InfraStruXure bags Infotel award

By Remmy Nweke

Over the years, business organisations of various sizes, have suffered untold hardships in the area of data loss and manpower wastage due to inadequacies in power supply.

As such, erratic power supply has become a major limitation to survival of many businesses in Nigeria. Some of such power problems include frequent outages, spikes, surges and phase failures.

However, this is more prevalent in developing nations of the world of which the West African region falls within Nigeria.

Also given the prevalence of burgeoning evolution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) more and more people and organisations are now dependent on technologies to not only safeguard their data but needs advantageous solution to preserve both their data and ICT tools.

Hence it was not surprising that global leader in power management solutions, the Rhodes Island-based American Power Conversion (APC), came up with InfraStruXure, an innovative architecture for Network-Critical Physical Infrastructure (NCPI) solutions.

InfraStruXure was developed using an open, building-block approach that is standardized with modular components, to fully integrate power, cooling, and environmental management within a rack-optimized design.

Country Manager for APC West Africa, Mr. Charles Iyo, informed that InfraStruXure enables customers to install only what is required today, yet easily scaled to meet future demands, just as it increases system availability while decreasing design and install time from months to days. Also, it is an architecture suitable for environments of all sizes, from wiring closets to large data centres.

For the wiring closets, for instance, he said that rack-based power, cooling, and environmental management could be accomplished with 1-3 racks. Rack or rack-mounted, is a unit of electronic equipment that is housed in a metal framework called an equipment rack and is commonly used by deployment technicians in reference to the assembly of computer hardware within a system, computer rack or computer cabinet.

Standardized components

But all InfraStruXure systems, Mr. Iyo said, are built from standardized components that are modular, manageable and pre-engineered to work together, emphasising that it would be customised according to the orders of the end-user organisations.

According to him, the modular systems affords the customized-to-order theme facilitated through the online APC design portal, which generates price, value and performance solutions using your – customers - input criteria.

Customers, he said, could explore InfraStruXure for data centres on demand via online so as to discover the very real benefits of its fully integrated power, cooling and environmental management within a rack-optimized design.

“Surf the top level of typical InfraStruXure configurations, or drill down to the component level. Learn just what you need to know, at your own pace,” he asserted, advising interested end-users intending to explore this online tour to ensure they select the typical configuration and then register, adding, “Once in the tour, you may view other configurations.”

Another instance of optimising InfraStruXure, Mr. Iyo said, is that computer rooms are regarded as the heart of many small and medium businesses, often are not originally or specifically designed to provide the ideal environment for Information Technology (IT) equipment, so, special attention is given to NCPI when deploying racks for servers, switches, and other IT equipment, even as these are required to ensure availability.

APC, he said, based on its renowned expertise offers solutions for the computer room to include Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), racks, rack Protocol Data Unit (PDUs), air-conditioning/airflow, environmental management, and other related accessories to achieve the level of availability required by customers.

The country manager was specific that several challenges have evolved in the computer room environment over the past few years due to trends such as server consolidation, technology compaction, and the convergence of voice, video, and data. He also outlined some of these challenges to include getting enough power and power receptacles to each of the racks to support today’s increasing power densities, effectively cooling all of the IT equipment deployed, organizing the large amount of data and power cables, providing security, and managing the complete system.

Installation Services

Underscoring the essence of InfraStruXure, Mr. Iyo said, that a set of service options have been designed to deliver the vital resources, expertise, and tools needed to quickly and efficiently implement the APC solution by way of system integration and interactive.

He explained that InfraStruXure systems could be installed by application via integration of the APC’s NCPI solutions targeted at specific server rooms and data centres applications, just as APC avails customers the opportunity of self-paced online tour, which is a quick and easy way to learn about InfraStruXure’s innovative approach to network-critical physical infrastructure.

He maintained that InfraStruXure is a solution that provides optimal availability, increased adaptability and a lower total cost of ownership, whereas its design process enables customers to quickly design a solution to individual exact specifications.

The evolution of InfraStruXure, APC said, was based strictly on white papers cutting across airflow uniformity through perforated tiles in a raised-floor data centre, cooling strategies for IT wiring closets and small rooms, the essentials of cooling system and power system requirements for Next Generation Data Centres (NGDC) respectively.

