WAN optimisation and application performance provider Riverbed has closed a number of deals with regional aviation and oil and gas companies, according to its VP for Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Taj Elkhayat, who ditched a stand to focus on a partners-only presence at GITEX.
“We’ve secured very sizeable deals in the aviation sector, specifically in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. One example is dealing with the global outstations of one of the major airlines,” said Elkhayat.
“Another is improving the customer experience of online services. One of our aviation customers has depended on us to enhance their loyalty members’ experience, and how they access some of the online benefits they have,” he added.
In the oil and gas sector, Elkhayat said Riverbed has previously had major success with its SteelFusion offering in offshore rigs connected via VSAT, with clients in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.
“We’re now working with oil and gas firms in their network operations centres, to enhance their visibility,” he added.
For this year’s GITEX, he said Riverbed decided to work with partners in order to demonstrate how its products align with other vendors’ offerings. In addition to a major tie-up with Microsoft, Riverbed is also present with its two regional distributors.
“For 2016, the channel play is very important to me, so I partnered with my two distributors – StarLink and Mindware. Both Mindware and StarLink have very different portfolios, both of which are very relevant to Riverbed,” said Elkhayat, adding that he wanted resellers to be able to see Riverbed’s place in the product ecosystems of both distributors.
