The Middle East is ahead of the curve in adopting intelligent panels, as well as in adopting physical network security, said Ramzi Nassif, Managing Director for Leviton Middle East and Africa.
“On intelligent panels and intelligent patching, the Middle East is now more advanced than many other parts of the world – we see more demand for these here than in Europe or the US,” he said.
“Security is also a key issue here, maybe more in government – we have products to secure your network or your panels, so nobody can get in and tamper, by mistake or intentionally. These are products that we bring into the region that are not used as much elsewhere,” added Nassif.
The vendor is demonstrating its Atlas-X1 datacentre solution, along with its Cat 8 40Gbit copper cabling, and 100Gbit fibre. Nassif said the days when the highest-bandwidth cabling systems were dismissed as being over-specced are long gone.
“I’ve been in this industry for 20 years, and if somebody had told me we’d have 40Gbit cabling, I’d have said they’re dreaming. Now with the applications we have – even from the home, with PlayStations and IPTV – you need bigger bandwidth,” said Nassif.
He said Leviton has been very active in hospitality and government in Saudi Arabia, and public sector projects in Abu Dhabi: “We’re working on smart cities – we did a big project in Abu Dhabi this year with JBM, our partner there, for all the infrastructure, and with Etisalat for the smart city Wi-Fi.”
