Reseller Middle East September 2019 by Reseller Middle East

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY DUBAI PRODUCTION CITY, DCCA

CONTENTS

STRATEGIC VAD PARTNER

ISSUE 271 // SEPTEMBER 2019

THE PERFECT PARTNERSHIP FVC’s K.S. Parag, and Barco’s Ramzi Itani on how the two companies enabled each other’s success in the region.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEWS We help you catch up on all the major news and announcements in the regional channel community.

OPINION

Osama AlHaj-Issa on how HPE Aruba can enable partners to enhance their expertise in selling at the edge.

22 ENABLING ENTERPRISE

Infoblox Jesper Andersen shares insights into why subscription-based IT services aren’t just about saving money.

34 ABOVE AND BEYOND

Westcon-Comstor’s Steve Lockie on the firm’s commitment to delivering extraordinary services to partners.

VENDOR FOCUS

MOBILITY

Zebra Technologies’ Hozefa Saylawala discusses why organisations need to use enterprise-class smartphones as mobility becomes ubiquitous across all verticals.

36 DECODING OPPORTUNITIES

nCipher Security’s Simon Taylor shares regional plans and discusses partner opportunities in the cloud era.

38 STEP INTO THE FUTURE

FEATURE

Riverbed’s Mena Migally on how the company is fuelling manmachine synergies in the region.

30 POWERING PERSONALISATION

SUBSCRIBE TO CHANGE

PARTNER WATCH

20 EDGE IN

Capillary Technologies Vikram Bhat on how Artificial Intelligence can enable retailers to truly customise experiences for their consumers.

PRODUCTS

44 SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 10 AND GALAXY NOTE 10+

HP UNVEILS ‘WORLD’S FIRST’ DUAL SCREEN GAMING LAPTOP

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

EDITORIAL FOUNDER, CPI MEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015)

Final word

Publishing Director Natasha Pendleton natasha.pendleton@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9139

have been thinking about the contents of my last editor’s note for one of the most reputed IT channel publications in the region. What words do I use to describe the honour it has been to carry the legacy forward of a magazine operational for over two decades? As I wistfully hand over the torch to my successor, I realise this is one of those times where I may be at a loss for words. My time at CPI Media Group has been an incredible experience. I had arrived in the city as a novice and the lessons I’ve gained over the past six years will stay with me for a long time. People are what matter the most for any thing in life. It has been a privilege working closely with the stalwarts of the regional channel industry and learning the intricate nuances of the partner business. In this role, I have had the opportunity to meet truly inspiring individuals from across partner, distribution and vendor firms who have positively impacted their business and the overall market in a big way. This experience has also gifted me friends who I have begun to think of as family over time. It has been exciting to work with some of my most talented colleagues and mentors. I’m thankful to everyone at CPI who has played a role in supporting and helping me do this job better. I am extremely proud to be a part of the history of this magazine. I hope to see it continue to soar and become more successful than it already is. Thank you for a memorable six years.

EDITORIAL Deputy Editor Sharon Saldanha sharon.saldanha@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9167 Online Editor Adelle Geronimo adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9135 DESIGN Head of Design Froilan Cosgafa IV froilan.cosgafa@cpimediagroup.com Senior Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com Designer Marlou Delaben marlou.delaben@cpimediagroup.com ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Kausar Syed kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9130 Business Development Manager Youssef Hariz youssef.hariz@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9111 Senior Sales Manager Sabita Miranda sabita.miranda@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9128 CIRCULATION Operations Manager Cherylann D’Abreo cherylann.dabreo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9107 DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developers Jefferson de Joya Abbas Madh Photographers Max Poriechkin Charls Thomas webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100

Janees Reghelini Editor

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Registered at Dubai Production City, DCCA PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 © Copyright 2019 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

7 HIGHLIGHTS

THREATQUOTIENT INKS NEW META DISTRIBUTION DEAL

hreatQuotient has announced a strategic partnership and value-added distributor (VAD) agreement with StarLink. According to the terms of the agreement, StarLink will promote and distribute ThreatQuotient’s platform, ThreatQ, through its extensive network of channel partners and solution providers across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. “Like many regions, there is a growing need in Middle East, Turkey and Africa for strengthened security operations and improved threat intelligence management which is why ThreatQuotient is excited to expand

our footprint into these markets with the support of StarLink,” said Anthony Perridge, VP of International, ThreatQuotient. “We are confident in StarLink’s long term competencies in cybersecurity through their extensive portfolio of security solutions, a solid channel network, and years of expertise and market knowledge. We look forward to joining StarLink’s impressive portfolio of technology solutions, and maintaining innovative, competitive programmes that drive efficiency for our mutual customers and offer the highest quality threat intelligence tools available,”

BARRACUDA NETWORKS INKS DISTRIBUTION PARTNERSHIP WITH CRAYON

arracuda and value-added distributor Crayon have announced a distribution agreement for the Gulf region. According to Barracuda, the agreement provides Crayon the rights to its Barracuda Cloud Solutions to its customers through the widespread channel network across the ME region. Husni Hammoud, general manager, Barracuda Middle East Turkey and Central Eastern Europe, said, “The Crayon relationship is a perfect match for our business style, as it showcases an extensive portfolio of security solutions from global vendors, a solid channel network, and years of competency, expertise and market

Anthony Perridge, ThreatQuotient

he added. Large and small threat intelligence teams benefit by using ThreatQ to apply customer-defined scoring of intelligence, quickly deploy threat data to existing sensor grids, and cornerstone workflows to focus on time to detect (TTD) and time to

knowledge to further strengthen our market presence by developing a strong channel ecosystem.” Barracuda’s existing relationships with leading technologies on the Crayon portfolio complements the distribution relationship by allowing an integrated approach to enterprises in the region. Crayon on-ground expert teams will serve as an extension to accelerate market growth and support their resellers by providing more flexibility, opportunity and resources to help customers who wants to secure their network on cloud. The VAD will also support Barracuda’s expansion plans in the region by penetrating untapped markets through its structured business development and product teams. Toni El Inati, regional VP, Barracuda Middle East and Turkey, said, “Success in developing Total Security Framework comes from understanding a specific customer situation and offering the right solution. Barracuda partnered with Crayon in Middle East region and are working together on

respond (TTR). Nidal Othman, co-founder and managing director, StarLink, said, “Even after deploying multiple layers of security, organisations are continuing to fall victim to intrusions. This is mainly due to having traditional methods of security systems. What is lacking is an advanced security strategy. This is where ThreatQ’s Threat Intelligence Platform can help enterprises accelerate their security operations with a threat-centric approach. We are looking forward to add value to this partnership through our regional expertise and capabilities and grow ThreatQ’s market share in this region.”

(L-R) Toni El Inati, Barracuda Networks and Karim Kalaawi, Crayon MEA

developing the channel on Barracuda Solutions for Public Cloud and SaaS Deployments.” Karim Kalaawi, general manager Cloud and Distribution, Crayon Middle East and Africa, said, “Barracuda is a perfect fit to Crayon’s Cloud strategy as it complements our current portfolio with topnotch award-winning IT security products and solutions. This partnership will help Crayon accelerate the pace of customer and partner adoption of secure solutions in the cloud across providers.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

8 HIGHLIGHTS

Stephan Berner, Help AG

HELP AG UNVEILS NEW MDR OFFERING

elp AG, regional cybersecurity solutions, services and consultancy provider, has unveiled its new Critical Services Integrity Monitoring (CSIM) service. An ‘add-on’ to the company’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) offering, this new addition delivers 24×7 monitoring of DNS records, SSL certificates and website landing pages, thereby protecting customers against service unavailability, and the interception and manipulation of sensitive digital communications. The company has announced that this service will be extended to all its existing MSS clients. “The unfortunate reality for organisations today is that cyberattacks are inevitable and can result from a multitude of reasons,” said Stephan Berner, CEO, Help AG. “Our new CSIM service enables businesses to trust vital elements of their websites and online environments to our expertly qualified team who work around the clock to monitor and address those critical issues

and incidents that can so easily go undetected. This means that our customers can stay a step ahead of any incident.” As with all Help AG Managed Security Services, the new Critical Services Integrity Monitoring offering is delivered through the company’s Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) which leverages best-of-breed security products from industry leading vendors that include Splunk, Vectra, Demisto, Palo Alto Networks and Carbon Black. By using these tools and integrating them within CSOC workflows, Help AG’s CSIM service provides: Detection of suspicious changes to SSL Certificates: If a public-facing website has a certificate that has been changed or expired, it could enable hackers to take over that system, allowing them to intercept communications or tamper with sensitive data. This service protects against this by monitoring SSL certificates and flagging changes. Website Front Page Monitoring: By constantly testing key website

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

parameters including time for DNS response, time to load first byte, and total download time, Help AG could rapidly identify issues such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, or service unavailability. Monitoring of DNS Records: 82 percent of companies have experienced a DNS attack, with the average cost impact estimated at $1.07 million. By detecting malicious changes to DNS records, Help AG can help organisations avoid exploitation that could otherwise result in data leaks, phishing and other attacks. The unveiling of its CSIM service is in line with the systems integrator’s redesign and rationalisation of its MSS portfolio. This has been strategically undertaken to streamline services and allow easy future expansion. The company’s MSS offering today consists of six services – Managed Detection and Response, Managed Security Controls, Endpoint Detection and Response, Managed Vulnerability Assessment, Managed Threat Intelligence and MSS Add-ons.

