Not PURE
PURE All-flash storage is what we do. Which is why we’ve become the natural choice for accelerating the next-generation data center. Pure Storage FlashArrays are purpose-built to deliver the full advantages of flash, pushing the speed limit for business with disruptive innovation that’s hard to imitate. Pure Storage is a leader in the 2014 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Solid-State Arrays. Find out why, visit: purestorage.com/gartner Authorized Distributor: Global Distribution FZE T: +971 4 3148935 E: pure@globalfze.com © 2014 Pure Storage, Inc. Pure Storage and the Pure Storage Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Pure Storage, Inc. or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Solid-State Arrays, Valdis Filks et al, 28 August 2014. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
ontents
Cover story - 18
EMM takes spotlight
Editorial
Enterprise Mobility Management is a key focus for companies looking to adopt the BYOD era whole heartedly and stay competitive as well as secure
Opportunities abound T
he integrator community in the Middle East is a growing one. There are many new companies coming into the fray. Many have created competencies in specific domains and are looking to expand further. So the list of competent channel partners has expanded well beyond the list of familiar names that have held the spotlight in the region over the years. The opportunities are expanding for integrators as many of the domains that are seeing growing customer demand are built around recently emerged as well as emerging Technologies. That is quite convenient for start-up companies that are setting forth on the journey to becoming a system integrator as they can move faster in adopting new competencies. Each domain will also require in-depth expertise and specialist focus from integrators. Enterprise Mobility Management, the subject of the cover story this issue, is a burgeoning opportunity for integrators as the BYOD era becomes rampant in work environments. That will require integrators to bring in security software and integration skills, understanding case by case scenarios of their clients before designing, deploying and supporting the solutions. Significantly, integrators will also need to understand how the proposed EMM solutions will help secure, optimize and enhance the Business productivity of their clients. There exists a significant consulting opportunity for integrators via addressing this opportunity. And similarly in IoT as it slowly builds up momentum, there will be a great deal of opportunities for integrators. In the early phase of the journey, there will be more instances that will require integration to make disparate systems talk to each other and extract intelligent data from legacy networks. Integrators who ally with companies that have a bold vision of IoT going ahead will have a lot to gain by grabbing the first mover advantage.
R. Narayan Managing Editor
Founder & CEO: Vivek Sharma Managing Editor: R. Narayan Art Director: Faiz Ahmed Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh
News In Detail
Microsoft ends support for Windows Server 2003 - 12
Acronis partners with Al Hosani - 14 TechKnow
Stacked with value - 17
Graham Porter, Channel Manager MENA & Pakistan discusses the trends in converged infrastructure and NetApp’s focus
The SMB focus - 22
Amanullah Khan Director, Emerging markets at Belkin discusses aspects of the company’s SMB strategy
The cable expert - 24
Tarek Helmy, Regional Director Gulf and Middle East, South & East Africa of Nexans Cabling Solutions discusses the company’s focus and industry trends
Point 2 Point
Rising graph - 15
Mehdi Tabesh, Marketing Manager at Shouki Electronics discusses the focus areas for the company
Maximum security - 26
Aji Joseph. GM, RadarServices Middle East discusses the growing demand for Managed Security
More date, more storage - 28
Kartik Shankar, Senior Sales Manager, StorIT Distribution discusses storage trends in the enterprise segment
Insight
Remote Monitoring and Management - 29
Enhance Productivity & Reduce Costly System Downtime with Remote Monitoring & Management Services, writes Sachin Bhardwaj, Director, Marketing & Business Development, eHostingDataFort
It’s not Voodoo but WUDO - 30
Chester Wisniewski, Senior Security Consultant at Sophos offers some tips on Windows update delivery optimisation
Regulars
News Bytes Eyetech Stats & trends
Published by: JNS Media International MFZE P.O. Box: 121075, Montana Building 404, Zabeel Road, Near GPO, Karama, Dubai-UAE - Tel: 04-3705022 Fax: 04-3706639 Disclaimer: While the publishers have made every attempt possible to get accurate information on published content in this handbook they cannot be held liable for any errors herein.
News Bytes
StorIT appointed as Unitrends distributor StorIT has signed a distribution agreement with Unitrends, the fastest-growing multi-environment Data Protection and Disaster Recovery Company. As Unitrends’ valueadded distributor, StorIT will promote and distribute Unitrends complete portfolio of end-to-end solutions in Data Protection, Backup and Disaster Recovery solutions across the Middle East, North Africa and India. “With this partnership with Unitrends, we are now in a position to offer our customers and partners Unitrends’ well-proven hybrid solution from a single source for all requirements of scalable appliances, software and cloud-based solutions for backup, archiving, instant recovery and disaster recovery. By leveraging our strong channel network in the Middle East, we plan to increase Unitrends’ business and market share within the region,” said Suren Vedantham, Managing Director, StorIT Distribution fzco. StorIT will undertake activities such as training, certifications, systems design and architecture, implementation services and support. The StorIT team will also work closely with Unitrends to ensure its channel network receives strong sales, marketing, and technical support to effectively sell Unitrends’ integrated physical backup appliances that protect physical and virtual environments.
4 | August 2015
ESET grows faster than market ESET has announced that its growth outpaces the worldwide security software market, as reported by Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company based on 2014 market share revenue. The security market grew 5.3% in 2014, touching $21.4 billion in revenue, according to Gartner’s Market Share: All Software Markets, Worldwide, 2014 report.1 With new technologies and software being adopted by businesses around the world, the number of vulnerabilities for cyber-criminals to exploit will grow multiple times. Worldwide spending on information security will reach $71.1 billion in 2014, an increase of 7.9 percent over 2013, with the data loss prevention segment recording the fastest growth at 18.9 percent, according to the latest forecast from Gartner, Inc. Total information security spending will grow a further 8.2 percent in 2015 to reach $76.9 billion,2” according to Gartner. According to Gartner Market Share: All Software Markets, Worldwide, 2014 report, ESET has recorded growth of 8.0% during 2014 in the consumer security software and endpoint protection platform (enterprise) markets, improving its market share from 4.0% in 2012 to 5.1 % in 2014.3 "Being ranked in the top 5 vendors by market share in consumer security software and endpoint protection platform4 was our target for this year and we are happy to see that we have achieved that result." said Ignacio Sbampato, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at ESET. “We feel this growth is a confirmation that more and more companies and consumers around the world trust our solutions to protect their devices and data.”
Fortinet closes acquisition of Meru Networks Fortinet announced it has closed the acquisition of Meru Networks (NASDAQ:MERU), a leader in intelligent Wi-Fi networking. With the close of this acquisition, Fortinet expands on its secure wireless vision and enterprise growth focus, broadens the company’s solutions portfolio, and expands its opportunity to uniquely address the $5B global enterprise Wi-Fi market with integrated and intelligent secure wireless solutions. Fortinet’s proven solutions in secure Wi-Fi markets, with its FortiAP secure wireless access points and FortiWiFi integrated security appliances for enterprise branch offices and small businesses have been among the fastest growing products in the company’s “advanced technologies” portfolio. The addition of Meru’s intelligent Wi-Fi solutions to the Fortinet portfolio extends the delivery of a secure, uninterrupted user experience – anytime anywhere – providing peak performance in environments requiring high capacity load and a high-density of wireless users, such as enterprise, education, healthcare, and hospitality. “To truly protect against all possible attack vectors, we are continuing to expand our market-leading end-to-end security platform to provide customers with the visibility and continuous threat protection they need – from the data center, to the cloud to the end-point,” said Ken Xie, founder, chairman and CEO of Fortinet. “We expect the acquisition of Meru to help us deliver new solutions and services to help enterprises of all sizes deploy, manage, and secure wired and wireless networks in a mobile era.” Fortinet and Meru customers will benefit from Fortinet’s commitment to providing secure, uninterrupted connectivity for their highly mobile end-users, while offering channel partners a broader solutions portfolio to take to market. With the completion of the transaction, Meru employees officially join Fortinet.
News Bytes
emt inks partnership with CoSoSys emt Distribution has announced that it has signed an exclusive distribution partnership agreement with CoSoSys to distribute the entire portfolio of CoSoSys Endpoint Protector Solutions in Middle East. CoSoSys enables businesses and end users around the world to take full advantage of the performance benefits of mobility, portability and communications solutions, without compromising security. To achieve this, the company has developed solutions that prevent data loss on the ever-increasing number of devices, endpoints, cloud storage apps and mobile devices accessing and storing sensitive data. “With the rise in awareness about data loss prevention in the region, the opportunities for new business are growing at a fast pace," said, Mohammad Mobasseri, emt Distribution CEO. “We will work closely with CoSoSys to lend technical and marketing support to facilitate the growth of business for all our channel partners.” The company offers a rich portfolio of security products to protect over 11 million users worldwide. CoSoSys products provide network device control, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Windows and Mac OS X, Mobile Device Management (MDM) for iOS and Android, as well as applications for portable storage device encryption and enhancement.
