< Previous(30) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com MULTI CLOUD GOES MAINSTREAM Vangelis Lagousakos, general manager - Channel Sales, Middle East, Russia, Africa & Turkey (MERAT), Dell Technologies talks about the company’s vision for the region in 2020 T here is plenty to keep businesses on their toes as they focus on up-skill- ing the workforce, building agile infrastructures and tailoring services to business’ needs. What we are finding more often than not as we move into 2020, is that it’s all about the hybrid, multi-cloud – the days of a 100 per cent public or private cloud strategy are over. We have seen how IT teams are under increasing pressure to create and deliver seamless platform experiences at speed. Now, they are compelled to ask a few transformative questions that will refine and reshape businesses, enhancing capacity for innovation. UP-SKILLING FOR MULTI-CLOUD FUTURES We now refer to cloud as an operating model rather than a destination and so our joint customers need partners to help them design multi-cloud strategies that reflect this. This requires specific skill sets, that help them to design and oper- ate the multi-cloud – from understanding where their workloads sit to the migra- tion of their data. According to the ‘Demystifying cloud transformation: Where enterprises should start’ report from 451 research and Dell Technologies’ Virtustream, 90 per cent of organisations have reported a lack of skills in multiple cloud disciplines and that the deficit has doubled over the last three years. But with a recent Gartner survey of public cloud users revealing that 81% are working with two or more public cloud providers, there is clearly a need for up- skilling the workforce so they under- stand multi-cloud environments or the tools to support them – and we expect to see this as a key trend in 2020 as the multi-cloud market continues to amplify. Also, Dell Technologies commissioned a study on the Future of Work with the Institute for the Future (IF TF) in 2019, The findings revealed that 93% of busi- ness leaders in the UAE & Saudi Arabia agree that the way they collaborate, and work will be transformed for the better, thanks to emerging technologies of which include the cloud. THE MULTI-CLOUD HOST More and more we are seeing partners providing multi-cloud services, stepping in where customers are unable to do so on premises – and where it’s not neces- sary on the public cloud. Whether they do it alone or in collaboration, partners are taking the lead. While public cloud adoption is set to account for 35 per cent of all enterprise workloads by 2021, around 65 per cent will be hosted on private data centres. Just as interest is growing in the public cloud, security needs, growth in skill sets and the declining cost of ownership of private cloud means the next several years will see multi-cloud adoption reign. In fact, the Future of Work study reveals that 91% business leaders in Saudi Arabia and the UAE plan to use emerging tech- nologies to improve workforce productivi- ty. Furthermore, 93% agree that the way they collaborate, and work will be trans- formed for the better – thanks to emerg- ing technologies. Having the right skill sets is one thing, but having the right infrastructure is another and customers will be increas- ingly considering their hosting capabili- ties as they take the plunge. HONING CLOUD CONSUMPTION MODEL OFFERINGS The cost argument for public versus pri- vate cloud is becoming more of a level playing field. Consumption-based selling is increasingly more prevalent in the IT landscape – and it is here to stay. Gartner indicates that by 2022, 15 per cent of new deployments of on-premises computing will involve pay-per-use pricing, up from less than 1 per cent in 2019. Customers and partners are increasing- ly demanding a variety of consumption- based capabilities, with flexibility at the core. This helps customers reduce the management of on-premises IT and make it as easy to consume as public clouds. By providing flexible consumption options on essential infrastructure, partners can help customers make quicker decisions and realise a faster return on investment. A VERTICAL FOCUS We are living in a complex world and part- ners need to be specialised in order to capture opportunity and cater effectively to customers’ needs. That’s where ‘Industry Cloud’ comes in, a cloud system that has been heavily customised to fit a specific industry and accommodate the business, operatory, legal, regulatory, as well as security and other considerations. The main focus of industry cloud is verti- cal integration and vertical solutions rath- er than horizontal ones, focusing on creat- ing more value within the bounds of the industry in which it is used rather than expanding the breadth of that industry. According to IDC Worldwide public cloud services spending will more than double by 2023, from $229 billion in 2019 to nearly $500 billion in 2023.The report highlights three industries – professional services, discrete manufacturing, and banking – that account for more than one third of all public cloud services spend- ing throughout the forecast. Watch this space. Expect to see a tailoring of servic- es as partners respond to the growing demand for value in vertical