JDS is title sponsor of Digital Transformation Jordan event

Jordan Data Systems (JDS) were title partners of the Digital Transformation Jordan event at the Kempinski Convention Centre in Amman from March 14 to 15, 2022. The JDS team were present on both days and shared a digital booth with their partners, HPE.

Digital Transformation Jordan focused on the legislative and regulatory framework needed to keep pace with the rapid development of digital platforms, as well as the strategy needed to drive innovation forward. The event brought together the country’s digital experts and game changers, as well as leading international solution providers, to set Jordan on the path to digital evolution.

With the newly approved National Strategy for Digital Transformation, Jordan aims to improve the transparency, flexibility, reliability, and sustainability of digital services, as well as reduce digital services’ time and costs, all consistent with Royal directives, and all consistent with global trends and national policies.

Loai Madanat, Managing Partner at Jordan Data Systems (JDS) was part of a panel discussion on day two: “Identifying where and how AI and machine learning will benefit Jordan the most.”

The panel discussion tackled some of the key themes around Digital Transformation:

• Employing AI for achievable and sustainable business growth;
• Creating legislative framework to foster AI growth and application;
• Developing an open-source data environment to encourage AI uptake
• How can AI accelerate economic development and create an environment to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship?

Alongside Loai Madanat of JDS on the panel were Lama Arabiat, Head of Artificial Intelligence, Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship; Sinan Kamal, Data & AI Director, Orange Jordan and Ali Safieh, Data Scientist & AI Team Leader – Business Analytics & AI, Zain Jordan. The panel was moderated by Mohammad Daoud, Dean of the Faculty of IT, Chairperson of Data Science and AI, American University of Madaba.

Rize Enrichment Programs & MDS CTS help students define careers of the future

Dubai, UAE: Rize Enrichment Programs, an after-school program organized by the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) and MDS CTS, an Apple Authorized Education Specialist, recently concluded an iOS App Development Challenge where students were tasked with creating apps or app prototypes in response to social and environmental challenges.

Themed ‘Be Well Together”, the challenge provided the next generation of app developers and social innovators with the opportunity to learn UX/UI design and to code using Swift and Xcode programming languages. A criteria in the app development stage was building apps and app prototypes with accessibility at their core. The challenge awarded eight winners who developed apps or app prototypes that offer solutions in education, environment, health, and accessibility. All winners ensured their apps were inclusive and user-friendly for anyone with sight or hearing impairments.

Over 1,000 students aged 14-17 from 142 Abu Dhabi schools applied for the competition, with 488 qualifying for its challenges. Following the first milestone, 227 students submitted their projects, with 66 of them participating as individuals and 161 teams. Finalists were chosen in the categories of Top Overall Solution, Top Education Solution, Top Health Solution, Top Environment Solution, and Top Accessibility Solution.

The eight-month program equipped students with key skills including creative problem solving, communication, design thinking, prototyping, among other skills that collectively represent the foundations the students will need upon entering the job market.

“We are committed to working with our partners to enable our students reach their full potential by equipping them with 21st Century skills that prepare them for real world problem-solving in the future,” said Joni Cholwich, Director, Education Partnerships Enrichment and Intervention Division.

“The ‘iOS App Development Challenge’ program provided students a well-rounded experience and offered them the opportunity to improve their creativity, problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills – all key to developing life-long learners. The success of the program can clearly be seen in the high-quality submissions and the positive impact it has had on the participants.”

The challenge was rolled out in stages to allow students to collaborate in teams or work individually to provide an idea of their project and the real-world challenge it addressed. The next stage involved students being asked to submit an app prototype and develop it in the final submission. Virtual workshops included guidance on careers and skills of the future, showcasing the importance of accessibility, creativity, problem-solving skills, communicating ideas, and documenting the app development process.

“It is an integral part of our business as an Apple Authorized Education Specialist to help transform the way educators integrate technology into learning experiences and prepare students for life beyond school,” said George Habel, Apple Practice Lead, MDS CTS. “We are thankful for being able to work on this program with Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge.”

Insights from the challenge demonstrated that students were eager to learn UX/UI design, how to write code, and build prototypes. It highlighted how they enjoyed collaborating with team members virtually and wrote their first lines in Swift and Xcode. Students also enjoyed the process of ideation while incorporating accessibility features into their apps to answer the challenge in a most inclusive way.

“The idea of coding has always been very exciting for me. The opportunity to participate in the iOS App Development Challenge provided me the right platform to nurture my skills. The program was systematically organized for us to learn and apply our knowledge, and this will always remain etched in my memory. And I hope to continue on my coding journey in the coming years,” said Rawda Al Tamimi, iOS App Development Challenge participant.

