The Hub
Injazat Data Systems’ official newsletter – Issue 09
Managed services:
A step in the
right direction
In this issue:
analyst view: Managed Service Market Overview: UAE
UPDATE: All the latest Injazat news and event updates
CEO Message
T
echnology has become an important driver of business efficiency, competitiveness
and growth over the past decades. In their quest to acquire the latest know-how, many
enterprises have found themselves spending more time and money trying to balance
the act between maintaining business operations while provisioning strategic growth
opportunities.
Over the years, managed IT services have steadily emerged as the solution for enterprises
struggling to strike an equilibrium between the optimal use of their IT resources and sustaining
their business focus.
Injazat incorporates a unique model that provides a unified and integrated view of various
service elements enabling services to be aligned with overall business objectives. In addition,
our innovative offerings such as enterprise cloud computing, applications and pioneering
facilities such as the Middle East’s first Tier IV design-certified data center, deliver nextgeneration managed IT services.
Cloud computing is a particularly potent tool for advancing our managed IT service agenda,
therefore we actively participate in vital discussions on this empowering field such us our
collaboration with the New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Institute and Polytechnic
Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) to exchange ideas on data center and cloud
computing technologies.
We also believe that our capabilities should benefit the community as well. This is why we
signed up to provide technical support for EWA’A Shelters, a non-profit organization providing
assistance and care for women and children victims of human trafficking. We aim to tap
technology to improve people’s lives and support social development.
This issue of “The Hub” is aimed at helping organizations implement a ‘perfect fit’ managed
services model.
Ibrahim Mohamed Lari
CEO
Injazat Data Systems
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CEO MESSAGE
FEATURE
analyst view
NEWS AND EVENTS
UPDATES
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For all inquiries, please contact
marketing@injazat.com
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About us
• Injazat Data Systems is an
industry recognized market leader
in the region for Information
Technology, Data Center and
Managed Services
• The Injazat Data Center is both
Tier IV design and ISO 27001
certified; a distinction that
differentiates it as one of the
unique facilities in the region.
Our services
• Enterprise Cloud Services
Injazat supports your business with
pay-as-you-go approach without
any upfront capital investment,
delivered from world class Tier IV
data center.
• IT Outsourcing
We provide IT managed services
to help clients build and manage
a highly available IT platform that
meets their business needs.
• Enterprise Application Services
We plan, develop, integrate
and manage clients Enterprise
Applications, custom applications,
packed software and industry
specific solutions.
• BPO
Our portfolio of BPO, consulting
solutions, and project management
will help you drive revenue growth
and maximize operational and
organizational efficiency.
• Tier IV Data Center Services
Injazat Tier IV, design certified
Data Center combines state-ofthe-art redundant systems with an
integrated facility management
infrastructure.
• Training and Development
The Injazat institute aims to
enhance the competency of the
UAE’s professionals and improve
their ability to support their
organizations.
• Injazat Defense Services
Injazat Defense provides wide
range of business, consultancy and
technology-related services to the
Defense sector.
Feature
Managed services – a step in the
right direction
CIOs can look to balance shrinking budgets and lack of technical skills with the need for
strategic innovation by adopting the right managed services model to maximize value.
W
ith an exponential
increase in competition
across the global market
and the subsequent
economic recession,
businesses and their CIOs are faced with
the challenge of balancing ever shrinking
budgets with the ability to provision
clients with innovative products and
services. Such demands have resulted in
an increased focus from CIOs on their day
to day operating costs and how these can
be rationalized and the funds reallocated
towards business centric strategic IT. As
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a result, many companies are looking
towards outsourcing and managed
services as a key enabler to achieve their
IT strategy. Over the last five years, the
demand for IT outsourcing and managed
services has grown exponentially.
Managed services, the practice of
Feature
outsourcing a company’s IT operations,
can take many forms from a strategic
total outsourcing of all IT functions
to a selective outsourcing of targeted
capabilities or services based on unique
business needs. Typically these services
may include business as usual activities
such as:
• 24 by 7 monitoring of infrastructure and
applications
• Predictive and proactive systems
management
• Resolution of and fulfillment of IT
incidents and requests
• Infrastructure hosting (Data Center)
• Help desk support for end users
• Enterprise management tools and
processes
Through an appropriate IT outsourcing
strategy, companies are often able to
realize their business objectives while
improving their overall performance
Key Benefits
of managed
services:
• Managed services reduce costs, such
as traditional service fees, hardware,
and IT Operations
• Increase efficiency, levels of support
and service availability without
additional staffing
• Regulate IT budgets and make
it more predictable so it can be
modeled for short and longer term
needs
• Provide access to latest technologies
with limited risk
• Provide access to an enhanced
flexible skill base
• Increase visibility, transparency
and accountability for service
performance
• Easier adaptation to changing
business conditions
• Enable clients to focus on core
services
levels, efficiency and reliability of its IT
services.
