Arabian Reseller - December 2019

DECEMBER 2019

www.arabianreseller.com

Vol. 1. Issue 3.

BACKUP YOUR STUFF

Curiosity and Hard Work are Indispensable

Providing Support for Partners

Maintaining Relationships is Key

CONTENTS 

06

NEWS

07

Veeam Launches New AWS-Native Backup and Recovery Solution

09

TP-Link MEA Hosts the Third Edition of “ConneXions”

10 11

18

Tenable Outs Integrated Offering to Secure Cloud Workloads

24 32

Arabic Version of Zoho Creator Launched

Schneider Electric Opens a Smart Distribution Center in the UAE

14 

18

F E AT U R E S T H I S M O N T H Curiosity and Hard Work are Indispensable

24

20

Budget and Manpower Constraints Have Always Been a Challenge for CXOs

28

22

Channel Predictions for 2020

32

Maintaining Relationships with Partners is Key Providing Unmatched Support for Partners Slowing Down Isn't An Option

28

EDITORIAL

DECEMBER 2019

EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris N. Fernando chris@ryshamedia.com

SALES AND MARKETING Ranbir Sen CHRIS N. FERNANDO EDITOR IN CHIEF

Plan Now for Backup and Disaster Recovery

Getting backups right can be difficult.

Making disaster recovery (DR) work is still even more difficult. Throw cloud technology into the mix and you potentially add layers of complexity with networking, virtual machine format considerations and more.

Data loss, ransomware, and compliance requirements are driving today’s disaster recovery strategies. Although the cause of an outage can vary, the solution is the same — you need to be able to recover your systems, applications, and data quickly and completely.

Anywhere there is data, there are threats to that data. Data is a valuable component of running a business, and it is open to a number of threats that can lead to data leaks and data loss.

These include physical device damage, human threats, technical threats and natural disasters. You’ve likely done your due diligence to protect against many of these, but any vulnerability could put your data in jeopardy, making it vital that you have a plan to help

you navigate around any disasters or data losses that occur.

But then, somewhere, at the center of this discussion, there has to be some best practices, so what might those be? This month, in our cover story titled "Backup Your Stuff", we speak to industry experts who share their views on the best practices, the opportunities and the challenges involved with charting out a backup and recovery plan in place.

Having said all of that, planning is very important. Last minute attempts to recover lost data quickly without any plan in place, can become expensive. By planning and preparing ahead for the eventuality of data loss, you can act quickly without sacrificing a substantial budget to the recovery process, and with fewer productivity related losses. With a plan in hand, you can limit the length of time your business is affected by data loss, or other disaster, and therefore can limit the scope of the damage.

ranbir@ryshamedia.com

DEPUTY EDITOR Edward Frank edward@ryshamedia.com

SENIOR WRITER Priyan Sampath priyan@ryshamedia.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER John Christy info@ryshamedia.com

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Prarthana Mary prarthana@ryshamedia.com

DIGITAL TEAM Context Media LLP, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. www.arabianreseller.com

C O N TA C T I N F O R M AT I O N Rysha Media LLC, Sharjah Media City (Shams), Al Messaned, Al Bataeh, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Email: sales@ryshamedia.com Web: www.ryshamedia.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

While the publisher has made all efforts to ensure the accuracy of information in the magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors whatsoever.

Copyright @ 2019

NEWS

Portugal and Spain Give Huawei the Green Light for 5G Portugal and Spain are set to launch commercial 5G services next year. Portugal and Spain both have resisted calls from the US to ban Huawei from their 5G network infrastructure, according to reports in the press.

The South China Morning Post reported that Portugal’s foreign minister Augusto Santos told the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, that bids would be assessed on a case by case basis. Portugal’s biggest telco, Altice Portugal, has already partnered with Huawei for the development of its 5G networks, which it hopes to launch next year.

The US is currently asking its allies in the European Union to exclude the Chinese tech giant from their 5G network rollout plans. The US government alleges that Huawei’s network technology, which is the most widely used in the world, is too easily hackable and could be used to conduct act of state-sponsored espionage. Huawei categorically refutes these allegations and the US is yet to furnish its allies with any proof of its allegations.

Despite this, the US is ramping up the pressure on European governments to shun Huawei.

Yesterday, UK prime minister appeared to wobble under US pressure as he said that the UK would look to revisit its stance on Huawei after the forthcoming general election. Huawei is already involved in the initial 5G rollouts of operators in the UK, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

Sundar Pichai Takes the Helm of Alphabet Google chief executive Sundar Pichai will replace Larry Page as CEO of parent Alphabet Inc, extending a long retreat from public roles and active management by Page and Sergey Brin at the company they co-founded 21 years ago.

Alphabet, which owns more than a dozen companies emerged in 2015 as part of a restructuring of Google.

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai will replace Larry Page as CEO of parent Alphabet Inc. Page and Brin will remain directors, but will cede their CEO and president titles, respectively, immediately, Alphabet said. Page and Brin, once regular sights at public events and at Google headquarters, are now seen much less often.

Sundar Pichai will replace Larry Page as CEO of parent Alphabet Inc, extending a long retreat from public roles and active management by Page and Sergey Brin at the company they co-founded 21 years ago. “While it has been a tremendous privilege to be deeply involved in the day-to-day management of the company for so long, we believe it’s time to assume the role of proud parents — offering advice and love, but not daily nagging!” Page and Brin wrote in a blog post recently.

Tenable Outs Integrated Offering to Secure Cloud Workloads Tenable has announced the availability of a new, integrated offering to secure cloud workloads with Tenable.io and Golden Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) pipeline. This collaboration represents a critical step in ensuring that organizations of all sizes can build cybersecurity best practices directly into their cloud migration strategies.

The Golden AMI pipeline provides users with an efficient way to mature their cloud strategies with standardized and consistent processes for validating the software configuration, hardening and security posture of machine images. Tenable.io assesses AMIs for vulnerabilities and exposures which are then deemed “golden,” validating that they are verified and secured images that can be pushed to production and re-used by teams across the enterprise, ultimately helping customers by increasing the speed and security of development cycles.

In addition, by using the existing AWS connector for Tenable.io, customers can automatically and continuously discover and track production assets to ensure all instances are known and assessed for exposures with every change.

Customers can also leverage Tenable’s Professional Services offering to optimize and streamline the creation and deployment of Golden

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AMIs. This ensures the process, from scripting to assessments, is fully, properly and quickly spun up in the cloud by Tenable security experts.

“As a cloud-first company, we understand both the business benefits of operating in the cloud and the importance of building a solid cybersecurity foundation,” said Renaud Deraison, co-founder and chief technology officer, Tenable.

“AWS customers can now leverage Tenable.io, the number one SaaS platform in the industry for vulnerability and security configuration, to ensure their cloud instances are secure and ready to be deployed, ultimately reducing their cyber risk across dynamic cloud environments.”

AWS customers can benefit from Tenable.io’s industry-leading vulnerability and security configuration coverage. A recent report

by Principled Technologies, which tested Tenable.io, Rapid7 InsightVM and Qualys Cloud Platform, found that Tenable.io covers up to 22 percent more Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) and up to nearly three times as many security configurations based on the Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks as compared to comparable tools. Tenable.io is available for purchase on AWS Marketplace.

NEWS

Ransomware Now Targeting Back-Up Data, Says Kaspersky Kaspersky researchers have identified a new type of ransomware attack which is actively growing in popularity. Targeting Network Attached Storage (NAS), it poses new risks for back-up data usually stored on such devices. With NAS largely perceived as a secure technology, users often remain unprepared for the possibility of infection, putting their data at higher risk.

Veeam Launches New AWS-Native Backup and Recovery Solution Veeam Software has announced a new Veeam Backup for Amazon Web Services (AWS) solution for cost-effective and secure cloud-native Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) protection. The solution will be available exclusively through AWS Marketplace. Veeam Backup for AWS, a point solution to backup AWS to AWS with powerful Veeam recovery capabilities, is available in both free and paid versions in AWS Marketplace.

The product is also now integrated with Veeam’s flagship product, Veeam Backup & Replication, allowing Veeam users to manage all of their data, be it cloud, virtual or physical, within the same platform. As part of their Diamond sponsorship of the event, Veeam will demonstrate the new solution for the first time at AWS re:Invent 2019 in Las Vegas, NV, showcasing the easy, powerful, and cost-effective backup and recovery solution for AWS-native workloads.

Data loss can happen whether it is stored on-prem or in the cloud.

A recent Veeam customer survey found that 53 percent of customers cite user error or accidental deletion as a leading cause of data loss1. Ultimately, it is the customer’s responsibility to make sure their data is protected. Designed specifically for AWS, NEW Veeam Backup for AWS brings the same simplicity, flexibility, and reliability to AWS native-backup that earned Veeam recent industry recognition.

Veeam was recently positioned as a Leader in the 2019 Magic Quadrant for Data Center Backup and Recovery Solutions. Veeam was also positioned as a Leader in the Forrester Wave. This new solution makes it even easier for customers and cloud service providers to natively protect,

manage and recover their AWS workloads. Veeam provides the flexibility to store the data and recover data in the same cloud (cross-region or cross-account), on-premises, or in any other Veeam-supported environment – whether VMware V-Sphere, Microsoft Hyper-V or Nutanix AHV. “Protecting data is not only essential to business continuity, but also to maintaining competitive advantage, complying with regulations, and maintaining brand reputation.

While the cloud holds the promise of significant business benefits, IT decision-makers must still take direct action to protect critical data and enable business continuity in the event of an outage, disaster or cyber-attack.,” said Ratmir Timashev, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Veeam.

“Veeam’s latest cloud-native solution, Veeam Backup for AWS, available as a point solution in AWS Marketplace as well as now integrated into Veeam Backup & Replication, not only strengthens our commitment to be a leader in Cloud Data Management, but extends Veeam-powered data protection to AWS customers, making it easy for customers to procure and entitle the solution using the same APIs and subscription model used for other software.”

Ease of use is built into the new Veeam Backup for AWS with turn-key deployment via AWS Marketplace, while powerful recovery capabilities are also delivered with features like file-level recovery for native snapshots and Veeam backups.

An industry-first built-in tool, Cloud Backup Cost Estimator is designed to provide customers with greater cost controls and savings by simulating policy charges to avoid excessive costs before they start their backups.

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Encryption ransomware is a malware that applies advanced encryption methods so files cannot be decrypted without a unique key. This leaves the infected device owner stuck with a locked device and a demand to pay a ransom in order to regain access to files. While users are typically infected with ransomware via email or exploit-kits planted on websites, the new type of attacks on NAS devices uses a different vector.

Ransomware operators scan ranges of IP addresses looking for NAS devices accessible via the web. Although only web interfaces protected with authentication are accessible, a number of devices have integrated software with vulnerabilities in it. This allows the attackers to install a Trojan using exploits, which will then encrypt all data on the devices connected to the NAS. “Previously encryption ransomware targeting NAS was hardly evident in the wild, and this year alone we have already detected a number of new ransomware families focused solely on NAS. This trend is unlikely to fade, as this attack vector proves to be very profitable for the attackers, especially due to the users being completely unprepared for them as they consider this technology highly reliable. NAS devices are usually purchased as complete and secure products, which as it turns out is not the case. Consumers and especially business users need to, therefore, remain cautious when protecting their data,” said Fedor Sinitsyn, a security researcher at Kaspersky.

During Q3 2019, Kaspersky products detected and repelled encryption ransomware attacks on 229,643 Kaspersky products users, which is 11% less than during the same period last year. Although the total number of affected users slightly decreased, the report shows that the number of new encryption ransomware modifications grew from 5,195 in Q3 2018 to 13,138 in Q3 2019 marking 153% growth.

This development signals cybercriminal interest in this type of malware as a means of enrichment. At the same time, the infamous WannaCry Trojan family retained first place among the most popular Trojans with over a fifth of attacked users having been targeted with malware identified as belonging to this group. The top three most popular verdicts that account for almost half of users attacked by cryptors were Trojan-Ransom.Win32.

Wanna (20.96% users attacked), Trojan-Ransom.

Win32.Phny (20.01%) and Trojan-Ransom.Win32.

GandCrypt (8.58%).

CHANNE L TALK

Jacky’s Retail Reopens Renovated Samsung Store in MoE Jacky’s Retail LLC, a subsidiary of the Jacky’s Group of Companies, has reopened its revamped Samsung branded store in Mall of the Emirates in Dubai that is celebrating its sixth anniversary this month. Managed jointly with Samsung Gulf Electronics, this space is spread over 294 square meters and offers visitors a premium customer service area and new Samsung experience areas.

The revamped outlet encompasses a brand new design that will give consumers the chance to get hands-on with a wide range of Samsung products and services first-hand. The space is also ideal for visitors to speak to a Samsung expert about product repairs, get help or advice on a broad line-up of its products.

Ashish Panjabi, Chief Operating Officer at Jacky’s Retail LLC said, “Working with a brand like Samsung, we are always looking for ways to showcase the latest innovations and to do this, a complete refresh for how the experiences are presented as necessary. The new layout lends itself to the lifestyle of our consumers whilst ensuring the innovative product ecosystem from Samsung is clearly demonstrated whether it be smartphones, wearables, televisions or home appliances.”

In addition, an exclusive accessories and wearables section provides a high-level curated and categorized display of Samsung’s latest flagship accessories and wearables. The reopening was marked with special offers that also included the chance to win Samsung 55” 4K TV, Galaxy Note 10, Galaxy A5 Smartphone, Gear 2 Active smartwatch, Level U headphone & Samsung Battery pack, among others.

Samsung’s long-term partnerships with Jacky’s was established in 2013, with a common goal to provide the best-in-class innovation to customers in the UAE. Jacky’s also operates Samsung brand shops in City Centre Deira, Burjuman and Khalidiyah Mall Abu Dhabi.