6 | August 2015
SAP facilitating digital transformation A SAP and Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report indicate that organizations are observing unforeseen benefits to their business performance as a result of increasing the accessibility of information across organizations, whether on prospective clients, existing customers, on internal processes or on internal data of whatever kind. Demonstrating the demand for solutions in the Digital Economy, according to McKinsey & Company, businesses that embrace digital transformations could see increased revenue as much as 30 percent. Hannes Liebe, COO, SAP MENA said, “Those new technologies such as cloud, Big Data, predictive analytics, and Internet of Things are already reshaping a new reality, and companies will have two choices: either invest or they face the risk of becoming irrelevant”, added Liebe. The recently-released SAP Business Suite on SAP HANA (SAP S/4 HANA) regarded one of the most innovative platforms available at present, connects holistically people, devices, and business networks in real time. Thus SAP S/4 HANA has been recognized across the Middle East as a leading platform for innovation. Hundreds of customers worldwide, across a wide range of industries, are using this 4th generation platform already and benefit from its built-in in-memory and real-time capabilities for their digital transformation strategy. SAP has facilitated such digital economy implementations with technological developments, including connecting businesses seamlessly across company boundaries with services such as Ariba, a cloud-based procurement solution, Concur, a leading cloud-based travel and expense management service, and Fieldglass, a cloud-based Vendor Management System to manage contingent workforce and service procurement programs.
Qatar Airways Migrates Systems to the Ooredoo Data Centre Ooredoo and Qatar Airways have expanded their strategic partnership, with the national airline moving both its primary and backup data to Ooredoo’s cloud-hosting platform. As part of the migration, Qatar Airways has moved its systems and infrastructure to the world-class Ooredoo Data Centre, which is among the most advanced facilities of its kind in the region. The move to Ooredoo’s first-of-its-kind cloud-hosting platform will enable Qatar Airways to deploy the latest generation of cloud backup and security solutions quickly and cost-effectively, in a flexible and scalable manner. As Qatar Airways continues to pursue its ambitious strategy of global growth, Ooredoo’s technology will enable the airline to manage growing volumes of data with confidence. The opening of the hosting area in Ooredoo’s Qatar Data Centre 5 (QDC5) in Mesaimeer was attended by senior officials from both companies including Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, CEO, Ooredoo Qatar; His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, Group Chief Executive of Qatar Airways; and Waleed Al Sayed, COO, Ooredoo Qatar. Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, CEO, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “Ooredoo has a strong working relationship with Qatar Airways and this partnership gives us a perfect chance to demonstrate our leadership in the field of data storage and business technology through our work with one of Qatar’s leading companies. Qatar Airways has shown great confidence in our network by moving both their primary and backup data to Ooredoo and we look forward to working more with them in the future.”
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News Bytes
Help AG partners with Bit9 + Carbon Black Help AG has signed new Authorized Solution Partner (ASP) and Security Service Provider (SSP) partnership agreements with Bit9 + Carbon Black in the GCC. This enables Help AG to offer the Bit9 + Carbon Black Security, the industry's first fully integrated Endpoint Threat Prevention, Detection and Response solution to enterprises in the region. Help AG will also leverage the same solution in its 24x7 Cyber Security Operations Center to enhance its Managed Security Services (MSS) and Incident Response (IR) services. In recent years, Help AG has focused heavily on building one of the most comprehensive IT security services portfolios in the Middle East. “Partnering with Bit9 + Carbon Black allows us to better mitigate and remediate cyber attacks and breaches. We can protect customer endpoints and perform rapid large scale investigation in the event of an attack. This accelerates remediation, allowing us to get customer IT systems up and running with minimal impact on business,” says Stephan Berner, Managing Director at Help AG. “Also, because we will be using this technology ourselves, we will be capable of providing an unmatched level of expertise and support to our customer base for this solution.”
8 | August 2015
NTT Com Security and Fortinet Announce Global Security Partnership NTT Com Security, the global information security and risk management company and Fortinet, a leader in high performance cyber security solutions, have entered into a formal partnership to provide expert security advice and world-class security solutions to organizations worldwide. The partnership includes incorporating the broad range of Fortinet security solutions into NTT Com Security solutions to help protect customers across the globe, irrespective of size or sector. The new global security partnership is another step in the long-term business and technological relationship between the two companies. Fortinet and NTT Com Security will now collaborate across a number of technology deployments, uniquely positioned to offer support, consultancy advice and the delivery of solutions powered by Fortinet’s market-leading technology under NTT Com Security’s WideAngle portfolio. These include cloud security, firewall and network risk management, SIEM systems integration and SDN (software defined networking) and virtualization. Through this partnership, NTT Com Security will also benefit from Fortinet’s experienced technical consultants to expand their support services in terms of incident management, operational risk reduction, support in complex architectural designs and implementations. “Our mission is to secure and simplify IT infrastructures as businesses increasingly look to adopt cloud-based systems and virtualization,” said Ken Xie, CEO of Fortinet. “Through our partnership with NTT Com Security, we continue to expand our global value-added security services and solutions for organizations to protect their nextgeneration networks and datacenters.”
Infoblox appoints new regional channel manager Infoblox, the network control company, has promoted Alexander Foroozandé to the position of Regional Channel Manager, Middle East, Turkey & Africa. In his new role, Alexander will be tasked with developing and executing a regional channel strategy focused on partner certification, premier security partner recruitment, and direct and indirect channel enablement programs. Alexander was previously the company's Regional Sales Manager for the Middle East and will continue reporting to Cherif Sleiman, General Manager, Middle East & Africa (MEA) at Infoblox who said, “Infoblox is uniquely differentiated and therefore well positioned to continue its leadership in the market. Alexander has demonstrated a keen understanding of our solutions and their ability to help businesses overcome the challenges posed by the ever changing threat landscape, adoption of virtualization and cloud, and growing scale of LTE deployments and mobile penetration. Under his able leadership, our channel will be expertly enabled to hone in on critical national infrastructure related technology projects in the region which will further fuel our aggressive expansion.”
News Bytes
Dell reduces cost of Enterprise Flash storage Dell has announced adoption of the industry’s newest, highest-density and lowest-cost-for-performance enterprise flash drives, helping organisations of all sizes to significantly reduce costs associated with storing and managing their valuable data and IT applications. With Dell’s modern, virtualized storage array architecture and unique intelligent data placement technology, Dell Storage SC Series array customers can adopt new Mainstream ReadIntensive (RI) SSDs, based on Triple Level Cell (TLC) 3D NAND technology. The combination of these technologies and previously available flash and hard disk drive options enables customers to benefit from lower than ever flash price-for-performance and increased storage density across all array segments to meet high-end to entrylevel customer needs. “As the first array vendor to announce support for this latest flash technology, Dell continues to redefine the economics of enterprise storage and tear down cost barriers to flash adoption,” said Alan Atkinson, VP and GM, Dell Storage. “With these advancements, we can substantially reduce the cost of high-performing, flash-optimised arrays while also cranking-up the performance of affordable, general purpose arrays. Customers can purchase or update existing arrays to benefit from the performance and density of enterprise flash at unparalleled costs.”
10 | August 2015
Kaspersky Lab holds roadshows Kaspersky Lab recently hosted a series of roadshows across the Middle East and North Africa region aimed at helping local partners protect their current investments and focus more on driving business growth. The announcement comes as Kaspersky Lab continues to announce regular updates to the channel program, offering partners more tools and opportunities to enhance service offerings for customers across the regions. Held over a period of one month and hosted across eight key cities in the Middle East and North Africa region including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, the roadshows were attended by over 150 resellers. During the half day sessions, resellers had the opportunity to engage with senior representatives from Kaspersky Lab to gather an in-depth understanding into the company’s B2B offerings to help them identify unique upsell and cross sell opportunities to drive margins and profitability. “Key investments in our channel partners have always proven to be of strategic value. With the business and technology market fast evolving, it is our responsibility to help channel partners stay up to date with the latest developments so as to be able to identify and leverage new business opportunities,” said Ovanes Mikhaylov, Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab, Middle East. At the events, partners were taken through Kaspersky Lab’s leading portfolio of targeted security solutions with a special focus on sales and pre sales training.
Actifio Sky for AWS now available in AWS Marketplace Actifio, the copy data virtualization company, has announced the expansion of its enterprise-class data management technology to customer workloads on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Actifio Sky for AWS is now available as a listing in AWS Marketplace making it easier for customers to dramatically improve their data access, agility, and control by running Actifio’s award-winning Virtual Data Pipeline technology on the AWS Cloud. Actifio pioneered copy data virtualization, decoupling business data from business infrastructure in much the same way hypervisors decouple compute from physical servers. Actifio replaces the siloed systems customers typically use to protect and access copies of production data, helping them accelerate recovery time objectives and time-to-market for new applications. Customers also save money on third-party software licenses and unnecessary infrastructure sprawl, in addition to radically simplifying operations through the consolidation of multiple point tools into a single, easy-to-use data management platform. “The agreement with AWS puts Actifio just a few clicks away from a whole new segment of enterprise customers, who can now tap the transformative power of our copy data virtualization technology for workloads running on the AWS Cloud,” said Actifio CEO and Founder Ash Ashutosh. “Large scale enterprise customers are already using Actifio Sky for AWS to enhance both the protection and the accessibility of their data, increasing speed, savings, and simplicity without the need for costly and cumbersome capital expenditures.”
