Summit Agenda

MC OPENS

Huawei Digital Power, Green source of Harmony with Nature

Sustainability - How Data Center Facilities manufacturer can contribute with energy efficient solutions driving the mission to zero emissions / carbon foot print

• Data Center Sustainability Strategy Elements
• Facility Design
• Energy management
• IT Energy
• GHG emissions reduction
• Water Consumption and Efficiency
• Eco friendly Prefabricated solution

Magide Sebtioui, Enterprise Data Center Business Development Director, Huawei

Carbon Neutral Datacentres Fact or Fiction

The Climate Change Neutral Data Centre Pact has agreed to make data centres climate neutral by 2030. The ICT market is set to grow at an unprecedented rate in coming decades, in response to the increasing demand in communication, data storage and processing. This presents a challenge. To achieve this by 2030, the growth must be mirrored by a reduced environmental impact, ultimately targeting Carbon neutrality. This is acting as a strong driver within the ENGIE Group to focus our ingenuity on the delivery of highly innovative engineering designs. RED is incorporating integrated utility network solutions as part of a decarbonised and decentralised approach.

James Campbell, Regional Director, RED Engineering
Simon Young, Global Head of Business Development and Marketing, RED Engineering

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION: Digital Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Leadership Panel

• 2+ years since pandemic: satisfying dynamic business needs driven by unpredictable global events – what’s next in store to bring adaptiveness & resilience to empower the power of doing business from anywhere?
• What type of new-world architecture do you have in mind for your enterprise infrastructure as post-pandemic expectations from employees, clients & partners arise to operate seamlessly from any device or location?
• Does the theory ‘S/He Who Automates, Wins’ make sense? If automation is a top priority at your enterprise, how do you about communicating on the value that new automation initiatives might have brought for your team, peers or leaders?
• Supporting change & seamless remote business with new ‘Infrastructure & Operations’ strategies that are transformational – how to improve on business alignment & adaptability?

Moderator:
Harsh Didwania, Head of Technology and Strategy, Technology Express

Ali Katkhada, Group Chief Information Officer, DEPA
Asif Saber, CTO, GoBazzar
Elham ElShehhi, Head of Networks & Infrastructure Section - Economic Development Department, Government of Sharjah
Mohamad Easawy, Head of IT Excellence, Dubai Customs

Understanding availability in the Cloud: Infrastructural overview of Security

• Movement of organization to Cloud
• Changes due to the pandemic
• Understanding Cloud through Openstack
• Availability issues in core elements in Openstack
• Understanding Denial of Service on the Cloud and its impact
• Future direction in research for security in Cloud

Salih Ismail, Lecturer - School of Science and Engineering, Curtin University Dubai

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION: Enterprise Data Center Strategy & Trends for MENA Region

• Time for retrospect: how did some of the MENA region’s largest public & private sector organizations shift their IT strategies whilst reacting to the surge in demand created by the pandemic?
• Window to the future: How are enterprise IT leaders for the some of the most renowned brands in MENA region looking at adjusting their data center strategies for a post-pandemic world?
• Where is the money currently being invested? Data center capital expenditures & where are they trending?
• How do you evaluate data center solutions & operators? What do you prioritize for your industry / brand when making a consideration? Have any of these factors shifted during the pandemic?
• What does your enterprise IT procurement strategy look like in this market of higher-than-expected inflation? Will this strategy evolve to meet supply constraints & demands of the future?

Moderator:
Salih Ismail, Lecturer - School of Science and Engineering, Curtin University Dubai

Dr. Mohamed A. Saad, Head of IT Systems Architecture & Infrastructure Solutions Design, National Bank of Egypt
Jaleel Rahiman, Director, Information Technology, Prime Health Care Group
Muhamed Noufel, Group IT Manager, Royal Continental Hotel & Suites
Sami Saadaoui, Head of IT Infrastructure, American Express Middle East & North Africa - Bahrain

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION: The Human Factor: People & Workforce Strategies to Succeed in the World of Technology Infrastructure & Operations – Datacentres, Networks, Edge, Cloud & High Performance Computing

• Is large-scale Work From Home (WFH) still here to stay in the MENA region? How can we learn from enterprise network best practices to optimize user experiences & improve security?
• Culture hacks in infrastructure technology & operations – what small yet impactful changes to processes or workflows have you implemented? Has it helped with reshaping perceptions & behaviors within the team or greater leadership?
• Skill development – What are some short-term tactical approaches or longer-term strategies your enterprise can adopt? What are some techniques, tools or modules available for technology infrastructure leaders to develop skills within their teams?
• Are people the biggest inhibitors to change? What are some workforce strategies to help dispel myths & using disruption as an effective tool within your organization?
• What are some effective methods to bring diversity and inclusion to your team? What does it take to attract & retain women in IT at your enterprise?
• Leadership lessons: How can you as a technology infrastructure leader be wary of global scenarios to sense and respond to societal change?

