By Saeed Haider

Saudi Gazette

HUAWEI, a leading global ICT solutions provider, has launched its OpenLab Dubai, first of its kind in the Middle East to serve customers and partners in the region who are an important part of Huawei's Global OpenLab program.

Huawei plans to add seven new OpenLabs across the world in 2017, and in the next three years will invest $200 million and nearly 1,000 people globally, bringing the total number of OpenLabs to 20 by the year 2019. OpenLab Dubai is committed to providing innovative solutions for IoT, cloud computing, large data, intelligent analysis, eLTE, converged communications and other new technologies to build public safety, smart city, oil and gas solutions, and has attracted YITU, Zenith, Walkbase, 7G, IOmniscient, Nedap, Richfit and more than 20 other partners.

At the launch ceremony, Fan Siyong, president of Public Sector, Huawei, said, “The digital transformation is causing disruption across every industry. Huawei has established OpenLabs across the world with the theme "platform + ecosystem", and is committed to working with global multispecialty and industry partners to build customer-centric, innovative industry solutions to promote digital transformation and promote ecosystem development through the creation of an 'open, flexible and safe’ platform that fully supports the ecosystem.”

He said Huawei is committed to helping governments and enterprises in the Middle East to rely on new ICT technology and applications to maintain steady growth, achieve excellence and enhance the competitiveness of the ICT industry in the region. Huawei’s OpenLab Dubai was built based on local and regional market demands, talents, and technologies, and will focus on cooperation between enterprises, services, partners and customers in the Middle East.

The special climate, resources, culture and industry in the Middle East pose different challenges compared to other region, said Xijiang Lin, director of Middle East Solution Development Center, Huawei EBG. OpenLab will aggregate the world's best resources to meet local digital transformation needs, and continuously enhance the ICT platform capabilities and development of local ecosystems. OpenLab Dubai is focused on building capabilities to easily apply technical solutions in the actual network environment; developing competitive, commercially viable and industry-oriented solutions; empowering innovation capabilities, rapid response to market demand; achieving industrial chain value aggregation and a customer/partner/vendor win-win-win situation.

OpenLab has been jointly launched with more than 30 solutions and over 20 partners in Public Safety, Smart city and Digital Oil & Gas.

OpenLab gives customers a hands-on experience of public safety, smart city, oil and gas solutions. Based on Huawei’s strong infrastructure of, wireless network, eLTE-LiTRA, cloud computing, large data technology integration, Dubai OpenLab is working with YITU, Zenith and other partners, for face and license plate recognition, population density analysis, public opinion analysis solutions, working towards creating a harmonious and safe social environment.

In a separate presentation Hong-Eng Koh, global chief public safety expert of Huawei Enterprises, spoke on Collaborative Command and Control and role of converged command control in smart city safety and security system.

Huawei combines low-power, wide-coverage NB-IoT / eLTE-IoT, Smart Gateway, cloud computing and large data, working with Honeywell, Nedap, Johnson Controls, and other partners. Huawei is also working with Esri in data management to jointly build intelligent parking, intelligent buildings, smart meters, intelligent lights and many other smart solutions.

In oil and gas sector Huawei will combine 4G wireless broadband network eLTE with Honeywell and Emerson's various oilfield sensing devices to provide digital field-wide connection solutions to solve real-time communication problems in oil fields, help oilfield visualization production, improve oil recovery and reduce security risks.

A tour of the OpenLab Dubai, given by Alaa El-Shimmy, managing director and vice president Enterprise business, Middle East was an exposure to a new world. The security clouds that they have built up for smart cities covers every inch of city life be it in oil field or the transport system or shopping mall.

The irrigation, smart home water network, trash collection etc. all are monitored and managed through the cloud. On the one hand it is extremely impressive and reassuring but on the other hand it raises some very serious note on personal privacy of inhabitants. It is always disturbing to note that you are constantly under watch. Alaa El-Shimmy though dispelled all such apprehensions after the tour, and said privacy is an issue that must be tackled..

During the summit, Huawei also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Zenith, Esri NeA and Smart IOT LLC. To establish long-term solutions partnerships, aimed at providing customers with industry-leading solutions.