Migrate to IP Surveillance Making the move to digital technology at your own pace
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News In Detail
Microsoft ends support for Windows Server 2003 M icrosoft has officially ended support for its Windows Server 2003 seven months after it announced the planned move across users of the 13-year-old operating system worldwide. Customers will now have to modernize their infrastructure and applications by migrating to Windows Server 2012 R2, Microsoft Azure and Office 365. Those still running Windows Server 2003 and their customers will face significant security and compliance risks that could prove more costly than an initial migration, since they will no longer receive security patches or updates. The move is part of Microsoft’s support lifecycle policies and it applies to all versions and SKUs of the Windows Server 2003 products, including Small Business Server and Windows Storage Server. Microsoft as well as most of its partners will continue to assist customers with their migrations from Windows Server 2003. Migrating IT infrastructure will guarantee customers protection for their servers with continued security updates and patches from Microsoft. More than that, by taking advantage of the new Windows Server, Microsoft Azure and Office 365, customers will be able to go beyond the resources of their on-premises datacenter to protect servers with continued security updates and patches
12 | August 2015
from Microsoft and reduce server sprawl with best in class virtualization and hybrid cloud capabilities Cameron Collins, Product Marketing Manager–Cloud Enterprise. Microsoft Gulf said “Customers now have an opportunity to add significant business value to their organizations by migrating to more modern platforms and technologies whether on-premise or in the cloud via Windows Server 2012 R2, Microsoft Azure and Office 365. While Microsoft ended support of Windows Server 2003 on July 14, there are actions that customers can and should take today to avoid risking the integrity of their IT. By migrating either to the cloud or to the latest version of Windows Server, customers can ensure that they have access to enterprise-grade state of the art features and technology innovation.” This move will help businesses gain efficiencies and improve innovation with the choice of deploying workloads and applications on-premises or in the cloud. It will also help boost employee productivity. “We expect SMEs to see significant improvements in how they run their business with the upgrade, from less down time to being more responsive to business needs and getting more done at significantly reduced costs.” He
added Retiring a product is a normal part of the product lifecycle. Windows Server 2003 was released in April 2003 and while most Microsoft software is supported for 10 years, Windows Server 2003 has been supported for almost 12 years. The world has changed since Windows Server 2003 was first deployed.
The move to the cloud platform Microsoft has worked to ease the migration for customers in several ways that include providing training and tools to partners around the world to build capacity and capability to manage complex projects, especially those involving server and application migrations. It also launched the Windows Server 2003 end of support countdown website which has been providing
customers with guidance for the entire migration process along with information about the services and tools available, and provides these services, from assessment and training, through to comprehensive platform migration services and risk management, help customers prepare for a mobile-first, cloud-first world. Microsoft experts are available to help organisations analyze their Windows Server 2003 workloads and generate a summary report showing recommendations and Microsoft partner offerings. Organisations moving their applications and other workloads to the public cloud can choose Microsoft Azure. Businesses running email and communications workload on Windows Server 2003 can move to Office 365, a cloud-based productivity and communications service
News In Detail
A
cronis, a global leader in new generation data protection, has finalized a new partner agreement with Al Hosani Computer LLC, a software re-publisher and distributor, to distribute Acronis consumer products for the Middle East & African (MEA) region. Under the terms of the agreement, Al Hosani will republish and distribute the Acronis True Image 2015 family of products — the most complete; easy and safe full system image backup solution, offering both on-premise and to the cloud (online) backups for personal use. A recent survey that Acronis conducted shows that consumers today regard their personal data as more valuable than the devices that store their data. The research points out that over 75 percent of consumers store their data digitally and more than 50 per cent state that their personal data are more valuable than their actual devices – solidifying the notion that consumers know that they need to preserve their data. In fact, the survey results show that consumers would be nearly three times more upset if they lost their photos than if they lost their phone, computer or tablet. However, the survey also reveals that consumers put little effort into ensuring the safety of their data. Less than half of the respondents do not save their data on an external device or into the cloud. This means that more than 50 per cent of consumers store their data only on their computer, or in worst cases, none at all. Of those using a data backup system, only one third are protecting their entire computer system while
14 | August 2015
Acronis partners with Al Hosani the rest are simply protecting some files. “Our recent study that we commissioned reflects the growing importance of backup and being digitally responsible--especially in an environment where every part of consumers’ lives is now taking a digital form, including financial and health documents, photos, work files, and more,” said Guurprit Ahuja, Director - Middle East & Africa, Acronis. “We welcome Al Hosani Computers as our new distribution partner. We look forward to growing our business here with them and ensuring that people across the region are protecting their digital information with Acronis.” Acronis True Image 2015 release is the first and only solution that protects the entire system, and offers full system image backup and
both protection locally and to the cloud for multi-platform environments — including email, music, photos, videos, documents, settings, browser favorites, applications and operating system. The solution enables the most efficient way to do backups, protecting everything on a computer without usage interruption. Users can restore individual files, or the complete system to any hardware, and quickly get back to work in the event of a system failure. Acronis AnyData Engine technology provides the ability to restore to new hardware, allowing customers to migrate a full system from one computer to another without additional effort or configuration. Al Hosani Computer LLC supplies both consumer software and software for business. The company is backed by a team of qualified
IT engineers provides consultancy and software solutions for government, education, and corporate sectors. Al Hosani has a strong retail distribution arm that supplies consumer software, directly to the power retailers such as Carrefour Hypermarkets, Jarir Bookstores, Lulu Hypermarkets, Sharaf DG and many others across the Middle East and Africa. “We are very excited to enter into this new agreement The Acronis True Image 2015 family of products is a perfect companion to our internet security software, which we already distribute and are happy to provide to our customers yet another essential utility to protect their digital assets,” concluded Dr. Slava Raevski, Managing Partner of Al Hosani Computer LLC.
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Point2Point | Shouki Electronics generation as well as pricing support.
Mehdi Tabesh, Marketing Manager at Shouki Electronics discusses the focus areas for the company’s distribution portfolio
Mehdi Tabesh Marketing Manager Shouki Electronics
Rising graph What are the brands that you distribute products from and which territories do you have distribution rights for the products and Brands that you are associated with? We are distributors for Mocet and Zycoo in Middle East. We are also a Cisco Select Certified Partner in United Arab Emirates. We are focused on delivering best valueadd services to our channel and we work closely with our vendors. We provide Technical support as well as help with implementation and configuration, ensuring seamless pre and post-sales support for the channel. Shouki believes in strategic business relationships with customers and business
16 | August 2015
partners to produce mutual benefits. We value the channel relationships and invest in their long term development. How was 2014 in terms of growth? What were the key highlights of achievements for the company? The year 2014 was very productive for Shouki in order to develop and consolidate market presence of the brands we distribute. Especially in cooperation with Zycoo, we saw the establishment of Zycoo UAE operations. Zycoo UAE provide direct sales, techsupport, training, and aftersale service in Middle East In cooperation with Zycoo for the first time in the Middle East , we held
course trainings. These include Zycoo Academy courses which are Zycoo Certified Sales Professional (ZCSP) for Sales and ZYCOO Certificate IP Telephony Associate (ZCIA) as well as ZYCOO Certified IP Telephone Engineer (ZCIE). ZCIE is a technical expert. Graduates in this field after passing the required exam will get approved certificate degrees from Zycoo and they can then seek find suitable opportunities for employment in the market. Discuss how the company supports its partners? We ensure total support to partners to help them approach the market confidently. This includes among others training, lead
Comment on how IP telephony demand is growing in SMB segment in the region? Hardly, any Business can survive without the telephone. IP telephony in comparison to traditional telephone system provides the benefits of lower cost and more features. This has led companies to update their phone system to IP telephony products and reap huge benefits. Today, a business phone system is much more than just a simple switch. Adjunct technologies like automated attendant, voice messaging, call queuing and multi-party conferencing have become standard features. Basic analog and proprietary digital phones are giving way to standards-based IP phones. Outside connectivity is now available over the Internet in the form of SIP trunks or other VoIP services. An IP Telephone system allows you to connect hardware IP phones directly to a standard computer network port (which it can share with the adjacent computer). Software phones can be installed directly on the PC. You can now eliminate the phone wiring and make adding or moving of extensions much easier. In new offices you can completely eliminate the need for wiring extra ports to be used by the office phone system and it helps eliminate phone wiring As distributors for Mocet and Zycoo solutions, we are seeing rising demand from SMB customers who are looking for quality products, reasonable prices and good support.
TechKnow | NetApp
Graham Porter Channel Manager MENA & Pakistan NetApp
Graham Porter, Channel Manager Middle East, North Africa & Pakistan discusses the trends in converged infrastructure and NetApp’s focus in the segment with the FlexPod solution portfolio that combines NetApp storage systems, Cisco Unified Computing System servers, and Cisco Nexus fabric into a single, flexible architecture.
