Dell EMC: Mitsumi assures customers on quality solutions

ITREALMS:

The pan-Africa distribution company of Information Technology (IT) solutions, Mitsumi, has assured Nigerian customers of quality and affordable technology solutions from Dell/EMC, reports ITRealms.

Country Manager, Mitsumi, Mr. Rajiv Patel, gave the assurance at a customer and partners forum in Lagos recently, said Mitsumi would continue to help its partners configure their Dell EMC solutions.

According to him, the company is also discussing opportunities with the endusers of the ethnology solutions from Dell/EMC, and at the same time, help them to get the quoted price as well as helping them to deploy most of the solutions.

Regional Product Manager, Mitsumi Distribution, Mr. Sujal Desai, explained that even though there are other competitors in the technology distribution chain market, Mitsumi would continue to support the market with unique solutions that would facilitate market growth and sustainability. “In addition to distributing quality and affordable technology solutions, we are bringing to the market, technical support for staff, which is the key to business growth and sustainability, and which other distributors do not have. So many partners in Nigeria want to supply the Dell EMC. portfolio, but they do not have the right support from the sales and service sides of the business. But Mitsumi is powering the complete portfolio with pre-sales team support and the technical support in Nigeria and outside Nigeria,” Desai said.

He promised the company would continue to build lasting relationships with its target audience, which include the government and the private sector like oil companies and banks, in such a way that it would help them to understand their requirements better. “We are introducing the latest Dell/EMC technology to all our customers to help grow their business,” Desai said.

Located in Lagos, Mitsumi will continue to service its customers in other parts of the country, since all our expatriate staff and local staff seat in Lagos and operate from Lagos to other parts of the country, even to the remotest areas, Desai added.

Addressing the perceived high cost of technology solutions, Desai advised customers to understand that technology is evolving for the good of business growth and sustainability. “This is the reason we advise, our customers to embrace technologies as they evolve but the customers have to start from small scale before upscaling to what they actually need. Dell EMC solution allows customers to start small and upscale after the company must have expanded its operations,” Desai added.

We always advise our partners to develop solutions that are tailored made for SMEs because they are the backbone of any society, but with limited capital to operate on a large scale. They can begin with smaller solutions and upscale to the bigger solutions, which allows them pay for what they consume, he said.

Mitsumi IT Distribution was formed in Nairobi, Kenya in 1996 with the aim of introducing appropriate and affordable technologies to Africa. It currently has operations in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and in other African countries.

It provide a wide range of supply chain solutions for all categories of IT products, ranging from PCs, PC building blocks, networking, software and enterprise solution products, as well as Consumer and Lifestyle products for telecoms, entertainment products and digital printing machines for the leading brands

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Pix: L to R-  Zahid Pervaiz-Marketing Manager, Kumar Kulkarni - Business Head, Bhargav Mehta - Associate Director, Satyen Chokshi - Business Unit Manager (DellEMC), Rajiv Patel - Country Manager, Sujal Desai – Regional Product Manager.

Dammy Laoye emerges first winner of OCC Nigeria scholarship

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The maiden scholarship by the Oxford and Cambridge Club(OCC) of Nigeria has been won by Dammy Laoye for the academic year 2018-2019, reports ITRealms.

Laoye, ITRealms reports, was chosen by the Executive Committee of OCC in Nigeria due to his outstanding academic record.

ITRealms gathered that he is currently pursuing his degree in Human, Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University.

According to a press statement made available to ITRealms, Laoye would benefit from the recently instituted by OCC Nigeria in partnership with the Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust (CCEI) to offer jointly-funded scholarships for study at the University of Cambridge.

The OCC Nigeria Cambridge Scholarships are targeted at postgraduate students on one-year Masters Courses at the University.

According to the club, the scholarship is aimed at supporting outstanding students from Nigeria who require financial support to pursue Masters Degrees at the University.

To be eligible for the scholarship, applicants are expected to be resident in Nigeria; must have applied  to the University by the normal procedure and by the published application deadline, and be offered admission; and require financial assistance in order to be able to study at the University. The scholarship is tenable at any College within the University.

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Truecaller, VConnect partner to expand Sub-Saharan operations

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Truecaller and VConnect have entered into partnership to expand Sub-Saharan operations, reports ITRealms.

By this, ITRealms reports that Truecaller has integrated VConnect’s Business directory to its applications, which allowing users to efficiently identify VConnect’s service providers.

