IXPN to host intensive CCNA hands-on training @Lagos - ITREALMS

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The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) has announced plans to host a five-day Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Hands-On and Practical Lab Training in Lagos, reports ITREALMS.

The training, which is billed to run from Monday, September 15 to Friday, September 19, 2025, will hold at the IXPN Training Room, 8th Floor, 6 Broad Street, Marina, Lagos, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily.

TD Africa consolidates with Cisco's cybersecurity training - ITREALMS

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In its continuous drive to impact the latest IT knowledge and ensure that the African continent is protected from the globally increasing data breaches, cloud, and network insecurities, among other things, TD Africa, the leading technology distribution company, has facilitated a comprehensive training session on Cisco Network security and collaboration for its client, IT Horizons Limited.

The event, modeled after the 'Train the Trainer' concept, aimed to equip participants with in-depth knowledge and practical skills to navigate the complex cybersecurity landscape. As the continent's leading distributor of Cisco products, TD Africa brought together key decision-makers from IT Horizons' clientele to explore and fully understand the latest advancements in Cisco's robust security and collaboration solutions.

TD Africa partners Cisco on tech skills - ITREALMS

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In its continuous drive to bridge the widening skills gap in Africa's technology sector, TD Africa, Africa's largest technology distribution company, has partnered with Cisco on its month-long inaugural training program.

The program, the first of its kind in the TD Academy training series, was aimed at empowering young minds with technical skills and professional exposure.

SHELT SI gets Cisco Select Partner Certification - ITREALMS

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SHELT System Integration (SHELT SI) has announced its achievement of Cisco Select Partner certification in Nigeria, marking a significant milestone in its commitment to delivering top-tier networking and security solutions to businesses across the region.

This certification underscores SHELT SI’s dedication to excellence in providing innovative networking and security solutions tailored to meet the evolving needs of the market.

ALERT! What NCC-CSIRT discovered on Cisco products, warns of multiple vulnerabilities - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission's Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) has issued an advisory for users to frequently review alerts for Cisco products to assess their exposure and find a comprehensive update solution.

The advisory, which also recommended using the appropriate software updates that are accessible from the vendor website, followed the identification of multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Products, especially the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows, which enables employees to access company servers from anywhere without compromising security.

Cybrary partners Cisco on free cybersecurity training, awareness - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Cybrary is partnering Cisco for this month’s cybersecurity awareness, reports ITREALMS.

The Co-founder of Cybrary, Ralph P. Sita Jr made this disclosure, saying that they believe anyone, anywhere should have the opportunity to develop their career through the production and consumption of high quality training.

Cybrary, he said, was set up to build cyber security or Information Technology (IT) career for free, urging people to get free training, then land their next job.

“Join the free learning revolution now,” he declared, emphasizing that Cybrary Insider Pro is introducing how to become a cyber security professional online.

“Confidently, be guided down the path towards your next job and a new career. 2 out of 3 Cyber Professionals are seeking Career Development Programs on Cybrary to take the next step in their career. This program helps you take the right training, get the right hands-on experience and prove your ability through online assessment tools,” he said.

He pointed out that anyone interested need not have experience as they have to work with industry-leading mentors to help them get started and guide through the programme in order to start a new career.

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du collaborates with Cisco on IP core network expansion

ITREALMS:

The United Arab Emirate-based telco ‘du,’ from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC) and Cisco would be collaborating to build a future-proof network that supports du’s rapid transformation into a digital service provider, reports ITRealms.

This, ITRealms gathered was necessitated Demand for more bandwidth is rising exponentially as consumers and businesses embrace new digital applications, services and technologies. In order to meet this demand, du is replacing its existing IP core network with a scalable and 5G-ready infrastructure that will reduce network complexity and enable it to become a more agile and flexible market player.

du selected Cisco IP core network to modernise, expand and complete a seamless migration to virtualised and native cloud architecture. The network modernization will increase the capacity of the core network to 24 terabytes per node, making du’s network ready for ultra-broadband services. This enables du to offer next-generation digital services pertaining to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (AR), in addition to other new applications and services made possible by 5G.

