Comcast Business joins forces with Aruba to provide enterprise employees a secure, reliable, dedicated connection to their corporate networks – without competing for in-home bandwidth

Comcast Business today announced it is joining forces with  Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, for the launch of Comcast Business Teleworker  VPN. The new solution is specifically engineered to help enterprises provide their rapidly expanding remote workforces with the same secure, reliable high-performance connection to their corporate network that they have when physically in their office.

According to a study from Nemertes Research, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted new ways of working, while triggering companies to be faster, more flexible and agile than ever before. As a result, enterprises – including those that otherwise would not have enabled employees to work from home – are increasingly adopting remote work initiatives, with 70% planning to continue their teleworking strategies. Yet, 30% of organizations struggle with providing the setup, security policies and management of remote connections, thus hindering employee productivity, upping IT workloads and increasing vulnerability to cyberattacks.

“The workplace as we knew it changed quickly, dramatically, and permanently in 2020 – and gone are the days where remote employees can serve as a blind spot for IT departments,” said John Burke, Principal Analyst, Nemertes Research. “Now that the home office is the office, IT must ensure applications and connectivity are secure and performing at the same level as in-office services – without that, there will be major ramifications and increased business risk.”

Setting remote workers up for success

Comcast Business Teleworker VPN offers a centrally managed remote access VPN solution that enables enterprises to provide employees the same access to their corporate network that they enjoy in the office, remotely. When combined with Comcast Business’s Teleworker Broadband solution, Comcast Business Teleworker VPN provides employees a secure, reliable connection to primary business systems, applications and files – all backed by the nation’s largest gig-speed network. This combination provides employees a dedicated, independent internet connection that does not interfere or compete with their athome internet – freeing up home bandwidth for remote learning, entertainment and more.

Comcast Business Teleworker VPN is powered by Aruba ESP, an enterprise-class, cloud-native platform which is centrally managed by Aruba Central’s single cloud console. When combined with Comcast’s Managed VPN Aggregator service at a business location, enterprises can securely connect home-based devices, including laptops, desktops, VoIP phones, printers and more to the corporate network, enabling them to:

• Reduce the burden on IT with simple, centralized cloud management and optimization that
• detects and dynamically resolves network issues
• 24/7 support provided by Comcast supplements an organization’s IT teams
• Maintain security with policy-based access control and traffic segmentation which can mirror the security settings in effect at the applicable business location
• Enable a hybrid work environment by maintaining a consistent experience between home and office locations

“Though the number of people working partially or fully remote has been on the rise for years now, the pandemic has truly sent this trend into hyperdrive,” said Christian Nascimento, Vice President of Product Management, Comcast Business. “Comcast Business Teleworker VPN enables enterprises to reimagine the work from home experience for both employer and employee alike, all while maintaining the security, performance and management they enjoy in-office. This new solution is just one more example of how we are helping businesses be more agile in response to the changing needs of today’s rapidly evolving workforce.”

“Work-from-home solutions require enterprise-class security and performance, with consumer-class ease of use,” said Michael Dickman, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. “Aruba ESP delivers on both fronts with secure policy-driven access to the full spectrum of corporate services, in a form factor perfect for home that is simple to use with plug-and-play installation. The new Comcast Business Teleworker VPN offering is a fantastic solution for organizations as they help their remote workers be efficient, creative and productive when connecting to corporate services from any location at any time.”

To learn more about Comcast Business Teleworker VPN and other remote work solutions, please visit:

https://business.comcast.com/enterprise/products-services/managed-services/managed-connectivity

By Derek Manky, Derek Manky, Chief, Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances, FortiGuard Labs

It may feel too simplistic to be talking about cyber hygiene with CISOs. But in my years as a threat researcher, and now running a global team of threat researchers, data analysts, and forensics experts, I can say authoritatively that the lack of consistent cyber hygiene is the largest and most persistent threat inside most organizations. And the risk continues to grow as organizations continue to grow their networks and expand their attack surfaces without a holistic security architecture or management system in place.

