Kaspersky has announced that it has received a Regional Headquarters License (RHQ) in Saudi Arabia from the Kingdom’s Ministry of Investment.

This license shows Kaspersky’s commitment to improving cybersecurity in Saudi Arabia’s economic sectors and strengthens the company’s presence in the country.

The main objective of the Regional Headquarters is to provide comprehensive support for the operational activities of the Kaspersky group of companies in the MENA region, ensuring sustainable business development in Saudi Arabia and the region.

The focus will be on strategic development, threat research and analysis, and the delivery of region-specific services such as Managed Detection and Response (MDR), powered by the Saudi-based SOC, and ICS CERT.

More on Kaspersky:

Kaspersky operates in 200 countries and territories with 34 offices in over 30 countries. In 2022, Kaspersky opened a new office in Riyadh, adding Saudi Arabia to its ever-expanding worldwide network of offices. In 2023, Kaspersky opened its first Transparency Center in Riyadh to serve the entire Middle East region.

With several ongoing and planned initiatives to ensure future readiness with a digital-first approach, the adoption of technologies like 5G, IoT, and artificial intelligence by the Kingdom will potentially increase cybercriminal interest in targeted attacks and cyber threats.

To support the Kingdom’s efforts to build a strong cybersecurity infrastructure, Kaspersky launched the Cyber Generation training and internship program in Saudi Arabia in 2023.

The educational program is designed to increase cybersecurity awareness, enable skills and knowledge sharing, and defend against evolving cyber threats.

Andrey Efremov, Kaspersky’s Chief Business Development Officer, said, “This is a significant milestone on our roadmap for growth in Saudi Arabia, as the Kingdom is rapidly transforming into an economic hub for the region.”

He added “I am very proud that we are part of this transformation, and that our business in the Kingdom is developing successfully. This step will further enhance our ability to better serve customers, partners, and organizations across the region.”

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• The event will be open for 3 days starting from March 4^th till March 7^th and is located in the capital of Saudi Arabia.
• In LEAP’s third year, the event is expected to host 170,000 tech visitors and experts from around the globe.
• STC group members will be joining the event to introduce and showcase solutions that follow suit in digital transformation technology.

The event will take place from March 4th to March 7th at the Riyadh Exhibition & Convention Center, and this year’s theme is ‘Into New Worlds’.

At the exhibition hall, STC Group will showcase its products and solutions across various industries, such as sports, smart megaprojects, health tech, and digital logistics.

By attending LEAP 2024, visitors from around the world will witness STC’s achievement in driving digital transformation in the Kingdom and its connectivity products.

During the four-day LEAP event, each day will focus on a different pillar of innovation: Spark, Collaboration, Momentum, and Future. Moreover, STC Group’s representatives will participate in several panel discussions on topics such as expanding connectivity, the role of leaders in driving digitalization, and the story of STC Group’s fleet delivery and management services, also known as DAL.

At STC’s booth, visitors will learn about the Group’s investment in smart stadiums, digital experience in sports and megaprojects, including STC’s work on smart infrastructure and mobility, health tech, and digital logistics zones.

 Additionally, STC Group is expected to sign several digitalization agreements with strategic partners at the event, which will be revealed in the coming days.

About LEAP 2023:

LEAP 2023 saw a year-on-year visitor growth and more than USD9 billion in announcements in the venue.

The 2023 tech event set a world record for the most attended tech event, seeing around 172,000 visitors in the year 2023.

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• Tahakom
• Dahua Technology.
• Carrier Corporation
• Softbank Group.

These companies have decided to collaborate towards accelerating the adoption of sustainable manufacturing processes, to reach carbon neutrality in their output.

Amit Midha, the global CEO of Alat, emphasized the company’s commitment to transforming the manufacturing industry through sustainable energy practices.

By utilizing renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, as well as green hydrogen, Alat plans to revolutionize manufacturing by integrating artificial intelligence and technology from the fourth industrial revolution.

Alat has partnered with the following groups to achieve its goals:

• Softbank Group: to establish an industrial automation business in Saudi Arabia.

This joint venture will concentrate on developing innovative industrial robots, with an initial investment of up to $150 million.

The aim is to launch a fully automated manufacturing and engineering facility by December 2024.