Paxton Appoints New Distribution Partner in the Middle East Paxton Access has appointed regional access control products provider, Stebilex Systems, as the new distribution partner in the Middle East region. Stebilex Systems will stock Paxton’s flagship range of access control products to offer physical security solutions for a wide range of applications.

Both companies will also collaborate to provide service, as well as provide training for installers, system integrators and Paxton product managers in the region. Paxton manufactures a complete range of access control solutions ranging from single door entry solutions to complex, multi-site networked solutions, and most of its products offer a five-year manufacturer’s warranty.

The companies aim to serve the fast-growing demand in the regional security product market, arising due to increased digitization efforts and stringent regulatory policies. According to numbers released by Frost &

Sullivan, the commercial security sector will touch $4.8 billion worth by 2021 with video surveillance and access control sector accounting to 90% of this value, while intrusion detection will account for 10%.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome Stebilex to our family of distributors for Paxton products here in the region. Since initially bringing Stebilex on board for the Qatar market, their team has shown tremendous efforts and ambition in driving Paxton’s portfolio further. Seeing Stebilex’s proactive approach and great customer service, we have opened up the territory to the entire Middle East market.

We anticipate similar support across the region, as they have provided in Qatar. Stebilex enhances Paxton’s solution with integrative solutions including biometrics, locks, etc. and with our collaboration, the system integrators can now have a one-stopshop for all their requirements” said David Sodergren, Regional Sales Manager, Paxton Access.

Jumbo Electronics Invests Over AED 10 Million for Expansion in Abu Dhabi Officials from Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (DED) have inaugurated a new branch of Jumbo Electronics, the leading OmniChannel retailer in the region, at The Galleria Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi.

Jumbo has invested more than AED 10 million in a premium retail store, a regional office, warehouse facilities and a service centre in Abu Dhabi that will together deliver the best customer experience in the Emirate.

Executive Director of the Department of International Economic Relations, Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (DED), and Mr. Ali Fahad Al Nuaimi, Director of Commercial Relations, Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (DED), in the presence of Jumbo Group’s and The Galleria Mall’s leadership team. This is Jumbo’s 15th retail store in the UAE & the 6th in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The 20,000 sq. ft fully-digital store, which is the newest technology destination in Abu Dhabi, was officially inaugurated by His Excellency Ghanem Al Fandi Al Mazroui,

Pankaj Kumar, Head of OmniChannel Retail, Jumbo Electronics, said: “Jumbo Electronics sees tremendous potential in Abu Dhabi. As the capital city and an economic hub, we see

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a demand for the latest lifestyle products, which we are committed to delivering to our customers through a premium in-store experience. The Galleria Al Maryah Island is a landmark in Abu Dhabi, and we are proud to be located in an exclusive retail destination that offers bespoke customer experiences.”

A new 2100 sq. ft regional office near Electra Park, Abu Dhabi was also opened recently, with a dedicated team catering to large Enterprise customers as well as customers of Jumbo’s distribution division in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

CHANNE L TALK

Video Storage Solutions and ZMR Sign Distribution Partnership ZMR has been appointed a distributor of Video Storage Solutions’ (VSS) pre-engineered video recording and storage appliances. Based in Saudi Arabia, ZMR will supply the complete range of VSS products, which incudes IP video recording servers, storage and network architecture, to systems integrators across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who are part of the Milestone Systems Community.

TP-Link MEA Hosts the Third Edition of “ConneXions” TP-Link Technologies successfully concluded the third edition of their annual event “ConneXions” on 27th November 2019. The grand event showcased the launch of the AX product line and outlined TP-Link Achievements and Strategy for 2020.

Lucas Jiang General Manager TP-Link MEA FZE, said, “the ConneXions Partner Meet 2019 was held in Dubai and also saw the launch of AX Technology Products. Our partner community is essential and plays a major role in our 23 years of achievements. We are glad to able to celebrate our partners during our mega event Connexions and honour them with the TP-Link Partner Awards. We acknowledged our strategic partners for their excellence in driving results across 3 categories including Channel Partners, Distributors and SMB Partner of the Year. With the increasing need for seamless collaboration to deliver smooth business experiences, events like these play an important role in integrating strategies across verticals, acknowledging collective efforts, and ensuring that all associated stakeholders are on the same page.”

“ConneXions” honoured and brought together our key Distributors, Channel partners and System integrators.

TP-Link Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are also playing a growing role in the growth of the TP-Link overall businesses. Currently, we have over 200 SI partners of TPLink. “This event was not just about new solutions, their growth, and the way forward for the partners, it was also focussed on making the strong ConneXions and also about celebrating the growth that comes from collective effort and enhancing it further with smarter strategies,” Jiang added.

He further said that TP-Link is committed to deliver the highest-quality networking products and solutions and

build stronger and profitable relationships with its partners across the region. “With a proven heritage of stability, performance, and value, TP-Link has curated a portfolio of products that meet the networking needs of all individuals and businesses. Now, as the connected lifestyle continues to evolve, the company is expanding today to exceed the demands of tomorrow,” he said.

Lucas Jiang, General Manager, TP-Link MEA FZE, said, “the ConneXions Partner Meet 2019 was held in Dubai and also saw the launch of AX Technology Products. Our partner community is essential and plays a major role in our 23 years of achievements. We are glad to able to celebrate our partners during our mega event Connexions and honour them with the TP-Link Partner Awards. We acknowledged our strategic partners for their excellence in driving results across 3 categories including Channel Partners, Distributors and SMB Partner of the Year.”

“With the increasing need for seamless collaboration to deliver smooth business experiences, events like these play an important role in integrating strategies across verticals, acknowledging collective efforts, and ensuring that all associated stakeholders are on the same page,” said Jiang. “‘ConneXions’ honoured and brought together our key Distributors, Channel Partners, and System integrators. TP-Link small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are also playing a growing role in the growth of the TP-Link overall businesses. Currently, we have over 200 SI partners of TP-Link. This event was not just about new solutions, their growth, and the way forward for the partners, it was also focussed on making the strong ConneXions and also about celebrating the growth that comes from collective effort and enhancing it further with smarter strategies.”

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“We are very excited about partnering with VSS and adding its appliances to our portfolio. We are confident this partnership will add value to our security solutions offering,” said Firas Beirut, Sales Director of ZMR, a supplier of security, communications and technology solutions. “As an authorised VSS distributor, we are able to provide Milestone systems integrator partners with robust, fit for purpose, recording and storage solutions which are integrated with the XProtect platform.”

Part of the BCD International (bcdinc.com) brand of companies, VSS has been formed to provide verified video management hardware appliances which are pre-engineered with Milestone XProtect, Seagate SkyHawk surveillance-grade drives and its state-of-the-art Storage Accelerator, which significantly increases storage scalability, performance and reliability for Milestone Systems projects. As such, they are able to withstand the taxing video data write a load of systems that have a large number of cameras.

Commenting on the partnership established between the two companies, Rohit Khubchandani, VSS’ Regional Sales Director for METAI said: “This is a great opportunity to expand our growing video appliances business in the Kingdom. ZMR’s reputation and leading position in the Saudi Arabian market make them a unique distribution partner to address the growing demand for our pre-engineered video recording appliances with guaranteed performance. We are proud to help them and their resellers gain a competitive edge across all verticals which they are addressing whithin the video surveillance market.”

NEWS

UAE’s MOCD Partners With Microsoft The UAE’s Ministry of Community Development (MOCD) has teamed up with Microsoft to better secure its digital assets and protect against cyber-attacks. The ministry will adopt Microsoft’s Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) to protect its digital perimeter and respond to endpoint attacks, advanced threats, fileless attacks and zero-day exploits.

“As we work to improve social development in the UAE, and pursue the national agenda for Vision 2021, our responsibility to strengthen family coherence and consolidate the position of our nation as a place of happiness will rely more and more on a stable technology environment,” said Saeed Abdulla, Information Technology Advisor – Minister’s Office, UAE Ministry of Community Development. “To protect, detect and respond to sophisticated and advanced threats, we partnered with Microsoft to implements its security and compliance solutions. Our partnership will ensure seamless fulfilment of the vision our wise leaders have for our citizens and our country.”

Considering how the threats landscape is evolving every day, third-party anti-virus solutions was insufficient to guard against sophisticated, fileless and zero-day threats, MOCD opted to standardise its cybersecurity strategy using Microsoft Defender ATP, leading to a simplification of operations and a more coherent defence of its digital estate.

“Microsoft believes a new security approach is needed for today’s digital era,” said Sayed Hashish, General Manager, Microsoft UAE. “We must prioritise trust at the core of our technology, so we can empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. We use our unique insights into the threat landscape and collaboration with our partner ecosystem to build a safer world for our customers. We are proud to partner with the Ministry of Community Development, against cyber attackers, and bolster the ministry’s perimeter against a daily siege. That way, its innovators can concentrate on improving people’s lives while being amply protected against those with a more sinister outlook.”

Arabic Version of Zoho Creator Launched Zoho has launched the Arabic version of its low-code development platform, Zoho Creator. With Creator, business owners who do not have any coding experience can easily create custom apps using its simple drag-and-drop interface. In the Arabic version, the orientation of the UI is reversed, allowing businesses to build fully Arabic apps with easier to use UI and right-to-left data entry capabilities.

IT department for each and every app requirement. On the other hand, the IT department is free to concentrate on mission-critical issues. This enables businesses to bring down their IT costs. While the Arabic version of Zoho Creator removes any language barrier, its on-premise version removes any technological barriers for UAE businesses to adopt this digitally transformational technology.”

For businesses who do not wish to keep their data in the cloud, or would like to opt for third-party public clouds, the company has also launched an on-premise version of Zoho Creator.

With the on-premise version, businesses will be able to create and deploy applications on their own servers, or other public clouds such as AWS.

According to Gartner, by 2024, lowcode application development will be responsible for more than 65 per cent of application development activity. With the simple drag-and-drop interface, even managers with no programming knowledge can create custom applications to streamline their business processes. For example, an HR manager can create an application to track employee requests or a marketing head can create an application to track event registrations and even use AI-enabled fields that can tell how many of the registered people will actually attend the event.

“With the low-code platforms, an organization can provide all the departments access to technology, thereby empowering them,” said Hyther Nizam, President, MEA, Zoho Corp.

“Teams need no longer rely on their

Ooredoo Kuwait Chooses Fortinet for Secure SD-WAN Managed Service Fortinet has announced that it has been chosen by Ooredoo Kuwait to deliver the region’s first secure SD-WAN managed service. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN will allow Ooredoo’s existing and new enterprise customers to achieve accelerated connectivity, transport mode independence, and increased application performance while benefiting from tightly knit SD-WAN and advanced security features.

Ooredoo Kuwait itself is deploying Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN across its retail branches and will serve as a reference for customers wishing to follow suit. “Ooredoo Kuwait’s broad managed security services rely on several Fortinet solutions, includ-

ing the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution, which significantly reduces onboarding efforts and speeds time to market for the service,” said Abdulaziz AlBabtain, Chief Business Officer at Ooredoo Kuwait. “Our secure SD-WAN managed service is much more than just a new connectivity service for the enterprise WAN edge. It is paving the way for significant benefits for our customers and significant new revenue streams for Ooredoo Kuwait by leveraging our security operations center, clean pipe, secure WiFi, email security, end-point security, and advanced threat protection.”

“SD-WAN offers accelerated connectivity, cost savings, and increased performance

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for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. However, the benefits of SD-WAN cannot be truly realized without security as an integral part of the solution,” said Joe Sarno, International Emerging Vice President at Fortinet. “Without an integrated security solution, organizations are forced to overlay security, creating significant overhead and leaving gaps in protection as security and management systems remain isolated. We’re pleased to work with Ooredoo Kuwait to deliver the region’s first secure SD-WAN managed service and continue our focus of delivering integrated SD-WAN and advanced security to enterprise customers around the world.”

NEWS

Mimecast Threat Intelligence Report Analyses 99 Billion Rejected Emails

Schneider Electric Opens a Smart Distribution Center in the UAE Schneider Electric has opened its new Smart Distribution Center in Dubai. It is the first Smart Distribution Center in the region and becomes the latest addition to the company’s growing worldwide network of smart operations facilities. These centers feature innovative digital technologies that can be leveraged to support a host of industries as they pursue their path toward greater integration and digitization.

The Smart Distribution Center is a model for industrial digitization, supporting the development of the UAE’s national Industry 4.0 agenda as it works towards a future based on harnessing the power of the Industrial Internet of Things and Smart Manufacturing. This is Schneider Electric’s sixth Smart Distribution Center launched in 2019, following inaugurations in Australia, China, Brazil, France, and India. Smart Distribution Centers are fundamental to Schneider Electric’s Tailored Sustainable Connected 4.0 supply chain digital transformation where the company leverages its EcoStruxure platform and architecture across its supply chain operations to deliver end-to-end integration and visibility to improve performance.

“Schneider Electric has a 30-year track record of investment in the region, and in the UAE in particular.

In that time, Dubai has become one of four international hubs for the company after Paris, Boston and Hong Kong,” the company said in a statement. The digitization of Dubai’s Smart Distribution Center not only shortens its delivery time to customers, but also optimizes supply chain operations to provide delivery excellence. Built on Schneider Electric’s cutting edge EcoStruxure technologies, the new distribution center will

deliver a host of benefits across all layers of the company’s logistical operations.

