the buzzword fast spreading in the global IT circles - and broadly referring to the access and use of computer programs over the Internet, will play a major role in the future ICT development of Saudi Arabia and the region, said a leading ICT expert. James Norwood, Senior Vice-President, Product Marketing for Epicor Software Corporation said ICT experts could look forward to a ‘Cloudy' technology-enabled future, characterized by optimized efficiencies, reduced resource use, and highly productive collaborative work. This poses numerous opportunities in markets such as the Kingdom, which Norwood said is still open for growth and has the strong backing of government in pursuing further ICT infrastructure expansion. “Saudi Arabia, which posted around 3.75 billion Saudi riyals in IT services revenues in 2009 is particularly ripe for embracing Cloud Computing services and technologies,” he said. Cloud Computing's sphere of influence in the Kingdom is expected to cover multiple areas ranging from public sector services to personal mobile communications. After all, Saudi Arabia has both the largest economy in the region and the most expansive population, he said. “Interested Middle Eastern users should keep in mind, though the Cloud Computing is still in its infancy stage and is not for everyone, it is very important to explore options into the technology with established ICT experts,” cautioned Norwood. He added that the concept of Cloud Computing has emerged as a popular symbol for globalization because it embodies borderless programming environments. Although Cloud Computing is generally thought to be new, its roots actually trace back to sometime in the 1960s, when government service bureaus started to organize computation for public services. What is it? What exactly does Cloud Computing mean for business and society, particularly for Middle Eastern countries like the Kingdom, that are increasingly prioritizing technology in their development agendas? Norwood said through Cloud Computing, individuals and organizations could increase computing capacity or add capabilities at very minimal to no investment in additional infrastructure, personnel, or licensed software. He said this methodology enables adopters to access systems regardless of their location or what device they are using; share resources and costs with a large group of users and multiply the number of redundant sites to ensure business continuity, enhance disaster recovery; and even contribute to sustainability by optimizing resource utilization. “The computing paradigm is perfectly in step with today's changing business, economic and social environments,” he remarked. The recently global financial crisis has highlighted the evolving nature of resource ownership, he added. “Concepts such as virtualization and outsourcing, which have become highly popular in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, show that organizations can enjoy numerous benefits from shifting parts of their IT activities into the ‘cloud',” he explained. The goal here is not just to make their IT infrastructures leaner but also to gain access to even more resources on the Web with the added incentive of little or no additional overhead. Great prospects in the region The Middle East offers huge opportunities in Cloud Computing, especially for legacy systems used in the public sector. At least 10 to 15 percent of organizations here are expected to have virtualized environments by 2014, an important stepping-stone towards Cloud adoption, the ICT expert said. The country's overall information and communications technology (ICT) market is expected to break out into a $5.2 billion industry by 2014. Major ICT players currently operating in the Kingdom such as Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of enterprise-business software-solutions, are currently expanding their local presence to help expedite the adoption of Cloud Computing, he said. Epicor cautions, however, that technological and business models for Cloud Computing are still new. As such, the concept still has to be thoroughly tested in vital areas such as security and particularly heavy technology purchasers that might not realize the necessary savings yet. As a veteran provider of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions for mid-sizes business, though, Epicor affirms that many organizations are already benefiting from the ability of quick-response, flexible and service-based Cloud Computing environments to efficiently deliver internal applications or services, Norwood said. For instance, through the company's collaboration with Microsoft's Windows Azure Cloud Services platform, it has been able to offer more options for customers such as acting as conduits to partners through unobtrusive cloud computing modules. Boosts developer productivity Norwood also indicated that Cloud Computing is proving to be an effective channel for boosting developer productivity. Through its open and simplified nature, the technology supports a more streamlined approach to development. Its exceptional support for functionality also promotes enhanced communication and collaboration between developers and their customers. IT spending in the Middle East and Africa is set to grow at 12 percent in 2010, four times the projected global average of three percent. The Middle East in particular has become one of the most aggressive technology adopters in the world due to its extensive financial resources and visionary development plans. On the other hand, Cloud Computing is being touted as the future of IT. The word ‘cloud' was used in reference to large ATM networks in the early 1990s. By the early 2000, ‘Cloud Computing' was already being coined to describe Software as a Service (SaaS), a model of software deployment over the Internet. Over the past decade the term has been adopted to visualize Internet-based services. Computer network diagrams now use cloud shapes to depict the ‘clouds' of unseen network servers that collectively form the Internet. Cloud computing is already extensively applied in numerous day-to-day activities. The popular social networking website Facebook and e-mail services such as Yahoo! Mail and Gmail all run on Cloud Computing Internet applications. Google Maps is another example of a popular Cloud Service, while the iPhone and Android are two well-known Cloud Client hardware/software projects.