The concept of cyber hygiene is a deceptively simple one: It involves a series of practices and precautions that, when repeated regularly, keep us safe and our devices working as they should. But that’s easier said than done with distributed networks, IoT everywhere, the adoption of multi-cloud infrastructures, and a growing reliance on SaaS application usage. Add the convergence of IT and OT, and the number of aging devices that cannot be taken offline because they monitor or manage critical systems 24×7, and the risks are greater, and the table stakes are higher, than ever before.

Keeping Remote Workers Safe

One of the most critical places on which to focus cyber hygiene efforts is remote workers. The rapid growth in a mobile workforce and their reliance on personal devices and home networks is just the latest example of the challenges that IT teams face. Unfortunately, enforcing cyber hygiene for remote workers seems to be low on the list for overworked IT teams – somewhere below keeping the business up and running and ensuring access to business applications and essential resources. 

Of course, the challenge is that employees working from home are using unsecured personal devices, from laptops to smartphones to tablets, to stay connected during the workday. And these devices, attached to weaker and far more vulnerable home networks, have created the perfect platform from which cyber criminals can launch attacks on enterprise data. 

Over the past several months, cybercriminals have combined social engineering tactics that exploit fears about the Covid-19 pandemic with older exploits targeting unpatched vulnerabilities found in devices deployed in many home networks. They have also modified their strategies, switching from email-based attacks, which many remote users have been trained to avoid, to new browser-based attack vectors. And once the corporate network has been breached, cybercriminals are delivering new, more malicious strains of ransomware and other malware.

Adapting to the Post-Pandemic Threat Landscape

While 2020 is currently on track to break the record for the number of vulnerabilities identified and published in a single year, these vulnerabilities also have the lowest rate of exploitation ever observed in the 20-year history of the CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) list. Instead, vulnerabilities from 2018 have claimed the highest exploitation prevalence (65%). And more than 25% of firms have reported attempts to exploit CVEs from 2005. At the same time, exploits targeting consumer-grade routers and IoT devices have been among FortiGuard Labs’ top IPS detections according to our research. While some of these target newer vulnerabilities, a staggering volume have targeted exploits first discovered in 2014. 

The critical lesson is this: Do not assume that older vulnerabilities, including those more than 15 years old, cannot cause problems.  

What these trends show is that cybercriminals are extremely agile. Within days of seeing that companies were switching workers to remote status, the dark web was filled with phishing exploits targeting novice workers. Within weeks, threat sensors saw a dramatic drop off in threats targeting corporate resources and a corresponding spike in new attacks targeting consumer-grade routers, personal devices, gaming systems, and other devices connected to home networks. Cybercriminals are clearly more than willing to put in the work to find vulnerabilities that still exist within home networks that can then be used to enter the corporate network. 

Of course, many of these attacks are based on the same bad tricks these criminals have relied upon for years simply because they work. With this in mind, organizations must do two things. First, act swiftly to inform employees about cyber hygiene practices. And second, prepare them and their defenses to repel traditional threats like phishing scams and ransomware attacks, as well as new browser-based web attacks, especially as they continue to work remotely. Hosting video conferences to spread cybersecurity awareness across all arms of the business, sending out regular email updates, and urging employees to keep an eye out for unusual or suspicious emails and webpages are just a few examples of the initial steps to take.  

Top 10 Cyber Hygiene Tips to Employ Right Now

Thankfully, despite the continued prevalence of ransomware and the spike in HTML/phishing attacks, there are a number of simple steps organizations and their employees can take to build a stronger barrier against threats. Some of these steps are as simple as creating stronger passwords and performing regular software and application updates. Others may require the addition of newer, more advanced endpoint security software.

It’s also important to note that certain types of business resources are at particularly high-risk for attacks in the current climate. These include financial systems, customer support systems, and research and development resources. Extra measures and precautions may need to be taken beyond the steps outlined below to protect these sensitive, high-priority assets. 

Ensure all employees receive substantial training, both when hired and periodically throughout their tenure, on how to spot and report suspicious cyber activity, maintain cyber hygiene, and now, on how to secure their personal devices and home networks. By educating individuals, especially remote workers, on how to maintain cyber distance, stay wary of suspicious requests, and implement basic security tools and protocols, CISOs can build a baseline of defense at the most vulnerable edge of their network that can help keep critical digital resources secure. This can involve online learning and workshops with experts.

