Tech News

Dell Technologies Research: 9 in 10 organizations in the UAE and KSA are well positioned competitively for innovation in AI

Published

6 days ago

June 25, 2024

Generative AI (GenAI) and AI will significantly transform industries in the future, according to UAE (95%) and KSA (100%) respondents to the Dell Technologies Innovation Catalyst Research.

The research suggests that while there is broad optimism for AI and GenAI, the extent to which organizations are prepared for the rapid pace of change varies greatly. Ninety percent in the UAE and a similar percent in KSA, say they are well positioned competitively and have a solid strategy. At the same time, half of the respondents (UAE: 51%, KSA: 49%) are uncertain what their industry will look like in the next three to five years and nearly eight in 10 (UAE:75%, KSA:78%) report struggling to keep pace. They cite the lack of the right talent (UAE:31%, KSA:27%), data privacy and cybersecurity concerns (UAE:27%, KSA:28%) and lack of budget (UAE:31%, KSA:31%) as challenges they face in driving innovation.

GenAI Moving from Ideation to Implementation

Respondents from UAE and Saudi Arabia cite GenAI’s transformative or significant potential to deliver value in improving IT security posture (UAE:62%, KSA:62%), productivity gains (UAE:60%, KSA:60%) and to improve customer experience (UAE:61%, KSA:59%). They are also aware of challenges to overcome – (UAE:75%, KSA:74%) fear GenAI will introduce new security and privacy issues and (UAE:89%, KSA:84%) agreed that their data and IP is too valuable to be placed in a GenAI tool where a third party may have access.

More broadly, responses suggest that organizations are working through GenAI practicalities as they transition from ideation to implementation, with more than half saying they have begun implementing GenAI. As organizations increase adoption, concern centers around understanding where risks reside and who is responsible for them. An overwhelming majority (UAE:80%, KSA:87%) agree that the organization, rather than the machine, the user or the public, is responsible for any AI malfunction or undesired behaviour.

Mohammed Amin, Sr. Vice President, CEEMETA, Dell Technologies said:

“Organizations seeking to stand out in today’s disruptive market must pivot from innovation being a side project to it being deeply embedded into their corporate identity. At Dell, we believe tangible, positive change is achievable through innovation and action. By combining GenAI and other transformative innovations, businesses can augment their capabilities and raise their productivity levels to new heights.”

Organizations are Rising to the Challenge of Today’s Threat Landscape

Cybersecurity more broadly continues to be a pain point for organizations. These concerns are well-founded, as (UAE:93%, KSA:91%) of respondents say they have been impacted by a security attack in the past 12 months. The majority (UAE:98%, KSA:94%) are pursuing a Zero Trust deployment strategy and (UAE: 85%, KSA:86%) say they have an Incident Response Plan in place to recover from a cyberattack or data leakage.

The top three cited issues included malware, phishing and data breaches. Issues with phishing are indicative of a wider problem highlighted in the report, which is the role employees play in the threat landscape. For example, (UAE:80%, KSA:75%) of respondents believe some employees go around IT security guidelines and practices because they delay efficiency and productivity, and (UAE:78%, KSA:71%) say that insider threats are a big concern. This indicates a need to focus on training as employees are the first line of defence.

The Right Technology Infrastructure will help Organizations to Succeed

The research also reveals modern data infrastructure’s critical role as technologies like GenAI gather pace and data volumes increase. Investing in a modern, scalable infrastructure was cited as the number one area of improvement for businesses to accelerate innovation. Most IT decision makers (UAE:87%, KSA:75%) say they prefer an on-prem or hybrid model, to address the challenges they foresee with implementing GenAI.

The ability to share data across the business is also a key part of the innovation puzzle, with only 1 in 3 (UAE:35%, KSA:31%) saying they can turn data into real-time insights today to support innovation efforts. However, responses suggest organisations are acting on this challenge, with (UAE:79%, KSA:91%) saying that data is the differentiator and their GenAI strategy must involve using and protecting that data. Almost half also claim they anticipate that the bulk of their data will come from the edge in the next five years.