Saleem Al Blooshi, EITC’s Chief Infrastructure Officer, said: “du is already supporting the realisation of the UAE’s Vision 2021 by empowering the digital economy and driving Dubai’s transformation into a smart city. 5G is going to play an important role in that. 5G is a phased approach and we will continue with trials until we officially launch it. With the deployment of a more scalable and agile network, we will be well-placed to support 5G, smart city services, the IoT and other new, innovative digital services.”

As both consumer and commercial 5G use cases gain traction, demand for mobile and ultra-fast broadband services continues to accelerate in the UAE. The expanded capacity of du’s network will help stimulate local innovation, particularly around the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), smart city and IoT technologies, while supporting the country’s vision for a data-driven future.

Ali Amer, Cisco’s Managing Director of Global Service Provider for Middle East and Africa, added: “By working with Cisco, du’s 5G-ready network will deliver a more virtual and far more scalable infrastructure that forms the foundation for future solutions and new business opportunities.”

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Cisco intent-based solutions debuts

ITRealms:

Cisco Systems Nigeria has unveiled intent-based networking solutions that represent one of the most significant breakthroughs in enterprise networking, reports ITRealms.

The introduction, ITRealms reports culminates with Cisco’s vision to create an intuitive system that anticipates actions, stops security threats in their tracks, and continues to evolve and learn. It will help businesses to unlock new opportunities and solve previously unsolvable challenges in an era of increasing connectivity and distributed technology.

This new network is the result of years of research and development by Cisco to reinvent networking for an age where network engineers managing hundreds of devices today will be expected to manage 1 million by 2020.

“The network has never been more critical to business success, but it’s also never been under more pressure,” said Chuck Robbins, chief executive officer for Cisco. “By building a more intuitive network, we are creating an intelligent platform with unmatched security for today and for the future that propels businesses forward and creates new opportunities for people and organizations everywhere.”

Today companies are managing their networks through traditional IT processes that are not sustainable in this new age. Cisco’s approach creates an intuitive system that constantly learns, adapts, automates and protects, to optimize network operations and defend against today’s evolving threat landscape.

“Cisco’s Encrypted Traffic Analytics solves a network security challenge previously thought to be unsolvable,” said Olakunle Oloruntimehin, General Manager of Cisco Nigeria. “ETA uses Cisco’s Talos cyber intelligence to detect known attack signatures even in encrypted traffic, helping to ensure security while maintaining privacy.”

With the vast majority of the world’s internet traffic running on Cisco networks, the company has used its unique position to capture and analyze this immensely valuable data by providing IT with insights to spot anomalies and anticipate issues in real time, without compromising privacy. By automating the edge of the network and embedding machine learning and analytics at a foundational level, Cisco is making the unmanageable manageable and allowing IT to focus on strategic business needs.

Already several leading global enterprises and organizations are conducting field trials with these next-generation networking solutions, including NASA and Accenture.

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Cisco Connected Women, intent to promote diversity inclusion in technology, business

ITRealms:

Worldwide leader in technology solutions, Cisco Systems Incorporated, has continued to recognize the need diversity and female participation in the traditionally male high-technology industry, under the aegis of Cisco Connected Women (CCW), reports ITRealms.

This, ITRealms gathered from the company has lead it to deliberately promote diversity inclusion in technology and business, especially as it affects the female gender.

Speaking recently on female participating in the technology industry, the Country Manager Cisco Nigeria, Olakunle Oloruntimehin, noted that “In the context of a male-dominated industry, Cisco is making intent-based decisions to promote inclusiveness, diversity and overall female participation in the industry.”

According to the Manager, the technology giant has programmes and resources to help women develop their skills as individual contributors, managers, and executives, including an internal employee resource group dedicated to the development of women.

Over the last ten years, he pointed out that CCW at Cisco, has grown to over 38 chapters, offering more than 4000 global members opportunities for development, networking and generating new business.

CCW, he said, has contributed to a strategic effort to enhance Cisco's success in attracting, developing and retaining talented female employees. Cisco Systems Nigeria also participates in the CCW, allowing female Cisco employees to meet and discuss their involvement in the ICT industry and how the participation of women is on the positive rise.

