Intel’s Shadi Shidvash reflects on 25 years of partnership with Redington and how collaboration is shaping the future of AI, hybrid work, and digital transformation in the Middle East.
Redington marked a significant milestone with Redington ReInspire 2025, a celebration of its 25-year legacy in democratising technology across the Middle East and Africa. Held at La Perle, Dubai, the event brought together global tech leaders, partners, and innovators to showcase the impact of collaborative ecosystems in driving meaningful transformation across emerging markets.
Shadi Shidvash, EMEA Distribution Sales Director at Intel, delivered a keynote titled ‘Intel Inside, Great Partnerships Outside’, spotlighting the enduring collaboration between Intel and Redington. His message centred on the importance of ecosystem partnerships in scaling innovation, performance, and adoption of AI-powered technologies in the region.
In this exclusive interview, Shidvash discusses the evolution of Intel and Redington’s partnership, the regional demand for AI and hybrid solutions, and how channel partners can lead the next wave of innovation.
Interview Excerpts
Q: Intel and Redington share a longstanding relationship. How has this collaboration evolved over the years to support innovation across the Middle East?
It’s truly been a decades-long partnership rooted in a shared vision—to enable greater access to technology across the region. While Intel focuses on building cutting-edge AI and hardware innovations, Redington plays an essential role in scaling these solutions. They help us bring technologies not only to channel partners and elite systems integrators, but also directly to end customers.
Redington supports this through ongoing technical enablement, partner training, go-to-market initiatives, and by significantly contributing to the Intel Partner Alliance (IPA) programme. They’ve been instrumental in expanding our partner network and fostering communication through trainings, incentives, and matchmaking. Their contribution is central to Intel’s regional impact.
Q: How do you see the rise of AI, high-performance computing, and hybrid work shaping demand for Intel-powered technologies in this region?
This is a pivotal moment. The region is investing heavily in AI infrastructure and digital ecosystems, and that’s accelerating demand across three major fronts.
Firstly, client PCs—there’s a surge in demand for AI-capable devices at the edge. With our Core Ultra processors and embedded NPU technology, customers can run AI inference directly on devices, ensuring both performance and data privacy.
Secondly, data centres and hybrid cloud—our Xeon 6 processors come with integrated AI engines and hardware-level security features like SGX and TDX, enabling secure and confidential AI at scale.
Lastly, we see momentum around vertical AI solutions and edge computing. We’re working with platform vendors and software partners to deliver industry-specific solutions, from government to education and enterprise. Redington plays a strategic role in bringing these solutions to market with their robust partner ecosystem.
Q: What are the biggest opportunities for channel partners in this evolving tech landscape, particularly with Redington as a key ally?
Channel partners now have a tremendous opportunity—but it’s not just about selling AI; it’s about deploying it meaningfully. The vendors are ready, the tech is here, but the true differentiator will be the partner that listens to the customer, understands their AI journey, and guides them through it.
Sales today are no longer one-size-fits-all. Partners must adopt a customer-first mindset—asking where the client is, where they want to go with AI, and how to take them from point A to Z. This is what will define success in the new tech paradigm.
We’re committed to this approach and are working closely with Redington to enable partners with the tools, technologies, and mindset needed to lead. It’s the perfect time for the ecosystem to embrace AI with purpose.