Stacked with value Is converged infrastructure the ideal way forward towards scalable datacenters and IT infrastructure? Converged infrastructure is quite popular with small and medium sized businesses as they generally have fewer resources for sourcing and managing their infrastructure. This being said, with validated designs and FlexPod Select for high-performance environments we also have a strong value proposition for FlexPod in the enterprise space. It has also been found that larger customers tend to use converged storage in remote offices, cloud and virtualized environments. Additionally, converged infrastructure is a part of the solution, for many customers a FlexPod is the ideal way to start a private cloud, but ultimately we believe that customers will want a blend
of on premise, private cloud, public cloud and most likely a hybrid where they can move data in and out as needed. Also with NetApp’s Data ONTAP at the core one can get all the Data Fabric data management advantages with the ability to move from flash to disk to cloud and back. The biggest problem with most datacenters today is that they don’t scale quickly, which creates business delays and today people want the ability to virtualize everything whilst still minimizing risk and managing cost. As the saying goes you can’t have your cake and eat it, there is always a tradeoff and time is of the essence here. Do you see converged infrastructure provides this as mandatory in virtualized/ cloud infrastructures? Converged infrastructures
are a good fit for virtualized infrastructures, where resources need to be shared between different departments, applications, and customers, given the product deployed has a secure multi-tenancy architecture. They can also help in meeting SLAs either internally or with a cloud provider. However, it is important to determine the performance needs early on to keep up with the changing environment and minimize business delays. Is there a case of lack of common standards? There is a difference between the integrated platforms and converged infrastructures. Integrated platforms typically consist of products of one vendor, combining hardware, software, and services, converged infrastructures
combine products from different vendors, based on industry standards. Secondly, the different approaches generally reflect who is in the “consortium” for the converged stack. Some consortiums insist that you can’t upgrade their converged stack, but need to buy a complete additional converged stack, which doesn’t make sense when you for example just need some more storage. Some converged stacks offer not just a computer platform, hypervisor, network switching & data storage, but also rack management, load balancing, power and cooling – which is the case with FlexPod. So yes, FlexPod is in the Gartner magic quadrant for Converged Stack. What separates us from our competitors is that we follow an open approach and have many different validated designs. We have the ability and capacity to offer choice where others are pushing for selected options. How are you driving awareness with integrators of the region? How do you help them achieve necessary competencies to deliver these next generation solutions? We have run a number of sessions with our distributors and partners in the region, along with Cisco, where we have explained the benefits of converged stack for both customers and partners. We also have specific programs in place to help partners become certified for FlexPod, so that they can sell, implement and support FlexPod and we offer them incentives to encourage them to make the investment in FlexPod certification. August 2015 | 17
Cover Feature | EMM
EMM
takes spotlight Enterprise Mobility Management is a key focus for companies looking to adopt the BYOD era wholeheartedly and stay competitive as well as secure
I
t is anticipated that Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) will see growing deployments globally and in the Middle East region, as the number of mobile workforce grows and the BYOD trends further gather steam in work environments. More Enterprises will look to be inclusive as they allow employees the freedom to work on their preferred devices and yet which are well in compliance with the BYOD policies that have been deployed. EMM with its constituent elements of MDM (Mobile Device Management), Mobile Content Management and mobile application management as well as support services will be key to helping enterprises to help facilitate flexible, secure, and mobile workforce environments. Mathivanan V, Director of Product
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Management, ManageEngine says, “Mobile device management (MDM) comprises configuration and policy management tools along with all the device platformspecific features to control and manage mobile devices. It encompasses a mobile security strategy that would be necessary for a corporate-owned or a personal device. MDM deals with devices at the operating system (OS) level and not at the application level. Meanwhile, enterprise mobility management (EMM) concerns
the entire life cycle of managing the fleet of mobile devices and related services whereas MDM is only a fraction of the life cycle. However, a comprehensive approach to EMM is achieved along with two other dimensions, namely mobile application management (MAM) and mobile content management (MCM).”
MDM is the starting measure to bring in devices under the control of the central network admin.According to Ian Evans, SVP and EMEA managing director, AirWatch, Mobile device management (MDM) includes over-the-air distribution of data, applications and configuration for all types of mobile devices, including smartphones, tablet computers, ruggedised portable devices, mobile printers and mobile POS devices amongst others. This applies to both company-owned and employee-owned (BYOD) devices across the enterprise. He adds, “With the consumerisation of mobile devices and their subsequent proliferation in the enterprise, MDM became the foundation of enterprise mobile computing. The functionality enables businesses to protect their corporate resources from potential threats to data security, and addresses the challenges associated with mobility by providing a simplified way to view and manage all devices from a central administrative console. “ As the industry has evolved further, MDM has quickly evolved into a holistic enterprise mobility management (EMM) ecosystem -incorporating application management, email management, content management, browser management, BYOD and telecom expense management - to enable businesses to take advantage of the full potential of business mobility. However, Mobile Device Management (MDM) has the largest share of the EMM market. Many vendors who started off with MDM solutions are now offering a complete EMM suite of solutions. Chester Wisniewski, Senior Security Consultant at Sophos says, “Mobile Device Management (MDM) was the starting point of the mobile management evolution. Most former MDM vendors now have evolved into EMM vendors covering the broader scope of needs to manage mobile devices in the enterprise. While the two additional components covered are Mobile Application Management (MAM) and Mobile Content Management (MCM), some vendors also talk about Mobile Email Management (MEM), BYOD Management, Mobile Browsing Management and other acronyms. But they are usually subsumed by MDM, MAM and MCM.”
Sophos offers its EMM solution called the Mobile Control that includes MDM, MAM and MCM and is available as on-premise or from the cloud, as preferred by the customer. It offers integration with other IT components, like NAC, Wi-Fi, VPN, Endpoint encryption and Endpoint protection from Sophos and other vendors. In the region, Enterprise mobility has expanded well beyond simple MDM to become a top CIO priority opines Rohan Daniel Nair, Director- Strategic Marketing at Oxygen Middle East. Adoption of Mobility is extensive and companies see it as a necessary He says,“In the Mobile First era, employees are choosing their own apps, cloud services, and devices. Enterprise IT must balance the requirement to secure corporate information and preserve user privacy. As enterprise information is moving to the cloud, mobile apps and devices are the main ways employees connect to it. Mobile First organizations around the world are securing apps, content, and devices with proven MDM, MAM, and MCM solutions. Enterprise mobility has becomes a competitive advantage when information is secure, IT is confident, and users are productive using the tools they love.” The EMM solutions that Oxygen Middle East provides include MobileIron, Box and Samsung Knox. The VAD also in discussion with more vendors and expects to sign them up during GITEX 2015.
Designing an EMM solution EMM solutions need to be designed keeping in mind requirements of different Business customers. For instance, there could be companies that have extensive reliance on a mobile workforce whereas in some instances, there could be much lesser ratio of on the move workforce visà-vis desk stationed workers. Harsh Thakkar, General Manager for IT Infrastructure & Security at FVC says, “EMM solutions look at numerous dimensions,
MathivananV Director, Product Management ManageEngine
typically instigated by companies trying to find balance between providing workers the flexibility of using mobile devices for activities such as consuming content like email or working remotely while at the same time maintaining security and control without increasing costs significantly. Essential components include the uses and goals for mobile workers, the internal skills and tools that existing IT or administrators are able to bring to the problem today, and the potential cost in acquiring new skills or tools to support the usage. He cites the example where one of FVC’s vendors(IronKey) faced a scenario wherein a customer was evaluating the possibilities of employees working from home. In this situation, there were internal drivers including the employees’ interest in working from home occasionally for reasons including reducing commute times; staying home on occasion due to personal reasons such as caring for family member or even the executive who found it convenient to stay home due to travel requirements for part of the day. The facility team were also interested in exploring if they could reduce the demands August 2015 | 19
Cover Feature | EMM
Rohan Daniel Nair Director, Strategic Marketing Oxygen Middle East for physical seats in the office over time. As the company's work requires strict security measures, both IT and Security teams were included in the evaluation process along with Finance and Desktop deployment groups. The company explored providing laptops to all employees, including the cost of purchase, licensing the OS and software, and maintenance of the machines over time. They also investigated VDI and the cost of purchasing VDI software, adding IT staff, training employees, etc. In the end they settled on Windows To Go (WTG) as they already had rights to use this Windows license benefit via their existing contract,, Microsoft OS skills were high in the organization so leveraging their existing Windows corporate image with some modifications for remote access was simple, and the cost of providing WTG devices was minor and provided flexibility and the MDM-like security options they required (remote detonation) too. When designing an EMM solution for different organisations, there is a need to examine the usage request first and balance the EMM solution to meet the needs within the security and cost parameters. While essential enterprise mobility components vary according to the individual needs of each organisation, employee enablement and corporate data security should both be at the top of every business's enterprise mobile strategy. Ian says, “A successful EMM
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Harsh Thakkar General Manager IT Infrastructure & Security, FVC initiative typically improves employee responsiveness, reduces the time to market and enhances business process transformation. Setting effective mobility objectives, however, requires understanding the business use case first and then enabling it through IT, not the other way around. In other words, organisations need to think about ‘a day in the life of’ the end user who will receive the device to perform their function, making the business mobility initiative end-user centric.” The AirWatch solution extends from basic phone and tablet management and security, all the way through to full enablement of all business processes across the organisation and beyond. The AirWatch EMM platform supports multiple use cases with unified management of endpoints, end-to-end security from devices to data centre and seamless integration across enterprise systems.
Ian adds, “To ensure corporate data security, remote mobile access needs to be granted by role and function, which requires defining the type of data employees need access to. Next, organisations need to think about securing the data that flows between the device, the network and the data centre. Organisations also need to consider whether they want the device or application to access the corporate servers and how far the device or application can go from there. Ultimately, for business mobility to work effectively, it must rest on a robust security strategy that protects devices and organisational network systems alike, while enabling the mobile workforce to have anytime, anywhere access to work on the move.” In June 2015, Gartner positioned AirWatch as a leader and highest on the ability to execute for the third consecutive year in the 2015 Enterprise Mobility Management Suites Magic Quadrant. Later in its 2015 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Mobility Management Suites report, AirWatch also received the top score in the Global Enterprise Deployment use case. Ian says, “Deep enterprise integration, scalability and partnerships are key AirWatch strengths and differentiators for our customers. Our solution integrates with AD/LDAP, certificate authorities, email infrastructures and other enterprise systems both in a cloud and on-premise deployment model.Additionally, AirWatch benefits from a highly-scalable robust architecture that is built from the ground up to support complex and rapid deployments.”
