Uncategorized

KEEPING A STEADY PACE

Published

11 years ago

June 16, 2015

admin

Updated : December 30, 2013 00:38 am,
By R. Narayan

With UTMs firmly established a growth segment and security a top priority for IT decision makers, manufacturers are focusing on meeting rising expectations of functionalities

The rising number of cyber security threats keep driving demand for security solutions despite overall budgetary pressures. Keeping pace, manufacturers have been bringing to market appliances that incorporate enhanced features to tackle specialized threat prevention, distributed denial of service protection, and application control among other myriad threats.

“The market data seems to indicate that demand is starting to increase again after a long winter nap. We believe that some of this if not most of the increase in demand stems from the fact that Cyberwar and Espionage are prevalent in many CSO and CIO’s minds. Our lab data seems to indicate that botnet based attacks are on the rise along with increasingly more complex malware and viruses that are aimed at spyware and similar access obtaining methods,” says Michael Goedeker, Director Pre Sales ESG, CEEMEA at Sophos.

UTM products that consolidate multiple security technologies into a single network device have been one of the strongest growth segments in security, since these devices enable less TCO and feature centralized management and deeper integration between complementary security technologies. According to IDC, the Unified Threat Management (UTM) segment saw the largest year-over-year revenue increase at 29.2% and accounted for 39.4% of security appliance revenue in 3Q13 as multi-function appliances continue to drive growth in the overall market

Manufacturers are challenged to remain innovative as customers seek to adopt new technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization, and mobile devices. To keep up with a fast evolving security landscape in the region WatchGuard recently launched WatchGuard Dimension, a business intelligence and visibility solution.

Corey Nachreiner, Director of Security Strategy at Watchguard explains, “UTMs will log a lot of data as well as a lot of security events happening in the network. A lot of administrators were therefore suffering from a deluge of logs-they have a lot of network appliances that tell them a lot but are not able to get a lot of business intelligence out of all this information. Dimension is thus a zero install cloud-ready solution which is sold as a virtual platform so that a customer can run it in their own private virtualization network or in a public cloud and then point all WatchGuard appliances to it. All the log data will thus go to Dimension with users getting a visibility control switch.”

Dimension, Corey adds, will also allow users to see things like all the biggest trends happening in your network, what programs your users are using, the different domains they are going to, the biggest security events by region and by user among other features. “It’s a very useful visibility tool that is very easy to install as it’s already pre-packaged for you,” he adds.

With virtualization taking hold, WatchGuard’s virtual strategy is taking shape. The Fireware XTM V and XCS V, WatchGuard’s UTM and email and messaging security products respectively now have virtual versions that work on Hyper V and VMWare. “Many customers are adopting cloud services driven entirely by virtualization in the back-end so it helps secure their cloud environment by offering a virtual version of our UTM platform,” said Corey.

Earlier in the year, Sophos had announced the availability of Sophos UTM Connected, which introduces expanded UTM managed endpoint protection with unique Web in Endpoint functionality, broader wireless coverage for large scale wireless deployments and higher performance networking. The introduction of Web in Endpoint functionality lets Sophos UTM go a stage further and make security layers communicate and combine to deliver more effective protection. This approach simplifies user experience and delivers a higher level of overall protection on which customers can rely.

Michael says, “Web helps to minimize attacks that seek to reroute unsuspecting users to infected websites that then install malware. Web blocks this and adds another layer of security (in an easy way) to all customers that use our UTM products. Customers and partners alike love how we add important security layers in an easy way that just works.

Shahnawaz Sheikh, Regional Director at Dell Sonicwall says that the introduction of Next Generation Firewalls with Generation 6 appliances offered double the power and performance from its previous generation. As lower-midsize companies grow to become upper-midsize and enterprise size, their security needs will get more complex, and they will outgrow their UTM appliances and deploy enterprise network security platforms, such as next-generation firewalls and SWGs (secure web gateways).

He adds, “Today’s security needs are more precisely addressed by Next Generation Firewalls that can delicately balance between the business needs and user needs. The concept of Next Generation Firewall is an extension of UTM technology where it offers all the functionality of UTM from the perspective of threat protection and offers additional benefits like managing applications granularly and getting the visibility of traffic to better manage the security of the network by proactively monitoring the suspicious traffic.”

