R&M CEO Michel Riva visited the UAE and joined top regional executives to officially launch the company’s new Cat. 8.1, Netscale 72 and inteliPhy net solutions in the Middle East

At a premier event, held this week in Dubai, R&M unveiled its new Cat. 8.1, Netscale 72 and inteliPhy net network cabling solutions in the Middle East. The launch was attended by Peter Harradine, President of the Swiss Business Council, Dubai & Northern Emirates as well as several prestigious R&M customers from the region, including the Deputy General Manager and top executives from Istanbul Grand Airport (IGA).

Michel Riva, CEO, R&M group and Nabil Khalil, Executive Vice President, R&M Middle East, Turkey & Africa delivered the evening’s keynotes. These were followed by a detailed presentation of the Netscale 72 and inteliPhy net solutions, provided by Reinhard Burkert, Product Manager Smart Networks, R&M under the theme ‘Driving Digitalization with Smart Networks’. Netscale 72 offers the highest density of FO ports and can be used to create large spine-leaf network architectures in cloud data centers and facilitate fast migration to new network generations, such as the step from 10 Gigabit to 40 or 100 Gigabit capacity. inteliPhy net is R&M’s easy-to-operate DCIM solution for asset, capacity and change management in data centers. The solution attaches importance to a simplified representation and convinces by its intuitive, web-based operation.

“To date, R&M’s fiber optic solutions have represented a perfect balance between high performance, flexible configuration and state-of-the-art port density. With Netscale 72 we have shifted the balance further towards intelligence, monitoring and automation,” said Dr. Thomas Wellinger, Market Manager Data Center, R&M.

Alfred Tharwat, Head of Training & Data Center Consultancy, R&M MEA & Turkey then introduced attendees to the company’s new Cat. 8.1 cabling system with his presentation titled “Next Generation Components for LAN and Data Center”. R&M new cabling solution is designed for data centers and office LANs and supports up to 40 Gigabit/s Ethernet (GbE) – the fastest data transmission rate that local networks with structured copper cabling can achieve today. In line with the specifications of the ISO/IEC and TIA standards, the company guarantees 40GbE performance for 24-meter permanent links and the up to 30-meter channel depending on the patch cords used.

In addition to the product launches, Emrah Bayarçelik, Deputy General Manager, IGA, delivered a compelling testimonial detailing how the largest airport in the world is now also the first globally to be fully digitized with its key security, communication and IT functions based on a network provided by R&M. The Swiss company’s cabling connects the airport’s ICT systems for customs, security staff and the police force, as well as 9,000 surveillance cameras, 3,000 card readers and 5,000 Wi-Fi access points, giving the airport a full-coverage WLAN.

Commenting on the launches, Michel Riva, CEO at R&M said, “We are proud to bring to the Middle East these innovative solutions that represent the pinnacle of technology in their respective cabling domains. 2020 will be a landmark year for the whole region with Dubai hosting the Expo 2020, opening new horizons for the sustainable future of our planet. The Middle East is also one of the most important sales regions for R&M and a focus for our activities in the coming year. We are proud to be among the top three providers of connectivity, exciting our customers in the government, telecom provider and enterprises sectors with next-generation networks.” 

BPI Network Study Finds Multi-Cloud Security Is Top Challenge for Enterprises Globally

A vast majority of enterprises worldwide have adopted multi-cloud strategies to keep pace with the need for digital transformation and IT efficiency, but they face significant challenges in managing the complexities and added requirements of these new application and data delivery infrastructures, according to a global survey conducted by the Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network, in partnership with A10 Networks.

The new study, entitled “Mapping The Multi-Cloud Enterprise,” finds that improved security, including centralized security and performance management, multi-cloud visibility of threats and attacks, and security automation, is the number one IT challenge facing companies in these new compute environments.

Among key survey findings:

• Approximately two-thirds of companies have now deployed enterprise applications across two or more public clouds
• 84 percent expect to increase their reliance on public or private clouds over the next 24 months
• 35 percent have already moved half or more of their enterprise applications into the cloud
• Only 11 percent believe their companies have been “highly successful” in realizing the benefits of multi-cloud
• Improving multi-cloud security is seen as their most critical challenge, followed by a lack of multi-cloud talent and expertise, the need for centralized visibility, and the capacity to more effectively manage application and infrastructure complexity.

 “Multi-cloud is the de facto new standard for today’s software- and data-driven enterprise,” said Dave Murray, head of thought leadership and research for the BPI Network. “However, our study makes clear that IT and business leaders are struggling with how to reassert the same levels of management, security, visibility and control that existed in past IT models. Particularly in security, our respondents are currently assessing and mapping the platforms, solutions and policies they will need to realize the benefits and reduce the risks associated of their multi-cloud environments.”

“The BPI Network survey underscores a critical desire and requirement for companies to reevaluate their security platforms and architectures in light of multi-cloud proliferation,” said Gunter Reiss, vice president of worldwide marketing at A10 Networks. “The rise of 5G-enabled edge clouds is expected to be another driver for multi-cloud adoption. A10 believes enterprises must begin to deploy robust Polynimbus security and application delivery models that advance centralized visibility and management and deliver greater security automation across clouds, networks, applications and data.” 