industries. (30)(31) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 Maan Al-Shakarchi, regional director META, Extreme Networks on boosting channel investments and driving a robust channel strategy built around incentivising partners to integrate cloud-based solutions into their portfolio Tell us about your role at Extreme Networks. I joined Extreme Networks as the regional director for Middle East, Turkey and Africa in October 2019. This region is the hub for technology and innovation. Extreme Networks is going through a big transition towards cloud infrastructure and my role is to lead the team in the META region. “Extreme networks is going through a big transition” - please elaborate. The networking market has been relatively stable over the last few years, whereas other markets and IT industry in general have transformed. Networking has been at bit behind that curve because of the hardware being on-site. The move towards cloud managed infrastructure has made centralised management and monitoring of the entire infrastructure possible. When this end-to-end visibility is combined with artificial intelligence through machine learning, we get autonomous networks that drive themselves; they know when there is an issue and are able to self-heal. They can detect when there is a security breach and able to contain it and so on. We believe that it is the right time for the networking industry to move towards the cloud architecture. Following our recent acquisition of cloud-managed networking company Aerohive, our complete portfolio, wired and wireless, is moving to the cloud. Increasing investment in the region Extreme Networks has taken the decision to embrace cloud networking globally. We have the most comprehensive cloud portfolio and have devised a cloud strategy for the entire infrastructure. We chose the META region because it is one HARNESSING OPPORTUNITIES IN CLOUD NETWORKING Vertical focus Our prime focus is the retail sector. In January, we launched our retail select solution, which brings value to the retail sector through business analytics. Another important vertical is the education sector. On the commercial side, we are focussing our efforts on the healthcare industry and government sector. Having said that, our solutions are compatible with the majority of verticals. Talent development In addition to regular engagement with partners and customers, one of our key priorities is to keep them informed of our roadmap, market developments, best practices from global customers, and so on. We spend a lot of time in cross pollination between customers and introduce them to each other. We also have a customer advisory board to share knowledge and experiences amongst our customers. All such initiatives drive talent development. Future outlook We have a customer-first approach. To help our customers transform, we explain how they can maximise their business benefits, understand their needs and then build custom solutions in partnership with our channel partners. For partners it is important to understand that as organisations undergo digital transformation we need to ensure talent transformation within the workforce as well. Our portfolio is expanding and we are improving our partner program to help our partners run successful business. Partners must understand this change and utilise the training resources included the partner program. To enable our partners, we are also going to launch a new MSP program to educate partners on how to sell a product-as-a-service. of the most vibrant regions, both from a technology adoption and customer maturity perspective. We are investing in resources by hiring talent in sales, channel, sales engineering and marketing. We are also investing in developing our existing channel ecosystem and adding new partners. Expanding channel ecosystem Earlier networking used to be about switches, routers and access points. Now we are moving towards solutions that have business benefits that are tangible for customers and specific verticals. So we work very closely with system integrators that focus on healthcare, retail and higher education. We operate through the channel and as we grow, it is also important to expand the channel ecosystem. We are looking to on-board channel partners that can take our enhanced portfolio to the market, especially our vertical-specific solutions. We have revamped our existing partner program to include best practices from the vendors we acquired and integrated it under a new unified partner program. We are now looking for networking partners, ideally with customers in the enterprise segment. (32) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com Pankaj Sharma, executive VP – Secure Power Division and Nataliya Makarochkina, senior VP - Secure Power Energy Management Division, Schneider Electric on the benefits of local data residency and what this means for the region’s digitalisation efforts How is cloud transforming the data centre? The exponential growth of data and a desire to outsource data centre functionality were the catalysts to move from on-premise enterprise data centres to massive hyperscale cloud data centres. Not that long ago, our industry believed all computing would eventually centralise to the cloud. The expected speed, scale, and cost value of moving