Last year Truecaller and VConnect launched Truecaller Priority in Nigeria enabling businesses on VConnect to quickly identify if a call is a potential prospect. Many users searching for businesses on VConnect.com, call the numbers mentioned in their profile.

These numbers, ITRealms reports were routed through VConnect intermediate numbers, are marked as ‘Priority’ in the Truecaller app.

Speaking on the occasion, Naveen Luthra, Director – Growth and Partnerships at VConnect said, “This step of integrating our business listings on Truecaller platform, will further empower SMEs in Nigeria to get more visibility and new customers. This partnership deepens the relationships between two organisations, to bring about digital inclusion of small businesses here.”

Truecaller further revealed it will be setting up headquarters in Nairobi and has recruited Zakaria Hersi as Director of Partnerships for Africa. In this position, Zakaria is spearheading its expansion in the region where he forges partnerships with various eco-system players.

“I’m excited to join Truecaller in such interesting juncture. My aim is to build upon the strong foundation that we have as a brand here and double up the pace of our growth and ambitions in the market. In the coming months we plan to roll out more partnerships and new services localized for the market.” said Zakaria Hersi, Director of Partnerships, Africa at Truecaller.

Zakaria has a background of launching marketplaces around the world, and has helped the Swedish Investment firm Kinnevik launch Saltside in Nigeria where he was the Managing Director. He also had two stints working for Swedish based company Besedo, where he helped open offices in Colombia and Mauritius. During his period at Besedo he worked closely with some of the largest marketplaces (eBay, Match.com & OLX) in Europe and South America, and was responsible for post-merger integration of the company and French AI company IoSquare.

Late last year Truecaller launched its Developer Program with Truecaller SDK, its mobile identity product for digital start-ups and app developers, and announced that they will be doubling down on their monetization initiative, and introduce its Truecaller Priority program in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Truecaller has become one of the fastest growing consumer apps in Africa, and has consistently been topping the App Store Charts across the continent for the past two years.

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Artificial intelligence technologies boost capabilities of cyber threat actors

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In response to cyber defenders’ increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, malicious actors started discussing their potential application for criminal use, report ITRealms

Research from Control Risks, the specialist global risk consultancy, shows that the development of techniques to use these technologies and tools to enhance their capabilities is now increasingly on the agenda of cyber threat actors, report ITRealms.

Associate Director and head of Control Risks’ cyber threat intelligence team, Nicolas Reys, explained that more organisations are beginning to employ machine learning and artificial intelligence as part of their defences against cyber threats.

“Cyber threat actors are recognising the need to advance their skills to keep up with this development. One application could be to use deep learning algorithms to improve the effectiveness of their attacks. This shows that AI and its subsets will play a larger role in facilitating cyber attacks in the near future,” he said.

Although there are currently no known attacks using AI, but these technologies, he said, could assist threat actors in a number of ways.

This includes spear phishing campaigns, dubbed hivenets, extensive, customized attacks, and advanced obfuscation techniques.

He explained that the spearphishing campaigns: In the targeting of a criminal campaign, threat actors could use algorithms to generate spearphishing campaigns in victims’ native languages, expanding the reach of mass campaigns. Similarly, larger amounts of data could be automatically gathered and analysed to improve social engineering techniques, and with it the effectiveness of spearphishing campaigns.

Dubbed ‘hivenets’: In the post-infection phase, clusters of compromised devices that have the ability to self-learn, so-called dubbed ‘hivenets’, could be used to automatically identify and target additional vulnerable systems.

Extensive, customised attacks: Based on its assessment of the target environment, AI technology could tailor the actual malware or attack in order to be unique to each system it encounters along the way. This would enable threat actors to conduct vast numbers of attacks that are uniquely tailored to each victim. Only bespoke mitigation or responses would be effective for each infection, rendering traditional signature or behaviour-based defence systems obsolete.

Advanced obfuscation techniques: Threat actors could evade detection by developing and implementing advanced obfuscation techniques, using data from past campaigns and the analysis of security tools. Attackers may even be able to launch targeted misdirection or ‘noise generation’ attacks to disrupt intelligence gathering and mitigation efforts by automated defence systems.

“The use of AI is not likely to become widespread soon, given the financial investment that is currently needed. However, as more research is produced and AI technologies become more mature and more accessible to threat actors, this threat will evolve. Organisations should be aware of the potential for these types of attacks to emerge in the course of 2018. Staying informed and being able to identify relevant emerging attacks, technologies and vulnerabilities is therefore just as important as being prepared in the event of an attack,” Reys said.

