Software as a Service to Fuel Next IT Revenue Shift

Middle East and Africa set to spearhead recovery of Global IT expenditure; IT outsourcing spend to hit AED644 million in 2010

The next three years will see ‘cloud computing’ mature rapidly as vendors and enterprises come to grips with the opportunities and challenges that it represents. Research shows that enterprise and consumer IT spending will increase by 9.1 percent in 2010 over 2009, with IT outsourcing growing into an AED644 million (US$170.5 million) industry this year. Further, according to the latest research from IDC the world’s emerging markets are set to spearhead a recovery in global IT expenditure in the coming years, with the Middle East and Africa (MEA) leading the way.

With these researched statistics, the ‘Second Cloud Computing and Virtualisation Summit’ taking place from April 11 – 12, 2010 at the Radisson Blu, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, aims to tackle Cloud Computing’s financial and productivity benefits, adoption of SaaS, next-generation virtualisation technologies, top security concerns and the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) most vital technology issues. They will be joined by industry pioneers and early adopters who will debate and discuss, through a series of case-studies, interactive panel discussion and industry presentations, the current state of the cloud and where it’s heading, with the aim of creating industry standards for ‘cloud computing.’

Ryan O’Donnell, Conference Director at IIR Middle East, said, “The two-day Summit’s extensive programme will help IT professionals understand the efficiency opportunities created by cloud computing. Topical keynote presentations, real-world case studies and interactive panel discussions, along with the [CIO/CTO] breakfast briefing will help end-users launch and put to practice their cloud computing strategies.”

Studies and surveys from the U.K. and U.S. suggest that “cloud computing will be a vital issue for IT professionals to address. The potential business benefits of cloud computing – even though it’s been around for some time – will dominate CIO thinking,” said Zaki Sabbagh, CIO at Zamil International, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like a public utility. The technology has moved from being a mere buzzword in the region to companies actually seeing a difference when it comes to lowering cost and increasing productivity through Cloud Computing and Software plus Services.

The Summit will witness participation from several international speakers who have been able to reap the benefits of moving their operations to the ‘Cloud.’ The line-up includes: Emad Khatib, Chief Information Officer at Emcredit, Amir Belkhelladi, Lloyds Banking Group’s Chief Security Architect, Mohammed Shah, Vice President of Technology Infrastructure and Services for the Kindgom of Saudi Arabia’s Knowledge Economic City Developer Company, Alex de Santiago, Application and Platform Director for Informa USA, Majd Sakr, Co-Founder of the Qatar Cloud Computing Center and Associate Teaching Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar among others.