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Editorial
Cover Story - P 18
S
urveillance is a strong growth segment and the market over the past few years has seen a shift from analog systems to IP based surveillance solutions which are being more widely deployed across indoor and outdoor locations, both in the residential and commercial verticals. It continues to be a lucrative segment for VARs and security integrators. The ecosystem of IT Surveillance as a segment consist of IP camera manufacturers, IP surveillance software vendors, manufacturers of storage drives which store the huge volumes of data, switches and servers. The fact that IP surveillance can be an integrated part of the entire IT infrastructure helps its cause over legacy analog CCTV systems. IP surveillance data can also be a huge channel of vital Data such as footfall in retail, consumer behavior, identifying performance bottlenecks such as in a warehouse’s functioning for instance or at a workplace etc which can be analyzed for generating actionable intelligence. In addition to solutions deployed completely on premise,it is also opined that cloud-based surveillance solutions are an ideal option for budget-conscious SMBs since their requirements of surveillance may not be as stringent as for Banks or other critical verticals. The SMB segment customers like a retail store may require only the essentials including a couple of cameras without the additional ensemble of recording and storage hardware. There are Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) solutions available in the market. The services enables small to medium segment customers simplify the integration of video surveillance by moving it from on-site locations to a cloud-based service model, with the facility of scalability over time to suite their business needs. While VSaaS looks to offer the option of managing costs as well as meeting the requirements of security, the longer term costs of subscription based pricing models would need to be understood well by customers.
R. Narayan Managing Editor
Founder & CEO: Vivek Sharma Managing Editor: R. Narayan Assistant Editor: David Ndichu Art Director: Faiz Ahmed Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh
A concerted approach to adoption of Big Data tools is an inevitable need for organisations, sooner than later.
Content
Surveillance as an opportunity
The Big Picture
News in Detail
P 10 - Red Hat announces OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network
P 12 - Employee adoption key to success of UC and Collaboration Technologies
Feature - P 16
Taking the Centre Stage
Through Software-Defined Data Centre technology, VMware wants a data centre that can keep up with the evolving office environment.
Techknow
P 14 - Better by Design
Cloud is disrupting CAD in ways no one imagined before. Autodesk is leading this revolution as LouayDahmash, Territory Director, Autodesk Middle East, explains
P 24 - Poised to lead
Shahnawaz Sheikh, Regional Director, Dell-SonicWALL Middle East & Turkey speaks about the company’s growth and roadmap in the aftermath of its acquisition by Dell
P 22 - New Horizons
Nicky Sheridan, Senior VP, Middle East, Africa and Turkey,Software AG discusses the company’s latest cloud service, PaaS and other trends
Point2Point - P 26
Building Effective Partnerships
SakkeerHussain, Sales and Marketing Manager at D-Link Middle East & Africa speaks about the company’s close coordinated work with its partners.
Insight
P 28 - Effective Cable management
Shibu Vahid, Head of Technical Operations, R&M MEA writes about the strategic importance of Data Center Cabling
P 30 - Combating The Next Cybersecurity Threat Cycle Anthony Perridge, channel director EMEA, Sourcefire writes about how to raise ourselves to face the challenges from a new class of attackers
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News Bytes
HP Enterprise Cloud Services for Mobility unveiled HP announced a cloud-based management solution that delivers secure anytime, anywhere access to applications and data from any mobile device. The HP Enterprise Cloud Services – Mobility is part of HP’s Converged Cloud portfolio, which provides enterprises with the essential foundation of technologies and services to confidently build, operate and consume IT services. The new solution provides fast and flexible deployment of tools and services for secure application access, file storage and sharing via multiple mobile platforms and all types of devices, including tablets and mobile phones. “Mobility in the workplace continues to be a key focus and concern for IT executives,” said BassemBouzid, Regional Vice President & General Manager - Enterprise Services HP Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa (MEMA). . “HP Enterprise Cloud Services – Mobility leverages HP’s strong cloud portfolio by providing clients with a mobility service that provides the highest level of user experience and productivity while minimizing risk for IT.”
4 | May 2013
eHDF to provide ‘Cloud’ Backup and Recovery Services eHostingDataFort (eHDF), the UAE’s leading provider of managed IT services, has been appointed by IT security company Paramount to provide a ‘cloud safe’ solution for its growing list of customers. Providing high-end servers, with a storage capacity in excess of 12 terabytes (TB), eHDF will complement the data backup needs of Paramount’s existing clientele, as well as invite potential customers to invest in backup and recovery from the cloud. Paramount is one of the fastest growing SMEs in the UAE, helping businesses to monitor and mitigate risks in IT infrastructure. The move to deploy eHDF’s services will allow Paramount to offer its clients cloud-based disk storage for data back-up, which is more efficient than the traditional method of using tapes. Yasser Zeineldin, CEO at eHostingDataFort, said: “SMEs in the UAE and the Gulf region are huge contributors to the regional economy. They are becoming significantly more sophisticated in their business strategy and are investing in the latest technologically advanced systems and processes. Our hosting platform offers a unique ‘cloud safe’ solution to companies that seek to build and expand on their existing business.”
Comguard launches array of new security solutions Comguard announced new security solutions from gateprotect in the Middle East region. This includesgateprotect Secure Web Gateway (SWG), a new network security solution integrated with open source CMS WebGUI. The security solution creates an additional layer of security in the networks of enterprises, and enables timely response to threats. This new solution is aimed at the enterprise market, and addresses the security concerns that arise from working on cloud, web-based applications and increase social media interactions. Also unveiled were the 3rd generation of gateprotect next generation firewalls GPZ 1000, GPZ 2500 and GPZ 5000 that provides companies with user-friendly solutions with redundant components for maximum security together with top stability and performance. A special RAID system assures high failure safety, the flexibly designed frontend can be freely configured to fit the customer’s needs thanks to exchangeable network cards, and, in addition, all models are equipped with VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) and Application Control. Sudarshan S. Avadhany, Sales Director - MENA at gateprotect said, “We are sure that with our new range of security solutions, we will be able to serve the interest of enterprises in the region. These solutions will also broaden the avenues for our channel partners to enhance their revenues and margins.”
News Bytes
Shifra holds road shows in Kuwait, Doha and Dubai Shifra a value added distributor of security solutions, organized a series of roadshow in Kuwait, Doha and Dubai with its partner– vendors, Proofpoint, Centrify and Stonesoft. The event aimed at partners, resellers and customers providing a unique opportunity to showcase the latest technologies, product releases and solutions from its vendors including technical and networking sessions. The security roadshow, with the theme “Protect and Probe Advanced Targeted Attacks”, highlighted the solutions to better equipped companies with the robust protection from increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks as well as addressing the challenges faced by most companies in their IT infrastructure. ‘The roadshow we organized with our vendors proved to be highly successful not only in terms of the number of participants but the initiative to reach out to our partners and customers and impart the information that will help them address the challenges and demands of the market today,’ said Ahmad ElKhatib, Managing Partner at Shifra.
6 | May 2013
Injazat Data Systems and Gartner join hands Injazat Data Systems has recently signed a strategic agreement with IT research and advisory firm Gartner. Gartner’s broad global reach, proven methodologies and rigorous research and development process will add a new dimension to Injazat’s industry-leading technology solutions, while providing critical quantitative data and qualitative analysis that enable Injazat to develop business solutions to support the growth of the region. The relationship will strongly focus on innovation and cost optimization in driving business growth and maximizing value to Injazat’s clients. Ibrahim Lari, Chief Executive Officer, Injazat Data Systems, said: “Information is the key that unlocks creativity and innovation. Our partnership with Gartner is a strategic move that gives us an extra edge for bringing best practices to the regional market. Access to critical data and qualitative analysis will underpin our continuing pursuit of quality and excellence in delivering technology solutions and maintaining our market leadership. Moreover, we are looking forward on taking advantage of Gartner’s specialized IT research capabilities as we continue to look for new opportunities for growth, while keeping us up-to-date with the latest technology trends and developments in the regional and global IT services landscape.” Arslan Khan, Regional Director, Gartner, said: “Injazat Data Systems has established an impeccable track record in the regional market and remains one of the most influential corporate organizations in the region. Gartner is looking forward to providing strategic support that will further enhance Injazat’s business performance, providing access to invaluable resources that will enable the company to make the right strategic decisions, improve profitability and develop its people. Our partnership with Injazat gives us greater leverage to move ahead with our strategic expansion plans in the Middle East.”
Oman’s Gulf Infotech Expands Operations to Dubai As part of its strategy to grow and become a regional sustainable player, Gulf Infotech, Oman’s leading cloud solution provider & Google enterprise MENA partner, opens a branch office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to cater to growing customer acquisitions in the UAE market. With a customer base of over 125 clients throughout GCC, Gulf Infotech focuses on providing Google enterprise solutions like Google Apps, Google Maps & Google App Engine and other leading cloud solutions of ERP, CRM and etc. Gulf Infotech not only brings the state of the art technologies, but also has a strong emphasis on customer service & satisfaction. Commenting on the new Dubai office Mr. Rahul Bhavsar, CEO of Gulf Infotech said, “Dubai is one of the strategic locations in the entire MENA region. This new branch will enable us to penetrate the market further in this region as business houses have started giving more importance to cloud computing based solutions that cuts down on their IT expenditure.” Gulf Infotech, Arabia 500 winner for the year 2012, is one of the fastest growing companies with 95%* growth YoY. Gulf Infotech is funded by GroFin, the pioneering SME development financier, with a proven track record across Africa and the Middle East.
