Agusto rides high on APC-MGE UPS

Leading business information and credit rating agency, Agusto & Co, has attributed the increase in its service delivery to the implementation of an APC-MGE Smart 5KVA uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

The Smart-UPS unit was installed as a central UPS to safeguard the organisation’s IT networks.

Head, Information Technology, Mr. Joel Bamidele informed that downtime is now unthinkable in the country, although like any other IT department serving a busy enterprise, the data centre is not problem-free.

This he alluded to the fact that the regular power challenges in this part of the world.

“Our power supply was out for longer than necessary and the Smart-UPS’ batteries were completely drained but fortunately none of our equipment was damaged,” he disclosed.

Mr. Bamidele added that ordinarily, if the UPS had not been up and running, this incident would probably had caused immeasurable damage to the company.

Commenting on the development, regional director for Africa at APC-MGE, Mr. Carl Kleynhans, said that a power protection strategy is of particular importance in a country like Nigeria where power problems are common and companies require specific power protection features to help ensure uninterrupted network availability.

“APC-MGE’s solutions provide unmatched uptime and peace of mind in a region where the quality of electricity is never guaranteed,” he said.

Mr. Kleynhans explained that the Smart-UPS unit protects critical data by supplying reliable, network-grade power in either traditional tower or rack-optimised form factors.

“It is the ideal UPS for protecting business-critical servers, voice and data networks, point of sale, retail bank back-office and Automated Teller Machines (ATM’s).

As said by him, this level of UPS unit has been designed for fileservers based on Intel- or UNIX mini-computers, Central Processing Union (CPU), Internet hubs, network switches, telecommunications systems and other mission -critical applications,” he said.

The unit, he added, offers hardware protection with multi-stage surge suppression, sine wave output on battery and line interactive design.

He enlightened that with the included PowerChute plus software, the UPS will store data safely and shut down network operating systems before battery is discharged.

“The APC-MGE Smart-UPS remains the industry standard for all network UPSes,” Kleynhans noted.

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NITEL transformation on course

Owners of Nigeria Telecommunications Plc (NITEL) and its mobile arm, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTel), Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (TRANSCORP), has affirmed that the transformation programme is on course.

Champion Infotel recalled that Transcorp began transformation of the telco six months ago.

Speaking on development in Lagos, Group Managing Director, Transcorp, Mr. Tom Iseghohi, said that contrary to insinuations, Transcorp is making progress in working with other stakeholders to restore NITEL and MTel to enviable positions.

“We’re following a rigorous but disciplined process in working with the management of NITEL and MTel as well as other stakeholders to ensure that these organisations return to efficiency and profitability. In doing this, we must avoid the mistakes of the past,” he said.

Mr. Iseghohi also said that whatever decisions taken will be in the overall interest of the resuscitation of NITEL and Mtel.

On the revocation of the sale of NITEL, he said that such calls are mischievous.

“Such calls are not only mischievous but illogical. Those making such calls are the beneficiaries of the misfortune of NITEL, the perpetrators or their agents,” he alleged.

He equally said, that the alleged plan to retrench workers is not in the agenda of the organisation for now.

He emphasised that if staff will be laid off, “such exercise will follow a process that will include consultations with stakeholders, the unions and employees.”

Stressing the gains of the on-going transformation, Mr. Iseghohi noted that the relaunch of MTel in Abuja has tremendously improved the quality of the network as one of the tangible achievements, adding that resuscitation of NITEL backbone has been 75 per cent successful.

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Glo win & rule lifts Francis out of poverty

The multimillion Naira promo being organised by the Second National Operator (SNO) Globacom, known as win and rule, has given a school dropout, Mr. Matthew Francis, a boost in life as he smiled home with 2007 brand new BMW 318i.

Mr. Francis who emerged as one of the first 10 winners of the promo which began last December, with the promise of dishing out five hundred luxury cars to winners over a six month period, said the prize was unbelievably factual.

“It is too good to be true” Francis declared, noting that he had dropped out of school in 1994, and described his fortune as the “handiwork of God.”

According to him, he dropped out of university in 1994, at 200 levels, when he could no longer afford his school fees.

The applied chemistry student had left to pick a job hoping to save enough to return to his studies. But he had not been able to realise his dream since then before he got a surprise call from a Globacom official intimating him that his number had emerged in the first batch of the draw held in Lagos.