Equally, InfraStruXure has been found to adhere strictly to the essential rack system requirements for NGDC, mean time between failure: explanation and standards, performing effective MTBF comparisons for data centre infrastructure and mechanism for preventing data corruption in the event of an extended power outage as well as 10 cooling solutions to support high-density server deployment and understanding as well as its downtime risks.

He also explained that in building the InfraStruXure design, APC considered that large data center should contain 100+ racks, medium data center 20-100 racks, small data center 5-20 racks, computer room 1-5 racks, while wiring closet ranges between 1 and 3 racks, even as other rack solutions such as Personal Computer (PC) workstation, servers, storage array, Voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) and telecommunications, and networking devices were catered for.

Miscellaneous devices such as fax machines and printers, notebook batteries, UPS batteries and upgrades, service selector and cables, were not left out of consideration by the power company.

Testimony:

For the Head, Information Technology (IT) at Kenyan Imperial Bank, Mr. Don Ochola, whose environment is akin to Nigeria, if the APC InfraStruXure solution was not in place “it would be impossible for Imperial Bank to function and service our customers,” stressing that it would amount to instability and likelihood of loosing data and facing furious customers as well as heavy fines from the Central Bank of Kenya and a loss of reputation.

“From a long-term perspective, our profitability would be eroded and it would be difficult to conduct business in the future,” he said, adding that in monetary terms, this would amount to a loss of income of at least US$ 300,000 to 400,000 per day.

He was quick to add that the challenges faced in attempting to manage data centre include maintaining availability, centralised manageability, the provision of adequate power and cooling and the optimal use of space within the data centre.

“We decided to implement the InfraStruXure after conducting a comparison against other uninterruptible power supply (UPS) solutions, which revealed not only the cost effectiveness of InfraStruXure, but its redundancy and simplified management capabilities. The APC solution also utilised our data centre space most effectively while enabling us to cater for future growth,” Ochola said.

InfraStruXure integrates Smart UPS

Elucidating this fact, Jacqui Gradwell of APC, said that InfraStruXure requires a much lower upfront capital expenditure and fully meets the requirements of a stable and reliable power output.

InfraStruXure’s best feature, Gradwell noted is the effortless management from anywhere as alerts could be sent to a designated employee and the bypass switch allows maintenance to be carried out without bringing down user’s servers.

Commenting on this production, the immediate past, APC president and chief executive officer, Mr. Rob Johnson, said that a recent survey by Ogilvy Research of IT and Facilities professionals demonstrated the tremendous success the company has had positioning its innovative InfraStruXure architecture, with respondents from companies with greater than 1,000 employees.

He noted that the study also showed APC as a “trusted and reliable partner” for data centre solutions at twice the rate of the leading incumbent supplier of cooling products.

He was confident that by optimizing the solutions presented to its customers and ensuring that global brand communications enforce its competitive positioning, “it has become more of a challenge as our success has grown in both transactional and relational sales segments.”

Mr. Johnson expressed believe that its prime objective is to ensure continued excellence in global brand building and more efficient demand creation.

Noteworthy is that InfraStruXure system now integrates its Smart-Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) VT power module. The integration comes with hot-swappable batteries and integrated power distribution, even as the new InfraStruXure system offers quick connect components and turnkey features to speed up deployment time.

“Since the InfraStruXure with Smart-UPS VT architecture uses a modular and scalable design approach, users can expand the system by adding APC’s innovative in-row cooling, centralized management and security products for enhanced capabilities,” he said.

APC underscored that the new InfraStruXure with Smart-UPS VT is ideal for server rooms and small data centres as well as for remote locations including regional offices, even as it is available in 30KVA and 40KVA, 400V input and are now available in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Sum up

Based on the aforementioned innovative deployment of APC InfraStruXure, continental award-winning Information and Communication Technology (ICT) newspaper, Daily Champion, through its Champion Infotel, renowned for excellence in science and technology reporting, after due evaluation, hereby declare InfraStruXure, the best solution for server room for the first quarter of 2007.

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‘Obasanjo may not commission IXPN’

Despite the approval of the seed fund for the take-off of the nation’s Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the outgoing president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo may not after all have the benefit of commissioning the exchange before leaving office.

Champion Infotel gathered at the weekend that NCC has approved the take off fund for the IXPN board of trustees led by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) magnet in the country, Chief Chima Apugo Onyekwere.

It was also gathered that the fund would mature for access as from today, Wednesday or at most before Friday.

