climate and comms

After two days of data centre conferencing in Monaco what emerges is consensus about a few things.    The imminent impact of the Internet of Things, outsourcing, virtualization, Colocation and the ongoing migration to the Cloud,   but also the awareness that there exists a massive shortage of data centre capacity in Africa and the urgent need to address it.    There is more data centre capacity within the M25 of London than on the whole continent of Africa. However, where there is some disagreement is exactly how to go about it.   Where to build?   Who to build?   How to build?   Who to finance?     Doing business in Africa is not easy.   But we are inspired by JFK–– “ We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard ".       Africa is hardly the moon but to some people it might as well be! Power, that ever present bogeyman, seemingly presents one of our b...

Starting in the mid 1990’s Africa underwent a ‘mobile revolution’ whereby from a standing start of below 1% telephone penetration (tele-density) -   the Continent now boasts over 800 million mobile phones.     By skipping the so-called ‘landline’ technologies the mobile operators leapfrogged a technology generation.   These mobile networks, it can be argued, have been a major contributor to the economic upswing the Continent has experienced since the start of the new millennium.     The mobile revolution is now over as growth has moderated and penetration levels started to peak.     However, a new revolution beckons - the Internet revolution.   Africa falls behind the Rest of the World when it comes to broadband with less than 15% penetration, mainly in the cities.    During the last 5 years numerous submarine cables have been installed, connecting Africa to the Globe.   These fibre-opti...

Picture the scene.   You are a SAAS provider.  Your products works for SME’s as well as large corporates.   You know you will need to sell through the channel to get to the larger enterprises.   You engage with the ones who have the best profile for your offering.    You have a great first round – they love your stuff – they say “ we want to sell your service .”    But first…………. we have a few questions.   Now you roll back the clock.   Sigh.   You are in a time warp as you read the questions :  • Where is [ product/service  name]  hosted ?  • Please give us Network, Application and Security Architecture diagrams • What is the models for enterprise clients to sign up?.  • What toolkits are available?  • How will we be able to assist our clients with implementation ?  • How do we monitor and support our clients ?  • Is your product IP protected? • Please provide reference...

Many of you have probably wondered about what Live Ensure is all about.  Well there is no more powerful medium than multi-media.  So watch this video ... let me know what you think 

This week started with a bang with the UK Govt announcing that Cyber War was imminent ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11562969 )  – the ‘Enemy’ now has the capability to :   close down our power grids / transport networks / industry / ( read - critical infrastructure)   – with one flick of a mouse!   ‘They’ could insert Trojans into our infrastructure which could travel through our networks and attack the mainframes running our railways ( for example)  – bringing them to a grinding halt ……with the resulting disorder that ensues.    Just like the onset of winter – actually…… about now – when the falling Autumn leaves start to accumulate ' strategically'  on the railway lines – and when coupled with some strategically placed raindrops - can bring trains to a grinding halt.    Causing commuter chaos. ( We have seen those headlines before !)  So if its not the Unions ( and believe me they are just warming up ...