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News Bytes
Software AG holds Leadership Symposium Software AG has recently hosted an Executive Leadership Symposium in Riyadh, attended by C-level executives from Saudi Arabia’s most prominent organizations in the public and private sectors. Software AG Executive Leadership Symposium, is designed specifically for decisions makers and demonstrates how Software AG can help local organizations to quickly and efficiently differentiate themselves while leveraging existing IT investments. Several senior Software AG executives, including Nicky Sheridan, Senior Vice President – Middle East, Africa and Turkey; Thomas Stoesser, Director BPM Product Marketing; and Serge Owona, Middle East Delivery Manager, conducted insightful presentations during the symposium about the enterprise solutions, services and strategic plans of Software AG in Saudi Arabia and in the Gulf region. The customers’ case studies and best practices presented demonstrated Software AG’s leadership in the field of business processes management, integration and big data.
8 | May 2013
SAP MENA appoints new Head of Ecosystem and Channels SAP MENA has announced the appointment of SherifHamoudah as its new Head of Ecosystem and Channels. Reporting directly to Sam Alkharrat, Managing Director, SAP MENA, Hamoudah will play a significant role in supporting SAP’s ambitious expansion in the region. He will also serve as Head of Telecoms. MazenJabri, Hamoudah’s predecessor, has taken on a newly created role to lead channel and ecosystem development in Saudi Arabia, SAP MENA’s largest market. The appointment of Hamoudah, who has over 25 years’ experience in the region’s IT and telecoms industries, is a clear demonstration of SAP’s determination to develop its channel partner relationships and capabilities across an ever-growing ecosystem. A strong emphasis will be placed on catalyzing emerging innovations such as analytics, mobility, cloud and inmemory computing. Hamoudah joins SAP from market-leading mobile communications pioneers Acision, where he served as Executive Vice President and Global Head of Sales and Marketing, managing a 160-sales and marketing team. “Sherif is a fantastic new addition to our MENA team, and his proven track-record will be invaluable as we seek to expand and solidify our ecosystem and channel capability,” ” said Sam Alkharrat, MD, SAP MENA.
Spectrami organises workshop on Copy Data Storage Spectrami has initiated its educative and awareness program, 'TechCafe’ to address the concerns of enterprise end-users in the region. TechCafe’ is a focused event targeting pre-qualified customers that have genuine requirement for the targeted solutions. Spectrami partnered with Oman based EON IT to hold TechCafe’ in Oman on 23rd April 2013 at Park Inn Hotel, Muscat. In Qatar the company joined hands with QPGI to hold TechCafe’ on 24th April 2013 at Hotel Crowne Plaze, Doha. TechCafe’ at both Muscat and Doha held in association with world’s leading copy data storage solution provider Actifiowere targeted at Government, Oil & Gas and Financial sectors in both the countries. The theme for the TechCafe’ was “Copy Data Storage” and highlighted the challenges encountered by a CIO' or an IT Manager today with the exponential growth of data. AnandChoudha, Managing Director, Spectrami, said, " The main objective to organize TechCafe’ is not about sales pitch but reaching out to end-users and understanding there requirements, challenges and pain points. We are firm believer of team work and our partnership with EON IT and QPCI has been able to produce an overwhelming response from the enterprises both in Oman and Qatar.”
HP Moonshot system unveiled HP has unveiled the world’s first commercially available HP Moonshot system at an event in Dubai. The new system delivers compelling new infrastructure economics by using up to 89 percent less energy, 80 percent less space and costing less than 77 percent compared to traditional servers. Moonshot was launched at the “Road to Innovation 2013”event, held at Jumeirah Beach Hotel. “With nearly 10 billion devices connected to the internet globally, and predictions for exponential growth in the Middle East, we’ve reached a point where the space, power and cost demands of traditional technology are no longer sustainable,” said KaramJabi, Industry Standard Server Business Unit Manager, HP Middle East, HP Middle East. “HP Moonshot marks the beginning of a new style of IT that will change the infrastructure economics and lay the foundation for the growth and development of the Middle East. The new HP Moonshot system is the second-generation server from HP’s Project Moonshot. This new class of server is engineered to address the IT challenges created by social, cloud, mobile and big data. HP Moonshot servers are built from chips more commonly found in smartphones and tablets, which allow the servers to deliver reduced energy use and a high-density footprint, all at a significantly lower cost.
Cisco introduces new Unified Access Products Cisco recently introduced new solutions under the Cisco Unified Access umbrella that simplify network design by converging wired and wireless networks. These are the new Cisco Catalyst 3850 Unified Access Switch with builtin wireless LAN (WLAN) controller functionality and the new Cisco 5760 Unified Access WLAN Controller appliance featuring IOS-based software and 60Gbps performance These new enhancements to Cisco Unified Access will allow IT organizations to rapidly manage changing network demands and greater services innovations. Cisco Unified Access is Cisco’s strategy to unify wired, wireless and virtual private networks (VPNs), into a single, highly secure network infrastructure based on one policy source and one management solution for the entire campus network. The new Unified Access products deliver consistent simplicity and intelligence across the entire network, enabling IT organizations to shift the focus away from time-consuming operational activities to those that enable innovative smart business processes. Den Sullivan, head of Architectures & Enterprise, Emerging Markets says, “Our customers in the Middle East are looking for a simple, highly secure network with reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) that allows them to address the demands that new access requirements such as BYOD and new innovative line of business applications bring. Cisco Unified Access allows customers to achieve these goals by moving away from individual vertical stacks of technology and disparate components and creating a single architecture for an intelligent network.”
GFI WebMonitor 2013 unveiled GFI Software announced GFI WebMonitor 2013, the latest version of the company’s Web security and filtering solution targeted at small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). This new version enables IT managers to deploy a roaming Web filtering agent on laptop and notebook devices. With this new agent, businesses can extend corporate browsing policies to company assets running outside of the corporate network. GFI WebMonitor’s new roaming agent extends corporate browsing policies and filtering protection to laptops and notebooks running outside of the corporate network – and does so without compromising connectivity speeds. “The line defining the amount of control IT managers can have over users’ activity on work-issued devices is always blurred,” said John Spoor, Regional Director MEA, GFI Software. “A balance needs to be struck, as implementing too many browsing regulations can make employees unhappy and impede productivity. Without enough controls in place businesses open themselves up to a variety of legal and security risks. GFI WebMonitor’s new roaming agent provides IT with the best of both worlds.”
May 2013 | 9
Radhesh Balakrishnan, GM, Virtualization, Red Hat
News In-Detail
Red Hat announces OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network
R
ed Hat announced partner support for its Red Hat OpenStack distribution, which graduated from a preview version to an Early Adopter Program today. In conjunction with this, Red Hat also announced the establishment of its Red Hat OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network, focused on building a robust ecosystem around the Red Hat OpenStack distribution and cloud infrastructure technologies, which is currently accepting nominations for early adopter partner participation. The Red Hat OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network is a multi-tiered program designed for thirdparty commercial companies that offer hardware, software
10 | May 2013
and services for customers to implement cloud infrastructure solutions powered by Red Hat OpenStack. Building an ecosystem of third-party technology partners with solutions that have been tested, certified and supported is an important part of establishing customer confidence in Red Hat OpenStack. Responding to this need, a core element of the program is a certification process for technology partners to integrate and validate their solutions around Red Hat OpenStack. Radhesh Balakrishnan, general manager, Virtualization, Red Hat said, “As we're getting closer to delivering an enterprise-ready OpenStack offering backed by our award-
winning commercial support, it’s extremely important that we collaborate to establish a vibrant ecosystem of partners with solutions and services that are designed to meet our customers' needs. We see that partners and customers are looking for standards to emerge within the OpenStack ecosystem, and Red Hat is here to deliver stable enterprise targets with which partners can develop, test and support solutions for joint customers.” The program offers partners the opportunity to gain the necessary expertise with Red Hat OpenStack technologies, as well as key resources they need to test, certify and publish their solutions. Partners can certify with a single component
of OpenStack such as Cinder, Swift or Quantum, or they may choose to certify with the entire set of OpenStack technologies as supported by Red Hat. As part of the program Red Hat will provide access to Red Hat OpenStack builds and roadmap, developer support and a range of go-to-market activities to assist in customer adoption. Today hardware, software and services partners can join the program as an early adopter and gain access to Red Hat OpenStack builds, developer support and insight into the Red Hat OpenStack certification, which is slated to be fully available in line with the supported Red Hat OpenStack enterprise offering that is expected later this year. The Red Hat OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network features three participation levels, in addition to the Alliance Tier: Red Hat OpenStack Premier: Unique and enterprise-ready partner integration with Red Hat OpenStack technologies Red Hat OpenStack Advanced: Certified technical compatibility with Red Hat OpenStack components, including but not limited to Cinder, Nova and Quantum Red Hat OpenStack Ready: Base-level compatibility with Red Hat OpenStack Companies interested in being part of the Red Hat OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network can begin participating as early adopters today. Technology certification as part of the Program is planned for later this year.
SCALE YOUR BUSINESS Array APV Series application delivery controllers are certified by Microsoft for Exchange load balancing.