“The iOS App Development Challenge was a wonderful experience! It was a head start for my programming skills. It was organized very well, and there were many workshops hosted by experts. I learnt a lot of new concepts, and would definitely recommend this to everyone who loves to code. This challenge has been a great inspiration for me. It has increased my interest in developing apps. I look forward to more challenges like this one. Thank you for this unforgettable experience,” said Thiagarajan Manickam, another iOS App Development Challenge participant.

More about Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK)

The Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) is the Education Sector regulator across the Emirate. It oversees and provides services throughout a learner’s journey from early education to university and beyond. It also champions inclusivity for People of Determination in the mainstream schooling system and by providing specialized schools.

More about MDS CTS

MDS CTS is the first Apple Authorized Education Specialist in the UAE to help support the learning and teaching community with unique solutions and services in Apple technology. They offer a full solution for your institution based on the individual needs of the leaders, educators, and students in your school. MDS CTS have a deep understanding of Apple products in education and can guide you based on your institution’s vision to equip educators with the latest Apple technology and knowledge to deliver their students’ best teaching and learning experiences. Learn more: https://apple.mds.ae/education/

MDS CS win Citrix Partner of the Year 2021 Award

MDS for Computer Systems (MDS CS) recently won the ‘Citrix Partner Of the Year – Most Significant Deal Award’ at the Citrix Partner Kick-off 2022, held this year at the Fairmount Hotel in Riyadh.

MDS CS had brokered a deal with Citrix which involved provision of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for 5000 users. The MDS CS team were among four or five other Citrix Partners taking part in the Partner Kick-off meeting.

On their LinkedIn profile, the company said this about the award: “Massive congratulations to our team for winning the Citrix Partner Of the Year 2021 Award. We are delighted to see our General Manager Yazid Irshaid accepting this award on behalf of his team. Big shout out to our team and Citrix rock stars for making it happen.”

More about MDS CS

Founded in 1982 by Sheikh Mohammed Mansour Al-Rumaih as Mideast Data Systems, today MDS CS is a well-known and highly reputable organization with a team of professional engineers and technicians, with a large base of satisfied customers including significant numbers of large turnkey projects.

MDS CS takes a highly professional approach to meet each of its customers’ unique business requirements. Its commitment in terms of financial investment and customer support is aimed at a long-term relationship with its customers.

Web Application Security is a major Cyber Threat

Toni El-Inati talked to Priyan Sampath from Security Review website about the future of security and how Middle East businesses have faced major challenges over the last 18 months. Among other things, Priyan asked Toni about the past year’s business for Barracuda, the kind of opportunities the company faced, and what were the big achievements they managed to deliver in 2021.

According to Toni, considering the key issues of the last 12 months, “Cybersecurity has been one of the few industry segments that has grown significantly since the onset of the pandemic. This of course relates to the heightened level of cybercriminal activity during the last 24 months. At Barracuda, we have been closely monitoring the threat landscape and we continue to offer best-of-breed solutions to counter new and evolving threats.”

While the pandemic has meant that in many ways business has faced big challenges, there were positive aspects to the year, as well. Toni talked about the recent Barracuda report titled ‘The State of Application Security in 2021.’ The report found a significant 72% of organizations that experienced security breaches suffered the incursions through web applications, via a complex variety of routes.

“At the same time, in an increasingly digital world, web applications are now a primary interface between customers and businesses. This makes it imperative for organizations to secure their web applications,” said Toni. “Consequently, we have seen strong momentum for our Cloud Application Protection solution which provides powerful application security that is easy-to-use and helps protect applications deployed on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid.”

Toni also highlighted the increase in ransomware attacks, and the importance of solutions such as Barracuda Total Email Protection, “a suite of powerful security solutions that offer protection against a wide range of email threats, which has proven effective in protecting Middle East businesses from this threat.”

2021 was a great year for Barracuda in terms of industry recognition and awards. The company was recognized as ‘Visionary’ in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls and a ‘Challenger’ in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Application and API Security.

Recognition also came from other critical quarters, too, with Barracuda named a Leader in ‘The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Email Security, Q2 2021’ and there were also several key cybersecurity sector acquisitions that boosted the company portfolio of solutions and services.

Read the online article to find out more about Toni’s business predictions for the next 12 months. In brief, he suggests an increased awareness ‘on governments prioritizing cybersecurity initiatives, building alliances with vendors, and sharing data with other countries. This level of collaboration will help improve security for everyone.’

Read the full interview here

Ivanti’s Unified IT: perfect solution for eHosting Data Fort managed service provider

In a recent Ivanti Partner Network video, Ivanti’s ME Sales Director Samer Hani talks with eHosting Data Fort’s Head of  IT Operations, Motaz Alqaissi, about optimizing the health of their customers’ IT environment using Ivanti Unified IT platforms.

