Network Middle East - April 2013

AN ITPTECHNOLOGYPUBL ICATION

APRIL 2013 VOLUME 19

ISSUE 4

SECURING YOUR STAY: HOTELS MUST HAVE NETWORK SEPARATION TO ENSURE SAFE CONNECTIVITYP36

CLOUD ON THE HORIZON

HOTELS ARE BEGINNING TO

IMPLEMENT CLOUD P44

IT experts and IT managers look at the issues associated with securing and maintaining the hotel network

HOTELS IN FOCUS

“Internet free with the room is more important than a

free breakfast.” PRASANNA RUPASINGHE,

P29

Contents

2 Editor’s letter: The hotel network

nightmare

4 Network news: The hardest hitting

news from the network industry

10 Managing bandwidth in the

hospitality industry

12 Hotels – Fall easy prey to wireless

hacks!

14 The four steps to IT consolidation

nirvana

16 Rack security and protection

19 Vendor profile: Interactive

Intelligence

22 Training focus: Catch the digital

intruder

24 Case study: Royal Caribbean

safeguards the guest experience

28 Case study: Kempinski boosts wi-fi to

meet guest expectations

50 Security head-to-head: Hotel

network security

52 Security news: All of the latest

security news for March

55 Day in the life: Akram Assaf – CTO-

Bayt.com

56 Last Word: Customer inspiration

28: Kempinski boosts Wi-Fi to meet guest expectationsKempinski chose Aruba networks to

implement a hotel wide wi-fi upgrade that

included implementing in-room IPTV and

connected mini-bars

36: Securing your stayNetwork separation, secure Wi-Fi access and updates security software are just some of the

necessities to protect the public and private network in the hospitality industry, according to

regional experts.

44: Cloud on the horizonWhile cloud is definitely a technology of

interest for hotels in the Middle East and

GCC region, levels of adoption are still low

due to implementation costs and security

concerns, writes Piers Ford.

Apr

il 20

13 V

ol.1

9 N

o.04

2

Edito

r’s c

omm

ent

Do you receive Network Middle East every month?To subscribe, please visit www.itp.com/subscriptions

Securing the hotel network

is not simple; in fact, it is

far more complex than

creating a network for a

large business. This is due to the

constant infl ux of guests’ personal

devices, any of which could be

carrying viruses and malware that

can get into the hotel’s network

and steal important data.

To properly secure the

network, the administration

functions, which hold the hotel

applications, guest data, credit

card information and other

personal information, must be

completely separated from the

public network, which guests can

connect to with their multiple

personal devices. This separation

must be put in place to ensure

that guests cannot hack into or

access administrative data.

But, this is not the only concern

for hotel IT managers.

Hotel networks have open-

Wi-Fi, often with weak fi rewalls

and poor passwords used by

the guests. The only way to

combat this is for hotels to

issue guests with one-time-use

passwords when they arrive

to ensure the access is slightly

better secured. However, when

there is a large event that needs

constant Wi-Fi connections for

hundreds of guests, this can

prove diffi cult. Also, guests and

restaurant visitors expect to be

able to access the internet and

it becomes a logistic nightmare

to issue every visitor that passes

through the doors with a one-

time-password.

Unfortunately for hotel IT

managers It is also fairly easy

for an attacker to set-up a

Wi-Fi access point, called ‘Free

Wi-Fi’, near a busy hotel. The

attacker will probably not need

to wait for very long before a

hotel guest plugs-in to his Wi-Fi

connection. The attacker can

then pull data out of the air with

a network sniff er, leaving no

trace whatsoever on the victim’s

computer, or smartphone.

Security is not just the job

of the hotel, however; it is the

responsibility of the guests to

protect their asset’s data while

using it. Hotels provide a service

and it’s up to the customer to use

them with common sense and

the due protection in their own

equipment. Guests must make

sure their virus protection is up

to date and if they are accessing

sensitive information on their

device while at the hotel, for

example checking their bank

accounts, experts suggest that

guests utilise a VPN to connect.

The other problem for hotel

IT managers is that the network

must be able to handle the huge

amount of personal devices that

connect to the network during

busy periods. In a medium size

hotel, this number reaches into

the thousands during busy

periods and every device must

be able to connect and quickly

access the internet. As explained

by Prasanna Rupasinghe, director

of IT and AV at Kempinski Mall

of the Emirates, guests now

ask whether there is free Wi-Fi

before they ask if there is a free

breakfast.

This large number of devices

connecting to the network

means that bandwidth has to

be carefully managed and that

guests must be able to access

the Wi-Fi whether they are in the

bath, the bedroom or the hotel

restaurants and lobby. This puts

huge pressure on the hotel to

continually improve its network

capabilities. One wrong step and

one guest that cannot access

the internet will mean no return

business for the hotel.

GEORGINA ENZER

Editor

[email protected]

The hotel network nightmare

Published by and © 2013 ITP Technology Publishing, a division of the ITP Publishing Group Ltd. Registered in the B.V.I. underCompany Number 1402846.

PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAETel: +971 4 444 3000 Fax: +971 4 444 3030

Offices in Dubai and London

Walid Akawi Neil Davies Karam Awad

Matthew SouthwellPeter ConmyDavid Ingham

Georgina EnzerTel: +971 4 444 3316 email: [email protected]

Mark Sutton

George HojeigeTel: +971 4 444 3193 email: [email protected]

Nayeem DakhwayTel: +971 4 444 3482 email: [email protected]

Dan Prescott

Jovana ObradovicEfraim Evidor,

Isidora Bojovic,

Lester Ali, George Dipin, Murrindie Frew, Shruti Jagdesh, Mosh Lafuente, Ruel Pableo, Rajesh Raghav

Kyle Smith Basel Al Kassem

Patrick Littlejohn Nada Al Alami

Gaurav Gulati

Daniel Fewtrell Michelle Meyrick

Shadia Basravi

Ahmad BashourTel: +971 4 444 3549 email: [email protected]

Vedrana JovanovicTel: +971 4 444 3569 email: [email protected]

Mohammed Affan Meghna Jalnawalla

Andrew Neil Robert Serafin

Toby JayMike Bayman, Neil Davies, Rob

Corder, Robert Serafin, Toby Jay, Walid Akawi

Printed by Royal Printing Press LLC

Controlled Distribution by Blue Truck

Subscribe online at www.itp.com/subscriptions

The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the reader's particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review.

Network Middle East is audited by BPA Worldwide.Average Qualified Circulation

5,174 (6 month audit Jul to Dec 2012)

THI I NO L PTOP

It is a victim.

www.helpag.com

T

4

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04Brie

fing

Research

IT spending in the Middle East

region is projected to reach

$192.9 billion in 2013, a 5.5%

increase from 2012, and far above

the global average, according to

Peter Sondergaard, senior vice

president and global head of

research at Gartner. Gartner is also

predicting accelerated investment

in the data centre for 2013 and

2014, despite a global slowdown

in investment in this area.

“In markets that are struggling

financially we are seeing a slow-

down in data centre investment,

for example in Europe, where

investment is growing far slower

compared to what we are seeing

here in the Middle East where the

growth rates are in the 6 to 7%

range,” Sondergaard told NME.

Software is the one area where

there is still an investment lag in

the Middle East region, com-

pared to the general market, this

observation is also reflected in the

Gartner 2013 CIO Survey.

“Interestingly enough, invest-

ment in ERP and application-

based environments in our survey

features very high in this region as

a focus of CIOs. It is actually num-

ber three on the list of issues that

CIOs focus on from a technology

perspective,” said Sondergaard.

According to Gartner, virtualisa-

tion is the second highest focus

area in technology for CIOs in

this region, and that is again an

indicator of the investment that is

happening over the next couple

of years in the data centre sphere

in this region.

“The main message here is that

investment is in areas that are

more base infrastructure focused

not necessarily something that

is more customer facing. ERP

based systems and data centre

still forms the major part of the

investment here as opposed

to technologies that face the

customer, that is the way we think

investment will come in a couple

of years,” said Sondergaard.

IT services are an area in which

there has been substantial invest-

ment in this region, said Gartner

“We expect more cloud-based

offerings in this region from

service providers. We think that,

these services will also put pres-

sure on margins of business for

service providers and lead to

changes,” said Sondergaard.

Large IT investment for ME in 2013: Gartner

Dell buyout hits another roadblockBusiness

Carl Icahn, a maverick inves-

tor known for his demands for

overhauls in companies’ manage-

ment, has amassed a 6% stake

in Dell Inc, complicating Michael

Dell’s campaign to take private

the company he founded in his

college dorm room.

CNBC reported last month that

Icahn is now in control of 100 mil-

lion shares of the PC manufacturer

and wants Dell to move towards a

leveraged recapitalisation.

Icahn’s stake positions him

Peter Sondergaard from

Gartner says that IT

spending in the region is

set to soar above the global

IT spending average.

CommVault releases Simpana 10ProductsCommVault has released the latest version of its data management software platform Simpana 10. The software will extend CommVault’s data protection and archiving portfolio and is designed to deliver secure, self-service access from mobile devices, speed the adoption of cloud computing and extract value from big data. According to CommVault, more than 300 new features in Simpana 10 combine to reduce risk, slash costs, reduce administrative overhead by up to 80% and lower aggregate support costs by up to 35%. CommVault also launched new enterprise consulting and professional services, educational offerings, including new predictive analytics support.

StorIT offers flexible data centre solutions TechnologyMENA data storage specialist VAD StorIT, has introduced pre-built data centre solutions bundles designed for resellers and systems integrators selling into small and medium businesses with limited IT infrastructure expertise. The bundles are built on EMC’s VSPEX infrastructure, where StorIT can configure the solutions by using a wide range of technology from major players in enterprise applications, virtualisation hypervisors, servers, storage, and networking as per the customers’ requirements. EMC VSPEX is a flexible architecture solution designed to allow IT departments to quickly and consistently deploy a virtualised infrastructure to consolidate servers, applications and desktops.

remove the company from public

scrutiny, backed by his own 16%

stake, a $1bn investment from

Silver Lake Management LLC, a

$2bn loan from Microsoft and

debt with four different lenders.

But opposition from Southeast-

ern, Icahn and other prominent

stakeholders is now likely to

prevent the deal closing at the

current offer price.

CNBC reported that Icahn had

suggested Dell acquire debt of up

to $9 billion and pay out a special

dividend to shareholders.

as the second largest outside

shareholder behind Southeastern

Asset Management, which holds

an 8.5% stake.

Southeastern was the first of

Dell’s shareholders to challenge

Michael Dell’s buyout offer of

$13.65 a share, going so far as

to write a letter to the board in

early February, claiming the price

should be closer to $24.

Since then, Dell shares have

gone up, closing at US $14.14 on

March 22nd.

Michael Dell had hoped to

5

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04 Brie

fi ng

ResearchCIOs are having to increase their

skillset as the role of the CIO be-

comes wider and more complex

in the modern IT setting, accord-

ing to Mary Mesaglio, research

vice president with Gartner’s

CIO and Executive Leadership

research team.

According to Mesaglio, the fi rst

skill needed by the modern CIO is

the ability to allow and encourage

rapid prototyping.

“If you are a business user, you

come to me with an idea as the

CEO or head of application devel-

opment and have an emergent

concept you as the CIO should be

able to do rapid prototyping and

have something back in 48 hours,”

said Mesaglio.

The second skill is to have the

capacity to do A-B testing, Google

does a lot of this, but it has always

been really hard to do in the

physical world.

But in the digital world, CIOs

and IT managers and leaders are

not doing enough A-B testing

according to Mesaglio.

The actual extra cost of doing a

digital version and testing is really

not that great.

“If you are trying to improve

the user experience you can do

version A,B and C and, you can,

through IP address management,

see which people like best and

there is a direct feedback that

most IT departments are not tak-

ing best advantage of,” she said

The third skill is the ability to

conduct high velocity low cost

experimentation. If the action is

happening where the enterprise

meets the outside world at the

interface, then there is a massive

amount of information that the

enterprise does not know about

how customers are going to react

and interact in the digital sphere.

“High velocity low cost experi-

mentation says what I would be

asking a CIO is ‘Could your team

design an experiment for Monday,

Launch on Tuesday, get the data

on Wednesday, tweak it on Thurs-

day and relaunch on Friday. If you

can not do that kind of speed

then that would be the goal to

work up to. The biggest thing that

IT needs to get more of is increase

its speed,” said Mesaglio.

CIOs must broaden skillsets to keep up

Riverbed Stingray is on Amazon Web ServicesBusinessPerformance company Riverbed

Technology has announced that

its Stingray product family is

available through the Amazon

Web Services (AWS) Marketplace.

This is designed to allow

customers in the Middle East to

deploy an application delivery

controller (ADC) solution with

Web Content Optimisation

(WCO) and Web Application Fire-

wall (WAF) security capabilities.

These new features are an

expansion of the Stingray off er-

ing that was fi rst launched on

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud

(EC2) in 2009 utilising Amazon’s

DevPay model.

“The newest generation of

online applications for retail,

gaming, and digital media need

the ability to scale up rapidly

to meet customer demand and

be able to roll out new features

on a daily or weekly basis,” said

Philippe Elie, director, Business

Operations , Europe, Middle East

and Africa at Riverbed.

“Maintaining this level of

sustained service enhancement

means that developers need to

maximise productivity and ac-

celerate release cycles. Stingray

software unleashes application

performance in the Amazon

Cloud and allows developers to

focus on building new features

and services.”

In addition, Riverbed has also

announced that it intends to

make available the Stingray Traf-

fi c Manager software with sup-

port for Amazon Virtual Private

Cloud (VPC) so that enterprise

customers can deploy highly

available applications either

within a single availability zone

or spanning a hybrid environ-

ment of availability zones and

available third-party data centres.

Mary Mesaglio from Gartner

says that modern CIOs need to have

the ability to do A-B testing,

rapid prototyping and high

velocity, low cost experimentation.

7

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04 Brie

fing

Research

Industry specialist Siemon has

published a summary of the TIA’s

recent decision to adopt ‘category

8’ as the name for the next gen-

eration balanced twisted-pair

cabling system currently under

development. In its Standards

Informant Blog, Siemon predicts

confusion with the ISO/IEC’s nam-

ing convention. As the Standards

Informant explains, the TIA

TR-42.7 Copper Cabling Subcom-

mittee has adopted ‘category 8’ as

the name for the cabling system

planned to support 40Gb/s trans-

mission in a 2-connector channel

over a distance shorter than 100

metres and describes transmis-

sion performance up to 2 GHz.

Traditionally, cabling categories

are supersets of each other –

meaning that a higher category

of cabling meets or exceeds all

of the electrical and mechanical

requirements of a lower category

of cabling and is also backwards

compatible with the lower

performing category. However,

category 8 is expected to have

a different deployed channel

topology says Siemon’s Standards

Informant and will not be a per-

formance superset of category 7A.

Furthermore, whilst ISO/IEC cat-

egory 7A is currently specified to

a bandwidth of 1 GHz, the nearly

finalised IEC 61076-3-104, 3rd

edition standard for category 7A

connectors, is extending category

7A performance characterisation

out to 2 GHz. This could mean two

cabling specifications specified

to 2GHz says the Standards Infor-

mant, with the TIA’s category 8

having much lower performance

than ISO/IEC’s category 7A.

The Standards Informant from

Siemon is a guide to network

cabling and data centre standards

and includes sections for ISO/IEC,

TIA and IEEE, allowing readers to

hone in on the specific standard

of most interest or to compare

data from each for an industry-

wide perspective. It publishes

the latest standards news, white

papers and technical reports, plus

also provides an ‘ask Siemon’ facil-

ity for visitors to the site.

Confusion at new TIA cable name: Siemon

80% polled want personal cloud: Gemalto Technology

Digital security experts Gemalto

has published a global survey

that showing a growth in the

consumer demand for personal

cloud services such as data back-

up and content sharing. Eighty

percent of those surveyed said

they would use cloud services if

it was provided by their mobile

operator and 60% of interested

respondents accepted the need

to pay extra for such services.

Seventy-seven percent of those

surveyed agreed that security for

their back-up solutions was vital.

