, and for the outdoor areas, the AP575 has been used. A total of 32 outdoor Access points have been deployed covering the walkways and pathways between the college, the academic building, and the hostels.
Zeeshan Hadi Business Head - UAE & Africa, HPE Aruba Networking
meet the connectivity expectations from the students who use a plethora of devices from laptops to phones to gaming consoles and other digital accessories for seamless connectivity.
“We have received positive feedback on the Wi-Fi experience from the main users in the campus, our students. Students can now roam from the academic block back into their hostel and see no changes in connectivity– whether they receive a video or voice call, checking their schedules, looking up information for the next class or rewatching a recorded seminar,” says Professor Banerjee.
The intuitive AI platform has also helped in significantly reducing the time required to troubleshoot any issues. IT teams have full visibility of any device connected to their network and are able to pinpoint issues in real-time, with greater accuracy, and can reduce the time required for troubleshooting by up to 80%.
“If ever, there are any challenges or problems that the students are experiencing, the IT team would know immediately what the problems are, and they would also know the recommended fixes to those issues,” adds Zeeshan.
Zeeshan emphasizes that the idea was to position it as something very simple to operate, simple to manage, and easy to roll out new sites and configurations without having any problems of human errors.
“It's a completely new way of doing networking, with a heavy reliance on AI generated insights. This allows BITS Pilani to address potential issues before it can spread across the campus.”
Enhancing Security
The focus was not just on enhanced connectivity but also on providing secure access. With the need to secure everything from student data to exams and research content, there was a need for advanced Wi-Fi with the latest security protocols that could provide stronger encryption and authentication methods and help protect against cyber threats and unauthorized access.
This is an ever-growing challenge for most higher educational environments as students bring all kinds of gadgets and devices to the campus, which they then try to connect to the network.
“This was a major concern and challenge for BITS Pilani, as some students would connect 5-6 devices, overwhelming the available network capacity. We were delighted to be able to offer the perfect solution with our network access control (NAC) platform ClearPass. The platform allows the IT team to safely on-board only a recommended number of devices per user which would mean that first, they have full visibility of the devices connected to their network and at the same time manage the bandwidth load,” says Zeeshan.
Based on Zero Trust Security, HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) provides robust network access control with granular role-based policies for authentication, authorization, continuous monitoring, and enforcement. It is also highly interoperable and allows customers to leverage their investment in earlier security products.
Once deployed, ClearPass helps define user policies. Every time a student or a staff member logs into the network, they are given the right set of privileges or access controls to access any resources on the network and once they connect to the network and authenticate themselves, ClearPass will continuously monitor everything that they're doing inside the network, and if in case any anomalies are detected, preventive actions can be taken and the admin will be notified about the same.
This has greatly enhanced a lot of their workflows because earlier they were manually allowing devices or blocking devices based on their Mac addresses. However, besides being cumbersome, it is not an effective approach anymore because modern devices randomize their Mac addresses. It is therefore becoming increasingly difficult to filter devices now based on Mac addresses.
With ClearPass working in tandem with Aruba Central, once you create a user profile and assign a set of access privileges, irrespective of where he or she logs in and whichever device, only those authorized privileges would be available to that user. These access privileges can be related to any devices inclusive of IoT equipment, printers, scanners, lab devices, lab equipment, and anything that connects to the switches and the Wi-Fi. Once you have the profile link from Aruba Central, you can use that profiling to create policies in your networks.
In summary, the comprehensive Wi-Fi network deployed is a future proof high speed, high-performance, and highly secure network that provides an environment where technology drives collaboration, raises the bar in campus connectivity, and helps facilitate a superior and secure network experience for students, faculty, and staff.
Uday Shankar Kizhepat Vice President and GM - MEA, WSO2
What are you displaying at GITEX?
At GITEX 2024, WSO2 will showcase the latest advancements in API management, integration, Choreo (our cutting-edge internal developer platform), and customer identity and access management (CIAM) solutions. Our focus will be on how these technologies empower organisations to create seamless digital experiences and foster greater innovation across industries. In particular, we will highlight how Choreo simplifies the work of DevOps teams, enabling them to rapidly build and scale digital experiences, while our CIAM solution addresses the growing concerns around data security and privacy, especially in light of the high cost of data breaches, which has been a critical issue in the Middle East. By demonstrating these capabilities, WSO2 aims to build greater brand awareness, forge new partnerships, and present our solutions as essential for enterprises looking to navigate the complexities of digital transformation.
What are some trends that you accept to pick up in the coming year in your area of business?
Governments in the Middle East are continuing to invest heavily in digital transformation initiatives aimed at enhancing public services and improving citizen engagement. This push towards a more digitally connected society is supported by economic programs such as Saudi Vision 2030 and UAE Vision 2031, which prioritise digitalization at a national scale. We anticipate this trend will accelerate over the next few years, with a significant focus on cloud adoption, integration of AI-driven automation, and the modernization of public services.
Advancing API integration
Uday Shankar Kizhepat, Vice President and General Manager - Middle East and Africa Region, WSO2 discusses the company’s plans for GITEX showcase
WSO2’s suite of API management, identity management, and integration solutions are perfectly positioned to support these efforts by ensuring secure, scalable digital services and efficient data exchange across various platforms. Partnering with WSO2 allows organisations to leverage the flexibility of open-source technology, enabling faster deployment of digital initiatives while maintaining robust security and compliance standards.
What is your objective in participating at GITEX?
Our primary objective at GITEX 2024 is to strengthen our presence in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region by engaging with key decision-makers, forming strategic partnerships, and showcasing the value of our solutions to potential customers and investors. GITEX provides a unique opportunity to connect with a diverse audience of technology leaders, influencers, and innovators who are shaping the future of digital transformation. By participating in this event, we aim to raise awareness of WSO2’s capabilities and establish our reputation as a trusted partner for organisations embarking on their digital journeys. In addition, GITEX serves as a platform for us to engage in meaningful conversations about the future of technology, where we can share insights, learn from industry experts, and explore new business opportunities in the region.
What are your plans for the upcoming months in 2024 and beyond?
As we move into the final quarter of 2024 and beyond, WSO2 is focusing on several key areas of growth and innovation. We are particularly excited to see advancements in AI-driven automation, which we believe will play a pivotal role in streamlining business processes and enhancing operational efficiency across industries. Additionally, low-code/no-code development is gaining traction, as it empowers organisations to accelerate application development while reducing the dependency on traditional coding. Cybersecurity will remain a top priority, as organisations continue to navigate an increasingly complex threat landscape. Looking ahead, our goal is to further refine our solutions in these areas, ensuring that we stay ahead of emerging trends and continue to deliver innovative, secure, and scalable digital transformation technologies to our customers.
