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Editorial
Cover Feature - 18
NAS on the Growth Curve
Survival of the Smartest M
ore than 150 years ago, Charles Darwin released his theory of ‘Biological Evolution’. Later on Herbert Spencer described Darwin’s theory by using the phrase ‘Survival of the fittest’. The crux of his theory is -- Only those have survived who showed strong evidences of adaptability or those who have changed according to the conditions. This 150 year old theory has a new and strong message for today’s information technology sector and it’s stakeholders. We are witnessing a great change in our lives and societies. Our technology consumption patterns are changing, the virtue of ‘smart’ is widely getting accepted. We are experiencing smart phones, smart homes, smart cities and most importantly the phenomena of ‘Internet of Things’ has come up as a future of technology. Now, considering the relevance of this theory, we can say that in today’s IT industry is going to witness ‘The Survival of the Smartest’. This smart transformation is expected to be witnessed during this year’s Gitex Technology Week, Dubai. Technology organizations from world over are set to showcase their strength in Dubai during the Gitex Show. This issue of The Integrator has highlighted some of the key transformations that are happening. How the IT system integrator, solution provider segment is adapting towards this change is the key question. The cover story is this issue has examined the market status of NAS and how enterprises storage patterns are evolving. It is very important for every IT industry stakeholder to show it’s adaptive capability. Because change according to the conditions is the survival mantra in the world.
Rising demand from SMB and enterprise users in the region for reliable backup solutions is seeing NAS market riding high
News In Detail
ManageEngine Accelerates Active Directory Investigation - 12
Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon Deploys Aruba Wi-Fi - 14 TechKnow
Etisalat Strengthens Enterprise Mobility - 26 Etisalat has join hands with Kony, a leading enterprise mobility company, in providing its enterprise customers with a rich collection of pre-built enterprise apps and app models.
Linksys Commits Support to Intel’s IoT Lab Dubai - 28 Linksys provides the entire network solutions for Intel’s IoT lab from its SMB portfolio.
Point2Point
Unlocking the Security of Cloud - 16
Maya Zakhour, Channel Director – Middle East, Fortinet, shared key insights of cloud adoption and emphasized the evolving role of partners with the emergence of Cloud.
Product Innovation is the Key for Axis - 17
Marwan Khoury, Marketing Manager, Middle East and Africa – Axis Communications explained interesting insights on video surveillance market in the Middle East Region
Hyper Convergence is in Demand - 24 K. S. Parag, Managing Director, FVC, explained his observations on evolving technology market dynamics
Insight
DevOps Early Adopters Say Open Source and PaaS are Key - 30
Open source use spanned a variety of technologies including operating systems such as Linux, cloud infrastructure, platform-as-a-service and infrastructure monitoring.
Regulars
Faiz Askari Senior Editor
News Bytes Eyetech Stats & trends
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News Bytes
IBM, HCL Technologies Join Hands IoT IBM and HCL Technologies have formed a strategic initiative to accelerate the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT). In October, the partners will be opening an Incubation Centre in Noida, India, where they will jointly develop IoT solutions. Chris O’Connor, General Manager of Offerings, Internet of Things, IBM, said, “IBM and HCL see a huge market transformation in process. It’s not a single industry or a single space. The notion that sensors and the interconnectivity of sensors is widely available is changing everything. The real problem today is making the business adjustments necessary to take advantage of these capabilities.” “The intersection of employees, data and technology-enabled intelligent machines is creating fundamental shifts in enterprise business models, leading to not only increased productivity and efficiency, but also opening a plethora of new revenue opportunities for companies,” explains Sukamal Banerjee, Executive Vice President, Engineering and R&D Services, and Head of IoT Business, HCL Technologies. “Our partnership with IBM will provide replicable use cases and POCs for companies and enable accelerated adoption of IoT within and across industries.” The partnership will initially focus on specific verticals, including industrial and manufacturing and smart facilities. Specifically, they will co-develop solutions around “connected products and operations” like remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, smart inventory/asset management, smart building and facility management and others.
4 | September 2015
Brocade Extends Leadership in Open Source Software-Defined Networking Brocade announced the launch of Brocade SDN Controller 2.0, a commercial distribution of the OpenDaylight (ODL) controller based on the Lithium ODL release, and two new software-defined networking (SDN) applications— Brocade Topology Manager and Brocade Flow Manager. These new solutions reinforce Brocade’s leadership in open source SDN, providing greater innovation, interoperability and choice while eliminating vendor lockin for customers. New SDN applications complement this latest release of the Brocade SDN Controller. The Brocade Topology Manager, a free SDN application, displays discovered network topology, allowing administrators to create a list of nodes and conduct simple searches for nodes. The Brocade Flow Manager extends the capabilities of the Brocade Topology Manager by enabling users to view and interact with the network topology using near-real-time information to perform traffic engineering and network segmentation based on end-to-end flow views. “Brocade’s strategy is driven by the very close collaboration we have with our leading service provider and enterprise customers to deliver unique networking products and solutions that speed their transition to the New IP, and software is increasingly central to that pursuit,” said Kelly Herrell, senior vice president and general manager, Software Networking, Brocade. “Delivering open solutions like the Brocade SDN Controller 2.0 and related applications, packaged with a full complement of education and services, will facilitate the smooth journey to SDN for customers worldwide.”
Juniper partners with Aerohive for cloud WLANs Juniper Networks and Aerohive Networks have recently formed a technology alliance to deliver a simple, secure, and cloud-managed wired and wireless solution to distributed enterprises, including in retail, K-12 education, as well as state and local government customer segments. Aerohive cloud Wi-Fi solutions coupled with Juniper Networks high-performance switches, comprehensive network management, and security solutions will help enterprises simplify network planning, orchestration, and deployment. Denise Shiffman, corporate vice president, Switching and Security Products & Solutions, Juniper Networks, said, “We build innovative solutions that reduce complexity and scale with our customers, enabling them to quickly bring new services to market and deliver richer end-user experiences. Teaming up with Aerohive allows us to deliver an intelligent wired and wireless solution that provides customers with a non-disruptive way to evolve their enterprise networks and move to cloud-enabled networks that enhance the customer experience.” The increasing consumption of applications and mobile-first access in the workplace is driving tremendous change in wireless and wired network infrastructure for today’s distributed enterprises. Businesses face new challenges of securing the network for a diverse set of devices with effective strategies for guests, bring your own device (BYOD), and Internet of Things (IoT). At the same time, organisations need to provide a secure, scalable, and high-performance network infrastructure from the wireless edge to the core, all with shrinking IT budgets and a lack of IT expertise at enterprise branch locations. To address these challenges, Aerohive and Juniper together deliver an interoperable solution for enterprises.
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News Bytes
Elitecore launches CRM and mobile apps for 24online Elitecore Technologies launched customer relationship management (CRM) and mobile applications for its 24online service management system (SMS). 24online CRM comes with an array of features such as trouble ticketing, workflow management, calendar and alerts. It also has an admin dashboard which can help ISPs streamline internal as well as external business processes. The CRM is integrated with the 24online billing server so it can be deployed seamlessly without high network level challenges and disruptions. According to an official statement of the company, in order to enhance the ease of use and connectivity on the move, 24online also now has a mobile app for admin and subscribers. Using the admin app, users managing the system can perform actions like user renewal, user disconnection, live user search, user Internet plan, check system health and generate reports. Meanwhile, subscribers using the app can manage their data usage, Internet plan, bills and renewals. Samiksh Aggarwal, AVP, Sales Data Networks, Elitecore Technologies, says, “We have developed CRM solution, keeping in view the growing ISP requirements to streamline their critical business requirements of sales, business development and support.” “The introduction of 24online app would give on-the-move flexibility to the subscribers through which they can easily connect and manage their accounts, while admin users through their apps will be able to perform various admin level actions,” he added.