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News In-Detail
T decision-makers in large organisations are predicted to spend US$ 53 million on services to support unified communications and collaboration (UCC) over the next two years, as uptake in UCC as a strategic business opportunity increases. However, this spend could be at risk without user adoption according to new research released by global ICT solutions and services provider Dimension Data. Dimension Data had commissioned research firm Ovum to conduct a global UCC survey. Over 1 320 enterprise ICT decision-makers and 1 390 employees in a broad spectrum of industry verticals in 18 countries were interviewed. According to the Dimension Data 2013 Global UCC Study over 78% of the IT decision-
enterprise communications investment. Typically, UCC has not been the subject of strategic ICT planning. In fact, until recently, UCC was largely synonymous with the corporate PBX, and the idea of formulating and rolling out a UCC strategy – even among large organisations – was alien.” “Of those IT decisionmakers who had made major UCC investments in the past two years, a high 61% cited measurable cost savings, employee uptake and employee productivity. This sends a strong message to organisations that don’t recognise UC as a strategic productivity and cost-saving weapon.” Meanwhile, the UCC aspirations of organisations don’t match those of their
Craig Levieux, Group GM, Dimension Data
I
Employee adoption key to success of UC makers polled said they have a current strategic plan and budget to implement “select components” of UCC. Additionally, 43% have a budget for ‘most components’ of UCC, while 42% of decisionmakers indicated they have a budget to proceed with investment in “all or most aspects” of UCC. “This is a surprising shift,” says Craig Levieux, Dimension Data’s Group GM for Converged Communications, “especially when economic conditions and operational constraints normally put the brake on
12 | May 2013
employees. “Our research tells us that organisations are failing to profile and assess their employee requirements,” explains Levieux. “This lack of employee awareness could pose a risk to the success of those UCC investments on today’s boardroom agendas – especially since decisionmakers expressed that they are basing their UCC investments on improved business processes and productivity. “When we analysed the strategic approach that enterprises are taking towards UCC, the BYOD trend, the focus
on mobilising UC and social collaboration, and aspirational goals to increase business agility, we were surprised that only 38% of large enterprises reported that they profiled their users. Of those who don’t profile users, around 20% have simply not thought of doing it. More alarming is the fact that 21% believe their employees all have the same requirements, while 13% did not see the value in profiling. “For organisations looking to formulate or refresh a UCC, employee feedback is critical. In a world where
more employees bring their own devices to work, a gap in understanding between decision-makers and employees could come at a very real cost. User uptake is a critical success metric for UCC investments, especially as more UCC applications will be delivered to employees, who expect multiple device support and applications that match their requirements. If not, uptake will continue to lag behind aspirations, as has been the case with many standard UCC applications to date,” explains Levieux.
TechKnow | Autodesk
Discuss how mobile and apps are changing CAD and the solutions you have via the cloud The proliferation of cloud and mobile technologies is dramatically changing the way design is done and who is doing the designing. For professionals, these platforms
professionals to conceptualize, analyse, and share early design ideas and forms. Users—at all levels of expertise—are able to capture building design ideas digitally and support workflow in the earliest stages of design. Flexibility for design professionals and working on the go helps to
Better by Design Cloud is disrupting Computer Aided Design (CAD) in ways no one imagined before. Autodesk is leading this revolution as Louay Dahmash, Territory Director, Autodesk Middle East, explains. allow designers and engineers to explore and prove, much more quickly than ever before, whether an idea will work or not, and to see “down the line” in the design process to minimize unintended consequences. For consumers, these platforms make design tools accessible anytime, anywhere. Anyone with an idea or creative spark can now imagine, design and create what they want, when they want it. Recognizing an opportunity to help our customers capitalize on this change, Autodesk began transforming our business to include cloud and mobile offerings a few years ago. Today, we are leading the migration of design from the desktop to cloud and mobile platforms. The use of apps in professional environments is a trend that is growing throughout the construction industry worldwide. Mobile apps allow building design
14 | May 2013
streamline design and work processes. Rather than writing and sketching ideas with pen and paper, the use of apps allows individuals to utilize technologies such as iPads for further collaboration and analysis. Specifically, how much of an impact has cloud and apps made in Autodesk’s business Customers are embracing Autodesk’s cloud and mobile services in a big way. To date, over 20 million new accounts have been created for Autodesk 360 web services. On average, we’re getting about 725,000 new Autodesk 360 accounts per month. Users have also run over 2 million renderings in Autodesk 360. This amounts to over 3.5 million compute hours. Since the launch of cloud-based Autodesk Simulation 360, over 30,000 simulationjobs have been run in the cloud.There have also been over 11 million downloads of our cloud-based
Louay Dahmash Territory Director Autodesk, Middle East
CAD editor called AutoCAD WS. And there are over 2 million AutoCAD WS unique users each month, who have uploaded more than 20 million files. Apps allow businesses to complete their required work with flexibility, with users able to connect with the work environment virtually. Field users can share and receive documents that would have previously not been possible with traditional programs. The
abilities of apps differentiate depending on a user’s needs, but can also can be incorporated together to further strengthen business efficiency. In contrast to the perpetual licensing of traditional programs, Autodesk apps are affordable, pay-as-you-go and in some cases free, simplifying the accessibility and offering unparalleled flexibility. Discuss your 3D modelling
machinery applications and solutions, which how much of a "Our Middle East customers have been some of can be designed, game changer the fastest in the world to adopt our Suites. We simulated and 3D is in the CAD are seeing a steady increase in the demand for analysed before market. Autodesk’s Building Information Modelling (BIM) anything is Autodesk provides physically made. solutions and related Suites." 3D modelling With a solutions growing number that enable Autodesk wants students of all ages to of construction projects and oil & gas professionals across a wide range of imagine, design and create a better world. installations across the Middle East, a larger industries to visualize designs and develop By partnering with academic leaders and talent pool of CAD-literate professionals concept variations and test designs under institutions, Autodesk is helping educators is required. Our research indicates that real-world conditions. Our customers are to build skills and engagement, both in US$65 million was spent on CAD and also able to explore complete products and out of the classroom, in order to CAD-related tools in UAE in 2012; around before they are built while creating prepare students for successful careers in one-third of it was in the Architecture, dynamic graphics and effects. architecture, engineering and digital arts. Engineering & Construction sectors, and 6% Autodesk 3D modelling solutions Autodesk Education offers the technology in manufacturing sectors. benefit a variety of design professionals, and learning resources that inspire the from architects, engineers, and designers next generation of professionals, while The regional construction sector is on a to visual effects artists, game developers, providing institutions with educational steady rebound. Is this being reflected and design visualization specialists. With pricing, training, curricula and community in your operations? these high-performance, creative, and resources. In 2012, Autodesk provided Yes, Autodesk has experienced strong technical toolsets, you can streamline more than 50 million students with access double-digit growth across the Middle East your 3D modelling workflow and increase to Autodesk technology and software, and YoY (fiscal year 2013 vs. fiscal year 2012). productivity. there are currently more than 6.6 million Two years ago, we took our standalone 3D is a game changer for many members in the Autodesk Education products’ success to the next level by reasons one of which is the ability to Community. introducing Design and Creation Suites. Our transform 2D ideas and designs into 3D Additionally over the past three years, Middle East customers have been some digital prototypes using our 3D solutions. Autodesk has launched a series of free or of the fastest in the world to adopt our Autodesk software not only enables you nearly free consumer applications, such as Suites. We are seeing a steady increase to digitally design, visualize, and simulate Sketchbook Pro, Pixlr-o-Matic, Homestyler in the demand for Autodesk’s Building your most complex ideas, it also eases and the 123D family of apps. At first the Information Modelling (BIM) solutions and the transition from 2D to 3D design capabilities of most mobile devices were related Suites. and engineering processes. This way, limited to consumption of information, but Contractors will be competing for the designers can accelerate their concepts they have quickly become the means to lion’s share of the massive projects that and precisely visualize their projects and create stunning designs. have yet to be awarded in Qatar and other products virtually, reducing the need for countries. One way to ensure a competitive costly physical prototypes and speeding Discuss the growth of industry-specific pitch is to adopt BIM solutions. 3D building innovative products to market.With CAD platforms software has seen widespread adoption Autodesk software, a single 3D model We see growing demand for Building among contractors and project developers containing all design data can be shared Information Modelling (BIM) technology in the region. Autodesk and our network of across multidiscipline teams of designers in the architecture, engineering and more than 80 channel partners across the and engineers as product development construction sectors. While technology Middle East are helping companies adopt proceeds, assisting with consistency, exists for sustainable buildings and BIM. For example, by adopting Autodesk communication, error reduction and infrastructure, there is lower demand to BIM solutions, Amana Contracting & Steel streamlined design process. date in the Middle East, compared to the Buildings has accelerated its drawing West, since the governments have not production time by over a month. Discuss how you seek to empower the mandated sustainability.In terms of oil In customer conversations, the dialogue next generation of designers and gas installations, we see demand for has evolved from “What is BIM?” to “How We empower the next generation of Autodesk’s building, plant and industrial do I implement BIM?” designers through education efforts.