After confirming the news on television, that evening, Francis explained that he has moved from indigence to join the league of the wealthy, saying that his prize is the sign of great day ahead.

Champion Infotel recalled that at the draw held at the Mike Adenuga Towers (MAT) in Victoria Island, one subscriber also won a Mercedes Benz S-350 saloon car as the star prize, another was picked for a BMW 318i, one winner was drawn for a Nissan Sunny saloon car, while three winners are to receive Peugeot 307. Four other subscribers equally emerged winners of Kia Rio saloon cars.

The winners who responded to calls from the venue of the draw were from Gombe, Port Harcourt, Osogbo, Lagos, and Onitsha.

Mrs. Sidikat Oladapo Ola from Mushin, Lagos and Mrs Akintunde from Oshogbo won two of the Kia Rio cars, whereas Mrs. Adeola Ademola, a business woman, who earlier would not disclose her identity when called by officials, until she watched the event on television, was the winner of the Mercedes Benz S350.

Mr. Bamidele from Oshogbo and Mr. Fatai from Kano emerged winners of Peugeot 307 cars.

The draws were conducted by eminent Nigerians including the Ex deputy Governor of Ogun, Alhaji Gbenga Kaka; President of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, Chief Silva Emeokpere and Executive Director, Afribank, Mr. Isa Zailani.

The process was endorsed by a renowned Chattered Accounting firm, Akintola Williams Deloitte.

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Unavailable emergency numbers worry NCC

Worried by the unavailability of emergency numbering system in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the weekend, assembled telecommunications operators in the country to a one-day session to deliberate on this matter and chart a way forward.

The meeting was also attended by stakeholders in emergency-related entities, like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and a consultant as well as all the key three Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators in the country.

Speaking at the session, Executive Commissioner, NCC, Mr. Stephen Bello, said that the commission is very concerned hence its championing the meeting and added that various meetings have been scheduled with different categories of stakeholders to enable adequate inputs from the generality of the nation’s interest parties.

He equally used the platform to reveal that plans have been up to ensure the introduction of the national emergency numbers in the country before the end of June this year.

“We want to see how we could start commissioning by June,” he declared.

Also, Mr. Bello said that NCC is contemplating of introducing some emergency numbers, namely 999, 111, 123 and 555.

He added that operators would be required to connect the eventual chosen numbers together in a way that if emergency number in Lagos is engaged and the relevant base station is down, the one at the neighbouring state like Ogun, could automatically be used to contact security and emergency agencies to the spot.

He further said that every base station to be used for the emergency numbering, would be configured in a way to recognise emergency calls and make room for such calls in any base station no matter how busy at all times.

Besides, he said, that plans are underway for the establishment of emergency centres at the six-geographical zones of the country as well as in the states.

He also revealed that the on-going consultation by NCC is in collaboration with NEMA and is expected to come in phases, across four levels including interaction with telecom equipment vendors, operators, response agencies and governors.

This, he said, is in addition to a generic stakeholders’ meeting on emergency numbering before the commissioning could take place.

NCC, he said, has created a special unit at its Abuja office to give the required attention to the issues at stake.

“There would be a public forum on it and this is just the beginning,” he said.

The consultation, he further disclosed is anticipating that operators would work toward having emergency numbers that could be accessed through the possibilities of Short Messaging Service (SMS) and voice calls.

Explaining further, Mr. Bello said that a project is on to compile the list of all the security and emergency agencies in the country, including their geographic locations and numbers.

He stressed that ambulance organisations, both at the public and private sectors would not be left out in the compilation to make it handy for Nigerians to know who to contact at a given location that is nearest to emergency incidents nationwide.

Also speaking at the occasion, Deputy Director, Communications at NEMA, Mr. Daniel Balarabe Gambo, Deputy Director, Communications, said that NEMA has identified primary responders to emergencies to include the Federal Road Safety Corps, Fire Service, Police, pointing out that NEMA is a coordinating body as far as emergency situation is concerned in the country, noting that at every emergency, its usually the ordinary citizens that are the first to know, hence they are focusing on schools to enable the inculcation of this important aspect of the society in school children, especially for them to know what to do at such times.