6 | September 2015
Cisco Restructures IoE & Cloud Operations In another organizational restructuring, Cisco is set to streamline its Internet of Everything (IoE) and cloud operations, expanding the roles of two of company’s key executives. Cisco is consolidating all of Cisco’s IoE software businesses under Rowan Trollope, currently Senior Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Collaboration Technology Group, and will also be replacing Kip Compton, as the leader of its IoT (Internet of Things) Systems and Software Group. Compton will be reassigned to an as yet unannounced position within Cisco. Cisco is also consolidating three separate cloud organisations under one executive – Yvette Kanouff, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Service Provider Video Software & Solutions Group. Kanouff and Trollope will continue to report to Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer Pankaj Patel. Now reporting to Trollope will be Mala Anand, Senior VP of Cisco’s Services Platforms Group; John Oberon, who leads IoT Software; and Tony Shakib, who leads Cisco’s Industry Vertical Solutions Group. IoT Systems will be realigned to the Cisco’s Core Product Groups as it becomes more of a mainstream product category within the company. IoT Systems Hardware, led by Richard House, will be part of Senior Vice President and General Manager Ravi Cherukuri’s core hardware group; and IoT Systems Software, led by Rajeev Taneja, will be part of Senior Vice President and General Manager Ravi Chandrasekaran’s core software organisation. Now reporting to Kanouff will be Gee Rittenhouse, Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Cloud Virtualisation Group; and Faiyaz Shahpurwala, Senior Vice President of Cisco’s Cloud Infrastructure and Managed Services organisation. Kanouff will also continue to oversee the Service Provider Video Software & Solutions Group. New CEO Chuck Robbins has been looking to flatten Cisco’s organizational structure in an effort to accelerate operations since he was named CEO in May.
Infoblox Brings First Enterprise-Grade DDI Solution with Identity Mapping Infoblox Inc., the network control company, announced Infoblox Identity Mapping, which bridges the gap between network security and user identity by intelligently correlating two previously separate sets of data, making it easier for network administrators to locate the source of security events, track mobile devices, monitor network usage and more. Infoblox is the industry leader in enterprise-grade DNS, DHCP and IP address management, the category known as DDI. With Infoblox Identity Mapping, IP address tracked by Infoblox can be linked to user authentication events in Microsoft Active Directory logs – the first time an enterprise-grade DDI solution has been able to make this connection. Until now, figuring out the relationship between network IP addresses and actual users has been difficult, error prone, and time-consuming. Infoblox, a Microsoft Gold Partner, brings Active Directory data into its IP address management (IPAM) database, providing a single point of control where end-user identities are linked with IP addresses and network activity. No additional software or agents are required to provide this connection. Beyond Microsoft Active Directory, Infoblox has created Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow customers to connect their DDI platforms to other third-party data sources to further enrich that value of their IPAM data. “Infoblox built its business on elevating raw network data into actionable information, and we’re continuing that commitment to innovation with Infoblox Identity Mapping,” said Jonathan Gohstand, vice president of product management at Infoblox.
Gitex 2015
eHDF To Bring Enhanced Managed Hosting, Cloud & DR Services eHosting DataFort (eHDF), region’s leading managed hosting and cloud infrastructure services provider, has confirmed its participation in GITEX Technology Week 2015, being held from October 18 - 22. Located at the Cloud Confex area in Hall 6, stand number CLD -19, eHDF will showcase its enhanced Managed Hosting, Cloud Infrastructure and Disaster Recovery services. Speaking on their participation, Yasser Zeineldin, CEO, eHosting DataFort said: “GITEX is a great networking platform to meet existing customers and build new relations. It draws many SMEs and large enterprises from around the region seeking IT solutions and our participation in the event allows us to share our latest service innovations with the market. The event also allows us to gain deeper insights into regional requirements, and we are definitely looking forward to yet another successful week at GITEX 2015.” According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the market for managed and data centre services in the UAE will grow at a CAGR of 19.8% between 2013 and 2018 to reach a total of $971.8m by 2018. eHDF has seen significant growth in the uptake of its core services such as Managed Hosting, Disaster Recovery and Hosted Private Cloud over the last year. The company will showcase these offerings and highlight enhancements made to these services. These enhancements include data centre upgrades, technology refresh and new network, security and storage technologies that augment and support these services. Demonstrations and presentations on the stand will provide deeper understanding into these robust and reliable IT solutions.
8 | September 2015
Focus Softnet to showcase Focus 8 at GITEX 2015
Focus Softnet will be showcasing the tremendous leaps in product enhancement that they have brought about in their flagship new product, Focus 8, and their other mainstream solutions such as the Focus CRM Suite, with the Sales & Service, Facilities Management, and Property Management solutions, as well as the Focus Retail Suite, which includes the Focus Point of Sale and Focus Restaurant Management Systems, at the 35th anniversary edition of GITEX Technology Week 2015. In addition to this, Focus Softnet will use GITEX, the largest ICT exhibition in the Middle East, to showcase its successful range of generic and vertical specific enterprise software solutions for various industries including manufacturing, trading, healthcare, services, and real estate, to name a few, and showcase their aggressive partnership model as well. Focus Softnet will also promote its Managed Services, HR and Recruitment services, Business Process Consulting and implementations services to partners and customers from across the region. “Ever since Focus Softnet set up base in the UAE, we have not missed participating in a single GITEX. The event provides us with an opportunity to meet customers, partners and potential partners. Given the reach of the platform, GITEX brings together enterprises from across the GCC and Africa, allowing us to the ability to increase the awareness of our brand, products and services to a larger audience. As with every year, this year we hope to sign a few new partnerships and hold product demos for our customers and partners while highlighting that our solutions are highly customizable and can be adapted to suit our customers’ business needs,” said Ali Hyder, Group CEO of Focus Softnet. The main product to be showcased at GITEX will be Focus 8, the company’s flagship new generation ERP that fully integrates a comprehensive BI tool and provides real-time, multi-dimensional posting of transactions which result in real-time reports. Also on the list of products will be Focus Softnet’s Focus i, a revolutionary mid-tier ERP solution with fully integrated with Business Intelligence (BI) tools, and the complete range of Focus’ ERP solutions, equipped with Financials Management, Supply Chain, HCM, and other related modules. Focus will also demonstrate its vertical specific capabilities through demonstrations of the enhancements within the Focus CRM Suite, Focus Retail Management Suite, as well as the various other industry specific solutions including INSTA, Focus’ healthcare industry solution. This platform will also provide an opportunity to promote Focus Softnet’s Managed Services, HR and Recruitment services, Business Process Consulting and implementations services to customers across the region. Focus Softnet will be exhibiting at Stand D7-20 in Hall 7 where visitors can meet with technology experts from the company’s development team to understand the features and benefits of Focus’ highly customizable products.
