Contents

R. NarayanManaging 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.

Published by: JNS Media International MFZEP.O. Box: 121075, Montana Building 404, Zabeel Road, Near GPO, Karama, Dubai-UAETel: 04-3705022 Fax: 04-3706639

Editorial

Founder & CEO: Vivek Sharma Managing Editor: R. NarayanEditor: David NdichuArt Director: Faiz Ahmed Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh

GITEX didn’t disappoint and was a perfect showcase for many of the participating exhibitors.The focal points have been several

at the show this year including the 3rd platform Technologies. Most of the exhibitors found it purposeful in terms of discussions and meetings with trade visitors, both the channel and end users.

There were several innovative solutions suited for specific verticals, highlighted by various exhibitors such as Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and Panasonic to mention but two at the expo. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise demonstrated its Guest BYOD Telephony solution designed for the hospitality industry and the “Connected Bus” for the education sector, which it introduced as a classroom on wheels. For the healthcare segment, Panasonic unveiled RESYONE, the robotic bed and HOSPI, an autonomous delivery robot that helps with transportation of medication and lab sample collection 24/7 in hospitals.

There is more clarity today about cloud services available from various vendors and telcos as was evident from interactions at the show. A handful of distributors have got into the act providing cloud services to their channel for reselling, driven by vendors including Microsoft and Amazon. There would be more momentum build-up on this front soon.

One of the significant highlights are that the telcos are taking firm steps in bringing to market next-gen IT services. Du for instance has launched managed desktop services among several other innovative steps including the smart home services.

The Saudi Telecom Company (STC) used GITEX to announce STC Advanced Solutions as a new subsidiary operation to accelerate the telco’s enterprise segment growth strategy through providing ICT services beyond the traditional telco offerings.

More vendors are looking to work with telcos, to offer their solutions through them as Managed services. The telcos are best placed to do so since they have a large installed base of customers.

The rising profile of the ISPs as ICT powerhouses could make it more challenging for the channel. There could however be opportunities for integrators to work with ISPs in the enterprise segment.

GITEX lives up to expectations

Cover Story - 18

The Need for layered defenseDDoS attacks are but one of the several threat fronts in the IT landscape and the vendors offering these solutions see increased need for such critical solutions

News Feature - 12

Soaring growthGrandteq Distribution has built up an extensive portfolio of innovative solutions in AV, control and IT technologies

Feature - 22

Right on targetArrow offers an extensive portfolio of products and solutions from leading technology suppliers and is further consolidating its channel Business in the region

TechKnow

Digital Transformations - 14David Whitton, Kodak Alaris’ regional sales director for the Middle East and Africa discusses the company’s focus on conversion of information into digital workflows

Pivot Point - 24Axis Communications bring intelligence and enhanced user experience to crucial transport hubs in the region as Marwan Khoury Marketing Manager-MEA explains

Establishing the IP connect - 26 ZYCOO’s CEO Wang Hongzhen discusses the company’s focus on IP Telephony products for different user segments

Data centre specialist - 28Joseph K. John, GM, Norden Communication Middle East discusses the solutions nd the company’s focus in the region

Connecting the future - 30Muhammad Arsalan, Director Sales & GM, ZyXEL Middle East FZE discusses the company’s solutions focus

Insight

The primacy of the OS - 32Mark Coggin, senior director of product marketing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux discusses how the OS retains its primacy in an era of technology paradigm shifts.

The need for secured password awareness - 33 V Balasubramanian, Marketing Manager (IT Security), ManageEngine discusses that Awareness on Passwords Security Very Low Among IT Professionals in the Middle East

Regulars

NewsEyetechStats & trends

6 | November 2014

News Bytes

du announced Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) under its Business Cloud – Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform during GITEX Technology Week 2014.

To be available commercially from Q4 2014 in partnership with IT Max, the service provides continuous availability with service level agreement when uptime is absolutely critical. This fully secure and fully automated self-service solution allows failover from a web based portal and gets critical systems up and running within a defined window specified by customers. Designed to scale based on customer needs, it caters to both large enterprises and SMEs.

“In today’s dynamic business environment, planning for disaster recovery is a necessity and not an option. Many companies would rather focus on their core business than lock in their money in building up their expertise in this domain. This is where we come in with our end-to-end solution offering security, scalability and cost effectiveness with complete peace of mind, “ said Fahad Al Hassawi, Chief Commercial Officer, du.

du unveilsDisaster Recoveryas a Service

Building on its worldwide technical services and training

expertise, Ingram Micro announced it began its delivery

of authorized IBM Systems and Software training in the

Middle East effective 15 October. Training delivery is

already available in Africa. As an authorized IBM Global

Training Provider (GTP), Ingram Micro is one of five

companies authorized to provide a broad selection of

systems and software courses from IBM Training.

“Training and certification of our channel partners is

a cornerstone of Ingram Micro’s value-added services.

Our commitment and growth in training centers and

resources has enabled us to accelerate our roll-out of IBM Training as an IBM authorized

GTP in Africa, while preparing for our imminent roll-out of IBM training in the U.A.E.,

Saudi Arabia and rest of the Gulf region,” said Ali Baghdadi, President, Technology

Solutions, Middle East, Turkey and Africa region. “We are pleased to expand on our long-

standing relationship with IBM and play an integral role in the delivery of IBM Training.

Together, we will help our worldwide channel partners to serve better and earn better by

advancing their skills and differentiating their value and expertise.”

Ingram Micro Training and IBM Training will work closely to enhance the distributor’s

value proposition and provide a superior training experience globally. A complete listing

of the IBM Systems and Software courses now available from Ingram Micro Training can

be found online at www.ingrammicro.com/training.

EMC, Cisco and VCE announced the next phase of

evolution for VCE. Expected to be finalized this quarter,

VCE will become an EMC business. Cisco and VMware will

continue as strategic partners and investors, with Cisco

having an approximately 10% equity interest in VCE.

VCE’s charter will focus on simplifying the deployment

of hybrid clouds, including a full range of converged

infrastructure offerings, applying its unique innovations

and expertise to a broad range of hybrid cloud solutions.

Under this next phase, VCE will continue to advance new

solutions based on its industry-leading Vblock Systems,

which feature best-of-breed technologies exclusively from Cisco, EMC and VMware.

Praveen Akkiraju, CEO of VCE says, “VCE has proven to be a game-changer for

customers, dramatically accelerating the deployment of next-generation data center and

cloud environments. As the company that pioneered converged infrastructure, I could not

be more proud of what the VCE team has accomplished through our customer-centric

DNA and deep solution expertise. I am energized by this next phase as we apply the

unique VCE Experience to enable customers’ journey to the cloud.”

Ingram offers IBM Systems and Software training

VCE Joins EMC's Federation Strategy

8 | November 2014

News Bytes

Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management, has announced the expansion of its system integrators (SI) network to include the GCC and Pakistan through the company’s global SI Alliance partner programme, which provides partners with exclusive training and certification, focused technical consultancy, access to cutting- edge technology, and extensive marketing and sales support.

Accrescent Engineers Pvt Ltd in Pakistan, Acanceon, Silvertech Middle East FZCO and Microcontrol in the UAE, and Rukan Al Yaqeen International LLC in Oman are among the system integrators in the region that have lately joined the network. The SI Alliance partner programme is a network of independent system integrators offering customers their local expertise and presence combined with the latest innovations from Schneider Electric.

Aruna Parmar, Senior Manager - Plant Solutions for Marketing and Channel Management, Schneider Electric, said: “Since its launch in the Gulf in January 2014, the SI Alliance partner programme has received high uptake among system integrators in this region. With this programme, we seek to deliver a strong market differentiator to our partners, empowering them to consolidate their business through leveraging our products and solutions.”

Schneider Electric’s SI Alliance partner programme includes more than 700 selected systems integrators in 30 countries.

Schneider Electric expands SI network across GCC

FVC, a leading Value Added Distributor (VAD) in the Middle East & Africa (MEA), has signed an agreement as the exclusive distributor for the Middle East by Ashton Bentley, a UK manufacturer of Video Conference, Telepresence and Presentation environments. As part of their appointment, FVC will work with Ashton Bentley on all their existing projects in UAE and Oman, while working to build the other markets, especially in the GCC. FVC will show Ashton Bentley’s Boardroom solutions in the Middle East for the first time at Gitex this week on Stand Z-G10 in Zabeel Hall.

Under the agreement, FVC will add Ashton Bentley products into its Executive Briefing centres in Dubai and Riyadh as well as educate the reseller channel and the corporate end users about these systems. Plans are being discussed for the roll out of ‘mobile’ demonstration units that will enable on-site customer evaluation.

K.S. Parag, Managing Director for FVC, said, “With FVC's strength of our existing line-up, we are looking to enhance the overall customer experience where our video conference offerings can now be enhanced with superb displays, audio and control by integration with an Ashton Bentley system. The line-up of solutions offered by Ashton Bentley fits well with our portfolio and we are quite keen to share this development with our partners and customers.”

ManageEngine, the real-time IT management company, launched the Intel DCM Energy Management plug-in for RackBuilder Plus, its 3D visual modeling software for data centers. As a result of leveraging Intel Data Center Manager (Intel DCM), the new plug-in lets admins know the power usage and temperature of their data center floors, racks and devices.

Up to 60 percent of a typical data center utility bill goes to cooling systems. Considering the huge size of today’s data centers, those bills can run up to thousands of dollars over years. Designing a real-time, continuous energy monitoring system that works in tandem with DCIM visualization tools can help reduce these bills.

