Technology strengthens dialogue – Pope Benedict

THE importance of technology to the evolution of 21st century communication cannot be over-emphasised, and corroborating this fact, the Catholic Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI asserted recently that it has aided development of democracy and dialogue among peoples across the world.

The pontiff in his message to the 42nd Catholic World Communications Day with the theme “The Media: At the Crossroads between Self-Promotion and Service. Searching for the Truth in order to Share it with Others,” recognised the essence of technology in human development.

He noted that in view of the sudden technological evolution, the media have acquired extraordinary potential, while raising new and hitherto unimaginable questions and problems.

“There is no denying the contribution they can make to the diffusion of news, to knowledge of facts and to the dissemination of information: they have played a decisive part, for example, in the spread of literacy and in socialization, as well as the development of democracy and dialogue among peoples,” he said.

Truly, according to him, there is no area of human experience, especially given the vast phenomenon of globalization, in which the media have not become an integral part of interpersonal relations and of social, economic, political and religious development.

The pontiff also recalled that in his message on this year’s World Day of Peace, held on January 1, 2008) “The social communications media, in particular, because of their educational potential, have a special responsibility for promoting respect for the family, making clear its expectations and rights, and presenting all its beauty.”

As said by him, without 21st media contribution it would truly be difficult to foster and strengthen understanding between nations, to breathe life into peace dialogues around the globe, and to guarantee the primary good of access to information.

He emphasised at the same time that the media through the use of technology has ensured free circulation of ideas, especially those promoting the ideals of solidarity and social justice.

“Indeed, the media, taken overall, are not only vehicles for spreading ideas: they can and should also be instruments at the service of a world of greater justice and solidarity,” he declared.

Pope Benedict cautioned against the use of media to propagate injustice in the society.

“Unfortunately, though, they risk being transformed into systems aimed at subjecting humanity to agendas dictated by the dominant interests of the day. This is what happens when communication is used for ideological purposes or for the aggressive advertising of consumer products,” he said.

He decried that though the media could be assumed to represent the reality, it could tend to legitimise or impose distorted models of personal, family or social life.

He therefore advised that in order to attract listeners and increase the size of audiences, it does not hesitate at times to have recourse to vulgarity and violence, and to overstep the mark.

“The media can also present and support models of development which serve to increase rather than reduce the technological divide between rich and poor countries,” the holy father said.

The role that the means of social communication have acquired in society must now be considered an integral part of the “anthropological” question that is emerging as the key challenge of the third millennium.

He pointed out that though human life, marriage and the family, and contemporary issues of peace, justice and protection of creation needed to be preserved, “so too in the sector of social communications there are essential dimensions of the human person and the truth concerning the human person coming into play.”

Emphasising that when communication loses its potency in terms of ethical underpinning and eludes society’s control, it ends up no longer taking into account the centrality and inviolable dignity of the human person.

“As a result it risks exercising a negative influence on people’s consciences and choices and definitively conditioning their freedom and their very lives,” he said.

Pope Benedict further said that it is essential that social communications should assiduously defend the person and fully respect human dignity, noting that many people now think there is a need, in this sphere, for “info-ethics”, just as there exist the bioethics in the field of medicine and in scientific research linked to life.

He advised that the media must avoid becoming spokesmen for economic materialism and ethical relativism, true scourges of our time.

“Instead, they can and must contribute to making known the truth about humanity, and defending it against those who tend to deny or destroy it. One might even say that seeking and presenting the truth about humanity constitutes the highest vocation of social communication,” he said.

Exploiting this purpose, the Pope said many refined and engaged on techniques that the media have at their disposal is an exciting task, entrusted in the first place to managers and operators in the sector.

“Yet it is a task which to some degree concerns us all, because we are all consumers and operators of social communications in this era of globalization,” he declared.

The new media, namely telecommunications and internet in particular, Pope Benedict said are changing the very face of communication; perhaps this is a valuable opportunity to reshape it, to make more visible, the essential and indispensable elements of the truth about the human person as preached by Pope John Paul in his Apostolic Letter - The Rapid Development.