Run background checks before designating power users or granting privileged access to sensitive digital resources. By taking this extra step, organizations can make informed decisions that will inherently mitigate the risks associated with insider threats. 

Keep all servers, workstations, smartphones, and other devices used by employees up to date by applying frequent security updates. Ideally, this process should be automated, and enough time allowed for updates to be vetted in a testing environment. Proximity controls, such as cloud-based access controls and secure web gateways, can help secure those remote devices that cannot be updated or patched.

Install anti-malware software to stop a large majority of attacks, including phishing scams and attempts to exploit known vulnerabilities. Try to invest in tools that offer sandboxing functionality (whether as part of an installed security package or as a cloud-based service) to detect Zero-Day and other unknown threats. New Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools should be on every CISO’s shopping list as they are not only very effective at not only repelling malware but can also identify and disable malware that manages to bypass perimeter controls before they can execute their payloads.

Ensure an incident response/recovery plan is in place, including a hotline through which employees can promptly report a suspected breach, even when they are working from home. This way, in the event of an attack, downtime will be minimized, and employees will already be familiar with critical next steps. 

Use secure access points, whether physical or cloud-based, and create a secured and segmented network for employees to utilize when connecting remotely. VPNs allow organizations to extend the private network across public Wi-Fi using an encrypted virtual point-to-point connection; this both enables and maintains secure remote access to corporate resources. And a zero trust network access strategy that includes NAC and network segmentation should also be in place.

Implement a strong access management policy, requiring multi-factor authentication when possible and maintaining strict standards for password creation. Employees should not be allowed to reuse passwords across networks or applications, whether corporate or personal, and should be encouraged to set complex passwords with various numbers and special characters. Consider providing password management software so they can keep track of passwords.

Encrypt data in motion, in use, and at rest. However, VPN and other encrypted tunnels can also be used to securely inject malware and exfiltrate data. Which means that organizations need to invest in technologies that can inspect encrypted data at business speeds as well as monitor data access, file transfers, and other significant activity. 

For security solutions to be as agile as the networks they need to protect (and the cybercriminals they need to defend against), they need actionable updates to keep pace with the shifting threat landscape. This means that even the fastest and most adaptable security solutions are only as effective as the threat intelligence infrastructure and researchers that support them.

Keeping up with the speed and volume of attacks can scale well beyond the limitations of human security analysts. As a result, machine learning and AI-driven security operations are no longer optional. They enable organizations to see and protect data and applications across thousands or millions of users, systems, devices, and critical applications—even across different network environments, such as multi-cloud, and the full range of network edges, including LAN, WAN, data center, cloud, and remote worker edges.

Final Thoughts on Good Cyber Hygiene

In the wake of COVID-19, CISOs have been faced with a seemingly impossible task: Keep enterprise networks secure while employees continue to work from home, perhaps indefinitely. And they have needed to do so on a limited budget, fewer resources, and a team of security professionals that’s already stretched thin. The solution? Enact an organization-wide cyber hygiene protocol, building the remote network security infrastructure from the ground up. 

By focusing on training, awareness, and education, employees will be better able to perform basic security tasks such as updating devices, identifying suspicious behaviors, and practicing good cyber hygiene across teams. After that, it is essential that organizations invest in the right systems and solutions – from VPNs to anti-malware software and encryption technologies – that enable clear visibility and granular control across the entire threat landscape. Complexity is the enemy of security, so the best response to an increasingly complicated and highly dynamic digital world is to get back to the basics. And that starts with cyber hygiene.

Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) bolstered its product line-up with the advanced HUAWEI Mate 40 Series, the latest revolutionary flagship smartphones that empower users to leap further ahead. Showcasing the pinnacle of Huawei technology, the new Series reinforces Huawei’s dedication to innovation and its unrelenting determination to create the best Mate ever.

 

The HUAWEI Mate 40 Series has the Mate Series DNA at its core. Over the last eight years, there have been 10 outstanding generations of Mate Series devices and now the latest flagship smartphones take Mate to new heights with the best technology in the industry. From powerful performance to unique user interactions, everything about the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series has been fine-tuned to provide the most exciting smartphone experience possible. HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ incorporate the world’s first 5 nanometer 5G SoC, Ultra Vision Cine Camera system and the iconic Space Ring Design, as well as a smarter, more attentive digital experience.