Gitex 2015
Infor to Showcase CloudSuite at Gitex 2015
Infor, the cloud company, will showcase Infor CloudSuite solutions at GITEX 2015 to be held at Dubai World Trade Center from October 18-22. Infor CloudSuite is a focused set of cloudenabled, industry specific applications that are engineered to preserve and accelerate the value of customers’ investments by addressing the challenges of a dynamic business environment. “At Infor, we realize that each industry and more specifically each micro-vertical, has its own set of unique challenges and dynamics. Rather than take a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach that puts the onus on the customer to make the necessary customizations, we are focused on delivering business applications with last mile functionality,” said Monzer Tohme, Country Manager – Middle East at Infor. “Also, we see the cloud as a critical business enabler and as more and more businesses in the region begin to make the transition, we plan on accompanying them on this journey by delivering our industry leading micro-vertical solutions in the Cloud. Today we have more than 2800 CloudSuite customers with 45+ million users worldwide,” continued Mr. Tohme. Working with strategic channel partners, Infor will showcase CloudSuite solutions for five key verticals – Healthcare, Manufacturing, Public Sector, Office of the Financial Officer (OCFO) and Technology. The booth will feature a series of pods where customers can demo key solutions including Infor Analytics, Infor CRM, Infor EAM, Infor LN, Infor M3, Infor SCM and Infor SyteLine. “It is no secret that there is still a little skepticism among businesses in the region when it comes to the cloud. As a leading cloud company, we believe we have a duty to the region’s ICT community to share our insights and expertise and help regional businesses as they embark on their cloud journey. GITEX provides us with an unparalleled platform to network with industry thought leaders as well as meet with both existing and potential customers and partners”, concluded Mr. Tohme. Infor can be found in Hall 7, Stand B7-30
10 | September 2015
Cutting Edge Security Analytics & Response Platform from Encode Cyber threat management company – Encode will be demonstrating its latest innovations in Security Analytics, Response Orchestration and Cyber Security Operations and Intelligence at GITEX Technology Week, October 18-22, 2015. Commenting on Encode’s participation at GITEX 2015, Dimitris Lambrou, Cyber Defense Strategy & Architecture Manager says, “Between the explosion in trends such as Cloud, Mobile, IoT and Social and ubiquitous connectivity, enterprises today are grappling with the growing threat of cyber-attacks. At Encode, we are committed to helping enterprises combat these malicious attacks by providing an advanced Security Analytics & Response Orchestration platform and Cyber Security Operations and Intelligence. These solutions empower organizations with early warning and adaptive response capabilities against advanced cyber threats.” The company will focus on demonstrating three solutions that were launched earlier this year. Encode’s Security analytics is designed from the ground up to deliver early compromise detection by understanding the “attack logic” and exploitation path of the advanced and determined adversary. This is realized through “focused” Big Data Security Analytics harnessing powerful machine-learning techniques and encapsulated offensive and defensive expertise. Encode’s Response Orchestration system provides advanced Incident Lifecycle Management, by encapsulating and streamlining all core Security Operations Center (SOC) and Cyber Incident Response Center (CIRT) processes. Company’s solution offers a scalable solution for both log management and real time security analysis. With log management, advanced threat detection and policyaware compliance management all combined in Encode’sNG SIEM system, organizations benefit with a tightly integrated solution that quickly and easily delivers corporate-wide security intelligence. Visitors stopping by the Encode booth will also have the opportunity to see demonstrations of Encode’s Security Operation Center in action, where Encode SOC Analysts will illustrate just how an attack develops through its lifecycle and is ultimately identified and contained. “Our competitive advantage comes in the form of a truly integrated use of security analytics calibrated to the cyber kill chain, delivering a unified signature and signature-less breach detection capability in near real time. Our solutions are customer centric, agile and can be delivered as a Managed Security Service, Cloud/SaaS, or on-premises solutions”, continued Mr. Lambrou. “As the technology event in the region, GITEX gives us an unprecedented platform to share our insights and expertise with regional enterprises as well as with other industry thought leaders,” concluded Mr. Lambrou. Encode can be found in Hall 1, Stand C1-3
News In Detail
ManageEngine Accelerates Active Directory Investigation R eal-time IT management company, ManageEngine launched the latest version of ADAudit Plus, its webbased Active Directory (AD) auditing software. The new version includes a search utility that offers a consolidated audit trail, which enables AD administrators to analyze security incidents contextually. The software packs another new feature that provides a bird’s eye view of all the Active Directory changes that occurred in a specified time period. While investigating Active Directory security incidents, administrators must elicit a complete audit trail of what the involved attacker may have done or accessed. Conventional tools, such as Event Viewer and PowerShell, can extract audit data but never offer the complete visibility or context required for such investigations — especially if they involve an insider who’s an AD expert, wherein detection can be complicated. Such situations require that the investigators glean every piece of information that could have had even a remote relevance to the investigation. They then must view that information contextually to establish a relationship, which helps in getting to the bottom of an incident. “From our interactions with our customers, we realized that in addition to
12 | September 2015
quickly tracing the footsteps of a compromised account, administrators investigating AD security alerts or incidents require a little background of what had been done with that account. This lends a perspective that can uncover the roots of an attack or reveal further layers of a multi-pronged attack,” said Balasubramanian Palani, product manager, ManageEngine. “The new search utility of ADAudit Plus can pull in diverse but relevant pieces of forensic information that an investigator would require, and it distills and consolidates that data into a crisp yet context-rich summary, which makes spotting the adversary quicker and easier.”
Detect Threats Using the New ADAudit Plus Search Utility Using the new search utility, administrators can extract a consolidation of three different audit summaries, as listed below, for any user account (including an administrator) for a chosen period. • Actions by the account: This is a summary of all configuration changes that the specified account carried out on other AD objects. • Logon history of the account: Every computer that the account accessed — interactively or remotely — is listed in this summary, along with details such as logon
hours and IP addresses. • Object history: This provides background on the specified account, summarizing what changes have been made to its properties and by whom. For example, it would show who changed the account’s permissions or passwords. Every detail presented in the summary is a link, which, when clicked, displays an elaborate report for closer inspection. Similarly, the search also produces a consolidated audit summary for any given group or computer object, all of which would satisfy a compliance auditor if an account is selected for an audit. From an incident investigation and management standpoint, an administrator can instantly learn what changes an attacker carried out in AD and which computers were compromised. This instant insight enables the
admin to quickly restore secure AD configurations and isolate the compromised computers, thereby mitigating any effects of the attack. Additionally, this search strings together all the clues, which, when analyzed together, offer a context that either exposes an attacker instantly or highlights the indicators of a compromise that lead to the attacker. This capability enables AD administrators to detect threats — especially insider attacks — which could be missed when security events are analyzed as isolated instances. Get a Bird’s Eye View of Active Directory Changes with Aggregated Summary The aggregated summary feature graphically summarizes all changes made to various AD elements (users, computers, groups, OU, DNS and GPO) for a time period specified by the admin.
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News In Detail
T
he use of mobile computing devices such as smartphones and tablets as tools for smart learning is on the rise in the Middle East. Recognizing this, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) in Lebanon has implemented ubiquitous high speed Wi-Fi connectivity across its campus with technologies from Aruba Networks, an HP company. The solution serves as a platform for collaboration, supports voice services for students and faculty, and is being leveraged to increase engagement and satisfaction of guests and visitors who attend the many events, seminars and conferences held at the University. “Wi-Fi opens up a range of possibilities to increase productivity and learning and is imperative to continuous access of information, applications, people and other resources. Our ambitious plan was to make fast, secure and resilient wireless connectivity available across the entire campus, whilst providing our students and staff the very best infrastructure” said Ziad Eid, IT Director at USEK. “With over 8500 students, 1200 instructors, 400 staff and thousands of visitors and guests dependent on this deployment, we knew that we needed the industry leader’s support” As a customer with a six year long business relationship with Aruba, USEK was aware that the vendor had a clearly defined product roadmap that accommodated scalability and future-proofing. Guided by Triple C, an Aruba partner, the University selected Aruba access points (APs) that could support high user density without performance degradation, and extend
14 | September 2015
Owing to the USEK IT team's familiarity with Aruba technologies, and the professional implementation services from Triple C, the project was expertly executed in under a month. Tthe University selected Aruba access points (APs) that could support high user density without performance degradation, and extend coverage across large areas such as the auditorium, theater, cafeteria and outdoor areas.
Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon Deploys Aruba Wi-Fi coverage across large areas such as the auditorium, theater, cafeteria and outdoor areas. Smart features of the Aruba solution such as the ability to prioritize voice traffic from Microsoft Skype for Business, a businesscritical communications application and ClientMatch - the automatic and seamless transitioning of users to the best AP for connectivity, particularly impressed Mr. Eid and his team. USEK decided to use Aruba's 802.11ac products, as these conform to the latest and highest performance international Wi-Fi standard. The large scale project involved the deployment of 570 Aruba AP205 access points for indoor areas, 20 Aruba AP225 access points for the high density common
areas, and 10 Aruba AP275 access points for the outdoor areas. USEK also utilized two Aruba 7220 Mobility Controllers for simplified management of its entire wireless infrastructure. The controllers added a wealth of features including remote management, configuration, reporting, and upgrade from a single pane of glass. Mr. Abdo Karaki, Network and Security Manager at USEK said “We have been very satisfied with Aruba Networks solution. It is constantly reliable and easy to manage. The ClientMatch technology is fantastic and the voice roaming has been significantly enhanced.” Owing to the USEK IT team's familiarity with Aruba technologies, and the professional implementation
services from Triple C, the project was expertly executed in under a month. “The ease of deployment was a crucial factor from a business perspective as it did not cause any disruption to our users. Also, the solution has been designed to provide high scalability supporting thousands of concurrent users from centralized management,” said Bernard Rizk, CEO, Triple C. He added, “With Aruba's wireless infrastructure, we were able to build a true mobility environment with identity-based access where users can seamlessly and securely roam anywhere. Moreover, they offered an outstanding voice quality and provided rich features, especially in voice prioritization.”