to the cloud made financial and business sense. But just as the term cloud computing was becoming more ubiquitous, the industry realised the centralised cloud architecture was not designed to optimise content delivery and processing speed. It was plagued by latency, limited bandwidth, and regulations like data sovereignty. The result is that applications are migrating closer to the user and many smaller, regional edge versions of cloud data centres are being (32) BALANCING ACT closer proximity to users. And 3/ Local edge data centres include IT infrastructure enclosures/spaces/ facilities distributed as closely as possible to the endpoints on the network and to the user. An emerging sector of the architecture, local edge data centres offer the lowest possible latency and range in size from 6U to 2 full IT racks. Benefits of local data residency for channel and customers. Cloud computing offers many benefits including lower cost, more flexibility, availability, and scalability. You typically can’t tell where your data is being stored because it can be held in multiple locations. With localised data, you know where your data is and how it is protected from a cyber security perspective, and under which country’s laws. Data centres placed in closer proximity means maintenance and emergency data centre used. They’re built to meet the needs for local access, low latency, and cyber security. The regional edge cloud gives the user choices on where and how their data and workloads should run. And it provides an easier and more effective way to design and operate applications and databases, making them highly available, fault tolerant, and scalable. Edge vs cloud – please comment. We believe that, simply put, there are three types of data centre architectures: 1/ Centralised data centres offer massive compute, storage, and networking. They are typically located in remote areas with low cost electricity. 2/ Regional data centres are designed as medium sized compute, storage, and networking facilities located in central or urban areas. Typically, these are colocation or enterprise data centre facilities that bring compute and content delivery in (33) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 (33) services can be deployed more efficiently. You or your service provider will be able to quickly and easily access your IT hardware and physical infrastructure. What does this mean for the region’s digitalisation efforts, especially in e-commerce and industry? Digitalisation is helping the overall supply chain become faster and more efficient. Consider this ‘the Amazon effect’ in ecommerce. People in search of a product can easily see price and availability, which may be next week, next day, same day, or even within an hour! Then they make their choices. The digitisation of the supply chain makes this possible and fulfils consumer needs for instant (or nearly instant) gratification. Research shows that organisations are moving workloads back from public clouds to hybrid cloud environments. What are the data centre considerations to support a successful hybrid cloud strategy? It is really a balancing act. After a big move to the cloud, many enterprises downsize their on-premise data centres to optimise costs and performance, and to repurpose the newly available space. Enterprises are balancing their IT among on-premise, colocation, and the cloud. Data centre operators end up managing more complex “hybrid” IT environments including on-prem data centres, cloud and colocation services, and edge computing. Having workloads in different environments changes the requirements for many aspects but perhaps, most notably, in management. Cloud-based data centre management simplifies this by enabling you to manage all your data centres from a single device of your choice – phone, tablet, PC, or console. With workloads going out to the cloud and sometimes coming back, optimising your on-prem data centre by modernising is somewhat challenging, but employing a modular approach with adaptive power and cooling goes a long way. Has the move towards software- defined data centres eased the need for partners to invest in IT skills? With the software-defined data centre (SDDC) model, a simple, business-friendly dashboard can manage IT. Companies can do it themselves or have their MSP (managed service provider) do it for them. In theory, SDDCs eliminate siloed technology and simplify management. MSPs would not need to invest in vendor- specific skills to maintain or manage upgrades to physical machines. With Schneider Electric, our MSP partners have new service revenue opportunities thanks to next-generation management. Our next-generation data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) solution, EcoStruxure IT, is cloud-based, providing remote monitoring, actionable analytics, and new APIs. Armed not only with real time data but also with data intelligence, our partners and global service network can resolve any issues proactively. It’s the combination of software with service bureaus and field services that brings the true benefit to a customer. With AI being the current IT buzzword, is there scope for AI to be applied in data centres and if so, what DC management or operations tacks could stand to benefit most from the application of