Sulaiman emerges Interswitch chairman

Transaction switching and electronic payment processing company, InterSwitch Nigeria Limited, has named Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman, as the new chairman of its Board of Directors.

Mr. Sulaiman’s whose election was unanimous is also chairman, Accenture Nigeria and takes over from former Executive Director, Information Technology, First Bank Nigeria Plc, Dr. Evans Woherem.

With over 27 years professional experience, Mr. Sulaiman got a first class degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos in 1975, just as he attended Harvard Business School for the Programme Management Development in 1990, even as he is also a Chartered Accountant since1981.

He joined Accenture in 1978 and was involved as the engagement partner on several transformational activities specializing on strategy, top level organization design and corporate governance and strategic human resource management.

Mr. Sulaiman became the Managing Partner of the then Arthur Andersen audit and management consulting practices in 1993, and on March 1, 2005 Mr. Sulaiman stepped down as the Country Managing Director of Accenture Nigeria and took on a new role as the Chairman of Accenture in the country and currently focused on assisting with exploring and developing business opportunities for Accenture in the rest of Africa.

Managing Director, InterSwitch Limited, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, said it is a privilege to work with Mr. Sulaiman, and “we are extremely pleased to have him as our Chairman”.

According to him, with his wealth of experiences and proven track record of accelerating the growth of dynamic companies, additional to his knowledge of the company, having been actively involved in the initial business set up, Mr. Sulaiman, would no doubt be an excellent addition to the InterSwitch team.

Reacting to his election, Mr. Sulaiman declared that he felt honoured to be so elected. “I welcome the challenge and believe that with the support of others on the board and management of the company, we will be able to steer InterSwitch in the right direction to take advantage of emerging opportunities and consolidate its leadership position in the rapidly evolving and expanding Nigerian electronic payments industry”.

Expect lots of excitement –iTouch boss

*Goes to Egypt

MANAGING Director of iTouch Global Concepts Nigeria Limited, Mr. Samson Isa, has declared that Nigerians should expect lots of excitements as the content provider opened office in Lagos.

This is coming as iTouch has concluded arrangements to also open another office in Egypt.

Speaking at the event to herald its entrance in the country, he noted that as the fastest growing market on the continent, would bring about more mobile content entertainment.

iTouch, which has already localized its operations with 13 out of the 14 key employees of the company in the country are Nigerians.

“Nigerians should expect lots of excitement from iTouch,” he reassured.

According to him, iTouch has over 10 years experience in content provision with presence in 25 countries.

In a keynote address to the occasion, Chief executive, iTouch Plc, Mr. Greg Brophy, described the nation’s market as dynamic and exciting.

Stressing that more excitements await Nigerians as iTouch now has presence in the country to draw itself nearer to them.

Disclosing that the firm would soon open its Egyptian office, he declared that this century is for African development, maintaining, “Africa must be great”.

He pointed out that cellular phones are the most powerful communications devices in the world.

“The cellular phone is also the most sensitive communications device,” Mr. Brophy asserted.

Noting that iTouch provides content for 108 operators globally including all the four Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators in the country, namely MTel, Vmobile, MTN and Glo.

iTouch would also contribute to the growth of music industry, education among others in order to fast track businesses from the country into the global arena.

“I look forward to meeting more Nigerians and contributing to the growth o the industry,” he submitted.

iTouch brands include Funky Fone, a brand oriented towards the ‘ghetto fabulous’ or ‘wafi culture’ of Nigeria and South Africa and Movilisto, a formidable European brand and Mobile Magic, an Eurocentric brand targeted at the urban youth as well as Jippii.

ITU creates focus group on IPTv

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has created a focus group for the Internet Protocol Television (IPTv FG) to boost its deployment globally and market penetration.

Communication Officer at ITU, Mr. Toby Johnson who disclosed this said the creation of the group was an outcome of a consultative meeting that ended recently in Geneva, Switzerland.

The two-day meeting, which attracted about 120 experts worldwide, he said, were made up of world’s leading Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies to back up ITU’s role in the coordination of global IPTv standards.

