NEWS
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& UAE and Ankabut have renewed their agreement to strengthen and modernise the digital infrastructure supporting the UAE’ s education and research ecosystem.
The next phase of the partnership will expand network capacity for advanced research, cloud connectivity, AI workloads and collaboration with international research networks.
The initiative aims to provide universities and research institutions with a secure, resilient and high-performance digital foundation capable of supporting growing demand for artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and data-intensive research. e & UAE and Ankabut strengthen AI-ready connectivity for research
dedicated, high-capacity connectivity for compute-intensive workloads such as AI model training, deep learning inference and large-scale data modelling.
By connecting campuses directly with local AI hyperscalers and large-scale cloud environments, the infrastructure is designed to reduce the impact of network congestion, bandwidth limitations and latency while giving researchers greater capacity and reliability.
Tarek Jundi, CEO of Ankabut, said:“ We are witnessing the next evolution of research. With high-performance computing and data-intensive collaboration becoming central to modern knowledge, we need to move beyond just connecting institutions and become the digital backbone that enables secure and sovereign data research.”
Abdulla Ebrahim Al Ahmed, Chief Government & VVIP Relations Officer at e & UAE, said:“ True digital transformation in education requires us to look beyond traditional network solutions. We are proud to serve as the trusted architect of this secure, scalable, and resilient AIready foundation.”
The AI-enabled private education network will provide academic institutions with
Salam and Nutanix partner to deliver private cloud services in Saudi Arabia
Etihad Salam Telecom Company,
Salam, has signed a strategic partnership with Nutanix to deliver Private Cloud Infrastructure as a Service to enterprise customers across Saudi Arabia.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at LEAP 2026, where Salam is participating as a strategic sponsor under the theme‘ Powering what’ s next’.
Under the three-year managed services partnership, Salam will use Nutanix’ s cloud technology to provide private cloud infrastructure solutions tailored to the requirements of its B2B customers. The collaboration is designed to give Saudi enterprises access to scalable cloud capabilities while maintaining the security and control associated with private infrastructure.
Abdullah Khorami, Chief Business Officer at Salam, said:“ Our collaboration combines Salam’ s expertise with Nutanix’ s world-class cloud technology, we are uniquely positioned to deliver private cloud infrastructure solutions that meet the highest standards of performance, security, and scalability. We are committed to enabling businesses across the Kingdom to accelerate their digital transformation journeys with confidence.”
The service will combine Salam’ s telecommunications network and knowledge of the Saudi market with Nutanix’ s technology platform, addressing growing enterprise demand for flexible, scalable and secure infrastructure as organisations modernise their IT environments.
Talal Al-Saif, Regional Director, Saudi Arabia, at Nutanix, said:“ We are thrilled to partner with Salam to bring our proven private cloud infrastructure capabilities to businesses throughout Saudi Arabia. We have a shared vision of empowering organizations with flexible, modern IT solutions that drive innovation and growth.” www. intelligentcio. com
INTELLIGENT CIO MIDDLE EAST
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