• Carrier Corporation: a partnership to establish an innovative manufacturing and research and development facility.

The facility will be dedicated to advancing energy efficiency and reducing emissions in buildings.

This collaboration will bring about the latest HVAC solutions and generate more than 5,000 job opportunities in the local area.

• Dahua Technology Ltd: Alat and Dahua Technology will establish a joint venture, Alat AIVisio Technology Co. Ltd., to manufacture technology products for safety and surveillance applications.

A $200 million investment will support the creation of a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia, focusing on vision-centric products for intelligent cities and enterprises.

• Tahakom: Collaborating with Tahakom, Alat seeks to advance smart mobility and intelligent city solutions aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

This partnership will drive innovation in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), fostering technological advancement in urban development.

Alat plans to innovate across seven business units, encompassing semiconductors, smart devices, smart buildings, smart appliances, smart health, advanced industrials, and next-gen infrastructure.

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On February 6th, 2024, AD Ports Group announced that its digital arm, Maqta Gateway, has acquired a Majority stake, 60% equity in Dubai Technologies, a Dubai trade and transportation solutions developer.

The total purchase consideration for the 60 percent shareholding amounts to AED 28 million.

The company recorded revenues of AED 70.5 million and EBITDA of AED 8.4 million for FY2023.

The company has created a platform for managing port operations called Minato®. In addition, they have developed four transportation platforms and nine customized solutions for digitally-focused government agencies at the regional level.

These solutions have been developed in-house by the company’s 300+ team members who work collaboratively across the UAE and India.

Minato® is a technology that port operators are currently using across the globe. It includes an advanced digital twin technology that is sought after in the port industry. Its addition to Maqta Gateway’s existing single window offering for port digitalization will be highly beneficial.

Furthermore, the gradual implementation of Minato® across all international ports managed by AD Ports Group will lead to cost synergies for the company.

The company’s transportation platform includes fleet management, passenger transportation, smart driving analytics, and waste transportation management.

This can be utilized by the group to improve logistics efficiency in both hinterland and industrial zones’ operations.

Maqta Gateway, a company specializing in digital trade solutions, has acquired to broaden its portfolio in this area. This move will also extend its in-house capabilities, realize cost synergies, and strengthen its position as a developer of digital trade solutions.

The offshore development expertise of the acquired company will be of value as Maqta Gateway expands internationally. Additionally, Maqta Gateway has set up an R&D hub in Vietnam, following its acquisition of TTEK Inc.

Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, the Managing Director and Group CEO of AD Ports Group, stated that the company has recognized the importance of keeping up with advanced technologies and utilizing innovative solutions to reimagine the future of trade on a regional and global scale.

This aligns with the vision of their leadership. The recent acquisition of new technologies reflects the company’s plans to enhance AD Ports Group’s position as a provider of integrated digital trade solutions to core markets and increase self-reliance on critical technologies for their business.

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The World Bank is currently contemplating the possibility of providing support and financing to a Jordanian program valued at $321 million according to Al-Mamlaka.

The program aims to enhance individual-centric digital governance and aid the roadmap for public sector modernization and digital transformation in Jordan, which is a fundamental pillar of the Economic Modernization Vision (EMV).

The program is expected to be presented to the World Bank in the upcoming months to be reviewed by its board of directors.

The total government funding is aimed to be more than USD545 million while focusing more on areas such as health and education.

The program also encourages transparency and government efficiency through digitalization.

Jordan aims to implement this program within 4 years, it will focus on increasing the usage of digital identity systems that focus on individuals.

The program also facilitates data sharing between government agencies and the private sector, building a digital infrastructure and aiming to increase ease of use.

The Economic Modernization Vision (EMV) aims to double the annual growth rate of the Jordan to 5.6% over the next decade.

The strategy aims to make governmental services fully digitalized by the year 2025, this includes initiatives such as:

• Digital identity.
• E-Payments.
• Open government data.
• Resource management.

Over 800,000 users have activated their digital identities by the start of February 2024, the Jordanian government aims to increase the userbase to 3.5 million by the start of 2025, facilitated through user activation at banks, government service centers and companies.

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EDGNEX, a company owned by DAMAC in Dubai, is working with Vodafone to build a data center in Izmir, Turkey.

