How Dubai Internet City is becoming a hub for tech companies to reach Middle East markets

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Khazna, one of the largest data centre infrastructure operators in the Middle East, has announced it will establish two new data centres in Dubai Internet City.

Dubai Internet City is the UAE’s largest hub for technology companies. The new data centres will support these enterprises, enabling the integration of technology across all business functions, and – on a wider scale – it will support the government’s ambition to transform Dubai into the smartest city in the world.

Paperless Industry

The Dubai Paperless Strategy by Digital Dubai is one of the initiatives to achieve smart status, inaugurated in 2020 by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council.

A stamp is awarded to government entities that have fully implemented a paperless strategy. The objective is to save more than a billion papers used in Dubai Government each year, which in turn would save 130,000 trees and more than AED900 million in paper costs. In addition, Dubai’s visitors and residents are set to save 40 hours a year in form-filling time.

Dubai Customs is the latest government department to be awarded the '100% Paperless Stamp’.

By using electronic archiving, digitising training materials, adopting online surveys and encouraging clients to use smart channels for transactions, it reduced the consumption of printing paper by 50% in 2019, a figure that increased to 97% by 2020, and then 100% by 2021.

Competitive Economies

The UAE’s ICT (Information Communication Technology) strategy involves the deployment of secure cloud infrastructure and data storage across all industries and Dubai Internet City has been a cornerstone of this strategy for more than two decades.

Managing Director of Dubai Internet City Ammar Al Malik said: “The UAE has been named among the top 10 most competitive economies in the world for a second consecutive year, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2021, and I believe that building data centres and enhancing the overall technological infrastructure will play a key role in providing an investment-friendly environment.”

“This agreement [with Khazna] marks the next chapter in our commitment to supporting widespread digital transformation to increase our economic competitiveness globally well into the future,” added Al Malik.

Post-pandemic Demand

In business, the volume of digital data has increased significantly on the heels of the global pandemic, with many companies adopting hybrid work models. The growing reliance on the internet has elevated data security – particularly that of sensitive data concerning healthcare and finance – to a global priority.

This in turn increases the demand for the development and deployment of cloud computing, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT – the huge network of connected devices and people gathering and sharing data, known as the internet of things.

Wholesale storage providers such as Khazna play a critical role in the recording, movement and security of these increasingly large amounts of information.

Hassan Al Naqbi, CEO of Khazna Data Centres, said: “The partnership between Khazna and Dubai Internet City will further support the UAE’s digital ecosystem, with technology businesses such as cloud computing operators able to achieve the level of connectivity they need to more effectively deliver services to partners, customers and employees.”