More than 100 Senior Officials from Industry and Government Attend Event Focusing on Education Technology-related Advancements

Abu Dhabi-UAE – The signing of two memoranda of understanding (MoU) covering security and disaster recovery was the hall mark of the 14th annual Emirates Advanced National Research and Education Network (Ankabut) users meeting that was held today at the Khalifa University of Science and Technology campus.

The event also marked the launch of the newly-designed Ankabut website and the new data center. Two panel discussions led by Khalifa University faculty on the impact of cloud on IT organizations and artificial intelligence were the other highlights of the day. A total of 11 breakout sessions were also part of the agenda.

Of the two MoUs, the MoU with the cyber security specialist DarkMatter covers ‘Security and Management’, while the MoU with multinational information technology equipment and services provider Fujitsu focuses on disaster recovery (DR) as service provider. The agreements are expected to provide Ankabut with adequate strength in offering enhanced services to its users.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Interim Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University, said: “Education holds the key to innovation, inspiring young minds to explore new technology solutions. This is where the role of Ankabut’s services gain significance. By partnering with major industry leaders and strengthening education technology services, Ankabut offers resources for development of human capital, and we are delighted to support Ankabut, as it contributes to the country’s efforts towards creating a knowledge economy.”

Fahem Al-Nuaimi, Chief Executive Officer, Ankabut, offered an overview of the activities, updating participants on the progress of all the projects and projected plans for the future.

Al-Nuaimi said: “The two MoUs, redesigned website and the data center together add a new dimension to our services, enhancing user experience and better connectivity. Through offering advanced services to students and faculty, Ankabut aims to remain the right channel for knowledge-related information that could be used for better learning experience. We believe the new capabilities will help us become a formidable force in offering network infrastructure and a center for research and learning in the UAE.”

The meeting was attended by partners in IT industry and the UAE higher education community. The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Mehmet Nuri Cankaya, Director, Product Marketing, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Middle East & Africa. Farid Al-Sabbagh, Vice President, Head of Middle East, Fujitsu Technology Solutions, offered an overview of the services the company will bring to Ankabut users.

Additionally, the meeting also explored improvements in various aspects of Ankabut’s cloud, managed consultancy and network and connectivity services.

Managed by Khalifa University, the Ankabut project is jointly funded by the TRA through the ICT Fund, Khalifa University. It offers academic institutions connectivity to other education networks around the world. It also connects schools and public institutions together across the UAE. Ankabut cooperates on a national, GCC, regional and international arena, representing the UAE in conferences, exhibitions and forums.

About Ankabut

Ankabut is the United Arab Emirates’ Advanced National Research and Education Network (NREN) offering academic institutions connectivity to other education networks around the world. In addition to connecting universities, Ankabut can connect schools and public institutions together across the UAE with an effective cost model. Ankabut also co-operates on a national, GCC, regional and international arena representing the UAE in conferences, exhibitions and forums. Ankabut aims to offer professional and innovative IT services with a focus on the research and educational sector. Services includes Cloud, Connectivity, IT infrastructure, manage service and professional services such as IT Consultancy, Project Management, Licenses, Training and Development.

Ankabut interconnects more than 80 tenants with a 10G backbone and 1G access links.  It enables a closed community network that allows the transfer of real-time services such as voice and video communication, time-critical services such as grid computing interconnect (cloud computing), public internet services, web hosting (C panel), co- locating, Edu- roam, High Performance Computing (HPC), Learning Management System (LMS), Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI), Mozoon system and Sierra Library Management System.

Ankabut supports initiatives in the e-learning environment, library content and distribution systems and research collaboration.  Ankabut believes that identifying these initiatives and offering network, processing and storage support is the best way to develop a collective collaborative approach to research and education.

About Khalifa University of Science and Technology

The Khalifa University of Science and Technology merges the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research and the Petroleum Institute into one world-class, research-intensive institution, producing world leaders and critical thinkers in applied science and engineering. The Khalifa University of Science and Technology endeavors to be a catalyst to the growth of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s rapidly developing knowledge economy as an education destination of choice and a global leader among research intensive universities.

The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is a research-driven institution focused on advanced energy and sustainable technologies. https://www.masdar.ac.ae/ The Petroleum Institute is a research-driven institution specializing in hydrocarbon exploration and production. http://www.pi.ac.ae/en

For more information, please visit: http://www.kustar.ac.ae/

© Press Release 2017