The company announced in a press statement that:

• They plan to allocate USD100 million to the data center with a capacity of 6 megawatts (5 megawatts is enough to support 2,000 servers).
• The project is estimated to be completed by the year 2025.

Quotes about the data center in Turkey:

Aqil Ali, Vice President of EDGNEX, DAMAC said that The Eastern Mediterranean region has a high demand for data centers, making Izmir, one of the largest and oldest cities in Turkey, an ideal location to meet this need,”

Engin Aksoy, CEO of Vodafone Turkey, said the partnership aims to develop data center facilities in Turkey and international markets.

He added that the company plans to grow exponentially with investments in data centers, cloud solutions, cyber security, mobile private networks, and IoT over the next five years.

He also stated “We believe that Turkey should take part in this rising economy. It remains crucial to invest in reliable and high-capacity data centers for cloud computing,”

The statement said the data center will employ the most recent tech and adhere to Tier 3 requirements, promising a 99.982 percent uptime, total redundant Ness, and fault tolerance.

The planned data center will act as a bridge connecting the Middle Eastern region to Europe through cross-ocean and terrestrial cables.

EDGNEX is a company established by the Dubai-based DAMAC Group, it is a multi-tenant data center provider supporting hyperscale wholesale and retail colocation across the Middle East and Europe.

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The Middle East Cybersecurity Market has been growing over the last few years hitting its peak growth rate, expected to reach $23.4 billion by 2028 at an Annual Growth Rate of 9.6%.

A report by MarketsandMarkets has shown that this growth rate has been assisted by the increase in digital transformation initiatives and the adoption of cloud technology.

It was also noted that the Middle East has a growing startup scene with an increasing demand for cybersecurity due to the surge in cyber threats the region has been seeing.

Countries in the Middle East have also implemented heavy-mandated cybersecurity measures.

The digitalization (digital transformation) that companies in the Middle East have been incorporating and are open to, amplified the need for additional cybersecurity and cyber-insurance, establishing it as the fastest-growing section of the Cybersecurity market in the Middle East.

The rising demand for this market has led to recent developments such as:

• Cisco incorporated new business metrics into Cloud Observability on Amazon Web Services, enhancing the platform’s ability to provide business context.
• Trend Micro launched and deployed CTOne, a standalone business that aims to enhance 5G network security.
• IBM has launched a new cloud service that provides data management and protection for hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

In the ongoing digital transformation projects of sectors such as banking, healthcare, energy, and government services, robust cybersecurity solutions are necessary to safeguard digital assets, enable the adoption of secure clouds, and ensure regulatory compliance. The increasing demand for cybersecurity goods and services has emerged as a result.

MarketsandMarkets is an intelligence and market research platform that was recognized by Forbes as America’s best management consulting firms in 2023.

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Step, from what started as small gatherings and a series of workshops 11 years ago became Dubai’s largest tech festival, introducing more than 400 startups, hundreds of investors and over 8,000 attendees.

The conference managed to secure $8.2 billion and over a hundred participating companies, it will start on February 21^st and will last a day until the 22^nd.

Step will have 6 main tracks each focusing on different topics and interests.

START:

Start will focus on the startup scene, tech influencers will share keynotes, panels, growth strategies, investment insight and debates.

This track will focus on growth and scalability, solopreneurship, investment and fundraising and acquisitions and IPOS.

FINTECH:

Fintech track will include industry leaders and regulators to discuss advancements in banking, wealth management such as digital assets management, ownership and security, blockchains and payments.

AI:

Ai track will focus on Artificial Intelligence including AGI, discussing LLMs, co-pilot systems and advanced neural networks with experts discussing these topics and their potential in future and current use.

DIGITAL:

Digital track envelops international developments in content marketing, ad technology and retail.

Experts will have panels and breakout sessions to talk and discuss the future of digital technology.

WELLNESS:

Wellness track focuses on lifestyle trends and how tech can be incorporated into them, with expert speakers including NLP specialists, nutritionists, coaches and startups talking about living well in the digital age.

EARTH:

Earth track discusses Greentech and the ability to build a more sustainable future using the latest technologies throughout society.

Step conference will be presented by Dubai Internet City partnered by Bim Ventures.

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