Awareness and challenges Regionally, smartphone penetration is
Components of an EMM solution: • MDM ( Mobile device management) : Device lifecycle management, inventory, loss & theft protection, device policies, user selfservice • MAM ( Mobile Application Management): Deployment of apps, Enterprise app store, App control, Configuration of apps, Productivity apps and management of those (Email
and document container) • MCM ( Mobile Content Management): Make corporate content available on mobile devices, from the EMM solution, from corporate document storage (fileshare, sharepoint, documentum) or from cloud storage vendors (dropbox, box, onedrive). Allow collaboration on documents
He adds, among the highest "Businesses now face security, regulatory, “Most BYOD needs globally. Now, more are centred on services are being compliance, performance and quality of controlling access to made available service challenges as they struggle to provide full corporate email and on smartphones applications, and and hence need access to business content on devices that restricting access to for making them aren’t necessarily company owned.” corporate resources more secured. from unmanaged There is also the MDM infrastructure, and the up-front devices. From an application management need to ensure the denial of access to review and security evaluation that any perspective, we notice a marked increase unauthorized applications by employees external service requires. However, Harsh in the number of companies that use that can potentially lead to data loss events says that with IronKey's WTG solution, the public and internally developed apps to incidents. challenge is minimal. IronKey's Windows To leverage internal resources on mobile Rohan says, “As consumer devices Go is a PC on a Stick that equips employees devices, or to offer specific services to their gain acceptance in the enterprise,IT needs and contractors with a portable Windows clients. As most collaboration apps are a new generation of enterprise mobility 10 or Windows 8/8.1 corporate image. likely to be unsanctioned third-party apps, management solutions to secure and He adds, “Organizations have already mobile content management has recently manage mobile devices.Regional initiatives done the investment in setting up users, emerged as a growing enterprise trend in such as smart cities, mGovernment services authentication, applications and polices for the Middle East, which reflects a maturing and rapidly advancing enterprise mobility Windows PCs and IronKey's WTG devices approach to facilitating safe enterprise file are making smartphones and tablets the de run identically. For customers requiring synch and share practices.” facto devices for service access. Businesses an added layer of device management The maturing approach in the region now face security, regulatory,compliance, and security, there are optional Enterprise towards EMM adoption is also reflected in performance and quality of service Management Service and On-Premises the fact that customers are beginning to challenges as they struggle to provide full Management Servers that allow IT or embrace MDM as a SaaS solution and this access to business content on devices that Security team members to have a secure is most visible in retail. Alongside, there aren’t necessarily company owned.” device management console for device is also the need always for the partner There are a few challenges that management and monitoring. The cloud community to ensure they are educating are faced in deploying EMM such as service requires no internal network the market further and enabling them with awareness, integration, readiness of changes, while the on-premises version solutions that deliver best. existing network infrastructure etc. The size, complexity of network infrastructure is has been deployed easily in hundreds of customers’ locations world-wide.” also growing at an accelerated rate. Ian notes that with the carriers stopping “Every new enterprise application their BlackBerry all-inclusive data plans, many requires the deployment of another companies are migrating from the Blackberry new access gateway—a costly, timeplatform into other mobile operating systems consuming process that requires ongoing such as iOS, Android and windows, with IT management and maintenance, and clients opting for EMM solutions to manage involves the potential for human error. these devices. Further, with the region having Moreover, security holes can result when one of the highest device to person ratios, different access gateways have conflicting local organisations have become increasingly policies—or gaps in security coverage— more BYOD-friendly compared with two to without the overall visibility necessary to three years ago. ensure cohesive access security,” adds Rohan. Often the cost of deployment of EMM solutions, today, is generally less related to network infrastructure but more with the addition of any new products and services to support EMM. For example, the addition of a MDM solution to manage phone apps will require new service (often a subscription), installation of device Ian Evans software on each users phone, training of SVP & EMEA MD staff to manage on-going the deployment AirWatch of the apps and services through the new
August 2015 | 21
TechKnow | Linksys Discuss how the SMB strategy has been revamped and how is the Brand making progress in that space? Our SMB strategy for this year focuses on growing the business by building opportunities for Resellers to continue to grow and add value to their business. We are utilizing our experience and expertise to build new solutions especially while exploring the growing opportunities in the SMB market. SMB customers are looking to boost productivity ensuring employees perform at their optimum level while maintaining a secure business network. Linksys product lines offers SMB customers a perfect solution empowering businesses to maintain high efficiency by allowing them to work and collaborate on and off-site through our solutions. Do you see IP surveillance as a strong segment of growth going ahead? The need for security has increased, due to the multiple devices connecting to the IP environment and the rising challenges brought on the internet. There is great potential for growth within the IP surveillance segment, to help connect the weak bridge between IP and the multiple users due to WAN and LAN, monitoring the increasing security threats is essential. IP Surveillance can help monitor more than the threats and more importantly helps analyze productive usage within the organization. What is the current portfolio in terms of number of products you offer In IP surveillance? Do you offer NVRs in addition to cameras? Yes, we do offer NVRs in
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Linksys made a return to the SMB segment with its Business portfolio of products and the company has focused on offering solutions that meet needs of SMB customers. Amanullah Khan Director, Emerging markets at Belkin discusses aspects of the company’s SMB strategy
Amanullah Khan Director Emerging Markets Belkin
The SMB focus addition to cameras. Our current portfolio highlights the 1080p 3MP Indoor Night Vision Dome camera offering superior HD quality video and 24/7 surveillance with night vision and motion detectors to help secure businesses. Our portfolio extends to offering models like the Indoor Dome Camera, 360 Mini-Dome Camera, Outdoor Dome Camera and Bay Network Video Recorder among others. Elaborate on your channel strategy for the SMB segment? What support is available to partners? Strong relationship with the channel partners is important to deliver high value solutions to the end users. Our channel strategy for the SMB segment incorporates Referral websites, proof of concept and Try and Buy tools to help support our partners.
Since Belkin has cabling and connectivity products etc. for Business users, does your go to market strategy offer synergy between these two portfolios? The brands work to enhance technology that provides ease to customers; the synergy between the two portfolios of products is a byproduct. Belkin and Linksys work together seamlessly to provide network, security and productivity solutions for businesses. Belkin offers cost effective and easy to use peripherals and desktop accessories that enhance the business user's experience at work. The cables and surge protectors save space, allows decluttering and expands network access. Linksys pushes technology to its limits creating products that connect, monitor and protect the networked environment of businesses.
Do you see SMB segment customers keen to upgrade and invest in state of the art networking infrastructure? Is there a need for further educating the market? The SMB segment is a highly educated market; Linksys continues to support the landscape in their infrastructural investment. Linksys strives to allow them generate higher ROI while providing their IT infrastructure with solutions that are in line with the latest advancements. As the budgets for IT infrastructure is restrictive, hence it is important to educate the SMB market on the importance of choosing cost effective solutions to help build a strong IT infrastructure which is the backbone to build a strong profitable business.
TechKnow | Resemble Systems growth? Growth opportunities ahead will be around CAMSSA using which we will understand client's challenges and pain points and to see how we can help them using software solutions from these pillars. Since inception in 2010, we have crossed $ 1 Million business with 30 employees. We expect to double the growth in 2015 and with a headcount of 50.
Resemble Systems is a vendor agnostic Social Collaboration Integrator, a company with local presence in India, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Nazeer Aval, CEO & Founder at Resemble Systems discusses the company’s focus on a consultative approach in identifying the customer challenges and designing solutions
Nazeer Aval CEO & Founder Resemble Systems
Comment on the in-house resources for the company in terms of certified engineers? How challenging is it to keep certifications up to date? We continuously invest in our
A consultative approach Which are the markets that Resemble systems focuses on? Our Business focuses on the markets of India and the GCC including Saudi Arabia. What are the domains that you focus on briefly? We are a Software Solution Provider with strategic pillars from CAMSSA (Cloud, Analytics, Mobility, Security, Social and Automation). We are an expert on the "Social" domain where we offer solutions such as Messaging & Collaboration, Unified Communications and Social Knowledge Management. We also considers ourselves experts on "Automation" whereby we help clients to automate their business processes to increase efficiency to be able to take faster decisions, save time and cost. Discuss in detail your
expertise in cloud computing? We have a wide range of competencies in cloud computing. We offer many of the software solutions from CAMSSA pillars to be delivered on Cloud. We offer Software as Service (SaaS) that includes Email, Social, Unified Communications, Workflow Automation, Mobile Device Management etc. We offer Platform as Service (Paas) where we help clients remove Capex and operate on OPEX. From Services point of view, we are experts in moving onpremise email solutions to host on cloud. We are also experts in deploying Mobile Device Management (MDM) to be able to help clients to execute BYOD strategy. What are the solutions you provide in security? We offer Unified End Point Management (UEM) solutions to
be able to effectively manage desktops and mobile devices from one single console. We also offer antivirus, antispam solutions Which are the key verticals of focus for you in the regions you operate? If you are referring to industry sectors, we literally work cross industry. Traditionally our customer base in Saudi Arabia has been banking sector. Who are the principal vendors that you partner with for the solutions you offer? We are an IBM Premier Business Partner. We have also partnered with Microsoft with Silver Partnership on Content & Collaboration that includes Microsoft SharePoint. How do you see the growth ahead for the company? How has last year been in terms of
resources by ensuring all the engineers are uptodate with certifications. As a Value Added Reseller of IBM and Microsoft, it is important to keep up with the pace of the technology innovations and hence we do not compromise on the quality of the engineer's capability to deliver solutions to meet client's needs. Do you collaborate with other systems integrators on end to end projects? In the past we have collaborated with other systems integrators in the region and delivered several projects successfully. We would continue to engage to add more value to their clients by introducing our value added software solutions around CAMSSA pillars. Such eco-systems bring tremendous value to clients who will benefit from expertise of specialist partners like us. August 2015 | 23
TechKnow | Nexans
Tarek Helmy Regional Director Gulf & ME, South & East Africa Nexans Cabling Solutions
The cable expert Nexans is a global leader for cables and cabling systems. Tarek Helmy, Regional Director Gulf and Middle East, South & East Africa of Nexans
Please elaborate on the demand for structured cabling in the region as new investments and new projects are being pushed through? Due to ongoing large infrastructure projects such as airports, hotels, hospitals, educational institutes to name a few across the region, Nexans saw the highest demand for structured cabling solutions from these types of clients. The advent of cloud computing, Internet of Things and the trend to higher-speed Ethernet communications, including mobile apps, is making it more imperative than ever for data centre infrastructure managers to carefully consider their network architecture. In today’s competitive business environment, there is a need to implement the most cost-effective, future-proof connectivity infrastructure quickly and efficiently.Server virtualisation is one of the trends in increasing the efficiency of data centres; however, it can lead to stresses in the supporting connectivity infrastructure. The ever increasing flow of traffic - from the cloud in particular - is putting pressure on conventional network architectures, particularly in terms of ensuring business continuity. These developments affecting the data-centre environment place a new series of demands on the network at the level of cabling infrastructure, and are changing data centre design from the ground level up.