Managed services providers bring
proven experience, resource expertise,
processes and enterprise class tooling
to bear to deliver the required levels of
service to meet the explicit needs of the
client’s business at a substantially lower
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cost to in house IT through its ability to
leverage services, resource and assets
across all its clients. This redirection of
the clients IT organization and budget is
to focus more on strategic direction and
initiatives.
Under a managed services agreement
the provider takes full accountability
for the delivery of the service to
specified service levels aligned to client
business needs and budget. The driver
of the relationship is based on output
- delivering the required service level
for an agreed price, an accountable and
measurable method of delivering and
receiving managed IT services. In the
event that their obligations with regards
to levels or quality of service are not
met, the service provider will in many
cases be subject to financial penalties.
This is in contract to an in house or staff
augmentation model where the full
accountability for the level and quality
of service remains with the client and the
supplier ’s responsibility is limited to the
provision of suitably skilled resource and
input driven model.
Managed services can be provisioned
under a number of models combining
onsite or offsite resources and in some
instances out of region resources to
optimize the cost delivery and to provide
24 by 7 support services most effectively
and efficiently. These services may also
be provided using shared infrastructure
to multiple clients where the provider,
in addition to their operational
obligations, are also responsible for
the ownership and maintenance of the
underlying systems, tools or hosting
environment, thereby eliminating the
need for significant capital investments
by the client. This also provides for
a more flexible model that allows
clients to benefit from new technology
advancements or changing business
demand without the need for significant
oversizing or capital investment.
An industry survey conducted by
Pyramid Research found that up to 60%
of companies already use some form of
managed services and have been doing
so for the past one to four years, with
plans to extend its adoption of this
model.
The European and U.S. markets over
the last decade have seen the greatest
uptake of managed services, driven by
increased global market competition
and the global economic downturn.
More recently, emerging markets such
as those in the in Middle East, Africa
and Latin America also have looked to
exploit the benefits of outsourcing and
managed services model and are looking
towards key managed service providers
to enhance the quality of their operations
and support them in the realization of
their strategic plans and development.
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Delivery models explained
Leveraged services
Leveraged or shared services provide the
optimal method for both the client and the
provider to clearly define accountability
while provisioning measurability. A model
built on shared resources, processes and
technology, this model allows for most
effective blend of skills, experience, and
capability to efficiently and optimally
deliver the required services to a client.
This model relies on client’s willingness to
adopt the provider’s standards, services,
service levels and processes, typically
based on globally accepted standards of
best practices and quality. This allows client
IT organization to focus on requirements
rather than execution, instill enhanced
control through service levels and report
metrics and adopt more scalable and
flexible pricing models to meet their needs
based on demonstrable performance.
In some cases, however, either due to a
perceived loss of control by the client or a
unique business need, this model may not
necessarily be considered applicable and a
hybrid or dedicated approach maybe more
applicable.
Hybrid
The most common approach to date
within the Gulf marketplace is to apply a
combination of the two models to achieve
an optimal mix of control, flexibility
and cost efficiency aligned to the client’s
unique business requirements. This is often
achieved by targeting particular capabilities,
for example service desk, end user support,
for adoption of the leveraged model and its
associated tools, processes, and efficiencies,
rather than a wholesale outsource of all
operations to a specific partner.
Dedicated
In some circumstances there may be a need
for dedicated staff. One in which the supplier
is simply providing resources of a predefined
skill who will typically be managed and
directed by the client IT organization. This
is typically the most costly approach in the
long term but can have its benefits in the
short term in terms of rapid access to specific
capability and ease of contracting.
Analyst View
Managed Service Market Overview: UAE
Research firm, IDC has been tracking the
growth of managed and hosted services in
the UAE for a number of years and reports
that both service lines have shown robust
growth.
With respect to managed services, the UAE
has witnessed significant growth, particularly
over the last two to three years. According to
analysts, this has been driven by two factors,
Firstly, organizations have started to become
more comfortable with outsourcing the
management of specific elements of their ICT
environments to managed services providers
and secondly, the last few years have seen a
number of providers expand their managed
services portfolio.
