Top tips from industry experts on how businesses can prepare for the unknowns of 2021 p28 Building and delivering IT solutions for the Middle East An ITP Media Group Publication Vol. 18 | Issue. 05 | December 2020 Bildid d liiITl tifth Middl Et GITEX SPECIAL REPORT 2020 HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM THIS YEAR’S EVENT(3) www.itp.net CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_DECEMBER 2020 //DECEMBER 2020 VOLUME 18 / ISSUE 05 REGULARS FRONTLINE 18 Hiperdist, Keeper Security pen distribution deal for MEA Keeper Security offers an enterprise password manager that is built on a fully zero- knowledge architecture 20 StarLink enhances IAM portfolio with SailPoint partnership The partnership is aimed at driving business efficiency with a robust Identity Management strategy 20 Credence Security, ZeroFOX partner to protect organisations’ digital estates ZeroFOX’s digital risk protection solutions add critical capabilities to Credence Security’s cybersecurity and digital forensics portfolio IN-DEPTH 05 5 GITEX SPECIAL REPORT 2020 Celebrating 40 years of innovation and excellence in the technology sector 35 DAY IN THE LIFE Samer Semaan, channel & alliances manager Middle East, Pure Storage 42 GET TO KNOW Ranjith Kaippada, managing director, Cloud Box Technologies PEOPLE 24 Mimecast names new SVP for global channel sales Mimecast appoints Jonathan Corini as senior vice president 24 VMware appoints new regional director NALE Amr Salah joins VMware as regional director FEATURES 26 The Cloud Trust Paradox We sat down with Saad Ouchkir, head of customer engineering META at Google Cloud to discuss how the conversation around cloud security has shifted towards data encryption and to understand how regional privacy regulations apply to an organisation’s compliance requirements 32 Finastra Event Report Finastra hosted its first-ever CXO roundtable in the Middle East, initiating an engaging discussion on how fostering a customer- 526 23 CyberKnight becomes Ilantus’ Middle East distributor The partnership seeks to strengthen user identity security, bolster privileged access and prevent data breaches 23 Gigamon announces Redington Value as distributor for MEA Redington Value will act as a key Gigamon distributor with local presence in countries across the region 32 28 25 Exclusive Networks announces new CEO Appoints Jesper Trolle with immediate effect centric and collaborative culture is conducive to successful digital transformation of the banking sec- torcategories, and educators need to take into consideration a few factors to ensure classroom-quality lectures to stay-at-home students. We break it down for you(4) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_DECEMBER 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com Over the past few years, the IT channel’s biggest transformation has been the inclusion of training, support and services to drive results and positive outcomes for customers. Up until last year, if you asked anyone in the channel if they would expect to close a deal with a brand-new customer without ever meeting them – the answer would probably just be an incredulous look. But why would someone ask such a question? Relationships are developed when you meet someone, your personality shows in your conversation, you gauge your customer’s reactions and objections, and finally convey your commitment to your product and to the customer’s success, right? All this changed suddenly at the beginning of the year when the channel transformed the way it conducted its business. While the pandemic may have confined the world within walls, it hasn’t been able to dampen the spirits of the tech industry which has become the pedestal of innovation and transformation in every sector. This is not to say that channel players had it easy. In fact, after dealing with a tough couple of years, 2020 presented the channel with uncertain budgets, declining revenues and an unpredictable economy. Someone once told me that the best time to invest and experiment in the market is when the economy is tough. It enables you to explore what you may think is beyond your means. The pandemic provided channel players with the opportunity to review vendor relationships, revamp their approach to customers and evolve to reverse declining revenues. This year, channel players in the region reevaluated the fundamentals of running the business, overhaul their approach to sales and marketing, and create new business models. Clearly, everything around us is changing – the way we conduct business, the way we work, even how we engage and communicate. So are we. In this technology-driven society, going digital was the most logical step for all the technology brands. We have taken the leap and consolidated Channel Middle East, Network Middle East and Comms MEA under one umbrella – ITP.net. While I will miss working on the print issues of Channel Middle East, I am sure that being digital will only allow us to have a closer relationship with our audience. See you on the other side! New year, new beginnings IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENT FOR STORIES VISIT USwww.itp.net FOLLOW CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST ITP_English Sarah.Rizvi@itp.com EDITOR’S NOTES // by Sarah Rizvi PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 444 3000 www.itp.com Offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London and Mumbai ITP MEDIA GROUP CEO Ali Akawi Managing Director Alex Reeve EDITORIAL Group Editor Sarah Rizvi Tel: +971 4 4443617 e-mail: sarah.rizvi@itp.