At the recently concluded Huawei Cloud Summit in the Middle East and Africa 2022 in Dubai, Huawei reiterated the cloud’s integral role in accelerating the region’s digital transformation and inspiring innovation across its industries.
Under the theme, Inspire Innovation with Everything as a Service, the summit brought together over 1,000 government leaders, customer representatives, and industry experts from the Middle East and Africa, exploring how cloud computing can serve and advance industries such as public services, finance, carriers, media, e-commerce, and gaming. During the summit, experts also shared how industries can better leverage cloud and AI technologies across various functions.
“The UAE aspires to be a global hub for technology and cybersecurity,” said Dr Mohamed Hamad Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity of the UAE Government. “In line with this ambition, we aim to share industry-leading solutions and services under the Government Accelerator Programme that are not only cutting-edge but also secure and resilient. We believe that partnering with a trusted, strategic partner such as Huawei is pivotal to the growth of our ICT ecosystem.”
On the sidelines of the summit, Frank Dai, President, of Huawei Cloud Middle East, shared in an exclusive media roundtable Huawei Cloud’s vision of building the cloud foundation for an intelligent world with ubiquitous cloud and pervasive intelligence and detailed how it is providing Everything as a Service.
“Cloud is the future of ICT and the foundation of digital transformation in the Middle East,” he said. “Cloud transformation has become a top priority for industries. To build the cloud infrastructure, there are four essential elements: technology, economic impact, talent ecosystem, and digital sovereignty. To this end, Huawei Cloud is working with partners to deepen digitalisation and provide Everything as a Service.”
He added, “The key to successful digitalisation is an all-digital, all-cloud approach with Everything as a Service, which is underpinned by three pillars – Infrastructure as a Service, Technology as a Service and Expertise as a Service. This can accelerate digital transformation while also minimising the carbon footprint from their IT infrastructure, speed up the development of new apps and business processes, and enable organisations to innovate faster.”
Dai also spoke about Huawei’s focus on data security and privacy protection. The company has invested heavily in cybersecurity, around $132.5 billion in terms of R&D with 5 per cent of that investment going directly to cybersecurity. Huawei uses full-stack security products and ecosystem products to help customers build a security assurance system to ensure the security and reliability of customers’ services on the cloud.
Furthermore, Dai also highlighted that technologies such as 5G, IoT and cloud, are more in demand than ever before. When combined, these technologies create immense productivity gains, especially during the unprecedented circumstances of a pandemic. They form the bedrock of a digital economy by enabling intelligent and flexible operations. These technologies are also providing new opportunities for SMEs to improve operational efficiency, promote innovation, expand their market and financing channels, and facilitate remote operations during the epidemic.
Last year, Huawei Cloud launched the Abu Dhabi cloud region, and this year the company is building a cloud region in Saudi Arabia, with plans to expand to other markets. Hosting the Huawei Cloud region in the Middle East will boost local businesses and governments’ ability to access more robust and secure cloud services from Huawei and create new social and economic value in the region.
During the summit, Sara, Huawei Cloud’s first digital employee, made her debut in the region through holographic projection. The summit also showcased Huawei Cloud’s Spark Program 2022. The program will support local start-ups in building their cloud capabilities.
Huawei has been present in the Middle East and Africa for over two decades and has been providing open, flexible and secure ICT infrastructure to bridge the digital divide for more than 3,500 enterprises and over 1.2 billion people in these two geographies. In 2021, Huawei Cloud Middle East announced an investment of $15 million to accelerate the development of local enterprises and ecosystems. This money will cultivate more than 1,000 consulting partners, 500 technical partners, 3,000 certified experts, and several hundred SMEs.
Looking ahead, Huawei Cloud will continue to expand the global data centre and network layout and is committed to providing customers, partners, and developers with one global network with a reliable experience. Currently, it has 27 regions worldwide, providing 220+ cloud services and 210+ solutions for 170+ countries. Huawei collaborates with 20,000+ partners to contribute to digital transformation.
