Ericsson’s power solution wins GSMA award

Ericsson’s community power solution in Liberia, has won award at the just concluded 2011 Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) held in Barcelona, Spain for the Best use of Mobile for Social and Economic Development.

Head, Media and Public Relations for Ericsson West Africa, Ms Omasan Ogisi, said that the award was in global recognition of excellence and innovation.

She noted that MTN Liberia, which deployed Ericsson Community Power Solution, the first solution of its kind benefitting about 15,000 people from access to excess energy generated from mobile sites.

The award presented to Ericsson and Swedish telecom site solution supplier, Flexenclosure, under the “Best use of Mobile for Social & Economic Development” category.

Head, Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Lars Linden, said they were honoured to have been presented with this award.

“This initiative reflects Ericsson’s ongoing commitment to harnessing our technical leadership in developing innovative products and sustainable business models that form the building blocks of a connected and sustainable Africa. We will continue to seek new ways of driving sustainable business growth for our customers and expand the reach of networks in Africa,” he said.

Linden noted that having adopted the Ericsson Community Power solution, MTN in Liberia becomes the first operator in the world to implement a system of this type.

“With this, many of the residents of Liberia’s Kokoyah District could soon enjoy access to electricity in their homes for the first time,” he said, stressing that it would take what has started in some markets as a way of charging mobile phones to a whole new level, to enabling the electrification of the world’s remotest villages.

Kokoyah is one of several Millennium Villages in Africa located in the far south-east of Bong County, which has a population of approximately 15,000 people.

The Ericsson Community Power solution was developed in partnership with Swedish green site solution specialist company Flexenclosure as part of a portfolio of innovative services and products for the Millennium Villages Project (MVP).

The solution comprised Ericsson Community Power and Flexenclosure’s E-site solution, is a revolutionary product that combines an off-grid base-station site powered mainly by renewable energy sources such as sun and wind, with the ability to share excess power with surrounding local communities, institutions and individuals.

Linden explained that the Community Power solution allows subscribers to recharge their mobile phones with excess power generated from the station, which in turn drives network usage and thereby revenue. In more mature and large-scale deployments, several sites can be combined to create a mini-grid to power services such as streetlights, clinics and schools for an entire community. It would even be possible to feed power from the base station into the national power grid which can help to alleviate power shortages.

He was quick to recall that most part of Africa, much basic infrastructure is lacking, and there are more people with mobile phones than access to electricity.

Citing the recent report by the International Energy Agency, which stated that 585 million people had no access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010, yet mobile-phone penetration levels in Africa were at about 50 per cent.

He asserted that Ericsson Community Power offers groundbreaking opportunities to transform the lives of individuals, businesses and communities that have traditionally been excluded from numerous services due to their lack of access to power.

“Now, they have been given the platform to enjoy products and services that were previously impossible to access, and also to expand their commerce and trade beyond their immediate environment,” Linden said.

For the chief executive officer, MTN Liberia, Mr. Frans Joubert in emerging markets this solution allows operators to bring much needed services to the community in a sustainable way, and offers additional value to the customer, the operator and the community at large.

“Beyond meeting the basic electricity requirements of the community, this solution can serve utility companies worldwide, and MTN is proud to be part of this initiative, which can change so many lives,” he said.

Additionally, he said, the solution has been tested in the Dertu Millennium Village, a remote settlement in north- eastern Kenya.

“There, one site generated about 4,000kWh in excess energy a year, theoretically the amount of energy needed to generate power to support mobile phone charging stations, illuminate street lights and supply power to community buildings such as clinics and schools in a small village,’ he said, noting that the base station in Dertu powered a fridge that stored medicine for the local community.

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AUN alumni develop POS software for cafeterias

TWO alumni of the American University of Nigeria (AUN) Yola, Messrs Ogbonnaya Kalu and Luke Dalughut, have developed cafeteria management application on Point-of-Sale (POS) code named ‘Cafeteria Manager.’