 

Richard Yu, Executive Director and CEO of Huawei Consumer BG said: “Each year the HUAWEI Mate Series brings the most exciting technology together into one stunning package. This is what defines the Mate Series DNA and is all made possible by our dedication to innovation. In these unprecedented times, we remain committed to creating a better future, with innovative technology that delivers a positive and meaningful impact on the lives of consumers. In the future, we will continue working closely with our partners to bring the Seamless AI Life experience to consumers all around the world.”

 

Pre-orders for the HUAWEI Mate 40 series will begin in UAE in November.

 

Leap further ahead with the iconic Space Ring Design

Marrying iconic design with innovative technology, HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ are informed by the design principle that form manifests function. The uncompromised design of the HUAWEI 88° Horizon Display creates an immersive viewing experience in a compact package, while the silky curve also means the devices are comfortable to hold. The handsets also offer IP 68 dust and water resistance, a choice of both virtual and physical volume controls and enhanced mistouch prevention algorithms.  

 

Objects of sheer beauty, the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ devices carry a small front camera cut-out, which is packed full of technology, with 3D Face Unlock, an Ultra Vision Selfie Camera and Smart Gesture Control.

 

Turn the devices over and you will see that the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series adopts the Space Ring Design, an evolution of the HUAWEI Mate Series’ iconic circular and symmetrical design. HUAWEI Mate 40 and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro are available in Black and White, as well as an enchanting Mystic Silver, a finish with a colour-shifting effect that evokes the mysteries of the unseen. There are also two vegan leather variants, Yellow and Green. Meanwhile, HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ features an exquisite nano-tech ceramic back panel available in two iconic colours: Ceramic White and Ceramic Black.

 

 

Leap further ahead with Kirin 9000 setting a new standard for performance

Powering the best Mate ever, the Kirin 9000 Series is fully equipped for 5G, capable of handling intensive computations and multi-tasking operations with ease. Embedded in HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+, the Kirin 9000 is the most sophisticated 5nm 5G SoC available, delivering vastly improved performance and power efficiency over its predecessor. For the first time ever, the flagship 5G SoC has more than 15.3 billion transistors, making it the densest and most full-featured 5G SoC to date. The powerful CPU features a three-level power efficiency architecture with cores running at clock frequencies of up to 3.13GHz. Also integrated into the SoC is a 24-core Mali-G78 GPU, as well as an innovative NPU featuring two big cores and one tiny core, taking on-device AI to a new level.

 

The 24-core Mali-G78 GPU in HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ is the most powerful GPU ever seen on a Huawei device. This delivers advanced graphics performance and is complemented by an amazing audio visual experience for immersive gaming. The 90Hz display works together with 240Hz touch sampling rate for greater responsiveness and now provides haptic feedback to correspond with the visual experience. This entertainment set-up is completed with dual stereo speakers to create experiences with super bass stereo.

 

The HUAWEI Mate 40 Series is also equipped with the battery technology that is needed to keep up with the demands of 5G, supporting the fastest iteration of HUAWEI SuperCharge.

 

Leap further ahead with an all-round imaging system engineered to make photography simple

The camera system on the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series has been co-engineered with Leica to provide the best camera solution possible and sees breakthrough upgrades to the ultra-wide angle lens, powerful high-definition main camera, impressive telephoto camera and more. With the Dual Cine Cameras and Dual Ultra Wide Cameras on HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+, users can capture amazing wide angle videos and images from both the front-and rear-facing cameras.

 

When it comes to cinematic videography, the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ are unparalleled. The Dual Cine Cameras feature a 3:2 cinema-style shooting ratio sensor. Capturing high quality footage is easier than ever with Steady Shot, while the XD Fusion HDR Video ensures balanced exposure, even when users are capturing with extreme lighting contrast. Other evolutions include Tracking Shot, while Story Creator allows for true cinematic effects. Background music, filters and effects can also be added with ease. Not neglecting audio, HUAWEI Mate 40 Series features Audio Focus, Audio Zoom, and dual stereo speakers.