AI? AI has several applications in data centres and two benefits include energy optimisation and predictive maintenance. Energy optimisation (large data centres) - The largest portion of a data centre OpEx budget is typically energy costs with cooling consuming a sizeable portion. Data centres have grown so large, it’s impossible for humans to optimise parameters in cooling systems. We must use Machine Learning (ML) or AI to learn from performance data, detect temperature shifts, and adjust cooling parameters. As AI and ML algorithms become more refined, their accuracy will improve. Predictive maintenance - Intelligent UPSs can alert us when they need a new battery or troubleshooting. Going forward, algorithms will leverage historical data to predict more precisely when something requires maintenance or is in danger of failure. So, in addition to telling us when something is about to fail, intelligent systems can minimise the chances of failure thanks to data-driven predictive models. IT budget spend on data centres has reduced as per analysts. With Gartner predicting a massive shift away from traditional data centres, what does the future of data centres look like? We have a very close relationship with Gartner, which predicts that by 2025, 80% of enterprises will shut down their traditional data centres. In fact, Gartner states that 10 % of organisations already have. While there is a certain amount of “shock value” in these comments, we see enterprise shifting away from relying solely on traditional, on-prem data centres in favour of hybrid IT architectures, which spread their computing resources across owned and outsourced data centres – cloud and colocation. Shutting down does not mean they won’t have any data centres. Business processes that are mission-critical and require greater oversight and more detailed levels of control will remain on-premises, in our opinion. Nataliya Makarochkina, senior vice president Secure Power Energy Management Div, Schneider Electric Pankaj Sharma, executive VP – Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric(34) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com Sanmeet Kochhar, region head – MENA, HMD Global on strategically expanding portfolio to meet customer demands and delivering secure smartphone experiences Tell us about your Originals range. What is the reason behind recreating classic Nokia devices for the modern era? Sanmeet Kochhar: We found that there is a particular segment of 400 million users globally who are buying a 2G feature phone every year. Hence, we decided to revitalize the ‘Originals’ family, which has been a great success with our fans so far. Our “Originals” range is the perfect blend of our rich heritage and modern technology. We have received an overwhelmingly positive reaction to our entire Originals family, including our most recent Nokia 2720 Flip. Furthermore, we’re also growing our Originals family with the Nokia 5310, bringing the next generation of the Nokia 1 to fans so more can enjoy access to modern tech and Android (Go edition). With so many Chinese brands available in the budget segment in the Middle East market, what is HMD Global’s strategy to tackle the overflow of options available in the market? SK: While we don’t comment on competition, we can highlight that we genuinely believe in purposeful innovation and not innovation for the sake of innovating. Our strategy is to deliver reliability and durability through purposeful design and engineering to all our fans and across all price points. (34) DELIVERING INNOVATION & RELIABILITY How has the current pandemic affected HMD’s Nokia phone sales in the region and globally? SK: At HMD Global, our priority is the safety and health of our employees, partners and customers. All our employees are working remotely, and we are following the latest guidelines issued by the authorities to control and contain the spread of the virus. We are also continually monitoring the situation to efficiently manage production and shipping in the safest way possible. Like many businesses, the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted parts of our supply chain - yet, our strategy and vision remains unwavering. Right now, our priority is people. We are more committed than ever to bring the best technology experiences to our customers during these difficult times to ensure that they can stay connected to loved ones. How do you maintain the balance between specs and price? Does this mean compromising on the camera or display quality? SK: At HMD, we do not compromise specs, and we believe in delivering purposeful technology accessible to all people and across different price points. Aligned with this belief, our phones offer best in class materials and craftsmanship across the portfolio, delivering the reliability and durability expected of We are also continually monitoring the situation to efficiently manage production and shipping in the safest way possible. Like many businesses, the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted parts of our supply chain - yet, our strategy and vision remains unwavering.