“Our partnership with Intel brings together leading-edge capabilities in energy monitoring and DCIM visualization,” said Dev Anand, Director of Product Management at ManageEngine. “Intel’s energy manager is now available as a plug-in for our RackBuilder Plus to help admins get the heat map view of their racks, apply power capping over energy-intensive equipment, measure and report on energy metrics such as PUE and conduct energy audits periodically.”

FVC signs agreement with Ashton Bentley solutions

ManageEngine Integrates Intel DCM to Reduce Data Center Energy Usage

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10 | November 2014

News Bytes

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and

Al-Futtaim Technologies have

celebrated 20 years of success

during Gitex Technology Week 2014.

Together, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

and Al-Futtaim Technologies

have undertaken leading projects

within the UAE that include,

Dubai Metro, Etisalat and Dubai

Airports. Other prominent projects

include Department of Economic

Development, Emirates Palace Hotel,

Hyatt Hotels, Dubai Festival City and

Jumbo Electronics.

Venkat Raghavan,

General Manager, Al-Futtaim

Technologiessais, “With our solid

partnership with Alcatel-Lucent

Enterprise and our continuous

investment in people and resources,

we take pride in the fact that we

have excellent customer retention

and most of our new business is

based on referrals from satisfied

customers in the UAE. We are

currently celebrating our 20th

anniversary with Alcatel-Lucent

Enterprise, which is an excellent

motivation for our team and will spur

us to achieve even better results in

the coming years.”

Alcatel-Lucent and Al-Futtaim celebrate partnership

NetApp has identified flash storage as a cornerstone of its growth strategy in the Middle East. The company, a $6.3 billion revenue vendor of storage systems with over 150 offices worldwide, showcased its full flash portfolio at its stand at GITEX Technology Week 2014.

“The Middle East and North Africa region is now experiencing an unprecedented surge in demand for storage solutions, and we have invested heavily in the region to tap into this boom,” said Fadi Kanafani, regional director Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, NetApp.

“NetApp has experienced above market-average growth in the past year in Middle East and North Africa, on the back of our varied portfolio, particularly flash and

integrated solutions such as FlexPod. We are keen to build upon this success moving forward, and have recruited several key personnel across the region to help maintain our momentum, particularly in Saudi Arabia."

NetApp has a comprehensive flash portfolio that helps meet needs across the entire compute, network, and storage stack, improving efficiency and accelerating business-critical application performance. All-flash configurations for NetApp FAS Unified Storage Arrays provide an ideal solution for desktop virtualization deployments with high IOPS and low latency requirements or large database workloads. NetApp also offers a variety of hybrid arrays that combine flash storage with disk drives.

Global Distribution FZE announced it is a certified member of the Pure Storage Partner Program (P3) and is now authorized to provide services and support for the Pure Storage Flash Array. Global’s Service Center will now include technical support for Pure Storage Flash Array enterprise storage solution to its offering.

Global provides customers, 24x7 call center technical support throughout the lifecycle of data management hardware and software deployment and operation. Global’s engineers are vendor certified and trained to support heterogeneous technology data management environments, which now includes Pure Storage.

“Pure is excited to have Global Distribution provide support services in the Middle East and is fully committed to ensuring Global’s partners and end customers enjoy the market leading support experience we deliver globally. We are committed to providing a superior experience to customers through our business practices and our technology, such as our support capabilities via as Cloud Assist which provide an integrated real time operational management capability. Innovation in both support and product resiliency is enabling our customers to reduce operational expense while achieving greater than ‘five times’ availability” said Steven Rose, VP EMEA at Pure Storage.

NetApp banks on flash portfolio as key to Middle East growth

Global Distribution joins the Pure Storage Partner Program

November 2014 | 11

Cisco announced Dubai as the host city for the 2015 Internet of Things World Forum (IoTWF) during John Chambers, CEO and Chairman of Cisco closing session at this year’s IOTWF in Chicago.

At the second Internet of Things World Forum that took place in Chicago, October 14–16, 2014, more than 1,500 attendees and 49 sponsors brought together the best and brightest thinkers, doers, and innovators from business, government, and academia, making it the largest Internet of Things conference in the industry.

The third annual Internet of Things World Forum in Dubai will once again bring together a global IoT community from all industries.

Smart Cities are being fuelled by the Internet of Things, where technology enables governments to help lower costs, improve productivity, increase revenue, and improve citizen benefits for the public and private sector through initiatives such as smart buildings, smart gas and water monitoring, smart parking, and smart waste management.

IoTWF names Dubai as Host City for 2015 event

Focus Softnet has launched its new Apps Store to offer customers an easier, faster and more cost-effective way to buy Focus’ ready-to-use business application add-ons ranging from ERP apps to vertical-specific apps. The new Apps store will allow the company’s customers to choose between PC, web and mobile apps that best suit their business requirements.

“Focus Softnet has been developing Enterprise solutions for 22 years now. We not only have generic enterprise solutions but have also developed customized and bespoke solutions for many of our customers. While our solutions are agile and flexible, certain businesses or industries have their own nuances when it comes to interfacing with the application, and also when it comes to reporting. The Apps now available in the Apps Store provide that crucial vertical-specific or client-specific last mile which completes the expected user experience with the core ERP applications. In keeping with the current mobility trends, we have developed several mobile apps for our solutions in addition to the PC and Web apps. Over time, we have amassed a sizeable library of these apps that we had been developing and deploying for bespoke customers and now, it logically made sense for us to package these apps and make them ready-to-buy products,” says Ali Hyder, Group CEO, Focus Softnet.

Hosted on the company’s website (http://www.focussoftnet.com) under ‘Our Apps’ section, Focus Softnet’s new App store features a wide range of Apps for the PC, Web and Mobile platforms. Focus Softnet will be adding many more apps in the coming months.

Focus Softnet unveils New Apps Store

StarLink has inked a distribution contract with Websense, a global leader in protecting organizations from advanced cyber-attacks and data theft. As a leading distributor in the region with well-established business and government relationships, StarLink will sell, install and support Websense products and solutions through its Channel Partners to enterprise and government customers in the Middle East and North Africa.

“Thousands of organizations worldwide use Websense Web, email, data and mobile security products to solve any number of security problems. Our alliance with StarLink will provide Channel Partners with integrated solutions in security intelligence and create a solid and unified foundation for clients. We at Websense are confident of achieving even greater accomplishments in the region by leveraging on StarLink’s highly reputed value-added-distribution support,” said Husamettin Baskaya, Senior Regional Director Middle East & North Africa at Websense.

“StarLink’s unique defense-in-depth portfolio is equipped to combat next-generation threats and address today’s compliance challenges. As the contest between cyber-attackers and cyber security professionals continues to evolve, StarLink’s robust on-the-ground presence and best-of-breed Advanced Threat Protection story, which now includes Websense, will aid in protecting enterprises and government organizations from modern day malware, and also assist customers in consolidating security platforms, saving time and cutting costs,” said Mahmoud Nimer, General Manager at StarLink.

Websense Strengthens MENA Distribution Channel with StarLink

12 | November 2014

Soaring growth

Granteq Distribution showcased its extensive

range of AV, Control, & IT technologies at its GITEX showcase stand which included several first time launches. TOUCH, Balance Box, Vivitek, Vidyo, Brightlines, Qwizdom, Phoenix and innovative Meeting & Classroom Solutions are some of the brands available with Granteq in its distribution portfolio.

The distributor is focusing on solutions for key verticals such as Education, Corporate, Healthcare, Government & Defense, Oil & Gas, and more. The distributor which has had operations for over 10 years now is strengthening its channel network. Within the MEA region, the distributor as of now works with close to 150 active partners in the region.

“Granteq has specialized

in communication and collaboration solutions as a vale add distributor. We are aggregating market demand for such solutions and work with partners to meet that. We have programs to train and enable partners. There are partners of different certification levels associated with us. We are also recruiting more partners. Since there is increasing convergence between IT and AV, our partners range from both segments- from large SIs to small retail shops that can do digital signage deployments,” says Girish Narayanan, MD of Granteq Distribution.

Granteq has a specialized technical team for every product line, which helps provide a more focused approach on professional services for different verticals

Girish adds, “Partners will be doing the integration. We have a professional services team who help in pre-sales,

systems. The IMEDS II from AMD for instance is a mobile telemedicine cart that is fully customizable with medical devices, hardware and software to effectively perform a clinical assessment and quickly deliver patient information to a remote physician or specialist. This integrated workstation was developed specifically for telemedicine applications, making it easy to get telemedicine programs up and running.

Girish says, “We are providing several new Tele-health solutions. We are providing integrated solutions from AMD along with the conferencing part that is available from Vidyo who are providers of high definition, resilient video solutions for different environments.”

He elaborates, “The usage scenario for such telemedicine solutions is extensive. Doctors can diagnose a patient from remote locations and recommend medicines. These are seeing rapid adoption. These could be relevant for school clinics and possibly be deployed in Fuel stations etc. We are tying up with some clinics. We already have an order in place from KSA- through a partner who is focused in tele-health and more are expected soon.”

The distributor also unveiled SMEETS, a software that lets you create, schedule, and share calendars while combining digital signage and resource allocation. This meeting management system is versatile in terms of features to provide an optimized utilization of meeting room resources. Grandteq sees

Girish NarayananMD, Granteq Distribution

News Feature | Granteq

Granteq Distribution has built up an extensive portfolio of innovative solutions in AV, control and IT technologies and looks poised to seize the day - by R. Narayan

design and implementation.”The distributor has

assembled a portfolio of specialized solutions from several vendors put together. For instance, the distributor has recently partnered with AMD for telemedicine solutions and is providing end to end solutions along with its partners. AMD is a provider of telemedicine products including mobile medical carts and

November 2014 | 13

significant demand for such innovative solutions in the region.

