Fortinet Honors 2017 Partner of the Year Award Winners

Top Network Security Partners and Distributors Celebrate Joint Success at Fortinet Accelerate 18 Global Partner and User Conference




Dubai, UAE – Accelerate 18 – March 4, 2018




News Summary

Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT) – a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, today announced at its global partner and user conference, Accelerate 18, the winners of its 2017 Partner of the Year Awards. The awards recognize outstanding cybersecurity sales, customer experience, collaboration, and marketing achievements from the company's distributors and resellers around the world.




Ken Xie, founder, chairman of the board and chief executive officer at Fortinet

"I would like to congratulate this year’s winners for their significant achievements in 2017. These partners demonstrated a commitment to deliver the very best cybersecurity solutions that defend their customers against today’s increasingly advanced threat landscape. I would also like to extend my gratitude to all of our partners for their dedication and achievements in 2017. Working together, we have all greatly contributed to a more secure digital future."

Fortinet 2017 Partner of the Year Award Winners:

FortiHero - Global Partner of the Year
Hughes Networks
Partner of the Year
US / Canada	LATAM	EMEA	APAC	Japan
US: CDW / CAN: Integra Data	GTlink	Magellan, Germany	Comnet Co., Ltd., Thailand	Otsuka Corporation
Distributor Partner of the Year
North America	LATAM	EMEA	APAC	Japan
Tech Data North America	Adistec	BOLL Engineering AG, Switzerland	Pacific Tech Pte Ltd, Singapore	SCSK Corporation
Fabric Partner of the Year
North America	LATAM	EMEA	APAC	Japan
SHI	ConsultingServices	ITI Innovazione Tecnologica Italiana, Italy	Syscom Inc., Taiwan	NEC Fielding, Ltd.
Growth Partner of the Year
North America	LATAM	EMEA	APAC	Japan
Kudelski Security	Atlas	Dynamic Systems, Saudi Arabia	Seccom Global, Australia	NTT Communications Corporation

This year's award winners were announced at the sold out Fortinet Accelerate 18 global partner and user conference, being held at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Accelerate 18 is host to more than 2,300 attendees representing over 1,700 different partner and customer organizations who have travelled from over 90 countries. Accelerate 18 offers a unique opportunity for partners and customers to gain insights about Fortinet’s Security Fabric architecture, provide direct feedback to Fortinet leadership, learn to maximize Fortinet’s enablement programs, and gain and share best practices with the cybersecurity industry’s best and brightest.




Additional Resources


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VMware Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2018 Results

Record annual revenue of $7.92 billion, increasing 12% year-over year 

Q4 revenue of $2.31 billion, increasing 14% year-over-year 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 4, 2018 — VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), a leading innovator in enterprise software, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2018: 

Quarterly Review 

Revenue for the fourth quarter was $2.31 billion, an increase of 14% from the fourth quarter of 2016. 

· License revenue for the fourth quarter was $1.07 billion, an increase of 20% from the fourth quarter of 2016. 

· GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter was $440 million, or $1.09 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $441 million, or $1.04 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2016. GAAP results include an estimated net tax expense recognized in connection with the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of $970 million. An estimated $800 million of this tax relates to the international portion of our earnings, and an estimated $167 million of this tax relates to the re-measurement of deferred taxes using lower U.S. tax rates. Non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $691 million, or $1.68 per diluted share, up 18% per diluted share compared to $597 million, or $1.43 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2016. 

GAAP operating income for the fourth quarter was $648 million, an increase of 19% from the fourth quarter of 2016. Non-GAAP operating income for the fourth quarter was $862 million, an increase of 15% from the fourth quarter of 2016. 

· Operating cash flows for the fourth quarter were $847 million. Free cash flows for the quarter were $748 million. 

· Total revenue plus sequential change in total unearned revenue grew 14% year-over-year. 

· License revenue plus sequential change in unearned license revenue grew 13% year-over-year. 

Annual Review 

Revenue for fiscal year 2018 was $7.92 billion, an increase of 12% from 2016. 

· License revenue for fiscal year 2018 was $3.19 billion, an increase of 14% from 2016. 

GAAP net income for fiscal year 2018 was $570 million, or $1.38 per diluted share, compared to $1.19 billion, or $2.78 per diluted share, for 2016. GAAP results include an estimated net tax expense recognized in connection with the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of $970 million. An estimated $800 million of this tax relates to the international portion of our earnings, and an estimated $167 million of this tax relates to the re-measurement deferred taxes using lower U.S. tax rates. Non-GAAP net income for the year was $2.15 billion, or $5.19 per diluted share, up 18% per diluted share compared to $1.86 billion, or $4.39 per diluted share, for 2016. 