“The survey depicts that there

is potential for mobile network

operators to introduce their own

cloud-based data backup and

sharing services to their sub-

scribers,” said Christelle Toureille,

Middle East and Africa marketing

director for the telecommunica-

tion division at Gemalto.

“The response from partici-

pants confirms that there is a fear

amongst mobile users of losing

valued personal content such as

contact details, and the results

show that more than half the

respondents had already suffered

Siemon has predicted that there will be confusion over the new TIA cable name.

losses at least once. This is an

untapped market.”

The personal cloud is one of the

fastest growing areas of the mo-

bile industry. Consumer aware-

ness of cloud storage is rising, and

usage is following. According to

Gartner 7% of consumer content

was stored in cloud in 2011, a

figure set to grow to 36% in 2016.

Estimates place personal cloud

accounts worldwide at over 500

million. Over 4000 global respon-

dents participated in the 2012

survey with a majority showing

interest in back up services.

Gemalto demonstrates new uses for NFCInfrastructureDigital security expert Gemalto is demonstrating a proof of concept for enterprise applications that is designed to transform mobile phones into secure and convenient identification and authentication devices for the workplace. Utilising the company’s UpTeq NFC SIM, Gemalto’s experimentation is designed to allow secure entry to buildings and provide strong authentication on PCs, laptops, IT networks and other company services. With the user’s credentials protected by smart card security, Gemalto’s UpTeq NFC SIM and embedded software support numerous industry standards for contactless access, and can extend the benefits of NFC technology beyond building access control.

Vision Solutions debuts new cloud solutionProducts

Vision Solutions, a premier

provider of replication,

availability and disaster

recovery software and ser-

vices, has launched its new

Cloud Protection & Recovery

(CP&R) offering, based on the

company’s Double-Take and

MIMIX products.

The new solution is

designed to enable cloud

service providers to acceler-

ate their cloud businesses

by offering their custom-

ers Recovery-as-a-Service

(RaaS), while taking advan-

tage of Vision Solutions’

pay-per-use pricing. Vision’s

CP&R offering also is

designed to allow IT profes-

sionals an affordable, low-

risk path to the cloud.

What problems does the hospitality industry face when managing bandwidth?Hotels are diligent about

meeting the expectations of

their guests. They cannot aff ord

to off er amenities that create

headaches for their guests

and staff , which is what often

happens when Wi-Fi/DATA

networks become overloaded.

What diffi culties are faced by the hospitality industry in network management?IT administrators are responsible

for the backbone of modern

information technology systems

which are reliant on complex

network infrastructures.

For medium to large-sized

companies there can be literally

hundreds of thousands of

devices which are mission critical

to company operations. The

server and network devices can

include many diff erent types

of hardware from a variety of

vendors, security components,

switches, routers, and other

components that make up the

infrastructure. Some of the

challenges in terms of a manual

approach to managing server

and network infrastructures

include:

Confi guration tasks

Network growth

Network security:

No centralised management

Lack of accountability

What solutions can the hospitality industry apply when managing their bandwidth and network?

Thanks to a higher availability

of solutions providers and

automated tools, bandwidth

and network management can

be simplifi ed. This leaves more

time for IT staff to focus on new

company innovations instead

of performing time consuming

and repetitive tasks. Automated

tools provide a way to keep

track of confi gurations, reduce

the possibility for human error,

improve policy compliance,

and reduce operational costs.

Additionally, many companies

choose to use a virtualisation

solutions provider that can

oversee and manage server and

network infrastructures either

onsite or from a remote location.

Most solutions providers

off er confi guration, change,

and compliance management

services. They are also equipped

with the necessary automation

tools to reduce errors and

perform audits and reports

on the status of network

confi gurations. With a quality

virtualisation solution in place

companies can make the best

use of their resources and time.

Should a hotel look at a complete automated network management solution, or is it better to have a manual approach?Both are equally important

for a fault-free network.

One of the fundamental

challenges facing network

professionals is balancing

ongoing responsibilities with

reacting to daily events. Many

spend the bulk of their time

InterviewInterview

George Linu, Business Unit manager ME & India of F1 Infotech, says hotels are diligent about maintaining the guest experience

George Linu from F1 Infotech says that hotels must deliver high

quality internet to their guests as if a guest is unhappy, they are unlikely to be repeat customers.

Managing bandwidth in the hospitality industry

8 April 2013 Vol.19 No 04

putting out fi res or responding

to unanticipated business

requirements — often at the

expense of dealing with the

routine “care and feeding” of

network operations. A new

generation of automated

network-management software

and services is helping in-house

staff address this challenge.

These let network professionals

establish regular patch-

management procedures to

safeguard against escalating

security threats; and create

system-monitoring routines to

identify load imbalances, which

could cause service disruptions

or performance problems. They

also discover, inventory and

track assets to make sure that

hardware and software licenses

are up-to-date and that problems

can be resolved faster.

What are the worst case scenarios for hotels that do not manage their networks or bandwidth correctly?Network has become critical to

the daily lives of so many guests

that being unable to get online

eff ectively can nullify all other

eff orts by the hotel to provide

a positive experience. This can

1. Watch for any performance changes that could

indicate imminent hardware failure

2. Highlight unexpected connections that then can be

verifi ed and then authorised if appropriate.

3. Confi rm that backups have been successfully

completed and take action if they have not.

4. Review/process all systems and technology requests in

order to provide the most effi cient service.

5. Upgrade equipment, hardware and software, where

necessary, to ensure all systems are kept up-to-date with

published standards and recommendations.

Top 5 tips for maintaining an available network

have a negative eff ect on the

hotel as well as the guest, as a

disgruntled guest is unlikely to

become a repeat customer.

What are the minimum steps a hotel should take to ensure connectivity for their guests and staff ?

When each hotel guest has at least two or three devices connected to the network, the

result is oversubscription failures in high density areas which in turn cause hot and

cold connectivity issues.

Hotels need an infrastructure

that can adapt and address

challenges to meet customer

expectations and improve

the guest experience, while

providing a highly mobile and

fl exible environment. As a

result, a growing number of

hotels are relying on WLAN to

provide staff communications

and 24/7 connectivity for guests

and staff .

With strong network

connectivity, employees are

able to communicate with

one another and interact with

customers in real-time to

provide a personalised customer

experience. Guest requests and

needs will be met in a timelier

manner, and hotels are also able

to collect data and learn about

their guests’ preferences when

choosing a hotel.

Have your property analysed

for potential “dead zones” for

your staff ’s communications

network. The solution could

be as simple as installing more

or stronger access points to

increase the range of your

network. By doing so, you can

ensure seamless communications

throughout every square foot of

your property.

A dynamic, reliable network

can be the key diff erentiator

in a guest’s choice of where

to stay and can set up your

property to be ready for the next

improvements in technology and

access. Ensure physical condition

of network equipment is within

range and not a cause of failure,

and avoid unplanned network

downtime.

With the personal device boom, with each person having at least two connected devices, what kind of burden does this place on a hotel network, particularly during peak seasons?When each user has at least

two or three devices connected

instead of a single laptop,

the result is oversubscription

failures in high density areas

which in turn cause hot and cold

connectivity issues. Physical

network equipment too gets

bogged down with high Mb

traffi c and also saturates internet

connections. Ever increasing

amounts of traffi c – which now

includes a larger percentage

of video traffi c – over hotel

networks, contributes to a poor

guest experience and new levels

of guest dissatisfaction.

10 April 2013 Vol.19 No 04

Hotels – Fall easy prey to wireless hacks!

Restaurants have long

been of interest to

hackers in search of

making a quick buck,

however, in the last year we have

noticed that hackers are show-

ing an increasing interest in the

hospitality industry. Figures show

that hotels and resorts account

for at least 40% of the breaches,

which can include anything from

intellectual property theft to loss

of financial data. This new shift in

focus to the hospitality industry

shows a more targeted approach

rather than just focusing on op-

portunistic and random attacks.

Take Marriot International Inc

for example, the hotel incurred a

total loss of $1 million in salaries

and other expenses due to a

breach by cyber-criminals. The

root cause for the data leak was

the installation of two remotely

controlled Trojans, which allowed

access to other connected

systems within the network. Both

Trojans were remotely installed

after getting a handful of Marriot

employees to click on infected

email attachments.

Restaurants and related

businesses remain popular

targets with the food and

beverage industry, accounting for

15% of data breaches. A method

most commonly used in hotel/

resort data breaches is the use

of remote-access application

attacks. Such attacks exploit web

channels created by internal or

external IT staffs/specialists. Such

systems are lightly defended

from external attacks and come

with either no password or

feature common/easy to guess

passwords. Other frequently

used attack methods include

SQL injection, MITM (Man-in-the-

Middle) based attacks.

Threats not only damage

files and computers by acting

as viral agents, but also impose

productivity losses, wasting

disk space, time and financial

resources. Ironically, even as

certain methods to guard content

security have evolved, threats

Govind Rammurthy, managing director & CEO, eScan says that hotels are increasingly becoming targets of malicious attacks by cyber-criminals

Govind Rammurthy from eScan says that the Marriot group

lost approximately $1 million to hackers.

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

Expe

rt’s C

olum

n 12

to security have become more

severe, even causing destruction

of data. However, the systems

employed to detect these threats

are still handicapped by several

deficiencies. The ‘cure’ that is

provided by some products only

scans data after it is saved on

the hard disk; by which time the

damage is already done.

The ‘MicroWorld-WinSock

Layer’ (MWL) is a revolutionary

concept in scanning internet

traffic on a real-time basis. This

new concept has changed the

manner in which content security

threats are tackled.

Some of the hospitality groups

currently protected by eScan

in UAE are Capitol Hotel group,

Broadway Hotel, Dusit Residence

Dubai Marina, Grandeur Hotel,

Majestic Hotel, Arabian Courtyard

Hotel and Spa.

“Restaurants and related businesses remain popular targets with the food and beverage industry, accounting for 15% of data breaches.”

Connect to More

Business Solutions

Connect to More

D-Link’s Switching, Wireless, Security, IP Surveillance and Storage Solutions deliver best-in-class performance and extreme value to small and mid-sized businesses, schools, hospitals, government agencies, retail chains and a variety of other organizations around the globe.

www.dlinkmea.com

facebook.com/dlinkmea [email protected]

+971 4 880 9022

The four steps to IT consolidation nirvana

Tell your spouse that

you’d like to consolidate

your neatly organised

home storage to a single

closet and the idea may be met

with a startled face twisted into

a smirk. Why would you want to

destabilise the status quo if what

you have is adequate?

Similarly, broader IT

consolidation initiatives in

enterprises are often met

with skepticism because of

complexity, distance and

latency, and the constraints of

traditional IT organisational silos.

And if things go awry, IT is in

the hot seat to fix the problem

and potentially backtrack on

the project as executives and

end users shake their heads in

disappointment.

But progressive organisations

are exploring ways to use

the latest virtualisation

technologies to move beyond

server consolidation to deliver

an efficient data centre

infrastructure and expand

the benefits of consolidation

enterprise-wide. The benefits

of a well planned and executed

consolidation approach can

not only save money, but also

mitigate risk while boosting

efficiency and business agility.

The path starts with adopting

advanced consolidation

strategies that build upon a

Philippe Elie, director, Business Operations EMEA, Riverbed explains consilidation

Philippe Elie from Riverbed says that broader IT consolidation initiatives in enterprises are often met with skepticism because of complexity, distance and latency.

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

Expe

rt’s C

olum

n 14

foundation of basic server

virtualisation, deepen the use

of virtualisation, and extend

consolidation across the

enterprise.

It goes without saying that

any consolidation strategy

requires careful analysis and

planning before execution.

The strategies below all involve

the data centre, which has

been the focus of much recent

investment, and serves as the

April 2013 Vol.19 No.04 15

bastion of cost-efficiency and

control for IT branch offices.

CONSOLIDATE DATA CENTRESReturning to the closet analogy,

wouldn’t it be great to store

all of your tax documents,

family pictures, and textbooks

in a single closet? Imagine

how easy and quick it would

be to find your tax return in

neatly organised and properly

labeled drawers? The benefits

of having such a “dream” closet

at home are similar to having a

consolidated data centre in the

IT world, where IT is completely

centralised.

The big question is how to

eliminate data centres without

impeding performance and the

productivity of employees. The

first step is to analyse and plan

with application performance

baselines and dependency

maps to reduce the risk and to

brace for challenges, such as

migrating data and applications

so that there is no interruption

to the business. With selected

data centres outfitted to assume

greater load and remaining data

centres scheduled for closures,

you must replicate applications

to the surviving data centres and

then transition users to the new

host. You can use application

delivery controllers (ADCs) to

redirect users between facilities

and increase the ongoing

reliability and performance

of those applications. ADCs

have global and local load

balancing capabilities that

allow you to shift application

resources between locations,

manage and upgrade underlying

infrastructure, and distribute

application load between

multiple servers and data

centres, all without disrupting

end-user access to applications.

The remaining data centres

will have to support more users

from further locations, so you

may think that more bandwidth

is required to support the

increased traffic over the WAN.

However, that may not be the

silver bullet — and in many

cases is not necessary. Latency

combined with application

protocol inefficiencies is the

real culprit that bottlenecks

WANs. By implementing a WAN

optimisation solution between

the remaining data centres and

field offices before migrating

applications, you can accelerate

the migration of data and

applications to the new location,

as well as ensure that end

users continue to experience

consistent levels of performance.

VIRTUALISE APPLICATION DELIVERYDoes the idea of a fully

virtualised, highly automated,

and highly efficient

concentration of computing

resources appeal to you? Then

consider how the architecture

underpinning the applications

hosted in your data centres can

be structured to realise this

vision. Server virtualisation,

storage provisioning, and

deduplication technologies can

drive greater efficiency from

infrastructure investments,

but they are largely agnostic

to applications. That means

applications remain resource

inefficient. Spikes in user

requests can cause many

mission-critical application

servers to become unstable

and fail. ADCs can improve

the resource utilisation of

an application by offloading

compute-intensive functions,

like compression, SSL

decryption, and content caching.

Virtual and software ADCs take

it a step further to help with

scaling and improving the end

user performance of applications

that become more distributed

and virtualised. They can be

deployed on demand anywhere,

anytime, on any platform,

physical, virtual, or in the cloud,

and can be managed centrally.

This gives you more choice and

more flexibility on how and

where to deploy ADC resources,

which means more control over

your virtualisation projects.

CENTRALISE INFRASTRUCTUREWhatever the reason, application

infrastructure has found its

way into makeshift server

closets and micro-data centres

in branch offices at many

organisations. Address this

complexity and improve security

and data protection practices

by centralising application

infrastructure. Doing so will let

you take advantage of even

greater cost efficiencies at data

centres, where virtualisation

and automation have maximum

impact. But note, relocating

an application requires the

same planning and analysis

as eliminating an entire data

centre, as well as factoring new

or increased dependency on

the WAN. This means adjusting

for the impact of distance

between the central data

centre and distributed end

users. Fortunately, you can use

WAN optimisation solutions

to accelerate applications for

users in branch offices or remote

locations, edge virtual server

infrastructure (edge-VSI) to

consolidate your branch office

storage to the data centre, and

quality of service (QoS) to finely

control the mix of application

traffic across the WAN and make

better use of scarce network

resources.

MINIMISE BRANCH ITLocal print, DNS, and DHCP

servers are “edge” services

that defy many infrastructure

centralisation efforts.

Such services can still benefit

from innovations like server

virtualisation. Leading WAN

optimisation solutions now

allow organisations to run these

services on their appliances,

so you can eliminate these

redundant branch servers

to further reduce hardware,

software, maintenance costs,

and complexity.

It also helps to have an

application-aware network

performance management

solution in place to passively

collect network performance

data and capture packet details

from existing infrastructure,

such as routers and even WAN

optimisation appliances.

This provides the visibility you

need into branch traffic without

introducing additional hardware

or taxing the network. After all,

you cannot control what you

cannot see.

Consolidation projects have

moved beyond beginner tactics.

But the goals of advanced

consolidation strategies remain

largely the same – greater

efficiency and the opportunity

to streamline and automate IT

processes.