May 2013 | 15
News Feature | VMware
V
Mware’s latest re-think of data centre virtualization is the Software-Defined Data Centre technology. Software-Defined Data Centre is a unified data centre platform that provides automation, flexibility, and efficiency in the way IT is delivered. Compute, storage, networking, security, and availability services are pooled, aggregated, and delivered as software, and managed by intelligent, policy-driven software resulting in a data centre optimized for the cloud era. “The only way to fully take advantage of your data centre is to completely virtualize your data centre from computing, to storage, servers, security
numbers are testimony we are solving real customer needs and how we can really empower IT to deliver what businesses have always been asking for-the agility to deliver service while maintaining efficiency control and reliability,” said Kanaan. In a region still behind on the global virtualization trend, the new SoftwareDefined Data Centre allows for customers to virtualize at their pace. For those still reluctant, they can start by implementing a real management solution on top of their virtual environment. Next they would consider virtualizing their storage, then the networking and finally putting in place what it takes to provision the
Taking the Centre Stage
Elie Kanaan Vice President VMware EMEA
With virtualization, VMware helped redefine the modern data centre. Through SoftwareDefined Data Centre technology, VMware wants a data centre that can keep up with the evolving office environment. and availability. All need to be virtualized and delivered as a service to the business while the data centre should be automated and managed by software,” said ElieKanaan, Vice President, VMware EMEA. It has taken a relatively few short years for VMware to get here. 10 years ago VMware began with server virtualization growing from zero to 500,000 customers across the world in a decade with 225,000 of those in the EMEA region. VMware has also grown from zero revenue to 4.6 Billion USD in 2012 and still growing at 22%. “Those
16 | May 2013
cloud-either private cloud or public cloud environment with enough service provision. The other customers can take the fast path and recombine all those features and all those products into one through the VCloud Suite. They can then implement the management storage, virtualization, networking and cloud provisioning into oneproduct that can be purchased and have services around it put in place. “But only a few customers can take this because they need to be ready to adopt the technology and then need to
be ready to use the technology immediately,” said Kanaan. A lot of customers are now looking at how they can extend the capacity beyond their firewall. Many of these customers buying cloud storage from public cloud providers that are not even compatible with their own architecture. The result is that IT is losing control over ITbecause of that. For instance, Kanaan explains, ifa customer is deployingtheirapplications on Amazon, it’s very hard to run the same applications inside VMware-based architecture.
“Based on the fact that more than half of all virtualized environments in the world is relying on a VMware platform, we are now delivering to our customers a way to extend their data centres based on their VMware architecture into the public cloud and be able to run their applications anywhere inside or outside,” said Kanaan. VMware is doing this by basically putting up the public cloud as a software defined datacentre but on a lease model-the customer can rent capacity outside the data centre for a while, use it and if they don’t need it
anymore,they can scale back to their own datacentre all based on the same software-defined datacentre. “That seamless extension is fundamental in being able to run applications anywhere and on any platform,” The role of IT is changing as individuals acquire multiple devices. The worldtook 21 years to reach 100 million shipments per year in PCs, 15 years to reach the same number for smartphones but just four years to go from zero to 100 million shipments for tablets every year. Companies have to realize that it's no longer aboutthe device; it’s about the user. “A user can have multiple devices so there’s need for us to manage the user and the whole idea is to integrate all those solutions to manage all the devices that a user can have. As users connect on that workspace, they can see all their applications, all thedevices, all the data and wherever they are, theycan access everything they need in a secure fashion to enable them do their job. Its' all under the control of IT, managed centrally though the Horizon Suite,” said Kanaan. VMware Horizon Suite is meant to address the expanding scope of end-user computing, as the workforce adopts more and more devices and platforms that provide mobility and productivity anywhere. For IT, the upshot is an increasingly complex and dynamic environment that's hard to administer with rigid PC-centric tools and processes. Horizon Suite provides IT the technology and capabilities to securely deliver and manage robust end-user computing across all devices. The Suite covers the management of the Windows environment, whether they are physical or virtual in a seamless version and all the multiple device environments, applications, data and devices. Software-Defined Data Centre is technology extended to the hybrid cloud to deliver services to the new multidevice environment of the user.
VMware Announces vCloud Hybrid Service
V
Mware recently unveiled VMware vCloud Hybrid Service, an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud operated by VMware and built on the VMware vSphere foundation, giving customers a common platform to seamlessly extend their data center to the cloud. “VMware’s mission is to radically simplify IT and help customers transform their IT operations,” said Pat Gelsinger, CEO, VMware. “Today, with the introduction of the VMware vCloud Hybrid Service, we take a big step forward by coupling all the value of VMware virtualization and softwaredefined data center technologies with the speed and simplicity of a public cloud service that our customers desire.” vCloud Hybrid Service will seamlessly extend VMware software used by hundreds of thousands of customers into the public cloud. This means customers will be able to extend the same skills, tools, networking and security models across both on-premise and off-premise environments. “As a source of competitive advantage for our International business, our Operations & IT department needs the agility and efficiency the public cloud promises,” said Julio Sobral, senior vice president, Business Operations, Fox. “However, we don’t have the luxury of starting from scratch, we see in the vCloud Hybrid Service a potential solution to enable Fox International to have a more elastic platform that will support future deployments around the world. Working with technology partners like VMware gives us the best of both worlds by extending our existing infrastructure to realize the benefits of public cloud.” “Our new VMware vCloud Hybrid Service delivers a public cloud that is
Pat Gelsinger CEO VMware
completely interoperable with existing VMware virtualized infrastructure,” said Bill Fathers, senior vice president and general manager, Hybrid Cloud Services Business Unit, VMware. “By taking an ‘inside-out’ approach that will enable new and existing applications to run anywhere, this service will bridge the private and public cloud worlds without compromise.” VMware vCloud Hybrid Service will be delivered by partners and compatible with other VMwarebased cloud services. vCloud Hybrid Service can be sold the same way as on-premise VMware licenses with a standard SKU, and partners can retain the billing relationship with customers. In addition, cloud service providers will have the opportunity to provide valueadded services or add vCloud Hybrid Service to their portfolio. VMware is committed to driving rapid innovation and service delivery to market, which VMware will make available to VMware service providers in the form of technology and IP. May 2013 | 17
Cover Feature | Big Data
The
BIG Picture
A concerted approach to adoption of Big Data tools is an inevitable need for organisations, sooner than later
B
ig Data is a domain that has been identified as a high growth domain and will continue to be on the rise.In 2013, Big Data is forecast to drive $34 billion of worldwide IT spending, according to Gartner. Owing to growing interest in Big Data technology and services, all levels of the Big Data technology stack will experience significant growth, according to IDC. Storage is seen as a critical piece of the infrastructure component and increasing at a CAGR of 53% between 2011 and 2016. George Bono, GM, Red Hat Middle East, Turkey and Africa says, “The region is yet to see big data being mined for value to a significant extent and even then, this would be an activity that is
18 | May 2013
primarily being carried out by larger enterprises. Organizations are taking the steps towards this end and data storage is rightfully taking first priority. Without a solid platform that can manage the data and seamlessly scale out as data from multiple disparate sources grows, the possibility of extracting value from big data is impossible.” He adds, “We have seen that the industry is moving away from the trend of buying storage as and when the need arises. Instead, we are being approached by organizations who want a holistic platform for their data storage woes that eliminates the silo approach.” As the Mountains of unstructured data grow courtesy also the continued social
media revolutions, more companies are converging to the belief that to wield and sustain competence in their domains, they need to have in place tools that can actually managed Big Data. According to Kevin Ashby - Product Marketing Manager Server & Tools Business, Microsoft Gulf, “Big Data is in constant motion and growing at an incredible rate, 90% of the world’s data generated in just the past two years. That's remarkable growth. The empires of data like Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo all of whom are able to capitalize on the notion that data equates to power. More and more companies are increasingly utilizing Big Data analytics and drive revenue and profit.”
“The region is yet to see big data being mined for value to a significant extent and even then, this would be an activity that is primarily being carried out by larger enterprises. Organizations are taking the steps towards this end..."
use Big Data tools to access this information. The trends we are currently seeing suggest organizations across the Gulf, not restricted by vertical, are beginning to see Big Data as an enabling technology to gain faster, better quality answers and insight.” Big Data is posing big storage headaches for businesses across the region, as the race to unlock value from massive and exponentially growing datasets heats up. Indeed, data volume has expanded three-fold since 2011, while cost reductions are so far not nearly as pronounced. Yet Big Data promises opportunities that can’t be ignored. This was underscored at Cisco Connect UAE 2013, where Cisco outlined its research on Big Data, conducted by the company’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). According to Cisco, Big Data will present a real opportunity for Service Providers in the Middle East, and Cisco IBSG suggests four plausible options for market entry, creating a potential path to becoming a “network-based” infomediary. This include the option of staying the course by focusing on Data Acquisition as well as containing use of data, becoming the preferred
Service Provider for consumers and businesses by optimizing their Networks and having a strong customer focus, investing in and offering tools such as Location Data, Usage/ Behavior Data, and Storage/ Processing tools and removing industry barriers by introducing Bridge Domains, offering new services, and providing increased security/protection. At the high data transaction levels of petabytes on a daily basis for some companies, standard databases can no longer scale sufficiently to handle Big Data. But many analysts see Big Data as “the new oil,” with the power to transform economies, bring greater efficiency to businesses, and improve our daily interactions as consumers. It needs to be refined, which means analyzing it and extracting insights that can
be leveraged into valuable action. Peter Ford, Managing Director, Cisco Consulting Services says,“Big Data is already transforming businesses today and playing an integral role in defining new processes to aid in new innovation. Today, it is not a question of whether Service Providers in the Middle East should invest, but how far should they go. At a minimum, they can utilize it internally to transform their operations or expand externally to further benefit their customers as a “Network Based Data
George Bono, GM, Red Hat META,
Big Data in its raw form is almost useless unless it can be made sense ofthat is where data analytics come in. "Big data analytics enables data scientists analyze huge volumes of transaction data as well as other data sources to help companies make better business decisions. A lot of these data will usually be overlooked by conventional business intelligence (BI) programs,” according to Armughan Ahmad, VP, Global Networking sales, Dell. Dell software solutions now have the capability to provide that-big data analytics. “Our acquisition of Quest that we recently did really give us whole new analytical capabilities,” added Armughan. It is a phase where there are believers and those early adopters who are already beginning to reap the advantages of having some Big Data Analytics in place while many others are scrambling to identify what they can do to not miss the pace of change. While admittedly, there could be some hype about the buzz, there is also the unswerving conviction that Businesses to be front rankers need to incorporate Big Data analytics tools. Ashby adds, “Big Data should be viewed as an approach/solution for dealing with volumes or structures of data that current tools make the process for deriving insight either too slow or impractical. Organizations are now able to
May 2013 | 19
Cover Feature | Big Data
Peter Ford Managing Director Cisco Consulting Services
Intermediary. The ability for Service Providers to move more aggressively into this space may be difficult, but the size of the prize may warrant further investigation. By capitalizing on $200 billion of internal and external value creation, Service Providers can complement their business by
20 | May 2013
becoming an Info Infomediary.” Organisations need to look at planning what data they need more out of the whole chunk of unstructured data that
keeps building up relentlessly. A holistic data management strategy is key to harnessing the relevant information from the right areas. Bono adds, “One of the prime challenges of handling large amounts of unstructured data is that there is no single department within the organization that must assume end-to-end responsibility for the data. Typically, this data will be generated by multiple departments and the storage of this will be tasked to the IT department. However, without a contextual understanding of the data and its business value, and without the authority to delete or archive it, IT cannot efficiently handle this data beyond merely storing it in ever expanding silos. For any business, certain types of data from certain sources will hold more value. Identifying these and fine-tuning the data management policies is the first step to extracting real value from the information.” Across an organisation, there should be a good understanding of the need to be participative and responsible in profiling the data that is being generated. Else the information that is finally available could be skewed from the perspective or requirements of a department that was most involved in the
"A good data management strategy is one that bears inputs from and is supported by all major stakeholders within the organization.This should not only include technical teams but also business and content experts."