This, they said would be useful in schools, universities, hospitals, and all the places where meals are prepaid and served in large numbers.

Kalu, a graduate of the School of Information Technology & Communications, in collaboration with Luke Dalughut, a Business Economics major, both from the same, said their tested point-of-sale (POS) software, could be customized to aid in accurate, instantaneous and hassle-free recording of cafeteria transactions.

Confirming this to ITRealms Online, Deputy Director, Communications, AUN, Mr. Innocent Nwobodo, said the software has a video-display terminal that could track individual transactions at the cafeteria and deduct a single meal from each student’s prepaid meal plan.

He also said that the application – Cafeteria Manager, is currently in use at the AUN cafeteria and is ready for commercial deployment soon.

Mr. Nwobodo quoted Mr. Kalu, a 2009 graduate as expressing pleasure with the achievement.

“It’s the first of its kind from my company’s perspective,” he declared, stressing that the software, known as AUN Cafeteria Manager, eliminates possibilities of forgery and record manipulation while it provides an effective monitoring system for all cafeteria activities.

Mr. Kalu is the chief executive officer, Hit-d-wave Technology Services Limited, a company he established after graduating from AUN. He is also a graduate of “Information Systems with Network Security” at the Cleveland Institute of Electronics in the United States (US).

The collaborator in the project and another 2009 graduate of AUN, Mr. Dalughut brings his knowledge of business practice to the project, saying it would help Small and Medium Businesses (SMB) known for managing such business like cafeteria.

“It is custom-designed to deduct a single meal from a student’s meal plan when used at the cafeteria,” he said.

Dalughut outlined some of the features of the software to include incorporation of the ability to display the total meals served during a particular mealtime, and an instantaneous counting mechanism.

“As students swipe their cards, it displays the owner’s portrait at the point of sale, thereby ruling out fraudulent re-use of the same card by a third party, and it links every meal served to a particular student’s identity card,” he explained.

Further, Nwobodo said, this development has been a big relief to the university, even as gone are the recurring headaches associated with loss of meal tickets, students faking meal tickets, and the loss of time needed to sort and submit used meal tickets by the caterer, as well as the time-consuming process of counting and confirming the authenticity of the submitted meal tickets.

Speaking on the development, Assistant Vice-President of Finance and Budget, Mr. Francis Eze, said he was proud of the alumni’s achievement in designing and applying the software.

“We are happy at this development as we will not have to deal with printing of meal tickets, complaints arising from loss, verification of used tickets, and such other related issues.”

AUN professor of software engineering, Dr. Nwojo Agwu said, today’s technology has taken a whole lot of stress off people and this is what these alumni have demonstrated, and they have helped the university.

AUN’s programmes, Agwu said, focus on helping the development process and contributing to the betterment of society.

“We want our students to be productive, that is why our programmes are technology-driven and every student undergoes an entrepreneurial course,” he said.

Both developers of Cafeteria Manager plan to continue hone their dream to assist businesses achieve and surpass their goals by providing them with the most effective and efficient IT solutions to increase productivity.

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PIN to host 2nd Ajegunle.org town hall meeting

Programme Manager, Ajegunle.org, Mr. Ugo Nwosu has confirmed that would the group’s second town hall meeting would hold this week’s Wednesday, February 23, in Lagos.

Ajegunle.org is a project of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN), a social entreprise for the empowerment of Nigerian youths.

Nwosu also said the meeting would provide an opportunity to update partners, the community, volunteers and alumni on the journey so far and future plans.

“Participants would get first-hand details of experiences from the project graduates, students, family members and internship host organizations, and we will discuss elements of how this project successfully trained 138 young people – who have in turn trained over 306 peers. We will also honour outstanding graduates, and our partners as well as volunteers,” he said.

Nwosu explained that Ajegunle.org has received tremendous media coverage and has been presented in various fora locally and across the world as a Case Study on how Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) could be used to aid development in underserved communities.

