The impact of the big data and cloud on the organizations in the Middle East region were discussed at length by global experts at the 'Middle East CIO Summit 2012' which opened in Fujairah on Monday.

More than 150 of the region’s most influential ICT users are taking part in the two-day summit being organised by International Data Corporation, a subsidiary of leading technology media, research, and events company IDG.

High-level panel discussions and presentations spearheaded by IDC and senior executives from leading multinational organisations marked the opening day of the event.

The first day was divided into three sessions each with a separate theme:  “Capturing Competitive Advantage with Big Data and Cloud”; “Evolving Role of the CIO: Benchmarking with Global Enterprises”, and “Technology Consumerization: Overhauling the Role of IT”.

A series of roundtable discussions were also organised to tackle specific issues affecting the state of ICT adoption in the region.

During the first session, IDC outlined challenges and opportunities related to effectively harnessing big data and optimizing delivery of IT and business services by leveraging cloud models.

Jyoti Lalchandani, vice president and managing director of IDC Middle East, Africa and Turkey, said: “It has been an auspicious start for the summit which remains the region’s premier networking platform for CIOs and key personalities in the regional ICT landscape.'

'The energetic participation of multinationals and leading business organisations clearly demonstrates the growing importance of IT in driving their respective businesses towards a new era of growth and innovation,' noted Lalchandani.
 
'Big data technologies and cloud computing are particularly gaining widespread attention as invaluable tools to achieve long-term business goals,' he added.

Special presentations were also conducted by representatives from EMC, HP, IBM, Al Hilal Bank, Dell, Riverbed, Blue Coat, Cognizant, Wipro, Sonicwall, Citrix Systems, Kaspersky Lab, Fujitsu, McAfee and Aluminium Bahrain on the opening day.

The second day will feature presentations by Jeddah Municipality, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Huawei Technologies, HCT, Schneider Electric, Mubadala, SAP, MBC, Royal Guard and Saudi Airlines.-TradeArabia News Service