Oracle has plans to add more cloud regions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia leading contenders thanks to their high adoption rates of the technology, according to the company's top regional executive.
The Arab world's two biggest economies also stand out because their governments have been championing innovation, Richard Smith, executive vice president of technology for Oracle's Emea region, told The National in an interview.
"We have priorities across Emea. But [the UAE and Saudi Arabia] are certainly very high growth regions," he said on the sidelines of the Oracle CloudWorld conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
"One of the things that is very powerful in the region is that government agendas for digitisation are strong drivers for cloud adoption.
"And if you look at Saudi Arabia or the UAE, everyone talks about social and citizen services, which is driving the rapid adoption of the cloud and its deployment."
Texas-based Oracle continues to make "very, very big" investments to build its data centre capacity, while ensuring they are in line with social, government and security strategies in the markets they enter, said Mr Smith.
"One of the biggest challenges is not the opportunity itself, but making sure that the partnerships we are creating are synergistic with the national agendas that many of those countries have."
In the wider Middle East, the adoption of cloud technology is growing amid the rise of technology-focused young consumers and the evolving digital landscape.
This has given global cloud providers incentive to tap into the potential offered by the region, most notably in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The two countries are focusing heavily on technology and innovation as part of their economic diversification plans.
They will eventually have five Oracle cloud regions between them.
A cloud region is a geographic area that is the location of a cloud data centre, which is a physical building that houses IT infrastructure used for running applications and related services, and for managing and storing associated data.
The kingdom welcomed the first in Jeddah in 2020, also the Middle East's first, while another cloud region in Riyadh was announced at the Leap technology conference earlier this year. A third in the futuristic megacity of Neom will go live "soon", chief information officer Jae Evans told The National in May.
The Dubai and Abu Dhabi cloud regions started operations in September 2020 and November 2021, respectively.
The Middle East accounts for about a fifth of Oracle's 45 public cloud regions across 23 countries.
Apart from Oracle, global majors including Microsoft, Amazon, IBM and Alibaba Cloud have all opened cloud and data centres in the Middle East.
The region is "certainly among some of the fastest in the globe, in terms of both adoption and desire", Mr Smith said.
Oracle maintains close relationships with governments in the region to ensure services match requirements.
For instance, in Saudi Arabia the company works "very closely" with the kingdom's cybersecurity agency ahead of new regulations that are to be issued.
"So we can understand what their thinking is and what they're looking to do," Mr Smith said.
"That kind of collaborative effort is a very powerful one. And I do see a strong willingness in the Middle East to adopt that kind of approach. Other countries can be a bit different."
Oracle's cloud computing services are also benefitting small and medium businesses, which comprise more than a quarter of the company's customers in Emea, said Cherian Varghese, senior vice president of technology for small and medium businesses in the region.
The company has about 315,000 SMB customers around the world.
ODI FIXTURE SCHEDULE
First ODI, October 22
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Second ODI, October 25
Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
Third ODI, October 29
Venue TBC
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In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
The Vines - In Miracle Land
Two stars
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
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BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
Results
Stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 3:20:24
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 5s
General Classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:38:16
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 22s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 48s
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UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
