Contents

Faiz AskariSenior Editor

Disclaimer: While the publishers have made every attempt possible to get accurate information on published content in this handbook they cannot be held liable for any errors herein.

Editorial

Founder & CEO: Vivek Sharma

Senior Editor: Faiz Askari

Art Director: Faiz Ahmed

Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan

Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh

The year 2015 has showed us some great industry changing trends, evolving the technology landscape

further. In the overall scenario, Big data analytics has emerged as an established tool among more enterprise customers. In the last couple of years, mega trends such as Next Gen Data Centre and IoT have been accelerating. We continue to witness more action around the cloud which has become a phenomenal game changer for the entire industry.

According to a research report, the big data market is expected to reach nearly $50B by 2019. This is happening due to the volume, speed and versatility of data and the variety of devices with which users are accessing data.

What’s most exciting is that the disruptive power of machine data analytics is only in its infancy. Machine analytics will be the fastest growing area of Big Data, which will have CAGR greater than 1000%. So, Business Intelligence and related offshoots will drive the market.

In this issue of the Integrator Magazine, we have attempted to include a glimpse into the latest trends of Big Data and how it is impacting the Middle East region. The cover feature also looks at other defining market trends including the Next Generation data centre and IoT. It also looks at what can be expected in 2016.

As we are set to move into the new year, opportunities beckon the industry. The key to success lies in the ability to change as required but as the velocity of change is increasing, that will test the ability of companies to keep pace.

In today's digital transformation era, software defined architectures and applications will keep chnging the face of the industry as we have known it.

As far as the Middle East ICT market is concerned, the demands are about capacity building and skill set development. Be it Big Data, Cloud or Next Gen Data Centre, all these trends will require new skill sets and new approach towards business. This is the need of the hour for all stakeholders in the industry.

The mega trends of 2015

Published by: JNS Media International MFZEP.O Box 121075, Dubai UAE, Tel: +971-4-3705022 Fax: +971-4-3706639, website: www.VARonline.comSales Inquiries: sales@var-mea.comAll other Inquiries: info@var-mea.com | Editorial: editor@var-mea.com

Cover Feature - 18

Fast tracking the future

News In Detail - 10

Looking forward: The 2016 security landscape

Point2Point

Energy efficiency: Must-to-have for data centres - 12

BYOD, IoT drivers of next gen wireless networking - 14

Collaboration & innovation keys for success: Saleem Al-Balooshi - 16

TechKnow

Cloud: The great opportunity - 17

Innovative technologies to drive communications - 22

Integrated systems holds future of ICT - 23

Flash drive storage is today’s key market demand - 24

Committed to drive value for customers: SCD - 26

Insight

SSL security epic fail - 28

Changing trends in the MEA server market - 30

Regulars

News Bytes EyeTechStats & Trends

4 | December 2015

News Bytes

To better compete in today’s digital economy, Huawei unveiled its Agile Distributed WiFi solution along with its Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Protection solution. The launch marks the latest solutions under the Agile Network 3.0 concept, announced globally earlier this year and is set to give users drastically faster and uninterrupted network connectivity that will provide an overall, much more enjoyable and seamless experience. With the integration of the latest APT Protection solution, businesses will also be able to securely embrace the future mode of Software-Defined-Networking (SDN), protecting their infrastructure even against the most sophisticated cyber threats today.

The launch was hosted at the regional edition of Huawei Network Congress Middle East 2015 and included key notes from network industry experts across the value-chain eco-system including representatives from Huawei’s global and regional team, its alliance and go-to-market partners that included Intel and Alpha Data’s 4Sight in addition to its end-users.

At the event, Huawei highlighted its commitment to enabling businesses with the development and application of Agile Network innovation through showcasing the latest phase of its Agile Network 3.0 architecture. Embracing the Software-Defined-Networking (SDN) era, Agile Network 3.0 explores unprecedented business opportunities for its business partners and end-users.

Huawei drives agile network innovationwith its latest solutions Red Hat, Inc. announced the general availability of Red

Hat CloudForms 4, the latest version of its award-winning hybrid cloud management solution. Built on an open platform, Red Hat CloudForms 4 goes beyond self-service, offering a consistent experience and comprehensive lifecycle management across platforms spanning virtualization, private cloud, public cloud and containers.

Joe Fitzgerald, vice president - management, Red Hat said, "CloudForms 4 marks a milestone in hybrid cloud management. The addition of container management will enable CloudForms to provide a unified management experience across a wider variety of cloud platforms. We

are also pleased to both continue building Red Hat’s strategic relationship with Microsoft and meet customer requests by adding management capabilities for Microsoft Azure. With Red Hat CloudForms 4, customers can find the industry’s broadest hybrid cloud management solution built on open source technologies.”

With CloudForms 4, Red Hat continues to add functionality for the platforms and tools that developers and operators demand.

Corey Sanders, director of Compute for Microsoft Azure commented, “By integrating Red Hat CloudForms management capabilities with Microsoft Azure, we are extending our commitment to choice and flexibility across the Red Hat and Microsoft ecosystems. We’re pleased to further extend our strategic alliance with Red Hat in order to meet customer demands in today’s hybrid, heterogeneous world.”

Red hat cloudforms 4 supports hybrid cloud management with microsoft azure

Kaspersky Lab’s experts revealed their predictions for 2016, which are based on the expertise of the Global Research and Analysis Team, the company’s 42 top security experts, located all over the world. Each member contributed unique expertise and, in 2015 alone, their insight and intelligence resulted in detailed reports on 12 APT actors, “speaking” different languages, including French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, English, among others.

“2016 will also see more players entering the world of cyber-crime. The profitability of cyber-attacks is indisputable and more people want a share of the spoils. As mercenaries enter the game, an elaborate outsourcing industry has risen to meet the demands for new malware and even entire operations. The latter gives rise to a new scheme of Access-as-a-Service, offering up access to already hacked targets to the highest bidder,” said Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade, Senior Security Expert, Global Research and Analysis Team, Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky Lab’s experts anticipate that in 2016 we will see significant evolution in cyberespionage tradecraft. First, there will be a dramatic change in how APTs are structured and operated. It is expected to see a decreased emphasis on ‘persistence’, with a greater focus on memory-resident or fileless malware, reducing the traces left on an infected system and thereby avoiding detection. Besides the experts see that there is less urge to demonstrate superior cyber-skills, so return on investment will rule much of the nation-state attacker’s decision-making. Therefore there will be an increase in the repurposing of off-the-shelf malware rather than investment in bootkits, rootkits and custom malware that gets burned by research teams.

In a more long-term perspective, there is an expectation that more newcomers will enter the APT space. Cyber-mercenaries will grow in number as more parties seek to gain from online attacks.

Kaspersky lab predicts the end of the world for apts as we know them in 2016

6 | December 2015

News Bytes

Ooredoo and Qatar Airways signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see Ooredoo sponsor Qatar Airways’ Onboard Wi-Fi service to enhance the customer experience on Qatar Airways flights and provide unmatched connectivity in the air.

The first-of-its-kind MoU was signed by Waleed Al Sayed, CEO, Ooredoo Qatar and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker.

With the Onboard Wi-Fi service, customers can use portable electronic devices (PEDs) to access emails, browse the Internet and also send SMS/MMS via their smartphones once the service is enabled on board.

The three-year agreement positions Ooredoo as the Exclusive Onboard Wi-Fi Sponsor for all Qatar Airways flights that are equipped with on board Wi-Fi.

H.E. Mr. Al Baker, said, “Qatar Airways continues to strive to offer the very best on-board experience for our customers, and our cutting-edge on board Wi-Fi service provides an incredible connection. We are proud to work with Ooredoo, a leading Qatari company, to bring this service to the world.”

Waleed Al Sayed, CEO, Ooredoo Qatar, said, “Ooredoo strives to ensure that customers can always enjoy the best network wherever they are in the world, and our partnership with Qatar Airways takes our commitment to connectivity to the skies. Qatar is leading the way in the incredible facilities being offered to visitors and residents."

Ooredoo signs MOU with Qatar Airways for onboard Wi-Fi In a deal announced earlier part of December, Rigby Private Equity (RPE), the private equity

arm of Rigby Group Investments, has made a significant investment in specialist services distributor Zycko Ltd. The deal will allow Zycko to expand more aggressively throughout the EMEA region

David Galton-Fenzi, CEO of Zycko, said: “The backing and support of RPE means we are now in a position to accelerate our ambitious growth plans. It’s a great opportunity for the company to continue its growth and transformation into a significantly larger organisation, but one which is still focussed on providing first-class, specialist support to vendors seeking services-oriented, EMEA-wide distribution. I’m looking forward to spearheading our expansion plans and leading our team at this very exciting time.”

Zycko is the second acquisition for Rigby Private Equity, which is building an EMEA-wide high-value specialist distribution business. RPE was formed earlier this year to identify established companies with both a great value proposition and plans for strong growth, to invest in these companies and to support the acceleration of their growth plans. In July, Rigby Private Equity made a major investment in leading specialist security value-added distributor Wick Hill.

SCD becomes part of the expanded Wick Hill/Zycko group of companies with Imtiaz Ghani, Director and General Manager of SCD MENA, stated, “We are very enthusiastic about being part of this expanded group. We are confident that this will strengthen our value proposition, extend our areas of expertise and provide our channel with a wider vendor portfolio over time and look forward to working closely with the Zycko and Wickhill teams.”

