We meet with Fadi Kanafani, Managing Director – Middle East, NetApp at Gitex who shares insights into NetApp’s current plans and how AI innovations and cloud technologies are transforming the way we work and live because of the pandemic
What is your current role at NetApp and what are your responsibilities?
As the Middle East Managing Director, my role is to support my team on a local, regional and corporate level and keep developing and growing the business in the region. Our aim is always to represent the brand professionally and offer relevant solutions to our customer base to help them achieve their business objectives.
How can education play a role for innovation in this region?
Our region has proved that digital transformation initiatives can transform communities and the level of innovation recently has been impressive. Education is one of the main focus areas to prepare the region for a better future.
What products or solutions are you most excited about at NetApp?
Gitex coincides with NetApp insights and we have many improved products and solutions especially relating to cloud. Our digital transformation initiatives, the smart cities and IoT projects across the MENA region is what excites me in addition to cloud adoption. We have data centre in a box and tools that offers the best cloud option for customers looking for secure and cost-efficient solutions. The application of artificial intelligence and analytics to drive business outcomes is also something that has an impact especially when leveraging technologies such as video surveillance not only for security but also as a business leverage to understand the customer’s buying behaviour.
NetApp recently modernized their video surveillance infrastructure. Tell us more about it?
Video surveillance has evolved beyond security into intelligent video applications. Businesses aim to get more out of their surveillance data to make better and faster decisions and to ensure swift operations for their security teams. In addition, advances in camera technology place extreme demands on video surveillance storage infrastructure. Organizations are beginning to realize that their video surveillance system is much more than just cameras and software. Storage is the backbone of today’s video surveillance systems.
What is new for NetApp?
NetApp also offers cloud solutions that can reduce costs for our customers depending on the work clouds. They get better storage capacity and DevOps that help businesses with the best tools and infrastructure. Gitex was good for coming face to face with customers and giving them better insights into our new upgraded and improved solutions for their businesses.
What technologies are you excited about right now?
Artificial intelligence is the driver as it will cause lots of data growth which will drive businesses. We can apply AI to education, healthcare and so many new industries. During the pandemic, it was all the Apps that helped consumers and companies bring some normalcy in their life. We work with application developers to provide a holistic and complete solutions for artificial intelligence. The future is technology driven and companies need to embrace new solutions to keep up with the changing environment.
