Gaming Hardware Market in UAE and KSA Grows in H1 2020

Secureworks has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Delve. Delve intelligently prioritizes vulnerabilities at scale and in context as part of its automated vulnerability management platform. The company’s SaaS solution is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to provide customers with more accurate and actionable data about the highest risk vulnerabilities across their network, endpoints and cloud.

The acquisition demonstrates Secureworks’ commitment to evolving its cloud-native Red Cloak Platform, and extending Threat Detection and Response (TDR) application with new integrations, analytics and user experience improvements. The Delve all-in-one solution, automating asset discovery, vulnerability scanning, contextual vulnerability prioritization and remediation planning, will be available for sale as part of Secureworks’ portfolio this quarter. Secureworks will also integrate Delve technology into the Red Cloak Platform and TDR application.

“Against the backdrop of today’s digital landscape, our customers demand sophisticated, scalable solutions that respond to threats putting their business and workforce at risk,” said Michael R. Cote, Chief Executive Officer of Secureworks. “The acquisition of Delve will enrich Secureworks’ intelligence, further differentiate our end-to-end capabilities, and accelerate our transformation to deliver software with security at its core.”

“We were the first to deliver a context-based, AI-driven vulnerability scanning and prioritization solution, and we believe this pioneering spirit is the ideal complement to Secureworks’ proven approach to helping customers grow their business securely,” said Gabriel Tremblay, Chief Executive Officer of Delve. “Together, we will expand customers’ access to the solutions and applications they need to make decisions that effectively defend their organizations against the most threatening adversaries." The acquisition is expected to be completed in Secureworks’ 2021 fiscal third quarter and is subject to customary closing conditions.

One of the few sectors which have been positively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; achieving robust growth as a result of spikes in consumer demand during the lockdown is gaming. According to GfK Point of Sales tracking of the sector in the Unit- ed Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the first six months revenue generated by gaming hardware surged by 29 percent to bring the overall value of the market to $256 million.

Gaming notebooks (32%), video game consoles (31%), and gaming and lei- sure devices (17%) account for the top three largest shares of the pie, contributing over $207 million to this sector in January to June 2020. During this period, the fastest-growing categories were gaming monitors and gaming keyboards/mice, which generated 110 and 77 percent respectively more sales revenue compared to the same period last year. Exponential growth was also recorded for gaming notebooks and gaming headsets, which both reported a 60 percent surge in sales value.

Growth in the gaming segments tracked by GfK has sustained post lockdown in the two markets. Findings in the second-quarter reflected devices such as gaming monitors and key- boards continuing to record increased sales by over twofold (+155% and +135%), while regular monitors (-22%) and keyboards (12%) either decelerated in growth or slipped into decline. Similar trends can be seen across other products such as notebooks, headsets, peripherals, and so on.

“At the onset of the global pandemic, we witnessed the emergence of diverse trends in the technical consumer goods markets, sequenced over multiple phases – panic, adapt and new normal,” highlighted Shika Samuel, Analyst for IT panel at GfK. “We observed consumers warming up their appetite for gaming devices as they started exploring socially-distant ways to keep themselves occupied and amused amid the pandemic lockdown.”

According to the GfK Consumer Pulse survey conducted in the midst of the lockdown, nearly half (46%) of all respondents surveyed in Saudi Arabia said they dedicated more of their leisure time into gaming than usual during the COVID-19 lockdown. More than half (51%) of the respondents also indicated playing video-games as one of their key sources of indoor entertainment, ranking it a more prevalent option than others such as listening to the radio (30%), watching sports (37%), streaming music (49%) and videos-on-demand (50%) and just below the more traditional option of watching movie/ series (71%). One of the many innovations of gaming devices today which has gained significant popularity with gamers is the capability to provide an immersive experience, specifically to real-life events/ sports through AR and VR Gaming devices. During the pandemic, Indoor VR workouts and sports are popularly used to keep fit while staying indoor during the lockdown. Based on the GfK point of sales tracking, the virtual reality industry in the United Arab Emirates in the first half of 2020 achieved a total value of USD 1.5 million—representing a growth of 46 from the same period in 2019.

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Diligent has launched its first Arabic Portal, allowing boards and executives to receive the right information at the right time, collaborate on sensitive data securely and gain unprecedented visibility into the company to spot risks and act on opportunities. The Arabic portal aims to benefit those that use Arabic as a primary language, allowing them to navigate an intuitive interface.