Other research findings include:

• Skills: Two-thirds (UAE:70%, KSA:65%) claim there is currently a shortage of talent required for innovation in their industry. Learning agility and desire, AI fluency, and creativity & creative thinking rank as the top skills and competencies for the next five years
• Sustainability: Forty-two percent believe “driving environmentally sustainable innovations” is an important improvement area. Energy efficiency is high on the agenda, with 79% experimenting with as-a-Service solutions to manage their IT environment more efficiently and 73% actively moving AI inferencing to the edge to become more energy efficient (e.g., smart buildings)
• Making IT a strategic partner: Currently, 81% of business decision makers have reasons to exclude IT decision makers from strategic conversations, yet both departments ranked a stronger relationship as the second most important improvement area

Tech News

Esports World Cup and HONOR Sign Technology Partnership for Mobile Competitions

Published

5 hours ago

July 1, 2024

Integrator Web-Editor

The Esports World Cup Foundation and HONOR have announced a main partnership for the Esports World Cup, set to take place this summer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The HONOR 200 Pro will be the official smartphone of the EWC, leveraging the device’s cutting-edge technology to power esports competitions in popular mobile games like Free Fire, Honor of Kings and Women’s ML:BB tournament.

As the ultimate smartphone for mobile gaming enthusiasts, the HONOR 200 Pro offers a suite of outstanding new features that appeal to both esports athletes and casual players. Highlights include:

● Snapdragon 8 Series Mobile Platform: Boasting a CPU clock speed of up to 3GHz for smooth graphics rendering and real-time responsiveness.
● 5200mAh Silicon-Carbon Battery: Providing up to 61 hours of use on a single charge.
● 3840Hz Risk-Free Dimming: Verified by TÜV Rheinland Flicker Free Display Certification and TÜV Rheinland Full Care Display Certification, with Natural Tone 2.0 for optimized display color temperature.
● Advanced Cooling: A vapor chamber covering 36,881mm², 10% larger than the HONOR 90, for exceptional heat dissipation.

The partnership will focus on engaging global gamers, strengthening brand identities, and fostering a community driven by the spirit of competition.

“We are thrilled to join forces with as a partner in the Esports World Cup,” exclaimed CEO Ralf Reichert at the Esports World Cup Foundation. “EWC athletes demand the absolute best in gaming technology, as it is essential for maintaining competitive integrity and delivering an unparalleled experience. The HONOR 200 Pro is an exceptional smartphone, equipped with cutting-edge technology that surpasses the high standards set by EWC athletes. We are eager to witness its incredible performance this summer in Riyadh.”

“HONOR is very pleased to join forces with the Esports World Cup and provide the official smartphone for its mobile competitions,” said Dr. Ray, CMO of HONOR. “As a brand dedicated to its consumers, HONOR strives to offer products that provide a superior experience and elevated performance, particularly among gamers. Our technology enables players to push their limits and achieve new heights in their gaming journey. We look forward to seeing the HONOR 200 Pro power the best esports athletes in the world as they strive for international greatness at the Esports World Cup.”

Beginning July 3, the Esports World Cup will transform Riyadh into the epicenter of esports fandom and gaming culture. Located in Boulevard City, fans can watch their favorite athletes and clubs compete across 22 game championships for a share of more than $60 million in life-changing prize money — the largest prize pool in esports history. Across eight weeks, the Esports World Cup will also feature festival activities that include numerous gaming activations, community tournaments, pop culture celebrations, international experiences, and more.

