< PreviousQUOTED Employees cause of most cloud data breaches: report Employees pose a bigger security threat to cloud data than cloud providers, a recent report by Kaspersky says. The survey, ‘Understanding se- curity of the cloud: from adoption benefits to threats and concerns’, shows that most companies expect cloud providers to be responsible for the safety of data stored on their cloud platforms. However, around 90% (SMBs (88%) and en- terprises (91%)) of corporate data breaches in the cloud happen due to social engineering techniques targeting customers’ employees, not because of problems caused by the cloud provider. “Cloud providers normally have dedicated cybersecurity measures in place to protect their platforms and customers, but when a threat is on the customer’s side, it is no longer the provider’s responsibil- ity. Our research shows that com- panies should be more attentive to the cybersecurity hygiene of their employees and take measures that will protect their cloud environ- ment from the inside,” says Maxim Frolov, vice president of global sales at Kaspersky Lab. Cloud adoption allows organi- sations to be agile; However, they also worry about cloud infrastruc- ture continuity and security. Companies should take measures that will protect their cloud environment from the inside, says Frolov. MALWARE ACTIVITY DECREASED IN JUNE, DOWN ALMOST 13% FROM THE PREVIOUS MONTH: SYMANTEC MONTHLY THREAT REPORT Most expect cloud providers to be responsible for data stored on their platforms, Kaspersky says in new study Source: Symantec Pasha: UAE is ahead of UAE is ahead of the curve in acceptance of the curve in acceptance of AI to manage security.AI to manage security. “Data manipulation attacks can be just as, if not more crippling for organisations, than theft.” Tim Bandos Digital Guardian MIL L IONS 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 NSMMJ 2019OJJFAAD // UPDATE / SECURITY // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 10 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / AUGUST 2019 /New research by Palo Alto shows that 33% of UAE residents online would pre- fer artificial intelligence (AI) to look after their cybersecurity. While this figure is significantly high- er than the average across those EMEA countries surveyed – where 26% of re- spondents said they would prefer AI to manage their cybersecurity – it lagged be- hind a preference for humans to complete the same task, with 47% of respondents in the UAE saying that they would prefer a human to manage their cybersecurity. “The research demonstrates that the UAE is ahead of the curve in terms of ac- ceptance of AI in managing important tasks such as cybersecurity. This is in line with our expectations, especially as the UAE has taken a leadership role in AI and has appointed a dedicated Minister of Ar- tificial Intelligence,” said Haider Pasha, regional chief security officer, Emerging Markets, Palo Alto. In the EMEA countries surveyed, an average of 37% of respondents said they would prefer a human. The UAE research appears to show a relatively high level of acceptance of AI in detecting and responding to cyberthreats. Out of all the EMEA countries surveyed, only Italy had a higher preference (38%) for AI to manage cybersecurity. The Palo Alto study also revealed a high level of trust in cybersecurity technology in general. Fifty percent of respondents in the UAE agreed that cy- bersecurity technology helped them to people spend less time worrying about the security of their data, and 19% of those respondents ‘strongly agreed’. A third of firms trust AI to look after cybersecurity The top seven security and risk trends for 2019, according to Gartner Trend No. 1: Leading SRM security risk management (SRM) leaders are creating pragmatic risk appetite statements linked to business outcomes to engage their stakeholders more effectively Trend No. 2: There is renewed interest in implementing or maturing security operations centres (SOCs) with a focus on threat detection and response Trend No. 3: Leading organisations are utilising a data security governance framework to prioritise data security investments Trend No. 4: “Passwordless” authentication is achieving market traction, driven by demand and the availability of biometrics and strong hardware-based authentication methods Trend No. 5: Security product vendors are increasingly offering premium services to help customers get more immediate value and to assist in skills training Trend No. 6: Leading organisations are investing in and maturing their cloud security competency as it becomes the mainstream computing platform Trend No. 7: The strategic CARTA approach to security is starting to appear in more traditional security markets “When not secured properly, any camera or access control device in IoT can be accessed remotely.” Firas Jadalla, Genetec “There is virtually no connected experience not impacted by the availability and speed of DNS.” Lori MacVittie, F5 Networks United Arab Emirates has higher level of trust than Europe in artificial intelligence 49% of businesses believe cloud apps make them a target for cyber-attacks Thales Access Management Index // UPDATE / SECURITY // AUGUST 2019 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 11// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /Innovation Awards 2019 The 2019 edition of the Network Middle East Innovation Awards