Paul Eccleston, head of Rigby Private Equity, commented, “We are extremely pleased that Zycko is joining Rigby Private Equity. The company has a great track record and a reputation for helping vendors successfully bring new technologies to market.

Zycko deal paves the way for accelerated growth

Palo Alto Networks announced that its next-generation firewall devices have achieved a new Common Criteria (CC) certification. This certification builds upon the previous Common Criteria certification at Evaluation Assurance Level 4+ (EAL4+) that Palo Alto Networks received in 2013.

Common Criteria is an international (ISO) standard for security certification of IT products. It is a common requirement for government agency and critical infrastructure technology purchases. Because the certification validates a product’s security claims and capabilities, it helps set a consistent confidence bar for other industry customers.

Palo Alto Networks is the first security vendor to validate a firewall against three NIAP Protection Profiles relevant to the Next-Generation Firewall under the rigorous U.S. implementation of the Common Criteria, per National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP): Protection Profile for Network Devices Version 1.1, Network Device Protection Profile (NDPP) Extended Package Stateful Traffic Filter Firewall Version 1.0, and Network Device Protection Profile (NDPP) Extended Package VPN Gateway Version 1.1. The VPN Gateway verification also included additional requirements per the NSA Commercial Solutions for Classified Networks (CSfC).

“Common Criteria has a rigorous testing process, and we are pleased to add this new certification for our next-generation firewall devices; along with our previous certifications, it further underscores that our firewalls are designed to meet the exacting security needs government and critical infrastructure organizations have today,” says, Lee Klarich, executive vice president of product management at Palo Alto Networks

This new certification applies to the Palo Alto Networks PA-200, PA-500, PA-3000 Series, PA-5000 Series and PA-7000 Series next-generation firewalls, and the VM-Series.

Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls achieve new certification

8 | December 2015

Intersec 2016 to have exhibitors from 54 countries

News Bytes

The global significance of the Middle East’s security and safety market has been underlined by top German and US companies leading a large turnout of international exhibitors at Intersec 2016 next month.

The 18th edition of Intersec, the world’s leading trade show for security, safety, and fire protection, will feature more than 1,200 exhibitors from 54 countries when it opens from 17-19 January 2016 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

With 82 per cent of exhibitors based outside of the UAE, the global gathering at the three-day event is as impressive as ever, reinforced by 14 country pavilions from Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, UK, USA, and for the first time, France, the Czech Republic, and India.

Much of the attention will fall on leading security and fire-related solutions providers from the USA and Germany, where 145 exhibitors from the two countries will cover 2,550sqm of exhibition space.

A total of 72 German exhibitors – including 58 at the government-backed German Pavilion, and 14 stand-alone exhibitors – will be headed by big names such as CCTV providers Bosch Security Systems and Grundig; access control specialists SimonsVoss; IT security provider G-Data; fire extinguisher manufacturers Doeka and Viking; and Haix, a manufacturer of safety shoes.

Ludwig Bergschneider, CEO of Grundig Security, said, “Grundig Security offers advanced video security solutions for professional installers and integrators across a vast range of industries, from airports, oil & gas, transportation and government, to banks, retail and hospitality."

With a little over a week to go before Christmas Day, consumers will now start to panic buy as they rush in-store to purchase their last minute Christmas gifts, and with more retailers starting their online sales on Christmas Eve, consumers will flock online to grab the best deals. Advanced sales has proved to be a success for retailers if they have the right processes and contingencies in place.

Gregg Petersen, Regional Director, Middle East and SAARC at Veeam Software says that with a surge in online orders in the run up to Xmas, “availability” is critical for retailers in UAE, and being able to quickly backup and restore data should an outage occur is critical to helping

ensure customer satisfaction during one of the busiest retail times of the year.The run up to Christmas Day illustrates the importance of the data centre and

availability for retailers. Downtime could have a damaging effect on revenue and repeat business.

For many retailers everything ties back to the data centre including the point of sale and website, so if an incident does occur then it is multiplied because of the rush associated to this buying pattern.

To reduce the risk and reap the benefits of Christmas rush, retailers should leverage the data they have to determine a number of factors such as how many transactions can be made in one day to ensure the back-end infrastructure can handle the surge.

For the Always-On retailer to work during this busy shopping period, they should consider implementing an availability solution that offers five key capabilities.

Veeam advises retailers to prepare for surge in online shopping during Christmas

Building on the strength of a decade-long relationship, Polycom, Inc. announced that its voice desktop and conferencing portfolios will be the first that support and interoperate with the Microsoft Office 365 Cloud PBX services. Organisations migrating to Office 365 will be searching for voice solutions that meet or exceed those they currently experience on traditional PBX lines; Polycom’s solutions portfolio uniquely addresses the needs of new Office 365 Cloud PBX service customers with rich collaboration features that work both on the desktop and in the conference room.

The Polycom VVX business media phones are the first Open-SIP interoperability phones to support Office 365 Cloud PBX services, giving customers the key additional features that they have been looking for including a touchscreen interface, intercom, group paging and a shared line experience.

The recently announced Polycom RealPresence Trio, the first smart hub for group collaboration that transforms the iconic three-point conference phone into a voice, content-sharing and video system.

“Our relationship with Polycom has provided our customers with innovations that have allowed for the highest quality in human collaboration across the world,” said Giovanni Mezgec, General Manager of Applications and Services Marketing at Microsoft. “Polycom solutions, like the Polycom VVX business media phones and the Polycom RealPresence Trio, already interoperate with Skype for Business and will provide enhanced desktop and conference room applications that will offer a superior user experience for our Office 365 Cloud PBX customers.”

Polycom’s portfolio includes more than 40 existing voice, content collaboration and video solutions that deeply integrate with Skype for Business/Microsoft Lync.

Polycom first to market with voice solutions for Microsoft’s new Office 365 cloud PBX

Wave Tech Computers LLCP.O. Box: 3421, Sharjah, Toll Free 800WAVE-8009283aten@wavetechgroup.com, www.wavetechgroup.com

10 | December 2015

News In Detail

Disruption is valid concerns in 2016 andthe losses

associated with business disruption are considered some of the highest. Since 27 percent of all attacks are considered advanced and targeted, the potential for an attack to interruptproductivity is great.

In certain circumstances, disruption can be more than just the inability to perform regular work operations. Due to certain high-profile incidents, chief information security officers (CISO) havehad to change their risk profile.There is now a chance thatsomeone could justbreak in and delete everything, without any risks or repercussions involved.

Investments in Infrastructure Making Industries Liable to AttackAnother valid concern in 2016 is the growth of infrastructure-based attacks. As heavy industries such as the energy sector invest in new technologies to automate production, the potential for attacks inevitably grows. We will start to see more visible attacks against industrial control systems (ICS).Additionally, environments shifting to Wi-Fi will broaden the attack surface, potentially opening the doors to increased cyber terrorism aimed at critical infrastructures. To stay ahead of all threats, the C-level and boards willneed to address ICS security in their risk reviews and begin allottinga larger budget to protection.

Energy Sector Still Under Threat2015 was characterized by a spate of attacks on the oil and gas industry. The energy sector has long been the mainstay of

regional economies and as the GCC consolidates its position as an economic hub, 2016 will witness further cyberattacks on this sector.

The Internet of Things and the Rise of Smart CitiesThe notion of a connected home brings up the emerging idea of the Internet of Things.According to IDC, IoT-related expenditure in the Middle East is set to rise at a five-year growth rate of 21.9% to total USD 10.18 billion by 2018. New internet-enabled devices are being releasedregularly these days, and many haveweak security controls, allowing for new ways of accessing data. These “things” couldbe held hostage by ransomware, which will subsequentlylead to extortion.

As smart city initiatives, centred on the Internet of Things, pick up in the region, various cybersecurity issues will need to be addressed.

Payment Systemsas a Channel of Attack Though still at a nascent phase, the popularity of mobile wallets, magstripe readers and other similar payment systems is growing rapidly, but without the protection needed to secure transactions. The proliferation of these systems gives potential attackers another front to launch cyberattacks. As a result, we will likely see an increase in malware targeting these systems.

Attacks on iOS Devices Set to RiseApple’smarket share in

desktop and mobile continues to increase and this, consequently,makes the tech company’s products more exposed to attack. Apple’s traditionally secured software and devices have experienced various threats in recent years, such as the first masque attacks in 2014, a threat that replaces authentic apps with malicious ones. 2015 saw the discovery of three new masque attacks.XcodeGhost, a previously identified iOS malware, managed to make its way into the App Store. FireEye researchers recently discovered that the threat had entered U.S. enterprises, and that a more advanced variant called XcodeGhost S had been previously undetected.

2015 had a fair share of incidentssuch asthe

cyberattack on TV 5 Monde, by the ISIS-linked ‘Cyber Caliphate’. But the year also saw campaigns

fromalleged state-sponsored actors, including

the groupresponsible forbreaching Anthem’s IT

system and stealing personal information on millions

of current and former customers and employees. Ray Kafity, Vice President

for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) at

FireEye wrote an overview of his expectations from the information security

landscape likely in 2016.