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Technology strengthens dialogue – Pope Benedict

THE importance of technology to the evolution of 21st century communication cannot be over-emphasised, and corroborating this fact, the Catholic Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI asserted recently that it has aided development of democracy and dialogue among peoples across the world.

The pontiff in his message to the 42nd Catholic World Communications Day with the theme “The Media: At the Crossroads between Self-Promotion and Service. Searching for the Truth in order to Share it with Others,” recognised the essence of technology in human development.

He noted that in view of the sudden technological evolution, the media have acquired extraordinary potential, while raising new and hitherto unimaginable questions and problems.

“There is no denying the contribution they can make to the diffusion of news, to knowledge of facts and to the dissemination of information: they have played a decisive part, for example, in the spread of literacy and in socialization, as well as the development of democracy and dialogue among peoples,” he said.

Truly, according to him, there is no area of human experience, especially given the vast phenomenon of globalization, in which the media have not become an integral part of interpersonal relations and of social, economic, political and religious development.

The pontiff also recalled that in his message on this year’s World Day of Peace, held on January 1, 2008) “The social communications media, in particular, because of their educational potential, have a special responsibility for promoting respect for the family, making clear its expectations and rights, and presenting all its beauty.”

As said by him, without 21st media contribution it would truly be difficult to foster and strengthen understanding between nations, to breathe life into peace dialogues around the globe, and to guarantee the primary good of access to information.

He emphasised at the same time that the media through the use of technology has ensured free circulation of ideas, especially those promoting the ideals of solidarity and social justice.

“Indeed, the media, taken overall, are not only vehicles for spreading ideas: they can and should also be instruments at the service of a world of greater justice and solidarity,” he declared.

Pope Benedict cautioned against the use of media to propagate injustice in the society.

“Unfortunately, though, they risk being transformed into systems aimed at subjecting humanity to agendas dictated by the dominant interests of the day. This is what happens when communication is used for ideological purposes or for the aggressive advertising of consumer products,” he said.

He decried that though the media could be assumed to represent the reality, it could tend to legitimise or impose distorted models of personal, family or social life.

He therefore advised that in order to attract listeners and increase the size of audiences, it does not hesitate at times to have recourse to vulgarity and violence, and to overstep the mark.

“The media can also present and support models of development which serve to increase rather than reduce the technological divide between rich and poor countries,” the holy father said.

The role that the means of social communication have acquired in society must now be considered an integral part of the “anthropological” question that is emerging as the key challenge of the third millennium.

He pointed out that though human life, marriage and the family, and contemporary issues of peace, justice and protection of creation needed to be preserved, “so too in the sector of social communications there are essential dimensions of the human person and the truth concerning the human person coming into play.”

Emphasising that when communication loses its potency in terms of ethical underpinning and eludes society’s control, it ends up no longer taking into account the centrality and inviolable dignity of the human person.

“As a result it risks exercising a negative influence on people’s consciences and choices and definitively conditioning their freedom and their very lives,” he said.

Pope Benedict further said that it is essential that social communications should assiduously defend the person and fully respect human dignity, noting that many people now think there is a need, in this sphere, for “info-ethics”, just as there exist the bioethics in the field of medicine and in scientific research linked to life.

He advised that the media must avoid becoming spokesmen for economic materialism and ethical relativism, true scourges of our time.

“Instead, they can and must contribute to making known the truth about humanity, and defending it against those who tend to deny or destroy it. One might even say that seeking and presenting the truth about humanity constitutes the highest vocation of social communication,” he said.

Exploiting this purpose, the Pope said many refined and engaged on techniques that the media have at their disposal is an exciting task, entrusted in the first place to managers and operators in the sector.

“Yet it is a task which to some degree concerns us all, because we are all consumers and operators of social communications in this era of globalization,” he declared.

The new media, namely telecommunications and internet in particular, Pope Benedict said are changing the very face of communication; perhaps this is a valuable opportunity to reshape it, to make more visible, the essential and indispensable elements of the truth about the human person as preached by Pope John Paul in his Apostolic Letter - The Rapid Development.

