Toni El Inati, the RVP for Sales at META and CEE for Barracuda Networks, says GITEX offers a unique opportunity to meet new industry stakeholders and re-engage with existing connections

Are you participating in GITEX Global 2022? If yes, which products and solutions will you be showcasing at the event?
Over the last year – and most notably, just last month – Barracuda introduced several innovative solutions. These include new capabilities that protect against persistent and evolving threats like ransomware and help customers solve complex digital business transformation challenges in the areas of Email Protection, Zero Trust Access, Managed XDR, and Data Protection. GITEX will offer us the opportunity to showcase these solutions and provide comprehensive overviews of how they can help regional enterprises achieve their digital ambitions in a safe and secure manner.

What are your expectations from the event this year?
For over four decades now, GITEX has been the premier technology trade show in the Middle East, and today, it stands as the world’s largest and most inclusive tech and start-up event. In a region where business is so highly relationship-oriented, GITEX offers a unique opportunity to meet new industry stakeholders and re-engage with existing connections – all within the context of understanding the latest advancements in technology that will help fuels the region’s incredible appetite for digital transformation.

At Barracuda, we see GITEX as a must-attend event that signals our deep commitment to our customers and partners in the region. We intend to have our top regional executives from across the region fly in to be present and available for engagements with attendees. From a team building and company culture perspective too GITEX proves invaluable.

What will be your theme of participation at GITEX?
At GITEX, we will showcase the breadth of our product portfolio, from email security and web application firewalls to cloud backup and network security. While these solutions enable businesses to effectively protect against a wide range of cyber-attacks, the common feature they all share is simplicity and effectiveness. As cyber threats grow in sophistication, and as IT environments become increasingly complex, it is this message of simplicity that we have found resonates strongly with our customers and prospects. At GITEX, we intend to inform attendees how our solutions deliver the advanced functionality they need to defend against modern threats while keeping usability at their core.

How have your regional strategies changed in recent months?
In August this year, KKR, a leading global investment firm, completed its acquisition of Barracuda from Thoma Bravo. This move has set us on track for our next phase of growth, and as highlighted by our CEO, Hatem Naguib, Barracuda will continue to invest in its team and product portfolio to provide innovative cybersecurity solutions for customers and partners.

Our regional strategy mirrors this corporate mission and we continue to invest in our technology as well as our presence across the region. Today Barracuda has a dedicated presence in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria, and Morocco and earlier this year, we began to deliver our Cloud-to-Cloud Backup solution to customers in the United Arab Emirates from Microsoft’s local cloud data centers.