He revealed that this year’s town hall meeting would be chaired by Prof. Pat Utomi, chairman of PIN’s board, adding that guests would include family and friends of graduates, and PIN’s partner organisations including Afrinvest WA, DHL, London Metropolitan University, Microsoft Nigeria, Lornamead Africa, First City Monument Bank, Teledom International, among others.

Also speaking PIN’s Executive Director, Mr. Gbenga Sesan, said that meeting PIN will be presenting the model of its community-focused innovation centre which will provide facilities for training additional students, incubation space for project graduates and serve as a major hub for community development.

“Having worked with government, civil society, private institutions and international organizations including the United Nations, PIN has set standards in ICT education, telecenter support, ICT applications in rural areas, and other ICT interventions in Nigeria. PIN’s projects include Ajegunle.org; Internet Safety, Security and Privacy Initiative for Nigeria and TENT,” he said.

PIN is a social enterprise that connects underserved Nigerian youth with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) opportunities; with specific concern about the ill effects of unemployment and cybercrime among other vices that limit the potential contribution of young Nigerians to the nation’s economy.

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Momentum thickens for broadband investment forum

Momentum is thickening for the forthcoming Broadband investment summit slated for Lagos on March 1, this year.

The organizers said that the event would be a gathering of heavyweight organizations and individuals from the world of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The event tagged Internet for Nigerians forum and sponsored by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is organized by Nigeria CommunicationsWeek and has been scheduled to hold at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi and aims to set the agenda for the future of the industry.

Experts from telecoms and internet service providers will join the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and IT vendors’ representatives in giving presentations on the future of some of the internet most exciting innovations.

The organizers said that the theme of the forum is “Broadband Investment and Solutions for Nigerians” would see representatives from Gateway Communications, Glo 1, Main One, Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), Internet Solutions (IS), and Linkserve Nigeria presenting “Tailor-made Solutions and Investment for Financial and Oil & Gas Industries.”

The executive vice chairman, of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwa, would present the keynote address while the chairman of Licensed Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, would chair the occasion.

Others billed to speak at the event are Mohamed Rudman, MD/CEO, Internet Exchange of Nigeria (IXPN), Biodun Banjo, President, NIG, Peter Iwegbu, GM/Group head IT, Access Bank, Kenneth Omerou, Founder, Techtrend, Wale Jones, IT lawyer.

Ken Nwogbo, editor-in-chief of Nigeria CommunicationsWeek said that ICT and indeed internet challenges to the oil and gas services and financial sectors are greater than they have ever been, primarily as a result of the: policy somersaults, sub-prime mortgage market crisis, volatility of the oil prices and the overall financial state of the economy.

According to Nwogbo, the high costs of international bandwidth are an obstacle to social and economic development and that infamous SAT-3 cable that operates in fits and starts has not helped matters.

“The situation is changing dramatically with fibre optic investments by Globacom, MainOne and WACS. They are all stirring positive outlook for Internet penetration in the country. Globacom, MainOne Cable Company and MTN Nigeria (co-owner of the West African Cable System) have taken the lead by investing in fibre optic cables to improve broadband penetration in Nigeria” he said.

He also said that the multiplicity of Africa’s fiber cable projects has raised the hopes of many, that the ubiquity of high capacity, low cost internet bandwidth will bolster ICT-for-development initiatives of the country and Africa.

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ICANN seeks comment on re-delegation, others

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), has opened comments for the final report of the Delegation, Re-delegation and Retirement Working Group (DRRWG) of the country code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO).

An Executive Summary made available to ITRealms Online at the weekend, indicated that the Delegation, Re-delegation and Retirement Working Group (“DRDWG”) was created by the Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (“ccNSO”) Council to advise whether it should launch a Policy

Development Process (“PDP”) to recommend changes to the current policies for delegation, re-delegation and retirement of country code Top Level Domains (“ccTLDs”).