Implementing the four

strategies discussed can help

you realise a trinity of benefits:

users in the branch get the

performance they require, IT

maintains total control, and the

business enjoys a high return on

IT investment.

As for a winning formula for

consolidating your home storage

without peeving your spouse…

we’ll have to get back to you.

XLatency combined with application protocol

inefficiencies is the real culprit that bottlenecks WANs.

Rack security and protection

Security ranks highly on

any data centre man-

ager’s list of priorities and

it’s not difficult to under-

stand why, especially when you

consider the devastating impact

that downtime or data theft can

have on a business.

RISKY BUSINESSWith any data network there is

always a risk that the information

that flows through it could

be intercepted and used for

malicious purposes. However,

there are a number of security

processes that can significantly

reduce the likelihood of this

happening, including the physical

and organisational security of the

core network.

What was once a

straightforward steel structure is

now a sophisticated device that is

the critical element in delivering

the needs of today’s advanced

data centres.

Therefore, an integrated

security approach at the cabinet

and rack level is hugely important

for enterprises and, as a growing

number of organisations are

finding out, not only must they

secure these infrastructure

components, they must be able

to prove the efficacy of their

auditing systems to one or more

governance bodies.

COMPLIANCE PROCEDUREFor companies that have to

comply with legislation such as

Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II, PCI-DSS

and the FSA, their data centres

must adhere to strict asset

documentation, configuration

and change management, as

well as rigorous and transparent

documentation policies. In

co-location facilities high levels

of security are also required in

order to comply with service level

agreements as any data breach

can prove costly both financially

and in terms of reputation

— something that could be

impossible to recover from.

In the financial sector data

As well as housing a plethora of important active equipment, cabinets and racks also need to protect the sensitive data contained within them. Mark Hirst, T4 product manager at Cannon Technologies explains why sophisticated security, access control and monitoring technology is an essential component of any modern containment solution.

In unmanned environments it

is necessary to be able to remotely

monitor and control access to

hardware.

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

Expe

rt’s C

olum

n 16

protection and corporate

responsibility legislation is

extremely stringent and even

states that a company’s head

office and corporate data

centre must be sited in separate

locations. With such rigorous

security requirements it is this

industry that is setting the

benchmark for how access control

and monitoring technology is

being deployed.

MANY AND VARIED While having a permanent

manned security presence

at a data centre is not at all

uncommon, it usually forms part

of a multi-layered approach which

April 2013 Vol.19 No 04 17

includes a range of technology

that monitors and controls

access both into and within

the premises. When it comes to

restricting access to data, securing

the cabinets and racks that

house servers and other active

equipment is crucial. There are a

number of ways that this can be

achieved, and perhaps the most

obvious is the use of reliable and

intelligent locking systems.

Modern locking systems such

as swinghandles are highly

secure, robust, ergonomic and

can be retrofitted. However, to

add another layer of protection

they can be fitted with an

electronic keypad that simply

screws to the back of the standard

swinghandle, converting it into

a remote access solution. The

tamper proof cabling to the lock

itself can also be routed through

the internal door skin to hide it

from view and further increase

security.

The locking system will

usually be used in conjunction

with a personal identification

number (PIN) or radio frequency

identification (RFID) device.

When it comes to room, row

or cold aisle entry, one reader

device may open all the locks in

the cabinets in a particular row

if required, while locks can also

be unlocked in groups or by user

privilege settings. The availability

of intelligent access control also

means that PINs can be issued

that expire after a certain period

of time and can only be used to

gain access to specific cabinets.

REMOTE CONTROLIn unmanned environments

it is necessary to be able to

remotely monitor and control

access to hardware. Software is

now available that provides local

and/or remote control of racks,

cabinets, hot and cold aisles,

cages, data rooms or outside

enclosures. Based on ‘plug and

play’ modules that can be used

stand alone or daisy chained

together into a high security,

resilient system, this technology

enables remote control from

multiple locations concurrently,

with full event recording and a

rolling 24 hour audit trail.

This also ensures only

authorised personnel can access

the cabinets following a request

and authorisation from a central

source, which can additionally

carry out access code changes

remotely. They can also be

configured so that they require

two people – for instance,

a technician and a security

operative – to go through an

authentication process before

the cabinet will unlock. When in,

CCTV cameras can be triggered

to record the access session or a

simple photograph taken of the

person(s) involved. Again, with

these systems a full audit trail,

including the video footage if it

is taken, is then stored in case it is

needed for future reference.

Alarms can be generated if

unauthorised entry is attempted

or an unusual condition or

problem is detected, such as

if humidity levels within the

facility rises above a pre-defined

threshold. This allows designated

staff to carry out an investigation

that complies with any regulation.

FINGER ON THE PULSEAn increasingly popular way of

ensuring that only authorised

personnel have access to

cabinets is by using biometric

technologies. These automatically

measure people’s physiological

or behavioural characteristics

and examples include automatic

fingerprint identification, iris and

retina scanning, face recognition

and hand geometry. The major

advantage that this type of

solution has over PINs or RFID

cards is that it cannot be lost,

transferred or stolen and is

completely unique.

Although previously considered

too expensive for most data

centre based installations, the

falling costs of technology over

the last few years has meant that

fingerprint security at the cabinet

level has become a cost effective

reality — one that is becoming

more and more popular.

The time taken to verify a

fingerprint at the scanner is

now down to a second. This is

because the templates – which

can be updated / polled to /

from a centralised server on a

regular basis — are maintained

locally, and the verification

process can take place whether

or not a network connection is

present. The enrolment process is

similarly enhanced with a typical

enrol involving three sample

fingerprints being taken on a

terminal, with the user then able

to authenticate themselves from

that point onwards.

This level of efficiency, cost

effectiveness and all round

reliability of fingerprint security

means that a growing number of

clients are now securing their IT

resources at the cabinet level and

integrating the data feed from the

scanner to other forms of security

such as video surveillance.

SEEING IS BELIEVINGIn the event of a security breach,

being able to identify the

person(s) attempting to gain

unauthorised access to a cabinet

is extremely useful in bringing

them to book. Fortunately, there

are a number of tools that can

help to achieve this.

Cabinets can have a video

recording system installed that

can either record constantly or

be activated in the event of an

access attempt. The system will

send the data centre manager an

email containing a still image of

the person trying to gain access.

That person can then remotely

access the video system and

watch events unfold and, when

an audio device is also used, the

unauthorised person can be

addressed verbally. State-of-the-

art systems also allow recording

devices from eight cabinets to

use one network video recorder,

which also makes this method of

monitoring cost effective.

The use of video is a tried

and tested way of tracking

movements in a facility and

establishing who was doing what

at a particular time. Although this

comes with its own independent

remote software package, it

can also be incorporated into

a data centre infrastructure

management system. Not only

can this be used to monitor,

control access and designate

user privileges, it can manage

elements such as power usage

and optimisation, environmental

control and fire suppression

systems with one single suite of

dedicated software. Some leading

solutions secure password and

role permissions on users to

ensure the remote systems are as

secure as the sites.

UNDER THREATThe threat of data theft and

damage to equipment must

be taken seriously – those that

fail to implement a thorough

multi-layered system run the risk

of damaging their businesses

and reputations. Rather than

just being seen as metal boxes,

cabinets and racks are in fact at

the front line in keeping data safe.

An increasingly popular way of ensuring that only authorised personnel have access to cabinets is by using biometric technologies. such as fingerprint readers

“What was once a straightforward steel structure is now a sophisticated device that is the critical element in delivering the needs of today’s advanced data centres” MARK HIRST, T4 PRODUCT MANAGER AT CANNON TECHNOLOGIES

April 2013 Vol.19 No 04 19

Vendor profile: Interactive Intelligence

HOW DID INTERACTIVE INTEL-LIGENCE START AND WHAT IS ITS HISTORY TO DATE? Interactive Intelligence was

founded in 1994 and has more

than 5,000 customers worldwide.

It employs approximately 1,400

people and is headquartered

in Indianapolis, Indiana. The

company has offices throughout

North America, Latin America,

Europe, Middle East, Africa and

Asia Pacific.

Interactive Intelligence continues

to expand both its global and

vertical presence, which includes

the following key acquisitions:

- document

management solutions for the

insurance industry

(debt collection software and

services)

(Germany-based Interactive

Intelligence reseller)

(Australia/New Sealand-based

Interactive Intelligence reseller)

(South Africa/

Sub-Saharan Africa-based

Interactive Intelligence reseller)

(Netherlands-based Interactive

Intelligence reseller)

(Maryland-

based provider of contact

centre forecasting, capacity

planning and strategic analysis

technology)

Interactive Intelligence sells

its award-winning solutions

through a global network of

350-plus vale-added resellers.

In addition to a mature and

expansive reseller channel,

Interactive Intelligence also

offers a wide range of services

via its Global Services teams

(Support, Managed Services,

Professional Services and

Education) with more than 330

service employees worldwide.

Business communication software experts Interactive Intelligence discuss their regional goals and successes as well as their products

Shaheen Haque, territory

manager, Middle East

& Turkey at Interactive

Intelligence says that Saudi

Arabia is becoming one of

the key growth countries for

Interactive Intelligence.

WHAT DOES INTERACTIVE INTELLIGENCE DO? Interactive Intelligence is a

global provider of business

communications software

and services for contact

centre automation, unified

communications, and business

process automation. The

company has developed an

all-in-one IP communications

software suite that’s scalable

and standards-based, offering

single platform architecture

with inherent multichannel

processing to deliver

comprehensive applications

minus the cost and complexity

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

Expe

rt’s C

olum

n 19

20 April 2013 Vol.19 No 04

introduced by multi-point

vendors. The Interactive

Intelligence product line is

ideal for mid to large-sised

contact centres and businesses,

global 1,000 organisations and

distributed enterprises, including

those with remote and mobile

workers.

Vertical specialties include

financial services, outsourcer/

teleservices firms, insurance

companies, credit and collection

agencies, and utilities.

The Interaction Centre

Platform is the foundation on

which all Interactive Intelligence

products are based. This solution

centralises business interactions

including phone calls, e-mail,

faxes and web chats/callbacks as

well as business processes.

WHAT IS YOUR PRESENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST REGION?Interactive Intelligence’s Middle

East regional office is in Dubai

Internet City in Dubai, UAE and

from here we service the whole of

the Middle East, Turkey, Pakistan,

and Northern Africa.

We also have an office and

increasing presence in Riyadh,

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as

this is becoming one of the key

countries for our regional growth.

In the Middle East Interactive

Intelligence has a predominately

channel driven approach and

we have a strong certified

partner base across the region.

Interactive Intelligence makes it

a point to have a high degree of

involvement with the channel.

We employ a ‘direct touch’ sales

approach with end-users and

work on opportunities alongside

our partners, as this helps build

the confidence of clients and

allows a significant push of our

industry innovations.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE SOME OF YOUR REGIONAL SUCCESSES?

The Middle East contributes

significantly to Interactive

Intelligence and our strategic

global growth plans.

During our tenure in the region,

we have managed to secure a

number of prestigious projects

involving well-known clients such

as Saudi Aramco, Saudi Hollandi

Bank, Dubai Municipality, MetLife

Alico, Muscat Municipality,

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange

and Abu Dhabi Chamber of

Commerce and Industry to name

a few. Interactive Intelligence is

making leaps and bounds within

the Contact Centre/Unified

Communications market in the

Middle East, and we are expecting

tremendous growth as we

move forward in the region. The

following Middle East initiatives

were carried out within the 2012:

Launched our flagship version

Customer Communications

Centre 4.0 upgrade with full

Arabic language support. This

bi-lingual support is a vital

selling point in the region as it

is not natively offered by most

vendors

Interactive Intelligence

executed over 20 customer

workshops during the last year

across the region

Presence at industry events such

as Gitex, IDC, MECC, etc. to drive

awareness/engagements across

regions such as Saudi, UAE,

Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq

Increased end user

engagement, year on year.

WHAT ARE YOUR REGIONAL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES? Our objective for the Middle

East market is to increase our

dominance and become one

of the key players within the

contact centre and unified

communications market space as

well as comntinuing to promote

our unique Interaction Process

Automation solution stream.

Year on year we have increased

our headcount in the region and

we anticipate continued strong

growth through 2014 in the

Middle East.

We will continue to invest in

the region as well as in growing

and expanding our channel base.

We plan to expand our partner

briefing sessions/events in order

to facilitate advanced showcasing

of our complete product portfolio

as well as to increase customer

engagements alongside our

certified partners within the

Middle East region.

Interactive intelligence is planning to become one of the key players

within the Contact Centre and Unified Communications market space in the Middle East region.

2007: Offices open in Dubai as the hub for the Middle East

2008: Participated in MECC Middle East Call Centre Conference

(MECC) and generate awareness about our product range and

attract channel partners

2009 Participated MECOM event in Abu Dhabi

2010 Certified over 10 partners across the region

2011 Opened offices in Riyadh, KSA

2012 Expanded KSA team

2013 Participated in the Gartner Symposium Dubai Event

Interactive Intelligence Middle East presence timeline

WHAT IS THE COMPUTER HACKING FORENSIC INVESTIGATOR (CHFI) V8 (FAST TRACK) COURSE?CHFI V8 programme off ers a

detailed methodical approach

to computer forensics, evidence

gathering and analysis.

The course enables IT security

professionals to identify a

malicious intruder’s footprints

so that ample evidence can

be gathered to prosecute the

cyber criminal in a court of law.

This course covers all major

forensic scenarios such as mobile

forensics, network forensics,

application password crack,

investigating logs and network

traffi c, investigating web attacks

and so on.

The CHFI V8 training

programme is designed to give

practical exposure to students so

they gain profi ciency in applying

the tools and techniques of

computer forensics.

WHAT BENEFITS DOES THE COURSE GIVE THE STUDENT IN THE EMPLOYMENT MARKET?Modern day corporate battles

are being fought more and

more in the cyberspace

rather than in enterprise

boardrooms. Increased reliance

on information technology

has made us all prone to

cyber attacks. Organisations

can’t aff ord to lose critical

business information or get

their trade secrets revealed.

So the employment market is

wide open for those who know

how to detect hacking attacks

and extract crucial evidence to

report the crime, and possess

the ability to conduct audits to

prevent corporate espionage.

The industry is constantly

looking for computer forensic

investigators who can also

protect their organisations from

future attacks.

IS IT AN ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATION FOR IT SECURITY PROFESSIONALS?Yes, because as a computer

forensic expert one can

play a very important role

in government and private

agencies in resolving cyber

crimes such as gathering

evidence, tracking attacker’s

information and proactively

controlling similar future attacks.

Companies are, therefore,

actively looking for certifi ed

professionals having in-depth

knowledge of a technology

verifi ed by the creator of that

technology. A CHFI certifi cation

is a must if you want to climb up

the corporate ladder in the IT

security domain.

Many organisations give

preference to certifi ed experts

when it comes to hiring people

to maintain the information

security of their business.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THE COURSE?The CHFI V8 course is highly

recommended and benefi cial

for network administrators,

system administrators and

security professionals, legal

professionals, bankers and

defence personnel, IT managers,

government offi cials or anyone

who is concerned about integrity

of their network infrastructure.

You can take a Knowledge Level

Test from Koenig Solutions to

evaluate your aptitude for this

CHFI programme by getting in

touch with us on our website:

www.koenig-solutions.com

WHAT KIND OF KNOWLEDGE BASE DO STUDENTS NEED TO HAVE ALREADY BEFORE ATTENDING THE COURSE?Before enrolling for the CHFI V8

training programme, it is strongly

recommended that you have

22

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

Trai

ning

focu

s

Catching the digital intruderCHFI V8 course by Koenig Solutions teaches security professionals how to identify security breaches

completed the CEH certifi cation.

Good understanding of TCP/

IP is also required. One year

experience in managing

Windows/Linux/Unix systems or

equivalent knowledge of these

operating systems is also vital

in understanding the concepts

taught in the CHFI V8 fast track

training programme.

HOW MUCH DOES THE COURSE COST?The CHFI Fast track six-day

training programme costs $1690.

