Vision 2019 by Computernews Middle East

2019

TECHNOLOGIES THAT WILL REDEFINE THE MIDDLE EAST brought to you by:

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We see something. Amid the streams of ones and zeros, we see a world where oceans of data yield sparks of insight and unending questions are being answered. A world where every space is intelligent and each connection is seamless. Where cutting-edge computing has the power to carry mankind to new planets, and faster data analysis accelerates the race for a cure. Where solutions come before problems arise and physicists have the power to map the universe’s origins. We see a world where Everything Computes, and what’s next is extraordinary. ©Copyright 2018 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP.

Contents

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GBM Citrix Barracuda Finesse Ivanti Nexans Raqmiyat SANS

GULF BUSINESS MACHINES

Breached or not breached? HANI NOFAL, VICE PRESIDENT, INTELLIGENT NETWORK SOLUTIONS, SECURITY AND MOBILITY, GULF BUSINESS MACHINES, SHARES HIS TOP TIPS FOR HOW ORGANISATIONS CAN NAVIGATE THE REGIONAL THREAT LANDSCAPE.

With ever-growing emphasis on the importance of achieving economic diversification and reducing dependency on oil revenues, digitisation is high on the agenda of governments in the Gulf region. The accelerated pace of digital transformation in the region has pushed organisations to invest significantly in advanced technologies such as cloud,

HANI NOFAL, vice president, Intelligent Network Solutions, Security and Mobility, Gulf Business Machines

mobile and Internet of Things. Those that fail to invest risk getting left behind. However, as Gulf states progress in their ambitious digitalisation goals, they also become hot targets for cyber threats. High-profile cyber incidents that made headlines over the past few years, including major data breaches such as those experienced by British Airways, Facebook, Starwood Hotels and Careem have kept the security teams across the world on their toes. “Cybercrime ranks second among the Top 10 risks in the global economy today and the Gulf region is no different in terms of vulnerability and security incidents,” says Hani Nofal, vice president, Intelligent Network Solutions, Security and Mobility, Gulf Business Machines. “In fact, our latest findings have shown that security incidents faced by the Gulf have risen from 28 percent to 41 percent over the past few years. This suggests a significant surge in the activities within the threat landscape.” As organisations increase their digital footprints and more businesses go online to deliver digital services we can expect this trend to continue. However, it is encouraging to note that as the rise in threat continues, the level of maturity among organisations when it comes to cybersecurity is also significantly improving, says Nofal. “Over the past few years, security has transformed to be a boardroom discussion rather than an isolated IT department issue among Gulf organisations. Our recent study has revealed that 79 percent of organisations said their company currently

GULF BUSINESS MACHINES

has a security strategy programme in place. Whether it’s effective or not, that’s another question, but at least more organisations are heading in the right direction.” This significant progress in the mindset of organisations was also driven by increased regulations in the market, according to Nofal. “The implementation of GDPR in Europe last year has pushed many regional enterprises, to re-think how they are dealing with some of the security and privacy issues.” Although we have seen a move towards greater protection from cyber risks, there’s still more that needs to be done. Companies today must understand that preparation against a security breach should not be purely focused on defensive tactics, but rather it is important to invest in resources that facilitate detection and response. According to GBM’s latest study, 69 percent of Gulf companies consider preventing attacks as their top security concern while only 31 percent of Gulf organisations have detection and response as their key priority in their cybersecurity strategy. “We have to recognise that a cyber breach is not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when’,” says Nofal. “But enterprises should also understand that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to security,” he explains. “Every organisation is different and the assets within them are different. Therefore, a vital step that organisations need to take is to be prepared for what’s coming.” According to Nofal, shifting the focus and investments from conventional reactive cybersecurity methods of prevention to proactive detection and response is key to ensuring effective security. “Simply installing firewalls and anti-virus software are no longer enough to defend against cyber-attacks,” he explains. “Now the game has changed. If an organisation’s security practice is too focused on how to prevent attacks, it will be vastly outgunned and unprepared for the damage that an inevitable breach will cause. There’s an opportunity within the early stages of a breach for the security teams to detect, gain intelligence, analyse and stop the cyber-attack. In addition, they can use such intelligence to familiarise themselves with the type of attack so they can be better prepared for the future.”

ENTERPRISES SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS NO ‘ONESIZE-FITSALL’ WHEN IT COMES TO SECURITY.”