“Secondly considering the current trends of mobility, cloud computing and consolidation, the demand for BYOD is also the need of the hour for many organizations. Historically Email Security was offered on an appliance, as a software and virtual appliance, this year the launch of cloud based Email security offering has given multiple options to our customers who can choose between the premises deployed solutions from the likes of hardware, software or virtual appliance to cloud based solution that eliminates the need for local deployment and management taking away all the pain of hiring the needed expertise and capex based investment,” adds Sheikh.

Over the year, cyberoam enhanced its UTM product line offerings to meet the new-age risks that come with always on apps and usage of high speed internet on a plethora of devices that users bring into networks. Cyberoam launched its NG series UTM appliances and virtual UTMs in ealier part of this year to protect physical and virtual network environments. These solutions provide feature of next generation Firewalls including advanced Application Controls, granular Layer 8 identity-based controls, Web Application Firewall, Advanced Threat Protection, Flexi-Ports with flexible I/O slots complemented with ease of management.

“Cyberoam realizes that network security needs vary with the size of organizations and the industry they belong to. Cyberoam offers future-ready security to SOHO/ROBO, SMEs and Enterprises with its NG Series network security appliances, available as Next-Generation Firewalls and UTMs. Available as hardware and virtual security appliances, they offer next-generation security features to help organizations secure their networks against emerging security risks. Cyberoam Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) with Layer 8 Identity-based technology offer actionable intelligence and controls to enterprises that allow complete security controls over L2-L8 for their future-ready security,” says Ravinder Janotra , Regional Sales Manager – Middle East Cyberoam Technologies.

The SMB story

The threat perception from a cyber attack is always real for Businesses and individuals. SMB customers can be as vulnerable as enterprises but a sizeable minority at least of this segment may not always take proactive security measures. They have a need to be provided easy to install and use IT security solutions and are therefore a strong focus for the UTM manufacturers. Further, SMBs may also need to look at deploying the higher grade next generation firewalls than traditional UTMs since they bring application classification and control as an integral feature and will be able to see and filter the rising web application traffic in the age of thriving social media.

However, According to the Risk of an Uncertain Security Strategy study conducted by Ponemon Institute, many small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are potentially putting their organizations at risk because of uncertainty about the state of their security and threats faced from cyber attacks. The senior management is failing to prioritize cyber security, which is preventing them from establishing a strong IT security posture. The research, sponsored by Sophos, also identified that the more senior the position of the decision maker in the business, the more uncertainty there was surrounding the seriousness of the potential threat.

Michael says, “SMBs are being attacked more and are the target of spyware attacks that seek to steal company technology, secrets or interesting data. Other spam and social engineering attacks are targeting more and more SMB’s so that the symbiotic relationship between the company, partners and the end customers is very important. As attacks and their complexity increase, SMB’s need partners or when done by the customer themselves, a solution that is easy to manage, setup and rollout. Users expect transparency in regards to higher security and minimal disruptions in everyday tasks. This means that new solutions need to be implemented that are easy for the user so that acceptance is increased.”

Michael adds “Our solutions are made to be easy, work and get you protected with minimal setup and rollout times. We also make sure that it is easy to manage and use our solutions.”

Like all other regions, businesses in Middle East are highly aware of threat landscape and have evolved to see security as an issue related to business survival says Ravinder. It occupies top slot in their list of priorities. In fact according to IDC the Middle East IT security and appliance market is anticipated to grow at CAGR of more than 34% between 2010 and 2013.

Ravinder says, “Security awareness and sensitivity amongst SMBs has been increasing and they are willing to invest in security. SMBs can look at security solutions like UTM appliances, Next-Generation Firewalls offering integrated security over single platform to protect their networks which helps them reduce OpEx and CapEx in comparison with use of multiple point network security solutions.”

SMB organizations now have enough possible choices when it comes to choosing solutions that are enterprise class and scalable, opines Shahnawaz.

Dell Sonicwall’s Shahnawaz adds, “In my opinion the SMB segment is well served from a technology perspective as most technologies cater to SMB needs; even the new technologies targeted towards enterprise customers, in a matter of time gets available for SMB customers. BYOD is one of such good examples. Most SMB customers understand the importance of securing their assets from Internet threats and hence they look for security systems that can enable their businesses and offer business continuity during crises.”