formative phase of the Data Management strategy.Most organisations in the Middle East are already possessing enormous volumes of data that are yet to be collated and organised. Companies must look at unlocking this data that is part of large databases. “A good data management strategy is one that bears inputs from and is supported by all major stakeholders within the organization. This should not only include technical teams but also business and content experts. By having each one of these groups represented in the data management team, the organization can start to make informed decision based not only upon the needs of a single department,” adds Bono. Partners need education and awareness as well as they play a key role in the organisation. Microsoft Gulf is ensuring that it’s key Partners and fully aware and capable to design and deploy Business Intelligence and Big Data solutions. “In 2103, we hosted a number of customers and partners during Open Door, which took place in UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman to introduce the latest technology trends and products. Big Data was heavily discussed to a collective audience of over 5,000 IT professionals and business decision makers from the region,” addsAshby.
Opportunities Analytics
deployment is the key component which will enhance understanding of what the data says and build new business and commercial strategies based on that. Open source Apache Hadoop is the leading Big Data analytics framework asunlike traditional databases, it can handle all types of data from disparate systems: structured, unstructured, audio files or almost any other format. EMC is driving the Big Data analytics market with its Greenplum and Isilon solutions. The company’s goal is to support a broad range of cloud and Big Data solutions. At EMC World 2013, EMC announced that it is preparing the next version of its EMC IsilonOneFS scale-out NAS operating system. Building on the successful late-2012 launch of OneFS 7.0 (“Mavericks”), the next version of Isilon’s industryleading operating system will extend customers’ ability to harness the transformational power of Big Data. The new version will include data deduplication capabilities, audit and security features, as well as enhancements for objectoriented storage, Hadoop HDFS 2.0 and Syncplicity enterprise file sharing. These new capabilities will enable enterprises to extend the unmatched scalability and efficiency of Isilon’s solutions to meet an ever-broadening range of next-generation cloud-based, Big Data analytics and mobile workflows and
The explosion of big data and the new paradigm of cloud computing are converging, forcing IT to rethink storage investments that are cost-effective, manageable and scale for the future.
applications Bill Richter, President, Isilon Storage Division said, “EMC Isilon’sOneFS operating system is the gold standard for scaleout NAS — and now it’s even more efficient and secure while enabling compliance with critical industry regulations. Additionally, the integration of OneFS with EMC ViPR, Hadoop HDFS 2.0 and Syncplicity illustrates how open and flexible EMC’s Isilon scale-out NAS offering is – and the ability to support Big Data, mobile and cloud-based workflows makes this a critical solution for enterprises today.” Microsoft has integrated Big data tools into its existing products. Microsoft is promising the cheapest and swiftest route to deploying Big Data tools, staring with familiar tools. Starting with the end user, then Microsoft has provided capabilities to interact with Big Data via familiar tools such as Excel and interactivity tools such as PowerPivot and PowerView. To construct a Big Data solutions then Microsoft has integrated Hadoop into both Windows Server and Windows Azure. Ashby adds, “With Windows Azure an organization can quickly and cost effectively create a Big Data scenario, use it and remove it when
no longer required. This prevents the need to purchase expensive infrastructure to store the unstructured data. With SQL Server Parellel Data Warehouse Microsoft provides both a high-end massively parallel processing appliance that can improve query response times up to 100x over legacy solutions as well as seamless integration to both Hadoop and with familiar business intelligence solutions. What’s more, it was engineered to lower ongoing costs resulting in a solution that has the lowest price/terabyte in the market.” The explosion of big data and the new paradigm of cloud computing are converging, forcing IT to re-think storage investments that are costeffective, manageable and scale for the future. There is a definite awareness about this. According to red hat, a number of our customers are looking for software-based storage solutions that manage their file-based data on-premise, in the cloud and bridging between the two. “At Red Hat, we realized that massive growth in data was fast becoming a prime concern for many of our customers which is why in October 2011, we decided to aggressively target the storage
market though our acquisition of Gluster. We built upon GlusterFS 3.2 to create Red Hat Storage Server, a scaleout, open source storage software solution for the management of unstructured data,” adds Bono. The Red Hat solutions allows enterprises to combine large numbers of commodity storage and compute resources into a high-performance, centrally-managed and globally-accessible storage pool. By combining commodity economics with a scale-out approach, customers can deploy abundant storage without compromising on cost, performance and manageability. Red Hat Storage Server can easily be deployed on-premise, in private clouds, in public cloud infrastructures or hybrid cloud environments and is optimized for storage-intensive enterprise workloads including high-performance computing, near-line archival and rich media content clouds. In view of the fact that data sets and data velocities are set to rise further, Businesses using legacy systems will struggle to cope with changing demands for decision making in their industries. There is the inevitable need to ensure that companies understand that there is a sizable opportunity to glean valuable information from all of that data that could help grow the Business bottomlines. May 2013 | 21
TechKnow | Software AG
The world of Cloud is one of seemingly infinite possibilities. Software AG seems intent on testing that theory having launched its latest cloud service, PaaS. Nicky Sheridan, Senior VP, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, explains.
Nicky Sheridan Senior VP, MEA & Turkey Software AG
Software AG, a giant in the enterprise software space is a rather late entrant into the PaaSbandwagon. Why now? We have built our company to address our customers’ challenges in a thorough and thoughtful manner. With the increased adoption of SaaS solutions organizations are now looking for ways to integrate existing SaaS solutions and create agile
22 | May 2013
business processes that span all the different on-premise and cloud applications. This is why we introduced Software AG Live--at the right time with the right capabilities. The first wave of cloud was about SaaS applications, such as the ones offered by Salesforce.com, Workday, NetSuite, SAP and others. Those are now gaining traction and are driving customers to
New Horizons think about gaining additional business value by integrating SaaS and on-premise applications and by introducing business processes that span heterogeneous systems, in the cloud and on-premise. A new wave of Platform-as-aService (PaaS) offerings is in the market, but we are the first to offer a single PaaS with multiple capabilities – Integration, Process and
Application. We are introducing our comprehensive suite of solutions right at the time when they are solving the most critical business challenges. How do you see the PaaS segment evolving in the ME region and what is Software AG’s place in it? According to a recent report by IDC, emerging markets, which
instantly deploy on mobile for maximum performance to face any security concerns include the MEA region, will devices and come with preand speed, control, compliance related to data storage in a witness the fastest growth in build integration across social and privacy. This will give our public cloud environment. cloud spending anywhere in networks. customers unprecedented Again we are first to offer the world, collectively growing flexibility to adopt the cloud to this flexibility that business at 44.1 percent until 2016. Are you promoting your their unique business needs. demand The research firm added that cloud solutions as a the United Arab Emirates separate offering or as part Briefly discuss your broad Is this part of the eventual (UAE) cloud market alone is of the larger enterprise cloud solutions in the region migration to cloud for much set for a compound annual management solutions AgileApps Live, our first of the Software AG service growth rate of 43.7 % until Software AG is traditionally product to be introduced offering or are you going 2016. Today,organizationsin known for? as part of this suite, is now with a hybrid cloud solution the Middle East have a better While we have a specific cloud available. It is built through our moving forward understanding about the related go-to-market strategy, acquisition of LongJump, Inc. our sales approach is focused Today, everything we are concept and they are seriously and helps customers develop on holistically addressing offering through Software AG looking at standardizing agile cloud-based applications customers’ integration, Live adds incremental value their operations through in days rather than weeks business process, data to solutions built on-premise cloud computing. That being or months. AgileApps Live is management and big data and with the existing Software said, they are raising some a platform to create flexible challenges they are facing web applications that improve AG products. In addition we concerns around security and and solving for them with the business productivity by believe that customers will connectivity in a public cloud automating business processes, most appropriate solutions. use both on-premise and the environment. Software AG making data and notifications cloud offerings together in cloud offering is quite unique In relation to that, how do actionable, enabling social what is referred to as hybrid because we are the first you integrate this solution collaboration and mobilizing environments. Again we are Middleware company to offer to the rest of the Software information access. With first to offer this flexibility that a comprehensive Platform as AG solutions portfolio? AgileApps Live, organizations business demand. In the long a Service suite with multiple Customers now have ultimate achieve business-driven term, for each major capability, innovation managed by IT. flexibility with cloud and oncapabilities – Integration, premise offerings that work we plan to provide an offering Process and Application This new offering provides together. Customers will that runs in the cloud for Moreover, Software AG Live unique flexibility to adapt to continue to use the existing maximum flexibility and offers organizations the changing business needs and Software AG products. The regulations. All applications efficiency, and a corresponding option to have a hybrid cloud Software AG Live offerings built on AgileApps Live offering that runs on-premise model, which means we offer will be layered customers the on top of their choice to deploy existing systems applications either to develop and in the public cloud, "Today, everything we are offering through Software deploy additional private cloud or on agile applications AG Live adds incremental value to solutions built premises. We are that offer on-premise and with the existing Software AG confident thatthis collaboration, products." flexible model will mobile and social capabilities. help our customers
May 2013 | 23
TechKnow | Dell-SonicWALL
Poised to lead Next Generation firewalls from SonicWALL are raising the level of protection in an era of powerful and complex threats. Shahnawaz Sheikh, Regional Director, Dell-SonicWALL Middle East & Turkey speaks about the company’s growth and roadmap in the aftermath of its acquisition by Dell.