Some of these improvements include: • Agile management & process efficiency: EcoStruxure Plant communicates effectively with upstream and downstream suppliers, as well as internal parties, to optimize scheduling and drive faster and better decision-making to improve customer satisfaction with better service • Asset performance management: EcoStruxure Machine enables real-time performance monitoring, analysis and predictive analytics to reduce downtime and create more efficient operations • Empowered operators: The End to End Control Tower allows real-time visibility of shipments and timely contingency plans at early stages, empowering operators with information for increased and significantly improving safety • Energy efficiency & reliability: EcoStruxure Power reduces energy consumption through real-time insights delivered by EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert and EcoStruxure Power Advisor, which has shown potential energy savings of between five and seven percent The Smart Distribution Center, spanning across an area of 30,000 square meters, is now open for Inbound, Outbound and Local adaptation entities interested to experience and learn about the company’s most innovative technologies delivered through its IoT-enabled, open, interoperable architecture, EcoStruxure.

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Mimecast has announced the availability of its quarterly Threat Intelligence Report: Risk and Resilience Insights. The report provides technical analysis from the Mimecast Threat Center from July -September 2019 on the nature of attack campaigns in addition to observations and analysis of evolving threats. Outlining the trends emerging from these identified attacks and assessing the current behavior of threat actors can help organizations better understand the impact these factors will have on the cybersecurity landscape in 2020.

The Mimecast Threat Intelligence Report includes an analysis of 207 billion emails processed by Mimecast, 99 billion of which were rejected.

The report keeps organizations informed on the threats that are targeting their industries, so they can better prepare for, and protect themselves against threats inside, at and beyond the perimeter.

This research looks through the lens of the four main categories of attack types discovered in the quarter: spam, impersonation, opportunistic, and targeted. This quarter’s report found that impersonation attacks are on this rise, accounting for 26% of total detections – and now includes voice phishing or “vishing,” an advanced attack observed in this quarter, where threat actors use social engineering to gain access to personal and financial information via the victim’s telephone system.

While the report uncovered a mixture of simple, low effort and low-cost attacks targeting Mimecast customers, the data high­lights complex, targeted campaigns leveraging a variety of vectors and lasting several days. These sophisticated attacks are likely carried out by organized and determined threat actors, employing obfuscation, layering, exploits, and encryption to evade detection. Additionally, throughout the research, it was clear three industries were targeted the most by cyberattacks.

Banking and legal, industries that are rich with sensitive information that yields results for threat actors and transportation, where state-sponsored threat actors seek to disrupt the logistical and supply capability of rivals.

“Threat actors seek numerous ways into an organization – from using sophisticated tactics, like voice phishing and domain spoofing, to simple attacks like spam,” said Josh Douglas, vice president of threat intelligence at Mimecast. “This quarter’s research found that the majority of threats were simple, sheer volume attacks. Easy to execute, but not as easy to protect against as it shines a very bright light on the role human error could play in an organization’s vulnerability. Organizations need to take a pervasive approach to email security – one that integrates the right security tools allowing for greater visibility at, in and beyond the perimeter.

This approach also requires educating the last line of defense – employees. Coupling technology with a force of well-trained human eyes will help organizations strengthen their security postures to defend against both simple and sophisticated threats."

MOVE RS AND SHAKE RS

Secureworks Gets New Chief Channel Officer

Secureworks has announced the appointment of Maureen Perrelli as its new Chief Channel Officer, effective Nov. 18, 2019. Perrelli will lead the company’s global channel engagement strategy, building on Secureworks’ recent success in partnering with top technology providers to bring its cloud-native software to market.

Perelli joins Secureworks from NCR Corporation where she held the position of Vice President of Global Channel Sales. Based in the Boston area, she will join the Secureworks executive team and report directly to CEO Mike Cote. “Business environments are exceedingly complex today, and companies will need more collaboration from their cloud, IT and security vendors in order to protect critical assets from cyber threats who exploit the gaps, said Cote. “As demonstrated by our recently announced partnerships with Dell and VMware, Secureworks sees tremendous opportunity for growth through channel partners, and I’m thrilled that Maureen has joined our team to lead that effort.”

Perrelli has more than 20 years of experience leading global go-to-market organizations ranging from $200M to $4B in revenue. Prior to joining NCR, she was Vice President of Worldwide Cloud Channel Sales at Oracle and a global channel sales leader at GE. “Secureworks has proven that it can partner with the best security technology companies in the world to bring meaningful SaaS innovation to the global marketplace,” said Perrelli. “I’m thrilled to join Mike and the team to accelerate those opportunities by broadening our channel engagement strategy and closely aligning our product, sales, and marketing efforts with the right partners.”

Secureworks also continues to develop direct-to-market partnerships for its software and service bundles, even as it is boosting channel engagement. The company recently announced that Red Cloak Threat Detection and Response will be paired with Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection to help joint customers rid their environments of advanced threats.

NetApp Appoints Matt Watts as Chief Technology Officer for EMEA NetApp, the data authority for hybrid cloud, today appointed Matt Watts to the newly created role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO), EMEA, and promoted Johannes Wagmueller to lead solutions engineering, EMEA. Watts and Wagmueller report to Alexander Wallner, Senior Vice President & General Manager for NetApp in EMEA, and join his executive leadership council.

As EMEA CTO, Matt Watts will be the key interpreter of the company’s global technology strategy, advising executive teams internally as well as partners and customers on how to integrate transformative solutions, processes, and business models, and drive productive digital transformation. His key responsibilities include working with new buyers and their content needs, developing education and messaging inside and outside of

the company, and helping to build and demonstrate the company’s strategic vision.

Matt Watts says: “In a time of fastpaced digitally driven transformation it becomes crucially important to understand the hybrid cloud world and educate others about the value of our portfolio. I am happy to re-join the EMEA team and work with them and our partners and customers, discussing data innovation and the implications for enterprises large and small.”

Johannes Wagmueller adds: “NetApp is unique in the market in offering the only truly and fully fabric-connected hybrid cloud portfolio. With my team, we are in a prime position to bring its critical value to our customers, leveraging broad solutions, a vibrant partner network, and strong expertise at the technology and business level.”

Mimecast Hires New Talent to Help Drive Next Phase of Growth Mimecast has announced three new executive appointments to help drive the company’s next phase of growth. Heather Bentley, formerly of Symantec, will join Mimecast as the new Senior Vice President of Customer Success; Susan Vaillancourt, previously with Optiv, joins as the Vice President of Brand Strategy; and Alpna J. Doshi joins the Board of Directors.

President of Customer Success. Previously, Heather was the Head of Customer Success in Europe for Automation Anywhere. For more than a decade, Heather held leadership positions at Symantec and recently was their Vice President of Premium Support and Customer Success. As the SVP of Customer Success at Mimecast, Heather will be responsible for leading the global customer success and services strategy to ensure alignment with corporate goals and initiatives.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth over the last several years requiring us to take an inside-out look at the business to understand how we can continue innovating, supporting customers and creating resilience – both in the technology we provide and our footprint in society. Customers are, by far, the heart of Mimecast and they are a vital part of the ecosystem for cyber resilience, which is why ensuring their success is second to none,” said Peter Bauer, chief executive officer at Mimecast. The experience these leaders bring will truly help guide the success of our customers, our position in the market as we journey into our next phase of growth and innovation.”

Susan joins the company in a newly-created role as Vice President of Brand Strategy. She is responsible for growing brand recognition for Mimecast as a cyber resilience provider while also ensuring the brand provides a competitive advantage in key markets to help drive long-term value for the business. Susan joins Mimecast from Optiv, where she most recently served as vice president of brand and communications. During her nearly 10-year tenure with Optiv, among other high profile initiatives, Susan led brand and communications efforts for the merger of two $750M cybersecurity companies to create and grow a newly named company and brand.

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Nutanix Gets New Chief Commercial Officer Nutanix has announced that it has appointed Tarkan Maner as Chief Commercial Officer, where he will lead Nutanix’s global business development and corporate development efforts, with a focus on strategic partnerships, alliances, system integrators, and service providers. “Nutanix’s DNA is rooted in disruptive innovation on behalf of its customers. I am delighted to partner with Dheeraj and the executive team to accelerate Nutanix’s position as a leader in enterprise cloud computing,” said Maner. “Nutanix has accomplished so much over the past ten years, but there’s so much potential to go even further. I am excited to charge ahead and play a critical role in helping realise Nutanix’s vision of making computing invisible, anywhere.”

A10 Networks Gets New CEO A10 Networks has announced that Dhrupad Trivedi has agreed to join the company as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective December 2, 2019. Lee Chen, who founded A10 Networks in 2004 and has served as CEO since inception, will continue to be actively involved with the company to ensure a smooth leadership transition, and will continue as chairman of the A10 Networks Board of Directors.

Dr. Trivedi joins A10 Networks from Belden, where he most recently was Executive Vice President running Tripwire, a cybersecurity software business and CTO of Belden. Prior to this, he held other executive roles at Belden, including President of Belden’s Network Solutions Division; Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development, leading the company’s M&A activities; and starting in Belden as President of Trapeze Networks. Prior to joining Belden, Trivedi held executive roles at JDS Uniphase Corporation from 1998 through 2010.

“I am honored and excited to join A10 Networks as CEO to help the company

pursue its mission of organic growth by delivering leading technology for our customers in terms of reliability, security and availability. I also look forward to partnering with the Strategy Committee of the Board of Directors to maximize shareholder value,” said Trivedi. “Lee and the A10 team have established a strong reputation as the high-performance leader in multiple growing markets, which will provide strong secular tailwinds for many years to come. I am excited to join the company at a pivotal time and lead it through this key inflection point to the next phase of growth. I look forward to working with our customers, employees, partners and investors.”

The company has committed to appoint Trivedi to its board of directors within 30 days of his joining the Company.

The company’s letter agreement with VIEX Capital Advisors and its affiliates, in which the company had agreed to fix the size of the Board at six, has been amended to permit increasing the board to seven members until the company’s 2020 annual meeting of shareholders.

Maner’s responsibilities will include leading critical hybrid cloud-focused strategy and product teams including Nutanix’s core virtualisation platform (AHV), software-defined networking, and some of the key hybrid cloud services: End User Computing (Xi Frame), Database-as-a-Service (Era), DR-as-a-Service (Xi Leap), Xi Partner Network (XPN), and Solutions Engineering. Maner brings more than 25 years of experience as an executive at disruptive technology companies in the IT infrastructure space. Most recently, he served as Chairman and CEO at Nexenta Systems, Inc., leading the organisation from its open-source focus through its acquisition by DataDirect Networks (DDN) in May 2019.

Prior to Nexenta, he was the President and CEO at Wyse Technology, one of the virtual desktop computing pioneers acquired by Dell in 2012. He also held executive roles at Dell, CA Technologies, IBM, and Sterling Software. Maner served on the boards of several organisations including Teradici, CloudCheckr, Wheels, and leading non-profit organisations in Silicon Valley. “Tarkan brings an entrepreneurial mindset and an acute awareness of the computing landscape to lead Nutanix in its second decade,” said Dheeraj Pandey, Chairman, Founder and CEO at Nutanix. “His authentic leadership style, a clear bias for action, and a broad industry network have helped him create high-energy companies, as I’ve observed him from afar.

Given his deep sense of commitment to company-building, I look forward to this new partnership to build Nutanix into a hybrid cloud powerhouse.”

ServiceNow Names Gina Mastantuono as CFO ServiceNow has announced that Gina Mastantuono will join ServiceNow as Chief Financial Officer, effective January 13, 2020. Mastantuono joins the company from Ingram Micro, where she served as Chief Financial Officer.

“Gina is a highly experienced technology industry CFO and incredibly capable global leader who will be a great partner to me and a perfect fit for ServiceNow,” said ServiceNow President and CEO Bill McDermott. “I want to thank John Donahoe and ServiceNow’s Board of Directors for conducting such a high-quality global search and providing me with an exceptional slate of candidates to consider. Gina is the right person to join me and our leadership team, help continue ServiceNow’s remarkable mo-

mentum, and drive our next phase of shared growth and success with our customers.”

Mastantuono brings more than 20 years of financial experience to ServiceNow, including in the cloud, IT and mobility solutions industries. Since 2016, she has served as CFO of Ingram Micro, a leading provider of global technology and supply chain services with more than $50 billion in revenue in FY2018 and 200,000 customers worldwide.

Mastantuono led the company’s global finance organization, including financial planning and analysis, M&A, treasury and risk management, accounting and reporting, internal audit, tax, investor relations and global business processes.

“I’m honored to join Bill and the ServiceNow

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team,” Mastantuono said. “ServiceNow is highly regarded by its customers and has tremendous momentum and opportunity to enable digital transformation and help make work, work better for people. I look forward to joining ServiceNow and helping the company continue to deliver incredible value for customers and shareholders.”

Prior to Ingram Micro, Mastantuono was Revlon’s SVP, chief accounting officer, controller and international CFO from 2007 to 2013. Mastantuono also held various executive finance roles at InterActiveCorp., a $6-billion, publicly-traded operator of a portfolio of global brands, and Triarc Companies, Inc., a consumer products company with holdings that include Snapple, RC Cola and Arby’s.

COVE R STORY

Backup Your 5GStuff

Protecting company’s data against threats like systems failure, site-wide disaster and ransomware should be at the forefront of any IT strategy. We speak to industry experts who weigh in on the growing opportunity of backup and recovery solutions for IT solution providers

In today’s rapidly changing digital landscape, organisations are increasingly facing the need to implement strategies to manage and protect their data, especially when the data growth rate is not slowing down.

According to IDC, companies will have 175 ZB of data by 2025, which combined with a highly competitive environment can be the recipe for a business disaster.

A market study by Research and Markets suggests that the global data backup and recovery market size is expected to grow from $7.13 billion in 2017 to $11.59 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 10.2% during the forecast period. Data backup and recovery software and solutions play a vital role to protect, replicate, and retain data in case of any manual or natural disaster.

