Value Journal | Issue 19 | February 2018

Issue 19 // February 2018

HPE BRINGS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO THE DATA CENTER Predictive All-flash storage paves the path for the autonomous data center with industry’s first AI recommendation Engine for HPE InfoSight; HPE Extends HPE InfoSight to 3PAR. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced the industry’s first artificial intelligence (AI) recommendation engine designed to simplify and reduce the guesswork in managing infrastructure and improve application reliability.

HPE InfoSight is a predictive analytics platform that brings software-defined intelligence to the data center with the ability to predict and prevent infrastructure problems before they happen.

Leveraging advanced

machine learning, the new capabilities for HPE InfoSight pave the path toward an autonomous data center. The firm also announced the first release of HPE InfoSight for HPE 3PAR, setting in motion the promise to extend machine learning across the HPE storage and server portfolio.

“HPE InfoSight marks the first time a major storage vendor has been able to predict issues and proactively resolve them before a customer is even aware of the problem,” said Bill Philbin, Senior Vice

President, HPE GM Storage. “As applications increasingly drive today’s businesses, we need to help customers move toward a

self-managing IT model. HPE InfoSight enables IT to spend more time on projects that add value to the business rather than on troubleshooting issues.”

HPE InfoSight lays the groundwork for an autonomous data center with the new AI recommendation engine.

Building on its predictive capabilities, HPE InfoSight now preemptively advises IT how to avoid issues, improve performance, and optimize available resources.

By extending Continued on page 3 HPE InfoSight

Utimaco, Redington Value sign distribution partnership

Utimaco provides cryptographic hardware devices serving as the ‘Root of Trust’ to protect critical digital infrastructures.

Redington Value, the valueadded distribution arm of IT distributor Redington Gulf, and Utimaco, one of the largest manufacturers of Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) globally, have announced a distribution partnership for the Middle East and Africa

region. Utimaco provides cryptographic hardware devices serving as the ‘Root of Trust’ to protect critical digital infrastructures and high value data assets for numerous industries.

HSMs are an essential component of many IT security

solutions, safeguarding identities and data, and providing encryption capabilities to protect sensitive cryptographic key material. Utimaco offers multiple HSM models, each of which is best-suited for varying applications and industries including government, the

Ramkumar Balakrishnan, Redington Value

IoT, enterprise and payment solutions, and Continued on page 3 autonomous

Redington Value is a value added distributor for the following brands in parts of Middle East & Africa:

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtonmea.com

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COLUMN: REDefined

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HPE brings...

Ultimaco, Redington...

to 3PAR, both HPE Nimble Storage and 3PAR customers can now realize the significant benefits of HPE InfoSight.

This first release of HPE InfoSight for 3PAR makes available capabilities such as cross-stack analytics, global visibility and foundation to enable predictive support.

HPE InfoSight with the new AI recommendation engine will be available from January 2018 to all HPE Nimble Storage customers with an active support contract at no additional charge. HPE InfoSight for 3PAR will be available January 2018 to all 3PAR customers with an active support contract at no additional charge.

vehicles. HSMs are also a key security consideration in the face of upcoming developments like quantum computing.

“We are excited to partner with Utimaco. It enables us to offer our customers highperformance hardware security solutions that protect them now and in the future,” said Ramkumar Balakrishnan, President, Redington Value.

“Utimaco has been an industry leader in Europe for more than 20 years and we feel confident bringing their expertise to our customers in the Middle East and Africa region.”

“This partnership marks a solid step into the region for Utimaco, bringing us closer to local partners and

customers. It is a great match and complementary for both organizations. Redington Gulf’s reach across the Middle East and Africa allows us to further expand our global footprint, arming customers in the area with ‘Root of Trust’ hardware security to better protect themselves.

We look forward to the unique opportunities this will bring to Utimaco,” said Malte Pollmann, CEO, Utimaco.

