e-Tolling committee proposes reduced fees

Consumerisation drives mobile management solutions

Consumerisation of IT and the mobilisation of the workforce mean that companies need to invest in cross-platform mobile device management (MDM) solutions, says Research in Motion (RIM). According to Robyn Milham, head of sales for Southern Africa at RIM, this investment would ensure that their mobile employees can be productive without compromising enterprise governance and information security. Milham says that most organisations are managing a chaotic mix of mobile devices as a result of an increasingly mobile workforce and consumerisation [...]

The 4Cs: Consumerisation. Cloud. Cyber. Collaboration.

It’s unlikely that any Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) would deny that any of the 4C’s listed in the title are credible security trends individually but they may not have made the connection between them and how the relationship between each can actually lead to advanced business security thinking. Consumerisation, in the rush to mobile and advanced consumer devices, is dramatically changing the relationship of IT within the business. However, many IT managers are still finding themselves trapped within the [...]

R78m for ICT research network

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) will spend R78 million to extend the South African National Research Network (SANREN) connection to rural sites, including the remaining six higher education institutions that are unconnected. While deadlines were not met – Science and Technology minister, Naledi Pandor, noted that targets would be met in the current financial year. “I undertook to expand South African National Research Network (SANREN) connections to all universities by December 2011. Despite increased SANREN links we have [...]

Only 38 fully functional Thusong centres – DPSA

Only 38 connected Thusong centres are fully functional and are providing a wide range of key public services, says the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA).

Speaking during her budget vote speech, acting Public Service and Administration minister, Mildred Oliphant, revealed that out of 100 ICT connected Thusong service centres across the country, 50 were validated and only 38 were declared fully functional.

“This year the ministry will strive to make sure that all the remaining Thusong service centres are fully functional in terms of ICT connectivity, as part of the effort to bring government closer to the people,” Oliphant noted.

Slow growth for African telecoms market

The African Internet has taken massive strides forward over the past three years, however, there is still a lot of hard work to be done before Internet services are accessible and affordable to every person, says Seacom. According to Mark Simpson, CEO of Seacom, massive investments in new terrestrial and submarine cables have broken many of the bottlenecks to affordable and ubiquitous broadband across the continent. Reflecting on the state of Africa’s Internet ahead of World Telecommunications Day on 17 [...]

Free BIS for 8.ta BlackBerry prepaid users

8.ta has announced that new BlackBerry prepaid customers will receive free BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) subscription for a month upon activation of the service. The offer applies to the first 5000 new BlackBerry prepaid customers on activation of their first BIS subscription effective 15 May 2012. The free one month BlackBerry BIS will be automatically activated to apply during the second month of BIS subscription. Customers will also receive 500MB of free YouTube streaming per month with BIS activation “8.ta [...]

Mobile internet use surges

Recent research has revealed that the number of Internet users in SA accelerated dramatically in the past year, due to the impact of smartphones and mobile phones. This is revealed by the Internet Access in South Africa 2012 study, conducted by World Wide Worx and backed by the howzit MSN online portal, which reveals the Internet is finally arriving in the hands of the mass market.  The headline findings showed that the local Internet user base had grown from 6.8 million [...]

R1.3bn spent on Gauteng Online

The Gauteng provincial government says R1.3 billion has been spent on the Gauteng Online project.

According to the provincial government, the total budget for the initiative which was first announced in 2000, is R2 billion over a five year period.

Since the project was first introduced there have been contradicting reports on its success – as well as reports revealing millions in losses from theft and poor Internet connectivity at schools across the province.

Despite contradicting numbers over the years, the provincial government says its focus will now be on building 637 computer labs – bringing the number of labs successfully installed labs to 2 199, which it says is the complete scope of the project.

8ta extends data promotions

Mobile network operator, 8ta, has announced that it is extending the 10GIG, 3GIG and 120GIG data promotions until the end of March 2013. The prices of the promotions will remain the same throughout the extension period. The 10GIG 24 month contract promotion is available at a cost of R199 per month for a 10GB data bundle with the option of an additional 10GB Night Surfer add-on bundle at an additional cost of R100 per month for use between 11am and [...]

The value of virtualisation in natural resources

Modern natural resources organisations are constantly searching for cost-effective ways to support their growing Information Management environments while driving the maturity of their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure. Virtualisation of the compute and storage infrastructure space in the Information Management environment is a viable approach that natural resources organisations can take to enable agility, reduce long-term cost of ownership, and drive a more mature infrastructure environment. A recent Gartner Magic Quadrant x86 Server Virtualisation Infrastructure report indicated that the [...]