10 HIGHLIGHTS

FORTINET TO PROTECT BUSINESSES’ DIGITAL ATTACK SURFACE AT GITEX 2019

SYMANTEC SELLS OFF ENTERPRISE SECURITY UNIT FOR $10.7 BILLION

ybersecurity firm Fortinet will highlight the importance of securing edge networks and showcase its Secure SD-WAN, SD-Branch, OT and Cloud Security solutions at GITEX 2019. “The network perimeter is being replaced with new Alain Penel, Fortinet edge networks. As data moves between multi-cloud, IoT, SD-WAN and next-gen branch offices, and mobile devices, the challenge is ensuring security and consistency between these environments,” said Alain Penel, regional vice president, Middle East, Fortinet. “At GITEX, we will further emphasise how the Fortinet Security Fabric delivers broad, integrated, and automated protection across an organisation’s entire digital attack surface from IoT to the edge, network core and multi-clouds.” Fortinet’s key solutions at the show include: Secure SD-WAN: Best-of-breed next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimisation capabilities, delivering a security-driven networking WAN edge transformation in a unified offering. Security solutions for ICS and SCADA: application- and user-identity awareness, content security with integrated intrusion prevention, antivirus, web filtering, SSL encryption/decryption and advanced threat protection and remeditation. Multi-cloud security: necessary visibility and control across cloud infrastructures, enabling secure applications and connectivity from data centre to cloud. Fortinet will be present in the Enterprise Networking and Security section in the Sheikh Rashid Hall Stand SR- C4, where it will hold live demo sessions, where visitors can also hear from its product experts about how Fortinet solutions protect the entire end-to-end infrastructure without compromising network performance.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

ymantec has sold off its enterprise security business to chipmaker Broadcom in a deal worth $10.7 billion. According to Broadcom, the addition of Symantec’s enterprise security portfolio will significantly expand its infrastructure software footprint as it continues to build one of the world’s leading infrastructure technology companies. Hock Tan, president and CEO, Broadcom, said, “M&A has played a central role in Broadcom’s growth strategy and this transaction represents the next logical step in our strategy following our acquisitions of Brocade and CA Technologies. “We look forward to expanding our footprint of mission critical infrastructure software within our core Global 2000 customer base.” With product lines across endpoint security, web security services, cloud security and data loss prevention, Symantec’s enterprise security business offers its customers a best-in-class suite of integrated solutions. Deploying Symantec’s enterprise security suite through Broadcom’s channels will strengthen its differentiated portfolio license agreement (PLA) strategy of offering significant overall savings to customers, while creating a predictable, recurring revenue stream for its business that will drive returns for shareholders. Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement, which has been approved by the Broadcom Board of Directors, Broadcom will pay Symantec $10.7 billion in cash at closing. Broadcom intends to fund the transaction with proceeds from new committed debt financing. The transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of Broadcom’s fiscal year 20201, is subject to regulatory approvals in the US, EU and Japan and other customary closing conditions. Following the closing of the transaction, Broadcom will own and incorporate the Symantec brand name into the Broadcom portfolio.

12 HIGHLIGHTS

TOSHIBA ROLLS OUT NEW SMART APP

MCAFEE TO ACQUIRE NANOSEC TO BOOST CLOUD SECURITY CAPABILITIES

cAfee has an-

Santosh Varghese, Toshiba

oshiba has launched its SMART App, which is aimed at helping its front-end customer facing team members and channel partners maximise the value of its products. With the new platform Toshiba seeks to deliver better experiences to its customers. Santosh Varghese, vice president, Toshiba Gulf, said, “We live in an era of perennial distractions and an attention deficit economy. There is also the deficit of time that one is grappling with. Given such a context, we at Toshiba felt that a one point ‘come to, go to’ destination that articulates all information, intelligence and knowledge about our product offerings seamlessly and with the least friction will greatly enhance and empower our channel partners and sales teams to not only deliver a better experience for our end users but also consistently raise the bar on facilitating more transactions through the power of better product understanding and thereby informed decision making.” Varghese further explained that the Toshiba SMART App was conceptualised to plug the gap that prevails when it comes to having the right information being available at the right time for its value chain and ultimately bring value to its customers. According to Toshiba, the “SM” in SMART app pertains to the sales and marketing functions as the platform exemplifies why the App will be a boon to corporate customers and channel partners alike. Currently the Toshiba Smart App can be downloaded from Google Play. The App integrates various sales tools, catalogues, infographics, marketing collaterals and quizzes, offering a holistic perspective of the suite of products for both internal and external value chain. “If you ask me to describe the Toshiba Smart App in two words, I would say ‘Actionable Intelligence’, that goes a long way in offering distilled, relevant, timely information that empowers both end customers and channel partners. It is also our commitment as a leading global brand to being as customer centric as possible and anticipate needs and aspirations that facilitate a much better experience for them,” said Varghese.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

nounced the acquisition of NanoSec, a multicloud, zero-trust application and security platform. The acquisition will enable orRajiv Gupta, McAfee ganisations to improve governance and compliance and to reduce risk of their cloud and container deployments. “McAfee’s focus and innovation have allowed it to deliver industry-leading cloud security capabilities to help our customers securely leverage the cloud to accelerate their business,” said Rajiv Gupta, senior vice president and general manager of the cloud security business unit, McAfee. “NanoSec’s technology is a natural extension for McAfee MVISION Cloud, enhancing our current CASB and CWPP products, and adding to our ‘Shift-Left’ capabilities to deliver on the DevSecOps best practice to improve governance and security. NanoSec’s team brings a wealth of experience to McAfee, and together we are committed to enabling organisations to reach their full cloud potential.” “Joining forces with McAfee means that our groundbreaking capabilities including our unique application-identity based approach for app-level protection and micro-segmentation will be available on a global scale,” said Vishwas Manral, founder and CEO of NanoSec. “McAfee has demonstrated not only its leadership in cloud security, but its desire to continually innovate and deliver new capabilities that reshape how organisations can operate workloads and applications safely in the cloud. It felt like a natural fit to join McAfee to deliver to application development and security professionals greater visibility and control over detecting, responding and resolving threats to reduce risk.” McAfee said its acquisition of NanoSec further demonstrates how the firm is working to integrate security natively into DevSecOps processes and toolsets to discover and address security issues before applications are deployed. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

14 HIGHLIGHTS

A10 NETWORKS SPOTLIGHTS PARTNER OPPORTUNITIES IN SECURITY AND MULTI-CLOUD

10 Networks has successfully hosted its EMEA Partner Summit with the theme ‘Navigating the Future’ between May 21st – 23rd, 2019 in Sardinia, Italy. The event, which included a channel conference and awards dinner, provided a platform for channel partners to network with their industry peers and the A10 worldwide and EMEA executive team. Over the course of the event, A10 executives delivered a number of sessions aimed at raising awareness about the company’s latest solutions and how these could help grow revenues and profitability for partners’ businesses. Partners were also given an overview of the company’s strategy for capturing the massive opportunity in security, 5G and multi cloud. A marketing master class on generating more demand and new customers saw strong interest from partners. There were also case studies presented where attendees were educat-

BITDEFENDER EXPANDS OPPORTUNITIES FOR MSP PARTNERS

lobal cybersecurity firm Bitdefender has revamped its Managed Services Provider (MSP) Program. According to the company, the new partnership structure will offer MSPs, who are increasingly being asked to consult on cybersecurity matters, a competitive advantage through access to market-leading technology, and opportunities to develop their business through the extension of services, while simplifying operational aspects. The Bitdefender MSP Program offers well-structured incentives, opportunities for increased profitability, and accelerated return on investment, the company said. The Program will be added to the company’s existing Partner Advantage Network Program (PAN), Reselling Channel Program and subsequently the Integrated Channel Program –

ed on how they could replicate large wins within their customer base. Ehab Halablab, regional channel head for Middle East and North Africa, A10 Networks, said, “Europe, Middle East and Africa continues to be one of the most interesting and rewarding regions for our business thanks to the latest technology trends including 5G security and automated multi-cloud app delivery solutions being embraced rapidly. “Building a strong and competent partner base to service increasing together forming part of the company’s consolidated global growth strategy. “The introduction of the MSP Program, and updates to the PAN, will ensure that our valued partners continue to benefit by being able to add new services and technologies to their portfolios,” said Cristian Corabu, senior director, Worldwide Enterprise Marketing at Bitdefender. “The decision to bolster the PAN with the new MSP Program consolidates Bitdefender’s global growth strategy. This expanded channel portfolio will scale rapidly and enable both Bitdefender and its partners to excel. The Bitdefender PAN already delivers real, demonstrable bottom-line value, along with clear differentiation for partners that invest in Bitdefender as their vendor of choice. We are confident that the MSP Program will do the same.” The Bitdefender MSP features multilevel architecture, which will give MSPs varying levels of access to marketing development funds, dedicated operational and business support and access to Bitdefender’s expert team of technical account managers.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

demands is vital to our strategy for the region, which is why partner enablement was a big focus of this event,” he added. As part of the event, A10 Networks organised a partner award ceremony where key partners were honoured for excelling in the marketplace and contributing to growing A10’s regional business. The award winners from the Middle East included: Ingram Micro – EMEA 2018 Distributor of the Year and TCS Saudi Arabia – EMEA Telecoms Partner Win of the Year.

Cristian Corabu, Bitdefender

For the Bronze level, which is the entry stage of the programme, partners can benefit from tier-based pricing, usage breakdown visibility per customer, Level 2 Support and NFR license keys for internal use. As for Silver, partners’ benefits are higher, including access to Marketing Development Resources, dedicated Partner Success Manager and Partner Locator listing. Finally, Gold partners can access the highest benefits including a dedicated Technical Account Manager and potential entry to the Partner Advisory Board and Reference Program.

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16 HIGHLIGHTS

TREND MICRO TO DEMO THE ‘ART OF CYBERSECURITY’

rend Micro has announced that it will showcase “The Art of Cybersecurity” during its participation at GITEX Technology Week 2019. The company will also highlight how 400 million pieces of global security data can enable enterprise protection on the cloud. Trend Micro has commissioned Dr. Moataz Bin Ali, Trend Micro six artists to process and interpret cybersecurity data. Rather than at a standalone stand, Trend Micro will showcase these artistic interpretations specialized pods at six different partners’ stands, as well as on screens between demos. “As the cybersecurity landscape becomes more complex, cyber-threats can be abstract to understand and ugly to confront when they strike,” said Dr. Moataz Bin Ali, vice president, Trend Micro, Middle East and North Africa. “However, with our GITEX theme of ‘The Art of Cybersecurity,’ we aim to show how cybersecurity can be beautiful when organizations literally see how siloed threats can be put together to show a big picture, helping organizations stay one step ahead of cyber-threats.” At the show, Trend Micro will also will highlight its Deep Security solution for cloud and data security with AWS, Microsoft, and VMware, along with its new XDR detection and response solution for email, endpoint, server, and network with its channel partners Redington and StarLink. Trend Micro will also highlight security innovations across DevOps, collaboration, and cloud apps.