Discuss demand for security appliances? There is a growing demand for Next Generation security appliances especially from customers who are realising its value. Customers are now replacing their old hardware appliances and software solutions opting to go with NGFW appliances. Dell SonicWALL has shown significant year on year growth by increasing the install base of Next Generation Firewall in the region.
business policies. Clean mails are then directed to the customers’ servers CDP is specifically designed for the SMB environment with up to 400 user networks. Continuous Data Protection (CDP) is a next-generation data backup and disaster recovery solution that automatically preserves and protects business-relevant data assets against loss from file, device, and location based disasters.
Does cloud deployments influence demand for security appliances? The concept of cloud computing is anywhere anytime access, so when you have deployment like this naturally you will have users connecting from–all around the world- using the cloud application to connect and as such security becomes a major concern even for the cloud providers to protect their environment. It also becomes a concern for companies who have hosted the application from the cloud. All parties want to make sure that the connectivity originating from multiple different end point devices is secured and is coming from authorised users. As a result there is the constant demand for security appliances in a cloud computing environment.
Becoming part of Dell – how has that influenced your approach to market? Becoming part of Dell has definitely been a great move for us. We in the Middle East region have access to a broader market, both channel and the end-user market. Many of the Dell customers who have procured Dell servers, storage, networking, etc. are now looking for the security that goes with it. This is an opportunity for Dell SonicWALL to leverage on this and take our technology to all Dell customers across the region. At the same time we now have new partners who were existing Dell partners adding the security products to their portfolio offering. We have been working on a new channel program expanding on our legacy programme designed for the emerging markets. It will apply to all, ie., Dell partners. Dell SonicWALL partners and any new resellers who wants to sign-up.
Discuss demand for other appliances you offer including CDP, Mail security etc – Email security is designed for small to medium to large enterprises and is scalable. It is available in multiple deployment modes such as Software only, Appliance, Virtual Appliance and Hosted Services. In the case of hosted service, mails are routed to the Dell SonicWALL infrastructure and get processed to check for spam, phishing and viruses and
24 | May 2013
Discuss your engagement with the SI channel? We have been doing this for many years now. We follow the traditional approach but from time to time we try to add new tools and new approaches so that partners are continually updated and as a result invest in us because we create new business avenues and continuous
Shahnawaz Sheikh Regional Director Dell-SonicWALL ME & Turkey
profitability for them. As a result these partners continue to grow the business in different avenues relying on our brand and technology. From time to time we go back to our system integrator and update them on new products, new ideas to generate revenues and software services. There is a continuous engagement with these partners in knowledge transfer and sharing business ideas using internationally renowned practices. For example managed services are a successful business model in mature markets as a result we advise our partners to start offering an opex model of business operation in addition to the traditional capex model. Since this is an emerging market for some type of businesses one would start seeing success if they are early birds start at the right time of the market potential. So in this regard we are continually educating our partners and sharing the best practices.
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Point2point | D-Link
Building Effective Partnerships Sakkeer Hussain Sales & Marketing Manager D-Link Middle East & Africa
D-Link MEA has stepped up its channel engagement through more detailed programs that take care of the channel’s needs to increase their Business. Sakkeer Hussain, Sales and Marketing Manager at D-Link Middle East & Africa speaks about the company’s close coordinated work with its partners.
26 | May 2013
Elaborate on your channel partner programs for different segments? We created our channel partner programme in a way to represent a mix of various elements such as product trainings, rebate structures, promotions, marketing and branding support, with the ultimate goal to increase D-Link’s market share. While having fixed elements, it remains still flexible when it comes to the customization of a percentage-wise usage of each part of this mix. Our channel presence is in an advanced stage, we have managed to build effective partnerships with partners which can be categorized as business and consumer segments. In the consumer segment we have a three-tier program: Power Retailers, Gold Partners and Diamond Partners. In the business segment however we have Empower partner and System Integrator partners. All partnerships throughout the Middle East are based on this model, whereas partners receive different benefits in direct line with their commitment and the fulfilment of their targets. Working through our existing
distribution channels, we are providing enrolled partners with considerable support and rewards for achieving verifiable D-Link targets on a revised, quarterly basis. These targets, both qualitative and quantitative, are providing excellent benchmarks for strong, sustained growth in the region. Additionally, D-Link MEA has worked keenly to collaborate with its partners on many marketing projects, including store branding, magazine, newspaper and online advertising throughout the year. To improve the overall technical knowhow and skills set of our partners, D-Link introduced a new online education portal, http://academy.dlink.com.tw/elearning_p. asp. Here, our partners are able to receive a plethora of IT networking information and obtain further certifications that will help them along their career path. How do you engage with the channel to increase their sales? We have several lead generation mechanisms in place. Our in-house telemarketing team for example works constantly on creating new business
provide them with prospects. Besides, We are currently launching a partner portal we are generating the necessary furnished exclusively for the Business Solution and leads through support material in System Integrator Channel. The objective of this our website, terms of firmware, partner portal is to provide them with the necessary advertisements in manuals, marketing support material in terms of firmware, manuals, end-user magazines materials, etc. marketing materials, etc. such as Stuff, our It also serves as Facebook Account, a platform for etc. Every emailor information sharing phone call we and as a source be furthered, we develop special incentive receive will be qualified, developed and of motivation by incentivizing partners programs for partners, resellers, system then sent to our distributors, who will then through reward programs. integrators and merchandisers of power dispatch it to the adequate partners. retailers whereby we offer rebate schemes Have there been additional product line-ups introduced over the past year through the channel that increases the portfolio of D-Link products they sell? We launch new products nearly every other week. Innovation is a prerequisite for D-Link and our R&D departments are working eagerly to ensure our customers will be provided with products developed based on the latest cuttingedge technology.A few months back we introduced new routers working with the new 802.11AC specification with plenty of new models being launched in the successive months. We are very excited about these new products which enable a higher data throughput on the 5GHz band, since to date we are the first networking vendor to offer equipment based on the new AC standard. How integral are promotions as part of your channel strategy? Throughout the year we carry out many promotions geared at various customer groups. Depending on the product range to
or programs to reward them with gifts. How has D-Link looked at increasing sales of Business grade products? Discuss your engagement with systems integrators? We started working intensely with system integrators since 2009, which is the time when we started promoting a wide range of business solutions.During that period we implemented special partner programs for our Business Solution Partners, depending on the size of their business. Our SI and Business Solution partners are benefiting from anextensive array of support mechanisms that we put into place, which includes bi-monthly technical trainings also for their customers, lead generation through telemarketing activities, discount and demo samples, free installation guidance, access to priority technical phone & email support, dedicated field & engineering support, and so on. We are currently launching a partner portal furnished exclusively for the Business Solution and System Integrator Channel. The objective of this partner portal is to
Against the backdrop of a competitive landscape, what are the key challenges that D-Link and its partners are looking at to strengthen sales in the region? Pricing represents a constant challenge for us. The markets are extremely competitive and price politics are aggressive. For our customers to fully benefit from our products we are providing value-added services, such as the Cloud services which allow consumers tocreate a personal cloud to manage their routers, storage devices or IP cameras via the mydlink app or mydlink website, from anywhere at any time. These added benefits are distinguishing us from our competitors and have helped us positioning our product range during the last year. Another difficult factor in selling our products is based on the varying restrictions and regulations for wireless products in different countries, which has led to extended shipping and sales cycles. The political instabilities in some parts of the region also present a challenge for us, since the demand in the affected markets lacks consistency. May 2013  |  27
Shibu Vahid, Head of Technical Operations. R&M MEA
InSight | R & M
Shibu Vahid, Head of Technical Operations, R&M Middle East & Africa writes that Data Center Cabling has strategic importance in influencing the Performance, Reliability and Flexibility of the Data Center
Steps towards effective Cable management T
he modern data center has come to represent the unification of a range of cutting-edge technologies coupled into a single complex entity which, although tucked away from all a select group of IT engineers, facilitates the smooth operation of business as we now know it. The role of IT in meeting ever growing business demands is fueling the increased density of servers, storage and networking devices and most importantly, data
28  |  May 2013
center cabling. Data center cable management is one of the most important aspects of data center design and operation. The performance, reliability and flexibility of the data center are all tied in strongly to the systematic execution of this on-going activity. The lack of cable management impacts serviceability and availability whereas a good strategy can enable rapid and dynamic scaling of the IT infrastructure
while minimizing the downtime required for these changes.
