Qatar  is ranked No 23 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index 2014

Qatar is leading the next wave of mobile broadband in the region, along with Oman, the Cisco Global Cloud Index 2013 – 2018 has revealed.
“The report also ranks Qatar among top countries worldwide for leading mobile network performance,” explained Mohamed Hammoudi, Cisco Qatar general manager, while sharing  forecasts for the Middle East’s Information Technology (IT) industry in 2015.
“Especially the GCC countries are primed to leverage the Internet of Everything (IoE) to become leaders in business innovation, thanks to strong broadband network infrastructure, rapid uptake of mobile devices, visionary leadership, and network readiness.”
Hammoudi pointed out Qatar led the Arab world and ranked No 23 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index 2014, which measures market conditions and the state of connectivity around the world.
“If we continue to invest in the future, the implications are transformational – we will have a more secure world, with strong economies, job growth, education and healthcare, as well as the ability to deliver on new energy efficient technologies that will allow our global community to thrive,” he said.
Citing Cisco’s Global Cloud Index, Hammoudi said the Middle East and Africa (MEA) are set to post the world’s highest cloud traffic growth rate, increasing more than eight-fold from 31 exabytes in 2013 to 262 exabytes in 2018.
Similarly, the MEA will also post the world’s second-highest cloud data centre workloads growth at 39% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), behind only the Asia Pacific region, he said.
Middle East organisations are eager to capture, manage, and analyse Big Data to drive new insights into business processes and customer insights, the Cisco official said.
Thanks to technology advancements and lower costs, the number of mobile-connected devices is set to exceed the world’s population by the end of 2014, according to Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update 2013 – 2018.
With tech-savvy youth and increasingly mobile workforces, the MEA is set to post the world’s-fastest mobile data traffic growth rate, increasing 14-fold from 2013 to 2018.
Hammoudi said the MEA is set to post the world’s highest-growth rate of IPv6-capable smartphones and tablets, growing from 133mn in 2013 to 598mn in 2018. Wearables like watches, glasses and fitness trackers are set to post strong growth from more than 712,000 in 2013 to 7.95mn in 2018.
In the rapidly evolving world of security threats, total global alerts increased 14% year-on-year from 2012 to 2013 – the highest level ever, according to the Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report.
The Cisco 2014 Midyear Security Report added that organisations across the Middle East are at high risk, with geopolitical events like drought, floods, and unrest creating new trends in the cyber realm.
The Middle East is increasingly adopting interoperable, scalable, and cost-effective video collaboration solutions, especially in education, healthcare and government services. As a result, the MEA will see IP video traffic grow seven-fold from 2013 to 2018 while Internet video traffic will grow eight-fold from 2013 to 2018.