Utimaco is a dedicated manufacturer and vendor of HSMs, which are designed to be easy to integrate, administer and work with, but also customizable and flexible to meet diverse business needs and suit changing environments. All of the products are developed and built in-house.

Oracle unveils Innovation Hub in Dubai dedicated to Artificial Intelligence The ‘Zayed Innovation Hub’ was inaugurated by His Excellency Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Government of the United Arab Emirates.

Reinforcing its commitment to the UAE, Oracle has announced the opening of an Innovation Hub in Dubai that will help drive the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across the country’s businesses, public sector and the academia.

As the nation celebrates 100 years since the birth of the founding father of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan with the ‘Year of Zayed’ initiative; Oracle has named the new facility, ‘Zayed Innovation Hub’ to honor the progressive vision of the UAE’s First President.

The ‘Zayed Innovation Hub’ was inaugurated by His Excellency Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Government of the United Arab Emirates.

“The success of strategic government initiatives like Smart Dubai and Expo 2020 is underpinned with emerging digital technologies like Artificial

Arun Khehar, Oracle

Intelligence driving the creation of an automated infrastructure for the realization of these projects”, said Arun Khehar, Senior Vice President, Business Applications, ECEMEA, Oracle. “The ‘Zayed Innovation Hub’, that will serve as the ultimate platform for driving awareness, experimentation and implementation of Artificial Intelligence in the UAE; and the opening of a state of the art Digital Hub in Dubai that has now employed more than 400 cloud sales professionals, are solid

evidence of Oracle’s commitment to continuously invest in enhancing our local capabilities and service offerings in the UAE”.

Oracle said it is in a unique position to deliver AI across all cloud services, including embedded AI within business applications, AI services within Oracle’s platform, and an AI development environment running on the high-performance compute and network infrastructure required for accelerated model training.

Betting on the future

By Zahid Sumar, Regional Sales Head, East & South Africa, Redington Gulf – Value Division

East Africa has witnessed a significant growth over the recent years. The driving factors have largely been around easier access to knowledge and information and adoption of new technologies such as hybrid systems, converged systems and cloud.

The technology market is developing further thanks to vendors who are consistently transferring trends via strong partnerships with partners and value-added distributors.

However, similar to any other emerging markets, East Africa also has its share of challenges.

From a political perspective, the market must be prepared for different policies and currency fluctuations, which can be as high as 15 percent overnight. Other than that, the territory also grapples with logistical and grey market issues.

Redington Value has been able to address these challenges with tactical initiatives and effective strategies. We have increased the market share of all our vendor portfolios successfully in a geography where most companies have seen a lower growth. We have continued to acquire new vendors and maintained our leadership position in the overall distribution space. During this year, we will continue our endeavor to have meaningful customer experiences and we will have all aspects of our business working tirelessly to offer our partners a smoother and a true Redington experience.

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtonmea.com

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Veeam acquires N2WS to deliver availability and protection for AWS Cloud In an all-cash transaction deal for N2WS valued at $42.5M, Veeam ensures business continuity and reduces risk for AWS workloads with cloud-native data protection.

Veeam Software has acquired N2WS, a provider of cloud-native enterprise backup and disaster recovery for Amazon Web Services (AWS), in an all-cash deal worth $42.5M. N2WS is a leader in IaaS data protection, providing a cloud-native backup solution specifically designed for AWS workloads, enabling organizations to back up data and applications as often as needed and recover them in seconds.

N2WS grew revenues by 102 percent in 2017. The acquisition strengthens Veeam as a leading provider of Availability for any app, any data, across any cloud, and its ability to protect AWS deployments,

Peter McKay, Veeam

said the firm. N2WS will operate as a standalone company, keeping

its brand name and becoming “A Veeam Company.”

“By combining Veeam’s industry-leading capabilities in protecting virtual, physical and cloud environments with N2WS’ leadership in AWS data protection, we have a strong solution to deliver on the needs of the digital enterprise,” said Peter McKay, Co-CEO and President, Veeam.