Cut Risks not Costs Tight budgets coupled with the expectation to still deliver the best technology solutions means that IT managers are sometimes tempted to cut corners and often the physical infrastructure is the first target of such efforts. At first glance, opting for lower quality cables and connectors may seem
like a viable option. But given that cabling generally accounts for a mere 5 to 10 percent of the over cost of the data center, the trade-off rarely reaps dividends in the long run. Low quality cabling can create multiple points of failure that are often difficult to pin-point. Investing instead in cabling solutions which meet industry standards can provide the robust physical backbone upon which the modern data center can be built.
Use Patch Panel in Racks Another means employed to reduce costs if to perform cable connections by plugging crimp-on connectors directly into networking equipment. But any changes down the line would result in a great deal of confusion since the haphazard nature of this approach makes management a nightmare. Opt instead to use patch panels in each rack whenever possible. This is possibly the most effective method for cable management. While this does entail an initial investment, the long term benefits of simplified management; and speed and flexibility at the time of upgrades and changes will justify the expenditure. Furthermore, the highdensity of these solutions can lead to vital space savings in the data center. New high density (HD) patch panels offer 48 RJ45 ports in a single compact unit. This means less room needed for cabling allowing a larger number of active components to fit into a cabinet. HD panels therefore provide a foundation for building up modern highperformance data networks operated with 10 and 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet. Furthermore, thanks to their inherent strain relief, the cables lie in a straight line and cannot be twisted. This is an important prerequisite for stable signal transmission in copper cables
"Although cabling represents a fraction of the overall cost of the data center, given its lifetime in comparison to active equipment, it is no doubt the most complex and costly component to replace."
and enhancing the longevity of the cables. Large organizations can further simplify cable management by utilizing angled patch panels. These allow data center managers to make better use of the space at the front of the rack. Instead of threading patch cords though horizontal brackets at the front, they can be laid in side brackets and then plugged directly into the connector sockets. This method is also easier on the patch cords because they no longer have to be bent and threaded into the clips at the front of the rack. The best way to employ these patch panels would be to utilize angled patch panels within high-density areas, such as the cable distribution areas and straight patch panels at the distribution racks.
Cable Naming and Colour Coding Logical naming that will uniquely and easily identify each cabling in the data center can greatly accelerate cable tracking and thus the troubleshooting process. While these naming conventions simplify management, it should be noted that identifiers such as server name, port name and switch name should not be a
part of the scheme as active equipment is changed far more frequently than the cabling infrastructure. Efficiency can be further increased by the colour coding of cables according to the purpose of the connection. Different colours maybe assigned for cabinet to cabinet, backup network, Storage Area Network (SAN), public network, uplink connections etc. for easy identification. Leading cable vendors offer a high degree of customization and both naming and colour coding can be easily adopted by selecting the right vendor partner.
Preterminated Fiber and Copper Cabling Systems The modularity of preterminated cabling solutions in the data center enables fast installation times and swift upgrades, which together reduce the total cost of network ownership. The plug-andplay nature of these systems means that installation does not require skilled specialists. Rapid modifications are also possible as these systems lend themselves perfectly to moves and changes. Also, the high-density design of these solutions conserves valuable data center
real estate. PreTerminated copper or fiber cables are easily customized, easily installed and since they eliminate cable slack, they improve air circulation in data centers and thus the excess energy consumption.
Remove Abandoned Cables While this may seem to be a logical given, it is not unusual to see unused and abandoned cables cluttering the floors of data centers. Apart from being a general inconvenience and an eyesore, such stray cables raise more serious concerns such as restricting airflow thereby reducing cooling efficiency. They also present a fire hazard. Removal of unused cables, although all too often overlooked, is therefore a must. Although cabling represents a fraction of the overall cost of the data center, given its lifetime in comparison to active equipment, it is no doubt the most complex and costly component to replace. By utilizing the tips mentioned above, data center administrators can reap the benefits of simplified cable management, ease of troubleshooting, reduced cost of operation due to better air circulation and best of all, better return on invest though the maximum utilization of the physical infrastructure even as active components go through their never-ending upgrade cycles. May 2013  |  29
InSight | Sourcefire
Anthony Perridge, channel director EMEA, Sourcefire writes about how to raise ourselves to face the challenges from a new class of attackers.
Combating The Next Cyber security Threat Cycle T
he first PC viruses appeared more than 25 years ago. Little did we realize that this was just the beginning of what would become a series of threat waves. For nearly 10 years viruses endured as the primary method of attack, butover time were largely matched by defenders’ talents to block and protect against them. Motivated by the notoriety and knowledge gained by discovering and publicizing a new vulnerability, attackers
30 | May 2013
continued to innovate. What ensued were distinct threat cycles. Approximately every five yearsattackers would launch new types of threats and defenders would protect against them – from macro viruses to worms to spyware and rootkits. It’s no surprise that we can map these cycles to major technology shifts that presented new attack vectors. Early viruses targeted primarily the operating system and were spread by the ‘sneaker net.’
Macro viruses took advantage of users sharing files. Wormtype threats that moved from machine to machine leveraged enterprise networks and the increasing use of the internet. And spyware and rootkits emerged withnew applications, devices and online communities. This brings us to today,when we find ourselves combattingadvanced malware, targeted attacks and advanced persistent threats (APTs). Is this just the latest threat wave, or
is this more akin to a tsunami? A confluence of factors makes these threats more damaging than anything we have experienced in the past. These factors include: • An explosion of attack vectors. The advent of mobilization, bring your own devices (BYOD), virtualization and the cloud have spurred a breadth of new devices, infrastructure and networks, and a range of operating systems and applications that provide new, efficient
mechanisms to transport malware and conduct attacks. And while social media, mobile applications, web sites and web-enabled applications have created new ways for a variety of users to connect (employees, partners, customers), they have also exposed individuals and organizations to new inbound and outbound security threats. • Market dynamics. The organized exchange of exploits is growing in strength and become lucrative with the open market helping to fuel this shift from exploitation to disruption and destruction. And as nefarious types have realized there is value to be gained, the work has become more standardized, mechanized and process driven. Its even common practice now for hacker groups to follow software development processes, like QA testing or bench testing their products against security technologies before releasing them into the wild. • Stealthier attacks. There are now significant financial incentives for secrecy and many organizations motivated to launch attacks that result in economic or political gain, with little chance of retribution or prosecution.New methods to circumvent protection like port hopping, tunneling, droppers and botnets have made it easier, faster and cheaper for hackers to get in and increasingly difficult for
"It’s no longer enough to focus solely on detection and blocking. When an attack does happen we need to be prepared to marginalize the impact of an attack and stop reinfection."
defenders to see them and keep them out. Compounding the elusiveness, the attacks themselves can change rapidly as they progress through the enterpriseseeking a persistent foothold and exfiltrating critical data. So, how do we raise our game to defeat this new class of attackers? It’s no longer enough to focus solely on detection and blocking. When an attack does happen we need to be prepared to marginalize the impact of an attack and stop reinfection. This requires expanding our vigilance with an approach that enables visibility and control across the enterprise and along the full attack continuum. Below are five steps to consider as you evolve your security strategy: 1. Detect and Block at the Perimeterand Inside the Network. It’s good practice to handle threats as close to the perimeter as possible to prevent malware from entering the network and potentially infecting endpoint devices. Consider a network-based malware detection appliance that can identify and protect against malware without sacrificing performance. However, even the best detection and blocking only goes so far.Once advanced
malware enters your network, assume it will attempt to infect other systems until reaching the ultimate target. It’s wise to also look for malware and other attacks on protected network segments housing sensitive technology assets. 2. Assess and Protect Endpoints. A layered defense is your best strategy; endpoints aren’t always connected to a corporate network and thus need protection too. Identify endpoint protection solutions that are lightweight and don’t hinder device performance to ensure user experience isn’t impacted. 3. Analyze Threats through Context. Not all threats are created equal. Technologies that see and correlate extensive amounts of event data can use this context to pinpoint compromised devices based on behavioral characteristics. By maintainingvisibility of all file activity happening within the organizationand tracking egress traffic, you can watch for exfiltration of critical data and communication with malicious sitesto identifytargeted systems that might have gone unnoticed. 4. Eradicate Malware and Prevent Reinfection. Upon finding a malware infection, simply quarantining the device
and cleaning it isn’t enough. To eliminate the malware and prevent reinfection consider technologies that can track every file on every deviceso that you canidentify ‘Patient Zero’ (the first malware victim), the malware trajectory and all instances throughout the enterprise. 5. Remediate Attacks with Retrospective Security. Advanced malware protection should also alert about files subsequently identified as malware for retrospective remediation. Blocking or continuing to track and analyze suspicious files against realtime threat intelligence is particularly important in this latest threat wave with attacks that can constantly change once they’ve entered the network. And remember, before you breathe a sigh of relief leverage what you’ve learned along these five steps and be sure to implement integrated rules on the perimeter security gateway, within security appliances protecting internal networks and on endpoints to detect and block the same attack. This latest threat cycle is like nothing we’ve ever seen. But just as attackers have continued to innovate so have we as defenders. By using the latest techniques and technologies we can mitigate the damage from these advanced threats and protect ourselves from future attacks. May 2013 | 31
eyetech
HP ProLiant Moonshot server Overview The new HP Moonshot system is the second-generation server from HP’s Project Moonshot. This new class of server is engineered to address the IT challenges created by social, cloud, mobile and big data. HP Moonshot servers are built from chips more commonly found in smartphones and tablets, which allow the servers to deliver reduced energy use and a high-density footprint, all at a significantly lower cost. The HP Moonshot platform consists of the HP Moonshot 1500 system and application-optimized HP ProLiant Moonshot servers. These servers will offer processors from multiple HP partners, each targeting a specific workload. Scheduled to be released in the second half of 2013, the new HP ProLiant Moonshot servers will support emerging web, cloud and massive scale environments, as well as analytics and telecommunications. Future servers will be delivered for big data, highperformance computing, gaming, financial services, genomics, facial recognition, video analysis and other applications. With support for up to1,800 servers per rack, HP Moonshot servers occupy one-eighth of the space required by traditional servers. This offers a compelling solution to the problem of physical data center space. Each chassis shares traditional components including the fabric, HP Integrated Lights Out (iLo) management, power supply and cooling fans. These shared components reduce complexity as well as add to the reduction in energy use and space.
