ArabWeeks

In line with its long standing commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), 3M, a recognized leader in research and development has announced the opening of a new and expansive office facility in Riyadh.

Located in the Business Gate, Cordoba District in Riyadh, 3M’s new office has been specifically designed to deliver the required technical and scientific training to customers across diverse industry sectors in Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh office inauguration follows the opening of 3M’s dedicated office in Jeddah, which serves as the scientific arm complimenting the research endeavors of the key 3M business unit portfolios.

Commenting on this milestone occasion, Osama Hammoudeh, Managing Director,3M Saudi Arabia said, “Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest growing geographies for 3M globally and we are committed to invest resources and share our technological expertise to provide our partners with tailored solutions based on years of technological innovation excellence. Our presence in Riyadh will facilitate the company’s rapidly growing business operations and will be a vital catalyst for achieving 3M’s strategic growth objectives for the region.”

3M, with its diversified product portfolio and 46 technology platforms has achieved significant milestones in the Middle East and Africa region. From providing passive and active fire protection solutions to key institutions, to addressing the emerging healthcare needs of the country and also encouraging the growth of the nations’ automotive industry with its state of the art nanotechnology films, 3M has been at the forefront for diverse industry sectors.

For the first time in the Kingdom and exclusively for Arabian Centres Co. Ltd, a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS ™Challenge Fair will be hosted in three of the kingdom’s most prominent malls.

The GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS Challenge fair will kick off during the summer under the slogan of “Summer Champions 2013”.

This must- attend road show will first roll out in Mall of Arabia- Jeddah on the 6th and 7th June 2013 followed by Mall of Dhahran –Khobar on the 13th and 14th June and finally closing in AlSalaam Mall- Jeddah on the 20th and 21st June 2013. 

The event brings a fun-filled, action-packed show that takes a peak at some the most incredible GUINNESS WORLDS RECORDS titles. Packed with facts and record-breaking information, the challenge fair also gives audiences the chance to attempt world records in front of an official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS Adjudicator.

Fahad AlOtaibi, the Director of the Public Relation stated that” Arabian Centers is proud to organize such an exciting event for the first time in Saudi Arabia”. He also stressed that Arabian Centres will dedicate all its efforts in giving the audience a chance to show their talents and honor them for attempting to break new and existing GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles. AlOtaibi also mentioned this event is open to all public free of charge.

Arabian Centres Co. Ltd is a member of Fawaz AlHokair Group. ACCL is the region’s largest retail real estate company. As of December 2012, Arabian Centres lead the MENA region by owning 14 shopping centres in Saudi Arabia and Egypt with the largest GLA of 946,118 square meters and an annual footfall of approximately 110 million. ACCL current’s portfolio is valued at 1 Billion Saudi Arabian Riyals, yet these figures are ambitiously expected to double within the coming five years.

About Guinness World Records:

Guinness World Records (GWR) is the universally recognized global authority on record-breaking acheivements.  First published in 1955, the annual GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ book has gone on to become one of the biggest-selling copyright title of all time with sales of over 2.7 million copies a year.  Since its launch nearly 60 years ago over 130 million copies – including 400,000 ebooks – have been sold in 20 languages, in more than 100 countries.  The internationally renowned brand is also available across a number of platforms; GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS’ global television shows are watched by 750 million viewers annually, over 390,000 users subscribe to GWR’s two YouTube channels, with over 188 million views and 1.25 million fans on Facebook.  In 2013, Officially Amazing became the registered trademark of Guinness World Records Limited.

Cloud technologies are an important element of modern security solutions, but cannot protect computers without the support of local security tools. So the best way is to use hybrid solutions that incorporate local anti-malware technologies and simultaneously interact with a cloud service. However, such solutions are chosen by just 21% of companies, according to a study conducted by Kaspersky Lab in collaboration with B2B International’s researchers at the end of 2012.

Today, the amount of malware is increasing exponentially: about 140 new threats appear every minute. It is already impossible to overcome them simply by using the traditional signature search method – new threats are emerging too fast for even regular updates to stay one step ahead. That is why security solution developers are working on combining proactive and cloud technologies. The former help detect unknown threats: the latter deliver protection from new threats as fast as possible. There are further security solutions based only on cloud technologies, but these cannot provide reliable protection against complex threats, including zero-days. And such solutions cannot work efficiently without a stable Internet connection.

Clearly, the way forward is to use hybrid solutions which combine local technologies, reactive and proactive, with cloud service functions. Such solutions are most popular in large enterprises – 29% surveyed corporations of this size use hybrid security. Sadly, however, these solutions remain unpopular among other companies. According to a B2B International survey in November 2012, only 21% of companies surveyed use them. Most respondents (51%) prefer local solutions with no cloud assistance, and another 20% choose cloud security tools.

Kaspersky Lab’s hybrid solution

Kaspersky Lab experts are sure that only hybrid solutions can provide the best protection against cyber-threats. That is why Kaspersky Lab was one of the first companies to add a cloud-based technology – Kaspersky Security Network – to its products for home and corporate users. With the user’s consent, the technology collects anonymous data about infection attempts from computers running Kaspersky Lab security solutions and sends this information to its specialists for detailed incident analysis. After taking proper measures for user protection, such as adding a malicious website to a blacklist, creating signatures, etc., the updates for security tools and antivirus databases are transferred to all Kaspersky Lab products via the Kaspersky Security Network.

The new platform for corporate users, Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, also interacts closely with Kaspersky Security Network. The platform’s components collect data about new malware, dangerous websites and spam outbreaks, form white- and blacklists of applications, add to the database of vulnerabilities, etc. All necessary updates are downloaded to user computers just a few seconds after being checked by Kaspersky Lab experts. The results is a corporate security solution that provides efficient and, importantly, urgent protection against cyber-threats.

