Swapna Subramani: Cloud comes with many silver linings for IT strategies



Enterprises have had to continually reinvent their IT strategy to enable the evolution of business to speed up. The adoption of cloud, mobility, social media and big data is reshaping IT usage in organisations.

It has become almost mandatory for enterprises to use cloud services, be on some social media platform or to encourage employees to bring their own devices to work.

Adoption of these technologies is important for organisations to create efficiencies, understand market dynamics and reach out to customers in the most effective way. This has accelerated the rate of business change in organisations and led to a faster transformation of the data centre.

The hardware landscape of the region’s enterprises has transformed to adapt to the cloud. Gone are the days where a typical data centre would have multiple servers, storage, networks and other enclosures in a siloed and cluttered architecture. En­ter­prise data centres in the region have graduated, using virtualisation to consolidate. Virtualisation means that while the amount of hardware is reduced, more computing power is provided via virtual machines.

The rate of virtualisation in the region’s enterprises is high, nd growing. Apart from virtualisation, other innovations are changing the technology landscape. One technology fuelling rapid transformation in data centres is converged infrastructure. A converged system is a mini data centre in a box. These systems contain the four important pillars of a data centre: server, storage, networking and management software. Converged infrastructure provides all the essentials for running a data centre with the certification and service of a single vendor, and so ensuring ease of deployment and troubleshooting.

One of the main benefits of converged systems is effi­ciency as these systems are “tuned to task”. IDC expects the majority of computing power, applications and workloads to run on converged systems within five years.

Another cloud-enabling technology expected to become important in the region is the software-defined data centre. A software-defined data centre, as the name suggests, is where data centre-wide hardware re­sources such as storage, compute and network resources are all virtualiser, federated and managed through a unified software layer.

Software-defined technologies provide a centralised management layer enabling adequate support to the traditional infrastructure, legacy applications and cloud services.

Given the growing demands on infrastructure, vendors have been forced to innovate further in hardware. Hyper-convergence comes in the form of such disruptive innovation within the infrastructure space. Hyper-converged infrastructure essentially collapses core storage, computing and networking functions into a single software solution or appliance. This innovation combines the two recent disruptions in the infrastructure space: software-defined infrastructure and converged systems.

The adoption of cloud, social business and mobility has also resulted in exponential data growth within enterprises. Each technology comes with its own set of data-related challenges. While cloud comes with a dynamic storage requirement, mobility initiatives require real-time data management. ­Other industry trends, such as desktop virtualisation, have accelerated digitisation across various sectors, and technology such as video surveillance has accelerated the rate of data growth. As a result, the data centre storage space has also experienced evolutions in speed and agility with enterprise flash devices becoming more common.

There are a variety of options available to chief information officers, allowing them to gain maximum output and efficiencies at minimum cost. With data centres as the backbone of enterprise IT, ensuring a robust, scalable infrastructure will be pivotal to using IT as a business enabler within the organisation.

Swapna Subramani is research manager – enterprise infrastructure at the tech consultancy IDC in Dubai

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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The specs

Engine: 5.0-litre V8

Power: 480hp at 7,250rpm

Torque: 566Nm at 4,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: L/100km

Price: Dh306,495

On sale: now

The%20specs
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German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

INDIA'S%20TOP%20INFLUENCERS
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now

If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
  • Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
  • Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
  • Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
 
 
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
The specs

BMW M8 Competition Coupe

Engine 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8

Power 625hp at 6,000rpm

Torque 750Nm from 1,800-5,800rpm

Gearbox Eight-speed paddleshift auto

Acceleration 0-100kph in 3.2 sec

Top speed 305kph

Fuel economy, combined 10.6L / 100km

Price from Dh700,000 (estimate)

On sale Jan/Feb 2020