Girish says, “We have launched SMEETs, a Meeting management solution. The solutions is complete with hardware and software products and allows users to manage the meeting rooms on their premises. The solutions allows booking of meeting rooms using outlook calendar. We have added features like if those who have booked the meeting room hasn’t occupied it for say 10 Minutes or so, then it unlocks the reservation and makes it available for booking again. You can increase the usage and also generate reports of who has used the meeting room. You can even search out for conference rooms from those available with specific features you require. You can also order food through that software for the meeting.”

Granteq also showcased The Spider, an advanced SIP-based IP conference phone from Phoenix Audio Technologies, a leading developer of audio communication solutions for Voice Over IP (VoIP), Web conferencing, distance learning, and video conferencing applications. The distributor has partnered with Phoenix for over two years now and sees a strong demand for such innovative products as part of larger UC deployments.

“As a distributor for Phoenix, we distribute Microphones, Speakerphones, Audio Conferencing Mixers,

Software, PCI products, and other audio accessories that improve the performance of existing conferencing devices. Phoenix spider is a game changer. The spider also communicates through USB interface with any computer under any operating system. This allows it to serve as both your IP conference phone and your soft video application speakerphone.”

Small in size (7-inch in diameter), the Spider covers a large conference room with pick-up range exceeding 20 feet. In larger room set-ups, the Spider supports Phoenix’s proprietary Link-Up/Link-Down Bus, allowing the Spider to incorporate up to 14 slave units in a daisy chain mode, thus providing the ability to cover any size room.

The distributor is also working with partners to deploy video banking solutions. This is expected to be a strongly emerging area of demands as Banks keep investing in state of the art customer support infrastructure as a key differentiator in their line of Business.

Girish says, “We are also enabling online video banking. You can connect straight to a personal Banking officer and communicate face to face instead of a telecall conversation with the call centre. We are capable of doing

complete API integration plus enable secured network with user authentication. We are able to address this on an end to end basis.”

Among the new solutions displayed were interactive displays from CTOUCH, who is an interactive display provider in Europe. The vendor has partnered with Granteq for the Middle East region.

“C-touch interactive screens were showcased from the first time. These range from 55 inches to 90 inch sized displays.Most of the solutions showcased are cutting edge and we expect the boom to happen soon as for example,

the hospitality sector in Dubai alone needs 120,000 monitors over the next 3 years. We are looking at providing complete solutions around needs such as smart TV built in etc.”

The distributor is also hopeful that it can work with ISPs who have need for some of these solutions from their Business customers.in

addition, it also holds several retail friendly products that can move off retail shelves. The distributor is looking to work with poartners of all sizes and even

look at strategic associations with the likes of the ISPs.

“Any kind of ISP can be a natural customer for us because we provide services that can drive their Business. We do have some retail products as well such as some of the projectors.”

With a string focus on these highly specialized solutions, the distributor has skillfully enhanced its portfolio and skillsets to emerge with strong differentiators in a crowded distribution market. The outlook is upbeat for this distributor as it thrives in a fast growth segment.

“We are providing several new Tele-health solutions. We are providing integrated solutions from AMD along with the conferencing part that is available from Vidyo

who are providers of high definition, resilient video solutions for different environments"

14 | November 2014

TechKnow | Kodak Alaris

Kodak Alaris is

an independent

company spun off

from Kodak and

focuses on document

and personal imaging

solutions. David

Whitton, Kodak Alaris’

regional sales director

for the Middle East

and Africa discusses

the company’s focus

on conversion of

information into

digital workflows

Discuss your operations as a companyKodak Alaris is a 1 year old company that includes the document imaging and personal imaging divisions of Kodak which sold these businesses to the UK Kodak Pension Plan (KPP). It is a debt free company and it is investing and growing. We have built up a team of seven people in the region within a year.

Our heritage has been transforming paper into digital and then routing it intelligently onto workflow systems. We are looking to enrich our offerings by adding more software solutions. The new KODAK Capture Pro Software v5.0 enables users to convert forms, invoices, records, and other critical business documents into high-quality images, delivering clear-cut benefits that simplify scanning, automate indexing and enable end users to streamline the process of transforming paper into information. With Capture Pro Software v5.0, Kodak Alaris makes it quick and easy for end users to scan documents and index information, helping businesses save costs and improve productivity.

How do you see the growth in the region?The scanner market is booming in the region.We have grown our revenues 47% this year in this region.In the desktop and departmental category Kodak Alaris grew double in the last 12 months, and maintained its top position in the production scanner segments. Shipments grew 22% in the Middle Eastern scanner market, while Kodak Alaris growth was beyond this reaching a close to 20% overall market share and doubling the total number of units shipped.

We have a significant footprint across GCC including Saudi and Oman including several large customers. For instance, we have Kodak scanners deployed in every branch of Emirates NBD.

Elaborate on your range of scannersWe have different types of scanners. You get the best quality images from our scanners.We have 30 plus devices, starting right from entry level devices that start

from 25 pages scanning in a minute to 400 pages a minute. We have good paper handling features for high volume scans.

For organizations that have a need of more than 25 scans a day, they will go for document scanners.Our desktop scanners are small, quiet, quick, intelligently designed and connect easily to your office systems. These are perfect for small offices and individual use where ad hoc and transaction scanning is part of your daily routine.Our Network scanners can scan to applications, email, fax servers, network folders, FTP sites, printers, flash drives and more.

Our specialist production scanners help save your time in scanning large volumes of data and images. That is why a lot of SME customers prefer our devices. Our devices can scan different sizes and different thicknesses unlike the multifunctions that scan homogenous A4 or A3 paper.

Do you see paper usage declining rapidly?Paper usage is declining but usage will continue for several more years. If you look at a lot of places in the region like paper records from hospitals over the

Digital Transformations

David WhittonRegional Sales Director. MEA

Kodak Alaris

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16 | November 2014

years, there are ongoing initiatives to digitize them. There are backlogs as people are typically focusing on the on-demand scanning leaving the backlogs untouched. We are one of the suppliers who are involved in several large scale conversion projects of backlogs in the region. We will enter the truly digital world when we are done with all the backlogs of scanning to digital..What is KnowledgeShare?As an increasing amount of content is created electronically using various devices, the ability for organizations to manage this complex information flow, link it into business processes and then make decisions and respond – quickly in real time– is becoming ever more crucial. At GITEX this year, we showed visitors how we address this through our KnowledgeShare initiative Knowledge share is about sharing our knowledge with partners to providing our customers the right solutions.

It is a framework of hardware and software solutions to enable customers to automatically capture and consolidate corporate data from digital and paper sources, understand and then gain invaluable knowledge from it. KnowledgeShare works across a wide variety of vertical sectors from finance and healthcare to BPO and government.

Discuss your distribution and partner strategyWe have distributors for different territories and reseller partners.There are incremental margin opportunities for partners if they invest in proper support infrastructure as customer support is a key focus for us. Our partner strategy is to have select partners who have the opportunity to earn with us and provide great service to our customers.

We have a joint venture with NVSsoft in KSA where are putting together a service center. Service is key to this Business. We are flexible with our services capabilities and can scale up or down to meet any customer need.

• ThenewIBMLImageTrac6000 series scanners are part of an integrated BPO solution. These super high performance intelligent scanner solutions are able to handle up to 438 pages per minute which enable BPOs to increase productivity and efficiency whilst reducing operational costs.

• ThenewKodakInfoInputSolution launched at GITEXis a secure browser-based thin client document capture solution for organisations seeking to leverage investments into existing ECM infrastructure. It eliminates the need for ‘thick’ client infrastructure, deployment and supports driving down on-going IT costs. With a full license included, the export module within the software can import scanned batches and documents to other systems like EMC Captiva, Kofax, and IBM Filenet. This solution is available in Arabic so easy for end-users to operate. Furthermore, Kodak Info Input solution also allows developers to use a SDK to integrate scanning functionality direct into web-based applications such as Sales Force.com, SAP, IBM Filenet and others.

• InconjunctionwiththeKodakInfo Input launch, Kodak Alaris

announced a dedicated desktop scanner - the Kodak ScanMate i1180 - specifically developed to allow easy connection to thin client environments or browser-based applications. Able to process 40 pages per minute, the i1180 launch is key given research shows that 87% of business applications are now web-based yet research shows that only 2% of firms actually leverage web technology for document scanning.

• TheNextgenerationKodakCapture Pro imaging software – version 5 - features an Arabic language interface option. This demonstrates Kodak Alaris’ commitment to developing solutions which directly meet local market needs.

• AhighlymodularECMandCEM solution, Kodak Info Insight provides intelligent understanding and management of incoming documents and customer communications regardless of format and structure. In addition to reducing processing costs, it enables organisations to be far more commercially responsive and proactive to help increase customer satisfaction and ultimately create new business opportunities

New launches at GITEX

TechKnow | Kodak Alaris

18 | November 2014

Cover Feature | Security

As the IT network has several layers, the threat frontiers are multiple as

well. It is no surprise then that IT Networks are under constant siege from ever-increasing, multi-vector attacks. These include the 'rising volume and complexity of advanced persistent threats (APT); DDoS attacks and other threats; along with the demands of emerging technology trends like Internet-of-Things and biometrics'. So companies need to have a layered security architecture in place right from the edge to the core of their networks because one weak spot is good enough for the compromise to happen. Further, with cloud services adoption on the rise, there is a need to secure applications that Businesses may be hosting on the public cloud.