BULWARK TECHNOLOGIES TO SHOWCASE IT SECURITY OFFERINGS

AE-based Bulwark Technologies has announced that it will be showcasing an array of internationally acclaimed products at GITEX Technology Week 2019. Gearing up for the event, the company has reiterated the importance of building a strong, integrated security infrastructure in the region. Located in Sheikh Rashid Hall, stand SR-D20, Bulwark will highlight its end-to-end security solutions and customer-centric distribution strategies during the show. The leading Value-Added Distributor will announce some major partnerships and demonstrate their ‘Best in Class’ products and solutions like Enterprise DLP,Web Application Vulnerability Scanner, Secure Encrypted Flash Drives/Hard Discs, Hardware Security Module (HSM) amongst others and elaborate on their collaboration with key vendors to act as their extended arms in the Middle East Region. “For GITEX, where we have been showcasing for over a decade now, we employ a two-pronged approach. We not only showcase optimum technologies catching pace in this region, but also introduce newer technologies that are gaining acceleration for their ease of use across the globe. Our approach this year has been driven based on a strong demand in the security distribution market,” said Jose Thomas Menacherry, managing director, Bulwark.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

RING TO PROMOTE INNOVATIONS FOR MAKING NEIGHBOURHOODS SAFER

ing will promote its innovative home security products and services at GITEX, Mohammad Meraj Hoda, Ring giving customers and neighbours the opportunity to experience Ring products firsthand and to learn about the devices’ features and benefits. “Ring’s mission to make neighbourhoods safer drives every decision we make. Your house is more than just four walls, it’s your home. It’s where we lay our heads down at night, where our children feel safe and where we keep our valuables. Whatever makes your house a home, we want to do everything we can to protect it and help provide convenience and peace of mind to homeowners by keeping an eye on their most important possession, their home, even when they can’t physically be there. The goal is to bring the same convenience and security to Middle Eastern neighborhoods,” said Mohammad Meraj Hoda, vice president of Business Development, Middle East and Africa, Ring. Ring will showcase its latest suite of smart home security products, including the Ring Stick Up Cams, Ring’s first cameras meant for both indoor and outdoor use. With multiple power options, Stick Up Cams give customers maximum flexibility to position the cameras anywhere to secure virtually every corner of their property. In addition, Ring will also showcase all available Ring Doorbells and Cams, which are all Wi-Fi enabled and equipped with HD video, motion-activated alerts, two-way talk, and night vision. Ring will be at GITEX at Zabeel Hall Z3C12.

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The latest of who has moved where in the IT channel business.

DELL TECHNOLOGIES NAMES NEW CHANNEL HEAD FOR MERAT

ell Technologies has appointed Vangelis Lagousakos as the senior director, Channel for the Middle East, Russia, Africa and

Turkey region. In his new role, Lagousakos will be responsible for strengthening relationships with channel partners, with a view to developing and enabling a robust partner community. As the new regional channel lead, Lagousakos will continue to develop a cohesive ecosystem to better serve Dell Technologies’ partners in their effort to accelerate their customers’ digital transformation. In addition, he will also enable partners to take advantage of all the capabilities that Dell Technologies’ family of businesses offers, while also re-skilling their staff for the future. Moving from his role as the senior director for Sales Planning and

Operations Channel Business for EMEA, and with over 30 years of experience Vangelis brings a wealth of experience and expertise to his new role. He has worked with Dell Technologies for 17 years in leadership roles across EMEA, including a stint as the Regional Sales Director for the UAE and Gulf region from 2015 to 2017. He replaces Havier Haddad, who takes on the role of general manager for the Gulf region at Dell Technologies. Mohammed Amin, senior vice president, Middle East, Russia, Africa and Turkey, Dell Technologies, said, “Lagousakos’ valuable experience and expertise has been a great asset to Dell Technologies over the years. His track record of building relationships and delivering results, will be critical to our growth in the region as we strengthen our focus on enabling our partners to build deep expertise in delivering the full spectrum of our portfolio of

solutions. Lagousakos and his team will continue to build on the successes of our partner program by providing partners with a clear roadmap and investing in skills development, that will enable them to successfully navigate the everchanging digital landscape.”

Vangelis Lagousakos, Dell Technologies

GULF BUSINESS MACHINES ANNOUNCES NEW CEO

ulf Business Machines (GBM) has announced the appointment of Amr Refaat as chief executive officer (CEO) for the company’s regional operations. Refaat joins from IBM, where he was general manager and vice president of IBM’s Middle East and Pakistan operations. He is taking over from Martin Tarr, who had decided to leave GBM earlier in the year. “The board is delighted to announce Refaat’s appointment,” said Nabil Iskander, GBM chairman. “His decades of experience in key technologies such as cloud, analytics and Artificial Intelligence, combined with his leadership skills make him perfectly suited to lead GBM at this critical time. Having spent the most substantial portion of his career working within the industry in the

Amr Refaat, GBM

region, he has a deep understanding of our customers’ profiles and how best to serve them, and he has a proven track record of implementing growth strategies, overseeing employee development and creating value for stakeholders. The Board looks forward to his contribution to GBM and its customers across the region.”

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

Prior to joining GBM, Refaat worked with IBM for over 30 years. Under his leadership, IBM expanded its presence in the Middle East region by opening offices in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Abu Dhabi and launching two client centres in the UAE, as well as IBM’s first Digital Design Studio in Dubai. Refaat graduated from Cairo University with a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) in Electrical Engineering. He went on to secure an MBA with distinction in International Business from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands. “I am delighted to be part of such a transformative organisation and I’m looking forward to working with the team here at GBM to build on the success of the past 29 years,” said Refaat. “Together with the team, I will continue to focus on supporting our clients’ digital transformation journey and preparing their businesses for tomorrow.”

APPOINTMENTS

NEW GM FOR MIDDLE EAST JOINS HITACHI VANTARA

itachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, has appointed Walid Gomaa as its new general manager for the Middle East and Pakistan. Tom Pegrume, vice president, EMEA Emerging Markets, Hitachi Vantara, said, “With over 30 years of industry experience and a deep understanding of the Middle East – a market with growing importance for us – Walid represents the perfect candidate to drive Hitachi Vantana’s ambitious business strategy. We have complete trust that his appointment will strengthen our presence in the region and are thrilled to have him join Hitachi Vantara.” Known among industry insiders for his result-oriented and structured approach, Gomaa joins Hitachi Vantara in Dubai, with a proven track

record of leading and running major business operations. As part of his new role, Gomaa will steer the company’s vision of facilitating data-driven leaders to discover optimal value in their data to innovate intelligently while reaching outcomes that develop businesses worldwide and society. He will lead the firm’s commercial growth and direct its regional operations including its revolutionary automation-based and accelerator platform, REAN Cloud. “It is a great pleasure to join Hitachi Vantara at this mission-critical point in which the region undergoes tremendous change, offering access to very promising markets,” said Gomaa. “We are listening to our customers as well as to our channel partners and know that there is a great appetite to embark on a digital transformation journey. Supporting their goals, our key focus remains our commitment to them, which ultimately contributes to

NUTANIX APPOINTS NEW SENIOR SALES VP FOR EMEA

nterprise cloud computing firm Nutanix has appointed Sammy Zoghlami as senior vice president of sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Having previously held the role of sales lead for the company’s operations in Southern Europe, Zoghlami will take responsibility for all aspects of Nutanix sales in a region stretching from Scandinavia to South Africa, and from Ireland to Russia. In this capacity, Zoghlami will be responsible for leading sales and customer support, strategic business development and strategy, management of Nutanix’s offices and operational teams in each EMEA country, as well as the company’s partnerships, alliances and channel activities in region. Zoghlami joined Nutanix in April

Sammy Zoghlami, Nutanix

2013 as country manager in France, taking on responsibility for southern Europe in 2015. Prior to joining the company, he held sales and business development roles at Cisco and Computacenter in the U.K. and France. He holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom.

our continued success in the Middle East and Pakistan.” Gomaa has extensive experience working for a range of renowned technology firms such as Huawei Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Oracle and GBM which he served in various capacities and across different Middle Eastern geographies.

Walid Gomaa, Hitachi Vantara

“Over the last six years I’ve been at Nutanix, I’ve seen the company evolve dramatically, and nowhere more so than in the European, Middle East and African theaters,” said Zoghlami. “I am absolutely thrilled to be given the opportunity to build on my experience overseeing markets as diverse as France, Iberia, Italy, Switzerland and North and West Africa and add territories of both proven viability and exciting new potential for Nutanix. We have such a unique value proposition at this company, accelerating digital transformation and business initiatives at customers. I can’t wait to get started in supporting our customers, partners and employees in their development, as we consolidate our clear leadership in providing for the emerging multi-cloud world.” Zoghlami succeeds Chris Kaddaras, who has been appointed senior vice president of Sales for the Americas. Zoghlami is supported in the role by Andrew Brinded as chief of staff, EMEA, overseeing operational matters within the region.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

20 OPINION

edge in

Osama AlHaj-Issa, regional channel director, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, HPE Aruba, advises partners on how they can enhance their expertise in selling at the edge.

ruba recently published a new e-book ‘Opportunity at the edge’ in collaboration with Fast Future, calling for companies to start embracing edge technologies immediately in order to take advantage of the vast commercial potential they present. It was clear from the global CIOs and future thinkers we spoke to as part of our research that moving processes and applications to the edge of the network will be imperative to enable the ongoing digital transformation of companies, supporting everything from mainstream personalisation, to enhanced real-time insight and faster product and service innovation.

PARTNERS WHO CAN HELP CUSTOMERS FIND AND STOP THREATS FASTER AND MAKE THIS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE WILL HAVE A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY.” But while this is good news for any businesses that are looking to gain a competitive advantage and keep up with increasing customer expectations, the research showed

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that unlocking the opportunity at the edge is no mean feat. Indeed, interviewees spoke about the sheer scale of the task facing IT teams in delivering these new technology ecosystems, with changes anticipated on both a structural level (adapting the network infrastructure, adopting new innovations, enhancing security provisioning) and on a strategic one (driving a shift in mindsets, growing leadership awareness). One thing was highly clear – the opportunities for channel partners to support companies on their edge journey are huge, but to take advantage they will need to be competitive, fast and ready to adapt what and how they sell. So, to give them a head start, here are three key pieces of advice I think our partners need to know as we try make this future a reality.

