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 robot 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 robots 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.