KACST provides Saudi Arabia’s science community 24.7.365 cloud backup with Veeam

The King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) provides hosted services and cloud computing to approximately 30 organizations in the Kingdom’s science community.
Updated 23 August 2017
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KACST provides Saudi Arabia’s science community 24.7.365 cloud backup with Veeam

RIYADH: The Internet Services Unit (ISU) of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), has deployed Veeam® Availability Suite™ from Veeam Software to provide the science community in Saudi Arabia with 24.7.365 (full time e.g. all-day, all-week, all-year) access to critical data for research that fosters innovation and promotes a knowledge-based society.
The two most important components of science and innovation are people and data. Therefore, KACST created the ISU to provide people in the science community with 24.7.365 access to data. Without this access, they cannot carry out their collaborative research and develop solutions that improve society.
ISU provides hosted services and cloud computing to approximately 30 organizations in the science community, including universities, research centers, laboratories and government agencies. Each organization works toward a common goal — to transform the Kingdom into a leader in science and technology.
“If we fail to deliver their data 24.7.365, we put them at risk for downtime, and we lose their trust,” said Abdulmajeed Al-Osaimi, manager of the systems and development department at the ISU. “Downtime can derail their testing and research, and can cripple their business processes. If they can’t access their data, we have failed them.”
“Our job is to provide high availability to the organizations that conduct scientific research and foster technological innovation,” Al-Osaimi said. “Veeam helps us deliver 24.7.365 availability of the data that becomes the catalyst for discovery, economic development and social prosperity.”
Veeam also helps ISU with monitoring and reporting to avoid downtime, as well as capacity planning to forecast resource and utilization trends. Veeam provides complete visibility into the virtual environment so ISU can detect and resolve issues before they become problems and impact the organizations.
“Non-stop IT operations is the new normal, so we have to make sure our organizations have 24.7.365 availability of their critical data,” said Khalid Al-Foaim, senior system administrator. “We look after IT so they can focus on advancing science and technology through research. Innovation and economic development is everyone’s focus.”


Saudi mine-clearance project in Yemen destroys 4,235 explosive devices in a day

Updated 22 January 2026
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Saudi mine-clearance project in Yemen destroys 4,235 explosive devices in a day

  • Project Masam aims to rid Yemen of all mines to help ensure the highest standards of safety and security for the Yemeni people

LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s Project Masam cleared 4,235 mines, unexploded ordnance and other explosive devices in a single day from Bab Al-Mandab region in southwestern Yemen, as part of its mission to protect civilians.

Osama Al-Gosaibi, the project’s director general, said it aims to rid Yemen of all mines to help ensure the highest standards of safety and security for the Yemeni people.

On Wednesday, the project’s teams destroyed 33 anti-tank mines, 31 anti-personnel mines, 86 miscellaneous shells, 2,750 assorted rounds, 1,291 breakers and valves used in devices, 12 grenades, two Katyusha rockets, a missile, 15 shell arrows, and 14 other explosive devices.

Masam’s teams are tasked with clearing villages, roads and areas around schools to facilitate the safe movement of civilians and delivery of humanitarian aid.

The project trains local people to become demining engineers, provides them with modern equipment to do the job, and also offers support to Yemenis injured by explosive devices.