Among the several threat scenarios, DDoS (Distributed denial of Service) attacks are one of the significant threat fronts in the IT landscape. Most DDoS attacks focus on targeting the transport and network layers (layer 3 and layer 4 of the OSI model) and are usually comprised of volumetric attacks by botnets that are groups of infected PCs which aim to exhaust the resources of

the target machines. Malicious traffic can flood the network and drain its resources temporarily. These attacks disrupt Businesses but once removed, do not leave any permanent damage. The Layer-7 Application-layer DDoS attacks are more complicated. They are difficult attacks to mitigate against because 'they mimic human behavior as they interact with the user interface'.

A recent report entitled Q3 2014 State of the Internet-Security Report from Akamai Technologies mentions the volume of DDoS attacks has shot up. There are an increasing number of attacks greater than 100 Gbps (gigabits-per-second) and these large attacks are using multiple DDoS vectors to deliver large bandwidth-consuming packets at an extremely high rate of speed. Further attackers have news methods and have refined the traditional methods. The result is that the average

DDoS attack bandwidth is on the rise every quarter.

Security vendors focusing on DDoS Mitigation solutions are now seeing better understanding of the threat scenario by Businesses in the region. These vendors are now seeking to enhance visibility and accelerate deployments of such solutions, through partners and through telcos.

Arbor Networks is a leading vendor in the DDoS space. The vendor believes the region is quite vulnerable to malicious attacks and therefore there is a need for better preparedness against such attacks which may include DDoS attacks. According to the vendor, while DDoS is not a new type of attack experienced by countries, governments and organizations, it is increasingly prevalent and evolving rapidly. In the past, certain verticals were seen to be more vulnerable to DDoS threats, with government, finance, gaming and

The Need for layered defenseThe Need for layered defense

DDoS attacks are but one of the several threat frontsin the IT landscape and the vendors offering these solutions

have been pushed into the limelight with increasedneed for such critical solutions

November 2014 | 19

CherifSleiman, General Manager, Middle East at Infoblox says, “If your DNS infrastructure isn’t designed or configured properly, you could be either a victim or an accomplice to a DNS DDoS attack. In the past 15 years, we have seen attack vectors move from the Desktop to Network and to the Application layer. In the past 18 months, DNS has become the latest target where it has become the second highest attack vector on the Internet slightly behind HTTP attacks. In fact DNS is projected to surpass HTTP to become the number one attack vector within the next 12 months.”

He adds, “With Arbor networks, we have a joint architecture wherein, we can integrate solutions to tackle most of the threats in the DDOS space. We know that Arbor does a great job when it comes to volumetric attacks. Infoblox are the experts when it comes to DNS security. So integrating our solutions together providers a more holistic proposition."

The economic damage of DDoS attacks can be quite significant. Arbor Networks' WISR report found that on average, organizations faced 1-10 attacks per month meaning their ARO (Annual Rate of

Occurrence) could be anything between 12 to 120 incidents. An internet services provider could, according to the WISR report form Arbor Network face at least 12 DDoS attacks a year. According to industry research, the average cost of a DDoS attack outage is in the neighborhood of $1 million. The ALE (Annual Loss Expectancy) for such an organization therefore is an imposing $12 million.

To counter the DDoS threat scenario, Arbor offers a range of products and services. Arbor Cloud-DDos protection service lets you offer best-in-class DDoS defense from the customer premise to the cloud. The on-premise solution provides always-on protection against application layer attacks. The could-based solution protects against large volumetric attacks. Arbor’s cloud signaling intelligently links both environments together. Meanwhile, attack mitigation is provided by Arbor’s experienced attack specialists.

It also has ATLAS, a globally scoped threat analysis network portal that displays host/port scanning activity, zero-day exploits/worm propagation, security events, vulnerability disclosures and

e-commerce being at the top of the list. The scenario has changed and today any business or entity can be a target for any real or perceived threats.

“The region is becoming the focal point for hackers. There are many motivations including political and economic. This is helping awareness of Business continuity and how you can avoid the crisis in the first place,” says Mahmoud Samy, Regional Director, Arbor Networks, ME& CIS.

A10 networks, a leading vendor in the Application networking space. The vendor demonstrated its latest innovations in DDoS Threat Protection Systems and high-performance, next-generation Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) at the recently concluded edition of GITEX.

Glen Ogden, Regional Sales Director for the Middle East region at A10 Networks says, “Over the last few years, DDoS attacks have grown dramatically in frequency, size and complexity. Existing security strategies in place are not sufficient enough to address new breeds of DDoS attacks. It is clear that additional solutions are needed to complement existing security infrastructure in a layered defense model.”

According to Symantec Research, DNS based DDoS attacks is on the rise. In this kind of an attack, the attacker spoofs enquiries to domain name system (DNS) servers, hiding the source of the exploit and routing the response to the target. A small DNS query can be turned into a very significant volume of traffic that floods the target.

According to Infoblox, DDoS attacks are targeting DNS as a key vulnerability. Infoblox, the automated network control company, was an exhibitor at GITEX and showcased its latest DNS, DHCP, and IP Address Management (DDI), secure DNS and network automation technologies.

The company is working with its ISP customers and their enterprise customers to help them protect their DNS infrastructure and discuss the best ways to address these new DNS-centric DDoS attacks.

Mohmoud SamyRegional Director

Arbor Networks, ME & CIS

20 | November 2014

advanced application-layer attacks, which are detected and mitigated to prevent a service from becoming unavailable.

“Attacks are not only occurring more frequently, but with greater volumes and increased sophistication. Thunder TPS provides sophisticated, high-performance features to mitigate the largest and most complex DDoS attacks while optimizing rack space and power consumption, ensuring that data center resources are used efficiently and effectively,” says Glen.

A10’s Thunder TPS product line of Threat Protection Systems provides high-performance, network-wide protection against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and enables service availability against a variety of volumetric, protocol, resource and other sophisticated application attacks.

With DDoS mitigation capacity ranging from 10 to 155 Gbps, (and up to 1.2 Tbps in a cluster), Thunder TPS is capable of effective mitigation against the largest DDoS attacks. The solutions from A10 are scalable.

Glen adds, “What is unique is our ability to deliver smallest form factor platform- such as a 1 rack unit capable of delivering up to 155 Gbps. Because of its scalability, we can deliver a no license model. Everybody else in our line of Business have a licensing model – every functionality to be switched on requires a separate license and a support uplift.”

The Trinzic Network Services and Management family of products from Infoblox enables companies to manage, control, and optimize DNS, DHCP, and other services. End of last year, Infoblox also launched Advanced DNS Protection solution, the first Domain Name System (DNS) appliance with integrated defenses against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, cache poisoning, malformed queries, tunneling and other DNS security threats. By building defense directly into a fortified DNS server, the Infoblox solution can deliver protection that is stronger, more intelligent and more comprehensive than what is possible today with separate external security solutions.

“Security of DNS infrastructure should be a top priority for organizations in the Middle East, but unfortunately statistics show that DNS servers and zone data are often neglected, which leave enterprises vulnerable to attacks. These attacks go well beyond DNS DDoS. There are multitudes of different attack vectors, which most DNS servers cannot detect or protect against. The Advanced DNS Protection solution from Infoblox offers intelligent defense against the widest variety of attack types—not just volumetric attacks—to ensure secure, resilient, and trustworthy DNS services,” says Sleiman.

These are some of the companies that are trailblazers in their domains, niches in the past but now very much in the foreground as the awareness of the need for multi-layered network security drives customer demand. And since DDoS and DNS attacks should be dealt with as part of an overall security strategy, the partners of these companies in the channel have a key role to play as well in educating and consulting their customer in deployments of the right solutions.

dynamic botnet/phishing infrastructures. It provides actionable intelligence to Arbor customers about their network security. Arbor’s ATLAS threat monitoring infrastructure collects data from over 300 service providers as well as other internet operators, totaling an astounding 90 Tbps of global traffic intelligence.

“We have a worldwide network called Atlas. This consists of our response team and installed base of customers worldwide. We have more than 90% of tier 1 and tier 2 companies over the years as our customers. We trace threats worldwide and provides alerts,” says Mahmoud.

He adds, “We work with operators who are our partners to educate their customers so that they are aware before the problems arise. We work with the majority of telcos here- Etisalat, Oredoo, STC etc who are our customers. We would be working with them ptovide our solutions as managed services to their customers.”

To mitigate DDoS attacks, A10 Network offer the Thunder TPS (threat Protection System) that protects against multiple classes of attack vectors, including volumetric, protocol, resource and

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Arrow offers an

extensive portfolio

of products and

solutions from leading

technology suppliers,

complemented with

industry-leading

resources, tools and

service support. The

distributor is further

consolidating its

channel Business in

the region

Arrow Electronics has been

strengthening its business in

the region over the past year since

it completed the acquisition of

Computerlinks. The company has

since then gone about adding vendor

partnerships in the region and is poised

to have a significant say in the regional

marketplace.

The distributor see itself as an

aggregator, an enabler and an ecosystem

builder who can anticipate market

momentum, technology demands

and adoption patterns. Accordingly,

the distributor is building its focus and

capabilities that meet the requirements in

the fast evolving marketplace.

Jean-Loup Desamaison-Cognet, VP,

CEEMEA and APAC regions for Arrow's

enterprise computing solutions segment

says, “With each passing day, IT is shifting

more and more towards SMAC (social,

mobility, analytics, cloud) and security.

This entails more integration requirements

as each function enables another to

maximize their effect. We are focusing

on the datacenter requirements and see

our role as a VAD to be significant. We

have been strengthening our capabilities

around each strategic pillar – security,

storage, networking, virtualization etc

which are the building blocks for these

emerging areas.”

