Middle East Cloud & Datacenter Convention & Awards 2022

Tuesday, 18th October 2022

Middle East Cloud & Data Centre Convention

Businesses across the Middle East are rapidly adopting new technologies, such as 5G, artificial intelligence and machine learning as part of their digital transformation strategy. Adoption of these technologies is driving an increase in data volume and network bandwidth requirements. Rapid developments to cater to these requirements especially in network connectivity, overwhelming government support, and growth in the adoption of cloud, big data, and IoT services have been strong drivers for the growth of the UAE data centre industry.

Like a cherry on top, Smart City initiatives in key Middle Eastern countries, such as the UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), are driving the uptick in data centre demand by encouraging digital innovations.

Data growth and evolving digital innovations, and Increasing operational business requirements are prompting enterprises to migrate from on-premises, server room operations to data centre services including managed, colocation, and hybrid facilities. It is estimated that more than 70% of Middle East companies will have multi-cloud environments in place in the next two years and there is a prediction of a significant increase in investment by public cloud service providers.

So, we decided to put together this must-attend convention as it delves into the game-changing technologies and cutting-edge data management strategies of the data center, cloud, and cyber security in the Middle East region. This one-day blended convention and networking event will attract key stakeholders, end users, service providers, operators, consultants, etc. within the Middle East data center & cloud ecosystem to drive digital disruption across the region.

So, do join us at the Middle East Cloud & Data Centre Convention 2022 as we bring in the top data center, cloud and cyber security thought leaders of the community!

Our Sponsors:

Silver

Bronze

Our Conference Agenda:

TIME	TOPIC
O8: 00 AM	Registration
09:00 AM	Welcome Address by Naveen Lawrence, Director – Sales & Marketing, W.Media
09: 20 AM	Power Panel Session Data Centres in the Middle East – The Drivers of the ‘New Digital World Economy COVID-19 accelerated enterprise migration from on-premise server rooms into managed services, colocation, and cloud. in order to meet increasing business IT requirements. The market, is thus, evolving to adapt to the digital era, and investments are expected to rise significantly with contributions from local and global data centre operators. This power-packed panel features thought leaders who have managed and operated data centres through this time of transition and who will share their experiences and insights into how and why data centres are being seen as as the drivers’ of the new global digital economy. Moderator Panelists Eng. Maqbool Al Wahaibi, CEO, Oman Data Park Musab Abdullah Executive Director, Bahrain Economic Development Board Kamel Tawil, Managing Director, Equinix Ahmed Al Hammadi, Sr. Director – Data Center Solutions, e& enterprise
10:15 AM	Coffee Break \| Expo \| Networking
10:45 AM	Panel Discussion Creating a Sustainable and Balanced Data Centre Landscape through New-Gen Technologies The need to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint has become increasingly pressing. while other well-established operational requirements – for flexibility, scalability, agility, security, availability and connectivity are being accelerated by emerging IoT and digital tech trends. . How can digital technologies provide solutions to key data centre challenges – locate, design, build, operate – rather than being a key source of demand? Moderator Venkatesh Ganesh, Deputy Editor, W.Media Panelists Timothy Bawtree, Founder & CEO, Quantum Switch Tamer Hamed, Chief Information Officer, Dubai Cable Company – Ducab Hessam Seifi, Managing Director, DC PRO Syed Beary, Founder & CMD, Bearys Group
11:30 AM	Technology Presentation How Blockchain is Transforming Data Center Speaker Ellis Wang, Senior Advisor, Board Of The Executive & Advisory Team, The Private Office of Sheikh Seed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum
11:50 PM	Panel Discussion The Future Data Centre Blueprint – Unmasking the Challenges! The ongoing challenges of increasing demand and the technological acceleration forced by COVID-19 disruption have brought into sharp focus many questions about data centre designs for today and tomorrow. This panel discussion will provide some expert insight and guidance on on how to deal with the multitude of facility, network and storage design complexities and how key trends will impact and change some of the principles of data centre design as this decade moves forward. Moderator Dr. May El Barachi, Director of Computer Science & IT Programs, University of Wollongong Panelists Manal Allam, Middle East IT Head & Business Partner, Merck Group Arif Khan, CEO, Coredge.io Muhamed Noufel, Cluster IT Manager, Royal Continental Hotels & Suites
12:30 PM	Lunch \| Expo \| Networking
1:30 PM	Technology Presentation Advocating the role of POC Studies in data centre procurement: listening to end user perspectives Speakers Tim Chambers, Director & Founder, Exuvi8 Angela Meah, Director/Owner, Exuvi8
01:50 PM	Panel Discussion The Big Switch – How will Hyperscale evolve? And how will this shape the industry? The delivery of enterprise IT has been shaped over the past decade by cloud and the evolution of hyperscale data centers has made this possible. This panel will discuss this ongoing evolution, in terms of what it means for data center infrastructure, for the dynamics of the relationship between enterprise, colocation and cloud, revenues and ROI and the overall industry ecosystem. Moderator Alfonso Gutierrez, Cloud Advisory and Transformation Services Lead – Enterprise Solutions & Cloud, KPMG Lower Gulf Panelists Ross Macdonald, Construction Project Manager, Data Centre Delivery Middle East & Africa Region, Microsoft Rajnish Sharma, Director – IT Infrastructure & DevOps, G42 Mahesh Trivedi, Executive Vice President, NTT Global Data Centres India Philip Liu, General Manager, Tencent Cloud International MENA Region
2:35PM	Panel Discussion Fighting Fire with Fire?: Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security While cyber attacks are major negative disruptors, AI is considered as a key disruptor and harbinger of a new “hyper tech” era. With continuing concerns about data security and the resilience of vital operations, deploying AI to safeguard organisations against AI-augmented hacking attempts has become an accepted cyber security defence protocol. This panel will discuss how organisations can use AI to become more resilient to cyber crime and to become more proactive against changes in the threat landscape over time. These cyber – ops strategists discuss how a combination of AI and other cyber security measures can help ensure that an organisation stays protected in this new digital world. Moderator Taha Hussain, Information Security Specialist, Public Utility Company – Dubai Panelists Dr. Hamad Khalifa, Head of Telecommunications Section – Information Technology Center, Abu Dhabi Police General Head Quarters Bader Husni Zyoud, Senior Information Security & Risk Management Specialist & Incidents Manager, Finance Department, Government of Sharjah Gino George, Head of Analytics & AI, First Abu Dhabi Bank
03:15 PM	Coffee Break
3: 30 PM	Panel Discussion Developing Business-Focused strategies for IoT, Edge Computing & 5G Where and how does a company begin to yoke the capacities of new tech to meet commercial and corporate outcomes? This panel will look at the opportunities to do so in the Middle East and to develop strategies to make real new ideas and initiatives and transform the ways organizations design, build, run, and dramatically scale their applications. Moderator Anoop Paudval, Head Information Security, Gulf News Panelists Mahmoud Moussa, Senior Cloud solution Architect Data and AI, Microsoft Ahmad Altarawneh, Senior Strategic Consultant Digital Transformation, Dubai Police General HQ Biju Hameed Kayal, Head – Infrastructure Operations, Dubai Airports Althea Davis, Chief Data Officer, Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA)
04:15 PM	Panel Discussion Critical Questions To Ask Your Colo & Cloud Providers Finding the right partner to keep your operations running 24/7/365 is a critical piece of the outsourcing puzzle. In today’s digital world, as both innovation and technical complexity expand, an enterprise should expect the supplier to act as a bridge into the future digitalised world. So, what are the questions to ask in order to make the right decisions for your organisation? The industry panel discusses some of the most important questions to look at as well as some guidelines on what to do with the answers. Moderator Edward van Leent, Chairman & CEO, EPI Group of Companies Panelists Abdulrahman Khaiwi, Head of Information Technology, Emirates National Schools Sheeba Hasnain, Senior IT & Digital Transformation Specialist Padam Kafle, Head IT and Automation – Healthcare Information Technology, Aster Hospitals Shafeek Rahman, Head of IT Infrastructure, Depa Group
5:00 PM	W.Media Middle East Awards
5:30 PM Onwards	Closing Remarks & Networking with Drinks