GITEX 2012 INTERVIEWS ITU TELECOM World 2012 - Teletimes

GITEX Technology Week 2012highlights MEA’s Big Data opportunityTop technology leaders discuss the challenges and potential at Cloud Confexconferences as big data steers commercial strategies and shifting marketsBig Data was big news at GITEXTechnology Week 2012, as increasingnumbers of businessesand organisations across theMiddle East and Africa (MEA)region seek to unlock valuefrom massive and exponentiallygrowing datasets.The much-hyped trend wastop of the agenda at CloudConfex. The largest and mostinfluential platform of its kindin the Middle East, the eventoffered an in-depth look at thepossibilities of moving from anetwork-centric to a data-richenvironment, and the challengesand opportunities of managingBig Data in the Cloud.“Every 10 years the IT industrycreates a major tectonic shift.Handheld devices, sensorsand data generated by socialnetworking are generatingan explosion of data mostlyoutside the corporate firewalls.Big Data is the next big gamethat will allow companies toanalyse all kind of data andmake business decisions basedon deep analysis and not justgut feeling. Big data is not arevolution but an evolution ofthe current data warehouseinfrastructure that is alreadyin place but it requires clear industryexpertise to reap thosebenefits,” said Jean-ClaudeMichaca, Vice President – EngineeredSystems for Oracle,Eastern Europe, Middle East &Africa, during his presentationat Cloud Confex conference.“Big Data is threatening tomake IT more complex. Oracletakes the view that by simpli-Adriana Karaboutis - Dellfying the IT stack by closelyengineering applications,middle ware, database andinfrastructure, companies canmanage big data effectively. Asimportantly companies can respondto the results of big dataanalysis in an effective way,”Michaca added.Jason Bath, Director - BusinessAnalytics, Database and Technology,SAP MENA, which is asponsor of Cloud Confex, said:“Data is no longer a by-productof running a business, it is theraw materials needed to stayin business and compete effectively.”“Many businesses are also beingforced to adhere to strictergovernment regulations callingfor increasingly detailed dataaccumulated over many years.The good news is that theaffordability of powerful commodityhardware, combinedwith the right software, is makingit possible to rapidly collectand crunch massive datasetsinto genuinely game-changingactions. Big Data offers massiveopportunities for businessesin the MEA region, and it isencouraging that GITEX isDavid Chalmers - HPfeaturing the topic so heavilyand authoritatively this year,”Bath said.Topics discussed at Cloud Confexincluded how chief informationofficers (CIOs) can capturethe most important data anddeliver it to the right people inreal-time, how they can storeand analyse it and, crucially,Trixee Loh, SVP - DWTChow it can be kept safe. TodayBig Data is beginning tosteer commercial strategiesand shifting markets, and itscompetitive value is becomingone of the most crucial discussionsamong businesses. BigData is also featuring prominentlyat the Cloud Confexexhibition. Key speeches werealso delivered by SebastienJean Claude Michaca - OracleMarotte, VP Enterprise EMEAat Google who discussed BigData Cloud Convergence andsolving challenges in the cloud.In addition, the state of cloudcomputing in the real world interms of adoption, approachesand attitudes was addressedby Adriana Karaboutis, VP andCIO at Dell; David Chalmers,Chief Technologist at Hewlett-Packard and Mark Chaban,Director of Server & Cloud PlatformMarketing at MicrosoftMEA, at Cloud Confex today.Robert Swinnen, VP and GMat Intel Service Provider Groupdiscussed the improvement ofbusiness analytics performanceusing cloud-based environments.According to IDC’s 2011 DigitalUniverse Study, ExtractingValue from Chaos, which wassponsored by 2012 GITEX attendeeEMC, the world createda staggering 1.8 zettabytes (1.8trillion gigabytes) of digitalinformation last year. Over thenext decade, the amount ofinformation managed by enterprisedatacentres will grow bya factor of 50, and the numberof files the datacentre will haveNovember 2012Contd. on page 24www.teletimesinternational.com 23