At the core of GITEX 2015 is the Internet of Things and a showcase of future technology. Features and highlights of 2015 include GTX Horizons, the region’s largest ever outdoor demonstration of drones, robotics and autonomous vehicles; live 3D print zone, a world class conference series featuring global visionaries from Facebook, BP, Boeing and Alibaba.
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Point2Point | Fortinet
While the industry is surging ahead towards Cloud, security continue to influence the mindsets of customers. However, technologically security of cloud solutions has been strongly focused by the information security players. In an exclusive conversation with Maya Zakhour, Channel Director – Middle East, Fortinet, Faiz Askari, Senior Editor of The Integrator found some key insights related to the cloud adoption. Maya emphasized on the evolving role of partners with the emergence of Cloud and opportunities. She however, also highlighted the status of cloud security aspect in the overall cloud adoption among GCC region.
Maya Zakhour Channel Director ME Fortinet
Unlocking the Security of Cloud Cloud is becoming a great enabler for enterprise. What are the key opportunities from the perspective of security layer on cloud applications? Since cloud applications are internet-based services that are ultimately designed to be accessible, the path to securing them is long, and requires the participation of multiple stakeholders with the right level of expertise. Today, we are already seeing progress new cloud security solutions and applications are regularly appearing, and enterprises are following guidance from brands like Fortinet to engage with cloud providers. The result is that there is now healthy public dialogue
16 | September 2015
over compliance and challenges with trust around the world. How big is this opportunity for partners? The most important victory Fortinet have achieved in this space is that security partners are already vigorously engaged in securing the future, rather than simply protecting the present, and this is a sustainable, longterm opportunity for partners. What level of commitment and capabilities does Fortinet expects from the perspective of the partner's efficiency? To create and maintain a competitive advantage, a partner must commit to
developing a set of capabilities superior to its competitors – this is especially important in a market that is saturated. Partners that make a solid commitment to continuously growing their skillsets are highly appreciated at Fortinet, we work with these committed partners very closely to make sure they are efficient, and enjoy long term profitability. Keeping this in mind, we usually pick the right partner from the start – in this case, the partner will have the right level of specialization to work on the cloud application security layer. How does Fortinet ensure partner's active participation
in the today's evolving business trends? Fortinet is a channel and partner focused company, and ensuring partner success is something that is at the forefront of everything we do. This begins with offering the right products that address current and future trends, while delivering class leading performance and tangible ROI to customers. We also role out enablement tools through our various partner programs and channel activities, and this includes keeping partners up-todate with what’s going on in the market, as well as what’s going on with Fortinet. We also invest in regional resources - we have a technical team in the Middle East that can help partners with any challenges they may face, and this shows partners that Fortinet is keen to help them grow their business. Through these various engagement channels we are able to maintain partner mindshare and participation. Trends such as Software Defined Networks have become big. How is Fortinet is geared up towards ensuring the security element in this? We have recently announced our new Software-Defined Network Security (SDNS) framework – the first of its kind across the industry. This solution is designed to provide advanced threat protection through the integration of security into the modern, agile data center environment. This new framework provides a clear vision and actionable steps in delivering a comprehensive approach to securing the data center, while providing the most extensible platform for infrastructure integration with technology partners including HP, Ixia, PLUMgrid, Pluribus Networks, Extreme Networks and NTT. SDN Security redefines advanced cybersecurity.
Point2Point | Axis Communications Discuss the objectives of the demo/experience center that Axis has unveiled? The Axis Middle East & Africa Experience Center is designed to provide our partners and customers with opportunity to understand the full range of Axis’ innovative products and solutions and to see how they apply to their businesses. It gives us the opportunity to spend valuable time with our guests to exchange ideas. In addition, the center is joined with the training facility, allowing for classroom style presentations and tailor made training upon request. Elaborate how you intend to schedule partner and customer visits? The center is open for all who are interested in visiting. We have had a lot of interest and we are currently scheduling guests from across the region at a rate of two a week. Until now and before you unveiled the experience center, how were you handling demos for partners? Previously the only options we had were to either conduct onsite presentations at the customer premises or to accompany them to existing sites in order for them to gain a real life scenario. Though we will continue to conduct similar demonstrations, the experience center certainly allows us to present various solutions in a controlled environment. Will you replace some cameras as newer models are launched? At Axis, we introduce anywhere from 30-40 new products a year so we will constantly be updating the products on display on a quarterly rate.
In an exclusive conversation with Marwan Khoury, Marketing Manager, Middle East and Africa – Axis Communications VAR Magazine found some interesting insights on video surveillance market in the Middle East region.
Marwan Khoury Director Emerging Markets Belkin
Product Innovation is the Key for Axis With such an exhaustive camera range, do you believe that the 50+ plus installed currently is fairly representative? They certainly are as we include all the key products that address the customers’ requirements for indoor/ outdoor solutions across the various segments we cater to. Discuss how many PTZ cameras are offered by Axis- are these the most in demand in the region? The adoption rate for PTZ cameras in the region has always been high as they support features such as guard tour, tour recording, audio, input/output ports for external alarm devices,
Gatekeeper functionality, auto tracking, AXIS Camera Application Platform for intelligent video applications, and weather-proofing for extremely hot conditions. We offer the full range of PTZ cameras including the latest release of the Q6000-E that features four 2-megapixel sensors, providing a complete 360° field of view over large areas. Integrated with an AXIS Q60-E series camera, which is easily mounted inside the AXIS Q6000-E, the solution offers full overview and the possibility to optically zoom in on any object of interest. This makes the situational awareness camera solution ideal for city surveillance applications such as
monitoring of public squares and parking lots and other open areas. Discuss demand for thermal cameras in the region? Demand for thermal cameras in the region is in high demand. When Axis launched the first thermal network camera in 2010, it opened up a new market for the industry as thermal technology was traditionally used by mainly military and law enforcement. Offering reliable detection in darkness and other challenging conditions, thermal network cameras are a perfect complement to any professional video surveillance system and at an affordable price. September 2015 | 17
Cover Feature | NAS
NAS on the Growth Curve Rising demand from SMB and enterprise users in the region for reliable backup and versatile solutions is seeing NAS market riding high
T
he NAS market continues to grow in both consumer and commercial segments. In the commercial segment, NAS is seen as a very versatile technology for a broad variety of use cases from SMB to even enterprise segment. The global enterprise NAS storage market is set to grow at a CAGR of 25.85% over the period 2014-2019, according to research figures from Research and Markets. For business customers, the key use cases for NAS systems are in backup & disaster recovery, file serving and
18 | September 2015
archiving, shared storage for non-business critical (virtual) servers, collaboration and surveillance. Josua Braun, Worldwide Senior Product Marketing Manager Storage at NETGEAR says, “Typical NAS customers are Small and Medium businesses, but we have many enterprise customers who use NAS devices for departmental storage, as backup targets and in distributed environments with many branch offices. SMB NAS can provide very compelling alternatives for archiving purposes as well.”