Increasing adoption of cloud data backup solutions and the enormous growth of data are driving the adoption of reliable data backup and re-

covery software and services among enterprises. Regular data backups are vital insurance against a data-loss catastrophe. Data backup process involves copying and archiving enterprise data, so that it is accessible in case of data deletion or corruption.

CURRENT SCENARIO An independent global research study on experiences and attitudes of IT decision-makers (ITDM) around data management commissioned by StorageCraft this year reveals global concern about the business impact and risk from rampant and unrestricted data growth. It also shows that the IT infrastructures of many organizations are struggling, often failing, to deliver business continuity in the event of severe data outages.

“The vast majority (86%) of respondents believe that data volume will increase 10x or more in the next five years,” adds Florian Malecki, the International Product Marketing Sr. Director at StorageCraft Technolo-

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gy. “As a result, data loss and rising cost of application downtime leads to reduced productivity and revenue.

The unavailability of critical data and systems negatively impacts company reputation and results in potential loss of customers. As a result, organisations of all size are embarking on the new race to zero: near zero RPO and RTO.” Vendors are majorly offering data backup and recovery solutions in the form of customized software and as a service popularly known as Backup as a Service (BaaS) to their commercial customers in the global market.

Hence, building strong digital foundations that focus on data availability will be vital to the future of every organization. They must implement effective intelligent data management strategies that help them being able to access the right data at the right time and recover it when it’s lost or damaged.

“Veeam’s 2019 Cloud Data Manage-

ment report found that most organisations (73%) are unable to meet users’ demands for uninterrupted access to applications and data, but almost half of reported individuals (44%) see data management as critical to their businesses’ success in the next two years,” explains Dave Russell, the VP of Enterprise Strategy at Veeam.

According to Savitha Bhaskar, the COO of Condo Protego, Middle East organisations, and especially large enterprises, need robust data protection strategies, in order to meet regulations and compliance, to mitigate risk, and to rapidly recover data in case of a disaster. “For example, Middle East industry verticals such as banking and finance, and government and public sector, have very specific data protection compliance requirements. Multi-national corporations often have their own internal global policies on data protection that need to be met,” she says.

Globally, the backup and recovery market TAM is growing around 14%. Mohamed Jaffrey, the Territory Manager for GCC at ExaGrid, says that in the Middle East region, his company has seen over 25% growth in 2018 and 2019 and see similar growth in 2020. “Customers are looking to overcome their backup challenges that is caused by legacy solutions in the market.

There’s a clear demand for quick ingest and recovery of backup which are met by on-prem solutions. ExaGrid has had over 100% growth in 2019 with our on-premise solutions and added over 30+ enterprise clients in 2019 itself. We see this demand growing from the Middle East region in the coming years,” he asserts.

WHEN DISASTER STRIKES Protecting company’s data against threats such as systems failure, site-wide disaster and ransomware should be at the forefront of any IT strategy. Organisations are often unclear about the best way to keep their files and systems safe, but there are plenty of preventative measures that can be taken to avoid the costly risk of downtime. Arguably the most important factor is backing up and recovering data quickly and efficiently. That is where cloud storage comes in.

“Many organisations already have an onsite disaster recovery plan in place that includes regularly scheduled backups, storing the backups in a secure data location where it can be quickly recovered.

However, if a disaster such as a flood, fire or earthquake should strike the business

site, a local backup strategy most likely won’t help,” adds Malecki.

Malecki further adds that whilst these local backups are sufficient to recover from most common disasters, a site-wide disaster can be the difference between business continuity and business failure.

“In today’s volatile, fast-paced technology landscape, organisations must have the ability to recreate themselves quickly and reliably should disaster strike their site or internal systems,” he says.

According to Jaffrey, business requirements continue to change and put stress on legacy IT systems and approaches.

Backup and recovery remain critical in protecting data against loss and corruption; whether it be natural or human disasters, or maintaining long-term retention copies for legal, financial and regulatory reasons.

New backup requirements are emerging for restores and VM recovery for the “just in time” data center and the increased cost associated with downtime has put pressure on legacy backup solutions.

“Legacy backup solutions were built for data backup in physical environments with restores measured in hours. New backup solutions are built to back up virtual machines that boot in seconds and support a complex environment of private, outsourced and public clouds. ExaGrid enables customers to increase the performance of their backup infrastructure while reducing data storage and complexity to meet their data backup goals via a high performance, flexible and scalable architecture,” adds Jaffrey.

Citing Veeam’s 2019 Cloud Data Management report, Russell says that business leaders will spend an average of $41 million on deploying technologies to help transform their operations within the next 12 months. However, for technologies such as backup, disaster recovery and data protection to have the expected business impact, organizations need to invest in their talent, giving them the tools and training to nurture their skills to successfully manage new programs.

“The digital journey’s outcome is intrinsically related to the level of technological capabilities of its user base. Upskilling employee’s digital skills will be vital to the success of the company and should not be overlooked when allocating company resources. After all, it is the people who make a company successful,” adds Russell.

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Savitha Bhaskar, Condo Protego

Dave Russell, Veeam

Florian Malecki, Storagecraft

Mohamed Jaffrey, ExaGrid

COVE R STORY THE RISE OF THE CLOUD Cloud solutions help to reduce the downtime on the occurrence of any loss and help to locate the data easily. Also, it offers increased scalability, as it allows to increase the storage limit easily. The pay-asyou-use model helps organisations of all the sizes to be cost effective.

SMEs prefer cloud-based deployment, as cloud-based solutions are cost effective and easy to deploy.

With the adoption of these solutions, small enterprises are able to secure their data, thus improving customer services.

“Cloud Data Management, an intrinsic part of Intelligent Data Management, enables data availability across the business. Whether it is a hybrid, a cloud or a multi-cloud approach, leaders recognize the advantages, from reliability and flexibility to competitive costs and data security, the cloud allows them to manage and locate data where it will deliver the most value,” says Russell.

According to Russell, an organisation can aggregate large amounts of data but if it doesn’t have an efficient way to store it and make it accessible to business users, it will turn against them. “Having data that is stored through a reliable and manageable process directly correlates to corporate stability and improves the ability to forecast and make better informed decisions,” he explains.

With most cloud services providers, companies can tailor their coverage to meet unique recovery and budget requirements while enjoying access to data anytime, anywhere, with instant failover in a cloud built specifically for disaster recovery. The cloud combines low setup, management and overhead costs with high flexibility. The important thing is protecting and securing backups offsite and giving businesses the peace of mind that comes with knowing that data is safe and secure.

However, according to Bhaskar, data protection strategies are not based on on-premise or cloud platforms, but rather on developing internal policies, based on legal and operational requirements, and implementing these policies using capable hard-

ware and software platforms. “While many Middle East organisations increasingly have a hybrid cloud model, CIOs are also realizing that they, and not the cloud providers, are ultimately responsible for backup and recovery of data on public clouds,” she adds.

And it is in the hands of the C-level to convey this way of thinking, from top to bottom leadership should demonstrate the business relation and how technology supports the organization to uncover insights for better services and products,” says Russell.

Jaffrey says that backup and recovery solutions in today’s world must provide the flexibility needed to address customer challenges such as data sprawl — distributed data that exists in multiple clouds, databases, devices and apps — requiring more visibility. “Considering a hybrid solution enables organisations to maintain the ability to have a hybrid cloud approach to data management and backup,” he explains.

Channel partners should help organisations to understand their data protection outcomes, to unify data protection strategies across lines of business, and to simplify their IT infrastructure. “For example, many Middle East organizations struggle with backing up many applications across multiple platforms, and also have too many point solutions across virtual, physical, tape, and disk environments,” explains Bhaskar.

OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD It’s important for organisations to understand the current and future needs of their backup and recovery environment and take a holistic approach to data management.

“ExaGrid supports a wide variety of backup applications, utilities, and database dumps. In addition, ExaGrid allows multiple approaches within the same environment. An organization can use one backup application for its physical servers, a different backup application or utility for its virtual environment, and also perform direct Microsoft SQL or Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) database dumps – all to the same ExaGrid system,” explains Jaffrey.

“Partners are able to easily manage this with ExaGrid as this approach allows customers to use the backup application and utilities of their choosing, use best-of-breed backup applications and utilities, and choose the right backup application and utility for each specific use case.”

A corporate culture should be welcoming to innovation, support the introduction of new technologies and speed the process of digital transformation. “As companies move through this transformation, their culture needs to become more data-driven. Businesses already produce huge amounts of data, but it is not about just gathering data anymore, it has to be managed, analyzed and used to inform faster and make more effective decisions.

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According to Bhaskar, previously, organizations measured backup and recovery by RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective). “But increasingly, channel partners are helping organisations to understand more effective metrics such as the breadth of features for each solution, the ability to instantly recover backups if there is a disaster, and data security through data protection such as isolated recovery with air-gap technology,” she says.

The level of confidence in an organization’s capability to meet digital challenges naturally increases as the businesses progress on their digital transformation. However, the potential risks increase as well. “Investing in robust, scalable and flexible solutions to address mission-critical issues, while allocating resources to improve internal skills will lay that much needed strong digital foundation,” says Russell.

Maximising the value of data, has never been as important as today, and as organisations take a leap onto their digital journey and work to become more intelligent businesses, they need to rely and trust their data will be available whenever is needed.

Technology, people, new capabilities and a data-driven mentality will help take the steps towards enabling the next-generation of industry disruptors and innovators.

EXPE RT SPEAK

Five Ways to Strengthen Employee Cybersecurity Awareness Written by Juan Manuel Harán, Security Editor at ESET Since human error has a well-documented history of causing many breaches, no organization can afford to overlook the importance of ensuring that its employees are aware of online dangers. This is mainly why the first installment in our series of articles to mark this year’s Antimalware Day will outline five ideas for creating a culture that inspires staff to stay on their toes and with cybersecurity top of mind.

Establish an email address for queries Creating an email account where employees can send their questions on any and all things cybersecurity provides for a good start and has multiple benefits.

For one thing, the designated email account can encourage employees to come forward and ask questions that they might not otherwise ask. Employers can also ask their staff to forward suspicious-looking emails to the address for review, which can help the employees become more astute at recognizing fraudulent email messages. The messages can also be used for organizing training sessions that will benefit the other employees and the company as a whole.

Set up an early warning system To counter malicious spam campaigns, it’s worth considering establishing a dynamic and proactive early warning procedure that allows for alerting the entire company and keeping all employees informed that a malicious

campaign is circulating. This can cut the risk that an unsuspecting employee will fall for the trap, putting organizational, employee and customer data in danger.

Additionally, the system serves to reinforce awareness of some of the main cybersecurity threats and common techniques used by cybercriminals, even where they leveraged some tried-and-tested methods. Lastly, the procedure may enable security staff to analyze the campaign’s features.

Organize talks and trainings Talks with experts, be they employees of the same organizations or guest speakers, can also go a long way towards educating staff on various aspects of information security. Since organizations typically employ professionals from various fields, it may be advisable to set up separate talks that target the abilities, interests and experience of various groups of people. A picture is worth a thousand words, so you can’t go wrong with using any kind of visual material that makes the session more engaging.

Run contests Everybody loves to compete – and win, right? Employee contests are a fun way to help instill robust cybersecurity habits. For instance, materials from trainings or talks can be leveraged for quizzes that will not only reward the winners, but will also provide your organization with better insight into just how cyber-aware the employees are. You can also

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organize a bespoke social engineering simulation to find out how easy it would be for threat actors to penetrate your company’s defenses by targeting the human factor. The results can also be used to determine which aspects of cybersecurity should receive more attention in future training sessions.

Draft a good practice guide Draft a document that details the most efficient ways to help the company and its employees ward off cyberattacks. Such guidelines may include, for example, information about how to configure devices securely, how to encrypt information, how to set up two-factor authentication factor on various services. It’s also important to make sure that the guides are easy to read, contain only the necessary information, and are easily accessible for any employee.

Bonus idea Lastly, here’s a suggestion to help retain all that information. Leave quick messages or notes that are intended to teach employees about good cyber-hygiene in places where they would never expect to find them – office restrooms, kitchens, and elevators.

Finding such a message in an unusual place can actually boost learning and enable the employees to recall the lessons learned when it matters the most, such as when they’re targeted by phishing attacks.

WOME N IN TECH

CURIOSITY AND HARD WORK ARE INDISPENSABLE Raissa Mendes, DJI’s Regional Manager for Latin America, Middle East and Africa, speaks about what made her choose IT as a career choice

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Tell us about your philosophy, when it comes to your domain of expertise.

I believe that curiosity and hard work combined with routine are indispensable in anything we do.

From my personal interests to professional career, I am curious to learn more from experts and to find actionable ways to implement these into my journey.

Why did you choose IT to advance your career?

I have always liked the various ways in which technology can be used and how it can simplify our lives.

When I moved to China in 2015, I was quickly impacted with how well integrated different technologies are in everyday life. So, I decided to leverage my experience with international relations to get into tech industry, as a way to help democratize new technologies in developing countries—and today I am able to do exact that at DJI.

Have you witnessed any transformation in the technology industry?

It has been a privilege to live in China the last few years and to experience the tech transformation the country is leading. From the boom of bike sharing in 2016, to AI integration into hardware and working at DJI, which leads the drone industry as it unfolds in front of our eyes. It’s been incredible to see drones being used in a variety of ways—from capturing beautiful aerial images, to saving lives in

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remote areas, to being a tool which assists organizations in the conservation of animals across the world.

Where, according to you, is the next technology transformation going to come from?

In the last few years, we have seen the mobile industry simplify its technology and democratize access even in the most remote areas of the world. As more service driven apps develop, I foresee the intersection of connectivity and technology to open a space for the implementation of digital wallets across developing markets—which will transform the way people pay, transfer, save and invest money.

What is your advice to women looking to break into the field of technology?

Be curious about new technologies and believe in yourself. Ask for advice from those around you and be willing to persistently work towards your goals.