“In the context of a male-dominated industry, Cisco is making intent-based decisions to promote inclusiveness, diversity and overall female participation in the industry,” he declared.

The manager emphasized that CCW Nigeria has over 15 employees as its members, which accounts for 50 per cent of employees in Cisco’s Nigeria office. The CCW Nigeria activities are strategically executed by core team of volunteers lead by the CCW leads, with the guidance of executive sponsors and thought leaders. The volunteers develop programmes in line with the Cisco’s business guidelines, employee network directions and needs as per the local culture.

As a high technology company which believes in the power of the ‘human network’, Cisco recognises the importance of a very diverse work force and the value of employee mobility. In addition, in line with its inclusive organisational culture, Cisco has a number of employee networks to support the development, and growth opportunities of staff. The Cisco Sales Associates Program (CSAP) is one of such opportunities. 

In addition, he said, CSAP is the most highly coveted early-in-career development programs designed specifically for top university graduates from around the world who aspire to become the next generation of sales leaders at Cisco. This year long program provides world class, hands-on educational and experiential training that will prepare Associate Sales Representatives (ASR) and Associate Systems Engineers (ASE) to become successful Account Managers and System Engineers in the Cisco Sales Organisation.

The CSAP allows Cisco employees the chance to travel to work in various Cisco offices across the world allowing them the opportunity to garner knowledge and different perspectives. In Nigeria, Cisco CSAP aims to empower men and women alike helping them realise their dreams of being ICT leaders.

Tolulope Ogundipe a female Cisco employee expressed her views on the CSAP program stating that it provided her with tremendous growth experience that stretched her skills and abilities over the elastic limit.

She said: “The entire experience for me has been exhilarating. Having and working with colleagues from over 12 different nationalities and forming life time friendships is priceless and I am grateful for the opportunity. Aside this, during my time with the Cisco Amsterdam office, Cisco employees participated in trainings and workshops and Nigerian Cisco female employees got a chance to be a part of the Cisco Connected Women’s Amsterdam and the girls in ICT programmes, which train and educate girls on the roles and potential career paths present in Cisco Systems and the ICT industry as a whole.

Cisco’s commitment to championing women in their own organisation makes Cisco Connected Women’s program the perfect opportunity to demonstrate diversity and inclusion in technology and business. By developing a network that specifically enrolls and mentors girls and women, Cisco redefines the technology space.

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Cisco new MD sub-Sahara, Cathy Smith says Africa has potentials

ITRealms:

The newly promoted Managing Director (MD) of Cisco for the Sub-Saharan Africa, Mrs Cathy Smith has said that Africa has the potentials to lead in the fourth industrial revolution, reports ITRealms.

Speaking after her appointment was proclaimed; ITRealms gathered she said that as long as Africa is ready to lead in this era, Cisco will facilitate the technology innovations across the continent.

“Africa has so much potential to be a leader in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We are already proving our worth with the technology innovations that are coming out across the region,” she said.

Smith also outlined some three elements that are needed to consider as a region, including that the development of digital skills is paramount; All industries are being digitally disrupted which presents an opportunity for a growing digital economy and Public-private partnerships are powerful levers for change.

In this era of digitisation, she noted that “no one leader knows it all so learn to collaborate with your colleagues and with your industry peers.”

Mrs. Smith who has over 25 years of experience in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry noted things have changed drastically since she first joined as a programmer.

“In my early days, we used to work with heavy hardware that we would need to manually have to carry to a customer, which is why so many females shied away from the sector for so long,” she said.

Pointing out that “Nowadays, everything is automated and software driven, so we don’t have to carry heavy loads anymore,” thus engineering has included Internet of Things (IoT), security, collaboration, and networking among others.

ITRealms recalls that Cathy Smith joined Cisco in April 2015 as the head of Cisco’s business operations across South Africa, charged with the development and execution of Cisco’s go-to-market sales and digital transformation strategies for the region, prior to her latest promotion.

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Cisco names David Meads, VP, MEA

ITRealms:

Cisco has named Mr. David Meads its Vice President for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) operations, reports ITRealms.

