ICT summit on national security: Patriotism, key to optimizing ICT

Patriotism has been described as an important factor for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to work optimally, especially in national security.

This is the highlight of a communiqué made available to ITRealms Online at the end of a one-day stakeholders’ Summit on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for National Security operations. The summit was hosted by security technology provider, Technology Development Company (TDC) Limited in partnership with Gamnet Solutions Limited, in Lagos.

The communique endorsed by the chief executive officer of Gamnet Solutions, Mr. Godwin Morgan, noted the need for human capacity building to adequately handle security-related technologies, saying it is key to sustaining the ICTs and systems.

He said that the 10-point communiqué recognized the importance of the summit and urgent need to devise appropriate technologies to facilitate security operations in the country.

It pointed out that the absence of the political class whose responsibility it is to evolve and implement security policies, as well as the need to bring them on board in future was underscored.

It was disclosed that the summit, agreed that the durability, adaptability, coverage and proof of workability of technologies should be ascertained prior to Nigeria’s procuring them.

Participants observed that Nigerian prisons should be correctional institution and noted the need to establish ICT skills acquisition in the Nigeria Prisons, just as the Institute of Software
Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) revealed plans for Prison Software Development Programme to develop technological skills among prison inmates.

Maintenance culture in the country, the Summit emphasized, must be improved to ensure that critical security infrastructure are kept long enough to serve the purposes for which they were intended.

Equally, participants highlighted the need to review the electricity power challenge and develop alternative power back up.

The challenge of online fraudsters, popularly called ‘yahoo yahoo’ the summit stated has become a “business syndrome,” urging for national focus to curb the menace, just as participants said that the management of information security is critical to make things work.

Morgan further said that the summit was designed as a public service initiative in collaboration with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Digital Sense Africa (DSA), Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria; Association of Licensed Telephone Operators of Nigeria, Nigerian Internet Group (NIG), Internet Services Providers of Nigeria (ISPAN), Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and Joint Action Committee on Information Technology Awareness & Development (JACITAD).

Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, Chief Executive Officer, Teledom Group, in his address on the theme: “National Security Emergency: ICT to the Rescue” said that ICT has the potentials to make Nigeria safer.

Mr. Robert J. Langlios, who represented Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), USA, delivered a technical paper on “Non-Intrusive Inspection Systems for Detection of Arms, Weapons, Ammunitions for Local and Remote Monitoring and Data Storage.”

While Mr. Chris Uwaje, chief executive officer, Connect Technologies and President, Institute of Software Providers of Nigeria (ISPON), examined “Critical Software Issues and Imperatives for National Security.”

In his submission, Uwaje stressed the need for critical issues of software component in securing the cyberspace of Nigeria cannot be over-emphasized.

This, he said, is because Nigeria is not only the sixth largest oil producer in the world, but indeed the single largest concentration of people of African descent under the universe and also the ninth largest population in the world.

Above all, he said, the national software environment and critical solutions must be designed, deployed, managed and controlled by indigenous policy and workforce.

The national cyber-security agenda, he said, must be given a topmost priority and funding preference in the national budget, outlining that ICT sector must be adequately protected by enabling policies, laws and sustainable strategies.

These strategies, he said, could be designed to fulfill the objective of convening a national colloquium on cyber security, constructive intervention to strengthen institutional policy initiatives, establish a national database on critical national infrastructure as preventive and craft and implement legislation to name a few. 

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

ATCON to certify members

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) may have advanced plans to commence certification of its membership.

Disclosing this last weekend, ATCON president, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu said that the organisation has begun to consider the option of certification.

He also said that ATCON’s proposed certification of its membership would be coded to safeguard the exercise with a committee already on ground to manage the process.

“A move towards introducing member’s certificate with coded numbering to members of the association has started with a committee assigned to provide the working details,” he said.

Omo-Ettu equally said that the idea and a justification for it will be presented to the next General Meeting of ATCON for a mandate to write the process into ATCON’s byelaws.

