Cloud Computing
Amazon Set to Open New HQ in South Africa
Image sourced from CNBC Amazon is set to open up its new base of African operations in Cape Town, South Africa. The company is currently based in an office block and has been on the hunt for a bigger base of operations in Cape Town since 2018, reports Business Insider. The new headquarters will be located on a 15-hectare parcel of land that has been approved for development by the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust. The planned mixed-use development – where Amazon is listed as an anchor tenant – is expected to be a significant boost to the Cape Town economy as the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown remains. “The planned mixed-use development will be a significant boost to the economy and the people of Cape Town in the aftermath of the national COVID-19 lockdown. The City has carefully and thor...
Are BaaS Solutions the Answer to Spike in Ransomware Attacks?
With an ever-growing number of people working from home, primarily due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, cybersecurity attacks are on the rise, meaning that dealing with security risks is an ongoing journey for enterprises. IDC predicts that by 2023, 60% of data will be generated at the edge by people working from home and from devices outside of the corporate firewall. While at the same time, many corporate cloud services are already being rendered from locations outside the data centre. This has given rise to ransomware attacks as many employees who are working remotely have their firewalls and access points configured to allow remote access. This has also seen an increase in ransomware attacks against Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. While SaaS applications are generally secure...
Torn Between Cloud and On-Premise File Sharing? Here’s a Solution for SMBs that Won’t Break the Bank
Graph I. Many SMBs having a hard time deciding between SaaS and on-premise solutions such as traditional File Server and Network Attached Storage The need for digital transformation has never been clearer as companies of all sizes now face an immediate challenge of employees working remotely. The year 2020 has changed the way we work, we had no other options but to move from offline to online. It can be hard to find great IT products that allow you to have a smooth and seamless shift, and to safely: store, share, and collaborate on files from anywhere. Furthermore, we commonly see many SMBs having a hard time deciding between SaaS and on-premise solutions such as traditional File Server and Network Attached Storage (NAS). I am glad to let you know that we have collected and digested many c...
Absa Partners with AWS to Launch Cloud Computing Skills Incubator
Image sourced from Wikiwand Absa has launched a cloud incubator initiative in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enhance its cloud computing skills across its operations in Africa. This move is part of Absa’s broader efforts to promote learning, experimentation and innovation across the organisation to enhance the banking experience for its customers. By migrating to the cloud, companies can eliminate the expense of building and managing on-site data centres while gaining the ability to reduce infrastructure costs and scale up and down rather than paying for excess on-premises capacity. “Cloud is rapidly becoming the norm for large companies, a trend that was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted a step-change in digital solutions,” says Andrew Baker, Absa ...
Dimension Data Acquires Cloud Solutions Company to Fast-Track AWS Capabilities
Dimension Data has announced its acquisition of cloud implementation company – Acacia Cloud Solutions. The company believes this move will cement its commitment to invest in cloud services and solutions that meet the digital transformation and hybrid cloud requirements of organisations in the Middle East and Africa region in an increasingly competitive and digital business operating landscape. The acquisition is expected to expand Dimension Data’s AWS capabilities and provide its clients with innovative cloud managed services solutions that deliver relevant optimisation tools and speed to market. This will see both Acacia Cloud Solutions and Dimension Data building more capacity and skills to effectively meet client demand. “Our acquisition of Acacia Cloud Solutions, and our global re...
Amazon Appoints Former Exec as New CEO of AWS
Image sourced from CNBC Amazon has appointed Adam Selipsky as the new CEO of cloud-computing division, Amazon Web Services (AWS). Selipsky succeeds Andy Jassy who is set to become CEO of Amazon after it was revealed that Jeff Bezos would step down this year. “Adam is not a new face to AWS. Back in 2005, Adam was one of the first VPs we hired in AWS, and ran AWS’s Sales, Marketing, and Support for 11 years (as well as some other areas like our AWS Platform services for a spell). Adam then became the CEO of Tableau in 2016, and ran Tableau for the last 4.5 years,” writes Jassy. “Adam brings strong judgment, customer obsession, team building, demand generation, and CEO experience to an already very strong AWS leadership team. And, having been in such a senior role at AWS for 11 years, he know...
