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As enterprise community looks for better answers to fine-tuning their focus, Cloud Computing Technology has finally moved beyond the hype and has now become more main stream within the business environment. And as a result, one by one, the bottlenecks to cloud adoption are slowly being eliminated. As far as cloud is concerned, the year 2013 is being looked upon as a year with significant increase in global adoption of cloud within the enterprise community, and there is now not a sector or organisation that has not engaged in the cloud services opportunity.
Gitex has presented a unique opportunity to have the largest Cloud Computing event which was hosted today (21st Oct ’13) during Gitex and also the GITEX Cloud Awards to celebrate excellence in Cloud Computing and recognise the advancement of the contribution of Cloud Computing to the business and technology community.
A highlight of today’s Cloud Confex, the region’s largest integrated cloud exhibition and conference, the Cloud Awards celebrated winners in five distinct categories based on innovation, integration, functionality, value, usability and scalability credentials.
The winners were selected from a strong field of over 100 entries by an expert panel comprising Todd Thibodeaux, President and Chief Executive Officer of IT Industry Association COMPTIA; Daniele Catteddu, Managing Director EMEA, Cloud Security Alliance; and Kuldeep Bhatnagar, IT Advisor, Environment Agency, Government of Abu Dhabi.
Winners from across the Middle East spanned a wide range of industries, including Gulf Air for Best Big Data Solution Project. Other winners include Mubadala Development Company for Best Cloud Security Implementation, National Bank of Abu Dhabi for Best Data Center Infrastructure Project, Abu Dhabi Police’s GIS Center for Security for Best Government Implementation of Cloud Solution, and the UAE General Civil Authority for Best Virutalization Solution Implementation.
Bahrain’s Gulf Air triumphed in the Big Data Solutions Project category, with Qatar First Bank and Qatar’s Supreme Education Council claiming the runners up spots.
Kuldeep Bhatnagar, IT Advisor, Environment Agency, Government of Abu Dhabi, praised Gulf Air’s achievement. “It is incredible that Gulf Air implemented Big Data technology so effectively, embracing open-source software with an in-house team, building rich competency and saving considerable expenditure,” he said.
Best Cloud Security Implementation was won by the UAE’s Mubadala Development Company, with runners up from Axa Insurance and Etihad Etisalat (Mobily).
Todd Thibodeaux, President and Chief Executive Officer of IT Industry Association COMPTIA, hailed Mubadala for effectively dealing with one of cloud users’ biggest concerns. “Mubadala is taking the security challenge head on, creating an iron clad infrastructure to tools to eliminate a major adoption barrier,” he explained.
National Bank of Abu Dhabi claimed the top spot in the Big Data Infrastructure Project category ahead of runners up Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) and Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority. “The thing that really stands out to me about the National Bank of Abu Dhabi initiative is how green and sustainable their solution is. Providing great customer solutions in an environmentally sound way is a big win-win,” said Thibodeaux.
Abu Dhabi Police’s GIS Center for Security emerged as the winner in the Best Government Implementation category. Oman’s Information Technology Authority and the UAE’s Masdar City were runners up. “Abu Dhabi Police’s GIS Center for Security has put in place a very extensive, integrated solution that facilitates effective and efficient utilisation of police resources, emergency management, crisis simulation, as well as GIS-based information systems. Its technical implementation is commendable,” said Bhatnagar.
The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority was crowned champion in the Best Virtualisation Solutions Implementation category ahead of runners up GASCO and the UAE’s Ministry of Economy. Bhatnagar described the winning entry a “mammoth” project that had been well optimised for operational efficiency and that had achieved “huge” Capex and Opex savings.
Part of GITEX Technology Week’s GITEX TRENDS segment, Cloud Confex has been the region’s largest integrated cloud exhibition and conference for the past four years. Cloud Confex features Etisalat as a Diamond Sponsor and Accenture and F5 as Platinum Sponsors.
Today’s Cloud Confex featured a packed roster of leading international speakers, including a keynote by Cloud Awards judge Todd Thibodeaux, President and Chief Executive Officer of IT Industry Association COMPTIA.
Other speaker highlights included Fayyaz Alam, VP, Emirates Group IT, who advised attendees on preparing their networks for changes in cloud computing, based on his experience managing the data centres, operations centre, global networks, and end user devices for Emirates Group. Another Cloud Awards Judge, Daniele Catteddu, Managing Director-EMEA, Cloud Security Alliance, also featured prominently, presenting the latest tips on how companies can audit their cloud in order to reduce risk.
Other speakers on the day included Rajeev Lalwani, Partner, Deloitte Consulting, who heads its Technology Consulting Practice in the MENA region, and Dr Jassim Haji, Director Information Technology from Cloud Awards winners Gulf Air, who has implemented key innovations at Gulf Air with their World Wide Contact Centre and Cloud Computing.
