EDITOR’S NOTE
Editor’s Note
Welcome to issue 19 of Intelligent CIO Middle
East. This edition is my first as Editor. Gathering
together and writing content for the issue has
been truly eye-opening, discovering how dynamic
the technology sector is in the Middle East.
We live in an inter-connected global
community that shares the experience of rapid
technological change.
As a forty-something middle aged man, I can
look back at the technological transformations
that have shaped the global village.
I remember pestering my parents into buying
me one of the first personal computers on the
market – the Atari 400 which turned out to
be a pretty poor choice because of its non-
responsive touch type keypad.
This did not put me off technology and through the years I have been transfixed by how technological developments
have transformed our lives.
It doesn’t seem all that long ago since I rigged up my PC to go on-line for the first time.
Of course, in those days we had no choice but to use a dial-up connection and who could forget the high-pitched and
slightly sinister sounds coming from the modem as it desperately struggled to get on-line.
Nevertheless, what now seems like pre-historic technology enabled us to transform our lifestyles. Suddenly we weren’t
so alone any more as we could connect with people from all over the globe with the rise of social media.
Facebook and Twitter came along to allow us to communicate with people in the most far flung of places.
The next technological revolution that had a massive impact on me was the arrival of wi-fi. Now we could be on-line at
any time as long as we were within range of the signal.
Of course, the technological transformations continue until the current day with the Internet of Things on everybody’s mind.
We live in an age where we are heading into a fully-connected domestic environment that gathers vast amounts of
data about our personal habits.
Small wonder then that in this issue we look at how the IoT is starting to make a difference to our lives – whether
that’s tracking our domestic energy usage or using smart watches and smart cars.
Of course, behind all this amazing ‘consumer technology’ are some seriously cutting-edge systems that are the driving
force behind what the end-user experiences.
And these are the operations we are keen to explore - so fortunately we’ve got all the regulars, cloud, cybersecurity,
cabling, datacentres, green, mobile and software. In this issue we also get to know a little bit more about Mark
Ackerman, Sales Director of Service Now, Middle East.
Do drop me an email to say hello if we haven’t been in touch yet and I hope you enjoy the read.
Mark Bowen.
Editor.
www.intelligentcio.com
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