“N2WS has experienced incredible growth in the last 12 months and it will continue to operate as a standalone business to best position the company to provide AWS data protection - the same way Veeam transformed protection for

VMware environments a decade ago. Together, we will achieve great things; this is a game-changer in every sense.”

“Joining forces with one of the world’s fastest growing software companies is very exciting for the N2WS team and for our customers,” said Jason Judge, CEO, N2WS. “We will further accelerate our rapid growth and the development of our top-rated solutions by leveraging the world-class team that Veeam has established. We also look forward to assisting Veeam customers explore their public cloud strategies with our years of innovation in public cloud storage.”

Huawei introduces Safe Campus solution Huawei has partnered with several civil authorities in the region to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of law enforcement, and help to ensure a safe environment for the public.

Huawei has introduced Safe Campus suite of solutions at Intersec 2018 last month, which is aimed at enhancing public safety innovation in the region.

As a key enabler of the Middle East’s ongoing digital transformation, Huawei has partnered with several civil authorities in the region to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of law enforcement, and help to ensure a safe environment for the public. Safe Campus is an end-to-end ICT solution that may be deployed in buildings, office spaces, stadiums, schools, hotels, and many more scenarios to assist in incident prevention, emergency response, and evidence collection.

In order to strongly support all Middle East customers, Huawei built the OpenLab

in Dubai, which combines Innovation Center, Experience Center, Partner Develop Center and Verification Center in one lab. Currently, Huawei Middle East OpenLab has initiated solution development with more than 80 partners such as SAP, YITU, Zenith, with the goal of developing customer-centric industry solutions, providing a place for dynamic interaction and communication among Huawei and its clients and partners.

Experts from Huawei and its partners held a workshop on the latest video cloud and intelligent video surveillance technologies – two key components of the Safe Campus solution. The workshop explained how each function is simplifying the process of prevention and investigation of crimes.

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtonmea.com

Hazem Bazan, Vice President of Channels and Commercial Sales for Huawei Enterprise, Middle East said, “Huawei believes the industry must work collaboratively to keep pace with social and technological developments and establish a public safety system that protects citizens through the seamless interaction between authorities and citizens.”

Huawei Safe Campus is built on four key pillars: Artificial Intelligence-based Algorithms, Video Cloud, HD Camera Smart Acquisition, and tailored Safe Campus for Different Scenarios such as Safe School, Safe Hospitality, Safe Transportation and Safe Mosque.

Working with partners in the countries in which it operates, Huawei is committed

Hazem Bazan, Huawei Enterprise, Middle East

to building the tech ecosystem, offering platforms that can be integrated with other public safety systems to achieve more effective information sharing and collaboration.

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Fortinet: 63% of ITDMs confident with cybersecurity postures despite many breaches Prioritization of security fundamentals such as employee education lacking according to respondents.

Alain Penel, Fortinet

Fortinet has revealed additional findings from its Global Enterprise Security Survey.

According to the research, 63% of IT decision makers (ITDMs) at 250+ employee organizations around the world are confident in their cybersecurity posture, despite 89 of organizations being breached in the past two years.

In addition, 66 believe they are doing better than their peers with regards to cybersecurity, while only 9 believe they are

lagging behind. The research is a reminder of the importance of employing cybersecurity best practices and fundamentals as well as the urgency to avoid complacency in defending against cyberattacks.

“ITDMs continue to prioritize the maintenance and upgrade of their cybersecurity solutions in an attempt to combat today’s cybersecurity adversaries,” said Alain Penel, Regional Vice President, Middle East, Fortinet. “Although important, other security best practices within their broader cyber and technology strategy are still missed opportunities.

In particular, the urgency to prioritize security hygiene, educate with broader awareness, or implement security approaches that leverage automation, integration, and strategic segmentation, is critical to defend against the highly damaging

Internet attacks possible in our near future.”