The market for managed services (both
infrastructure and applications) grew 12.9%
in 2011 and is expected to grow 13.6% in
2012 as organizations become more familiar
with these services and their benefits, IDC
predicted.
“Similarly, the adoption of hosting services
(both infrastructure and applications) has
also witnessed strong growth in the UAE.
In recent years there have been a number
of new third party data centers coming to
market, and this has encouraged adoption
of these services. Additionally, organizations
in the UAE are increasingly becoming more
open to hosting their infrastructure and
applications in order to avoid the high capital
investment and resource strain that investing
in their own data centers implies. IDC
believes the potential for hosting disaster
recovery sites in these third party data
centers is considerably high as organizations
evaluate having a redundant site in the UAE.
Adoption of hosting services grew by 18.2%
in 2011 and is expected to show a healthy
growth of 19.9% in 2012,” said Omar Saleem,
IDC Middle East and Africa.
According to industry research firm Frost
& Sullivan, the UAE managed service market
is dominated by infrastructure support and
application and web hosting services. In
fact, the analysts at the firm anticipate that
demand for virtualization, business continuity
and disaster recovery will grow faster than for
the other types of managed services.
Frost & Sullivan also predicts that over
the span of next two to three years the issue
of mobility and BYOD will receive more
attention from managed service providers,
while cloud services will continue to be a buzz
word for the next two years. Following the
initial excitement surrounding cloud services,
analysts expect that due to security concerns
associated with cloud technologies the
UAE market will witness more interest in the
private cloud domain than the public cloud.
The high bandwidth cost, security concerns
and infancy of outsourcing in the UAE market
were listed out as some of the barriers to
adoption of managed services in the region
while analysts counted the consistent
government spend on IT infrastructure, labor
and price arbitrage in the UAE as being the
primary driving forces behind the managed
service market.
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The UAE managed service market seems
to have completely recovered from the recent
financial crisis, when many companies tightened
their budget on IT spending. In fact, analysts
believe that the crisis played an important part
in shifting the focus of companies from Capex
business models to Opex models. This shift in
focus led companies to look out for alternative
saving and efficiency models and ultimately,
led them to comprehend and leverage the
benefits of outsourcing operations to third party
IT service providers to save on costs associated
with establishing a robust infrastructure and
technical skills needed to maintain a proactive IT
department.
As competition across the UAE managed
service market continued to increase, it put
pressure on service prices, making them
all the more affordable and in a kind of
‘snowball effect’ the demand for managed
services in the nation continues to increase.
According to Frost & Sullivan, the UAE
market is still dominated by domestic service
providers, who enjoy a significant competitive
advantage due to local deployment of their
data centers and the client need to keep their
data inside the country.
The biggest managed service market
spending verticals in the UAE were
government, BFSI and telecom and media
generating 54% of the market revenue,
analysts said. However, the highest growth
rates were in education and healthcare
verticals, which over the last year expanded
at 28.2% and 22.8%respectively.
News & Events Updates
Injazat inks 2-year IT Support
Services Contract with Abu
Dhabi Food Control Authority
Technology expertise to support Abu Dhabi Vision 2030’s health & safety agenda
Injazat has signed a two-year IT Support
Services Contract with the Abu Dhabi
Food Control Authority (ADFCA) to
ensure that the Authority’s IT operations
meet its mandate of developing a
safe agriculture and food sector for
the Emirate. Under the terms of the
agreement, Injazat will provide ADFCA
with Co-Location, Internet Hosting,
Enterprise Server Management and
Storage Area Network (SAN) Storage
services via the Injazat Premier Data
Center, the Middle East’s first Tier IV
design-certified data center. Other key IT
Managed Services to be implemented by
Injazat for the authority include a Service
Desk, Workplace Field Support and
various Application Services.
The deal reflects Injazat’s strong
commitment to strategically supporting
major government agencies in the
fulfillment of Abu Dhabi’s ambitious
Vision 2030 economic development
plans. As one of 12 growth sectors
specifically targeted under the Vision
2030 framework, Health Services is a
field where Injazat intends to focus its IT
expertise on further.
“Our agreement with ADFCA is a
landmark achievement in our efforts
to channel our industry leadership to
advance Abu Dhabi’s development
agenda over the next two decades. We
assure ADFCA of consistently high
levels of service and quality befitting
our status as one of the UAE’s top
managed IT providers,” said Antonio
Antonuccio, Chief Operating Officer,
Injazat Data Systems.