He emphasised that NEMA is working on a legislation to discourage false emergency calls, even as there would be penalty for culprits to serve as deterrent.

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Operators express dismay over incessant summons

Telecommunications operators in the country and precisely those of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may be groaning under the pains of constant invitation to attend a meeting by the National Assembly.

Champion Infotel recalls that between the last quarter and date, there is no fortnight operators were not summoned to Abuja with members of the National Assembly in the name of trying to find a solution to the lingering poor quality of service in the land.

Sources close to the operators, indicated that they maybe planning for formal protest to President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, over the effect of the somewhat weekly summons, which they said have become irritating.

According to our sources, the operators expressed dismay over the insistence by the national assembly that their chief executives must lead the team each time such a meeting is called.

“What we asked is an enabling environment to do our business. Our business is not conducted at the National Assembly, and we need to deploy our executive time to our businesses,” one of the operators fumed after the public hearing on Monday, at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Our sources further said that they would force its umbrella body, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), to forward a protest to the Presidency and the leadership of the National Assembly over the situation.

It was gathered that the operators were not excited over the frequency of the meetings, which they said have resulted to duplication of the industry supervision by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and wondered why the operators would continue to respond to NCC summons and the National Assembly summons at the same time.

“We have the telecommunications laws and regulations that guide our operations in this country, and we have not defaulted in any one of them, and if we did, we expect the NCC to give sanctions as provided by law and not the National Assembly,” our source declared.

In yet another dramatic session, the operators lamented the inability of telcos to make their presentation on mere grouse that their chief executive was not in attendance.

It was equally gathered that following the failure of Celtel to make its presentation owing to its chief executive, Mr. Bayo Ligal’s absent, a threat was issued by the chairman of the joint committee, Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, for future absentees.

One of the GSM operators informed that the private operators are not government agencies or parastatals that should be summoned to the National Assembly at all times because as private telecoms providers, they have no business going to the National Assembly on weekly basis.

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Best practices take Zain operatives to Bahrian

Twenty-two senior management representatives made up of regulatory departments across 15 African and 7 Middle East countries, from Zain Group, the parent company of Celtel International, at the weekend, concluded a four-day workshop in Bahrain ‘s Elite Resort and Spa to share industry best practices.

Sources at Celtel Nigeria, a member of Zain, informed that the workshop, was a platform for the group’s regulatory teams to share experiences and learning from the very disparate regulatory environments in Africa and the Middle East.

Zain is the owner of Celtel International, which has operations in Nigeria, Niger , Kenya , Burkina Faso , Chad , Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Malawi, Zambia , Uganda , Tanzania , Madagascar , Sierra Leone and Gabon.

The Group Chief Regulatory Officer for Zain, Mr. Mohammed Shabib said that participants examined regulation at different regulatory environments within which the company operates very seriously.

According to him, nearly all of the telco’s 22 operations in Africa and the Middle East have to operate in regulatory environments that are at varying levels of maturity and development, including Bahrain where the regulator is well established and fully functional.

He pointed out that in other countries, regulation is sometimes still in the development or early implementation stage through sharing of experiences and skills across it operations, “We will raise the standards of our own teams that will be of direct benefit and make a positive contribution to the regulatory environments in each country.”

He further added that the workshop and associated discussions were timed to help set Zain’s regulatory goals for 2008 in line with the group’s strategic initiatives and plans to be a top 10 global mobile company by 2011.

He added that the four-day event covered a wide range of regulatory subjects such as interconnection regimes, the arrangements for one operator to allow calls from one network to another, regulatory governance developments and technological innovations that have a direct impact on regulatory affairs and practices.

In Africa, Zain currently operates under the Celtel brand in 14 sub-Saharan countries (soon 15 with the recent acquisition of Westel in Ghana). Celtel is the most successful pan-African mobile network, offering telecommunications services to more people in Africa than any other network.

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NiRA seeks comments on 13-policy documents

In line with its board of trustees’ stand on industry engagement, the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has finally released the first set of policies to guide its operations, thus inviting comments on the proposed 13-policy documents that would ensure a successful take off of the group’s mandate.

Champion Infotel recalls that NiRA and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), an agency for the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST), fortnight ago signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the official handover of the management of the nation’s Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD).

