Etisalat Group’s ‘smart service’ honoured

Etisalat Group has emerged the best wholesale provider of telecommunications services in the Middle East for the third consecutive year at the annual Capacity Awards ceremony, which held in Amsterdam, Holland recently.

The event organized by Capacity Media recognized Etisalat’s leadership in providing ‘smart services’ and for developing its portfolio beyond the provision of transit and interconnection.

Executive Vice President, Carrier & Wholesale for Etisalat Group, Mr. Ali Amiri, said that this year, the telecom operator introduced its ‘Smart Hub’ which is the region’s most important hub for wholesale connectivity, applications and content.

This facility, he said, enables Etisalat to provide access to a more sophisticated range of services including roaming hub, and showed that the platform allows other operators to establish a network of 600 roaming partners around the world with the minimum effort.

Etisalat, Amiri said, established the regional hub for internet traffic, thanks to its extensive investment in wholesale capacity., noting that the network has continued to grow with the addition of TEAMS cable earlier this year; one of the first cables connecting East Africa, and bringing affordable broadband access to millions of people on the continent with the rest of the world.

In 2010, he recalled that Etisalat announced, in conjunction with industry leading partners, the Regional Cable Network (RCN), the first terrestrial cable connecting the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan Syria and Turkey to Europe.

“This cable will not only provide extra capacity, but will also add resiliency to regional networks,” he said.

Reacting to the award, the Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar described it as a direct reflection of long years of operations founded on excellence in customer service in all its operations worldwide.

“We are constantly working to understand how to improve our service to our customers in Nigeria and globally,” he said, stressing that the award is yet another testimony to Etisalat’s pioneering status among regional operators and the success of its business strategy in meeting customer needs and exceeding their expectations.

Etisalat, he said, has continued to be one of the largest carriers of voice traffic in the region and recently introduced wholesale Points of Presence around the world.

“Etisalat has also extended its MPLS Virtual Private Networks (VPN) across the region, enabling advanced services for business customers,” Ammar said.

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CWG wins 3 awards @ ADA’10

The 2010 edition of the Africa Digital Awards ended in Lagos recently with the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) carting home three priced awards.

These include each awards coming to three of CWG’s subsidiaries, namely the Computer Warehouse Limited, ExpertEdge Software, and DCC Networks in addition to the ICT Man of the decade bestowed on the Group Managing Director of CWG, Mr. Austin Okere.

Disclosing this, the Head, Corporate Communications at CWG, Mr. Chidi Okpala said they were excited to have carted away four awards in honour of its contribution, continuous innovation and professional deployment of reliable technology solutions within the past decade, across businesses within the West African region.

He quoted ICT Watch Africa, the organizers as saying that the ceremony was held in celebration of its 10th year anniversary and also in continuation of the celebrations to mark Nigeria at 50.

According to him, for the Most Outstanding ICT Support services of the Decade, ExpertEdge Software, CWG’s software division was honoured, while DCC Networks, the communications division was awarded the Most outstanding Corporate VPN of the Decade.

Speaking after receiving the award, DCC’s Sales Manager, Mr. Sylvester Ekpo, expressed appreciation to ICT Watch Africa for the honour and pledged to all its customers to keep improving on innovative services coming from DCC Networks.

The CWG Group has for the past 18 years been known for its unique innovation and excellent service to the corporate market.

Over the years too, the company has grown from a small company dealing in the sale of hardware boxes to a very large organization with over 500 staff, skilled in hardware and infrastructure services, Communications and Software services and scattered across its offices in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda.

The general manager, DCC Networks, Mr. Oladipo Raji dedicated the awards to all CWG’s customers across Africa.

“It is to you our customers in Africa we owe this award and we promise we shall keep providing you with innovative solutions, the right support to grow your business and we shall keep partnering with you in other to see your business grow with the times in terms of Technology,” he said.
 