Respondents reveal that 24% of breaches experienced in the last two years were the result of social engineering, ransomware and email phishing. In 2018, 74% of businesses are planning programs to educate employees in IT security, reflecting a growing awareness that breaches are caused by carelessness and ignorance as much as maliciousness.

Another top concern for organizations is protecting access to the network. 38% of ITDMs feel confident that they have full visibility and control of all devices with network access.

42% of ITDMs feel confident that they have full visibility of the access level of all third parties who frequently have access to networks and 48% of ITDMs feel confident that they have full visibility and control

of all employees. This lack of confidence in the network visibility suggests that this is an area that should be treated as a top concern for organizations.

Yet, basic security measures like network segmentation are only being planned by 29% of businesses in 2018. Without network segmentation, malware entering a network will often be left to spread.

The 2017 Fortinet Global Enterprise Security Survey, a global survey of IT decision makers with responsibility/ visibility of IT security, received 1,801 anonymized respondents across 16 countries (US, Canada, France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Middle East, South Africa, Poland, Korea, Australia, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Indonesia). Respondents to the online questionnaire were not aware of the purpose or sponsor of the report.

SonicWall Partner Program enables channel empowerment SecureFirst Partners with SonicWall University achievements post 21 percent average increase in revenue attainment and productivity.

SonicWall said it is driving record numbers during the inaugural year of its SecureFirst Partner Program. The program, which launched in November 2016, has grown 500 percent since May 2017 with more than 21,000 registered partners, 7,700 of which are new to SonicWall.

“The numbers speak for themselves. With the diligence of our committed channel community, SonicWall is building one of the most modern, engaging and rewarding partner programs in the industry,” said SonicWall president and CEO Bill Conner. “This collaboration results in better and more realtime partner expertise in the

field, stronger security outcomes for customers and more revenue for our partners.”

Once enrolled in the SecureFirst Partner Program, partners may leverage SonicWall

Bill Conner, SonicWall

University to accelerate onboarding and quickly capitalize on customer opportunities and help increase revenue. Launched in April 2017, SonicWall University offers free on-demand online training with pathways for partners to earn SecureFirst Sales and Technical Accreditations, which directly influence increased revenue attainment.

While partners that haven’t leveraged SonicWall University have increased their revenue by an average of 7 percent, more importantly, partners that have their staff go through the SonicWall University achievements are delivering a 21 percent quarter-over-quarter

increase in revenue attainment, said the firm.

SonicWall Certified Engineers are immediately identifiable as experts in their field, offering a key advantage to SonicWall SecureFirst Partners and customer network administrators or security specialists.

To promote growth within the SecureFirst program, SonicWall launched the Partner Enabled Services program in November 2017. The program includes a new lineup of professional security services designed for partners to help their customers implement and operate security solutions that protect them from today’s relentless cyber-attacks.

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtonmea.com

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EVENTS

Cisco - Partner Bootcamp - Uganda -10 January

Cisco - Partner Enablement Session - Kenya -17 January

Tripp Lite - Lunch & Learn Partner Session - Kenya - 25 January

Cisco - Partner Enablement Session - Ghana - 24 January

Cisco - Partner Enablement Session - Nigeria - 11 January

Cisco - Partner Enablement Session - Nigeria - 18 January

HPE Nimble Storage Enablement Session - Qatar - 22 January

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtonmea.com

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Aruba Technical Workshop - Riyadh - 11 January

Check Point Next Generation Threat Prevention Technical Bootcamp with Redington Value in Dubai - 30 January

AWS Solution Training for Partners - Foundations - Dubai - 16 January

HPE Gen10 Enablement Session - Dubai - 15 January

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtonmea.com

AWS Data Migration Service Bootcamp - Dubai - 24 January

CyberArk Technical Workshop - Dubai - 21-22 January

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Microsoft CSP Roundtable - Riyadh - 25 January