UNDERSTAND WHICH SECTORS HAVE THE GREATEST IMMEDIATE OPPORTUNITIES While the channel will always have one eye on what’s coming over the horizon, it is important not to miss out on the opportunities of today. Though we see edge networking creating future waves across the entire economy, we identified a number of specific industries that will be able to take advantage of the opportunities more quickly than others, and that are crying out for help developing and supporting the necessary underlying infrastructure or over the top services. These include: Education: A range of new revenue opportunities are opening up that could make a major contribution to the finances of education institutions if harnessed correctly. These include capturing video of the lectures and making them available for a micropayment to other institutions around the world, or allowing external businesses to book classroom and laboratory space on demand. Healthcare: With artificial intelligence and machine learning offering far greater analysis of patient data than ever before, healthcare organisations have a real opportunity to better understand the efficacy of treatments and medications, allowing better targeting and less waste. With the right analytics in place, the data could also be used to provide personalised guidance on lifestyle management, which could

THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHANNEL PARTNERS TO SUPPORT COMPANIES ON THEIR EDGE JOURNEY ARE HUGE, BUT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE THEY WILL NEED TO BE COMPETITIVE, FAST AND READY TO ADAPT WHAT AND HOW THEY SELL.”

drive down practitioner and hospital visits and reduce treatment burden. Large Public Venues: From overlaying augmented reality content on games to sharing multisensory virtual reality versions of what the players are experiencing, there are immense new possibilities emerging in sports and live entertainment. Other opportunities of the edgeconnected venue include insightdriven personalised food and drink propositions, or at-seat retail offers for instant purchase and collection after the game. POSITION YOURSELVES AS A STRATEGIC AND TRUSTED PARTNER For many IT decision makers, the

challenge of the edge will be ensuring the IT function can lead the pursuit of edge-based strategies and deliver the right level of support with a proactive, enabling stance. With a long list of critical success factors, this should offer numerous open doors for channel partners. Certainly, IT budgets and investment will have to increase in order to keep up with business need, but it’s not just demand for hardware that the channel can take advantage of. Network security and analysis services will also become a necessity. Partners who can provide strategic guidance on which applications and services (from AI to data analytics) the IT team can use to streamline their work, and then help integrate them seamlessly into the network, will be in high demand. Meanwhile with our research showing the second and third most critical success factors were improving digital literacy and changing the IT mindset there is also a clear need for more skills-based guidance, training and consultancy. FOCUS ON SECURING THE NETWORK One of the key findings in our research was that securing edge networks is an incredibly high priority for businesses – in fact addressing the security challenges of distributed processing was the number one critical success factor. The experts we spoke to highlighted concerns such as the creation of potentially thousands of points of risk exposure across the network, uncertainty over whether a device has been compromised, hacking of voice or biometric security, and fears that IoT devices and sensors are not being built with security in mind. If there is one offering you should therefore be thinking about boosting with the edge in mind – it is security. Partners who can help customers find and stop threats faster and make this an integral part of the network infrastructure will have a unique opportunity. Are you ready to help customers take advantage of the opportunity at the edge?

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

22 OPINION

Enabling enterprise mobility

Hozefa Saylawala, director of sales for the Middle East, Zebra Technologies, discusses why it is important for organisations to use enterprise-class smartphones as mobility becomes ubiquitous across all verticals.

n today’s day and age, you would be hard pressed to find someone who is not familiar with a consumer smartphone. Even as these devices evolve and improve, they remain delicate and susceptible to damage and hacks. As mobility becomes more pervasive across all industries, there is a need for rugged and enterprise-class smartphones built for challenging environments. These devices can withstand the elements and survive drops and knocks, as well as remain water- and dust- proof, within other important features for business level. More than ever, businesses are realising that their mobile workers require more than just the connectivity offered by a personal cellphone. According to Zebra’s global Intelligent Enterprise Index, 49 percent of businesses are on the path to becoming intelligent enterprises. These companies are connecting the physical and digital worlds to drive innovation through real-time guidance, data-powered environments and collaborative mobile workflows to reduce costs, automate operations and increase productivity. Today, more companies are looking to equip their employees with smart

mobile devices to gain a performance edge that can elevate the shopping experience, improve patient care or track and manage inventory to improve supply chain efficiency. The need for instant and secure communication, portability of information, aggressive barcode data collection and long device lifecycles are some of the key elements that are positioning enterprise-class smartphones as a pillar of technological transformation in the manufacturing, retail, healthcare and transportation and logistics industries. According to Zebra’s Future of Fulfillment study, inventory allocation, reduction in backorders and accepting/ managing product returns are just some of the major challenges logistics companies are looking to solve to achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction. With an enterprise-class smartphone, mobile workers have multiple tools in one device, providing them with voice and data connectivity, the ability to scan barcodes in any condition and access to business-class apps, utilities and software that can improve security and network access and increase staff collaboration and productivity. Businesses are increasingly

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

using GPS to manage routes and their enterprise-class smartphones not only help with directions but can be used to access real-time information. In addition, most of these devices include a walkie-talkie functionality, which allows instant Push-to-Talk (PTT) calls between compatible devices enabling companies to increase real-time communication and collaboration to improve customer service. Rugged smartphone designs can withstand extreme temperatures, dust, bumps and accidental drops, leading to greater productivity and reducing repair costs. This is ideal for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that are mindful of their budget and can’t afford significant unexpected repair costs for consumer smartphones. Lastly, when companies purchase a smartphone for their business, they should look for included security features that protect their data and business-critical information. Companies should be mindful of their devices and ensure that their smartphones and corporate data are not vulnerable to security breaches or risk becoming obsolete when a new operating system is introduced.

24 COVER STORY

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

FVC AND BARCO – THE PERFECT PARTNERSHIP THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN FVC AND BARCO CONTINUES TO BLOSSOM AS THE TWO COMPANIES LEVERAGE THEIR TECHNOLOGIES, SKILLS AND EXPERTISE TO ADDRESS MARKET NEEDS IN THE CHANNEL INDUSTRY. BARCO HAS ENJOYED PHENOMENAL GROWTH IN THE MIDDLE EAST REGION OVER THE LAST NUMBER OF YEARS AND A KEY FACTOR IN THAT SUCCESS HAS BEEN THE ROLE OF FVC AS ITS DISTRIBUTOR.

eseller ME managed to secure an exclusive interview with the dynamic duo spearheading unprecedented success for the respective businesses. K.S. Parag, Managing Director at FVC and Ramzi Itani, Vice President of Middle East and Africa at Barco outlined how both companies have contributed to the success of each other and expressed their views on disruptive technologies, digital transformation and GITEX in a compelling and fascinating interview.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN FVC AND BARCO AND HOW THIS COLLABORATION WAS ESTABLISHED? Ramzi Itani: We’ve been in partnership for 7 years. Barco has grown exponentially in this region with the help of FVC and was the distributor of choice for us because of their incredible technology portfolio and market reach and the activities they’re driving. For example, last year we ran a market study on wireless presentation which is one of the

key products that FVC distributes for us - in a bid to understand the potential of the Middle East and African region. We discovered that there was a big potential for us to work together and we jointly worked together to put this plan in place. It has been a huge success and has resulted in a 67% increase in H1 with a 70% market share. K.S. Parag: We’re excited at how FVC and Barco got together. We represent the wireless presentation range of solutions and what we identified was that there was a pain

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26 COVER STORY

BARCO IS A VERY STRONG NAME IN THE INDUSTRY AND WE’RE PROUD TO COLLABORATE WITH THEM. WE WORK WITH BARCO TO BRING THE UNIFIED COLLABORATION PARTNERS AND IT PARTNERS TOGETHER.” - K.S. PARAG, FVC

point for a lot of customers in terms of how they could present their solutions into a meeting room space. There was a gap and I think Barco came in at a great time where we could complement that partnership in terms of enhancing that to the meeting room space. HOW IMPORTANT A ROLE DOES FVC PLAY AS A DISTRIBUTOR IN BARCO’S OVERALL MARKET STRATEGY? Ramzi Itani: We believe that FVC is playing a major role for us as it’s the fastest growing business for us. The quality of FVC’s technology ensured that we became one integrated solution into their audiovisual solution. For example, if you take meeting rooms, users want a solution that works with the simple press of a button and provides them with a seamless experience and that’s how we complemented each other. The way we also utilize our relationship with FVC is in their understanding of the market in terms of the end-user and the Reseller. They translate to us what projects they’re working on, what

are their pain points and ultimately what they want to achieve. They really contribute hugely to the development of our future technologies. We have a partner summit in September and normally what we do is gather all the major EMEA partners and distributors into one room to discuss the challenges they’re encountering, their experiences and what their customers want. We gather all this information and give it to our R&D to go and develop the products that they need. HOW DOES BARCO’S OFFERINGS COMPLEMENT THE DIVERSE RANGE OF FVC’S EXISTING SOLUTIONS PORTFOLIO? K.S. Parag: There are two areas that we really focus on and that is on the unified collaboration side and AV. Barco is a very strong name in the industry and we’re proud to collaborate with them. We work with Barco to bring the unified collaboration partners and IT partners together. These partners

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were typically using different ways, or in fact very difficult ways to bring a better experience in meeting rooms. Barco’s ClickShare simplified the whole process and brought a new experience. WHAT ARE THE MAJOR PAIN POINTS FACING THE CUSTOMERS YOU’RE DEALING WITH? K.S. Parag: We’ve been in this meeting space room for 19 years. One thing which we asked in the meeting room space was can we bring simplicity into it? Let’s not look at it from IT perspective let’s examine it from an end-user point of view. For example, you’ve got someone who isn’t IT literate – so he wants to walk

into the room and be able to start the meeting on time. He basically wants to use the least amount of technology and focus his concentration on conducting his presentation to his colleagues. These are currently the key problem areas in the meeting space. It’s not as static as it once was, it has become much more dynamic. Where Barco comes in is the fact that it can actually address that area. One is the simplicity and ability for the end-user to kickstart within 5 seconds. The growth we’ve seen in our partnership with Barco is being able to amplify those areas where a customer has required a solution and Barco’s ClickShare in the meeting room fundamentally addressed this issue for them.