Liam Healy, SVP and Managing Director at Diligent commented, “The demand for governance technology and specifically Arabic language is evolving rapidly as governance best practices become the new norm. This launch and our ongoing investments are examples of how Diligent is responding to customer feedback as well as our long-term commitment to serving the Middle East and North Africa market.”

Diligent’s board portal allows unparalleled board management with simplicity and functionality to enable effective governance and meet the demands of today’s boardroom. Used by over 19,000 organisations across 90 countries, the portal provides boards and executives with modern governance tools, allowing them to expand their reach outside the boardroom and share meeting materials in a secure environment.

“While offering modern technologies, analytics, and insights used to enhance the results and improve board governance, the platform meets international security standards and holds elite certifications on information security, ensuring sensitive files and documents always remain safe and secure. Diligent board portal software provides directors with the information they need for swifter and more informed decision-making,” the company said.

“For administrators, intuitive tools and customisable archives mean more efficient and effective information delivery supported by remote wiping if a device is lost or stolen. In today’s climate of escalating security risk and increasingly high stakes, Diligent delivers peace of mind with state-of-the-art encryption, data storage, access controls and more,” the company continued.

Corporate governance in the MENA region has evolved significantly in the past two decades, according to a recent study with Hawkamah on board best practices in the Middle East. Most respondents stated that good governance practices have resulted in improved strategic decision making and long-term sustainability. The study also shows that this trend of governance improvement has continued over the latest threeyear period.

At HP Reinvent, HP Inc.’s annual global partner event, the company introduced the HP LaserJet Enterprise 400 Series, delivering an enterprise and managed-class experience in a small footprint for remote working and new office configurations. “Ready or not, businesses have had to make a swift transition to a much more distributed workforce – transforming a few offices into thousands of home offices. As a result, they need intuitive, nimble, and connected devices that can be managed remotely and securely, supporting how and where people work,” the company said in a press statement.

“The COVID 19 pandemic has created hybrid workforces, with 72% of office workers saying they’d like to work away from the office for at least two days a week even once COVID-19 is no longer a concern,” said Xavier Garcia, Global Head and General Manager, Print Hardware Solutions, HP Inc. “We believe this new small and mighty printer has met its moment: offering everything one would expect in an enterprise-class printer that fits where and how people work now and, in the future, – whether remote or in the office.”

Security has also become a top concern for IT managers and home workers alike. According to HP’s new Workforce Evolution study , security software was ranked by office workers in the US and Europe as the highest priority for upgrading the home office, further underscoring the demand for secure work solutions. HP’s smallest enterprise multi-function printer, the new LaserJet series provides:

The “world’s most secure printers” for businesses of any size, no matter where you work. HP incorporates security into every step of the printer design, supply chain, and production process. HP Sure Start with automatic self-healing that protects, detects, and self-recovers from vulnerabilities and attacks. HP Trusted Platform Module (TPM), providing secure device identity with certificate private keys, strengthening protection of encrypted credentials and data. Security features go beyond just the hardware, including the cartridge, for an end-to-end secure printing system that protects your network and information. Seamless remote fleet management frees up IT resources for strategic priorities. Ability to easily manage devices and settings remotely with HP Web Jetadmin and HP JetAdvantage Security Manager. Easily deploy and integrate HP and third-party solutions with the HP Open Extensibility Platform. Support card readers and allow users to use personalized settings to print from their own queue.

In addition to the new devices, HP today also announced a new version of HP FutureSmart firmware – enabling a consistent, secure operational system across HP’s entire enterprise printer series. Launching with the LaserJet Enterprise 400 series, FutureSmart 5 provides customers investment protection, additional security protections, and readiness for advanced cloud-based workflows. “Typical printer attacks can exploit older versions of firmware and allow the device to be taken over and halted operationally,” said Mark Vena, Senior Analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy. “HP is combatting the risk to printer security with a layered defense-in-depth approach to secure the print device along with the associated supplies.”

The HP LaserJet Enterprise 400 Series – available as a single function and MFP, mono and color and in versions adapted to Managed Print Services fleets – is expected to be available worldwide starting in December. HP FutureSmart 5 is expected to be available in December.