The United Arab Emirates and the wider Gulf region continue their ambitious journey toward comprehensive digital transformation and strengthened defence and security capabilities, driven by investment in the latest communication technologies, smart mobility, and cybersecurity. At the heart of this transformation stands Samsung Gulf Electronics, a trusted partner to government entities and critical sectors, providing advanced, innovative solutions tailored to the operational demands of mission-critical environments. Thus, Al Jundi met with Mr Wesam Abu Saymeh, Vice President and Head of the Enterprise Business Division at Samsung Gulf Electronics, to discuss his career path, the company’s vision for enhancing defence and security capabilities in the region, and the latest technological innovations it offers to institutions, and had the following dialogue with him
Please give our readers a brief introduction to yourself and your route to becoming Vice President and Head of the Enterprise Business Team at Samsung Gulf Electronics.
My background has always been in tech and innovation, which then shifted to helping organisations in this region adopt the best solutions in this field in a way that is secure, compliant and practical for their operations.
Over time, it has become clear that sectors such as defence, government, transport, logistics, utilities, and even healthcare in the Gulf were all asking for the same thing: enterprise-grade devices with security put at the forefront, not an afterthought. At Samsung Gulf Electronics, I lead the Enterprise Business Team, bringing together our industry-leading innovations, Samsung Knox, and partnerships with regional authorities, so that enterprises can operate in critical missions or environments with full confidence from Samsung. We are very humbled to be able to support the UAE in its pursuit of excellence in the fields of AI, digital transformation and cybersecurity.
By driving innovation that strengthens national resilience and enables secure connectivity, Samsung contributes directly to the UAE’s broader ambitions of becoming a global hub for advanced technology and data-driven economies. Through our cutting-edge solutions and commitment to 5G-enabled infrastructure, we empower enterprises and government entities to build smarter, faster and more secure digital ecosystems. As a technology leader, we take pride in being an active enabler of this national vision.
Samsung is a global leader in technology. How does the company’s role in the Gulf region contribute to advancing defence and security solutions in the region?
In this region, governments and critical industries are undergoing rapid digital transformation, thanks to national strategies. Already supporting these strategies through Samsung’s exceptional capabilities and innovations in AI, digital transformation and cybersecurity, we’re able to be the partner that governments can trust, leverage, and can help them to scale up. Samsung supports that in three ways. First, we bring field-ready Galaxy devices – including rugged tablets and smartphones – that work in high heat, dust, and vibration, which is essential for defence, police, border, port, construction, and oil and gas applications.
Second, at the hardware and software levels, our devices have our Knox Security built in, a defence-grade security platform. Third, we localise the way our solutions are deployed so that ministries, defence entities, energy companies or transport operators can run them in private networks or within sovereign environments. That is how we advance defence and security, but it also serves broader industry segments that have similar risk profiles.
What is the company’s strategic vision for the defence and security sectors in the Middle East?
Our vision is to ensure ecosystems in these industries are protected from every angle, without fail. This means every device starts with a trusted hardware root, is manageable at scale and is adaptable to local regulatory requirements.
For defence and security, we provide entities with the option to manage devices on-premises, integrate with existing command platforms, and tailor accessories, mounts, and UX for field use.
For the wider industry, the same framework should enable a port authority, a utility operator, or an airline ground team to use the same secured devices without reinventing the stack each time.
What specific innovations in mobility, smart devices, and connectivity does Samsung offer to the defence and security industries in the Gulf region?
We deliver devices that seamlessly transition from office to vehicle to field, maintaining uninterrupted performance and security.
Our rugged Galaxy lines are designed with the defence and security industries at the heart. They support gloved touch, hot-swap power and the latest Android OS, in addition to our own Samsung One UI, so operational apps work as intended.
When docked, the same device can be used with Samsung DeX as a workstation, which reduces the number of endpoints an organisation has to secure. On the connectivity side, we are enabling operations inside private 5G and advanced Wi-Fi environments, which is essential not just for bases but also for smart ports, oil fields and large retail or mall operations that require closed networks. Everything is wrapped with Knox, so that even when workloads differ – such as a tactical app, a warehouse app, or a patient app – the security posture remains consistent. A significant addition is that Samsung is the only player in this space providing on-device AI across its own mobility ecosystem, so sensitive defence or industrial workloads can stay on the device instead of being sent to a public cloud. We also support the delivery of a custom binary on client demand, allowing customers to have devices ship with specific apps, settings, or hardening from day one. The fact that we can tailor the user experience to the customer’s voice, language, and workflows enables frontline teams to adopt the solution faster and more error-free. Since Samsung partners directly with government entities and these industries within defence and security, we’re able to work closely with them to provide the best products and services to meet their needs and objectives.
How do Samsung’s enterprise solutions, such as rugged devices and mobile security, align with the needs of defence forces and military organisations in the UAE and Gulf region?
Defence and military organisations in this region need devices that can survive any potential security and climate risk, integrate with existing Android-based mission software and still be centrally controlled. Our Galaxy Tab Active and XCover families meet MIL-STD810H certified IP requirements, which makes them suitable for desert deployments, vehicle mounting or marine settings. As they run a full, current Android experience, agencies do not have to rebuild their applications. The devices are sleek and slim and have the full Android OS, unlike our competitors.
Through Knox Suite, IT teams can apply very strict policies: disable cameras in secure zones, block external storage, enforce VPN, push OS and security updates on schedule and monitor device health.
How does Samsung’s partnership with the UAE ministries and government agencies in the region shape your approach to innovation in the defence and security sectors?
Partnerships here are a structural key to our work. Ministries, security agencies and critical infrastructure operators in the UAE and wider GCC invite us to test in real conditions – high temperatures, vehicle vibration, mixed-language teams, private networks, strict content controls. This gives us precise feedback on what needs to be ruggedised, what needs to be simplified in the UX and what needs to be controllable by the customer’s own security operation centre, or network operations centre.
We take those learnings into our regional offerings, which is why the same devices and Knox policies we position for defence often also meet the needs of transport authorities, logistics hubs, airports, ports, and utilities. Local collaboration is how we make global products genuinely deployable in this market, and we continue to be both proud and honoured to be trusted by local governments to help support their various endeavours.
Looking ahead, what are Samsung’s strategic priorities for the defence and security sectors in the Gulf region over the next 5-10 years, and how do you foresee the company contributing to the region’s defence modernisation?
Our direction is very straightforward: we want Samsung to be the mobility and device-security platform of choice for this segment, which means continuing to deliver devices that are secure by design and can run AI on device, operate on private 5G, and be managed on-premise when needed. We aspire to give defence organisations a stable, trusted endpoint layer to build their wider modernisation on – whether that is digitised logistics, smart bases or secure field communications.
Finally, would you like to send any message through Al Jundi Journal to the defence community in general, or in the UAE in particular?
My message is simple: our security is not just a slogan, it’s on-device. Everything that we pioneer – native AI without cloud, private 5G, Knox on-premise – is built so that you stay in control of your data and your operations. We know the region’s defence community demands sovereignty, reliability and long-term support, and Samsung is committed to delivering exactly that in the UAE and across the GCC.
» Interviewed by: ALJUNDI