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Christopher Kelly Tel: +971 4 4443120 e-mail: chris.kelly@itp.com ADVERTISING Digital Publisher, Technology Group Paul Hylden Tel: +971 4 444 3396 e-mail: paul.hylden@itp.com Sales Manager, Technology Group Thomas Lambert Tel: +971 4 444 3637 e-mail: thomas.lambert@itp.com PHOTOGRAPHY Senior photographers Efraim Evidor, Richard Hall Staff photographers Lester Apuntar, Aasiya Jagadeesh, Grace Guino, Fritz Asuro, Ajith Narendra PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION Group Production & Distribution Director Kyle Smith Production Manager Basel Al Kassem Production Coordinator Manoj Mahadevan Image Editor Emmalyn Robles CIRCULATION Distribution & Warehouse Manager Praveen Nair MARKETING Director of Awards & Marketing Daniel Fewtrell ITP LIVE General Manager Ahmad Bashour Tel: +971 4 444 3549 e-mail: ahmad.bashour@itp.com ITP GROUP CEO Ali Akawi CFO Toby Jay Spencer-Davies Subscribe online at www.itp.com/subscriptions The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication, which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the readers particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review. Published by and Copyright © 2020 ITP MEDIA GROUP FZ-LLC. 5 EXTRA ORDINARY D A YS T O POWER THE FUTURE OF Y OUR BUSINESS AFTER A YEAR OF MISSED OPPOR TUNITIES GITEX PRESENTS New safety protocols: Advance, online registration at gitex.com and Print@Home badges issued only. Strictly no registration / badges issued on-site. File Photo GITEX 2019 6-10 DEC 2020 6 - 9 D E C 2020 DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE THE ONLY GLOBAL TECH & STARTUP EVENT IN 2020, LIVE 280 HOURS OF NON- STOP HARD HITTING CONFERENCES WITH SPEAKERS FROM 24 COUNTRIES VENUE SAFE SAFETY ASSURED BY DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE BIG TECH AND STARTUPS FROM 60+ COUNTRIES ON BIG TRENDS IN 5G, AI, CYBER, FUTURE MOBILITY, CLOUD & EDGE COMPUTING, FROM DELL TECHNOLOGIES, ETISALAT, HUAWEI, KASPERSKY, LENOVO, MICROSOFT, NOKIA INAUGURAL UAE-ISRAEL FUTURE DIGITAL ECONOMY SUMMIT FEATURING MINISTERS AND THE MOST INFLUENTIAL TECH AND BIZ LEADERSImportant Notice: 6-10 DECEMBER DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE BUY YOUR PASS AT: BRYAN SEELY FIRST TIME IN THE REGION: KEYNO TE SPEAKER SEE YOU AT GISEC 2020! IS UNHACKABLE FACE-TO-FACE 200200 XX 265265 GIGISECSEC ADAD AWAW2i2inddndd 11200 X 265 GISEC AD AW2 indd 1MMMMAA66 AA363688:3:300 882020//228/8/88//11//11118888663300MMMMMMMMAA22//11//111111/11/18/18/2020 88:36:36 AMAM11/18/20 8:36 AM(7) www.itp.net CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_DECEMBER 2020 TOP 5 REASONS TO ATTEND | GITEX SPECIAL REPORT 2020 GITEX 2020 is just around the corner, so here are our top 5 reasons to visit the show and whet your appetite As the only face to face tech event scheduled to take part anywhere in the world during 2020, you hardly need any more reasons to attend. This year’s show will bring together the biggest and best tech com- panies from across the world with busi- nesses here in the UAE. Here are our top 5 reasons to attend the show this year: AN INTERNATIONAL EXTR AV- AGANZA GITEX 2020 will be a truly international tech showcase, bringing together the crème de la crème of business innovation solutions and first time launches from more than 60 countries including Japan, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Italy, France, Egypt and India, to name just a few. GITEX 2020 will bring the world of tech to the streets of Dubai. TOP 5 REASONS TO ATTEND GITEX 2020 FIVE SHOWS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE This year, GITEX is putting 5 jaw-drop- ping shows under one roof. Attendees will get the chance to experience all 5 events when they purchase their GITEX 2020 pass. The show will include GITEX 2020, GITEX Future Stars, GISEC, Future Blockchain Summit and Marketing Mania. CONTENT IS K ING Visitors to this year’s show will get to experience a stunning 70 + hours of free content, covering the A frica Investment Forum and Security X-Labs. They will also be given the opportunity to listen to key insights from the best A I companies and the world’s most wanted hackers live on stage. This year’s show will be a veri- table feast of information. AI AND 5G FOCUS The UAE has one of the most progressive and ambitious digital economies in the world, with 5G and Artificial Intelligence set to play a pivotal role in the growth of businesses across the country. GITEX 2020 will offer valuable insight into the transformative power of Automation & AI, 5G, Cloud & Edge platforms, Deep Learning and Big Data initiatives across a swathe of industry verticals. If you work for an SME or fintech firm, you really can’t afford to miss this year’s show. HEAV Y WEIGHT PL AYERS GITEX always attracts the biggest names in tech and this year will be no exception. Huawei, Lenovo, Avaya, Honeywell, Etisalat, NetApp, Software AG and Zoho are just some of the many enterprises showcasing their cutting edge innovations at this year’s show.