(35) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 (35) Nokia phones through purposeful design and engineering. For instance, as we are all connected to our devices, people are increasingly consuming content on the go. This encompasses our approach in providing a unique display experience with a stunning, compact design and premium build quality you expect from a Nokia smartphone that keeps getting better with time. Multiple vendors have introduced foldable phones to the market. While this segment is far from being perfect, is this something that HMD Global is looking at? SK: One of the key things we take pride in is our extensive portfolio of devices that allow a wide range of people access to the latest Android features and modern technology. The hardware race is indeed a non- ending one. Nokia Phones have always delivered premium design across all Nokia phones. While having great hardware is essential in this day and age, we should also pay close attention to software. We are consistent in our approach and are always looking to deliver what our fans need most – so we are exploring options to bring various devices to the market. This is why we have launched four brand-new devices – including the Nokia 8.3 5G; the Nokia 5310, the next generation of the Nokia 1; and the new Nokia 5. Is 5G ready for mass adoption? What are the key security concerns surrounding 5G? SK: The mobile device market in the region is rapidly growing, driven by technological innovation and increasing smartphone and internet penetration. According to the latest GSMA Report for the Middle East, 15 markets will have launched 5G mobile services across the MENA region by 2025. This means that we could be looking at a hyper-connected future with use cases and applications leveraging next- generation connectivity. Furthermore, 5G offers attractive prospects of enhanced speed and connectivity, which will benefit telcos and their channel partners. Of course, vulnerabilities in mobile networks exist, but we will continue with our commitment to deliver secure smartphone experiences in 2020. After switching to Google Cloud in Finland for our data needs, we have now set up a software security centre in Tampere. This software security centre is especially close to our hearts as 5G Nokia 8.3 5G – the future-proof 5G smartphone will feature in No Time to Die, expected in cinemas in November 2020 the only European smartphone brand. What sort of revenue growth opportunity does 5G represent today? SK: 5G represents a tremendous growth opportunity for smartphone manufacturers – and we are incredibly excited to announce our first global and future-proofed 5G smartphone - the Nokia 8.3 5G. Fans will be able to take their creativity to the next level with ZEISS imaging and Cinematic Effects. Can you tell us about HMD Connect global data roaming service and its benefits? When will it be available? SK: HMD Connect is a hassle-free, secure and affordable data roaming service that keeps you connected to the things that matter to you the most. Using HMD Connect is simple; plug in your HMD Connect SIM card, purchase your data plan with your credit card and keep tabs on your data consumption right from the HMD Connect app or web portal. We will first offer HMD Connect in BETA through HMDConnect.com, allowing early adopters to enjoy the immense benefits of hassle-free, secure and affordable roaming across the world. We plan to extend this to even more markets and devices by the end of this year. 5G offers attractive prospects of enhanced speed and connectivity, which will benefit telcos and their channel partners. Vulnerabilities in mobile networks exist, but we will continue with our commitment to deliver secure smartphone experiences in 2020. Launches three new Nokia smartphones, a new member of the Originals family, and a brand-new hassle-free data roaming service.Cloud integration is at the heart of digital transformation with 80 per cent of the work in IoT projects related to integration – and, today, most of that is in the cloud. DR. STEFAN SIGG, CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER SOFTWARE AG Dr. Stefan Sigg, chief product officer, Software AG development, to be taken into account. And since everything else - AI, analytics, business decisions, speed, agility, profits, loss, disruption, your very existence - sits on top the totally integrated enterprise, Integration with a capital “I” is probably the most exciting and certainly the most fundamental area to IoT success in IT and operational technology (OT) today. It is fundamental and exciting enough for Salesforce to have acquired MuleSoft for $6.5 last year. That was a $6.5 billion confirmation of the wisdom (best word I can think of) of Software AG’s near 30-year focus on integration technology. BUT WHY? Integration simply makes the fractured enterprise whole. Simple words but what a powerful statement - and what dramatic implications being “whole” has for the enterprise in today’s digital economy. But if integration makes the enterprise whole, what is the opposite state? We often talk about silos in the enterprise but I think fractured is a more accurate description of the impact of not being whole. In the Internet of Everything economy, the fractured enterprise cannot even hope to compete. Half answers from disconnected enterprise assets result in ill-founded decisions or business reaction times that are too slow to be effective. Total integration is what makes