TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015 TECHNOLOGY EMC participates in third e-govt forum

By Islam Al-Sharaa to have the telecom infrastructure, connectivity infrastructure and the IT KUWAIT: EMC is participating in the infrastructure, so it’s a mix between third E-Government Forum (EGOV3) communication and IT infrastructure. that is being held in Kuwait from Nov 15-17 to discuss the future of effective KT: How do you look at the impact of and secure government services. Held growing social media adoption in under the patronage of HH the Prime this context? Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al- EMC: Social media is a great source Hamad Al-Sabah, the third edition of of data, and smart cities mainly the largest e-government event in depend on how big the data that is Kuwait brings together over 3,500 available is and the diversification of prominent senior dignitaries, ministers the data. According to IDC reports, by and government officials in addition to 2020, you will have 40+ zettabytes visionary heads of enterprise, decision coming from different sources like tra- makers and CEOs from across the ditional systems and from social region to share ideas and best prac- media, so all this mix of data is the tices to build a sound foundation for main base for taking the decision in a the advancement of government serv- smart city, like healthcare and trans- ices. Habib Mahakian Vice President, Gulf and Pakistan Samer M Saber Country Manager, Kuwait. portation. All of these are connected Hosted in collaboration with the services need to go to the next level services? right platform or the blueprint of the and communicated over social media, Central Agency for Information and EMC is offering solutions. I believe EMC: Firstly, we tell them what is platform, and then the execution. The so our role here is to help the govern- Technology (CAIT), EGOV3 features a this platform is the best place to pres- the best way to plan for this, which has three main layers of the platform as ment and the cities because of this series of keynotes and presentations ent the new transformation happening three perspectives - infrastructure, the mentioned are the infrastructure layer, data, whether it’s coming from official by a series of prominent speakers to in IT. Our participation here is mainly platform and the application layer. This the platform layer and the application transactional data of the organizations offer insights that are aimed at helping about smart cities. We discussed that a is where we can help the Kuwaiti gov- layer, and the three should work of the citizens in that city. government entities in Kuwait rein- lot of cities, especially in the GCC ernment, followed by the implementa- together, which EMC provides for. EMC in Kuwait took the decision force service strategies in an era of dig- region, are leading the way in the tion of the project. Hopefully we will long time ago to give more dedication itization and heightened connectivity. Middle East and even outside the be announcing certain new initiatives KT: What are the potential chal- and investment in Kuwait, and we have Kuwait Times spoke to Habib Middle East when it comes to smart very soon about smart cities inside and lenges enterprises face today in a big team and all kinds of EMC servic- Mahakian, Vice President, Gulf and cities’ initiatives, and in this forum we outside Kuwait. building smart cities? es serving our customers here. We work Pakistan, and Samer M Saber, Country can help show governments and cities EMC: Having the right laws to regu- with different sectors, whether govern- Manager, Kuwait. across the region and in Kuwait what KT: What are the cornerstones of late all what has to do with smart ment or private, and EMC decided to to do in a different way to incubate smart cities and how are they help- cities, because it has to be smart but be more committed to Kuwait as a mar- Kuwait Times: How do you view EMC’s such ideas. ing local governments’ needs for also has to be controlled. It has to have ket to see the potential in Kuwait. We participation in the third E- innovations? the right discipline, and these are relat- see that Kuwait already took the deci- Government Forum (EGOV3) in KT: What is EMC’s role in the creation EMC: The main thing is to have the ed to security, so we have to be inno- sion to grow the IT business. That’s why Kuwait? of smart cities and how is it going to right strategy and laws to help the vative. In addition to this, you have to a company like EMC has opened its EMC: We are very excited to partici- help Kuwait government in its government put the right data laws have the right infrastructure in the offices in Kuwait and with a good pate as a diamond sponsor in this efforts to build a sound foundation and how to share the data, so this is country or in the place where you amount of resources with the best event, because a lot of government for the advancement of government the first milestone in setting up the want the smart city initiative. You have quality of people in the region. In Kenya, a digital classroom in a box