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Steps to observe packet spoofing by ISPs (7)

INTERPRETING the results packets:

As we described above, packet trace files generated on separate machines that were communicating directly with one another can be compared to see how packets sent by each computer correspond to packets received by the other computer.

Since a simple file transfer or VoIP conversation could generate thousands of packets, the lack of automated tools to perform this comparison can make the process tedious.

We intend to collaborate with other interested parties to produce such comparison tools in the near future, enabling much larger data sets to be analyzed quickly for spoofed packets, even where specific sorts of spoofing are not suspected. Here are a few tips for comparing packet traces by hand:

* Spoofed packets may correspond to protocol errors or extreme delays reported or observed in application software; for example, if a client program gives an error like “Connection reset by peer”, “Connection closed by foreign host”, “Lost connection”, etc., or data rates suddenly drop, packet spoofing may have occurred. Noting the timing of suspicious errors may provide guidance for where to look for spoofed packets in a packet trace file.

* Spoofed packets used to disrupt connections are often TCP segments with the FIN or RST flags set (also known as “FIN packets” and “RST packets”); each of these flags indicates that a computer does not want to continue a TCP conversation.

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African Network to host confab in Accra

A non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the growth of entrepreneurship and technology in Africa, The African Network has announced its readiness to hold its first conference on August 16, 2008, at the La Palm Beach Hotel in Accra, Ghana.

According to the president and Chief executive officer (CEO) of TAN, Mr. Iwuh Pascal, “This is an exciting time for the organization. We are looking forward to a great conference in Ghana and potential impact of TAN and TANCON GHANA 2008 on Africa’s growth potential both in technology and entrepreneurship,” he stated.

While commenting on the inception, mission and goals of the organization, Mr. Iwuh said that the African Network founded in 2004 has remained the fastest growing non-profit association in the region.

He also said TAN is exclusively to help entrepreneurs from Africa build successful businesses across a variety of technology drive industries, education and mentoring.

TAN’s theme for this years conference, he said is “Next Frontier in Business: propelling Africa to New Heights.”

This, he said was to reflect the growing number of Africa entrepreneurs in business today and to showcase Africa’s limited intellectual and economic capital to the world.

Topics to be covered include, social entrepreneurship, women in African business, raising capital entrepreneur development and creative partnership strategies.

The attendees of the conference, he said include seasoned as well as first time entrepreneurs, business leaders, public venture capitalist, public policy leaders, investment bankers interested in learning first hand how to successfully invest in technology in Africa.

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Nakande to grace I4J colloquium

The Minister of State for Information and Communications, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, has been confirmed as a special guest to lead dignitaries to the second edition of the one-day colloquium on Internet for Jobs (I4J) initiative holding in Lagos.

President of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), organisers of the colloquium, Mr. Lanre Ajayi said that this year’s theme of the event scheduled for Golden Gate Ikoyi-Lagos on Thursday, May 22, 2008, is “Internet for Jobs: Creating Jobs by Promoting eCommerce.”

He also said that Alhaji Nakande, is expected to be joined at the high table by the Minister of Science and Technology, Mrs Grace Ekpiwhre and Lagos State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat.

Ajayi said that Nakande accepted to honour the colloquium because of its importance to the government and its agencies, which would impact positively eventually on the well-being of the generality of the society.

The trio, he said, would grace the roundtable with other dignitaries expected from both private and public sector of the economy and particularly within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

Mr. Ajayi who also is the chief executive of PiNet Informatics, revealed that chairman of NIG board of trustees and former Minister of Communications, Chief Olawale Ige, would preside over the one-day event.

Some of the issues to be tackled at the colloquium, Mr. Ajayi enumerated to include the setting up of a successful eCommerce service; types and portal development.

Other topics, he said would focus on taking advantage of I4J as a beneficiary or a sponsor; eCommerce business: A more rewarding alternative to Internet scam (419); eCommerce and Jobs creation – The Linkage; banks role in promoting eCommerce; mobile phone network infrastructure as a platform for eCommerce, promoting eCommerce as a way to create jobs; e-Payment system a prerequisite for eCommerce and creating an appropriate legal framework for eCommerce in Nigeria.