was held this June in Dubai, recognising excellence in the networking and cybersecurity technology and projects. Sixteen winners were awarded on the day evenly split be- tween implementation and vendor categories. // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 12 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / AUGUST 2019 // // POSTVIEW / NME AWARDS 2019// POSTVIEW / NME AWARDS 2019 // AUGUST 2019 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 13// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /Atlantis, the Palm modernises its IT environment with Dell virtualisation technologies Case study The big picture // CASE STUDY / ATLANTIS, THE PALM // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 14 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / AUGUST 2019 /SUMMARY Objective Atlantis, The Palm, welcomes people from over 227 different countries and serves 4.4 million guests at its F&B outlets every year. This has resulted in a growing large volume of transactional data, and thus required a consolidated and integrated IT environment. Solution Unlike the resort’s traditional IT environment which impacted the efficiency of mission-critical ap- plications and hampered disaster recovery and strategies due to its complexities, the new platform is designed to provide simplicity and higher operational efficiency and enhanced security – resulting in low administrative overhead costs. Results The hotel can now effectively man- age the availability, reliability and serviceability of mission-critical hospitality applications. With plans to transform its customer experi- ence, this deployment aims to help Atlantis, The Palm, offer greater simplicity to boost business agility and innovation. Faced with a blade server ar- chitecture that was nearing its end of life, Atlantis the Palm hotel had a choice to make on the nature of its fu- ture architecture. At the top of the IT department’s wish list was a platform that would eliminate any single point of failure. For a hotel of that size and standing, round the clock availability of applications and workloads is of critical importance. Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) not only ticks the availability box but also effectively manages the distri- bution of storage, says Anthony Lyns- dale, vice president of IT at Atlantis, The Palm. Although hyperconverged infra- structure technology was relatively new at the time, it had already proved its ef- fectiveness in eliminating complexity in IT environments, increasing agility and flexibility, and to simplify operations. Lynsdale and his team therefore put together a tender process to select an HCI platform that was a right fit for the business among the few strong players in the space. Dell Technologies’ VxRail came out tops, demonstrating its capabilities in ensuring round the clock avail- ability of applications and workloads during the se- lection process. “It was really felt that Dell had a more mature product. Further, it fitted within our VMware-based ecosystem. This had the benefit of not having to retrain the team-we could essentially just plug in the system into our existing environ- ment,” says Lynsdale. Additionally, Dell came across as having very strong after-sales support, says Lynsdale. “For Dell, it wasn’t simply about getting the account. It was about after the deal in its entirety. They asked the right questions-what else can we help you with; how can we bring it to life; how can we optimise it? And those con- versations are still happening, which is which a very good sign is for us,” he adds. The VxRail implementation was car- ried out in a phased approach. The core of the system has been live since the be- ginning of 2018, followed by the gradual introduction of core business applica- tions on top of the VxRail platform. “We carried out a phased implemen- tation which allowed us to mature and really get to understand the mechanics of VxRail. And that’s worked in our favour; we are now much more comfortable go- ing forward,” he says. Dell partner Emircom implemented the system. BUSINESS NEED A strong IT backbone is instrumental to the resort’s ability to run demanding hospitality applications as well as meet future needs. The core hospitality applications running on the infrastructure include OPERA PMS (property management system), the main software for the hotel used to manage reservations, check-ins and check-outs. The application is re- lied upon round the clock and any pro- longed downtime would be disastrous to the business. “Therefore, we required a resilient environ- ment to maintain a high level of availability for these ap- plications,” says Lynsdale. The hotel has also mi- grated JD Edward for ERP as well Galaxy Connect, the ticketing platform for the At- lantis Aquaventure waterpark, as well as Symphony point of sale. Apart from these core systems, vari- ous other management software running on the platform such as mobile app- based content management systems, as well as other internal apps including HotSOS used in housekeeping as well as for guest services. Most of the hotel’s applications run on-premise, Lynsdale explains. 