expected growth of cloud computing in 44%
the UAE by 2016
Citrix, a company specialized in cloud computing solutions and data host-
ing expected this field to achieve a 44% growth by 2016 comparing to its
results last year in the local market.
Johnny Karam, Citrix Vice President in the Middle East and North Africa
attributed this growth to the large prevalence of uses of mobile phones
and tablets in the UAE indicating that the UAE is ranked number one
internationally according to the prevalence and use of mobile phones.
He explained that the majority of the business sector from big and me-
dium companies in addition to the public sector is in the trend of offering
smart services and electronic transformation. In their work, employees
are relying on mobile devices whether smart phones or tablets which re-
quire a virtual cloud to carry the data of each company or entity at any
place so employees can perform their tasks anywhere and at any time.
Through a study conducted by Citrix on the local market, Karam expected
that expenditure on the field either in the public sector, which is the larg-
est, or the public sector will grow 13% more than last year comparing to
2012 and 24% by 2016 comparing to 2012.
He pointed out that cloud computing enables work from anywhere and
anytime as well as reducing total operation cost for any organization with
an average 40% more or less according to the number of employees and
specialization of each organization.
Karam explained that Citrix owns 50% of the cloud computing business
and serves 270,000 clients worldwide. He added that the public sector,
oil and gas, banks and telecommunications companies are major clients
of Citrix.
Smart taxi meters
Dubai Roads & Transport Authority
(RTA) released the new generation
of smart taxi meters which aim to im-
prove the level of customer service.
Adel Shakiri, Director of the Trans-
portation System Department at RTA
Public Transport Agency explained
that the smart meters being currently
installed will allow customers to view
the driver's data and his photo. The
meters will also receive messages
related to the road safety and weath-
er conditions in order to improve the
level of taxi customer service and
obtain customers' observations and
suggestions.
He indicated that the meters will be
connected directly to the computers
in the taxis that will be used to gather
accurate data and information then
analyze the behaviors of drivers. All
meters will also be supplied with 3D
maps to guide taxi drivers in reach-
ing their destinations.
Shakiri pointed out that the depart-
ment will be able to send images
of Dubai city and other information
such as promoting coming events
such as Expo 2020 which can be
electronically sent to the smart meter
and displayed on the screen.
The director of the transportation sys-
tem department added saying that
the smart meters will be integrated
with the advance reservation system
at the reservation and distribution
center in the Public Transport Agen-
cy which handles more than 8500
taxis in the emirate of Dubai in order
to meet the various requirements of
taxi passengers. He indicated that
in the first phase, RTA plans to start
launching the smart meters by in-
stalling the system in 600 taxis this
month. The system will be installed
in the rest of the fleet in phases.
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