He adds that the company is for

instance the largest VMware distributor

in the world at the moment. In addition,

the distributor offers technologies from

leading vendors including EMC, VCE,

McAfee, F5, and RSA amongst others.

Jean-Loup comments, “We can

aggregate all of that expertise together

to build software defined networks,

virtualized environments, database

analytics etc. This is where we bring a lot

of value to our partners and of course we

provide training, professional services etc

in addition.”

The distributor also offers

ArrowSphere, a cloud services partner

aggregation platform, which has not yet

been introduced in the region but Jean

says the company will be looking into that

as cloud services see increased demand.

ArrowSphere is a multi-module

platform that enables the channel

ecosystem (MSPs, solution providers,

independent software vendors) to

enter into the cloud services business in

the most efficient, seamless and cost-

effective way. ArrowSphere enables the

channel community to either build or

resell cloud services for the benefit of

their customers.

Jean-Loup says, “ArrowSphere is

our cloud strategy – it is an aggregation

platform where we can add services

of telcos and MSPs and sell it through

partners. We can provide MSPs services

they don’t have. If you are a reseller,

you can use this as your own brand of

cloud services as it is a white brand

service. If you are an MSP already, you

can aggregate services from the platform

Right on targetJe

an L

oup

Des

amai

son

-Cog

net

, VP,

Arro

w

Feature | Arrow Electronics

November 2014 | 23

and resell to

customers.”

The company

also has another

service for MSPs

– ArrowSphere

xSP Central, an

online module

launched last

year that enables the managed service

provider community to forecast and

report on various service provider license

agreements in one central platform. A

key feature of the tool is the ability to

simulate and predict the total cost of

operating a particular cloud service for

the end customer. The platform includes

metering and reporting capabilities and

provides MSPs with a centralized online

dashboard to generate pricing models,

evaluate vendor program options,

automate monthly reports and perform

various analyses, such as profit threshold

and capacity planning.

“In the context of all these various

value propositions that we offer, the role

we play as distributor has only become

more critical and we are well positioned

to meet the needs of our partners in

an industry where transformation is

happening every day. We are always

looking at new vendors and Technologies

to address the challenges of the data

center and making sure that we can

bring this to our partners so that they

are staying relevant to their customers,”

comments Jean-Loup.

He believes that there is a significant

opportunity for the channel in deploying

cloud services. However, while the cloud

is gaining interest, it needs better traction.

“Everyone is believing more in

the cloud but it needs to take off with

greater momentum. The good part for

our partners is that the cloud is available

through the channel,” says Jean-Loup.

The distributor is also strengthening its

portfolio around data analytics.

“Social Media has an impact on the

data center performance in terms of

networking and optimization. It impacts

analytics and mobility. Analytics is a

significant opportunity. We have signed

up SAS in many countries already for

instance,” adds Jean-Loup.

The company is keen on strengthening

its applications portfolio including cloud

based models and believes this can be a

good opportunity for the distribution and

channel Business where it can add value.

He says there will in all likelihood be

more firm developments in this direction

soon enough.

The acquisition of Computerlinks

has helped Arrow to size up its security

and data center solutions portfolio

considerably, across several markets

including this region. Arrow was already

a strong security distributor prior to

the acquisition but this helped it assert

pre-eminence in the security distribution

market.

“We were number 2 in terms of

Checkpoint distribution. For instance,

we were already strong on the security

front for virtualization because of our

strengths as the world's foremost VMware

distributor. However, we wanted to

consolidate the security portfolio further

and hence the acquisition. Today, after

the acquisition, we are the largest security

distributor in the world,” says Jean-Loup.

In the aftermath of the acquisition,

the strategy has been to bring to market

a full data center portfolio with strong

specializations in

skills, pre-sales,

post sales, training

etc.

Jean-Loup

elaborates,

“Channel

enablement is

a key focus and

part of our company’s DNA. We do that

promptly, training them and helping them

to sell and support their customers. We

coach them to install and grow them

so that they are fast in including new

Technologies and they take on new

opportunities.”

In addition, the company brought in

shared best practices to augment the

profile in the region where it sees strong

growth potential.

Jean-Loup comments, “This is a

growing market and the growth has been

positive. We want to grow our Business

here. We will now keep adding services,

extend the portfolio and bring in sharing

of best practices. Historically, we have

always grown faster than the simple

addition of the revenues of acquisition.”

The distributor has a tie-up with

Oracle in its sights for this region since

it already has Oracle distribution rights

in several markets globally.

“We are the largest Oracle distributor

in the world. We are hoping to sign with

Oracle for this region as well as we quite

familiar with the vendor’s portfolio. Of

course they have an existing distribution

set-up for the region, so we will see what

further value we can add,” says Jean-Loup.

The distributor has decided to build

an office at the earliest possible instance

in KSA with staff. It is also exploring the

need for local offices in other countries

as well. This it hopes will help it provide

professional services, provide training

effectively and be closer to partners in

those markets.

"We are always looking at new vendorsand Technologies to address the challenges of thedata center and making sure that we can bring

this to our partners so that they are stayingrelevant to their customers"

24 | November 2014

What benefits can network video bring to airports?The major benefit of network video is that it brings all of the numerous moving parts of modern airport’s operations together in one place, leading to happier passengers, and more efficient and profitable airports. Video surveillance always used to be strictly a security matter; now, numerous airport functions are benefiting from new possibilities that to improve the security, business, and operations of your airport. It’s an important tool in delivering the complete airport experience.

What are the greatest challenges in airport and how do Axis' products solve them?The two major challenges are ensuring the highest levels of security, at the minimum disruption to passengers; and meeting the needs of an increasingly sophisticated passenger for a seamless airport experience.

On the security front, Axis technologies provide central surveillance in real time that ensures nothing escapes the attention of airport authorities. They aid in access control, and provide total oversight of passages between clean and unclean areas, automatic identification, alerts for wanted individuals and more.

To meet the needs of airport users, Axis products allow airport managers to run various elements like luggage handling, parking and ground services in a far more integrated and effective way, which means a quicker, easier experience. Video surveillance also helps design more appealing retail areas, and provides real feedback into consumer behaviours.

What features make Axis' cameras particularly useful for use in airports?Obviously, it’s important to offer the highest quality HDTV video for all areas of an airport, together with associated intelligent technologies like face recognition, people counting, incident detection and tracking and even thermal imaging. But what makes network video systems really useful is their ability to

easily integrate with other IP-based systems, and provide information and intelligence to a central point, from where responses can be coordinated effectively.

What are the benefits of network cameras over analogue solutions in this application area?With an interconnected IP network, each and every stakeholder in an airport operation - from security and ground services to airlines and retailers – gets a real-time presence in relevant areas to make informed decisions fast. By making HDTV-quality video available remotely and on mobile devices, and it’s possible to send video straight to external police and national airport authorities. Cameras also integrate with systems such as access control, fire detectors, passenger information systems and public address systems.

Can network video save airports costs?Network video not only has the ability to save airports costs through reduced manpower and more efficient operations, but can actually become a valuable tool in increasing revenues in certain instances, through more effective retail opportunities and creating an airport experience that will attract greater numbers of people.

How will network video impact the airport industry a few years from now?It’s going to keep on transforming the airport experience to make it as safe, efficient and enjoyable as possible for passengers and profitable for operators. Network video will play a growing role in setting higher standards in security and operations and unlocking new business opportunities.

How useful are these network video solutions for Air traffic control towers?Network video is becoming an increasingly valuable tool for air traffic control operations through its ability to provide detailed, real-time information on flight and aircraft movements, thus enabling more efficient airport operations.

Pivot PointSurveillance at airports,

although crucial from

a security perspective,

also solves specific

customer challenges. Axis

Communications, pioneers

of the IP camera, bring

intelligence and enhanced

user experience to these

crucial transport hubs in the

region as Marwan Khoury

Marketing Manager-MEA

explains

Marwan KhouryMarketing Manager MEAAXIS

TechKnow | AXIS

26 | November 2014

ZYCOO is a leading

developer and

manufacturer of IP

Communication System.

ZYCOO’s CEO Wang

Hongzhen discusses the

company’s focus on IP

Telephony products for

different user segments

Please discuss your focus worldwide and in the Middle East?The major markets are the developing-to-developed countries as VoIP is gradually being adopted bymany more people in these countries. For the Middle East, we focus on the ZYCOO brand development and promoting the market share of ZYCOO products.

How successful was your GITEX participation?GITEX has been obviously a great success, and the new product UC510 IP Office for SOHO was for the first time showcased in ME. The P series Hardware Appliance which is mainly used for customized software development was showcased as well in GITEX. Besides the hardware product, many visitors

have been interested in ZYCOO’s newly developed software, the Cloud Telephony Management System(Abbreviated asCTMS), which is developed for enterprises who have multi offices & braches in different places/countries. ZYCOO released three kinds of new products in the second half of the year.

Elaborate on the range of IPT solutions you offer for different user scenarios – SMB, call centres, enterprise etc?Generally our products can be categorixed into the SOHO, Small & Medium enterprise and the large enterprise. The CooVox-U20 has been popular worldwide for a long time; it supports 30 extension users with analog/sip trunk, and fully IP PBX features like IVR, callforward/transfer/conference features as well as the UC510 which

supports 10 extensions, integrated IP PBX and Wi-Fi router functions.

The CooVox-U50 /U60 /U100 supports 100 -500 extension users, so they are better choice for SMBs. Moreover, CooVox series IP Phone systems and UC520 IP Office for SOHO supports LTE to meet the fast-growingnetwork.

The newly developed software by ZYCOO-CTMS is also a perfect solution for enterprise who needs to manage/monitor/control the telephony system in multi-offices/branches.