Palo Alto VMware NSX Workshop - Egypt - 22 January

Red Hat Technical Bootcamp - Egypt - 23 January

Red Hat Technical Bootcamp - Qatar - 22 January

Splunk SE 1 Bootcamp - Dubai - 23 January

Trend Micro Bootcamp - Riyadh - 11 January

Microsoft Azure Roundtable with Redington Value in Dubai - 29 January

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtonmea.com

10

Palo Alto Networks unveils cloud-based behavioral analytics application Magnifier, new cloud-delivered application based on application framework, prevents successful cyber-attacks with advanced precision.

Palo Alto Networks has announced the availability of Magnifier, a cloud-based behavioral analytics application delivered through Palo Alto Networks Application Framework that allows organizations to rapidly identify and prevent threats.

As part of Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform, Magnifier applies machine learning to rich network, endpoint, and cloud data, precisely detecting and preventing targeted attacks, insider abuse, and endpoint compromise.

Palo Alto Networks Magnifier delivers the first easily consumed cloud-based behavioral analytics offering to automatically identify and prevent attackers from dwelling inside networks and successfully

scalable, agile, cloud-based machine learning.

“Magnifier automates the process of preventing successful cyberattacks by integrating best-of-breed behavioral analytics capabilities into Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform. It will enable already stretched security teams to improve their security posture while at the same time saving money and time, leveraging the benefits of machine learning

and automatically identifying potential cyberattacks so that they can be prevented,” said Lee Klarich, Chief Product Officer, Palo Alto Networks Magnifier behavioral analytics offers several new capabilities such as accuracy and efficiency, automated investigation, scale, agility and ease of deployment.

Magnifier behavioral analytics is a subscription-based service targeted for general availability in February 2018.

Lee Klarich, Palo Alto Networks

executing cyberattacks. Its tight integration with Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform, along with Palo Alto Networks Logging Service, enables highly accurate attack detection powered by

Magnifier automates the process of preventing successful cyberattacks by integrating bestof-breed behavioral analytics capabilities into Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Security Platform.”

Check Point announces new Smart-1 appliances New appliances deliver true all-in-one security management, said the firm.

Check Point Software Technologies has announced three new Smart-1 security management appliances.

This follows on the heels of the company’s announcement of Check Point Infinity Total Protection, a unique New Security Model to prevent ‘Gen V’ threats and attacks. The new appliances enable centralized, unified policy management, and advanced log and threat analysis for real-time, enterprise-wide security monitoring and control, for Gen V (5th Generation) cyber-protection.

All business sectors are now experiencing Gen V cyber-attacks, defined as large-scale and fast-

moving attacks across mobile, cloud and on-premise networks.

These sophisticated attacks easily bypass the conventional, static detection-based defenses being used by most organizations today.

The new Smart-1 appliances, deliver management storage capacity of up to 48TB, logging rates of up to 100,000 logs/sec and a performance boost of up to 8x compared to previous models.

This enables unprecedented security management performance across network, cloud and mobile environments for efficient Gen V cyber protection

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtonmea.com

The three new appliances, Smart-1 525, Smart-1 5050 and Smart-1 5150 provide enterprise IT teams with holistic, single-console security management and the ability to correlate, store and analyze huge amounts of new and historic data from thousands of network devices.

This streamline and accelerate security management processes, and strengthens organizations’ security postures in response to the current Gen V cyber-attack landscape.

“The Smart-1 Appliance family gives customers an agile, highcapacity security management solution that delivers in-depth

visibility into their security posture,” said Gabi Reish, VP Product Management and Product Marketing, Check Point.

“This makes it even easier for organizations to keep themselves fully protected against Gen V cyber-threats, by deploying and managing security with unrivalled performance, all on a single device.”

The new Smart-1 appliances are part of the Check Point Infinity architecture, which combines real-time threat prevention, shared intelligence and the most advanced security across networks, cloud and mobile.

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