‘World Cloud & Data Center Show’ accelerates Saudi’s cloud adoption initiatives

The 20th edition of ‘World Cloud & Data Center Show’, focused on Saudi Arabia’s ability to be powered by cloud technology clubbed with data centers. The event gathered CIOs, CEOs, CTOs, heads of research, industry practitioners and IT experts in cloud computing.

The segment ‘A Sustainable Saudi Vision’ highlighted the kingdom’s innovative efforts to advance its sustainable mission. Initiatives like ‘Cognitive Cities’, ‘Green Cloud’, and ‘Leveraging Hyperscaler Capabilities’, were all a part of the broader conceptualisation of sustainability.

Talal Al Bakr, CEO of SCCC Alibaba Cloud, Alanoud Alhudaib, director of Cloud Advisory at SITE gave a tech talk and addressed one of the most frequently asked questions: ‘Is cloud for everyone?’ Another notable panel discussion themed ‘Green is the new black’ provided insights into the deployment of energy-efficient data centers with lower carbon footprints.

Maryam Telmesani, chair board, CSO, Sustainability Consultant, UNGC Local Network Saudi Arabia, MBL, Moc said, “ I gave a keynote speech on ‘Building a Sustainable kingdom with Green Technology – Green Cloud’. Also, I had the pleasure of joining a panel discussion “Green is the New Black”; in which I enjoyed learning from experts across different industries on how they’re embedding sustainability practices to their data centers.”

The panel, titled ‘Data Centers at the Forefront of a Data-driven Nation,’ focussed on the sudden increase in investments from local and international businesses to meet the data storage demands in the data center industry. It also discussed emerging technologies in data centers and how businesses can use them to harness the power of data.

“The experience was quite exceptional! I was honoured to participate as a speaker on Trescon’s World Cloud & Data Center Show as a speaker at one session and a moderator at another panel session. Happy to engage with leading experts and practitioners in academia, industry, and government Authorities,” stated Dr Mohammed Alaqil, director of MSc in Electrical Engineering, assistant professor in Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Faisal University.

The panel discussion titled ‘Cloud Augmented Digital Transformation’ addressed the key benefits of using the cloud as well as the flexibility that various models and services have to offer. The panel ‘Evolution of Data Management’ provided actual use-cases on the expanding trend of cloud transformation and the movement of an increasing number of enterprises’ significant IT workloads to the cloud.

“It was a great opportunity to be part of an elite panel of academicians and leaders to discuss the cloud-augmented digital transformation opportunities, challenges, current best practices, and future trends. I was honoured to represent the Prince Sultan University & Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics Lab. Many thanks to Trescon, for organising this fantastic event,” said Tanzila Saba, associate chair, Information Systems, research professor, AIDA Lab Leader, Prince Sultan University/CCIS College.

The ‘Women in Tech’ segment played a significant role in recognising and honouring the women who have made important contributions to the advancement of the kingdom’s digital future in the domains of AI, Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Quantum Computing, and other new technologies.

Women tech ambassadors who are inspiring a thousand other women and serving as role models for global diversity in tech were awarded at the event. The event also featured a strong line-up of powerful women in the tech industry who are propelling Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Vision 2030 forward.

“We’re happy to learn that the event was a huge success and was praised by industry leaders and the participants for the knowledge and insights it provided. The event provided a platform to discuss the potential of emerging technologies and also allowed the attendees to gain insights from experts from the region on the potential of these technologies, and how the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can leverage them for its transformation into a Digital Society,” concluded Mithun Shetty, CEO, Trescon.