According to him, the decision was taken considering the benefits of worldwide standards for all players in the IPTV value chain and the need to achieve rapid progress to avoid market fragmentation.

He also revealed that the first meeting of this group would be held in early June 2006.

ITU also acknowledged that standards work is ongoing at different parts of the world, stressing that the group forum is a reaction to an industry call for ITU to push forward and coordinate global standardization effort in the field.

IPTV is a system where a digital television service is delivered to consumers using internet protocol over a broadband connection.

Mr. Johnson further informed, it will help in paving the way for players, many of whom are already moving to IP-based Next Generation Networks (NGN) infrastructure, to offer a triple-play of video, voice and data.

ITU explained that standards are necessary in order to give service providers, whether traditional broadcasters, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or telecommunication service providers, control over their platforms and their offerings.

“Standards here will encourage innovation, help mask the complexity of services, guarantee quality of service (QoS), ensure interoperability and ultimately help players remain competitive,” Mr. Johnson said in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel.

The mission of IPTV FG, the officer noted, would be to coordinate and promote the development of global IPTV standards taking into account the existing work of the ITU study groups as well as other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), forums and consortiums.

Specifically, the group would tend to define IPTv by identifying scenarios, drivers and relationships with other services and networks, requirements and framework architecture.

The group would also review and gap analysis of existing standards and ongoing works, while identifying opportunities for ITU interventions and activities that ITU would encourage other organizations to pursue.

Equally, the group is to coordinate existing standardization activities, harmonize the development of new standards and encourage interoperability with existing systems where viable.

Hello UK on ReltelWireless for N15

Leading Private Telecom Operator (PTO), ReltelWireless has reduced the cost of international calls on the network by 70 per cent. This, the firm said is to enable subscribers make cheaper calls to business associates, friends and families in oversea countries.

Executive Vice-Chairman, ReltelWireless, Mr. Kenneth Aigbonede, who disclosed this weekend, said that international calls on the network has been reduced to N15 per minute, in the company’s latest bid to make telephone calls affordable to the populace.

Before now, he noted that subscribers on the network were paying as much as N49 per minute to make calls to mobile telephone lines in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

According to him, telephone calls on the network has been reduced considerably in accordance with the telco’s ``pace-setter policy, aimed at ensuring that everyone in the country has access to telephone services’’.

``We have now made international calls even cheaper than local calls to make every Nigerian to stay connected with the rest of the world at any point in time,’’ he said.

Mr. Aigbonede also said that the company had ensured that `Nigerians could make calls to South Africa, Ghana, China, Italy, United Arab Emirate (UAE) and India as well as the U.S., U.K. and Canada without spending a fortune.

He pointed out that RelTelWireless would soon be applying formally for a licence to operate the new unified licence system, noting that the network has been positioned to excel in the new order.

He said the management of the company had upgraded the company’s equipment, software and services, following the $20 million assistance given to the company recently by the China Development Bank.

Emphasizing that the network had also received technical support from the Chinese telecommunications giant, Huawei, making the network ``the first among equals in the fixed wireless telephone business in Nigeria’’.

He reiterated that ReltelWireless had consolidated its market leadership position in some cities in the country, including Lagos, Port Harcourt, Aba, Onitsha and Abuja.

A national fixed wireless licence operator, ReltelWireless, is at present has an installed capacity of about 1.2 million subscribers.

Starcomms takes home yet another award

LEADING Private Telephone Operator (PTO), Starcomms Limited, has grabbed the City People’s award, for the third year running, as the “Best Private Telephone Operator Company of the Year”.

Commenting on the latest aware, Public Relations Manager at Starcomms, Ms. Laura Johnson, expressed appreciation for the award, describing it as invaluable reward for the company’s continued strive for excellence.

She praised the organizers for the successful hosting of the event and promised that Starcomms would continue to work hard to preserve the trust and patronage of its numerous subscribers.

Ms Johnson also assured that Starcomms would continue to deploy first class telecommunications services so as to maintain its lead role as the number one innovative service providers in the country.