As the threat landscape grow to become more sophisticated than ever, prevention alone is no longer viable as the sole security strategy. However, this does not mean that prevention is unimportant, it simply reiterates the need to transform security strategies into one that strikes a balance between prevention and better detection and response. A shift that is slowly but surely taking place in enterprises across the globe. In fact, recent figures from Gartner highlighted that security spending is expected to reach $113 billion by 2020, with a big chunk of investments focused on enhancing detection and response capabilities. “We are definitely seeing this important shift happening in the region as well,” says Nofal, “not only in the mindset but also in investments.” “Despite this transformation, a vast majority of regional firms are lagging behind and we still have a big room for improvement. But I think it’s something that will improve in the next few years,” he explains.  Another vital element for an effective security scheme that organisations need to keep in mind is visibility. “We always say that you cannot protect what you don’t see. Unfortunately, one of the main challenges in an increasingly digitised world is we end up creating a lot of systems that work in silos,” says Nofal. “The lack of integration among enterprise systems creates numerous cracks that threat actors can exploit.” Nofal says is this where GBM’s role becomes crucial. “As a trusted security solutions provider in the region, we ensure that we bring in the latest solutions from all the vendors and we create a fabric that will provide organisations with a holistic security strategy.” To facilitate enhanced visibility in the face of growing numbers of sophisticated cyber threats, a unified security operations centre (SOC) is emerging as a vital asset in defending enterprises. “SOC combines the technology and human and makes it a perfect solution for those who are not comfortable putting their entire security practices in the hands of machine learning or those who are concerned about human error,” he explains. “GBM can help you design, build and run an SOC that protects critical data, reduces risk, provides deep security insight and enhances governance.”

CITRIX

The workplace of the future CITRIX’S TAJ EL-KHAYAT, REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, BELIEVES THE FIRM IS IN POLE POSITION TO DELIVER THE WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE.

Give us a brief background on your organisation’s technology portfolio. As we all know, work is no longer a place. It’s an increasingly dynamic activity that people expect to be as adaptable as they are. With a legacy of almost 30 years, Citrix powers a better way to work by delivering the experience, security, and choice that people and organisations need to be able to unlock innovation, engage customers and be productive — anytime, anywhere.

TAJ EL-KHAYAT, regional director, Middle East and North Africa, Citrix

Our digital workspaces combine the apps and files needed to get work done, with access control and endpoint management that offer the contextual, secure, unified experience organisations need to do their best work. Our dynamic solutions fall under three categories: Workspace: Our digital workspace solutions offer a secure, unified, contextual experience for SaaS, mobile, and virtual apps while increasing IT visibility and simplifying management. ‘Citrix Workspace’ creates a personalised and secure platform for employees to be productive on their terms — on any application, any device, any cloud. Networking: Our networking solutions deliver secure and reliable access to all apps and data in hybrid and multi-cloud environments, so you can count on the best experience and resource availability anytime, on any connected device. With Citrix, you have full visibility of and insights on your IT environment to optimise performance, pre-empt threats, and secure your end-user files, apps, and devices. Analytics: Citrix Analytics provide visibility into performance, operations, and security, detecting and reacting to threats in real time based on changes in user behaviour, device trust, and network conditions. Our analytics solutions automate the aggregation of data across the Citrix portfolio and perform intelligent

Digital Workspace This is how the future works Work is no longer a place, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an increasingly dynamic activity that people expect to be as adaptable as they are. Citrix powers digital workspaces that combine freedom and security. Whether work happens on-site, on the road, or in the cloud, Citrix gives you confidence without compromise www.citrix.com/workspace

CITRIX

analysis using machine learning to correlate information across network traffic, users, files, and endpoints in Citrix environments. Which technology trends do you believe will see the biggest uptake in the coming 12 months? What kinds of specific products and services will be needed to make this a reality? We expect 2019 to be an incredible year when it comes adapting and embracing new technologies. Below are some trends that we expect to see in 2019: The need for new business models – With digital transformation being embraced in the UAE and KSA at a rapid pace, it has become critical for enterprises to change their business models. The models need to put technology and innovation at the fore in order to benefit the business. With the changing landscape, companies need to adopt their business models to include technology that allows its employees to work anytime and anywhere. This is where Citrix comes in. With our flexible and secure platform, organisations can connect, collaborate, and innovate anywhere — on any application, any device, any cloud, at any time. AI becomes less sci-fi - The arguments raging around the dangers of AI are interesting, but it’s highly unlikely that we’re going to be wiped out by mal-intentioned robots anytime soon. Perhaps the real question we ought to be asking is how much more productive we can make work in the short term by embracing AI and how many more jobs will it create in 2019. New human compute interface - We are moving into a world where reality and virtuality are becoming one, and the way we interact with machines is becoming our own personal choice. Whether we touch the screen, talk to the device or fully immerse ourselves in a different experience is up to us. Making the choice becomes the way we explore, learn, create and engage. Hybrid cloud is crowned king - The hybrid cloud model reigns in 2019, taking into account the placement of workloads, applications and services across a variety of different on-premises and public clouds to best suit the needs of the customer. Our cloud services simplify the delivery and management of Citrix technologies,

PERHAPS THE REAL QUESTION WE OUGHT TO ASK IS HOW MUCH MORE PRODUCTIVE WE CAN MAKE WORK IN THE SHORT TERM BY EMBRACING AI.” helping organisations to extend existing on-premises software deployments or move one hundred percent to the cloud. What will happen to organisations that fail or refuse to adopt transformative technologies? Since digital transformation is changing the face of business, it is important for companies to transform and adopt transformative technologies at a rapid pace. If organisations are reluctant to adopt new technologies, they cannot expect to achieve a different result. An organisation should not only adopt new technology but also focus on the “why” of technology, rather than the “how”. One must understand that new technologies can’t be introduced and forgotten. It must be constantly twisted, evaluated and replaced as and when a revolution in the industry occurs. What part do you believe your technologies will play in the society of 2025? In 2025, we will witness millennials controlling the boardroom, the adoption of AI will go mainstream and traditional offices won’t exist. That said, our path-breaking solutions such as Citrix Workspace will cater to such demands and take our customers’ business forward into a level of improved productivity. How do you believe the Middle East’s biggest cities will be reshaped by technology in the coming years? According to a report by McKinsey, the Middle East is on the verge of a massive digital disruption. In the past decade, the cross-border data flow connecting the Middle East to the world has increased by more than 150-fold. The report also stated that several countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar—are leading the digital consumer charge, with high smartphone adoption rates and social media use.