Looking forward: The 2016 security landscape

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12 | December 2015

What are the key priorities in the power management space?A key focus in the IT sector involves the consumption of power, how it is managed, and its efficiency. Anything that involves large servers, such as virtualization, cloud computing, and big data should have seamless power management as downtime on any of the equipment can cause huge business implications.

Technologies and applications nowadays place a huge strain on servers and hence require sophisticated power management solutions. The peak of IT activities are not consistent and power management must be intelligent so this can be managed. Eaton deliverscomplete solutions for the industry and the products to bridge the gap between the physical and the virtual infrastructure.

Please share a brief outline on Eaton’s flagship products & solutions for the Middle East Market?Eaton is a power management company, primarily in the distribution of electrical

and fluid power. We help customers manage electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical power across a range of segments, including holistic solutions for the commercial construction industry.

When it comes to equipping clients with reliable infrastructurefashioned to withstand power and environmental issues, Eaton stands out by offering clients world-leading power infrastructure solutions. We also offer an assortment of software tools necessary for companies to better monitor and manage the power devices in their physical or virtual environment. Eaton’s Intelligent Power Manager (IPM), for example, offers IT professionals unrivaled management capabilities over their virtualized and cloud-based IT infrastructures. IPM complements virtualization and cloud management tools

by extending their capabilities to include monitoring and management of network connected power devices, infrastructure-aware workload management, dynamic power capping, and initiation of failover policies. This innovative software solution ensures IT professionals achieve SLAs and that the continuity of business is assured.

What are the key business geographies that are doing great for Eaton’s business?Eaton has increased its regional footprint significantly over recent years, most noticeably with the opening of our new regional headquarters in Dubai in 2013. The Dubai office houses the majority of our Eaton regional team as well as an onsite manufacturing facility. We see the UAE, Saudi, and Qatar continuing to be strong markets for Eaton in the IT sector in 2016, as well

as growing markets such as Egypt.

How does Power efficiency enhance overall business performance?Nowadays, power efficiency sits high on the agenda of most large and small businesses.The importance of ensuring consistent power efficiency is becoming a growing necessity for companies in every sector. Taking this into consideration, Eaton takes the integration of power infrastructure with virtual and cloud platforms to the next level. Ourpower infrastructure solutions are the industry-firstto integrate with VMware’s vRealize Operations management suite as well as with the OpenStack cloud orchestrator, to ensure business continuity.

Eaton Intelligent Power Manager software helps managers achieve peace of

Energy efficiency: Must-to-have for data centres

In an exclusive

conversation, Karim Refas,

Head of Channels, Eaton

Middle East highlighted

some key market trends

and opportunities in the

power management

segment of the Middle

East region.

Karim RefasHead of ChannelsEaton ME

Point2Point | Eaton

December 2015 | 13

mind through infrastructure-aware business continuity policies, such as including sequential load shedding, dynamic power capping and infrastructure-aware workload management to extend battery, and genset runtime. If all else fails, the software can trigger disaster recovery policies such as VMware’s SRM and gracefully shut-down operations. These Eaton solutions ensure that converged and hyperconverged infrastructures are reliably protected from power and environmental issues, which result in improved continuity and resiliency for the entire business.

What do you think about aspects such as efficient power backup solutions?The rising demand for highly available, reliable,

and efficient power is a continuous challenge for data center operators. Higher energyefficiency helps to address increasing environmental, regulatory, and economic pressures. To address this, Eaton has developed innovative and proprietary technologies that improve system efficiency without compromising on dependability under the Energy Advantage Architecture (EAA) umbrella.

Eaton’s Energy Saver System (ESS) is one of these technologies. With an 85% reduction in UPS energy losses, ESS technology dramatically reduces energy consumption, environmental impact, and power costs without compromising load protection. ESS also enables market-leading 99% efficiency across the entire operating range. Compared to conventional

‘eco-mode’ capabilities available with legacy products, ESS offers the best possible efficiency and the fastest transition times to double conversion when power disturbances occur.

Please share the channel structure of Eaton’s Business in Middle East. Also, what is the go-to-market strategy for Eaton?Eaton is proudly a 100% channel company. Our IT channel partner program is designed to ensure we get the opportunity to work closer with all of our partners and encourage an environment of collaboration. This also provides Eaton with an excellent platform to reward and recognize the on-going loyalty, commitment, and hard work our partners bring to the table.

How do you foresee business opportunities in 2016?We foresee main markets, such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, will reflect the fluctuations in economic conditions globally. As is to be expected, the price of oil will naturally also affect market conditions.

With that said, the power management sector is a core component of many key industries in the region and their success for the future. According to a recent report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), demand for electrical power is estimated to grow by 7% annually in the coming decade. As key sectors, such as commercial construction and infrastructure, continue to dominate the Middle East economy with large billion dollar projects.

14 | December 2015

What are the key trends in the wireless networking market space?Some of the key trends Ruckus Wireless has spotted in the wireless networking market space are the increase in smartphone adoption, increased mobile data traffic, BYOD and Internet of Things. Mobile computing and smartphones’ increased connectivity has led to significant growth in their adoption rates. Apart from smartphone adoption, data usage has also increased significantly due to the overall growth in Internet activity. The rise of social networking and the steep increase in consumer video traffic has fueled this growth. Wireless LAN growth has also been accelerated by the BYOD trend which has been largely beneficial in terms of reducing costs, improving employee satisfaction, enhancing IT and reduces the strain on IT staff. Evolving global trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT), the mobile devices boom and digital business transformations are offering new opportunities to solution providers like Ruckus Wireless to grow their business. According to IDC, sales for 802.11ac, the new emerging WLAN standard, will top $4.6 billion by 2017.While IoT connectivity will also peak as IDC predicts, the installed base of IoT units is slated to grow from 9.1 billion in 2013 to 28.1 billion in 2020.This has only prompted us to innovate in the area of adaptive Wi-Fi technology, which we call Smart Wi-Fi that improves the range, reliability and performance of Wi-Fi networks within highly dense and noisy environments like urban areas.

Convergence of multiple

devices is happening at a dynamic pace. How is this market trend impacting your business?According to industry reports, Digital consumerism is heavily impacting the way companies use technology in the region. The main business platform is no longer the only source of information and insights. Additional solutions based on disruptive technologies are being combined on to the main platform. This has led to a significant increase in the level of insights firms have about their customers. Ruckus Wireless has always been able to work closely with their customers to stay abreast of the latest technological developments. They are constantly innovating and developing solutions and products to keep up with the

latest wireless trends.

What are the key drivers of Ruckus’business growth? There are several key drivers behind Ruckus’ successful business growth such as the increasing demand of Wi-Fi, and BYOD and Internet of Things trends in the region. Given the rise of tablets, smartphones and other portable computing devices, it has tested the limits of existing WLAN infrastructures. Many co-operations are recognizing the benefits of BYOD model and are encouraging employees to use their own devices. The latest IDC study on the growing mobile workforce across Europe, Middle East, and Africa shows that mobile workers will reach 244.6 million in 2015 in the region, as a result of the corporate

shift towards the BYOD model. IDC also forecasted that smart connected devices will reach 513 million in the same region, and that the global mobile worker population will reach over 37 per cent of the total workforce, representing a 30 percent increase from 2010.

Today’s users demand higher speeds, greater stability and the ability to connect a growing variety of devices to the IoT, and these demands are driving Ruckus Wireless to meet this need with Ruckus’ diverse product portfolio such as Unleashed.

In the region, businesses are constantly under pressure to deliver high quality Wi-Fi-solutions to their customers; Unleashed is based on a new controller less architecture that delivers a solution for SMEs by providing Wi-Fi superior

Wireless networking is

experiencing a great thrust

with the advent of a hyper

converged environment and

growing urge of staying

always connected. Moe

Raslan, Regional Sales

Manager-MENA, Ruckus

Wireless explained his

views and observations on

the cutting edge trends in

this sector and how Ruckus

Wireless is driving innovation

in this market.

BYOD, IoT driversof next gen wireless networking

Moe RaslanRegional Sales Manager, MENA

Ruckus

Point2Point | Ruckus

December 2015 | 15

performance at lower costs and simplified management.

Which are the key verticals that your company is targeting?The main verticals that Ruckus Wireless has been targeting are Education, Hospitality, ISP’s and Healthcare in the region. These industries are key for Ruckus Wireless and also intends to demonstrate how its recent projects have been in unison with regional initiatives such as the ‘smart cities’ concept and also how Ruckus has been going from strength to strength in its performance across main verticals such as Education, Hospitality and Healthcare in the region.

Some of the key benefits that Ruckus offers for these industries are:

Education: Ruckus

technology can track assets such as tablets, navigate guests and students around campus.

Hospitality: Ruckus improves loyal customers’ satisfaction with on-device features such as auto check-in, way-finding, and instant coupons for amenities.

Healthcare: Ruckus provides asset tracking, indoor navigation, and personnel locations.

Smart Homes is also a growing trend. Do you look at this area as a business focus? Please share your views on this market?Smart Homes will be an emerging trending 2016 and whole home coverage will become a reality, and users will try to impress their peers with their home network using only a smartphone app.

