Experts at GITEX Technology Week’s first ever Big Data Conference have agreed that the ability to intelligently understand and utilise Big Data will have a profound impact on innovation and competitiveness in the region.

The packed conference offered valuable insights on how Big Data increasingly becomes an unavoidable and compelling item at the top of the boardroom agenda.

Keynote speaker Volkmar Koch, Vice President and Partner at leading global management consulting firm Booz & Co, set the scene:

“The sheer volume of structured and unstructured data driven by digitisation is calling for a host of new coping techniques, methods

Avaya today signed a new contract with SAAED, the UAE-based company delegated to handle minor and non-fatal traffic accidents, to upgrade its incident management system

SAAED said it needed the upgrade to cope with its expanding operations, having branched out from just offering its services to Abu Dhabi’s

Mussaffah area in 2008, to the entire UAE capital and other emirates.

The contract signed at GITEX Technology Week 2013 covers the integration of SAAED’s accident reporting and accident scene diagrams with Avaya’s unified communication solutions.

SAAED selects Avaya to upgrade incident management system

60 MinsShow dates: 20-24 October 2013, Dubai World Trade Centre | AT GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK | Exhibition hours: 11am -6pm

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Strategic ICT Partner Technology Partners

Big Data a big topic at GITEX 2013

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WHAT’S INSIDE

Sony showcases projectors

StorIT introduces SAS Visual Analytics at GITEX

GITEX interview: Mobibus

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SAAED ...The project will take four

months to implement, and technical teams from Avaya and SAAED are expected to start the implementation stage immediately after the conclusion of GITEX.

SAAED will upgrade its communication infrastructure, making use of Avaya’s networking, mobile, unified communications and call centre solutions across its operations, with the aim of improving productivity, reducing cost and responding to non-fatal traffic accidents within the shortest possible time.

The signed contract will also provide SAAED with a standardised communication

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system that helps manage operations in a centralized way.

The agreement was signed by Brigadier Engineer Hussein Ahmed Al Harthi, Director of Traffic and Patrol Directorate, Abu Dhabi Police, and Chairman, SAAED; Engineer Ibrahim Ramel, CEO, SAAED; and Nidal Abou-Ltaif, Vice President, Avaya Middle East, Africa and Turkey.

“We signed a memorandum of understanding with Avaya at GITEX 2012 and today, at GITEX 2013, we signed the contract,” said Al Harthi.

“Avaya is a trusted name worldwide in the field of unified communications and we are confident that choosing it as

a communications partner will help us improve employee productivity and mobility, and this will eventually contribute to the safety on the UAE road.”

Abou-Ltaif added: “Avaya is the leading provider of integrated top-class communication solutions to the public and private sectors in the Middle East, including the banking and telecoms companies.

“Avaya also has years of global experience in supporting police and civil institutions, and we are confident that our state-of-the-art solutions will improve employee productivity and agility across SAAED’s operations in the UAE.”

Brigadier Engineer Hussein Ahmed Al Harthi, Director of Traffic and Patrol Directorate, Abu Dhabi Police, and Chairman, SAAED

Avaya is a trusted name worldwide in the field of unified communications and we are confident that choosing it as a communications partner will help us improve employee productivity and mobility, and this will eventually contribute to the safety on the UAE road

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Sony showcases projectors Sony Professional is exhibiting three of its most popular projectors at GITEX Technology Week 2013: the 3LCD Laser Light Source Projector VPL-FHZ55, the 4K home cinema projector VPL-VW500ES, and the Ultra Short Throw Projector VPL-SW536C.

VPL-FHZ55, a new model of the 3LCD Projector was showcased at the exhibition. Anil Narayanan, Marketing Manager, B2B AV Solutions, Sony, explained the projector is based on a blue laser light source, which involves a chip sourcing the lighting required for projection.

“This model has been created without a conventional lamp that is usually a major cause of hassle

and analytics to effectively process and leverage,” he said.