ATCON, ITRealms Online recalls is a professional, non-profit, non-political umbrella organisation of telecommunications companies of Nigeria.

Formally inaugurated on December 10, 1993, ATCON membership profile currently made up of indigenous and multi-national telecommunications companies operating in Nigeria has risen to over 150 memberships.

Meanwhile, ATCON is warming up for the Broadband Investment Summit 2010 scheduled to hold in Bryanston, South Africa.

ATCON and its members, ITRealms Online gathered would play a prominent role in the forthcoming Broadband Summit 2010, according to Mr. Omo-Ettu, where local and international investors will exchange ideas, forge partnership and create a platform on which other Nigerian entrepreneurs and their global counterparts can exploit emerging broadband infrastructure and market opportunities in Nigeria.

He further said, the forum will dwell on “Broadband infrastructure related business opportunities in Nigeria,” maintaining that the attendance is open to ATCON members and other emerging entrepreneurs in the country.

This is coming as the leadership of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) may lead the nation’s delegation to the forthcoming Broadband forum.


ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Glo introduces Manchester branded 3G modems

Head, Globacom 3G and BlackBerry Sales, Mr. Wunmi Jewesimi, has said that the firm’s Third Generation (3G) internet modem offers speed, quality and reliability to customers, even as Glo has introduced specially co-branded Manchester United FC’ version of the 3G internet modems into the market.

The modem, he said, is co-branded in Manchester United FC of England and Glo logos to commemorate the partnership deal signed last season between Globacom and the club.

Jewesimi who made these known in Lagos, also said the modem offers fast, efficient, reliable and affordable internet access gives subscribers a wide range of interesting applications.

According to him, the continuous upgrade on the Glo network has enabled the company to improve its network quality, thereby availing subscribers a world class internet service that delivers fast and easy handling of internet applications.

Such applications include video streaming, gaming, chatting, data download and upload as well as instant messaging.

“The enhanced speed makes it possible to do video streaming or gaming without distortions. The user is able to enjoy real time internet sound or video, without having to wait to download a file to play it,” he explained.

Further, he noted that other significant advantages of the new modem include its high quality which makes it compatible with most operating systems.

Customers, he said, could plug their modems on almost every computer or laptop with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and be able to enjoy the service, stressing that the modem’s quality enables easy connection to the 3G coverage of the Glo network which ensures the service could be enjoyed in every part of the country.

He pointed out that another superior benefit of the Glo 3G Plus modem is the ease of installation and use made possible by its plug and play feature. Once the modem is plugged into a desktop or laptop, a Glo GUI (Graphic User Interface) appears on the screen allowing the user to set preferences and begin browsing instantly.,” he said.

The modem, he also said allows access to the Glo Self-Care Portal which assists the customer to resolve certain issues by themselves.

Additionally, he said, Glo 3G Plus high speed internet service has easy payment options and flexible packages for the convenience of customers.

The flexible packages, he outlined to include the “All day Packs, Bundled Hour Packs and Flexi packs.”

Jewesimi added that a customer does not need to go to a Glo shop to select or pay for a package.
“Normal recharge cards can be used to pay for the service,” he declared.

ITRealms Online gathered that Globacom has introduced a new, specially branded version of the 3G internet modem for sale to the general public, which is co-branded.

The modems, he said, are on sale at Gloworld shops nationwide and they are of the same quality, speed and reliability, stressing that the specially branded modems were designed to give football – loving subscribers something unique to add more excitement to their use of the Glo mobile internet modem.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

IDC roadshow touches down in Lagos

The International Data Corporation (IDC) annual roadshow, would on Friday, this week touchdown in Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the nation.

Disclosing this, the conference manager, Ms Theresa Eshiet said that the event is returning this year with latest installment of pioneering Information Technology (IT) storage, virtualization and datacenter Roadshow.

She said that the global market intelligence and advisory firm for the information technology and telecommunications markets, IDC has assumed delight of stakeholders in the West African sub-region.