Although the actual figure of the seed fund for IXPN expected to be in billions was not disclosed by our sources, Champion Infotel was reliably informed that it does not give the apple time needed to actively put some structures in place before it could be commissioned by President Obasanjo, who is to leave office in less than five working days, that is, by Tuesday, May 29, 2007.

It would be recalled that Chairman, Linkserve Limited, Chief Onyekwere, was recently appointed as the chairman of the newly inaugurated 11-man board of directors of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN).

While announcing this, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, said that it was in tandem with the directives of Mr. President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

Also, Champion Infotel notes that following the conclusion of the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis 2005, the need for Internet Exchange Point/Gateway for Nigeria came to the forefront in the nation’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development.

Consequently, President Obasanjo directed NCC to urgently establish an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) for the country.

This paved the way for the setting up of a Presidential Committee on the Nigeria Internet Exchange Point headed by Mr. Ndukwe Kalu of Amsco Telecom, at the first quarter of 2006. The committee has since completed the first phase of the project, which was to set up the Lagos branch made of three exchanges, namely Ikeja, Victoria Island and Neccom House, Onikan-Lagos.

The Presidential committee also supervised the registration of a company by the name Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria Ltd (IXPN) by guarantee to handle the operations of the exchange.

IXPN is also a Public Private Partnership where all the nation’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content providers are stakeholders to collaborate, just as the company is neutral and not-for-profit organization.

Members of the board drawn from stakeholders and academia and to continue the process of expansion of Internet exchange presence in other parts of the country that was initially slated to be seven in number.

They include Mrs. Zubaida M. Rasheed of Transcorp, Dr. Sylverster A. Ehikioya, NCC, Mr. Sam Adeleke of Digitek Teevee Cunsulting and president, Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), Prof. K.R. Adebayo of FTU Minna, Mr. Aminu Tijjani of Multilinks, Mr. Yen Choi of Netcom, Mr. Chioke Ogugua of Celtel, Mr. Sunday Afolayan of Scannet, Mr. Akinwale Goodluck of MTN and Managing director of IXPN, Mr. Muhammed Rudman.

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Stakeholders root for broadband deployment

Participants at the just concluded one-day Stakeholders forum in Lagos have declared support for the deployment of broadband in the country.

Speakers at the event included the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, Executive Commissioner, Engineering and Standards at NCC, Mr. Stephen Bello, Afolabi Oni of PPC Limited and Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin among others, agreed that Nigeria should take advantage of this technology to advance penetration of ICT.

In his remark, Dr. Ndukwe reiterated the resolve of NCC to foster Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services through broadband deployment, hence the commission declared 2007 as “year of broadband for Nigeria.”

He said that NCC is determined to live up to this dream, stressing that “we intend to make Nigeria the best, if not in the world but in Africa in the deployment and usage of broadband.”

Dr. Ndukwe noted that the recent award of Third Generation (3G) licenses to four entities in the country is a testimony of NCC decision to boost both the fixed and mobile as well as nomadic networks.

Mr. Bello in his paper, “Frequency Resource and Technical Guidelines for Broadband Service Roll out in Nigeria,” said that why the commission choose to focus on broadband deployment was because it enriches user experience and in commercial applications such as banking, broadband enables transaction to take place faster, thereby allowing more clients to be served in a given time.

“This, ultimately translates into higher turnover and profit,” he said, stressing that in telemedicine, Internet shopping or electronic education (e-edu), broadband facilitates the transmission of high quality pictures.

He went on to define broadband as a communication system that has the capacity to convey high quality video, data and sound signal.

“It is a communications system whose bandwidth allows it to transmit signals in excess of 1 mega bits (MB) per second,” he said, adding that from a user’s experience, a broadband network enables Internet download of music or large files in seconds rather than in minutes or hours as in the case of dial-up or shared bandwidth networks.

Mr. Bello also said that NCC core policies regarding deployment of broadband, entails that its technology and service should be neutral, while ensuring spectrum efficiency.

Thus, he said, operators are free to deploy any efficient technology for their services, emphasising that unified licensing which is currently existing in the country, avails voice, video, broadcast, telecom-multicasting could be deployed as the operator deem fit to meet market demand.

Mr. Bello further said that in order to ensure spectrum efficiency NCC allows for some mixture of license-free spectrum while shared and exclusive spectrum would be made available for broadband roll out, just as it would be flexible in quality of service.