CYBERSECURITY IN THE GENAI ERA
Morey Haber,
Chief
Security Advisor,
BeyondTrust
discusses the impact of Generative AI on cybersecurity
Morey Haber Chief Security Advisor, BeyondTrust
What role, if any, does Generative AI have when it comes to detecting and responding to cyber threats?
GenAI revolutionizes threat detection and response by leveraging machine learning, artificial intelligence, and real-time data analysis to provide meaningful results. Unlike traditional methods that rely on predefined rules, signatures, and statistics, GenAI continuously learns from new data, identifying novel threatsbased facts deep rooted in data. Its capability to process vast amounts of data in short periods of time enables faster detection of anomalies and potential breaches based truly on the unknown. This speed translates into quicker notifications, allowing security professionals to mitigate threats before they cause an incident or breach. GenAI's current models are flexible and will help ensure it remains effective against the latest attack vectors, offering a dynamic and responsive security posture for organizations.
What are some of the key threats that GenAI does a good job of identifying? GenAI outclasses traditional cyber security solutions by identifying sophisticated and subtle threats that traditional systems might simply overlook. These include advanced persistent threats (APTs), zero-day vulnerabilities, insider threats, and anomalous behavior based
on identity attack vectors. By analyzing behavioral patterns and contextual data, GenAI can detect anomalies indicative of these threats early in the attack stage. Its ability to correlate disparate data points from various sources allows for the identification of multi-stage attacks and complex threat scenarios even when they are just beginning. GenAI’s proficiency in machine learning and pattern recognition based on workflows ensures that it stays in step with threat actors and effectively identifies both known and unknown threats with a high degree of confidence. To be more specific, GenAI excels in identifying attacks when the outcome of a task deviates from the expected results and information is present deep in correlated logs that can be analyzed at machine speed.
How do you think Generative AI can help organizations build a proactive security posture?
GenAI enables organizations to potentially identify and mitigate cyber security threats before they materialize as an incident, or worse, a breach. By analyzing vast datasets in real time from dissimilar sources, GenAI identifies patterns and anomalies that indicate potential security risks based on behavior, previous patterns, and expected results. This predictive capability allows security teams to implement preventive measures, reducing the likelihood of worst-case outcomes and even simple incidents that should never have occurred in the first place. GenAI's ability to continuously adapt based on evolving datasets ensures that its results remain relevant alongside emerging threats, all while maintaining a proactive defense posture for an organization.
In essence, GenAI transforms security from a reactive to a predictive discipline, providing another tool against evolving cyber threats.
How do you think the role of the SOC team members will be affected by adoption of GenAI-powered security solutions?
Integrating GenAI solutions into security operations remodels the roles and responsibilities for security teams. First, it shifts the focus from manual, repetitive tasks to strategic decision-making and advanced threat analysis. Second, security professionals can leverage GenAI’s insights to make informed decisions, enhancing their ability to respond to complex threats based on threat hunting techniques that previously could have taken weeks to resolve. Finally, and the most important, the integration of GenAI into cyber security teams requires designated staff to develop skills in managing and interpreting AI-driven results (it is not all plain English), fostering a more analytical and proactive approach to security.
Consider that its impact is a new tool, with high reliability in assisting the mission but will require care and feeding from a
dedicated team to maintain. It is a new discipline and will integrate into security operations just like the addition of a SEIM or EDR solution requiring dedicated expertise to manage. We have talked a lot about the potential of GenAI for building proactive security defenses. But on the flip side, what about the potential of GenAI to also enhance capabilities of bad actors?
Combating the adversarial use of GenAI is not a simple task and will require multiple touch points in order to create and implement an effective strategy. As stated in many sports analogies, a good offense always requires a strong defense. They go hand in hand.
Organizations must invest in robust defensive GenAI security counter measures to combat adversarial GenAI offenses. This includes the development of GenAI systems that can detect and respond to malicious GenAI attack behaviors with continuously updated models that are crowd source by the cyber security industry to promptly respond to any new threats. Essentially, organizations will need to adopt a ‘fight fire with fire’ approach to GenAI attacks since traditional tools will be insufficient in mitigating the risks alone.
“GenAI’s proficiency in machine learning and pattern recognition based on workflows ensures that it stays in step with threat actors and effectively identifies both known and unknown threats with a high degree of confidence.”
ON A STRONG FOOTING
Santosh Varghese, the Vice President of Toshiba Gulf FZE discusses how Toshiba with its strong portfolio of enterprise-grade hard drives that include next-generation technologies is geared to address the growing demand for data storage
Describe how Toshiba has enhanced its offering for the enterprise market with new launches. How do you see the demand growing in the enterprise segment?
Toshiba in July this year announced 30 TB hard Drives with two next-generation large-capacity magnetic recording technologies for HDD, HAMT: Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording and MAMR: Magnetic Assisted Magnetic Recording.
166 ZB of data is expected to be produced by 2029 globally. All this data would need to be stored as businesses require this for decision making and end consumers would want to preserve their memories. So inevitably, demand for storage will increase year on year and capacities will get exponentially bigger. Toshiba entered the HDD market in 1967 and has accumulated over 50 years of know-how in R&D. We are taking on the challenge of increasing and improving performance using cutting-edge technologies such as HAMR and MAMR, to address growing needs for high-performance and high-capacity enterprise drives.
How do you see the demand for hard drives in the enterprise environment? Is there a demand for hybrid storage solutions, including SSD and HDD combinations in enterprise environments?
As of 2021 approximately 63% of data storage worldwide is still done on HDD. By 2025 SSDs are expected to claim a 16% share of data storage with NAND making up 10%. Nonetheless, HDDs will continue to hold the majority share at 58%. By 2030 it’s projected that HDDs will still account for 48% of total storage while SSDs will grow to 29% and NAND will comprise 12%.
How do your drives support cloud storage environments and the growing demand for AI workloads?
Toshiba Enterprise drives are meant for Datacenter and Enterprise Cloud Storage. High-capacity Enterprise HDDs provide data centers and servers with high-quality low-power solutions.
Santosh Varghese Vice President of Toshiba Gulf FZ
Social infrastructure must operate consistently and reliably 24/7/365. the importance of this technology increases year by year. Toshiba HDD is a crucial device that forms the foundation of a data society and contributes to the advancement of digitalization. Toshiba focuses on three fields that transform industry and society and these are
• Internal Solutions for data centers and servers used for cloud services
• Internal Solutions for dedicated equipment used for data storage such as Surveillance and NAS (Network Attached Storage)
• Personal Storage solutions for backing up ever growing Data
Discuss the focus on data security in your solutions from an enterprise point of view?
