Meraas, a leading Dubai-based holding company, and Aliyun, Alibaba
Group’s cloud computing subsidiary, today signed a deal to setup a new
technology enterprise that offers system integration services to private
companies and government institutions in the MENA region.
The agreement was signed by Abdulwahab Al Halabi, Group Chief Investment
Officer of Meraas and Sicheng Yu, Vice President of Aliyun, in the
presence of His Excellency Abdulla Al Habbai, Group Chairman of Meraas
and Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group at the
Alibaba campus in Hangzhou, China.
Headquartered in Dubai, the new joint venture will specialize in application
development, service-oriented
architecture, testing,
validation, citizenship e-services and Big Data operations with a
special focus on analytics, revenue-generation and payment solutions.
The enterprise will support potential clients in achieving stronger
business results, help them respond rapidly to market changes, and
transform their business and IT services.
Commenting on the partnership, His Excellency Abdulla Al Habbai said:
“In line with the initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed
bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and
Ruler of Dubai, to transform the emirate into a smart city, the company
will offer services that contribute to the six key pillars including
transport, communications, infrastructure, electricity, economic
services and urban planning. We strongly believe that the new company
will alter the information technology landscape of the region.
“Alibaba, our chosen partner has an excellent global track record of
offering world-class services to clients. Together, we aim to raise
industry standards and provide state-of-the-art technology solutions
that contribute to translating the objectives of our visionary
leadership,” added Al Habbai.
“As the world evolves, I believe the information technology era is
moving towards the data technology era. Dubai’s advanced infrastructure
and economic strength is a good match for our technology edge, and with
Meraas we will be able to provide local entrepreneurs with the vital
infrastructure that will ignite innovation and help them to succeed,”
said Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group.
While the initial focus will be on the technology venture, Meraas will
leverage its development capabilities through the creation of a
technology-oriented master-planned integrated community comprising of a
Tier 3 Data Center, as well as hospitality, residential and commercial
spaces, retail and food & beverage units. The newly-formed joint venture
company will be an anchor tenant.
Highlighting the impact of the new venture, Abdulwahab Al Halabi said:
“The technology market is an evolving domain that we have decided to
foray into. As a holding company with several entities operating under
our umbrella, we have a solid understanding of what it takes to succeed
in this region.
“Consequently, we have partnered with Aliyun, a leading company in the
clouding computing space that holds sound and proven technical
abilities. We are positive that by marrying our understanding to their
expertise, the new venture will deliver unmatched system integration
services in the region.”
“We are delighted to work with Meraas for our development in the MENA
region. We believe our mutually beneficial synergies will contribute to
meeting Meraas’s objectives of bringing to life Dubai’s Smart City plan.
In addition, as Aliyun develops highly scalable cloud computing and data
management services, we aim to extend our flexible, cost-effective
solutions to help more large and small enterprises to boost their
business development in the UAE and the world at large,” said Sicheng Yu.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry in the MENA
region is witnessing unprecedented growth. A new International Data
Corporation (IDC) report anticipates regional ICT spending to surpass
US$270 billion in 2015, with the IT market growing at around nine
percent, the second-fastest globally. Moreover, IDC forecasts that the
overall managed and data center services markets in the UAE is set to
grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8 percent between
2013 and 2018 to reach a total of US$971.8 million by 2018.
Initially designed to handle exponential traffic volumes and data
management, Aliyun today focuses on designing sophisticated networking
solutions and data intelligence for small companies, while driving the
adoption of cloud services among large enterprises and organizations. In
2013, Aliyun was awarded the world’s first gold certification for cloud
security by the British Standards Institute (BSI). It has also received
the ISO/IEC 27001 certification for information security management. As
of June 30, 2014, over 1.4 million customers are using Aliyun services
directly or indirectly through independent software vendors.
Tier 3: Tier 1 to 4 data center is a standardized methodology used to
define the uptime of data centers. Tier 3 data center is considered as
the second most robust and less prone to failures. Tier 3 is
designed to host mission critical servers and computer systems, with
fully redundant subsystems (cooling, power, network links, storage etc)
and compartmentalized security zones controlled by biometric access
controls methods.
About Meraas
Meraas is a Dubai-based holding company with operations and assets in
the UAE and overseas. The company has established itself as a key
innovator in UAE and follows a clear mandate to strengthen Dubai’s
global position. Through its portfolio of refreshingly innovative
landmark concepts, Meraas aims to redefine industries across multiple
sectors. Meraas has also forged collaborative relationships with key
partners who will add value to its offering. The company has launched
several projects in the tourism, retail, leisure and entertainment
sectors.
About Aliyun
Established in September 2009, Aliyun (www.aliyun.com),
Alibaba Group’s cloud computing arm, develops highly scalable platforms
for cloud computing and data management. It provides a comprehensive
suite of cloud computing services to support the participants of Alibaba
Group’s online and mobile commerce ecosystem, including sellers, and
other third-party customers and businesses. Aliyun is a business within
Alibaba Group.
Copyright Business Wire 2015