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1,251 customers emerge @ Verve Use & Win promo

A total of 1,251 customers of various banks partnering with Interswitch Nigeria Limited on its Verve Use & Win promo, which ended yesterday in Lagos.

The 13-week promo concluded Tuesday with 96 winners merging weekly with some carting home 32 inch LCD TV, MP3, and branded flash drives.

Out of the 1,251 winners, three went home with brand new Toyota Yaris cars, including a First Bank customer in Owerri, Ms Chioma Ndlema, Mr. Felix Chizoba Okwara, an Intercontinental Bank customer from Satellite branch, Lagos while the final customer to win a car is Dr (Mrs) Adeoye Williams.

Speaking at one of the draws and prize presentation ceremony, the Divisional Head, Verve Business Unit, Interswitch, Mrs. Tobi Boshoro, said the winners emerged from all the geopolitical zones of the country.

According to Boshoro, the Verve Use &Win promo was structured to deepen the awareness about the Verve brand, giving Nigerians ample opportunity to explore the benefits inherent in the Verve brand.

She also said that because of the promo the volume of transactions that had been carried out on the platform had increased tremendously.

“As Nigerians have discovered the advantages; particularly the various rewards accrue from using the Verve card,” she said.

Commenting on the increased use of the Verve card, she said it was becoming a culture in the banks to see a huge percentage of transactions being executed on the platform.

This, she said, has increased the volume of transactions on the platform, adding that till recently, no cases of fraud or card abuse have been recorded on the platform since the latest migration.

She urged bank customers to opt for the use of Verve ATM card due to the embedded chip & PIN security features, which has made fraudulent transactions by unauthorised persons impossible.

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Agabi emerges ICT broadcaster of the decade

Nigerian foremost Information and Communication Technology (ICT) broadcaster, Mr. Bayero Agabi, has emerged the broadcaster of the decade at the just concluded African Digital Awards 2010.

This, organisers said is for his contributions using broadcasting to promote ICT in the past decade.

Commenting on the award, Bayero who has carved a niche for himself in the area of ICT reportage in Africa expressed appreciation to ICT Watch Africa, the organizers of the recognition.

Agabi said he was thrilled by the award because he bagged it when Nigeria celebrated 50 years of nationhood. Bayero Agabi a pan African ICT for development promoter remained the only African journalist to have won the prestigious UNEC/AISI media award twice, in addition to over twenty three awards both local and international in over a decade.

A pioneer of ICT on television in West Africa, Agabi is the executive director of Knowhow Media and president Tribe Media Company, owners and operators of tribe tv, cyber Africa magazine, ait infotech network and tribe times international magazine.

Presenting the prize to Bayero, former president, Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and chief executive officer, Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, described Bayero Agabi, as the most professional and competent ICT journalist he has met in the past ten years.

According to a citation read at the event, Agabi who also is the managing editor, Tribe Times Magazine, a print medium used to promote Africanity, celebrates the richness of African tribes, her people in Diaspora with distinguishing landmarks the world over. Just as publishes Cyber Africa magazine and anchor cum produce Cyber Africa on TV magazine at the Africa Independent Television Network.

Both of which x-rays the development, trends and happenings in the ICT world in Nigeria and beyond with a view to ‘’Connecting Africa with the New Age’’.

Agabi’s journalism career spanned through over a decade. Starting as a film editor with Channels Television in 1993, Bayero has risen to become Nigeria’s leading ICT broadcast journalist since joining Africa Independent Television AIT in 1997, where he coordinated various political programmes that dared the military dictators at that time.