What are your key expectations from the market in 2016?Ruckus Wireless’ key expectations from the market in 2016 are access to Wi-Fi hotspots. BYOD-enabled enterprise networks will be easier and more secure through the use of Hotspot 2.0, that will become the de facto standard for public access and hospitality Wi-Fi.

How is the Middle East Region market doing for your business?The wireless market in the Middle East region is continually evolving and adopting trends such as BYOD & Internet of Things at a fast pace. Ruckus Wireless has seen a positive market growth in the MEA region given the influence of these trends.

What are the key flagship offerings from Ruckus wireless?Ruckus Wireless is a pioneer in the wireless infrastructure market, enabling carriers and enterprises to stay ahead of the exploding demand for high-bandwidth applications and services. The Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi technology redefines what’s possible in wireless network performance with flexibility, reliability, and affordability.

Ruckus Wi-Fi systems, with our patented BeamFlex technology, are deployed in hundreds of thousands of locations across the globe. Our flagship product line, ZoneFlex Smart WLAN WLAN systems gives enterprises and carriers a full-range of indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi solutions for every imaginable application.

* Red Herring Global Top 100 * ICT Integrator Awards * GEC Awards * Tagetik - Emerging Partner Awards * Software AG - Emerging Partner Awards * SME Channel Awards * Dubai Smart Government Awards

Finesse Global wishes you all a very

Happy New Year 2016

16 | December 2015

What are the key priorities ahead of Du? His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Al Maktoum’s vision is about the prosperity for the people of Dubai. This is a great vision and it covers everything. As a facilitator for better life, connected life and more collaborative atmosphere in delivering public oriented services -- technology holds great prominence. We at Du are committed and aggressively working towards creating a strong fabric of infrastructure which enables a best in class service environment.

Collaboration with multiple entities holds key. What is Du’s vision towards this? Collaboration with various stakeholders can only drive the next version of service experience. When it comes to public oriented services such as utility, healthcare and so on, the collaborative fabric needs to be robust and ICT technologies should be able

to drive this. An overall strong and connected ecosystem will drive this. Du as a telecom player in this space, is committed towards the creation of such ecosystem and willing not only to participate in this but also to facilitate this transformation. As a matter of fact, Smart Government initiative by the Dubai Government is a very strong focus for Du in this direction.

According to you, what are the key parameters to achieve the dream of Dubai becoming the world’s first smart country? I believe that this will happen. The clarity and vision from our leader is the biggest driver for every stakeholder. As I said, this milestone needs a great ecosystem of expertise. In this ecosystem, municipalities, real estate companies, healthcare institutions, administrative services and concerned government departments have to contribute aggressively in this ecosystem. The end user

or the residents of Dubai needs to be considered the main receiver of all these services and their experience should be great from all aspects. Work has started in this direction and we are moving at a great speed. In today’s evolving world, where technology is actively participating in quality of life. What role Du is likely to play towards Dubai’s transformation? In today’s digitally connected world, we are playing a critical role in the development of the UAE as a global hub in terms of fostering innovation, entrepreneurship and driving economic activity. Our dynamic approach to building a state-of-the-art fixed and mobile broadband framework has played a key role in building the interoperable, secure, infrastructural backbone of the country. These key elements will ultimately contribute to a connected future.

Telecommunication is no longer confined to playing the

Collaboration & innovation keysfor success: Saleem Al-Balooshi

Government of Dubai is aggressively working towards setting an example of becoming world’s most well governed place. With this statement, a lot is expected from Dubai’s telecommunication players such as Du. In an exclusive conversation with The Integrator Magazine, Saleem Al-Balooshi, Executive Vice President, Network Development & Operations, du expressed his overall perspective on the technological transformation that is set to happen in Dubai. Mr Al-Balooshi believes that innovation and collaborative approach will be the main driver for Dubai’s global level success story in smart governance.

role of an enabler. In today’s digital world, the discussion is about mobility and solutions and the role that the telcom sector will play in bringing about a transformation of the industry, not just horizontally but vertically. This would mean that sectors such as healthcare, governance, public utility services etc. are set to witness the technology transformation.

Du as an important stakeholder in Dubai’s Telecom industry is committed for an active role in this holistic development.

According to you what should be the ideal approach for achieving Dubai’s ambitious smart governance milestones? Partnerships and collaborative approach can surely drive this. We are open for partnerships. We have done some great partnerships in recent past and looking forward to explore every single opportunity to contribute into the upcoming success story.

Point2Point | Du

December 2015 | 17

According to you, what are the key trends that are driving the next level advancement of the Industry?Agility and urge of analyzing data are two crucial components for innovation of next level technology adoption. From the perspective of organizations, employee productivity is something which is witnessing a lot of action around. And most importantly, security of data has become extremely crucial. Most of the ICT deployments are happening while considering the security element seriously. Organizations have realized that data security cannot be ignored. Lastly, I also feel that more and more organizations and brands are interested in improving their relationship with their respective customers.

to reach almost $16.5 billion in 2015, and managing Azure workloads will become increasingly important to ensure companies realize the full benefits of the cloud. With today’s distributed applications running in complex, hybrid IT environments, enterprises need to ensure optimal application performance and consistency down to the application code-level, which is critical for end-user and enterprise efficiency at its peak. What are the key areas which are getting largely impacted through cloud based applications? There are many areas which are getting affected through this game changer. As an example, back up, DR are some interesting areas to watch out for.

Pay as you Use model is driving the enterprise as well as

Necip OzyucelCloud & Enterprise Business Lead

Microsoft

Cloud: The great opportunitySMB segment. However, SMBs have taken a lead in the space of ‘Pay per use’ model.

What importance do you give to the partners in this business ecosystem?Partners are most important business entity in the Microsoft’s corporate strategy. We believe in having a strong engagement with our partners. We educate them, train them and motivate them to explore the market. Partners are the real customer facing entity in our business. So we consider them as our priority.

In today’s business, what are the key opportunities for partners to make their profitability better? Today, the market is driven by knowledge. Customers are making their buying decisions by acquiring knowledge about the cutting edge technologies

and contemporary issues in the technology domains. This would mean that partners can make money by becoming trusted consultants to their respective customers. So, I feel that scope of consultancy is huge for partners. But to capitalize this opportunity into business, partners have to become closer to their customers in terms of understanding their requirements and existing infrastructure.

On the other hand, through Microsoft Azure, partners can make great profitability by offering a customized solution to their customers. As a platform, Microsoft Azure allows partners to build their own tailor-made solution for their customers. However, Cloud service providers are also an emerging business model, which are getting used by the partners at great level.

Cloud has become a great enabler in various forms of enterprise or business processes. In the Middle East region this phenomenon is happening at a rapid pace. The popularity of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a great proof of the fact that market is bending towards this model. Necip Ozyucel, Cloud & Enterprise Business Lead at Microsoft, in a conversation with The Integrator magazine shared an overview on cloud as a great business opportunity.

TechKnow | Microsoft

How is Microsoft Azure performing in the market?Azure is gaining great momentum in the market. We have more than 90,000 new customer subscriptions per month. More than 1,5 Million SQL databases. We have also crossed 500 million users in Azure AD. Internet of Things is a prominent focus for Azure, we are managing 777 trillion storage transactions per day. The Azure has a great amount of acceptance from the startups and ISv segment. More than 40% revenue is coming from startups and ISVs.

Infrastructure-as-a-service (IAAS) is also a great game changer. How does Microsoft Azure’s business gets impacted from this?According to Gartner, global spending on Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is expected

18 | December 2015

Hasan, Enterprise Product Manager,

Dell Middle East comments, “I believe,

opportunity is found at the intersection of

‘innovation’ and ‘need’. The humdrum

of “big data and analytics” have been

around for a decade – but the industry

has been quite mystified on meaningful

and achievable applications so far. Today,

the ‘need’ for big data and analytics

becomes pervasive as nations, institutes,

and organizations roll out – or definitively

plan for – large-and small- scale projects

that are dependent on live data capture

and analytics to make and show success.

Large-scale examples in the Middle East

include smart city efforts, internet of things,

and computing everywhere. More focused

The world of data is changing. After

years of hype for many organizations,

2016 will be a make or break year for

big data in the Middle East. Inside the

IT workshop, talent levels are beginning

to meet demand; however outside the

IT workshop, stakeholders and users are

already expecting significantly more – often

times this is the CEO, CFO, CMO, their

SMT and the likes. IT leaders will have to

either continue investing in the big data

technologies their stakeholders need or

deal with any fallout as non-IT business

leaders, users, and Customers eschew IT

and turn to SaaS offerings.

While highlighting the potential of

Big Data in the Middle East region, Shams

Cover Feature | Big Data

Fast trackingthe futureMega trends including Big Data technologies and Next generation data centers as well as IoT are dictating the accelerated transformation of the industry

December 2015 | 19

verticals or smaller-scale examples include

the rising need for live decision making

in areas such as retail, manufacturing,

services, etc.”

Sharing his perspective towards Big

Data, Taj ElKhayat, Regional Vice President,

Middle East and Africa at Riverbed

Technology said, “I believe that data

consolidation is key to a successful big

data strategy. Any large enterprise today

will typically see data being generated at

a vast number of independent branches.

Unless all this is collated at a centralized

location, running meaningful analytics will

present an uphill challenge.”

