ICT World Exclusive
Using a direct sales, party plan business model, which aims to help independent consultants to start their own businesses selling affordable cosmetics to the public, The Virgin Cosmetics Company started operations in SA in September last year. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
In an empowerment deal, Sahara Holdings has divested 27% of its shares to a newly established consortium, the mining and mineral resource Group, Mvelaphanda Holdings, local investment consortium, Afripalm Consortium and the Sahara Employees Trust Fund. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
African Bank has put in place a data warehouse that aims to marry practicality with innovation to deliver tailored BI to the approximately 800 mid-tier administration and management staff that must service the financial organisation's 1,2m strong customer base. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Pep is part of Pepkor, which also owns Ackermans, Dunns, Shoe City and John Craig in this country, Pepco in Poland, Best & Less in Australia and Power Sales in Zimbabawe. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
@lantic Internet Services, the Consumer Internet Services Provider of AltX-listed DataPro Group, has selected products developed by SMC Networks to be incorporated into its latest V2 ADSL offering. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Avaya has unveiled the latest version of its IP-based teleworker solution with expanded open network interoperability. It aims to enable more businesses to quickly and cost-effectively deploy headquarters-quality communications to their remote workforce [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
RAM specialises in the collection, transportation and delivery of valuable, vulnerable and general cargo for customers across a broad range of industries, including major producers of precious metals and gemstones, cellular service providers, banks and retailers. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Logicalis, Datatec Group's IT and networking systems integration company, has announced its intention to invest over $1m to establish offices in Chile and Peru. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
The success of a call centre industry learnership scheme, which saw 51 of 89 recent graduates landing full-time contracts before they finished studying, means that the scheme will be increased to 300 learnerships next year. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Gauteng broadband-based Services Company Goal Technology Solutions (GTS) has been contracted by developer Zotos Construction to supply an integrated broadband residential solution. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Coin Security - a subsidiary of the black-controlled, owned and managed diversified services group, Mvelaphanda (MVG), and a provider of corporate, community and residential security services - went live on SAP Business One recently as part of its growth strategy. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
The Joburg Centre for Software Engineering at Wits University (JCSE) has partnered with Gemalto for the global launch of SIMagine 2007, a worldwide competition promoting Java-based SIM applications. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
MicroStrategy, a global provider of business intelligence (BI) software, has opened a full-service office in Johannesburg in conjunction with its EMEA expansion plans. The company recently opened several other offices in Poland, Denmark, Sweden, and Belgium. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
EMC has completed the acquisition of Massachusetts-based RSA Security, a supplier of solutions for protecting and managing online identities and digital assets. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
HP has unveiled three facilities in Cupertino, California; Singapore and Bangalore, India, as part of a $500m investment to deliver service-oriented architecture (SOA) to enterprise customers. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Ghanaian ISP and provider of the Ghana.com service, Network Computer Systems (NCS), and NetSAT, a Ghanaian infrastructure and data services provider, have joined forces with SA-based wireless network solutions provider, RapidCloud Technology, to deploy West Africa's first WiMAX Forum Certified WiMAX network built on Redline Communications' WiMAX Forum Certified RedMAX systems. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
The central works council of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways - NS) has experienced first-hand why active software escrow is such a vital component of good corporate and ICT governance, as well as risk management for entities whose core business processes are IT-dependent. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
John Blau, IDG News Service (Dusseldorf Bureau)
Munich has begun its migration to Linux on the desktop, a year later than planned and nearly three years since the city announced its move to open source software. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service (Beijing Bureau)
Hewlett-Packard CEO, Mark Hurd, knew of plans for a disinformation campaign designed to find the source of leaks from boardroom discussions, The Washington Post reports. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)
A low price and innovative controller could push Nintendo's Wii console to the top spot in Japan's multi-billion dollar video gaming market, two industry watchers say. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Robert Mullins, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)
Embattled Hewlett-Packard chairman, Patricia Dunn, told an audience in San Francisco on Wednesday that she looks forward to the opportunity to "set the record straight" regarding allegations that she oversaw an internal investigation of the company which may have broken the law. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
The latest in a series of surveys by GSA - the Global mobile Suppliers Association - confirms that 58 HSDPA-enabled devices have now been launched by 18 suppliers. It means that the number of HSDPA products entering the market has increased by 130% in six months. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service (Taipei Bureau)
BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co. OHG is closing down a handset facility in Taiwan amid an ongoing restructuring of its operations, and calling reported plans to outsource production altogether 'speculation'. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
According to ICT market research analyst, BMI-TechKnowledge, the Nigerian mobile market is fast becoming the largest mobile market in Africa, as the country's gross mobile subscriber base grew more than twofold to reach 18,6m subscribers at the end of 2005, and is expected to achieve over 37m subscribers by 2008. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
snom technology AG, a developer and manufacturer of VoIP telephones, has announced a strategic partnership with Epygi Technologies, a worldwide supplier of VoIP IP PBX technology. As a result of this partnership, snom phones will be compatible with Epygi IP PBX systems in order to support advanced services using XML to make combined products easier to deploy, the companies say. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Red Hat, a provider of open source to the enterprise, announced today that GlobeTOM, a software developer and systems integrator, has joined the Red Hat Advanced Partner Programme in the EMEA region. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
MTC, a Namibian cellular service provider, has signed an agreement with Siemens Communications for the supply, installation and commissioning of a turnkey 3G High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
