By R. narayan
There are some pioneering projects being deployed in the region that will redefine connectivity. This will also mean more Business opportunities for the channel
Usage of collaboration Technologies and Mobile workstyles are very much seeing increased prevalence. Companies including Avaya, Citrix, Polycom among others are driving this transition. Availability of anytime communication from any device and anywhere is now very much a reality. There are some pioneering projects being deployed in the region that will redefine connectivity.
One of the illustrative instances is the recently signed MOU between FVC and the Abu Dhabi based Ankabut to deploy a service provider grade, managed unified communications service. Ankabut is the National Research and Education Network (NREN) offering academic institutions across the country access to non-commercial, high-speed connectivity. The service will initially enable up to 10,000 members from Ankabut and its partners, to reach and connect with anyone easily with a single click, from any platform. The solutions will be based on the latest Real-Presence platform from Polycom and Microsoft Lync 2013 and is optimized for web, laptops, tablets, smartphones and any touch device, enabling fully Immersive Telepresence, class rooms and auditoriums.
Citrix has been at the forefront pushing the vision of enabling mobile workstyles. In the region, the adoption looks certain to rise as a spokesperson points out but there are also challenges the corporate segment with some reluctance still evident to adopting cloud services in full throttle. In the consumer space, the challenges is different as the cloud services on offer from local telcos are still quite limited although mobile consumers are well versed by now to work and play with cloud apps sources or bought from app stores. It is however a matter of time and in a year or so, the adoption of cloud services as well as availability of apps across segments will definitely rise.
Avaya has driven its transformation over the past few years towards holding center stage in enabling business collaboration and communications with its software and services. Its recent agreement with DWTC to support the calendar of 100 events will entail deployment of a next-generation network virtualization solution, Fabric connect that automates service provisioning, improves performance, and reduces outages.
These are some standout examples that inform us that high end pioneering deployments of Technology are transforming are now gathering pace in the UAE in particular. This bodes well for the channel at the end of the day.