Data Security is a critical part of the entire IT infrastructure. It is a no-compromise requirement as data is the new currency. Our enterprise drives provide reliable, Enterprise-grade storage designed for 24/7 high-duty-cycle workloads. They protect against data loss in the event of unexpected power loss and help maintain optimum data reliability for high-duty cycle Mission-critical environments.
Discuss the focus on energy efficiency in your drives for large-scale enterprise deployments.
We contribute to achieving the SDGs by reducing environmental impacts throughout the product lifecycle including design, procurement, manufacture, distribution, and use. At our mass production site, we use electricity derived from 100% renewable energy; by lowering power consumption our products help to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In our Enterprise MG series Drives, Toshiba utilizes Precision laser welding technology to seal helium inside the 9 disk mechanics for the drive. The Helium Sealed design reduces aerodynamic drag to deliver a lower operational power profile helping to achieve TCO Objectives for cloud scale and software-defined Data centre infrastructure
Discuss how the Build Your Own datacentre initiative has been received over the past 2 years. Do you intend to continue the same or are there any new initiatives?
BYODC initiative is an innovative initiative by Toshiba Gulf to build a data center rather than installing a ready-made solution, thereby saving up to 30% on costs. It is an ecosystem of vendors(Servers /JBOD/ Software/ HDD ) System integrators and end customers. End customers can select the best-of-thebreed components to build a Data centre solution that is highly reliable and scalable. We have seen a significant interest in this initiative across the region and hope to consolidate our position with the BYODC initiative. We have now set up a demo center where end customers and end users can get hands on expertise
in BYODC
Since the BYODC launch in early 2023, we have Toshiba’s share in enterprise storage reached more than 15% from just 2% a year earlier in the MEA region.
Discuss the focus on surveillance solutions.
Toshiba last month announced its next-generation S300 Pro Surveillance Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) targeting the latest requirements in the surveillance storage market. With capacities up to10TB and double the buffer size, the upgraded HDDs with conventional magnetic recording (CMR) technology enable surveillance system integrators, system installation providers, and end users to record, store and analyze their video streams from up to 64 high-definition (HD) cameras. The high scalable, 3.5inch[4] S300 Pro Surveillance HDDs, with capacity options of 4TB, 6TB, 8TB, and 10TB, now support up to 24 bays, making them an excellent fit for large-scale video recording systems, delivering reliable operation even in the most demanding environments. Additionally, compared to the previous generation, the new S300 Pro provides a higher maximum sustained transfer speed of 268MiB/s[ and doubles the cache buffer size to 512MiB. The S300 Pro HDDs also reduce power consumption, delivering improved total cost of ownership (TCO). With 24/7 operation, an enhanced annual workload of 300TB[7] and a mean time to failure (MTTF) of up to 1.2 million hours, the S300 Pro can handle the increasing video analysis demands of mission-critical surveillance footage. The next-generation S300 Pro’s extended warranty period, from 3 to 5 years, demonstrates Toshiba’s high durability and engineering quality of its HDDs
“In our Enterprise MG series Drives, Toshiba utilizes Precision laser welding technology to seal helium inside the 9 disk mechanics for the drive. The Helium Sealed design reduces aerodynamic drag to deliver a lower operational power profile helping to achieve TCO Objectives for cloud scale and software-defined Data centre infrastructure”
PAVING THE WAY TO CLOUD VISIBILITY AND SECURITY WITH A CASB
Ram Vaidyanathan, Chief IT Security Evangelist, ManageEngine discusses the
role of Cloud access security brokers
With the average employee using 36 cloud-based services on a daily basis and end-user SaaS spending expected to reach $247 billion in 2024, monitoring and regulating access to these applications is a crucial step towards ensuring cloud security.
In today's cloud-centric world, organisations may struggle with getting visibility into their employees' application usage. They may also face cloud-based data security and threat detection challenges. Finally, meeting compliance requirements in a highly cloud-servicebased environment can be complex. Cloud access security brokers (CASBs) can provide answers to these challenges.
CASBs act as intermediaries between cloud service providers and cloud users, monitoring the traffic between them to provide holistic visibility into sanctioned, unsanctioned, and shadow application usage. According to Gartner®, an effective CASB solution has four core features or pillars:
• Visibility: Visibility is often the first step towards security. However, gaining visibility into a multi-cloud environment without a CASB can be a challenge. Apart from discovering the use of cloud applications, CASBs perform deep packet inspection and analyse content in real time during file uploads. The insight they provide includes details on user identity, location, device type, application usage, and the volume of data.
By monitoring identities and regulating access controls, CASBs provide an extra layer of security.
• Data security: The convenience of cloud services has revolutionised data sharing, but it has also introduced security risks. CASBs enhance data security by inspecting sensitive data transfers to and from the cloud as well as between
Ram Vaidyanathan Chief IT Security Evangelist, ManageEngine
different cloud services. This can help prevent unintentional and malicious data exfiltration attempts. CASBs can also help enforce data-centric security policies across cloud services.
• Compliance: Adherence to privacy regulations and compliance mandates is a major concern for organisations adopting cloud-based services. CASBs
can identify and control the flow of sensitive data, monitor high-risk activities, and detect the use of shadow IT applications along with the users and devices involved. This can help organisations maintain compliance with regulatory mandates such as the PCI DSS, HIPAA, and the GDPR.
• Threat detection: Effective threat detection is vital for protecting critical data stored in cloud services. CASBs can help detect and mitigate cloud-related security threats, such as malware, ransomware, and account compromises. CASBs can also monitor user patterns and help detect anomalous user behaviour, including anomalous user logons. For instance, if a user attempts to log in from two or more geographically different locations in the span of a few minutes, it could be indicative of an attack, and CASBs can detect that. They also help prevent data breaches by monitoring all file uploads and downloads, thwarting data exfiltration attempts by malicious actors and negligent users. If a CASB is integrated well within a SIEM solution, a security analyst can bring in additional context from cloud
activities as they create threat detection rules.
CASBs are a crucial part of an organisation's cloud security posture. But depending upon their security needs, organisations can decide to implement one or all of the three CASB deployment modes, namely: forward proxy, reverse proxy, and API scanning.
In a forward proxy, a CASB sits between users and cloud services. When a user tries to access a cloud service, their request first goes through the CASB server located at the company's perimeter. The CASB will first check the request before forwarding it to the application. For example, if an organisation has a policy against accessing a torrent website from the company device and network, and an employee attempts to access it, a forward proxy CASB can identify and block that request.