58% of Data Backups are Failing, According to Research
Data protection challenges are undermining organizations’ abilities to execute Digital Transformation (DX) initiatives globally, according to the Veeam Data Protection Report 2021, which has found that 58% of backups fail, leaving data unprotected. The report also found that against the backdrop of COVID-19 and ensuing economic uncertainty, which 40% of CXOs cite as the biggest threat to their organization’s DX in the next 12 months, inadequate data protection and the challenges to business continuity posed by the pandemic are hindering organizations’ initiatives to transform. “Over the past 12 months, CXOs across the globe have faced a unique set of challenges around how to ensure data remains protected in a highly diverse, operational landscape,” says Danny Allan, CTO at Veeam. “In respo...
How Cloud Migration can Boost Data Management
Sourced from InfoWorld. As cloud migrations accelerate, the need for effective backup and recovery becomes increasingly clear. This is also driven by compliance, with legislation such as the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA) regulating the governance of data. With the PoPIA deadline, 1st of July 2021, becoming a reality, many businesses are trying to make sure they comply with all sections of the regulations. However, merely ticking a box for compliance can lead to challenges down the line. Data management impacts vary from company to company, and there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach. With data regarded as a valuable asset, organisations need to understand what data they have, where it resides and of what importance it is. The process of migrating to the clou...
COVID-19 Fuels Global Appetite for App Modernization, AI and Edge Computing
COVID-19 has catalysed the speed and depth of the world’s digital transformation efforts, according to F5’s latest State of Application Strategy (SOAS) report. This year’s report strongly underlines how the need to improve connectivity, reduce latency, ensure security, and harness data-driven insights is intensifying. It also points to an elevated interest in cloud, as-a-service solutions, edge computing, and application security and delivery technologies. “The COVID-19 pandemic has vastly accelerated a global digital transformation that was already underway. Progress that might normally have taken a decade has leapt forward in a single year,” says Lori MacVittie, Principal Technical Evangelist, Office of the CTO at F5. “In a short time, more organization...
Free Stratus Webinar: New Strategies for a ‘Digital Everything’ Future
When it comes to the world of work, 2020 will be remembered as a year that accelerated technological change. The recent “Cloud in Africa” report revealed that cloud technology was vital in helping businesses manage the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Among the common uses of the cloud was edge computing technology — a distributed model where computing takes place near the physical location that data is being collected and analyzed, rather than on a centralized server. This innovation allowed organisations to maximise asset performance while also increasing the efficiency of employees and assets — which is especially key during a time when IT teams are trying to do more with less. To help more organisations implement a successful path towards a digital transforma...
Unpacking the Status of Cloud in South Africa
Sourced from ZDNet. Most strategic discussions in boardrooms around the world will include cloud-based offerings because the services offered have become fundamental to a modern, resilient enterprise. in 2020 many organisations may well have been taking a wait-and-see approach, but the pandemic has forced everyone’s hand and sped up digital transformation in all its guises. Cloud computing is believed to have been invented by Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider in the 1960s with the idea of being able to connect people and data from anywhere at any time. Fast-forward 60 years and the various lockdowns around the world have made this idea an absolute and immediate necessity. There have been winners and sadly there were losers during the pandemic. Some businesses thrived and others paid the ultima...
Telkom Group Appoints New CFO
Telkom has announced the appointment of Dirk Reyneke as Chief Financial Officer – to be taken on with immediate effect. He succeeds Tsholofelo Molefe who has resigned to join MTN Group. According to TechCentral, Reyneke was previously CFO of Telkom’s wholesale division, Openserve, and before that, he was CFO of its property business, Gyro. He was also a director of finance and operations at ABSA. The company has also announced changes to its board which include naming Kholeka Mzondeki as the chair of its social and ethics committee, Fagmeedah Petersen-Cook to a member of the nominations committee and Keith Rayner to the investment and transactions committee. Airtel Africa and Telkom Under Investigation by the Communications Authority of Kenya Airtel Africa and Telkom have been placed under...