Are you involved in any sort of charity work?

Back in my home country, Brazil, I support Lar do Atalaia, which provides support to children in need.

What is next for you in terms of your career in the tech industry?

The tech industry is constantly evolving and I would like to continue working with technology that democratizes access, improves lives and can serve as a transformative tool of work to many.

CXO SPEAK

Budget and Manpower Constraints Have Always Been a Challenge for CXOs Abdulrahman Khaiwi, the Head of IT at Emirates National Schools speaks about the challenges faced by CXOs in the region and the opportunities for new tech adoption ARABIAN RESELLER | October 2019

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What are your career history to date and key career achievements?

My career started in Lebanon, working six years in IT Operations in a bank. Thereafter, I moved to Sharjah Municipality as a computer operator and programmer for two and a half years. From there, I joined Etisalat as Chief Supervisor of IT records and statistics. I spent 25 years of my illustrious employment at Etisalat Head Office, garnishing accolades and growing my career.

In the last 9 years at Etisalat Head Office, I held the position of Senior Manager Technical Administration in charge of operations for all Etisalat Data Centers, and various layers of solutions and services for all Etisalat Staff and some customer front services across the UAE. Early in 2017, I joined Emirates National Schools (a school system that houses around 13000 students in five campuses totaling 22 schools across the UAE) as the Head of IT. My métier is visualizing and executing a strategic plan for IT digital transformation covering all aspects and layers of services and solutions thereby touching all stakeholders and serving the students, their parents, teachers and school management.

A few of my career highlights during my service at Etisalat include; Migration of systems and services from physical to virtual platform and building the private cloud offering IaaS, PaaS and SaaS to the internal users (which included more than 2000 virtual servers), Datacenter consolidation- reducing the number of Datacenters, and being a major key player in the BC&DR team.

What are your roles and responsibilities in your company?

Marshaling the Information Technology Department of Emirates National Schools, I methodically assemble and arrange the following: cost curve of technologies, work closely with the institution by anticipating the needs of various subset-units and the rising chal-

lenges of manpower, budget, market, protect the institution through technology. Although being the catalyst of change, my role is not limited to operating at transcendence and efficient levels, but also it’s about exploring possibilities for revenue creation, driving innovative growth, improving business offerings and opportunities, and demonstrating the ability to evolve by maintaining the integrity of the role.

By taking advantage of the unprecedented velocity of change in technology, I’m able to bring new possibilities on how to leverage said technologies by exploring the opportunities for improved business plans such as: • Creating and implementing three years IT Transformation Strategic Plan that supports the overall organization mission, vision and strategy and effectively aligning the digital strategy and business strategy to become one singular entity.

• Mentoring and navigating the strategic implementation to ensure the targets are met circumventing all challenges.

(The plan is comprehensive with 360 degrees view from Services, to Manpower, interaction with institutional subunits, specific tasks and areas of focus.)

• Planning and implementing the necessary IT solutions and services to drive the schools on the eLearning, Distance Learning, and Proximity learning plans.

• Evaluating and assessing potential technologies and solutions targeting improvement to existing and future business needs across the geographical sphere of the schools.

• Being a key role player in the selection process, tendering, negotiating and project implementation for all IT related solutions and services.

• Planning and administering the overall IT department budgets in a very cost-effective manner.

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What is the biggest challenge facing the IT industry in the region?

While executing technology projects and following the methodology of PPT (People Process & Technology), I descry a repeated obstacle when the “people factor” is initiated. While technology is procured, processes are developed, the “people factor” remains a complication for change. It is human nature to forgo the change and cling to the security of the known.

It is this status quo that we must overcome in order to forge new paths of synergy between the methodology of PPT. What sort of challenges have you come across in your IT career and how did you overcome those challenges?

Budget and Manpower constraints have always been a challenge for any proposed solution to CXOs. Comprehensive feasibility studies and Cost-Benefit Analysis with reasonable and realistic figures would be the way forward when presenting proposals to CEOs, business owners, and board members.

If you could improve one thing about the IT business what would it be?

Augment the marketing for existing and planned solutions and services to the business. Ameliorate the communications between the technology teams with the business users to present their offerings to the right audience tailored to the specific business needs.

How according to you should vendors and channel partners work with CXOs to make their lives easier?

Vendors and channel partners should engender with CXOs, as business partners understand the CXOs business needs, take into account pain points and align their offerings based on the targeted market place focused on the core business rather than marketing new solutions, or technological concepts.

EXPE RT SPEAK

Channel Predictions for 2020 Written by Jamie Farrelly, VP EMEA Channels at Veritas TechnologieS ARABIAN RESELLER | December October 2019 2019

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ver the last year, we’ve seen consolidation in major markets across the vendor and channel community with organisations looking to take advantage of growth in European markets. As channel partners and managed service providers navigate this era of transformation and growth, here are my predictions for the channel in 2020.

Offering a value-add service to cut through the hype Within the technology industry, vendors and analysts are constantly promising the next big thing – from AI to IoT and edge computing. Much of this hype is now turning into reality. The channel’s role is to think about how the latest technology can be applied to solve a problem for customers or present a new opportunity.

Whether it’s reducing complexity or increasing efficiency, the pace of change is accelerating, and the onus is on partners to understand the technology, know how it positively impacts customers and then work with vendors to develop a new approach for customers.

Vendors break out of their technology bubble The world of technology is always moving and evolving quickly. As the industry accelerates at a faster rate than ever before, the role of the channel partner is shifting. Traditionally, channel partners have always aimed to understand customers’ problems and find solutions to reduce risk and complexity while increasing revenues. While this aspect hasn’t changed, the evolving digital business landscape means that customer challenges are changing, and partners now need to work with a variety of different solutions and platforms that they haven’t traditionally worked with before to help address the problems of today’s digital age.

Vendors also need to realise that they can no longer exist solely within their own technology

bubble, and that they in fact are part of a much wider ecosystem.

However, with this realisation comes a degree of responsibility.

There’s a real need for technology vendors to think beyond their own area of expertise. It’s no longer just about working with partners, but also other vendors, in order to create ecosystem solutions that solve bigger customer issues in this digital age. Integration and specialisation mean everything to the modern customer, so working with other vendors is a must. As a result, we’ll see more integration and collaboration in the channel in the year ahead.

Automation will be the key topic in 2020 As we move into 2020 and towards greater integration, the channel’s next big consideration will be on simplifying the user experience.

We’re already seeing a movement towards generalist IT, and this will continue through the next year. For example, businesses will want to democratise their IT environments, adding security and backup functions to their existing technology stack, with the confidence that the backend processes and policies are taken care of by specialist technology partners.

The channel is vital to this. It can embrace automation and enable customers to adapt to change by delivering services that are independent and decoupled from the underlying infrastructure or operating system, integrating multiple technologies that are guaranteed to work together through a single user interface.

Channel as a service As partners look for new ways to become a trusted advisor and automate processes, we will see the emergence of new platforms designed to bring together multiple technologies that are guaranteed to work together. For example, combining security, backup and workload technologies with an automated billing platform based on a partner’s integration capabilities.

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However, channel providers will need to have a very clear plan surrounding the technologies they want to integrate. It will require them to understand a vendor’s roadmap, its integration technologies and have a strong go-to-market plan that will continue to add value to the customer after the sale.

Capability, commitment and growth mean traditional partner programmes won’t go out of fashion Forrester predicts that vendors will break down their channel with rewards based on expertise in sub-industries, geographies or technology stacks. However, larger vendors have already started categorising their partners in this way, but the idea of a pyramid structure based on gold, silver and bronze tiers remains. That’s because capability, commitment and growth are what’s important to vendors, which is why tiered programmes will remain popular well into the next decade.

The channel will take customers on the second part of their cloud journey Cloud service providers (CSPs) are driving hyper growth and we can expect to see more mergers and acquisitions in 2020. The launch of AWS Outposts will also take enterprises by storm and accelerate the move towards a hybrid cloud strategy. In turn, CSPs will need the channel more than ever before.

As businesses move more workloads to the cloud, the channel will evolve from simply managing SLAs to offering a more profitable and consultative approach.

The channel will be able to use its understanding of an organisation’s business to offer advice on how to secure data in the cloud, move it around to remain agile and generate further insigh ts. All of this will help the channel build more of a long-term relationship with customers and create a bigger role for themselves.

CHANNE L INFLUE NCE RS

MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS WITH

PARTNERS IS KEY Zacky Vaz, Senior Regional Channel & Distribution Manager, Fortinet speaks about why channel influencers should recognise and address challenges on time.

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What is your career history to date and key career achievements?

After completing my Computer Engineering, I worked as Service Engineer with one of the top IT resellers, focused on PC/ Notebook assembling and Networking.

I then secured a job in Distribution with Techdata as a Microsoft Sales Specialist co-funded by Microsoft, which laid the foundation for accomplishing my dream of working with Global Vendor’s.

I started my vendor career with Trend Micro as a Channel Manager and moved on with regional responsibilities as Country Manager. It was a long journey with Trend Micro for 8 years, after which I decided to be part of one of the leading Network Security Vendors – Fortinet.

What are your roles and responsibilities in the company as a channel influencer?

Fortinet has 5 types of partners – MSSP, Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Authorized partners. I manage the distribution partners and work closely with them to manage the Silver and Authorized Partners to provide support on trainings, workshops, and joint marketing activities, and drive channel business.

My role is to ensure that our partners have and obtain the necessary cer-

tifications, and skill sets, to help them to move on to the next level.

What qualities should a channel influencer possess to lead the channel?

A key quality that a channel influence should possess, in my opinion, is the ability to maintain good relationships with the partners that helps drive the business.

Another key quality is to be able to recognize and address a challenge to ensure that it is dealt with on time.

What is your advice on finding success in the channel?

As I said earlier, building good relationships is key to finding success. Partners will always work with you if you understand and help them in challenging times, and give them good margin opportunities to sell your solutions.

Building relationships with vendors is also important in order to have an effective business cycle.

How would you assess the current state of channel?

Channel partners need to invest in the right level of technical skills to create advantage for themselves.

I always believe and advocate that partners need to be trusted advisors to their customers, and this level can only be achieved with specialization and the right skills.

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What is the biggest challenge facing the IT channel in the region? And If you could improve one thing about the channel business what would it be?

Skills shortage is a major challenge the channel is facing right now. I believe fostering brand loyalty is important and so is supporting partners in good and bad times.

At Fortinet we work with our distributors to address these challenges by providing trainings and certifications and marketing initiatives, to support our partners and help them grow.

If you could improve one thing about the channel business what would it be?

Vendors need to equip their distributors with the tool required to help partners grow their business and make a profit.

Distributors then need to support partners with financial support/credit to help close big deals, assist with deal registration to help partners secure business, and roll out vendor training and various marketing related campaigns How can partners work effectively to generate growth?

Resellers have to align themselves with vendor strategies and work closely with distributors to drive joint marketing campaigns and activates.

EXPE RT SPEAK

Seven Supply Chain Predictions for 2020 Written by Jonathan Wood, General Manager, Middle East and Africa, Infor

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The year 2020 approaches with promise amidst a backdrop of innovation and transformation occurring at a speed never witnessed before. We’re experiencing a digital revolution that is changing the way we live, work and interact with one another. The power of information is just beginning to blossom as more of our decisions are based on data and use cases for artificial intelligence are delivering significant value. Meanwhile, global movements to protect the planet and operate responsibly continue to grow in importance.

And an undercurrent of de-globalization continues to change the way countries and companies interact with each other.

Here’s a look at some of the emerging trends and themes you can expect to take shape in 2020.

Sustainability Required Sustainability is becoming a requirement in many industries. For not only retailers and consumer goods companies, but businesses of all stripes, sustainability is increasingly expected by customers, shareholders and the masses. It is even becoming increasingly important in talent recruitment. Environmental responsibility will be a core issue in the 2020 U.S. presidential race and elections around the globe.

One major initiative, the IMO 2020 low-sulfur mandate, kicks in on January 1st. IMO has the potential to hit the shipping industry with an eye-opening impact. Demand for costly scrubbers and low-sulfur fuel will eat into margins and catch many carriers and shippers off-guard. Slow steaming will add days to already lengthy trips, forcing entire ecosystems to re-structure how they plan and execute on the production and delivery of goods while meeting requirements.

Eliminating Empty Miles With a growing focus on sustainability and efficiency, empty containers will be an increasingly hot button across the shipping industry. In freight, waste means that more fuel is consumed, more carbon is emitted, and drivers spend more hours sitting idle.

Empty miles, non-revenue miles or deadhead miles are a drag on the industry and economy, as businesses pay more to move goods.

Carriers account for their own expectations for empty miles when deciding how much they charge for any particular load, so everyone from shippers down to end consumers – and, of course, the environment – ultimately pay the cost of empty miles.

Politics and Commerce Become Increasingly Intertwined In 2019 shifting trade policies were perceived as a distraction. In 2020, they’ll be addressed as simply part of the new reality we live in.

Expect geopolitical volatility and relations between countries to become increasingly abrasive. Tariffs and trade regulations will become mainstays in business strategy discussions and everyone from chief supply chain officer to logistics manager will be

keeping tabs on trade developments as a matter of doing business. Uncertainty will remain the norm for the foreseeable future with nationalism and trade conflict acting as the source of much of the friction. Whereas news coverage of politics and business were once separate areas, in 2020 the two will be inseparable in many ways.

Human Intelligence Molds Artificial Intelligence Greater linking between the human mind and artificial intelligence is emerging. Researchers have advanced studies of the human mind, including infants, to better understand how learning develops at an early age. The goal is to enhance artificial intelligence and machine learning models to be less linear and ridged, and more curious and perceptive.

Current machine learning engines require feeding thousands of labeled images to teach machines to recognize what simple objects or animals such as a cat looks like.

