Dissecting cloud computing in the UAE

Cloud computing is no longer a word reserved for the IT department; it has become a ubiquitous term across industries and across company divisions. In almost every industry, there are studies exploring the advantages of relocating IT systems to the cloud, and the benefits of doing so.

According to IDC, public cloud spending globally will grow from $229bn in 2019 to nearly $500bn in 2023, with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.3 per cent.

Across the Middle East and Africa, investments in cloud will reach $2.7bn by 2020 and reach up to $4bn by 2022. Specifically, cloud spending in the UAE is expected to reach $574m this year, up 30.7 per cent compared to $439m last year, according to IDC.

The multitude of combinations resulting from customers’ requirements and the available IT offers from global providers have resulted in the creation of many types of clouds.

However, many of them are often “merely marketing devices”, aimed at distinguishing a supplier from its competitors, argues global IT form Comarch. “This approach blurs basic concepts such as private and public clouds, very often leading to misunderstandings.”

The company said its cloud infraspace team has focussed on market needs and simplified the names of their services.

For instance, the Comarch Cloud Engine is a ready-to-use platform for businesses, which  offers the computing architecture of a fully outsourced on-demand service in the form of a number of servers, computing power, operating system, network, and storage services. It also has built-in backup and disaster recovery services as well as sophisticated security options.

Meanwhile, Comarch’s Cloud Managed Services provides continuous support during a company’s transition to the cloud from design through implementation/migration and support including optimisation. It also offers a proactive IT environment monitoring to identify and resolve issues before they impact the business.

Moving to the Private Cloud – where allocated resources are not shared with others, Comarch offers different options which can be custom-tailored for a company’s  specific needs. It offers security, flexibility, scalability and predictable operating expenses of a cloud solution, with the option to host the environment on the company’s own premises or in one of the Comarch data centre facilities.

Other services offered include Comarch Power Cloud, a service designed to move a company’s IBM infrastructure into a cloud as well as Multi-cloud management services – supporting more than one cloud provider.

The company also offers a Cloud Pricing Calculator, which estimates the cost of cloud services to make it more transparent for users.

 Comarch’s Cloud Management Portal is a simple user interface allowing management of the account, communicate with the support team, monitoring usage and charges and receiving invoices.

IT security

 Comarch has its own team of auditors and IT security testers  who provide comprehensive support for security analysis of applications, systems, infrastructure, mobile applications and post-event analysis. As a part of the additional services provided in connection with its cloud services, Comarch can create and audit security procedures for specific IT systems.

To register for any of the Comarch cloud services, click here. You can also request for a demo of Comarch’s cloud by clicking here.