ITRealms Online gathered that the DRDWG has conducted an in depth analysis of the current policies and guidelines used by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (“IANA”) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”), and measured all published information pertaining to ICANN decisions and procedures relating to the delegation, re-delegation and retirement of ccTLDs.

Based on its findings and after extensive public consultation the DRDWG recommends to the ccNSO Council recommended on the retirement of ccTLDs that the ccNSO Council undertake a Policy Development Process to develop policies for the retirement of ccTLDs.

Also, the council noted that delegation and re-delegation of ccTLDs should be seen as first step of a “Framework of Interpretation” for the delegation and re-delegation of ccTLDs. This framework, ICANN said, should provide a clear guide to IANA and the ICANN Board on interpretations of the current policies, guidelines and procedures relating to the delegation and re-delegation of ccTLDs.

The results of the use of such a Framework of Interpretation, ICANN said, should be formally monitored and evaluated by the ccNSO Council after a pre-determined period.

“If the results of this evaluation indicate that the Framework of Interpretation failed to provide logical and predictable outcomes in ICANN decision making, the ccNSO Council should then launch PDPs on the delegation and re-delegation of ccTLDs,” part of the executive summary stated.

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Main One links eTranzact

ACCLAIMED Nigeria’s first private sub-marine cable company, Main One Cable Company, has linked up eTranzact on its broadband network.

With the connection of eTranzact, Main One says underscores its growing reputation as the broadband service provider of choice in the country.

Head, Sales at Main One Cable Company, Ms. Bola Ogundogba, said by connecting to the Main One Cable network, eTranzact has indicated its desire to be positioned as a leading provider of mobile transaction services.

According to her, by offering a secure and convenient means of making and receiving payments Main One’s reputation of providing reliable and affordable international connectivity places eTranzact in a great position.

She noted that since the Main One Cable network went live in July 2010, it has continued to break new ground with its open access, wholesale broadband connectivity.

“Main One currently has a growing list of major telecom and Internet service providers in Nigeria which include MTN Nigeria, Etisalat Nigeria, Starcomms plc, Swift Networks, Mobitel, Netcom, IPNX, Visafone to name a few.

She noted that Main One Cable, via its 1.92 tbps submarine cable to Seixal, Portugal, offers unmatched broadband telecommunications services which connects Nigeria with the rest of the world.

“It remains unfazed in its quest to provide fast and efficient broadband connectivity to its customers across Africa to ensure that they tap into the benefits of the global market,” he said.

ITRealms Online recalls that MainOne Cable is the first submarine cable company offering open access, wholesale broadband capacity in West Africa.

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Schneider Electric to unveil new solutions @ energy day

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management is organizing a special “Energy Day” on Thursday, February 24 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, just as it plans to unveil new energy solutions for the Nigerian market for uninterrupted power supply (UPS).

The event which would feature the Minister of State for Power, Mr. Nuhu Wya, as a keynote speaker, is aimed at unveiling Schneider Electric’s latest world class innovative energy solutions to a target audience of investors, technical experts, industry regulators both in the power and oil and gas sectors among others.

Speaking ahead of the event, Mr. Marcel Hochet, Country President, Schneider Electric Nigeria said “Schneider Electric is proud to organise the Energy Day 2011 in Abuja. It is an opportunity for us to once again demonstrate our leadership position in providing global energy solutions through innovation”.

Schneider Electric has continued to drive efficiency in energy management across the globe through innovation and expansion of market. It will be recalled that Schneider Electric recently acquired Areva D, a global energy solutions provider, to strengthen its capacity to meet rising energy needs.

Together Schneider Electric’s medium voltage and Areva T&D Distribution activities form a dedicated business for MV: Energy. Schneider Electric is accelerating its path to become the global specialist in energy management and a world leader in the field of power distribution, as well as in Smart Grid.

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