Moderator:
Dr. Atta Ur Rehman Khan​, Associate Professor - College of Engineering and Information Technology, Ajman University

Aditya Kaushik, Director of Information Communication Technology, Zakher Marine International Inc
Ali Katkhada, Group Chief Information Officer, DEPA
Syed Mohiuddin, SVP, Head of Services Productivity, Collaboration & End User Services, FAB
Tamar Hamdy El-Sayed, Group Head of IT, MBG Developments - Egypt

How to get maximum business value from your (multi)cloud

• Neos and our journey to multicloud
• Multicloud challenges
• CloudVane – In-house built FinOps-based SaaS solution

Davor Stanic, V.P Software Engineering, NEOS
Mario Mrljic, Board Member, NEOS

Cloud Infrastructure's Impact on Applications & devOps

• How Cloud infrastructure offers an important boost for Applications & DevOps.
• The future of Cloud platforms & ERP
• How Cloud infrastructure facilitates scalability

Tamar Hamdy El-Sayed, Group Head of IT, MBG Developments - Egypt

MC OPENS

Powering the Technology Shift from On-Premise to Cloud-Based Infrastructure

• On-Prem hidden pain
• Everything fails all the time
• Sharing responsibility
• Don't reinvent the wheel
• You and the world are still safe
• We are not there yet
  

Amen Saad, Regional Director of IT, MaxAB - Egypt

The Data Cloud: Unlock Seamless Data Collaboration

Join us to learn about the Snowflake Data Cloud: Discover how to easily and securely store, integrate, and analyze data with infinite scalability. In this session, our data expert will guide you through how Snowflake enables:

• Data Warehouse Modernization
• Modern Data lakes
• Secure Data Sharing, Collaboration & Monetization
• Modern Data Application Development
• Integrated Data Engineering
• Advanced Data Science

Mustafa Aydogdu, Senior Solution Engineer, Snowflake

Hosted Datacentres

• Who has the Master Key
• Are we charged what we should for Hosted services

Mahmoud Kamal, Chief Technology Officer, Habtoor Hospitality

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION: Decision Making in a Fast Evolving Hybrid World – Strategic Approaches & Best Practices on Enterprise, Colocation, Edge, Cloud & Hybrid

• Allocating IT assets across the myriad of infrastructure technologies out there: cloud, colocation, owned & operated datacentre and edge
• How to take the guesswork, stress & risk out of optimizing your enterprise infrastructure architecture now for many years to come?
• Self-help and how to get a vendor-agnostic view on developing your own strategically tactical hybrid infrastructure roadmap?
• What’s your opinion: usually IT leaders have digital transformation plans but how many of them here in the MENA region have really achieved it at scale?
• What’s a proven process to develop tactics & strategy to optimize IT asset and application allocation?

Moderator:
Dr. May El Barachi, Director of Computer Science & IT Programs, University of Wollongong

Alaa Aladawy, Head of IT Infrastructure & Operations, Sinai Cement - Egypt
Amen Saad, Regional Director of IT, MaxAB - Egypt
Hany Abd El-Wahab, Director Of Innovation (Digital Transformation, Growth Hacking, PropTech, Cloud Economics), D&B Properties
Irshad Mohammed, Chief Information Security Officer, VPS Healthcare

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION: BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance) Industry Panel

• Why is it important to start leaning in on the shift from modern mainframes to a cloud-based future?
• Understanding costs associated to mainframe maintenance & why making the shift to cloud in a methodical manner is the right decision over a period of time?
• Is cloud the final destination or is it more of an experience and a journey? How are the workhorses of the BFSI industry with core functions like records keeping, number crunching, fraud monitoring still reliant on mainframes?
• How important is developing a culture of innovation & enthusiasm to help with the transition to cloud? How can a product-based agile mindset & strategic collaboration across various lines of business help with a smoother rollout & confidence in migration?
• What is the regional opinion in MENA on postponing the migration of core workloads to the cloud? Are clear benefits visible enough to top level management & bottom-line improvements helping the case with motivation?
• What does it mean to a bank / financial institution in the cloud? What type of commitment or expectations are necessary when it comes to the great cloud mainframe technology migration?

Moderator:
Jad Khalife, Sales Engineering Director - Middle East, Dataiku

Hugues Kampe, Head of Technology, Gulf Insurance Group (Gulf) B.S.C. (c)
Noman Rasheed, Chief Information Officer, Dubai Islamic Bank
Walid Salem, IT Lead for Middle East, A Swiss Based Insurance Company

Datacentre Cybersecurity & Resiliency

• What are the current challenges in Cybersecurity?
• How to achieve a resilient cyber security posture with best-practices
• How can organizations in the MENA region benefit from these strategies?

Ali Husnain Shah, Head of IT Department, East Delta Saudi Co. - KSA

Data Center Cooling Solutions

• Cooling
• Sustainability
• Efficiency

Oytun Yavuz, Middle East Data Center Solutions Sales Manager, Systemair

INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION: Let's Get It Done! Construction & Delivery of Mission Critical Infrastructure

• Overview of new threats: inflation, supply-chain constraints, skilled labor, commodities, materials & equipment
• What are some of the solutions to these challenges for us in the MENA region? How to keep pace with demand & growth in the industry?
• Discussion of possible alternative concepts: off-site manufacturing, pre-fabrication, co-fabrication & modular – will these work in our region? And will this be enough?
• Why is it important to look at supply chain data with the right depth? Understanding the missing links
• Asking the right questions: do I have productization opportunities in my infrastructure delivery program that could move the needle?

Moderator:
Rohit Bhargava, Territory Manager, Chatsworth Products

Ahmed Altarawneh, Senior Strategic Consultant - Digital Transformation, Pioneering and Excellence, Dubai Police
Mohammed Sibgathullah Khan, Director of IT, National Petrochemical Industry Company - KSA
Shahab Ud Din, Group IT Infrastructure & Security Manager, Ittihad International Investment

Cloud Computing Trends in 2023

• The Technology Driven Cloud Computing Trends in 2023
• Enterprises Driven Predications for Cloud Computing in 2023

Dr. Mohamed A. Saad, Head of IT Systems Architecture & Infrastructure Solutions Design, National Bank of Egypt

CISO’s role in Establishing Systems to Reduce Human Errors

• How to decrease the risk of data breaches?
• Insuring adequate staff training is provided with necessary skills
• Coordinating cybersecurity initiatives with other members of the team

Shaheela Banu, Information Security & Compliance Officer & Auditor, Kuwait Gulf Oil Company