Yet errors are still prone when images of blurred shapes resembling that object are presented. An infant, on the other hand, learns through a handful of experiences what a cat looks like, and these might be actual photos or drawings in books. Infants also learn through experimentation and curiosity.

In order to imitate this experience, some ML programs are being developed to be rewarded for curiosity versus accuracy. This research, linking human brains to AI, will increase and begin to show specific results in further enhancing human attributes in machines.

As supply chains progress towards autonomous processes, machine learning and AI platforms will continue to learn by observing humans and data signals that span across parties, regions, and supply chains, to understand the complexities and nuances of global trade. Some workflows will move to lights-out status, while many other complex scenarios involving multi-party collaboration and network-wide orchestration will require greater learning from their human counterparts.

Supply Chains Retreat Inward In 2019, we saw supply chains shift out of regions such as China due to tariffs and trade conflict. In 2020 an emphasis will shift towards self-sustaining economies with supply chains relying on domestic resources and trading partners where possible. This will occur primarily in the US, China, and other developed economies. Production will increasingly lean towards “produce locally, deliver locally.”

On the consumer side, there’s a growing trend towards domestic brands. In China, consumers are increasingly turning to Chinese brands for clothing, high-tech gadgets and phones, and cars – and increasingly shunning Western names. In the US, companies are preparing for long term tensions with China by diversifying their supply networks beyond China and building up new networks elsewhere, in many cases closer to

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home.

The Digital Berlin Wall Kristalina Georgieva, new director of the IMF, called out in her inaugural speech that, “Even if growth picks up in 2020, the current rifts could lead to changes that last a generation – broken supply chains, siloed trade sectors, a ‘digital Berlin wall’ that forces countries to choose between technology systems.” The Digital Berlin Wall metaphor emphasizes emerging barriers and the impact technology is having on trade.

As supply chains retreat inward and technology enhancements are further ingrained in trade, some of the moves being made today could have long term ramifications on supply chains, with parties or regions becoming walled off. Global agility and flexibility, points of focus for years as globalization expanded, take a turn here. Resilience and flexibility remain important, but suddenly the ability to rapidly onboard and support suppliers outside of traditional sourcing hubs becomes essential as new digital barriers arise. Raw materials and essential input may suddenly become unavailable or costly. The need to act swiftly in the face of such risks will be essential to compete.

The Upheaval of Industry Norms In October, luxury brand Louis Vuitton announced plans to open a 100,000 square foot factory in Texas, the latest example of a shift away from industry best practices of consolidated production of high-end goods. Production of its high-end handbags is increasingly spread out, with 8 of its 24 manufacturing sites now residing outside of France.

In November, Maersk announced a pullback on ocean vessel investments, stating an intention to focus on land services as part of a broader initiative to drive growth. “We need to grow in acquisitions on land warehouses and customs house clearing services,” Chief Executive Søren Skou said. “We have invested around $1 billion already on the land side supply chain and we are looking to put in hundreds of millions more over the next year.”

In 2020, expect more upheaval of standard practices as businesses seek new ways to innovate and serve customers within the confines of a tense trade environment.

Next Steps Moving into 2020, it’s more important than ever for businesses to be thoroughly connected to their overseas partners. Collaboration, visibility and free-flowing data between parties are essential ingredients for thriving in a future that is increasingly uncertain and pressure-packed. Those companies that orchestrate their supply chain as a single cohesive network will have the agility and executional speed to proactively sense and respond to meet their customers’ needs. This will be a significant competitive advantage in 2020 and beyond, separating industry leaders from the laggards.

TÊTE-À-TÊTE

Providing Unmatched Support for Partners Emile Abou Saleh, Regional Director, Middle East and Africa for Proofpoint, speaks about the security threat landscape in the region and what channel partners can do to address those threats

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What are your career history to date and key career achievements?

I began my career as a programmer once I completed my master’s degree in computer science. After a year, I moved into IT sales. I have been in the Gulf for the past 18 years and I moved to Dubai in 2006, where I have held senior regional leadership positions for different cybersecurity companies.

I joined Proofpoint earlier this year as Regional Director for the Middle East & Africa and one of my proudest achievements is having grown the strong and committed team at Proofpoint and strengthened the brand’s presence in the Middle East region over the past 6 months.

What are your roles and responsibilities in your company?

As the Regional Director, Middle East and Africa for Proofpoint, my core responsibility is to ensure we deliver an unmatched support to our partners and customers while accelerating our go-to-market strategy across the Middle East region. Additionally, at Proofpoint we work together towards a common goal of protecting organizations’ greatest assets and biggest risks: their people.

What is your advice on finding success in the regional market?

The days of one-size-fits-all security are over and this echoes Proofpoint’s commitment with its partners and customers by looking at all of the cybersecurity risks with a people-centric

view and focusing on solutions that protect organizations’ most targeted individuals.

In order to succeed in such a fast-paced market, organizations must be agile and ensure they stay ahead of the trends and risks surfacing in their industry – this is the only way they can go beyond their customers’ expectations and truly answer their needs.

Arabia within the top 50 countries in the world on the Global Innovation Index 2017 in terms of their ability to innovate and the outputs of their innovation.

While it is promising to see what these new technologies will bring, organizations must consider the potential security implications when deploying them.

UAE is one of the countries where AI will have a bigger impact with an approximate 14 percent of 2030 GDP. This is followed

by Saudi Arabia where AI’s contribution is forecasted to be 12.4 percent of GDP.

As more than 99% of cyberattacks rely on human interaction to work, we know that educating employees about cybersecurity best practices is the best way to empower end users to understand how to protect theirs and their employer’s data, making them a strong last line of defense against cyber attackers.

What is the biggest challenge facing the IT indusHow would you assess the try in the region? current state of the region- The biggest challenge facal market? ing the IT industry in our We are witnessing advance- region is the talent gap and, ments and investments in consequently, the struggle new technologies such as in attracting talent. In order Artificial Intelligence and to address this challenge, automation, which will companies will need to continue to play a critical re-assess the types of prorole as a fixer and optimizer files they require, as perfor enhanced IT operations. sonality traits and diversity The flourishing of these of background play a large new technologies is also role when hiring in the cysupported by the increased bersecurity industry. adoption of 5G network, which is being deployed If you could improve one across some of the GCC thing about the IT business countries. what would it be?

One of elements that we Additionally, Gartner esvalue the most at Prooftimates that by 2022, 40% point is security awareness of all large enterprises will training. By implementing combine big data and maongoing and effective sechine learning functionalicurity awareness training, ty to support and partially organizations are nurturing replace monitoring, service the most crucial pillar that desk and automation prounderpins a strong culture cesses and tasks. of security.

This is further reinforced by extensive investment in AI, placing UAE and Saudi

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EXPE RT SPEAK

Why a Smart Hospital Needs to Look After its Network Written by Gamal Emara, Country Manager - UAE at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

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The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to transform all areas of the economy. But few industries stand to benefit more in a connected world than healthcare. Consider how a hospital currently operates – running on a network of machines that are constantly monitoring, measuring and analysing, dealing with hundreds of people walking in and out of its doors on a daily basis, and on high alert around the clock. This is the ideal environment for smart, connected devices with greater autonomous, predictive and analytical capability.

Turning a siloed device-driven environment into a connected one has the potential to enhance existing operations considerably: improving speed, efficiency and reliability, and ultimately enabling better patient care and experiences. It is little wonder then that US hospitals are already estimated to have as many as 10 to 15 IoT devices per bed, according to research

by Zingbox.

Unfortunately, the security considerations of all this connectivity are significant, with implications for both patient data and care. Reports have shown that up to 89% of healthcare organisations that have adopted an IoT strategy have experienced an IoT-related data breach, while patient records are some of the most sought-after by hackers (fetching up to $250 on the black market according to Trustwave).

So what more can hospitals do to anticipate the risks of future connectivity? And how can they set up their networks to fight back?

Anticipating and overcoming IoT risks For any network manager responding to these questions, the starting point is recognising the vulnerabilities that are

inherent in large networks of connected devices. With every component offering a potential point of failure or entry to a would-be attacker, the more devices a hospital brings in, the greater the risk of a significant data breach.

But it is not just patient data that could be at risk in a worstcase scenario – far more worrying are the implications for patient care. A device that has autonomy to measure and deliver drug doses, for example, could suffer from a software glitch, or be taken over by a malicious attacker. Meanwhile during an episode of unexpected downtime, a device that isn’t critical to life – such as an MRI scanner – could gain preferential access to one that is, like a heart monitor.

These may be extreme scenarios, but they are something for which every hospital and healthcare provider must prepare. And guarding against them means addressing a key source of IoT vulnerability: network visibility.

Secure, visible, and under control Protecting a network which houses IoT devices at scale is a challenging task at the best of times, but it can only be achieved if everything – down to the last sensor – is individually logged, secured and monitored.

Without a system that allows everything to be “fingerprinted” in this way and then managed accordingly, vulnerabilities emerge that can be exploited.

As the volume and sophistication of IoT devices in hospitals increases, this is only becoming more of a mammoth task for network managers. Traditional approaches for profiling aren’t suitable for many IoT devices, rendering them indistinguishable and generic.

And yet the ability to discrim-

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inate between devices is absolutely vital. Consider how you would react to an issue with an automated insulin delivery system versus one with the smart sensors in the hospital carpark.

Critical-care devices that need to run continuously can’t be treated the same way as those which can be disconnected if needed.

Luckily, there is a solve for this lack of visibility – and that comes in the form of an increasing array of AI and machine learning solutions, like Aruba’s ClearPass Device, that are being created to ensure every device connected to the network can be monitored with the appropriate depth.

Running on a purpose-built cloud platform, ClearPass deploys a range of machine learning models to differentiate between devices with similar IT attributes, and build highly detailed, behavioural-based profiles for any that are connected to the network.

Putting the spotlight on network security When the future of healthcare is discussed, the spotlight is understandably focussed on clinicians, patients and devices.

But as smart hospitals become a reality, attention will increasingly shift to the less visible role of the network security manager.

This brings with it great responsibility, but also the opportunity to play a vital role in the ongoing revolution of today’s healthcare system. In the age of IoT continued progress will rely as much on effective security as it does on hardware innovations and digitally enabled caregiving.

Doctors will only be able to look after the patients if network managers use the right tools to care for the hospital. So, isn’t it about time you run a proper diagnosis of your network security?

VE NDOR WATCH

Slowing Down Isn't An Option Tell us about Xerox?

In the era of intelligent work, we’re not just thinking about the future; we’re making it. Xerox Corporation is a technology leader focused on the intersection of digital and physical. We use automation and next-generation personalisation to redefine productivity, drive growth and make the world more secure.

Every day, our innovative technologies and intelligent work solutions— Powered by Xerox®—help people communicate and work better Which products and services do you offer on the market?

Our vision is to leverage our heritage of embracing innovation to help

Pui-Chi Li, the Head of Marketing for MEA at Xerox, speaks about how her company embraces innovation to help its customers find better ways of working

our customers find better ways of working. We achieve this by investing and creating new document technologies, products and services that improve our customers' work processes and business results.

plifying frequently used workflows and functions but is also able to be applied to more complex and extensive processes to help our customers become more efficient, productive and focus on their core businesses.

For example, our ConnectKey portfolio delivers smart, connected workplace assistants that reflect the evolving needs of today’s businesses. Personalised workflows, one-touch access to the cloud and multi-layered security features are the new print, copy and fax. The Connectkey platform also allows for the bespoke development and use of apps which enable a new level of customisation to our customers, sim-

Which markets in the EMEA region are key for Xerox?

We believe the Middle East plays a significant role when it comes to digital transformation and developing innovative technologies. The United Arab Emirates is setting an example for other Arab countries to innovate while being eco-friendly. However, every market comes with its unique qualities and demands. Therefore, in EMEA, the future of the print in-

ARABIAN RESELLER | December 2019

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dustry will depend on the needs of the market to become more digitally competent, offer new value to customers and make print in whatever form it takes, more relevant to the consumer.

How is the printing technologies space evolving in the region?

Digital transformation is pushing many industries to innovate and offer much more. For example, the printing industry currently revolves around helping Print Service Providers become more digitally competent, to enable them to provide new value to their customers and make print in whatever form it takes, more relevant to the consumer. Underpinning this goal is the desire to drive “sustainable and relevant print”.

Today, digital printing is the direction that the industry is taking. It is the ‘greenest’ or most sustainable form of printing since digital documents can be shared in numerous ways without the need to utilise actual paper material. The printing industry is also rapidly evolving in the workplace. Having thoughtful and user-friendly features in a printer is what the workforce is looking for now. We need so much more than a machine – we need a workplace assistant.

What role does Xerox have to play in it?

Xerox actively works with our customers to help them transform their organisations. We understand that digital transformation is the application of new processes and workflows; however, fundamentally it needs to be treated methodically like any business transformation.

Our Managed Print Services offering is industry-leading, and we use many of the tools and techniques to implement digital transformation.

As an example, a critical aspect is the collation, management and understanding of the significant volume of data that organisations suddenly have access to. In such cases, an organisation like Xerox can help customers navigate this assessment stage before automating and optimising.

What sort of channel partners do you work within the region?

Xerox in the MEA is one of the pioneers, or leaders, within the Xerox

world in terms of the business model operating through channels and distributors. In the Middle East, our partners represent Xerox in a specific territory, and usually, they’re the only ones representing Xerox in that territory. We’ve had distributors in the Middle East since the mid80s. We cover almost the entirety of the Middle East and Africa. We go through proper due diligence to ensure that any distributor or vendor has the right infrastructure to represent us.

Do you run any channel partner programs in the region?

It’s essential to have an active programme in place that focuses on clearly identified key performance indicators to ensure the clients’ experience and their satisfaction are at the highest level possible.