While highlighting Riverbed’s

offering into this area, Taj informed, “Our

SteelFusion solution does exactly this. By

storing data at the consolidated data center

rather than at the individual branches, it

not only enhances security, but also makes

it possible for organizations to have all

the information they need at one single

location.”

According to Dell’s Global Technology

Adoption Index (GTAI) findings revealed:

• Organizationsthateffectivelyleverage

big data experience higher revenue growth

rates.

• Bigdatapresentsamajorcompetitive

opportunity, as those organizations that

are the most effective in deriving business

insights from big data are seeing much

higher growth rates than those that are

not.

• Theaveragethree-yeargrowthrate

(14 percent) for those most effective in

leveraging big data is almost twice as high

as that of organizations least effective in

using big data (8 percent).

Next Generation Data Centers Today, more than ever, technology is

critical to driving business results, finding

and capturing scarce resources, optimizing

operations, and innovating for a better

tomorrow. Shams of Dell says, “Business

and technology leaders look to make

responsible technology investments whilst

ensuring their businesses are Future-Ready.

Complexity is antithetical to Future-

Ready and the objectives of

information technology. It

inhibits your ability to make

changes, to introduce new

capabilities and to pursue

business opportunities; it

actually reduces productivity.

Organizations with too much

complexity are literally unable

to evolve and cannot adopt

new technologies, like cloud,

mobile, or big data. They

stagnate.”

Next Generation Data

Centers – regardless of the

purpose of the solution or

the vendor that sold it to

you – should not just allow

for change, but encourage

it. Shams adds,“Every bit of

hardware, software or service

you invest in should move

an organization measurably closer to

its goals. The Future-Ready enterprise

is committed to long-term thinking and

takes a disciplined approach to IT decision-

making. The end result is not just an IT

architecture that’s built for change, but an

agile business that’s ready for anything.”

Today’s Data Centers face daunting

tasks of meeting demands for high-

quality services, maximizing End User

Experience, reducing TCO, and gaining

control over ICT complex physical, virtual

& cloud infrastructures. Taj of Riverbed

Technology said, “By reducing TCO is one

of the main demands as well and this

is achieved by simply consolidating the

multiple Performance/Visibility Silo tools

in place into an end-to-end performance

solution like Riverbed SteelCentral. Again,

it is good to know that vents that affect

IT services COST organizations IMAGE &

REPUTATION every day. Having said that,

the most important driver along with TCO

is to maintain a high level of business

performance.”

While emphasizing on the emergence

of software defined approach in the next

generation data center space, Ranjith

Kaippada, Sales Director, StorIT Distribution

said, “The next-generation data center

is increasingly evolving towards the

software-defined approach. Storage

Architecture is undergoing drastic changes

to cater the new requirement of the

enterprise class. It has become a mandate

that all the storage models should be

compatible and should be easily integrated

"Business and technology leaders look to make responsible technology investments whilst ensuring their businesses are Future-Ready. Complexity is antithetical to Future-Ready and the objectives of

information technology."

Shams HasanEnterprise product Manager

Dell Middle East

20 | December 2015

with virtualization and going forward with

cloud and big data solutions. This has

led to the increased uptake of software

defined storage, which offer increased

flexibility, automated management and

cost efficiency over traditional storage.

Converged infrastructure has also become

the most compelling building block of data

center infrastructure.”

Elaborating on the potential of

software defined approach, Karim Refas,

Head of Channels, Eaton Middle East says,

“Looking at the current market, everything

is moving towards a software defined data

center. This means that the power supply

should be intelligent and software friendly;

the IT manager then gets visibility of the

performance of the power backbone.

Software integration should not be simply

about creating a lot of data, but have the

intelligence to manage its dependence on

power, using the amount of power needed

at any given time.

According to Taj, Riverbed, through the

Riverbed Application Performance Platform

offers a comprehensive set of solutions

to address the optimization, control and

visibility requirements of today’s modern

data centers and branch infrastructures.

“With this platform, business objectives

– not technical constraints – drive how

applications and data are delivered,” Taj of

Riverbed Technology adds.

Riverbed Technology's solutions for

visibility such as the recently launched

Riverbed SteelCentral Portal and Riverbed

SteelCentral AppInternals 10, provide

detailed insights into application and

network performance. With the ready

availability of metrics such as end-user

experience, user demographics, application

performance, and convenient workflows

for root cause analysis, organizations can

easily tailor their applications in a manner

that boosts employee productivity.

Next Gen Energy Efficiency Energy efficiency has been an ongoing

trend within the data center market. Auto

adaptive architecture, where the UPS

manages the capacity depending on the

real time load demand, is key to this as it

means power is not wasted. Even when

operating in high efficiency modes, greater

than 99 percent efficiency is delivered,

without compromising reliability.

Karim also emphasized the evolving

role of power management in the next

generation data center, by adding, “With

regards to power management solutions,

the most advanced products are now

able to support a virtualized environment,

triggering the migration of virtual machines

in the event of a power failure or any other

physical event. The power infrastructure

is integrated in a single pane of glass to

the management platforms, and become

exposed to the upper resiliency layers,

giving the capability to automate policies

based on various scenarios to ensure the

business continuity.”

The enterprise storage market in the

Middle East has definitely evolved over

the last few years. Digitization, Internet of

Things, Big Data, digital media and content,

data protection, and archiving are some

of the major drivers behind the increasing

demand for storage solutions. Virtualization

is gaining momentum and storage virtual

machines are geared up to provide

application agility.

Highlights of 2015One of the most prominent IT trends

in 2015 was the emergence of hybrid

enterprises. This year, we saw the

enterprise transforming into a mix of

owned applications and cloud-based

services, with core apps and data running

on-premises in private data centers and

other apps running in the public cloud. So

the enterprise is going hybrid in terms of

where and how it hosts its apps.

Another interesting development in

the region has been that while previously,

it was foreign multinational organizations

that were opening their branches in the

Middle East, in recent years there has

been a reverse trend. Taj of Riverbed

Karim RefasHead of Channel

Eaton Middle East

Taj ElKhayatRegional Vice President

Riverbed Technology

Cover Feature | Big Data

December 2015 | 21

also commented,

“Today, there

are a number of

regional business

powerhouses and

conglomerates

that are expanding

across the globe.

This has resulted in

a market need for technologies that drive

convergence, network performance, enable

location-independent computing and

enhance application delivery.”

As far as the last year is concerned,

software-defined storage has emerged

as an important trend for companies

which were looking to save on costs on

storage infrastructure and most storage

appliance vendors have announced SDS

initiatives, adding to this statement, Ranjith

Kaippada of StorIT Distribution further said,

“OpenStack will continue to gain this year

as the ‘open’ alternative to commercial

products for data centers.”

Other trends include heavier uptake

of flash storage, which provides a

lower-cost of ownership in performance-

intensive environments and much better

performance apart from saving on power

and cooling; and hybrid data storage

systems, which not only offer higher

capacity but also greater performance.

Enterprise storage systems are becoming

more hybridized wherein the data is tiered

in many places in a box and then finally

sent to the cloud.

Trends to watch out for in 2016Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet

of Everything (IoE): We are now moving

beyond the hype into the early stages of

execution. Take for example the ‘Smart

Dubai’ initiative. If we look at how the

Government of Dubai has worked with

organizations like the telecom service

providers, in order to create the platform

needed to support its smart city initiative,

we can see that there is clear intention to

leverage IoT and IoE. Today, the integration

of IoT and IoE will require a lot of services

and the involvement of partners who

understand how cloud applications, mobile

applications, and mobile application

development all play a part in the

connectivity of everything.

Software Defined: Today more hybrid

enterprises are looking at splitting their

infrastructure between on-premise

and the cloud. When we look at these

deployments, the orchestration between

on-premise and cloud-based applications

will be key. And that will not happen

without having the right software-defined

architecture in place. Partners need to

know what the vendors are offering as

a part of their software-defined visions,

understand what tools they need to invest

in, and what they need to do in order to

offer their customers control and visibility

of their software-defined infrastructures.

Cloud and Selling Cloud Applications:

Whether it’s Office 365, Azure or cloud-

based security offerings such as ZScaler or

"Along with surging business opportunities, we will see a rising interest on Converged Infrastructure, All

Flash Arrays, Big Data Analytics and Data protection. Cloud based services, Business competitive analytics

and target marketing will also be of exceptional interest in the coming year."

any of the many

other offerings,

it’s apparent that

cloud adoption is

a clear trend and

partners need to

start exploring what

value they can add

in this area.

Data Management: Uptake on data

management and storage solutions will

definitely be on the rise in 2016. Other

business trends will be the increased

uptake of Big Data and Cloud storage

due to the exponential rise of data

from digitization and IoT. Converged

Infrastructure, VDI and SDS are also

trends anticipated to gain momentum

in 2016. Despite the rise of disruptive

technology, Backup, Recovery and

Archiving solutions will continue to be in

demand.

“Along with surging business

opportunities, we will see a rising

interest on Converged Infrastructure,

All Flash Arrays, Big Data Analytics and

Data protection. Cloud based services,

Business competitive analytics and target

marketing will also be of exceptional

interest in the coming year,” says Ranjith

of StorIT Distribution.