In a reverse proxy, the CASB is located between the user and a sanctioned application, but its configurations are applied to the application rather than at the organisation's perimeter. So, irrespective
of whether a user attempts to access an application from within the organisation network or from an outside network, the reverse proxy can monitor and control access to the application. To accomplish this, it needs to work in conjunction with an identity provider solution.
API scanning involves the CASB connecting directly to cloud services using their APIs. Instead of sitting in the path of data traffic, the CASB uses APIs provided by the cloud services to monitor and control data.
For a CASB solution to be effective, it requires all three modes of deployment to work in tandem. It's also crucial for CASBs not to act as stand-alone solutions but to be integrated with SIEM solutions to provide greater visibility and threat detection. ManageEngine Log360 is a unified SIEM solution with integrated CASB capabilities that can fortify organisations' multi-cloud security. Log360 has integrated the four pillars of CASBs to help organisations solve various cloud security challenges, and in the near future, it will incorporate all modes of CASB deployment.
TRANSFORMING TALK TIME
Ekta Putran, Head of Sales APAC & MEA - Collaboration, Barco discusses how
Video Bars are rewiring the region’s
hybrid workplace
Ekta Puthran Head of Sales APAC & MEA –Collaboration, Barco
In today’s fast-evolving work environment in dynamic growth markets like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the demand for seamless hybrid work solutions has never been greater. A hybrid workplace would be incomplete without efficient video conferencing solutions, which are essential for bridging the gap between remote and in-person collaboration. These tools are critical for ensuring seamless communication, maintaining productivity, and fostering meaningful connections across teams, no matter where they are located.
Video conferencing solutions have seen consistent growth over the past decade. As companies and government entities embrace the flexibility of remote and in-person collaboration, all-in-one
video bars have emerged as essential tools for modern conference rooms. These devices have become critical for facilitating hybrid meetings, ensuring that everyone—whether in the office or working remotely—can communicate effectively.
According to a Frost and Sullivan report, 52% of IT decision-makers across various industries and countries have adopted these collaboration solutions. Video bars integrate cameras, microphones, and speakers into a single device, streamlining setup and reducing potential points of failure. This integration maximizes technology uptime, a crucial factor for organizations in KSA and UAE where business continuity is paramount.
As the region undergoes rapid digital transformation—driven by initiatives like Saudi Vision 2030 and the UAE’s Smart Government strategy—choosing the right video bar technology is key to maintaining a competitive edge. So, what should IT managers look for when equipping their meeting spaces with the right technology that seamlessly adapts to the needs of their organizations?
Choosing the Right Solution
When it comes to video features, quality should be non-negotiable. This is especially crucial when it comes to ensuring crystal-clear communication. The camera resolution, field of view (FoV), high dynamic range (HDR) technology, and AI-powered framing options are all critical considerations.
A 4K camera (Ultra HD) is standard in most all-in-one video bars, providing sharp and clear visuals that enhance the overall meeting experience. In the context of hybrid work, where participants may be spread across multiple locations this clarity ensures that every detail is captured and communicated effectively.
The FoV determines how much of the room the camera captures, which is essential for ensuring all participants are visible. Most video bars offer FoVs between 95° and 120°, depending on the room size—ideal for the diverse meeting spaces found in the sprawling business hubs of the region’s rapidly growing corporate sector.
HDR technology further enhances image quality by improving color and contrast, adapting to changes in lighting conditions for clear and balanced visuals. This is particularly useful for busi-
nesses in there region where natural light can vary significantly throughout the day, and offices often feature large windows. AI-powered framing options allow the camera to automatically adjust its view and focus, ensuring all on-site participants are well-framed and visible. This feature is invaluable in high-stakes meetings where every participant’s input is crucial.
Crystal-Clear Audio for Effective Communication
Next, we dive into audio features like speakers, microphones, microphone arrays, and noise and echo cancellation. The impact of audio quality on the overall perceived quality of audio-visual content is crucial—it can make or break the meeting experience.
High-quality speakers are essential for clear, distortion-free audio, ensuring effective communication between in-room and remote participants. In regions like KSA and UAE, where multilingual teams are common, clarity in audio is critical to avoid miscommunication.
Microphone arrays, which are clusters of microphones working together, capture clear audio from all participants, making sure that everyone is heard, no matter where they are in the room. This is especially important in large, boardroom-style meetings that are common with businesses in the region.
Noise and echo cancellation are also key. Noise cancellation filters out background noises such as traffic, fans, and air conditioning, enhancing audio clarity. Acoustic echo cancellation prevents echo, ensuring clear audio output in environments where microphones and speakers are close to each other. In busy metropolitan areas like these features can significantly improve meeting quality by reducing distractions. Automatic gain control adjusts microphone levels to maintain consistent audio volume regardless of how loudly or quietly participants speak.
Collaboration Features: The Future of Hybrid Meetings
Finally, the ability to offer wireless conferencing and presentation is an added value for all-in-one video bars. In a region where agility and speed are valued, the ability to quickly connect to a meeting without the hassle of wires can be a game-changer. Wireless conferencing and presentation capabilities enable users to connect their laptops wirelessly to room displays and AV equipment, facilitating quick and easy hybrid meetings. These capabilities can usually be found as separate user-friendly solutions for BYOM (Bring Your Own Meeting) spaces, like ClickShare Conference, or sometimes integrated into all-in-one video bar devices.
Compatibility with multiple conferencing platforms is another important feature. Devices that support Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, and Google Meet offer greater flexibility. Where global business connections are common, this flexibility ensures that organizations can communicate with ease, regardless of the platform their partners use.
Embracing the Future of Work in the Middle East
As the Middle East continues to embrace digital transformation, the role of high-quality video collaboration tools cannot be overstated. By considering the key features—video quality, audio clarity, and collaboration capabilities—IT managers in KSA and UAE can ensure that their organizations are equipped for the future of work. This not only enhances productivity and communication but also positions these organizations as leaders in the region’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.
For regional organizations looking to stay ahead, investing in the right video bar technology is no longer just an option—it’s a necessity. With the right tools, businesses can bridge the gap between remote and in-person communication, ensuring that they remain competitive in a global market.
HOW TO DEAL WITH UNMANAGED DEVICES AND SECURITY
Richard Sorosina, Chief Technical Security Officer EMEA and APAC, Qualys discusses how blending a range of different technologies can help establish a comprehensive inventory of all your IT assets and automatically distinguish between trusted and untrusted assets
Over the past three years, the position of zero trust and access control has become more and more important to CISOs. According to the annual Leadership Perspective Survey published by Gartner peer community company, Evanta, in 2024, the category of User Access, IAM and Zero Trust is now the number one functional priority for CISOs, taking over from cloud security. However, while many CISOs want to adopt a zero trust mindset and embrace better security for their operations, getting to this goal is much harder than they imagine.