McAfee has announced the availability of a paper from McAfee Avert Labs entitled: "Adware and spyware: Unravelling the financial web." The paper, which highlights the financial incentives fuelling the rise of adware and spyware, the prevalence of adware and spyware, and culprits behind the problem, is available at: http://www.mcafee.com/us/threat_center/default.asp. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Seiko Epson (Epson) has launched an LCD panel designed to further enhance the performance of its 3LCD projectors and large-screen LCD projection TV. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
10Net ICT Solutions is offering MailMarshal customers the image classification and management plugin, Image Analyzer for free, if they upgrade to MailMarshal 2006 immediately and buy either of the spyware plugins, CounterSpy or PestPatrol. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Dell has announced its energy-efficiency product strategy, aiming to underscore the importance of reduced power consumption as well as enhanced performance in its product design. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
The information age in which we live dictates that every organisation in business is affected by the Internet, either directly or indirectly. Taken as a fact, it is then imperative that companies have the ability to track Web site statistics, perform traffic analysis and have access to effective reporting on the business Web site. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
PandaLabs has detected the appearance of Zcodec, a malicious program which uses a rootkit to hide its malicious actions. It also alters Internet search results and installs other malicious code on the system. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Oracle SA has announced support for mobileObsession, an enterprise mobility application developed by an Oracle partner, iFactory, which is a local mobile technology developer. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Xerox has launched the WorkCentre 4118 desktop multifunction device (MFD), which is designed to deliver advanced copying, printing, scanning and faxing capabilities to small offices. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
The Intel Entry Storage System SS4000-E, a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system designed for affordable data protection and management, is available to the local market through Annex Distribution. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
ProScan Systems, a distributor of supply chain, automated data collection and mobile computing solutions, recently extended the Datalogic Gryphon series of handheld barcode readers with the addition of the Gryphon D130 long range model. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Intel and Siemens Communications have announced the establishment of a technology relationship between the two companies that includes an agreement to work collaboratively to create open unified communications solutions based on VoIP. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Intel has announced a software framework and development kit which is designed to enable plug-and-play components for Web-based phone calls using VoIP. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
The recently launched Pastel Accounting 2007 software range is said to have a strong focus on making accounting processes as simple as possible for the customer. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Gigabyte has launched the latest addition to its silent pipe graphic accelerator card series, the GV-NX76G256HI-RH, a high definition multimedia VGA solution with support for HDMI and HDCP, which is being distributed locally by Rectron. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
The EMP-6100 is a business projector that is designed to combine easy maintenance, enhanced network monitoring, dust protection and a high brightness of 3500 ANSI lumens. It will fit seamlessly into a variety of environments, from the boardroom to pubs, clubs or factories, Epson says. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Sun Microsystems has announced enhancements to its identity management software suite that aim to combine the capability to prevent inappropriate user access to systems and applications while detecting violations in the company's user access policies. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Concilium Technologies, local distributor of Agilent Technologies, says Agilent has announced the availability of the Agilent MXG signal generators, aiming to offer high adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) performance and switching speeds, coupled with simplified self-maintenance to maximise uptime. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Softline Enterprise has announced the availability of the latest version of its CRM offering, SalesLogix. Aiming to expand on the product's integrated sales, marketing, customer service and support automation capabilities, SalesLogix version 7 is driven by the needs of SMEs, as well as users in divisions of large enterprises. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
New Horizons Learning, Johannesburg, has earned Gold certified status in Microsoft's Partner Programme. As a Gold Certified Partner, New Horizons has demonstrated expertise with Microsoft technologies and proven ability to meet customer needs. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
DN Graham & Associates, a company that specialises in outsourced business development services for the IT industry, has secured sole distribution rights for Africa for Texas-based EAZ Solution. The company's product, EAZ-FIX, has been developed for PC users, from home users to large corporates. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Workgroup's IBM division has announced that the IBM Software Group has significantly redesigned its Business Partner incentive structure to strengthen the rewards for value. Software Value Incentive (SVI) is an incentive programme that has been designed based on the feedback from hundreds of business partners worldwide. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Jurgen Muller, director at Quintica
Many IT managers today are daunted by the complexity and sheer effort it will take to implement IT Service Management (ITSM) best practices. Indeed, changing processes and delving into a new mindset - it all can seem complicated and downright frightening. But, it does not have to be that hard. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Off-shoring IT development work is a process that has become common among international businesses in recent years, and particularly those from the USA. However, according to The IQ Business Group, a global provider of practical business solutions, businesses may experience challenges in off-shoring, despite the rich potential returns. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Christo van Staden, director at Carrick Holdings
The digital age has given rise to a new breed of bounty hunter. While their modus operandi and equipment may differ substantially from that of their villainous predecessors, their motive is the same - immediate gain at another's expense... [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
African ICT market research and analysis firm, BMI-TechKnowledge (BMI-T) has announced the publication of two end-user reports entitled: 'Evolution of the Big Business IT Landscape'; and 'Evolution of the Mid-Market IT Landscape'; respectively which investigate the IT spend and trends in these two markets. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
ICT World exclusive
Keeping personal identity information and confidential data secure, especially from unauthorised users and fraudsters, continues to be a major security threat for SMEs and home users. Data security is becoming increasingly important as the trend towards mobile computing grows. This is according to John McLoughlin, MD of J2 Software. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
Local mobile banking and transacting solutions company, Fundamo, has announced the conclusion of a distribution agreement with Cilix Software, a move that will see the Fundamo suite of mobile banking and payment solutions being actively marketed in Brazil. [Issue:Two hundred and four (18/9/06 - 22/9/06)]
