Qatar, guided by its National Vision 2030 plan, is on a path toward sustainable development and a higher quality of life for its citizens. To support the Gulf nation toward this goal, its Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has decreed it will secure and raise the capability of its technology infrastructure.
According to Tasmu Digital Valley, an innovation cluster established by MCIT, 76 percent of businesses in the country are aware of cloud computing, though adoption remains low. Thus, experts forecast cloud adoption to increase sharply in the near term. And with Qatar being a regional hub for innovation and technology, businesses will soon have the opportunity to embrace the benefits of cloud-based solutions to accelerate their growth in the next few years.
An Influx of Cloud Providers
According to Gartner®, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.7% to total $591.8 billion in 2023, up from $490.3 billion in 2022.1 And IDC projects that EMEA will post a CAGR of 75.6% for multi-cloud networking between 2023 and 2027.
To strengthen and enhance its strategic partnerships with major cloud services, MCIT collaborated with cloud providers to develop a framework that included the introduction of a local cloud region.
In August 2022, Microsoft announced the general availability of its new data center region in Qatar, its second in the state. Microsoft was the first major cloud provider to open in Qatar with its Azure services and Microsoft 365. Later that year, in November, AWS announced Outposts in Qatar. Then in 2023, Google Cloud announced “Hayyakom, Doha,” opening its new cloud region to a growing customer base in May.
“The timing of this solution is perfect for customers in the region looking to adopt cloud and multi-cloud solutions with optimal performance,” explains Hasan Khan, Leader and Country General Manager for Cisco in Qatar.
ThousandEyes has also deployed our Cloud Agent in Qatar to serve better the Internet and cloud monitoring needs of customers across the region. Because with so many of Cisco’s valued partners in the state alone, we see it as imperative that we deliver the visibility needed for stellar digital experiences.
Insights on cloud IaaS can assist businesses in effectively managing their cloud journey by providing an architecture and performance assessment of user traffic before, and after, it enters the cloud providers’ networks. The measurements extend to multi-AZ, multi-region, and multi-cloud, aiding teams in evaluating resiliency, latency, and interconnectivity.
Cloud Migration Benefits and Risks
Through the cloud, enterprises can achieve greater efficiency and scalability. They also gain access to digital tools and services they can leverage to stay competitive and up-to-date with the latest technology trends. As you aggregate and pull data together through the cloud, you liberate your organization’s capacity to create applications and new solutions that take advantage of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning capabilities.
So the benefits are plentiful. But risks and pitfalls exist, particularly during the migration stage. And one of the biggest challenges can occur while moving from traditional "on-prem" to the cloud servers.
Before beginning their transition, IT and network operators would be wise to consider the following three questions:
- How will my apps perform in someone else’s data center?
- Will my customers have a better or worse digital interaction with my brand post-migration?
- Will this move to the cloud impact my employee’s productivity?
Limitations in an operator’s visibility into the customer, employee, or enterprise digital experience can prevent them from addressing these core questions before, during, and after cloud migration.
Download Our Ultimate Cloud Migration Survival Kit
Crucial Role of Channel Partners
Channel partners can and should play an educational and supportive role in helping customer businesses navigate the complexities of cloud migration. And the most effective way they can do that to assure a smooth transition is by quoting, configuring, and helping customers deploy ThousandEyes.
ThousandEyes delivers the largest collectively powered view of the Internet and cloud. As a leading Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) platform, we leverage telemetry data from an unmatched fleet of vantage points to expose critical dependencies that impact digital service delivery. With ThousandEyes insights, we empower businesses to see, understand, and improve how their customers and employees experience any digital website, application, or service.
And when it comes to migration, ThousandEyes can assist partners in helping customers de-risk their cloud journey through improved baselining and the ongoing collection of performance metrics. When using these capabilities together, they can help IT and network operators address issues promptly so that it does not inhibit the user experience.
Curious to know more? Are you located in the Gulf region? I'd love to connect. Send me a note if you’d like to set up a one-on-one to learn more about how ThousandEyes can help customers or your enterprise.
1. Gartner Press Release, “Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud End-User Spending to Reach Nearly $600 Billion in 2023,” October 31, 2022. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-10-31-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-public-cloud-end-user-spending-to-reach-nearly-600-billion-in-2023
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.