To begin the discussion, Samer Hani and Motaz Alqaissi introduced the range of Ivanti solutions eHDF have adopted, both internally and externally, as a service for their clients. Talking about the Unified IT solution, Samer identified some key advantages of the system:

“If clients of eHDF now want to onboard a new user, rather than taking days, it’s going to happen in minutes with the approvals along with different systems and execution on the data center side. The clients themselves can now create their own VMs without coming back to the eHDF team. So all of this has helped in enhancing the SLAs and the SF.”

Motaz explained more about how eHDF make this work in the discussion: “We integrated multi products with our existing solutions. Our SIEM solution, our security services, all of them, are now integrated through API’s. Some of those API’s were available out of the box from Ivanti, like the service management. We deliver the best quality of services to our customers by utilizing those API’s and the capabilities of those solutions. As you said, we automated many activities; and for many daily tasks like the creation of users, we don’t have to go to the server now and you can just do a right click and create a user profile via the self-service portal.”

Samer also asks Motaz about the protocols used when real-world security incidents occur. Motaz highlighted the advances brought by integrating Ivanti systems into their own eHDF platform when security alerts happen: “Now, our team, instead of looking into multiple screens or multiple solutions, since we have unified everything in a single screen, that screen is the IT Service Management of Ivanti and they get pushed back to those applications on the platform from a Managed Services Provider.

“How would you rate Ivanti as a Managed Services Provider on a scale of 1 to 10, Samer asked Motaz? “I would say 11!” Motaz replied, confidently. “I would say the most amazing thing about the Ivanti products is that they are well integrated with each other. You don’t actually have to worry about your endpoints being integrated with your ITSM, or your patches not being reported accurately or something; everything works together out of the box, and you get the desired result in no time.”

In the video Motaz goes on to explain more about the eHDF range of Cloud services, Managed services, and most importantly their Event services.

Watch the whole interview below on YouTube:

Midis Group affiliates join to imagine a better future at LEAP 2022

LEAP 2022, taking place in Riyadh, KSA, from February 1 to 3, is an ambitious global-facing event showcasing the positive possibilities of futuristic technologies, with keynotes from leading thinkers, disruptive technology professionals and futurologists, offering the chance to experience investors showcases and watch pitches from the very best in the tech business.

With a global IT market presence, Midis Group has over 50 years’ experience representing the leading technology vendors in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, so it is natural that key Midis companies will be exhibiting at LEAP. Midis Group Chairman and CEO, Nabil Bustros will be present, as will affiliates Presidents and CEOs to network with other technology leaders at the event.

Midis Group affiliates present will include from Midis System Integration Group, MDS-CS, MMR, Magnoos Information Systems and e-Solutions Saudia. From the Distribution line of business, Mindware (Aklaniat) will attend and from Local Office, MBCom Technologies, including their CA and Symantec businesses.

According to the organizers, LEAP will “bring together the world’s greatest minds; from leading technology corporations, inspiring pioneers from global start-ups and venture capitalists with the means to make it all happen. If you are seriously interested in new technology and its positive, unlimited potential, you just cannot miss it.”

Insightful mission to illuminate Slovenia with HPE Synergy Solutions and HPE Pointnext Services

Slovenian energy infrastructure specialist INFORMATIKA is shaking up how the country’s electricity distributors are serving customers, thanks to a decision to use HPE Pointnext Services and other solutions from channel partner HC Center d.o.o. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium.

INFORMATIKA d.o.o. has come a long way from being an IT department in a government-owned electricity distributor to being a full-fledged company supporting energy distribution throughout Slovenia. Now the company supports the billing processes of all Slovenian energy distributors, taking care of their customer lifecycle and enterprise management needs, and enabling consumers to monitor their power use in real time. It also operates Slovenia’s platform for exchanging electricity data between suppliers and distributors from its base in the city of Maribor.

After more than 50 years of working solely with energy distributors, INFORMATIKA recently extended its services to more clients, notably wholesale power suppliers, and is expanding solutions to include Big Data analytics and AI.

“Doing this is helping us to deliver more value to electricity companies and their customers,” says Bojan Trafela, head of INFORMATIKA’s IT system support department. “We’ve been able to focus more on developing new applications to meet our clients’ needs, and on improving their services so they can provide better customer experiences,” says Trafela.

Energy consumers across Slovenia can monitor their electricity usage in real time using INFORMATIKA’s apps, helping them to better manage consumption and find ways to save energy. Among electricity companies, INFORMATIKA ensures its digital platforms run with as little downtime as possible and that employees have uninterrupted access to billing management systems and data across all customer service operations. While the company’s existing hardware infrastructure was still highly useful, it could no longer meet the company’s business requirements and diverse workloads, which include a range of database and server applications.

“We have new applications that are demanding more computing power, more memory, and we needed new solutions to support bigger virtualization ratios,” says Boban Veljanoski, a system engineer at INFORMATIKA. “Instead of more servers, we wanted more powerful ones so we could save on license costs for virtualization, backup, and so on.”