The 2006 edition held Lagos, was witnessed personalities such as the wife of the Vice President and Founder of WOTCLEF, Chief (Mrs.) Titi Atiku Abubakar, Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Ayodele Fayose and wife of Ebonyi State Governor, Chief (Mrs) Eunice Egwu as special guests.

The telco has been consistent with innovation in the nation’s telecoms scene, which provided for its being voted “Best telephone company of the Year (Fixed Wireless) 2004 and 2005” at the Nigerian IT & Telecoms Awards (NITTA 2004 and 2005).

Other awards won by the company are include, “The Best Wireless Telephone Marketer of the year 2005” at the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria Awards, “Best Fixed Operator of the year 2004” at the Nigerian Telecoms Awards, amongst a host of others.

With close to 300,000 subscribers on its network, the Company has consistently maintained leadership in the telecommunications sector in terms of product and service innovativeness, customer service delivery and network quality.

Only recently, it launched the Starcomms EV-DO, the latest generation ultra-speed mobile wireless broadband/internet offer, which is the first deployment of its kind in West Africa.

APC’s suite of cooling solutions

In order to ensure backend power systems, the American Power Conversion (APC) has introduced a cooling solution suite to sustain the unpredictability of Information Technology (IT) environments, especially in developing countries.

This suite, APC said is a range of new InfraStruXure compatible modular cooling solutions to support the delivery of precise and predictable chilly environs to high-density loads.

Country General Manager, Africa at APC, Mr. Carl Kleynhans, said his firm's latest solutions include the InfraStruXure InRow RC, InfraStruXure Cooling Distribution Unit (CDU) and the Rack Air Containment System (RACS).

“Today’s IT managers face a completely new set of cooling and thermal problems in the data centre,” he said, noting that in a traditional data centre environment higher temperatures are addressed by supplying an over-abundance of cooling to the room, which is extremely wasteful and ultimately cost prohibitive.

Besides the heat density issues, IT equipment loads, the manager said, are becoming more dynamic, exacerbating the challenge of maintaining an acceptable thermal ‘rate of change’ in accordance with ASHRAE Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments.

"Simply put, cooling IT equipment too quickly could be just as dangerous as allowing it to run too hot. And to effectively address these new realities, cooling solutions must not only minimise the mixing of hot and cold aisle airstreams and deliver dynamic cooling and airflow performance, but also properly match the fluctuating IT equipment heat loads and airflow" Mr. Kleynhans said.

He also pointed out that APC’s cooling solutions serve the needs of a variety of IT environments, from wiring closets and computer rooms to data centres of all sizes.

The company’s scalable solutions, he said, include air distribution units, portables and precision cooling systems, and serve specific cooling needs for diverse environments.

Explaining further, he said, APC’s InfraStruXure InRow RC for instance, is a modular cooling solution that is installed next to the IT equipment rack in applications ranging from small computer rooms to large data centres.

This, he said, could be set up at both sides of a rack enclosure, the unit could also predictably deliver up to 60 kilowatts (kw) of cooling per rack of IT equipment or up to 30kW per rack with full redundancy.

On the InfraStruXure CDU, he said, it’s a flexible chilled water distribution system designed for the InfraStruXure InRow RC unit. Whereas the APC’s Rack Air Containment System, is a modular enclosure designed with the blade server in mind to facilitate predictable cooling to moderate, high and ultra high-density heat loads.

Omatek partners One Laptop Per Child

Local manufacturer of computers and entertainment convergence systems, Omatek Computers Limited, has advanced plans to partner with a Massachusetts-based non-profit association, One-Laptop Per Child, on the production of $100 laptop to boost children education in developing countries including Nigeria.

The partnership would spur Omatek to serve as an outsource for the One Laptop Per Child initiative led by renowned Prof. Nicholas Negroponte, as its chairman.

Deputy General Manager, Omatek, Mr. Olumide Akinmtimi revealed this after a session with the Director, One Laptop Per Child for Middle East and African, Mr. Khaleed Hassaounah, in Lagos.