GAAP operating income for fiscal year 2018 was $1.69 billion, an increase of 17% from 2016. Non-GAAP operating income for the year was $2.63 billion, an increase of 15% from 2016. 

· Operating cash flows for fiscal year 2018 were $3.21 billion. Free cash flows for the year were $2.95 billion. 

· Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $11.65 billion, and unearned revenue was $6.25 billion as of February 2, 2018. 

“Our strong Q4 and terrific fiscal year 2018 results demonstrate the power of our broad-based portfolio and a strategy that continues to resonate, resulting in strong customer momentum,” commented Pat Gelsinger, chief executive officer, VMware. “As we celebrate our twentieth anniversary this year, we remain committed to delivering breakthrough software innovation that drives customer success.” 

“Q4 closed a strong fiscal year 2018 for VMware,” said Zane Rowe, executive vice president and chief financial officer, VMware. “We achieved $7.9 billion in revenue and operating cash flows of over $3.2 billion for the year, while continuing to invest in products and services to drive future growth.” 

Recent Highlights & Strategic Announcements 

· VMware announced expanded availability of VMware Cloud on AWS to include the AWS U.S. East (N. Virginia) region in addition to the U.S. West (Oregon) region. VMware and AWS also introduced additional VMware capabilities and support for VMware Site Recovery and VMware vMotion, making it even easier for customers to move, run and protect mission-critical applications at scale. 

· VMware completed its acquisition of VeloCloud Networks. This industry-leading, cloud-delivered SD-WAN solution is now a part of VMware’s growing software-based networking portfolio. The acquisition of VeloCloud significantly advances the company’s strategy of enabling customers to run, manage, connect and secure any application on any cloud to any device. 

· VMware introduced VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3, the latest release of its integrated hybrid cloud platform. VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3 introduces integrated cloud management platform (CMP) capabilities that provide customers with a simplified path to building a hybrid cloud, based on consistent infrastructure and operations. 

· In February, VMware and Pivotal announced the general availability of Pivotal Container Service (PKS). PKS is a Kubernetes-based container service designed to meet the needs of operators and developers by providing native Kubernetes combined with advanced day-1 and day-2 capabilities needed to run Kubernetes at scale in production. 

· VMware has been positioned in the Leaders quadrant of Gartner, Inc.’s February 2018 Magic Quadrant for Hyperconverged Infrastructure.(1) 

· VMware has been positioned as a leader in The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Mobility Management, Q4 2017, evaluating enterprise mobility management (EMM) vendors.(2) The company was also named a leader in the “IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise Mobility Management Software for Ruggedized/IoT Device Deployments 2017 Vendor Assessment.”(3) 

· VMware announced the general availability of VMware Pulse IoT Center, the first solution in a new family of VMware Internet of Things (IoT) offerings. VMware Pulse IoT Center is an enterprise grade, IoT device management and monitoring solution that helps Information Technology and Operational Technology organizations to onboard, manage, monitor and secure their IoT use cases from the edge to the cloud. 

The company will host a conference call today at 2:00 p.m. PT/ 5:00 p.m. ET to review financial results and business outlook. A live web broadcast of the event will be available on the VMware investor relations website at http://ir.vmware.com. Slides will accompany the web broadcast. The replay of the webcast and slides will be available on the website for two months. In addition, six quarters of historical data for unearned revenue that include year-over-year comparisons will also be made available at http://ir.vmware.com in conjunction with the conference call.

The Olympic Gangneung Ice Arena: Beautiful Sports Structure Built with Tekla BIM Technology by Trimble

Tekla Structures Was Utilized for the Design of Gangneung Ice Arena, the Venue for Figure Skating and Short Track in PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games;

Optimized Design and Construction Process of the Complex Steel Structure was Based on High-Precision 3D Design Data;

The Team Enjoyed the Advantages of Improved Transparency and Efficiency Thanks to Collaboration and 3D Model Views




SEOUL, South Korea - 4 March 2018 – Trimble, a global leader of construction, 3D and BIM technologies, announced that its BIM software ‘Tekla Structures’ was applied to the design of ‘Gangneung Ice Arena’, one of main stadiums of 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. The innovative technology of 3D modeling-based Tekla Structures played a crucial role in minimizing errors in the entire process from designing complex steel structures to the fabrication and installation and completing construction within a short period of time.