Zero trust and proactive security
CISOs want to implement zero trust because it reduces the likelihood of a breach and the potential impact of any breach that does occur. It also makes it easier to take a proactive risk management approach across the organisation. As part of this, it focuses on unmanaged devices. The Zero Trust Security Architecture model states that no assets (inside or outside the perimeter) should be automatically trusted.
The issue around zero trust is that it is not a technology project. Instead, implementing zero trust involves adopting a comprehensive philosophy across all security operations, encompassing network configuration, impact limitation and micro
Richard Sorosina Chief Technical Security Officer EMEA and APAC, Qualys
segmentation processes, in order to deliver that improved security posture for the organisation.
Getting this change in culture in place is difficult. It needs careful leadership, development of links across the organisation, and sustained support to make the change stick. However, there is a fundamental issue that many CISOs still need to address if they want to make zero trust effective. That is how many companies still have assets that they don’t know about.
According to our research, 69 percent of organisations experienced at least one cyber attack due to an unknown or unmanaged asset. While traditionally unmanaged assets might be thought of as rogue endpoints or additional servers in the data centre, today these assets can include a wide variety of IT services, including software installed, cloud-based workloads, user accounts that have not been properly managed, and connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices too. Each of these assets can either get onto the corporate network or connect to it, and then represent a potential route for an attack.
In our work with companies, we found that CISOs had to add on average 34 percent more assets to their asset lists. This represents a huge additional overhead for companies around their IT, increasing management costs and potential risks for the future, if not addressed.
How to solve the problem
To address these issues and make zero trust a reality, we first have to admit where the problems are. Some of these may surprise you.
The first issue is whether we recognise that there is a problem around IT asset management at all. After all, while you can’t secure what you don’t know about, how many of us put this at the top of our to do lists? If your asset list is incomplete, then you are not able to make accurate decisions on what to prioritise across cloud workloads, containers, IoT systems, mobile devices, remote endpoints, and Operational Technology (OT) deployments. In turn, this can affect all your assumptions on risk modelling and how secure you really are. We may end up being massively over-confident about how much risk the business is exposed to.
The second issue we have to admit is that we may not address asset management as a critical competency. Instead, it is often delegated or passed around the team, and treated as a chore. It also relies on multiple teams to carry out the work involved. Without executive attention, it is hard to keep any asset list up to date, current and accurate. When it is treated as a critical task, then it will get the investment and concentration needed.
Alongside senior level support, we have to recognise that existing enterprise software tools cannot illuminate every platform. While we might have an accurate view of the cloud, say, we might not have that same level of accuracy and insight for IoT
devices. Using any one tool to get the information we need is not reliable enough when there are so many platforms in place. Instead, we have to collaborate and use different methods to get all the data that we need, then organise it effectively. This includes blending a range of different technologies, from active and passive scanning techniques and security agents to APIbased discovery tools.
This combination will establish a comprehensive inventory of all your IT assets and keep it up to date in real time. This record should allow your team to automatically distinguish between trusted and untrusted assets and make decisions on how to handle those assets effectively. In turn, this makes it easier to apply zero-trust principles across all your devices.
Applying a risk-based approach
Once you can see all your assets, you can make more accurate and informed decisions around risk. With companies having a third more IT assets on average than they expect, that category will include a range of different assets that will vary from inconsequential and forgotten devices through to critical applications that suffered from what Douglas Adams called the “Somebody Else’s Problem Field” issue.
Knowing about those assets is the first step to improving security across a diverse device landscape. Based on this information, you can set out a zero trust strategy and then concentrate your resources on those devices, applications and workloads that are critical to the business. This approach reduces the potential impact of any breach, shrinks the potential attack surface and makes risk management programs more effective. Unmanaged devices represent a significant risk to security programs, but getting insight into all the devices that might enter your network is not impossible. It just needs prioritisation.
“Using any one tool to get the information we need is not reliable enough when there are so many platforms in place. Instead, we have to collaborate and use different methods to get all the data that we need, then organise it effectively.”
IT’S TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT DATA RESILIENCE
Rick
Vanover Vice President of Product Strategy, Veeam
Rick Vanover, Vice President of Product Strategy, Veeam says that as AI quickly becomes part of the tech stack, it's vital to ensure these fall within the rest of the business's data governance and protection principles.
Omar Akar Regional VP, Middle East & Emerging Africa, Pure Storage
Almost two decades ago, Clive Humby coined the now-infamous phrase “data is the new oil”. With artificial intelligence (AI), we’ve got the new internal combustion engine. The discourse around AI has reached a fever pitch, but this ‘age of AI’ we have entered is just a chapter in a story that’s been going on for years - digital transformation.
The AI hype gripping every industry right now is understandable. The potential is big, exciting, and revolutionary, but before we run off and start our engines, organizations need to put processes in place to power data resilience and ensure their data is available, accurate, protected, and intelligent so that their busi-
ness continues to run no matter what happens. Look after your data, and it will look after you.
Take control before shadow sprawl does
It's far easier to manage with training and controls early on when it comes to something so pervasive and ever-changing as a company’s data. You don’t want to be left trying to ‘unbake the cake.’ The time to start is now. The latest McKinsey Global Survey on AI found that 65% of respondents reported that their organization regularly uses Gen AI (double from just ten months before). But the stat that should give IT and security leaders pause is that nearly half of the respondents said they are ‘heavily customizing’ or developing their own models.
This is a new wave of ‘shadow IT’ – unsanctioned or unknown use of software, or systems across an organization. For a large enterprise, keeping track of the tools teams across various business units might be using is already a challenge. Departments or even individuals building or adapting large language models (LLMs) will make it even harder to manage and track data movement and risk across the organization. The fact is, it’s almost impossible to have complete control over this, but putting processes and training in place around data stewardship, data privacy, and IP will help. If nothing else, having these measures in place makes the company’s position far more defendable if anything goes wrong.
Managing the risk
It’s not about being the progress police. AI is a great tool that organizations and departments will get enormous value out of. But as it quickly becomes part of the tech stack, it's vital to ensure these fall within the rest of the business's data governance and protection principles. For most AI tools, it's about mitigating the operational risk of the data that flows through them. Broadly speaking, there are three main risk factors: security (what if an outside party accesses or steals the data?), availability (what if we lose access to the data, even temporarily?), and accuracy (what if what we’re working from is wrong?).