(8) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_DECEMBER 2020 www.itp.net GITEX SPECIAL REPORT 2020 | SPOTLIGHT From the 6th–10th December 2020, GITEX 2020 will lead the tech world from the front with a special bumper edition co-locating with 4 sister shows This year the Middle East’s best loved tech extravaganza, GITEX, will bring together five mind blowing shows under one roof. Attendees will be able to sample a packed conference agenda from GITEX 2020, GITEX Future Stars, GISEC, Future Blockchain Summit and Marketing Mania. The UAE is open for business and GITEX 2020 is opening its doors to the world’s premium tech firms and an army of tech fans. This year’s show will offer a veritable cornucopia of technology launches and innovation, so attendees will be able to get hands on with the lat- est gadgets and devices. This year’s event will host the indus- try’s key players from more than 60 coun- tries including Japan, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Italy, Nigeria, Turkey, Belgium, Romania and India. Held in the Dubai World Trade Centre, GITEX 2020 will apply the most rigorous health and safety standards, as laid out by government authorities, including Dubai Health Authority and Dubai Municipality, to ensure the health and safety of everyone on its premises. Attendees can visit the event in full confi- dence that the highest standards of safe- ty and hygiene are being applied. As the only face to face technology event to be held in 2020, GITEX 2020 attendees will be able to hear key insights from a huge range of internation- al speakers and influencers and interact with exhibitors across the five shows. So, let’s take a closer look at what’s on offer at GITEX 2020… GITEX 2020 Now in its 40th year, GITEX needs little introduction. As the region’s premium technology event, GITEX will bring GITEX 2020 BRINGS 5 CUTTING EDGE TECH SHOWS TO DUBAI players, with SPIRE Solutions, Etisalat Digital, emt Technologies, Fortinet, Ingram Micro, Qualys and Huawei all confirmed as exhibitors at GISEC 2020. FUTURE BLOCKCHAIN SUMMIT Blockchain solutions will inevitably be at the very foundation of our future digital lives – underpinning the digital transfor- mation initiatives of businesses looking to emerge quickly and proactively from the Covid 19 slump. The Future Blockchain Summit will expand the conversations, business opportunities and innovations across the industry. The event will welcome top Blockchain enterprises, startups and the most influential minds of the industry for five days of power networking and learning, unlike any other show you will have experienced. MARKETING MANIA Marketing Mania promises to be a captivating learning experience, for marketers across the tech sector. The event will bring together the brightest and most forward-thinking CMOs, brand strategists, creative directors, and heads of marketing from some of the world’s leading firms. The event will offer keynote addresses from a selection of rockstar speakers from across the marketing world, includ- ing Magnus Djaba, global president & CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi; Sophie Devonshire, CEO, The Marketing Society; and Matthias Schranner, CEO and Founder of The Schranner Negotiation Institute. The packed confer- ence agenda will span a huge range of topics, offering attendees valuable insight into the work practices of some of the world’s premium marketing gurus. together the leading players from the global tech sector. GITEX 2020 will be the only major technology show to be held in a face to face setting this year, so this is your only chance to get up close and personal with the plethora of new tech and gadgets that will be on display during the show. The packed conference agenda and exhibition areas will centre on the key themes of 5G, AI, Analytics, Future Mobility, Digital Economies, Cybersecurity and Cloud and Edge com- puting – everything that will underpin our future digital lives. GITEX FUTURE STARS GITEX Future Stars is the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia’s biggest start up event. Playing host to a plethora of startups from across the world, the event will provide a platform for some of the world’s most innovative young compa- nies. The show will attract a host of glob- al investors and accelerators in 2020, GITEX Future Stars will bring together financers and startups to fast track their development. The show will hear insights from international business moguls, including Brett King, founder and CEO of Move; Nolan Bushnell, founder of ATARI and Halfa Al Kaylani, founder and chairman of The Arab International Women’s Forum. GISEC GISEC will bring together attendees and exhibitors from the international security sector, from multinational distributors to the world’s most promising