Computer News Middle East June 2018

ISSUE 317 | JUNE 2018 WWW.TAHAWULTECH.COM

CAREEM CO-FOUNDER MAGNUS OLSSON

HOW MIXED REALITY IS TRANSFORMING SURGERY

DRONES AND THE ENTERPRISE

THE IOTHYDROPONICS OPPORTUNITY

NEW KID ON THE BLOCKCHAIN WHY FOOTBALL LEGEND MICHAEL OWEN IS CRYPTOCURRENCY’S UNLIKELY CHAMPION

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY DUBAI PRODUCTION CITY, DCCA

Our events

EDITORIAL

Golden goal This month’s issue of CNME has an extra special cover star.

I had the pleasure of meeting Real Madrid, Liverpool and England legend – and a personal boyhood hero – Michael Owen, who told CNME about why he is now investing in and partnering with Singaporean exchange GCOX, and why he is backing a cryptocurrency and blockchain-driven future. Turn to page 26 for more.

Some fascinating stuff on page 8, meanwhile.

We find out how Microsoft is helping surgeons to map blood vessels with mixed reality, playing a huge part “Ride-hailing in helping to cut prep times for vital unicorn skin graft procedures.

Careem is Glesni Holland sat with Careem’s co-founder Magnus Olsson, and hoping to heard how the ride-hailing unicorn empower is hoping to empower female drivers female drivers and economic change in Saudi and economic Arabia via its platform.

On page 36, we explore how change in drones can be deployed across a Saudi Arabia.” range of industries, and the factors inhibiting their widespread use in logistics.

Al Safeer Group CIO Kumar Prasoon has a vision for an interconnected future at the UAE retailer, where cloud and IoT can deliver fresher produce and energy-efficient buildings. More on page 40.

Happy reading!

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James Dartnell Editor

PRESENTS Virtua

l Reality

Blo ckch

17th September 2018, Habtoor Grand Resort, Dubai

a in

Speakers

Ajay Rathi Senior Director of IT Meraas Holding

Farid Farouq Director of IT Dubai World Trade Centre

Alia Al Hammadi Director of IT, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation

Herbert Fuchs Chief Information Officer ASGC

David Ashford Chief Information Officer The Entertainer

Jon Richards CEO Yallacompare.com

Faisal Ali Senior IT Manager Deyaar

HE Dr. Rashid Alleem Chairman, Sharjah Electricty & Water Authority and UAE Knowledge Ambassador

AI/ M a

Adam Lalani Group Head of IT Tristar

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As humans learn to work with smart machines in the digital age, Power of 4 will explore the challenges and opportunities that organisations will face in the new digital era.

Join the conversation with over 300 technology experts and find out how the world is being reshaped by a new dawn of technology.

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ISSUE 317 | JUNE 2018

8

26

WHY MICHAEL OWEN IS BACKING BLOCKCHAIN

MICROSOFT & MIXED REALITY

32

10 Future Blockchain Summit

12 CAREEM CO-FOUNDER MAGNUS OLSSON

Smart Dubai hosted its inaugural conference on the distributed ledger technology, where experts explored how it could change the world.

44 How AI will transform grocery shopping

Developing for good IBM is set to invest $30 million in a bid to unite developers in solving the world's most pressing issues, including natural disasters that have affected 2.5 billion people.

46 'Data centres on wheels' VMware's EMEA SVP JeanPierre Brulard explains why driverless cars will need the technological sophisitication and security of data centres in order to succeed.

40 The grass is greener

g

42

36

DRONES IN THE ENTERPRISE

FOUNDER, CPI MEDIA GROUP Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015)

Al Safeer's group CIO Kumar Prasoon shares his vision for how cloud and IoT can combine to deliver vast new sources of fresh produce for the retailer.

Innovation for the customer's sake

Infor's general manager for the India, Middle East and Africa region Tarik Taman gives his take on the ways that artificial intelligence will disrupt the grocery industry.

48 AI & BI: Powering the future

Schneider Electric chairman and CEO Jean-Pascal Tricoire explains why technological change is needed in order to exploit the potential of new business models.

Alaa Youssef, SAS's managing director for the Middle East region, explains why the Middle East is making real strides in embracing artificial and business intelligence.

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Hewlett-Packard HP-85

H

ewlett-Packard HP-85 is an all-in-one portable computer system with a built-in keyboard, 5� screen, thermal printer, tape storage unit, and the BASIC programming language.

The HP-85 personal computer was a totally self-contained, portable system for the technical professional or the beginning small-computer user.

The HP-85 was based on an 8-bit microprocessor and combined an alphanumeric keyboard, CRT screen, thermal printer tape drive unit, user read/write memory and a ROM operating system in one portable package. It had 32K ROM and 16K RAM. The 85A was a small, low-cost, fully integrated computer with built in six inch CRT display, tape drive and thermal printer. The display (and printer) had a graphics resolution of 256 x 192 dots and displayed 16 rows of text, with up to 32 characters per row. The cartridge mass storage tapes could hold 210K data. The computer came standard with 16K RAM, upgradeable to 32K. The 85B replaced the 85A in 1983.

It came standard with 64K RAM, expandable to 544K using pluggable ROM modules. The 85B also came standard with the mass storage ROM built in. The 85 was a very successful product for HP.

6

MAY 2018

www.tahawultech.com

PRODUCTS

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Launches and releases

Brand: Nokia Product: Nokia 8 Sirocco HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, has announced the availability of three Nokia smartphones in the UAE. Unveiled earlier this year at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Nokia 6, Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 Sirocco devices are said to offer the craftsmanship and reliability you expect from a Nokia phone, and come with a pure, smart, secure and up-to-date Android experience.

The Nokia 8 Sirocco sports a curved glass 5.5-inch QHD OLED screen, and its edges taper from 7.5mm to just 2mm at its thinnest point. It is also IP67 certified meaning it is water resistance.

Its 12-megapixel dual-lens camera on the rear is tuned by Zeiss Optics, while round the front you get a 5-megapixel camera for selfies and video calls.

The device features 6GB of RAM coupled with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, which featured in the brand’s 2017 flagship phones. It runs on the Android 8 Oreo operating system, and is also enrolled in Google’s Android One program – which guarantees the phone the next two big Android dessert updates, and three years of security updates.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Nokia 8 Sirocco in black is now retailing in the UAE at an average retail price of AED 2,399.

Brand: LG Electronics Gulf Product: LG SK10Y LG Electronics Gulf’s (LGE) new flagship Sound Bar, the LG SK10Y, is now available to consumers in the region. Building on the success of last year’s SJ9, the 2018 upgrade brings with it a host of new connected services and features, including Dolby Atmos compatibility and Google’s Chromecast built-in for multi-room music and control via the Google Assistant.

LG has partnered with renowned audio company Meridian Audio to tune the new LG SK10Y Sound Bar for “precision quality and fidelity.” It includes the hi-fi company’s digital sound processing (DSP) modes including bass, space and height elevation, which raises the sound to the level of the screen. www.tahawultech.com

The Sound Bar also includes a wireless subwoofer, delivering 550W of power. In addition, it supports a multitude of high fidelity audio formats for “smooth, lifelike playback,” according to the company.

Its Adaptive Sound Control (ASC) also analyses audio content in real-time and automatically adjusts the sound from the speakers and subwoofer to highlight dialogue or deep sounds.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The LG SK10Y Sound Bar will retail for AED4,999 and is available across the GCC region.

Brand: Acer Product: Chromebook 13 The Acer Chromebook Spin 13 feature an all-aluminum design and a full HD+ 13.5-inch display in a 3:2 aspect ratio. Powered by 8th Gen Intel Core processors, which Acer claims gives the device “exceptional performance and battery life for productivity on the go,” the convertible Chromebook has 360-degree hinges for use as a tablet, notebook, display or “tent-mode.” It also comes with a Wacom stylus (for pen input) that can be stored in the device slot.

The Chromebook Spin 13 features dual slot-antennae to provide “fast and reliable” 2x2 MIMO 802.11ac Wi-Fi, while Bluetooth 4.2 delivers a “convenient connection” to peripherals, according to the company.

It also features dual USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 ports for convenient charging and data transfers, and Android app support via Google Play Store.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: According to Acer, the display’s 3:2 aspect ratio adds 18 percent more vertical space compared to an equally wide 16:9 display, so customers scroll less when viewing websites, documents, and spreadsheets.

JUNE 2018

7

ANALYSIS

Microsoft & Mixed Reality

IN THE

MIX

Microsoft flaunted the potential of mixed reality at its United Kingdom headquarters in London, with customers including Imperial College London showing how HoloLens is already transforming the operating theatre. James Dartnell reports.

“T

hey say a picture paints a thousand words, but I cannot tell you how many words a mixed reality image is worth.” Imperial College London’s Dr Philip Pratt is already convinced that the technology is the future of surgery, and it’s easy to see why.

Pratt, who works for the university’s Faculty of Medicine, 8

JUNE 2018

Department of Surgery and Cancer as a research fellow, has spearheaded a project that has seen the delivery of eight proven plastic reconstructive surgery feasibility cases through the use of Microsoft’s Hololens.

“The only way to perform surgery where tissue has been lost is to reuse existing tissue,” Pratt says. “The body is covered in skin, and identifying points of skin is the key to reconstructive

surgery.” One of the most important parts of this process is swiftly locating a patient’s blood vessels, to ensure the procedure is safely executed.

Surgeons have historically used Doppler ultrasound and skin markings to find blood vessels, a process which doesn’t guarantee a 100% success rate of finding the vessel at the first attempt.

One such example where locating vessels quickly is particularly important is where skin from the abdomen is used following breast cancer reconstructive surgery. If this reconstruction can be planned in advance, it promises to save time on the operating table.

“A big thing in medicine is GIRFT – ‘getting it right first time,’” Pratt says.

“You can go in with plan A, B or C, and although it’s hard to quantify the effects of that over time, by pre-planning surgery, it’s likely to deliver things like lower infection rates. An operation may take 10-12 hours, so if you can reduce that time on the operating table in which the patient is under general anaesthetic, that’s a huge benefit.”

Having discussed ways that Imperial College could enhance and accelerate the process of locating blood vessels, Pratt led an initiative which would see the university using Microsoft’s Hololens mixed reality headset to map and visualise the positioning of blood vessels. This would www.tahawultech.com

enable surgeons to have a clearer picture of where vessels were when performing skin graft operations.

