tech news
A Future Reimagined for Africa Post-Pandemic
Sourced from Redbubble and iStock. In a rare television broadcast Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, described the COVID-19 pandemic as “Germany’s biggest challenge since the Second World War”. It has indeed proved to be a crisis of global proportion with material implications for the economies and livelihoods of all. Governments across the globe have locked down cities, towns, villages and townships to curb the spread of the virus. Massive fiscal stimuli have been enacted to cushion the economic and humanitarian impact of the pandemic. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have set aside a large quantum of emergency financial support for countries to tap into. African countries have implemented strong containment measures to avoid further spread of COVID-19. For countries in W...
Ericsson Appoints New Head of South and East Africa
Ericsson has announced the appointment of Todd Ashton as the Vice President and Head of Ericsson South & East Africa. Prior to assuming this role, Ashton served as the Head of Ericsson Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and Global Customer Unit Axiata within Ericsson in Market Area South East Asia Oceania & India. “We are committed to our customers’ success in Africa while also building a strong position in the continent as the market evolves to 4G and 5G. Throughout his years of experience, Todd has demonstrated strong leadership and has been successful in driving growth in very competitive environments. I am confident Todd has the right background and experience to lead the customer unit and deliver on our customers’ commitments,” says Fadi Pharaon, President of Ericsson Middle E...
Respond, Restart, Re-create – How SMEs can Survive Lockdown
Sourced from SAP The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused disruption across the globe and has led to two simultaneous crises. The first is the illness itself – with tens of thousands of fatalities globally and healthcare systems strained, or at capacity. The second is an economic slump, resulting from the closing of borders and supply chain disruptions. Many countries have also imposed strict lockdown and social distancing measures. While vital to prevent the spread of the virus, it is worth remembering the very real economic impact measures like this can and are having in South Africa, and around the world. Unlike large enterprises, which often have a level of resilience built-in, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still rely on having customers physically present in the shop, rest...
F5 Networks Acquires Shape Security
F5 Networks – a company that helps make apps operate faster, smarter and safer for the world’s largest businesses, service providers, governments and consumer brands – has completed its acquisition of Shape Security, a leader in fraud and abuse prevention. Marcel Fouché, Networking and Storage General Manager at value-added distributor Networks Unlimited Africa, a channel partner of F5 in sub-Saharan Africa, comments: “A number of experts view this merger and acquisition as being a game-changer for comprehensive application security.” “The purchase of Shape Security adds protection from automated attacks, botnets, and targeted fraud to F5’s world-class portfolio of application services in order to further protect customers’ digital experiences. This agreement will accelerate F5’s growth mo...
Doing Business in a Post-Lockdown World
Sourced from Business News Daily At the beginning of March, few anticipated the significant impact the COVID-19 pandemic would have on the lives of all South Africans. As the gradual easing of the strict lockdown conditions continues, thoughts turn to how companies will begin their recovery. Ian McAlister, GM of CRS Technologies, looks at what to expect. From Friday 1 May, South Africa transitioned to Level 4 lockdown conditions which will result in several more industries resuming operations, albeit in a limited capacity. And while all the details around operational issues are still to be confirmed, expectations are that at least 1.5 million South Africans will be returning to work. In part, this is designed to get the economy back up and running following several weeks of virtual non-act...
HPE Offers Digital Learning Platform to all South Africans
Sourced from Silicon Angle Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced that it will give 30 days free access to the company’s Learning-as-a-Service Platform – provided users register before the end of May 2020. Offering around 5000 hours of training across numerous modules, the HPE Digital Learner Platform acts as a global example of how digital learning is exploring access to education and skills. “As a prominent global edge-to-cloud Platform-as-a-Service provider, HPE is acutely aware that COVID-19 has increased the pressure on technology companies to innovate ever-more effective remote operability”, says Renay Rampersadh, Education Manager at HPE South Africa. “COVID-19 has not only cast the demand for remote capability into stark relief, but has also highlighted the shortage of skil...