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Missing Dapchi Girls: Special Task Force wanted - Ekhomu

ITREALMS:

A renowned security expert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu has advised the Federal Government to set up a special task force to investigate and rescue the 110 school girls seized from Dapchi, Yobe State on 19^th February by suspected Boko Haram terrorists, reports ITRealms.

The task force, he said, should report to the National Security Adviser (NSA) including the credentialed and accomplished investigative personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, the Military Provost, Department of State Services, National Intelligence Agency, the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Civilian JTF and academia.

Ekhomu, who is the President, Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON), in a press statement made available to ITRealms, advocated the appointment of an intelligent tough- minded investigator to head the special task force.

“This leader must be reputed as brilliant, innovative and upright,” he suggested.

The expert, troubled by the similarities between the Dapchi mass-abduction of school girls and the yet unresolved Chibok mass-kidnap saga, warned that if not properly handled as a “hot pursuit” investigative case, the nation might face huge reputational harm from the incident.

Therefore, he warned against turning the incident into ‘political theatre’ where every politician becomes an investigator in order to gain relevance.

Ekhomu advised the Federal Government to adopted sound investigative strategies to speedily rescue the Dapchi girls and called for the immediate announcement of a reward of N50 million for information leading to the rescue of the girls.

Also, he said that money will induce people who have information to talk and urged for the establishment of a tips hot-line to receive information on the incident, stating that a confidential informant numbering system should be used in order to correctly identify and reward the informant who produces the clue leading to the rescue of the girls.

Ekhomu counseled the STF to adopt the principles of “fresh pursuit” or “hot pursuit” in this investigation, contending that mass-kidnap was different from the kidnap of a single individual.

The logistics to move, cater for and feed such a large group would prove to be a vulnerability that could be exploited by the investigators to find them.

He advised the investigators to quickly debrief any students who escaped their captors, pointing out that “These students will have important information and clues which could be helpful to detectives.”

A crime scene search, he said, is imperative as the perpetrators might have dropped clues and advocated the use of overhead platforms of the Nigerian Air Force in the hot pursuit, for more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions by flying over wooded areas of the Northeast.

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• Dapchi Girls: FG releases comprehensive list of mi...

Call Masking: NCC sanctions clearing houses, bars 750,000 PNL, LEO numbers

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… Immediate disconnect of ICSL, SISL

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has sanctioned some interconnect clearing houses licensees for alleged call-masking, call-refiling and SIM-Boxing, with immediate disconnection of Information Connectivity Solutions Limited (ICSL) and Solid Interconnectivity Services Limited from all networks, reports ITRealms.

This, ITRealms gathered, is coming as the Commission also barred over 750,000 numbers assigned to PrivateNetwork Links (PNL) and Local Exchange Operator (LEO) licensees, found to be aiding and abating this unwholesome practice.

Director, Public Affairs Department of NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, confirmed this to ITRealms, Tuesday, saying they were recently inundated with complaints from service providers and consumers regarding the high incidence of call-masking, call-refiling and SIM-Boxing, hence they have to take action.

Generally, he defined the practice complained of as “disguising international calls as local calls in order to profit from price differentials between international and local calls. Apart from the resultant loss of revenue by service providers, the practice some also has negative security implications.”

He also said that this follow a painstaking investigation process which included collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Department of State Services, the Commission has imposed a range of sanctions on licensees involved in the fraudulent practice.

The sanctions, he said include the suspension of the Interconnect Clearinghouse License issued to Medallion Communications Limited for a period of 90 (ninety) days, in the first instance; Issuance of a strong warning to Interconnect Clearinghouse Nigeria Limited; Disconnection of Information Connectivity Solutions Limited (ICSL) and Solid Interconnectivity Services Limited from all networks, until they regularize their operations.

In addition, Ojobo told ITRealms that NCC issued letters of caution to three other licensees, namely the Exchange Telecoms Limited, NiconnX Limited and Breeze Micro Limited, warning them against engaging in the fraudulent practice, whereas, barring over 750,000 numbers assigned to several Private Network Links (PNL) and Local Exchange Operator (LEO) licensees, which number ranges were found to have been utilized for the practice.

The sanctioned entities, NCC spokesman said in a press statement made available to ITRealms, were found to be directly and indirectly complicit in several infractions, including, covertly allowing organisations with expired licences to transit calls, failure to undertake due diligence on parties seeking to interconnect, deliberately turning a blind eye to masking infractions by interconnect partners, and using a licence issued to another organisation to bring-in and terminate international calls which were masked as local calls to other operators.