Disclosing this at the weekend, NiRA President, Mr. Ndukwe Kalu said that the group is calling for comments on the 13-policy documents to facilitate the formal commencement of activities after the MoU signing was accomplished.

“These policies are finally out for comments, debates and inputs,” he declared, adding that the first sets of policies are domain related which are 11 in number, including, Policy Development Process, Domain Name Policy, Special Domain Name Policy, Fees policy, Privacy Policy and Dispute Resolution Policy.

Others, he said, are policies on general registration rules, Registrant Agreement, Registrar Agreement, Registrar Accreditation Process and Glossary as contained in the policy documents.

Apart from the aforementioned 11-policy documents, Mr. Kalu said that there would be two policy documents specifically mapped out to ensure good corporate governance in management of affairs of NiRA.

This, he said, is to ensure that NiRA procedures are aligned with international best practices.

According to him, the invitation for comments would be open for three weeks so as to enable citizens time to evaluate these policy documents and make necessary inputs that will move the nation forward in terms of intensifying the domain name registration and its relevance to national development at this era by Nigerians both at home and abroad.

He further explained that due to peculiar needs some policies would have immediate effect so as to avoid a vacuum.

“This exercise is part of efforts of the MoU that was recently signed to domesticate the domain name implementation system,” he explained.

Mr. Kalu also stressed that the call for comments avails NiRA the opportunity to carry every member of the nation’s Internet community along, noting that the 13-policy documents have received the approval of the board in this regard.

NiRA, he added, has planned to harmonise the comments within one week after the deadline for comments, which is expected to close before February 29.

Stakeholders, he said, would have the chance of debating and making inputs on their choice of interest either in one or all of the policy documents under review.

Mr. Kalu further said that NiRA has finalised plans to accommodate Nigerians in Diaspora as far as ownership of domain names are concerned, emphasising that domains are not owned by individuals but are licensed for use.

Comments, he said, could be made through www.nira.org.ng and the yahoo IT professional discussion group on ngccTLD.

Also contributions could be sent by hard copy to NiRA office or via email policy@nira.org.ng

NIRA was founded on March 23, 2005 as stakeholders-led organization, charged with the management of the nation’s Country Top Level Domain Name (ccTLD), dot ng.

NIRA’s formation brought to an end the long years of .ng controversy in the country, following the intervention of the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

Hitherto the .ng was being managed by NITDA on behalf of the federal government, even as NIRA’s constitution was adopted by stakeholders, at a meeting held on March 28, 2006 at the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Centre, Onikan-Lagos.

NiRA’s Board of Trustees (BoT) was elected among the stakeholders with Dr. A. Odeyemi as chairman shortly after the adoption of the constitution.

And by May 1, 2007, the first executive board of NIRA was elected with Mr. Ndukwe Kalu leading a 10-man board.

This move signals, according to industry analysts, is a true beginning for the local administration of the .ng domain in the country.

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Chams takes subsidiaries to capital market

Leading indigenous Information Technology (IT) firm specialising in plastic card technologies and electronic payment solutions, Chams Nigeria Limited, has advanced plans to list its subsidiaries in the stock market in 2009.

Managing Director, Chams, Mr. Demola Aladekomo, who disclosed this at the weekend, said that it’s in line with the aspiration of the company to make the firm an enlarged player in the nation’s economy in the coming years.

Chams group has as its subsidiaries four firms, namely Chams Nigeria Limited, Card Centre Nigeria Limited, Paymaster Limited and Supercard Nigeria Limited.

He explained that Card Centre is provider of plastic cards and currently has the largest card production facility on the continent, while Paymaster positions itself as the foremost provider of Point-of-Sales (POS) systems using multi-brand platforms to deliver unique solutions and providing management support. Supercard, on the other hand, manages identification systems for all categories of clients and sectors in the economy.

Mr. Aladekomo equally pointed out that Chams is pursuing a capitalisation programme, which is still at the private placement phase, and has concluded plans to be listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange by the third quarter of this year.

Apart from the proposed listing on the exchange, Mr. Aladekomo said the firm would establish two new subsidiaries before the end of 2008 as a further step towards positioning Chams to offer other services in the electronic payment industry.

He explained that the growing status of Chams as IT solution provider made it possible for the firm to be recently recognised with the International Standards Organisation 9001:2000 certification by the Standards Organisation of Nigerian.