The study finds that some 38 percent of companies have or will reassess their current relationships with security and load balancer suppliers in light of multi-cloud, with most others still undecided about whether a change in vendors is needed.

Benefits and Drivers of Multi-Cloud

IT and business executives respondents point to a number of benefits and business and technology forces that are driving their move into multi-cloud environments. 

The top-four drivers for multi-cloud:

• The desire to improve efficiency and cut costs (47 percent)
• The need to move applications and data closer to users (43 percent)
• Safeguards against single-vendor cloud failures (32 percent)
• The desire to access new solutions and technologies (28 percent)

The top-four benefits for multi-cloud:

• Redundancy and disaster recovery (61 percent)
• Cost optimization (50 percent) 
• Performance optimization (47 percent) are also seen as top benefits 
• Using the best cloud environment for specific workloads (34 percent) 

Security Tops IT To-Do List

Respondents report facing a long list of challenges in managing multi-cloud compute environments, with security at the top of their agenda.

The top-four challenges for multi-cloud:

• Ensuring security across all clouds, networks, applications and data (63 percent)
• Acquiring the necessary skills and expertise (37 percent)
• Dealing with increased management complexity (33 percent)
• Achieving centralized visibility and management across clouds (33 percent)

The top-four requirements for improving multi-cloud security and performance:

• Centralized visibility and analytics into security and performance (56 percent)
• Automated tools to speed response times and reduce costs (54 percent)
• Centralized management from a single point of control (50 percent)
• Greater security scale and performance to handle increased traffic (38 percent)

The top-four security-specific solution needs:

• Centralized authentication (62 percent)
• Centralized security policies (46 percent)
• Web application firewalls (40 percent)
• DDoS protection (33 percent)

Survey Methodology

In partnership with A10 Networks, the BPI Network conducted a global survey of IT professionals and business executives to understand the state of multi-cloud deployments worldwide, including their priorities, intentions and concerns. The study includes responses from 127 participants across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Africa and the Middle East.

Company invests in new office, in addition to hiring resources in order to accelerate business growth

Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in enterprise cloud computing, announced that it is further investing in Saudi Arabia by opening a new office and hiring new technical and sales resources in order to better support customers and partners. The company has been posting revenue growth, driven in part by the increasing uptake of the company’s market leading hyperconverged infrastructure solutions by enterprises in the Kingdom looking to embrace the power of cloud computing.

Mohammad Abulhouf, Country Manager – Saudi & Bahrain at Nutanix says, “Against the backdrop of Saudi Vision 2030 which outlines the government’s intent on developing the digital economy, digital transformation and cloud computing has become an imperative for enterprises in Saudi. We see a lot of companies making the transition to a multi-cloud environment. In this scenario, Nutanix’s value proposition of modernizing datacentre infrastructure and making clouds invisible is very appealing to customers. Our solutions help enterprises embrace the power of hybrid clouds by eliminating pain points, and enabling them to manage, govern and optimize applications across public and private cloud architectures.”

Over the past year, the company has expanded its channel base and seen growing interest from customers. An example of one of its customer successes is Saudi Arabian Capital Markets Authority (CMA) that partnered with Nutanix to transform its datacentre infrastructure – to improve manageability of its operations, reduce running costs and provide better IT support to internal users.

Nutanix Saudi is very much committed to Saudization and empowering local caliber to drive business. Recently, Nutanix started hiring both male and female Saudi engineers in order to have the right diversity in its workforce.

To further accelerate growth, the company recently signed partnership agreements with two leading system integrators in the Kingdom – International Systems Engineering (ISE) and Advanced Electronics Company (AEC). The partnerships aim to leverage the strengths of Nutanix’s market-leading hyperconverged infrastructure solutions and the strong capabilities that ISE and AEC have in technology implementations.

In terms of channel initiatives, keeping in mind the key role that the channel ecosystem plays in helping drive Nutanix’s growth, the company recently introduced updates to its Channel Charter with the intention of increasing profitability for partners selling the company’s solutions.

Over the past year, Nutanix has brought a number of new products and innovations to market in the cloud space, including the expansion of its multicloud solutions portfolio, introducing cloud native solutions for enterprises and the launch of a new service called Nutanix Xi IoT that enables best practice for edge computing.

In order to educate the market about the latest developments in data center modernization, multi-cloud and automation, the company is hosting its annual .NEXT on Tour with the theme ‘Invisible Clouds, Visible IT’ at the Fairmont Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The conference will focus on helping enterprises in the Kingdom free themselves from the complexity and cost of legacy IT and embrace the power of cloud.

“We believe that with our increased investment into Saudi Arabia, we are well placed to address the cloud computing needs of enterprises in the Kingdom and further   continue our business growth next year and beyond,” concluded Abulhouf. 