This is where data resilience is crucial. As AI tools become integral to your tech stack, you need to ensure visibility, governance, and protection across your entire ‘data landscape’. It comes back to the relatively old-school CIA triad - maintaining confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data. Rampant or uncontrolled use of AI models across a business could create gaps. Data resilience is already a priority in most areas of an organization, and LLMs and other AI tools need to be covered. Across the business, you need to understand your business-critical data and where it lives. Companies might have good data governance and resilience now, but if adequate training isn’t put in place, uncontrolled use of AI could cause issues. What’s worse, is you might not even know about them.
Building (and maintaining) data resilience
Ensuring data resilience is a big task - it covers the entire orga-
nization, so the whole team needs to be responsible. It’s also not a ‘one-and-done’ task, things are constantly moving and changing. The growth of AI is just one example of things that need to be reacted to and adapted to. Data resilience is an all-encompassing mission that covers identity management, device and network security, and data protection principles like backup and recovery. It’s a massive de-risking project, but for it to be effective it requires two things above all else: the already-mentioned visibility, and senior buy-in. Data resilience starts in the boardroom. Without it, projects fall flat, funding limits how much can be done, and protection/availability gaps appear. The fatal ‘NMP’ (“not my problem”) can’t fly anymore.
Don’t let the size of the task stop you from starting. You can’t do everything, but you can do something, and that is infinitely better than doing nothing. Starting now will be much easier than starting in a year when LLMs have sprung up across the organization. Many companies may fall into the same issues as they did with cloud migration all those years ago, you go all-in on the new tech and end up wishing you’d planned some things ahead, rather than having to work backwards. Test your resilience by doing drills - the only way to learn how to swim is by swimming. When testing, make sure you have some realistic worstcase scenarios. Try doing it without your disaster lead (they’re allowed to go on vacation, after all). Have a plan B, C, and D. By doing these tests, it’s easy to see how prepped you are. The most important thing is to start.
“As AI tools become integral to your tech stack, you need to ensure visibility, governance, and protection across your entire ‘data landscape’. It comes back to the relatively old-school CIA triad - maintaining confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data.”
AI IS STRAINING AGING IT INFRASTRUCTURES
Modernisation is key to enabling sustainable and economic growth in intelligent automation writes Reshma Naik, Director, Systems Engineering, Emerging EMEA, Nutanix
It’s been just over a year and a half since the launch of ChatGPT and yet generative AI is now on the lips of most business execs. GenAI has been what Forrester CEO George Colony referred to as “the most important technology thunderstorm of the last 40 years,” and tech leaders across the EMEA region seem to agree. AI is now a priority for 90% of IT, DevOps, and platform engineering decision makers, at least according to the Vanson Bourne and Nutanix State of Enterprise AI Report. But as with any rapid advance in technology, questions start to be asked of the existing IT infrastructure and its ability to cope. Are current systems really up to the demands of an AI gold rush?
The short answer is no. To begin with, we have an energy efficiency problem. This is something Gartner warned about back in December 2022, saying that by 2025 “AI will consume more energy than the human workforce, significantly offsetting carbon-zero gains.” Also a study called the Growing energy footprint of AI, suggested that the AI industry could consume as much energy as a country the size of the Netherlands by 2027.
Reshma Naik Director, Systems Engineering, Emerging EMEA, Nutanix
The need to address, or at least the need for ESG reporting considerations to be addressed, was highlighted in the State of Enterprise AI Report. Today most AI/ML model inferencing and training is conducted on high-performance GPUs, which are supported by equally high-performance memory and storage. Combined, these solutions consume significant amounts of electricity and require additional power to actively cool within a private or public data centre. The report also identified additional challenges around skills. Gaps in AI capabilities, as well as ESG, are big concerns. Over 40% of EMEA respondents in the report claim they lack GenAI and prompt engineering skills, and desperately need data scientists. This will inevitably impact organisations’ ability to meet their own expectations with AI projects.
This becomes even more pronounced when considering other major factors such as managing data and scalability in back-office functionality. Skills shortages and a need to modernise systems do not go well together, so addressing skills is important in meeting the on-going demands of infrastructure change.
This is the modern world
AI will only add pressure to existing systems, so there is also growing recognition of the need to address the managing and support of running AI workloads at scale. In fact, EMEA respondents ranked this as the number one challenge over the next two years. In addition, respondents also cited security, reliability and disaster recovery as important considerations in their AI strategy.
With infrastructure modernisation and data security outranking cost (the third-lowest consideration for EMEA organisations running or planning to run AI workloads), there is a clear indication within the region that organisations recognise that to really benefit from AI they have to get their infrastructure house in order.
This is further illustrated by the report, with over 90% of EMEA respondents agreeing that their IT costs and cloud spending will both increase due to AI applications. In short, EMEA organisations are showing a willingness to spend in support of their AI initiatives. The challenge is where and how to spend it wisely.
It will come down to prioritisation. While identifying and remediating skills shortages are a constant issue, especially when it comes to emerging technologies, infrastructure modernisation is key. AI applications and services have a symbiotic relationship with their underlying datasets, models, and infrastructure. This is something the report shows that
enterprises are acutely aware of, so the challenge is how to develop data security and quality strategies to make their AI technology as reliable and resilient as possible.
Inevitably, the gold rush nature of GenAI adoption will lead to some short-term over-spend to plug skills gaps and deliver infrastructure capabilities. However, a longer-term modernisation plan is needed to really benefit from the technology, to ensure scalability and intelligent workloads that optimise costs and energy use. This will mean effective implementation and management of data across multiple environmentsdata centre, cloud, and edge – as each will play a critical role in supporting an end-to-end AI workflow.
This data management should also consider security, data quality and data protection. Given data sovereignty requirements, especially in the EMEA region, this should be a core tenet of any AI strategy. Of course, this is all a work in progress. Organisations are still trying to work out how best to use GenAI but use it they will. Inevitably, there will be early adopters, accelerating adoption and making mistakes along the way but for the majority there are some fundamentals here. Existing infrastructures are not enough. They will creak and fail under the strain of AI, if not physically then almost certainly in terms of capability and governance. Thankfully, on that score, for most organisations, AI will be a marathon, not a sprint.
“AI will only add pressure to existing systems, so there is also growing recognition of the need to address the managing and support of running AI workloads at scale. In fact, EMEA respondents ranked this as the number one challenge over the next two years.”