WHAT DATES ARE THE NEXT TRAINING COURSES AND WHERE ARE THEY HELD?The next batch of courses for

CHFI commences on the 16th of

April, 2013.

The monthly training calendar

for CHFI and other courses

off ered by Koenig can be found

at www.koenig-dubai.com

HOW DOES THE COMPUTER HACKING

FORENSIC INVESTIGATOR (CHFI) V8 (FAST

TRACK) COURSE IMPROVE/ENHANCE A

STUDENT’S CAREER?

A career in information technology security, as a

forensic computer investigator is both stimulating

and rewarding. Computer forensics is a diverse

fi eld which is not limited to criminal cases, as it

also plays a crucial role in the outcome of many

civil lawsuits. Computer forensics professionals

now have many job opportunities in both public

and private sectors. As the technology is getting

more advanced day by day, and computers and

digital data are infl uencing various aspects of our

lives (which includes crimes and civil disputes) -

computer forensics is rising to become a lucrative

career option.

WHAT ARE THE MOST CHALLENGING PARTS

OF THE COURSE?

The most challenging part of the CHFI program

is to understand diff erent practices of computer

forensics investigation, and gather valuable

evidence from a number of sources such as

computers, network devices & mobile devices.

Another tough aspect of taking up CHFI is to

understand threats and attacks from various

sources present in the organisation.

WHAT IS THE DEMAND FOR THE COURSE

LIKE IN THE REGION?

Computer forensics is a growing industry.

Job opportunities within the industry are

expected to grow signifi cantly as society is using

computers more and more for everyday business.

Currently, those who go to work for public and

governmental agencies can expect to earn around

$30,000 to $50,000 per year. If you enjoy problem

solving and investigation, and you are skilled not

only in using a computer but also in digging deep

into computer systems, digital forensics may be

the perfect career path for you.

WHAT STANDARD OF KNOWLEDGE

DO STUDENTS NEED TO TAKE PART

IN THIS COURSE?

The student must have the knowledge of

computer networking, computer and network

security, should be aware about latest threats and

attacks plaguing the online world. A fairly good

knowledge about TCP/IP and Windows/Linux/

Unix operating systems would also help students

to grasp the technicalities of CHFI course.

DO IT SECURITY PROFESSIONALS IN THE

REGION GENERALLY HAVE THE NECESSARY

UP-TO-DATE QUALIFICATIONS?

IT Security is a relatively new fi eld as compared

to age long IT. Aspirants are now focused on

gaining right the qualifi cation in IT Security, while

organisations are also actively seeking qualifi ed

professionals in this fi eld. Today many people

possess the right qualifi cations, but the demand is

increasing, creating a large vacuum.

Rahul Kokcha, training manager Koenig Solutions discusses the career benefi ts the course off ers

Aditya Girish from Koenig

Solutions says that the CHFI

V8 course is essential for IT

professionals.

The course teacher’s perspective

Rahul Kokcha says that the hardest

part of the course is understanding

the threat vectors and attacks.

Royal Caribbean safeguards the guest experience on 34 ships with proactive IT management Company installs fully functioning independent datacentres to ensure guest remain connected through out the entire cruise experience

Cas

e St

udy

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

24

PROVIDING THE ULTIMATE CRUISE EXPERIENCERoyal Caribbean Cruises Ltd

(Royal Caribbean) is the world’s

second largest cruise company

with 40 ships currently in service.

Its ships are the largest in the

world with the Oasis-class vessels

weighing 225,000 tons and carry-

ing 6,000 guests.

The company’s cruises take

in more than 260 destinations –

from Australia and Alaska to Brazil

and Bermuda.

Royal Caribbean Cruises ships

are renowned for their onboard

amenities, which include a

rock-climbing wall, ice-skating

rink, aquapark and boxing ring.

Headquartered in Miami, Florida,

“Thanks to the CA Technologies solutions, technology has become a greater enabler for improving the customer experience and boosting our competitive edge.”Bill Martin, chief information officer, Royal Caribbean Cruises.

the company controls more than

a quarter of the world cruise

market and operates a number of

lines, including Royal Caribbean

International, Celebrity Cruises,

Asamara Club Cruises, Pullmantur

and CDF Croisieres de France, as

well as TUI Cruises through a 50

percent joint venture with TUI AG.

Its vision is to empower and

enable its employees to deliver

the best vacation experience to

guests, thereby generating supe-

rior returns for shareholders and

enhancing the well-being of local

communities.

THE TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGETechnology plays an increas-

ingly important role in deliver-

ing an exceptional experience

for guests. From interactive

screens that provide ship maps

and restaurant menus to facial

recognition software that helps

guests find their photos, the

innovative use of IT provides

Royal Caribbean Cruises with a

competitive advantage. Royal

Caribbean Cruises not only

uses IT to enhance the onboard

experience for guests, but also

to improve safety. For example,

children under the age of 12 are

issued wristbands that enable

parents to track their location on

the ship at any given moment via

an iPhone application.

“Our investment in technology

has increased dramatically. We

Royal Caribbean also uses CA Client

Automation to track networked assets

and deploy software upgrades remotely

to minimise the need for IT staff to travel

around the ship and ensure devices remain

continuously available.

April 2013 Vol.19 No.04 25

As ships can only connect back to shore

via satellite - which is very expensive and

slow - all vessels also have fully functioning

independent data centres.

no longer talk about technology

but about the business services

that we want to provide – and the

speed at which we can provide

them,” said Bill Martin, chief

information officer for Royal

Caribbean Cruises.

NEW APPLICATIONS AND SERVICES AT SEA

The ability to deliver new appli-

cations and services to guests in

a short time frame is both a chal-

lenge and a differentiator. Royal

Caribbean has a number of legacy

systems, which can slow down

innovation and prevent it from

meeting customer expectations.

“The consumerisation of tech-

nology means that our guests

have increasingly high expecta-

tions. They want to be able to

connect to the internet wirelessly

from their smartphones, tablets,

laptops and games consoles the

second they board the ship and

access a range of applications,”

said Martin.

One guest will invariably

have multiple devices, which

means more traffic traversing

the network. To support wireless

connectivity for these devices, as

well as on-board entertainment

and telephony systems, Royal

Caribbean’s newer ships include

fully converged networks.

“Once you go digital and run

everything over IP, you need to

have the right monitoring tools in

place so you predict and resolve

problems before they even hap-

pen,” said Martin.

As ships can only connect back

to shore via satellite - which is

very expensive and slow - all ves-

sels also have fully functioning

independent data centres.

“We have dual facilities in dif-

ferent fire zones on each ship to

ensure that all critical applica-

tions remain highly available,”

said Martin. “Due to restricted

space onboard, we have heavily

virtualised and consolidated the

server environment to minimise

hardware footprint.”

To simplify IT management both

on shore and onboard its ships,

Royal Caribbean uses a range of

CA Technologies solutions.

“CA Technologies has been a

key partner for many years and

will remain so as we update our

legacy systems to newer plat-

forms,” Martin says.

CA technologies implemented

CA Application Performance

Management (APM), CA

Spectrum, Virtual Assurance

for Infrastructure Managers, CA

Client Automation, CA Clarity

PPM (Project & Portfolio Manager)

on the Royal Caribbean Cruises

fleet to improve its IT infrastruc-

ture. CA APM helps the company

safeguard the availability of its

online applications and simplifies

the development of new systems.

“We have introduced about 40

new applications on our largest

class of vessel. CA APM helps us

identify and resolve potential

performance issues both during

development and production.

We can therefore apply a resolu-

tion before the problem causes

downtime and disruption for

guests,” Martin explains.

The solution is used alongside

CA Spectrum and CA Virtual

Assurance for Infrastructure

Managers, which help Royal

Caribbean manage its on-board

network and data centre devices.

“Our largest ships feature more

than 30,000 IP ports and up to 70

production virtual servers. Using

the CA Technologies solutions

we can monitor these devices

across multiple platforms via

user-friendly dashboards that

“The consumerisation of technology means that our guests have increasingly high expectations.”Bill Martin, chief information officer, Royal Caribbean Cruises.

As a hospitality company and

not a technology-focused organ-

isation, Royal Caribbean needs

to ensure it can support all these

technologies without requiring

numerous highly skilled experts

onboard each ship.

“The ability to manage increas-

ingly complex IT infrastructures

with as few resources as possible

is vital to our ability to exploit new

technologies that improve the

guest experience,” Martin said.

AUTOMATED & INTEGRATED IT MANAGEMENT AT SEA

Industry: Hospitality

Company: Royal Caribbean

Cruises Ltd.

Employees: 58,000

Revenue: $6.7 billion

Royal Caribbean

There are 30,000 network

ports on the largest

ships monitored by CA

Technologies solutions

Fast fact

The ability to deliver new applications

and services to guests in a short

timeframe is both a challenge and a

differentiator says Martin.

26 April 2013 Vol.19 No.04

and ensure devices remain

continuously available. With a

massive IT programme involv-

ing the modernisation of legacy

applications planned for the

next 12 to 18 months, CA Clarity

Project & Portfolio Manager is

also an important tool for Royal

Caribbean Cruises.

“Our project portfolio has

doubled in size over the last year,

and CA Clarity Project & Portfolio

Manager plays a vital role in help-

“We no longer talk about technology but about the business services that we want to provide.”Bill Martin, chief information officer, Royal Caribbean Cruises.

BusinessRoyal Caribbean Cruises Ltd boasts some of the largest ships in the

world. Its 34 cruise ships take guests to more than 260 destinations

and provide innovative onboard amenities, such as ice-skating

and rock climbing.

ChallengeTechnology touches every element of the cruise experience. With

on-board data centres and IP networks underpinning an array of

guest services, Royal Caribbean must minimise IT downtime and

quickly provision new applications.

SolutionThe company uses a number of CA Technologies solutions to

monitor and manage thousands of devices and applications. The

solutions pinpoint potential problems, enable root cause analysis

and support application development.

BenefitRoyal Caribbean can safeguard IT availability with fewer resources

and at a lower cost. It can also facilitate innovation to improve the

guest experience and boost competitive advantage.

Case study summary

instantly alert us to any issues

and enable us to drill down to

identify the root cause of the

problem,” said Martin.

THE SOLUTION

Royal Caribbean Cruises also uses

CA Client Automation to track

networked assets and deploy

software upgrades remotely

to minimise the need for its IT

staff to travel around the ship

ing us manage these projects in

an efficient and effective manner,”

says Martin.

As well as modernising its ship

systems, Royal Caribbean Cruises

has plans to leverage private cloud

environments and desktop virtu-

alisation as part of its shore-side

IT infrastructure, which supports

approximately 6,000 members of

its staff.

Using CA Technologies solutions

enables Royal Caribbean Cruises

to manage the complex IT infra-

structures on board its cruise liners

with fewer resources resulting in

less downtime and costs.

“The solutions enable inte-

grated, automated and proactive

IT management which reduces

the number of problems we

experience with our ship systems,

thereby improving the services

delivered to our guests,” explains

Martin.

The complete CA Technologies

solution has resulted in enhanced

service assurance and improved

service portfolio management,

which enables Royal Caribbean

Cruises to better support innova-

tion and enhance business agility,

continuously improve the guest

experience, and optimise resource

utilisation and cost control.

Using CA Technologies solutions enables

Royal Caribbean to manage the complex IT

infrastructures on board its cruise liners with

fewer resources resulting in less downtime

and costs according to its CIO Bill Martin.

Bill Martin from Royal Carribbean

Cruises says that technology

touches every element of the

cruise experience.

NEWS, DATA, ANALYSIS AND STRATEGIC INSIGHTS FOR MANUFACTURING PROFESSIONALS IN THE GCC

An ITP Executive Publication

THE FIRST AND ONLY MIDDLE EAST PUBLICATION DEDICATED TO MANUFACTURING PROFESSIONALS

Joining ITP Business Publishing’s vast stable of construction and energy magazines, Manufacturing Executive Middle East is the first title in the region to address the thriving manufacturing sector, from the primary industry providers smelting aluminium and milling steel, to the SMEs carrying out assembly and finishing work locally.

Manufacturing Executive Middle East is a must read for professionals from the manufacturing industry across the GCC. It covers all aspects of the industry and keeps its readers up to date with the latest news and trends in the region. It includes in-depth interviews, features and special reports as well as a project focus section that gives full details on upcoming events across the Gulf.

EDITORIAL

ANIL BHOYRULEditorial DirectorTel: +971 4 4443000Email: [email protected]

Sectors covered by Manufacturing Executive Middle East includeMotor industryFMCGChemicals and PharmaceuticalsPower and EnergyOil and GasConstruction

SALES

ADAM WHITEHEADSales ManagerTel: +971 4 4443744Email: [email protected]

CONTACTS

Contact one of our team today to f ind out more about th is exci t ing new t i t le

NEWS, DATA, ANALYSIS AND STRATEGIC INSIGHTS FOR MANUFACTURING PROFESSIONALS IN THE GCC

An ITP Business Publication

MARCH 2013 / VOL. 2 / ISSUE 3

LATEST TRENDS: FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE GCC P28

Learn how Ducab managed the growth and expansion

of its cable business through the worst of the downturn

CABLE TIESALSO IN THIS ISSUE...

Temporary and back up power options examined P32

Oman’s cement sector shows signs of potential for its investors P14

DUCT FACTORY HELPS TO KEEP ARABIAN MEP CONTRACTING ON SCHEDULE P22

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE..