Cisco noted that in the current era of digital disruption, Meads, in this newly created role, would oversee the execution of company’s strategy in these two regions, ensuring the technology leader maintains its momentum at the forefront of digital transformation efforts.

The President, Cisco Europe, Middle East & Africa Region (EMEAR) Mr. Edwin Paalvast, pointed out that as digital adoption gathers pace in the Middle East and Africa, the new geographical set up under Meads would allow for greater synergies, relevancy and sharing of best practices across the two regions.

“David Meads’ appointment to lead Cisco’s business in the Middle East and Africa comes at a time of tremendous potential for the region to reap the benefits of digital transformation, supported by the prioritization of digitization in both government and business agendas,” he said.

Meads, ITRealms gathered has over 30 years’ experience in the Information Technology (IT) industry, having joined Cisco in 1996 and was most recently Cisco’s Vice President for Africa, where he was responsible for partnering with organizations across the continent to help them implement strategies to unlock the full potential of the digital era.

Over the years, ITRealms reports, he developed a reputation as a trusted advisor to enterprises and governments, partnering with them to deliver competitive advantages and efficiencies gained by adopting digital technologies and would be based in Dubai, Cisco’s hub for the Middle East.

“As we deepen the commitment to the region, we’re excited to have someone of David’s caliber at the helm to spearhead our strategy and support customers along their digitization journey. One of David’s priorities will be helping Cisco’s customers and partners create value in a highly connected, digital world, while enabling greater responsiveness to emerging market and customer needs,” Paalvast said.

Cisco also named Cathy Smith, who is currently the Managing Director for Cisco Southern Africa to now look after the whole of the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region reporting to David Meads. 

While, Olakunle Oloruntimehin retained his role as General Manager: Nigeria and English speaking West Africa as well as David Bunei who is the General Manager: East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, remain in their roles but now report to Smith in her expanded role.

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We’re satisfied with outcome of workshop, says Signal Alliance boss

ITRealms:

Signal Alliance has expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the company’s 2015 Customer Week workshop in Lagos organized in conjunction with CISCO, reports ITRealms.

In a chat with ITRealms, the CEO, Mrs Adanma Onuegbu, declared “We’re quite satisfied with the outcome of the conversations that took place, considering the challenge the Nigeria economy is currently facing due to fall in global oil prices, exchange rate collapse, and uncertainty surrounding the elections. This is compounded by the fact that Nigeria is largely an import-based and a mono-product economy.”

 At the workshop organized by the company to design a technology roadmap for Nigeria, experts identified technology as one of the key components in the diversification of the Nigeria economy.

The participant and panelist  agreed that all stakeholders should work together to do the following; Build an ecosystems that will support start-ups from setting up investment  institutions from seed funding to technology backed private equity, and promoting incubators and accelerators; deepening government structures that supports indigenous technology  like the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, NITDA, SMEDAN, etc; Encourage consumption of local technology  through strict implementation of the local content law; and standardization of local technology products to enable them compete internationally. 

The workshop which theme was ‘Diversification & Innovation: A technology roadmap to grow Nigeria economy’ was attended by business leaders in the public and private sectors, technology leaders & entrepreneurs, and media

The workshop, moderated by Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, Managing Director, Infographics, had the following panelists; Gerald Ilukwe, founding MD Galaxy Backbone & former GM Microsoft Nigeria; Richard Amafonye, CIO Skye Bank; Kachi Onubogu, Executive Director Commercial Promasidor; Yemi Keri, Managing Director Edo State Information Communication Technology Agency; Victor Okigbo, Head IDEA Hub and Chris Uwaje, former President ISPON - represented by Pius Eke Jnr.

This workshop is one of the major activities of the annual Signal Alliance Customer Week that includes; customer visitation across the country, corporate social responsibility programmes in Lagos and Abuja, and customer appreciation event. 

Founded in 1996, Signal Alliance is a top class, outstanding IT service provider, and an end-to-end system integrator. It has grown to be a vibrant, forward moving ICT company in Nigeria with offices in Lagos and Abuja. We have strategic partnership with major global industry giants such as: Microsoft, Cisco, CA Technologies, Polycom and SAP.

