RIYADH, 13 May 2003 — The Citrix iForum 2003 Middle East, Saudi edition, took place on April 29 at the Al-Faisaliah Hotel. The event attracted about 1,000 IT professionals. Speaking with some guests at the event it was easy to see that they were pleased to come to the iForum, as they were not very familiar with Citrix technologies and hoped to learn something new. The Citrix iForum was co-sponsored by vendors including HP, Inmarsat, Microsoft Arabia, SAP Arabia, SBM-IBM, Sun Microsystems, and EMC, and these vendors worked hard to promote attendance among their customers.
While the iForum started with a bang, it ended with a whimper, mostly because the organizers allowed the event to run too long and attendance dwindled by the day’s end. In Saudi Arabia most day-long conferences conclude by 2:00 p.m. or at the latest by 4:00 p.m. The last breakout sessions at the Citrix iForum did not start until 4:45 p.m.
Also, no effort was made to accommodate women at the iForum. Last year in Riyadh, at a large e-commerce conference, women viewed the event’s speakers from a separate meeting room, using closed circuit facilities. It is troubling that while more and more Saudi women are becoming certified in various IT specialties, female IT professionals are frequently unable to benefit from knowledge enhancement opportunities made available in the Kingdom to similarly qualified men. This is generally because arrangements to allow women’s attendance are not put in place by event organizers.
Before things move too far ahead though, an explanation of Citrix Systems‚ technology is required. In the Kingdom, the most common models that organizations use to deploy their applications are the unmanaged desktop and the managed desktop. Citrix Systems believes that there is a better choice — the Citrix MetaFrame server-based computing environment.
Server-based computing (SBC) is also commonly referred to as thin-client computing. In this environment, all of the application processing takes place on centralized servers. Users can access these applications, either locally or remotely, via virtually any connection, using a standard desktop device, a thin client appliance, a wireless device, or a web browser.
Organizations frequently find that Citrix server-based computing environments are cost effective. Through the use of SBC, computing applications are centrally managed and supported. This brings down IT labor costs, and may also reduce licensing fees and hardware purchases. Central management and support leads to high levels of network reliability and availability. With SBC, network security is enhanced as there is a lower risk of data loss or theft and a reduced risk of virus problems. Citrix SBC also makes the best use of limited network bandwidth. Challenges mentioned in conjunction with Citrix environments normally focus on the costs associated with initial deployment and training in any organization, plus the need for an always-on network connection. However, Citrix asserts that research shows rapid return on investment for most companies implementing server-based computing solutions. Citrix feels that the time has come for organizations in the Kingdom to consider the server-based computing model.
“Citrix started an office in Dubai close to one year ago and our target was first to develop the Emirates and then to move to other countries in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is of course the largest market in the Middle East. Through the Citrix iForum we wanted to establish a good relationship with the market. We wanted to define to people what our technology is doing and what is the concept of server-based computing and the benefits it can bring,” said Frederic Tourisseau, area VP, Southern Europe, Citrix Systems.
In the Saudi market, Citrix representatives have seen that companies are struggling with complex applications, different types of users and too many kinds of hardware devices, matched against limited IT staff and tight budgets. Such an environment is ready for the move to Citrix.
“Why is making a phone call so simple? Because there is no intelligence in the handset. You press a button and you connect with a big data center where all the information resides. So there’s no complication with the device and it’s easy to access the phone connection from anywhere,” said Antoine Aguado, regional manager, Citrix Systems Middle East. “Citrix provides the same concept and the same architecture from an application point of view. It is not complicated anymore to deliver applications anywhere, to any device or to anyone. In a market with limited bandwidth, Citrix architecture is ideal because there’s no need to move data out from the company’s headquarters. All the data stays in the data center at the company’s headquarters. What gets sent is the image, the screen interface of an application, and the mouse and keyboard commands. Using less bandwidth results in huge cost savings and keeping all the data at the data center results in an increased level of security.”
Aguado emphasized that Citrix is a technology and it must be combined with other technologies to create an IT solution.
“We have signed contracts with many technology partners or Business Alliance Partners. When these partners combine their technology with Citrix technology, it’s offered as a solution,” he explained. “We think that in Saudi Arabia people are not looking for technology. They’re looking for a solution to a problem. With Inmarsat as an example, together with Citrix, you have a solution that delivers all the applications and all the technology the same, whether the user is at home or if he is on the road in the middle of the desert with a satellite connection.”
“When businessmen are on the move, using Citrix and Inmarsat they can still access all their data and all their applications, just like they were back in their office. What Inmarsat does is improve the performance of this process by providing people with Inmarsat’s regional BGAN terminal which we launched last December,” said Samer Halawi, regional director, Middle East and Africa, Inmarsat Ltd. “We did the testing with Citrix and it works beautifully. So if people are away from an appropriate terrestrial infrastructure, then they can use Inmarsat to connect to their Citrix platform. These individuals could be corporate nomads, people in a semi-fixed environment such as an exploration crew in the oil and gas industry, or people on the move on boats for example.”
This concept of computing on the move is being strongly promoted in the IT industry. On March 13, 2003, the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) in conjunction with leading IT firms, announced the formation of the Mobile Enterprise Alliance (MEA). The MEA is a global organization established to help enterprises realize the productivity benefits generated through access to core business applications by a mobile or remote workforce. Services from the MEA will include best practice guidance, sharing of technical solutions and the establishment of a common knowledge repository for access by enterprise IT directors.
Founding members include major brand names such as Citrix, Inmarsat, Palm, Sierra Wireless, Symbol and Symbian, among over 100 companies. The MEA will operate as an autonomous division of SIIA. Vendors will pay a subscription based on revenue to join, while enterprise customers will be able to join free of charge. MEA hopes to create a community for sharing knowledge and linking potential customers with suppliers. For more information on the new SIIA division, click to mobileenterprise.org.
While Inmarsat is providing mobile connectivity with Citrix, other vendors must provide the hardware to equip corporate data centers to enable Citrix. SBM-IBM was at the Citrix iForum informing potential customers about Citrix compatibility with IBM servers.
“The big play within IBM today is server consolidation, which fits very well with Citrix client consolidation,” said Andy Parkinson, sales manager, IBM eServer xSeries, Middle East, Egypt & Pakistan, IBM Middle East FZ-LLC. “Companies want to gain more centralized control over their servers and applications. Our customers want to manage their IT resources better and safeguard against business downtime. We have the solutions to fit large enterprises, small enterprises, midrange, whatever, and so does Citrix. It could be large server farms with thousands of users or small server farms with fifty users and then you pick the Citrix product depending on what you require.”
At the Citrix iForum, Parkinson was promoting IBM’s servers on one side of the exhibit and on the other side of the room, HP representatives were handing out information about Citrix and HP hardware as a solution. How did Parkinson feel about such a situation?
“SBM-IBM offer a portfolio of products that suit Citrix very well and as one of the main providers in the region it’s important that we’re here to show that we have Citrix certified solutions. Like any software provider, Citrix would have arrangements with the large enterprise providers. I would never expect Citrix to be exclusive to IBM. Now, what I offer are certain products and certain solutions that IBM sees as a better solution to a customer than some of the competitors‚ and that’s what I’m going to talk about. I’m a sales manager and that’s my job — to try and sell it.”
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