AUS professor represents the region in prestigious computing conference

An American University of Sharjah (AUS) professor was the only academic presenter from the region at the prestigious International Data Centre and Cloud Computing Technology Conference held recently at Injazat headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

Dr. Fadi Aloul, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, made a presentation entitled "Challenges and Future Directions of Data Centers and Cloud Computing in the UAE" at the two-day conference, which was organized by Injazat in collaboration with New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) and Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly).

The conference, which brought together research and industry experts to discuss state-of-the-art technologies, exchange ideas and foster strategic views, was attended by renowned researchers from around the world including cloud computing industry leaders from IBM Research, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Yahoo Research, Telefonica Research, Bell Labs, AT&T Labs and Juniper Networks. It also attracted researchers from leading universities such as the University of California (UC) at Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside, University of Massachusetts, Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, Polytechnic Institute of New York University and Rice University. AUS was the only regional university invited for this high-level conference.

"The conference invited international IT leaders from academia and industry to exchange the latest ideas in cloud computing technology and look for ways to expand the use of cloud services in the UAE," said Dr. Aloul. "The UAE has become an optimal location to launch new technological products, given the availability of fast and reliable Internet connections in addition to the high Internet penetration rates among UAE residents. The UAE has always taken the lead in introducing the latest IT technologies."

"Furthermore, in 2011, the UAE was the highest ranked Arab country in the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) from the World Economic Forum (WEF). According to the UN E-Government survey, the UAE jumped from 99th place in 2010 to 7th place in 2012 place worldwide in the use of online services," continued Dr. Aloul.
The event was designed to promote collaboration between research institutions, academia and service providers to ensure swift implementation of research advancements in the design and development of commercial applications and services of data center and cloud computing technologies.

"Cloud computing services, when fully implemented, will ease the life of users, significantly improve performance and cut down on operational costs. It is increasingly being used in private organizations, governments and even consumer electronic devices," said Dr. Aloul.