Cabling Solutions discusses the company’s focus and industry trends
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Comment on the strong product lines of focus for the company globally and in the region? Nexans offers a broad range
of cabling products vis-à-vis other cabling vendors. The company has a wide range of best-in-class products such as the LANmark-6A and -7A and Cat8 ready copper solutions, LANmark-OF fibre solutions, complete Data Centre solutions in both copper and fibre, including ultra high density patching and the LANsense Automated Infrastructure Management. In 2014, Nexans launched LANactive, a Fibre-to-the-Office (FttO) solution and LANmark-OF Tight Buffer Universal Cable, which harmonizes its Tight Buffer Indoor and Universal cable portfolio with an installer-friendly and more cost effective Tight Buffer Universal cable for indoor and outdoor use. The company also has preterminated customised copper assemblies in Cat6A, Cat7A, as well as fibre assemblies in OM3, OM4, & OS2. These solutions enable the rapid deployment of cabling in installations where the time on site must be minimised especially in Data Centre environments; and Slimflex bend-insensitive fibre patch cords, specifically designed for environments with increasing port density. Apart from the above products, Nexans offers a complete range of LAN cabling products and value added services providing improved reliability and reduced cost of ownership for Network Managers. All offered passive solutions are supported by the Nexans 25-year warranty program that covers Products, Performance, Channel, and Labour. Which are the key markets of focus in the GCC and the rest of MEA? Following our presence in
require either fibre links, which are usually preterminated fibre cables to support switch-to-switch connectivity or high-end copper technology such as Cat6A, Cat7A or the upcoming Cat8 to support server-to-switch connectivity.
"It is well known that 100m is the maximum distance of any copper channel as defined by International Standards bodies. In this regard, copper is still dominating the horizontal cabling; however Fibre is mainly used in Network Backbone, which will support longer distances."
the Middle East since 1998, Nexans managed to establish a very strong business network of Distributors & System Integrators in all active markets within the region. Such strong partners’ network gives Nexans a great edge among competition when approaching large projects in any country within Middle East. That also gives us a great diversity in refocusing on specific countries based on its economical & political stability at any given time. Discuss your partner engagement model from distributors to integrators? Nexans works through partners in the Middle East. We have invested heavily in establishing a very strong partner network of Value Added Distributors and Systems Integrators across the region. Each of our partners is a market leader in networking within their local market. The market leadership of Nexans partners includes expert staffing fully certified by us, support level, end-toend solution offering, and last but not least their financial strength. Our strong partners’ network has enabled Nexans to secure deals with Global Key Account customers. We ensure that our customers get proper implementation support through Nexans certified partners in their market. We have been expanding our local resources in the region in order to ensure the highest level of support offered to the market. Nexans is also focusing on providing training programs to major end users, Integrators, consultants and Installers. Our strong business
relationship with major integrators across all Middle East countries also helps us capitalise on business. Comment on partner initiatives from training to support The channel plays a pivotal role in educating and informing customers/decision makers about our latest technologies and influencing them to deploy it. The channel needs to present a convincing ROI model to customers detailing the short term and long-term investment requirements. The channel needs to be involved in the design of network, e.g. comparing Top of Rack design versus End of Row versus Middle of Row. Being the experts in the LAN infrastructure industry, Nexans’ team is establishing direct contact with end customers to assist our channel partners in presenting the latest technology that meets today’s and tomorrow’s needs. This approach is actually complementing the channel efforts towards achieving the highest level of the end customer satisfaction in technology and services. Apart from offering our customers the best quality cables, we also want to ensure that our channel partners are capable of offering the best service and installation support. We have a Registered Installer (RI) program that is available to all applicants and enables them to offer the
online Nexans Link Warranty and Certified Solution Partner (CSP) program, which is a fully approved status available to installers meeting additional requirements and is subject to evaluation and approval. Elaborate on the transition towards fiber in regional data centres? Data centres today need higher speeds, driven by trends such as virtualization, ‘big data’, mobile applications, new ways of working, service and network convergence and streaming. They also require greater design flexibility and a cost-effective migration path. Benefits of fibre are its ability to bridge greater distances. Furthermore, the ‘footprint’ of fibre cables is lower, meaning they require less space – which is always limited in DCs - and can be easier to manage and manipulate. Traditionally, fibre is used for switch-toswitch connections, whereas copper is more widely used for server-to-switch connections. However with arrival of Top of Rack lay-outs, the use of copper cabling in the DC has been markedly reduced. Data centers have a different approach in design & implementation when compared to a normal infrastructure of a LAN. In Data Centers, the main requirements are high-speed links with condensed number or terminations (Fiber & copper). The high speed links
Are there any strongholds of copper in the face of fiber’s rising popularity? Copper is still a popular option compared to Fibre. Copper always has the limitation of the distance to which it can support different applications. It is well known that 100m is the maximum distance of any copper channel as defined by International Standards bodies. In this regard, copper is still dominating the horizontal cabling however Fibre is mainly used in Network Backbone, which will support longer distances. In Data Centres high-end copper technology such as Cat6A, Cat7A or the upcoming Cat8 to support server-toswitch connectivity. (note: the max. distance for Cat8 links, supporting 40G Ethernet is 30m). Elaborate your focus on both copper and fiber? Nexans focuses on both copper as well as fibre cabling products in this region. Cabling needs to support the increasing need for speed and bandwidth. Looking at bandwidth needs in data centers, we have to split data centre connectivity into two segments: “switch-to-switch” vs. “server-to switch” links. Switch-to-switch connections are fibre rich, while in server-to-switch more copper solutions are used. August 2015 | 25
TechKnow | RadarServices
Aji Joseph General Manager RadarServices ME
Headquartered in Austria and with offices in United Arab Emirates, Germany, Poland and Russia, RadarServices is the European market leader for pro-active IT security monitoring and IT risk detection as a managed service. Aji Joseph. GM, RadarServices Middle East discusses the growing demand for Managed Security
Discuss the licensing for the solutions- is it per number of users etc? Our solution comes with 6 different modules – Advanced Cyber Intrusion Detection, SIEM, Vulnerability Assessment (External & Internal), Host-based Intrusion Detection, Software Compliance & APT detection for Emails. Customers can pick and choose from various modules. Licensing depends on the number of devices that customer has along with the modules that customers opt for. Elaborate on the various services you provide? We have four service offerings - IT Security Monitoring, IT Risk Detection, Advanced Cyber Threat Detection & Cyber Security Log Management. IT Security Monitoring combines continuous monitoring of the complete IT infrastructure from the inside and outside with assessment of all event data. This is done by regular scans for system vulnerabilities and their configuration, intelligent analysis of network traffic, checking Servers for changes and
Maximum security
Discuss efficacy of security as Managed service? Security as a managed service help organizations to stay secure with proper guidance and technology. Managed Services helps organizations to focus on their core business than worrying about cyber security. Managed services are more effective than just relaying on security products as security experts are analyzing the customer network on a regular basis. Do you see a growing awareness for IT security as managed services? We are getting good response because we have a service offering. This helps organizations to focus on their core business than worrying about cyber security. More organizations are going for managed security services as it is effective and economical compared to having an internal IT Security team. Discuss the key verticals that you have seen success? Our clients include banks, insurance
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companies, logistics and industrial corporations, operators of critical infrastructure, public authorities and governmental institutions.
How does your solution work? Our solution combine the automated detection of IT security risks and problems with expert analysis and assessment. We have an on-premises solution where the hardware (leased out to the client during service period) collects and correlates data. The data collected by the hardware never leaves the customer premises. Security experts from our Security Operations Centre logs into this hardware using secure connection to do analysis and present the results to the customer that can be accessed on a browser. There is no additional capital expenditures or headcount required from the customer side and no need for configuration or maintenance. Also the implementation of the services does not interfere with dayto-day operations of the customer.
unauthorized software and analyzing incoming emails for advanced malware. IT Risk Detection comprises of 24/7 collection, analysis and assessment of risk information in the IT infrastructure. This is done by considering the importance of IT infrastructure components. Advanced Cyber Threat Detection is done based on a multitude of systems for signature and behavior driven analyses of the network traffic and next-generation sandbox technologies for the analysis of all incoming e-mail attachments. Cyber Security Log Management offers a context-related monitoring of the entire IT infrastructure with the advanced correlation engine analyzing log data out of numerous sources in real-time. Is there a channel you use to deliver these services? We work with system integrators and IT solution providers. The implementation and service delivery is done by our security experts.