Currently, he lays claims to over 26 awards achieved both locally and internationally for promoting ICT development in the region, including the Africa Information Society Initiative / GTZ Media Award for TV (2005) , International Foundation For Excellence (IFEX) Award [Excellent Performance Award (2002)], Award of Excellence (2005), RIMA Foundation Award For News Media TV Station 2008, National campaign towards mass Computer/ IT [Award of Honour For Outstanding Contribution to ICT Reporting in Nigeria (2006)], Best ICT Reporter of the year (Electronic) 2003, IT Reporting media of the year 2009 (Electronic)], ATCON National Telecom Merit award (2004);

He was named the Most Outstanding ICT Editor of the decade -electronic, 2010; TV Video category Award 2007, 2007 AISI (African Information Society Initiative ) GKP Media Award for TV / Video, Best IT Reporter of the year 2009, Best Software / IT Reporter Electronic, Media (Radio) 2001.

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APC unveils infrastructure management software

APC by Schneider Electric has unveiled the newest version of its InfraStruxure management software, a core feature of APC’s InfraStruxure architecture, which provides an open, vendor neutral management platform for data centre physical infrastructure.

Vice President, Enterprise Software at APC by Schneider Electric, Soeren Brogaard Jensen, said that the new features help companies to conserve energy and cut costs by delivering active, open, management across all key domains of the data centre, including power, cooling, rack systems, and security systems.

He noted that utilisation of InfraStruxure management software has become imperative for Information Technology (IT) managers in order to avoid unplanned downtime and to maximise energy efficiency.

In addition, he said, it comes with full integration capabilities with enterprise and building management systems, the software provides a core platform to monitor and manage data centre assets.

“More than ever, businesses are looking to maximise energy efficiency and minimise the complexity of their data centre operations. We updated our InfraStruxure management software to provide not only critical monitoring and measurement but extensive operational upgrades to enable seamless implementation of virtualisation and the reduction of overall carbon footprints,” says Soeren Brogaard Jensen, Vice President Enterprise Software, APC by Schneider Electric.

“By using APC’s InfraStruxure Management Suite, IT managers can finally implement virtualisation without worrying about whether their physical infrastructure can support the nomadic loads. These upgrades allow customers to maximise current resources, conserve energy and better plan for the future.”

Outlining the new features of APC’s InfraStruxure management software portfolio enable IT managers, he said it would change the way they monitor, operate, manage and maintain their data centres through the integration of new virtualisation capabilities and upgraded energy efficiency and operations software.

The latest capabilities, he listed to include a data centre project management tool, which enables the design of new data centre build-outs or upgrades.

This new functionality, he said, allows users to simulate changes and scenario planning without impacting data centre operations. Data Center Lab’s drag and drop functionality and instant feedback on the impact of adding new IT gear makes the tool ideal for the creation of blueprint design proposals including floor layouts, rack layouts and inventory lists for data centre expansion, consolidation or new build projects.

On the InfraStruxure capacity to update impact analysis, he said, the application provides an instant overview of data centre physical infrastructure operations including UPS, power distribution and cooling, independent of the types and brands of equipment present in the data centre.

“This application is uniquely able to alert an IT manager when a temperature or other physical infrastructure-related event has occurred that could potentially impact the individual IT equipment. Vendor-agnostic inventory management and real-time device failure notifications are shown within physical data centre layouts,” he said.
 
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3Line, Toyota to reward Freedom card users

Ahead of the Yuletide, 3Line Card Management and the premier distributor of Toyota brand of cars in Nigeria, Elizade Nigeria Limited (ENL) have commenced Christmas Sale Promotions to enable all buyers of Toyota brands obtain instant pre-loaded Gift cards.

The Christmas promo tagged “Get a Toyota, Get a Gift” which kicked-off on December 1, 2010 would run till the end of the month.

According to the General Manager, 3Line Card Management, Mrs Funke Ade-Ojo said in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online that the ‘Get a Toyota, Get a Gift’ reward comes with three year manufacturer’s warranty or 100,000 km, a free annual vehicle condition report, registration, trade-in option and tracking device as well as free accessories such as floor mat, fire extinguisher and C-Caution reflective signal.