THIS TECHNOLOGY EVOLUTION IS CHANGING HOW PARTNERS ARE RUNNING THEIR BUSINESS AND THE IMPLEMENTATION AND INTEGRATION OF AI INTO ANALYTICS IS MAKING THE LIVES OF END-USERS MUCH EASIER - BUT IT’S FORCING PARTNERS TO COMPLETELY TRANSFORM THE WAY THEY CONDUCT THEIR BUSINESS.” - RAMZI ITANI, BARCO www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS A PREVALENT AND RECURRING THEME IN THE IT WORLD. HOWEVER, IS IT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO EDUCATE PARTNERS ON HOW TO GO ABOUT SELLING RELATED SOLUTIONS TO THEIR CUSTOMERS? Ramzi Itani: Technology is evolving very quickly. If you look at the last few years it has evolved faster than we’ve ever previously experienced. This technology evolution is changing how partners are running their business and the implementation and integration of AI into analytics is making the lives of end-users much easier - but it’s forcing partners to completely transform the way they conduct their business. I think from listening to customers and partners providing the technology which addresses their current and future needs is critical and as I previously mentioned earlier FVC is the voice of the market for us. We’re launching several products in the next month and that will address all the challenges presented by these new disruptive technologies. This is where digital transformation plays a key role into how we form our new products. The key function of a business is to have continuous training and you need to have an education center in which they’re always training their partners. We have a partner program in place and what we do is provide continuous training for their partners on new technologies as they emerge in a proactive way. K.S. Parag: Digital Transformation is a journey and I think it is an everlasting journey. I think if entities don’t evolve and embrace digital transformation then they will become obsolete. I think the responsibility both from a

AT GITEX, WE’RE GOING TO BE WORKING VERY PROACTIVELY BOTH FROM A CHANNEL AND VENDOR COMMUNITY TO SEE HOW WE CAN OVERALL BRING A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE.” vendor like Barco and a distributor like FVC is to continuously educate the partner in terms of making him understand what is important and establishing what exactly is the digital transformation journey the customer needs to take. The first point of contact for the customer is the partner. We need to work with the partner on education and enable them to understand how we can help him educate his customers on digital transformation. Our objective is to make them understand and make it as easy as possible for them so that message gets conveyed backed to the customer as seamlessly and effectively as possible. CAN YOU BOTH TELL ME WHAT YOUR MESSAGE IS FOR YOUR CHANNEL PARTNERS AT THIS YEAR’S GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK? KS Parag: I think from our perspective we at FVC have a broad spectrum of solutions in different domains. We’re in the unified convergence side, we’re in the unified collaboration side and in the smart meeting room space and security. We’ve seen a lot of movement from partners who are embracing the idea of looking at how we can integrate different technologies in a bid to

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

make it a much more solid offering back to the customers. What we’re trying our best to do is to educate the partner to be able to go and understand the customer better and we drive this successfully through our partner engagement. On the vendor side what we’re attempting to do is understand what’s the white space they’d like us to address and what area in which they would want a distributor like us to focus on in terms of getting more incremental business on the table. At GITEX, we’re going to be working very proactively both from a channel and vendor community to see how we can overall bring a completely different experience. Ramzi Itani: I think if you look at GITEX over the last number of years the type of audience has changed. I think the people now attending are more subject matter experts coming to examine what future technologies is there that they can go and adopt and integrate in a bid to make their life easier and better. Customers and partners are both coming to learn how they can have a unified communication platform that will address their future needs with the least amount of disruption and cost.

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30 FEATURE

Powering personalisation Vikram Bhat, chief product officer, Capillary Technologies, explains how Artificial Intelligence can enable retailers to truly customise experiences for their consumers.

umans by nature are selectively attentive, which means, they react to things only if they are truly interested in it. For years, brands have ignored the very basic fact of making their consumers feel ‘invested’, interested and unique. Consumers, they are the reason brands exist. The proliferation of

the internet and the introduction of mobile applications has made brands accessible to consumers more than ever. While competition is fierce in retail the industry with the arrival of new brands in an already saturated market, each of these brands are vying for the same customer. In such a competitive market, how then can brands differentiate their voice and build a loyal clientele?

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

PERSONALISATION IS THE ANSWER Gone are the days of mass marketing and ‘one size fits all’ campaigns as consumer expectations and buying journeys have evolved over time. With an omnichannel shopping experience, consumers expect a customised and seamless journey across platforms. They also expect

brands to ‘address’ them individually and earn their loyalty. To make this happen, brands are turning towards personalising their marketing campaigns with the help of technology. While the tried and tested micro segmentation method is effective, it is also a tedious process. Here’s where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a real game changer. But why should brands personalise their approach when they already have customers? Today, consumers have the power to choose, and personalisation allows brands to communicate with and reach their target audience at the right time, with the right product, the right offer and message, through the right channel. Brands are able to achieve a better response rate, increased customer loyalty, and lower marketing costs. According to a report from Marketo, 79% of consumers are more likely to respond to brand promotions if it is tailored to their preferences and previous purchase interactions. Which is why personalisation is also the first step toward building brand loyalty. ROLE OF DATA IN PERSONALISATION Knowing your customer is the key to a personalised campaign, and data is more important than you think. The journey always begins with capturing the right data. Brands must leverage their goldmine of data which they collect across platforms to keep campaigns on target and devoid of old-fashioned judgement and errorprone segmentation. An AI-driven strategy helps make sense of this data.

It creates an algorithm to understand individual consumer preferences. It will deep dive into their buying patterns and history, product preferences and characteristics. It analyzes customer behavior and other parameters to create and send personalised campaigns to each customer – akin to giving someone a tailored suit. This helps brands achieve a true 1:1 personalisation and continues to optimise campaigns through machine learning.

BRANDS NEED TO BE OMNIPRESENT, AND AI IS HELPING BRANDS PERSONALISE THEIR PRESENCE IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE CAN IMAGINE.”

KNOWING YOUR CUSTOMER IS THE KEY TO A PERSONALISED CAMPAIGN, AND DATA IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINK.”

Personalisation is also the first step towards building a brands customer experience. Consumers are inundated with messages from brands who are forced to compete on discounts to increase sales. According to Red Crow Marketing, on average consumers may be seeing more than 4000 adverts, most of which are of little or no interest. As consumers we tend to engage with advertising only if its meaningful. Such communications help create lasting relationships. Brands need to be omnipresent, and AI is helping brands personalise their presence in more ways than one can imagine. Building brand loyalty is one. Consumers tend to be loyal to brands that care for them. A study conducted by Accenture shows that 91 percent of consumers are more likely to shop with brands who remember them and provide relevant recommendations. Today, brands have a goldmine of data but often lack the creativity to design compelling campaigns or the ability to identify their targets consumers. AI analyses this data by looking at previous marketing campaign successes, buyer history, preferences and timelines, and other key markers to create new targeted campaigns. OVERCOMING CHALLENGES WITH AI A common obstacle that brands often face in taking personalisation to the next level is the ability to design multiple versions of a campaign across platforms. Here AI helps save time and money while giving brands visibility into the buyers’ journey across multiple platforms. The ROI on AI-driven campaigns are immense. Personalising campaigns benefits brands immensely; it reduces acquisition costs by as much as 50 percent, enhances revenue by 5 - 15 percent and increases efficiency of marketing spend by 10 percent to 30 percent. The future of personalisation is a true 1:1 engagement, which AI is enabling. We are looking forward to a time when personalisation will be the only way brands choose to interact with their customers– that’s the future which will eventually be a reality.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

32 FEATURE

Subscribe to change Jesper Andersen president and chief executive officer at Infoblox believes subscription-based IT services isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just about saving money, it can help secure your data.

he way customers acquire goods has changed. They are no longer investing in ownership, but customisation of on-demand delivery and fresh experiences. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear that the subscription economy is here to stay with the explosive adoption of services like Amazon Prime and Netflix. But the way this shift toward subscriptions is driving change is not just in the consumer world, it is impacting enterprise IT in a major way. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2020, more than 80% of software vendors will change their business

model from traditional licenses and maintenance to subscription based. This new model will affect virtually all aspects of how business leaders and IT teams plan for, finance, acquire, and consume technology. Advancements in virtualisation technologies are enabling everything from the consumer- and office-oriented software tools to core data centre services and hardware appliances to be deployed as utility services. But while most organisations are aware of the financial, dollar-saving benefits of subscription IT, few are aware of how its positive impacts extend beyond the bottom line. More than cutting costs, subscription IT holds some powerful benefits for

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businesses in terms of bolstering cybersecurity, productivity, and efficiency. Below are three benefits your business stands to gain from embracing subscription-based IT: BETTER CYBERSECURITY The technology landscape is volatile and uncertain: long-term technology investments today are often quickly made outdated by new advances around the corner. Advancements and upgrades occur so rapidly that budget-driven refresh cycles struggle to keep pace. And because refresh cycles are lagging, IT and security teams struggle with the negative cybersecurity, productivity, and efficiency implications of running

33 FEATURE COST SAVINGS THROUGH REALIGNMENT OF IT SPENDING TO ACTUAL USAGE It’s no secret that many IT departments are squeezed for budget, and, as a result, face intense pressure to reduce costs, find efficiencies, and deliver greater value per dollar. This translates into fewer and smaller new investments and hinders new technology adoption. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of a subscription model is that it realigns IT spending to actual usage. Organisations can deploy a capability with payment that scales with their fluctuating needs rather than wasting dollars on underutilized features year-round. For example, to accommodate seasonal or periodic peak workloads, an online retailer might invest in increased network traffic solutions only during the highvolume holiday shopping season. Likewise, customers have the flexibility to add or remove various capability features of their service, so they are more tailored to their actual needs. As turning on and off a capability is relatively on outdated equipment and software. This is particularly alarming since end-of-life assets are favoured gateways (or backdoors) for cyberattacks. The great thing about technology under a subscription model is that it is always current—no more worrying about endof-support or end-of-life assets on networks that are magnets for cyber-attacks. Gone are the days of disruptive and expensive technology refresh cycles. Upgrades and updates (such as adapting the technology to new infrastructures or operating systems) are done as part of the subscription cost. It’s win-win: Not only is IT spending trimmed down, your business’ mission-critical assets are kept safe and secure, and the flexibility ensures you’re always able to take advantage of the most current and innovative technological advances.