“It’s a whole different ball game with Hololens,” Pratt says. “It’s improved things because we can save time by marking up vessels in advance, spot if vessels aren’t where they are expected to be and make incisions in places that you normally wouldn’t. It lets you tailor an operation with information. People talk about the sexier bits of plastic surgery, but this saves time.”

Pratt has been impressed with the speed at which the technology has been adopted by Imperial College.

“It’s surprisingly quick to acclimatise to using Hololens,” he says. “It’s very easy to use, and I think the next step is making sure the projection can automatically snap to the leg, but when it can, then it will be interesting to see how we can actually operate with it.”

He also believes the process could transform medical education. “It has massive potential for application in teaching. Medical education could be done purely through simulation.

Simulation is by far the biggest thing at the moment in teaching, but the biggest problem is setting it up, and it’s also hard to simulate in open surgery.”

‘BIGGER THAN SMARTPHONES’ Following the demonstration at an www.tahawultech.com

A picture paints a thousand words, but I cannot tell you how many words a mixed reality image is worth.

Dr Philip Pratt, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London

Imperial College hospital, Microsoft went on to host a panel discussion at its London offices that highlighted a range of compelling use cases for the ways in which mixed reality technology will be able to affect both businesses and consumers.

Maximilian Doelle, chief holographic officer of Kazendi, the inventor of Hololens-based

collaborative platform HoloMeeting – which allows users to share, view and amend 3D models – said he believed mixed reality would have a hugely transformative impact. “I believe Hololens has greater future potential than the smartphone,” he said. “Office space in London is hugely expensive, and the workplace of the future will be drastically different from today.”

Engineering firm Trimble’s director of mixed reality, Aviad Almagor, said that mixed reality was changing the ways businesses deliver concepts to customers, as well as bringing digital ideas to life. “Our customers invest a huge amount in 3D models, but they are often consumed on a screen, which doesn’t seem right,” he said. “Now, you can lift them beyond the screen. Instead of using 2D drawings, they can now visualise information in front of them.

Now, what you see is what you do.”

Chirag Mehta, the director of IoT strategic alliances at PTC, said, “VR will become more ubiquitous in society. With augmented reality, it’s more compelling if you can see the nuts and bolts of service procedures.

If you imagine a world where AR is ingrained, you’ll be able to look at menus outside a restaurant. L’Oréal already has a service that means people don’t have to test out new lipsticks or eye shadows.”

JUNE 2018

9

ANALYSIS

Future Blockchain Summit 2018

Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director General, Smart Dubai Office

CHAIN REACTION

Smart Dubai recently hosted the inaugural Future Blockchain Summit at Dubai World Trade Centre, which saw a selection of global experts give their take on how the distributed ledger technology could change the world.

S

mart Dubai’s Blockchain 2021 strategy has previously laid out a bold plan for the emirate’s government to be entirely paperless and see all government departments run on Blockchain technology in three years’ time, and the Future Blockchain Summit helped to put that goal in the context of the world’s changing attitudes towards the transformative technology.

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JUNE 2018

Smart Dubai’s director general Dr Aisha bin Bishr kicked off the Summit by highlighting how the government agency has prioritised Blockchain as the foundation of the emirate’s digital infrastructure.

“This is one of the most exciting times to be involved in Blockchain,” she said. “The Dubai Blockchain Strategy rests on three main pillars.

The first pillar is for 100% of our

government’s services to be delivered via Blockchain. The second pillar is to provide and enable an ecosystem that can empower startups. The final pillar is to position Dubai as a global thought leader in Blockchain. We don’t view technology development as end, but the means to spread happiness.”

The UAE’s minister of AI, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, followed bin Bishr, homed in on what the country hoped to achieve with Blockchain.

“The UAE government can save 389 million documents and 77 million hours of productivity every year, while 50% of all UAE federal government transactions will be on Blockchain by 2021,” he said.

The Summit hosted an engaging panel discussion which saw a selection of international experts attempt to simplify the concepts of what could be achieved with Blockchain. Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger kicked off the panel by saying that Blockchain’s scope was so broad that it was not confined to enhancing transactional transparency.

“It’s an abstract concept, so it can be applied to so many different www.tahawultech.com

Blockchain is an abstract concept, so it can be applied to so many different problems.

Omar bin Sultan Al

Larry Sanger, co-founder, Wikipedia

Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence Alex Tapscott, author of Blockchain Revolution

problems,” he said. “If you’re talking to a friend via Facebook, you both have to be connected to single server.

What if you could interact without a single server, due to a distributed means of communication?”

Brock Pierce, chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, then said that the architecture of the Internet is inherently flawed, and needs new technologies like Blockchain to rethink its security.

“Blockchain, by its nature, allows you to extract information from systems,” he said. “It is the enabling technology that makes all cryptocurrencies possible. The Internet, in simple terms, is a data transport protocol. By the time that the Internet had truly recognised its processing capabilities, faulty foundations had been laid for security.

Blockchain incorporates new secure data transport.”

Alex Tapscott, author of Blockchain Revolution, echoed Sanger’s comments, saying the ability to remove various financial third parties who are responsible for www.tahawultech.com

record keeping would bring significant disruption to the world.

“It’s an evolution of the internet, to becoming the internet of value,” he said. “It’s about the ability to move, store and create value through peer-to-peer networks, rather than through third-party brokers.

It brings lots of challenges. Will the technology be able to scale? How will incumbents react, and how will governments and regulators treat it?

There are implementation challenges to overcome and rework the way the internet operates, and create value that we couldn’t have foreseen.”

In a slightly bizarre follow-up keynote, Sanger then highlighted the perceived flaws of the website he cofounded, and suggested what could be achieved with a more inclusive, participatory information source.

In a series of digs at the globally respected online encyclopaedia, Sanger also took the opportunity to plug the firm whom he now works for as CIO, Everipedia.

“Knowledge gathering is harder than people seem to think it is,” he

said. “There are lots of opinions that we dignify as knowledge, but really aren’t. With the internet, we need to fix that quality problem. People are surprised when I say negative things about Wikipedia. I believe Wikipedia is a missed opportunity. We can do better. I think we could have more articles about specialised things. We could rate articles so people know if they’re any good.

Sanger highlighted how Everipedia was started in 2015 by UCLA students, with the aim of becoming a “more modern” version of Wikipedia, in terms of its design and the ways it conceived the purpose of an encyclopaedia.

“What if users could share information about themselves according to points of view?” Sanger said. “There has never been a project devoted to enabling articles to compete with each other head to head. There should be, and it would benefit the world. Thanks to Blockchain, it’s possible to move beyond Wikipedia, just as we moved beyond Britannica two decades ago.

“People aren’t motivated with Wikipedia, because it’s difficult to participate. What if you could collect all encyclopaedia articles in the world and aggregate them, and then rate them?”

JUNE 2018

11

ANALYSIS

IBM

IBM CALLS ON GLOBAL TECHIES FOR NATURAL DISASTER READINESS IBM CEO Ginni Rometty has announced a new global initiative at Viva Technology in Paris, to apply technology to help solve some of society’s largest problems.

T

he first annual Call for Code Global Challenge calls on the 22 million developers in the world to join IBM, the United Nations and the Red Cross in building sustainable technology solutions that enable disaster preparedness and protect the health and well-being of victims.

Over the past two decades, earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters have directly affected 2.5 billion victims around the world. Mitigating disasters and protecting the health and well-being of individuals and communities has increasingly become a daunting task for even the most advanced and prepared communities, cities and countries.

IBM is now committing $30 million over five years globally to the initiative, with the goal of bringing together NGOs, academic institutions, large businesses and startup developers to innovate and find new approaches to overcome life-changing, natural disasters using IBM cloud, AI, blockchain, IoT and other technologies.

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Developers, designers and entrepreneurs over the age of 18 can enter in the Call for Code challenge, and the winning team will receive a financial award as well as access to longer-term support through IBM’s partnership with the Linux Foundation. In addition, the winners will have the opportunity to present their solution to leading venture capitalists to help secure funding to

Earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters directly affect 2.5 billion victims around the world.

take their innovation to market.

To raise awareness and interest in the Call for Code challenge, IBM is coordinating interactive educational events, hackathons and community support for developers and startups around the world in more than 50 cities, including Dubai.

IBM has placed particular focus on startups in the Middle East in recent years to ensure they continue to innovate and stay relevant in the technology revolution.

“Startups are directed by a leader who fervently believes in the mission and knows how to inspire people – but it’s also driven by the team that supports and innovates on a daily basis,” said Tamer Elsawy, cloud business unit executive, IBM Middle East and Pakistan. “At IBM, we have done this over and over again. Given the shifts in the technology revolution such as increased digital density, the amount of connected data, and the interactions that may be created through AI – we need to stay relevant and enable new kinds of business logic that threaten the status quo.” www.tahawultech.com

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ANALYSIS

GISEC 2018

FROM PREY TO PREDATOR A selection of cybersecurity experts at Dubai World Trade Centre’s 2018 Gulf Information Security Exhibition and Conference (GISEC) urged organisations to take the fight to cybercriminals.

14

JUNE 2018

S

ticking your head above the parapet and embarking on a ‘threat hunt’ could be the difference between cutting off crippling cyberattacks and scrambling around for damage limitation after a major security breach, according to a range of security experts.

Cyberattacks are increasing in numbers and severity almost daily around the world, and the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) is one of the worst-hit regions.

According to a PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) report, 56% of companies surveyed in the region said they suffered losses of more than $500,000 annually from cyberattacks, compared with the global average of 33%.

With IT spending in the region set to reach $155 billion by the end of this year, according to Gartner, and the Middle East’s cybersecurity market set to top $22 billion by 2022, www.tahawultech.com

private sector corporations are clearly recognising the need for action.

The 2018 edition of GISEC once again set the agenda for the region’s cybersecurity sector, and a major focus of the event was the growing desire for the region’s public and private sectors to take the lead with cybersecurity and embark on ‘threat hunting’ missions.

According to Recorded Future, a US-Swedish company that specialises in cyber threat intelligence at corporate and national levels, ‘threat-hunting’ is catching on in the region because it is a relatively new concept, and because companies are increasingly acknowledging the need to take the fight to cybercriminals and hackers.

“Too often, threat intelligence in an organisation is operational,” said Chris Pace, of Recorded Future.

“It’s a case of people searching for a solution to fix a problem they have now. Companies should be sticking their heads above the castle walls and looking at what the potential threats are, who they might be coming from and where they are emanating from. www.tahawultech.com

Companies should stick their heads above the castle walls and looking at what the potential threats are.