For the Director General of the National Action Committee on Aids (NACA), Prof. Osotimehin, it is time for ICT professionals to come on board of the NACA campaign to drastically reduce the number of aids victim in the country, whereas increasing the awareness level, mostly now that Nigerians are finding their ways into the mainstream of ICT.

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Role of ICT in Idols West Africa

Market intelligence:

Have you watched Idols West Africa of late? If not then you are definitely missing something.

Although dominantly sponsored by Celtel Nigeria, the joy has been in watching those young talents come on stage, then the bulk is passed to the audience or fans as the case may be for them to vote for their choice of artistes through the Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools, either by the Internet at the Idols’ website or the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) through the Short Messaging Service (SMS).

Though the event’s last voting was scheduled for Monday, May 21, the musical talent hunt was basically introduced in search of the first West African Idols via solo singing; a fellow who is anticipated to command lots of sensation and be able to represent West Africa both at home and abroad.

With the hunt rounding off, Nigerians among other enthusiasts in the sub-region are also using what they have to get what they want by either using their Short Messaging Service or electronic mails (e-mails) to solicit votes for their favourite artistes on weekly basis.

Check this e-mail out: “Hi friends, if you have been watching Idols West Africa, you will agree that (names withheld) has all it takes to become the West Africa Idols 2007. Don’t you agree that his passion to deliver his various details is legendary. He also has the best voice in the competition and he comes from a very poor background.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is an opportunity to bring smiles and hope to a humble boy, his family, his people, his friends, our nation and West Africa.

“All you have to do is to text the number … to 33351 from any GSM provider. Do this as many times as possible or even once. Note that you must do this before 12 noon on Monday, so that your vote can count.”

However, voting lines are opened after the Sunday night show and will remain open for a publicized amount of time, because every Monday night results are shown, and votes announced while contestants with the least number of votes exit the competition until the last two.

According to the Public and Communications Managers at MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. Segun Fayose, voting lines are opened for just less than a week for the public to vote and decide who is crowned the first West African Idols.

He also highlighted that the public are asked to vote for their favourite singers and for those in Nigeria, they could send their choice to – 33351 across all networks, Ghana Areeba Network –1444, Kasapa, Tigo and One Touch Networks - 15626 Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Malawi -15626. Senegal: Orange - 50050 Tigo - 67167 Mali: Orange - 7574 Cameroon - 8704 South Africa – 34626.

He noted that GSM Value Added Service (VAS) rate for SMS applies per message sent, advising that fans could alternatively vote online.

Mr. Fayose equally informed that in order to shun syndicated voting, there is a cap of 50 SMS votes per line per week, whereas, each person would be able to vote once per day on the website.

Idols West Africa is being produced for M-Net by Pan African and International Entertainment company, Fremantle Media, the originators of the Idols concept.

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Involve citizens in policy making, increase ICT access – Report

The first in the series of annual reports from Global Information Society Watch (GISW) came on stream at the weekend with a focus on measuring progress made in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) globally, stressing that more involvement of citizens in policy-making would increase access to ICT.

According to the report released by the Third World Institute, otherwise known by its Spanish acronym, ITeM and Association for Progressive Communications (APC), pointed out that more citizen involvement in policy-making is key in increasing access to ICTs.

The report, however, said that this increase in ICT access would not reduce poverty, the two organisations stated in their introduction to the 2007 report.

Equally, the report, which spotlight was on the state of ICT policies at local and global levels, particularly focused on how policy impacted on the lives of people living in developing countries.

Karen Bank of APC informed that the studies were conducted in 22 countries from four regions of the world.

He noted that the four regions comprised of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

In Africa, Bank said the report was carried out in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda, while the Asia region was made up of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the Philippines, the Latin America region covered Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru and Eastern Europe via Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, where accommodating one report from West-European country of Spain.

The report wrapped up by saying that when it comes to ICTs for development, there were some conspicuous similarities between countries in the 21 countries where the research was carried out except Spain.

“The other 21 countries each showed obvious evidence of the digital divide which impacted on the majority of people negatively,” the authors were quoted as saying in its introduction.

According to Brazilian authors RITS, the absence of a people-orientated policy framework in Brazil runs the risk of condemning the vast majority of people to “eternal disconnection.”

The report also includes provocative, analytical essays on five international institutions, namely on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), questioning the extent to which they allowed all stakeholders to participate in their processes. There is a special section on how to measure progress.

Commenting on the report, Executive Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), Dr. Markus Kummer, said it is an important effort at a critical time of ICT evolution globally.