Looking ahead

According to industry reports, customers are rapidly adopting the Next Gen Firewalls given the need for granular application intelligence and visualization.

“There is an ongoing approach to educate the customers about the benefits of the next best technology to what they invested few years ago and the growing demand for BYOD solutions keeps our focus on products and services that are needed by masses,” comments Shahnawaz.

As scenarios become more challenging, customers will need quick to deploy solutions and some will look for those arrangements from a new breed of Managed service providers. Cloud versions will find more adoption but shipments of appliances will also rise. Replacement of UTM by cloud options will remain at less than 5% through 2016 according to Gartner however, by then, most UTM devices will leverage cloud-assisted security and management features.

Michael says, “Proactive and intelligent systems that are easy to configure, manage and rollout will be key (and needed) in every security strategy to decrease disruptions and daily business. Partners continue to be a very important key to the successful security strategy and implementation of customers. MSP’s (Managed Security Providers) will become more important to SMB customers as attacks continue to increase in both complexity and damage to business by disruptions. MSPs will help smaller customers with no security staff budget to increase security posture and additional consulting and design help going forward.”

The security market is headed steadily towards high growth curve. Businesses in MEA will choose to invest wisely and enough invest in IT Security driven by dynamic cyber threat landscape and regulatory compliance needs. UTMs and Next generation Firewalls will therefore continue to be one of the focus areas of customers looking to invest in security solutions.

Hospitality

Minor Hotels Announces Avani Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia

Published

2 days ago

August 12, 2026

Integrator Web-Editor

Minor Hotels, a leading global hotel owner and operator, has announced Avani Kota Kinabalu, a 352-key premium lifestyle hotel set to open in Q1 2027. Forming part of The Logg Luyang integrated development by KTI Landmark, the property will introduce the Avani brand to Sabah and expand Minor Hotels’ presence in Malaysia.

Avani Kota Kinabalu will cater to leisure and corporate demand in Kota Kinabalu, one of East Malaysia’s principal commercial centres and a key gateway to Borneo. Approximately 10 minutes from Kota Kinabalu International Airport, the hotel will provide access to the city’s business districts, residential neighbourhoods and visitor attractions.

The announcement supports Minor Hotels’ strategy of expanding its lifestyle portfolio in destinations with growing domestic, regional and international demand. Avani Kota Kinabalu will also strengthen the group’s presence in Malaysia, joining Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas in Johor, as it continues to pursue development opportunities across Asia.

Developed by KTI Landmark, The Logg Luyang will bring together hospitality, commercial and lifestyle components within the established Luyang neighbourhood. Avani Kota Kinabalu will serve as the development’s hospitality anchor, offering accommodation, dining, wellness and event facilities for hotel guests and the local community.

“Kota Kinabalu is evolving rapidly as a regional business and tourism hub, creating strong demand for a hotel that can move easily between corporate, leisure and social use,” said Winston Gong, General Manager of Avani Kota Kinabalu. “Our focus will be on delivering an efficient, locally relevant guest experience while building a property with genuine appeal to the city’s residents.”

Designed by Shah Architect, with landscape architecture by SD2 and interiors by INdulge, Avani Kota Kinabalu will feature 352 rooms tailored to business trips, short breaks and longer stays.

Avani Kota Kinabalu will feature five dining and social venues for hotel guests and the local community. The all-day dining restaurant will serve Sabahan, Malaysian, Korean and international cuisine, with live cooking stations, local specialities and a signature Avani Sunday Lunch. A contemporary Chinese restaurant will focus on Sabah Hakka heritage and regional flavours, while the Lobby Lounge will transition from a daytime meeting space into an evening venue serving afternoon tea, as well as cocktails and whiskies.

The Pantry will offer handcrafted bakery items, desserts and premium coffee for dining in or takeaway. On the rooftop, SEEN Restaurant & Bar will bring the established rooftop dining and nightlife concept to Sabah through globally inspired cuisine, mixology, curated music and destination-led experiences.

The hotel will also include dedicated meeting and banquet facilities for conferences, weddings and social events. Leisure facilities will include an infinity pool and AvaniFit gym, with nearby Tun Fuad Stephens Park offering access to outdoor recreation.