The roadshow, she said, is part of the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey leg of its hugely popular Storage, Virtualization, and Datacenter Roadshow 2010.

She revealed that the global event which would open in Casablanca on September 23, with series of conferences consist of tour of 10 region’s mostly influential business centers, including Johannesburg, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Cairo, and Riyadh.

The roadshow, she said, has established itself as a widely respected regional platform for the exchange of experiences, ideas, and best practices between storage solution users, independent experts, and industry-leading vendors.

“Through keynote presentations, case studies, exhibition displays, open discussions, and unprecedented networking opportunities, the roadshow helps participants explore ways of increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and achieving higher returns on investment by looking beyond speed, capacity, and power consumption,” she said.

According to her, the global economic crisis may have negatively impacted on IT investment in the region, but it has not reduced the need for data, nor has it removed the stringent requirements for data retention and protection that go hand-in-hand with stricter corporate governance and ever-tightening international regulations.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

African internet users surge with 53m in 4 years - Zukang

The African internet users have surged with 53 million within a space of four years, says the United Nations under-secretary general for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Sha Zukang.

In his opening address to the just concluded 2010 global Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which held in Vilnius, Lithuania, between September 14-17, 2010, Mr. Zukang who was represented by his assistant, Mr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, said that Africa has grown internet usage from 16m to 69m in four years.

“Between 2005 and 2009, the number of users in Africa surged from 16 to 69 million,” he said, noting that in Arab States Internet has grown from 26 to 64 million, which showed growth of 38 million.

In the Asia-Pacific region, he said, that the community of Internet users have seen changes between 347 to 744 million within the same period under review.

While in the Commonwealth of Independent States a growth of 69 million, that is, from 30 to 99 million, was recorded.

Whereas, in the Americas, Mr. Zukang noted that the numbers of users went up from 322 to 447 million and in Europe it was from 277 to 387 million between 2005 and 2009 respectively.

Also, he said that 60 per cent of people in developing regions now have cellular telephones and more and more are using mobile broadband.

“These numbers are indeed is a cause for some celebration,” he said, stressing that yet, other metrics showed that the digital divide between developed and developing regions has been widening instead of closing.

He cited for example that in 2005, there was a 43 per cent gap in the proportion of people using the Internet between developed and developing countries.

By 2009, he said, the gap had widened to 49 per cent.

Noting that in 2005, there was a 4 per cent gap in the proportion of people with mobile broadband and by 2009, the gap had widened to 37 per cent.

“This tells us that while developing countries are making progress, developed countries are moving even faster,” he said.

Zukang recalled that the five-year mandate of the IGF expired last year, but the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, has recommended that the Forum’s mandate be extended and that a number of improvements be made.

These matters, he said, are now before the United Nations General Assembly for consideration before the end of 2010.

The Internet, he said, could assist in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) through improving lives of millions of people.

“Its governance is a serious responsibility. On that note, let us begin an engaging, illuminating and productive discourse,” he charged.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

VSAT remains cheapest accessible technology – Makau

The Head, Customer Services at the iWay Africa office in Kenya, Mr. Tom Makau has said that the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) remains the cheapest access to internet technology.

This came as iWay Africa unveiled its FiberSAT in Lagos.

Speaking at the Information Access and Collaboration conference organised by iWayAfrica Nigeria Ltd in partnership with NetApp, in Lagos, Mr. Makau said that VSAT still offers unrivaled reliability over any other access technologies.

“No technology offers higher uptime than VSAT,” he asserted, stressing that even in the most wired markets, VSAT’s offer better value proposition to security minded organizations.

“VSAT offers the only remaining true private networks,” he declared.

He said that despite cheap terrestrial connectivity in the United States (US) and European Union (EU), VSAT is still popular in these regions.