22 | December 2015

Polycom is known for it’s innovative and comprehensive unified communications solutions. What is the core ideology behind this credibility?We always give focus towards research and development and always keen on innovating. We spent our resources to understand the market and customer preferences and behavior toward communications. We design our solution in order to make work environment more efficient with a core objective of enhancing the work experience. We want our customers should work smarter.

What are the key trends you witness in the area of unified communications?There has been a strong thrust towards enhancing the overall experience of the end user. At the same time, enterprise users also getting more and more dynamic in their collaborations. In terms of trends, visual collaboration

and mobility are two major trends that we witness. In terms of overall industry trends which are effecting our business is the fact that market is gradually moving towards remote offices. All these trends also reflect into a converged environment which consists of multiple devices, multiple applications and ultimate need of staying collaborative. As a technology organization, Polycom is committed to facilitate this market dynamics through innovative technologies.

How are cloud based solutions graduating in your market domain?Cloud is undoubtedly a great phenomenon and is visible in almost every industry segment. The demand of cloud based solutions is coming as the getting aggressive towards remote offices. More and more awareness is getting built towards cost viability of the ICT investments so cloud is becoming a popular entity.

Innovative technologies todrive communications

How do you foresee SMB business as an opportunity for Polycom? SMB is a growing segment for Polycom. We have a great portfolio of products for the SMB segment. We understand that this segment holds great prospect but have different level of challenges. Our solutions are gaining popularity among the SMB segment due to the cost value advantage. How is the Middle East market evolving for Polycom’s market? Traditionally, we as an organization are known for high end enterprise solutions. Now things have changed and we have started focusing on the SMB vertical as well. Polycom has introduced solutions that are targeted towards SMB segment.

Would this business transformation mean that new channels will also be added?Yes, we are already adding

new channels in order to address the SMB vertical. Since SMBs have different issues, different priorities as compared to large enterprises, so it is always successful to have dedicated channels to address the SMBs in their own way. For the middle East market we have added distributors, resellers and certified the resellers for Polycom products and services. What are the key priorities for Polycom in terms of market expansion in the region? We are focusing on audio and tele presence as areas for our growth in the region. As mentioned, SMBs is an opportunity area for us, and we are working towards this market. We are also committed towards better and better engagement with our partners. This would mean that we will continue to invest more in the Middle East Market. In case of SMBs, education and awareness are key.

In an exclusive conversation with the Integrator Magazine, Daniel Schmierer, Regional Vice President Middle East & Africa, Polycom highlighted new market dynamics, trends and how Polycom is looking at the Middle East Market.

Daniel SchmiererRegional Vice President MEAPolycom

TechKnow | Polycom

December 2015 | 23

What are the key trends you observe in the Next gen data center domain?To start with, the key trends we observe are the general shift towards the Software Defined Data Center, the standard to operate Hybrid IT (with regard to on premise vs. off-premise AND traditional vs. new technologies) and the shift that (internal) IT has to now provide measurable contribution to the core business.

How challenging is it becoming for organizations to handle the complexity of IT management?With the ever changing landscape of business and technology, management and the combined operation of traditional and new technologies is extremely challenging. A lot of conversations we are having with our customers is centred on the fact they feel like they are living in two worlds under one roof. One is the world of technology systems that has been built up over time or acquired, and the other is the new world where IT is supposed to deliver business results - real time business and customer analytics, for e.g. while crunching huge amounts of data.This means added investment of time and effort to unearth, understand and work with all these layers of technology, which may cause delay in the existing processes.

Fujitsu has always been a leader in computing infrastructure, according to you, what level of transformation is happening in this space? The most paramount development we are seeing is the emerging use of Integrated

Systems. At Fujitsu, we offer one of the broadest portfolios, supporting converged and hyper-converged systems coupled with the support of transformation from hardware defined to software defined.

In 2015, we observed a great thrust on Big Data. According to you, what were the main highlights of this year? I think it’s safe to say that Big Data is no longer the buzzword without conviction, but is now widely accepted and implemented in the market due to many useful cases. The combination of Big Data and IoT technologies provides more added value to organizations than ever before. The best example of making big-data come alive is the Hadoop eco system which becomes more comprehensive and mature, with its real-time capabilities increasing due to in-memory data stores and streaming technologies supporting Complex Event Processing (CEP). In the future, we see an ever growing need for data lakes, without real boundaries in terms of size and will eventually replace traditional data warehouses and revolutionize the market.

How is Middle East market evolving towards newer changes in the ICT domain with regards to Big Data, IoTetc?In our digital economy, as more and more devices get inter-connected, there are vast amounts of data that Middle East business are looking to leverage. The largest and more mature organizations have already launched various projects in this domain, which are in various stages of completion. We now see the next phase of organizations

Integrated systems holds future of ICT

actively considering impact to their businesses.

What are the key technologies driving the hyper converged environment?In a hyper-converged infrastructural environment, the technology is software defined, so that the technology is, in essence, all integrated (convergence of compute and storage) and cannot be broken out into separate components. These technologies are offered by multiple SW providers. Fujitsu, for example, is offering 3 different major technologies (VMware, Microsoft, Hadoop) in its hyper-converged Integrated Systems.

What are the key parameters one should consider while designing the next generation data center?As the volume, velocity, variety and value of data continue to soar, the data center has to be able to respond. This means organisations must be given the freedom to select those elements of the data center that will address their existing and future business requirements. Critical to success in our new human centric world, characterized by the mega technology trends of mobile, big data and social, all underpinned by cloud, will be the ability to innovate and exploit ICT quickly and cost effectively while leveraging the skills and knowledge.

In a conversation with Chandan Mehta, Director Marketing –Fujitsu Middle East, Africa and India, industry’s market trends were discussed and the future ready technologies of next generation data center were discussed.

Chandan MehtaDirector MarketingFujitsu Middle East

TechKnow | Fujitsu

24 | December 2015

How challenging it is becoming for organizations to handle the complexity of IT management?The adoption to the latest technologies still remains the biggest complexity i.e. the rapid adoption of cloud computing, big data and BYOD are making it harder for IT management. Some other challenges are securing and controlling the remote devices accessing central data and visibility to the virtualized devices. Lack of a single tool to provide visibility to all technical domain remains the biggest challenge for IT managers.

What are the key business drivers of StorIT?StorIT will continue to make significant strides in Data management, data protection, Big Data Analytics and Open Compute Infrastructure. We recently rolled out a comprehensive Managed Services program to our resellers, which is another path breaking service by StorIT that would redefine value distribution.

How is flash based storage market growing in the Middle East market?The adoption of flash based storage with Enterprises is growing tremendously in the Middle East market. Data centre managers, looking for ways to address the energy drain represented by hard drives, are examining flash storage as a way to achieve green computing or green data centre benchmarks. Flash drives provide amazing performance and only 20% of power compared to the SAS and NL SAS Drives.

To meet the rising demands due of data explosion, enterprises are increasingly

TechKnow | StorIT

opting for Big Data and Cloud storage, which is driving up the adoption of flash and hybrid storage arrays. Due to this increased demand, enterprise storage is witnessing tremendous innovation.

Flash storage enables unprecedented data-mobility speeds, allowing data to be shared and accessed across functions. It also prevents spikes in latency as more users access the data. The adoption of flash based storage with Enterprises is growing tremendously. Data center managers, looking for ways to address the energy drain represented by hard drives, are examining flash storage as a way to achieve green computing or green data center benchmarks. Flash drives provide amazing performance and only 20% of power compared to the SAS and NL SAS Drives.

The virtues of all flash arrays are widely known and generally touted as the best and only option for high-performance workloads such as VDI, transactional databases and as storage for high demand virtual servers, essentially, anywhere we want shared storage to operate extremely quickly.

The Enterprise channel is helping customers to transition from traditional hard disks to flash storage seamlessly in order to achieve benefits such as real-time, faster analytics which helps in better decision making.

What are the key storage management technologies driving in an hybrid computing environment?Cloud computing is a key technology trend driving in hybrid environment. It provides lower cost of operation and faster access to applications. BYOD is another way of

Flash drivestorage is today’s key demandenhancing the hybrid cloud. Though challenges remain between personal and corporate data and single window to manage will ease specific need of each device. Big Data is vast challenging technology in hybrid space. Handling big data and securing with authorized access ensuring that performance is not affected.

There are three forces driving the adoption of hybrid IT- an enterprise’s need to maintain control of data, the cost effectiveness of cloud components such as software-as-a-service and storage-as-a-service and the desire for an

IT department to respond as quickly as possible to rapidly changing business needs.

What are the key priorities of StorIT?Enterprise Storage will continue to be StorIT’s main focus in the next 12 months. The key priorities of StorIT will continue to remainData Storage, Data Protection, Data Management, Big Data, High Performance Computing and Data Analytics solutions and services. In addition to this, we will also be focusing on our recently launched Managed Services portfolio for our reseller partners.

In an exclusive interaction with The Integrator Magazine, Ranjith Kaippada, Sales Director, StorIT Distribution, highlighted some innovative technologies that are driving this market and also emphasized on trends such as BYOD and much more.