 

The Ultra Wide Cine Camera now offers an even wider field of view, as well as richer detail, improved low light performance and distortion correction algorithms, allowing users to capture beautiful expansive landscapes, while the Super Sensing Wide Camera provides true high definition shots. Image quality has been further enhanced with Full Pixel Octa PD AutoFocus. Improved distortion correction targets the face, body and limbs, making the ultra-wide angle lens useful in more scenarios than ever. HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro features a Periscope Telephoto Camera to support 10x hybrid zoom and 50x digital zoom, and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ takes it further with a dual-telephoto camera system that enables 20x hybrid zoom and 100x digital zoom.

 

The Ultra Vision Selfie Camera on the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series take selfies and videos to new heights with support for 4K capture and the option to shoot in one of three available fields of view, ranging from up close and personal to ultra-wide. Slow-Motion Selfie adds even more versatility to the front camera by letting users add dramatic flair when documenting their fast-paced actions.

 

Leap further ahead with an all new user experience

HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ are set to revolutionise how consumers integrate smartphones into their lives with new user-centric features including Smart Gesture Control, which allows total hands-free control of your device. Simply hover your hand over the device to wake it up or navigate your phone by swiping left, right, up and down. There is also an air press gesture for call answering.

 

A device that is always there for you, the all new dynamic Eyes on Display on HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ can be activated at a glance, with fully customisable interactive displays hosting all the information you need from your phone. The ring of incoming calls can be reduced by making eye contact with your phone.

 

Improved MeeTime functionality is a gateway to a better connected, more intelligent life. When combined with the power of Huawei’s 1+8+N ecosystem, Multi-screen Collaboration offers an intuitive way for users to operate multiple devices at once, running several apps simultaneously, combining smartphone and PC to deliver unique experiences.

 

When it comes to privacy and security, the EMUI 11 operating system has always featured comprehensive security solutions to protect Huawei device users. The Trusted Execution Environment operating system is CC EAL5+ certified, which is the highest certification level for commercialised security microkernel. EMUI 11 also comes with new privacy features. When transferring images, users can easily purge sensitive personal data such as location, time and device details from the file before it is sent.

 

HUAWEI Mate 40 Series comes equipped with the innovative Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), bringing users a smarter, richer, more convenient and secure smartphone experience. During the launch, Huawei also unveiled new apps available for global Huawei users, including Petal Search, a search engine with support for multiple types of searches; Petal Maps, a map app that utilises the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series’ gesture control feature; and HUAWEI Docs, a unified word document service. These apps come together to lead the way towards a better digital life for the 700 million Huawei device users worldwide.

Today we headed to Anker Innovations to check out Anker’s new PowerPort III Nano charger that is optimized to fast-charge the new iPhone 12 and comes in a cute size that fits in your pocket.

It is the smallest wall charger capable of charging the new iPhones up to 3 times faster than a stock charger. The charger, dubbed the Anker Powerport III Nano is the slimmest and lightest in the new line of portable chargers from Anker.

Small, yet mighty
The most attractive thing about the PowerPort III Nano is its size, with a body measuring the same as a 5W stock smartphone charger PowerPort III Nano is small enough to comfortably fit in your front pocket. It features one single USB-C port capable of dispensing up to 20W of power using the Power Delivery standard. The USB-C port features Anker proprietary PowerIQ 3.0 technology, which has been updated and optimized to be fully compatible with the iPhone 12’s fast-charging protocol. This allows the Nano to charge the new iPhone 12 up to 50% in 30 minutes.

Free one-day virtual event focused on helping organizations maximize performance and visibility for any user, network, app, anywhere

User Conference to feature 30+ technical breakout sessions with Riverbed experts, customers and partners and includes success showcase with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Riverbedtoday announced that it opened registration for the Riverbed Global User Conference 2020, a free one-day virtual event on November 17, 2020 that includes: 30+ technical sessions with Riverbed experts, customers and partners; General Session Keynotes featuring CEO Rich McBee, Chief Development Officer Dante Malagrino, CMO Subbu Iyer, and special guests on IT and business trends and how to prepare for a work-from-anywhere future; and an Expo Hall with the latest innovations in cloud and SaaS app performance, remote workforce productivity, and unified network performance management (NPM), as well as offerings from Riverbed’s partner community.

