FEATURE: DATA STORAGE AND DATA ARCHITECTURES
Left to right: Leandro Galli, Senior Solutions Engineer, Confluent, Mohamed Zouari, General Manager META, Snowflake, Khalil Yazbeck, Business Development Manager UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, Kingston Technology
Faster time to market is undoubtedly the biggest win up for grabs. In today’ s digital world, speed is everything – if you cannot move fast, you cannot compete.
Data Streaming Platforms, Data Products and other advancements in data technologies make that possible by ensuring data is always available, always structured, and always ready for use. It also means better decision-making, stronger security, and seamless compliance.
Walid Issa, Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering, Middle East and Africa, NetApp and Haider Aziz, Vice President META, VAST Data
transformation and gain a competitive edge. Instead of reacting to data sprawl, they can take charge by leaning into AI-driven automation, reducing operational burden while making smarter decisions,” says NetApp’ s Issa.
“ Hybrid multi-cloud is not just about flexibility; it is about control, giving CIOs the power to move workloads seamlessly without being locked in,” adds Issa.
Furthermore, security cannot be an afterthought; proactive cyber resilience must be built into every layer of storage.
“ With silos gone, innovation accelerates because teams have instant access to the insights they need. Ultimately, it is about business agility – sticking with outdated architectures slows you down, while modernising gives you the speed and intelligence to lead,” continues Galli.
Organisations that embrace modern data architectures benefit from enhanced scalability, cost efficiency, and AI-driven insights with near-zero administration effort. Snowflake’ s cloud-native architecture, for example, eliminates legacy constraints, allowing businesses to process large volumes of data across public clouds with low latency.
“ During periods of peak usage, automatic resource scaling allows a high number of users to run concurrent workloads without impacting performance. The separation of storage and computing ensures organisations only pay for the resources they use, optimising operational costs,” says Snowflake’ s Zouari.
“ And as AI fuels exponential data growth, CIOs must also think green. Sustainability in storage should be a strategic decision. CIOs who embrace these innovations will not just manage data; they will turn it into a competitive advantage,” continues Issa.
Generating benefits and ROI
“ The shift left approach is key. This ensures that when the business needs data, it is already structured, compliant, and ready to drive innovation,” says Confluent’ s Galli.
Additionally, the ability to integrate both structured and unstructured data supports AI applications, enabling richer insights and automation. Businesses are empowered to unlock real-time analytics, streamline operations, and drive smarter decisionmaking with minimal infrastructure complexity.
Enterprises embracing the latest data storage and architectures gain scalability and flexibility via multi-cloud and software-defined solutions. Performance improves with edge computing and AI-driven optimisation, enabling faster data processing.
Costs drop through pay-as-you-go cloud models and automated tiering. Security and compliance strengthen with Zero-Trust frameworks and blockchain-based data integrity.
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