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In: Africa Focus, Features, Hardware, News, Notebooks, SME

Mustek recently signed the distribution agreement with Lenovo to distribute Think range being aimed at SMEs and the Idea range at retail outlets in South Africa to spearhead Lenovo’s expansion within the small and medium-sized business (SME) sector. “Although we’re already growing faster than the market, both in South Africa and globally, we have no intention of taking our foot off the accelerator,” says Henry Ferreira, country manager, Lenovo South Africa. “We’re targeting expansion in specific sectors, of which SMB is one of the most significant. Mustek has a decades-long track record of serving that market and provides us, in a single partnership, with a breadth and depth of reach that would otherwise take us much longer to achieve. Read More…

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In: Africa Focus, Features, News

ContinuitySA, largest business continuity solutions provider Africa, announced the appointment of Michael Davies to the new position of managing director. In this new role, Davies will assume full operational and financial responsibility for ContinuitySA. The current CEO, Allen Smith, will remain on in his current position, but will focus on overall group strategy and acquisitions. “Allen has been the driving force behind ContinuitySA’s growth into Africa’s market leader,” says Davies. “This move is part of a carefully constructed succession plan that will give the company the continued benefit of Allen’s wisdom and experience, while ensuring the smoothest possible transition to a new generation of leadership. Personally, I am delighted that I will benefit from Allen’s mentorship in my new role.”Read More…

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In: Africa Focus, Enterprise, Features, News, Software

South African based system integrator Gijima has acquired the South African BMC Business Service Management business from African Legend Indigo (AL Indigo). BMC, based in Houston, USA, is a global provider of business service management software. The highly-qualified BMC team has transitioned to Gijima to strengthen and complement Gijima’s own BMC skill set. There are now 74 BMC skills focusing on BMC solutions within Gijima. With the acquisition, Gijima becomes an elite partner to BMC, providing enterprise service management (ESM) and mainframe service management (MSM) solutions.Read More…

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In: Africa Focus, Features, News, Telecom

South African-based First National Bank (FNB) is seeing a rapid uptake of its cellphone banking services in Africa. According to the bank, it has recorded year-on-year growth of 376% in Zambia, 277% in Botswana, 204% in Namibia and 473% in Swaziland. Danny Zandamela, CEO of FNB Africa says: “When we introduced our cellphone banking solution into other African countries, sceptics were not convinced by this channel as being a successful financial offering. However, the numbers are seeing confirmation that the African continent is actually an ideal market for mobile banking services.”Read More…

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In: Africa Focus, Features, Networking, News

South African based broadline distributor, Tarsus Technologies has confirmed the availability of an expanded range of networking products resulting from HP’s acquisition of 3Com, and has committed to securing new opportunities for the brand in the corporate, small business and home markets. “We’ve received a number of encouraging queries over the past couple of months,” says Peter Engelbrecht, HP networking product manager at Tarsus, “and we’re glad, now that the confusion is over and the relevant parties have been appointed, that we can begin capitalising on the numerous gaps in the local market for these new products.”
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In: Africa Focus, Features, Hardware, News, Peripherals

AOC, a provider of flat-screen monitors and TVs, with operations in over 100 countries throughout the world, has appointed IT distributor Platinum Micro as its distributor for the South African market. The new distributorship was recently announced at the premier of the X-Men motion picture in Johannesburg. Ricky Correia, GM, Platinum Micro says: “The Company will distribute a range of AOC monitors including the AOC Razor range of ultra-slim monitors which offer ultra-slim cabinets of just 0.92cm thickness and 1.2cm thickness with screen sizes ranging from 18.5 inches to 23 inches. We will have stock within a month and will distribute the monitors nationally through direct channels, which are soon to be finalised.”Read More…

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In: Expert Views, Security

Cyber criminals are becoming increasingly resourceful and cunning and the sophistication of attacks threatening businesses today has reached unprecedented levels. Added to this is the growing reality of cyber espionage which threatens to divulge sensitive and sometimes confidential organisational information. The need for security is clear, but with the ever increasing number of laws and regulations governing data protection and accurate reporting the need to prove this security has also increased, on top of shrinking budgets and a desire to decrease administrative efforts. Research and experience have proved that connected enterprises face a large number of threats which are serious, pervasive and are constantly on the increase.
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In: Africa Focus, Expert Views, Storage

As the world becomes increasingly digitalised, organisations are storing more and more data electronically, much of which is mission critical and essential to running their business. The integral nature of this data to the business world, as well as events such as the Enron debacle, led governments around the world to begin passing various pieces of legislation around the protection of electronically stored information. Compliance with legislation in this regard has forced organisations around the world to examine their data policies and adopt new guidelines for the retention, processing and destruction of electronic records and communication. One of the most notable regulations not only for the United States where this law was passed but for organisations around the world, particularly those is the financial sector, was Sarbanes-Oxley, or SOX.
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In: Africa Focus, Features, Gaming, News

Corsair, one of the world’s top brands in the high-performance PC gaming arena, has appointed Corex as its South African distributor. Corsair markets its products in over sixty countries worldwide, primarily through leading distributors. Alan Spohr, Corsair product manager at Corex, says the vendor focuses on the same target markets as Corex. “This includes PC overclockers, enthusiasts and gamers, for whom Corsair is certainly the first choice. Corsair is not only recognised for its best-of-breed product, but is also renowned innovation and high-performance components in the gaming environment.”
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In: Africa Focus, Enterprise, Features, IT Services, News, SI Watch

Already recognised as a provider of infrastructure as a service from its Africa-leading data centres, South Africa-based SI Business Connexion has announced a new relationship, which sees it growing its presence in the SaaS environment. The SI has partnered with SIPCOM and is ready to deliver Microsoft-based communication and collaboration solutions, including Exchange, Lync with full Enterprise capabilities, and SharePoint, on the SaaS model. That’s because SaaS services are rapidly configurable, come at a low cost and provide flexibility to adapt to changing business circumstances. Business Connexion’s infrastructure as a service provides the same advantages for ‘hardware’-based services, such as computing power and storage capacity. Read More…

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In: Africa Focus, Features, News, SME, Software

The Sage Group, a global business management software provider recently held a global online conference under the theme “Modernising ERP – A Vision for Growth,” to reinforce its strategy for Sage ERP X3, its business application suite for the midmarket. Guy Berruyer, CEO, Sage outlined his strategic plan for Sage’s growth in the upper midmarket, and reaffirmed Sage’s commitment to Sage ERP X3 as its flagship global ERP solution. New customers, partners and an enhanced solution have helped Sage ERP X3 achieve double digit revenue growth.Read More…

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In: Africa Focus, Features, Hardware, News, Peripherals

“The electricity crisis has severely compromised key growth sectors.” This statement regarding power cuts in South Africa was reported by Bloomberg in August 2009. Jacques Liebenberg, product manager for Eaton Power Quality, AxizWorkgroup, said “Although South Africa is currently experiencing fewer power cuts, companies should still ensure they have a continuous power supply solution. By establishing an infrastructure that allows business continuation despite power cuts, power surges and blackouts as a result of lightning storms or base station malfunction, customers are able to minimise the negative effects on their operations.”
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