“Activating threat intelligence gives you the ability to make strategic decisions on how best to respond to those threats. Our machines collect from one million data sources globally every day. There’s no borders to the internet, and we can make reasonable, transparent judgements on what we might see, be that on the dark web or on the mainstream internet, in real-time.”

By going threat hunting, companies can better identify specific threats or attacks to them and decide how best to act, according to Pace.

“Threat hunting is where strategic threat intelligence has great power, allowing you to review the intelligence and make a strategic decision on where they might need security to plug potential gaps before they become big gaps,” he said. “In this region, companies are starting to be proactive. They have an open-view about what is good for their security.

They can see the benefit of threat intelligence.”

Those views were echoed by Carbon Black’s security strategist Rick McElroy. “Too many companies have been focused on detection and prevention as their cybersecurity strategy and relying on antivirus systems, thinking they are protected,” he said. “Now they are realising that they haven’t been protected at all, spending far too much time, money and resources in the process.

“By implementing proactive threat hunting, companies, even with limited resources, can better understand threats and make better decisions based on the data the hunt produces and disrupt an attack on time. Threat hunting makes for better detection and prevention, you can tune your defences to be faster and automate systems. In this region, people are waking up to this and there’s a will for this proactive approach. There still needs to be a lot of education.”

Future Technology Week 2018 attracted more than 7,500 cybersecurity, IoT and smart cities experts to network, share knowledge and trade in the latest solutions and services that will transform the way we live and work in the future.

Gulf Information Security Exhibition and Conference and Internet of Things Expo, will return to Dubai World Trade Centre in April 2019.

JUNE 2018

15

NEWS

Abdulaziz Al Ghurair

“AI WILL AFFECT EVERYTHING”: ABDULAZIZ AL GHURAIR Mashreq CEO Abdulaziz Al Ghurair told CNME why he believes artificial intelligence will affect every industry in the coming years.

A

bdulaziz Al Ghurair, chairman of the Family Business Council – Gulf, and Mashreq, has said that technology will inevitably affect family business culture, as well as highlighting their need to make effective succession planning for future generations.

Al Ghurair was speaking at the launch of Family Business Continuity in the Middle East & Muslim World: Betting Against the Odds.

“It is critical that family businesses plan for the future strategically, and make sure they take adequate time to incorporate governance and legal structure that best fits their family business succession plan, unique family dynamics and goals,” he said.

“I think technology challenges in family businesses will be the same as in any industry, be it family or nonfamily. We will have to stay updated on all technology fronts. AI will affect everybody. Airlines, shipping, trading, banking, insurance, real estate, hotels.

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Airlines, shipping, trading, banking, insurance, real estate, hotels.

Everything will be touched by AI.

Everything will be touched.”

Authored by Fadi Hammadeh, a senior advisor to FBCG and general counsel of Al-Futtaim group, Family Business Continuity in the Middle East & Muslim World: Betting Against the Odds addresses the challenges of family business succession planning in the region

and how to strategically plan for sustainable business continuity.

“Effective family business succession planning aims to achieve management and ownership continuity,” Hammadeh said. “GCC family businesses are particularly vulnerable to risk of fragmentation and internal conflicts due to lack of impenetrable legal frameworks to support their continuity.”

Most family owned businesses in the GCC will face a succession challenge within the next decade.

Studies by FBCG state that around 52 percent of GCC businesses are moving from their second to third generation, facing the critical juncture of transition of ownership and business leadership. The handover will have tremendous implications on the sustainability and growth of companies and one major risk during this transition is for large family businesses to get fragmented leading to loss of economic value, the book claims. www.tahawultech.com

Marillyn Hewson

NEWS

UAE “ONE OF FEW” TO COMPREHEND INNOVATION

Speaking at the Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi, Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of Lockheed Martin lauded the UAE’s willingness to embrace technological change.

T

he global chief executive of aerospace and advanced technologies firm Lockheed Martin has said that the UAE is one of the world’s leaders in understanding the importance of innovation, as well as ensuring its youth are equipped with STEM skills and appropriate educational opportunities.

Speaking at the Global Aerospace Summit at the St Regis Hotel in Abu Dhabi, Marillyn Hewson highlighted the UAE’s long-term collaboration with the Maryland-based firm, and said that national security was a key step to enabling an innovative culture.

“The UAE is an example of what can be achieved when wise leaders put sound policies and innovations in place,” she said. “We’re proud to have partnered with the UAE for four decades.

“Partners sharing a vision for security is the cornerstone for transformative partnerships.

National security is needed for economic growth and human www.tahawultech.com

The UAE is an example of what can be achieved when wise leaders put sound policies and innovations in place.

progress. When a nation is secure, it allows entrepreneurs and innovators to take risk. As nations around the world face unprecedented and asymmetric threats, fielding innovative technologies is more critical than ever.”

Hewson went on to add that in order to remain competitive, governments need to continually consider new technological

approaches in order to advance their societies.

“Unleashing the power of innovation is not just key element of security, but a driver of economic growth and competitiveness. Few nations understand that as well as the UAE. The innovation mindset is a catalyst for transformative partnerships. Innovation helps to ensure long-term employment gains and sustains national capacity.”

Hewson went on to highlight the importance of collaboration between governments and the private sector in creating long-term economic opportunities. “To shape the future, public-private partnerships need to target every link of the economy to encourage innovation,” she said. “We need to promote STEM education to achieve this. When we provide students with opportunities, we inspire them to great success. We’ve challenged students in the UAE to develop civilian and industrial applications. By giving them hands-on challenges, it gives them a pipeline to be innovators.”

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SMART GATES TO REPLACE PASSPORT OFFICIALS AT DUBAI AIRPORTS BY 2030

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mart gates will replace passport officials’ platforms at Dubai airports as soon as 2030, according to Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General, General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs.

“We have created smart gates projects in an exclusive and modern way, and these now amount to about 122 smart gates. We have created a number of smart projects in Dubai international airports, the latest of which is “Next-Generation Departure” project, which will enable passengers to complete their travel procedures in the least time possible,” he said in his welcome address at the Airport Security Middle East conference last month.

Al Marri added that the Directorate is looking to have the UAE ranked amongst the best countries in the

world in terms of safety and security by ensuring the implementation of nationality and residency related laws, to bring security and economic benefit to the country and contribute to the protection of its ports.

“We are constantly evolving with the advent of modern technology

HOMEGROWN 2-FOR-1 APP THE ENTERTAINER ACQUIRED FOR “NINE-FIGURE” SUM

Donna Benton, founder and CEO, The Entertainer

The Entertainer founder and CEO Donna Benton has confirmed that Bahrain’s GFH Financial Group has acquired the Dubai-based two-for-one offers app for a “nine-figure” sum.

The transaction resulted in the full exit of existing investors, which 18

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include MENA Venture Investments and Abraaj Group. However, Benton will remain as a key shareholder in the company.

In a social media post, Benton described signing the deal as “a proud moment.”

Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH, said, “Investing in high-growth technologybased companies is now among the cornerstones of GFH’s investment strategy. Over the past 17 years, The Entertainer has established itself as a market leader and we are excited to be joining the company as shareholders during the next phase of development.”

and artificial intelligence tools.

This may be one of the factors facing some sectors, requiring the deployment of innovative and intelligent solutions by government entities and contribution to promoting Dubai’s global leadership,” he said.

Alrayes commended The Entertainer’s strong and profitable business model, advanced digital platform and the successful global expansion currently underway. “We see significant room for even greater value creation in the Company’s existing markets as well as new locations in the Middle East, Asia, South Africa and Europe, where it has recently established and is experiencing impressive growth.”

The Entertainer launched an award-winning smartphone app in 2013, after being established as a print-only product in 2001. It has since shifted to a completely datadriven technology company with 38 destination-specific products, and tailored B2B solutions for corporate clients, with offers from over 10,000 merchant partners. www.tahawultech.com

DUBAI HOLDING TO INVEST AED 1BN IN LAUNCHING UAE DIGITAL BANK

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ubai Holding has announced it will invest up to AED 1 billion over the next five years to launch a digital bank for the UAE, with plans to expand services across the Middle East and North Africa region.

Owing to the UAE having one of the highest smartphone penetration rates globally, Dubai Holding’s digital bank will aim to provide an on-demand, fully customisable and engaging experience to individuals and businesses alike.

“Through our investment in Dubai Holding Digital Bank, we are enabling digital opportunities with the potential to empower individuals and businesses to leverage new financial technologies for additional convenience and to unlock new business opportunities, in support of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the

UAE and Ruler of Dubai’s for a smarter and cashless society,” said HE Abdulla Al Habbai, Chairman at Dubai Holding.

The Digital Bank is set to offer unique perks and services to users, as well as providing bespoke banking services that extend beyond the traditional bank offering. Customers will have access to

the region’s first truly personalised and dynamic loyalty programme.

It aims to provide a state-of-theart platform to aid digital transactions and accelerate the drive towards a cashless society, and facilitate the exchange of data and insights between individuals and businesses.

MUBADALA TO OPEN ABU DHABI TECH HUB NEXT YEAR

Mubadala Investment Company has announced that it will establish a technology hub in Abu Dhabi next year in a bid to attract leading tech www.tahawultech.com

companies to the oil-rich emirate, its venture capital head said recently.

Abu Dhabi’s state investor, which has committed $15 billion

to the SoftBank Vision Fund, has said it is looking at new investment opportunities and will invest in companies that operate out of the tech hub.

“We also have to invest in tech companies not just bring them here,” Mubadala Head of Venture Capital Ibrahim Ajami.

Mubadala’s ventures investment team is also looking at possible investments in European and Middle East companies, he said.

“There’s good innovation coming from European entrepreneurs.”

Mubadala set up its venture capital arm in late 2017 to oversee and manage the $15 billion commitment to the SoftBank Vision Fund.

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NEWS

DUBAI FIRM RECREATES SHEIKH ZAYED SPEECH THROUGH HOLOGRAM

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Dubai-based firm has used 3D technology to recreate one of the late Sheikh Zayed’s speeches through a hologram.

New Dimension Productions (NDP) presented one of Sheikh Zayed’s speeches by recreating a 3D model that uses detailed facial textures, head animation and composition.

Covering all the aspects resulted into a final production of realistic holographic footage of Sheikh Zayed’s important speeches to the youth, urging them to shape the UAE’s future.

The production was created by a team of experts and over 400 hours of work to create the experience.