The client is the centrepiece of this relationship. The second element is ensuring the partners are provided with the right tools to represent the products and brands of any vendor in the market.

So, talking about Xerox specifically, a robust partner programme will ensure partners have the right tools to cater our services and products to the market in the best way possible.

The most crucial element of the relationship between our partners and us, or distributors or channels is ensuring that there’s alignment – ensuring both our company and our partner companies are 100% aware of each other’s strategic objectives and directions.

It’s essential to ensure these strategies are not only aligned but that they intersect in many areas and, if there are any gaps in the relationship, that we understand what’s causing these gaps to ensure that any such gaps are eliminated. Another area which is also important is the constant training and development of people in the channel or of our partner companies.

We need them to be a valid extension of us in the market, and that’s why we invest a lot of money and effort in continuously training and developing people. This ensures that the brand values and our products and services are cascaded to clients in a very consistent manner, no matter where they are in the world.

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Do you conduct certification programs for your partners?

We run a lot of accreditations within Xerox to ensure everyone is up to standard in a specific line of business or in a particular area. The accreditation goes first to an assessment stage where we assess the status quo and then we compare it to the benchmark which we aim to elevate the operation of the distributor or partner to. Usually, there are specific gaps in certain areas which we then, through our regional business managers, help the partners bridge.

Therefore, the benefit that our partners get out of having such a robust accreditation programme as part of the partner programme is continually reviewing the figures of their business. If there are any gaps, we consider them together, and then we create an action plan to ensure this gap is bridged in a specific period. Usually, there are several stakeholders, so it’s not just the partner responsible for bridging the gap; it’s also the regional managers or business development managers within Xerox who run these territories who are also the next part of the evaluation and the ongoing development within the company.

What sort of tech support commitment do you have towards your partners and customers?

Slowing down isn't an option. That's why we have a ‘Global Digital Support’ that assists our customers and partners around the world. With built-in, intuitive guidance, a robust online knowledge base and experts on call, you can get fixes for mission-critical devices, fast.

Xerox also offers a robust set of self-service solutions through our online knowledge system, YouTube video site and community forum discussion boards to assist in resolving problems customers may encounter with their Xerox device, regardless of device warranty or contract. In many cases, self-service is the quickest path to solving an issue. In the event a customer is unsuccessful or forgoes using self-service and the Xerox product is covered by Xerox warranty, Xerox Service Agreement or part of a Xerox Managed Print Services offering, customer telephone support is included as part of the service process.

PRODUCT REVIEWS

4/5 Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ

$ 549

The importance of a display in a gaming PC setup is well known, especially high performance and feature-rich display panels.

The Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ is a gaming display that comes packed with features such as ELMB-Sync (Extreme Low Motion Blur Sync), HDR-10, Adaptive Sync. You also get a 99% sRGB color gamut for brilliant colour reproduction.

The bezels around the screen are quite thin at 8mm along the sides and top and 13mm along the bottom edge. There is also a shiny silver Asus logo in the middle of the bottom bezel and on the right-hand bottom edge there are pale grey labels for the OSD control buttons, which are tucked away behind the back of the right-hand side.

It also packs in a brilliant refresh rate at 165Hz to make your gaming experience super smooth. In terms of specs, this 27-inch monitor offers an aspect ratio of 16:9, a resolution of 2560-by1440 pixels, and 350cd/m2 of brightness. You also get a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a response time of 4ms. In terms of connectivity, the panel offers a DisplayPort 1.2, two HDMI 2.0, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

If you read the specs part of the monitor above, you will realize that we did not mention any older connectivity options – that’s because they aren’t included on the monitor. The Asus VG27AQ gets rid of older connectivity standards in favour of a DisplayPort 1.2 and dual HDMI 2.0 connectors.

You also get some in-game enhancements such as Shadow Boost, which clarifies dark areas of the game without overexposing brighter areas, thus improving overall viewing while also making it easier to spot enemies hidden in dark areas of the map.

The integrated Game Plus hotkeys let you practice and improve your overall gaming skills.

The Asus GameVisual Technology has seven pre-set display modes to optimise visuals for different types of content. Modes include Racing, MOBA, Cinema, RTS/RPG, FPS, sRGB and Scenery. The monitor is also certified by TUV Rheinland for its Flicker-Free technology that reduces flicker to minimise eye strain during long gaming sessions. In addition, the Ultra-Low Blue Light technology reduces the amount of potentially harmful blue light emitted by the display.

Inside the box, you get the Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ along with the power cord, the power adapter, the quick start guide, and the warranty card. The DisplayPort and the HDMI cables are optional and need to be purchased separately. In terms of the design and build quality, the VG27AQ follows some design cues from Asus’ TUF range of gaming products.

The monitor comes in a black design with matte plastics used for the bezel, rear enclosure, arm and base. Red trim is placed on the sides of the stand which connects to the display’s base.

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That’s a good idea since most GPUs today that can run this monitor smoothly won’t have DVI or VGA anyway. However, it would have been nice to include older ports so older systems could use them. Asus has also not included USB ports on the monitor.

As mentioned earlier, the Asus VG27AQ boasts a 27-inch IPS panel with a 2560-by-1440 resolution, 165Hz overclocked refresh rate, and a 4ms response time. The sharpness and clarity of the content displayed are excellent. The Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ supports a maximum of 165Hz – so it’s very smooth and responsive for an IPS panel.

You also get Adaptive Sync, which means you get support for AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync. That’s Variable Refresh Rate ranging from 48Hz to 165Hz. Asus’ ELMB-Sync technology works brilliantly by allowing variable refresh rates to work with backlight strobing. What this means is that the technology matches the strobe with whatever frame rate you are at when the variable refresh rate is enabled. Kudos to Asus for managing to do this with a dedicated processor just for this task alone.

The Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ is an awesome 165Hz gaming monitor. It completely blew me away with the ELMB-Sync performance, a very low response time, excellent ergonomics and colour accuracy. All these features definitely help the Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ score a couple more brownie points than similarly priced competitors.

4/5

AED 3,999

Asus VivoBook S14 (S431F) Asus’ new VivoBook S14 is a laptop that is targeted at users who prefer thin and light-weight devices that can be carried around effortlessly. It is a laptop made for everyday computing that is powerful in performance, but at the same time does not burn a hole in your pocket.

In terms of design, the VivoBook S14 flaunts a minimalist design. Clad in an all-grey plastic shell the overall build quality seems pretty good. The lid of the S14 extends a little bit beyond the base – called “ergolift”, this feature raises the base when the laptop is open. It’s an interesting design because now, the base gets better air flow for cooling things down.

You will find all the ports on the right and left edges of the laptop. On the left edge, you get the power port, an HDMI port, a USB 3.0 port, and a USB Type-C port alongside the battery and power indicators LEDs. On the right edge, you get the memory card slot, a 3.5mm audio jack, and another USB port.

At the back of the laptop and the bottom, you get the exhausts for pushing out hot air. You also get Harman Kardon speakers on the device. The bezels on the VivoBook S14 are quite thin, while the IR webcam can be found on top of the display, which also comes with facial recognition capabilities.

In terms of specifications, the S14 is quite filled up to the brim. The laptop is powered by an 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8565U processor running at a clock speed of 1.80GHz, which can overclock to 1.99Ghz when needed.

You also get 16GB RAM and 500GB of storage space.

While there is no touchscreen display, it isn’t a biggie.

The illuminated chiclet keyboard on this one is quite good and comfortable to type on. The laptop runs on Windows 10 operating system.

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For everyday computing, the Asus VivoBook S14 does a really good job, thanks to the Core i7 processor and the 16GB of RAM. Multi-tasking is effortless, too. The laptop was able to handle all the jobs we threw at it including video editing and rendering on DaVinci Resolve 16, gaming on Fortnite and League of Legends, Photoshop edits, and switching between multiple open app windows. Multimedia performance was also very good thanks to the Harman Kardon speakers.

On a single charge, the laptop stayed alive for a little more than 4 hours. The Asus VivoBook S14 is a very capable machine coming in at an affordable price of AED 3,999. It is thin and light, comes in with very good specs, and offers powerful performance. If you are on the market for a capable thin and light laptop to carry around effortlessly, the Asus VivoBook S14 is definitely worth checking out.

PRODUCT REVIEWS

4/5

AED 1999

Oppo Reno 2 Oppo is out with its second iteration of the highly-successful Reno series. While the Oppo Reno 2 borrows a few design cues from the original Reno, this one looks a bit different, too. The phone features a glossy finish that is curved at both sides. At the rear, the Reno 2 smartphone has no bump whatsoever where the cameras are centered, which gives the phone an overall premium look.

Many phones today also come with a dedicated key for invoking Google Assistant. So, if you would like to launch Google Assistant with a hardware key instead of a virtual one on the Reno 2, you can always assign a short press on the Power key to summon it.

256GB of storage, which is further expandable via microSD by utilizing one of the dual SIM slots.

The Reno 2 is powered by Google’s Android 9.0 Pie operating system with ColorOS 6.1 running on top of it. In terms of battery, the Reno 2 derives its operating power from a 4000mAh Li-Ion battery, which supports VOOC Flash Charge 3.0 fast charging.

Towards the rear, the Reno 2 comes with a quad-camera setup, as mentioned earlier. The primary camera offers a resolution of 48MP with an aperture of f/1.7, and supporting OIS.

The Oppo Reno 2 comes with an aluminium frame, Gorilla Glass 6 on the front and Gorilla Glass 5 on the back. The phone measures 160-by74.3-by-9.5mm in dimension and weighs around 189-gms. In terms of the color options, you get three – Luminous Black, Ocean Blue, and Sunset Pink.

The second camera is a telephoto camera that offers a resolution of 13MP, an aperture of f/2.4, and 2x optical zoom. The third camera is an ultra-wide 8 MP camera offering an aperture of f/2.2 and a 0.6x zoom.

You also get a 2 MP camera with an aperture of f/2.4, for monochrome portrait shots.

Inside the box, you get the Oppo Reno 2, a VOOC 3.0 power adapter, a USB-C cable, a very nice and sturdy-looking protective case, a pre-applied screen protector, a pair of earphones, a Quick Start Guide and the SIM Card Tool.

The overall performance of the Reno 2 is quite good, especially considering the Snapdragon 730G married to 8GB of RAM. ColorOS 6.0 also helps along the way, since its built-in machine learning modules can selectively freeze apps in the background instead of closing them entirely when more performance is required. On AnTuTu, the Reno 2 was able to clock 271649 points, which is pretty good for a mid-range device.

The Reno 2 is an all-screen smartphone without any notches or distractions. On the front, you get a 6.5-inch AMOLED Full HD screen. There are minimal bezels on either side and the phone comes packed with an in-display fingerprint scanner.

The fingerprint scanner was quite quick and accurate in unlocking the phone. On the front on the top edge, you also get a motorised pop-up front camera that offers a resolution of 16 MP, an aperture of f/2.0, and a 26mm wide shooting angle.

On the left edge, you will find the volume rockers, while on the right edge, you will find the power button. On the bottom edge, you will find the USB-C port alongside the 3.5m audio jack.

The Oppo Reno 2 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G chipset (8nm) and an Adreno 618 GPU. You also get 8GB of RAM and ARABIAN RESELLER | December 2019

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Now, let’s talk about the camera of the Oppo Reno 2. Well, one word – outstanding! The quad-camera setup of the Oppo Reno 2 offers some insane photography and videography capabilities. It does not matter if you are shooting under lowe lighting or good lighting conditions – we ended up with brilliant photos each time. The macro mode is excellent, and so is the night mode. The front camera also captures some really good selfies.

Oppo’s new Reno 2 is a brilliant piece of technology. It redefines what a mid-range phone should be because it is as refined as a smartphone can get. The smartphone exudes awesomeness – right from the design, the build quality, and the software, to its impressive quad-camera setup. For a price of AED 1,999, the Oppo Reno 2 is great value for money.

3/5

AED 999

Honor 9X A pop-up front camera instead of a notch seems to be a favourite of many smartphones launched recently. Honor’s 9X is the latest to flaunt a pop-up camera.

Coming in at a very affordable price tag of AED 999, the 9X is aimed at those looking for a dependable mid-range smartphone that packs in good photography capabilities.

The 9X features a 48MP triple camera setup on the back and a 6.59-inches Honor FullView Display on the front.

The display offers a resolution of 1080-by-2340 pixels at a pixel density of 391 pixels per inch (ppi). The Honor 9X’s back panel is made of over 100,000 geometric diamond-cut tiles that reflect and refracts light to create the unique Dynamic X Design.

Under the hood, the Honor 9X is powered by an octa-core Kirin 710F processor. It also comes packed with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage capacity.

The internal storage space is further expandable to up to 512GB using a microSD memory card. The Honor 9X runs Android Pie as its choice of the operating system with EMUI 9.1 on top of it.

The device is powered by a 4000mAh battery. You get two color options to choose from – Sapphire Blue and Midnight Black. The one we have reviewed here was the Midnight Black version. The phone features a Dual 3D Curved Panel with an 8.8mm thick frame. Honor has left the 3.5mm headphone jack intact, while also throwing in a USB Type-C connector for your charging and data syncing needs.

As mentioned earlier, the 9X features a triple camera setup. You get a 48-megapixel primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture and a ½-inch sensor. The second camera

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is an 8MP super wide-angle camera, while the third camera is a 2MP depth-assist camera. On the front, you get a 16-megapixel pop-up camera for selfies, with an f/2.2 aperture.

The camera is powered by Honor’s AI algorithms. Its AIS Super Night Mode, in particular, has been designed to produce excellent quality photos even in dimly-lit environments. Honor also includes a 120° Super Wide Angle Camera that will help you capture more details in one shot.