a fractured enterprise whole, and total integration - on premises, in the cloud and at the edge - is the only way to build successful IoT architectures, landscapes, applications. Cloud integration is at the heart of digital transformation with 80 per cent of the work in IoT projects related to integration – and, today, most of that is in the cloud. INTEGRATION & IOT TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN >> Think how fundamental to success this is in IoT. We have moved the enterprise boundaries from on-premises to the cloud to the edge - wherever a company has an asset or digital sensor is now the boundary of that company. Extend that to include partners, clients and clients’ customers. Extend that further to include data from any third party source: weather, natural events or public opinion. Then think how effective and accurate business decisions, production decisions or maintenance decisions would be if everything was connected, analysed and reviewed by those closest to the issue. How could this be accomplished in a fractured enterprise? NOT EASY - OR NOT POSSIBLE - IS IT? So integration is fundamental to successful IoT. But integration is not just any old integration. Integration must be neutral and independent. Integration must connect applications from any vendor hosted anywhere, sensors from any manufacturer on any shop floor, or up any mountain, down any valley. Integration must deliver maximum customer choice. There is no way that an enterprise can have the flexibility and speed necessary to successfully and profitably conduct business in the Internet of Things if they are not masters of their own IT destiny. Companies need independent integration that keeps their choices open, protecting decades of IT investment, and a true agility layer that lays the basis for successful IoT. To heal a fractured enterprise, a fractured customer relationship or a fractured supply chain to prepare for IoT, Industry 4.0 or a digital future, then you must integrate, integrate, integrate. It makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT WE WOULD BE TALKING ABOUT “INTEGRATION” IN 2019? WASN’T THAT ALL TAKEN CARE OF YEARS AGO? Well, yes: remember “middleware” and 90s-style integration? Then came 2000s-style integration and service-oriented architecture. Today we are talking about the mother of all integrations: device integration, cloud integration, hybrid integration, edge integration, API integration/ management. And there are other pressing issues, such as microservices, API s, containerisation and citizen (36) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com(37) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 VIDEO ANALYTICS WILL ENABLE SAFER URBAN SPACES Hakan Ozyigit, regional director - Security Systems & Building Technologies, Robert Bosch Middle East Major infrastructure and real estate projects have the onus to deliver urban spaces that are comfortable, safe and secure to support economic growth, creativity and inno- vation. Despite technologies’ growing capabilities to deter, detect, delay, assess, communicate and respond to physical and cyber security threats, it remains a challenge to have security and management staff to fully watch and efficiently capture the value of security videos. Security cameras that are equipped with on-board Video Analytics can be a major asset in threat detection, thus addressing critical unmet needs in video surveillance systems. Video Analytics can be configured to auto- matically detect signs and offer insights into behavioral trends. With the unique ability to perform video content analy- sis over large distances, Intelligent Video Analytics can differentiate between genuine security events and known false triggers. In traffic manage- ment for instance. Intelligent Video Analytics can detect pedestrians on a crosswalk, alert the traffic controller when necessary and preempt traffic signals to increase safety- ultimately enabling smart intersection control. Similarly, they can enable a faster detection and prosecution of accidents and crimes, even in adverse weather conditions. For smaller spaces and less critical situations, Essential Video Analytics can be used for advanced intrusion detection (such as loitering alarms and identifying a person or object entering a pre-defined field), enforcing health and safety regulations such as no-park- ing zones, detecting blocked emergen- cy exits or objects that have been left behind. Within intelligent urban transporta- tion systems, a selection of Internet Protocol (IP) cameras with onboard Essential and Intelligent Video Analytics processing capabilities oper- ating as sensors are key to helping keep traffic flowing smoothly and keep related spaces safer. Together, they can efficiently contrib- ute to wrong-way detection and alerting risks on the road, including verification for slow or stopped vehicles, objects on the road – such as lost cargo – and other traffic events. Alerts can either be sent to traffic management centers, or processed through integration with highway information solution providers, triggering third-party systems to notify drivers on the road and thus enabling them to act earlier. Combined with other systems for city and traffic management, smart IP cam- eras enable detection