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Kal

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Flash drivestorage is today’s key demand

26 | December 2015

What are the key trends that you are experiencing in the ICT market domain?ICT domain has dramatically shifted from the traditional domains of purely hardware and software differentiation. With the advent of social media and cloud, technology is now focused more on our privacy and speed of access to information. Networking and Security will be the new trends going forward. Unified Communication, Advanced Networking, Cloud security (both perimeter and user level) will be the buzz words. This is clearly evident in the new investments that we have made as a group in Europe.

What are the key market segments that you are targeting?Our parent organization, Rigby Private Equity (RPE) has recently invested significantly in two distribution behemoths in Europe. WickHill, which was the first in July 2015, is a successful security based Value added distributor in Europe and Zycko, which was more recent in

Dec 2015, is a broadline networking and unified communications distributor in Europe, having 14 offices in 12 countries. These investments clearly define our move forward. Our focus will be in the now ever important fields of Security and Networking.

What are the technology specific opportunities that your organization is targeting?We are closely working with Netskope (Cloud Access Security Broker) to position Cloud App Security in a more structured and organized manner. Right now the threat of ‘Shadow IT’, is below the radar and goes unnoticed. We are working with our select channel to position this solution to the end users to create a more dynamic and user specific cloud app usage scenario in the organization.

How is the Middle East /GCC market evolving for your segment?The Middle East market is at present the

fastest growing market for all vendors. The potential to adopt and adapt new technology is at its highest. The oil price has affected projects but we believe these will be short term and the Middle East and especially the GCC market has always shown the requisite resilience to bounce back from any economic downturn. With the new investments and consequent upgrade to our solution portfolio, we are optimistic about the growth potential of this region.

What kind of business challenges that you are facing?Liquidity and Profitability has always been the two biggest challenges in our region. But with the growing support of local governments and tighter credit measures, we have successfully, since 2010 (when we started operations), protected ourselves and our channel from the unfortunate run-away incidents that

Committed to drive value for customers: SCD

While the technology penetration in our lives is growing multi fold, trends such as unified communications, advanced computing, cloud and cloud security are experiencing huge turnaround in the market. Imtiaz Ghani – General Manager, Specialist Computer Distribution FZE highlighted such market trends in an exclusive conversation with The Integrator Magazine.

TechKnow | SCD

have plagued our industry. With the new direction of our group globally, we are now positioning products that give our channel a clear edge over competition in terms of technology, which in turn gives them an opportunity to improve their profitability which they did not have access to earlier.

How do you foresee next one year of business activity?We have successfully completed 5 years of operations in Middle East and Pakistan. In these 5 years we have had amongst the lowest rates of attrition across our competition, which in itself is a huge sign of our commitment to the business. The next one year will see us consolidate our operations by adding more vendors to our portfolio and leveraging our global strength due to our recent investments. We plan to redefine the Value Added Distribution landscape in the region by offering our technical expertise and apt product offerings to the channel.

Imtiaz GhaniGeneral ManagerSCD FZE

28 | December 2015

Insight | A10 Network

inspection platforms to decrypt SSL traffic and forward it to third-party security devices for analysis. For outbound traffic, organizations own the end points but not the SSL certificates and keys. An SSL inspection platform can decrypt traffic when configured as a transparent forward proxy or an explicit proxy.

Protecting Corporate ServersDecrypting inbound traffic destined to internal application servers is different than decrypting outbound traffic because organizations own the SSL keys. There are two main ways to decrypt inbound SSL traffic sent to internal servers:• Reverseproxymode:SSLtraffic is terminated on the SSL inspection devices and sent in clear text to inline or non-inline security devices. This mode is also referred to as “SSL Offload.”• Passivenon-inlineorinlinemode: SSL traffic is decrypted

SSL is everywhere. Today, many of the most popular

websites leverage encryption to keep data secure and private. On top of that, other applications such as email, instant messaging, and FTP use SSL or its successor TLS to encrypt traffic. Need proof that SSL is ubiquitous? According to Sandvine, two thirds of Internet traffic will be encrypted by 2016.

When organizations start encrypting application traffic, they often encounter obstacles such as performance degradation on their application servers. Encryption has other, more serious, ramifications; it makes network security tools blind to application traffic. Security solutions like next-generation firewalls, intrusion prevention, and advanced threat protection platforms cannot inspect packets and mitigate threats when traffic is encrypted.

To solve this issue, organizations can deploy SSL

When your SSL decryption solution pre-vents better securityBy: Glen Ogden, Regional Sales Director, Middle East at A10 Networks

using a copy of the server SSL keys. SSL traffic is not modified by the SSL inspection platform except—potentially—to block attacks.

In reverse proxy mode, the SSL inspection platform can potentially also accelerate SSL performance and load balance servers.

In passive non-inline mode, the SSL inspection platform can be installed transparently without needing to update network settings. However, in passive non-inline mode, organizations cannot easily block attacks. Although organizations may be able to send TCP resets from non-inline devices, this is a best-effort approach and will not effectively block all attacks, including single-packet attacks.However, the biggest flaw with passive mode is that it does not support strong encryption methods like Perfect Forward Secrecy because the SSL inspection platform does not actively participate in the SSL

key negotiation.Why should you care about Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS)? Many organizations are transitioning to PFS because:• PFSensuresthatifanSSL key is compromised in the future, that criminals or government organizations cannot decrypt the data. Each session has its own unique key, so each individual session must be cracked—which is a nearly impossible task.• PFSmitigatesmanytypesof SSL vulnerabilities. For example, with the notorious Heartbleed bug, if an SSL private key is compromised, hackers cannot monitor and decrypt communications. This is because each SSL session is encrypted with a unique session key.

Leading SSL proponents like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are urging application owners to switch to Perfect Forward Secrecy. And many organizations are heeding their call. Web properties such as Dropbox, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft Outlook.com, Twitter, Tumblr, Yahoo and more now use PFS.

Unfortunately, organizations that deploy an SSL inspection platform that only supports passive mode will be hamstrung.

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30 | December 2015

Insight | IDC

reason behind this slowdown is the growing uptake of virtualization technologies, which require less server units than was previously the case. This means that a growing number of organizations are now actively optimizing their existing installed base of servers rather than increasing their physical server capacity. And the figures back this up, with the region's virtualization rate already standing at more than 35%.

Over on the other side of the market, non-x86 servers have been steadily declining over the last couple of years as new workloads are predominantly added on the x86 side. Typically, we are seeing a trend where organizations would rather purchase cheaper servers and virtualize them than purchase very expensive RISC, CISC, or EPIC servers.

While the MEA server market did see a slowdown in shipments during 2014, the decline of just 1% year on year compares favorably to the overall global trend, with HP and Dell respectively occupying the market's first and second spots. This relatively strong performance was made possible by a number of significant deals that took place towards the end of the year. This includes the region's biggest ever high-performance computing (HPC), awarded to Cray Inc. by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to accelerate its supercomputing capabilities in both its laboratory and learning environments.

Unsurprisingly, average selling prices (ASPs) increased last year as vendors strived to hit their revenue targets at a time when volumes are falling. However, IDC is seeing

The dynamics of the server market has been going

through some major changes over the last couple of years in the Middle East and Africa (MEA). To paint a clearer picture, it is important to understand that servers are classified into different types based on their instruction sets – x86 and non-x86. The former of these are further broken down into four product categories: rack-optimized, tower, blade, and density-optimized servers. And while rack and tower servers – the traditional leaders of the pack – remain the most popular form factors, blades and density-optimized servers are both gaining ground.

Located towards the lower end of the pricing spectrum, rack servers are more likely to be adopted for projects within the government and education verticals, where price typically plays an important role in determining purchases. As such, they will continue to be the mainstays of the MEA market. Tower servers are beginning to decline in popularity, but they still hold a good share of the market, primarily due to the fact that this form factor is the cheapest.

Blades have recently become very popular in MEA, and IDC predicts that their share of the region's market will overtake that of tower servers over the next five years. Density-optimized servers have also begun to pick up traction in the region, and IDC is expecting to see a couple of major projects in this space in Turkey and Qatar before the end of the year.

What's interesting to note is that there has been a slowdown of server shipments to the region over the last couple of years. The major

a decline in ASPs this year as Lenovo and Huawei are offering prices that are 40% lower than their A-ranked rivals. To quantify this, the drop in ASP from Q4 2014 to Q1 2015 alone was 13% for all vendors combined. All that said, the MEA region continues to have a number of brand-loyal customers that prefer the more expensive options served up by HP and Dell.

While the region has seen a slowdown in server shipments over the last two

years, the MEA market is expected to pick up again over the coming forecast period due to a number of reasons. Chief among these is Microsoft's decision to end support for Windows Server 2003. Indeed, IDC expects the migration rate to pick up speed as there are still many organizations that have not yet made the switch due to the complexity of the process and the sheer number of servers that need to be rehabilitated.

Changing trends of MEA server marketBy Victoria Mendes, Research Analyst, IDC Middle East

and Africa

32 | December 2015

EyeTech

DAP -2230 access pointQuad-Core TS-x53A series

Overview:

The DAP-2330 is an 802.11n ceiling/wall mount Gigabit

PoE Access Point, ideal for wireless networks in high traffic

areas such as airports, coffee shops, shopping centers,

sporting venues, hotels, and campus deployments. At

transfer rates of up to 300Mbps in the 2.4GHz frequency

range, users are able to connect with legacy 802.11g

adapters as well as the latest 802.11n adapters to enjoy

faster downloads and instant communication.

