Yarob Sakhnini, the MEMA Sales Director at Brocade, speaks about his company’s participation at GITEX this year
Are you participating at GITEX Technology Week this year?
Yes, Brocade will be participating in GITEX Technology Week 2016. During GITEX, Brocade will have a conference room on the mezzanine floor to host press, partners and customers. In addition, Brocade’s Ruckus will be sponsoring the Westcon stand. Westcon is a partner for both Ruckus and Brocade.
What is your theme going to be for GITEX Technology Week?
For Brocade, it all about growth and opportunity: Our continued investment in the region, which we have been operating in for a number of years, has seen the addition of 25 new very focused partners across the region. We are focusing this year on reinforcing and further developing these partnerships to ensure that organizations across the Middle East have access to world-class networking technology
What technology and market trends have you seen this year on the Middle East market?
Mobile device adoption, cloud, IoT, and an explosion of big data and social traffic are putting unprecedented pressure on the network. In addition, legacy infrastructures are the foundation of most businesses and organizations today. And these infrastructures are limited in terms of how much further they can be stretched to adapt to the increasing demands on today’s IT infrastructure.
As companies in the Middle East move to digitize their businesses they need an underlying network infrastructure that allows them to innovate quickly. Brocade believes the network must become a platform for innovation to develop, deliver, and secure applications. This is best achieved with New IP network architectures that are software-centric, open, and agile.
New IP networks are highly virtualized, agile, flexible, and incredibly cost efficient. Even more important, they are designed from the ground up to meet the challenges of the modern compute environment.
New IP architectures offer massive benefits in helping to close the growing relevance gap that most IT and networking professionals currently face between expectations on one axis, and delivery speed and costs on the other.
With New IP, the customer is at the center, and can have a network that is personalized for specific requirements and preferences, including the ability to access information, transactions and communications however and whenever they choose, on a platform of their choice.
Also, in a New IP environment, security is built into the network. It is based on behavior, not simply identity, offering a more comprehensive view of data security that only the network can provide.
Brocade has been focused on helping customers transform their networks into an open platform for business innovation. As such, we have developed or acquired critical technologies for New IP architectures in areas such as fabrics, software-based virtualization, network analytics and mobile networking that enable the network to become innovative and agile.
Will you be launching any new products or solutions at GITEX this year?
We will be present with Ruckus for the first time this year. This acquisition represents another important step in the digital transformation journey for our partners and customers in the Middle East.
Wireless is a critical access technology for New IP networks, and a natural extension to our portfolio. Further, Wi-Fi technology, for localized service access, and cellular technologies, for wide area networking, are converging, with network programmability and function virtualization playing a key role in redefining network architectures of the future. Like Brocade, Ruckus has pursued a vision for network innovation that supports open standards, programmability, security, automation, cloud enablement and SDN support.
What sort of channel engagements have you planned for GITEX?
We have a number of channel meetings already arranged for GITEX and have an ‘open door’ for many more. We are specifically there to reinforce relationships with existing partners and to forge relationships with new ones. It has been an exciting 12 months for Brocade both in terms of technology and business and we want to update partners and prospects on this at the event.
Will you be recruiting new channel partners? If yes, for which markets?
We have an aggressive channel strategy in the whole region and are looking forward to some fruitful conversations. GITEX Technology Week is a key event in the region and also attracts global attention. It is an important part of our regional sales and marketing strategy in the region.
The Middle East is a very important region for Brocade. With ever expanding opportunities, we remain committed to growing our footprint in the region and working with partners to ensure that organizations across the Middle East have access to world-class networking technology. Presence at GITEX is critical for us in terms of spending real time with key partners, customers and prospects.