While urging Nigerians to register for the seminar at seminar@nig.org.ng, Ajayi further said that there would be an opportunity for organisations to showcase their products and services during the event.

“We have limited table-space exhibition stands available and allocation will be on first paid basis,” he said.

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‘Task is most preferred HP partner’

Foremost solutions company, Task Systems Limited, has emerged the most celebrated Hewlett Packard (HP) preferred partner on the continent.

This follows the emergence of Task Systems, a record six times as prize-winner at the HP awards night organized in Lagos last week in the preferred category.

Managing Director at Task Systems, Mr. Dave Ibelegbu, affirmed this, saying “three of the awards were won in the sales revenue category while the other three were won in certification achievements.”

According to him, HP won the Highest Revenue in Sales in West Africa for the year ended 2007, Highest Revenue for Personal Systems Group (PSG) for West Africa in the year under review and Highest Revenue Achievement year-on-year for four years back-to-back.

Ibelegbu also said that Task received certification awards in several categories including service sales specialist, workstation specialist and office printing solution (OPS) specialist.

Mr. Ibelegbu expressed appreciation to HP for organizing the awards here in Nigeria, stressing that it would serve as an incentive to present more creative solutions at the disposal of the customers.

He further said that the successes of Task mirrors the vision of the founding fathers who set out to build a technology-driven total IT solution company that delivers world-class value-added services to customers, through a highly motivated professional team.

Mr. Ibelegbu informed that Task Systems Limited, in the person of his humble self, recently represented the West African sub region in an exclusive Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) HP preferred partner conference in San Francisco, United States of America (USA).

While presenting the awards the SPO Manager Nigeria and English West Africa, Mr. Victor Diali, commended Task Systems Limited for consistency which has led to a domination of the Information Technology (IT) solutions market in Africa.

Mr. Diali said that he is proud of the fact that Task Systems continues to deliver superior HP solutions to the satisfaction of increasingly aware customers.

He said that the example of Task could only be understood against the background of an enterprising workforce under an innovative management, noting that Task continues to compete favourably in spite of her pioneer status in a very keen market.

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Internet agency completes process with ISNIC

In continuation of its effort at strengthening accountability globally within its framework the Internet coordinating agency, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), has completed the formalisation of its relationship with the manager of the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for Iceland.

Announcing this development as part of the activities of the 40th Accountability Framework, Media Adviser at ICANN, Mr. Jason Keenan said in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel that this follows the signing and exchange of letters with the country code top level domain (ccTLD) manager for .is—Iceland, the Internet á Íslandi hf. (ISNIC).

He quoted the ICANN president, Dr. Paul Twomey as saying that the global agency has been consistent in formalising its worldwide cooperation with ccTLD managers.

“ICANN has been working hard to strengthen and formalize our global cooperation with ccTLD operators around the globe and hitting the milestone of 40 is something to celebrate,” Twomey said.

He also explained that the Accountability Framework programme provides two mechanisms by which ccTLD managers could formalise their relationship with ICANN.

The first, he said, is an Accountability Framework document that sets out the obligations of a ccTLD manager and ICANN, which also covers dispute resolution and termination and is designed for ccTLD managers requiring a formal document with ICANN.

According to him, the second mechanism lays in an exchange of letters between ICANN and the ccTLD manager designed for those for whom a simple statement of commitment is more appropriate.

Details of the 40th accountability framework and exchange of letters documents could be found at http://www.icann.org/cctlds/agreements.html.

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet’s system of unique identifiers like domain namely .org, .museum and country codes like .ng is for Nigeria and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet.

Pointing out that prudent management of these resources is vital to the Internet’s operation, “so ICANN’s global stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet’s ongoing security and stability.”

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Seriki gets Ghana ICT nomination

The Group Managing Director and chief executive, Omatek Group, Mrs. Florence Seriki, has been nominated as one of the Ghana’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) personalities of the year 2008.

Disclosing this development, the Business Development Manager, Omatek Computers Ghana Limited, Mr. Matthew Ayegba, said the award, being organised by the Ghanaian Ministry of Communications would be presented at an event scheduled for Saturday, May 17, in Accra, Ghana in commemoration of the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day as instituted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

He noted that Omatek has successfully berthed in Ghana and has been contributing its quota to ICT development in the country.