Modern NAS systems can scale up to multiple hundreds of TB and provide 10 Gbit connectivity as well as software features that offer many functions that until recently were only available from expensive Enterprise vendors. These include functions like snapshot technology or block-based replication that help customers considerably improve data protection quality. Josua adds, “For NETGEAR, it has always been very important to fulfil the requirements of these customers by
investing in leading edge technologies – for example we are utilizing next gen file systems such as BTRFS and ZFS in our storage systems which make sure that customers benefit from Enterprise-like quality when it comes to system stability and data protection features.” Enhanced NAS systems with are helping build software defined datacenters. More and more customers are using NAS protocols to connect their storage infrastructure in a shared environment, across different types of workloads ranging from traditional file services to databases. Graham Porter (Channel Manager Middle East, North Africa & Pakistan) at NetApp says, “As data centers are more virtualized at the server layer, the software defined approach fits very well with NAS storage infrastructure layers. Additionally, NAS environments are also preferred because they drive down management and operational costs. NetApp NAS file serving solutions help enterprises achieve high levels of business responsiveness and availability for critical file sharing, database, and messaging applications, even with proliferating servers and dispersed IT resources.” NetApp is an innovator in NAS storage and NFS advancements and has been providing unified storage solutions, serving both SAN and NAS workloads, for more than 10 years. The company offers a diverse portfolio of solutions with entry level offerings for SMB and large multipetabytes solutions for enterprises. NAS’s versatility to suit different users segments is a key factor of its popularity. Leading manufacturers including Synology offer a range of products meeting demands across different use case scenarios, from soho to SMB and even enterprise. Victor Wang, Sales Manager at Synology says, “NAS is nowadays designed to fulfill needs of different groups of users, not only for home users and SOHOs, but also for SMBs and large enterprises. From the product line of Synology, we have developed a full range of NAS models and solutions that can meet various demands of users.” For large enterprises that are seeking scalable, high performance and reliable
storage solution that provides uninterrupted service, Synology offers superior performance NAS that supports massive scalability (up to 180HDD) with HA design that can ensure maximized service uptime for business operation. Synology’s virtualization (VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft Hyper-V) and Docker support on NAS offers enterprises a better performance, stability NAS to elevate IT management efficiency. As for SMBs that does not have much budget but would like to have a versatile server that provides comprehensive business applications with relatively Josua Braun Worldwide Senior Product Marketing Manager Netgear
"NAS suits the SMB users quite well. It suits their need for reliable and scalable systems yet that are comparatively priced reasonably. For SMB customers, NAS systems can also function as multimedia, database, or print servers." lower cost, Synology NAS is also an ideal and economical option to play as an allin-one server that provides basic server functions with extra purchase.
NAS for SMB and enterprise NAS suits the SMB users quite well. It suits their need for reliable and scalable systems yet that are comparatively priced reasonably. For SMB customers, NAS systems can also function as multimedia, database, or print servers. Josua says, “In Small and Medium sized businesses traditional backup strategies with daily or even weekly intervals of data protection are not sufficient anymore. Therefore the adoption of Snapshot technologies providing hourly or even less granularity when protecting file and server data (NFS/iSCSI) on the first
storage tier is a clear key trend in SMB. Snapshots, well established for years in Backup Software offerings and Enterprise Storage systems are now available natively on NAS-systems, massively reducing effects of data corruption or human error and significantly improving user productivity. These enterprise capabilities now become more and more available and adopted in the SMB space. SMB customers need solutions that meet their limited budgets and yet do not compromise with performance such as frequently scheduled backups. Further, as these are growing organisations, the scalability to grow storage capabilities is significant. Victor says, “Compared to large enterprises, SMB is more cost sensitive due to limited budget. Also, as the September 2015 | 19
Cover Feature | NAS
Graham Porter Channel Manager, MENA & Pakistan NetApp
storage demands growing with company development, the flexibility of storage scale-up let SMB to effortlessly expand their storage capacity of current NAS deployment along with their growing demand for storage “ Synology recently enhanced its NAS product line for the SMB with the launches of DS215+ & DS715. According to Synology, they meet the demand of companies whihc require high performance all-in-one server with complete cloud solutions for data backup and sharing at affordable price points. “Instead of deploying large scale of data center or renting server services from hosting vendor, Synology NAS, could be an all-in-one server that can plays different roles that meet the needs of SMB’s IT deployment, such as directory server, DNS server, radius server, SSO server, VPN server, and even mail server without extra purchase. The free built-in applications and easy-to-use interface save businesses considerable cost of IT deployment and fee of outsourced management,” adds Victor. Commenting on versatility of NAS, Tim Chen, Sales Manager, QNAP Dubai says, “QNAP NAS is not only a data storage device but also provides application download station inside as like a mobile phone app store. Our engineer team is continually developing new useful features in NAS for customers, include home use. These include multimedia streaming for home users, free
20 | September 2015
Victor Wang Sales Manager Synology
server software which SMB customers will need, stable and high specification hardware for enterprise users etc. QNAP knows demand from different user segments, which is why people trust QNAP to provide great hardware quality and flexible software features to SMB/enterprise.” QNAP is offering solutions with added functionalities for SMB and enterprise users. They are striving to meet specific demands from different user segments. For instance, a QNAP NAS cluster can support up to 912TB capacity and 40GbE network ports for power enterprise users. QNAP provides 1U, 2U, 3U and 4U rack mount NAS serves. These are used in server rooms for data-backup, archiving, Internet/Extranet file sharing Grham says, “NetApp NAS systems can be integrated into the customer’s IT environment with minimal-to-no disruption. Data ONTAP storage operating system running on these storage arrays, provides the storage efficiency features desired by the customer; including deduplication, compression, snapshot, cloning, and on board data protection. Most importantly, scaling up and out can be done non-disruptively by just adding or upgrading nodes in a storage cluster.”
Building the Private Cloud The proliferation of mobile devices in Middle East has boost the growth of cloud storage adoption for data sharing and
storage. Businesses and enterprises all around the world has been leveraging public clouds for their server resources and accessibility of various devices for data access and storage. However, public cloud is still insufficient in terms of data security & privacy, manageability, and scalability. Victor says, “Instead of relying on pure public cloud, private cloud is an ideal way to centrally store the crucial data and files of enterprises with advanced privacy & security protection, higher manageability, and scalability. For those who still have needs of public cloud, Synology also offer an option of public cloud integration into our NAS system, which allows users to customize their cloud storage management.” NAS is enabling companies to build private cloud solutions as an alternative to public cloud which is yet to win over trust for data security when it comes to the most critical information from a company’s perspective. Josua says, “Cloud storage has a lot of advantages – but also some limitations, especially in bandwidth-constraint areas. This is the reason why many of our customers deploy “Personal Cloud” solutions, were the NAS is owned by the customer (or the reseller in a “as a service” setup) and remote access to the NAS on own premises ensures privacy and performance when the data are being accessed in the LAN.” NAS based private clouds are gaining tractions in enterprise environments because of the advantages they offer visà-vis the public cloud options. Tim says, “Now NAS private cloud is a preferred solution for enterprise users, because of stable, flexible feature, easier to configure, easier extensions, multiple features and lower costs. Enterprise users worldwide are changing to NAS structure when they consider to upgrade company storage systems.” According to Josua, the personal cloud is becoming more and more a discussion point especially for smaller customers who do not have complex VPN-solutions in place taking care of remote access and collaboration. He adds, “IT is seeking for ways to reduce “Shadow IT”, for example the extensive use of Dropbox in business
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Cover Feature | NAS able to invest environments "NAS solutions are seeing some significant in complicated which imposes servers and who do incalculable risk success in verticals like surveillance, which requires not have a big IT and cost. Solutions data storage backup and analytics.The huge demand team are preferring that allow for for security solutions and ever improving camera solutions like from “personal cloud our ReadyNAS functionalities” technology are drivers in this market." family , which such as access come in Desktop from anywhere, in H2 2015. In terms of software, we form factory of 2BAY, 4BAY 6BAY and on any device and collaboration on own have developed our own NVR application Rackmount of 4BAYand 12Bay. The user hardware is on the rise. Important though called Surveillance Station, with intuitive can also expand the capacities by adding for these solutions are security aspects, user interface that runs on all of our NAS expansion devices as and when required many vendors require port forwarding, models and works perfectly with users for the desktop series.” as opposed to VPN technology, such as preferred operating system.” NetApp’s Graham agrees that NAS ReadyCLOUD. Also extremely important is Compatible with over 3000 models is finding growing success in the region ease of use. A personal cloud service does of IP cams in the market, Synology with more customers realising the need not have to require more than installing an Surveillance Station is capable to provide for reliable backups and the ease of doing app and setting up a user ID.” up to 64-channel live feeds, play back so with a NAS. He adds that the demand recordings, camera settings management, in the region is high as NAS covers many Surveillance & Other Key and remote monitoring by mobile devices. types of workloads and aligns perfectly Verticals This allows users to monitor