LinkedIn: Register for the free one-day virtual Riverbed Global User Conference 2020 on November 17 to help organizations maximize performance and visibility for any user, network, app, anywhere: https://rvbd.ly/2GAj877

The event will bring more than 1,000 attendees together with Riverbed leaders, customers, partners and industry experts to discuss how Riverbed’s visibility and performance solutions and tools can help propel organizations forward to succeed in the current business environment and into the future. Partners, customers and industry influencers participating in the event include leaders and experts from Microsoft, Shell, SBA (Small Business Association), Capital One, Environmental Resources Management (ERM), Landform, Gigamon, Versa, Netskope, analyst firm ESG, industry group ONUG and many others. Among the Fire Side sessions planned for the event is an exclusive Q&A with King Abduallah University of Science and Technology who have utilised Riverbed’s solutions to gain end-to-end visibility across its entire network.

“Cloud adoption and digitization had already been growing rapidly for years, but in 2020, the world met an unforeseen pandemic that put IT plans into overdrive, and all operating models have been put to the test,” said Subbu Iyer, CMO, Riverbed.  “In response, forward-thinking organizations are prioritizing investments in digital transformation, accelerating work-from-anywhere models, and strengthening operational resilience. The Riverbed Global User Conference will give attendees the inspiration, essential capabilities, and how-to advice needed to maximize performance and visibility of any network for any application to all users, anywhere.”

What: Riverbed Global User Conference 2020

When: Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Time: Middle East: 11:30am – 8:00pm GST / 10:30am – 7:00pm Arabian Standard Time

Where: Free virtual event

Registration: www.riverbed.com/UserConference

A sampling of the over 30 sessions that will cover use cases, demos, best practices and roadmaps, delivered in a flexible learning environment, include the following:

Roadmap Session 1: Visibility  Covering products including Net Profiler, AppResponse, NetIM Parimal Puranik, Vice President Product Management, Riverbed      Understanding the Economic Value and Benefits of Network Performance Monitoring Bob Laliberte, ESG Practice Director and Senior Analyst Heidi Gabrielson, Product Marketing Director    Infrastructure Monitoring with NetIM: Use-Cases and Workflows Jemant Seth, Group Product Manager, Riverbed Jesper Frishe, Technical Director, Riverbed    Machine Learning and AI for Network Operations and Troubleshooting Vincent Berk, Chief Architect Security and Vice President   Troubleshooting with Wireshark Gerald Combs, Director

Roadmap Session 2: Performance Covering products including Steelhead, Client Accelerator, SaaS Accelerator David Winikoff, Vice President Product Management, Riverbed   Maximize SaaS Performance and Quality of Experience with Riverbed SD-WAN Brandon Carroll, Director Technical Evangelism, Riverbed  Matthew Iakhov, SE Manager Americas Enterprise, Versa Networks   Enhanced Teams and Streams Experiences Brandon Carroll, Director Technical Evangelism, Riverbed    SaaS Offerings for the Public Sector  Marlin McFate, Chief Technology Officer, Public Sector   Performance and Visibility for the Public Sector: A Fireside Chat with the Small Business Administration (SBA) Terrence K. Hudgen, Deputy CTO, Director of Engineering, SBA Mort Batchelder, Solutions Engineer, Riverbed

A CTO Conversation: Network Resiliency and Security for a Remote Workforce Shehzad Merchant, Chief Technology Officer, Gigamon Vincent Berk, Chief Architect Security and Vice President   Fireside Chat with Riverbed and ONUG Subbu Iyer, CMO, Riverbed Nick Lippis, Co-founder and Co-chair, ONUG   Customer Session: How this AEC Firm Stayed Competitive through a Global Pandemic Kevin Walgren, Technology Lead, Landform Professional Services Alison Conigliaro-Hubbard, Vice President Product Marketing, Riverbed   Customer Session: Widely Distributed Environment Consulting Firm ERM Discusses the Need to Work from Anywhere Ian Trueman, Director of IT Operations, ERM Alison Conigliaro-Hubbard, Vice President

Suhail Bahwan Automobiles has unveiled the General Tire range in Oman. General Tire, with a reputation for producing some of the world’s best off-road and on-road tires, and a history stretching back over 100 years, has now arrived on Oman’s motoring scene. Renowned for its ‘Anywhere is possible’ slogan, the brand has been introduced to the Sultanate in partnership with Suhail Bahwan Automobiles LLC and offers a totally new range of safe, reliable and high value tires for car owners in Oman.