In a related development, the latest from the shelf of Omatek Computers, its 8 inches notebook recently bagged an award at this year’s Titans of Tech held in Lagos as ICT product of the year.

Commenting on the award, the Chief Marketing Officer, Omatek Group, Mr. Biyi Fashoyin said it’s a big boost for the product introduced few months ago to have won this prestigious award.

He dedicated the award to Omatek customers in the country, noting that the award would stimulate the company to be more focused on innovative hardware products across its entire market share.

Stressing that Omatek had also launched the eight inches notebook in Ghana alongside its 10” as a way of expanding its hold in the market.

Champion Infotel recalls that lately at the launch of Omatek 8” Mrs Seriki had said that the notebook is the solution to the dire need to provide systems that Nigerian youths and teachers could deploy effectively for a functional education in the country.

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Glo targets 1,500 base stations

Second National Operator (SNO), the Globacom Limited, is targeting 1,500 base stations before the end of December this year.

Chief operating officer, Globacom, Mr. Mohammed Jameel made this disclosure at the Globacom Day during the just ended third Abuja International Trade fair at the weekend.

He said that the 1,500 base stations would be spread across the nooks and crannies of the country to further boost the network quality in the country.

“The addition of the new base stations will cater for an estimated 35 million subscribers, both current and new,” he said in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel at the weekend.

Jameel who was represented at the occasion by the Regional Manager, Abuja, Mr. Victor Ochukenyi added that in order to strengthen its network and continuously position itself as the preferred network and leader in the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) market, Globacom is putting as many as 1,500 base stations before the end of the year.

He stressed that this latest investment is intended to spur growth on the network switch capacity to accommodate 35 million subscribers, thus ensure subscribers make and receive calls without hitches on the network.

Also he said that as part of efforts to guarantee excellent services at affordable rates for its subscribers’ voice and data services needs.

“The company is currently deploying a submarine cable that will link West Africa sub region from Lagos and Bonny, to Europe and have a dedicated link in the United States,” he said.

Commending Glo subscribers for their patronage, he assured them that Globacom is continually dedicated to offering the best quality service and that the network is continually expanding to give the best to the subscribers who have made Globacom a household name.

“We’re committed to customers satisfaction and empowering many more Nigerians. Our mission to deliver world class communication solutions and services to all sectors of the Nigerian society remains sacrosanct,” he affirmed.

In his message at the occasion, Director-General of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Joe Wenegieme thanked Globacom for collaborating with the Chamber towards the prosecution of this year’s Fair.

He also commended Glo for its poverty alleviation drive and relentless quest for the empowerment of Nigerians.

“I am proud to note the excellent and world class facilities deployed around the country by Globacom. This company is Nigeria’s pride and we are happy to have the network partner with us,” he said.

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Multimedia revolution gains momentum in media – Survey

The second Newsroom Barometer, was at the weekend announced, indicating that the participants in the survey believe that multi-media revolution is gaining acceptance in the media.

The global survey conducted among editors all over the world by World Editors Forum, Zogby International and Reuters, witnessed about 700 media practitioners taking part in the exercise.

A press statement made available to Champion Infotel endorsed by the Director, World Editors Forum, Bertrand Pecquerie, said that the survey also published on http://www.editorsweblog.org, was gathered among over 700 editors and senior news executives from 120 countries, and was conducted precisely in March 2008.

Editors world-wide, he pointed do not think of them as print-only, thus clearly accepting that the multi-media revolution is here to stay; 86 per cent believe integrated print and online newsrooms will become the norm, and 83 per cent believed journalists would be expected to be able to produce content for all media within five years.

“Two-thirds believe some editorial functions will be outsourced, despite frequent newsroom opposition to the practice,” the survey read.

Equally, a plurality of 44 per cent believe that on-line would be the most common platform for reading news in the future, compared with 41 per cent last year. Even as thirty-one cited print as declining from 35 per cent last year, while 12 per cent expressed optimism in mobile and 7 per cent e-paper, whereas the rest were unsure.