“About 2.9 million emails are sent every second, 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute, and by the end of 2013 there will be more networked devices than people on earth. Data has now unavoidably become a topic in the boardroom, with senior executives increasingly understanding the value of data to transform their businesses and to enter into new value pools.”

One of the conference’s highlights was a memorable

that Big Data competency is likely to rapidly rise in the Middle East -- with the rate of CIOs looking into investing in analytics and big data technologies growing more than tripling from only 12 percent in 2012 to more than 40 percent in 2013, according to IDC.

Worldwide, IDC estimates that spending on Big Data technology and services will likely grow from USD3.2 billion in 2010 to USD16.9 billion in 2015, representing a CAGR of 40 PERCENT, or about seven times that of the overall ICT market.

and increased maintenance costs in most projectors,” he said. “With an estimated lifespan of 20,000 years, we believe this is the perfect free-tilt and free-angle projector for classroom environments.”

The 4K home cinema projector VPL-VW500ES is the latest addition to Sony’s home cinema projector collection.

Exhibited at the show on a 72” screen, Narayanan informed it can extend up to 300” viewing capacity without any pixilation or quality distortion. Aydin Tolan, Head of VPS, Sony MEA, said development on this product had been in the pipeline since almost 12 years.

The most exciting product at Sony’s stall, however, is the

Interactive Ultra Short Throw S Series projector, which incorporates features such as auto-calibration, teaching features and screen capture options to make it a holistic product for classroom teaching and personal use alike.

“The Ultra Short Throw has been created in a way to ensure presenters or teachers do not face any eye damage due to direct light impact,” Narayanan said.

“It allows users to watch movies, connect their PlayStation and write on any surface — be it a wall, whiteboard or screen without any actual modification caused to the surface. We’re hoping to inspire creativity through these products.”

keynote address by the Rt. Hon. Francis Maude, Minister for the UK Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, who explained how Big Data had transformed the policy and work of his department.

In his role, Maude has used Big Data for a wide variety of public sector efficiency and reforms, including helping to improve transparency and accountability of government, enhancing the efficiency of buying and managing government goods and services, and creating a digital and unified civil service.

“The first industrial revolution was based on iron, coal and steel,” he said. “The industrial revolution of the 21st century will be based on data.

“Using data innovatively, thoroughly and rigorously can drive growth in significant way, enabling businesses to focus on what the customers want and personalise services. It is can also have an enormous impact in fields like life sciences. The scope here is absolutely enormous, but it needs to be done responsibly.”

There are strong indications

StorIT introduces SAS Visual Analytics at GITEXStorIT today announced it is placing the spotlight on cutting-edge Big Data solutions with its recent portfolio addition, SAS Visual Analytics.

The data storage specialist VAD said it saw tremendous interest from partners as well as customers on the first two days of GITEX.

“SAS Visual Analytics is a high-performance, in-memory solution designed to quickly explore large amounts of data,” said says Mo’men Khamayseh, Sales Specialist, StorIT Distribution.

“It provides a robust set of BI capabilities and approachable analytics, enabling different types of users to gain insights from any size of data through data visualisation and exploratory analysis with the option to deliver information to a wide variety of platforms including iPad and

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Android tablets. “Since we announced our

partnership last month, we have received a number of queries on this solution. We felt GITEX would be the best platform to introduce it to our customers and partners and the response we are getting is

phenomenal.”SAS Visual Analytics brings

together analytics, reporting and visualisation in one product, where companies are able to use the speed of thought analysis, and its capability to explore huge amounts of data, to make quick business

decisions. With SAS Visual Analytics,

users can explore all data, execute analytic correlations on billions of rows of data in seconds and visually present results. It empowers users to uncover unexpected insights, find answers to complex problems, and quickly identify new and better courses of action.

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market.

Technology experts from StorIT and SAS are available at their GITEX stand to meet with customers and partners and demonstrate the features and benefits of using SAS Visual Analytics. StorIT Distribution is in Hall 6 stand CLD-15 in the Cloud Computing Area.