“Technology is a vital cog in ensuring
that our services are delivered efficiently,
effectively and securely. Through Injazat’s
technical assistance we are confident
that we will be able to enhance our
technology-enabled ability to develop
and implement cohesive and effective
policies and regulations, uphold high
quality standards, and promote broader
research and awareness,” added Omar Al
Neaimi, Director, IT Division, Abu Dhabi
Food Control Authority.
The Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority
is the government body responsible
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for food safety and agriculture in the
Emirate of Abu Dhabi, including animal
health. It oversees the enforcement
of rules and regulations as well as
the creation of food safety awareness
among the public in coordination
with concerned government bodies
and private sector organizations.
It comprises Corporate Services,
Food Safety and Livestock Health,
Strategic Planning and Performance
Administration, Policies and Systems,
Development, Agricultural Affairs, and
Veterinary Hospitals and Clinics.
News & Events Updates
Injazat named ‘Best Managed
Service Provider of the Year’ at
2012 Network ME Awards
Injazat proposes
risk-managed
layered security to
fend off evolving
enterprise threats
at Security
Strategist 2012
Kamran Ahsan, Head of Information Security
Injazat Data Systems was hailed as the
‘Best Managed Service Provider of the
Year ’ at the 8th Annual Network Middle
East Innovation Awards held at the
Jumeirah Zabeel Saray in Dubai.
The owner and operator of the
Middle East’s first Tier IV design &
ISO certified data center, Injazat was
recognized for its regional leadership
in Information Technology, Data
Center and Managed Services. Injazat
draws on its local expertise and
presence combined with its global
technology partnership network to
deliver comprehensive Infrastructure,
Consulting, BPO, Applications, and
Project Management solutions.
Organized by Network Middle East
magazine, the Innovation Awards pays
tribute to the region’s best networking
vendors, professionals and network
implementations. During the 2012
edition 20 awards were handed out
under the Implementation, Vendor,
Editor ’s Choice and Networking
Professional of the Year categories.
Injazat was among 12 elite IT players
that received top Vendor honours.
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Injazat advised enterprises to
correctly position their Information
Security Risk Management
Framework (ISRM) in their business
strategies and operations during the
‘Security Strategist 2012’ conference.
Injazat’s Head of Information
Security, Kamran Ahsan, said that
businesses should adopt contextbased defenses that respond
appropriately to dangers based on
risk levels. He outlined Injazat’s
ISRM Methodology which enforces
a layered security approach that
balances between threat and control
and enables prudent application of
preventive and detective controls at
the key architectural layers.
Injazat UAE Nationals complete
Experiential Leadership Program
for internationally recognized
Cambridge Diploma
Four UAE Nationals from Injazat recently
concluded a successful leadership program
and gained an international diploma in
Applied Leadership from Cambridge
Judge Business School. A total of 10
Injazat candidates have now successfully
graduated from this prestigious program,
which focuses on developing core skills in
Executive Leadership and Management.
The Injazat Institute (Ti2), a professional
development initiative sponsored the
Leadership Excellence Applied Diploma
(LEAD) program, managed and developed
by ALDAR in collaboration with
Cambridge University.
The participation of the Emirati
Nationals is in line with Injazat’s strategy
of supporting the UAE Government’s
Emiratization program and providing
professional development opportunities
to the local workforce in line with Abu
Dhabi 2030.
Injazat supports
sustainability
advocacy
of Abu
Dhabi Men’s
College at 8th
Engineering
Excellence
Forum
Injazat sponsored the 8th
Engineering Excellence Forum
held by The Higher Colleges of
Technology’s Abu Dhabi Men’s
College (ADMC) in support
of ‘greener ’ approaches to
development. Held under the theme
‘Carbon Capture and Storage:
A Strategy to Reduce Global
Emissions,’ the forum familiarized
participants with carbon capture
storage (CCS) technology and
discussed a more sustainable
development roadmap for the UAE.
Injazat honored students of
the Abu Dhabi Men’s College for
supporting clean technologies
and emphasized the important
roles UAE Nationals can play in
achieving sustainable development.
Injazat supports Univers K in the launch of WILD ARABIA
with National Geographic Al Arabiya
WILD ARABIA, the largest collaborative
multi-platform educational awareness
campaign to come out of the Middle East,
marked its World Premiere in Abu Dhabi.
The exhibition was conceptualized by
Univers K in partnership with National
Geographic Al Arabiya and sponsored by
Dolphin Energy.