Gangneung Ice Arena, opened in December 2016, has two underground levels and four stories above ground with gross area of 32,42 square meters and 12,000 seats. This is where two popular ice events of 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games - figure skating and short track speed skating - took place. On the 1st floor above ground and the 2nd basement level, there are two ice rinks of 30mx60m each. Mixed Zone where players and reporters meet after games, boasts of the largest spectator seating among ice arenas of the 2018 Olympic Games.

The exterior of Gangneung Ice Arena has been evaluated to having beauty of figure skating and dynamics of short track in harmony. Since the arena needs a large open space, its roof gets it form from complicated pipe trusses. The fabrication and construction of this steel pipe truss was performed by Dongbu Steel. The steelmaker utilized Trimble’s Tekla Structures Trimble for detailed design of the complicated pipe truss structure, creating digital simulation of steel structure.

Dongbu Steel could construct without errors thanks to pre-review before steel fabrication and construction based on rich information derived from detailed 3D BIM design data in the Tekla Structures model. In particular, the steel fabricator could raise the level of completion of complex steel structures and numerous joints in the actual construction site by making use of design data provided with LOD (Level of Development) 400. Together with this, related departments and those involved in the project could enhance efficiency of fabrication and construction by collaborating using the 3D model and adjusting workflow.

Byoung-ho Doh, Senior Manager of Dongbu Steel, said, “Tekla structures makes it possible to review meticulously prior to steel fabrication and construction based on rich information.” He also added, “We are planning for construction simulation in the scheduled future project by utilizing Trimble’s excellent technology. In addition, we are looking forward to the development of solution that can manage entire project process spanning from digital simulation of steel structures to safety management and maintenance as well as development of 3D modeling related industries.”

Wan-soon Park of Trimble Korea, said, “It is very meaningful that Trimble’s 3D BIM technologies were applied to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, which are drawing attention from around the world.” He explained, “You can create a detailed and constructible 3D model with Tekla Structures no matter how complicated a steel structure is. Tekla Structures is a software solution that manages detailing tasks in the most productive manner and realizes benefits of 3D models throughout the construction process. I hope that this will serve as an opportunity to raise awareness about BIM solution in the local construction market. Trimble plans to provide powerful and easy-to-use software and solutions in order to meet diverse demands of customers.”

جمعية طب السمع والاتزان المصرية تؤكد أهمية الكشف المبكر لضعف السمع في اليوم العالمي للسمع

بمشاركة وزارة الصحة المصرية ومنظمة الصحة العالمية ومؤسسة مصر الخير ولفيف من الفنانين

القاهرة 3 مارس 2018 

بمشاركة كل من وزارة الصحة المصرية ومنظمة الصحة العالمية ومؤسسة مصر الخير ولفيف من الفنانين، أقامت جمعية طب السمع والاتزان المصرية احتفالية باليوم العالمي للسمع بالإسكندرية تحت شعار "المسح السمعي للأطفال حديثي الولادة ضرورة ملحة"، على هامش مؤتمرها السنوي الثامن الذي استمر لمدة ثلاثة أيام من 1 إلى 3 مارس الجاري بحضور أكثر من 50 متحدث مصري و6 متحدثين أجانب.

وأقيمت الاحتفالية تحت رعاية مؤسسة مصر الخير، وبحضور ممثلي منظمة الصحة العالمية، ووزارة الصحة المصرية، ولفيف من كبار الشخصيات والفنانين ومنهم شيرين، وبيومي فؤاد، والبرلماني المخرج خالد يوسف وشيري عادل.

وفي هذا السياق، صرح الأستاذ الدكتور طارق غنوم، رئيس جمعية طب السمع والاتزان المصرية: "تساهم الجمعية في نشر الوعي لدى المجتمع بمختلف فئاته بأهمية حاسة السمع وكافة الأمراض المتعددة التي تصيب الأذن والسمع وجهاز التوازن، مؤكداً على أهمية الكشف المبكر والتدخل التأهيلي المناسب لضعف السمع لدى الأطفال للمساهمة في الحد من هذا المرض ومضاعفاته في مصر والمنطقة".

ومن جانبه، قال الأستاذ الدكتور هشام كوزو، رئيس المؤتمر السنوي للجمعية: "شهد المؤتمر مجموعة من الجلسات وورش العمل التي ألقت الضوء بدقة على الفرص والتحديات التي يواجهها تخصص طب السمع والاتزان في العالم إلى جانب أهمية رعاية السمع والتدخل المبكر لعلاج ضعفه عند اكتشافه.

