(Left to right) Dr. Waleed Heloo, GM, FVC; Dr. Ahmed Dabbagh, Manager of Technology & Services Development at Ankabut; Fahem Al Nuaimi, CEO Ankabut; KS Parag, MD, FVC, Gary Rider, President EMEA at Polycom
Abu Dhabi, UAE, 24 September 2013: FVC, a leading Value Added Distributor (VAD) in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ankabut to deploy a service provider grade, managed unified communications service, based on the latest Real-Presence platform from Polycom and Microsoft Lync 2013. The managed service is for the exclusive use by Ankabut and its members to connect within the network and with other institutions within the UAE and abroad. Phase 1 will enable up to 10,000 members from Ankabut and its partners, to reach and connect with anyone easily with a single click, from any platform, powering rich media communication and sharing content and programs to increase productivity.
Ankabut is the UAE’s National Research and Education Network (NREN) offering academic institutions across the country access to non-commercial, high-speed connectivity and other education networks both locally as well as globally. Currently, about 75,000 higher education students, faculty members and administrators are connected to the network out of about approximately 125,000 throughout the UAE.
Fahem Al Nuaimi, CEO of Ankabut, said, “Our commitment to universities and schools is to deliver high tech resources and tools to enable their staff, faculty, and students access to the best resources from around the world. The new communications system will allow our member universities to connect, through our closed network, to any of their partner or affiliate universities anywhere in the world, on any device at any time.”
The communications solution, put together by FVC’s team of consultants, uses the best standard-based equipment and software from Polycom and Microsoft. The solutions ensure that the final managed service is Service-Provider grade; supports multi-tenancy, is completely secure, highly available and enable connectivity on Ankabut’s broadband network.
“This is the first time such state-of-the-art service is being implemented exclusively for the education community of UAE,” added K.S. Parag, Managing Director at FVC. “The services, powered by HD voice, HD video and complemented with the latest collaborative tools, enable great meeting experiences. The services will connect the education community members everywhere, and enhance their everyday eLearning and productivity.”
The service is optimized for web, laptops, tablets, smartphones and any touch device; enabling users to connect, anywhere, anytime. The service will incorporate fully Immersive Telepresence, class rooms and auditoriums; and will be completely optimized to work within the existing Ankabut network.
