A major telecommunications and IT solutions provider of the Kingdom, Detecon Al Saudia Company (Detasad), has launched a highly-innovative ‘Sahaha Secure Enterprise Cloud’, which offers a slew of cloud computing services. German Ambassador Dieter Walter Haller was the chief guest on the occasion.
“The launch of Sahaba comes within the framework of the Saudi Vision 2030, a comprehensive reform plan of the Saudi government backed by Germany,” said Ambassador Haller in his opening speech in Riyadh on Tuesday. The launching ceremony at the local Kempinski Burj Rafal Tower & Hotel was attended by diplomats, IT and telecommunications professionals and Detasad executives.
Felix T. Wass, Detasad president and chief executive officer, addressed the elite gathering and presented commendation plaques to some important guests including Justin Tacy, director DETECON Innovation Institute at the Silicon Valley (US) and representatives of key technology partners SecureWorks, ServiceNow and RedHat. Robert Zednik, Detasad vice president, and Abdul Rahman Al Yami, director of ICT operations, also attended the launching ceremony.
Felix Thomas Wass, Detasad president & CEO, speaking during the launch of Sahaba in Riyadh Tuesday.
Referring to the progressively growing relations between Saudi Arabia and Germany, the ambassador said that Detasad is a prime example of Saudi-German partnership with FAL Holding and Detecon International, a Deutsche Telekom Group Company, as shareholders. “Saudi and German companies have been closely working in different sectors, propelling growth and development,” said Haller.
Speaking on this occasion, Detasad President Wass, said that Sahaba offers community clouds for premium customers, enterprise level security, high performance, data center, disaster recovery and outstanding support. Felix, while speaking about the Saudi reform plan, said: “We aim to be a key contributor to the achievement of the ambitious plans of Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Plan 2020.”
Wass explained, “Sahaba secure enterprise cloud is an OpenStack based cloud solution developed in a strategic partnership between Detasad and RedHat on a Dell reference architecture.”
“The adoption of Sahaba by several major Saudi companies allowed them to reduce operational costs, increase their agility and together with Detasad professional services reduced deployment times for new applications significantly while ensuring that all data remains in the Kingdom,” Wass added.
He, while referring to the genesis and the growth of Detasad as a premier company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said, “Detasad represents 35 years of success story of a Saudi-German venture.”
He also renewed his pledge to build local capabilities and announced an ambitious plan to open ‘Detasad Academy’ in cooperation with various Western universities to train young Saudis. “No doubt, Detasad will be a contributor and driver in Saudi Vision 2030,” he added.
In his speech, Justin Tacy, director DETECON Innovation Institute in the Silicon Valley (US), analyzed the latest technology trends and their potential contribution to the Vision 2030. Tacy, who especially flew from the US to speak at the Sahaba launching ceremony, said that “Sahaba offers enterprise-grade object storage, which is far more efficient than hierarchical file systems.”
© The Saudi Gazette 2017