NAIROBI: At the Lighthouse Grace low, tough and dust-resistant tablets will Academy in Nairobi’s downmarket be disappointed, as they cannot browse Kwangware suburb, yellow school t-shirts the internet nor be charged independently. carry the slogan ‘To Fear God is Wisdom’, Like the BRCK, the tablets are designed but in their hands pupils clutch a more to solve Kenyan problems. “Intermittent worldly path to knowledge: tablet comput- power, intermittent internet connectivity, ers. those are just the realities of our infrastruc- The hand-sized tablets are part of the ture, so we have to build solutions for those ‘Kio Kit’, a digital classroom in a suitcase realities, rather than import solutions from designed by local technology company other places,” said Mukherjee. BRCK, which two years ago launched the At $5,000 (4,500 euros) a piece the price hard-wearing, brick-sized modem that of the kit seems high, given the ambition to works as a wifi hotspot. provide access to quality education to all in “The Kio Kit is a way to turn any class- some of the world’s poorest places. room into a digital classroom,” said Nivi But with many schools lacking electrici- Mukherjee of BRCK Education, the sub- ty, let alone facilities to teach computing, sidiary that launched the product in Mukherjee says it is not only intended for September. the private and donor-backed schools in “You open the box and there are 40 which it is currently being used. tablets inside, there is a BRCK inside and on “We see this kit being rolled around the BRCK there is a Linux [open-source] from one classroom to the next throughout server - so we can locally cache educational the day, throughout the week, children content, and serve it up to the tablets.” sharing it, having access to the kind of con- In her crowded cement-floored, tin- tent and e-textbooks they wouldn’t other- walled classroom with a stopped clock on wise have access to,” she said. “We don’t REDWOOD CITY: In this photo taken Friday, Oct. 9, 2015, a crowd of people watch the MegaBots 15-foot tall, piloted Mk.II in action at the the wall, seven-year-old Blessing taps away think it’s beyond the reach of public Pioneer Summit in Redwood City, Calif. Let the giant robot wars begin. A team of American engineers challenged a group in Japan to a battle on her new tablet, learning to spell. schools to spend $5,000 giving digital for robot supremacy, and the Japanese said bring it on. —AP Unusually for a child in school, she’s smil- access to 400 children.” ing. “It’s fun,” she said. Just five primary schools and libraries Her teacher Josephine Boke, who has are currently using the Kio Kit, but BRCK taught primary school for 12 years, says Education already has 300 pre-orders and US startup challenges the kit “is nicely designed for the young Mukherjee hopes to be producing “thou- hands, and it’s easy to use and easy to sands each month by next year”. adapt to the technology.” “To the kids, they In South Africa, the continent’s most get excited when they are using it. It gives advanced country, Gauteng province Japan to robot battle me an easy time as a teacher.” which houses Johannesburg and Pretoria, started rolling out tablets to 375 high Kenyan problem, Kenyan solution school pupils earlier this year. OAKLAND: They’ve been popularized in movies, let another country win this. Giant are real fighting machine - faster, tougher, more bal- Kenya has a thriving tech start-up scene, The plan is to hand out 17,000 tablets to television and video games, but giant fighting Japanese culture. Yeah, I’ll fight. Absolutely.” anced and equipped with detachable weapons including the enormously successful M- pupils in their final year of high school, and robots still haven’t left the realm of science fiction. Kurata also taunted the Megabots team: “Come such as a giant chain saw or punching fist. Pesa mobile money transfer system which swap teachers’ chalkboards with smart That will soon change. Megabots Inc., an Oakland, on guys, make it cooler. Just building something The startup has enlisted the help of engineers allows clients to send cash with their tele- interactive boards targeting especially the California-based startup, has built a 15-foot (4.5- huge and sticking guns on it, it’s super American.” from NASA, software maker Autodesk, the TV phones. poverty-stricken township and rural meter) mechanical gladiator called the Mark II and The Megabots robot isn’t quite ready to take on shows “Mythbusters” and “BattleBots.” “We’re The tablets and the BRCK are symbiotic: schools. challenged a Japanese firm to an international bat- , a more polished fighting machine with a absolutely confident that Team USA can beat the modem is fixed into a watertight, hard- The tablets come with free data bundle tle for robot supremacy. big, agile hand that mimics the movements of the Japan. We’ve assembled the best of the best of this ened-plastic wheeled suitcase which has which is active between 5:00am and 9:00 Tokyo-based Suidobashi Heavy Industries, mak- pilot’s hand. “Our current robot, the Mark II, looks country. We’re not going to let our country down,” slots for the tablets and acts as a wireless pm while access to social networks is er of the 13-foot (4-meter) Kuratas, accepted