On the barring of numbers, he reiterated that over 750,000 individual numbers across the nation, made up of about 31 number ranges have been barred.

NCC further said that licensees whose numbers have been barred are Vezeti Communications Services Limited, Voix Networks Limited, Mobitel Limited, Peace Global Satellite Communications Limited, ABG Communications Limited, Vodacom Business Africa (Nigeria) Limited, Swift Telephone Networks Limited, QVODA Telecoms Limited, Wireless Telecoms Limited and Emcatel Networks Limited.

According to NCC, culprits were found to be terminating millions of minutes, whereas they only have very few active customers.

“The Commission is pleased to note that the incidence of call masking has significantly reduced since it commenced a multi-faceted approach to address the menace,” he said.

Insisting that the actions so far taken by NCC, were just the first stage of the exercise, stressing that the second stage which has now commenced, will focus on the Mobile Network Operators and other persons involved in SIM-Boxing.

“The aim of the Commission is to completely stamp out the fraudulent practice in the overall interest of all Nigerians. Accordingly, every service provider that has been sanctioned still has an opportunity to correct the identified anomalies and satisfy the Commission that it should be allowed to continue to operate in Nigeria.

“The Commission reserves the right to revoke the licence of such service providers where they fail to take the necessary corrective measures,” NCC declared.

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Related stories:

ITREALMS: NCC may sanction telcos for call masking

ITREALMS: Interconnect exchange: NCC revokes two licenses

Automobile: Enyo begins CSR training for 5000 technicians

ITREALMS:

Technology-driven oil retail and supply company, Enyo has commenced its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme to train some 5000 auto mechanics nationwide, reports ITRealms.

The Chief Executive Officer of Enyo, Abayomi Awoboku said the training is having its first batch in Lagos in partnership with AutoMedics, a leading motor mechanic consultancy and training outfit.

He also said the initiative is aimed at giving back to the society by helping to close the requisite skills gap in developing human capacity to continually service the automobile sector.

“The sector in recent times is being driven by latest trends and technological advancement as vehicles are now more systematic and computerized,” he said.

Awoboku equally noted that in many countries around the world, the automotive industry plays both a strategic and catalytic role in economic development in respect of the Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) contribution. 

“If Nigeria must play globally and competitively in the development in the automobile sector, there is need for stakeholders to invest in human capital development and technology, in other to improve after sales challenges and meet up with the paradigm shift in the industry” he said.

Awoboku also  emphasized on the importance of the training, stressing that automotive has changed in terms of the electronics.

“It is expected that technology will continue to develop so we need to look at how we can maintain the vehicles we have on our roads,” he said.

ITRealms recalls the programme is aimed at training a new generation of auto mechanics that will understand the workings of today’s hi-tech vehicles to grow their own capacities now and for the future.

The training partner and Chief Executive Officer of Auto Medics, Kunle Shonaike, believes Nigeria is very important to the global automotive business as as nearly all brands in the industry compete for a share to capture the market, the lamenting challenges of automobile maintenance in Nigeria.

Shonaike, the United States (US)-trained automobile technician noted that “proper maintenance standards have eluded vehicle owners and users in Nigeria especially in the face of unprofessionalism and the largely unregulated readily available roadside operations”.

“I urge all the stakeholders not to allow the litany of challenges evident in the sector to squeeze life out of the industry. We all need to utilize a strategic platform as this one to draw attention to happenings in the sector through our active participations. This is why despite the daunting challenges we have been facing we have resolved to ensure we promote standards through trainings such as this” he emphasized.

The auto mechanical technicians training which was powered by Mech Tech is expected to be rounded off with a graduation ceremony later in the year.

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Dapchi Girls: FG releases comprehensive list of missing students

ITRealms:

... List attached

Finally, the Federal Government (FG) has released a comprehensive list of the missing students with the names and other details of the 110 girls, following the attack and their abduction at the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State, on 19 February, 2018, reports ITRealms.

The list was contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who has twice led a Federal Government delegation to Yobe since the tragic
incident occurred.

The SA Media to Hon. Minister of Information and Culture, Segun Adeyemi, who affirmed this to ITRealms, said the list, which was handed over to the Minister by the Yobe State Government, contains the name, age and class of each of the 110 students.

“Out of the 110 missing girls, 8 are in JSS1, 17 in JSS2, 12 in JSS3, 40 in SS1, 19 in SS2 and 14 in SS3. The girls' ages range from 11 to 19 years,” he said.