physical with the software defined datacenter NAS solutions are seeing some significant environment, anywhere and anytime. approach one can find at the compute or success in verticals like surveillance, which In addition, verticals like healthcare network layer. requires data storage backup and analytics. that need dedicated file servers to store The huge demand for security solutions and ever improving camera technology are all medical records for data search and management might find NAS suitable for drivers in this market. Josua says, “In general, data protection their requirement. Education institutions that seeking for data storage, private cloud and data provisioning – which is the main services for data sharing between faculties purpose of a NAS – is a need for every and students, and also multimedia in vertical. But indeed, we are focusing on learning also makes an ideal fit for NAS some specific areas were we see a lot adoption. of success and demand. One of them is Graham opines that NAS suits different surveillance – were we offer both our own verticals although it may be finding more NVR solution and are compatible with deployments in specific verticals. major NVR software vendors as well as He says, “There is no direct correlation more than 2000 camera models.” as NAS solutions are currently being Other verticals for Netgear in used in a diverse range of verticals offering NAS solutions include branch ranging from banking, oil and gas to office environments, manufacturing and telecommunications. I think factors education. Further, Jousa says that cloud including lower price point, larger services reselling in on the rise from its capacity, and higher performance are resellers. More and more of Netgear’s more relevant in terms of criteria for systems are provided by resellers in a “as surveillance and CCTV solutions than the a service model” with solutions such as storage protocol.” “DRaaS” in place.” Synlogy has identified Surveillance Regional outlook as a specific vertical market that NAS The demand for NAS is reportedly high could offer additional benefits. Further, across the reign as SMBs businesses in the surveillance is a growth segment across region now understand the importance of the region and globally as well and NVR backup and accessibility. Manufacturers solutions with analytics software serves like Netgear have seen healthy demand dual purpose of surveillance as well as Tim Chen analytics of customer traffics and behavior. for their NAS range from SMB clients in Sales Manager the region. Victor says, “Synology is going to QNAP Josua adds, “SMBs who are not release our first dedicated NVR product
22 | September 2015
Point2Point | FVC
K. S. Parag Managing Director FVC
Technologies such as software defined networking. SDN and Hyper Convergence are priority area for us. We are focusing more towards delivering cost effective solutions around these technological trends. Other areas such as applications networking, network optimization are also driving the market. Understanding the market scenarios and technologies that are driving the market demand, K. S. Parag, Managing Director at FVC, had an exclusive interaction with The Integrator magazine and explained some of the key insights related to technologies as well as customer demands
Hyper Convergence is in Demand How is the enterprise market evolving in the Middle East region? Which are new trends you are witnessing in the new market scenario? Market is evolving exponentially and customers are trying their best to control their budgets. Infact, in various cases the customers are reducing their IT budgets as well. With the transformed business conditions, aspects like total cost of ownership, better Return on investments (RoI) or clear RoI are some of the major areas. On such market conditions, cloud solutions seem to have a bright future ahead. Also there will be a lot of scope for
24 | September 2015
managed services. As a strong customer trend, I also observe that security is a great concern. The regulatory framework of Government also ensures that the data should not be placed outside the country. From technological standpoint all these things are very much possible and can be carried out as per the requirement of the project. How the Cloud adoption trend is evolving in the GCC region. What is the status of the hybrid model of cloud? Ideally enterprise organizations are comfortable with cloud model. Apart from the fact that security at some
instances could act as an issue, the cloud adoption is happening at a good pace. Hybrid Model is the most preferred way to start the cloud adoption. It usually takes a lot of time for organizations to actually go for cloud completely. So the hybrid model is a very good option as a stopgap arrangement between conventional technology infrastructures to an advanced cloud based technology model.
solutions because of the peer factor. Enterprise organizations do not want to miss out any ways to impress their customers, they do not want to loose on any front such as faster decision making, quick turn around time for customer centric communications etc. In today’s highly competitive market cloud has emerged as a strong option which can facilitate all this in addition to the organization’s own scalable needs.
According to you, what are the key reasons of Cloud adoptions in the region? There are so many instances in which we have observed that people are adopting cloud
How the overall market trend in the enterprise technology and security is graduating in the Middle East region? Security market will continue
to grow at a you look at this "Education and healthcare segments are becoming regular pace. trend for your I feel that this business? great drivers for us. But other than these two market will not We are witnessing segments, I feel that government, telecom and oil & get affected by huge interest in any sort of global this area. We have gas sectors might not grow exponentially but they will downturns. But deployed some key continue to move in the market." new projects may BYOD deployments get impacted in the region. In as applications networking, will continue to move in the considering the recent ups one of the major deployments, network optimization. We market. and downs of the financial a leading bank in the Middle have recently tied up with markets. Dubai region east region have deployed Fluke Networks in this area. From the perspective of will continue to attract BYOD. Thirdly, we also witness technologies, which are investments in the hospitality information security as a the key trends for your domain. Other regions require How is FVC doing in terms of strong area of action. We are business? aggressive strategies. growth? looking at these three areas as FVC is growing smartly and We took a jump in the area our priority. of technologies in software exponentially. We are a Which are industry In addition to this, I defined networking. SDN is privately held company, close segments showing positive also witness that enterprise a priority area for us. We are to 150 people working from revenue signs for FVC? customers are moving towards close to 8 locations across focusing more towards cost Education and healthcare open stack architecture in effective solutions. Telecom GCC region. Headquartered in segments are becoming great terms of software defined companies will get a great Dubai we tend to cover across drivers for us. But other than networking is concerned. benefit from these solutions. business geographies. As an these two segments, I feel Secondly, we are looking organization we tend to focus that government, telecom and Mobility is catching up. And at hyper convergence as a big on bringing cost effective oil & gas sectors might not BYOD is also a trend how do focus area. Other areas such technology. grow exponentially but they
September 2015  |  25
TechKnow | Etisalat
Salvador Anglada, Chief Business Officer, Etisalat
Etisalat has join hands with Kony, a leading enterprise mobility company, in providing its enterprise customers with a rich collection of pre-built enterprise apps and app models. With this tie-up, customers will get full-spectrum of enterprise mobility solutions and enable strong integration capabilities for complex enterprise applications.
enterprise mobility solutions that will enable our customers to rapidly deliver innovative mobile applications with stunning experiences to drive user adoption. Kony's industry leadership will help us offer enterprises ready-to-run business mobile platform to better engage with their customers and help increase employee productivity, by enabling them to have access to company systems and information through their mobile devices", added Anglada. To further encourage adoption of enterprise mobility, Etisalat is setting up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in the UAE for enterprise mobility, bringing in specialized consultants, operators and developers. This CoEs will help understand business requirements, enabling the cpmpany to offer customized mobility solutions, cloud services, platforms and professional services, which will cater to the customers' mobility app needs for improved business efficiencies. "The comprehensiveness of coverage across the full enterprise mobility lifecycle is Etisalat and Kony's unique differentiator to the eco-system," said Blake P. SallĂŠ,
Etisalat Strenghthen Security of Enterprise Mobility Cloud Solutions E
tisalat announced that it will accelerate adoption of mobility for enterprises in the UAE, enabling business customers to meet their organizational demands through secure cloud-based solutions. In 2015, the IT sector in the UAE is forecast to grow over Dh18 billion from about Dh17 billion last year.[1] More recently, tablet computers have become more popular among consumers as they provide computing power to the user with mobility. This UAE based telecom service provider has collaborated with Kony, a leading enterprise mobility company, in providing its enterprise customers with a rich collection of pre-built enterprise apps and app models, which can be used to quickly assemble and configure secure, enterprise-grade mobile apps. Etisalat will
26  |  September 2015
provide its customers with a full-spectrum of enterprise mobility solutions and enable strong integration capabilities supporting a range of complex enterprise applications. Service level agreements will provide Etisalat's customers guaranteed support for new devices and operating systems. "Etisalat is gearing towards becoming a one-stop IT superstore and offer customers with a rich set of cloud based solutions and applications which includes mobile solutions across the full Software Development Lifecycle, empowering businesses to securely design, build, configure, host and manage multi-edge mobile applications from a single codebase," said Salvador Anglada, Chief Business Officer, Etisalat . "We are partnering with leading suppliers to offer industry-leading
president of Field Operations, Kony, Inc. "No one in the industry today provides this same breadth of capability across all enterprise mobility lifecycle phases. These components of full development lifecycle portfolio can be used individually or combined to streamline workflows, accelerate development timeframes and lower total costs of ownership." Etisalat will offer a comprehensive suite of cloud-based solutions to enable enterprise customers to quickly design, develop, deploy and manage next generation applications on any mobile device, but also integrate them with customers' current IT platforms. This will further augment Etisalat 's offering as an end-to-end IT solutions provider for their enterprise customers.