TechKnow | StoreIT Distribution Do you see demand for storage in Enterprise segment continue to grow? Enterprise Storage is still continuing to be the fastest growing technology and there are no signs of it slowing down any time soon. More businesses are expected to invest huge amounts of resources into their storage infrastructures bringing in storage as an essential requirement to all class of business. The storage market is witnessing increased uptake of entry-level and midrange storage devices driven by demand for the NAS protocol. Mobility, video surveillance and Big Data are the key driving factors for this ongoing shift within the Middle East storage market. Discuss growing adoption of Flash in enterprises? The adoption of flash based storage with Enterprises is growing tremendously. One of the biggest storage trends anticipated in 2015 will be a higher uptake of flash storage. Flash drives provide amazing performance and only 20% of power compared to the SAS and NL SAS Drives. Data center managers, looking for ways to address the energy drain represented by hard drives, are examining flash storage as a way to achieve green computing or green data center benchmarks. The virtues of all flash arrays are widely known and generally touted as the best and only option for high-performance workloads such as VDI, transactional databases and as storage for high demand virtual servers, essentially, anywhere we want shared storage to operate extremely quickly. How are enterprises coping with explosion of data? What are emerging storage trends? To meet the rising demands
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Enterprise segment customers are showing a growing appetite for storage solutions. Kartik Shankar, Senior Sales Manager, StorIT Distribution discusses storage trends in the enterprise segment
Kartik Shankar Senior Sales Manager StorIT Distribution
More data, more storage due of data explosion, enterprises are increasingly opting for Big Data and Cloud storage, which is driving up the adoption of flash and hybrid storage arrays. Due to this increased demand, enterprise storage is witnessing tremendous innovation. Storage Architecture is undergoing drastic changes to cater the new requirement of the enterprise class. The emerging models are unified, scale-up, scale-out and full flash based storage. It has become a mandate that all the storage models should be compatible and should be easily integrated with virtualization and going forward with cloud and big data solutions. Solid states and hybrid systems are also emerging
models wherein they will be gateways to clouds seamlessly. IP will play a big role in connecting these storage platforms. The ever demanding application speed and limiting speed of the disk, has made enterprises move towards solid state drives (SSDs), which can be leveraged to speed up applications and performance without the cost of adding additional servers. The storage arrays are fast becoming full solid state, where the speeds will double every 2 years. This will in turn see nextgeneration solid state devices with higher redundancy and write speeds. How has virtualization driven the trends towards software driven storage? Software defined storage in a direct outcome of the demand
from virtualization that storage be more agile and efficient. Traditional storage is becoming a bottleneck for performance and agility for a virtual environment and businesses looking for a competitive edge are already into software defined storage. SDS is often propagated by some traditional storage virtualization vendors as just a new name for storage virtualization. In storage virtualization, the ability to abstract physical storage from the control plane is a necessary but does not have sufficient capability for SDS. In addition to abstracting physical resources, a SDS system needs to offer extensive policybased automation for resource provisioning and management as well as the ability to control storage through a program.
Insight | eHostingDataFort
Remote Monitoring and Management Enhance Productivity & Reduce Costly System Downtimewith Remote Monitoring & Management Services, writes Sachin Bhardwaj, Director, Marketing & Business Development, eHostingDataFort
I
n order to stay competitive, it is important for organizations to have a reliable, efficient and agile IT infrastructure in place. In fact, if IT infrastructure is left unattended for a long time, without monitoring and without proactive maintenance, patches and security updates, failure rates increase. This may cause sudden breakdowns which can lead to financial losses as well as loss of sales and customers. However, many organizations across the region havesmall IT departments with limited resources and are constantly looking for cost-effective solutions to manage their IT infrastructure. This is driving the need for Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) services. What is Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)? RMM is a proactive approach to remotely monitor and manage a company’s IT infrastructure on a 24/7 basis. It helps in minimizing costly downtime to ensure business is always performing at maximum efficiency. RMM not only helps businesses respond to multiple issues
Sachin Bhardwaj Director, Marketing & Business Development eHostingDataFort
quickly and efficiently, but it also provides organizations with the knowledge of any IT issues in advance, including those related to the availability, securityand health of their IT infrastructure. Uptake of RMM in the Middle East The Middle East has seen an increased uptake of RMM services amongst enterprises in the past few years. There are several factors that have contributed to this growth, the most significant being reduction in overall infrastructure costs for an organization with the expectation of better quality services. What began as a smart and alternate sourcing model has nowevolved to become a strategy of choice for CIOs across the region. Some drivers for this increase in growth are: • Increased dependence on IT • Growing sophistication & complexity of IT infrastructure • Need for multi-skilled personnel • Need to move from reactive to proactive management • Need to monitor IT systems on a 24 X7basis Benefits of RMM • RMM relieves an organization’s IT team
from routine monitoring and management tasks and allows them to focus on important business activities and enhances productivity. • It helps alert the IT team of impending failure by warning them in advance if a system is going to fail. This gives the organization enough time to ensure the business does not suffer downtime, which could result in heavy loss of revenues. • RMMservices increase overall efficiency by saving time and reducing expenditures so that organizations can put their valuable resources elsewhere instead of manually tracking and compiling an inventory of a company’s IT assets. • Proper proactive maintenance of a network improves the company’s productivity, increase the reliability of the systems and save the company costs in IT support. • Organizations can also expect improved reliability as they are up to date with their network’s status through RMM reports generated by the service providers. • In leveraging this solution, organizations can gain peace of mind and access to skilled resources that ensure their IT systems are always up and running. August 2015 | 29
Insight | Sophos
It’s not Voodoo but WUDO Chester Wisniewski, Senior Security Consultant
Chester Wisniewski Senior Security Consultant, Sophos
at Sophos offers some tips on Windows update delivery optimisation.
H
ave you made the move to Windows 10 already? If so, and you live in a part of the world where internet connectivity isn't merely "on" or "off", but can be somewhere in between - in other words, if you have to keep your usage inside a data cap (a data transfer ceiling above which you typically either pay more, or endure a slowdown, until the end of the month.) - then you need to know about WUDO. WUDO is short for Windows Update Delivery Optimization, and it's a great feature that may very well make updates on your home network much slicker. But it could cost you money, and it's opt-out, not opt-in, so you need to be aware of it.
Like torrenting, only different The easiest way to explain WUDO is to say that it's just like Bittorrent, or any similar peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing network, only
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different. Your PC connects to Microsoft, downloads a trusted list of files that it needs for the update, and then asks around on the network to see if anyone else nearby has any of those files handy. At worst, your PC will end up downloading the latest patches all the way from Microsoft; at best, it will get the files straight from another computer on your home network that already fetched the update. This means that if you have three PCs to update, and each needs 1GB of updates, and 1GB takes three hours to download on your 1Mbit/sec internet link, you don't have to wait nine hours for the update to come down the line three times. If you're lucky, only one PC will need to visit the outside world, whereafter the other two will simply grab the matching files from their neighbours on your home network, typically 10 to 100 times faster. In fact, WUDO not only looks
for other computers on your own internal network – it also tries, just like Bittorrent, to find other computers on the internet that can help you out. That not only spreads the load beyond Microsoft's core servers, which is good for resilience, but also lets your PC choose update sources that are nearby, which is good for throughput.
But it raises three important issues: • Is it safe to get trusted updates from untrusted computers? • Do you have to give to receive? • Is this the default setting? The answers are, "Yes," "Yes," and "Yes."
Trusted data over untrusted links As long as your PC downloads a list of the files it needs – a so-called manifest, or cryptographically-signed catalog – directly from an
official Microsoft server first, you're safe. Your PC can validate cryptographically that it received the same file that it would have acquired directly from Microsoft, even if the download came from one or more unknown third parties. If any downloaded components are damaged or modified, whether by accident or design, they can be discarded and fetched again. The "giving to receive" issue could be a problem if you have a capped or metered data plan. If you have multiple PCs, you're always likely to save bandwidth, provided that WUDO doesn't let other people upload from you more than you download in total. But if you have just one Windows 10 computer and a metered connection, WUDO might end up costing you money. After all, you'll always have to download the entire update from the outside at least once. So if you only get to make use of it once,
anything you later upload to others, no matter how helpful to them, is additional update traffic for you.
On by default In other words, if you have a metered conection, you need to know that full-blown WUDO is on by default in Windows 10. Fortunately, it's easy to change...you know how. Go to the not-actually-very-obvious SettingsUpdates and Security Advanced options Choose how you download updates Get updates from more than one place.
Your choices are: 1. Off. Your computer calls home to Microsoft, and gets updates only from there. 2. PCs on my local network. WUDO will "torrent-share" files, but only between computers on your own LAN. 3. PCs on my local network and on the internet. You'll
potentially get files from, and offer file uploads to, computers anywhere in the world. Which one should you use?If you have more than one PC on your own LAN, the middle option sounds like a good one, as you won't incur any additional upload charges, but you will probably reduce your total internet download quota. That's good for you, helpful to Microsoft, and beneficial to everyone else. If you can afford the altruism of torrent-style uploads for other people, go for option 3 and you'll be doing the world a modest favour, as well as speeding up your own updates, especially if you have multiple PCs to patch. The thing to bear in mind: whether you're willing or able to go for option 3, it's the default, and you have to opt out if it doesn't suit you.