“It is of utmost importance to know the extent to which the people affected have a voice in the policy-making organisations,” he declared, stressing that participation of all stakeholders in policy processes is a key element of good global governance.

He emphasised that the report will also be good input to the IGF in its continuing work on a development agenda for Internet governance and the special emphasis being placed on capacity building for all stakeholders.

In addition, he noted that while so much attention is being put on the effort to overcome the inequities in global information access it is important to make sure that the people who need this access are actually served by those efforts.

Senior adviser, Danish Institute for Human Rights, Mr. Rikke Frank JÃrgensen noted that currently, there is lack of ICT indexes on policy decisions.

“There is a lack of ICT-oriented indexes which focus on inclusion and exclusion in ICT policy decisions. Global Information Society Watch is a serious attempt to bridge this gap.”

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Brian, Osun sign MoU on CANi

Balog Technologies Limited, proprietors of Brian brand of computers in the country, has announced the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the company and Osun State government for the supply Personal Computers (PC) through the government assisted purchase programme (GAPP) known as Computer for All Nigerians Initiative (CANi).

Managing Director, Balog Technologies Limited, Mr. Tunji Balogun, said that the ceremony took place at the Bola Ige Governor Office complex in Osogbo, and was presided over by Head of Service, Elder Segun Akinwusi, who also represented the state governor.

He described the MoU as a testimonial of the quality of Brian PCs being assembled by his firm.

“This is particularly so with the Information Technology (IT) consciousness and appreciation of this state that has taken the lead in investing heavily in the best IT highway in the country,” he said, stressing that Balog Tech is proud of the partnership with the Osun State government.

Also speaking on the development, General Manager, Brian, Mr. Sam Adeyemi, said they are fully prepared and mobilized to put high quality CANi computers in homes of every civil servant in this state.

“We’re here in Osun state to partner with both the government and a number of institutions both private and public and we call on all Nigerians particularly, residents of Osun state to cease this opportunity to own their personal computers,” he urged.

Champion Infotel recalls that Brian brand of PCs was among the four indigenous Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) endorsed by the Federal Government to participate in the CANi project.

This, Mr. Adeyemi noted, is in tune with the government’s drive at improving the local capacity and increasing computer penetration in the country, just as Brian has also been Microsoft WHQL certified to meet international standards.

He further said that the brand was recently awarded the ‘Most Improved PC Company of the year’ at the Titans of Tech and premiere partner 2007 by Intel Corporation, emphasising this was as a result of the purchases made by the company through approved channel.

“The figures of which surpassed that of representatives from other countries, won us the award, which was presented at the just concluded Intel Partners Summit held in Paris,” he said.

The ceremony witnessed by Permanent Secretaries of various state ministries also saw other partners represented including, Managing Director, CANi Project Office, Mr. Soji Romeo, Regional Director of Skye Bank, Mrs. Osibogun, and Mr. Emmanuel Udoise of Microsoft among others.

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CNP to invest N5b on varsities

The Computerize Nigeria Project (CNP), has announced its readiness to invest N5b in tertiary institutions nationwide.

CNP is a non-governmental organization (NGO) and an initiative of Zinox Technologies Limited with a focus to drive penetration of Personal Computer (PC) usage among Nigerians.

This development came on the heels of the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CNP and Ministry of Education.

Head of Computerize Nigeria, Mrs. Vivian Abii informed that the latest investment plan is in line with the MoU, which would facilitate the running of a highly discounted computer ownership scheme for faculty and staff of tertiary institutions, as approved the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

According to her, the MOU encapsulates the vision of the Federal Government as stated by President Olusegun Obasanjo in his remark at the signing, which held in Abuja.

“ … In our effort to upgrade all our tertiary institutions to world-class standard, it has become even more critical that staff of our institutions become digitally skilled in order to achieve all round success,” Mr. President was quoted as saying in a press statement made available to Daily Champion and signed by the Corporate Affairs Manager at Zinox, Mr. Echika Ezuka.

Mrs. Abii also pointed out that CNP position is that no man can teach what he does not know.

Over the years, she said, CNP has worked relentlessly through the provision of subsidies and discounts to build an enabling IT environment in tertiary institutions with remarkable success in the some, including Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, University of Lagos, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Federal College of Education, Omoku, Rivers State, just to mention a few.

