by ZDNet and Tech Pro Research, 92
percent of respondents were familiar with
wearables. 11 percent said wearables are
being used in their organizations or will
be implemented in the near future and 25
percent said they were planning to use
wearables in the enterprise but had not al-
located a budget for it.
F5 Networks expected growing influence
of wearables in the coming stage, urging
organizations to prepare for the impact of
this matter and be prepared to ensure the
organization’s security and, at the same
time, boost innovation through keeping up
to employees’ new requirements.
According to the Cisco Global Cloud In-
dex, cloud computing traffic is growing
faster in the Middle East than anywhere
else. Cloud traffic will grow at 54 percent
a year in the region, from 31 exabytes in
2013 to 262 exabytes in 2018.
Cisco believed that moving businesses
to cloud has been the technology main-
stream in the past years, however, effi-
ciency factor was lower, resulting in orga-
nizations investing large capitals that may
exceed operational costs that they were
trying to limit.
2015 is expected to see increased focus
on improving cloud computing through
data movement management technolo-
gies which will play key role in simplifying
the usage of cloud computing. Organiza-
tions are likely to be able to achieve bal-
ance between improving their IT budgets
and enhance users’ experience.
F5 Networks also predicted that the Mid-
dle East region have a growing role in driv-
ing digital innovation on the global stage.
According to Gartner, the Middle East IT
spending will reach USD 243 billion by
2018, which is equivalent to 5.6 percent of
all worldwide IT spending.
Certain regions in the Middle East will wit-
ness a unique development phase while
trying to shape their future through quick
and innovative adoption of technology,
particularly that the region has the poten-
tial to surpass generations of technology
to implement new solutions that meet peo-
ple’s requirements in domains like bank-
ing, education or access to government
services.
Gartner recently reported that MENA gov-
ernments were set to spend USD 12.2 bil-
lion in 2014. Telecom services – fixed and
mobile – are the largest single category of
spending and are likely to hit USD 5.4 bil-
lion.
F5 Networks believes that with the initia-
tives like Dubai Smart City, there is a keen
appetite for more efficient and connected
public sector services. It expected an in-
crease in context-aware, tailored services
that enhance efficiencies and help drive
everything from business prosperity and
citizen health to tourism.
USD
243 billion
the region’s spending
on IT by 2018
Leading regional role
in digital innovation
and growth in cloud
computing
21
February
2015
