Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 50 | Page 10

NEWS KSA and World Economic Forum to set up Fourth Industrial Revolution Centre S audi Arabia and the World Economic Forum are to set up a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Kingdom. Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning, and Klaus Schwab, WEF Executive and Chairman, signed the agreement following meetings to discuss areas of joint co- operation between the Kingdom and the Geneva-based organisation. “The centre will provide space for the development of the mechanisms, plans and applications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Kingdom and will contribute to the adoption of technology and best practices in the region and the world,” said an issued statement. Saudi Arabia is forging ahead with plans to overhaul its economy to reduce its reliance on oil, through measures such as investments in advanced technology, to create jobs for nationals and diversify sources of revenue. The Kingdom has made investments in other tech ventures as part of its broader plan to transform the country into a high-tech investment powerhouse. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is based on a number of areas, including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, the Internet of Things, robots, Smart Cities, governance, future shaping of technology and data policy, automated mobility, unmanned aerial vehicles and the future of airspace. The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology will manage the centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in co-operation with WEF. ////////////////// Nutanix hosts Enterprise Cloud Conference in KSA Executives from Nutanix delivered a number of informative sessions including latest insights into data centre modernisation, multi-cloud and automation, and application workloads. The event featured keynotes and talks, hands-on learning with experts and a first- hand look at the latest Nutanix products. The solutions-oriented event educated attendees on how they can build virtual apps and desktops on Nutanix. One of the attractions at the event was Sophia the Robot, the world’s first robot citizen who is a Saudi national. Sophia the robot, the world’s first AI robot citizen N utanix, a leader in enterprise cloud computing, has hosted its annual .NEXT on Tour event with the theme ‘Invisible Clouds, Visible IT’ in Riyadh. 10 INTELLIGENTCIO The conference focused on helping enterprises in KSA free themselves from the complexity and cost of legacy IT and embrace the power of cloud. Mohammad Abulhouf, Country Manager – Saudi and Bahrain at Nutanix, said: “.NEXT on has become a premier event for the latest in cloud technologies. With our company’s well-earned reputation as a global leader in hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), we aim to help regional organisations embrace the power of hybrid clouds by eliminating pain points and enabling them to manage, govern and optimise applications across public and private cloud architectures.” www.intelligentcio.com