Founded in 1915, and now owned by premium tire and automotive technology company Continental, General Tire operates worldwide and manufactures a wide range of tires for passenger cars, trucks and industrial applications. With its rich American heritage, the brand is best known for its robust and durable high-performance SUV and 4×4 tires.

Mr. Karel Kucera, Managing Director, Continental Middle East, said: “General Tire has been waiting for the right moment to introduce the brand to Oman, and this partnership with Suhail Bahwan Automobiles represents exactly such an opportunity. We can now offer Omani motorists a range of tires designed to provide them with total confidence as well as an enjoyable and safe driving experience in varied weather conditions.”

Keeping in line with its business growth objective, Suhail Bahwan Automobiles partnered with Continental Group to launch General Tires in Oman. Commenting on the occasion Sheikh Ahmed Bahwan, Chairman, Bahwan International Group (BIG) said: “We are delighted to enter into this partnership with General Tire, a brand by Continental. Continental’s General Tire is world famous for its superior quality, heritage and performance. This range is surely going to complement the ever-increasing portfolio of automotive products and services that BIG is offering to its discerning customers.”

General Tire – A Brand by Continental

General Tire is headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA and has a long history of evolution spanning over 100 years since its foundation in 1915. From early on, the company has produced tires for all types of motor vehicles.

Based on the brand’s American Heritage, General Tire has proven its ability to compete in the ever-changing tire industry with manufacturing and technological advancements for more than 100 years. With manufacturing bases spread across Europe (Germany, France, Portugal, Romania, Czech Republic) and USA, General Tire continues the long tradition of being the customer’s choice when it comes to Quality, Value and Performance. The brand is driven by its core values – Performance, Reliability and American Heritage.

Today, General Tire has a large and interesting choice of patterns and sizes. Its range includes tough, durable and ultra-high-performance tires for Passenger Cars, Light Vans, SUVs and Off-road 4×4 to meet customers’ needs.

Continental Group acquired General Tire in 1987. Today, General Tire delivers car, truck, and industrial tires to customers all around the world. It also equips 4×4 vehicles with special tires. Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for the sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation. In 2019, Continental generated sales of €44.5 billion and currently employs about 240,000 people in 59 countries and markets.

General Tire Range in Oman

Suhail Bahwan Automobiles has introduced two patterns of General tires which are made in Europe and USA – ALTIMAX and GRABBER

ALTIMAX comes in four patterns ALTIMAX ONE, ALTIMAX ONE S, ALTIMAX COMFORT and ALTIMAX SPORT that primarily caters for the Passenger and Luxury car segment. General Altimax‘s new Passenger Summer line provides reliable performance for everyday driving with outstanding grip in dry and wet conditions and significantly improved tread life.

GRABBER offers four patterns GRABBER GT, GRABBER HTS-60, GRABBER AT-3 and GRABBER X-3, which offer asymmetric state-of-the-art pattern design for fast and powerful SUVs/4×4 vehicles. General Grabber keeps the very good performance of the Grabber HP/UHP and offers improved performance in safety, handling and comfort. Grabber tires are the tough highway terrain all-season tires that provide the perfect synergy of comfort, durability and performance for light trucks, SUVs and crossovers.

Both the ALTIMAX and GRABBER patterns come with RTM (Replacement Tire Monitor) technology that provides the user with a warning when the tire is worn and has to be replaced. Also, VAI (Visual Alignment Indicator) technology allows the user to check wheel misalignment to avoid irregular wear of the tires.