DUDUHEHEARAR

COCOON SON S

DDHHAA

COONONOONON

NEWS, DATA, ANALYSIS AND STRATEGIC INSIGHTS TS STS SSS SS SSSS TSTS S SSSSSSS S SSSS S SS S FFOFFOFFFOFOFOFFFOFFOFOFOOFOFFOFOFOFOFOFORFORFOORFFFFOFOFOOOFOOFORFORFORROFFFFOOFOROFORORORRRRRRRRFFOFOFOOOOORORORRRRRRRFORR MR MMMFOFOOORFOFORRR MROR MRRR MMMMMMMMMFFOFOOOOFORROR MRRRRRR MR MMMMMMMMMMFFFOOOOORORRRRRRRR MMMMMMMMMFFOFOOROOORRRRRRR MMMMMMMMMFFFFOOOOORORRRR MRRR MMMMMMFFOORORORORRRRRRRRROR MR MMMMMMMMOOORORORRRRRRR MMMMMMMFFFFOOOOORORRRRRR MMMMMMMFFFFOFOOOOOORORR MRRRRR MMMMMMMOOOOOOOOROROR MRRRRRROR MMMMOOOOOOROR MRRRRRRR MMMMMR RRRRRRRR RRR MMMMMMRRRRRR R RR MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMANUFUFAANUAAAA AANANUANUAAAANANAANUFNANAANUANUANUANUFANUANUANANANANANNNUFNANUNUANUFANUANUFAAAANNNNANUNANUANUANUFAANUFAAAAANANUNNANUFNUUUUANAANUFAAANANNUNNUANUUFNUANUUANUFFAFAFAANUANUANUANANUANUFAANNUFFFFAANUFAANANNUFUUUFUFFFFFAFAFAAAAFAANUFAAANUANANNUFFFFAAAFAAANUANANANNUUFFFFAFAAAAANUAANUANNNNUUFFFAFAAAAAAANNUUUFFFFAFAAAFAAANUAANANNNNUUUFFFFFAFAFAAAAANUFANANNNNUUUFFFFAFAFAFAAAAAANANNNUUUFUFFFFAFAFAAANUAANANNNUUFFFFAFAANNNNNUUFFFAFAAUUFFFFFAAUUUFFFFAFAAFFFFFAFAFAAFFFFFAFAFAAAAAACCTUCCCTUCCCTCCCCTCCCTCTCTURTTTTT RTURICTCTCTTTTTUTUTUUTURITURITURIURIURICCTCTURTTTUTUTUTURICTURCTURCCCCTURCTURTTTTUTURTUUTURIUUURRTURRRCCCCCTCTURCTTTTURTUTURUURIRRRRRRRIIICCCCCTCTTTURTURIURITURIURRRRRRIRIIIICCCTTTCTUUUUURURRRRRIRIIICCCCTCTCTTTUTUUUTURIURCTURRTURITURRIRIRIIICCCCTCTCTTTUUUURTURRRRIIICCCTTTUURRRRIRIICCCTCTCTCTTTTTUTURUUURURRRRRURRRIRIICCCTCTTTTTUTUTUUTURIUURRRRRRIRIICCCTTURTUURRRRICTCCCTCTTTURURRRRRRIRITTTTTURURRRIIUURIURRRIRIIRIRIURIIIRRRRIRIIIIIINNG NG PRNG PNNG PRNG PNG PRNGNG PRNG PRNNNNNNNGNGNG PNG PNNNNGNGNG PRG PRPGNNG PNG PNNGNGNGNG PG PRG PRG NG PRNNG PRNNGNGNGG PRG PNNNG PNGNGNG PPPPPNNNG PRNGNNNGNGNG PPPPRNGNGNGNG PRG PPPRNG PRNGNGNGG PPPPRRRRRNNGNGNG PPPPPPRRRRRNNNNGNG PPPPPRRRRRRNNNNGNGNG PPRRRNNNNNGNGGG PPPRRRRNNNNGNGG PPPRRRRNNNGG PPPRRRRNNGNG PPPRRRRGG PG PPRRRRG PRRRRRPRRRRRPPRRRRRPRRRRRRRRRRROFE SOFESSOOOOOFESSOFESSOFEOOOOFOOFOOOOOFFESSFEFESSFESSOOOOOFESFESSEEOOOOFESOFESSFEFESSFESSSSOOOOOFESSESSESSSSSSESSSSSESSOOOOOOFESSESSESSESSESSESSESSOOOOO ESSSFESSSSESSESSSSOOOOOO ESSESSFESESSESSSSOOOOFFESSSSSOOOOOOOFFFESSSSOOOOFFEESSESSSESSSSSOOOOO ESSSSSSFESSOOOFESESESSESSSSSOOOFEESESSSSSFESSESSSSSSFESSSSSSSESEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS NONIONNAIONAIONIIIOIONIOIOIIIOOONAONIIONAIOOOOONAIIIIONAIOONAONAONONAONANNNNNONIONALIONAIOOOONAONAONANNNNNNAONAAIIIOOIONAONONNNNONNAAAAAAAAIIOIOOOOONONNNNNAAAAAAAALALALLLLLIONAIOIOIOONONANNNANNALNANAALAAAAAALALALLLLLLIONAIOOOONNNNNALNNANANAAAAAAALLLIONAIIIOOOONNNNNNAANAAAALALALLLLLLIONAIOIOIOONAOIOONNNNALNNNAAAALALLLLLLIOIIOIOOOOONONONNNNNANAAONAALALLIIOIOONAONANNNNANAAALLIOIOONONONNNNNAONAAALIONAOOONONONONNNAALLLLOOONONONNONALNNAALAALALLLLLOONNAAAALALALLLLNNNNAALALLLLLALALAAALALLLLLLAAAALALALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLSSSS INS ISS ISSSSSSSSSS ISS INSSSS IIIINNINS IIS IINININNS INS INSSSSSSS IIININN N NNIS IININNNNNS INSSS IIINININININNNSSSS IIINININNNNNNNSSSSS IIIINININNINNNNSSSSSS IIINININNNINS INNS INSSSSSSSS IININ INININNNNNNSSSSSSSSSS IINININININNNINNS INNSSSSSSSSSS IIS INININNNNINNNNSSSSSSSS ININNNNNSSS INSS SS ININNNNNNNININININNNNNNNIINNNNNNNNNNNNN N THE GTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT CC

An ITP Business Publication

MARCH 2013 / VOL. 2 / ISSUE 3

LATEST TRENDS: FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE GCC P28

t tt tt t

To s u b s c r i b e f o r F R E E v i s i t : w w w. a r a b i a n b u s i n e s s . c o m / m e m e

Kempinski boosts wi-fi to meet guest expectationsKempinski chose Aruba networks to implement a hotel wide wi-fi upgrade that included implementing in-room IPTV and connected mini-bars

Cas

e St

udy

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

28

Kempinski Mall of the

Emirates has implement-

ed a hotel-wide wire-

less network upgrade

that not only allows guests to

connect multiple devices to the

network, but also allows the

hotel to run IPTV and connected

mini-bars in each room.

THE PROBLEM:When Kempinski started the

hotel in 2005, and when it began

operating in early 2006, very few

devices connected to wireless, in

fact there were very few laptops

that even came with connectiv-

ity. Hotel guests utilised wired

connections through their lap-

tops to access the internet.

“We did implement wireless,

but it was not really designed

for the kind of environment that

we are experiencing today. We

ended up having a few access

points in the corridors covering

the rooms on both sides. During

recent years there was a lot of

issues with the coverage because

people always want to be con-

nected, they have devices in their

pocket and they expect it to be

connected all the time,” said

Prasanna Rupasinghe, director

if IT & AV at Kempinski Hotel Mall

of the Emirates.

All of the hotel’s guests wanted

to be wirelessly connected

across multiple devices 24 hours

a day and the legacy network

was not equipped to cater to

this demand, which can reach to

thousands of devices connected

time during busy periods.

“When the guest went to the

room we had a lot of complaints

that the wireless was not stable

or they did not have coverage in

The 48,000 square metre-Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates

opened in April 2006 and has 393 rooms and suites, including

15 Ski Chalets with views of one of the world’s largest indoor

ski slopes and the biggest covered snow park.

The rooms range in size from 45 square metres to 228

square metres. All the hotel’s 393 deluxe rooms and suites are

equipped with large plasma flatscreen TVs with access to 80

international satellite channels, as well as a DVD and multi-

media player.

The hotel boasts two restaurants, two bars and 13

conference rooms with a maximum capacity of 150 people. The

hotel can accommodate up to 1,000 guests at any one time.

Kempinski Mall of the Emirates:

Kempinsky Mall of the Emirates partnered with Aruba to

implement a hotel wide, full coverage wireless network.

certain areas of the room. Some

people were using their devices

in the bath to read the newspa-

per and could not get Wi-Fi,” said

Rupasinghe.

The hotel has a lot of families

visiting and some rooms can

have up to nine guests, each with

multiple personal devices that

need to be connected and the

hotel was unable to cope with the

demand. Another issue that the

hotel faces is a lack of seamless

coverage, there were spots in the

April 2013 Vol.19 No.04 29

Prasanna Rupasing, director of IT and AV at

Kempinski said that having good wireless

coverage is essential for guests.

hotel that guests could not get

coverage on their devices.

Not only that, but adminis-

tration applications that used

to be on the wired network

had evolved on to the wireless

network to improve produc-

tivity and efficiency, and the

Kempinsky legacy network was

unable to handle the demand.

THE SOLUTION:Kempinski Mall of the Emirates

had to find a wireless network

solution that was designed spe-

cifically to address high density

environments such as a hotel or

hospital environment to ensure

that their guests to have 24 hour

full Wi-Fi coverage.

“We were looking for wire-

less access points specifically

designed to go into a hotel room.

When we looked, there were not

many choices. What we wanted

was a custom solution made

for a hotel environment that

Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network

access solutions for mobile enterprise networks.

The company’s Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture

unifies wired and wireless infrastructures into one network access

solution — for traveling business professionals, remote workers,

corporate headquarters employees and guests.

With Aruba, access privileges are linked to a user’s identity. That

means your enterprise workforce has consistent, secure access

to network resources based on who they are — no matter where

they are, what devices they use or how they connect.

This eliminates the cost and complexity of managing separate

wired and wireless access policies. In fact, with Aruba you’ll need

fewer ports and consequently less equipment in the wiring closet

— effectively rightsizing your access infrastructure.

Aruba embraces BYOD by giving corporate IT mobile device

access control.

This is achieved by adding device intelligence — called device

fingerprinting — to the corporate Wi-Fi network. With Aruba

MOVE, personal mobile devices can connect securely to the

network in accordance with corporate policies.

Aruba Networks:

gives multi-service architecture

because we were doing a retrofit.

It should be something that you

can install and then hide if you

need to and should be easy to

install with the existing infra-

structure,” said Rupasinghe.

The hotel was also looking

at enabling additional services

alongside the new wireless infra-

structure, such as administrative

apps like wireless check in and

check out, more personalized

services through the use of iPad

applications in housekeeping

and things like IP telephont, IPTV

and connected mini bars.

“We saw that it was more

efficient being able to work on

mobile and work mobile rather

than sitting at one desk. For

example housekeeping carry an

iPad and when they go to a room

they know which guest is staying

in that room, their background,

their preferences, etc. So before

you go into the room because

these services to the available

bandwidth.

“We already had one cable for

the TV in the room so we used the

same thing, then you distribute

the IP services on the multi-

service access point. It allows us

to be more flexible and reduce a

lot of costs, if you had to redo the

cabling it would have been a big

cost,” Rupasinghe said.

THE IMPLEMENTATION: There were two solutions

Kempinski found that work in

hotel rooms, the hotel IT depart-

ment then did comprehensive

“Internet free with the room is more important than a free breakfast, guests always ask whether the internet is free and do not ask about free breakfast any more.”

Prasanna Rupasinghe, director if IT & AV at Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates.

you are able to see the guest

details and give personalised

sevices such as a specific type of

pillow,” said Rupasinghe.

“We recently launched the

guest check-in, check-out which

is now done on iPads, so you can

go to a guest and show them the

expenditure, they don’t have to

be in a queue or come to the desk,

they can check the bill .pay and

check out.”

Rather than recabling the

whole hotel to have these addi-

tional services Kempinski wanted

to have one uplink for the access

point so that they could add

complaints about poor network connectivity, lack of internet

access or slow connectivity to zero.

the hotel does not have to spend money upgrading again soon

hotel by providing seamless connectivity to guests

Business benefits:

30 April 2013 Vol.19 No.04

the capacity. All this was com-

bined with a 6000 series control-

ler that can support up to 8000

users and provides speed up to

20Gbps,” said Bhardwaj.

The AP93 access points, which

are installed in the rooms are

customised for hotels, hospitals

and high density environments

where there are many people

inside a room.

“I think Kempinski is one of the

first in the region to implement

IPTV in the rooms and our prod-

uct supports that connectivity

and the necessary speed. We pro-

vided a comprehensive solution,”

said Bhardwaj.

IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGESKempinski had to upgrade the

network without closing down

the hotel rooms. It planned to co-

exist the legacy network and the

new network at the same time,

and managed to keep all the

rooms open during installation.

The hotel had in-house people

who were trained to implement

the solution.

“When the room was not occu-

pied our guys went in and fixed

the AP after we did the initial

mock up set up and testing we

knew exactly where to put the

access point, and because Aruba

provided such good training we

were able to implement the new

access point in only 35 minutes

per room. That is to install, con-

figure, plug it in and also put the

IPTV on the same network and

configure,” said Rupasinghe.

The whole implementation

process took around two months

during the Ramadan period in

2012 and the access points are

all mounted APs and are hidden

behind the televisions.

“We have had no major issues,

obviously after we implemented

it there was a period of fine tun-

ing which we have done now and

if you look at guest feedback,

before the implementation we

had 90% of guests complain

about connectivity and the inter-

net. We had a lot of complaints

that there was no connectivity, it

was not stable, throughput is not

there, now with the new system

I would say we have achieved no

major complaints from guests,

they are happy,” Rupasinghe said.

BUSINESS BENEFITS:According to Kempinski, at the

end of the day the business

benefits of the new wireless solu-

tion are all completely related to

whether the Kempinski’s guests

are happy with network access.

“Internet free with the room

is more important than a free

breakfast, guests always ask

whether the internet is free and

don’t ask about free breakfast

any more,” said Rupasinghe.

“We believe wireless is the key

for guests today, because that

essentially is adding value to

what you are selling as a product.

Wireless is part of the luxury

experience and a really good

experience for guests,” he said.

Manish Bhardwaj from Aruba Networks says that they

implemented a 6000 series controller that can support up to 8,000 users and provides speed up to 20Gbps.

“I think Kempinski is one of the first hotels in the region to implement IPTV in the rooms, and our product supports that connectivity and the speed. We provided a comprehensive solution.” Manish Bhardwaj, marketing manager Middle East and Turkey at Aruba Networks.

meeting areas (more to be added)

provides speed up to 20Gbps.

Hardware implemented:

Training went hand in hand with the implementation of the

network access points, there was onsite training and knowledge

transfers. Aruba’s implementation team was there with their

technical teams doing the knowledge and training on site during

the implementation.

Training:

proof-of-concept testing over

a four month to analyse the

process and effectiveness of

both solutions. The hotel looked

at the availability, coverage,

throughput and also looked at

the build-quality between the

two solutions and the possible

lifespan of the product. One of

the key aspects was security

because the hotel is not only run-

ning guest services.

“After doing testing we

selected Aruba, because their

support team and access to

knowledge and the key people in

the technical team were always

available to help us develop the

solution,” said Rupasinghe.

Aruba was asked to upgrade

the legacy access points to pro-

vide better connectivity, security

and scalability to the network,

primarily because of the influx of

new personal connected devices.

“The number of devices that

guests bring into a hotel has

increased to approximately three

per person and higher. We had to

provide a custom wireless solu-

tion. What we had was not ready-

made for hotels. We came up

with a solution that would enable

Kempinski’s guests to connect

securely to the infrastructure,”

said Manish Bhardwaj, marketing

manager Middle East and Turkey

at Aruba Networks.

Once the solution was thor-

oughly tested it was first installed

in the rooms, then into the cor-

ridors and lobby area.

“We provided a solution to

Kempinski that comprised of

that were placed inside the

rooms and about 60 AP105 access

points that were installed in the

corridors and the meeting areas

and they are planning to increase

WEDNESDAY 29TH MAY 2013, JUMEIRAH EMIRATES TOWERS, DUBAI

THE MOST CELEBRATED EVENT FOR MIDDLE EAST NETWORKING PROFESSIONALS

w w w. i t p . n e t / e v e n t s / n m e - a w a r d s

NOW IN THEIR 9TH YEAR, THE NETWORK MIDDLE EAST

INNOVATION AWARDS BRINGS TOGETHER THE REGION’S IT

COMMUNITY TO RECOGNISE THE LEADING PROJECTS, VENDORS

AND INDIVIDUALS IN THE NETWORKING SECTOR

Do not miss your opportunity be part of the 9th Network Middle East Innovation Awards.Visit www.itp.net/events/nme-awards or contact one of our team today

For sponsorship enquiries please contact:

Nayeem DakhwaySales ManagerTel: +971 4 444 3482Email: [email protected]

George HojeigeSales DirectorTel: +971 4 444 3203Email: [email protected]

For nomination enquiries please contact:

Georgina EnzerEditor, Network Middle EastTel: +971 4 444 3723Email: [email protected]

To book seats please contact:

Michelle MeyrickEvents ManagerTel: +971 4 444 3328Email: [email protected]

Silver Sponsor

BOOK YOUR SEATS TODAY

According to Kaspersky Lab, approximately 91% of

global businesses experienced some form of secu-

rity event during 2012. The company says that

endpoint control is essential to protecting the

network against malware and cyber-attacks

REDUCING THE ENTERPRISE ATTACK SURFACE WITH ENDPOINT CONTROL

32 April 2013 Vol.19 No.04

infographic

40% of attacks

due to vulnerable software

35% lost

business data

61% of the attacks

occurred due to malware infection

91% of businesses

experienced at least one IT Security

event

52% of companies noticed

an increase in the number of cyber-attacks

SOURCE:

According to a survey conducted by B2B international in July 2012

LASTYEAR:

The Canopy PMP 450 utilises

a combination of very high

throughput, low latency and

GPS synchronisation that

enables service providers to

rapidly deploy new services.Featured product: Cambium Point to Multipoint 450

WHAT IS THE POINT TO MULTI-

POINT 450

The Canopy PMP 450, is a new

platform designed to satisfy

the ever-increasing desire for

bandwidth among Internet

users. A fourth-generation (4G),

point-to-multipoint (PMP) fi xed

wireless broadband access

solution, the PMP 450 delivers the

capacity and performance service

providers and private network

operators require to meet today’s

demanding and growing need

for bandwidth. With multiple

government agencies across

the globe driving the need to

off er broadband connectivity to

the unconnected and under-

connected, service providers

are challenged to deliver the

consistent, highly reliable access

that all users expect. The PMP

450 utilises a combination of very

high throughput, low latency and

GPS synchronisation that enables

service providers to rapidly

deploy new services and increase

revenue and profi tability while

realising a much faster return on

their investment.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

he PMP 450 allows service

providers to reach data rates

of more than 90 Mbps of peak

throughput in only 20 MHs of

spectrum from a single Access

Point (AP). For those looking to

deploy a more extensive network,

two rings of six APs provides more

than 1 gigabit of throughput.