Key features: • • •
The new system delivers compelling new infrastructure economics by using up to 89 percent less energy, 80 percent less space and costing less than 77 percent compared to traditional servers. The first HP ProLiant Moonshot server is available with the Intel Atom S1200 processor and supports web-hosting workloads. HP Moonshot 1500, a 4.3u server enclosure, is fully equipped with 45 Intel-based cartridges, one network switch and supporting components.
32 | May 2013
Tripp Lite 3-Phase UPS Systems Overview: TrippLite, a world-leading manufacturer of power protection equipment, has introduced in the Middle East a new line of high-capacity 3-phase UPS systems. The portfolio – comprising models SU80KX2, SU100KX2 and SU120KX2 – has been designed to protect critical systems, eliminate downtime and lower costs in data centres and other high-density applications that are crucial to companies across the region. With advanced features like ideal power output, modular architecture and parallel capabilities, Tripp Lite’s new UPS systemsprovide powerful, costeffective protection for vital data centre or server room equipment. The products’ extreme efficiency and 1-to-1 generator sizing can lower costs during installation and day-to-day operation, while scalable capacity and expandable battery runtime allow the UPS infrastructure to grow with the data centre.
Key features: • Up to 120kVA individual capacity, 480kVA in parallel • On-line, double-conversion operation delivers pure sine wave output and isolates equipment from power problems • Scalable, modular N+1 redundant architecture helps ensure 100 per cent availability • Parallel capability (up to four units) allows expanded load capacity or provides fault redundancy • Up to 97 per cent efficiency lowers power and cooling costs • High input power factor and IGBT rectifier with DSP control produce less than 4 per cent THDi, enabling 1-to-1 generator sizing that eliminates over-sizing costs • Hot-swap internal power modules and expandable runtime with stand alone external battery packs • Built in DB9 communication port works with included PowerAlert software to provide remote monitoring and control
ADATA SX1000L SSD
Silver Peak’s Data Acceleration Software Overview
Overview: ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash storage application products, announced the launch of the enterprise grade SX1000L solid state drive (SSD). While the company is well-established in the consumer SSD market, this is ADATA’s first offering specifically tailored towards server applications.Taking advantage of its expertise in NAND flash memory technology, ADATA is emphasizing the reliability and performance of the SX1000L.
Key features: • The SX1000Lemploys static wear-leveling technology to maximize device mean time between failures (MTBF) to 1,500,000 hours, providing the long-term dependability required by high density computing and heavy load server operations. • Available in 2.5” standard SATA form factor, the SX1000L implements advanced controller technology to enhance read/ write performance. Sequential read speeds reach 560 MB/sec, and sequential write is as high as 340 MB/sec, with IOPS of 73,000 and 45,000 (Maximum 4K random read and write, • Enhanced power-loss data protection, easy monitoring of the drive quality through SMART command, and flexible (user-defined) over- provisioning adjustment, all set the SX1000L apart from many similar models currently available.
Silver Peak’s data acceleration software enables network, storage, and virtualization professionals to move data quickly over any distance.This makes Silver Peak strategic to various IT initiatives, from data replication and virtualization to server centralization and office consolidation. Following are Silver Peak’s main product categories: WAN optimization: Silver Peak’s VX (virtual) and NX (physical) products maximize the performance of all voice, video and data traffic over the WAN and lower ongoing Telco costs with real-time WAN optimization. Replication Acceleration: VRX software enables companies to meet Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and lower disaster recovery costs with faster, more efficient data replication.
Key features: • • • • • • •
Real-time network optimization. Silver Peak’s data acceleration software optimizes WAN performance by maximizing available bandwidth, overcoming distance challenges due to latency, and fixing packet delivery issues on shared networks. Industry leading scalability. Twenty times the capacity of competing data acceleration solutions. Set it and forget it. Works on all applications, regardless of protocol or version. No application-specific configuration or software required. Single solution.One, easy to deploy solution for all your data acceleration needs Flexible pricing. Perpetual and subscription-based (pay as you go or pay as you grow) pricing protects your investment against changing IT requirements. No hardware dependencies. Virtual software delivers the same performance and scalability as physical appliances, plus runs on any hardware supporting major hypervisors. Downloadable anytime. All virtual products available with Free 30 day trial at www.silver-peak.com/ marketplace
• The long write endurance and the 5 year warranty of the SX1000L make it extremely suitable for read-centric servers such as web and VOD (Video on demand) servers. • Notably, the ADATA SX1000L provides greater over- provisioning with higher efficient data compression than is often seen in general SSD controllers. • The SX1000L SSD will be available in capacities of 100GB and 200GB.
May 2013 | 33
Stats & Trends
Symantec Survey Reveals Mobility Trends
T
wo distinct types of organizations emerge from Symantec’s recent 2013 State of Mobility Survey – “Innovators” who readily embrace mobility and “Traditionals” who are reluctant to implement it. Eighty four percent of innovators are moving ahead with mobility, motivated by business drivers, and they are experiencing significant benefits. Traditional organizations are implementing mobility more slowly, largely in response to user demand, and are seeing both fewer costs and benefits. The two groups perceive the benefits and risks of mobility differently. Among innovators, 66 % say the benefits are worth the risks, while 74 % of traditional businesses feel the risks are not worth it. This is reflected in the rate of mobility adoption, with 50 percent more employees using smartphones for business among innovators than among traditional organizations. More than half of innovators (55 %) are also taking control of purchasing phones for employees, compared to 44 % of traditionals. When it comes to the innovators, company involvement doesn’t stop with purchasing the phones. They also more often have mobility policies, and they are twice as likely to use technology to enforce their policies (60 percent in the innovators as opposed to 33 % among traditionals).
Costs and Benefits With the innovators taking more advantage of mobility, they are also seeing more costs associated with it. In fact, they averaged
twice as many mobile incidents during the last year, such as lost devices and data breaches, leading to consequences such as regulatory fines and lost revenue. The innovators are also experiencing far more benefits, in three key areas: • Increased productivity, speed and agility • Improvements in brand value, customer happiness and overall competitiveness • Happier employees and improved recruiting and retention rates Most importantly, however, the innovators are experiencing nearly 50 % higher revenue growth than traditionals (44 % vs. 30 %).
Effective Mobile Implementation The following guidelines can help organizations make the most of their mobile deployment while reducing risks: • Being cautious about mobility is okay. Being resistant is not. Start embracing it. Organizations should take a proactive approach and carefully plan an effective mobile implementation strategy. • Start with the apps with greatest productivity benefits for employees. One of the best ways to get started with mobility is to implement mobile apps that will have an immediate impact on the business. • Learn from the innovators – get the benefits while minimizing the risks. The key is to be aware of the risks associated with mobility such as information loss, and to follow the example of the innovators.
SSDs to Account for One-Third of Worldwide PC Storage Shipments by 2017
G
lobal shipments of solid state drives (SSD) in PCs are in 2012. set to rise by a factor of seven by 2017, allowing them The SSD space includes the cache SSD segment where to claim more than one-third of the market for PC storage NAND flash is used alongside a hard disk drive, as well as a solutions by that time, according to an IHS iSuppli Storage separate segment in which NAND flash is embedded on top Market Tracker Report from information and analytics provider of an HDD in an integrated, hybrid form factor. IHS. SSD shipments in PCs will rise to 227 million units Worldwide Shipment Forecast for HDDs and SSDs in PCs (Millions of Units) in 2017, up more than 600 percent from 31 million 500 in 2012. Meanwhile, shipments of PC hard disk drives 400 (HDD) will decline to 410 million in 2017, down 14 percent from 475 million in 2012. 300 The divergent outlook for the two products will 200 allow SSDs to climb and claim 36 percent of the PC 100 storage market in 2017, up from just 6 percent in 2012. At the same time, HDDs will see their long-term 0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 dominance in PCs erode, with their share falling to 64 HDD SSD Source: IHS Inc., April 2013 percent in 2017, down from a commanding 94 percent
34 | May 2013
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> Executive summary
Contents 1 2 7 7 9 10
Data center scaling Years
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©2013 Schneider Electric. All Rights Reserved. Schneider Electric, APC, InfraStruxure, and Business-wise, Future-driven are trademarks owned by Schneider Electric Industries SAS or its affiliated companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. www.schneider-electric.com • 998-1187559_A_US_B
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