For call centers, we are still in the process of developing the call center software, and it will be completed soon by the end of December.

Apart from IP Telephony solutions, what other products do you offer?The P Series hardware appliance is a breakout solution for integrators and developers.Featuring an Intel Atom CPU and Gigabit network interfaces, the P-Series appliance is the perfect solution for everything from VoIP software such as Elastix to Firewall software such as Untangle and pfSense. By utilizing Zycoo's custom telephony modules, the P-Series hardware supports up to 8 FXO/FXS, 2 T1/E1, 8 GSM, and 4 BRI (depending on model).

Additionally, with the optional hardware echo cancellation module, customers will experience high quality audio transmission.

Discuss if you have operations in the region?

We have already started our branch office in Dubai during GITEX which is ZYCOO Technology LLC and would be known by the name ZYCOO UAE. ZYCOO’s CEO WANG HONGZHEN is also the CEO of ZYCOO UAE. All further business in ME, all the product sales, marketing, tech support will be looked after by ZYCOO UAE.

The UAE office will also look after North African territories since they are near to the Middle East. In fact, the whole of MENA would be the business territory of ZYCOO UAE.

Establishing the IP connect

Wang HongzhenCEO, ZYCOO

TechKnow | ZYCOO

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28 | November 2014

Norden is a manufacturer of electrical and optical solutions, catering to a wide spectrum of industries - Telecommunication, Building, Industrial and Utilities. The UK headquartered company is fast expanding its global presence entering new markets with wider product offerings. Joseph K. John, GM, Norden Communication Middle East discusses the solutions nd the company’s focus in the region

Discuss your solutions focus around data centre connectivity solutions?Norden is focused on providing high end components for Data center and server room connectivity. High density fiber, copper systems allows higher density of servers and ports in data center environment. Factory terminated high density cabling solutions reduce installation time and cost.

Norden MTP high density cabling solutions utilizes multi fiber push on ferrule providing connection of 12 or 24 fibers. MTP provides superior physical and optical characteristicsfor precision alignment with spring loaded mechanism and guide pins. 4U MTP Patch Panel can accommodate 288 LC terminations per panel, providing higher bandwidth requirement for 10G/40G/100G.

Norden DataPro range of high density copper patching solution helps in reduction of usage in rack space,1U 48 port patch panels and angular range of patch panels are ideally suited for Data center.

Norden DataCAB range of floor standing racks are designed for communication rooms and data centers. The smart design and professional engineering provides easy installation and maintenance. Aisle Cabinet comes with end-of-row dual sliding doors and ceiling panels that enclose the cold aisle between rows of DataCAB Cabinets to prevent mixing of cold and hot air, optimizing cool air delivery

Please discuss the growth in the data center segment in the region?The number of large data centers for co-location, dedicated servers, cloud servers, managed hosting, IP transit and many other hosting services are very small in the Middle East market compared to other regions. But there is gradual and steady growth in enterprise data centers; the growth in size of data has encouraged companies to invest in data centers moving way from multiple server room architecture.Investment has shifted towards enhancing existing facilities and consolidation. Outsourcing data center

facility is also on the rise.

Is the shift from copper cables to fibre cables happening and why? What are the trends in the region?The requirement of large enterprises for fibre cables is increasing to keep up with their growth, their requirement for higher band width.Most enterprises are moving their applications and data to the cloud servers requiring high bandwidth to the desk.Wider use of mobile devices also increasing data traffics to wireless access points, making use of fiber cables a necessity.

Yes there is high uptake of fiber cables in ME and especially in GCC for enterprise networks. Fiber cables are extensively

used in big campus installations in enterprises, education institutions and airports.

Copper is still widely used in enterprise networks due to higher cost of fiber electronics and transceivers; also require higher expertise and cost for installation. Copper is used mostly in horizontal runs since fibre is more susceptible to data loss in macro and micro bends, need careful handling while installation and terminations. Fiber is mostly considered in the vertical runs and backbones.

Data rates of 10GB and above is achieved through VCSELs transceivers optimized for 850nm wavelength for OM2/OM3/OM4 multimode fiber cables to 300m link. Whereas CAT6A copper cables

Data centre specialistData centre specialist

Joseph K. JohnGM, Norden Communication ME

TechKnow | Norden

November 2014 | 29

can achieve 10GB data transfer to 100m link.

Single mode fiber cables using 10GBASE-E can have 40km link and 100GBASE-LR4 can reach 10km link lengths for use in large enterprise with big campus. Hence fiber cables are future proof installations.

Fiber cable is not affected by electromagnetic interference like copper cables giving reliable data transfers. Fiber cable data have better security against hacking and theft due to inbuilt encoding.Fiber cable runs have lesser weight and volume of material used hence use lesser raw materials and installation materials and lesser waste of energy, considered green solution in comparison with copper cabling.

Beside data centres, discuss other verticals that you help your partners focus?Norden’s strength is its product range. It has a very wide range of product and accessories to give customers end to end solutions in cabling. These include cabinets, structured cabling, Extra Low Voltage (ELV) cabling and systems that can be used in all industries. We are constantly striving to bring innovative products to our customers to give them right value.

Norden provides cabling solutions for modern building suiting the requirements of the owner - FTTX, proprietary network architecture, extra low voltage systems, building management systems. We customize design to requirement form cabinets, cables and connectivity components. Our cabling range for this segment includes data cables, telephone cables, fiber optic cables, coaxial cables, control and instrumentation cables, speaker cables, fire resistant cables, fire alarm cables.

In IT and telecommunication, solutions range from cabinets and containments, cables and network components to data center components,intelligent networks to intelligent power distribution units. There are also inside and outside plant network cables and components for

telecommunication.We also offer awide range of cables

and components for industrial control systems -instrumentation, multi-conductor, multi-pair, bus cables. Fibre and copper cables are used extensively in the distributed control system (DCS) and the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems widely used in utility systems.

Do you see data centre footprint reducing which essentially means lesser demand for products inside the data centre?The size of data is increasing steadily with growth of in number of users; data storage space in-house and outsourced will increase to accommodate this growth. There may be a decline in new build data centers, as updating and consolidation of existing ones are happening. Global hubs are getting created for virtual storage, hosting, collocation and cloud services, Dubai is a hub with great potential. There will be increase in usage of components for data center.

Discuss the size of your active partner network – do you have a distributor in the region or do you work directly with system integrators of the region?Norden has its own warehouse facility in UAE, it is developing a strong second tier distribution network for the Middle East and Africa market. This multilayer multi location stock availability helps Norden to provide quick and efficient services to its customers. In markets with immediate access from UAE Norden work directly with system integrators. In other locations we use our distributor network.

Discuss demand for DCIM solutions? What solutions do you offer in this segment?Norden presently does not provide a full DCIM solution, we provide components that work with DCIM vendor solutions. New intelligent patching and power management solutions are new initiatives from us.

Discuss the new solutions unveiled at GITEX?Norden showcased the full range of products. The new intelligent patch panel and power management systems were launched during Gitex.

N-Connect answers the need of Infrastructure managers for a simple approach to port management tools. They want software that doesn't require excessive training and a solution that is easy to install and upgrade. The Norden N-Connect system provides a straightforward solution that supports the core functions they use every day. As your network grows, simple updates allow the Norden S-Connect system to grow with you: additional Norden Device Scanners work together seamlessly, providing a single point of view of your network, regardless of size.

Building on NORDEN copper reliability and performance, NORDEN N- Connect Solutions combine hardware and software to provide you with a real-time, comprehensive view of your physical network infrastructure.

Data center managers use N- Power PDUs to prevent overloaded circuits that can damage and down equipment, and lost revenues.N- power PDUs allow local or remote viewing and alarms for issues that can arise at the outlet, breaker, circuit and aggregate level. With the advantage of seeing current usage feedback in an instant, the chances of overloading a PDU when adding, removing or adjusting equipment is minimized.

Remote monitoring is very simple. Just access a snapshot reading of the power usage through any internet connection. No external software is needed, and it’s compatible with SNMP and XML for easy tracking of critical data. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) data traps allow trending of that data.

All of this knowledge can help data center managers’ record and display information to watch for trends that can lead to better efficiency and less downtime.

30 | November 2014

As a networking equipment provider from SMB grade to enterprise and carrier class products, discuss your different go to market strategies for these various segments?ZyXEL is working with some of the leading SI partners in the region for Telco Business. For the channel Business, we have distributors and a network of resellers in the region including ME and Africa.

Are IP surveillance products a strong focus in this market for you?Although ZyXEL does not do CCTV cameras or other surveillance products, yet IP Surveillance is a key vertical

configured, reset, and rebooted centrally, thus saving valuable time, eliminating the burden of repetitive tasks and reducing the total cost of ownership of the network.

ZyXEL One Network has been able to deliver this networking breakthrough thanks to a comprehensive portfolio of advanced business networking solutions that have been designed and engineered exclusively in-house. This means that unlike competing brands where products often utilize a wide range of incompatible setup tools, ZyXEL has been able to create a fully integrated suite of customer-focused solutions with complementary

ZyXEL is a global leader in broadband

networking technology, providing a

wide portfolio of wired and wireless

network solutions for customers

ranging from telecommunications

service providers to small- and

medium-sized businesses and

home users. Muhammad Arsalan,

Director Sales & General Manager at

ZyXEL Middle East FZE discusses the

company’s solutions focus.

Please elaborate on your focus in region vis-à-vis customer segmentsZyXEL has a broad portfolio of products addressing both Telco and Channel Business. Our target audience for Telco Solutions are Service Providers in the region including Telcos and ISPs. These solutions include MASNs, GPON, Active Fiber, xDSL and LTE. The channel business also has promising potential. Although there is tough competition with existing and well-known brands, the feature that helpsZyXEL stand out among others is the broad portfolio of products from SMB/SME to Consumer Digital Home that we offer.