GITEX interview: Mobibus What is the main theme of your presence at GITEX this year?This is the first year we will be exhibiting at GITEX Technology Week under the theme of ‘mobility’. Our purpose is to introduce Mobibus, an innovation led, mobile technology company, specialised in cross-platform applications development.

We will be showcasing our mobile capabilities and solutions, which cater to large organisations through our enterprise offering and, for the first time in the MENA region, an innovative app development solution that caters for and empowers SME’s, entrepreneurs and individuals who otherwise, have limitations or barriers to mobilising their businesses and activities due to the costs involved and/or the technological literacy required.

Are you releasing/launching anything new at GITEX 2013? If so, what?Next to our end-to-end enterprise application development services, we will be using GITEX as a platform to launch the region’s very first multilingual ‘Do-It-Yourself’ mobile app maker, which offers SMEs, entrepreneurs and individuals a new gateway that enables them to procure efficient mobile applications by breaking the barriers of cost, time and

technological complexity. The Mobibus ‘Do-It-Yourself’

mobile app maker empowers absolutely anyone to quickly, easily and cost-effectively create, manage and publish their own professional looking iOS and Android apps on smart phones and tablets, without the need for any technical or programming knowledge.

For the first time in this region, users can produce, purchase

and publish their rich mobile app on the mobibus.com online platform for as little as $125 per month.

How is your company presenting itself at GITEX this year to differentiate it from competitors?Mobibus’ multilingual ‘Do-It-Yourself’ mobile app maker offers a clear differentiator within the app development ecosystem.

Firstly, the concept of ‘Do-It-Yourself’ will be game-changing for the region given the growing drive for mobility. SME’s in particular will benefit as they become empowered to expand their presence in the mobile market.

Secondly, given the multicultural nature of the region, engaging with audiences in their native language is key to being relevant to their needs and capturing their attention. The Mobibus ‘Do-It-Yourself’ mobile app maker simplifies this process, eliminating the need for multiple apps built in different languages. Our proprietary CMS allows content to be uploaded and updated in multiple languages, delivering a single mobile app in multiple languages.

What are the key offerings you will be presenting at GITEX – sum up their key and unique features.The Mobibus multilingual ‘Do-It-Yourself’ mobile app maker is customisable in terms of design, content and functionality. There is also a ‘try before you buy’ option which allows preview and a 15 day trial option prior to publishing.

Pricing is moderate, transparent and flexible with either an annual ($125 per month) or quarterly ($150 per month) package fee, and the

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Pierre Azzam, Founder and President, Mobibus

Highlights

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option of selecting add-ons from the Mobibus Store to enhance user experience.

The platform is, and will continuously be, developed and improved to ensure it evolves alongside evolving technology trends and software.

What is the top reason you invest in GITEX — do you see a healthy return on your investment, or is it more about presence/visibility?Given Mobibus is a new mobile technology company, offering both an enterprise capabil ity as well as the region’s f irst multi l ingual ‘Do-It-Yourself ’ mobile app maker, at this stage our objectives are to introduce the organisation and our capabil it ies to the marketplace. We see GITEX Technology Week as a platform to reach and educate businesses, large and small, as well as entrepreneurs and individuals, on what Mobibus can do for them.

What are your company’s main recent achievements in the Middle East market?We already have a roster of enterprise clients for whom we have developed mobile strategies and are in the process of building mobile apps to support the same. We are confident that the Mobibus ‘Do-It-Yourself’ mobile app maker will also gain traction once we start to present this offering in the marketplace.

Publisher Dominic De Sousa, COO Nadeem Hood, Commercial Director Rajashree R Kumar, Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan Editors Ben Rossi, Tom Paye, Janees Reghelini, James DartnellCirculation Manager Rajeesh M, Production Manager James Tharian, Senior Designers Analou Balbero, Glenn Roxas, Digital Services Manager Tristan Troy Magma

Web Coordinator Jarris Pedroso Photographers Jay Colina, Abdul Kader