the pretty intimidating,” Oehrlein said. “The truth is, it’s Calvalcanti said. charging station for both. blocked. The scheme was initially hit by challenge, setting the stage for the first giant robot pretty slow. It’s top-heavy. It’s rusty, and it needs a Robot enthusiasts like Gordon Kirkwood are New digital learning materials are theft in the crime-ridden country, forcing battle of its kind next year. The exact date and loca- set of armor upgrades to be able to compete in eagerly anticipating the fight. “I think it’s going to uploaded to the BRCK wirelessly during authorities to install tracking devices on tion are yet to be determined. hand-to-hand combat,” be a smash hit,” said Kirkwood, a engineer quiet times of the night when more band- them, officials said. Win or lose, it’s all part of Megabots’ plan by to That’s why Megabots launched an online in San Francisco. “This has the potential to be a width is available, and then shared with the And authorities came under fire for giv- make gladiator-style robot combat into big-time Kickstarter campaign and raised more than fantastic spectator sport that people would really tablets during classes. ing ICT a priority when some schools still entertainment - a mix between Ultimate Fighting $550,000 from robot fans to turn the Mark II into a pay good money to see.” — AP Thieves with an eye on the bright yel- lack basics such as flush toilets. —AFP Championship and Formula One auto racing - while developing new industrial technologies and inspiring a new generation of engineers. The Megabots founders envision a sports As Boeing booms, robots league where teams from around the world build huge humanoid robots that throw each other rise and job growth lags down in stadiums filled with screaming fans. “Everyone wins as long as there is robot car- NEW YORK: For most of its 100-year history, defects. At its sprawling plant in Everett, nage,” said Megabots co-founder Matt Oehrlein, an when Boeing turned out more planes, Washington, Boeing has installed robotic electrical engineer. “People want to see these employment soared and the Seattle-area arms to drill and rivet together fuselages for things fight. They want to see them punch each economy prospered. When the rate of pro- the 777 jetliner. other, they want to see them ripped apart and duction fell, layoffs followed and the local The machines are “taking what is in the they want to be entertained.” economy crashed. neighborhood of 50,000 to 70,000 fasteners Megabots was launched in 2014 by Oehrlein, The cycle was so predictable that Boeing in the 777 fuselage that are today applied by Gui Cavalcanti and Brinkley Warren, who grew up workers had a phrase for it: “Headcount goes hand and automating them,” Boeing Chief playing video games like “MechWarrior” and by rate.” Executive Dennis Muilenburg said in a speech “BattleTech,” and wanted to fulfill their dreams of Now that longstanding cycle has broken at an aerospace trade fair in Seattle in watching massive machines fight. down. September. “We want to bring the giant robots from science The world’s largest plane maker is in the It’s a “huge transformation in how we fiction and movies and video games to life because midst of its biggest peacetime boom, churn- build airplanes.” Boeing says automation is now we have the technology,” said Cavalcanti, a ing out 20 percent more planes than when essential to improve quality and worker safe- robotics engineer. “It’s really about: How do we put the last big cycle peaked in the 1990s. But it is ty, lower costs and keep up with its European on the best show? How do we make the coolest doing so with one-third fewer workers. In rival Airbus, which also is automating and fight?” their place, Boeing is turning to robots and churning out more planes to meet worldwide Inside a cavernous Oakland workshop, the outsourcing. growth in air travel. Megabots founders built the Mark II - a 12,000- In the past year, Boeing installed four But while Boeing says the robots have not pound (5,443 kilograms) behemoth with tank banks of two-story riveting machines at the caused any layoffs, the company is not pre- treads, two-pilot cockpit and missile launcher that factory that makes its 737 aircraft in Renton, dicting significant job growth either. fires canon ball-sized paintballs. Washington. When it switched them on in “Increased automation means we can go Then Oehrlein called out Suidobashi in a May, the age-old clatter of hand-held rivet higher in rates with a stable workforce,” Barry YouTube video: “We have a giant robot. You have a guns gave way to the whispery hiss of the 60- Lewis, head of wing manufacturing opera- giant robot. You know what needs to happen. We NAIROBI: Teacher Josephine Boke assists pupils from the Light House Grace academy ton robots, which Boeing says can work twice tions at Boeing’s 737 plant, said during a challenge you to a duel.” Suidobashi’s founder as fast as people, with two-thirds fewer recent factory tour.—Reuters in using the Kio tablet created by the local technology company BRCK Education, Kogoro Kurata accepted in his own video: “We can’t during a class sesssion in Kawangware, Nairobi, on October 16, 2015. -—AFP