Author: Akin Naphtal

Software AG and Intelligent Business Technologies (IBTech) have announced a partnership aimed at creating safe and smart cities in the Middle East region. The collaboration will see the creation of unified emergency services and a “command control center” in Saudi Arabia, according to a joint statement. The unified emergency hotline for first responders will help enhance human life safety and adapt to safe and smart city norms and requirements. IBTech will leverage Software AG’s Cumulocity IoT and webMethods integration expertise to develop novel use cases aligned with safe smart city goals under Saudi Vision 2030. The partnership will provide an…

VeriSilicon and Microsoft have announced a partnership aimed at creating powerful embedded platforms that will enable developers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to quickly create, deploy and develop IoT solutions on a trusted operating system with familiar development and management tools. The collaboration will also allow for easy device connectivity to the cloud through Microsoft Azure IoT. VeriSilicon’s scalable line of application processors, including Hantro video accelerators, Vivante graphics/VIP neural network processors and image signal processors, will be the first platforms supported through this partnership. These application processors are designed with multi-core Arm x64-v8A processors and come with 15-year support…

Electric vehicle company Arrival has secured a $300 million equity financing line from Westwood Capital to help it remain in business until late 2023. However, the company is seeking additional dedicated funds to develop its XL delivery vans for the US market and start production in Charlotte, North Carolina by 2024. Arrival is hoping to raise an additional $500 million, with $100 to $150 million raised by the end of this year to fund the XL program. Arrival has been burning through cash at a startling rate and is seeking to tap into as little of Westwood’s funding as possible…

Egypt’s Finance Minister, Mohamed Maait, has expressed interest in collaborating with India in financial inclusion and financial technology. During a meeting with the Indian Ambassador to Cairo, Ajit Gupte, Maait suggested that India could benefit from the merits of the Suez Canal Economic Zone and Egypt’s strategic location as a re-export hub. Maait highlighted that Egypt has an advanced infrastructure and more stimulating opportunities for production in various sectors of national priority, which has led to increased domestic and foreign investments. He also assured that Egypt provides all necessary support to the business community and private sector companies during these…

Honeywell has unveiled its latest technology, the Versatilis™ Transmitters, designed to facilitate condition-based monitoring of rotating equipment, such as fans, pumps, motors, compressors, blowers and gearboxes, among others. The transmitters provide relevant measurements of rotating equipment that help improve safety, reliability and availability across industries. The negative impact of high maintenance costs and unplanned downtime from failures affects any industrial facility’s operations. According to McKinsey & Company, manufacturing industries’ condition-based maintenance could add economic value of between $290 million to $530 million by 2030. However, for this maintenance to work, solution providers must ensure the lowest possible wireless infrastructure costs,…

Capco, a global technology and management consultancy, has announced the appointment of Andrew McGinn as a Partner and South East Asia (SEA) Digital Lead based in Singapore. McGinn will be responsible for delivering digital strategy and transformation initiatives for Capco’s clients, leveraging his extensive knowledge and experience in the field. With over 15 years of experience, McGinn has held senior leadership positions with a technology focus at Boston Consulting Group, Javelin Group (an Accenture subsidiary) and This Place, a customer experience business that provides digital transformation and delivery for global brands. READ ALSO:Informa Connect Middle East and The Digital Marketing…

Informa Connect Middle East has announced a new partnership with The Digital Marketing Institute, the world’s leading provider of certified courses in digital marketing. Through this collaboration, Informa Connect Middle East will provide training for two certifications: Certified Digital Marketing Professional and Certified Digital Marketing Specialist – Digital Strategy & Planning. These certifications will enable Middle Eastern marketers to enhance their skills and earn internationally recognized qualifications. Shabnam Rawal, Managing Director of Informa Connect Middle East, expressed her excitement about the partnership, stating that “the collaboration with the Digital Marketing Institute adds to Informa Connect’s extensive portfolio of offerings”. She…

Microsoft has emphasized collaboration and resilience at the Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference (GISEC) 2023, where it participated as a Strategic Partner and showcased a headline exhibit that has the potential to revolutionize policing. Naim Yazbeck, General Manager of Microsoft UAE, noted that Microsoft Security has surpassed a US$20-billion revenue milestone, highlighting the company’s success in protecting customers from cyberthreats. Yazbeck added that Microsoft views security as a team sport, particularly important as businesses embrace the world of hybrid work. Microsoft launched over 300 product innovations in the latter half of 2022 to help organizations stay ahead of evolving…

Social media giant Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has announced that it will sunset its NFT and digital collectibles features on Instagram and Facebook. The company had started testing the features last May with select Instagram creators, expanding NFT support to creators in 100 countries by July. However, less than a year later, Meta is moving on from NFTs to focus on other products and features that support creators, people and businesses. Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s head of commerce and financial technologies, wrote on Twitter that “We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support…

Pentera, a leading automated security validation provider, has partnered with MBC GROUP, the largest media company in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, to proactively defend against ransomware attacks and maintain continuous enterprise-wide security validation. According to MBC, they were searching for a solution to verify the effectiveness of their existing security stack and supplement their penetration testing program when they found Pentera. Since incorporating the Pentera platform, MBC has increased its security validation frequency by tenfold across its enterprise IT infrastructure. This has allowed them to test their security resilience against real-world attacks and reduce the time…