INFORMATIKA upgraded its infrastructure with support from HPE Pointnext Services and channel partner HC Center d.o.o. It has since been accelerating its hardware virtualization, which is helping reduce downtime in electricity companies’ digital platforms. As a result, the company expects to reach 100% virtualization in the next few months, from 80% currently.

“We are aware the constant desire for progress puts IT services in an unenviable position. It must be ready to respond to new needs for IT infrastructure resources in a very short time,” said Aleksej Kranjec, CEO of HC Center. “Advancing this project was easier due to the established trust with the customer, and at the same time working with a reliable partner – Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium – where we all played an important role, both in planning and implementing a new solution. The cooperation of all brought an understanding of needs, knowledge about technologies and possible new concepts for solutions, to ultimately meet the IT infrastructure in the future. We can only wish for such cooperation in the business world,” added Aleksej Kranjec of HC Center.

“Experts from various fields took part in the project. In the team, there were people who take care of virtualization, networks and the data solutions,” said Petar Hucman, Senior Technical Consultant at Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium, who was in charge of the project’s management and implementation. “In addition to demanding implementation, these circumstances could bring unique challenges. But because INFORMATIKA employs people who know what they are doing, we carried out the project at the highest possible level professionally. It is a real pleasure to work with such a team,” said Hucman.

“Across all our teams, we’ve really seen the benefits of reduced complexity in our hardware infrastructure,” says Bojan Trafela of INFORMATIKA. “If you’d looked at our data center three years ago, you would have seen a lot of rack servers and mainframes. Today, it’s almost empty, with only one or two racks around. So, we now have less hardware and more compute power.” As a result, managing the data center has become so much easier. “Now, we need only about 50% of our team to do the same job of maintaining the data center,” says Trafela.

“We no longer worry about resources and can give our developers as much capacity as they need to run tests,” says Boban Veljanoski, of INFORMATIKA. Previously, his team had to carefully balance computing power it was allocating to program developers with other requirements to make sure it wouldn’t run out of capacity.

“We have now got superior performance and much larger data throughput,” adds Veljanoski. “Likewise, our new processors have more cores than the traditional ones we know. In other words, we have a reliable system to help us do our jobs well.” Aside from requiring less maintenance, the new platform has reduced the time Veljanoski and Trafela’s team spend administering their compute resources.

“In the past, it took us half a day to provision a new network, but now we can do it in minutes,” says Veljanoski. “Also, we can patch our servers faster and easier with OneView and Synergy Composer. Patching servers took us a few days before, but now it can be done in minutes.”

HPE OneView is the management software embedded with HPE Synergy while HPE Synergy Composer serves as the main appliance for managing HPE Synergy systems and keeping them running. For Veljanoski this was important as he runs the systems with only a small team. What impressed him the most was the speed of HPE support and the ability to identify issues before they cause serious problems.

“With OneView, we can generate support tickets automatically,” he says. “So that’s one less thing we have to do. If something goes wrong with the servers, we get an alert via email and somebody from HPE Support Services would quickly replace or fix whatever part has a problem.

“We’re very happy about it,” adds Veljanoski. “We can now concentrate on the more critical parts of our jobs because we don’t have to worry about our systems not working, or spend our time troubleshooting.” And with more than enough computing resources, INFORMATIKA can now provide more flexible service delivery.

“I think in particular, our extra capacity can help us provide clients with computing resources as a service,” says Bojan Trafela, head of INFORMATIKA’s IT system support department. “That’s one area we expect HPE Synergy to help us with over the medium term.”

Michael Halas on AI, Automation, Big Data & Analytics at MAGNOOS

Michael Halas, Managing Partner at MAGNOOS Information Systems, was recently interviewed by Enterprise Channels MEA about how the company has developed in the months since recent health challenges receded across the region.

To start the interview, Michael was asked how MAGNOOS stands out from competitors in the AI, automation and big data market. At the core of the differentiation is the make-up of the company; he says MAGNOOS is a value-added reseller and technology implementation specialized boutique company and, according to Halas, their competition tries to encompass all opportunities and projects in the market.

Unlike that, MAGNOOS is a very focused, quality-driven company. The company has employed the best talent in each of the places it operates in. They call in offshore resources sparingly, and when needed, but are careful to rely generally on their team working onsite with customers.

A second question from EC MEA asked about the vendor solutions MAGNOOS has used to build its implementation solutions and platforms. In the interview, Halas comments that the company builds upon the best available technologies and complements them with its own solutions to answer client needs.

MAGNOOS has built hybrid solutions largely in three strands: firstly the Digital Service Management and Operations offer springs from BMC Software. Secondly, the Automation offer builds upon Automation anywhere; and thirdly, the Data Management, Analytics, Big Data, AI end-to-end solution is built on top of Informatica, Cloudera, Microstrategy and DataRobot. What is key to enabling these collaborations is that MAGNOOS has the benefit of being a Platinum Partner of all the aforementioned major technology vendors.