In addition, 35 per cent noted that training journalists in new media was the number one priority for investing in editorial quality. Recruiting more journalists was cited by 31 per cent, up from 22 per cent last year.

“A majority of editors 56 per cent believe news in the future will be free, up from 48 per cent from last year’s survey. Only one-third believe the news will remain paid for, while 11 percent were unsure,” part of the survey read.

He further said that two-thirds of respondents believe the importance of opinion and analysis pages will increase.

Emphasising that a majority 58 per cent think in the survey that the decline in young readership is the biggest threat for the future of newspapers.

“The survey shows that editors-in-chief are already multi-media minded and that they have the capacity to carry out the transition from print-only to print and online,” he said.

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Sacked worker wins N.05m in MultiLinks-Telkom promo

A Lagos-based block maker, Mr. Wasiu Hassan, who was recently sacked by his employer, has won N500,000 at the on-going Multi-Links Telkom Win-a-Million promotion.

Mr. Hassan who disclosed this at the presentation of the cheque to him in Lagos last weekend, said he was a manager of a block industry, but lost his job because he took time off from work to confirm the call he received from Multi Links’ office that he had won N500,000.

He also expressed gratitude to the telecom company, saying “I don’t have much to say, but I’m saying thank you to Multi-Links because the money will do a lot of things in my life. I’ll use it to start my own business.”

Chief executive, Multi-Links, Mr. Justin Rumaiya who was at hand to witness the event reaffirmed that Multi-Links Telkom is focusing more on the people, pointing out that since Multi-Links and Telkom SA are now one company, “we’ve decided to reciprocate our esteemed customers’ loyalty with the series of promo we’ve been running.”

According to him, Multi-Links Telkom wants to demonstrate that between the telco and its loyal customers, “we are poised to making a difference in our business relation.”

Mr. Rumaiya recalled that in the recent past, the telco has grown from 200,000 subscribers in 2007 to 900,000 subscribers, which he sees as quite an achievement.

“It’s not just growing the customer base, but it’s about making sure that you are rendering high quality services people want. And that people are saying Multi-Links is a good company and we’ll like to bring our experience and high quality service to bear,” he assured.

Concerning future promotions, he said that plans are up to get a bit personal with MultiLinks customers hence they are contemplating adopting a new pay-off line ‘Touching Lives’.

Although Multi Links uses the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, Rumaiya said the company would operate and compete in the mobile market, particularly in the data and voice services as well as the Internet segments.

He explained that the new pay off line would encapsulate promos and corporate social responsibility of his firm to the society.

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Etisalat fly Nigeria’s flag @ Telecom Africa-08

The fifth Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operator, would from today, Monday fly the nation’s flag in far away Egyptian capital, Cairo till Thursday this week, as the only confirmed GSM operator from Nigeria taking part in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) organised Telecom Africa 2008.

ITU is the international organization within the United Nations (UN) that regulates telecommunications globally focusing on three main areas, namely radiocommunication, standardization and development.

The agency based in Geneva, Switzerland, has its membership across 191 member states including Nigeria and more than 700 sector members and associates.

ITU Telecom Africa 2008 encompasses an exhibition and conferences featuring the latest technologies and innovations, and an extensive forum that explores key technologies, policies and applications driving Africa’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

Etisalat Nigeria, the only confirmed telco from this part of the world would be exhibiting at the international sphere, and is expected to have a desk at the nation’s pavilion along side its parent company to showcase some of the groundbreaking technologies that characterize its operations across Africa, the Middle East and Asia (MEA).

Chief executive, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Saoud Al Shamsi, said that the telco is driven by a fundamental commitment to Nigeria and the region at large.

“Taking our place in ITU Africa 2008 is a strategic move as a leading regional player in view of the important themes associated with this year’s event,” he said, adding, “Etisalat is excited to be taking an active part in addressing the important issues of ICT in the region.”

He also informed that arrangements were in place to receive high profile Nigerians, such as top guns from the Ministry of Information and Communications, including the Minister of State, Alhaji Ibrahim Nakande, the Nigerian Ambassador to Egypt and top officials of the Nigerian Communications Commissions (NCC) officials at the Etisalat stand.

