In a landmark move aligning with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 digital ambitions, Riverbed has launched its Aternity® Cloud solution hosted fully within the Kingdom—becoming the first technology provider to deliver an AI-powered, SaaS-based observability platform designed specifically to meet national data sovereignty and compliance mandates.
This milestone is underscored by the company’s decision to establish its Middle East and North Africa Regional Headquarters (RHQ) in Riyadh, featuring local leadership, executive oversight, and a dedicated in-country team to support enterprises and channel partners across the region.
Dave Donatelli, CEO of Riverbed, personally inaugurated the Riyadh launch during the company’s flagship EMPOWEREDx conference, reinforcing the brand’s long-term commitment to Saudi Arabia. Under his leadership, Riverbed has accelerated innovation, earning accolades such as Best AI Platform in 2025 and delivering strong financial growth that positions the company as a frontrunner in the global observability market.
“Hosting Aternity Cloud in the Kingdom marks a pivotal step in empowering Saudi enterprises with secure, compliant, and AI-driven digital experience observability.” – Dave Donatelli, CEO, Riverbed
Elie Dib, Senior Vice President EMEA, Riverbed, highlighted the strategic significance: “Our locally hosted observability cloud offering builds on decades of partnership in Saudi Arabia—enabling customers to leverage advanced AI-powered IT operations while ensuring full compliance with national data policies. This secure foundation empowers future digital innovation.”
At its core, the Riverbed Aternity Cloud for Saudi Arabia is a proven Digital Employee Experience (DEX) platform, offering end-to-end visibility into application performance, employee productivity, and customer digital journeys. The platform captures telemetry across millions of endpoints, cloud services, and business applications—delivering real-time insights to enhance performance, compliance, and user experience.
The new Saudi-hosted model introduces a major advantage—data sovereignty without compromising innovation. Sectors with heightened sensitivity, such as government, finance, and defense, can now securely adopt AI-powered observability within national borders—while maintaining control, compliance, and operational agility.
Saudi enterprises are rapidly accelerating AI investments, with Riverbed research revealing a 160% year-on-year increase. Yet, many face complexity, using an average of 13 observability tools from nine vendors. Addressing this, “We’re making it simpler and more secure than ever for Saudi organisations to consolidate tools, boost performance, and harness measurable AI-driven value,” said Charbel Khneisser, Senior Vice President, Global Solutions Engineering, Riverbed.
Set for general availability in Q1 2026, Riverbed’s Saudi-hosted Aternity Cloud represents a crucial step toward secure AI innovation, digital experience excellence, and national technology sovereignty—delivered from within the Kingdom, for the Kingdom.