Sophos introduces CloudBased Secure Web Gateway
S
ophos has announced the availability of Sophos Cloud Web Gateway, a cloud-based secure web gateway that delivers advanced protection for users, devices and data across multiple operating systems, regardless of their location. The addition of secure web gateway to Sophos Cloud integrates technology from Mojave Networks, which Sophos acquired in October 2014. Sophos Cloud Web Gateway provides protection from the latest malware and phishing threats, granular policy management, advanced content filtering and big-data web traffic
analytics – all without the need for physical appliances. Access to a global network of data centers makes the comprehensive analysis of data traffic for content and security compliance fast and transparent for the end user. IT managers are able to pinpoint ‘at risk’ users or devices through activity, behaviors and usage monitoring with advanced alerts, warnings and notifications. Granular policies can be set by device, by user or by group, and tamper protection prevents the accidental or intentional changing of settings, keeping even rogue users compliant.
August 2015 | 31
eyetech
CM1164 4-port USB DVI-D KVMP Control Center Overview: To improve the operational efficiency of intensive monitoring applications, there needs to be a fast and convenient way to view and manage more computers simultaneously, permitting faster response times from a single location. The CM1164 4-port USB DVI-D KVMP Control Center from ATEN charts a revolutionary new direction in KVM switch functionality by combining a 4-port DVI-D switch with a 2-port USB hub, and providing the following display modes: Quad View mode, which simultaneously displays four digital computers/video sources on a single screen; as well as Picture in Picture mode(Dual, Triple or Quad) and Full Screen mode to meet the demands. In addition, CM1164 provides Daisy Chain Control (DDC) functionality. A (DCC) port allows a user to connect and control up to four CM1164 units via a single console.
Fujitsu Storage ETERNUS DX8700 Overview: The Fujitsu Storage ETERNUS DX8700 S3 is purpose-built for large enterprises and ideal for the data management of business-critical core applications and the consolidation of large-scale data centers. The Quad Star Architecture with 2 to 8 controllers provides storage capacity with up to 1536 disk drives and performance in the million IOPS range. Fujitsu’s new enterprise storage systems are also differentiated by unique automation and zero-downtime functions that set a new milestone in business-critical storage by guaranteeing maximum system utilization and contributing to a faster return on investment. With automated quality of service management, system performance levels can be allocated according to business priorites. This technology can also be used to support service level management for virtual servers. The brand new system architecture can cope with multiple component failures without any interruption to service. In conjunction with the unique transparent failover feature
This enables the use of only one keyboard/mouse over several computers or another CM1164.This is convenient for growing networks that need to monitor and manage more computers – daisy chain up to four units and switch between up to 16 computers.
– ETERNUS Storage Cluster – non-stop operation despite a
Key features:
and performance
• One USB console independently and simultaneously controls four DVI-D computers and two additional USB devices
• Automation to manage
• Multi-view console controls up to 4 video sources on one screen • Function control and system setting via Front Panel, OSD, IR Remote – display mode, port selection, daisy chain, and so on • Channel Editor - edit display windows, and other functions with the mouse and on-screen control panel • Hardware Cursor – OSD navigation via console mouse • DCC (Daisy Chain Control) port enables users to connect up to four CM1164 units, and use one console keyboard/ mouse to manage computers or another CM1164
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complete system or site failure is guaranteed. Key features: • Flexible scalability in capacity
unpredictable data growth • Zero downtime for business critical data • Highest business continuity by transparent failover and non-disruptive maintenance as well as upgrade capabilities
Pulse Secure PSA7000 appliance Overview: To improve the operational efficiency of intensive monitoring applications, there needs to be a fast and convenient way to view and manage more computers simultaneously, permitting faster response times from a single location. The CM1164 4-port USB DVI-D KVMP Control Center charts a revolutionary new direction in KVM switch functionality by combining a 4-port DVI-D switch with a 2-port USB hub, and providing the following display modes: Quad View mode, which simultaneously displays four digital computers/ video sources on a single screen; as well as Picture in Picture mode(Dual, Triple or Quad) and Full Screen mode to meet the demands. In addition, CM1164 provides Daisy Chain Control
FortiGate 900D appliance Overview: The FortiGate 900D appliance delivers superior performance through a combination of purpose-builtFortiASIC processors, high port density with 10 GE ports and consolidated security features from the FortiOS operating system. It delivers 5 times better next generation firewall performance compared to alternate products and provides the best price/performance in the industry.This breakthrough threat prevention performance allows organizations to run NSS LabsRecommended intrusion prevention and application control and VB100 certified antimalwarecapabilities for deeper inspection. Rich console views and reports together with a flexiblepolicy engine provide the visibility and control to empower employees yet secure your enterprise.Finally, these features of the FortiGateFortiOS Network Security Platform are routinelyvalidated by independent real-world tests and are consistently getting superior ratings insecurity effectiveness. Key features: • 5 times faster hardwareaccelerated next generationfirewall offers best-in-class • price/performance ratio
(DDC) functionality. A (DCC) port allows a user to connect and control up to four CM1164 units via a single console. This enables the use of only one keyboard/mouse over several computers or another CM1164.This is convenient for growing networks that need to monitor and manage more computers – daisy chain up to four units and switch between up to 16 computers.
• Integrated high port densitydelivers maximum flexibilityand scalability • NSS Labs RecommendedNGFW and NGIPS with consolidated security deliverstop-rated protection • Application control plus identityand device-based policyenforcement provides more
• granular protection Key features: • One USB console independently and simultaneously controls four DVI-D computers and two additional USB devices • Multi-view console controls up to 4 video sources on one screen • Function control and system setting via Front Panel, OSD, IR Remote – display mode, port selection, daisy chain, and so on • Channel Editor - edit display windows, and other functions with the mouse and on-screen control panel • Hardware Cursor – OSD navigation via console mouse • DCC (Daisy Chain Control) port enables users to connect up to four CM1164 units, and use one console keyboard/mouse to manage computers or another CM1164
• Intuitive management interfaceenables broad and deepvisibility that scales from a singleFortiGate to thousands
August 2015 | 33
Stats & Trends
IoT creating new software Vendors
T
he Internet of Things (IoT) is turning many manufacturers of "things" into first-time software vendors that need licensing and entitlement management (LEM) solutions, according to Gartner, Inc. By shifting product value from device hardware to the software running on the device and applying an appropriate licensing strategy, manufacturing product strategists can maximize revenue potential. "The IoT is creating a new type of software vendor for whom LEM is vital to protect, differentiate and monetize their offerings," said Laurie Wurster, research director at Gartner. "We expect that by 2020, a failure to put in place a LEM system will result in a 20 percent drop in potential revenue generated
from software for device manufacturers connecting to the IoT." The issue is that many makers of "things" still apply a traditional "box" mentality to products and do not consider the extra revenue opportunities of licensingcontrolled embedded software and applications. Most of these companies are first-time software providers, mainly device manufacturers and OEMs that can now monetize their software as well as the devices via the IoT. For these companies, the IoT represents a significant market opportunity. "By monetizing the software on their devices, these vendors will be able to increase and drive recurring revenue streams, creating billions of dollars of additional value, said Ms. Wurster. "For
example, with an estimated 25-plus billion 'things' in the marketplace, and if manufacturers are able to collect an average of $5 for software from each of these installed units, that translates to additional revenue estimated at $130 billion." For the foreseeable future, the IoT will drive business transformation for many device manufacturers, enabling them to use software on the device to differentiate product and solution offerings. Like vendors in the traditional software industry, device manufacturers need to protect and monetize the intellectual property (IP) contained in applications. They can do this by adopting LEM systems that control access to the Internetconnected device, its
functions and its features. LEM also enables flexible pricing and packaging, allowing manufacturers to bundle product features, capabilities and capacities, ensure payment, provide verified upgrade paths and create new revenue streams. Gartner research indicates that the vast majority of device manufacturers do not have, or have yet to implement, commercial LEM systems to monetize the IoT. This is because, historically, they had little or no software IP to protect. Initially, they will look to build LEM capabilities in-house as they already have a technical and engineering background that developed the hardware, and they often believe that these internal resources can also build an efficient LEM system.
Virtualization a Game Changer in Network Operations
T
he introduction of virtualized network functions (VNFs) on common ITbased infrastructures in large-scale communications networks is proving to be a network operations game changer. Once restricted by proprietary network equipment, virtualization is driving evolution from a traditional business operations approach to an architecture designed for what customers want to buy. The evolution is well under way and will support business goals more effectively. A new PlanScape report from International Data Corporation (IDC) outlines the IT operations architecture transition to virtualized networks and the opportunities it represents. "The business experience and
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benefits derived from virtualized server infrastructure are key to this network transition," said Elisabeth Rainge, Vice President, Communications Service Provider Operations. "Networking functions require a complex set of algorithms for sub-millisecond decisions and response times. However, the engine for making many of those decisions and executing them on the network is shifting from proprietary network processor hardware to the compute platform that IT operations teams have been working on for many years." The new IDC PlanScape offers a unique decision making tool to help IT professionals plan the evolution of the IT operations architecture to virtualized
networks. It helps to assure business value from technology by establishing a business case, identifying risk factors, and outlining critical success factors. Additional insights from the IDC PlanScape include the following: • Network virtualization drives the urgency for change because it opens up software levers in the infrastructure that benefit customers, partners, and internal teams. • Network virtualization is creating new relationships among business, infrastructure, and operations teams across many companies. • Networking equipment has already begun to migrate to commercial server platforms
Wave Tech Computers LLC P.O. Box: 3421, Sharjah, Toll Free 800WAVE-8009283 aten@wavetechgroup.com, www.wavetechgroup.com