INDUSTRY WATCH
F5 NETWORKS
REPORT SAYS
APPS WILL
BE A GAME
CHANGER IN
MIDDLE EAST
Research highlights how the power of
apps will dramatically change the game
for businesses and individuals in the
Middle East
Taj El Khayat, Gulf, Levant and North Africa Director, F5 Networks
T
he development of applications
is likely to have a game-changing
impact in the Middle East,
according to new research. Produced
by the Foresight Factory, the F5-
commissioned The Future of Apps (FoA),
highlights the evolution of artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
“Physical and digital worlds are
blurring, and the UAE is well poised to
take advantage – particularly with its
increasingly connected, young workforce,”
said Taj El Khayat, Gulf, Levant and North
Africa Director, F5 Networks.
The EMEA-wide report charts the
rise of new app interfaces (including
augmented and virtual reality) and the
potentially big influence of blockchain
technologies and edge computing.
Optimum Intelligence: A key finding
of the report centres on how AI and
machine learning will influence the
developmental trajectory of future
apps. This includes advances in areas
such as collaborative AI, where virtual
assistants – and underlying apps – can
communicate and act accordingly.
82
INTELLIGENTCIO
Global Foresight Factory figures found
41% of 16 to 25-year-olds surveyed in
EMEA believe their current jobs could be
supplanted by AI or robots within the
next decade.
New Networks: The Dubai Blockchain
Strategy has the target of becoming
the first government in the world to
handle all transactions via blockchain
by 2020. The ethos of decentralised
apps, or ‘dApps’, chimes with a
growing appetite for peer-to-peer
solutions. Foresight Factory anticipates
greater decentralisation as blockchain
technologies and edge computing
become mainstream, empowering IoT
and privacy-hungry consumers.
Research and Markets anticipates that
by 2020 blockchain technology and
solutions will be used by up to 65% of
enterprises.
Personal Realities: One of the FoA’s
eye-catching areas is the rise of ‘mixed
reality’ and hardware innovation.
“Location will become irrelevant to
many aspects of communication,
learning and experience, creating the
notion of ‘individual realities’,” said El
Khayat. “In parallel, new risks will arise as
individuals become ever more immersed
in their computational existence. “
According to Foresight Factory,
consumer demand is fuelling much
of the evolving innovation roadmap.
Nearly half of surveyed respondents
across Europe and South Africa have
already used a VR headset or are
interested in doing so, rising to 57%
among Gen Y.
71% of EMEA consumers also agreed
they want to have new experiences, and
nearly half (46%) said they would be
interested in night vision contact lenses,
increasing to 56% among Gen Y.
“When moving into mixed reality we
will be able to dissolve the geographical
boundaries even more than is the
case today,” said Dany El Eid, CEO and
founder of Pixelbug and FoA report
contributor.
“All these paradigm shifts are going to
allow us to teleport ourselves to a virtual
environment where we can collaborate
with people anywhere.” n
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