IaaS Provider
Tenants/Applications/Customers
Array Networks Introduces New Virtualized Appliance with Support for Both Virtual ADC and Virtual SSL VPN Instances Array Networks Inc., a global leader in application delivery networking, announces the immediate availability of its new range AVX7600 virtualized appliance. The AVX7600 can support both ADC and SSL VPN instances and supports up to 16 entry, eight small, four medium or two large virtual appliances per system. Support for pay-as-you-go pricing in quarter-capacity increments, with the option to mix and match virtual appliance sizes, allows cloud providers and enterprises to affordably scale customers or applications on a single high-performance appliance that simultaneously improves management efficiency and reduces requirements for space, power and cooling.
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TechKnow | Linksys
G
lobal leader among networking solutions for the home and small and medium businesses- Linksys has committed its complete support to Intel’s IoT lab has been built in partnership with Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) in Dubai. As part of a CSR project, Linksys is a networking partner offering its innovative SMB portfolio of products in the development of the lab. The IoT Lab is a part of Dubai Government’s Smart City Initiative under Directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and will be an integral part of the Smart Cities Center of Excellence. At the launch event of the Ignition Lab, which was held at Dubai Technology Entrepreneurship Centre (DTEC), Amanulla Khan, Director-MEA of Linksys said, “As a brand which is built on innovation, we are proud to be a part of this milestone. The lab will serve as a centre of motivation to innovate and create and will become a playground for young technology visionaries and innovators. Our networking solutions for the SMB portfolio is showcased in the infrastructural development of the lab” “Facilitation is a great stimulant and this lab will help all things IoT under one roof to stimulate innovolutionand the lab will serve as a bridge between ideas and commercialization of those ideas.” Aman added. The ignition labs initial focus will be to develop and realize the vision of Smart Cities, Smart Homes, Smart Transportation and Smart Retail. Located in Dubai Technology Entrepreneurship Centre (Dtec), Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority’s wholly owned technology incubation centre,
28 | September 2015
Linksys provides the entire network solutions for Intel’s IoT lab from its SMB portfolio. As part of a CSR project, Linksys is a networking partner offering its innovative SMB portfolio of products in the development of the lab.
Linksys Commits Support to Intel’s Internet of Things (IoT) Lab Dubai the lab will collaborate with local companies in promoting novel IoT developments. Considered to be one of the fastest developing areas of the high tech industry, IoT is becoming one of the greatest industry trend and is in great demand. It is being built around the idea of turning any device/ object into a smart one by allowing it to communicate with other devices, via the cloud, and to produce data that
can be used to increase value. While issuing an official statement while launching the IoT lab earlier in September 2015, Nassir Nauthoa, General Manager, Intel Corporation Gulf Countries said, "Globally market opportunities and solutions around IoT continue to gain more prominence. Similarly we believe that the growth potential for IoT in the UAE market is huge given the move towards implementing
the Smart City concept.” He also added, “We look forward to working with local companies and partners to explore ways in which we can help to make our environment a smarter place to live, work and play." In the UAE, the adoption, application, and usage of IoT technologies, impact a variety of domains including security, healthcare, and transportation, said the statement.
Insight | Red Hat
DevOps Early Adopters Say Open Source and PaaS are Key
Gordon Haff Cloud Strategist, Red Hat
Article written by Gordon Haff, Cloud Strategist at Red Hat
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ith DevOps approaches being used to create and run software across an increasingly broad spectrum of organizations, we’re now at the point where we can gain quantitative insights from early adopters about DevOps adoption that go beyond a handful of oft-referenced Web-scale anecdotes. These insights, garnered from an IDC InfoBrief sponsored Red Hat DevOps, Open Source and Business Agility (June 2015) include open source as a top priority enabler, a wide range of benefits from using PaaS, and significantly faster software release cycles. 82 percent of the 220 IT decision makers surveyed identified open source as a critical or significant enabler of their DevOps strategy. Open source use spanned a variety of technologies including operating systems such as Linux, cloud infrastructure, platform-asa-service, provisioning, and
30 | September 2015
infrastructure monitoring. Open source benefits for both IT operations and developer team productivity/agility were cited as benefits of open source as were access to innovation and ease of customization. At the same time, these early adopters strongly (46 percent) preferred to use vendor-supported editions of open source software. Indeed, only 12 percent said that their preferred strategy was to download software from free open source community sites and integrate on their own or with help from service providers. Many discussions of DevOps talk to the cultural changes required to improve collaboration and increase transparency. However, this survey points to the changes in tooling expected as well. 93 percent of the respondents believed that new enabling technologies are required for DevOps success with 85
percent planning to deploy these technologies onto either on-premise infrastructure (49 percent) or dedicated infrastructure at a co-location, hosting, or outsourcing site (36 percent). Prominent among the new technologies was Platformas-a-Service, with 80 percent expecting PaaS to have a critical role in their DevOps initiatives. Among the cited benefits of using PaaS were improved developer and IT operations collaboration (46 percent), more stable and reliable development environments (40 percent), greater standardization of development environments (37 percent), development speed (36 percent), and faster access to open source community-driven innovation (34 percent). According to the Infobrief: “Platform-as-a-service integrates cloud infrastructure, self-service developer platform and tools, and lifecycle management with DevOps
processes--speeding time to value for both developers and operations.” With respect to both PaaS and DevOps more broadly, the impact is seen primarily in terms of growth metrics rather than cutting costs. In IDC’s words, “customer facing benefits lead the way” with increased customer satisfaction and engagement (49 percent), increased employee productivity (46 percent), and increased company revenues (45 percent) the top three responses to the question “By the end of 2017, what impact do you expect DevOps to have on the overall performance of the business?” Reduction of operational expenses gets mentioned as well (44 percent), but it’s not the main motivation. The expected impact of DevOps on software release cycles is especially notable-specifically an 10x average expected increase in the
total number of annual code releases with an average of 30 percent of development projects enabled by DevOps by 2017. The pace may still not be at the level of an Amazon Web Services or a Facebook but it’s still a shift from the majority (63 percent) pushing out two or fewer releases annually per application today to 69 percent having quarterly or monthly releases. At the same time, it’s worth noting that it will be important to enable data sharing and other connections between these new developments and existing applications. 60 percent of DevOps projects will need to integrate with legacy systems according to the survey. This survey primarily focused on key technologies and technology enablers
related to DevOps. However, in DevOps, tools are tightly coupled to process and culture. Agile methodologies (43 percent), implementing common monitoring across dev and ops (43 percent) , and broadly enabling selfservice (38 percent) were all seen as organizational responses to a DevOps strategy. Indeed, the open source aspect plays into DevOps in a broader way than its use in popular DevOps tooling. That’s because DevOps mirrors central aspects of open source as an approach to developing software in areas such as collaboration, transparency, and working across distributed teams. DevOps uses open source but it also embodies the open source way of developing innovative software.
Red Hat to Showcase IoT, Cloud at GITEX 2015
R
ed Hat, the world's leading provider of open source solutions, will participate in GITEX 2015. It will demonstrate its open hybrid cloud technologies for bare metal, virtualization, private cloud and public cloud deployments. Red Hat would like to offer trade visitors and media the chance to speak with Lee Miles, General Manager Middle East and Africa at Red Hat, to learn more about the technologies it will be showcasing at Gitex. Lee is available prior to the show, alternatively you could meet with him on-site at Gitex. A key focus for the company this year will be
the Internet of Things, a trend that is gaining momentum as evidenced by a recent Red Hat survey which found that 70 percent of organizations intend to embrace this in the next 5 years. The company will also address the growing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend in the region by highlighting its recently launched Red Hat Mobile Application Platform. The move towards IoT is a natural evolution for Red Hat as Red Hat Enterprise Linux already provides a powerful and effective platform for developing smart networks.