MORE THAN CUTTING COSTS, SUBSCRIPTION IT HOLDS SOME POWERFUL BENEFITS FOR BUSINESSES IN TERMS OF BOLSTERING CYBERSECURITY, PRODUCTIVITY, AND EFFICIENCY.”

inexpensive and easy and there aren’t any perpetual licenses locking you in, the risks of deploying new technology are lessened. If one solution is not a good fit, IT can relatively easily switch to another. INCREASED STAFF PRODUCTIVITY Acquisition and maintenance of IT infrastructure not only overwhelms thinly spread budgets, but staff resources as well. Those with valuable IT skills are increasingly in short supply at many organisations – often preoccupied with tending to infrastructure upkeep and time-consuming manual updates. Because subscription IT is generally provided as a service, strapped IT teams are freed up from having to maintain infrastructure to focus on higher-priority demands. This is particularly helpful as new IT skills constantly come into demand (security governance, big data, threat intelligence, to name a few) and existing staff can devote time to mastering these crucial new skillsets. In addition, expenses and costs are more transparent, predictable, and stable. When organisations have a clearer picture of their IT consumption and resulting costs, they can tweak policies to create more transparent charge-back mechanisms, and drive internal efficiencies and productivity. As subscription IT becomes the new normal, business leaders should embrace it not just for trimming budgets, but for boosting cybersecurity, productivity, and efficiency. Its core features of approaching IT as a consumptionbased utility, as opposed to a large capital investment; reducing risks associated with technology adoption; scaling capacity up or down as needed; bolstering security, and bringing greater clarity to IT consumption will enable organisations to better contend with the technology uncertainties and risks they face today. In a digital landscape that is constantly evolving, business leaders can’t underestimate the importance of having the flexibility to adapt with the times.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

34 INSIGHT

Above and beyond

Westcon-Comstor managing director Steve Lockie sat down with TahawulTech. com editor Adelle Geronimo to discuss how the firm’s ‘can-do and will-do’ attitude enables them to deliver an extraordinary quality of service to their partners.

AN YOU PLEASE SHARE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS AT WESTCONCOMSTOR OVER THE PAST FEW

MONTHS? Within the business, we have recently completed our shift to a new Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which is based on an SAP platform. This move has enabled us to boost our operational efficiencies and has allowed us to better serve our vendor and channel partners as well as helped enhance the productivity of our staff. It allowed us to build fruitful relationships and have more meaningful conversations with our partners. Over the past year, we have won 27 awards from the industry. While we are happy with these recognitions, what we are most excited about was that these awards are the reflection of our operational excellence, which has improved thanks mainly to the different internal business transformations that we have done. Among the key milestones for the company was the launch of four new subsidiaries in the Gulf region. We

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

are in the final stages of opening our operations in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. HOW IMPORTANT IS WESTCON’S ROLE IN ENABLING ITS PARTNERS’ GROWTH HERE IN THE REGION? WHAT KIND OF VALUE-ADD OFFERINGS DO YOU HAVE? At Westcon, we have a programme called ‘EDGE,’ where we Enable, Develop, Grow and Extend our resource capabilities to our partners. Through this programme, we are able to have deeper conversations with our partners, which helps us to fully grasp what their business objectives are. It gives us a better understanding of how we can help them. Whether they want to reach new verticals or adopt new technologies, we aim to provide them with the appropriate training, tools and industry know-how. So, I think it is one of those things that sets us apart from other distributors in the market. We don’t try to be the best in everything, instead, we assert our commitment to the partners we have by making sure that we understand their business and

35 35

above and beyond to deliver the best kind of services to our partners and customers. I think a good testament to that is the tasks that we do at 11 o’clock on a Thursday night. Because that’s when you see real commitment. We will sometimes get calls late in the evening from customers saying, “My site is down. I need a replacement firewall within the hour,” and we deliver. Our staff don’t get paid extra to do that and we certainly don’t force them to do these tasks outside working hours. But it’s part of our company culture, it’s what we are and it’s what we’re proud to be. We’re not saying we can always be superstars but genuinely and generally we deliver, and our vendor partners really appreciate it. In addition, our strong regional presence and local resources are huge contributors to the success of our operations. But more than that, of course, is we also have huge backing from our global business, which gives us the best of both worlds, I think.

they understand ours. Ultimately the objective is to grow our business by helping our partners grow theirs. WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST MARKET OPPORTUNITIES CHANNEL PARTNERS SHOULD SEIZE IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS? There are a number of huge projects that’s underway in the region and if partners can play a key role in those projects that will be a great business opportunity for them. However, these projects require multiple specialised market expertise, so partnerships are absolutely key to succeeding in that area. As for the market trend, unified communications-as-a-service (UCaas) offers a huge opportunity for growth to partners. This IT segment is making huge headways in markets such as the US, Australia and Europe, where traditional branch PABX (private automatic branch exchange) systems are increasingly being replaced with UCaaS. This is because more and more organisations are seeing how ‘as-aService’ models can offer them more cost-savings and greater flexibility. So, this segment presents a big sales opportunity for partners.

WE DON’T TRY TO BE THE BEST IN EVERYTHING, INSTEAD, WE ASSERT OUR COMMITMENT TO THE PARTNERS WE HAVE BY MAKING SURE THAT WE UNDERSTAND THEIR BUSINESS AND THEY UNDERSTAND OURS.”

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS WESTCON-COMSTOR’S ETHOS FOR CONTINUED SUCCESS? WHAT DIFFERENTIATES YOU FROM OTHER DISTRIBUTORS IN THE REGION? We have a ‘can-do and will-do’ attitude. It’s in Westcon-Comstor’s DNA and it resonates with our entire team. We also have this wonderful team of highly engaged employees who go

AT THE END OF 2019, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE HOPED TO ACHIEVE? We want to finish the year as strongly as we can from a financial perspective. More than that we have plans for further integrations within our digital environment. We plan to adopt more digital tools that will enable us to enhance our operations, especially for delivering our services to partners. We plan to automate functions such as our annuities businesses. We’ve got our Omani operations to bring online. We’ve got some feasibility studies to open operations in a few more countries in the region. And, of course, continue to build up our services business, which has been a high growth business for us this year. Ultimately, the primary goal is enabling partners, especially for some of our newer technologies. We aim to help them during the first stages of implementation and boost their skills in those areas.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

36 VENDOR FOCUS

Decoding opportunities Simon Taylor, regional channel manager, Middle East and South Asia, nCipher Security, shares regional plans and discusses partner opportunities in the cloud era.

CAN YOU GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF NCIPHER SECURITY? nCipher’s cryptographic solutions secure emerging technologies such as cloud, IoT, blockchain, digital payments, and more. These solutions help meet new compliance mandates with the same proven technology that global organisations depend on today to protect their sensitive data. CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THE BUSINESS OBJECTIVE AND CHANNEL STRATEGY? I manage the Middle East and South Asian markets from a channel point of view. At nCipher, we are striving to educate how best to develop solutions from a business point of view, always with an underpinning foundation in security. nCipher Security was acquired by Entrust Datacard earlier this year, which boasts a 50-year legacy of developing solutions to protect businesses and individuals. As a 100-percent channel driven organisation, we cater across all verticals because security is critical in all industries. Historically, we used to operate in a single-tier channel model. However, over the past four years,

we have migrated to a two-tier model. We work with distributors such as Arrow (which has recently been acquired by Mindware) and Credence Security. MICROSOFT HAS RECENTLY OPENED DATA CENTRES IN THE UAE. HOW CAN PARTNERS DOUBLE UP THEIR CLOUD GAME AND HOW WILL THIS IMPACT THE REGION? This is quite positive for the region. It shows that one of the world’s biggest IT organisations is buying into the developments of the UAE for digital transformation. It reinforces the stability of the country as open for business on a global level. What it means for the channel community is that they now have a huge opportunity to strengthen their cloud offerings. They should dive deeper into their end-user base to become more of a trusted advisor and understand the actual business drivers beyond just the technology ones. By doing so, they will be able to help our customers to migrate into a cloud platform, which gives the ability and agility to take their business to the next level. Partners can come in with second-tier resources and

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

MOVING TO THE CLOUD IS NOT A DECISION THAT THE IT DEPARTMENT MAKES. IT IS MUCH MORE OF A C-LEVEL BOARDROOM DISCUSSION BECAUSE THEY NEED TO EVALUATE BUSINESS AGILITY, COST SAVINGS AND FACTOR IN THE IMPORTANCE OF SECURITY AT ALL STAGES. THE IT DEPARTMENT’S ROLE WILL BE TO HELP IMPLEMENT THE SOLUTIONS.”

technologies, which can enhance their ability to increase their revenue and aid customers to move to cloud securely. WHEN YOU TALK TO YOUR PARTNERS, WHAT ARE SOME OF THEIR COMMON CHALLENGES AND HOW CAN THEY BEST SELL YOUR SOLUTIONS EFFECTIVELY IN THE DIGITAL ERA? Some resellers will have a big challenge in moving away from the technology side. Moving to the cloud is not a decision that the IT department makes. It is much more of a C-level boardroom discussion because they need to evaluate business agility, cost savings and

factor in the importance of security at all stages. The IT department’s role will be to help implement the solutions. The challenge from a channel point of view will be to stretch their existing relationships and begin to build a better profile of the organisation at a more senior level. They can then work with customers ensuring that security is just as important as the ability to transform their operations to a cloudbased one. CAN YOU ELABORATE ON YOUR PLANS FOR THE REGION? The market is going to see us doing a bigger push on our sales end. We are working closely with Microsoft

and our partners and customers can expect to see us growing the business together. Microsoft view our relationship as absolutely key within the Gulf region to grow their Azure consumption. The market potential is huge and we are going to tap into that as we enable government organisations and enterprises to move their sensitive data into a cloud format. We also have plans to increase our reseller network. I believe it’s a real opportunity for Microsoft resellers to come to us because we have additional revenue streams, and allow them to underpin greater consumption of the Azure platform. So that’s a real reach out from our point of view that they should be talking to us more.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