Omatek, he said, under the proposed collaboration would see to the one million laptops expected to be distributed among Nigerian schools, which according to the association will be localized through adding value to both the software and hardware aspects.

He also enjoined government to support this collaboration by ensuring the infrastructure such as power supply is there always and availability of fund to enable them meet the target with good local inputs.

For the Director, Mr. Hassaounah, the organization plans to complete production of the initial seven (7) million laptops mapped out in the first phase of the project, whereas the distribution would commence precisely by May 2007.

“Precisely by May 2007, distribution would begin,” he said.

Seven countries have been chosen from various continents to include Nigeria, China, India, Thailand, Egypt, Brazil and Argentina with each due to receive 1m laptops respectively.

On deployable software, he said, that Open Source (OS) has been chosen, explaining that it would allow children to use and learn from the software. Emphasising that it would encourage future software developers for these nations, recognizing that every country has its own peculiar challenges.

Omatek Computers Limited represents the technology of eight renowned factories in Asia, known for their foremost computer and accessories’ production and is bent on producing made in Nigeria Omatek Computers, notebooks and servers with all components.

Thus priding itself as the first on the continent, to produce Nigerian made computer cases, speakers, keyboards and mouse.While One Laptop Per Child, is an initiative sponsored by the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), dedicated to developing a $100 laptop computer, in the hopes of revolutionizing the way children are educated throughout the global.

Ekuwem to increase SMEEIS fund for telecom

EXECUTIVE Vice Chairman, Teledom Group International, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem has unveiled his agenda for the forthcoming general election of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), just as he plans to agitate for an increased sectoral fund from the Small and Medium Enterprises Equity Investment Scheme (SMEEIS). Where billions of Naira are lying untapped.

The election scheduled to hold in Lagos this Friday, comes as part of ATCON’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and National Executive Council (NEC) held every two years.

SMEEIS is funded with 10 per cent after tax deductions from enterprises in the country.

Dr. Ekuwem, who also is the immediate past President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), insisted that until the nation put the right policies framework to encourage SMEs to be productive and produce upto installed capacity, then, “We’re non-starters. Therefore, something has to be done in that regard.”

According to him, loans would be facilitated for bold efforts at made-in-Nigeria facilities to be used in the industry during his tenure, even as he would work towards having a good percentage of SMEIS funds to be zoned to telecom industry.

As such, stakeholders fora made up of ATCON, NCC and banks would be organized within this period to work out the modalities for partnerships.

Speaking to ITRealms Online, weekend, Dr. Ekuwem said that it is his passion for affordability and available broadband that is driving him to contest for the top-most position, the national president of the association.

In line with his stand, broadband-based Information and Communications Technology (ICT) offerings should form part of the fundamental human rights of the citizenry and seamless interconnection topping his agenda.

“I am passionate in my advocacy for access to broadband ICT services as a fundamental human right of every Nigerian,” he asserted.

This, he said, could only be ensured via rapid penetration to every village in Nigeria by broadband ICT infrastructure. He also stressed his avid view on availability of ICT services via functional infrastructure.

He is equally passionate about the need for affordability of ICT services to the Nigerian people within the context of cost recovery and profit for the operators and service providers.

“There is need for high quality of service for the ICT service consumers,” he declared, noting that the telecom consumers must have value for their money and there should be no charges for service not rendered.

He also promises creation of platforms in partnership with the NCC, and in consultation with telecom consumers in the country to ensure access, availability, affordability and quality of service to prevail in the industry.

“I want to also strengthen the platform for dispute resolution among members of ATCON, especially among the operators brother group (ALTON). We must nib interconnect disputes in the bud. We must intervene as friends before disagreements after the growth of the industry negatively. Where two or more operators fight, the telecom consumers suffer,” he declared.

VIA launches PT890 chipset to boost Windows Vista

VIA Technologies Incorporated has launched its PT890 chipset to broaden the range of Microsoft Windows Vista-ready core logic solutions available in the global Information Technology (IT) market.