Avani Kota Kinabalu will combine accommodation, rooftop dining, wellness and event facilities within a major integrated development, strengthening Minor Hotels’ lifestyle offering in Malaysia and supporting the group’s continued expansion across Asia.

Uncategorized

ServiceNow Expands Autonomous Security Vision with Unified AI-Powered Cyber Defense Platform

Published

1 week ago

August 5, 2026

Integrator Web-Editor

The company introduces six integrated security solutions designed to help enterprises detect, prevent and respond to cyber risks at machine speed.

As organisations continue to accelerate AI adoption, cybersecurity teams are facing a rapidly expanding attack surface driven by AI agents, machine identities, cloud environments and increasingly complex enterprise infrastructures. Addressing these challenges, ServiceNow has unveiled a major expansion of its Autonomous Security vision, introducing six unified security solutions that combine AI-powered automation, governance and risk management into a single platform.

The announcement strengthens ServiceNow’s position as one of the industry’s fastest-growing enterprise security providers, bringing together exposure management, vulnerability detection, identity security, cyber-physical protection, incident response and compliance under a unified operational framework.

Tackling AI-era security complexity

Modern enterprises often operate dozens of disconnected security tools across endpoints, networks, cloud environments and identities, creating fragmented visibility and slower response times. ServiceNow estimates that many organisations manage more than 70 individual security solutions, making it increasingly difficult for security teams to identify and prioritise risks efficiently.

With Autonomous Security, ServiceNow aims to replace this fragmented approach with a unified system capable of continuously monitoring assets, identities and AI agents while providing business context, governance and auditability from a single platform.

The company’s broader vision, known as Shift Zero, focuses on embedding security into every stage of enterprise operations, moving organisations away from reactive incident response towards continuous prevention.

Six security pillars

At the centre of the announcement are six integrated solution areas covering the modern enterprise attack surface.

Unified Exposure Management

The platform consolidates vulnerability findings from multiple security tools into a single view, enriching them with threat intelligence and business context to help organisations prioritise remediation more effectively. A new Vulnerability Resolution AI Specialist is designed to automate triage and execute low-risk remediation tasks at enterprise scale.

Continuous Vulnerability Detection

ServiceNow is expanding visibility across applications, cloud environments and infrastructure with new capabilities that include application security, dynamic application security testing (DAST) and external attack surface management. Together, these tools aim to identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

Cyber-Physical Security

Recognising the growing importance of operational technology (OT), IoT and connected medical devices, ServiceNow is introducing agentless discovery, continuous compliance monitoring and automated remediation workflows that minimise operational disruption while improving visibility across critical infrastructure.

Identity and Access Security

The company is also extending governance to non-human identities, including service accounts, cloud identities and AI agents. New capabilities enable organisations to manage permissions, automate key rotation and apply least-privilege principles consistently across both human and machine identities.

Agentic Incident Response

To help security operations centres respond faster, ServiceNow is introducing AI-driven incident response capabilities that automate investigation, threat enrichment, correlation and containment while escalating only high-risk decisions to human analysts.

Cyber Risk and Compliance

The final pillar focuses on continuous compliance rather than periodic audits. AI-powered monitoring continuously evaluates access rights, configuration changes and policy violations while generating compliance-ready reporting across major regulatory frameworks. The platform also introduces cryptographic asset management capabilities to support future migration towards quantum-resistant encryption standards.

AI Specialists automate security operations

Alongside the platform enhancements, ServiceNow introduced new AI Specialists capable of autonomously completing security workflows.

These specialised AI agents are designed to assist with vulnerability remediation, incident response, exposure management and continuous compliance monitoring, helping security teams automate repetitive tasks while maintaining governance and auditability.

The company believes these capabilities will allow enterprises to respond to threats at machine speed without sacrificing operational oversight.

Building a unified security ecosystem

ServiceNow’s latest security strategy is further strengthened through technologies integrated from Armis and Veza.

Armis contributes continuous visibility across connected devices and operational technology environments, while Veza enhances identity governance by mapping permissions across human users, machine identities and AI agents. Combined with ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower and orchestration capabilities, these technologies provide organisations with a centralised view of assets, identities and security operations.