Tech News

Toshiba Announces MG10-D Series of Enterprise HDDs with Capacities up to 10TB

Published

4 days ago

June 27, 2024

Integrator Web-Editor

Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH (Toshiba) announces the release of its MG10-D Series, a family of air-filled conventional magnetic recording (CMR) HDDs supporting SAS and SATA interfaces and capacities of up to 10TB. Crafted with precision engineering and over 50 years of Toshiba experience, the MG10-D Series delivers improved performance and power efficiency over prior generations. With sanitize instant erase (SIE) and self-encrypting drive (SED) options, valuable data is safeguarded by a storage solution known for its robust performance and unwavering dependability.

Built for the increasing application demands of enterprise server and storage solutions, the MG10-D Series delivers a new level of performance. For example, compared with the previous model, the new 10TB MG10ADA10TE provides an approximately 13% better maximum sustained transfer speed of 268MiB/s and doubles the cache buffer size to 512MiB. It also reduces power consumption in active idle mode by approximately 21%, to 5.74W. Architected to deliver improved total cost of ownership (TCO), the new MG10-D Series fits seamlessly into a wide variety of business-critical applications, such as email, data analytics, data retention, and surveillance.

“Toshiba’s MG10-D Series delivers exceptional performance to meet the demands of growing business critical applications. The new cutting-edge design of the MG10-D Series is engineered for sustainable enterprise environments and fits seamlessly into existing infrastructure reducing TCO,” said Larry Martinez-Palomo, Vice President, Head of Storage Products Division at Toshiba.

The MG10-D Series is a 5-disk CMR standard 3.5-inch, 7200 RPM air-filled platform. Available capacities are 2TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB, and 10TB for both SAS and SATA. SATA is also available in a 1TB drive. The series supports 6Gb/s SATA or 12Gb/s SAS interface options in Advanced format 512e and 4Kn. A 512n option is available on the 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB offerings to support legacy systems with native 512 byte block sizes. Designed for 24×7 enterprise reliability, the MG10-D Series has a workload rating of 550TB, an AFR of 0.44% and an MTTF/MTBF of 2M hours.

The MG10-D Series will be available in CQ3.

MG10-D Series

Capacity	Interface	Format	Model Number	Optional Security
10 TB	SATA-3.3	512e/4Kn^[7]	MG10ADA10TE	SIE/SED^[2]
8 TB			MG10ADA800E
6 TB			MG10ADA600E
4 TB			MG10ADA400E
2 TB			MG10ADA200E
4 TB		512n	MG10ADA400N
2 TB			MG10ADA200N
1 TB			MG10ADA100N
10 TB	SAS-3.0	512e/4Kn^[7]	MG10SDA10TE
8 TB			MG10SDA800E
6 TB			MG10SDA600E
4 TB			MG10SDA400E
2 TB			MG10SDA200E
4 TB		512n	MG10SDA400N
2 TB		512n	MG10SDA200N

Tech News

ASBIS celebrated its 32nd partnership anniversary with Seagate partners

Published

4 days ago

June 27, 2024

Integrator Web-Editor

ASBIS Middle East, a subsidiary of ASBISC Enterprises PLC recently celebrated the 32-year anniversary of its distribution partnership with Seagate. Notably, Seagate was the first global IT vendor with whom ASBIS signed a distribution agreement in 1992, marking the start of a longstanding and successful collaboration between the two companies.

The anniversary event was held on the 25th of June at the Doubletree by Hilton hotel in Dubai. The event comprised several elements, including presentations by Arnab Majumdar, Country Manager – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Seagate, who showcased the latest solutions offered by Seagate. Additionally, Mr. Hesham Tantawi shared a summary of the principal milestones achieved by the two companies in their partnership. The event also included contributions from Mohit Pandey, Head of Sales META at Seagate Technology, and concluded with a celebratory cake-cutting ceremony with 200 valuable partners.

Over the past three decades, ASBIS has delivered impressive outcomes for its partners and upheld its status as the primary Seagate distributor in the EMEA region. The collaboration has progressed from distributing standard HDD, SDD, and external drives to incorporating more intricate and advanced solutions.