With the increased capacity

provided by the PMP 450, service

providers have the options to

provide additional bandwidth

to existing customers and add

new customers, as well as off er

voice and video services to all of

them, which signifi cantly increase

average revenue per user (ARPU).

The Canopy PMP 450

provides:

High Throughput – With

more than 1 Gbps of

throughput at an access

network tower location,

service providers can now

off er new applications to

enterprise and residential

customers.

Near and Non Line-of-Sight

Capabilities – Using OFDM

and MIMO technologies,

the PMP 450 provides the

industry’s best performance

in the most challenging

deployments.

Low Latency – Consistently

low 3–5 ms latency, that also

scales exceptionally well,

enables service providers to

grow revenue by off ering

sensitive streaming video and

voice services.

GPS Synchronisation –

Provides consistent operation

at all capacities with the ability

to scale to large deployments

without aff ecting

performance.

Long Range Connectivity

– Delivers long-range

connectivity up to 20 miles

(32 km).

Dual Band Coverage –

Operates at 5.4 and 5.8 GHs

frequencies in Europe and 5.8

GHs in the U.S. with a single

SKU covering both bands and

at rates more than 90 Mbps

per sector.

Effi cient, Dynamic

Bandwidth Allocation – Uses

the Canopy MAC protocol

for greater payload capacity;

maximises sector capacity in

dual mode.

Proven Performance –

Cambium’s experience, quality

and outstanding performance

allows service providers to

deploy with confi dence.

WHERE CAN YOU BUY IT?

The PMP 450 Access Point and

Subscriber Module are available

for pre-orders now.

For additional product

information, please visit the

Canopy PMP 450 webpage.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT/NEW

ABOUT THE PMP450?

The PMP 450 is highly spectral

effi cient and this allows users

to use smaller amounts of the

spectrum to achieve higher

throughputs which is extremely

important in todays environment

considering the RF congestion

that we see in the region.

In addition to this the PMP 450

is truly a Non Line of site product

which off ers a tremendous

advantage to our customers at

very aff ordable rates.

This has been tried and tested

and we have achieved Non line of

site links up to fi ve kilometres.

The PMP 450 also off ers

up market leading GPS

synchronisation to allow network

optimisation in the harsh Middle

East environments.

Graham Owen, regional sales director MEA explains the new PMP 450

Graham Owen from Cambium networks

says that the PMP 450 allows service

providers to reach data rates of more

than 90 Mbps of peak throughput in

only 20 MHs of spectrum from a single

Access Point (AP).

34 April 2013 Vol.19 No 04

36 April 2013 Vol.19 No.4

Network separation, secure Wi-Fi access and up to date security software are just some of the necessities to

protect the public and private network in the hospitality industry, according to regional experts.

Securing your stay

Security

April 2013 Vol.19 No.4 37

When looking at the

security threats to the

ICT infrastructure in

the Hotel industry,

there are two perspectives that

need to be tackled, firstly, the

need to protect the security and

integrity of personal and financial

data of hotel guests ie credit

cards, room allocations, names

and addresses.

Secondly, a hotel must ensure

a consistent quality of service to

guests by providing them with

stable and secure broadband

internet connectivity. This is

something that in today’s hospi-

tality market is almost a necessity

in order to be competitive.

“The most effective strategy for

a hotel is to have two isolated net-

works that service each purpose.

The first network should be

designed to provide guests with

broadband internet access. This

network must be built to combat

and mitigate any malicious

software which could be planted

by hackers targeting the hotel’s

data centre. It must also be able

to protect all guests logged into

the network from similar attacks,”

explains Asfar Zaidi, principal

security consultant, at global ICT

solutions provider Huawei Enter-

prise, Middle East.

Additionally the hotel network

should have built-in measures

to prevent rogue Wi-Fi points/

hotspots and unauthorised access

which slows down the entire

network and degrades the service

to others.

The second network is de-

signed only for corporate use by

hotel management. User authen-

tication, firewalls and data leak-

Asfar Zaidi from Huawei Enterprise, Middle East says the hotel network

must be able to not only protect the hotel, but also the guests that

are logged into that network.

“The fact that anyone can walk into a hotel with a smart phone and see a number of unsecured Wi-Fi networks demonstrates how vulnerable a network can be due to rogue Wi-Fi hotspots.” Asfar Zaidi, principal security consultant, at global ICT solutions provider Huawei Enterprise, Middle East.

age protection are critical to this

network to ensure that a) no one

from inside the network is able to

steal data undetected, and b) that

no one from outside the network

can remotely gain access.

“The corporate network must

be protected from un-authorised

access and the introduction of

malware through devices con-

nected to the network by autho-

rised users. This can be achieved

by using data leakage prevention

systems, firewalls, IPS and antivi-

rus gateways,” says Zaidi.

PCI DSS COMPLIANCEIf the hotel network is not

separated from the guest internet

network, that is cause for major

concern, as the hotel network

needs to comply with Payment

Card Industry (PCI) data security

standards, since it manages and

processes credit card and person-

al information about the guests

and their identity credentials.

PCIs clearly explain measures

needed to protect the informa-

tion of customers.

For example, it states that data

must be stored securely in a data

centre that has seven layers of

security which should include,

application firewalls, IPS, antivirus

and anti-Ddos solutions.

“Traditional firewalls work until

layer four, application firewalls

work from layer five to layer

seven and layers one to seven are

the complete IP protocol stack,”

explains Zaidi.

If any guest can hook up an

infected piece of equipment and

inject malware into the main

business network there is a huge

potential and real risk of loss of

breach and loss of personal and

sensitive information about tens

of thousands of people.

“As a guest using the amenity,

there is no excuse or reason to

rely only on a hotel connectivity

service provider to protect us. To

do so can cause a great deal of

problems later and could impact

your work or home upon return-

ing. In short, if the hotel guest

Personal firewall: never turn it off

Personal Anti-Virus: make sure it is up-to-date and turned

on

Basic rules for hotel guests accessing the network:

network is wide open with no

protective services and is some-

thing you need to use, make sure

that you have done everything in

your power to protect your-

self. You should not leave your

common sense at home,” states

Miguel Braojos, vice president of

Sales Southern Europe, Middle

East and Africa (SEMEA) at global

security experts SafeNet.

w w w . c o n s t r u c t i o n w e e k o n l i n e . c o m / m e a a

SETTING THE BENCHMARK FOR THEMIDDLE EAST ARCHITECTURE SECTOR

THE 6TH ANNUAL MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT AWARDS BRINGS TOGETHER THE ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN AND ENGINEERING COMMUNITIES TO CELEBRATE INDUSTRY

EXCELLENCE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST.

Tuesday5th November 2013

Jumeirah Emirates TowersDubai - UAE

For sponsorship enquiries, please contact:Alexander JamesSales Manager, Middle East ArchitectTel: +971 4 444 3393Email: [email protected]

For nomination enquiries, please contact:Oliver EphgraveEditorTel: +971 4 444 3303Email: [email protected]

For table bookings, please contact:Michelle MeyrickEvents ManagerTel: +971 4 444 3328Email: [email protected]

Do not miss your chance to put forward your work for our expert panel of judges’ consideration. Submit your nominations today at www.designmena.com/meaa or contact one of our team for more information.

oouu n.

2222222222222222222221010101010101010101010101

2552

55t f1532.23 15432

1645

560658

222222222

205

205052020505205

22288888

ss

e

n s t5656058 5398aw wwwwww wwwwwww

y

eA

NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN

CATEGORY SPONSOR


however, the challenge for the

hotel industry is to provide open

access for a wide variety of guests

– business travelers, vacationers,

parents, etc. – while ensuring

that the data and devices being

brought in are not infected.

“Unfortunately, remote-access

is too often poorly secured, for

example a default password, the

same password for all customers,

a password shared with the entire

staff. Once attackers find the

password, they can simply log in

and help themselves to whatever

data they want. Hotel networks

are pretty much an open door

with open-Wi-Fi, weak firewalls

and poor passwords used by the

guests. It is also fairly easy for an

attacker to set-up an unsecured

Wi-Fi access point, called ‘Free Wi-

Fi’, near a busy hotel. The attacker

probably won’t need to wait long

before a connection-starved road

warrior plugs-in. The attacker can

SECURITY MEASURESAnother key consideration

when protecting such a compli-

cated public and private network

system is ensuring that security

measures, such as limiting and

determining the type of devices

that can be used on the network;

implementing minimum system

requirements and configurations;

installing appropriate security-

related software to the devices;

monitoring the use of devices to

detect any misuse to the devices

(hacking or malware) are correctly

implemented and constantly

carefully updated.

One out of date patch can lead to

a compromised network.

Omar Malkawi from Gulf Business Machines says that online hotel room booking sites can also be a major threat to the hotel network.

“A hotel guest used his old password after checking-out to access the hotel network and took away valuable information from the servers. After an investigation, it was found that the hotel network administrator was using one network virtual LAN [flat network] for guests and backbone.” Omar Malkawi, Abu Dhabi INS manager at IT solutions provider, Gulf Business Machines

“With any data security

technology, it is imperative to

continue to update systems, as

hackers are constantly develop-

ing new, faster ways of obtaining

data. The hotel industry in the

past has steered clear of the use

of encryption for data protection,

deeming it to be difficult to use.

Compliance regulations such as

the PCI standard also mandate

the use of encryption technology

for the protection of credit card

and card-holder data,” explains

Braojos.

When attacking hotels, hackers

target credit card data and iden-

tity theft, the same as if they were

targeting any other organisation,

Omar Malkawi Abu Dhabi INS manager at Gulf Business Machines explains the threats that face hotels through online booking portals

Today, hotel rooms can be easily booked online. A vast variety

of online booking websites offer rooms at discounted rates

in addition to the deals posted online by hotels themselves.

While online bookings are incredibly convenient for travelers,

e-commerce websites are susceptible to hackers. Unethical

users can take advantage of these online portals to access hotel

and guest confidential information. This has encouraged most

of the hotels to adopt a standard security model. While this is a

step in the right direction, following security standards alone is

not sufficient enough to avoid all potential attacks. The job of

those protecting hotel networks is complex, and various steps

need to be taken to ensure the hotel is aware about its network

vulnerability.

The only way to identify and understand the level of security is

to have Vulnerability Assessment (VA) and Penetration Testing

(PT) done in their network by a certified company. These pro-

active tests are a common practice among the banks, but now

most companies across different sectors carry out these tests.

They are most useful for providing an accurate picture of the

health of company’s infrastructure.

Security infrastructure is more like all the systems working

together to mitigate information security risk from both

external and internal users.

The online booking threat


gional director at wireless experts

Ruckus Wireless.

Hotel networks consist of many

different systems in order to

offer services and track expenses

for each guest. These systems

also provide service continuity

throughout different depart-

ments or areas of the hotel or

resort. The goal is to provide an

easy, natural flow of identification

and responsiveness to the guest

needs as they use different areas

within the establishment.

“The greater the speed in

identification and awareness of

personal preferences associated

with the guest, the more personal

the experience will be; we can all

remember the places we have

stayed where we felt recognised.

These are the systems that hotels

or resorts are responsible for

securing,” explains Braojos.

The internet services hotels

offer their guests as an ame-

nity is similar to their offer of a

swimming pool: It is available

to guests and there are certain

rules that should be followed to

enjoy it safely. But the hotel is not

responsible if a guest logs onto

his company’s mail without VPN

or strong authentication on the

hotel’s internet service.

It is the responsibility of the

guests to protect their assets’ data

while using it. Hotels provide a

service and it is up to the cus-

tomer to use them with common

sense and the due protection in

their own equipment.

“If we bring a laptop with us to

a hotel or resort, we are respon-

sible for making sure it is secure

before it is on the network. If

we connect wirelessly, we need

to make sure that our sensitive

communications are using strong

encryption. The hotel provides

the service just like your home In-

ternet service provider; normally,

the security provided with the

service is set to a bare minimum

and always requires you to add

security controls to protect your

data. It’s up to each of us to have

updated patches, antivirus, a

firewall, intrusion prevention, se-

cure communication and to turn

off services that would provide

access to files and service on our

equipment,” says Braojos.

A recent advance that can help

the hotel secure its network is

the use of ‘tokenisation’ or form

factor encryption, which changes

the credit card numbers in the

system so it can be used for

loyalty programs, marketing and

data-mining purposes without

ever exposing the customer credit

card number or information, but

enabling a direct relationship

with the real customer profile

without ever compromising his

personal data. Therefore, in this

way, the hospitality company can

use data-mining techniques and

advanced profiling algorithms to

fine tune their customer prefer-

ences, increase their spending

and cater to all their potential

needs according to their profile

and spending level

Another step to ensure security

with the huge number of devices

that access a hotel network, is

to ensure that only legitimate

hotel guests are allowed onto the

leaking out of the network

quickly and efficiently

Top 5 security must-haves for the hotel network: Fortinet

“In order to secure BYOD in the hospitality industry, policies need to be put in place that outline visibility, as well as control, in terms of who and what is accessing the networks.” Nader Baghdadi, Middle East regional director, Ruckus Wireless.

then just pull data out of the air

with a network sniffer, leaving no

trace whatsoever on the victim’s

computer, or smartphone,” says

Rob Ayoub, technical marketing

manager at global firewall secu-

rity experts Fortinet.

THE BYOD FACTOR

is increasingly gaining popu-

larity, even in the hospitality

sector. Given that the demand for

remote mobile access is increas-

ingly becoming a dominant factor

among consumers, hotels should

ensure that they are implement-

ing the necessary security in

their network – both in terms of

hardware and software.

hospitality industry, policies need

to be put in place that outline vis-

ibility, as well as control, in terms

of who and what is accessing the

networks. Because of the notion

experience faster processes on

their personal devices. These

are benefits that are continu-

ously becoming fundamental

to users; and different measures

need to be put in place in order

to maintain security for both

hardware and software,” states

Nader Baghdadi, Middle East re-

Nader Baghdadi from Ruckus Wireless says that different hardware and software security measures must be put in place on the hospitality network.

PEOPLE. POWER. PROFITS.NOW ON YOUR iPAD

Search for Arabian Business in the App store

In-depth news, expert views, big name interviews andexclusive videos now on the Arabian Business iPad App.

Download your FREE App today.

www.arabianbusiness.com


guest network. A mechanism that

randomly generates user name

and passwords that expire after

certain time periods is the best

way to do this.

“It is critically important for a

hotel to invest in software that

monitors the activity of users

logged into its guest network.

IPS [Intelligent Prevention

System] and firewalls can prevent

scenarios where a hacker may

want to initiate an attack when

they are already in the system.

Hotels’ ICT managers must

also try to prevent rogue Wi-Fi

hotspots that are linked to the

hotel’s network. The fact that

anyone can walk into a hotel with

a smart phone and see a number

of unsecured Wi-Fi networks

demonstrates how vulnerable a

network can be due to rogue Wi-

Fi hotspots,” states Zaidi.

IS THE NETWORK EVER SECURE?It is possible to have a very

secure hotel network, with the

mised with malware, is scanned

each time before it is connected

to a corporate network. There are

also controls such as Data Leak-

age Prevention systems, which

ensure there is a second layer in

front of the datacentre to safe-

guards credit cards and customer

information by using the latest

Anti-Ddos solutions and firewalls

and IPS. Following security

guidelines and procedures are a

key to protecting critical data.