Makau pointed out that why the likes of Camelot and United States Postal Service (USPS) still use VSAT, was due to its advantages, noting that HughesNet VSAT customer distribution in North America, indicated that Hughes has over 800,000 VSAT sites in USA, mainly in the urban areas, attributing it to the fact that VSAT offers reliability and value for money.

This, he said, has demystified the myth that VSAT is an access method for only the rural areas.

Equally, Makau, who spoke on ‘VSAT is dead?” said that what would make broadband affordable, depends entirely on pricing, which has remained relatively high in Africa due to high Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) and Operating Expenditure (OPEX) based on infrastructure on the continent.

Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs), he noted, have tried to emulate US and EU pricing without considering some historical facts, which resulted in their offering poor services as they struggle to stay afloat.

For African ISPs to offer lower prices without compromising service quality, three things must happen, these, he listed to include that Africa must develop and host local content locally and applications, citing the likes of NetApp and Telkom’s cybernest as some of the data centres available to the continent.

The second outline, he said, is that the market must provide critical numbers needed to take advantage of economies of scale, stressing that currently Africa is scored 5.4 per cent out of the 23 percentage drawn from the global penetration rates.

Lastly, he said, that regulatory environment needs to be fair to operators and cited another instance with the cost of Third Generation (3G) license in Kenya, which cost about $20 million, while in Finland it is free.

He further pointed out that the African Internet market is unique because of largely absence of electricity power supply at various countries across the continent, insisting that unless this situation changes, penetration would remain poor.

In addition, he said that internet contents are hosted everywhere else apart from Africa.
For him, VSAT advantages include that it offers ubiquitous, instant coverage over large
geographical areas with uniform service deployment.

“VSAT offers faster deployment than other business quality technologies,” he said, even as it is more cost effective than terrestrial systems as its bundled with bandwidth and lower total cost of ownership to name a few.

Part of VSAT, Makau said, is that it’s a fully managed, single point of contact network technology; rarely do VSAT have third party involvement, while it offers broadcast capability such as digital signage and educational programmes.
“VSATs are generally more reliable than terrestrial lines, hence it has higher uptime and less points of failure with faster recovery,” Makau submitted.
Also speaking on the latest brand launch by iWay Africa, which is now a subsidiary of Telkom Group, the General Manager, iWay Africa Nigeria Limited, Mr. John Ugbe, said noted that the firm started operations in Nigeria in 2003 as MWEB Nigeria.
“MWEB acquired iWayAfrica in 2008 and the Nigeria operations were merged in iWayAfrica Nigeria Limited,” he said, with presence in over 30 African countries.
iWay Africa, he said, is the largest VSAT broadband provider in Africa which is deployed as Comsys, thus providing services to over 60,000 corporate subscribers, VSAT availability nationwide as well as six channel partners and staff in major cities.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

ITAN hosts Indian NASSCOM @ CEO summit

THE Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN) is set to host the National Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) of India during its chief executives summit billed for Lagos, tomorrow, reports CHARLES OKOH.

Speaking on this, ITAN president, Dr. Jimson Olufuye, said that they are organizing the event in conjunction with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) Africa Regional Secretariat adding that arrangement to host the 2010 edition of the IT chief executive officers, (CEOs) summit has been concluded.

The summit which would have the National Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) of India, the premier trade body and chamber of commerce of the IT business-processing outsourcing (BPO) industries in India, is part of the commitment of ITAN to retool the Nigerian ICT industry for global competitiveness in the 21st century knowledge economy.

Olufuye said the forum would bring together IT CEOs from the Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry for networking, broad synergy, capacity enhancement and strategic focus on the huge immediate and future potentials of the IT and IT-BPO industry to enable, empower and enrich the Nigerian economy.

The event which will focus on Information Technology Enabled Services, (ITES) for business-processing outsourcing, (BPO), according to Olufuye, would have in attendance NASSCOM members including Eastern Software Systems, AES Technologies India Pvt Ltd, Agile Labs Pvt Ltd, Aujas Networks Pvt Ltd.

