< PreviousFounded in Cam- bridge, UK as CADCentre Acquired Reality- wave, Inc ‘05‘67Changed its name to AVEVA ‘01Acquired Tribon Solu- tions ‘04 What is your company’s history-including Middle East History? Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, AVE- VA is a global leader in engineering and industrial software driving digital trans- formation across the entire asset and operations life cycle of capital-intensive industries. Our engineering, planning and operations, asset performance, and monitoring and control solutions deliver proven results to customers across the globe. With over 50 years of innovation, 16,000 customers, 4,200 partners and 16% of revenue invested in R&D annu- ally, AVEVA has been creating proven and trusted solutions that drive digital transformation and deliver meaningful results. We use collaborative innova- tion to empower people and industries, enabling the planet to thrive. AVEVA launched its Middle East operations in 2003 and in the process of building a strong channel partner network across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. AVEVA counts some of the biggest names in the energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and food & beverages industry sectors as its cus- tomers in the region. In March 2018, AVEVA merged with Schneider Electric’s industrial software business to drive digital transformation Acquired iDesignOffice Pty Ltd Acquired Logimatic’s MARS business and ADB Systemer AS MILESTONES IN AVEVA HISTORY Company> AVEVA Company type> Engineering and Industrial Software Dr. Tariq Aslam, Head of MEA, AVEVA. Company profile ‘09‘12 across the asset and operational life cycle for capital-intensive industries. By joining Schneider Electric’s energy management and automation systems with AVEVA’s software, customers could benefit from solutions, which boosts visibility and control across the entire industrial lifecycle. Your company’s core competence AVEVA provides innovative industrial software to transform complex industries such as oil & gas, construction, engineer- ing, marine, utilities to name some. Our software solutions and platform enable the design and management of com- plex industrial assets like power plants, chemical plants, water treatment facili- ties and food and beverage manufacturers – deploying Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to digitally transform industries. AVEVA enables companies to real- ise capital project efficiency, edge to enterprise visualisation, optimised value chains, safe and reliable operations, and a workforce enabled and empowered with rich information and decision support. Through a combination of digital trans- formation and human insights, organi- sations can manage and design assets more efficiently, increase output, reduce maintenance costs, increase safety and // COMPANY PROFILE / AVEVA // WWW.ITP.NET /// 40 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST DECEMBER 2020 /Merges with Schneider Electric’s software business ‘18AVEVA and Schneider Electric partner AVEVA prioritises cloud strategy Announces agreement to acquire OSIsoft for $5 billion Launches Uni- fied Opera- tions Centre ‘19‘20‘20‘20 reach their sustainability goals. What are some of the trends im- pacting your sector? Industrial organisations are opting for cloud, digital twin, AI and auto- mation technologies to address the complexities of today’s challenging macro-economic environment. The current pandemic has forced them to accelerate their digitalisation initia- tives to facilitate a way of working that keeps both people connected and agile, and more importantly, safe. Cloud is critical right now and AVEVA is working across our customers to expedite their use of the technology. New technolo- gies like AI enable four key areas to mitigate business and operational risk, improve workforce safety and efficiency, and forge a more reliable and secure enterprise - the four Ps: Predictive, Performance, Prescriptive and Prognostic. Discuss the latest solutions from your company and the impact you see in the market. AVEVA is the first company in the engineering and industrial software market to comprehensively address the end-to-end digital transformation imperatives with an integrated portfo- lio of solutions that deliver efficiency, unlock value and empower people across the lifecycle of capital assets and operational value chains. Our integrated portfolio capability har- nesses the power of technologies such as cloud, AI, machine learning, mixed reality, and advanced simulation. Our Unified Operations Center is the command-and-control solution for infrastructure and smart cities operators and for industries like oil and gas and mining. Organisations such as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), who had pio- neered early versions of this tailored approach, have realised reductions in project implementation times by as much as 60% over the more time-intensive process of integrating bespoke solutions. Our integrated Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC 4.0) solution is designed to help customers transform the way capital projects are engineered, executed and integrated into operations and maintenance. Schneider Electric and AVEVA recently extended their partnership to deliver end-to-end solution for multi-site and hyper- scale Data Center, which combined Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Data Centers power, building and IT management systems with AVEVA Unified Operations Center. Apart from these product launches, AVEVA also