and monitoring solutions that instantly alert the right people to safety risks and constantly gather information on roadway usage to provide better insights and information for data-driven decision-making. Multiple cameras can feed data to dash- boards that deliver actionable informa- tion for business intelligence purposes – helping city planners by providing detailed insights regarding traffic pat- terns, congestion points, and more. Video cameras can today draw upon metadata to add sense and structure to recordings, enabling them to have a basic understanding of what they are observing, and allowing retrieval of the right footage from hours of stored video in a faster and more efficient way. Searching for evidence can therefore become virtually effortless. Video Analytics will enhance smart infrastructure planning and facilitate development of customised solutions to meet the needs of city planners and senior traffic engineers in Dubai. As a result, we will be able to benefit from a smarter, safer and more sustainable transportation ecosystem. Using intelligent networking, big data analysis, and data interpretation by artificial intelligence, every individ- ual building will be able to benefit from information supplied by neighboring ones. If all of such assets in the city become ‘smart’ and connected to one another, the benefits will be sustain- able, especially in the context of a growing demand for sophisticated solu- tions and parallel developments in com- munications including 5G technology. (38) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com THE NEXT EVOLUTION OF VMWARE’S CHANNEL STRATEGY Ossama Eldeeb, director, Partner Organization, METNA VMware on how the company is changing the fundamental dynamics within its channel strategy to provide greater agility, simplicity and ease of differentiation for partners VMware has always been ambi- tious, and we’re not slowing down. Looking back over the past 20 years, as the company has transformed from its server virtuali- sation origins through to today’s multi- cloud world of modern applications, one fact has remained true: we’ve only been able to grow at the scale we want with an engaged, inspired partner ecosystem co- selling with us. Never has this been more important. As the business technology landscape becomes ever more complex and as our own partner portfolio keeps expanding, via the acquisitions we make and the solutions available, we need to continual- ly modernise the partner experience – just as we aim to do with our customers. Now, following the ‘go live’ of our new partner programme VMware Partner Connect, we’ve reached a moment of real transition. We’re changing the fundamen- tal dynamics within our channel strategy – providing greater agility, simplicity and ease of differentiation for our partners – to ensure we, as one ecosystem, deliver successful outcomes for governments and businesses across Europe. That’s the vision, here’s how we are doing it. Firstly; we’re ensuring that what we see from our customers defines everything we do. And today, our custom- ers’ successes are being defined by their ability to deliver modern applications to bring innovative services to life, with businesses, but it provides an amazing opportunity for our partners in EMEA. They can deliver a new consistency of experience, making it simple for organ- isations to consume technology as and how they wish, all via one digital founda- tion, to embrace innovative new applica- tions and services. In doing so, they can become the masters in helping deliver true business outcomes from technology – developing lifetime relationships with organisations and acting as their trusted advisors throughout their ongoing trans- formation journeys. Whether it’s consult- ing and assessment, supporting the migration of apps or managed services – the opportunity is sitting there for part- ners, providing they can make it easy for each and every organisation they serve. This simplicity is a key design princi- ple of Partner Connect. We recognise that our past partner ecosystem could appear complicated and overly transac- tion-focussed; natural by-products of a company that’s grown in breadth and depth very significantly, very quickly. Partners might have been part of the VMware Cloud Provider Program, they might have been a Corporate Reseller, a Solution Provider, or a Managed Services Provider – and each would have their own specific agreement, terms and con- tracts. It could get convoluted. We’ve removed all of that complexity in favour of one programme and one agree- ment. That’s it. Partners no longer have security and scalability, to differentiate their businesses. That’s simple enough to state, but application development and manage- ment is more complex than ever before, demanding different puzzle pieces from all over multi-cloud infrastructures. It is also complicated from a geographical perspective. As available technology portfolios keep expanding, we’re seeing greater fragmentation than ever before in the EMEA market – with differences in maturity, sophistication and adoption levels throughout the region really com- ing to the fore. This complexity is a real problem for (38)(39) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 to pigeonhole themselves unnecessarily as this