Availability

Several new capabilities, including Agentic Exposure Management, Application Security, Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), External Attack Surface Management (EASM), Cyber Physical Security and AI Agent Access Security, are available immediately.

Additional features—including the Tier 2 SOC AI Specialist, Vulnerability Resolution AI Specialist, Continuous Control Monitoring and Cryptographic Asset Compliance—are expected to become available in December 2026.

Hospitality

Preserving Heritage Through Modern Hospitality

Published

2 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Integrator Web-Editor

Exclusive interview with Chef Peter Chaine, Executive Chef at The Club Abu Dhabi

You first arrived in Abu Dhabi in 1987, expecting what you described as a short chapter in your career, yet nearly four decades later, The Club remains an integral part of your journey. What has made this place so special that it continues to feel like home?

I took up an appointment in December 1987 to join The Club in the capacity of Sous Chef and moved on to the reins of Executive Chef in August 1990. I have received the full support of the Committee, Management, Staff and Members to achieve what it is today. The path was never easy, but with the thought “The Club is the second home to its Members,” always at the back of my mind, my team and I are challenged to deliver consistency at all times. I drive myself to take full responsibility for any food on a plate produced at The Club. Sourcing the highest quality ingredients that our Members can enjoy at the most competitive price is predominantly a reason for our success. The regular changes of outlet menus and special dishes or nights offered in various outlets and areas within the property make it a unique experience for the diners. The appreciation from our membership is seen by their decisions to avail themselves of these events. This success has seen our staff retention levels, in comparison to industry competitors, be the lowest.

Having witnessed Abu Dhabi’s remarkable transformation over nearly four decades, how have you seen The Club evolve while preserving the sense of community and belonging that has defined it for generations?

I have always felt that The Club forms a major part of the expatriate community due to the offerings in place. Hosting various events with local dishes for the wide repertoire of membership has driven us to always focus on “under promising and over delivering”.

Today’s diners seek more than exceptional food, they value authenticity, storytelling and memorable experiences. How has your culinary approach evolved to meet these changing expectations while remaining true to The Club’s heritage? And, you’ve witnessed Abu Dhabi transform from a quiet coastal city into a global destination. If food could tell the story of that journey, what would it say?

As much as I have seen Abu Dhabi grow in the past decades, I say the same of The Club, too. We are proud to think that we are a heritage site offering modern food of the highest standard within the industry in the region. The varying nationalities of membership have grown considerably and helped us to be more of a globally recognised organisation. Staples that have been Fish and Chips have now moved over to Chicken Tikka Masala, Thai Green Curry or a Beef Nashif.

The Port, hosting storage facilities, has been cleared and transformed into an International Cruise Terminal, while the rear end of The Club has facilitated the new 4- to 5-lane main highway.

Having mentored generations of chefs and helped establish the Emirates Culinary Guild, what responsibility do experienced culinary leaders have in nurturing the next generation of talent, and what qualities do you believe young chefs should cultivate to succeed in today’s industry?

I have earned my present position of Vice President in The Emirates Culinary Guild, as I was always interested in innovation and modernisation of dishes. I competed amongst some of the best and helped gain recognition for The Club within the fraternity of hospitality establishments in the UAE. Being there to offer assistance to colleagues when they collected many accolades for individuals and for the club is an achievement itself. We believe in nurturing the youth by way of offering regular on the job trainings where we can then look to maintain the standards while sustaining the level of enthusiasm for business growth.

Rapid Fire questions:

What does success mean to you today?

Success to me today is that we meet all expectations and deliver to the highest standards consistently.

A signature dish everyone should try at The Club?

My signature dish is none, as I expect the diners to be adventurous and place all trust in the hands of the chef’s creations and interpretation of a dish, and try all we have to offer.

A young chef every aspiring professional should learn from?

The industry I came into almost 4 decades ago has evolved; thus, we cannot expect the staff to work the long hours we worked, give up weekends or parties for work. However, the need to offer 8 honest and productive hours to the establishment should be the vision. The work and lifestyle balance is very important for the youth of tomorrow. They need to be aware that good mental health is vital for success in achieving a happy family. I would also like to see a future that brings a positive attitude as being most important. Whatever you do is never going to be enjoyed if you are not in that frame of mind. Training can be provided, but a positive attitude has to be instilled from the initial education.