Readers of KMWorld, a popular business and technology publication focused on document, content and knowledge management, have recognized the Alaris IN2 Ecosystem as the “Best Content Management/Services Solution” in the publication’s inaugural Readers’ Choice Awards. Developed in response to the growing scale and complexity of data, the IN2 Ecosystem provides organizations with an integrated approach to help capture, process, and share information.

“We’re excited to announce the winners of the inaugural KMWorld Readers’ Choice Awards,” said Thomas Hogan, Group Publisher, KMWorld. “With a diverse array of knowledge management products, services, and technologies to consider and the stakes getting higher for information-driven success, it can be challenging to make the right choices. The KMWorld Readers’ Choice Awards list provides a new resource to help make the job of identifying solutions to investigate easier.”

The company recently launched a new wave of network-connected scanning solutions aimed at tackling the most difficult pain points organizations face when onboarding content into line-of-business applications. The Alaris INfuse Smart Connected Scanning Solution integrates directly with enterprise applications and enables customers to carry out tasks in hours which, in the past, may have taken days to complete. INfuse also offers an unprecedented opportunity for channel partners to engage with customers to streamline expensive business processes and quickly grow new revenue streams. The Kodak Scan Station 730EX Plus Scanner is an integrated network scanner that securely automates document capture and allows for fully finished files to be scanned directly into business processes. Like INfuse, the Scan Station is a network-connected solution that sits at the edge of workflows and operates in a wide range of customer environments. It offers embedded Windows 10 IOT Enterprise Operating System and network domain authentication for secure log-in.

Alaris has built on its heritage and expertise in enabling customers to transform data into a powerful competitive advantage, by enhancing its Managed Capture Services proposition. Partners looking to deliver added customer value, deepen customer relationships and expand their business opportunities can now leverage the value of the Alaris’ repair and maintenance and professional service offerings. With the new Alaris Scanner Management Platform, Alaris and its partners can directly monitor scanner operational data, deliver usage reports and manage multi-variate alerts for its customers’ scanners.

“We continue to invest in intelligent solutions that drive business efficiency, growth and profitability for end users,” said Don Lofstrom, President & General Manager, Alaris, a Kodak Alaris business. “Being recognized with a KMWorld Readers’ Choice Award confirms we understand how to deliver value to our customers and partners.”

The complete list of Readers’ Choice Award winners is published in the November edition of KMWorld where it will reach more than 50,000 IT and business professionals. This is the fourth time KMWorld has recognized Kodak Alaris for its innovative solutions and services. The Alaris IN2 Ecosystem was named to KMWorld’s list of Trend-Setting products in 2017 and 2019. Alaris Capture Pro Software received the award in 2018.

Although organisations are successfully undertaking digital transformation initiatives to streamline businesses processes, contract management – a vital function within companies of all sectors and sizes – remains largely manual resulting in a significant impact on revenues and operations. New research by 4C estimates the average resulting loss of business at over $12.9 million per year, with over a third of respondents facing annual loses of $1 million or more.

The EMEA-wide survey also found that the lack of contract process automation is resulting in wasted resources, with companies spending an average of 69 hours per month processing agreements and one in ten (10%) spending over 200 hours per month – equivalent to one working month.

“While Middle East businesses have made exemplary strides in digital innovation, these have often been in the front-end systems that customers directly engage with. However, it is just as important to effectively digitize back-office processes which have just as much impact on customer experience. This is why a centralized system that unifies front and back end functions to deliver visibility through the entire process lifecycle can prove incredibly valuable to any organization,” said Jake Callaway, Managing Director, MENA at 4C.

“When we undertook this research, we were surprised to find that just eight percent of respondents have a fully automated process for managing agreements. Considering that business relationships ultimately hinge on underlying contracts, by failing to optimize their preparation, signing, activation and management, organizations are exposing themselves to risks that could easily be mitigated,” he added.

4C’s research supports Callaway’s advice as it found that the vast majority of companies have experienced issues as a result of non-automation. These include:

• Unintentionally allowing agreements or contracts to expire (42%)
• Human error, such as incorrect document disposal (58%) and time delays to projects (59%)
• Agreement crossover, with for example people signing different versions of the same document (43%)

Shedding light on the challenges that companies face in the automation of contract management, the survey found that 36% cite concerns around data security. Internal issues are also a key barrier, with competing business priorities (37%), company culture (34%), a company preference for hard copy agreements (33%) and a lack of stakeholder buy-in (30%) emerging as the main internal challenges.

Despite these hurdles, an encouraging majority (59%) of organizations see full digitisation and moving towards automation of their manual agreement processes as very important to their business. These organizations outlined their key perceived benefits to be regulatory compliance (41%) and data safety (36%). A further third stated cost reduction (33%), while just under a third expect higher employee productivity (32%) and an improved customer experience (31%) to be outcomes of their investment.

“In the era of Industry 4.0, the very pace of business has transformed. Where once, it was accepted that finalising a contract could take days or weeks, today, speedy, convenient and accurate completion is expected in hours or even minutes. With automated systems, companies can build a culture of accuracy and efficiency, where innovative technology lightens the load of contract management. It is imperative that organizations embrace sophisticated digital tools that enable a more sustainable future,” said Callaway.