The Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba’s cloud-computing unit has formed a joint venture with Meraas Holding to offer big data and cloud computing services to government and private enterprises in the region.
The formation of the unnamed joint venture represents a major boost for Dubai’s smart city aspirations, and is only the second venture outside China for Alibaba’s Aliyun unit.
The new Dubai-based venture will specialise in application development, service-orientated architecture, testing, validation, citizenship e-services and Big Data operations with a special focus on analytics, revenue generation and payment solutions.
“The company will offer services that contribute to the six key pillars [of Dubai’s smart city project] including transport, communications, infrastructure, electricity, economic services and urban planning,” said the Meraas group chairman Abdulla Al Habbai. “We strongly believe that the new company will alter the information technology landscape of the region.”
The venture will be the anchor tenant for a technology-orientated community comprising of a data centre, as well as hospitality, residential and commercial spaces, retail and food units.
Aliyun’s project with Meraas comes two months after it announced the opening of a data centre in Silicon Valley, the firm’s first venture outside China. But while Aliyun’s Silicon Valley operations are initially aimed at serving Chinese enterprises active in the US, the new Dubai venture will have a wider scope, according to the company’s president Simon Hu.
The company’s venture with Meraas “aims at not only helping Dubai transform the emirate into a smart city … but also enabling the enterprises in the region, that can be Chinese companies with international expansion plans, as well as local companies”, said Mr Hu.
The new venture is expected to begin offering services by the end of the year, he said.
“Dubai’s advanced infrastructure and economic strength is a good match for our technology edge, and with Meraas we will be able to provide local entrepreneurs with the vital infrastructure that will ignite innovation and help them to succeed,” said Alibaba’s executive chairman and founder Jack Ma.
The establishment of the new venture comes as ICT spending in the Mena region is forecast to grow to $270 billion this year, according to the analysts IDC.
It forecasts that the overall managed and data centre services markets in the UAE is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.8 per cent between 2013 and 2018 to reach a total of $971.8 million by 2018.
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OTHER IPL BOWLING RECORDS
Best bowling figures: 6-14 – Sohail Tanvir (for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in 2008)
Best average: 16.36 – Andrew Tye
Best economy rate: 6.53 – Sunil Narine
Best strike-rate: 12.83 – Andrew Tye
Best strike-rate in an innings: 1.50 – Suresh Raina (for Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals in 2011)
Most runs conceded in an innings: 70 – Basil Thampi (for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018)
Most hat-tricks: 3 – Amit Mishra
Most dot-balls: 1,128 – Harbhajan Singh
Most maiden overs bowled: 14 – Praveen Kumar
Most four-wicket hauls: 6 – Sunil Narine
The squad traveling to Brazil:
Faisal Al Ketbi, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Khalfan Humaid Balhol, Khalifa Saeed Al Suwaidi, Mubarak Basharhil, Obaid Salem Al Nuaimi, Saeed Juma Al Mazrouei, Saoud Abdulla Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Zayed Saif Al Mansoori, Saaid Haj Hamdou, Hamad Saeed Al Nuaimi. Coaches Roberto Lima and Alex Paz.
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to donate
Text the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
6025 - Dh 20
2252 - Dh 50
2208 - Dh 100
6020 - Dh 200
*numbers work for both Etisalat and du
MWTC
Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and are now on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. Three-day and travel packages are also available at 20 per cent discount.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Fourth-round clashes for British players
- Andy Murray (1) v Benoit Paire, Centre Court (not before 4pm)
- Johanna Konta (6) v Caroline Garcia (21), Court 1 (4pm)