released several updates to its existing solutions such as Asset Per- formance Management and Unified Operations portfolio. What is your presence in the Mid- dle East? AVEVA has a strong presence in the MEA region with our regional head- quarters based out of Dubai. We have a strong team of professionals including technical experts and a growing chan- nel partner network of some of the reputed distributors, systems integra- tors, value-added resellers, industry specialists across the MEA region. Describe some of your biggest successes in the region. AVEVA works with some of the biggest names in the Oil and Gas sec- tor, food and beverages, water, and mining industries in the Middle East and Africa. Some of our customers include ADNOC, Kuwait Oil Com- pany, Petroleum Development Oman, Almarai to name a few. What are your regional goals for the rest of the year and beyond? Through our technology, we will continue to empower industry to achieve more efficiency and drive towards higher productivity. Over time, we want our software to help our Middle East customers work towards a more sustainable, future. This mindset is shared by our team, and it is why we are committed to supporting industrial transformation, enabling our customers to realize a better future and our planet to thrive. AVEVA will continue to focus on ac- celerating digital by accelerating cloud and being digital in everything we do, delivering CAPEX certainty and direc- tion for OPEX reduction, and making it easier for our Middle East custom- ers to consume our technology with a focus on subscription model. We will continue to drive our busi- ness model transition to subscrip- tion, increasing recurring revenue as a proportion of overall revenue and accelerating Cloud adoption. This will offer increased flexibility to our customers, while generating long- term value for shareholders. AVEVA / COMPANY PROFILE // // DECEMBER 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 41// WWW.ITP.NET /Published and Copyright © 2020 ITP MEDIA GROUP FZ-LLC. MEDIA PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 444 3000 www.itp.com Offices in Abu Dhabi. 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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 reader’s 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. Five minutes with… Tarek Kuzbari REGIONAL DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST & TURKEY AT CYBEREASON 1 What is your current role in the ICT industry in the Middle East and what are your responsibilities? I’ve been in the Middle East IT industry, and specifically the cybersecurity space, for over 20 years. Currently, I am the regional director for the Middle East and Turkey at Cyberea- son, a leading provider of endpoint protection solutions, a role I assumed in January 2020. As a new entrant into the market, my focus is on building channels through partner recruitment and enablement and increasing brand recognition across the region. At the same time, I am focused on building a strong base of regional customer references, especial- ly in the enterprise segment, with an emphasis on banking, government, and telecoms. 2 What is the best thing about your job? I love the industry that I work in — it positively impacts communities, businesses, and people. I love the company I work at be- cause of the people, culture, and the fantastic technology we provide. And finally, I love engaging with partners and customers. 3 How innovative do you think the network industry in the Middle East is and how can it improve? Specifically when it comes to security, from my conversa- tions with partners and customers, there is definitely an ap- petite for adoption of latest technologies to sure up cyberse- curity defenses. The justification for this is easy when you consider the impact of a breach on the bottom line. 4 What are the upcoming trends or products in your sector? One of the trends we are seeing is more agile and motivated nation-state actors. We will continue to see belligerent and attacked states take action, including the usual suspects: Rus- sian, Chinese, North Korean, Turkey, Iranian actors and their preferred targets. Perhaps most disturbing is the trickle- down effect among dark actors. We also continue to see adversaries targeting infra- structure and exploiting supply chain weak- nesses. The emergence of more and more IoT devices and the rise of OT, coupled with advances in the rollout of 5G, will make 2021 a critical year for ownership of resources and control of assets for later use in more heated conflict. Also, expect a continuation of Covid-19 related attacks and scams and subtle infiltrations of infrastructure and devices for private information and to fuel misinforma- tion campaigns through social media. 5 What are your out-of-office hobbies? Given the rigours of the job, I believe it is important to prioritise mental and physical well- being. So, I like to meditate for about 15-20 min each day as well as get to the gym about three times a week. I also enjoy socialis- ing with friends and family and I am a voracious reader. Top 5 Favourite film: The God Father iOS, BlackBerry or Android? I am ok with any Favourite gadget: My Smart Watch Favourite band/musician: AIbn Arabi Ensemble Favourite book: Sales and Marketing Channels: How to Build and Manage Distribution Strategy by Julian Dent and Michael Whitedd r e / e y T // FIVE MINUTES / TAREK KUZBARI // WWW.ITP.NET /// 42 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2020 /One Platform. One Community. Love Technology.Next >