Talking about how MAGNOOS implements projects, Halas suggests the company typically follows a ‘value addition’ approach while interacting with end customers, and it turns out that this is another point that helps build a lead over the competition.

“Our after-sales practice is strong and customer success is our #1 priority. We have built our legacy on top of our reputation and successful implementations, which have resulted in tens of happy customers,” he told EC MEA.

“Every time that MAGNOOS engages in a project, the requirements gathering and analysis phase takes the longest time of the project duration, in order to ensure that the requirements and pain points are all documented and will be properly addressed during project execution and build phase.”

EC MEA asked Halas about the principal pain points that end users have in the post-pandemic phase in the area of AI, automation, big data and analytics and related capacities. According to Michael, “The competitive advantage is coming only by understanding your biggest asset, which is your data and by taking advantage of the benefits of applying automation across the entire business functions.”

“However, these programs most of the times are being run in departmental level and are siloed. Furthermore, end users set high expectations from these programs that cannot be realistically met, since the basic prerequisites, like the quality of the data are not good.”

“MAGNOOS has managed to come up with easily digestible use cases in the areas of RPA, AI and HyperIntelligence which can be simply deployed and demonstrate the value in a matter of weeks and not months, years. We understand that the adoption of AI is the principal pain point of the end users, so we have targeted entry level packages across all sectors.”

Read the full interview on Enterprise Channels MEA, here

K-tuin opens 30th new store in Madrid, Spain

K-tuin opened a new site in Madrid on December 2, 2021 which brings to 30 the number of dedicated Apple Premium Resellers owned by the Group in Spain.

The extensive new retail shop is at the Mall Oasiz, where a team of six employees work in a 250 square meter showroom which also includes technical service facilities.

“At K-tuin people are at the center of our business. So we are proud to be closer to you and welcome you all in our new store – number 30 – in the Oasiz shopping center,” said manager of the new store, Fabio Bertola.

Around 500 people were present for the grand opening, which was backed up with special offers on available Apple product lines.

More about K-tuin

K-tuin was founded in 1994 by Juan Fabre. The first store opened in Madrid and dozens of openings followed. K-tuin was the first Spanish company to become an Apple Premium Reseller, the highest classification among Apple resellers. The company was acquired by Midis Group in December 2018.

In June 2021 Spanish Apple Premium Resellers Microgestio and Goldenmac signed an agreement with K-tuin to work together to build and strengthen their collective market across Spain. The combined business represent approximately 50% of the Apple Premium Reseller market in Spain. Read more about that announcement here.

JBS to build a new smart data platform using ML and AI for Capital Bank

Capital Bank has signed an agreement with Jordan Business Systems (JBS) the platinum partner of IBM in Jordan, to build a modern platform for the bank to manage data and learning Automation and artificial intelligence. The project is planned to accelerate the bank’s digital transformation program and to provide the latest technologies and advanced technological solutions using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML),

Under the plan, Capital Bank will use a unified data management and artificial intelligence platform, IBM Cloud Pak for Data, which is an artificial intelligence-enabled system for the cloud environment that standardizes and simplifies the processes of collecting, organizing and analyzing data. The platform will help the bank support fact-based decision-making processes and it also provides automation to discover, classify and enhance data. This allows the outputting of data to business departments in record time, improving productivity, enhancing work efficiency and creating safer customer experiences, in addition to reducing the time and effort required to implement operations.

Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and models will also help Capital Bank in other ways:

• understand customer behavior;
• predict customer actions;
• manage customer relations with the bank;
• help the bank reduce and manage risks by improving quality of credit underwriting;
• improve the credit approval process;
• disclosure, detecting and prevention of financial fraud;
• improving Know Your Customer service procedures via analyzing customer behavior;
• helping manage anti-money laundering & anti-terrorist financing efforts;

Group Chief Operating Officer at Capital Bank, Izzidin AbuSalameh, said: “Capital Bank is one of the first banks in the region to start their digital transformation journey and our partnership with JBS and IBM will use AI & ML to add great value to that journey. Data management is one of the most important pillars in digital transformation, which we expect will enhance services to Capital bank clients and increase the efficiency of our operations.”

Chief Data Officer at Capital Bank, Bahaa Awartany, said: “Our cooperation with JBS and IBM comes from Capital Bank’s belief in the importance of providing advanced and high-level data management technologies and developing machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications to improve the performance of our banking services. We will be part of the technological developments in the global banking sector, enhancing of the bank’s digital infrastructure to ensure smooth and efficient workflows.”

The Director of Innovation & Business Transformation at JBS, Khaled AlKadi said: “Adopting artificial intelligence solutions allows the Bank to leverage their data, bringing new insights which will enable them to provide the right services and offerings for their customers. Capital Bank is an early adopter locally and regionally in digital transformation, and the Bank has decided to adopt IBM Cloud Pak for Data, and Netezza Performance Server solutions. This will centralize data in a single master system that enables Capital Bank to analyze data and make decisions more quickly and with improved accuracy.”

Artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions will also help in the customer service center by converting incoming customer calls into texts and extracting patterns from them. These might include detecting common reasons for communication and recognizing frequent complaints in order to improve the quality of services provided to customers. Capital Bank will also be able to study and analyze ways to stimulate spending through credit cards, in order to be able to develop and provide appropriate services and solutions to customers that fit their different lifestyles.

iSTYLE opens second store in North Macedonia in tenth year of presence in the country

November 20th, 2021 – iSTYLE, the leading specialized Apple retailer in North Macedonia, has opened its second store in the East Gate Shopping Mall in Skopje.

The new site is the 52nd iSTYLE location in Central and Eastern Europe, consolidating the Group’s position as regional leader for Apple mono-brand shops, offering a best-in-class customer experience within the full Apple ecosystem of dedicated physical stores.

The store is designed and arranged to Apple standards, and offers the public an area of over 77 square meters of hi-tech Apple product presentation served by a team of certified specialists ready to provide individual assistance to each visitor. As in all their retail sites, iSTYLE offers a combination of Apple products, best quality accessories, and skilled customer services, which has become the brand’s emblem.

“Thanks to great efforts by the whole iSTYLE team, we’ve got the new store completed, stocked and opened safely. It’s challenging working under these conditions but the new retail location looks great and we are very pleased by customer reaction and business reaction,” said Trajce Simonovski, General Manager for iSTYLE Macedonia.

The opening of the second iSTYLE store was lucky for the first visitors, who took advantage of special offers for a selection of products and enjoyed other surprises and gifts. Among the Apple products displayed in the store, they have been able to test the recently released iPhone 13 models, the long-awaited Apple Watch Series 7, the sixth generation iPad mini, a technological marvel with sensational performance, the robust and extremely affordable iPad ninth generation and the brand new MacBook Pro 14” and 16” products, with the powerful M1 technology.

Among the exclusive services provided by iSTYLE that are offered to consumers and businesses, is the iSTYLE Comfort package for Mac laptops. The Mac Comfort package includes the extension of the commercial warranty by one or two years, a free replacement laptop to use while your own is in service, a voucher of 1500 МКD for the purchase of accessories, a one-on-one session with a consultant and assistance in locating the Mac in case of its loss or theft.

Trajce Simonovski was the driving force for the establishment of iSTYLE in the country ten years ago. He has seen many changes in the product line up in that time, and also in the market. “This is our long-awaited second iSTYLE location in Skopje, and a big accomplishment for us,” added Trajce Simonovski.

“This shows once again that the market appreciates the high quality products and services that we are providing. We can assure everyone that premium mono brand retail is our focus and that we are here to progress continuously, so that customers can receive the best Apple experience with us.”

To meet the needs of its consumers, iSTYLE offers flexible financing options, in partnership with several banks, as well as a trade-in program, which allows the quick and advantageous exchange of the current device with a new Apple product, following an objective assessment.

In addition, the iSTYLE store in East Gate Shopping Mall will forward consumer devices that require verification or servicing to the main iSTYLE Apple Premium Service Provider in Skopje.

More about iSTYLE Macedonia

With the opening of the new store, iSTYLE doubles the group footprint in Skopje. The premium high-tech retail locations are designed and executed according to Apple standards and aim continuously on improving their offers, and customer services in order to be the preferred local Apple Expert in the North Macedonian market.

iSTYLE, part of Midis Group, is the largest network of Apple Premium Reseller stores in Central and Eastern Europe. iSTYLE has been providing North Macedonian customers with the highest quality and stability services for 10 years through a competent team of certified specialists, permanently trained to Apple standards. The first store was opened in City Mall in 2012.

Successful face-to-face Libya Partner Summit for Mindware Group

Mindware Group enjoyed face-to-face meetings once again with partners and customers across North Africa at their two-day Libya Partner Summit from November 3 to 5, 2021.

Mindware Group organized the partner event at the Movenpick Hotel, Gammarth, Tunisia which was also attended by 12 key regional vendors; Barracuda, Dell Technologies, IBM, Juniper, Lenovo, Lexmark, Microsoft, RSA SecurID, TrendMicro and Vertiv who took part to present to Libyan partners cutting-edge high-tech innovations.

40 Libyan partners attended the event. The partners got the chance to know about Mindware’s products and solutions in addition to a business overview of the best in breed Tech vendors.