She explained that in the process, students have embraced a new intellectual world, staff have been recertified, IT infrastructure has been built entirely anew and host communities have been connected to the information super highway, just as IT related micro-economic activities have sprung up inside and outside campuses.

Mrs. Abii emphasized that the major contents of this exclusive agreement is to avoid turning the nation’s higher institutions into a dumping ground for all brands of unserviceable computers.

The Computerize Nigeria Project, she said, “shall recommend appropriate configurations of quality laptops, desktops and accessories for staff of participating institutions to choose; shall provide comprehensive warranty for all these products at least for a minimum period of 12 months; and set up an after sales support office on campus in order to reduce downtime.”

Each institution, she added is however, expected to provide an office space for the on-campus support center, even as other conditions include that CNP shall allow an installmental payment period of between three to 24 months to all staff; extend 5 per cent discount interest on market bank interest rates; any staff any staff could trade-in their old and dysfunctional computers at a discount for a new one.

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Sulaiman, Akinyemi lead ATMC board

Technology-led electronic payment entity, ATM Consortium Limited, has appointed Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman and Mr. Dele Akinyemi, its chairman and vice chairman, Board of Directors.

ATMC is Nigeria’s premier Independent ATM Deployer (IAD) and operator of the QuickCash brand of ATM network.

Mr. Sulaiman who doubles as Chairman of Accenture Nigeria, InterSwitch Limited and SecureID Limited, is a first class honours degree holder in Business Administration from the University of Lagos and a qualified chartered accountant, while Mr. Akinyemi, an Executive Director, Diamond Bank and notable figure in the e-payments space in the country, is a Computer Sciences graduate of University of Lagos (UNILAG) and an alumnus of Lagos Business School.

In addition, Mr. Akinyemi is known to have accumulated a rich experience spanning over 17 years in Information Technology, even as he presides over the Technical Sub-committee on Securities & Settlement, National Payment Systems Committee and is also a member Central Bank of Nigeria National Payment Systems Strategy Team.

They took over from the pioneer Chairman, Mr. Mike Okonkwo, former Executive Director of Union Bank, and Vice Chairman, Mr. Victor Osadolor, Executive Director of United Bank for Africa.

Their appointment have been receiving commendations from industry observers as it is expected that they would bring their highly influential personalities and wealth of experiences to further support ATMC in its quest to rapidly modernise e-payment systems in the country.

A highly placed company sources, noted that these appointments were strategic, coinciding with the recent completion of Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) certification interface by ATMC, which made it the first independent ATM operator in the country to implement the highly secured chip-based e-payment platform for Visa and V-Pay cards.

ATMC has rolled out its QuickCash brands of ATMs to over 110 locations in Abuja, Benin, Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna, Lagos and Port Harcourt, amongst other locations, just as its currently engaged in deployment of an additional 200 ATMs on the QuickCash network scheduled to be completed by August 2007.

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Sony Ericsson plans more investment, launches W880i

Mobile phone giant, Sony Ericsson has plans to drive more investment into the country, according to its National Account Manager, Mr. Emeka Nkpa, just as it launches one of its Walkman series, W880i in Lagos.

Speaking at the launch, weekend, Mr. Nkpa said that in order to sustain Sony Ericsson’s penetration and steady growth in the mobile phone market place, that the telco has since realised that there are lots of opportunities yearning for its attention in the country.

“One thing is to sustain the growth of technology we’re bringing into the market and there are lots of opportunities for us to invest in Nigeria,” he said.

Mr. Nkpa noted for instance that Sony Ericsson’s desire to accomplish would involve in investing in language input, which he said, is common to most African countries.

“Right now we are working on computing local languages, which has culminated in dividing our launch in phases,” he said

He pointed out that ever since the company made its debut into the nation’s market Sony Ericsson has been consistent in ensuring availability of its mobile phones in order to break seemingly communication barriers through usage of innovative handsets for communication among Nigerians.

He explained that at just 9.4mm thin, the W880i is the slimmest Sony Ericsson phone and combines the full Walkman phone experience with a device that fits easily into the pocket.

The W880i, he said, comes with 1Giga Byte (GB) memory stick micro (M2) provided in-box that gives users the room to store up to 900 full-length tracks.

“The host of innovative music applications, such as Walkman Player 2.0 & Disc2Phone makes it easy to get music onto your phone, and search through play lists once it is there,” he said.

