Ankabut and Dell Forge Partnership to Boost UAE’s Digital Education Revolution

Mohammed Fathy

Last updated 9-03-2026

3 min

Ankabut and Dell signed an MoU to boost digital learning nationwide.

The deal links academic networks with “GPU-as-a-service” and high-performance systems.

Universities can access scalable computing without buying costly, complex hardware.

Leaders say it supports a “future-ready digital ecosystem” and knowledge economy.

Success depends on real classroom integration, as computing becomes mainstream infrastructure.

Ankabut, the UAE’s education cloud and network services provider, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Dell Technologies in a move designed to push high-performance digital learning further across the country. The agreement brings together Ankabut’s academic network infrastructure and Dell’s advanced computing capabilities, and, on paper at least, it looks like a spot on fit.

The MoU was signed by Walid Yehia, Managing Director – South Gulf at Dell Technologies, and Tarek Jundi, CEO of Ankabut. At its core, the partnership aims to strengthen technology-driven education in the UAE, aligning neatly with the country’s wider ambition to build a knowledge-based economy.

Ankabut operates from its data centre at Khalifa University, offering services that range from networking and virtualisation to cloud platforms, security and managed support. Through this collaboration, it will leverage Dell’s GPU-as-a-service offering, essentially providing access to powerful graphics processing units on demand, alongside high-performance computing systems and the latest client devices and workstations.

If that sounds technical, well… it is. But the practical impact is easier to grasp. GPUs and high-performance systems are crucial for data-heavy research, artificial intelligence models, and complex simulations. Instead of universities needing to buy and maintain expensive hardware (which can be a bit of a faff), they can tap into scalable resources more efficiently.

Yehia said the UAE continues to set new benchmarks in education through technology adoption, noting that the partnership combines Dell’s infrastructure expertise with Ankabut’s leadership in academic networks to build what he described as a future-ready digital ecosystem for students, researchers and educators.

Jundi described the agreement as a pivotal step for digital learning in the country. By integrating Dell’s computing solutions with Ankabut’s connectivity and cloud capabilities, he said institutions will be better placed to rethink how education is delivered and experienced, creating a more connected academic community.

From my own time around startup founders in the region, I’ve seen how access to serious computing power can change the game. A few years ago, one university-backed spinout told me their AI research was crawling because they simply didn’t have enough GPU capacity. When infrastructure catches up, innovation tends to follow, that’s usually how it goes. I reckon this move could definately make life easier for research-driven institutions aiming to compete globally.

That said, execution will be everything. It’s one thing to sign an MoU; it’s another to ensure universities actually integrate these systems into classrooms and labs in a meaningful way. On the flip side, the UAE has shown repeatedly that when it commits to digital transformation, it doesn’t do things by halves.

For readers at Arageek who follow the region’s tech evolution closely, this partnership is another signal that high-performance computing is no longer a luxury reserved for elite labs. It’s becoming part of mainstream academic infrastructure. And believe it or not, that shift could shape the next wave of founders emerging from UAE campuses in the years ahead.

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