During our tests, we found that the phone does a very good job for the price point it is available at. Day to day multitasking won’t be an issue thanks to the 6GB of RAM that Honor has equipped this phone with. With the 9X, you also get GPU Turbo 3.0, which is great news for mobile gamers.

The camera on the phone also performs quite well.

Under really good lighting conditions, we ended up with images that were crisp with plenty of detail. The portrait mode on the phone is also very good – it got the edge detection pretty spot on every time. Inside the camera app, you get a bunch of shooting modes, such as HDR, light painting, moving pictures, aperture mode and a night mode.

Selfies using the front pop-up camera also turned out pretty good. The battery life on the phone is also quite good. On a single charge, we got a little more than a day’s worth of battery life. For a price of AED 999, the Honor 9X is a very good phone since it packs in a good camera, a good battery life, and overall good performance.

PRODUCTS

Nokia Launches its First Smart TV in India Through Flipkart Flipkart, one of India’s leading e-commerce marketplaces, has announced that it has entered into a strategic relationship with Nokia that grants it the use of the Nokia brand for Smart TVs in India – a global first for the brand in the TV category. In line with this, Flipkart will leverage its understanding of the needs of Indian consumers to develop, facilitate the manufacturing and distribution of the Nokia branded Smart TVs, while managing the end-to-end go-to-market strategy.

As per industry reports, digitally influenced shoppers are set to significantly drive up demand for consumer durables in India over the next five years. Flipkart is leveraging the increasing prevalence of online shopping in metros, Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, combined with vast amount of consumer insights and feedback, to strengthen its presence in this segment.

Flipkart’s strong track record of using technology to create best-in-class experiences for its large and growing pan-India consumer base helped establish it as the partner of choice for Nokia, a brand trusted globally for its design and technology expertise. The Nokia branded Smart TVs will feature superior audio quality powered by JBL’s sound program, an initiative by HARMAN to expand the uses of its audio expertise further.

JBL by HARMAN is known for high-quality audio equipment, and this will be its first foray into the television space in India. The partnership is backed by Flipkart’s consumer insights, which found that poor sound quality and experience is a major pain point for customers purchasing televisions.

“We are delighted that Flipkart, the leading e-commerce company in the country, will bring the first-ever Nokia branded Smart TVs to India.

Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the Nokia brand in a new category. And where better to start than in India, where our brand has been trusted for quality, design and reliability. Flipkart’s understanding of the needs and behaviors of Indian consumers, and the power of its reach, will help it make Nokia branded Smart TVs accessible and affordable to many,” said Vipul Mehrotra, Vice President, Nokia Brand Partnerships.

Lenovo Launches new ThinkBook Laptops Lenovo has announced the local availability of its ThinkBook laptops, designed to accelerate small and medium-sized businesses in the UAE. According to statistics from the UAE Ministry of Economy, more than 94 percent of companies operating in the UAE are SMBs, which collectively contribute to more than 60 percent of the country’s GDP, expected to rise to 70 percent by 2021. Lenovo believes that access to affordable, yet efficient technology is a crucial factor in aiding business success and contributing to the success of the nation.

Backed by customer research, ThinkBook is specially designed for SMBs, who typically purchase consumer laptops for perceived design and price advantages but can no longer rationalize their lack of extended services and warranties – core needs of any business. ThinkBook allows growing firms to keep a competitive edge in attracting

today’s young tech-savvy execs with trendy yet cost-effective devices.

In the UAE, ThinkBook laptops are available in 13, 14 and 15-inch variants. The flagship ThinkBook 14 and ThinkBook 15 devices are powered by Windows 10 Pro and up to 10th Gen Intel Core processing, combining high performance with intuitive, time-saving features.

Options include Intel Optane memory, WiFi 6, and discrete graphics.

The ThinkBook 15 comes at just 18.9mm thin, while the ThinkBook 14 is a mere 17.9mm – each easy to slip into a backpack, briefcase or under one’s arm. With FHD displays and two Dolby Audio speakers, users have full visibility and clarity when working. Dual-array, Skype certified microphones make conference calling easier than ever before and a USB 3.1 (Gen2, Type-C) port ensures large data transfers and heavy media files are managed with speed.

LG Launches 24-inch UltraGear Monitor for Gamers LG Electronics has responded to the growing popularity of gaming in the Middle East with the release of its UltraGear monitors, designed to bring a new level of realism and excitement to the gaming experience. LG’s new UltraGear monitor (model: 24GL600F-B) is designed for the gamer to be at the heart of the experience with innovative technology that delivers a truly immersive experience.

The UltraGear’s 23.6-inch display features a 1920 x 1080 resolution (16:9 Aspect Ratio) allowing users to see the action in crystal clear detail. The monitor is optimized for ARABIAN RESELLER | December 2019

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experiences that require instantaneous decision making such as real-time strategy (RTS) games and first-person shooters (FPS), with a 1ms response time and 144Hz native refresh rate.

Dynamic Action Sync minimizes input lag so the gameplay in RTS and FPS is much more responsive. By incorporating Black Stabilizer, players can take advantage of the stealthy approach and keep to the shadows. This feature gives gamers full night vision visibility in deep-dark scenes by synchronizing even the darkest areas and making them brighter.

Oppo to Launch Dual-Mode 5G Smartphone Following the official launch of 5G commercial services by leading Chinese carriers, Oppo, the leading global smartphone brand, announced that it will launch a Qualcomm-powered dual-mode 5G smartphone in December in the Chinese mainland.

On October 31st 2019, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom debuted 5G service packages, marking the official commercialization of 5G in the country. With the new smartphone, Oppo is aiming to deliver an enhanced 5G experience to users and accelerate 5G adoption among a wider base of consumers.

Tecno Mobile Launches the CAMON 12 in the UAE Tecno Mobile has launched its new smartphone called CAMON 12.

Designed specifically for selfie and photography enthusiasts, the launch event of the new device also saw the company highlight its regional market strategy, and expansion plans as it seeks to grow its footprint across the Middle East.

Jack Long, Chief Executive Officer, of Tecno Mobile, Middle East said, “We are excited to launch the new CAMON 12 in the UAE, for consumers who seek to have a class-leading camera, larger screen size, and solid processing power, at accessible price-points.”

The phone comes with a 6.52-inches Crystal Dot Notch Screen, with Super FULLVIEW experience. You also get a 90% edge-to-edge ratio. Users can now take more natural and exquisite photos with the 16MP main lens focusing on AI scene detection and AI HDR. This also helps in covering various common shooting scenarios and offering corresponding AI

optimization.

Specs include 64GB ROM + 4GB RAM, and 4000mAh long-lasting battery. The CAMON 12 designs gradient nebula for its back cover – there are two different stunning gradience to choose. The AR sticker covers 220+ facial features and supports identification across 120°. Light beautification and localization features are also considered.

The special customized version of the Manchester City Football Club is surprisingly built as an amazing gift.

Animate your favorite emoji with real facial expressions and create more fun when taking pictures or recording videos – AR Emoji. Equipped with the latest version of the operating system and user interface, CAMON 12 brings users a brand new user experience. The CAMON 12 is now available in the UAE in two stylish colours – Dark Jade and Dawn Blue, starting at AED 589, including VAT.

The Oppo 5G dual-mode smartphone will also be launched in multiple markets across the world.

On May 1st 2019, Oppo and Swisscom jointly launched Oppo Reno 5G, the first commercial 5G smartphone available in European markets.

Within the GCC, the smartphone was unveiled in September. The Oppo Reno 5G continues the Reno series’ use of innovative technology to elevate photography and mobile entertainment to all-new heights, with the added power of 5G’s super-fast connectivity.

Recently, Oppo Vice President Alen Wu indicated in an interview that all Oppo smartphones priced upward of AED 1,500 in the Chinese mainland will have a 5G version next year.

Revealed: Brands That Will Offer Snapdragon 865, 765 Smartphones Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765/765G chipsets yesterday, confirming 5G connectivity. The Snapdragon 865 and 765 series are expected to power 2020’s flagship and upper mid-range phones respectively. But the 5G support also suggests that we c an expect a flood of 5G devices next year, and several brands have already confirmed that they’ll offer these chips in their phones.

HMD has confirmed in a Qualcomm press release and on-stage that it’ll offer a Nokia

smartphone powered by the Snapdragon 765 next year. It didn’t mention plans for a Snapdragon 865 phone though.

Another prominent brand hopping aboard the next-gen Snapdragon train is Motorola, with company president Sergio Buniac revealing its plans. “As the mobile arm, Motorola will continue leading the 5G era with our expanded lineup of 5G solutions in 2020 — driven by the high-performing Snapdragon 765 and 865 Mobile Platforms, re-invigorating our place in the premium flagship space,” Buniac said in a press statement.

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Oppo has also announced that in 2020 Q1, it will launch its flagship product using the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform, together bringing a faster and superior 5G experience to users.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi CEO Bin Lin appeared at the Qualcomm event to announce that the upcoming Mi 10 flagship will be among the first wave of Snapdragon 865 phones. He also confirmed that the upcoming Redmi K30 will offer new Qualcomm silicon.

PRODUCTS

BenQ Launches the new EX2780Q 144Hz Gaming Monitor BenQ has launched its brand-new EX2780Q gaming monitor equipped with exclusive HDRi technology with intelligent visual optimization, tailored 2.1 channel Hi-Fi audio, and full-function of eye-care technology for the most immersive in-game experience. The 27-inches QHD gaming monitor adopts IPS panel, and comes along with144Hz refresh rate, FreeSync, Black eQualizer, Color Vibrance, and a USB-C port.

BenQ’s HDRi technology ingeniously combines active intelligent brightness control, color saturation/ balance optimization, and proprietary HDR image techniques to accentuate image contrast and clarity.

Using a built-in sensor, the EX2780Q gaming monitor detects ambient light levels as well as image content to automatically adjust screen brightness.

HDRi also enhances image contrast and clarity to reveal hidden details in every dark corner, as well as balancing bright areas to avoid overexposure and washout. With the three pre-set modes, including Game HDRi, Cinema HDRi, and Display HDR, your visual enjoyment can be customized according to personal preference under various scenarios.

Equally innovative, the built-in 2.1 channel speaker system is designed by BenQ’s acclaimed treVolo audio team to maximize expansive sound in an unobtrusively integrated package. Though monitors traditionally are not renowned for speaker quality, BenQ True Sound by treVolo creates a listening experience far surpassing external speakers by utilizing advanced physical acoustics and psychoacoustics, without desktop clutter. Five tailored sound modes, including Game, Cinema, Pop/Live, Dialog/Vocal, and Rock/Party, are offered from the well-defined bass to the high-end sounds so as to intensify your immersion.

Clear images, smooth gameplay, and less motion blur are the key elements for choosing a gaming monitor. The EX2780Q comes with a 144Hz refresh rate for better, smoother image when playing higher-speed games, FreeSync eliminating image tearing and broken frames, Black eQualizer getting targets from better visibility in dark scenes, and Color Vibrance having enemies rendered visible in any background.

Western Digital Intros Storage Optimised for Public Safety Western Digital has addressed the need to optimise storage for video and AI analytics at the network edge. The increased use of smart cameras and ever-rising video resolutions are driving the requirement for on-camera storage. Western Digital introduced the WD Purple SC QD101 Ultra Endurance microSD card designed specifically for equipment makers, resellers and installers in the mainstream security camera market. In addition, the company announced a compelling new addition to the hard disk drive portfolio, WD Purple 14TB HDD for surveillance, which is compatible with a wide range of security systems.

“Within the UAE, we continue to witness growth in the video surveillance market, with Expo 2020 around the corner as well as ongoing government smart initiatives to help enhance the lives and safety of their citizens. Keeping these digitization agendas in mind, we aim to upgrade or expand security systems with the launch of the WD Purple Ultra Endurance microSD Card.

This latest innovation is designed for the extreme demands of high temperature, 24/7 surveillance, and quality video playback. ” said Khwaja Saifuddin, Senior Sales Director, the Middle East at Western Digital

According to IHS Markit Technology², global professional video surveillance camera shipments are expected to grow from 140 million to 224 million between 2018 and 2023, and those with onboard storage are expected to grow by an average of approximately 17 percent per year. 4K-compliant cameras are expected to grow from 3.6 percent of all network cameras shipped in 2018 to over 24 percent by 2023, and the up to 5.7X increase in bits generated by 4K vs.1080p video illustrates a fast-growing demand for more storage.3 “Customers are looking for high-endurance, high-capacity, robust, on-camera storage for a variety of public safety and AI analytics use cases,” said Saifuddin. “These new products deliver optimized storage technology to handle these exciting new and varied visual workloads at the edge.” Western Digital’s WD Purple portfolio of storage devices are designed with specifically-chosen attributes to deliver reliable performance in mainstream security video systems that operate 24/7. These purpose-built solutions offer high quality and long-lasting storage for workloads that consumer microSD cards and desktop-grade hard drives are not specifically designed for.

Apple May Launch New iPhone Without a Charging Port in 2021 In 2016, Apple killed the headphone jack and then the Touch ID fingerprint scanning went away in 2017 with the iPhone X. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF Securities, Apple is planning to launch a high-end smartphone in 2021 without a charging cable port.

Kuo has gained a lot of respect in the tech community for nailing predictions of previous Apple products. The future iPhone will supposedly offer a “completely wireless experience,” Kuo said in a research note as reported by news pieces ARABIAN RESELLER | December 2019

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floating around. Removing the charging port means the device would require wireless charging and may allow iPhones to be more water-resistant.

This would mean iPhones are moving one step closer to looking like a flat sheet of glass, an ambitious vision held by Apple’s previous head of design Jony Ive, who left the company over the summer.

Apple will get rid of the charging port to “create more differentiation between the highest-end and high-end models,” Kuo predicts.

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