Connecting the futurefor us. ZyXEL has certain unique Ethernet Switches which carry the industry’s highest rated PoE power per port, making it an ideal choice for any reseller or customer for their CCTV IP network.

What is ZyXEL One Network?ZyXEL One Network is a next generation unified networking solution, designed to provide customers with more streamlined, efficient and user-friendly network setup and maintenance.

ZyXEL One Network is a visionary solution which encompasses all devices required to operate a small or medium sized network. It allows them to be addressed,

Muhammad ArsalanDirector Sales $ GM, ZyXEL ME

TechKnow | ZyXEL

November 2014 | 31

and interoperable setup and installation utilities.

The ZyXEL One Network (ZON) Utility, the central element of this transformative solution, heralds the start of a new type of user-friendly networking with the simplest, most efficient network setup and management interface on the market. It has been designed to accelerate networking tasks, freeing network administrators for more strategic, revenue generating business activities.

Do you offer UTM or NGFW product line in this market? If not yet, are there plans to do so in near term?ZyXEL has a great product line for Firewall UTM ranging from a single user appliance to an

SME based platform. ZyXEL UTM devices are powered by industry leading partners including ComTouch and Kaspersky and include AV, IDP, Anti-SPAM, DoS, IDP etc. ZyXEL was No.1 in the world for firewall under $500 according to Infonetics Research in 2013.

Discuss growth year on year in the region?We have been present with our office in Dubai now almost 2 Years. So far we see a gradual and organic growth with roughly 20% growth on average each year.

Please discuss details of your channel program in brief? For Resellers our Channel Program is simple. Any Reseller can sign-up a

registration available on ZyXEL Middle East website www.zyxel-me.com and after a few minor formalities can become a ZyXEL Authorized Reseller. We also have a well-defined Distributor Partner Model in which we have different levels that can best suit the relationship. We have a Master Distributor, VADs as well as Sub-Distributors catering to a regional or territory based business.

Are you looking to enhance your channel reach by increasing active SI partner network in specific markets or verticals of focus?Yes we are on a regular basis encouraging more and more SI partners and Resellers to join ZyXEL as a part of our Channel

strategy. This includes several verticals such as Hospitality, Education, IP Surveillance and much more.

With SDN strategies being unveiled by various networking vendors, please discuss if there is a an SDN focus/roadmap at Zyxcel?ZyXEL is totally aligned with the global trend towards SDN based applications. ZyXEL realizes some key elements in the market such as BYOD and Cloud based Virtual Management. ZyXEL ONE NETWORK is an initiative launched by ZyXEL where by a certain product line is virtually manageable without any investments in to costly Remote Management Platforms.

100+ Enterprise Clients | 185+ Professional Team | Global Offices | Strong Domain Expertise

info@finessedirect.com | www.finessedirect.com | facebook.com/finessedirect

GEC AWARDS 2014

ACN ARAB TECHNOLOGY AWARDS 2014

ICT INTEGRATOR AWARDS - 2014

RED HERRING GLOBAL TOP 100

ICT ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2014

SOFTWARE INTEGRATOR OF THE YEAR

SYSTEM INTEGRATOR OF THE YEAR

GLOBAL FAST GROWING 100

APPLICATION INTEGRATOR OF THE YEAR

SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR OF THE YEAR

32 | November 2014

Ala

in P

enel

, Reg

iona

l VP,

ME,

For

tinet

Insight | RedHat

As we make the shift to the cloud era, computing’s

traditional building blocks are increasingly abstracted away. This is fueled by the advent of hypervisors, virtual machines, public clouds, and application containers. Despite being roughly sixty years old and existing in an industry that sees tectonic shifts at least once a decade, the operating system remains a rock solid foundation and the underpinning of modern information technology. Why is it that this core building block will not quietly go away?

The functions that the operating system provides are critical to computing - as long as there are systems with memory to manage, I/O to arbitrate, processes to schedule, and storage or networks with which to interface, the operating system remains vital.

Does abstracting the operating system make these functions less important?

While we do not notice the electricity and water that sustain our homes and office buildings every day, no one would dare say that they are irrelevant. As the sources for these and other utilities have been abstracted, we’ve grown accustomed to their availability; we take them for granted.

The operating system has also evolved to become such a utility. It is pervasive and ubiquitous, and we don’t notice it because it just works.Critical not only to the function of enterprise IT, the operating system lies at the core of our daily lives, serving as the underlying

force of IT consumerization. The operating system is everywhere – it is in our mobile phones, our cars, our smart DVD players, and our thermostats. IDC predicts that there “will be approximately 212 billion ‘things’ globally by the end of 2020”, including a large percentage of intelligent systems that will be installed and collecting data across consumer and enterprise applications. The operating system helps us to control and connect with the Internet of

Mark Coggin, senior

director of product

marketing for Red Hat

Enterprise Linux, Red

Hat's flagship product

and the No. 1 Linux

operating system

worldwide discusses

how the OS retains its

primacy in an era of

technology paradigm

shifts.

Primacy of the OSThings around us.

And let’s not forget the application, which needs an operating system to provide system services as well as linkage to its dependencies -- the required software libraries, run time components, and device drivers. The application may be king, but the operating system is its castle – providing the foundation, the resources, and the security for the application to thrive.

Those who claim that the operating system is

irrelevant are trying to shift your focus from this critical technology because it’s in their best interest to do so. Beer manufacturers will point out that drinking beer after exercise will hydrate you slightly better than water – of course, beer is 95% water.

Regardless of technical advancements, the operating system remains at the core of enterprise computing. It is here to stay, and will forever be foundational to our interconnected world.

Mark CogginSenior Director, Red Hat

November 2014 | 33

Insight | ManageEngine

ManageEngine’s interaction with a cross-section of

the visitors at GITEX Technology Week, 2014 at Dubai reveals that organizations concentrate more on perimeter security and tend to ignore the most important aspect of privileged passwords security, which is fundamental to information security.

More than 70 per cent of the respondents said that they were storing administrative passwords, which grant unlimited access to IT assets,inplain text on volatile sources such as sticky notes, spreadsheets, printouts, and text documents. 35 per cent of the respondents said that they were either using the same password on many IT systems or were alternating a set of existing passwords on different systems.

More than 40 per cent of the respondents said that they were frequently sharing passwords among technicians through emails and phone calls. Only 9 per cent of the respondents said that they were changing the passwords of their IT systems once a month. Others were allowing passwords to remain unchanged for an extended period, though they change them at their own convenience. 90 per cent of the respondents said that they were conducting only manual audits to check if IT systems have been assigned with weak or factory default passwords.

Such flawed password management practices could make the organizations a paradise for hackers, both inside and outside the organization. Many security incidents and

data breaches actually stem from lack of adequate password management policies and internal controls.

Identity theft often lies at the root of modern-day cyber attacks. To gain access to IT resources, cyber criminals use various techniques, including phishing attacks and obtain employee login credentials and administrator passwords. As organizations are drowning in an ever-increasing number of passwords, the risks involved are quite high. Especially, passwords kept on spreadsheets result in a host of security issues. Here are some high-risk factors and scenarios: Unrestricted or

uncontrolled access — There is rarely any internal control on password access or usage. Technicians get unrestricted access to all the passwords. Unaudited access with

no trace of “who” accessed — Privileged passwords remain impersonal in shared environments. Mistakes, whether accidental or deliberate, can never be traced to the offender. There is generally no way to track “who” accessed “what” and “when.” This allows people to remain unaccountable for their actions. Temporary access

becomes permanent — Passwords are given out orally or by emails to users who need a privileged password on a temporary basis. Such a practice can be huge security hazard when there is no process to revoke temporary access and reset the password after usage. Technician leaves

the organization, takes the passwords — When a technician

V Balasubramanian,

Marketing Manager

(IT Security),

ManageEngine

discusses that

Awareness on

Passwords Security

Very Low Among IT

Professionals in the

Middle East

Need for securedpasswordleaves the organization, the technician may take a copy of all the passwords. The only solution to such a scenario is to change all the privileged passwords of all the clients. Passwords fall into

malicious hands — If the text file or spreadsheet containing the administrative passwords reaches a malicious individual, client networks could be in jeopardy. Passwords remain

unchanged for ages — Passwords of even the most sensitive resources like firewalls remain unchanged to prevent lockouts. Manually changing the passwords of thousands of resources can be

time-consuming. Worse, most resources are assigned the same, non-unique password for ease of coordination among administrators.

To combat ever-increasing cyber attacks, organizations should focus on securing privileged passwords, controlling and monitoring privileged access, and adopting stringent security best practices. They can easily achieve a high level of security by using privileged password management solutions. In the absence of an appropriate management tool, password management can become quite cumbersome.

V BalasubramanianMarketing Manager, ManageEngine

34 | November 2014

eyetech

AP-103H Access Point LANactive,an FttO solution

Overview:

Nexans, a leader in cables and cabling systems, has

announced the launch of LANactive, a Fibre-to-the-Office

(FttO) solution in the Middle East. The new LANactive

solution offers customers a new alternative approach

to office networking by using passive fibre cabling and

components together with locally distributed active

micro-switches to provide Ethernet services via standard

copper based RJ45 technology to the device.