Others include, C1 India Pvt Ltd, Comviva First Source Solutions Ltd, International Institute of Information Technology, Pune, Karrox Technologies Ltd, Newgen Software Technologies Ltd.
Nihilent Technologies, Octaware Technologies, Ontrack Systems Ltd ,Oracle Financial Services Software, Payoda Technologies Pvt Ltd, QAI Global Services, RP Infosystems Pvt Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd, Tricom Information & Technology.

Olufuye said the event would at the end lead to progressive development of the Nigerian internal outsourcing businesses and industry, locking-in of Nigeria as the hub of IT-BPO in Sub-Saharan Africa as it meets the Indian Investors’ desire to serve Europe and America ITES ever-growing market as well as match-making Indian and Nigerian IT CEOs in a B2B for investment, partnership and networking.

Other benefits he said, includes exposure of more CEOs to the Off-shoring and Outsourcing business potentials, exposure of IT CEOs to critical IT funding sources and opportunities, improving on IT CEOs project management competencies and collection of important up-to-date industry data.

Chairman Local Organizing Committee, (LOC) and council member of ITAN, Mr. Amos Emmanuel, had earlier disclosed that this year’s IT Future 2010 with the theme empowering IT CEOs is a follow up to the series which started in 2006.

The IT CEO Summit 2010, according to him, will be unique as it would for the first time bring together IT Industry CEOs in Nigeria and from India, the National Software and Services Companies of India.

“The IT CEOs in Nigeria and NASSCOM will be joined by the foremost IT Industry association in the USA, TechAmerica and PIKOM, Malaysia to boost Nigeria’s participation in the annual over US$600 billion IT BPO business. India is currently the leader in this sector earning more than 60 per cent of the annual market value. The synergy which is captured by the theme: Empowering CEOs for off shoring and M-outsourcing projects is a strategy to empower the Nigerian IT CEOs in collaboration with their international counterparts to tap into the huge potential for IT-BPO growth in Nigeria,” he said.

He also disclosed that one of the prides of the Nigerian IT BPO industry, the Kano ICT Park, will be showcased for investment to the cream of the IT BPO success stories in India, Malaysia and the USA among many others.

Dr. Olufuye also said the event is a follow-up to the recent workshop by the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) and the World Bank aimed at growing the Nigerian Business Process Outsourcing sector with the aim of creating jobs and wealth as part of a broad strategy for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals and the attainment of the nation’s vision 20:2020.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Stephenson applauds Geoidtel on infrastructure

THE Director, United Kingdom Trade and Investment in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Stephenson, has applauded the management of Geoid Telecom (Geoidtel) for investing on infrastructure to boost internet services in the West African sub-region.

Stephenson gave this applause while leading a delegation from his office on a working visit to Geoidtel office in the country.

A press statement made available to ITRealms Online endorsed by Geoidtel chief executive, Mr. Olubiyi Ismail, quoted Mr. Stephenson as saying that he was mandated by the UK High Commissioner in Nigeria to seek credible business ventures in the country, operating in various spheres of the economy, which companies based in the United Kingdom, for possible partnerships in transactions, equity investments to name a few.

He explained that UK Trade and Investment works with UK-based businesses to ensure their success in international markets, and encourage the best overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice.

Mr. Stephenson, further said that companies from the United Kingdom were desirous of partnering with Nigerian companies.

As said by him, part of his duties include seeking out credible companies such as Geoidtel, which are operating in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy, and making recommendations to companies from the United Kingdom, willing to partner.

Conducting Mr. Stephenson during the tour of duty, Mr. Ismail noted that the company’s world class facilities have been put in place to make certain that Nigerians and indeed West Africans have the fastest and most reliable internet access service.

Some of the offices visited included the company’s Network Operating Centre and recently completed World class Network Monitoring Centre.

Mr. Ismail also said that the company would spare no expense in ensuring that its consumers have the best internet service experience obtainable in West Africa, while subscribing to its services.