BARRACUDA

Better safe than sorry BARRACUDA’S REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND TURKEY, TONI EL INATI, BELIEVES NEW TECHNOLOGY BRINGS HUGE OPPORTUNITIES BUT MUST BE PARTNERED WITH A VIGILANT AND EFFECTIVE CYBERSECURITY STRATEGY.

Give us a brief background on Barracuda’s technology portfolio. At Barracuda, we strive to make the world a safer place. We believe every business deserves access to cloud-enabled, enterprisegrade security solutions that are easy to buy, deploy, and use. We protect email, networks, data and applications with innovative solutions that grow and adapt with our customers’ journey. Barracuda security products and services are engineered to ease organisations’ transition to the cloud and provide the enhanced security they need in their new

TONI EL INATI, regional sales director, Middle East and Turkey, Barracuda

cloud infrastructure. We extend seamless security across both on-premises and cloudhosted environments, and give organisations single-point visibility and control over their entire security infrastructure. Which technology trends do you believe will see the biggest uptake in the coming 12 months? What kinds of specific products and services will be needed to make this a reality? Governments and security companies will start to work together to improve regulations to protect companies and individuals. Governments will begin to regulate exactly how many personal details organisations can request from individuals, reducing the risk of attacks such as account takeover by cutting back on the amount of data being collected. Organisations need to build a comprehensive security awareness programme that addresses the most important security topics your users need to deal with. Automation will make that easy, allowing programme administrators to select a complete programme from a library after indicating the type of programme and number of campaigns they want, and then everything will be automatically set up and scheduled for the year. Ultimately, this will make it possible for organisations to get their annual security awareness programme taken care of in a meaningful, well thought-out way and will allow administrators to focus more on using the data from the results of the campaigns to build a risk profile of the organisation. Migration to the cloud has become a megatrend. This has led to new requirements in terms of securing services and the required infrastructure. In particular, star-shaped WAN topologies with central Internet access must be redesigned with regard to their compatibility with increasing use of cloud services. The Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 also open up new areas of attack. Companies should increasingly think about device recognition in the network in order to segment out smart devices accordingly. Therefore, all necessary security technologies should always be preceded by a well-founded education of employees. Companies must develop a comprehensive security awareness programme that addresses the most important security issues. In October 2018, (ISC)2 revealed that the global cyber skills gap now stands at three million, with 63% of businesses lacking the

BARRACUDA

cyber skills to actually keep threats at bay. The balance between the resource, skills and expertise of the ‘good guys’ who are fighting attacks and the ‘bad guys’ who are launching the attacks in the first place is a very delicate one. These decreasing human resources will come to a head in 2019, where Barracuda predicts that organisations will stop being able to keep up with investigating these ‘stealth’ cyber attacks. Attackers are moving away from the relatively standard phishing email, as they are finding that strategically targeting business executives’ accounts is much more lucrative. In 2019, the level of personalisation in these attacks will reach new heights. An attacker will know when an executive is on a flight and won’t be on email that day, and will choose that timeframe to target one of their subordinates by impersonating the executive. An attacker will know that their target is going to make a big purchase, so they will jump in right before the transaction takes place to redirect the funds or change the order information. As workload migration accelerates to the public cloud, security risk professionals will need to get more actively involved in their DevOps team’s processes, so they can automate the application of governance and compliance controls. It’s not about dictating what tools the team uses, but verifying that controls are being met and helping the builders build securely. After all, configuration errors can be easy to make as people try to use new cloud services they might not fully understand. That’s why I expect to see more teams embracing automation to continuously monitor cloud security and remediate problems automatically. What kind of changes do organisations need to make in order to transform themselves? It is recommended that organisations start with a risk assessment when considering technological change. New technology represents an opportunity for agility and efficiency, but it can also mean a broader attack surface and new threats for the company to deal with. When considering change itself, everything comes at a cost. Changes that bring agility may trade off rigour or repeatability, and vice versa. To make the right choices, organisations need to first assess their risk appetite, involving legal, and considering the context of the regulatory environment they work in.

THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE ‘GOOD GUYS’ WHO ARE FIGHTING ATTACKS AND THE ‘BAD GUYS’ WHO ARE LAUNCHING THEM IS DELICATE.” What will happen to organisations that fail or refuse to adopt transformative technologies? There are countless cautionary tales of former industry giants who willingly or accidentally missed big technological shifts. But it can be equally disastrous going “all in” on every passing fad or trend, resulting in wasted efforts and distraction from the core mission. It’s a tricky balance to strike, but one that the best companies strike well. What part do you believe your technologies will play in the society of 2025? Digital transformation will continue to accelerate over the next five years, which means more connected devices in more locations and a much bigger attack surface for the adversary to target. At the same time, the technology skills gap will continue to widen – it’s already difficult to hire and retain security professionals and it’s only going to get worse. As a result, companies need solutions that not only solve increasingly complex problems, but are easy to deploy and use. We want to help companies do more with less. How do you believe the Middle East’s biggest cities will be reshaped by technology in the coming years? The Middle East is moving quickly to adopt transformative digital technologies, though the increasing penetration of the internet, adoption of IoT, and cloud, among others to enable economic diversification. The Middle East cybersecurity market was valued at $5.38 billion in 2017, and it is expected to reach $12.54 billion by the end of 2023. With this, the Middle East market is roughly doubling the CAGR of the regular network security market, according to various industry analysts. We have already seen this happening over the last year involving Barracuda CloudGen Firewall’s included SD-WAN capabilities.

FINESSE

Ringing the changes FINESSE CO-FOUNDER AND COO SUNIL PAUL BELIEVES THAT EMBRACING THE RIGHT CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES COULD BE THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION. SUNIL PAUL, co-founder and COO, Finesse

Give us a brief background on your Finesseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technology portfolio. Finesse is among the most renowned systems integrators in the region. We work to augment businesses in harmony with the latest technologies by enabling digital transformation for every business through CEM, blockchain, AI and chatbots, BI and analytics, cloud transformation and much more. We tailor solutions to meet the demands of organisations and their end users. Finesse is swiftly moving forward in the arenas of treasury management, governance risk and compliance, CPM and enterprise content management. Which technology trends do you believe will see the biggest uptake in the coming 12 months? What kinds of specific products and services will be needed to make this a reality? Digitisation is termed as the key to success by many. The world is rapidly adopting new technologies and is harnessing business revenues to attain new milestones. Last year, in the World Economic Forumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

FINESSE

Annual Meeting, the Fourth Industrial Revolution was the hot topic and it was agreed that digital transformation has the potential to redefine businesses, employment scenarios and skills development for the world’s population. Digital technologies such as AI and chatbots, blockchain, CEM/CRM, softwaredefined networking (SDN), and cloud transformation enhance the way businesses work. New technologies will challenge employees to enhance their skills and execute them efficiently whilst enabling businesses to ensure the right output. What kind of changes do organisations need to make in order to transform themselves? Organisations need to be dynamic in order to stay relevant in today’s digital world. Digital execution demands new approaches, strategies and unparalleled alliances between technical teams and business administration teams. It is imperative for businesses to understand their goals and open up to large-scale changes. With transformation comes an opportunity to re-engineer business processes and improve efficiency whilst increasing revenues. It is also important for organisations to realign their vision with the latest technologies and opt for training and empowerment of the workforce. It is always better to initiate change management methodologies in order to ensure seamless and secure digital transformation of the organisation. What will happen to organisations that fail or refuse to adopt transformative technologies? Technology adoption lifecycles are an irrefutable pattern which define market scenarios in the long run. With the speed of innovation in technology and the fast-paced global economy, it becomes mandatory for organisations to introduce themselves to the latest business trends. With the trail of time, we have seen many companies hit rock bottom just for denying the urge of transformation and the ardent need of it. Blackberry once had the highest

ORGANISATIONS NEED TO BE DYNAMIC IN ORDER TO STAY RELEVANT IN TODAY’S DIGITAL WORLD.” market share of phones. But with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Blackberry lost a huge share of the market. With their denial of the idea of touch screens, they lost the game. Similarly, many other companies in different verticals have downsized their businesses. What part do you believe your technologies will play in the society of 2025? Technology reshapes the urban landscape vastly. Terms like future cities and megacities are defining the emerging standards of almost everything. With IoT, RPA, artificial intelligence, blockchain and more, we can only estimate where this journey is destined. Currently, we are witnessing a revolution which entails transformation of businesses and life. From the Internet of Things entering every household to machine learning and chatbots in the virtual world and treasury management to blockchain in banking and finance, all technology solutions will bring drastic changes in the society by 2025. How do you believe the Middle East’s biggest cities will be reshaped by technology in the coming years? The Middle East is no stranger to ambitious endeavours. Aspiring to be the leading player in the IT world, the region has many opportunities for us. Expo 2020 will surely bring in more startups in the Middle East region and many have already entered the market. If we talk about cities as a whole, we are looking forward to the Saudi government’s NEOM initiative. Apart from this, the Dubai Blockchain Strategy will bring an array of opportunities for us.

IVANTI

The age of service

IVANTI’S MIDDLE EAST GENERAL MANAGER HUSNI HAMMOUD BELIEVES THAT ORGANISATIONS MUST NOW EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN UNIQUELY BENEFIT THEIR BUSINESS, OR THEY RISK BECOMING OBSOLETE IN THE DIGITAL AGE.