38 VENDOR FOCUS

Step into the future Reseller ME catches up with Mena Migally, senior director, Middle East at Riverbed to learn how the digital performance leader is gearing up for the region’s biggest tech trade show GITEX Technology Week taking place next month.

dvancements in technology has redefined the way organisations operate and has made what we deemed impossible once, possible. However, increasingly businesses are realising that technology is an enabler and a means to an end. The absolute impact and advantages of technology can only be truly harnessed through a partnership between machine and mind. Advocating and showcasing this collaboration, the 39th edition of GITEX Technology Week’s theme is – ‘Synergising the mind and technology economy’. The digital performance solutions provider Riverbed is perfectly in sync with the theme, having unveiled its new brand identity - Advancing human experiences in the digital world – earlier this year. “Our new brand identity complements GITEX’s theme for

this year. Today we are emphasising on the mind aspect of things rather than just the technology,” says Mena Migally, senior director, Middle East at Riverbed. “Organisations must remember that behind every digital experience is a human one. We need to work towards making this collaboration equal. Only by understanding the benefit of improving the human experience will it help to advance and enhance the digital one. At this year’s show, one of our focuses will be on the synergy between both themes.” Additionally, the company will be highlighting the latest upgrades to its three pillars of Digital Network portfolio – Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN), Application Acceleration and Network Performance Management (NPM) solutions. “We will put the spotlight on SteelConnect SD-WAN solutions. Also, we have recently announced a global original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

WE ARE FOCUSING ON HUMANISING THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY AND WE WILL SHOWCASE HOW THAT IS IN EFFECT DURING GITEX.”

“WE WILL INCREASINGLY LOOK AT TECHNOLOGY AS AN ENABLER THAT PROACTIVELY SUPPORTS ADVANCING EXPERIENCES ACROSS KEY VERTICALS.”

with Versa Networks, which has strengthened our ability to address more complex enterprise SD-WAN deployments. We are very excited to showcase this partnership at GITEX.” Earlier this year, Riverbed had introduced its cloud-based SaaS acceleration service, which is delivering “massive value and results by up to 10 times” today for apps such as Office 365, Salesforce, ServiceNow and Box, according to Migally. “This is the only one available in the market and we have had quite a good traction on it. We want to extend that further during GITEX.”

He added that the company will also be making announcements and releasing innovations around its NPM monitoring solutions during the show. Migally believes large-scale dedicated tradeshows such as GITEX presents a great platform for Riverbed partners. He urges partners to take the opportunity to not only display their strength of their product portfolio but also show their prowess of their role in creating relevant comprehensive solutions to help their customers meet business objectives. “Our representatives will be present at the show to further enable partners

to optimise the opportunities present. Together with our partners, we will work on co-branding and marketing activities, hosting events through the course of the show and setting up joint meetings with existing and potential customers.” According to Migally, the company’s new brand identity is definitely the next step from its previous branding of ‘Rethinking possible’. “We are focusing on humanising the digital transformation journey and we will showcase how that is in effect during GITEX.” Migally believes as technology progresses, it will further impact human-machine partnerships. “Innovation will allow us to improve the human experience. Over the next few years, our interaction with technology will become diverse and we will treat it differently. We will increasingly look at technology as an enabler that proactively supports advancing experiences across key verticals,” he adds.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

40 INSIGHT

Choosing the Right Document Scanner – A Game Changer for the Healthcare Industry

By: Naji Kazak, General Manager - Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Russia at Alaris, a Kodak Alaris Business

istorically, the healthcare industry has been paper intensive, but in this digital age, document scanning and archiving will help speed up patient care, improve records management, ensure regulatory compliance and provide significant cost savings. Medical scanning and data capture technologies are now becoming an integral part of the industry. So, what are the right features to consider when choosing the best scanners for healthcare and medical records scanning?

data entry runs the risk of error, and this can impact patient care. Scanning is often cumbersome because, in addition to patient intake forms, there are irregularly sized documents such as insurance cards and photo identification that also need to be in a patient’s medical record. Today there are scanners that have superior document handling capabilities that ensure that patient records are quickly and reliably scanned. With features such as Active Feed, Controlled Stacking, and Intelligent Document Protection, all documents are accurately scanned without the need for presorting.

PROCESS OPTIMIZATION The admission process in any healthcare setting is time-consuming and creates a significant amount of paperwork. 70 percent of new patient information is received as paper documents which takes time and money to process manually. Manual

COMPLIANCE It is important that the scanners being used contribute to the security of electronic personal health information. The scanners need to comply with existing and new legislation and ensure that confidential patient data is safely routed to a secure file repository.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

By eliminating paper records and digitizing paper based documents that arrive from external sources or documentation that gets produces during the hospital stay, you’ll mitigate risks and ensure secure data handling and storage. The insertion of patient data into the EMR system ensures patient privacy and compliance. OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION OCR is one of the most important features a scanner can provide to a healthcare setting for medical records scanning and indexing. Optical character recognition is the electronic conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. OCR allows you to search and sort PDF documents in the same way you would a Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, or Google Docs file. You can search by keyword, edit with a word processor, send the text by email, and even decode it using screen readers.

41 41

WE WILL CONTINUE TO INVEST IN DEVELOPING THEIR SKILLS BY ASSESSING THEM TODAY AND PROVIDING THE RIGHT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATIONS THAT WILL YIELD THE DESIRED OUTCOME.” These benefits open up a larger bundle of benefits that otherwise would not be possible. Those benefits include: Speed: Modern OCR technology dramatically improves efficiency by decreasing the time spent searching for information on medical records. Instead of searching through documents manually, you can search by keyword. You can even use names as keywords to quickly find documents for specific patients. Cost efficiency: You can finish more work in the same amount of time when you eliminate the need to manually search for documents and specific notes on those documents. Additionally, you›ll save money by avoiding the costs associated with copying and printing. Reduced environmental impact: It’s simple: The fewer resources you use, the less of a negative impact you make on your environment. Digitally indexing your documents as opposed to using a traditional filing system reduces your paper usage. Reduced physical space: Without a physical filing system, you have more space available where filing cabinets used to be. For some offices, this means a more efficient use of space. For others, it may even mean relocating to a smaller space to take advantage of

cheaper rent and lower overhead for heating, cooling, and lighting. Document accessibility: Having documents scanned and indexed with an OCR makes their information immediately accessible in multiple places and on multiple systems at once. This is a huge improvement compared to only having a select number of physical copies available in select locations, which you must spend time searching for and filing. Reduced errors: Data entry errors happen. So do typos, lost documents, and misfiles. Automatically indexing your documents eliminates all of these issues. INTELLIGENT BARCODE READING Intelligent barcode reading automatically processes barcodes for job instructions when scanning. You can group different types of scanning jobs together, each type of job being bookended with barcodes prompting the scanner to read everything within them in a designated way. Once the scanner reaches the second barcode in the stack, it removes those instructions and moves on to the instructions provided by the barcode in the next stack. This way, you can process multiple types of jobs at once without needing to tend to the scanner. This technology further improves the efficiency of your medical office,

whether it is a small private practice or part of a larger hospital. Providing health centers with sufficient time to care for each individual patient is one of the game-changing differences between the bedside manners that make people feel welcome and the hurried attendance that leaves patients feeling like just another number. Less time spent in the back office means more time spent helping the patients themselves. THE BEST FEATURES ARE THE ONES YOU NEED Look for scanners that usenative, non-proprietary TWAIN integrations, which means they are time-tested, provide for easy integration, and will not present surprises later on when PC’s are upgraded. Document scanner vendors should also have a full team of field engineers to provide installation, technical support, and proactive troubleshooting tasks to staff, avoiding costly downtime. Scanners that are the best to use in your EMR system integrate with the majority of electronic medical records systems like McKesson and Epic. Make sure they also have the required certifications like Cerner for example, so you can be sure that you comply with healthcare standards.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

43 REVIEW

SEAGATE FIRECUDA SSD

eagate is known for manufacturing strong performing solid storage solutions. And the Seagate FireCuda 510 is no exception. The Seagate FireCuda 510 is an M.2 NVMe SSD designed specifically with professional gamers in mind. That being said, it also adequately caters to any user seeking fast and durable storage for large number of files. FireCuda 510 SSD provides the fastest PC gaming storage speeds so users spend less time loading levels and maps, fewer seconds respawning, and reduced stuttering in open-world gaming. The SSD is out-of-the-box compatible with the latest generation of powerful AMD Ryzen processors — which are all about more cores, more cache, more tech and more I/O, according to Seagate.

Users can pair a 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen Desktop Processor with the FireCuda 510 PCIe NVMe SSD for the ultimate PC gaming combination. FireCuda 510 SSD delivers durable speed for extended periods and is equipped with a 5-year limited warranty. The FireCuda 510 is available in two capacities – 1TB and 2TB. Having reviewed the 1TB version, we found the drive to stand out in the SSD market and truly offer customers an ideal solution for saving huge files and accessing them quickly.

The drive is powered with Seagate’s SeaTools software, which is equipped with smart features to handle regular functions such as health checkups and drive partitioning tasks. Through the Advanced tab in the software, customers can also avail detailed jobs such as SecureErase, updates, master boot record deletion or reconstruction tools. While Seagate has not unveiled too many products in the M.2 NVMe SSDs space in the recent past, the latest addition brings them at par with the market.