Champion Infotel recalls that Chams received the certification this January, a development that got stakeholders endorsement.

Mr. Aladekomo further said the decision to pursue the certification was done as step towards positioning Chams to become a firm that is “extremely influential and highly visible in global technology and whose trusted cutting edge technology will enhance the quality of life in a manner that glorifies God.”

He added, “Our quality policy states that Chams is resolutely committed to delivering excellent information technology solutions that are consistently safe in line with our quality management system, ISO 9001:2000; thus enhancing the quality of life. Management ensures compliance to industry, regulatory and statutory requirements and communicates same to all stakeholders.”

He added that the company’s policy had become very imperative to all it stakeholders in view of the big goals that it had set to achieve, noting that the certification was achieved based on that

He expressed confidence that this certification would open lots of doors for his firm toward becoming an emerging institution that all stakeholders will be proud of.

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Google disagrees with EU over IP

Google, a global free-to-serve Internet Service Provider (ISP), has disagreed with the European Union view over the status of ownership concerning Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

While EU official has raised the prospect that IP addresses could be counted as personal data, the Internet firm, Google is thinking differently, insisting that it’s not a personal data.

Speaking at a hearing examining Google’s planned acquisition of DoubleClick, Peter Schaar, the German data protection commissioner and chairman of the Europe-wide privacy group, the Article 29 Committee, said that if a person could be identified by an IP address, then that address is private, reports Paul Meller of International Data Group (IDG) news service.

Also the report has it that the rule has been in existence in most countries in the EU for more than 10 years.

However, it is hard to set a clear-cut rule because some ISPs gave out fresh IP addresses to subscribers each time they go online and people also buy time online at Internet cafes.

The Article 29 Committee has been examining the question of IP addresses as part of its analysis of how search engines respect European data protection rules and its expected to reach some conclusions by mid-June, according to an official working for the committee who asked not to be named.

The committee cannot fine transgressors of EU data protection rules, nor can it propose legislation, but it can prompt the European Commission to do so.

Internet search companies, including Google, argue that an IP address merely locates a computer rather than identifying who is sitting at that computer. Treating IP addresses as personal information would have implications for how search engines record and use people’s data.

If the committee persuaded lawmakers to toughen IP address protection in Europe “that would definitely change things [for search engines],” said John Steinback, a spokesman on policy matters for Google.

From Google’s perspective, whether an IP address is personal depends on the context, Steinback said.

An ISP can link an IP address to a subscriber, but a website visited by the person using a specific IP address cannot link the address to a person, he explained.

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APC offers protection for desktops

Global leader in integrated critical power and cooling services, APC-MGE is offering high-performance protection for multiple business-based desktop computers.

Vice President, Home and Distributed Systems at APC-MGE, Mr. Joe Loberti, disclosed that this special package has been streamlined for APC Back-UPS RS 650VA and1100VA.

These new units, he also said, offer four power outlets in proven product design, with 390 or 660 watt of power, extensive runtime and Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) technology.

APC-MGE, he said, has continued to make great strides in the advancement of it’s back Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) family to meet the developing needs of power customers.

“Today’s business desktops are highly configured with several peripherals and higher power and runtime requirements. Users are looking for cost-effective, reliable solutions for protecting their hardware and more importantly their data on their desktops,” he said.

Mr. Jeo explained that back-UPS RS 650 and 1100 offer high performance protection for home and business computer systems, adding that these new units provide abundant battery backup power, which allow users to work through medium and extended power outages with runtimes of up to 46 minutes (BR650CI) and 84minutes (BR1100CI), depending on the units’ load.

He emphasised that the units’ AVR feature enables users to work through just about any power condition by supplying safe, consistent power to the computer in case of over-voltage or brownout conditions, without running on battery.

“With four outlets, three with battery backup and surge and one with surge protection only, the Back-UPS RS also safeguards equipment from damaging surges and spikes that travel along utility and phone lines,” he informed.

Pointing out that APC’s new Back-UPS RS 650 and 1100 units are currently available through all distribution channels including retail, catalogues, resellers and online.

Champion Infotel recalls that on February 2007, APC and MGE UPS Systems combined to form a $3 billion critical power and cooling services business unit of Schneider Electric.

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