IDCA Welcomes CIO Gold Award Winner of UAE to the Advisory Council
Building a better world for all...

Washington D.C., July 16, 2019: International Data Center Authority (IDCA) today announces that Dr. Alaeddin Ismail Al Badawna of ADMA (Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company) has joined the IDCA Advisory Council.

Dr. Alaeddin Al-Badawna, the winner of CIO Gold Award, the recipient of “Legend CIO” life time achievement award, and Emirates National Records from H.H. Sheikh Saeed Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan is now a member of IDCA’s Advisory Council. Dr. Al-Badawna currently works as ERP Project Manager at Al Dhafra Petroleum Company and Al Yasat Petroleum Company, of ADNOC Group, is a proven leader in Information Technology field and an internationally acclaimed CIO. In his 30 years of association with ADNOC group under various leadership roles, Dr. Al-Badawna has put exemplary business strategies & vision with sustainable IT roadmap and as VP – IT of Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company has achieved numerous milestones by initiating strategic projects related based on new technologies & IT services. Under his stewardship, his Company has delivered projects in Digital Transformation, Cloud Computing, Office Collaboration, Converged Data Centers, Unified Communications and ERP projects that introduced significant improvements in efficiency, responsiveness, enhanced performance, increased productivity and foster faster decision making.

"IDCA is recognized not only because of its modern principles, its comprehensive education and practical standardization, but also because of its international mission to help every nation and global citizen achieve their optimum potentials. We look forward to Dr. Alaa’s contributions to our industry, utilizing his perspectives on the fertile grounds of the Middle East and beyond,” stated Chairman of IDCA, Mr. Mehdi Paryavi.

Termed as the Virtual Strategist by global CIO forum, Dr. Al-Badawna strongly advocates that “IT is the lubricant oil in the engine of change”. For his transformational performance and valuable contributions in the IT field, Dr. Al-Badawna has received several accolades from prestigious institutions across the globe. To name a few, SVUS announced him the Gold Winner as the CIO of the Year 2016 in the IT International awards in San Francisco, Enterprise Channels MENA awarded him as “Legend CIO”, Best in Biz awarded him for two consecutive years as “Technology Executive of the Year” for 2015 & 2016, Stevie Awards recognized him as “IT Executive of the Year “ and he was honored with “Leading by Example Zayed (Founding father of UAE) Award in 2018” as an acknowledgement of his valuable contributions in the Information Technology field and for receiving recognitions at both regional and international levels.

When asked about his joining to IDCA, Dr. Al-Badawna stated, “it is my great honor to be chosen as a trusted member of the Advisory Board at the prestigious International Data Center Authority representing the Middle East. This is the ideal platform for us, where we can voice our prospects on the global stage helping nations build sustainable digital economies and make policies at the global scale.”

A Certified Project management professional and a member of American Society of Project Management Professionals, Dr. Al-Badawna has continuously enriched his knowledge through various professional certificates such as Executive Leadership Development Program from IMD Business school, IT Governance Assurance Forum Certificate using Cobit from Finance Audit department, Government of Dubai and has also presented a paper on ADMA-OPCO Process Management System (APMS) at the Intelligent Energy Conference and Exhibition Amsterdam, Netherlands.

An avid reader and keen enthusiast in learning and adapting to advanced technologies, Dr. Al-Badawna firmly believes that to stay competitive in the current disruptive market, organizations must adapt quickly to emerging technologies. He is currently providing guidance and enabling technology prerequisites such as IoT, AI technologies along with Cloud Computing and Data analytics to leverage and create new business models for effectively engaging with their consumers at every stage of their digital transformation journey.

Senior Member of the Technical Standards Committee and head of the Infinity Paradigm® physical layers’ taskforce, Dikran Kechichian, stated “Dr. Al-Badawna is a distinguished CIO and a subject matter veteran that carries with him in-depth knowledge in IT and wide perspectives on the Middle East as a region. We are confident that his knowhow, combined with other valuable council and committee members, can help entice multidimensional evolution within our industry and render a more prosperous Middle East.”

About IDCA Technical Standards Committee and Advisory Council - The IDCA Technical Standards Committee represents IDCA’s interest in matters pertaining to standards. The committee is composed of elite members from diverse yet premier data center, cloud and application centric organizations who bring decades of experience to the issues and challenges of the data center industry. Its primary mission is to develop a holistic standards and key performance indicator framework that incorporates well established third party industry standards and KPIs, as well as developing new standards and KPI models where gaps exist in the industry’s standards library to help empower and structure information technology, data centers and cloud. It also conducts research on the future needs and requirements, and its members serve as standards advocates and resources for their organizations and industry segments. The IDCA Advisory Council provides industry expertise and advice to IDCA’s Technical Standards Committee. More on the IDCA Technical Standards Committee and Advisory Council: Learn More

About IDCA - Headquartered in Washington D.C., the IDCA was established to streamline, structure, educate and give direction to the information technology, data center and cloud industry. IDCA’s core mission is to aid in standardizing the feasibility, approach, selection, design, implementation, documentation and operation of data centers via modern-day processes and methodologies. IDCA is paving the way for professionals in power, cooling, network, system, storage, software, application, physical security, IT security, civil, architecture, telecommunication, structured cabling, safety, business continuity, operations, management, engineering, finance, legal, sales, marketing, HR, virtualization and cloud to all gather under one roof, with one mission, and for one industry. Thus far, thousands of professionals from both the government sector, such Department of Social Security, NASA, the U.S. House of Representatives, Department of Education, U.S. Courts, Department of State, as well as major conglomerates such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, AWS, MLB, Experian, Ericsson, eBay, AOL, Salesforce, Digital Realty, Visa, MasterCard, The World Bank, Verizon, AIG, T-Mobile, Expedia, Time Warner and others have been educated, trained and certified by IDCA. More on IDCA: idc-a.org

About ADNOC - The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company or ADNOC is the state-owned oil company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the Oil & Gas Journal, as of January 2015, the UAE holds the seventh-largest proven reserves of oil in the world at 97.8 billion barrels. Most of these reserves are located in Abu Dhabi.[2] It is the world's 12th largest oil company by production, producing 3.1 million barrels per day.It is the UAE's biggest company.Learn More