Which countries do you work in?

All six GCC states: the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. Our engineers work at customer sites in each of them and remotely from Dubai, and every engagement is contracted with Mamluk LLC-FZ, which is registered in Meydan Free Zone, Dubai.

Do GCC regulations require data to be kept in the country?

Some do and most do not, and the answer usually depends on the sector. Health data in the UAE, sensitive financial data at banks licensed in Qatar, and the most sensitive classes of data in Oman are subject to localisation requirements. Personal data protection laws across the GCC generally regulate transfers abroad rather than prohibiting them, and Saudi Arabia is consulting on a change to that. Each country page sets out the frameworks that apply there.

Why do you recommend running Kubernetes on premise?

Because it keeps the decision about where data is held with the organisation that is accountable for it, and because that decision has a different regulatory answer in each GCC state. The Bahriya Kubernetes Engine runs on your own hardware, and our managed service operates it there. Where a public cloud is the better fit, we will say so.

GCC

Kubernetes and enterprise architecture across the GCC.

Mamluk is registered in Dubai and works with organisations in all six GCC states, at their own sites and remotely. We develop the Bahriya Kubernetes Engine, the only enterprise Kubernetes distribution developed and supported from within the GCC, and we design, support and operate the platforms built on it.

The region

Six states, six sets of rules.

Each GCC state has its own cybersecurity authority, its own personal data law and, for banks, its own central bank rules on outsourcing and cloud. They differ most on the question that matters to a platform team: whether a given class of data may leave the country.

Health data in the UAE must stay in the UAE. Banks licensed in Qatar must process sensitive financial data in Qatar. The most sensitive classes of data in Oman need approval to leave. Bahrain, by contrast, regulates transfers through a list of approved countries, and Kuwait repealed its general localisation requirement in 2024. Saudi Arabia is consulting on a requirement to store personal data in the Kingdom.

A platform that runs on the organisation's own hardware, in the country where it operates, meets the strictest of these rules and every one that is less strict. That is the arrangement we design for by default, and the pages below set out the frameworks that apply in each market.

Markets

Where we work.

United Arab Emirates

Mamluk is an engineering company registered in Meydan Free Zone, Dubai. We design, build, support and operate Kubernetes platforms for organisations across the seven emirates, and we develop the Bahriya Kubernetes Engine, an enterprise Kubernetes distribution built in the UAE.

Dubai · Abu Dhabi

Common questions about working with us across the GCC.

Which countries do you work in?: All six GCC states: the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. Our engineers work at customer sites in each of them and remotely from Dubai, and every engagement is contracted with Mamluk LLC-FZ, which is registered in Meydan Free Zone, Dubai.
Do GCC regulations require data to be kept in the country?: Some do and most do not, and the answer usually depends on the sector. Health data in the UAE, sensitive financial data at banks licensed in Qatar, and the most sensitive classes of data in Oman are subject to localisation requirements. Personal data protection laws across the GCC generally regulate transfers abroad rather than prohibiting them, and Saudi Arabia is consulting on a change to that. Each country page sets out the frameworks that apply there.
Why do you recommend running Kubernetes on premise?: Because it keeps the decision about where data is held with the organisation that is accountable for it, and because that decision has a different regulatory answer in each GCC state. The Bahriya Kubernetes Engine runs on your own hardware, and our managed service operates it there. Where a public cloud is the better fit, we will say so.