DATA-DRIVEN DECISIONS RESHAPE POWER AND UTILITIES
The power sector has more data than ever on nearly every process in its value chain. Now, new technologies are helping make sense of all those details to provide competitive advantages – and it’s not a moment too soon, says David Thomason, Industry Principal – Power Generation at AVEVA
David Thomason
Industry Principal – Power Generation at AVEVA
Power has an essential role in today’s world. It fuels economic growth, supports industry, and provides billions of people with electricity for everyday needs. But evolving dynamics are changing the sector in many ways.
Renewables’ share of global electricity generation will exceed one third by 2024. Depending on weather conditions, next year may be the first in which more electricity worldwide is generated from renewables than coal, according to International Energy Agency forecasts.
Emissions regulations, meanwhile, are tightening. Power companies therefore face a pressing need to make their operations more efficient, and improve reliability, resiliency and safety –while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with global net-zero commitments.
Power majors have been early adopters of digital transformation, in part to help deal with such dynamics. Cue a widespread adoption of smart grids, internet of things devices, advanced sensors and digital twins.
With these tools, power plants are now highly sensorized, continuously collecting and storing vast amounts of data every day. However, aggregate data volumes are growing faster than ever. Scaled up, data from every industry and consumer process will reach 180 zettabytes by 2025, up from 64.2 zettabytes in 2020, according to Statista.
In the 21st century, data is the new gold.
Yet, in this sea of data, the real challenge lies in extracting meaningful insights that enhance how we generate, distribute, and consume energy.
Like gold, data needs to be mined, refined and molded into shape before it yields its true value.
In the power sector, just 20-30% of available data is being put to use, McKinsey research shows.
Now, advanced technologies are playing a crucial role in making sense of this data. From statistical analysis to machine learning, artificial intelligence and cloud computing, these tools and capabilities are helping power companies to process, analyze, visualize and interpret data efficiently for better decision making.
Lay down a solid data foundation
The power sector understands data is key to overcoming tackling complex market challenges. Cloud-based data management systems can help organize, archive and contextualize data from a wide range of sources. Such systems complement physical infrastructure and serve as a foundation – or single source of truth – for all operations data. With access to this single digital thread, users across an organization can analyze extensive operational data in context from edge to enterprise.
Energy Queensland, which serves 2.3 million customers across the Australian state, uses data to monitor grid capacity. Large solar farms produce greater amounts of renewable energy and independent, home-based units have put downward pressure on operating costs. By utilizing real-time data on grid infrastructure, weather, and geographic features, engineers efficiently managed power flow, reducing unplanned outages, and maximizing network capacity. This approach improved customer satisfaction while increasing asset utilization by 20%.
Detect and correct anomalies across the value chain
Reliable, on-demand power requires a stable grid, but pressures for more sustainable practices are on the rise. Predictive analytics solutions can put operations data to good use. By leveraging historical and real-time data, predictive analytics algorithms help anticipate future demand, supply fluctuations, and potential grid instabilities, enabling utilities to take proactive and preventive measures to assure reliable supplies. The technology also supports predictive maintenance practices, so equipment failures can be detected in advance, slashing downtime, optimizing asset management and using fewer resources – leading to improved cost and sustainability impacts.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is one of North America’s largest clean power producers. It uses a predictive analytics system natively integrated with a cloud-based data management tool across its renewable and nuclear fleet, thereby enabling AI-infused condition-based maintenance. Engineers don’t need to manually download and analyze transformer data any longer and the company has now shifted to a predictive operating model, using over 1,200 predictive and prescriptive maintenance
operating models. OPG saved up to $4 million in efficiency savings achieved within the first 24 months, while cutting risk and improving operational efficiency by freeing up 3,000 annual maintenance hours.
Get a holistic view of enterprise operations
Different types of data are being collected across the power and energy sector. Besides engineering and operations, such data can come from financial and enterprise sources, as well as from external suppliers and partners. Modern technology solutions such as a Unified Operations Center (UOC) can integrate these sets into a holistic picture for complete end-to-end visualization and unlock faster returns on investment.
In the energy sector, for example, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, a diversified group of energy companies, centralizes millions of data points across its entire value chain at its Panorama Digital Command Centre, enabling savings of between $60 million and $100 million.
Enable frictionless data sharing for multiple stakeholders
With distributed resources becoming commonplace thanks to the growth of renewable energy supplies, an interconnected electric grid supply chain is crucial. Seamless power generation requires that multiple stakeholders are able to access different datasets from power producers. Emerging solutions such as a scalable SaaS products can now respond to these needs, providing secure and customized access to each stakeholder as required to meet its specific responsibilities within the network.
In California, consulting firm ZGlobal and electricity provider Silicon Valley Clean Energy have pioneered a data-sharing community using a cloud data management SaaS. The partners can securely share the respective real-time and historical datasets with multiple stakeholders, including producers, suppliers, schedulers and auditors. Each player has a customized, periodic report with all the information they need. Thousands of dollars have been saved on power purchases. And overall, data transparency, collaboration, and trust have improved, while enhancing security.
Leverage insights for competitive advantage
As the power industry continues to be transformed at many different levels, operators will need to become more resilient, reliable and efficient. The value of insights becomes even more critical in these situations, empowering the power sector to adapt to evolving challenges, such as climate change, increasing energy demand, and regulatory requirements, while paving the way for a greener, more efficient, and interconnected energy future.
Data-driven insights can a competitive advantage that helps companies navigate the rapidly changing market with agility.
TOSHIBAS300 PRO SURVEILLANCE HDDS
Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH (Toshiba) announces its next-generation S300 Pro Surveillance Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) targeting the latest requirements in the surveillance storage market. With capacities up to 10TB and double the buffer size, the upgraded HDDs with conventional magnetic recording (CMR) technology enable surveillance system integrators, system installation providers, and end users to record, store and anal-
yse their video streams from up to 64 high-definition (HD) cameras.
The high scalable, 3.5-inch S300 Pro Surveillance HDDs, with capacity options of 4TB, 6TB, 8TB and 10TB, now support up to 24 bays, making them an excellent fit for large-scale video recording systems, delivering reliable operation even in the most demanding environments. Additionally, compared to the previous generation,
the new S300 Pro provides a higher maximum sustained transfer speed of 268MiB/s] and doubles the cache buffer size to 512MiB. The S300 Pro HDDs also reduce power consumption, delivering improved total cost of ownership (TCO).
Highlights:
• With 24/7 operation, an enhanced annual workload of 300TB and mean time to failure (MTTF) of up to 1.2 million hours, the S300 Pro can handle the increasing video analysis demands of mission-critical surveillance footage.
• The next-generation S300 Pro’s extended warranty period, from 3 to 5 years, demonstrates Toshiba’s high durability and engineering quality of its HDDs.