“A hotel guest used his old

password after checking-out to

access the hotel network and

took away valuable informa-

tion from the servers. After an

investigation, it was found that

the hotel network administrator

was using one network virtual

LAN [flat network] for guests and

backbone. In addition, old pass-

words issued for the guest were

still present in the authentication

server with no time limit policy,”

explains Omar Malkawi, Abu

Dhabi INS manager at IT solution

provider, Gulf Business Machines.

One of the answers to help

completely secure the hotel

network is the use of separation,

looking at other industries like

retail or education; they imple-

ment careful segmentation of

data on the network.

network separation between

the business network and the

guest internet network, and by

deploying the right combination

of strong user authentication

and data encryption solutions

with common key management,

which will be the anchor of trust

of such a holistic approach to

data protection.

“Hotels should make sure they

have layers of security to make it

as hard as possible for hack-

ers or malware to compromise

their infrastructure and data.

However they should accept that

it is unlikely that they are 100%

secure. Therefore they should

make sure that their sensitive

data is secured using encryption,

is accessed using multi-factor au-

thentication and that they store

their encryption keys in hardware

security modules away from the

data” explains Braojos.

Multiple security layers also

need to be put in place to ensure

that an employee’s personal

device, which may be compro-

“As a guest using the amenity, there is no excuse or reason to rely only on a hotel connectivity service provider to protect us.” Miguel Braojos, vice president of Sales Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa (SEMEA), SafeNet.

“Unfortunately, remote access is too often poorly secured; for example, a default password, the same password for all customers, a password shared with the entire staff.” Rob Ayoub, technical marketing manager, Fortinet.

Encryption is an essential tool to protect the hotel network says Miguel Braojos from SafeNet.

tests (PT) annually to understand the vulnerabilities, holes

and security threats in the entire network.

and network devices by the certified company. Some small

to medium size hotels can also adopt the cloud based

hosting the applications.

following the global best practices.

independent from each other.

and after the guests check-out passwords should be

disabled automatically.

Security essentials for a hospitality network: Gulf Business Machines


Cloud

While cloud is defi nitely a technology of interest for hotels in the Middle East and GCC region, levels of adoption are still low due to implementation costs and security concerns, writes Piers Ford.


It is hard to think of an IT trend more suited to a specifi c sector

than the cloud is to hospitality. So it comes as a surprise to see

how cautiously the industry has approached its potential to

provide a platform for delivering back offi ce applications and

integrated, customer-facing applications, as well as the level of con-

nectivity and wireless internet access that is expected by guests in

the 21st century.

In the Middle East, with its reputation for state-of-the-art hotels

and high volume of greenfi eld sites, there is less reliance on the

legacy infrastructures which once marked the hospitality sector out

as a leading-edge technology adopter. In the West, that legacy is

so embedded that it is putting the brakes on a general shift to the

cloud, despite widespread enthusiasm for the model. So why aren’t

Middle Eastern hotels moving more quickly to embrace it?

“I think the biggest obstacle for the use of cloud in the region

is the cost of connectivity, be it the public internet, MPLS private

networks or VPNs,” says Prasanna Rupasinghe, director of informa-

tion technology at Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates. “In addition,

there are other factors such as performance unpredictability, infor-

mation security, data privacy and confi dentiality, regulatory compli-

ance and auditability, which might impact the use of cloud.

“Having said that, most hospitality technology vendors now off er

turnkey solutions on cloud platforms, and many hotel chains in the

region are either in the process of implementing cloud-based solu-

tions or evaluating cloud technology.”

PUBLIC CLOUDThe public cloud has already established itself as the preferred way

to deliver front-of-house guest services. Martin Chevalley, CEO and

founder of guest services software specialist InnSpire, says that

cloud can be used to provide guests with simple services such as

access to their favourite television programmes, radio channels and

social media platforms.

On the business side, integrated cloud applications can provide ho-

tels with in-depth analytics and data mining, making more proactive

use of customer information to fi ne-tune and develop better services.


Kempinski has used public

cloud services since 2008 when

it implemented Google Apps.

It also uses Amazon Web Ser-

vices for server and system soft-

ware provisioning running on

a private network – in essence,

a hybrid model that provides

multiple corporate IT services to

all hotel units, including moni-

toring and help desk systems,

domain name system (DNS)

servers, active directories and

reporting tools.

“We recently launched an

additional module to our local

PMS system called Opera2Go,

accessible anywhere on any

device,” he says. “This module

provides key functions such as

check-in and –out, queries, bill-

ing and housekeeping functions

on wireless mobile devices. This

makes use of public cloud for

public-facing user interface on

web services, and back-end da-

tabase connectivity is provided

on the private cloud between

the hotel and service provider.”

LEVEL OF SERVICECloud computing is a good

match with round-the-clock

businesses like hotels, because

“It is a mix of private and

public cloud,” states Cheval-

ley. “There are private and very

secure clouds such as storage

and data analytics, and there

are public clouds like media and

content. At Innspire we use a

mix of both.

“The cloud methodology

really gives instant access to a

world of relevant information in

all kinds of areas. Being able to

avoid storing and securing data

locally is a huge financial benefit

as it cuts cost for not only the

storage and servers themselves,

but also for the space that

would otherwise be required,

the cooling it would need, the

security and so on. Further-

more, the cloud methodology

provides a world of freedom and

flexibility, as it becomes easier

to switch content providers.”

According to Rupasinghe,

several hotel chains already run

private clouds on Multiprotocol

Label Switching (MPLS) internet

networks that provide connec-

tivity to key hospitality software

applications such as Property

Management Systems (PMS),

financial management and

payroll systems, as well as access

to corporate information and

collaboration platforms.

“I would say that we are prob-

ably more conservative in the

region when it comes to cloud

infrastructure, security and

resilience,” he explains.

“Many hotels are still reluctant

to use public clouds such as

AWS, Google Apps, Zoho Docs

and Microsoft Azure due to high

costs of internet bandwidth,

and security and compliance

concerns.”

Industry insiders say it is vital to plan your migration to the

cloud carefully, assessing each application’s suitability and

ensuring that you are not simply letting the hype guide

you in the wrong direction. The notion that cloud is a more

economical solution could be mistaken.

“Select your provider wisely,” says Soroush Nazemi, director

of IT systems at Hyatt Dubai. “Total cost of ownership is not only

your initial or monthly fees, but also any data loss that could

occur due to Security Bridge or system malfunction. This is

especially important if you are planning to keep PCI and credit

card applications on the cloud – make sure your provider has

proven experience in delivering similar solutions.”

Nazemi said it is also important to involve your stakeholders

in the migration, and gather their feedback along the way, so

that it can be used to improve the end-user’s experience with

the new systems.

At Kempinski, director of information technology Prasanna

Rupasinghe said due diligence should also include a complete

understanding of the service provider’s SLAs, and that

reliability, availability and business continuity are adequately

defined – regardless of the price.

“Ensure you have enough network bandwidth and

redundant network lines terminated at the hotel, in case of

network outages,” he says.

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket; try to use different

cloud providers. For critical databases, you might want to use

more than one cloud provider with standardise APIs, to ensure

that the SaaS provider can switch in case of the failure, and

services won’t be affected.”

Preparing the ground for CloudSoroush Nazemi from Hyatt Dubai

says that it is very important to involve the stakeholders if a hotel

plans to move to the cloud.

“Use of cloud in the UAE and GCC is still in its early stages but most hotels already use some aspect of it. Almost all hotels use cloud for their email, social networking and non-core business applications.” Soroush Nazemi, director of IT systems at Hyatt Dubai.


industry players because of their

traditional cost.

“Adopting cloud-based

solutions frees hoteliers from

building and maintaining large

and complex IT infrastructures,

allowing them to solely focus

more on value creation and

leverage the technology made

available by cloud services at

lower costs,” he explains.

“The ability to scale IT infra-

structure requirements up and

down rapidly, on a pay-per-use

basis, is also a very attractive

proposition for hotels, espe-

cially for those that are highly

seasonal in their operations – ski

resorts, for example.

“The move away from large,

upfront investments in technol-

ogy is equally attractive to hotel

operators, easing up capital

investment requirements from

hotel owners and providing

hoteliers with better flexibility

and agility through on-demand

computing services and access

to the attest technologies and

software services.”

CLOUD CONCERNSSecurity concerns are still the

biggest reason for caution

when it comes to adopting

cloud services – particularly

the public cloud – in the sector.

Any applications that collect

and process guests’ personal

information, financial transac-

tions and business information

must be secure, and there is a

perception that the public cloud

is more fallible than keeping

everything within a traditional

infrastructure.

“Security and safety of data

is key to choosing the type of

cloud,” says Hyatt’s Nazemi.

“Companies offering cloud and

SaaS must prove that they can

keep the data secure and pro-

vide enough backups and sys-

tems to avoid data loss. Guest

privacy must be considered

when deciding which informa-

tion and systems to move to the

cloud. This is to minimise the

risk associated with compromis-

ing that important data.”

“Unlike many other businesses,

it provides them with the

continuous high level of service

required to fulfil guest expec-

tations, according to Soroush

Nazemi, director of IT systems at

Hyatt Dubai.

“Moving services to the cloud

increases the reliability of appli-

cations and avoids interruption

to service delivery,” he says. “Ex-

panding services according to

need is another attractive aspect.

Since Hyatt moved its email plat-

form from individual hotels to

cloud, the uptime of the service

has risen vastly and communica-

tion interruption for guests

is almost non-existent. It also

helped expansion very easily,

joining new hotels to the chain

in a matter of hours. In the past

they had to wait a few months

to prepare their network and

platform to host their individual

email servers.”

At Kempinski, Prasanna

Rupasinghe says cloud technol-

ogy has helped hoteliers take

advantage of sophisticated

applications and advanced

functionality that were previ-

ously only accessible to the large

Cloud adoption concerns for hotels IT managers:

as access to television programmes, radio channels, social

media platforms

analytics and data mining, allowing them to fine-tune and

develop better services

costs as hotels do not have to have their own data centres

communication interruption for guests

properties onto a central IT system

The benefits of cloud for hotels

“I think the biggest obstacle for the use of cloud in the region is the cost of con-nectivity, be it the public internet, MPLS private networks or VPNs.” Prasanna Rupasinghe, director of information technol-ogy, Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates.

Prasanna Rupasinghe from Kempinski Hotel at Mall of the Emirates says that many hotel chains in the region are either in the process of implementing cloud-based solutions or evaluating cloud technology.


hotel information systems

contain millions of records with

guest information, credit card

details and other confidential

data stored indefinitely on

databases,” agrees Rupasinghe.

“This should be taken into ac-

count when considering a cloud

service provider, as privacy and

compliance regulations vary

across different jurisdictions in

the region.”

Deciding which systems to

move to the cloud could also be

a cost issue. Hoteliers need to

be certain that transferring an

tions, security and privacy,

should remain in private clouds

until there is a wide availabil-

ity of regional cloud service

providers and a reduction in the

communication line costs.”

EARLY STAGESHotels should test platforms

thoroughly and assess the dif-

ference the cloud could make

to their business and services

before making a wholesale

commitment to migration.

Hyatt’s Nazemi recom-

mended a gradual move, taking

things one application at a

time, and involving end-users at

every stage so that the benefits

are fully realised across the

business.

“Total cost of ownership –and

therefore the bottom line – is

affected, depending on which

provider is chosen for private

cloud,” he said. “While an

inexpensive provider might

look attractive to begin with,

the cost of data loss could be

heavy if they cannot guarantee

security.

“Use of cloud in the UAE and

GCC is still in its early stages but

most hotels already use some

aspect of it. Almost all hotels

use cloud for their email, social

networking and for their non-

core business applications.”

Nazemi estimated that only

around half the hotels in the re-

gion are moving core business

applications to the cloud.

However, as the international

chains implement centralised

data centres that incorporate

some use of the cloud, the

industry will develop a more

consistent approach to the new

and exciting computing model.

“In the years to come, cloud

will be a strong topic in hotels

and hotel chains,” he said.

The adoption rate will

depend on software vendors

embracing the model.

“Hospitality application

providers play a very impor-

tant role in providing the right

certification or support on cloud

platforms. Without their full

support, hotels will face extre,e

difficulties in utilising the cloud

effectively and properly for their

core applications.”

application to the cloud won’t

create performance issues that

impact on guest services.

“I think public cloud is ideal

for email and collaboration plat-

forms that can be accessed from

anywhere and virtually from any

device,” said Rupasinghe, who

believes that public clouds are

also an easy and efficient way to

deliver Web 2.0 and emerging

Web 3.0 technologies.

“Particularly in this region,

I think the more strategic IT

services that carry more risk

around performance, regula-

Cloud is an important technology for the

hotel sector, according to experts, because

it offers better connectivity and application

delivery than traditional IT.

“The cloud methodology really gives instant access to a world of relevant information in all kinds of areas.” Martin Chevalley, CEO and founder of guest services software specialist InnSpire.

Martin Chevalley from InnSpire

says that the cloud provides

a world of freedom and

flexibility, as it becomes easier

to switch content providers.

Security experts ManageEngine and HelpAG

go head-to-head on hotel network security

“Hospitality networks are often completely uncontrolled and all users in the network are able to communicate to each other.”

“We have seen most hotels segregate the access to internet and the internal IT resources at the switch level.”

Hotels offer free internet service

as a goodwill gesture to all of their

guests. These guests will be from

all walks of life, and many differ-

ent countries and the hotel has to

ensure that the guests do not intrude

into the hotel network.

We have seen most hotels segregate the

access to internet and the internal IT re-

sources at the switch level. Ideally, they keep the

wired and wireless guest connections in a completely

separate network.

Few hotels do offer guest services over the local area network, which

allow guest’s to access the hotel IT resource.

As they have an overlap in usage, these guest resources are segmented to

a separate network with secured access privileges.

An example of this could be an exclusive login access or one time pass-

word to the guest services.

From the perspective of the user of a

hotel network you should not expect the

hotel to do anything to keep your com-

munication or traffic flows safe. Hospitality

networks are often completely uncontrolled

and all users in the network are able to com-

municate to each other.

From the consumer perspective it is important

that you take the same precautions when using

a hospitality network as when working directly on an

internet connection. From the perspective of the hotel the

most important thing is to keep the hospitality network and corporate

network very separated, maybe even down to different physical infra-

structures. The reason for this separation is that the services running on

the corporate network such a IPTV, VoIP, Booking systems and payment

terminals has become a very criticial part of how the hotel is operated.

Hotels have the requirements to store data about their clients such as

name, addresses, passport number as well as also payment information.

Securing the public network is one of the key challenges facing the hotel industry, which has

recently come under a series of attacks

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

Expe

rt’s C

olum

n 50

AJAY KUMAR, PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER, MANAGEENGINE

NICOLAI SOLLING, DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY SERVICES AT HELPAG

HOW DOES A HOTEL ALLOW

GUESTS TO USE ITS NETWORK WHILE KEEPING ITS DATA

SAFE?

April 2013 Vol.19 No.04 51

Like any corporate IT network, the hotels also face the in-

ternal threat from their own staff and exter-

nal threat through the internet. The attacker (i-

nsider or outsider) may look for data like cred-

it card, private information about celebri-

ties etc. These threats are controlled with legacy se-

curity tools, which are grossly insufficient to handle

such threats. The other important IT threat to the ho-

tel is the guest Internet access. The hotel also has the re-

sponsibility to protect their guests from malicious at-

tacks to save their reputation. There was an instance where

the federal agency (FBI) warned hotels guests that malware

maybe getting installed on their laptops in the guise of software up-

dates. This clearly indicates that the hotel has to secure the internet ser-

vices they offer to the guests.The guest might also bring in a lap-

top/ smartphone, which is already infected with virus or mal-

ware. These devices pose additional security threats.

Yes, of course they are more difficult! Unlike a typi-

cal company network, where guests have lim-

ited or no access, hotels are more vulner-

able. The guest Internet access adds a new dimen-

sion to the vulnerability.

In a usual corporate network, the IT re-

sources are clearly governed by poli-

cies and they are accessed by known set of em-

ployees. The guest access is very minimal

or nonexistent. This clearly makes the hotels more unse-

cure and difficult to manage.