The new buying initiative, she said, is between two companies that are first in their separate industries, stressing that ENL is the number one Toyota distributor in Nigeria, while 3Line pioneered gift cards in Nigeria in 2008 with its Freedom gift card, which is a customizable payment card that could be given instead of the traditional gift item.

“It gives the recipient the freedom to choose what he wants as a gift as against the traditional gifts that may not appeal to the recipient,” she said.

Ade-Ojo also explained that Freedom gift cards are redeemable at any retail outlet where Freedom cards are accepted and value redeemable at over 8,000 Automated Teller Machines (ATM’s) nationwide.

“The card is innovative because it is the ideal incentive for customers, employees, business partners, and survey respondents, anyone you want to motivate, reward, or just to show appreciation,” she said.

Mrs. Ade-Ojo recalled that in 2008, 3Line introduced Freedom gift card into the Nigerian market and it was sold and accepted for purchases at various shops at the malls, just as she informed that the Freedom gift card would greatly reduce the gift choice dilemma on the part of the giver, while giving the recipient the freedom to choose an ideal gift.

She pointed out the uniqueness of Freedom gift card, saying there are a few gift vouchers in the market but that the Freedom gift card would in many ways bring value added benefits to the receiver.

For her, Get a Toyota, Get a gift offer could not have not have come at a better time than during this Yuletide season of giving and all the confusion, logistics and frustration associated with deciding on the ideal incentive, reward or gift for loyal employees and customers alike.
 
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ATCON welcomes calls for fundamental Internet access

The recent calls by stakeholders for the consideration of access to broadband Internet as a fundamental human right for all Nigerian citizens has been described as a welcome development.

The president of the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu gave this description in a lecture he gave at the weekend in Lagos during the Distinguished Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Annual Lecture (DEEEAL) organised by a division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.

Omo-Ettu, who spoke on “Pathway to connecting the Last Man” noted that the clamour is appropriate, especially coming from common men, but said that realising this dream would take a gradual process.

Therefore, he appealed for patience, stating that definitely it would come to pass.

“The precise time that this transformation in the mind of the common man occurred is hard to put a finger on. My guess is that it was a gradual process but a welcome one nonetheless,” he said.

ITRealms Online recalls that this call has emerged from various industry forums on Internet Governance and Five Years of IGF: The Way Forward for Nigeria organised by Digital Sense Africa in Lagos, last April, which re-echoed at the Broadband for Nigeria forum in Abuja in July.

Tracing the history of the lecturer, he noted that an idea similar to what is now called DEEEAL lecture was mooted in 1996 during when he was the chairman of the division.

“Its advocates argued that the Division as the Institution was then known ought to institute a platform where a notable Electrical Engineer should be given the rostrum to recommend a worthy objective which the Division could pursue as a matter of national development,” he said.

According to him, it was recommended that such a speaker must demonstrably break new ground - worthy of the Institution’s support and backing.

The audience and its selection, he said, would be primarily, but not entirely, at the discretion of the nominee-lecturer and should include a wide spectrum of top professionals from government, politics, academia and business.

“The lecture, like any of our other programmes, must also have a subtle economic objective that chimes with the ethos and operations of the Division,” he said.

Pointing out that since the DEEEAL Lecture commenced a few years after, it could now boast of a list of illustrious speakers.

“I have been fortunate enough to be present at all the lectures delivered in the past three years and I can say, with contentment and pride, that its raison d’être has been retained,” he said.

Commending the leadership of the division, he noted that the 2009 lecture was given to Mr. John Ayodele, who promoted the idea of “Distributed Generation for our public electricity supply system”. He said that 12 months on, and given that inadequate power is one of the impediments to the development and growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria, he is yet to see how far the Institution has pushed this radical idea which strictly speaking, is a fundamental shift from the way the power service has been managed.

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Technology, a superb tool – Plouffe

The campaign manager of President Barack Obama in the 2008 American president election, Mr. David Plouffe, has described Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools as a wonderful innovation, especially for political crusade.

