Message from the CEO
The year ends on a high note for the region and the Expo 2020 win for Dubai is a significant milestone that will drive significant growth across the hospitality, tourism, trade, shipping and logistics,and IT sectors.
It is indeed heartening that 2014 is poised for an optimistic start promising several new beginnings. In a scenario where the MENA region is geared to set a global benchmark in cloud computing growth, we remain confident that our recently launched public cloud and established private cloud services will continue to register a surge in demand.
Recent Gartner results predict that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is experiencing one of the highest global growth rates for public cloud services, rising by 24.5% to US$462.3 million from 2012 to 2013. This rise will only continue in 2014.
Industry experts point towards cloud and mobility as the two drivers of change in the ICT industry. More specifically, industry research forecasts the UAE cloud market to register an annual compound growth rate of 43.7% until 2016.
With so much anticipation, this is also the time to look back on eHosting DataFort’s achievements over the past six months, which were packed with events and industry accolades including ‘Best Managed Services Provider of the Year’ at ACN Awards 2013 on the side lines of the GITEX Technology Week. GITEX proved to be an excellent platform for eHDF to introduce several new services including public cloud, managed DDoS protection and remote backup services.
Looking ahead, with customers in the Middle East region increasingly turning to managed service providers such as eHosting DataFort to help improve their IT infrastructure management, we anticipate a strong uptake for managed services in the year ahead.
Mobile technology will continue to remain at the core of all IT-centric developments. Given the ongoing increase in power and capability of mobile devices, the demand on networks and the need to manage bandwidth is likely to surge. Gartner predicts a corresponding increase in server-side computing and storage capacities in response to consumers’ continued demand for complex services accessible from mobile technologies.
Another Gartner report notes that about half of the world's companies will implement Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programmes by 2017. This is prompting the growth of cloud computing as organisations look to provide employees with secure remote access to data and applications without increasing deployment costs. In line with the growth of BYOD, cloud-based mobile device management (MDM) applications as well as cloud-based private enterprise App stores will become more relevant in 2014.
Innovative provisioning, scalability and faster time to market are some of the benefits that Chief Information Officers should be looking to capitalise on when planning a refresher or complete overhaul of their IT infrastructure. C-level executives should definitely evaluate cloud services as these services will allow companies to buy capacity-based options - a key imperative for growing businesses as more and more enterprises move online and require rapid provisioning of IT Services.
Given such industry trends, private and public cloud will remain key focus areas for eHDF in 2014. Remote Infrastructure management is an area that will witness the introduction of new services from eHosting DataFort next year.
With sustainable development, mobility and opportunity serving as the core themes for EXPO 2020, eHDF is looking forward to continue playing a vital role in shaping a technology-enabled society. I take this opportunity to thank you all for your remarkable and invaluable support and wish you a Happy New Year!
Cordially,
Yasser Zeineldin