Give us a background on Ivanti’s technology portfolio. Ivanti unifies IT and security operations to better manage and secure the digital workplace. From PCs to mobile devices, VDI and the data centre, Ivanti discovers IT assets on-premises and in the cloud, improves IT service delivery, and reduces risk with insights and automation. The company offers a range of products including endpoint security solutions, identity management, IT asset management, IT service management, endpoint and workspace management and reporting and analytics. The company

HUSNI HAMMOUD, general manager, Ivanti Middle East

also helps organisations leverage modern technology in the warehouse and across the supply chain to improve delivery without modifying backend systems. Enterprise IT departments are able to marry these capabilities in order to gain visibility and control throughout their entire network and utilise the power of unified IT. Which technology trends do you believe will see the biggest uptake in the coming 12 months? What kinds of specific products and services will be needed to make this a reality? Due to the fierce competition that many businesses are facing at the moment, I believe that the biggest trend we will see will be those solutions which directly improve the customer experience. The most valuable companies in the world have crafted a corporate strategy that uniquely leverages technology — these companies have made data and technology a fundamental part of their corporate DNA and made digital performance strategic to how customers are served. When we think of these companies, we naturally think about a brand and technology, woven together. The exciting thing is that in the future we will see a new generation of leaders emerge who will certainly follow the same pattern of leveraging digital transformation to improve corporate performance and deliver compelling value to customers. What is required for forward-thinking organisations is an approach that is mindful of the varying aspects of IT infrastructures and one that allows different teams to work better together. Thus, unifying IT operations is an important part of enabling strategic business enhancements as it encourages businesses to properly take advantage of the resources – and talent – at their disposal. What kind of changes do organisations need to make in order to transform themselves? In order to transform into a more efficient customer-centric business, organisations need to undergo a successful digital transformation. A couple of the big challenges are embracing new technology and then casting this technology into the context of a business strategy. Technology for the sake of technology does us little good. It is only when we put technology to work in a highly leveraged capacity within our business strategy that wonderful things

begin to happen. For example, automation technologies are very good today and help virtually every sector. That alone is not enough. However, when we take automation and apply it to healthcare or retail, this enables businesses to speed up the support they provide to customers including instant access to order information, or billing information and do this in 24x7 manner, well that is really something. While the premise of digital transformation may sound simple, businesses must have a detailed strategy before they take this on - it’s remarkable how many organisations don’t have even a basic plan in place. I like to call this a ‘transformation roadmap’ and this consists of a few simple elements — the goal for this phase of the transformation is to create a set of key milestones that are achievable over the next 12-24 months, decide how progress will be monitored and evaluated as well as how to implement adjustments if needed, implement a cross-functional team of owners to drive the project execution, and, finally, create a clear definition of what success looks like. A clear form of communication is also key to success as many challenges are created through a poor communication strategy. Finally, as digital transformation is a huge strategic investment, the most talented people should be assigned to these projects. Talented people find a way to succeed and overcome obstacles. What will happen to organisations that fail or refuse to adopt transformative technologies? Today is unlike any point in history as we now have technology that can fundamentally change how businesses work every day and if an organisation does not embrace that idea it will find itself unable to compete in any sector in 5-10 years. This is a key point — organisations must start now and not because the business changes overnight, but because we must begin the transformation journey in order to fundamentally improve the business over the next 5-10 years. That is the realistic window of real value delivery. If organisations delay for a few years, it will be too late because the business will have fallen too far behind and likely without knowing it until it is too late. The fundamental business model for every sector will change in the next decade and

IF ORGANISATIONS DELAY FOR A FEW YEARS, IT WILL BE TOO LATE BECAUSE THEY WILL HAVE FALLEN BEHIND WITHOUT KNOWING IT UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE.” those winners will have started their journey in the past few years. What part do you believe your technologies will play in the society of 2025? The coming years will be exciting for the continued development of artificial intelligence and the impact that this will have on our technology. The next ten years will be exciting for service management in particular. Automation and AI will accelerate dramatically in this field and will take timeintensive tasks away from IT teams and enable experts to focus on more strategic, customer facing, or in advancing our innovation investments. Similarly, AI will help to improve the customer experience. Intelligent assistants and bots are now already capable technologies when leveraged in the right roles. Automation has now made self-service, request, and knowledge experiences much more convenient and richer. Chatbots will let employees make requests or ask for help by just having a simple conversation. For example, an employee can just say “I need to reset my network password” or “I need VPN access,” and the bot will automatically log the request, kick off the appropriate workflows, including any required approvals, then provide an estimated resolution time. Add in a knowledge base connection for “how to” answers or suggestions to common inquiries and it becomes clear how many routine tasks don’t need to be touched by a member of your team anymore. When you combine immediate responses, simple conversation interactions, and always-on help, more employees will have more satisfying engagements with IT. Throw in the absence of filling out forms for every interaction plus the automatic resolution of potential issues before an employee notices, and the picture only improves.

NEXANS CABLING SOLUTIONS

Smart choices TAREK HELMY, REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR THE GULF AND MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA AT NEXANS CABLING SOLUTIONS EXPLAINS WHY THE DEMANDS PLACED ON FUTURE NETWORKS WILL SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE DUE TO THE RISE OF IOT, VIDEO AND CLOUD.

Which technology trends do you believe will see the biggest uptake in the coming 12 months? What kinds of specific products and services will be needed to make this a reality? The Internet of Things, BYOD, cloud and video are seeing the biggest uptake.