Signal Alliance prides itself on its ability to gain a thorough understanding of clients’ businesses by using appropriate technology as a bridge between where the client is and where it.

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pix: (l-r) Gerald Ilukwe, Founding MD Galaxy Backbone; Yemi Keri, MD Edo State ICT Agency; Victor Okigbo, Head, IDEA Hub; Kachi Onubogu, Executive Director (Commercial) Promasidor; Richard Amafonye, CIO Skye Bank; and Pius Eke Jr representative of Chris Uwaje, former President of ISPON

Cisco forecasts cloud growth in Middle East, Africa by 2018

ITRealms:

Cisco in its latest fourth annual Global Cloud Index (2013 – 2018) forecast growth in cloud traffic, workloads and storage in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), reports ITRealms.

The Cisco Index also showed to ITRealms that with private cloud significantly outpacing public cloud, experts foresee that in the next five years, data center traffic will nearly triple, with cloud representing 76 per cent of total data center traffic.

“By 2018, half of the world’s population will have residential Internet access and more than half of those users’ (53 per cent) content will be supported by personal cloud storage services,” the study revealed.

ITRealms recalls the United Nations disclosed recently that the world’s projected population by 2018 will be 7.6 billion people.

Equally, the project study indicated that African enterprises are steadily embracing cloud computing as the next big step in the advancement of the Internet. 

This trend, ITRealms gathered is definitely being witnessed on the continent as more and more individuals as well as companies are embracing cloud-based solutions.

Further, ITRealms notes some key highlights from the study for the region to include that from 2013 through 2018, Middle East and Africa is expected to have the second highest cloud workload growth rate. 

Even as Asia Pacific (45% CAGR); Middle East and Africa (39% CAGR); and Latin America (34% CAGR). 

Just as in the Middle East and Africa, data center traffic will reach 366 exabytes per year (30 exabytes per month) by 2018, up from 68 exabytes per year (5.7 exabytes per month) in 2013, a CAGR of 40% from 2013 to 2018.

+Remmy Nweke +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +Cisco
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Cisco extends TelePresence with new Mobile-to-Immersive offer in Africa

Cisco has extended its telepresence with new Mobile-to-Immersive offer for the African continent.

This latest offer, Cisco said would transform how Telepresence is used for high impact meetings, even as it integrates jabber releases for iPad and Windows.

Also, Cisco said is aimed at making it easier for people in Africa and globally to collaborate anywhere, anytime in the post-PC era.

The innovations, ranging from new desktop and mobile Cisco Jabber collaboration applications to Cisco TelePresence systems, make it easy for users to move from one collaboration solution to the next based on how they work and their immediate task at hand, citing for example, moving from instant messaging to voice to video with the click of a button.

A press statement from Public Relations Executive at Cisco, Ms Rose Bambi, quoted Director, Cisco Collaboration Group, Mr. Michael Smith, as saying that in a world that is increasingly mobile, social, visual and virtual, individuals are dictating how, when and where they communicate and collaborate inside and outside of the workplace.

“With today’s TelePresence and mobility announcements, Cisco is continuing to make ‘any device to any device’ a reality, while helping customers collaborate on their own terms on a range of devices that provide a rich and consistent user experience,” he said.

Equally commenting, the acting General Manager for Cisco in Nigeria, Mr. Said Rechchad, said these new Cisco developments came at a time when people increasingly expect freedom of choice in how and where they work, and that includes having access to a variety of integrated collaboration solutions and interoperable endpoints–both hardware and software based.

He pointed out that in Africa, IT managers are looking to provide highly secure, enterprise-class options that enable employees to interact across a broad range of tools whether collaborating via Video, PCs, Macs, tablets, or smart phones – and any standards-based endpoint within and between organizations.”

The new Jabber and TelePresence offerings, he said, include a new immersive TelePresence system with optimized collaboration capabilities, are completely integrated, giving customers more mobility options while also extending the reach of their telepresence investments.

Remmy Nweke

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