From the perspective of the consumer it is to deliver

services to the consumer in-line with the reputation

of the hotel. If I check into a five star hotel I am of

course also expecting a five star internet con-

nection. The same could be said about IPTV and

in-room telephony systems, which are now mostly

based on IP. If these services are not working well it

will impact how I think about the services I receive.

As a good example; I recently stayed in a brand new

hotel in Qatar – five star and really good quality. I only

experienced one issue, which was that their IPTV cut out

every 20 minutes and I had to restart the television, needless to

say not a five star experience.

Another big threat to hotels is that users can connect to the network and

utilise the connection in ways that could be conflicting with local

or international jurisdiction, as an example, the download of

pirated movies.

I would not say that hotels are more difficult to secure

as their data and risk domains is exactly like any

other organisations, however hotels do have specific

requirements.In general we have the technology to

solve the issues within the field of hospitality from

storage of payment card information to logging

what users are doing, but I quite often see that these

things are not being deployed by the hotels as it could

become expensive, therefore the hotels ignore the risk in-

stead of doing something proactive about it. Hotels are in the

services industry and do not necessarily have inhouse technologists.

Nicolai Solling, director of Technology services at HelpAGAjay Kumar, product marketing manager, ManageEngine

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST THREATS

TO HOTEL NETWORKS?

ARE HOTELS MORE OR LESS DIFFICULT TO

SECURE THAN A SIMILAR SIZED

BUSINESS?

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

52

Secu

rity

focu

s

products do detect a C&C, it’s

likely to be simply blocked or

logged without notice – the same

way any minor event is handled.

So in most cases, the organization

never knows that it may be

under a serious targeted attack,”

according to Steve Quane, chief

product officer at Trend Micro.

Trend Micro researchers note

that the average lifespan of a C&C

address is less than three days and

that many sophisticated attackers

use techniques only detectable

AccessData says that data theft

code is so sophisticated it can not

be stopped by traditional anti-

virus or firewalls.

Intellectual property theft is

one of the most common types of

IT fraud committed in the Middle

East region, Simon Whitburn, vice

president International Sales at

global digital forensics expert

AccessData, told Network Middle

East magazine.

“The most common thing we

see is customer data type thefts,

and typically that has been an

individual going in to a company

and stucking a thumb drive in a

device and pulling off a load of

data, it could be credit card data.

They then take that data and sell it

to the highest bidder,” he said.

Data theft has become very

sophisticated, with more and

more highly complex code

coming into companies designed

to steal important confidential

data. This type of code is so

sophisticated, according to

Whitburn that a company’s

anti-virus, data loss prevention

software, firewall, and intrusion

detection systems are not going

to catch it.

“You need to be more vigilant

and have the capability to see

what is actually happening

out there, and also look at the

network traffic,” said Whitburn.

Recently there have been a

number of incidents where code

has come into an organisation

and, according to AccessData,

typically 95% of incidents that

happen are revealed to the

company by an outside source,

because the internal technology

is nto sophisticated enough to

catch the code.

“We have had a couple of

incidents where the company

knows they have been in trouble

because someone has told them

about it, but they don’t know

what it is or where it is, because

as soon as you execute some of

this code, it will change again.

Unless there is a signature out for

it, then you can’t stop it. We don’t

stop anything, we are out there

investigating and looking for

these types of incidents.

“We deploy our technology

to their environment, look for

anomalies, look for differences

or we have an infected machine

and can take a snapshot of what

is going on on the machine, not

stop the code but define that it is

bad stuff,” said Whitburn.

Code designed to steal data is

currently being written all over

the world, but the hot spots are in

the Far East and Eastern Europe.

Whitburn says there is also very

sophisticated code being written

right here in the UAE.

Trend Micro has introduced new

advances in its Custom Defense

solution that focus on identifying

and blocking the command and

control (C&C) communications

used by advanced persistent

threats (APTs) and targeted

attacks. Trend Micro Custom

Defense is designed to enable

organisations not only to detect

and analyse APT attacks, but also

to adapt their protection and

respond to the attackers.

These new advances in C&C

response provide custom

detection and protection for

network, gateway, server and

endpoint protection points,

along with centralised alerting

and C&C risk intelligence to

keep the customer informed

and in control of the response to

command and control activity.

“Most security vendors lack the

expertise, scale, technology and

resources to reliably identify the

various types of C&C. And when

their web, messaging or endpoint

with specialised network-

based detection on-site at the

organisation.

Recently tracked command

and control data from TrendLabs

researchers shows over 1500

active command and controlsites,

with victims per site ranging

from 1 to over 25,000. Of note,

over two-thirds of these sites had

three or fewer active victims. Over

25% of the sites had a lifespan of

one day or less. Over 50% had a

lifespan of four days or less.

Trend Micro introduces C&C defence solution

Simon Whitburn, vice president International Sales at global digital forensics expert AccessData, says data theft is common in the region.

Data theft is common in the

Middle East

THE WORLD’S LEADING PEER-LED DATA CENTER CONFERENCE & EXPO SERIES2013 CALENDAR

DCD Converged pulls together the people, process and technology necessary to execute a world-class data center strategy under one roof.

With 70% of DCD attendees responsible for the direction, tactical management, and

operational implementation of their data center strategy we are continually evolving

our conference programs to meet your growing information needs.

Why should I attend?

www.datacenterdynamics.com/conference

DUBAIMAY 27THMADINAT JUMEIRAH

FEATURED EVENT

Media Partners

JOB FUNCTIONS OF ATTENDEES

Operations

Networks

IT Applications

Facilities

Engineering

Finance, Sales, Other

Real Estate

45%

26%

21%

15%

27%

11%

Contact Us:Registration Enquiries: Wasim Hamid + 971 (0) 4 434 8452

Sponsorship Enquiries: [email protected]

or + 971 (0) 4 434 8452

OUR CONVERGED APP

App name: DCD Planner

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04

54

Secu

rity

focu

s

allows users to self-service enroll

their devices and IT can provision

policies and apps to large groups

of devices automatically. The

software is also designed to

allow IT to blacklist or whitelist

apps, detect and protect against

jailbroken devices, and wipe or

selectively wipe a device that is

lost, stolen or out of compliance.

“The promise of mobility hinges

on the ability for IT to deliver

secure apps and data to users

on any device. When customers

bring their own devices to work,

as is increasingly the norm, IT

doesn’t have the tools to manage

or secure the content on them.

Dubai Police have arrested four

men accused of being a gang of

cyber criminals who managed

to steal millions of dirhams from

foreign exchange companies

before being detained, Dubai

media reported.

The gang, composed of

Asians and Africans, hacked into

company accounts and changed

payment details, diverting funds

to a number of accounts.

“Cheques worth more than

Dh6bn have been found with

the gang after their arrest,” said

acting chief of Dubai Police

Major General Khamis Matter Al

Mazeina. He also said the suspects

transferred Dh7m to accounts in

their name.

Colonel Salem Khalifa Al

Rumaithi, deputy director of

CID for Search and Investigation

said police were alerted to the

gang’s activities earlier last

month when tipped off about a

$2m transfer from a company’s

account. He said the transfer

was accomplished through the

hacking of company emails.

One gang member, an Asian

national referred to as KS, was

the recipient of the transferred

money and received a 7% cut of

the total amount as payment, Al

Mazeina said. KS is currently in

police custody.

Al Rumaithi said a second

suspect, another Asian national

identified as SK, gave the gang

the details of the destination

accounts, for which he received

a 3% payment. SK has also since

been arrested and confessed to

his part in the operation.

The remainder of the

appropriated funds was received

by an African national, said to be

the instigator of the fraud.

Lieutenant-Colonel Saeed Al

Hajiri, director of the Electronic

Intelligence Department said:

“After wide and comprehensive

search [for] the third suspect,

and [surveillance of] the places

he frequently visited for four

days running, he was eventually

arrested.”

The third man was referred

to as DS, and described as the

middleman between the second

suspect and an Africa-based

cyber gang.

“The suspect confessed to

having participated in the fraud,

and... remittances worth...

Dh4.6bn were recovered, as well

as IDs in different names.”

Citrix has launched its XenMobile

MDM solution, enterprise mobile

device management software

designed to gives users device

choice while enabling IT to meet

its management and compliance

requirements.

“In today’s complex enterprise

mobility environment that

includes a mix of corporate

and employee-liable devices,

companies need solutions that

allow them to manage devices,

data, and apps. The addition of

an MDM solution to the Citrix

MAM and data management

capabilities create a complete

solution. By offering a platform for

mobile enterprise management

that gives options, Citrix can help

give customers the peace of mind

that, if their needs change, the

platform can adjust,” said Stephen

Drake, Programme VP Mobile

Enterprise, IDC.

XenMobile MDM features

role-based management,

configuration and security of

corporate and employee-owned

devices. The solution is built on

a highly secure architecture and

integrates directly with Microsoft

Active Directory and public key

infrastructure systems, as well as

security information and event

management tools. The software

With its comprehensive portfolio

of mobile solutions, Citrix offers

customers the ability to say ‘yes’.

Yes to total mobile freedom by

providing a complete solution that

can manage and secure all devices,

apps and data while giving users

the ability to experience work and

life their way,” said Amit Pandey,

group vice president and general

manager, Mobile Platforms, Citrix

In addition to XenMobile MDM,

Citrix now also offers a Mobile

Solutions Bundle for Enterprise

Mobility Management (EMM).

The Mobile Solutions Bundle is

comprised of XenMobile MDM

and CloudGateway.

Citrix debuts new MDM solution

A cyber criminal gang managed to steal millions of dirhams from foreign exchange companies.

Dubai police crack

international cyber ring

April 2013 Vol.19 No.04 55

7:00 – 7:30 AMRise and shine! Usually I wake

up to the sight of my kids – two

sons, aged 11 and 5, and my

daughter (two and half). My

sons are usually up and ready

for school when I see them

in the morning. Also the only

time I get a chance to spend

the maximum time with my

two-and-half year old daughter.

I shower and dress and help my

wife with the kids.

8:15 AMI check my emails on my iPad

while having my breakfast. I

prefer my fi rst meal to be rich in

protein and vegetables. I avoid

sugar. My coff ee is something I

am particular about, so I brew

a strong cup to brace me for

the day – I prefer using my

old fashioned Italian stove top

espresso maker.

Over coff ee and breakfast I

discuss our plans for the day

with my wife.

8:30 AMI drive to work while listening to

the local radio station.

9:00 AMI am in offi ce at the Bayt.com

HQ in Tecom, Dubai.

9:00 – 9:30 AMBefore starting with my emails

I take a look the technical

benchmarks including the

dashboard of our system,

business and technical matrix.

9:30 – 12:00 AMI spend the fi rst few hours of

my day tackling urgent client

emails and those concerning

our online presence.

I later have a quick morning

one-on-one meeting with my

team members. I don’t doa

team huddle (we have these

once a week), so as not to end

up spending too much of my

team’s time.

12:00 – 1:00 PMI coordinate with our

development team in Amman

and with our vendors. This is

the time I usually take meeting

requests and try to fi nish them

by 1 pm

1: 00 – 2:00 PMI prefer to have lunch at home

with my wife. Sometimes over

lunch I also catch up on the latest

news in technology and business

on my iPad.

2:15 – 3:00 PMBack in offi ce I coordinate with

Rabea (our CEO) on certain

subjects concerning our

products, functions etc.

3:00 – 5:00 PMI review contracts with customers

and suppliers and I also work

on our company’s product

specifi cation documents.

5:00 – 6:00 PMAt this time I am usually on a

VoIP call/chat with Omar (our

vice president of Product) in our

Amman offi ce or in a meeting

with our other unit managers

on project execution/potentials/

challenges or I am in a meeting

with Atif (our Infrastructure

Manager) discussing our

technological acquisitions.

6:00 PM Before I leave the offi ce I make

it a point to visit certain social

bookmarking websites on

technological innovations to

keep me up-to-date on the latest

trends in my industry.

7:00 PMI am off for the day.

7:30 – 8:00 PMTime for dinner at home and

some family time. I discuss

school with my kids.

9:00 PMI usually prefer getting a little

exercise- walking is what I like to

do best.

9:30 – 11:00 PMIn case I don’t have any social

commitments I spend this part

of the evening reading – I prefer

reading online, usually political

and social commentary.

Before going to bed I go through

my emails just to make sure there

is nothing urgent that has come

up. Havens forbid, if that is the

case it will be a late night for me,

or else it is off to bed to squeeze

in my seven hours of sleep!

DAY IN THE LIFE AKRAM ASSAF – CTO- BAYT.COM

Akram Assaf from Bayt.com is a dedicated family man as well as the head of Bayt’s IT.

April

201

3 Vo

l.19

No.

04Last

wor

d56

What is your current role in the ICT

industry in the Middle East and what

are your responsibilities?

I am the Director of Strategic Security

Consultancy in HelpAG Middle East. I

am involved in the consultancy services

which we provide in diff erent areas

of strategic information security, such

as implementation of international

and regional standards, preparation

for certifi cation against standards;

awareness training for information

security, tailored to the needs of

the organisation; and many other

consultancy related functions which

vary as per client requirements.

What is the best thing about your job?

My customers! My customers inspire

me by infusing so many diff erent

viewpoints and takes on information

security, business continuity and all the

other topics we are working on. These

make for engaging discussion as new

views are always like a breath of fresh

air. The link to my customer’s business

is what makes the standards real. To be

the guiding force behind the successful

implementation of standards that

deliver tangible real world benefi ts is a

great reward!

How innovative do you think the

network industry in the Middle East is

and how can it improve?

On the technical side, the Middle East

is as innovative as any other part in the

world and any diff erences are minor.

Some improvements can be made in

more strategic fi elds, where there is

still a lack of qualifi ed local experts, and

where the overall awareness still needs

to grow. Having said that, I have seen

remarkable improvements in the last

three years.

What are the upcoming trends or

products in your sector?

One of the biggest changes will be

the new ISO/IEC 27001, which is likely

to come out at September 2013. It

introduces a new structure that all

management systems will have to

follow in the future (ISO 22301, the one

for business continuity, does already

do so). The changes that have been

made to the standard aim at achieving

management systems that are both

more fl exible and effi cient.

Some changes at the local level are also

expected.

Does your company have any green

initiatives and if so, what?

We are economical in the use of

printers and share cars whenever

possible. This does have a signifi cant

impact as we all commute a lot

between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Does your company utilise

virtualisation or cloud computing?

We do not use cloud computing at the

moment, but plan to off er this service

with particular security enhancements

to our clients within this year.

Are you a BYOD user and what devices

do you use?

I am very dependent on my device for

offi ce communications and I currently

use an iPhone.

What are your out of offi ce hobbies?

I am passionate about horses and try to

go horseback riding as often as I can.

I also enjoy swimming and spending

time on boats, and I hope to get into

scuba diving as my time permits. I like

dancing, too.

What is your favourite fi lm There are

too many good ones to choose from.

Customer inspirationDr Angelika Plate director of Strategic Security Consultancy at Help AG Middle East explains her role with the company

iOS, BlackBerry or Android?

iOS

What is your favourite gadget?

My iPad

Who is your favourite band/musician?

I like reggae, salsa, pop, rock, and

classic genres. It all really boils down to

my mood at the time

What is your favourite book?

The Glass Bead Game from

Hermann Hesse

Favourite things

Does your fibre system tick all the boxes?

40G

LANmark-OF : Competitive Fibre Optic Solutions

100GAccelerate business at the speed of light

LANmark-OF brings the best fibre technologies together to ensure maximum reliability and lowest operational cost.

Micro-Bundle cables save up to 50% trunk spaceSlimflex cords offer 7,5mm bend radius saving 30% space in patching areasPre-terminated assemblies reduce installation timeMPO connectivity enables cost efficient migration to 40/100G

OF brochure

www.nexans.com/LANsystems [email protected] l o b a l e x p e r t i n c a b l e s

a n d c a b l i n g s y s t e m s

Date post:	09-Mar-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	min-magcom
View:	225 times
Download:	4 times

Network Middle East - April 2013

Documents