“The NDP team pushed the boundaries of 3D photorealistic modeling and animation,

compositing and visual effects to a whole new level; bringing forth a hologram that can reflect the astonishing persona of his highness,” NDP co-founder and CEO Hasan M. Hina said. “It is also a tremendous honour to produce a hologram of H.H. on the occasion of the Year of Zayed, which gave us an additional motivation to perfect it.”

NDP’s team conducted research of Sheikh Zayed’s archive, studying his tone of voice, facial expressions and body gestures. Remastering the audio was a challenge, the firm said, while different sources of recordings had to be matched, synced and tuned.

NDP was founded in Jordan in 2010 by Hina and Mahmoud Beasha, and has used Dubai as its main base since 2016.

SAP’S PUBLIC CLOUD DATA CENTRE GOES LIVE IN SAUDI ARABIA

Ahmed Al-Faifi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, SAP Middle East North

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SAP has become the first global technology company to go live with a public cloud data centre in Saudi Arabia.

The landmark launch of the SAP public cloud data centre is the centerpiece of SAP’s 4-year SAR 285 million Saudi investment plan, and is part of the wider Digital Hub. This includes an open digital platform supporting entrepreneurship, coinnovation with customers, partners, and the wider ecosystem to leverage cloud solutions to solve real world problems, and localisation to support the government’s vision and journey into digital transformation.

“Today’s SAP public cloud data centre launch will deliver a new level of cloud-based digital solutions to accelerate transformation and competitiveness to the Kingdom,

underscoring our commitment to Saudi Vision 2030,” said Ahmed Al-Faifi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, SAP Middle East North. “Our in-country public cloud data centre will enable Saudi public and private sector organisations to securely digitally transform their business.”

Organisations can adopt opexfriendly and scalable cloud solutions for 25 industries and 12 lines of business through the data centre. In addition, customers can start their journey of digital transformation by leveraging solutions running on the SAP HANA in-memory database and SAP cloud platform, which are also available on the SAP public cloud data centre.

Currently, SAP is exploring how to integrate the new data centre into the planned Saudi Government Cloud. www.tahawultech.com

UAE STUDENTS TACKLE CHILDHOOD CANCER WITH HOMEMADE ROBOTIC DEVICES

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tudents from across the UAE have utilised robotic technology to create devices that can highlight the early onset of cancerous symptoms in children.

The project is being hosted by UAE-based charity, Friends of Cancer Patients (FOCP), as part of their #Ana-vation initiative, and seeks to raise awareness around the 7 most common warning signs of childhood cancer. Ana-vation is a play on words, combining ‘Ana’ – the Arabic word for ‘I’ and ‘Innovation,’ with an overall goal of inspiring future researchers, scientists and engineers.

According to the World Health Organisation, cancer is the fourth most common cause of death among children under 15 years of age in industrialised nations.

In a bid to combat this, 150 students from across 15 schools in the UAE were set the task of creating a product that either helps to detect early symptoms of cancer, or create something for those with cancer to make the treatment more bearable.

One example includes the ‘Aware Cap,’ which has been designed by 17-year-old GEMS Millennium School students, Rahul Sharma and Saurabh Choithani. The cap is equipped with heat and UV sensors that trigger a pair of sunglasses to cover the user’s eyes to prevent damage, as ‘eye changes’

– such as white pupils, visual loss, and squinting is listed as a potential early symptom of cancer.

The winning projects will be developed further to be integrated into Friends of Cancer Patients’ community awareness initiatives.

DRIVERLESS POLICE CARS TO HIT DUBAI ROADS SOON

Dubai Police is reportedly planning to roll out a fleet of driverless patrol vehicles operating on the emirate’s roads.

Acacus Technologies confirmed that it has been commissioned to revamp the entire fleet of Dubai Police’s cars so that the city’s streets will be patrolled by driverless vehicles www.tahawultech.com

by 2020.

The Dubaibased firm noted that the driverless patrol cars will be implemented in various phases.

The first phase involves the installation of capabilities including cameras and video analytics. The following phases will include object detection, tracking, and advanced driverless technology.

The agreement was signed by Major-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai Police, and Talal ben Halim, Founder and CEO of Acacus Technologies.

A home-grown start-up specialising in developing autonomous vehicles, Acacus said it will install the self-driving functionality in the existing fleet of cars and other types of vehicles used by Dubai Police.

Dubai Police has a number of vehicles in its fleet, including Lamborghini and Aston Martin models.

Ben Halim said, “It is a proud moment for all of us at Acacus, to be part of a prestigious project for Dubai Police.

“Sheikh Mohammed’s vision guides us in pushing the boundaries of technology further, especially in artificial intelligence and machine learning, for a common goal of making Dubai the smartest city in the world.

We are excited to have the driverless patrol vehicles on roads well ahead of our target launch date.”

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APPLE, AMAZON VIE TO BE FIRST $1 TRILLION COMPANY

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pple is reportedly on the verge of becoming the first $1 trillion publicly listed US firm.

The iPhone-maker’s stock rose 13-percent this month. The tech

giant also received a boost after Warren Buffet purchased 75 million additional Apple shares in the first quarter.

Apple’s market capitalisation on 10th May topped a record $934 billion.

UBER’S FLYING TAXI SEEKS ALTERNATIVE LAUNCH CITY FOLLOWING DUBAI DELAYS

Uber Technologies has re-opened a contest to select the first international city to launch its proposed flying taxi project, following apparent delays in getting the service off the ground in Dubai.

UberAIR, as the service will be known, aims to launch demonstrator flights starting in 2020 and begin 22

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paid, intra-city operations in 2023, the company said.

Last year, Uber named Dallas and Los Angeles as its first launch cities and is now looking for a third, international metropolis to take part, chief product officer Jeff Holden said at its annual Elevate Summit in Los Angeles.

However, Apple is in danger of being beaten to the $1 trillion mark – or passed soon after – by Amazon.com, the second largest listed US company by market value, at $780 billion.

According to analysts, if Apple’s stock were to keep growing at the pace seen over the past year, the company’s market capitalisation would hit $1 trillion in September.

Amazon would reach $1 trillion around October if its stock price continued to rise at the same rate as the past year, and would overtake Apple soon after.

Apple’s stock has risen 24 percent over the past year, fuelled by optimism about the iPhone X, the company’s latest smartphone. By comparison, Amazon’s stock has surged 70 percent over the past 12 months, bolstered by 31 percent revenue growth as more shopping moves online and businesses shift their IT departments to the cloud, where Amazon Web Services leads the market.

Uber previously named Dubai as its third launch city, but has now reopened its selection process to include other cities which “fit more of its criteria” for showcasing how flying taxis can help to relieve urban congestion.

“Dubai has previously expressed an interest in (Uber’s) vision but we are broadening the pool given interest from other cities, which is why we have launched this criteria and process,” a spokeswoman said, adding that discussions with Dubai continue.

Uber aims to speed up development of a new industry of electric, ondemand, urban air taxis, which customers may order via smartphone much the way it has popularised ground-based taxi alternatives since it first launched in 2011.

It envisions a fleet of electric jetpowered vehicles – part helicopter, part drone and part fixed-wing aircraft – running multiple small rotors capable of both vertical take-off and landing and rapid horizontal flight. www.tahawultech.com

DUBAI AIRPORTS TO SLASH ENERGY COSTS WITH NEW TECH

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ubai Airports will use Siemens’ data analytics and smart building technology to “guarantee annual energy savings of almost 20% per year” at its facilities.

The initiative will entail implementing energy efficiency measures at Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and Concourse B at Dubai International (DXB).

Focusing on air and water systems, the seven-year project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 25,000 tonnes, with annual electricity savings of approximately 50 gigawatt hours (GWH), and water savings of around 21 million gallons.

The initiative is part of Dubai Airports’ energy-saving strategy and programme

designed to limit the environmental footprint at both of its airports.

The project will involve a tailormade energy optimisation solution has been designed for the project

by Siemens, comprising a range of physical and digital technologies including variable frequency drives, panels, sensors, intelligent controls, energy metering and efficient water fixtures. These will be deployed to the air and water systems to optimise the air-handling units, chilled water system, fresh air plant and the secondary fresh air, supply and exhaust fan systems.

“Sustainability underpins our facility management strategy and these energy and water savings have the double benefit of limiting our environmental footprint and improving our bottom line,” said Michael Ibbitson, Executive Vice President, Infrastructure and Technology, Dubai Airports.

GOOGLE’S “ROBO-CALLER” TO NOTIFY USERS WHEN CALLS ARE RECORDED

Since revealing its AI-based robocaller Duplex Earlier this month, Google has since faced plenty of questions about how it works.

Duplex is an extension of the company’s voice-based digital assistant that automatically www.tahawultech.com

phones local businesses and speaks with workers to book appointments.

The bot will identify itself as the Google assistant, and will inform people on the phone that the line is being recorded in certain jurisdictions.

Google introduced Duplex last month at its I/O developer conference, playing several clips of its assistant booking a haircut and a restaurant table with casual

speech. The demo impressed developers, but alarmed others, who criticised Google for presenting an artificially intelligent bot that posed as human.

Two days after the demo, Google said the service would be “appropriately identified” on calls.

Still, Google has yet to say whether the businesses used in its demos knew they were speaking with a Google bot or being recorded.

In blog post about Duplex, Google said the service will benefit businesses that can’t book appointments online, giving them that option without additional expense or staff training. In the example where Duplex booked a hair appointment, the system said it was calling for “a client.”

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NEWS

ONLY “1%” OF CIOS HAVE DEPLOYED BLOCKCHAIN

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nly one percent of CIOs indicated any kind of blockchain adoption within their organisations, according to Gartner’s 2018 CIO Survey.

The study also found that only eight percent of CIOs were in short-term

planning or active experimentation with blockchain.

Furthermore, 77 percent of CIOs said their organisation has no interest in the technology and/or no action planned to investigate or develop it.

MECCA TO USE DRONES FOR PILGRIM SAFETY

For the first time in its history, the Grand Mosque in Mecca will be using drones to manage crowds during the month of Ramadan.

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According to a report by the AlMadinah, Major General Mohammad Al-Ahmadi, deputy commander of the Umrah forces, said that the

“This year’s Gartner CIO Survey provides factual evidence about the massively hyped state of blockchain adoption and deployment,” said David Furlonger, vice president and Gartner fellow. “It is critical to understand what blockchain is and what it is capable of today, compared to how it will transform companies, industries and society tomorrow.”

Furlonger added that rushing into blockchain deployments could lead organisations to significant problems of failed innovation, wasted investment, rash decisions and even rejection of a game-changing technology.

