GITEX Global 2022: Cisco Participates Under ‘Bridge to Possible’ Theme

Abdelilah Nejjari, the Managing Director of Cisco Gulf, says smart technologies are essential in building resilient business models

Are you participating in GITEX Global 2022? If yes, which products and solutions will you be showcasing at the event? What is your theme?
This year at GITEX Global 2022, Cisco is set to showcase its latest suite of innovations to ‘Power an Inclusive and Sustainable Future’, designed to accelerate our customers’ digital transformation agendas, while focusing on the sustainability vision of the region.

Under its ‘Bridge to Possible’ theme, visitors be taken on an immersive journey to explore Cisco’s new technologies across its networking, security, collaboration, and optimized applications portfolio that help organizations drive the productivity, resiliency, and agility required in today’s hybrid world.

We believe that the following smart technologies are essential in building resilient business models and succeeding in a post-pandemic world, and these will be brought to life as Cisco demonstrates how customers can:

Power Hybrid Work – As hybrid work flourishes; at GITEX, Cisco will showcase how technology lets people securely connect, collaborate, and innovate from anywhere. Over the past 12 months, Cisco has added more than 1,000 new innovations and features to its collaboration technology platform, Webex – intensely improving the hybrid work experience. These include innovations across AI, Machine Learning, and more.

Secure Resilience – With cybersecurity becoming one of the most significant issues facing the region today, Cisco will showcase how it is taking steps to realize its vision with innovations across the industry’s most complete portfolio, driving security resilience for its customers. At GITEX, Cisco will unveil its new strategic vision of a unified platform for end-to-end security across hybrid multi-cloud environments with Cisco Security Cloud – the most open security platform with no public cloud lock-in.

Drive The Experience Economy – Today, services are delivered and consumed through applications. It is how companies build relationships with their customers. IDC predicts more than 500 million new applications by 2023. At GITEX, Cisco will showcase how we’re offering unique insights and observability from the infrastructure to the application – while connecting any user to any application and any cloud.

Simplify IT and Unify the Experience – For more than 30 years, Cisco has been powering the internet, keeping the world connected. At GITEX, Cisco is offering a look behind the curtain at how it is defining the future of connectivity with groundbreaking technology: a first-of-its-kind predictive analytics engine that will help IT teams prevent issues and elevate the user experience.

Create the Internet for the Future – As industries look to evolve their digital strategies in support of hybrid work, they need simplified solutions to connect and manage low-cost, often-stationary devices deployed at massive scales (Mass IoT), such as utility meters, medical devices, and agricultural sensors. At GITEX, Cisco will showcase advancements to its internet of things (IoT) portfolio to help its service provider customers offer a simpler way to manage LPWAN/4G/5G IoT connectivity for new and emerging use cases.

What are your expectations from the event this year?
This year, GITEX represents a very special occasion for us. As we reflect on the past few years, I believe we’ve seen the true power of technology – as we navigate this complex world alongside our customers and partners. If one key takeaway of the pandemic is that digital transformation remains integral to continuity and growth for every business.

I am not only excited to share our latest innovations with our customers during GITEX to support them transform and adapt to the new digital-first world; but also, more importantly, I am looking forward to strengthening our connections with our customers and partners and driving meaningful conversations on what they need to flourish in a world where digital transformation is evolving every day.

We can see governments in the GCC and the wider Middle East and Africa (MEA) region working to shape solid foundations that enable the development of future-focused business sectors, while simultaneously strengthening the region’s position as a global hub for businesses centered around innovation and entrepreneurship. Countries in the region are undergoing a digital paradigm shift. As such, we expect GITEX Technology Week 2022 to offer a fully immersive deep dive into the digital universe and demonstrate how countries and enterprises are preparing for new worlds of promise in the next digital universe.

Do you plan to run any online engagements such as webinars and offline engagements such as tech talks, demos, keynotes, and so on, alongside GITEX?
As part of its programme of events, Cisco’s local and global executives will deliver a series of virtual and in-person keynotes at GITEX main stage and across the event’s talks. This year, we are planning on holding 34 TechTalks in the Amphitheater stand, discussing topics that are at the heart of Cisco. The talks will be focusing sustainability, simplifying IT, and unifying the experience and the potential of hybrid work in powering an inclusive future for all. We will also be illustrating demos with a key activation on sustainability.

How have your regional strategies changed in recent months?
As the world recovers from the pandemic, we believe that digital transformation is the way to the adoption of new business models that will bring agility and competition. We are working with our customers and partners around the clock to support their digital agendas to strive in today’s digital-first world with a primary focus on networking, security, and collaboration.

With strategic investments in digitization and skills training through vehicles like our Country Digital Acceleration and Cisco Networking Academy NetAcad, we will continue to do our part in creating a vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive digital economy aligned with the region’s digital vision. On skills, we are very keen on developing human capital across the region through NetAcad. Since its inception in the Middle East and Africa region, NetAcad has trained more than 2.6 million students of which 29% are female.