Key features:

• IEEE802.11g/nStandard

• Comeswithoperatinghumiditycapabilityof10%to

90% non-condensing

• TheproducthasCertificationssuchasFCC,IC,CE,Wi-Fi

• TheSecurityfeaturesincludes:WPA-Personal•WPA-

Enterprise•WPA2-Personal•WPA2-Enterprise•WEP

64/128-bitencryption•SSIDbroadcastdisable•MAC

addressaccesscontrol•NetworkAccessProtection(NAP)

• InternalRADIUSserver.

• TheMaximumTransmitOutputPoweris20dbm

for 2.4GHz

Overview:

QNAP Systems, Inc announced the release of the TS-x53A series - the world’s first QTS-Linux dual system NAS. Powered by an 14nm Intel Celeron N3150 quad-core 1.6GHz processor with hardware encryption acceleration, and Intel 8th generation HD Graphics, the TS-x53A series provides 4K UHD HDMI output, 4K H.264 video hardware-accelerated transcoding & playback, snapshots for multiple recovery points, integrated virtualization and container support.

The TS-x53A series can provide a secure private cloud environment for file backup and sharing, and with the new Linux Station it can act as a great base for Internet of Things (IoT) application and developments.

Key features:

• AnIoT-centricQTS-LinuxComboNASwithHardware- accelerated Encryption & Transcoding with 4K UHD HDMI output

• TS-x53Aseriesisavailablein2,4,6and8-baymodels and is powered by a new Intel Celeron 1.6GHz processor (burst up to 2.08GHz) with dual-channel 4GB or 8GB DDR3L-1600 RAM configuration (upgradable to 8GB).

• CoupledwithSATA6Gb/ssupportand2/4Gigabit LAN ports, the series delivers up to 400MB/s throughput performance for business applications and to meet multitasking requirements.

• ItalsofeaturesAES-NIhardware-acceleratedencryption for over 200MB/s AES 256-bit encrypted transfer rates for either full NAS volumes or shared folders.

• WiththenewLinuxStation,userscanpluginaHDMI monitor and USB keyboard & mouse to the NAS as if it were a standard Linux desktop system.

December 2015 | 33

Overview:

Allied Telesis has expanded its industrial networking portfolio

with the launch of the IE510 Series of feature-rich Gigabit

stackable switches.

The IE510 Series complements the existing IE200 Series of

industrial Ethernet switches and are ideal as core or distribution

switches for industrial applications. When deployed with the

IE200 Series, IE510 Series switches are ideal for connecting

devices such as CCTV cameras, industrial automation systems

and building management systems, or anywhere that harsh

environments are typical.

Key features::

• TheAT-IE510-28GSXprovidestheflexibilityof24SFPbays

along with an additional four 1/10Gbps uplink ports and the

scalability provided by Allied Telesis Virtual Chassis Stacking

(VCStack™).

• Theswitchalsodeliversthesophisticatedfeaturesfound

within the Allied Telesis AlliedWare Plus™ next-generation

operating system, including Ethernet Protection Switched

Ring (EPSRing™).

• EPSRingprovidesquickerrestorationthantraditional

technologies to ensure that network functionality is

restored in the event of failure with negligible impact on

users or applications.

• Thisswitchallowscomprehensiveautomationusingscripting

and triggers and Allied Telesis Management Framework™

(AMF).

• AMFassistsnetworkmanagersbyprovidingthetechnology

to reduce their daily workloads—by automating many

common management tasks such as replacing failed units,

modifying configurations, upgrading firmware or extending

the network.

New OmniSwitch byAlcatel-Lucent enterprise

Overview:ALE, operating under the brand Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, is introducing a new member of its Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 6900 family of switches. The award-winning Intelligent Fabric technology automates and improves the agility of IT operationsnow available in the new Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch® 6900-X72,giving customers additional flexibility in supporting deployment needs. VXLAN technology feature provides transparent extensionsfor virtual and physical environments. The OmniSwitch 6900-X72 provides higher density and cost-effective price per port for10GbE/40GbE Ethernet Switch and is ideal for the data center or compact core deployments

Key features:• TheIntelligentFabrictechnologyissupportedinboth the data center switching and the converged campus network solutions.

• TheOmniSwitch6900-X72VXLANtechnologyallowsIT to seamlessly interconnect the application infrastructure into both the physical and virtual worlds.

• CompatibilityoftheOmniSwitch6900-X72withother OmniSwitch 6900 platforms enables customers to mix and match switches to meet network needs adapting their environment.

• Fixed1RUformfactorswitch

• 48x10G&6x40Gfrontaccessibleports

• Scalableto72x10G

• 1.44Tbpsswitching&1.4Gppsthroughput

• IntelligentFabricandfullSDNprogrammability

• VirtualNetworkProfile(VNP)support;VNPis Alcatel- Lucent Enterprise technology that automatically identifies virtual machines in both physical and virtual (VXLAN) environments and provides true QoS for applications running across the Intelligent Fabric. VNP also provides automatic network reconfiguration with adds/moves/changes of virtual machines both within and between data centers.

Allied Telesis launches gigabit industrial switches

34 | December 2015

ICT spending in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META)

will top $260 billion in 2016 as organizations across the region increasingly embrace digital transformation initiatives in a bid to streamline their costs and bolster their flexibility. That's according to global technology research and consulting services firm International Data Corporation, which hosted an event in Dubai to announce a series of "IDC FutureScape Predictions" for the year ahead.

"Sitting at the heart of most digital transformation efforts across the region is some combination of the main 3rd Platform technologies – mobility, cloud, Big Data analytics, and social business," says Megha Kumar, IDC's senior research manager for software in the META region. "And while this trend undoubtedly signals a positive development for the region's ICT vendors, it is also worth noting that a number of macroeconomic factors are preventing the market from reaching its full potential. Indeed, declining oil prices,

According to Ovum’s latest Security 2016 Trends to

Watch report, the IT security industry will focus on helping organizations to know more about the threats they face. IT will be utilizing security intelligence and analytical capabilities to map the threat landscape and find and take action against new and recurring threats. Industry coverage will include new technologies which have

political instability, and volatile currency fluctuations have all played their part in IDC adjusting its initial forecast for 2016 down from $270 billion. With such factors in mind, we feel a more modest year-on-year growth rate of 3.8% is attainable for the region, with software and IT services responsible for much of the increase."

IDC expects the region's top three biggest IT spenders to remain unchanged in 2016, with Saudi Arabia leading the way at $14 billion. South Africa and Turkey will follow up with $13 billion each, while there is a substantial drop back to Iran and the UAE, which are both tipped to spend $8 billion on IT in 2016. A key facet of the digital transformation revolution that is beginning to take shape in the region is the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, with IDC predicting that IoT-related investments in META will create a market opportunity of $7.03 billion in 2016.

"The adoption of IoT will accelerate the rate of digital

transformation as organizations and stakeholders seek actionable insights from the high volumes of data that will inevitably be generated by the proliferation of connected 'things' such as mobile devices, wearables, and sensors," says Kumar. "These insights will transform the way businesses and government organizations interact with customers, citizens, suppliers, and even employees, helping them to become more agile and innovative than they could have previously imagined."

IDC believes that IoT applications in the government, retail, transportation, manufacturing, and utilities verticals will offer the greatest growth opportunity for vendors operating in the META region, while security is expected to form a key component of any robust digital transformation strategy. With that in mind, IDC predicts IT security spending across META to grow 12% year on year in 2016, reaching a total of $1.5 billion. Cost optimization efforts and a lack of the required

skills will drive demand for security services in the year ahead, while the proliferation of IoT technologies will push concerns around privacy and physical security to the top of the agenda.

Central to the region's digital transformation journey in 2016 will be the strong growth that is anticipated in public cloud spending. "IDC predicts that investments in public cloud services across META will grow 22.6% year on year in 2016 to total more than $500 million," says Kumar. "Much of this will be driven by the need to transform capital expenditure into operating expenditure, with public cloud increasingly being viewed across the region as a way of overcoming budget constraints. In light of this, IDC expects most non-core applications to be migrated to public clouds over the coming 12 months, while some organizations will even begin to shift their core applications in a bid to simplify their management processes."

Stats & Trends

ICT spending to top $260 Billion in 2016across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa

been designed to identify and address the risky actions that users are taking and the unauthorized, often cloud-based facilities they are choosing to use.

Security 2016 Trends to Watch:• Improvingtheusefulnessofsecurity analytics and threat intelligence is vital.• Keepingbusinessdatasafecalls for new and innovative

technology.• Cybersecuritycontrolsmust improve to deal with next-generation business systems.• Identitymanagementhasto evolve to deal with the complete digital lifecycle.

Andrew Kellett, Principal Analyst, Software – IT solutions and author of the report says, “In 2016, the security plaudits should go to software and service

providers who can identify threats earlier and provide organisations with the quality of security intelligence they need to keep data safe.”

In 2016, cybercrime, state-sponsored activities and advanced persistent threats (APTs) will continue to make the headlines, and social engineering that targets human frailties will continue to put business systems at risk.

Ovum declares 2016 spend on security to exceed US$37bn

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