TAREK HELMY, regional director for the Gulf and Middle East, South and East Africa at Nexans Cabling Solutions

Increasing bandwidth demands have overwhelmed existing networks that are in no way equipped to support user requirements arising from the increasing adoption of these trends. The convergence of networking technologies, as well as new expectations including availability, reliability, scale-out and always-on are driving data centres to be redesigned and re-architected. With such customer demands in mind, Nexans offers data centre and enterprise innovations to help managers support flexible, cost-effective bandwidth architectures, optimised space usage and faster modular deployment. The Internet of Things is growing rapidly everywhere including the enterprise. This is often referred to as BIoT: Internet of Things in buildings. All those devices connected are onto the network and this requires extra network capacity and bandwidth. Smart buildings require smart choices. Nexans has a three-step approach to meet explosive growth in demand for bandwidth and functionalities, and ensure cabling, connectivity and networks hold up in an increasingly demanding environment, a digital transformation is needed. Nexans’ three-step approach makes it easier to find a solution, as there’s no ‘one size fits all’ answer. What part do you believe your technologies will play in the society of 2025? Digital transformation requires carefully planned IT infrastructure and efficient data access and exchange. Nexans extensive solutions ranging from passive FO/Cu to data centres high-density connectivity and fast deployment techniques to Fiber-to-the-Office (FTTO) switching, and intelligent infrastructure management (IIM) - all of which help organisations to derive their today’s and tomorrow’s digital transformation requirements. This holds true not only for the region but also across the globe. From Nexans’ perspective, we are glad to have been working with all end customers as their consultants. We assist them in selecting their optimal solution

Smart Choices for Digital Infrastructure Digital transformation requires agile, carefully planned IT infrastructure, efficient data access and exchange. Each of these factors is vital to success. The challenge is making smart, correct choices in line with performance requirements, without over- or under specifying. Nexans supports you in making smart choices that will help you build and operate the most efficient and costeffective digital infrastructure to support your business goals. • • • • •

Flexible, cost-effective bandwidth achitectures Optimised space usage Performance protection and enhancement Faster modular deployment Design through to operational support services

www.nexans.com/LANsystems

in terms of technology, CAPEX and OPEX. With today’s fast development of bandwidth growth, integration, applications and BIoT, we realised that Nexans wide range of solutions can provide hybrid solutions depending on case by case requirements and the solution differs from one customer to the other. How do you believe the Middle East’s biggest cities will be reshaped by technology in the coming years? Yes. Events and government initiatives such as Dubai Expo 2020, Saudi’s Vision 2030, New Capital in Egypt as well as digital transformation initiatives are driving new infrastructure projects in this region and technology will play a significant role. Give us a brief background on your organisation’s technology portfolio. Nexans has been positioned as a high-end LAN infrastructure vendor that provides complete end-to-end solutions to major customers in the enterprise market. With a complete range of solutions in both copper and fibre, we provide end customers with solutions for their LAN infrastructure and data centre needs that meet their today’s and tomorrow’s requirements. That includes but is not limited to solutions for the future 2,5/5G, 25G and 100 Gbps Ethernet, automated infrastructure management, and solutions for data centres. We also offer data centre innovations under the theme ‘smart choices for digital infrastructure’, which includes different data centre infrastructure technologies and support several consecutive generations of active equipment. Additionally, they are flexible and scalable to adapt to future requirements. As part of the vision towards supporting the world’s growing data needs, Nexans offers copper-based solutions to support bandwidths of 25Gb/s and 40Gb/s Ethernet and ultra-high density LANmark ENSPACE fiber solutions for the different DC topologies including EOR (End-ofRow), and TOR (Top-of-Rack).

ALL THESE DEVICES ARE CONNECTED TO THE NETWORK AND THIS REQUIRES EXTRA NETWORK CAPACITY AND BANDWIDTH.” Nexans’ LANactive solution, based on Fiber-to-the-Office (FTTO) switch for both office and harsh environments, is an advanced technology that has proved to deliver lower OPEX and CAPEX compared to standard LAN infrastructure networks. LANactive is an ideal solution to serve large areas like hospitals, airports, universities, and any facility requires a lot of floor distribution racks or telecom rooms. The company also has a wide range of best-in-class products such as the LANmark 8, LANmark-6A and -7A products, the LANsense Next Generation Analyser (NGA) and the Nexans EMAC (environmental monitoring and access control) devices, complete Data Centre Pre-Term solution in both copper and fibre, and high density patching. Nexans has pre-terminated customised copper assemblies in Cat6A, Cat7A, as well as FO assemblies in OM3, OM4, & OS2. These solutions enable the rapid deployment of cabling in installations where the time on site must be minimised, especially in data centre environments, and Slimflex bend-insensitive fibre patch cords, specifically designed for environments with increasing port density such as the data centre. Nexans will continue to invest in R&D and innovation on our LAN cabling solutions range in 2019. Apart from the above products, Nexans offers a complete range of LAN cabling products and valueadded services, providing improved reliability and reduced cost of ownership for network managers. All offered solutions are supported by the Nexans 25-year warranty program that covers products, performance, channel, and labour.