Among 293 CIOs of organisations that are in short-term planning or have already invested in blockchain initiatives, 23 percent of CIOs said that blockchain requires the most new skills to implement of any technology area, while 18 percent said that blockchain skills are the most difficult to find.

CIOs from telecoms, insurance and financial services indicated being more actively involved in blockchain planning and experimentation than CIOs from other industries.

Umrah crowd management plan for this Ramadan involves security, as well as organisational and humanitarian aspects.

He said that any pilgrims displaying signs of distress will not be permitted inside the premises of the Grand Mosque, taking into account the safety of them as well as of others present inside.

Pilgrims coming in with luggage will also be denied entrance at the Haram plazas.

In addition to the drones, the safety plan is also inclusive of a security aircraft and 2,500 cameras that will observe the movement of the crowd.

Around 2,400 police officers and 1,300 security patrols have been assigned to carry out the security plan of the Grand Mosque.

Fahd Bin Mutlaq Al-Ossaimi, the director of Makkah Police, said there will be six stations for shuttle trips to and from the Grand Mosque. www.tahawultech.com

SECOND SOFTBANK $100 BILLION FUND IN THE PIPELINE

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oftBank is reportedly planning to open an office in Saudi Arabia to strengthen its ties with the Kingdom, while founder and CEO Masayoshi Son is reportedly planning the firm’s next $100 billion venture – a version 2.0 of

the world’s biggest technology fund.

SoftBank and the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, are also in early talks with banks about potential funding for the world’s biggest solar power project.

According to reports, the firm has held preliminary discussions with investors about committing to a second fund as early as 2019, which is likely to be similar in size to the almost $100 billion that was raised for the first Vision Fund.

Sources familiar with the matter that that the fund aims to attract a wider pool of investors than the first one, in which most of the contributions came from sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Vision Fund was set up to invest in companies employing, computational biology and other data-driven business models, cloud technologies and software, consumer internet businesses and financial technology.

Last year, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund contributed to SoftBank’s $93 billion Vision Fund, which targets long-term investments in emerging technologies such as IoT, artificial intelligence, robotics, mobile applications and computing, communications infrastructure and telecoms.

TELECOMS TRIO LAUNCH COMMERCIAL 5G NETWORKS

Etisalat, STC and du have announced the launches of their commercial 5G wireless networks, ahead of the expected roll out of 5G in 2019.

Etisalat was the first to make the announcement, followed by STC and du.

Saleh Al Abdooli, Etisalat’s group CEO, said, “Etisalat is the first telecom operator www.tahawultech.com

in the world to provide this ultra-high 5G C-band data speed as a commercial service over the wireless network.”

The foundation of Etisalat’s commercial launch was laid in December last year, where the firm launched a pre-commercial 5G network in certain areas of the country.

In the first phase of the launch, 5G fixed wireless services will be provided in select locations in UAE, which will gradually expand to other parts of the country depending on consumer demand and requirements.

Commercial fixed devices and services will be available for consumers starting from September this year.

STC, meanwhile, announced the first live 5G network in Saudi Arabia.

Nasser Al Nasser, STC Group CEO, said, “The launch of 5G started with operating a number of towers, initially, in the eastern region. We will continue working on building the network construction gradually in cities until the devices are available during of 2019.”

Du was the third operator to announce its 5G network, ahead of the anticipated commercial rollout of 3GPP-compliant 5G terminals in 2019.

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FEATURE

Michael Owen

WHY MICHAEL OWEN IS BLOCKCHAIN’S NEWEST FAN Football legend Michael Owen has emerged as an unlikely backer of cryptocurrency and blockchain. James Dartnell sat with the former Real Madrid and Manchester United striker to find out he believes the future will be shaped by distributed ledger technology.

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www.tahawultech.com

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he world has changed a lot since an 18-year-old Michael Owen took the footballing world by storm.

After bursting on to the global stage following a wondergoal against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup in France, the English international cemented his reputation as a football superstar in the late 90s with English club Liverpool, where he became renowned for his electric pace and prolific goal-scoring record.

In 2001, after winning a UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup treble with his boyhood club, Owen achieved the highest individual honour in football, winning the Ballon d’Or – the European Footballer of the Year award. By 2004, his prowess earned him a move to the biggest club in world football, Real Madrid, where he was signed as part of the ‘Galactico’ era – a team

www.tahawultech.com

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FEATURE

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Michael Owen

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Cryptocurrencies are here to stay. comprising the planet’s biggest superstars, including Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Luis Figo.

Now, Owen has emerged as an unlikely global champion of cryptocurrency and blockchain, and he finds it easy to relate to the ways in which technology has changed the world since his playing days.

“We’re in the technological age now,” he says. “The generation after mine is when technology probably really hit home. Mobile phones came out when I was about 16. Twenty years ago, we had a phone with a green and red button, and that was about it. It’s strange because a lot of the time, the life of a footballer is really boring. We would fly, see an airport or be resting in hotel rooms for five, six, seven hours every day, and it was just tedious. Nowadays, with technology, players have so many things to occupy them.”

Retiring from the beautiful game in 2013, Owen quickly turned his attention to setting up his own businesses, launching the Michael Owen Football Centres, and Red Sports, the Chinese soccer schools programme, and he first crossed paths with cryptocurrencies following their rise in the East. “I’ve got a few businesses around the world, a lot of which are in Asia, and in terms of cryptocurrencies and those businesses, it felt like a marriage in the sense that you www.tahawultech.com

could use these tokens to be involved with me,” he said. “For a lot of the businesses that I’m in now, embracing cryptocurrencies fits really well, and that’s probably why it was such an obvious thing.”

Owen has now joined forces with Singaporean firm Global Crypto Offering Exchange (GCOX) – the “world’s first” celebrity crypto tokens exchange, which lets celebrities create and trade their personal crypto tokens on its blockchain, Acclaim – to release his personal ‘OWN’ Token. GCOX already has a renowned cast of private placement investors, including Filipino boxer and senator Manny Pacquiao, and Singaporean billionaire Tommie Goh. “I’ve got football training centres, and you can use tokens for merchandise, food and beverages,” Owen says. “For training sessions, it’s actually got a value. As I was developing a few of these businesses, we found out a bit more about cryptocurrency and that’s when I got connected with GCOX, and the rest is history.”

Having been mindful of technological change throughout his career, Owen now believes cryptocurrency and blockchain are the trends that will shape the world. “Cryptocurrencies are here to stay,” he says. “I would say that they’re going to be the future, I’m pretty certain about that. Along with Blockchain, they’ve obviously caught most people’s attention, and are the new buzzwords of the day. If you think back 20 years ago, it was the internet, and now everyone’s predicting that this is going to be a life-changer, and I’d go along with that. The technology’s there. The fact is that governments are now embracing it.

I’d guess that there will be a lot more people who join the party.”

However, Owen, who also spoke at the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai last month, has not made a blind bet by involving himself in cryptocurrency. “Cryptocurrency can be quite a dangerous area to go in,” he said. “Legally, you need to cross all the t’s and dot the I’s.

GCOX did it properly from top to bottom, and my people had a thorough check, because you can’t risk joining forces with somebody that’s not legitimate. They passed our checks with flying colours.”

Away from Blockchain, Owen believes that virtual reality is set to be the most transformative technology for consumers across the world. “I’ve got a VR headset, which is absolutely amazing,” he says. “It’ll be interesting to see how football fans interact with technology in the coming years. You’ve now got virtual reality and 360-degree cameras that allow fans to virtually experience matches and be inside stadiums, which is truly game-changing.”

He also believes that as technology and data analysis continue to evolve, the football world will be forced to adapt, with coaches in particular having to become masters of information. “I have the seen the change in that respect – obviously throughout my career it’s happened in front of me,” Owen says. “We used to train and scout opponents in one way, but now you monitor every step you take – how much distance you’ve covered, how fast you’ve run, everything about opposition players.

Technology has just brought so much into our lives to make things better in a football sense. Embracing all that is a must because otherwise you’ll be left behind.”

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FEATURE

Michael Owen

truly reach its full potential. “Your eyes don’t lie, and in most cases, you can see how hard someone’s working,” he says. “However, when you’re looking after a squad of 25 players, it’s very difficult to absolutely be on the money every single time, so technology just enhances that awareness. There’s no hiding anymore. You could’ve had a few drinks the night before training back in the day, and hide in a training session if you were feeling a bit under the weather, but now you can’t get away with anything.

It aids coaches so much now that they rely on data to be at the top end of their profession.”

Since initially visiting Dubai in his late teens, the emirate has become 30

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For a lot of the businesses that I’m in now, embracing cryptocurrencies fits really well.

Owen’s holiday destination of choice.

In the early years of his career, he starred in a promotional video for property company The First Group, which saw him give a guided tour of Dubai’s most-loved sites, from the view of a helicopter cockpit. “I’ve probably become much better at talking on camera since then,” Owen quips. “I did the video when I was about 18 or 19, and it went viral when someone re-shared recently. I first started coming over when I had my first holiday around that age, and there were about three hotels in the whole city. Now, it’s colossal, and an amazing place. Dubai is now so popular with Brits, and the world definitely knows the Middle East is progressing fast.” www.tahawultech.com

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FEATURE

Careem

IN THE DRIVING SEAT Careem co-founder Magnus Olsson has revealed that he sees the region’s homegrown ride-hailing service as playing a “crucial role in contributing to the changes in Saudi Arabia,” with particular focus on empowering female drivers – or “captinahs” - from June onwards.

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W

hen faced with death, what would you do?

“Create something big and meaningful,” was Magnus Olsson’s attitude. Following a huge brain aneurism aged just 29, Olsson was fortunate enough to make a full recovery, and made it his mission to build something “inspiring” alongside former McKinsey co-worker, Mudassir Sheikha. Amid deliberations, the pair even considered creating a fish farm. “It’s the perfect business model, and one I’m willing to share,” jokes Olsson.

In time, the pair came to appreciate that technology is their shared passion. When they established themselves as founders of the region’s first homegrown ride-hailing service in 2012, little could either of them have known that six years later, they would be heading up the Middle East’s first – and only, technology unicorn.

Careem – meaning generous in Arabic and typically spelt with a ‘k’, has since become a staple addition

Our dream is for the first woman that drives legally in Saudi Arabia to be a captinah.

www.tahawultech.com

to the region’s urban mobility scene. In the last 18 months, the firm has raised $150 million from investors including Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding and German car maker Daimler, closing out a $500 million funding round. A $350 million funding round led by Japan’s Ratuken and Saudi Telecom gave the company a value of $1 billion in December 2017.