20% gains in performance // CASE STUDY / ATLANTIS, THE PALM // AUGUST 2019 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 15// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /Atlantis, The Palm, welcomes people from over 227 different countries and serves 4.4 million guests at its F&B outlets every year resulting in a growing large volume of transactional data. It was really felt that Dell had a more mature product. Further, it fitted within our VMware- based ecosystem. ” Anthony Lynsdale, vice president of IT, at Atlantis, The Palm The task of migrating to Dell HCI was straightforward, thanks to the team’s fa- miliarity with VMware. “The beauty of it was that we could do a parallel envi- ronment and test the applications before they went live,” Lynsdale explains. There will be a certain amount of downtime during the migration process, which was planned well in advance and after months of planning. This is done with business continuity in mind, says Lynsdale. “At night, the exercise of port- ing data from the blade to the HCI is carried out. Again this is carried out in a phased manner. We have the vendor team on standby in order to ensure the integrity of the application as well as support it in real-time.” Some data still resides on the previ- ous platform, with an eventual plan to consolidate all storage. The hotel deployed a 10 node archi- tecture. The redundant nature such an architecture means that if three nodes failed for instance, the hotel could still operate, says Lynsdale. Planning and structuring the process was perhaps the most critical part of the project. “We paid a lot of attention to the process as we were embarking on com- pletely new environment. We considered all aspects of the shift, from IP address- ing schemes to VLANs.” “We’ve factored in a buffer within the current environment. So that will suffice for a period of time. But we want to continue to add new applications and expand storage. We have some internal projects around data and business intel- ligence we want to bring to life towards the end of the year. The advantage of the platform is we that can literally just add additional nodes when needed as it’s es- sentially plug-and-play technology,” says Lynsdale. “This lack of heavy configura- tion was another attractive proposition for us.” Atlantis parent company Kazner Group is building a massive new sister facility next door, The Royal Atlantis Re- sort & Residences, which will house al- most 800 guest rooms and more than 230 serviced apartments upon completion. With that in mind, an IT platform that could span both facilities was required. “We engaged with the vendor with this physical expansion in mind-we were not just looking for a solution that was fit for purpose, but we also considered what’s in the pipeline. When the Royal Atlantis property is fully developed, we can build on that resilience between the two prop- erties,” says Lynsdale. For that, the hotel intends to build an active/active data centre, essentially a mirror datacentre of the primary setup at Atlantis, The Palm. The process of migrating applica- tions is ongoing. A few applications are yet be finalised and migrated, a process // CASE STUDY / ATLANTIS, THE PALM // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 16 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / AUGUST 2019 /at the Royal Atlantis to handle the front of house IT requests as well as any guest IT-related inquiries. The back of house management will all be maintained cen- trally from the main office. BUSINESS BENEFIT Atlantis, The Palm, welcomes people from over 227 different countries and serves 4.4 million guests at its F&B out- lets every year. This has resulted in a growing large volume of transactional data, which highlights the importance of a consolidated and integrated IT en- THE CLIENT Atlantis, The Palm is the first enter- tainment resort destination in the region and located at the centre of the crescent of The Palm in Dubai. Opened in September 2008, the ocean-themed resort features a variety of marine and entertain- ment attractions, as well as 17 hectares of waterscape amuse- ment at Aquaventure Waterpark, all within a 46 hectare site. It is home to one of the largest open-air marine habitats in the world, with over 65,000 marine animals in lagoons and displays including The Lost Chambers Aquarium, a maze of underwater corridors and passageways set to represent a journey through mythical Atlantis. that should be complete by the fourth quarter of the year, says Lynsdale. The focus will then shift to planning for the Royal Atlantis Project and the process of setting up the HCI environ- ment ready for an active/active architec- ture. “We can scale up very quickly, and then take that same approach next door with the Royal Atlantis.” The expanded facility will use a shared IT services model. This will entail having one central data centre based at the parent facility with a larger IT team. There will be a small team on the ground vironment. “Since migrating OPERA, the performance is far superior to what we had before. The reporting process, for example, is a lot quicker. So overall, we have witnessed 20% gains in perfor- mance,” says Lynsdale. Although Atlantis is busy pretty much throughout the year, fall gets even busier due to conferences and events as well as the festive season, with resultant greater demand for IT services during that time. “We need to make sure that the systems are operational 24/7 and if we need to recover, we can do so quickly. If we do need to do maintenance we need to make sure can do that quickly,” he says. The hotel has so far removed more than 50 