For more information on General Tire please visit https://generaltire.com/

By: Jacob Chacko Regional Business Head – Middle East, Saudi & South Africa (MESA) at HPE Aruba

The hospitality industry has been a keen adopter of technology, from Wi-Fi as central to guest satisfaction to embracing in-room assistants, consumer trends have rapidly driven and changed the industry. However, there’s a key technological shift still to come – edge networking.

The edge is more than just a technical concept, it is the culmination and coming together of many of the most talked about technologies of the past few years and crucial to improving guest experience.

We define the Edge as the new experiences being enabled by edge technologies for customers, employees, students, patients, and any users of network services. Edge technologies allow the processing of data by devices at the edge of networks, which is where users and devices are. It is where things connect to the network, whether they are wired or wireless. The edge is where actions take place. Over time, these actions at the edge will become smarter.

The opportunity at the Edge is driven by many things, including smart applications powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), mobile devices, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, data analysis, next-generation Wi-Fi, 5G communications, and “edge-to-cloud computing.”

The new edge network combines AI, ML, and automation to continuously learn, predict, and adapt to changes, needs, and threats in real time. The new edge network utilizes technologies and software to make sense of the resulting insights, enabling businesses to act and respond, optimizing the experience for the customer or user wherever they are. Pushing intelligence out to the edge will drive change in the design of our products, services, processes, and organizations, and transform how decisions get made – giving greater autonomy to the devices at the edge.

According to Gartner, edge computing will be a necessary requirement for all digital businesses by 2022. With potentially trillions of dollars being invested in the hope of generating huge economic returns, the argument for paying attention to the Edge opportunity is clear and the window for learning and action is narrowing.

Edge Technology – Transforming Hospitality

In the hospitality sector, using facial recognition or other biometrics to check in and open bedroom doors is just the start of the next-generation hotel experience at the edge. Interaction between the guest’s intelligent assistant and the hotel can ensure that the mini-bar is stocked only with what is in their approved diet, and digital restaurant menus will automatically update using the same information – for example removing from view any high sugar content dishes. Buffet stations will automatically display a red light over anything that is off limits. In the bedroom, the digital wallpaper can reconfigure to your preferences – whether showing videos of your family or taking you on an underwater journey.

Using activity data about their current stay, historic information about the guest, social media, and any information provided by travel partners, each hotel employee will be able to interact with guests fully informed about their needs and current experience.

David Wortley, Digital Technology Strategist, CEO and Founder of 360in360 Immersive Experiences, highlights the potential for personalization here: “In the hotel sector, for example, an edge experience is when a client walks into a hotel, the building recognizes them and is able to tap into a previous relationship that the person has had with the hotel chain or their travel preferences.”

Futurist Bronwyn Williams highlights how personalization could be taken to the next level as people start enhancing their brains and bodies with embedded devices, arguing that “cyborg lifestyles is a trend that’s coming. It’s 10-20 years in the future but it’s definitely gaining traction … three thousand people have already had chips implanted in their hands for simple things.”

Zrinko Badanjak, CIO, Amadria Park, Croatia talks about different market segments having different needs, differentiating the likely automation of the commodity hotel sector versus the premium sector. “We’re looking at technology that allows us to offer a premium service, where we can incorporate the human element with the premium technology.” In part, the technology solution will allow each guest to receive differentiated service information based on the purpose of their stay in a hotel or resort. “The more information [a business guest has] then they can make the choice quickly between meetings, where as a leisure guest, you don’t want to over bombard them with so much information.”

The creation of “elevated guest experiences” is the objective for the Edge according to Tomeu Fiol, Global Hotel Technologies Director and IT director EMEA – Meliá Hotels International. The combination of human supported by the edge is key. “Ultimately, we will see the creation of enhanced personal/human experiences and interactions with hotel staff who will work as Experience Agents.”

Edge technologies opens up new possibilities for both providers and travellers. For example, capturing the multi-sensory experience of travellers (sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and touch) and enabling others to purchase an AR/VR version of that experience. Tomeu Fiol also speculates that the Edge could enable “The creation of additional, new, value added experiences which could be the focus of revenue generation in the future, challenging the traditional hotel/resort business model of room occupancy being the underpinning revenue generator.” Such offerings might include the opportunity to take part in immersive AR/VR experiences within a hotel.