But Careem isn’t stopping at the premium, limousine service it once established itself on. Instead, Olsson and Sheikha are looking to diverse their services to cater for a much wider audience, and ultimately fulfil their company mantra: to simplify and improve lives for people in the region. With this in mind, Careem now utilises motorbikes, trikes, tuk tuks, golf carts and boats in various countries across the 100 Middle East cities the firm is now present in, to make their offerings more accessible and affordable.

A major focus for the ride-hailing firm in 2018 is Saudi Arabia, and Careem is betting big on enlisting 20,000 “captinahs” – female drivers - by 2020, following the royal decree enabling women to drive in the Kingdom from June onwards.

The firm has recently announced that 43-year-old Enaam Gazi AlAswad has been hand-picked by Careem from over 3,000 women as Saudi’s first captinah. Al-Aswad reportedly learned how to drive in her native Syria, but has received all the necessary training from Careem to ensure she will be back in the driving seat before the month is up.

“When we first went to Saudi Arabia four and a half years ago, we were unsure whether women would

Enaam Gazi Al-Aswad even be comfortable sitting in our cars – and at the time, all of our captains were expats,” says Olsson.

“Now, 99.3 percent of our captains in KSA are Saudi, and we plan to have 20,000 captinahs on board by 2020.”

When Mohammed bin Salman first made the announcement that the ban on female drivers would be lifted this year, Olsson says the firm received a “fantastic response” from women in the Kingdom.

“Careem received over 2,000 applications within the first two weeks of the announcement being made to enlist as a captinah.

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FEATURE

Careem

Autonomous cars, at scale, will happen in Dubai first over any other city worldwide, purely because of the city’s ambition to achieve.

Ultimately, our dream is for the first woman that drives legally in Saudi Arabia to be a captinah,” he says.

Olsson also believes Careem will play a crucial role in the Crown Prince’s vision to create Saudi’s very own tech city of the future.

“The people behind NEOM are giving the impression that by the time we reach the launch of this city, we probably won’t have roads,” he jokes. “Instead, we’re more likely

to have landing points on various building levels, because by then, we’ll be flying everywhere. We’re still very early in this journey, but we’ll definitely be there. Only time will tell how the city will turn out and how we can best contribute to it.”

With regards to futuristic modes of transport becoming a reality worldwide, Olsson maintains that the Middle East – and Dubai in particular – is a force to be reckoned with.

“I believe that autonomous cars, at scale, will happen here first over any other city worldwide, purely because of the city’s ambition to achieve,” he says. “In terms of

flying vehicles, as per the RTA’s drive to bring autonomous aerial vehicles to the emirate, we’re still relatively small in order to think about building these. However, we’ve teamed up with various technology firms that create this technology to look at providing the booking service that would be used to call these vehicles for customers.

So while we’re definitely exploring this space, it’s on a partnership basis for now.”

Careem has also recently unveiled its revamped mobile app with a new user interface to improve functionality and user experience. The new UI includes

Mission: Simplify and improve the lives of people and build an awesome institution that inspires

14 100+

Founded: 2012 1st release of app developed in Pakistan

800,000+ Captains

20,000

Something for everyone:

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Raised over

countries &

24/7

Call centres in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, UAE, KSA, Morocco, Turkey 1600+ call centre agents

by 2020 Captinahs

Bikes Pakistan, Egypt

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Careem Kids UAE, Lebanon

Boats KSA

cities

$500

million+ in funding

R&D centres: UAE, Berlin & Karachi

Carpooling car type in Amman, Jeddah & Alexandria

Careem Box UAE, KSA & Qatar

Tuk Tuks Pakistan

Accessibility for all Careem Assist Careem One 29 visually impaired call centre agents

ASSIST

The MENA region’s only tech

unicorn UNHCR UAE, KSA & Jordan

Wheelchair-bound Captains in Egypt

24M+ Users

Trikes UAE

Golf carts Egypt

3,000+ Tigers

Acquired food discovery platform Roundmenu in 2018

Ambulance Pakistan

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upgraded features such as modular layout, ‘one tap’ to change car type and preferred payment method, enhanced map features and clearer calls to action to improve overall user experience.

The firm now defines itself as an “AI-driven company” according to Mohamed Imran, product design lead at Careem UAE, and uses the technology to analyse hundreds of experiments to assist in delivering the best possible customer experience.

“Using AI, we have been able to predict the demand on our services to a 90 percent accuracy, and this technology has reduced

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experiment analysis from one day to just a few minutes,” he says.

“From this analysis, we have made the relevant investments to create an app that is purely data-driven based on customer feedback.

The changes are in no way simply aesthetic decisions.”

For every trip a user makes, there are over 470 technologically driven services involved in the back-end operations – and time is one thing the firm cannot afford to compromise, says Imran.

“We have to establish where our available captains are within 100 milliseconds of the user clicking ‘Yalla!’, and find the best match

for both the captain and customer within 500 milliseconds,” he says.

The new app has currently been rolled out in its testing phase, but the firm plans to continue leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to make its service “seamless,” according to Wael Nafee, vice president of product, Careem.

“At Careem, we believe that technology should be built to serve people,” he says. “We’re end-user focused, meaning we want to create impact through simplifying consumers lives, and we believe artificial intelligence can certainly help us do this.”

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FEATURE

Drones in the enterprise

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT If you’re a postman, look away now. Speedy home deliveries via drones are no longer science fiction myths. While the benefit to consumers is clear to see, the use-cases for this technology in creating business value are now beginning to surface. How soon can we expect this kind of service here in the Middle East, and how will it benefit the region’s enterprises?

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H

ow many neglected online shopping carts are a result of expensive shipping costs and lengthy delivery times? Eighty-six percent, according to management consulting group McKinsey & Group. That’s a staggeringly high percentage, and one that should act as a sure-fire cause for retail firms to explore alternative methods of catering to the on-demand, lowcost needs of their customers.

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Enter the era of drone deliveries.

It’s no secret that Amazon has already made progress in creating such an ecosystem via its Amazon Prime Air development centres in the United States, the United Kingdom, Austria, France and Israel, and is currently testing vehicles in multiple international locations.

Closer to home, Dubaibased startup Eniverse inked a partnership with Skycard and Fetchr late last year to help deliver

the first autonomous drone delivery service in the region. It was said at the time that they will start with a soft launch to operate in specific areas of Dubai including Emirates Hills, The Meadows, The Springs, The Greens, and Jumeirah.

“Drone deliveries will be the norm in the very near future, and the UAE will be one of the first countries to implement this service,” claims Rabih Bou Rashid, managing director of UAE-based

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FEATURE

Drones in the enterprise

Falcon Eye Drones. “But Amazon Air is still in its infancy with just a few successful proofs of concepts worldwide, and many more major companies are secretly developing these systems.”

However, while federal regulators and industry officials seem adamant that Amazon’s service may begin delivering packages via drone as early as this summer in the US, it seems D-Day for the Middle East is less certain.

Adam Lalani, group head of IT at Tristar, believes that while such a service is definitely possible in the region, he’s “not sure it will be happening anytime soon.”

“My two primary concerns are safety and standardisation. With autonomous drones, you can’t have safety without a set of standards,” he says.

He goes on to discuss how any successful mass adopted technology is governed by standards. “Take your pick; television and radio have broadcast standards to avoid interference,

and computer networks have standards such as collision detection and avoidance so that different devices are able to communicate with each other. In the case of drones, think collisions.”

There has to be a “tread carefully approach” to drone standardisation, he adds. “With mass production techniques, manufacturers can find ways to isolate and eradicate defects, and at the moment these are not mass

Drone deliveries will be the norm in the very near future, and the UAE will be one of the first countries to implement this service.

Rabih Bou Rashid, managing director, Falcon Eye Drones

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produced on a scale that allows for high reliability.”

Similarly, Rashid believes that there are “three ingredients” missing from this technology becoming a reality in the region, namely having a designated air space for drones, a dedicated traffic management system for unmanned aerial systems, as well as landing pads for deliveries. “Simply landing in people’s backyards will not be a safe solution,” he says.

But another key development that screams the potential for problems in the roll out of this technology is the need for drones to operate alongside a strong postal address system. The United Nations estimates that as many as 4 billion people around the globe live in places where there are no street names or numbers – something which UAE residents will undoubtedly be able to relate to.

Few roads have street names, and www.tahawultech.com

directions are often based on major landmarks – even though many of these no longer exist or are known by multiple names.

“Telling a drone “second left, opposite the supermarket, near the roundabout” is not feasible, and is a recipe for disaster,” says Lalani. “Until the proper roll out of postcodes is completed in the UAE and other parts of the GCC, drones will be completely reliant upon GPS co-ordinates.”

These co-ordinates are currently accurate to a “few metres,” claims Rashid. However, the adoption of high accuracy GNSS receivers could be a possible solution to ensuring drone landing can be narrowed down to a margin of just a few centimetres going forward, he believes.

So, if safety measures are standardised, and GPS locations are as accurate as can be, what more could hinder the implementation of drone-based delivery services in the UAE? “With any airborne transportation, the biggest limiting factor is the mass that can be carried. You won’t find drones delivering pianos anytime soon,” says Lalani.

With the exception of Griff Aviation’s Griff 300 – an 8-propeller design with a monster chassis and a payload of up to 800kg, the majority of drones have the capacity to carry up to 5kg of mass on any given journey.

“Low mass, small cubic volume items are ripe for drone deliveries.

Credit card and chequebook deliveries are a good place to begin,” says Lalani.

Having the ability avoid road congestion while assigning multiple delivery points in these scenarios www.tahawultech.com

With any airborne transportation, the biggest limiting factor is the mass that can be carried. You won’t find drones delivering pianos anytime soon.

Adam Lalani, group head of IT, Tristar

makes for a very interesting business use-case, Lalani continues. “The likes of Aramex could quite easily double or triple the number of items on such a delivery run,” he says.

According to a recent report by consulting firm Strategy&, the market for drones in the GCC is expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2022. Aside from utilising this technology for delivery purposes in e-commerce scenarios, the adoption of drones in other industries is now on the rise. Intel recently unveiled a drone designed specifically for industrial use-cases like construction site and field inspections, while the oil and gas sector are now using drones for rig safety and maintenance purposes.

“I think the first early wins for this technology will be firefighting, whereby drones can be used in areas that are either not safe for humans, or cannot be reached with conventional techniques,” says Lalani.

The fire at Dubai’s Address Downtown on New Years’ Eve in 2015 would have been the “perfect use case,” he says. “Fire engines were unable to reach the higher floors of the hotel, but a drone could have managed this quite easily.”

