Digital transformation is upending industries across the board, but one sector arguably needs to have its finger on the pulse of change more than any other – and that sector is education. The reason for this is that the students and school children of today will be the workforce of tomorrow, and the world will of work – across all sectors – will be very different five to 10 years from now. In fact, 65% of children entering primary school today will work in completely new job types that do not yet exist, according to research quoted by the World Economic Forum.
Here in the Gulf, and especially the UAE, education is changing even faster, driven in part by the government’s ambitious targets under Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 and UAE Vision 2021. These plans not only make provision for improving and modernizing education, but also strive to diversify and the economy and ensure that the future is digital, which of course means that the workforce of the future will need to be equipped to thrive in a future where digital transformation is embraced as the new normal.
These subjects – digital transformation and education – are at the center of what VMware stands for, and we are proud to be helping pave the way to the future of education in the region. In February VMware entered a digital transformation partnership with Ankabut, the United Arab Emirates’ Advanced National Research and Education Network (NREN), to transform learning experiences for academic institutions in the UAE, regionally, and worldwide.
At VMware we are keen to ensure that students around the world can benefit from cloud and virtualization technology as we understand the huge, positive impact it has on learning, while also helping to boost efficiency and reduce costs for educational organizations. That’s why we are so excited to be working with Ankabut, whose platform provides collaboration opportunities between UAE education, government, and industry sectors.
Moreover, Ankabut is closely aligned with UAE Vision 2021 and Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 government transformation goals, providing cloud connectivity, IT infrastructure and managed services for 80 UAE member institutions to drive innovative educational services such as digital student records, project collaboration and virtual reality field trips.
As part of the agreement we signed in February, Ankabut also became a member of the VMware Cloud Provider Program, becoming the first dedicated education service provider in the UAE. Using VMware software-defined data center and VMware NSX network virtualization solutions, Ankabut will be able to provide more secure data center and public cloud services that can quickly scale up as their student population grows.
Our VMware hybrid cloud solutions overcome scalability, availability and budget challenge commend Ankabut for partnering with VMware to help modernize its IT delivery and improve its learning, teaching and research services.
We have the capability to allow school and universities to virtualize the desktops for students and teachers, bringing huge advantages in terms of learning tools, collaboration, communications and security.
We’re excited to be part of Ankabut’s digital transformation, and we look forward to contributing more to education sector across the Middle East in the coming months and years.