cybersecurity companies and startups, with a focus on enterprise, AI, blockchain, 5G, IoT and cloud based technologies. The event will bring together showcase innovations from the industry’s leading (9) www.itp.net CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_DECEMBER 2020 RED HAT | GITEX SPECIAL REPORT 2020 Adrian Pickering, regional general manager, EMEA, Red Hat, looks at the issues that are affecting businesses in the region, and explains why attending GITEX Technology Week 2020 is so important for his company BUSINESS TR ENDS IN 2020 Accelerated digital transforma- tion is a major trend that con- tinues to affect our business this year. As expected, organisational depen- dence on technology has increased substantially due to the pandemic, and enterprises continue to require great- er digital capabilities to succeed in their respective sectors. L ooking ahead, the importance of technology and deploying those with the capabili- ties to meet requirements for an array of sectors will only increase. Therefore, we are experiencing great- er demand for open source software. Widespread digital transformation is driving our presence and inf luence in several areas of IT technology devel- opment across different sectors, and the open source software and solu- tions we provide will continue to drive sustainability and success for enter- prises moving forward. SHOWCASING THE FUTURE, AT GITEX 2020 From our perspective here at Red Hat, we are attending GITEX 2020 to intro- duce new innovations to the market, network with new and existing clients, and interact with industry personnel and representatives from public and private sector organisations across the GCC. As we all know, GITEX is the region’s flagship technology show. We are proud of our long-standing associa- tion with the event, which is a focal point for the majority of regional tech- nology users. We are also attending GITEX because the event is a formative platform for showcasing and experienc- ing the future. As such, we are looking forward to demonstrating how open source will benefit the enterprise com- munity in the months and years ahead. be a very effective means of communica- tion, yet face-to-face shows are perhaps the greatest form of communication. From our perspective, these conditions offer an opportunity to create a new and different experience, one the feels delib- erate rather than a consequence of Covid- 19 circumstances. This is where an auto- mated self-service booth experience comes in. At the Red Hat booth this year, H6-A20, we are aiming to integrate digi- tal elements for guidance and experience navigation, demonstrate the playfulness and interactive nature of our brand, and invite attendees to ‘Go Slow, Look Closer, and Dig Deeper’. We will be showcasing products, solutions, and new functional- ity, taking attendees on a journey through the virtuous cycle of cutting edge tech that includes Red Hat open source, edge computing, open hybrid cloud, and digital transformation and ver- ticals. We are looking forward to interact- ing with our customers through both vir- tual pre-booked meetings with our team and on-site bookings that are available for detailed product deep-dives. HYPERSCALE CLOUD IN THE GCC Because global hyperscale cloud provid- ers have been established in countries across the region, we aim to reach out to as many public and private sector organ- isations as possible at GITEX 2020. We want to engage with them concerning the many benefits that hybrid cloud services provide, such as scaling computing resources, minimising costs, and gener- ating revenue. At the same time, we hope to inspire an array of organisations and technology vendors, discuss their roles and what they will entail in the future, and promote open source solutions so that more will apply them to their respec- tive operations. Flexibility, speed, securi- ty, agility, sustainability, and cost-effi- ciency are all advantages sure to come to fruition with open source services and solutions that we provide. Therefore, we aim to utilize the platform GITEX pro- vides to introduce an influx of potential new customers to open source. EMERGING FROM THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC Now that the region is emerging from the crisis and events are resuming, business- es and representatives can come together and hold discussions in-person regarding the future and how best to achieve suc- cess. Of course, the has world changed, and the GITEX 2020 audience will natu- rally expect a different experience of the event and of Red Hat. Digital disruption and transformation are already driving more and more enterprises to explore dig- ital channels with a view to achieving operational sustainability. As the capabili- ties of digital technologies continue to be recognised and showcased, industries and enterprises must adapt to the evolving digital landscape so they remain competi- tive and cater to customer needs. Remote meetings of recent times have proven to Adrian Pickering, regional general manager, EMEA, Red Hat. GITEX 2020 IS THE PERFECT PLATFORM TO INTRODUCE NEW INNOVATIONS TO THE MARKETNext >