Amadeus Saudi Arabia has renewed partnerships with some of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent travel agencies including Al Theyab Travel & Tourism, Portfolio Travel, Al Ghazal Travel Agency and National Alia Travel and Tourism Co, Amadeus Saudi Arabia reinforced its position as a leading technology partner to the region’s travel and tourism industry.

Under the renewed agreements, Amadeus customers will enjoy enhanced access to Amadeus’ vast portfolio of technology solutions as well as a range of air content, benefitting particularly from Amadeus’ partnership with the Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO). The partnerships will also enable Amadeus to support the growth of Saudi Arabia’s online travel sector through providing travel players access to its range of online solutions, web based services and state-of-the-art web booking interface.

Commenting on the partnership, Ahmed Talib Al Ghazal, General Manager, Al Ghazal Travel Agency, said: “Working with a professional and strong technology partner is essential in order for any travel agency to be able to focus on its core business objectives vis-à-vis saving time and cost, improving productivity and better servicing customers to ensure their loyalty. I have no doubt that our partnership with a leading content aggregator like Amadeus will enable us to improve our business and enhance our customer portfolio.”

Amadeus also signed partnership agreements with eBreeze Travels/Flyin.com to provide web services that will assist the organisation with online bookings both, air and non-air. eBreeze Travels / Flyin.com is one of Saudi Arabia’s travel agencies that is committed to consistently evolving the online travel business and developing web portals for customers across the Middle East region.

Faisal Alhomaidhi, Vice President, eBreeze Travels/Flyin.com, said: “We enjoy a solid and established relationship with Amadeus and consider them as one of the main players in technology development in the region. With more and more travelers looking online to book travel online, Amadeus’ web-based solutions and services will enable us to cater to the specific needs of these customers. Our partnership effectively compliments our efforts to boost the online travel sector in Saudi Arabia”

The partnerships came on the back of Amadeus’ participation at Arabian Travel Market (ATM), the Middle East’s largest travel trade exhibition that ran in Dubai earlier this month. Amadeus’ presence at ATM reflected its continuous efforts to support its travel agency customers in adapting to new strategies that meet the requirements of a fast-advancing local tourism industry that is expected to reach US$11.4 billion by 2014. Further, it aimed at empowering agents to transform the way they operate by selecting the right solutions that ensure a competitive and successful business.

Nashat Bukhari,General Manager, Amadeus Saudi Arabia, said: “Our participation at Arabian Travel Market and the resulting partnership agreements have reinforced our commitment to providing high standards of local expertise, customer service and technology solutions to the Saudi Arabian travel and tourism industry. I am confident that our travel agency partners will further benefit from the Amadeus portfolio of solutions, empowering them to further grow their business and establish themselves as key players in an increasingly competitive environment.”

With world-class products and solutions coupled with investment in research and development to enhance the travel industry’s technology solutions, Amadeus has established itself as a leading player in the region. The company is currently present in the MENA region through 17 local Amadeus Commercial Organizations (ACOs) servicing 21 countries.

Regional marketing communications and media group, Alef International, has appointed Rita Daniel as Sales Director.

Based at Alef’s Dubai office in Media City she will be overseeing Alef’s sales teams in its Riyadh headquarters and its Beirut office. Before joining Alef, Rita managed media buying in Optimedia Beirut, and has a great deal of experience working in the media sector in Dubai.

She said: “I am delighted to be joining Alef at such an exciting time in the company’s development. I look forward to working with our established media partners, and, with the help of Alef’s international expertise and experience, of adding to our growing client list.”

Rita’s appointment is a key part of Alef’s strategy of further developing its international capability. It now offers clients and media-buying agencies a ‘one-stop shop’, providing access to a wider range of international media partners than ever before, including in America, Europe and traditionally challenging markets such as Asia and Africa.

Rabih El Amine, CEO of Alef said: “Our expanded network now offers access to media partners in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia, offering buying agencies a one-stop shop. We believe our service offering would be particularly beneficial to media companies who don’t have a presence in the region.

“Alef’s operations in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and the Levant are a strong combination that provides our clients and our represented media owners a service level unique in the region.”

Together with its international media representation network – which includes stellar names such as The Guardian, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal and the world’s fastest growing weekly business magazine, The Week – Alef  provides a full service PR offering and publishes a number of regional business magazines, including leading travel and tourism title, Saudi Voyager.

EMC today announced the launching of the first Arabic Public Sector Mega Workshop being held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The one day event is slated to bring together an audience of over 100 IT professionals including IT managers, infrastructure managers and data center engineers working across key government entities in the kingdom to share best practices and transformational ideas to address challenges unique to IT in the public sector.

In recent years, the government of Saudi Arabia has invested in a number of e-government and public key infrastructure (PKI) projects to enhance citizen services and drive socioeconomic development. Set against the backdrop of increasing IT investments in the country, which is driven primarily by the public sector, the Mega Workshop is designed to increase the public sector’s knowledge and awareness of IT solutions and best-practices available to their organizations today to enhance their customer experience.

The workshop will feature two independent tracks; the first will be focused on business continuity and the second on cloud computing and virtualization to help IT professionals in the public sector effectively leverage leading EMC technologies to achieve their IT transformation goals and enhance online service delivery for citizens and expats.

According to experts, virtualization technologies, particularly desktop virtualization and cloud computing, continue to climb up the investment agendas for public sector due to their benefits which enable resource and information sharing to drive performance and efficiencies while lowering operational costs. This in turn is driving the need for enterprises to invest in robust business continuity and disaster recovery technologies to safeguard critical national information to ensure an undisrupted service delivery as well as continuous availability to critical applications such as e-payment gateways or other online services.