NEWS
KSA
AR & VR
Technology to be
‘widespread’ across
GCC by 2025
According to new research conducted by Frost & Sullivan
in collaboration with GITEX Technology Week 2016, the
next 10 years of augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual
Reality (VR) technology development are set to redefine
the future of both business and consumer processes
and interactions in the region. GCC organisations
are leveraging the new technology to enhance end-
user experiences, the report states. From AR-enabled
surgery to VR-powered education, experts from across
industries will take the stage at GITEX Technology Week
this year to share their innovative use cases of AR/VR
technologies and provide a glimpse into the future of
this game-changing technology.
Augmented Reality - contextual information on mobile
devices, projections, or wearables - and Virtual Reality
which provides a fully-immersive digital environment,
will be adopted across industries by 2025, the new
report from Frost & Sullivan predicts. In response to the
interest in AR and VR technology in the region, GITEX
Technology Week 2016 will showcase the largest area in
show history for AR and VR technologies with 560 square
metres of the show committed to AR and VR exhibitors.
Blockchain Technology integral
to regional smart cities
New and emerging blockchain
technologies are integral to supporting
and realising a digital economy
in the Middle East while ensuring
effective protection against rapidly
evolving threats of data security and
cybercrime, said global consulting and
technology firm Booz Allen Hamilton in
a new report released.
www.intelligentcio.com
The report, titled ‘Blockchain Technology
- Can the Digital Economy Thrive
Without It?’, recommends that as Gulf
countries seek to create some of the
world’s smartest cities amid a culture of
innovation, blockchain technology can
offer streamlined and effective ways
of protecting and enabling smart city
development, disrupting digital transaction
systems, and incubating a start-up
ecosystem to drive economic growth.
Known primarily as the public ledger of
Bitcoin transactions, blockchain helps
maintain tamper-proof lists of ever-
growing data records, and enables secure
value exchanges - be it money, stocks
or data access rights. Unlike traditional
trading systems, no intermediary or
central recording system is needed to
track the exchange. Instead, all parties
deal directly with each other.
Blockchain technology supports real-
world applicability across various
industries ranging from healthcare to
automotive and finance, and helps
regional governments extract tangible
value from vast amounts of data that
can be used to meet changing consumer
demands at minimal additional costs.
The global digital services market is
expected to reach $1.2 trillion in 2018
from $768 billion in 2013 and digitisation
is forecast to boost GDP by $5.5 billion in
Dubai alone over the same period.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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