The objective of the event was also to highlight the commitment and investment of the Mindware Group on the African continent. “It is an honor for me to be present in Tunisia for this Libya Partner Summit 2021 event. This investment is part of the group’s growth strategy which will allow us to increase our presence on the Tunisian and Libyan markets,” declared Toni Azzi, General Manager of the Mindware Group for Africa, Qatar & Levant

Mindware’s mission is to introduce and develop global IT brands in emerging markets in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa). Anis Abdessalem, General Manager, Southcomp Distribution Tunisia, specifies that “this investment represents a pledge of confidence in our Libyan colleagues. Indeed, we are developing a synergy that allows us to respond more effectively to the needs of our Libyan partners and to support them in their development both on the local and international market. And this, through global, cutting-edge solutions adapted to their needs in a context of digitalization and continuous technological evolution.”

Southcomp Distribution Tunisia (SDT) is expanding its activity and investing in Tunisia. It has just launched the Microsoft card and thus officially becomes a Microsoft Distributor. This partnership allows it to offer its partners the most innovative solutions for businesses on all products such as Microsoft Cloud, Software Perpetual CSP, Software Subscription CSP or Microsoft Azure. SDT specializes in the distribution of software and equipment for network and computer storage as well as unified communication and security.

Also presenting at the summit, Barracuda Networks is the worldwide leader in Security, Application Delivery and Data Protection Solutions. During the event, they presented their product portfolio to Mindware Group Libyan partners further strengthening their position in a booming market. Barracuda’s security products include solutions for protection against email, web surfing, web hackers and instant messaging threats such as spam, spyware, trojans, and viruses.

Ashraf Gharib, Maroun El Hashem, and Ayda Barnat all thanked Mindware and Southcomp Distribution Tunisia teams on LinkedIn for hosting such a great and successful event. “Everyone was very happy finally getting back into face-to-face events and meetings with fellow colleagues across the business network.”

eHDF partners with 2CRSi to offer AI-as-a-Service within data center project in the Gulf Region

Dubaï, United Arab Emirates, October 2021: eHosting Datafort (eHDF), a pioneer in Cloud Infrastructure and Security Management Services in the Gulf region, and 2CRSi, designer and manufacturer of high-performance, energy-efficient IT solutions, have announced a major collaboration in the UAE.

eHDF, a part of the Midis Group, has been one of the pioneers in data center build-up and cloud infrastructure management services in the Gulf region since 2001. Their offering comprises a complete stack of managed services and managed security services to enterprise across various industry sectors.

As part of its development strategy, eHDF is planning to cater to high-density requirements in the Gulf Region to service its fast-growing customer base and the need to deploy AI-ready environments. With this new capacity, the goal is to offer cutting-edge, high-performance infrastructure, with a low carbon footprint.

In this context, eHDF joins hands with 2CRSi to present a green and energy-efficient datacenter strategy in the Gulf Region. Thanks to 2CRSi’s expertise, eHDF will benefit from the advanced cooling technologies in the sector and recognized efficiency in terms of energy consumption. With increased capacity, higher density and minimum environmental impact, this partnership will give a competitive edge to eHDF and 2CRSi customers globally.

“As a leading cloud service provider in the Middle East, eHDF is once again a pioneer in adopting green solutions in the region. We are very proud to partner eHDF and in turn be able to expand our service range to customers in the region. We are happy to work hand-in-hand with eHDF and we are looking forward to making this partnership a strong and lasting one”, says Alain Wilmouth, co-founder and chairman of 2CRSi.

“With the growing demand of Artificial Intelligence-powered platforms and high-density power requirement, eHDF is pleased to launch AI-as-a-Service, available on-demand, to be charged based on consumption, powered by a GPU & IPU platform, together with our strategic partner 2CRSi”, said Waleed Heloo, CEO of eHDF.

More about 2CRSi

Founded in Strasbourg (France), 2CRSi group develops, produces and sells customized, high-performance and environment-friendly servers. In the 2020/2021 financial year, the Group generated revenue of €163 million. The Group now has around 373 employees and markets its offer of innovative solutions (processing, storage, and network) in more than 50 countries. 2CRSi has been listed since June 2018 on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris (ISIN Code: FR0013341781) and has been awarded the European Rising Tech label. For further information please visit: 2CRSi.com

More about eHDF

eHDF, a part of the Midis Group, is since 2001, one of the pioneers in Cloud Infrastructure Management Service Provider in the Gulf region. eHDF has an established Managed Services and Managed Security Services portfolio with a large customer base including Medium and Large enterprises. For further information please visit: www.ehdf.com

Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium implements HiAware security solution for A1 Slovenija

Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium recently partnered with startup Tech12 to develop the HiAware network-based cybersecurity solution for major telecoms provider, A1 Slovenija.

Mobile phones are highly exposed to a variety of cyber-attacks, which can affect the operation of the device or steal our personal and other data from it. A1 Slovenija, the leading private provider of comprehensive communication services in Slovenia, has found a new solution for its users.

The solution built is comprised of Hewlett Packard Enterprise hardware and a ‘white label’ cyber security software solution from startup Tech12, named the HiAware product. It provides security to users in a simple and state-of-the-art way by securing communication on all networks – mobile, fixed and even public WiFi.