September 2015 | 31
eyetech
Kodak Alaris refreshes i4000 scanner series
VMware NSX Network Virtualization for SDDC
Overview: Kodak Alaris has unveiled its refreshed i4000 Scanner family adding performance enhancements and introducing a new model to the range. According to the company, the enhanced Kodak i4250 and i4650 Scanners and the new i4850 Scanner are built on the i4000 platform and are now equipped with features that help scanning professionals process documents more efficiently than ever before. All models scan in duplex, colour and black and white, resolutions up to 600 dpi, and paper sizes up to A3. The new scanners are ideal for busy office environments, service bureaus, business process outsourcers (BPOs), corporate and government mailrooms who demand superior image quality, speed and reliability. Key features: • •
Improved searchability and sharability of business documents is the biggest driver for scanning and capture. The product has advanced barcode reading capability which enables the recognition and transmission of up to four barcode values per page directly into business applications.
• The new i4000 Series Scanners support QR codes and 10 common barcode types including PDF 417, Code 3 of 9, Interleaved 2 of 5 and EAN 8 and 13. • Perfect Page imaging technology delivers crisp, clear images regardless of the document’s original condition and makes additional processing functions, such as optical character recognition (OCR), easier and more accurate.
Overview: NSX network virtualization is a transformative architecture from VMware that enables the full potential of a Software-Defined Data Center, making it possible to create and run entire networks in parallel on top of existing network hardware. This results in faster deployment of workloads, as well as greater agility in the face of increasingly dynamic data centers. NSX reproduces in software the entire networking environment, including L2, L3 and L4–L7 network services within each virtual network. NSX offers a distributed logical architecture for L2–L7 services, provisioning them programmatically when virtual machines are deployed and moving them with the virtual machines. Key features: • Create a flexible pool of network capacity that can be allocated, utilized and repurposed on demand. • Decouple the network from underlying hardware and apply virtualization principles to network infrastructure. • Deploy networks in software that are fully isolated from each other, as well as from other changes in the data center.
32 | September 2015
Opengear Resilience Gateway Overview: Opengear’s new Resilience Gateway helps ensure uptime at branch offices and remote sites. The unit includes Opengear’s pioneering Smart OOB™ that maintains complete control during infrastructure fault conditions and network outages with serial, Ethernet and USB console access to all the edge routers, servers, switches, firewalls, PDUs and UPSes. With Failover to Cellular™ over high-speed 4G LTE networks, the Resilience Gateway improves WAN resilience and business continuity at remote sites, stores, and throughout the enterprise. Environmental monitoring and security for IT assets is delivered by attaching security cameras, door sensors, and temperature, humidity and digital I/O sensing monitors. Scaling is made simple with Opengear’s Lighthouse Centralized Management and Zero Touch Provisioning. The Resilience Gateway reduces IT costs and mean time to repair by detecting and alerting network administrators to faults and outages by equipping them with situational awareness and remote control of systems, all delivered via a reliable out-of-band connection. Key features: • Best in class Smart OOB™ extends beyond traditional out-of-band management • Manage all edge routers, firewalls, UPSes, PDUs with serial & USB & Ethernet consoles • Automatically detect and recover from outages and repair equipment faults • Log audit trails to embedded 4GB local storage for troubleshooting and compliance • Failover to high speed 4G LTE cellular network for improved WAN resilience • Strong security, PCI-DSS, FIPS140- 2, SSL and SSH, stateful firewall, OpenVPN & IPsec Environmental and physical sensor alarm notification via SMS, SNMP or email • Deploy at all enterprise remote sites, manage centrally with Lighthouse CMS
Xerox FreeFlow Core Cloud Overview: The Xerox FreeFlow Core Cloud is the latest release of the primary platform offering in Xerox’s leadership workflow automation portfolio, is one of four enhanced workflow solutions Xerox has introduced. Xerox now offers cloud-based versions of two of its leading automation solutions, the award-winning FreeFlow Core and Xerox FreeFlow Digital Publisher. Xerox FreeFlow Digital Publisher, creates both print and mobile/online communications simultaneously using a single, unified workflow, is now available in two new configurations. A cloud option provides the same capabilities as the on-premise version, but in a SaaS model, and a new, cloud-based ePublishing configuration offers just the digital and mobile content production capabilities, for those who don’t need the print capability. Key features:: • The new FreeFlow Core Cloud solution makes automation simple. • Xerox sets up, manages and hosts the solution enabling customers to simply log-in and start building workflows to automate their print processes. • No hardware to install or to maintain and no in-house IT support is needed. • FreeFlow Core Cloud removes the obstacles to automation so customers can increase their productivity.
September 2015 | 33
Stats & Trends
Flash Storage Soars 113% YoY in EMEA, Defying Overall Storage Market Slowdown: IDC
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he external storage systems (ESS) market in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) declined 11% year over year to $1.63 billion in the second quarter of 2015, according to the IDC EMEA Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker 2Q15. While high-end storage systems fell 33% YoY in the region, flash storage systems recorded double-digit growth propelled especially by all-flash arrays (AFAs), which grew 113% YoY in user value. The total storage capacity in the region grew 2% YoY to 2.8 exabytes in the second quarter. The ESS market value in EMEA was heavily impacted by an unfavorable exchange rate in the region, contributing to its decline for yet another quarter. In euro terms, however, the trend was positive, resulting in more than 10% growth YoY and a value of almost €1.5 billion. The unfavorable combination of heavy currency swings, longer purchase cycles, and economic instability in the region was the main factor hindering growth in the quarter. In addition, increasing adoption of emerging technologies such as hyper converged and
software-defined storage solutions continued to further cannibalize the storage hardware market in EMEA. "In this quarter, the disruption in the European storage market driven by the transition to the 3rd Platform has been more pronounced, with the flash segment now officially accounting for half of total EMEA sales including both AFA and HFA [hybrid flash array] systems, while AFA alone grew by 113% year on year," said Silvia Cosso, senior research analyst, European Infrastructure, at IDC. "The ODM [original design manufacturer] segment also showed a strong uptake, indicating a clear rise in public cloud adoption by European enterprises. This happened at the expense of traditional systems more geared toward the 2nd Platform such as many high-end platforms, which declined 33% year on year." Regional Highlights The Western European external storage market fell 12% YoY in dollars in the quarter but flash storage remained a bright spot. The all-flash segment in Western Europe delivered the strongest
YoY growth in the region (115%), a few percentage points higher than the regional all-flash growth, demonstrating that enterprises here assess long-term TCO when planning storage investment for their newer 3rd Platform–friendly workloads and applications. "A combination of factors such as rapidly growing data volumes, shrinking IT budgets, and the compelling need to execute on digital transformation strategies is driving enterprises in Western Europe to drift away from traditional high-end storage systems and spend their storage budgets more strategically," said Archana Venkatraman, senior analyst, European storage research, IDC. "IDC is also seeing a wave of fragmentation within enterprises in Western Europe with IT choosing specific technologies, such as hyperconverged or flash storage, to suit specific workloads rather than investing in a single solution for all its storage needs." The number of flash deals is increasing every quarter, thanks to falling prices, growing
use cases, and enterprise appetite to spend on newer technologies. Adoption of flash, particularly all-flash arrays, will further accelerate in Western Europe as organizations move toward a software-defined and flash-based datacenter architecture. Meanwhile, the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMA) external storage market declined 14% compared with 2Q14, accounting for $435 million in user value. The Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) market dropped sharply (-29%), which was exclusively due to the Russian market performance. "If we exclude Russia from the rest of the CEE region, it demonstrated healthy 6% YoY growth to account for the revival of largescale datacenter projects in Central European countries and a significant boost in midrange flash-optimized solutions," said Marina Kostova, senior storage analyst, IDC CEMA. The Middle East and Africa (MEA) remained flat with 1% year-on-year growth in storage spending, accounting for over 60% of the total CEMA market.
Top 5 Vendors, EMEA External Disk Storage Systems Value ($M) Vendor EMC HP NetApp IBM Dell Others Grand total 34 | September 2015
2Q14 $493.5 $298.1 $263.2 $273.4 $122.3 $392.2
2Q14 Market Shares 26.80% 16.20% 14.30% 14.80% 6.60% 21.30%
$1,842.7
100.00%
2Q15 $432.1 $254.7 $230.0 $212.8 $113.9 $391.3
2Q15 Market Shares 26.40% 15.60% 14.10% 13.00% 6.90% 23.90%
2Q15 YoY Growth -12.50% -14.50% -12.60% -22.10% -6.90% -0.20%
$1,634.9
100.00%
-11.30%
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