RAQMIYAT

Automate, digitise RAQMIYAT CEO AMER KHREINO BELIEVES EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES WILL HAVE A HUGELY TRANSFORMATIVE EFFECT ON THE WAY SERVICES WILL BE DELIVERED IN 2019. to our valued customers including cloud services, analytics, cybersecurity, AI, smart infrastructure and digital transformation platforms. We are on track to transform banks into digital banking. More predictive analysis with AI capabilities for better business planning across the government sector and advanced IT services for building sound and profitable businesses.

Give us a brief background on your organisation’s technology portfolio. Raqmiyat today is among the leading companies in UAE and Middle East in business automation and digitisation. Our solutions and services cover a wide range of technologies that are of interest

AMER KHREINO, Chief Executive Officer, Raqmiyat

Which technology trends do you believe will see the biggest uptake in the coming 12 months? What kinds of specific products and services will be needed to make this a reality? Both public and private sectors are trying hard to reduce operating costs while finding ways and means to enhance business efficiency. Artificial Intelligence will see a big boost in 2019. AI is able to add significant value to our homes and businesses. For example, AI is used to learn our behaviour to adjust home settings, in banks it’s used to expand customer services and fraud protection, and in travel it simplifies bookings and reservations. Another technology that will define the future is 5G, as IoT won’t be practical or efficient without 5G that promises multigigabit download speeds. Smart and safe cities will continue to grow as more governments and

municipalities start integrating sensors technology into infrastructure to benefit public health and safety. Facial recognition (and other biometric solutions) will accelerate as this technology starts replacing old technologies in campuses, schools, companies and airports. High bandwidth capabilities, serviceoriented architecture (SOA) and integrating services are essential during this transformation. What kind of changes do organisations need to make in order to transform themselves? Building a culture of change management is crucial to embrace emerging disruptive technologies. The scale and speed that these new technologies are shaping our business and life is unprecedented. These technologies are changing our job value and defining new business models that will impact the workforce, employment, career prospects and the future of coming generations. Organisations need to build their new business models that address this change in business and operating models, have larger room for business collaboration rather than assuming big fixed costs, while building compensation models that reflect the value addition, creativity and innovation. In a nutshell, it will be hard to compete without having a business structure that is agile, efficient and empowered across all levels. What will happen to organisations that fail or refuse to adopt transformative technologies? I would like to quote an article by Richard Watson of Imperial College London, on why companies die. He addresses the average lifespan of an S&P 500 company in the US, which has fallen from 67 years in the 1920s to just 15 years today. In the UK it’s a similar story. Of the 100 companies in the FTSE 100 in 1984, only 24 were still alive in

OF THE 100 COMPANIES IN THE FTSE 100 IN 1984, ONLY 24 WERE STILL ALIVE IN 2012.”

2012. With start-ups, it’s not looking great either, with almost 50% of the SMEs failing to celebrate their 5th birthday. Watson states that if companies wish to remain healthy and grow old they need to do two things. Firstly, they need to remain young at heart. They need to remain mentally agile, constantly learn new things and questioning their own identity and reason for being. Among others, some of the fatal attributes that contribute to companies’ failures include the rejection of new ideas, the increase in the ratio between fixed costs to overall expenses, and, finally, the lack of creativity and innovation. What part do you believe your technologies will play in the society of 2025? In my view, by 2025, technology will transform almost all industries and will impact our societies in a way that never been before. Education is already transforming, with more online and homeschooling. Financial institutions moving towards decentralised digital services and home medical care that benefits the latest embedded technologies with central nursing monitoring systems. In business, the shift will continue towards mobile and efficient structures that focus on innovation and collaboration rather than fixed cost, benefiting video conferencing, VR and AR technologies to reduce cost while boosting productivity and the user experience. How do you believe the Middle East’s biggest cities will be reshaped by technology in the coming years? Huge investment is being allocated towards business automation, digitisation and smart cities across the Middle East region. The ROI is justifiable considering the big savings in operating costs to run and supervise larger cities, making them safer and more liveable. Technology today can ensure bigger cities are safer and more efficient, be it in transportation infrastructure, telecommunication, utilities, medical and health care, financial services, education, or other industries. The impact on GDP will be significant, as tourism, industry and trade flourish, benefiting from this safe and efficient environment.

SCALING

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Knowledge is power DR. JOHANNES ULLRICH, FELLOW AND DEAN OF RESEARCH, SANS TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE, BELIEVES TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION WILL BE ESSENTIAL IN THE IMPENDING ERA OF 5G AND RAPID DATA EXCHANGE. operates across dozens of countries and has over 200,000 alumni. We also develop, maintain, and make available at no cost, the largest collection of research documents about various aspects of information security, and we operate the Internet’s early warning system - the Internet Storm Center.