Speaking at a one-day MTN Life Enrichment seminar which held in Lagos, last week, Mr. Plouffe said that any country that want to get attraction of people, mostly the youth at heart must embrace technology, noting that they are always in search of new ways of doing things.

“I think it (technologies) is a wonderful, wonderful thing,” he declared.

Dwelling on ‘Delivering Greater Value Through Innovation’ he also said that in order to make a difference in public campaigns, ICT tools cannot be over-emphasised, stressing that it’s a good thing to dream and dream big.

Technology adaptation, he said, has been on the rise and the only way of equal such demand in people or political oriented movement is to embrace technologies, which he added would drive a lot of things in the future.

Additionally, Mr. Plouffe said, nowadays, a lot of people can actually raise various funds online.

“I can today raise the money I need and campaign online,” he said, noting that anything that affects America, traverses the world, hence it is crucial to engage the supporters before any decision is taken.

This, he pointed out has been made more feasible by technologies.

According to him, the success of President Obama’s election was anchored on technologies.

“Technology was at the bottom of Obama’s president,” he asserted, stressing that the world is changing rapidly and only technology could drive the entire process of future evolution.

He cited an instance with Japan, where he said that almost all the population now conduct their businesses and life through the mobile phone technologies.

Plouffe, who was President Barrack Obama’s chief campaign manager during the 2008 presidential elections in the United States of America, explained that
Plouffe who also spoke at A-Class Park and Event Centre, Abuja, noted that the campaign required a well thought-out strategy because it sought to reach out mainly to untapped publics.

Technology, for him, was key to the success of the Obama campaign and that in today’s dynamic world, little could be done without exploring the huge platforms that the internet and the mobile phone provide in connecting to target publics.

“Our strategy during the 2008 campaign changed the complexion of the people that vote normally in America. Twenty million people voted for the very first time, 20 per cent of them below the age of 30,” he said.

The secret, Plouffe said, was that they ran a campaign that fitted the way people lived their lives, noting that the mobile phone and the internet are major assets that must be explored to achieve high consumer connection in today’s world.

Welcoming guest earlier at the event, the General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Mr. Kolawale Oyeyemi, who stood in for the chief marketing officer, Mr. Bola Akingbola, said that at MTN, they believe so much in giving customers innovative tools to win in their business and that was the reason behind the invitation extended to Mr. Plouffe.

He described Mr. Plouffe as a pioneering force in the field of technology and grassroots leadership, who had innovatively rewritten the American history.

One of the highlights was the exhibition of recently launched MTN bundle packages.

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Airtel reiterates commitment to CSR

Newly rebranded Airtel Nigeria has reiterated its commitment to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects in the country.

This is coming as the Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness Dr. Ado Bayero, commended Airtel Nigeria for the successful launch of its brand in Nigeria and the promise to provide Nigerians with improved quality of service.

Welcoming the Airtel management to his Palace, led by the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Rajan Swaroop, Dr. Bayero, described Airtel Nigeria which has been consistent in its focus on delighting its customers.

He charged the organization to ensure that its coverage of Kano city and its environs is better and more robust under the new brand name.

The Emir, who was represented by the Wamban Kano, Alhaji Abass Sanusi, wished Airtel Nigeria the best and pledged to support the organization within his domain.

In his comment, Mr. Swaroop assured the Emir of Airtel’s commitment to deepening its network in Nigeria, ensuring that its services touch the common man and bridge the digital divide in the country, expressing optimism that Airtel, sooner than later, would win the hearts of customers across Nigeria and emerge as one of the most admired brands.

He also said that the company had already taken relevant steps to crash call tariff across the country with the launch of its 2Good tariff plan, noting that with the plan, customers could now make calls after the first minute of the day at 20 kobo per second.

“This would apply to all calls (on net and off net) for all local destinations and to the United States (US),” he said.