He said, customers have come to appreciate Geoidtel for its fast and reliable internet service, hence the company has amassed an impressive array of clientele despite launching its operations early in 2010.

Apart from Nigeria, he said, Geoidtel has coverage in other West African countries, including Cameroon, Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

According to him, Geoidtel also covers Guinea and Senegal where the company already has resellers.

Pointing out that in the nearest future, the company plans to spread its services to other parts of Africa.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

UNESCO underscores interest in IGF

Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Mr. Jânis Kârkli, has explained why the organisation is interested in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Addressing participants at the Fifth Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which ended in Vilnius, Lithuania, last weekend, he said, that UNESCO’s interest in the IGF was stemmed from their conviction that the Internet has a key role to play in fostering pluralistic and equitable knowledge societies.

He also said that the Internet has the wherewithal to support the development of inclusive knowledge societies.

The Internet, he noted, must be governed in a way that provides each and everyone not only with access to the Internet, but also with access to quality content.

He noted that the Internet governance mechanisms should be based on the principle of “openness”, encompassing interoperability, freedom of expression in knowledge societies and measures to resist any attempt to censor content.

UNESCO, he said, would continue to safeguard key values like freedom of expression, cultural and linguistic diversity and openness.

UNESCO, he said, has been an ardent supporter of, and contributor to IGF, which it had always seen as an essential platform for multi-stakeholder discussions.

“The Forum provides an important channel for exchanges of opinions, ideas, and concerns. It provides us all with inspiration and ideas for our work to improve Internet governance,” he said.
Looking back to the last five year, when IGF began, he noted that ICANN was reporting to the United States (US) government under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding.

Pointing out that during the IGF in Athens in 2006, the community began discussion on the management of resources for the internet.

“A year later the Memorandum of Understanding was replaced by a Joint Project Agreement and three years later by the Affirmation of Commitments,” he recalled, emphasizing that the heated debates of the IGF meetings contributed significantly to gradual evolutions in the oversight mechanisms of the technical coordinator of the Domain Name Systems (DNS).

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D

Bharti Airtel, IBM partner to enhance African mobile market

Bharti Airtel has entered into a 10-year partnership with the International Business Machines (IBM) to enhance its mobile operations on the continent, which would be finalized in the fourth quarter of this year.

Spokesman for Bharti Group, Ashutosh Sharma and Ms Maureen Muthua of IBM confirmed these in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online at the weekend.

They also said that the 10-year agreement in principle will extend innovative relationship that began six years ago between the two companies, whilst IBM handles the Information Technology (IT) for Bharti Airtel’s 16 operations in Africa.

This, they said, is the first of its kind alliance in Africa to enable Bharti Airtel to deliver innovative and affordable Second Generation (2G) and Third Generation (3G) mobile services across the continent.

In addition, the partnership, they said, would avail a cutting-edge technology from IBM to bring improve efficiencies and benefit customers, employees and business partners of Bharti Airtel.

As said by them, the partnership would accelerate the transformation of African mobile communications and positively impact the speed of economic development across the African continent, Bharti Airtel Limited and IBM today announced the selection of IBM to manage the computing technology and services that power Bharti Airtel’s mobile communications network spanning 16 African countries.

Under a completed agreement, IBM would deploy and manage state-of-the-art information technology infrastructure and applications to support Bharti Airtel’s goal of bringing affordable and innovative mobile services to remote locations in Africa.

Sharma further said, IBM would deploy advanced technologies created by its research, including the ‘Spoken Web’ a voice-enabled Internet technology that allows users to access and share information simply by talking over an existing telephone.

This, he said, particularly compel populations with little or no literacy, visual impairments, or which lack access to Personal Computers (PCs).

When completed, they said, the agreement will extend a deep relationship between IBM and
Bharti Airtel that was established in 2004 when South Asia’s leading mobile communications provider tapped IBM to run the IT and applications for its entire Indian network.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D