DR. JOHANNES ULLRICH, fellow and dean of research, SANS Technology Institute Give us a brief background on your organisation’s technology portfolio. SANS Institute is the world’s largest provider of cybersecurity training and security certifications. For over thirty years, we’ve provided cutting edge training to governments and organisations across the world. Technology may have changed in that time, but our core mission has remained constant: to protect through sharing cybersecurity knowledge and skills. SANS offers a vast range of cybersecurity courses,

Which technology trends do you believe will see the biggest uptake in the coming 12 months? On the one hand, we will see data storage and processing becoming more and more consolidated in large public cloud environments. On the other hand, the data will be used in an increasingly mobile and decentralised way on mobile devices. This will lead to an increased demand on network technologies that can move this data quickly and efficiently between mobile devices and cloud. In tandem, the data volume consumed by mobile devices will increase substantially. This may not quite happen within the next 12 months, but probably soon after, and technologies like 5G networks will have to prove that they can solve this challenge. What kinds of specific products and services will be needed to make this a reality? There will be a requirement for cloud-based services to allow the fast deployment of applications. This will include container based services and more serverless computing platforms and less ‘traditional’ virtual

The Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Largest and Most Trusted Cyber Security Training and Certification Provider SANS extensive training curriculum includes: Digital Forensics Incident Response Pen Testing Secure Software Development

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2019 SANS training events in the Middle East: SANS Riyadh February 2019 23 - 28 FEBRUARY RIYADH, SA

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SANS Cyber Security Middle East Summit 4 - 11 APRIL ABU DHABI, AE

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SANS Muscat April 2019 27 APRIL - 2 MAY MUSCAT, OM

SANS Riyadh July 2019 27 JULY - 1 AUGUST RIYADH, SA

SANS Dubai September 2019 14 - 19 SEPTEMBER DUBAI, AE

SANS Bahrain September 2019 21 - 26 SEPTEMBER BAHRAIN, BH

SANS Kuwait September 2019

28 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER SALMIYA, KW

SANS Riyadh October 2019 5 - 10 OCTOBER RIYADH, SA

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To book your place, visit www.sans.org/middle-east +44 203 384 3470

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SANS TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE

machines. It will also include machine learning and AI systems that are either cloud deployed or close to the user in the form of specialised hardware, such as those that have already been deployed in some mobile devices. Improvements in communication speed and networking technologies will focus most of all on mobile technologies like 5G. There will also be some more diverse specialised wireless communication protocols that will allow the efficient deployment of mobile sensor with minimal power requirements. What kind of changes do organisations need to make in order to transform themselves? Organisations need to understand that data is at the core of their business. Once an organisation accepts and understands data as a critical asset, it will usually also understand that the data needs to be protected from competitors and that the integrity of the data has to be maintained in order to operate an efficient business. The main transformation that organisations are experiencing is the realisation that data is a core asset that has to be protected just like any other business asset. And of course, data can also become a liability if it is collected indiscriminately without alignment to business goals and if it is not protected adequately. What will happen to organisations that fail or refuse to adopt transformative technologies? Every business and every organisation is turning more and more into a high tech and information business. Accurate and timely data is the foundation of sound decision making, and technology becomes more and more important in collecting and processing this data. Without embracing these technologies, organisations will start to fall behind their competitors as they are forced to make decisions based on less timely and less accurate data. What part do you believe your technologies will play in the society of 2025? Ubiquitous networked sensors collecting data about our environment, health and status combined with efficient data processing will allow for more intelligent systems to be more situationally aware as they are making decisions. More powerful mobile platforms will also allow

ORGANISATIONS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT DATA IS AT THE CORE OF THEIR BUSINESS.” this data processing to happen in a more decentralised way without having to send the data to large central data farms. This will not only improve the latency of decision making but can also avert some of the privacy concerns these new technologies bring with them. SANS training courses are provided by the industry’s leading practitioners and proponents. They work tirelessly to ensure the courses arm students with the information and skills they need to battle both current and future threats. That being said, a core issue is attracting new talent into the field. SANS has already set up several initiatives that will help build and shape the security landscape of the future including Cyber Discovery - the extracurricular learning programme for students aged 14-18 across the UK. The goal of these initiatives is to ensure that many more people enter the cybersecurity profession in the coming years. How do you believe the Middle East’s biggest cities will be reshaped by technology in the coming years? Many cities are starting to take advantage of new technologies to become more efficient. As an example, this started with the simple change from old halogen-based street lights to modern LED-powered ones. But simple changes like this have enabled additional technologies. Unlike halogen bulbs, LED lights can be efficiently dimmed. This has enabled technologies that save power by dimming lights along streets that are not in use. To enable this, sensors and networks are installed that measure traffic volume, and interconnect traffic light and street lights. This can lead to even more intelligent traffic guidance systems that will make the most efficient use of existing streets without having to invest heavily into building new ones. Reducing congestion and allowing for more intelligent and adaptive traffic controls can significantly increase the quality of life for city residents and visitors. These are just some of the technologies that are currently being applied in cities.

Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019 Intelligent #1

Digital #2

Autonomous Things

Digital Twins

AI-Driven Development

Blockchain

Empowered Edge

Augmented Analytics

Mesh

Smart Spaces

Immersive Technologies

Ethics & Privacy

#10 Join us at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2019 to learn about Gartner’s technology trends, if they will work for you and how to implement them.

Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2019 Dubai, UAE / 4 - 6 March gartner.com/me/symposium / #GartnerSYM

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