In addition, he said, the list, which contained the contact address and phone numbers of each missing girl, was verified by a 26-member Screening Committee that includes the Executive Secretary, State Teaching Service Board, Musa Abdulsalam; Director, Schools' Management, Ministry of Education, Shuaibu Bulama; Principal of GGSTC, Adama Abdulkarim; the two Vice Principals, Ali Musa Mabu and Abdullahi Sule Lampo; Admission Officer, Bashir Ali Yerima, and the Form Masters for all the classes.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, on Tuesday relocated to Yobe State to personally superintend the search for the girls.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) had earlier deployed more platforms to the North-east for the search, as the security agencies ramp up their efforts to locate and rescue the girls.

You can see full list here:

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CMC salutes Tunde Kelani @70, Madam Kofo too

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The duo of Mr. Tunde Kelani, and the popular Madam Kofo have been saluted by CMC Gladiators, for their roles in the art and entertainment industry in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Head, Publicity and Media Relations, CMC Gladiators, Babatunde Odubanwo, noted that one of celebrants, Mr. Tunde Kelani is for turning 70; describing him as a cinematographer and filmmaker of repute who established his indelible imprints on the Nigerian cinema sphere over 20 years with his debut movie - Toluwa Nile and other enduring oeuvre of culturally linked and intellectually based works.

These, he said, still remain relevant with his latest work titled SIDI ILUJINLE as a masterful interpretation of Professor Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel.

Madam Kofo is a Theatre Practitioner, Actress, Fashionista par excellence. Her signature head gear style has ever since its creation, a wonder to behold and an inspiration for the thriving head gear tying scene. A mother, wife and idol to many has in no small measure made her artful precedence felt both home and abroad.

The chief executive officer of CMC Gladiators, Ambassador Cornel Udofia, was quoted as noting that one of the qualities that is synonymous with these living legends is their uncompromising standard of excellence.

“This outstanding virtue has afforded them the rare opportunity of wining and dining with the elites in the society, a reality that reminds us of the words of the Holy Book which read thus ‘ Seeth a man diligent in his duty, he shall stand before kings and not mere men’.

‘No doubt, these gems deservedly fits into the books of all-time greats and it is indeed our prayer at CMC that they shall live more years to achieve greater feats,” Udofia prayed, describing both as role models to him and that their immense contribution to the subject matter of culture, arts and entertainment remain unprecedented.

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Nokia, China Mobile sign MoU to extend 5G for vertical markets

ITREALMS:

Nokia and China Mobile have signed an agreement to jointly investigate how China Mobile could extend its service offerings for vertical markets using the massive connectivity, ultra reliability and ultra-low latency capabilities of 5G, reports ITRealms.

 The research will focus on how industries could benefit from the growth of smart cities, smart transportation and intelligent video analytics.

With the deployment of 5G, China Mobile will be able to leverage network slicing to discretely support myriad new services and businesses simultaneously with differing service level requirements. Under the agreement, which extends Nokia and China Mobile's existing 5G collaboration, the companies will jointly research and trial use-cases leveraging Nokia 5G Future X network architecture as well as NB-IoT and MEC. 

The research, which will take place at China Mobile's 5G joint innovation lab, will aim to better understand:

• How industries can be integrated into the smart city ecosystem to take advantage of the massive new connectivity of people and things.
• How businesses such as logistics and car rental companies can benefit from the widespread introduction of 5G-connected automated vehicles. Nokia and China Mobile will also expand the existing Car2X trial ecosystem in Wuzhen to advance the use of automated vehicles, as well as technologies that improve vehicle safety.
• How to further enhance future network architecture security using intelligent network protection techniques.
• How China Mobile can access and benefit from embedded network intelligence and the Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) architecture to manage and orchestrate services with network resources, and improve service automation and network performance.

The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Shang Bing, Chairman of China Mobile, and Rajeev Suri, President and CEO of Nokia, at a ceremony in Barcelona, ahead of Mobile World Congress 2018.

Marc Rouanne, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: "Together with China Mobile we will leverage 5G to identify the applications that meet future industry needs. At Nokia, we are bringing our Reefchark chipsets, new advanced algorithms from our research teams from Nokia Bell Labs, as well as our Optics, IP and cloud compute technology to boost our end-to-end 5G Future X Network architecture. We are committed to delivering open architecture development to allow operators such as China Mobile to leverage network intelligence."

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