or that type of organisation, they can be engaged and supported based on their individual business models. We’re now pursuing a notion of value based on the holistic business relationship between partner and VMware, not which boxes they can tick. Within this, the differentiation of part- ners is absolutely key. Our partners are crying out for the means to better estab- lish their USPs in a highly competitive market. Foundationally, this will be driv- en through Master Services Competencies (MSCs) – our highest vali- dations of services capability, aligned to VMware’s strategic IT priorities. Master Services Competencies cover Data Center Virtualisation, Cloud Management and Automation, VMware Cloud on AWS, Network Virtualisation and Digital Workspace. Additionally, as IT departments continue to grapple with meeting end-user demands for new apps, we launched at VMworld Europe last year a MSC specifically on Cloud Native and Kubernetes, and we will keep inno- vating the selection to ensure they remain fresh and relevant. Within each MSC, there are now three levels of tier- ing – from Partner, through to Advanced Partner, through to Principal Partner. And, in the months ahead, we plan to integrate partner programs from new VMware products, including VeloCloud and recently acquired VMware business- es VMware Carbon Black and Pivotal. There are two important points to call out here. Firstly, partners do not need to invest in any MSC that isn’t relevant to their business model. The programme is designed to allow partners to pick their preferred path(s) of differentiation, whatever they are. That could be, for example, becoming a Principal Partner in Data Centre Virtualisation and noth- ing else, or it could be a Principal Partner in VMware Cloud on AWS and an Advanced Partner in Digital Workspace. We can offer consultancy and guidance but the choice is really up to each and every partner. Secondly, the more partners invest the more we invest. We understand that attaining any MSC is a significant investment in time and resource. These are the best of the best for a reason; they take a lot to obtain. With Partner Connect, partners are rewarded for their levels of investment – in terms of the co- selling, education, deployment, demand generation and sales incentives that we offer, in line with how deep the partners go in their accreditations. By achieving Principal level, for example, a partner has proven the highest level of VMware expertise and sales performance – as a result, they will reap the most rewards. This has been designed in direct response to feedback from our partners – who want greater co-investment to support the level of differentiation that they can offer. Ashok Chakravarthi Arulmozhi, man- aging director of HUCO, a VMware Master Services Competencies (MSC) company based in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, said the intended benefits of Partner Connect are already being realised. “The advantages we get as a MSC partner help us provide an even higher quality of service to our customers. We are proud to be the first partner in the Middle East region with all five MSCs. Consolidating the different partner pro- grams in Partner Connect will also ease our access to new market opportunities.” Mohamad Hammouda, division manag- er, Innovations and Technology Services Division at Comprehensive Computing Innovations (CCI), an integrator special- ising in VMware technology in Lebanon, said: “What’s exciting about VMware Partner Connect is the level of innovation it brings to the way we work with VMware, offering us greater flexibility while fostering new co-selling and con- sumption opportunities. It’s a win-win, and we foresee that Partner Connect will be a driving force for our partnership with VMware.” For governments and businesses, the result is win-win. They’re presented with best-in-class professional services experi- ence via trusted and certified partners with the resources, knowledge, skills, and tools to successfully deliver services. And, via our visibility, involvement and robust validation process, we’re able to match the exact partner to the appropriate business challenge with pinpoint accuracy. Partner Connect went live on 29 February. The date itself was deliberate – it’s a leap year, and this launch is a mile- stone event for us as we take our own leap forward, strategically. To quote our world- wide channel chief, Jenni Flinders; “VMware Partner Connect reimagines the way we do business with and for our part- ners, helping them drive differentiated cus- tomer success and digital transformation.” From now on, however, we’ll look to implement continual and minor adjust- ments. Partner Connect will continue to evolve based on industry changes, chang- es in customer buying behaviours, and to support emerging partner business mod- els. But we’ve designed it for easy updates – the industries we and our part- ners operate in simply move too fast to stop and pause for further big refreshes. Foundationally, we will deliver a pro- gramme built on agility and, crucially, one that’s been based on feedback and close engagement with our Partner Advisory Councils across the world. Afterall, as all successful relationships know – stop listening to your partner and you stop being relevant. Next >