• Optimised for large-scale video surveillance operations, where advanced video analytics, face recognition and editing are mission-critical features
• Offers up to 10 TB storage capacity to capture and retain every critical moment for long periods with real-time object identification and face recognition.
D-LINK DAP-X3060 AND DAP-X3060OU
D-Link Corporation launched its latest enterprise-grade access points, the DAP-X3060 and DAP-X3060OU. Featuring stateof-the-art Wi-Fi 6 technology, these models significantly enhance network performance and reduce latency, offering up to a 25% increase in speed from 256-QAM to 1024-QAM compared to previous Wi-Fi standards. Equipped with dual-band capabilities and an intuitive management platform, both access points provide exceptional network efficiency and seamless, interference-free coverage for businesses of all sizes.
Harnessing the power of Wi-Fi 6 with speeds up to 3,000 Mbps, the DAP-X3060 and DAP-X3060OU deliver blazing-fast connectivity that ensures stable data transfer and high-quality
streaming, even in the most demanding environments. The dual-band capability supports maximum wireless signal rates of up to 2402 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and 574 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. These enterprise access points are equipped with advanced features such as band steering, 2x2 MU-MIMO, and beamforming to optimize the Wi-Fi experience by minimizing congestion. A PoE 2.5-Gigabit LAN port provides extensive backhaul capabilities, eliminating bottlenecks at the access point. With 802.3at Power over Ethernet (PoE) support, deployment of both access points is streamlined, requiring only a single cable for power and data, thereby reducing installation costs.
The Wi-Fi 6-enabled DAP-X3060 and DAP-X3060OU deliver robust, reliable connectivity for enterprises of all sizes.
AXIS I7010-VE
Axis Communications, a leader in network video, has introduced an extremely robust, outdoor-ready network intercom that delivers crystal clear audio with echo cancellation and noise reduction. Featuring an anti-ligature design, this easy-to-install intercom is ideal for installation in high security environments.
AXIS I7010-VE offers 92db SPL to deliver great audio quality that allows operators to clearly hear and communicate. It’s ideal in the most demanding situations and features echo cancellation and noise reduction to ensure voices are audible regardless of background noise.
This device offers seamless integration with Axis and third-party VMS systems. It also supports Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as well as open programming interfaces, including VAPIX and ONVIF. It also supports secure remote access, and a downloadable mobile app is included making it possible to communicate and grant access from your mobile device.
This extremely robust, IP66/IP69-rated network intercom includes a vandal-resistant IK10-rated casing and offers flexible installation in both indoor and outdoor applications. It fits into 2-gang installation boxes, and benefits from no visible screws—the casing simply snaps on. Plus, it’s possible to switch the I/O ports to a reader port for tighter integration with access control solutions.
Highlights:
• SPL 92db, echo cancellation, and noise reduction
• Anti-ligature, vandal-resistant IK10-rated
• Compatible with 2-gang installation boxes
• Open platform for easy integration
• Built-in cybersecurity with Axis Edge Vault
Highlights:
• The DAP-X3060 is expertly designed for indoor environments, offering versatile installation options, including ceiling and wall mounting, to seamlessly integrate into any business space.
• For outdoor applications, the DAP-X3060OU comes equipped with surge protection and an IP68-certified weatherproof housing, safeguarding against dust, rain, heat, snow, and rust, even in extreme temperatures ranging from -30°C to 60°C. This makes the DAP-X3060OU ideal for outdoor locations that demand reliable wireless coverage, such as campuses, resorts, public parks, and event venues.
• To meet the diverse needs of modern wireless networks, the DAP-X3060 and DAP-X3060OU are fully compatible with our Nuclias Connect on-premises management platform.
• The DAP-X3060 and DAP-X3060OU are now available through D-Link’s global network of authorized distributors and resellers.
75% of enterprises will prioritize backup of SaaS Applications by 2028
Gartner predicts risk of IT outages underscores need for regular backup and
recovery of critical enterprise data
By 2028, 75% of enterprises will prioritize backup of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications as a critical requirement, compared to 15% in 2024, according to Gartner, Inc.
SaaS-based applications have become a preferred choice for new and modernized deployments, with the data these applications generate expected to be among the fastest-growing sets of critical enterprise data over the next five years. According to Gartner’s latest forecast, worldwide end-user SaaS spending is projected to grow 20% to total $247.2 billion in 2024, and is forecast to reach nearly $300 billion in 2025,
“The risk of IT outages underscores the urgent need for regular backup and recovery of critical enterprise data,” said Michael Hoeck, Sr Director Analyst at Gartner. “As businesses are more dependent on SaaS technologies, it becomes crucial to ensure that SaaS data is both protected and recoverable. Given the vulnerability of SaaS data to errors, cyberattacks, and vendor mishaps, robust backup solutions are indispensable.”
“Integrating Backup as a Service (BaaS)
is essential for safeguarding cloud workloads and maintaining operational continuity. Furthermore, enterprises must understand the shared data responsibility model of SaaS applications and evaluate their vendors’ data protection measures. If these measures are inadequate, third-party solutions should be considered to guarantee comprehensive data protection,” said Hoeck.
Seventy-Five Percent of Large Enterprises Will Adopt BaaS Alongside On-Premises Tools by 2028
“Protection and recovery of SaaS applications have often been a lower priority for many enterprises,” said Hoeck. “This is due to confusion over the native SaaS vendor’s responsibility for data protection, and the lack of industry-level standardization. Limited API-based data access for protection and recovery from native SaaS vendors further complicates effective data protection, slowing support for third-party backup solutions.”
However, the SaaS application backup market is rapidly growing, initially led by specialized startups but now also includes established enterprise backup and recovery software solutions companies. Gartner pre-
dicts that by 2028, 75% of large enterprises will adopt BaaS alongside on-premises tools to back up cloud and on-premises workloads.
To effectively safeguard SaaS-based application data, Gartner suggests that organizations focus on:
• Governance Assessment: Include data protection and recovery capabilities in the governance assessment of SaaS applications.
• Vendor Capabilities: Verify the SaaS vendor’s ability to protect and recover data from all possible loss scenarios.
• Third-Party Solutions: Use third-party SaaS backup solutions to complement the native capabilities of SaaS vendors. These solutions can improve administration, centralize and orchestrate protection of multiple SaaS applications, simplify processes, and offer improved granular recovery capabilities.
“As the market matures, it is essential for businesses to conduct thorough governance assessments and verify the capabilities of their SaaS vendors. Leveraging third-party backup solutions can significantly enhance data protection