Mr. Nkpa said that there is no doubt that W880i, one of the slimmest music phones available, has the true beauty of its design in a brushed stainless steel finish which stood it out in colour variants; either Steel Silver or Flame Black.

The Disc2Phone music management software, he said, allows the user to transfer their tracks easily and with no fuss from PC straight onto the phone.

“With Bluetooth Audio Streaming, all of that music can be enjoyed wirelessly on a Stereo Bluetooth Headset or by streaming music directly to a home or car stereo via the new Music Bluetooth Receiver (MBR)” he explained.

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Celtel introduces Me2U

Celtel Nigeria has introduced what the telco described as another revolutionary service into the market known as Me2U.

Head of Public Relations, Events & Sponsorships, Celtel Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Oparah, said that Me2U offers numerous benefits including 24 hours availability of airtime, convenient recharge wide availability, top up on behalf of family members and flexible as well as inexpensive recharge denominations.

He explained that Me2U makes it possible for pre-paid customers on the Celtel network to share airtime and top up mobile phones of their friends and family members directly from their own mobile phones.

“To use the service, subscribers do not have to undergo any registration process because airtime is simply transferred by sending an Short Messaging Service (SMS) to the recipient indicating the amount of airtime the customer wants to share with another person,” he said.

In addition, he said that the step entails typing of 2u with a space; put number of the recipient (0802xxxxxxx) and another space, then put amount to be transferred with yet another space before adding the Personal Identification Number (PIN) code or password and then send the message to the short code-432.

According to him, each airtime transfer attracts the normal off peak SMS charge of N10 per message on the network.

Mr. Oparah pointed out that to transfer airtime, the subscriber transferring the airtime is required to provide a password.

“The default PIN code is 1234, but its advisable to change the default PIN code to avoid unauthorised usage,” he said.

After the first airtime transfer, he said, customers will receive a message requesting change of PIN code to protect his account from unauthorised usage.

He emphasised that users of the service could transfer any amount of airtime using the Me 2 U system, just as the service is not only user-friendly, “its also very secure, convenient and reliable.”

He stressed that the service uses a number of advanced security features which include the encryption of SMS transmissions for the transactions, password management systems and a database encryption mechanism, “all geared to provide a secure but hassle-free environment to transact.”

Me2U service, he said, has been designed to further enhance availability of airtime in fulfilment of Celtel’s brand promise of making life better for all Nigerians.

“Me2U truly fits into the African communal lifestyle of sharing with members of one’s nuclear and extended family, friends and the economically less well endowed individuals in society,” he said.

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Intel presents roadmap on PC

Global chipset company, Intel is billed to present new roadmap on Personal Computer (PC) performance to the end users satisfaction.

Disclosing this to newsmen, Intel Country Representative for Nigeria, Mr. Babatunde Robinson, said the presentation would take place at the forthcoming seminar on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) slated to hold in Lagos.

He also said that the seminar scheduled for March 29, has its theme as “Enhancing Information Technology (IT) Penetration in Nigeria - Imperatives for PC Instalment Payment Schemes.”

The event organized by industry group, the Information Technology Association of Nigeria’s (ITAN), he said, would avail Intel the opportunity to intimate and educate partners in the country.

“Intel Nigeria has finalized arrangement to make a world-class presentation on the new Roadmap to PC Performance and user satisfaction,” he said.

Mr. Babatunde also said that the step would further streamline Intel’s relationship with ITAN, saying it has come a long way.

In addition, he said, Intel is support the seminar as part of its corporate social responsibility and good governance.

“We have undertaken to sponsor part of the event to benefit all PC owners and users in the country,” he said, stressing that the presentation will focus on the newest technologies in the PC world such as Core2 Duo Technology, XPRO Technology and VIIV Technology.

According to him, Intel Nigeria has repositioned itself for the challenges ahead and has the capacities to respond to the emerging growth of PC manufacturing in the country as well as the expected market explosion.

Also speaking, Manager, Intel Business Development for Nigeria, Mr. David Ibawoh, said the firm’s strategy has been designed to benefit the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and enhance the quality of the PC products.

“It will also give maximum benefit to the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). We therefore wish to use this opportunity to invite our partners and users to witness the event.”

Chairman of the Planning Committee and First Vice President of ITAN, Chief Jimson Olufuye has confirmed that all the facilitators for the event are warming up and excited.

He further said that the event would be the gathering of public and private sector, PC manufactures, owners, and users, as well as government policy makers and research fellows from the academia.

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