Al Shamsi noted that Etisalat is supporting several Nigerian journalists to participate actively in ITU 2008.

“This only underscores our global practice of partnering with the media as allies in development and progress,” he said, stressing that Etisalat is set to offer Nigerians the same service, product quality, simplicity of delivery and care for which it is highly regarded in other markets.

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Mobile devices increase opportunity – Ngcaba

Information Technology expert and chairman, Dimension Data, Mr. Audile Ngcaba, has declared that mobile devices have increased opportunity for African continent.

Ngcaba, who was in Lagos for a one-day IT exhibition (ITEX) remarked at the occasion identified some key elements of an emerging market as service providers, financial services, oil and gas and the resource sector in form of gold, diamond and platinum among others.

He said that these elements exist in Africa and in Nigeria particularly, adding that the emergence of mobile devices have increased the opportunity for the continent.

“People can communicate with various sectors and areas almost simultaneously and instantaneously,” he said.

In the financial and banking environment, Mr. Ngcaba said transferring money, in time past, was difficult but today, with modern network and technology, people could transfer money easily, adding that there are lots of room for more growth in this area.

Dimension Data, he further said, partners to provide services that would provide opportunity for chief executive officers (CEOs) and entrepreneurs to meet with requirement of their customers and shareholders.

A growing economy, he said, faces a lot of challenges in the area of infrastructure, such as power facility, New Dimension, he stated, can assist to reduce these burdens and offer a most efficient way of seamless communication in voice and data.

Services Director, Middle East and Africa , Dimension Data, Mr. Derek Wilcocks’ presentation examined the crucial role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in creating sustainable businesses, environmental and macroeconomic practices.

He named global warming, poverty and population change as some of the factors impacting negatively on sustainability.

He listed technology, capital, labour quality, economies of scale and resource allocation as some factors that drive national wealth.

Mr. Wilcocks equally said economies are either factor driven, investment driven or innovation driven, stating that human resource, above all else, is the most prized.

According to him, telecommunication in Nigeria since 2001, has provided about one million jobs stating that in Kenya, there exist wheelchair mobile payphone providing jobs for the less privileged.

In his own contribution, the chief technology officer, Dimension Data, Mr. Cecil Thokoane, explained the role of ICT in empowering Africa through e-government, e-education and e-health.

He demonstrated how ICT could help lower the cost of doing business, reduce poverty and assist in Africa’s integration into the global economy.

He demonstrated how ICT could be used as a strategic tool and how unified communications as well could help to drive telecommunications expense management.

Mr. Thokoane, who serves as technology advisor to the Middle East and African region, also emphasized that for the goal of the 189 countries who are signatories to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to meet their expectation by 2019, “ICT must be deployed to fight the many challenges facing the world, especially the African continent,” he suggested, adding that ICT could serve as a catalyst to drive improvement of the gross domestic product (DGP) of the nation and the continent.

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Brian Integrated showcases @ 08-CTO

Lagos-based Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), the Brian Integrated Systems Limited has concluded arrangements to showcase its state-of-the-art

Products at the five-day Computer, Telecommunications and Office Equipment (CTO 2008), which kicks off today at Muson Centre, Onikan-Lagos.

CTO is an annual technology trade organized by American Embassy Commercial Unit.

Managing Director, Brian Systems, Mr. Tunji Balogun in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel said that the on-going annual trade show has afforded his company the opportunity to showcase the latest laptops, desktops and accessories in their shelf.

“As one of the Nigerian local PC identity endorsed by the Federal government few years ago, customers visiting our stand will have the opportunity to see, purchase and make enquires about the latest IT products in the global market. We are here to serve the IT community and we have the capacity to support the market which is still untapped,” he said.

Balogun added that his firm has come to stay, stressing that they are ready to partner with both public and private sectors of Nigerian economy in Computer For All Nigerians Initiative (CANi).

“We’re already in partnership with many states including Niger, Osun, Oyo and Kwara States. We will not fail the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) community with our robust technologies which are already attracting patronage in the market,” he said.

Balogun, also added that his firm’s destination is West African sub-region.

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