Cisco to Establish Point of Presence for Cloud Security in UAE

As GITEX Global 2024 approaches, Cisco has unveiled plans to set up a Point of Presence (PoP) for cloud-delivered security in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This strategic initiative aims to enhance protection for users, infrastructure, and investments against potential cyber threats. The announcement underscores Cisco’s ongoing commitment to empower local and regional organizations with flexible security services and data loss protection across devices, remote users, and distributed locations. The company aims to have the Secure Service Edge (SSE) PoP operational by the end of 2024.

“Today’s announcement reaffirms Cisco’s commitment to rapidly extend its global reach for customers and provide advanced cloud security protection and services to the UAE and surrounding region,” stated Abdelilah Nejjari, Managing Director for Cisco in the Gulf and Levant region. “Our goal is to help companies in the UAE accelerate the deployment of cybersecurity capabilities by adopting a platform approach. This will enable the seamless integration of various solutions within their stack, allowing them to maximize their potential.”

The new PoP will be pivotal in delivering agile, highly resilient, high-capacity secure access closer to users in the UAE. It will support Cisco’s cloud services, including its Secure Service Edge (SSE) solution and Cisco Secure Access. This innovative, cloud-delivered platform helps organizations address various security challenges, ensuring users can safely and seamlessly access the resources and applications they need, regardless of protocol, port, or level of customization.

With Cisco Secure Access, organizations can simplify their connectivity, moving away from complex point products that fail to support today’s distributed environment. Automated connectivity decisions help enhance productivity by streamlining how users connect to the Internet, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and private applications.

“This initiative marks a new milestone in Cisco’s commitment to strengthening the region’s cybersecurity efforts,” remarked Fady Younes, Managing Director, Cybersecurity, Middle East, Africa, and Romania. “In February, we announced a local data center for our Duo multifactor authentication (MFA) offering, which is already operational. The next step is the new PoP for our converged cloud security SSE solution, grounded in zero trust, providing our customers with seamless, transparent, and secure access from anything to anywhere.”

**Enhancing Cybersecurity Readiness in the UAE**

The establishment of the SSE PoP in the UAE will provide organizations with the scalability of public cloud services. The PoP will be carrier-neutral and accessible through any Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the UAE.

Recent findings from the Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index highlight the critical need for security resilience in the region. The study revealed that only 2% of organizations in the UAE are at the Mature stage of readiness, while 33% are at the Progressive stage, 54% are Formative, and 11% are Beginners. Alarmingly, 73% of companies anticipate a cybersecurity incident could disrupt their business in the next 12-24 months.