With the new solution, they were able to offer their users a more advanced solution, embedded in an already existing service brand, A1 Protekt, achieving significant market impact and successfully protecting more than 100,000 users. A1 Protekt helped A1 Slovenia block almost 5 billion potentially harmful pieces of content that could endanger the devices of their users.

»We are thrilled that A1 Protekt is achieving steady monthly growth in the number of subscribers using our security solution. Our plan is to reach 40 % of A1 Slovenia user base and it looks very promising. We are especially pleased that reports of problems and requests for customer support have almost completely disappeared, which proves that the service provides flawless protection at the highest level of quality user experience«, said Barbara Puklavec, co-founder and CEO of Tech12.

For customers, there are several benefits of the new solution. A1 Protekt detects threats before they attack the user’s smartphone, and then warns the user about it. The HiAware solution itself protects against viruses, spyware, online scams and malicious web addresses. More specifically, it detects:

• Attempts to obtain personal information through fraudulent e-mails or websites (Phishing).
• Malware, the malicious software that executes and causes harm to the computer and its files. Known examples are extortion viruses and ‘Trojans’.
• Websites that display fraudulent advertisements that promise, for example, alleged profits or Spam sites.
• Hacked websites, which are used to distribute malicious software (Compromised sites).
• A network of robotic computers (Botnets), where a computer is used without the user’s knowledge to send spam, viruses or personal data.
• Mining or creating cryptocurrencies with a computer (Cryptomining). Criminals try to do this with your hardware and without your knowledge, which slows down computer performance and consumes electricity.

The HiAware solution is simple to install, it is activated with just one click and that is all that needs to be done for protection at every turn. Tech12’s near-future business cycle focuses on regional mobile and telecommunications operators and the start-up aims to become the world’s leading provider of next-generation security services for end users and IoT ecosystems.

Further development plans will aim to ensure that HiAware will be increasingly secure in the future. Security requirements in the mobile world are becoming more and more demanding, so the development of new functionalities is necessary.

»In addition to security requirements, HiAware’s new functionalities must also meet very demanding technical requirements, while at the same time giving protection providers a competitive advantage. The architecture and software provide security service providers with the ability to immediately ensure the safety of all their customers. The solution is designed so that it does not require expensive investments in equipment and terminal infrastructure compared to traditional providers« said Ante Moscatelli, co-author of the HiAware solution and co-founder of Tech12.

If you would like to learn more about the solution, contact [email protected].

Introducing HPE Virtual Desktop Infrastructure through face-to-face partner event in Nigeria

Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium recently partnered with Intel to host a one day workshop in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, introducing HPE Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. The event was held at Fraser Suites in the Central Business District of Abuja on Thursday, September 16th, 2021.

The event featured moderators from Intel, Rita Amuchienwa and Nathan Reddy, who presented ‘Embracing Workplace Evolution: HPE VDI.’ Other speakers included Nuno J. Martins, EMEA Director – AI Digital readiness Programs, Global Partnerships & Initiatives / Government, Markets & Trade , speaking on ‘Building an AI-Ready Generation.’

Babajide Lewis, Pre Sales Consultant – Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium, and Terae Onyeje from education technology specialists WOWBii, also presented to the attendees.

The first session, a Tax Management and Revenue Automation Systems workshop, was attended by public sector workers from The Court of Appeal, Nexim Bank, and the FCTA. In the second session, an Education Management Workshop, personnel from the Federal Fire Service, National Identity Management Commission, TETFUND Pensions Limited, Baze University, and Nile University were in attendance.

Over the years, HPE Technology has been in the forefront of designing ingenious solutions that simplify processes in tax and education management. For example, a recently deployed solution in the German healthcare sector required an application with high security and availability requirements, and thus needed an equally secure operating environment. To achieve this, ITSG, the operator of the complex application structure, involved HPE early in the required public tender process.

MDS PACC chosen as an ‘Outstanding Partner’ by Pelco

MDS PACC has been chosen as an ‘Outstanding Partner’ by US-based global security hardware and software solution specialist, Pelco. On their LinkedIn profile, MDS PACC thanked Pelco: “We are delighted to have been chosen as ‘Outstanding Partner’ by Pelco – the leading provider of ELV solutions in the UAE.”

More about Pelco

Pelco is a global leader in the design, development, and manufacture of predictive video security solutions, including video surveillance cameras, video management and recording systems, security software, and aligned services. The company was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Fresno, California.

More about MDS PACC

MDS PACC has been a premier IT solutions provider for 43 years, and is backed by one of the best service infrastructures in the region. Founded in 1978, MDS PACC is part of the Midis Group and comprises highly qualified employees and professionals. To meet the demands of a changing world, MDS PACC has been dynamic in its approach and has continuously updated its clients with the latest in technology. MDS PACC has offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to serve all its client base in the UAE.