Drone delivery services that fly food directly to a customer’s doorstep are also generating a lot of promise. Australian and US residents have already feasted on drone-delivered burritos, and the UAE played host to Costa Coffee’s ‘Drone Drop’ service late last year when the coffeehouse carried out its first delivery of coffee to beachgoers in Jumeirah via drones.

Uber also announced at its annual Uber Elevates conference last month that it is set to kick off trials of its own as part of a federally approved test to deliver food to consumers “within five minutes.” Ten pilot programmes are set to take place around the US, with the data gathered set to inform new rules around the safety standards of drones into national airspace.

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FEATURE

Kumar Prasoon

THE GREEN LIGHT Al Safeer’s group CIO Kumar Prasoon shares his vision for how a blend of gamechanging technologies can create a smart, integrated infrastructure that will transform grocery production and slash energy costs.

K Kumar Prasoon, group CIO, Al Safeer group

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umar Prasoon sees a key theme throughout history, and the industrial revolutions that have defined the last few centuries. “Over time, we’ve shifted from mechanisation, water and steam usage; to mass production and electricity; then to computing and automation, and now to cyber-physical systems,” he says.

“Energy has underpinned this transition.”

For Prasoon, Industry 4.0 success will be defined by the ways in which GCC retailer Al Safeer can manage its energy usage, and successfully use technology to deliver innovative, energy-driven processes that make use of the local environment.

Like any CIO, Prasoon’s technology plans are shaped by a need to increase efficiency and reduce operating costs. By www.tahawultech.com

the same token, Al Safeer is equally burdened with high energy costs, like any other large retailer, both in powering its IT infrastructure and physical retail space. “The misuse and overuse of energy is very costly,” he says. “Energy usage may not seem like a key consideration for the IT department, but TCO and power optimisation can be directly influenced by CIOs. It’s also an unavoidable fact that IT cannot survive for a second without energy.

It’s my responsibility to automate administrative and repetitive tasks.

All data processing, application and infrastructure monitoring and energy utilisation are things which we have to consider. Malls run on air conditioning, and data centres demand huge amounts of electricity.”

Prasoon is clear as to the technological elements that will be needed in order to transform these business cost centres. “You need pervasive connectivity, storage and analytics that can feed into industrial IoT systems,” he says. “The formula for success in the fourth industrial revolution is operational technology, information technology, ERP systems, government regulations and a strong WAN-to-cloud strategy. The Internet of Things will be game-changing.

McKinsey believes the economic impact of IoT could be between $4-11 trillion by 2025, and I believe it has the potential to reduce 20-50% of maintenance costs across the board. It cuts across retail and other sectors; machine-to-machine WAN optimisation and cloud use cases will create new business models.”

As well as tackling the traditional tasks associated with the CIO role, Prasoon hopes to make use of local resources in order to help Al Safeer think outside the box. “A smart city is a combination of smart citizens, smart infrastructure and smart administration,” he says.

“Energy is a major component of the www.tahawultech.com

The aim is to convert barren land into an oasis of production via IoT.

infrastructure aspect, and it has to be optimised for the benefit of the community. Our vision is to use our existing infrastructure and energy to the fullest potential in order to optimise TCO.” Along with his IT-driven vision for cutting Al Safeer’s energy costs, Prasoon has also explored ways that integrated systems can improve efficiencies across other areas of the business. Agricultural produce forms an integral part of Al Safeer’s sales, and Prasoon is considering alternative ways that Al Safeer can make its supply chain more efficient, while delivering fresher, lower cost fruit and vegetables that can be sold locally.

He has been particularly taken with hydroponics – a method of fertilising plants with mineral nutrient solvents such as fish waste or duck manure, instead of soil. The result is fresh, organic produce that is grown faster and with greater yield.

What’s more, hydroponics is ideal for arid environments such as those experienced in the GCC. “Bad weather jeopardises agricultural production,” Prasoon says. Land that is currently unused can be transformed to produce lots of vegetables. There are so many areas where barren land is unused for years.

The aim has to be converting this land into an oasis of production via IoT.” Prasoon has identified the backbone elements of this plan. “We need to use energy and IoT together,” Prasoon says. “We can use industrial systems, IoT and automation to produce organic vegetables. The challenge is powering production systems. With charged sensors and 100,000 plants in one area, you need to have smart monitoring and a smart telco network. Waste land and desert areas can be converted to hydroponics centres. The challenge is to convert barren land into urban land via IoT and automation.”

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OPINION

Schneider Electric CEO

DIGITAL DISRUPTION: INNOVATION FOR THE CUSTOMER’S SAKE Schneider Electric CEO and chairman Jean-Pascal Tricoire shares his take on why organisations should welcome change in their bid to develop new business models.

Jean-Pascal Tricoire, CEO and chairman, Schneider Electric

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B

y 2019, all digitally transformed organisations will generate at least 45% of their revenue from new business models. And as Accenture’s CEO Pierre Nanterme says, “Digital disruption has only just begun.” It’s on every CEO’s mind.

In the world of innovation, we must welcome disruption. It prompts technological advancements. It drives a competitive spirit that results in improved performance for all companies. And it keeps everyone thinking a few steps ahead of the curve in order to thrive long-term in a global digital economy.

In just two years, there will be ten times more connected things than connected people in the world. Now that many smart machines and other assets have become connected, the amount of generated data is astounding: 90% of data generated from connected things was created over the last two years.

There are unprecedented opportunities here, even for companies who have been reluctant to evolve legacy business models.

One of the major benefits made possible by digitisation: improving the customer experience.

ENRICHING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Hervé Coureil, Schneider’s chief digital officer, has said, “Today, any customer experience must be enriched digitally — and be frictionless, fast, and intuitive. Most importantly, the entire customer experience must answer this question in an instant: “How are you going to solve my problem or make me more efficient?”

The key here is first identifying what those problems are and where the opportunities for transformation and evolution are in a world rapidly evolving. This is why we engage

By 2019, all digitally transformed organisations will generate at least 45% of their revenue from new business models.

www.tahawultech.com

with and listen to customers regularly.

Not just to support their current needs through better customer interactions.

But also to address what they need from digital innovation: i.e., how we can best scale Schneider Electric’s own digital advancements to solve our customers’ burning challenges.

LEVERAGING A CO-INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM Acting fast is critical for any company trying to disrupt instead of being disrupted. Given the pace of digitisation and technology breakthroughs such as AI and machine learning, no company can innovate alone. It takes a co-innovation ecosystem to accelerate. For us, our ecosystem of more than 20,000 system integrators and developers is augmented by strategic digital alliance partners. These include Microsoft for its secure, trusted cloud capabilities; Accenture for bringing our digital offers to market faster; and Salesforce for transforming the customer experience through connectivity.

As the face behind our innovation efforts, our customers make this competitive edge relevant. Indeed, they sharpen it, one digital disruption at a time.

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OPINION

Tarik Taman, GM, IMEA, Infor

Tarik Taman, VP and general manager, Infor for the India, Middle East and Africa regions,

HOW AI WILL REVOLUTIONISE THE GROCERY INDUSTRY Infor’s VP and general manager for the India, Middle East and Africa regions, Tarik Taman, shares his insight on why the grocery industry – one that is already adept at using customer data – will be given a huge boost through the use of artificial intelligence.

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W

ith Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, the rise of subscription meal kits, and new competition from pureplay grocery delivery services, it seems like everyone is trying to build a better grocery store. But what if the supermarket of the future is the one just around the corner?

When we think about artificial intelligence and its potential to transform the retail industry, it is easy to overlook how it could affect one of the most fundamental shopping experiences around: the grocery store. Right now, the conversation and real-world applications of AI are limited to voice assistants and chatbots. But its potential goes much farther than that.

Thanks to a wealth of customer data and product information, grocers are uniquely positioned to apply machine learning and AI in other areas of the business – and reduce food waste along the way.

Grocery is not the most efficient industry. With a heavy reliance on the movement of perishable goods, supermarkets tend to live and die on their ability to plan, promote and sell goods within a narrow amount of time. By some estimates, US food waste is about onethird of everything that gets produced – or about 60 tonnes and $160 billion each year. While some of that waste happens in consumers’ homes, a good amount is also lost in the supply chain – anywhere from the farm to the store shelf.

Because there are so many options for where, when and how to buy groceries, supermarkets compete on prices that are often at odds with profitability.

But not all hope is lost. Grocers already have a good sense of who the customer is, what they want to buy (and at what price point) and how to plan the right assortment. There is no shortage of data about the business itself – but greater opportunity lies in the ability to tie all that data together.

That is where AI comes in.

Supplemented by machine learning and www.tahawultech.com

Grocers are uniquely positioned to apply machine learning and AI.

business analytics, and powered by the supercomputing power of the cloud, we will soon see more supermarkets employ this technology to connect the dots between customers and products, while also addressing some of the biggest challenges today. Here’s how:

LEVERAGING A WEALTH OF CUSTOMER DATA The grocery industry is one of the pioneers of collecting consumer purchasing data. Thanks to in-store promotions and customer loyalty programmes, grocers today have a pretty good sense of key shopper demographics and brand preferences.

While this information is already used to offer discounts or special promotions, new technology can advance the relationship even further.

One of AI’s great promises is a deeper understanding of context and intent – the what and why behind customer shopping and purchase decisions. AI and machine learning provides grocers the ability to parse that consumer data even further, further automating the ability to offer individual customers targeted offers that further build upon hardearned loyalty.

ASSORTMENT PLANNING AND REPLENISHMENT AI is a potential game changer when it comes to inventory. Paired with point-of-sale information and inventory visibility that extends beyond the store and into warehouses and goods

in-transit, AI can help keep shelves lined with the right mix of products and ensure the supply chain is aligned to avoid costly stock outs. Machine learning can build on grocers’ rich customer information and combine it with contextual data like weather, holidays and events, thus providing a more accurate forecast than traditional methods.

However, to reach this dream state of automation, grocers will first have to connect the disparate systems that comprise the greater software stack – or at least find software that can help bridge the gap between ERP and POS, warehouse management and logistics.

REDUCING WASTE Layered with better inventory visibility and advanced sensors, AI is a path to getting a better handle on produce and perishables. Advanced automation could help stores to dynamically re-adjust orders based on demand or automate promotions of products that are not selling fast enough, reducing the amount of food that goes into landfills and helping stores to protect margins.