physical servers from the tradi- tional data centres with a few that still need to rationalised, says Lynsdale. “From an administration standpoint, the load is lighter than it was before when we were managing it through the traditional blade environment,” he adds. An example of this is how efficient IT is in provisioning a server- This can now be accomplished in about an hour or so whereas the same process would have taken a day previously, Lynsdale says. VxRail consolidates compute, storage, and virtualisa- tion with end-to-end automated lifecycle management. // CASE STUDY / ATLANTIS, THE PALM // AUGUST 2019 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 17// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /THE VENDOR Dell Technologies is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. It was formed as a result of the Sep- tember 2016 merger of Dell and EMC Corporation (which later became Dell EMC). Dell operates under three divisions: Dell Client Solutions Group which produces desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets, and peripherals, such as monitors, printers, and projectors under the Dell brand name, Dell EMC for storage solutions, and VMware, a publicly traded company focused on virtualisation and cloud infrastructure. VxRail allows the hotel’s IT staff to focus on business innovation rather than time-consuming administrative tasks. “The single pane of glass we get with VMware allows us to easily manage the environment and orchestrate as we need,” Lynsdale says. For the business, the greatest benefit is the uptime and uninterrupted opera- tions. “I’m accountable for maintaining IT services in the hotel-the clock is tick- ing if we have downtime. We have had minimal service interruptions with the new platform, testament to the applica- tions we have and the technology it is running on. So we will continue to opti- mise and work through how we can im- prove the system and make it even more resilient,” he says. “In terms of the services that are cur- rently running and the uptime, we see very strong results,” says Lynsdale. In cybersecurity, Atlantis IT works closely with our global team at parent company Kerzner International. “Ker- zner has a broader initiative when it comes to I.T. security and cybersecurity. So we follow their best practices,” Lyns- dale explains. With such a dynamic industry as hos- pitality, a platform that can scale and ac- commodate new and emerging demands is essential. Mobility is one of these emerging trends. Atlantis hotel launched a mobile guest application 18 months ago which has already been downloaded more than 50, 000 times, says Lynsdale. Through largely driven by marketing, IT is in- volved in enabling the app as it needs to connect back to certain core systems such as OPERA. For guests, the focus for IT is to keep the technology as intuitive and simple as possible. “We are not going to over- engineer technology in the guest rooms. IPTV, for instance, should just work. We cannot be babysitting that system for a resort of this size. Same applies for the door locking system or the mobile app.” “These platforms need to be steady and robust; this is paramount from an I.T perspective when we carry out the technology selection process. But it also needs to be intuitive and in tune with what the hotel guest expectations are,” says Lynsdale. Blockchain is another emerging tech- nology that will have a major impact on the hospitality industry. Atlantis has already dipped its toes in blockchain. This arose from the need for a cashless solution specifically for the popular Nasimi beach club next door which typically attracts thousands of people for events. Blockchain payment platform Lucid Pay was selected for a service that integrates with PoS, using a wristband embedded with a barcode scanned at points of sale. The platform has since expanded to include guest services-a guest can tap their room key to a reader which auto- matically determines what services they are eligible for and charged to the room. So the guest doesn’t need to sign a bill, creating a friction-less guest experience. Today, the hospitality industry is all about hyper-personalisation of the guest experience, Lynsdale says. A potential application involves working with travel agencies, integrating the process from when guests are booking hotel rooms on- line through when they check-in, their stay and post-stay. “The key here is how we can make the whole process a more personal journey through the use of tech- nology and data.” Automation will play an increas- ingly important in hospitality because of the volume, especially for large facilities such as Atlantis. Check-in, for instance, is a major challenge when dealing with large groups arriving at the same time. There are possibly ways to leverage the operations of the Tourism Board and Border Control by using the data they have collected at points of entry to re- move the need for guests to present their passport in the hotel as that information is already at hand. This project with Dell Technologies will allow the iconic Atlantis, The Palm to power its digital transformation jour- ney, elevate its customer experience and plan for the future. // CASE STUDY / ATLANTIS, THE PALM // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 18 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / AUGUST 2019 /CLOUD DATACENTRES SPECIAL REPORT August 2019Next >