Key features:

• Combingpassivecablingwithactiveswitching,the

LANactive solution provides customers significant cost

savings especially those that have several restrictions

especially in terms of capacity and space

• Nexans’LANactivesolutionofferssignificantcost

savings and benefits in specific types of environment

such as hospitals, universities and airports where, long

transmission distances within the building are required,

space and/or cost restrictions limit the use of floor

distributors, cable containment has limited capacity etc

• Allcomponentsincludingtheactiveswitches,cabling

and connectivity are designed and manufactured by

Nexans.

Overview:Aruba Networks, a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise, has launched the multifunctional and affordable, dual-radio AP-103H hospitality access point (AP), with a view to enabling hotels in the Middle East to provide ultra-fast, secure and scalable Wi-Fi to employees and guests.

The AP-103H installs in minutes and easily mounts to an electrical or data wall box. It uses the existing structured cabling system to provide secure wired and Wi-Fi network access in dormitories, classrooms, hotels, medical clinics and multitenant environments. The compact and cost-effective AP-103H delivers wireless data rates up to 300 Mbps per radio employing 802.11n technology with two spatial MIMO streams. This 2x2:2 AP features dedicated 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz radios and integrated omni-directional antennas.

For wired connectivity, the AP-103H provides two secure downlink switch ports, a passive pass-through RJ-

45 port, and a 10/100/1000BASE-T uplink port. It can be powered using an 802.3af power-over-Ethernet (PoE) source on the uplink network port or a 12-volt DC power supply.

Key features:•TheAP-103Hmaximizesmobiledeviceperformancein moderately dense Wi-Fi environments while minimizing interference from cellular networks. • Itinstallsinminutesandeasilymountstoanelectricalor data wall box. • Itusestheexistingstructuredcablingsystemtoprovide secure wired and Wi-Fi network access. •Thecompactandcost-effectiveAP-103Hdeliverswireless data rates up to 300 Mbps per radio employing 802.11n technology with two spatial MIMO streams. •This2X2:2APfeaturesdedicated2.4-GHzand5-GHz radios and integrated omni-directional antennas.

November 2014 | 35

Overview:The Dell SuperMassive 9800 Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), the most powerful model in Dell’s SuperMassive 9000 Series, provides the highest-performance deep-packet inspection firewall available, allowing customers to benefit from reduced capital expenditure and reduced rack, power and cooling costs in the future. Dell SuperMassive 9800 addresses the most complex and demanding data center operations, all at the lowest TCO

As the most powerful model in Dell’s SuperMassive 9000 Series, the SuperMassive 9800 delivers to both mid-size and enterprise organisations the same protection and performance as Dell’s flagship SuperMassive 10000 Series firewalls. It includes all the performance-enhancing capabilities, with lower operating expenses and total cost of ownership. Key features:

• Upto20GbpsofDPIperformancetosolvecomplexand demanding data centers’ increasingly massive data and capacity requirements. Provides ultra-fast parallel inspection processing for scalability to higher throughput and connectivity

• Best-in-classsecuritywith97.9percentsecurityeffectiveness without compromising performance. Patented Reassembly- Free Deep Packet Inspection (RFDPI) single-pass threat prevention engine searches more levels of data, every element of every packet, to identify threats while operating on a scalable foundation that grows with organizational needs

• Reduceddeploymentandmanagementcostswithan integrated NGFW, IPS, SSL inspection and application control platform for mid-market and enterprise organizations that require the deepest level of network security

• Industry-leadingprice-performanceratio,reducingpower, cooling and space costs with power optimization design that produces optimal compute performance per Watt (Gbps\W) packed in a space-saving two-rack unit appliance

• Supportforuptomillionsofsimultaneousconnections at near-zero latency for higher throughput, concurrent/ simultaneous TCP connections and connection per second to respond to increased user count, user device count (BYOD and IoT) and demand for network connection

Brocade 7840Extension Switch

Overview: The Brocade 7840 Data Center Extension Switch with

Fabric Vision technology delivers unprecedented

performance, continuous availability, and simplified

management to handle unrelenting growth of data

traffic between data centers. Brocade’s purpose-

built data center extension solution maximizes

performance and scalability for large, complex

environments allowing IT organizations to future

proof storage extension infrastructure by adding more

throughput capacity as their needs grow.

It leverages cost-effective IP WAN transport

to extend open systems and mainframe disk and

tape storage applications over distances that would

otherwise be impossible, impractical, or too expensive

with standard Fibre Channel connections. Designed for

maximum flexibility, it addresses the most demanding

disaster recovery requirements.

Dell SuperMassive 9800 NGFW

Key features:• Movemorestoragedatabetweendatacenters to meet increasing disaster recovery and business continuity objectives with industry-leading performance and scalability

• Encryptstoragedataflowsoverdistancewithouta performance penalty

• Improveloadbalancingandnetworkresiliencewith extension trunking to increase WAN utilization and protect against WAN link failures

• Achievealways-onbusinessoperationswithnon- disruptive firmware upgrades

• Extendproactivemonitoringbetweendatacenters to automatically detect WAN anomalies and avoid unplanned downtime

• Acceleratetroubleshootingofend-to-endI/Oflows over distance

• Enable“pay-as-you-grow”scalabilitywithcapacity on demand upgrades

36 | November 2014

In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), server shipments

in the second quarter of 2014 grew for the first time in 11 quarters, by 0.8 percent, according to Gartner, Inc. Server revenue also grew in the second consecutive quarter of 2014 after 10 previous quarters of consecutive revenue declines. Total server revenue reached $3.2 billion, a 3.8 percent year-over-year increase.

“The second quarter of 2014 marks a key milestone in the server market for many vendors, as both shipments and revenue grew for the first time since this period in 2011,” said Errol Rasit, research director at Gartner. “Despite the steady improvement in the server market, these positive results highlight the end of a slump, rather than a return to growth. Server providers must continue to ensure that a focus on growth remains a top priority.”

In the first quarter of 2014, HP extended its revenue share lead with 7.3 percent growth (see Table) a strong result given its shipment decline of 5.2 percent. The EMEA market does not enjoy the same hyperscale demand as North America, but HP was able to benefit from strong multi-node server sales to bolster its growth.

Second-ranked IBM exhibited single digit x86 growth, despite announcing the divestment of this business. IBM’s top level result suffered because of a cyclical low point in mainframe sales and ongoing

Stats & Trends

EMEA server shipments show growth

weakness in its RISC systems business. Third-placed Dell’s recent momentum continued with a strong second quarter, as its revenue increased 13.5 percent, and its shipments grew 5.5 percent.

“Despite top line positivity, mixed vendor and regional results during the second quarter highlight the ongoing challenges the server market faces in EMEA,” said Mr. Rasit. “Underlying demand is increasingly positive, but server customers are increasingly discerning regarding technology choice and cost. These two opposing factors could limit server market growth in 2014, although we expect continued improvement in the second half of the year.”

From a regional perspective, only Eastern Europe recorded revenue and shipment declines of 1.6 and 5.6 percent. Server revenue and shipments in the Middle East and Africa region grew by 2.5 and 6 percent, while in Western Europe shipments increased 4.8 and 1.3 percent.

In the second quarter of 2014, x86 server revenue increased by 12.7 percent in EMEA. RISC/Itanium UNIX revenue declined 23.6 percent and the “Other CPU” segment revenue decreased 17.8 percent.

“It’s not surprising to see the x86 segment driving growth in EMEA, however double digit declines in the RISC and Itanium Unix segments were weaker than expected, highlighting ongoing instability,” said Mr. Rasit.

The UAE IT services market is set to grow an impressive 15.5% year on year in 2014 and at a compound annual growth rate of 11.3% over the coming five years, according to recent forecasts released advisory services firm International Data Corporation (IDC). With IT services revenue set to reach $1,962.91 this year and $3,356.44 million by 2018, IDC says the UAE market's stellar performance is being spurred by growing levels of investment by organizations in the public, banking and financial services, retail, healthcare, and transport sectors.

As well as announcing its latest market projections, the research firm also released actual data for 2013, with the UAE's IT services market confirmed to have expanded 15.0% last year to total $1,699.8 million. Increased investment in datacenters, disaster recovery (DR) sites, application modernization, infrastructure consolidation, and the refresh of existing infrastructure resulted in 'project-based services' being the largest macromarket, while the 'support and installation' and 'outsourcing services' segments also posted steady growth.

New projects in the government, construction, banking and financial services, healthcare, and retail verticals helped the areas of systems integration, network consulting, and integration services expand strongly. There has been a rapid increase in end-user organizations adopting managed and datacenter services as they strive to improve their operational efficiency and achieve better results.

In further developments, there has also been increased interest in the adoption of 3rd Platform technologies, namely big data and analytics, enterprise mobility, social platforms, and cloud computing. However, the interest and adoption levels have varied across verticals and in some cases been very industry specific. For example, numerous retail, transport, and banking and financial services organizations have started piloting big data and analytics projects, while other verticals are quickly adopting basic business intelligence and dashboard-based performance management tools.

UAE Market gears up for sustained periodof growth

Company 2Q14 Revenue 2Q14 Market Share (%) 2Q13 Revenue 2Q13 Market

Share (%)2Q14-2Q13Growth (%)

HP 1,121,059,422 34.73 1,045,013,127 33.6 7.28IBM 710,702,536 22.02 834,807,318 26.84 -14.87Dell 493,568,150 15.29 434,887,100 13.98 13.49Oracle 211,932,000 6.57 193,522,500 6.22 9.51Fujitsu 206,746,974 6.41 175,820,497 5.65 17.59Others 483,827,980 14.99 426,487,501 13.71 13.44Total 3,227,837,061 100 3,110,538,042 100 3.77

EMEA: Server Vendor Revenue Estimates, 2Q14 (U.S. Dollars)

Source: Gartner (August 2014)

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