Apart from providing support to the full range of Intel processors up to 1066 Mega Hertz (MHz) Front Side Bus (FSB), VIA PT890 provides an outstanding balance of system performance with high bandwidth Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) express connectivity, with advanced Double Data Rate of second generation (DDR2) memory supporting comprehensive feature set and solid reliability.

Together with either a S3 Graphics Chrome S25 or Chrome S27 graphics card featuring DirectX 9.0 and the Chromotion 3.0 Video Engine, system builders could design VIA PT890 systems capable of delivering the full Windows Vista Premium experience.

FSB is also known as the Processor Bus, Memory Bus, or System Bus and connects the Central Processing Unit (CPU) with the main memory and is used to connect to other components within the computer and comes in various ranges of 66 MHz, 133 MHz, 100 MHz, 266 MHz, 400 MHz, and up.

Whereas PCI Express is a scalable input/output (I/O) set to replace parallel PCI bus, which came standard on motherboards.

Vice President, Product Marketing, VIA Technologies, Mr. Chewei Lin, said that the VIA PT890 compliments VIA’s already wide portfolio of products including discrete and integrated chipsets as well as processors that stand Windows Vista ready.

“The powerful combination of the VIA PT890 and the S3 Graphics Chrome S20 series graphics cards lends itself perfectly for system builders wanting to design systems able to meet the Windows Vista Premium system and graphics requirements, giving end users the ability to fully take advantage of the stunning Third Dimension (3D) desktop features that Vista Premium has to offer.”

VIA PT890, the Vice President explained that when connected to the latest VIA South Bridge solutions such as the VIA VT8237A, integrates VIA Vinyl Multichannel Audio Suite, thus delivering rich, high definition audio at resolutions as high as 32-bit/192 Kilohertz (kHz).

While the VIA advanced connectivity suite offers a wide range of high-bandwidth connectivity options, including support for up to eight high-speed USB 2.0 ports and high-throughput 10/100 Mb/s Fast Ethernet.

Celtel acquires Vmobile

On 'condition'

FINALLY, Vmobile Nigeria has entered what it called ‘conditional acquisition’ with Celtel International as announced by the Public Relations Manager, Mr. Emeka Oparah on Sunday.

Announcing this new development, Mr. Oparah said that Vmobile has entered into a “conditional agreement with Celtel International whereby Celtel will acquire a 65 per cent stake in the company for a total consideration of around US$1,005 million.”

He also said that the remaining shareholders have an option to sell their shares to Celtel at a similar valuation at a later date.

ITRealms Online recalled that since getting its 2001, Vmobile Nigeria has undergone series of restructuring including a transformation from initial Econet Wireless to Vodacom and now Vmobile Nigeria.

Also Vmobile has been on longer head with its erstwhile owner, Econet Wireless International (EWI).

Vmobile Nigeria is a telecommunications company providing Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) services in the country and was incorporated in 2000.

The company pride itself as the first GSM operator to initiate call on August 5, 2001.

Vmobile recently announced the achievement of 5 million active subscribers with coverage in over 600 towns and 8000 communities across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

Currently Vmobile is pursuing an aggressive network rollout as well as a quality and service upgrade in order to fulfill its mission to provide world-class customer service so as to make telecommunications an enjoyable experience for all Nigeria, under its Project ROSE.

Further, it could be recalled that still keen on grabbing its own market share in the West African telecommunications sector, with special emphasis on Nigeria, the management of Celtel International Bv of Netherlands, has equipped its top team with a training session at the London Business School (LBS).

Celtel’s investment hitherto on the continent is over $750 million, even as Nigeria is yet to benefit strongly in this area.

The training recently concluded saw 25-key officials from Celtel West Africa based in Sierra Leone attending the LBS Advanced Management Programme.

The programme, ITRealms Online learnt was designed for top 80 people within Celtel globally.

The 25-person team from West Africa represents about 20 per cent of the total beneficiaries, an indication that it is determined to get hold of its market share in the sub-region, precisely in Nigeria.

Source s close to Celtel informed that under the agreement, Celtel has to pay for the acquired shares within 30 days as from Monday, April 17.Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of MTC, Dr. Saad Al-Barrak, endorsed for his company.