وأضاف الدكتور كوزو: "عالمياً هناك من 1 إلى 3 أطفال في الألف لديه ضعف في السمع دائم وقد تزيد هذه النسبة في مصر والمنطقة العربية وذلك بسبب زواج الأقارب في المقام الأول".

كما حضر المؤتمر مجموعة من الأطفال الذين أجريت لهم عمليات زرع قوقعة أو استخدموا سماعة الأذن، ومن بينهم الطفلة همس التي كانت تعاني من ضعف سمع شديد وتستخدم حالياً السماعة وتتحدث بشكل جيد بعد أن فقد أهلها الأمل في أن تتحسن حالتها. وقد أرسلت الطفلة همس، ثاني بطلة الجمهورية في الجمباز والتي تقيم مجموعة من معارض المشغولات اليدوية، كلمات تبعث الأمل في كل من يعاني من ضعف السمع.

كما أكد خبراء السمع الحاضرين أن المؤتمر هو بمثابة جرس إنذار ونداء توعية بضرورة مواكبة كل ما هو جديد بما في ذلك التكنولوجيا الحديثة المستخدمة عالمياً في وسائل تشخيص وعلاج أمراض السمع. وقد شملت توصيات المؤتمر ضرورة المسح السمعي الشامل للأطفال حديثي الولادة.

Sharjah Research and Technology Innovation Park and Finland's Oulu University of Applied Sciences partner to explore potential of 3D printing across the Middle East's thriving construction segment

Move complements current efforts to consolidate Sharjah's position as a leading knowledge and innovation hub




March 04, 2018





Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP) and Finland's Oulu University of Applied Sciences has partnered to explore the potential of 3D printing across the Middle East region’s rapidly thriving construction sector. The strategic alliance between SRTIP, an initiative of the American University of Sharjah Enterprises (AUSE) and Oulu University of Applied Sciences, one of the best and largest universities in Finland, aims towards further enhancing the emirate's position in the fields of innovation and development while also consolidating SRTIP's role as a regional centre for scientific and commercial research.




The program's agenda began at American University of Sharjah this week, which focused on intensive discussions regarding the latest developments in the field of 3D printing and robotics in construction, in addition to research regarding the local composites of materials utilized in 3D printing, which are suitable to the region's climate and compatible with the current line of structural printing devices. The program is part of the cooperation agreement signed between the American University of Sharjah Enterprises and Oulu University of Applied Sciences in May 2017.





“This research program is a beginning of a long-term co-operation between UAE and Finland, including universities and businesses in both countries and in different fields of industries," said Kimmo Paajanen, International Project Manager, Oulu University of Applied Sciences. "We are going to utilize shared resources for research and development work in Sharjah to boost a world-class system for innovation in different industries to meet local needs. We look forward to other areas of cooperation in the future such as developing robots for different industries, smart technologies, high-speed networks and smart applications, internet of things, data analytics and smart digitalization.”




The latest workshop, which was held last at the American University of Sharjah (AUS), is the fourth in a series of training sessions organized with the chief aim of promoting the Sharjah Construction Industry Innovation Challenge Program--a cooperation project of the AUS, Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP) and the Oulu University of Applied Sciences that looks to highlight key support in the move to develop a world-class program on innovation for the emirate. The final event, the ‘Showtime of 3D Printing and Robotics Challenge Program’, will be held on May 1, 2018 at the AUS Main Building in Sharjah.




Participants included key departments from AUS such as Civil Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering Program, Industrial Engineering and Architecture & Design. The list also includes 15 visiting students from Finland for joint projects with concentration in Architecture/Design, Mechatronics, ICT and Construction Management. The program also covered field visits to various construction sites in the emirate.




The partnership has led to a seamless knowledge exchange between SRTIP and Oulu University of Applied Sciences—opening the door for new opportunities in cooperation with companies and related sectors. The presence of Finnish students in AUS aims at establishing cooperation links with Sharjah through the Finnish R&D Project ‘Äljäke,’ which is an interdisciplinary project that involves several initiatives across the fields of Architecture, Building Information Modelling (BIM), Civil Engineering, Production Management, Information Technology, Mechanical Engineering and Collaborative robotics.