Swaroop said, the new tariff offer from Airtel clearly lives up to the expectations of Nigerians and the challenge laid down recently by His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the launch of the Airtel brand in Abuja, where he urged the company to make telecoms services more affordable for consumers.

Swaroop further added that Airtel is committed to providing quality education to poor children, saying that education of less privileged children will result in true freedom, empowering children to experience the freedom to earn, to choose and to live right.

He said Airtel will construct schools across the country, equip the schools with furniture, provide uniform for the students and upscale the skills of the teachers.

He equally informed the Emir that the company has decided to commence the education project on a pilot scale similar to Airtel’s model in India where the mobile operator started with one project and later expanded it to 254 schools throughout the country.

On completion of the pilot school project near Abuja, according to him, the social investment programme will be extended to other parts of the country.

The Chief Executive Officer also expressed the desire of Airtel Nigeria to create jobs for Nigerians, stressing that the jobs will be created directly and indirectly in the coming weeks. He said plans are underway to increase the number of staff in Airtel call centre from 600 call agents to 1000 with the aim of providing its Nigerians improved customers service.

The new Airtel brand comes with a promise to meet the emerging needs of customers with innovative, affordable and relevant solutions to empower consumers, giving them the freedom to do what they choose and provide them with the tools to meet life’s daily challenges.

The red primary colour of the logo reflects the warmth and vibrancy of the African continent. It is the colour of life and of the African sun at dusk. These qualities are reflected in Airtel’s brand personality of being brave and bold, sensitive and empathetic. The new curved addition to the logo is a symbol which will help ensure instant recognition across our diverse international markets.

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APC dedicates datacenter application

Leader in integrated critical power and cooling services, APC by Schneider Electric, has established dedicated software for data centres

President, APC, Laurent Vernerey, who made this disclosure, recently said that the venture into software business is to enable the company focus and drive a leadership position across all aspects of the data centre environment.

The data center software business, he said, would be responsible for advancing all software and management systems for the data centre physical infrastructure, just as a team would have direct accountability for software development, offer creation, sales, service, marketing and partner programmes.

“By establishing a new and dedicated software business with a clear strategy and focus, we are showing our true commitment to become the global leader in software for data centres,” Vernerey said, noting that this evolution within APC is well aligned with the Schneider Electric vision of becoming the world leader in energy management.

Also, the APC boss said, the data center software business would be a key contributor to Schneider Electric’s Ecostruxure architecture and a strong supporter of Schneider Electric’s energy management initiatives.

He pointed out that the APC’s InfraStruxure management software portfolio, a critical element of Ecostruxure, will be the focus of this team.

“Through InfraStruxure, the Data Center Software business will simplify and drive energy and operational efficiency entitlements across all aspects of the data centre,” he said.

He underscored this with the fact that 451 Group report released recently, indicated that datacenter management & energy-efficiency software; “Schneider Electric has the scale, brand, vision and penetration to take a leadership position in data center energy management software; its size is also helping it make important alli­ances.

“InfraStruxure is currently just one of several offerings in this market, but it has the potential to be a clear leader,” he said.

The APC InfraStruxure management software portfolio, according to him, helps companies to improve energy and cost efficiencies, and supports short- and long-term planning, forecasting and budgeting. With this portfolio data centre managers and IT executives have the ability to take a holistic view of data centre physical infrastructure service quality, end-to-end energy use and the various costs associated with it.

APC chief executive officer further said that the vendor-neutral software provides the industry’s first and broadest integrations with critical IT support systems, including power management, building management and enterprise management, enabling the monitoring, controlling and resolving of issues in a user-friendly environment.

The software portfolio, he said, include InfraStruxure Operations - for daily operations and inventory management; InfraStruxure Central - for data gathering and monitoring; InfraStruxure Capacity; InfraStruxure Change - for planning and optimisation; and InfraStruxure Energy Efficiency - for energy analysis and modeling down to the server location in a rack.

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