By 2035, Accenture predicts that AI will boost profitability by an average of 38%. Though it might seem a long way off, we have still only seen a sliver of AI’s potential impact on the enterprise. As these technologies advance, grocers should begin positioning their systems for a seamless transition into the highly automated future. For some, that might mean leaving legacy systems behind, or at the very least adopting networked software that promotes connectivity and inventory visibility beyond the enterprise and into the extended supply chain.

Ultimately, AI must connect across systems – or even be baked into commerce platforms – to maximise its effectiveness throughout the business.

While AI will be a valuable tool for customer service, its greater impact will come through its ability to reward loyalty, understand consumer behaviour and ensure that less revenue gets thrown away.

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OPINION

VMware

‘DATA CENTRES ON WHEELS’ VMware’s senior vice president and general manager for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, Jean-Pierre Brulard, gives his take on why driverless cars need the same levels of control and security as physical data centres.

T Jean-Pierre Brulard, president and general manager, VMware EMEA

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he Middle East is at the forefront of the bold new world of autonomous transportation – with self-driving cars, buses, metros, and potentially even aerial taxis coming to life in the coming years. Dubai, as one of the world’s pioneering Smart Cities, is rapidly progressing on its Autonomous Transportation Strategy, which aims to have 25 percent of all trips delivered by autonomous means by 2030.

Worldwide, by 2020, there will be a staggering 250 million connected vehicles out on the roads. Self-driving cars are currently undergoing test pilots around the world, from Ocado’s delivery service in the UK to driverless www.tahawultech.com

Ubers in Pittsburgh. Elon Musk, a pioneer in the field and mastermind behind Tesla sees trial phases succeeding and progressing quickly, predicting that all new cars set to be fully autonomous in the next ten years.

There’s no denying it, we are edging towards a driverless future. But this future comes with apprehension. Just like the ATM, or the spinning Jenny before it, new technology that fundamentally changes our way of thinking is met with initial skepticism. In our own research of consumers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, undertaken by Opinion Matters, we found that than more than half of UK respondents (52%) don’t yet fully trust autonomous vehicles, and over three quarters of French consumers (82%) don’t believe they will use such a vehicle in the future.

Taken as isolated statistics, these numbers aren’t surprising. Mainstream psychology research also shows that people mistrust those who make moral decisions by calculating costs and benefits – just like computers do.

Yet much like anything new, it takes time and concerted education from businesses to convince the public that these new inventions can become part of our everyday lives and contribute towards a better future.

So, what does the automotive industry need to do? Nearly half (46%) of those surveyed in the UK believe one of the main benefits of an autonomous vehicle is that they can sit back and not have to deal with monotonous traffic jams or laborious long journeys. There’s insight here that there are plenty of benefits that excite the public when it comes to the future of driving – and that’s something to take note of.

That’s why the psychological barrier created by a car without human control needs to be addressed. www.tahawultech.com

Consumers will be reluctant to use driverless cars if they don’t feel reassured of the safety and security levels that technology can provide.

To overcome this, there needs to be a greater general understanding and awareness of how the cars will work, as well as the software and technology that will keep them safe.

But the industry doesn’t have to look too far for where this has already been possible. Since its inception, aviation has been at the forefront of physical safety – you are nineteen times safer in a plane than in a car, yet millions of people sit in airplanes that are largely automated and where the passenger can’t physically see the pilot.

‘DATA CENTRES ON WHEELS’ Network virtualisation, cloud computing, mobility, and security will be among the foundational technologies that will help autonomous vehicles to compute and store data, ensuring that the car and all its data remain secure and resilient, and sit within a robust IT platform.

This IT platform can provide the levels of massive scalability, resiliency, and available infrastructure required –

in effect making the autonomous vehicle of the future a data centre on wheels. As such, autonomous vehicles should be subject to the same kind of management, security, and operational systems that one would have with an enterprise data centre.

With the driverless future already in progress, it is up to businesses to demonstrate how they’re building security into the DNA of systems – from the data centre where vital data resides – all the way through to the car itself. Consumers will be reluctant to use driverless cars if they don’t feel reassured of the safety and security levels that technology can provide.

Manufacturers must implement comprehensive IT security solutions that cover the car’s entire lifecycle.

As humans become more integrated with machines and artificial intelligence, we’ll be able to benefit from the best of both worlds; increased safety and accuracy with human insight and creativity. In doing so, we can work towards a better future, where driverless and driven cars can harmoniously coexist, providing us with greater freedom and choice to navigate our environment as we please.

Never before has the science fiction dream of autonomous transportation been closer to becoming a reality.

Autonomous transportation can make a major impact across the Middle East in reducing traffic congestion and pollution, enhancing efficiency and creating new digital transport and logistics business models.

Across the Middle East, government regulators, visionary public sector organisations, private sector innovators, and academia need to accelerate their coming together to develop the technological infrastructure, rules and regulations, and digital roadmaps to make autonomous vehicles as commonplace as hailing a taxi.

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INSIGHT

SAS

HOW AI AND BI ARE SHAPING THE FUTURE Alaa Youssef, managing director for SAS Middle East, gives his take on why artificial and business intelligence are already laying the foundations for widespread change in the Middle East.

Alaa Youssef, managing director for SAS Middle East

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I

n the wake of the fourth industrial revolution that has swept the globe, and most certainly in the Middle East, significant technology advancement has completely upended how businesses operate. Accelerating innovation and growing automation technologies have become widespread, and our region is making a concerted effort to embrace and adopt these technologies and consolidate its position at the forefront of digitisation.

Key assets of Industry 4.0 include AI, blockchain, fintech, robotics, and analytics. Experts say that this revolution will touch almost every facet of our day-to-day lives, from the manufacturing of goods to the provision of everyday services.

Both AI and business intelligence (BI) are industry game changers for the region as it ambitiously changes its traditional and siloed work landscape. Analytics lies at the very core of this transformation, as the data fed to and produced by our everyday devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets are already in massive circulation. This forms the basis of business intelligence, a crucial ingredient for a solid foundation of deep business insight and intelligent enterprise operations as businesses strive to be consistent with the regional digital agenda.

Today’s regional news agenda is overflowing with stories of many businesses adopting AI and implementing BI, both of which are key drivers in strategic government plans. In line with this, a number of AI-enabled projects have been announced across a number of industries which will aid in digitally transforming the Middle East.

There has clearly been a paradigm shift as governments and businesses www.tahawultech.com

Technology experts have identified that the demand for both AI and BI is growing in the Middle East.

across the Middle East adjust to the global movement towards AI and advanced technologies. In a nutshell, they are faced with either being part of this technological disruption or being left behind.

Recent PwC research revealed that the UAE will benefit the most from the ongoing digital transformation revolution in the Middle East, where AI is expected to contribute almost 14% of GDP in 2030, which is equivalent to $96 billion (Dh353 billion).

The UAE is spearheading the AI movement, having announced a dedicated Ministry of Artificial Intelligence late last year. Other strategic endeavours include the Smart Dubai strategy, which aims to digitally transform the city and train business and government entities on what they need to do to embrace the phenomenon and incorporate it into daily business operations. In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, both Vision 2030 and National Transformation Program 2020 are in action as the Kingdom is working hard to equip its people with the skills they need to meet demands of the future labour market.

Digital transformation is a key driver across both countries’

national agendas, and its benefits can be felt in all sectors covered. For example, digital transformation of the government sector will mean faster execution of government initiatives and will help achieve efficiency and productivity while doing so. It is now more crucial than ever to leverage the power of big data and advanced analytics to boost productivity and increase efficiency. The same also applies to the private sector as well.

Prime examples include local ministries using AI in infrastructure and road projects to help cut down on cost, time, and manpower and boost safety and efficiency along with automating equipment. The retail industry is also keen on using AI and BI to understand customers’ mentality and their path to purchase, as this enables retailers to provide consumers with a personalised shopping experience and options best suited to their tastes according to data collected from them while they were in the store. The UAE’s Department of Economic development recently unveiled an AI-enabled bilingual 24×7 ‘Smart Protection’ service designed to address customer queries that are transmitted via a smartphone application.

Technology experts have identified that the demand for both AI and BI is growing in the Middle Eastern market, as it aims to catapult itself out of using outdated technologies and accelerate towards prosperity.

In short, the Middle East is on the cusp of being a robust hub of innovation as it demonstrates strong commitment towards fully implementing its vision, while investing heavily to become futureready and as equipped as its counterparts in the game.

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COLUMN

Glesni Holland, Deputy Editor, CNME

ALL EARS T

he life of luxurious convenience at the hands of voice assistants is one that may sound appealing to many. Gone are the days of poking around on your smartphone for updates on the weather, or searching online for the latest headlines. With the help of Amazon’s smart voice assistant, you need only say the magic word – “Alexa” – to awaken the device, before bombarding it with questions to answer your every need.

Except things have got a little weird of late. A couple in Portland recently received a disturbing phone call from someone in their contacts, after he claimed to have heard their entire private conversation in his home 176 miles away in Seattle. Their conversation, which discussed hardwood flooring, had been recorded and sent via their Amazon Echo device to their contact – who immediately called them to tell them to switch off all their devices, as he believed they were being hacked.

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Of course, Amazon has attempted to play down the bizarre nature of the incident – which coincidentally happened in the week that the new GDPR privacy rules went into effect in Europe. In its initial statement, the tech giant said that it was an “extremely rare occurrence;” in a follow-up, it said that “unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.”

Freaked out yet? Understandably.

Privacy advocates have been quick to say we told you so, but no one can deny that this incident only confirms the unnerving truth behind these devices: they’re always listening.

Despite Amazon claiming that Alexa only activates when it hears its “wake word,” this is clearly not the case.

Alexa listens, but supposedly does not store any conversation it hears as a means of improving its vocabulary, the firm claims.

Yet it seems the vocabulary level of the Alexa device involved in this latest

saga wasn’t quite up to scratch. “Echo supposedly woke up due to a word in the couple’s background conversation sounding like “Alexa,” Amazon said in a statement. Through the back and forth between the pair that ensued, various aspects of the conversation – such as a name in the customer’s contact list – were wrongly interpreted by the device, hence why the events unfolded in the way they did.

All of this could have been avoided though, it seems. There is in fact a button on the Echo device that mutes the microphone, meaning you’d have at least some sense of privacy within your own home. However, it appears there is a lack of awareness, if any, for this feature amongst users.

But if this incident has taught us anything, it’s that we should perhaps show a little more scepticism toward the ways in which our conversations are heard – and consequently stored, if we want our private discussions to remain just that. www.tahawultech.com

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