في إطار جهوده لنقل المعرفة والتكنولوجيا وتعزيز مكانة الشارقة كعاصمة للمعرفة والابتكار

"مجمع الشارقة للبحوث والتكنولوجيا والابتكار" وجامعة أولو الفنلندية يبحثان في آليات تطبيق الطباعة ثلاثية الأبعاد في قطاع الإنشاء في المنطقة

4 مارس 2018

في إطار سعيه الدائم لدعم مجالات الأبحاث والتكنولوجيا ونقل المعرفة "مجمع الشارقة للبحوث والتكنولوجيا والابتكار" يباشر أعمال تعاونه مع جامعة أولو للعلوم التطبيقية في فنلندا في مبادرة تهدف إلى البحث في آليات تطبيق الطباعة ثلاثية الأبعاد في قطاع الإنشاء في الشرق الأوسط والتي بدورها تهدف إلى تعزيز مكانة إمارة الشارقة في مجال الابتكار والتطوير في مجالات الحياة المختلفة، وتعزيز دور المجمع كمركز إقليمي للبحث العلمي والتجاري والتحفيز على الابتكار في المنطقة. 

وفي هذا السياق، انطلقت أعمال البرنامج البحثي وذلك في الجامعة الأمريكية في الشارقة هذا الاسبوع والذي سيركز على التطورات الحاصلة في مجال الطباعة ثلاثية الأبعاد وتصميم الروبوتات في مجال البناء، والبحث في التكوين الكيميائي الأمثل للمواد الخام المستخدمة في البناء والتي تتناسب مع مناخ المنطقة والمتوافقة مع أجهزة الطباعة الإنشائية. ويأتي تنظيم البرنامج في إطار اتفاقية التعاون الموقعة بين مختبرات شركة الأعمال التجارية للجامعة الأمريكية في الشارقة وجامعة أولو للعلوم التقنية في شهر مايو/أيار من العام 2017.

وتعد هذه الورشة البحثية الرابعة ضمن سلسلة من الورش التي تهدف إلى الترويج لبرنامج تحدي الابتكار في قطاع البناء في الشارقة، وهو مشروع تعاوني بين الجامعة الأمريكية في الشارقة ومجمع الشارقة للبحوث والتكنولوجيا والابتكار وجامعة أولو للعلوم التطبيقية، ويهدف إلى دعم تطوير منظومة عالمية المستوى للابتكار في الشارقة. وسيقام برنامج استعراض الطباعة ثلاثية الأبعاد وتحدي الروبوتات، في 1 مايو/أيار المقبل في المبنى الرئيسي للجامعة الأمريكية في الشارقة كفعالية ختامية لسلسلة الورش البحثية. 

ويشارك في ورشة العمل الأقسام الرئيسية في الجامعة الأمريكية في الشارقة مثل الهندسة المدنية وبرنامج هندسة الميكاترونيك والهندسة الصناعية والهندسة المعمارية والتصميم، بالإضافة إلى 15 طالباً زائراً من فنلندا قدموا من أجل تنفيذ مشاريع مشتركة تركز على الهندسة المعمارية والتصميم، والميكاترونيك، وتكنولوجيا المعلومات والاتصالات، وإدارة الإنشاءات، كما يضم البرنامج زيارات ميدانية لمواقع بناء متعددة في الإمارة.

وقال كيمو بايانان، مدير المشاريع الدولية في "جامعة أولو": "يعتبر هذا البرنامج البحثي بداية لعلاقة تعاون طويلة الأمد بين دولة الإمارات وفنلندا، بما يشمل الجامعات والشركات في كلا البلدين ومختلف المجالات الأخرى. وسنستفيد من الموارد المشتركة من أجل تعزيز البحوث والتطوير في الشارقة لتطوير منظومة عالمية المستوى للابتكار في مختلف القطاعات بهدف تلبية الاحتياجات المحلية. ونتطلع إلى التعاون في مجالات أخرى في المستقبل مثل تطوير الروبوتات للقطاعات المختلفة، والتقنيات الذكية والشبكات عالية السرعة والتطبيقات الذكية وإنترنت الأشياء وتحليلات البيانات والرقمنة الذكية."

وأدت الشراكة بين "مجمع الشارقة للبحوث والتكنولوجيا والابتكار" وجامعة أولو للعلوم التطبيقية إلى تحقيق تبادل إيجابي للمعرفة والخبرات بين الجانبين وفتحت الباب أمام فرص جديدة للتعاون مع الشركات والقطاعات ذات الصلة. ويهدف حضور الطلبة الفنلنديين إلى الجامعة الأمريكية في الشارقة إلى إقامة علاقات تعاون مع الشارقة من خلال مشروع البحوث والتطوير الفنلندي "آليكي" (Äljäke)، وهو عبارة عن مشروع متعدد التخصصات يشتمل على العديد من المبادرات في مجالات الهندسة المعمارية وصناعة النماذج المبدئية والهندسة المدنية وإدارة الإنتاج وتكنولوجيا المعلومات والهندسة الميكانيكية والروبوتات التعاونية.