Mohammad Al Jallad, Chief Technologist and director of sovereign AI and AI Factory, HPC, and AI Global Sales at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, highlights rapid data center growth in the Middle East, driven by AI and national strategies. HPE leads through sustainable, hybrid-ready solutions and local partnerships.
How would you describe the current state of the data center market in the Middle East, and what are the key trends driving growth?
The data center market in the Middle East is experiencing rapid growth with the Middle East’s data center market expected to double by 2030. This expansion is often driven by national digital transformation programs like the UAE’s National AI Strategy 2030 and Saudi’s National Strategy for Data & AI. Other drivers include surging public and private cloud adoption, smart-city projects requiring edge-to-cloud infrastructure, and AI and machine learning workloads needing high-density compute and advanced cooling technologies.
How is HPE aligning its data center strategy with the region’s digital transformation goals, including national visions like UAE’s and Saudi Arabia’s?
A key example of HPE’s commitment and alignment with national strategies in the region is the ‘Saudi Made’ initiative, which is set to advance Saudi Arabia’s capabilities across AI, Networking and Hybrid Cloud. In early 2024, HPE launched the production of ‘Saudi Made’ HPE servers, following the opening of its new Riyadh production facility. Just this year, we announced the expansion of the initiative, confirming the availability of ‘Saudi Made’ HPE servers are now available in Jordan, Egypt, and Gulf countries and outlining plans to include the HPE Aruba Networking portfolio.
Furthermore, in 2024 we introduced the first managed data centre hosting service with direct liquid cooling for AI in the UAE in partnership with Khazna Data Centers. The managed service advances the UAE’s national AI strategy and bolsters innovation by providing wider access to advanced compute resources with higher energy efficiency for public and commercial organizations.
These initiatives ensure that HPE solutions directly underpin sovereign digital ecosystems and AI ambitions, driving sustainable and efficient data center growth in the Middle East.
What differentiates HPE’s data center solutions in a competitive market, especially in terms of scalability, energy efficiency, and hybrid cloud readiness?
What differentiates HPE’s data center infrastructure solutions is that they are designed for optimal efficiency, employing advanced technologies and innovative cooling systems to minimize power consumption while maximizing computational performance. We are collaborating with data center providers to offer customers high-performing infrastructure in data centers powered by renewable energy, further reducing the carbon footprint of these compute intensive workloads. HPE has decades of liquid cooling leadership expertise and just last year introduced the industry’s first 100% fanless direct liquid cooling systems architecture to enhance the energy and cost efficiency of large-scale AI deployments. These advancements are further underpinned by key HPE GreenLake cloud capabilities which delivers a unified control plane that maintains consistent operations, security, and cost management across on-premises, edge, and public clouds.
How does HPE support enterprises in the Middle East in transitioning from traditional infrastructure to hybrid or edge data center models?
HPE provides comprehensive services and innovations such as assessment and migration services that help with consultations on workload placement, capacity planning, and phased migrations to hybrid cloud environments. Simultaneously, migration-focused software solutions, established on a foundation of continuous data protection (CDP), and with built-in orchestration and automation, allow for migrations between any infrastructure, including cross-hypervisor, cross-cloud, and even between on-premises and a cloud provider.
To ensure that customer receive optimal support throughout this digital transformation journey, HPE partners with local managed-services providers, such as du.
Sustainability is a growing concern—how is HPE integrating energy-efficient or green technologies into its data center offerings in the region?
HPE is integrating sustainability into its regional data center offerings through several key initiatives. These include direct liquid cooling managed AI centers, which reduces energy consumption and supports higher rack densities. AI Mod POD provides better control over infrastructure costs, power usage, cooling efficiency, and other operational expenses, while typically reducing the carbon footprint significantly. HPE also enables organizations to track greenhouse gas emissions of their IT infrastructure through carbon-tracking software within HPE GreenLake cloud, which visualizes real-time energy and emissions metrics. Other solutions supporting organizations manage their environmental impact range from sustainable IT transformation, reporting to end-of-use services.
Can you share specific examples or case studies where HPE’s data center solutions have enabled significant impact for customers in the Middle East?
One notable example of HPE’s data center solutions enabling significant impact for customers in the Middle East is the collaboration between HPE and Khazna in the UAE. HPE and Khazna launched the region’s first managed AI data center with direct liquid cooling helping to accelerate AI projects and reducing PUE by about 25%. Another use case is with the Commercial Bank of Dubai where HPE helped automate core banking workloads and enhance data sovereignty controls.
How is HPE working with local partners, governments, and service providers to expand its data center presence and ecosystem in the Middle East?
In the Middle East, HPE is expanding its data center presence and ecosystem through strategic alliances with hyperscale operators, such as Khazna, to co-build and operate energy efficient AI data centers. The data center hosting service, fitted with HPE’s liquid-cooling capabilities, supports the UAE government’s goal to reduce the country’s emissions to less than 100 kilowatt-hours. Furthermore, partnerships with channel partners and integrators like du, Etisalat, and local system integrators enable turnkey deployments of data centers. HPE also collaborates with universities to develop skills in HPC, AI, and data center operations, aiming to build a robust ecosystem of experts in the region.