PRODUCTS

CANON STRENGTHENS EOS LINE UP WITH NEW MIRRORLESS AND DSLR CAMERAS

anon Middle East has announced the launch of two high-speed, high resolution cameras - one DSLR and one mirrorless. EOS 90D is a fast and reliable DSLR, with a familiar, robust body perfect for sport and wildlife photographers. EOS M6 Mark II is a compact, yet powerful mirrorless delivering beautifully sharp images - for photographers on the move. Alongside the two new Canon RF lenses announced recently, these high-quality, fast models build on the firm’s popular EOS 80D DSLR and EOS M6 mirrorless cameras to provide a full choice for enthusiasts across the entire line-up. Both models, EOS 90D and EOS M6 Mark II, are equipped with Canon’s latest generation DIGIC 8 processor which achieves fast processing speed, responsiveness and the latest in photo

and movie functionality. The lightning-quick electronic shutter speed of 1/16000 second is perfect for shooting momentary subject movements. With this shutter speed the aperture can be opened even wider to create a greater depth of field even in ambient lighting. Ideal for wildlife or sports photography, the EOS 90D shoots 10fps with autofocus tracking and 11fps in Live View. The optical viewfinder reduces lag time and enables the responsiveness needed to shoot wildlife, such as birds in flight, while an intelligent function gives complete visibility of the composition and shooting settings within the display. Where subjects are both quick and unpredictable, this fast frame rate and 58 L JPEG burst rate enables photographers to shoot continuously for a greater choice in imagery. EOS 90D also has an extended battery life with up to 1300 shots

(CIPA standard) which allows enthusiasts to shoot all day, unencumbered by battery limitations. The mirrorless model, EOS M6 Mark II, is capable of a 14fps continuous frame rate and staggering 30fps RAW burst both modes with autofocus tracking, producing a quick and compact model. The latest mirrorless camera has UHS-II card support with a burst rate of 80 L JPEG. Additionally, focus bracketing in both models makes it easy to achieve an extended depth of field by combining multiple shots in DPP.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

44 PRODUCTS

AOC’S “FASTER SERIES” TO ENSURE VICTORY FOR E-GAMERS

hen competing during online gaming events a monitor designed for fast performance is important in ensuring a player’s victory. AOC’s “Fastest Series” feature a minimum of 144Hz or above refresh rates, less than 1ms response times, and anti-tearing functionality with the latest AMD FreeSync2 or NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility. Together, these features ensure users at all levels of gaming can enjoy a first-class gaming experience enjoyed by pro gamers all over the world. Gamers are a diverse crowd in terms of individual backgrounds and personal preferences. But experience has shown that sometimes a simple solution is the best solution, and AOC’s

the “Fastest Series” focus on speed and performance above all. With the network and credibility it has built, AOC has been able to listen to gamer’s true voices and preferences in design, leading to many monitors that are in essence designed by gamers for gamers. Carol Anne Dias, regional sales director for MEA, AOC, said, “At AOC, we understand that in many cases, the difference between victory and defeat can be determined in less than a second. The ‘Fastest Series’ takes a simpler approach to monitor design – it will offer a diverse array of product types to cater to different users, but

gamers can have faith that no matter which display they choose from this series, we will always understand their need for fast reactions and a smooth lag-free experience.”

SAMSUNG ANNOUNCES NEW GALAXY NOTE SERIES

amsung has unveiled the latest iteration to its Galaxy Note series by introducing two new flagship smartphones – the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+. According to the firm, the Galaxy Note10 opens up the Note to users who want the power of the S Pen and ultimate productivity in a compact form factor. The device packs a 6.3-inch Cinematic Infinity Display into the most compact Note yet. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Note10+ features the biggest Note display ever with a 6.8-inch Cinematic Infinity Display on a device that’s still easy to hold and easy to use, the company said. The Galaxy Note10 featured an edgeto-edge Cinematic Infinity Display that is nearly bezel-less, while the in-display cut out for the front camera is small and centered for a balanced design. Both devices tout a dynamic AMOLED display with HDR10+ certification and Dynamic Tone Mapping, making photos

and videos are brighter than previous Note devices. The new Galaxy Note10 series also comes packed with a powerful and newly re-designed, unibody S Pen. Both are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 but the Note 10 has 8GB whereas the Note 10 Plus has 12GB. The devices run on Samsung’s OneUI layered over Android 9 Pie. The battery is among the key differences between the two. The Galaxy Note10 packs a 3400mAh while the Galaxy Note10+ comes with 4170mAh. One other design change is the loss of the 3.5mm headphone jack. The smartphones also sport a triple camera setup, the Note 10 devices feature similar three lens and megapixel pairings as the S10’s camera setup, with a 12-megapixel main lens, 12-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 16-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. Variable apertures of f/1.5 and f/2.4 are available on the main lens, while

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

the telephoto camera has a wider f/2.1 aperture than the S10 phones. As for the front camera, both have a single selfie camera with a 10-megapixel sensor and a narrower aperture. The Galaxy Note10 and Galaxy Note10+ will be available in Aura Glow, Aura White and Aura Black starting from August 23rd. The Galaxy Note 10 is priced at $950 while the Note 10 Plus starts at $1,100 for the 256GB model and $1,200 for the 512GB.

6TH OCTOBER 2019 EMIRATES TOWERS DUBAI

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47 PRODUCTS

HP UNVEILS ‘WORLD’S FIRST’ DUAL SCREEN GAMING LAPTOP

P Inc. has recently unveiled the powerful line-up of its latest OMEN and Pavilion Gaming innovations, raising the bar for high performance gaming. The OMEN X 2S Laptop, which the firm touts as the world’s first dualscreen gaming laptop, is packed with features designed to target the needs of gamers, provides the edge needed to perform at the highest levels of the regional gaming elite. According to HP, OMEN X 2S offers gamers a real-time screen mirroring option that can cut and magnify parts of the main screen – including copying the map portion of a racing game – to the second screen. The dimensions and composition of this powerhouse are equally impressive with a thickness of 20 mm and a full metal chassis that makes it the first 15-inch diagonal gaming

laptop in the world to come with an applied liquid metal compound to the thermal system by way of Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut. The laptop features OMEN Tempest, an overhauled advanced thermal solution powered by a 12V fan, which utilises three-sided venting to enable five-way airflow to keep things ultra-cool. Realistic visuals are delivered by NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and features Max-Q6 design. Additionally, the device is equipped with the latest 9th Gen Intel Core i9 high performance mobile processor, powered by up to 5.0 GHz Turbo8, eight cores and 16 threads, and up to 32 GB of RAM. HP also unveiled a number of new OMEN software

and services along with new OMEN and Pavilion Gaming hardware, all designed to create legendary gameplay experiences for all level of players.

SECOND GEN AMD EPYC PROCESSORS NOW AVAILABLE

MD has introduced the 2nd Generation AMD EPYC family of processors that deliver performance leadership across a broad number of enterprises, cloud and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors feature up to 64 “Zen 2” cores in leading-edge 7nm process technology to deliver record-setting performance while helping reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 50 percent across numerous workloads. At the launch event, Google and Twitter announced new 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processor deployments and HPE and Lenovo announced immediate availability of new platforms. “AMD 2nd Gen EPYC processors will help us continue to do what we do best in our datacenters: innovate,” said Bart Sano, Google vice president of Engineering. “Its scalable compute, memory and I/O performance will expand our ability to drive innovation forward in our infrastructure and will give Google Cloud customers the

flexibility to choose the best VM for their workloads.” Second Gen AMD EPYC processors are specifically designed for modern data center workloads, providing customers an ideal combination of features to help unlock performance and redefine economics in virtualisation, cloud, HPC and enterprise applications. For the enterprise data centre, 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors offer up to 83% better Java application performance, up to 43% better SAP SD 2 Tier performance than the competition and provide world record performance on Real Time Analytics with Hadoop. For modern cloud and virtualisation workloads, 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors deliver world record virtualization performance that redefines data centre economics, said the firm. For HPC, 2nd Gen AMD EPYC

processors offer an unmatched combination of record-setting floating point performance and the most DRAM memory and I/O bandwidth in its class to supercharge HPC workloads, including up to 2x better performance in computational fluid dynamics and up to 72% higher performance structural analysis. The 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processor combines leadership performance, architecture and security features to meet the most demanding challenges facing the data centre, said the firm.

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

48 LAST TAKE

YOUR IDEAL MORNING ROUTINE INCLUDES… 30 minutes run, shower, get my son ready for school, have my coffee and breakfast, listen to music

YOU ARE PROUD OF YOUR MOST RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENT, WHICH IS … being recognised for the work done around Dubai Experience Center and recruiting new partners across METAR. But it is important to mention that the result is natural when you have a great cooperative team.

FIVE THINGS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT… My family, football, Manchester United, and Netflix

Samer

THE MOST UNDERRATED TECHNOLOGY TREND ACCORDING TO YOU IS… Digital wallets and mobile payment systems. It is meant to be an efficient and convenient exchange of currency – without the need to have cash use cards or make bank transfers. Yet, we are somehow behind on this technology.

FIVE GOALS YOU AIM TO ACHIEVE IN 2019… Spend more family time, read more, career advancement, stay healthy, travel with my family

Mihyar

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

REGIONAL MARKETING MANAGER, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA, TURKEY & RUSSIA; ALARIS, A KODAK ALARIS BUSINESS

Synergising the Mind & Technology Economy The biggest tech show in the Middle East, North Africa & South Asia

#GITEX2019

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futurestarsSales@dwtc.com

50 LAST TAKE

YOU ARE PROUD OF YOUR MOST RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENT, WHICH IS… I have initiated many innovative channel development programmes since the advent of 2019, the results of each of them have been very successful. For a marketer, showing quantifiable value is sometimes a daunting task but at Exclusive purely through Marketing, we have been able to add value with the addition of new resellers for most of our vendors. The best part is that vendors also have rated these initiatives as one of their most successful marketing campaigns ever and a few have even requested us to replicate the same globally, which is great to know. In addition to this I have been fortunate to receive significant awards from the media and within the IT industry, which also surely adds on to my milestones.

YOUR IDEAL MORNING ROUTINE INCLUDES... I start the day on a spiritual note followed by meditation and an hour of gym workout. I spend some time sipping coffee while checking my mails. Once I am at the office, the day is occupied with campaign initiation discussions, execution plans and other daily tasks. FIVE KEY QUALITIES A MARKETING EXECUTIVE MUST HAVE... 100% sincere to the role, have an insatiable appetite to be innovative and not just a follower, be people’s person, be meticulous and humble.

CMY

FIVE GOALS YOU AIM TO ACHIEVE IN 2019… My aim is to deliver the most successful Marketing campaigns this year in terms of ROI, take wiser and better decisions, become a better leader and person, smile more and worry less, achieve better health and wellness.

Mallika FIVE THINGS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT… My family and friends, technology, workout, my spiritual life and my Marketing team

www.tahawultech.com // Reseller Middle East // SEPTEMBER 2019

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