Injazat, a production partner of this
event, aimed to raise awareness and
reveal the natural hidden treasures of the
GCC Arabian Wildlife.
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WILD ARABIA showcased Arabian
wildlife with 100 photographs from
National Geographic Al Arabiya
Magazine for free via public outdoor
exhibitions designed by world-renowned
exhibition architect Franck Minthe.
News & Events Updates
Injazat pledges technical assistance for
EWA’A Shelters for Women and Children
Injazat has signed a Technical Support
Agreement with EWA’A Shelters, a nonprofit organization providing assistance
and care for women and children victims of
human trafficking, to enhance community
activities and services for vulnerable
members of the community.
Under the terms of the agreement,
Injazat will provide support services for
EWA’A Shelters’ headquarters in Abu
Dhabi and its shelters in the Northern
Emirates. The coverage includes IT
technical support, maintenance and local
network services.
The initiative underscores Injazat’s
commitment to serving the public through
active participation in organizations and
activities that focus on community health
and safety, environmental protection, social
development and cultural awareness.
Injazat supports
AmCham Abu
Dhabi Business
Roundtable
Summit
Injazat joined business leaders from
the US and the UAE to discuss
pressing industry-wide issues and
their best solutions at the AmCham
Abu Dhabi Business Roundtable
Summit held at New York University
Abu Dhabi.
Organized by the American Business
Group of Abu Dhabi (AmCham Abu
Dhabi), the Summit covered the
eight industry sectors of Defense and
Aerospace; Legal Affairs; Hospitality,
Travel and Tourism; Banking and
Finance; Healthcare; Education and
Research; Engineering, Construction
and Project Management; and
Transportation and Infrastructure.
NYU Abu Dhabi and Injazat convene international conference
on data management and cloud computing in Abu Dhabi
Injazat collaborated with New York
University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Institute
and Polytechnic Institute of New York
University (NYU-Poly) on a two-day
international data center and cloud
computing technology conference held at
the Injazat headquarters. The event brought
together research and industry experts
to discuss state-of-the-art technologies,
exchange ideas, and foster strategic views in
this area.
Workshop participants discussed topics
involving data center networks, cloud
computing architecture, security, resilience,
monitoring, performance analysis, cloud
applications, and future perspectives for
the field.
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Injazat eases adoption fears at IDC’s
Cloud Computing and Datacenter
Roadshow 2012
Martyn Lowrey-English, Head of IT Operations
Injazat discussed how the movement
towards cloud computing should be
accelerated across the region during
the 2012 IDC Cloud Computing and
Datacenter Roadshow.
In a presentation titled ‘Cloud
Computing: Is It as Scary as It Sounds?’
Injazat, a Gold Sponsor of the Roadshow
represented by Martyn Lowrey-English,
Injazat’s Head of IT Operations,
explained how businesses should set
aside their fears about cloud computing
and look at the bigger picture.
Injazat has given its firm commitment
to supporting the growth of cloud
computing as a business enabler for the
region.
Injazat holds annual get-together
Injazat held its Annual Get-Together for its
management and employees at the Beach
Rotana Hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Injazat’s leadership thanked the team for
its hard work and loyalty and for helping the
company maintain its competitive industry
standing as reflected through the numerous
awards Injazat received during the previous
year. Staff members were commended for
generously taking part in Injazat’s various social
and community initiatives.
Some of the company’s key plans for 2012
were also unveiled during the gathering. Injazat
reaffirmed its commitment to engaging in strategic
government and private sector partnerships,
spearheading various community outreach
programs, and advancing the Emiratization goals
of Abu Dhabi and the entire UAE.
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Employee Spotlight
H
amad Hazza Al Darmaki works
for Injazat Data Systems as an
Infrastructure Analyst since 2005.
Born deaf, he was always determined to
achieve big things. A major turning point
in Al Darmaki’s life was when he decided to
study in the US, where he eventually earned
an Associate in Science Computer System
Technology degree from the Northwestern
Connecticut Community College.
Since then, Hamad has been
participating in various sporting
and community activities and is the
current President of the Deaf Emirates
Association in Al Ain. Al Darmaki has also
participated in dozens of local, Arab and
international conferences.
With his achievements, contributions
towards the society and willingness to
break stereotypes regarding the disabled,
Hamad won the Abu Dhabi Award on
2006. Furthermore, Al Darmaki was
honored last year for his outstanding
achievements by the Rashied Paediatrics
Center in Dubai. Hamad says that these
awards are proof that individuals with
special needs can make a difference and
excel in whatever they do.