computer reseller news aug 08

Getting government businessright p17>>Fujitsu Siemens touts SelectProgramme p19>>Are grey imports underminingchannel legitimacy? p30>>Ingram Micro has new CEO p41>>2008 CRN Partner ExcellenceAwards p45>>

Inside This IssueInside This Issue

July 2008

www.crn.co.za

Iomega is ramping up channelinitiatives locally. Find out how the

removable storage products vendorplans to woo solution providers that

target the SoHo and SME storagemarket. p14>>

Iomegaengages gear

Iomegaengages gear

C

PUBLISHER’S: NOTE

Manda Banda – publisher

ollectively, they have a voice that reverberates throughout the IT industry. Individually, their roles run

the gamut from distribution executives to vendor channel directors to CEOs of solution provider and

reseller companies.

As we celebrate, recognise and honour women achievers in the local IT and the channel, here at CRN

we also take cognisance of the contributions that women in general have made towards building a more

racially and gender-balanced society.

As is the norm in our publishing calendar, we pay tribute to those women who are the movers and

shakers in IT and local channel.

This year, CRN has decided to honour those influential women in the local IT industry who are making a

mark for themselves and are inspiring other women to join them. When women from all over the world

come together to celebrate their day, they can look back on an international tradition that represents at least

nine decades of women wanting to participate in society on an equal footing with men.

In celebrating National Women’s Day, which falls on 9 August in SA, CRN pays tribute to the local IT

channel’s outstanding women achievers.

Does gender hamper or aid advancement in the channel? What do the statistics really tell us?

Through individual profiles highlighting their personal achievements and how they found themselves in IT,

CRN is letting women tell their stories and what their roles entail.

This year, there are more 18 women on our list we are profiling.

The women of years past paved the way for those who came after them. Today’s Women in IT will do the same for the generations to come.

As we salute these movers and shakers, we believe that it is through their participation in the IT and channel space that a lot of progress continues to

be made as more and more women are getting into middle and senior management positions.

As a publication that supports equal opportunities for all, we firmly believe that by honouring these women, we are also dispelling the myth that IT is

or should be a male-dominated industry.

By paying tribute to these women, we are also hoping that their individual achievements will influence others to consider careers in IT, particularly

young girls who would like to pursue careers in industries that are predominantly seen as a male only domain such as IT, engineering, mining and

geology, to mention a few.

In the pages that follow, CRN features some of the most influential women in the local channel: discussing their roles in the sector, how they joined the

IT industry and their rise to fame.

To all women happy Women’s Day and always remember the struggle continues – Aluta Continua!

Enjoy the read and I let me know what you would like us to tackle in CRN. I can be reached at [email protected]

Paying tributeto the women in IT

CRN Contacts:

Publisher:

Manda Banda

[email protected]

Online editor:

Kaunda Chama

[email protected]

Journalists:

Portia Shaba

[email protected]

Dominic Khuzwayo

[email protected]

Brand executive:

Hellen Murahwa

[email protected]

Sub-editor:

Jenny Bastomsky

[email protected]

Designer:

Spencer van Graan

[email protected]

Database and subscriptions:

Daisy Mulenga

[email protected]

copyright noticeCRN Southern Africa is published monthly by

Systems Publishers (Pty) Ltd. The copyright of all material in this publication is reserved by the proprietors, except where expressly stated. The publisher, however, will consider reasonable requests for the use of material

by others on condition that the source and author of the report are clearly attributed. Due to the nature of the newspaper print process, Systems Publishers

cannot be held responsible for colour variations in printed advertising. Printed by Ultra Litho.

CRN Southern Africa is a licensee of CMP Media LLC.

Private Bag X12, Rivonia, 2128 Tel: (011) 234 7008 Fax: (011) 234 7025Registered with the Audit Bureau of Circulation

Contents

Scans in this publication have been reproduced on the EPSON PERFECTiON 2450 photo

2 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • AUGUST 2008

News & Analysis

4 – What’s News

6 – Comings and Goings

8 – Dmoves

10 – High Five: Panda Security

14 – Cover story: The Intelligent Network. Cisco’s senior VP Worldwide

Channels, Keith Goodwin is upbeat partners will benefit from intelligent

networking. By Manda Banda

16 – HP has updated its Preferred Partner Programme with new

initiatives focused on profitable growth and business development. By Dudu Shaba

18 – Cisco Extreme Business Makeover reaches out to SMBs.

By Dudu Shaba

20 – GovTech: This year’s GovTech conference was a great event for resellers,

not only because they were able to see and hear about plans made by government,

the biggest ICT customer in the country, but also to learn about some of the

pledges and suggestions made by key players in the public sector.

By Kaunda Chama

22 – Demand Generator: NC Solution X300 boosts PostNet’s

Internet Cafes. By Dominic Khuzwayo

23 – Microsoft Partner Summit 2008. By Kaunda Chama

Features28 – Ease of use drives accounting software boom.

By Dudu Shaba

32 – Wireless networking has become a pre requisite.

By Dudu Shaba

37 – Mobile technology aids in addressing economic challenges.

By Dudu Shaba

40 – Women in IT CRN pays Tribute women

movers and shakers in the SA IT channel space. By Manda

Banda, Dudu Shaba, Kaunda Chama, George Maseko and

Stanley Chishala.

Parting Shots56 – Snapshot: Dan Engel, Polycom

56 – Dilbert

45

19

16

15

13

&GOINGS


COMINGS

WHAT’S NEWS

Serima jumps to SAPPfungwa Serima, ex Microsoft boss will take over

the helm of SAP’s Africa region, which was

under the stewardship of Claas Kuehnemann

MD, SAP Africa. Serima will be responsible for

strategic planning, operational excellence, sales

and field operations, professional services and

overall performance in the Africa region. “I am

honoured to join SAP’s winning team and to work with it on

expanding the strong foundation that has been built in the

region.” Serima adds that his main focus is to ensure that

African businesses look increasingly to IT as the basis for business

innovation and to improve their profitability.

SAS appoints sales headSAS Institute has announced the appointment of

Kevin Kemp as its dedicated sales manager. “We

are in an exciting time at SAS and are investing

heavily in our people, Kemp’s appointment is a

key component of this investment,” says Kerry

Evans, general manager, commercial division,

SAS South Africa.

Tasked with building up the personal and client relationship

skills of the team, Kemp brings 17 years of experience in which

he has served in roles within the insurance, banking and ICT

industries. Kemp recently held senior positions at GijimaAST

where he was responsible for the financial services and retail ser-

vices units.

Stephen Moore to manageCommVault Stephen Moore has joined Workgroup to head

the company’s CommVault division. His experi-

ence includes a stint in operations management

at Acer Africa and he was a partner in the cre-

ation of Jokers Wild Productions. “As

CommVault product manager, I’ve been tasked

with promoting the brand, increasing market share and setting

up a solid client base. A large part of this will be maintaining

strong relationships with our partners, and ensuring they are up

to speed on the product offering and the value add it brings to

South African end-users,” he says.

New PR manager at Microsoft.Adrian Wainwright has been appointed new PR

and image manager for Microsoft SA. Adrian

comes to Microsoft SA from Microsoft West,

East and Central Africa (WECA) – a team he

joined two years ago as the PR and communica-

tions manager. More recently, Adrian assumed

the central marketing lead role, which saw him taking broader

responsibility for BG and segment marketing. Prior to Microsoft,

Adrian spent over 10 years in account direction and content

generation roles at different agencies, handling PR and through-

the-line communications campaigns for a broad spectrum of

local and international ICT companies, including Microsoft.

Timm now with HP HP has announced the appointment of Allan

Timm as sales director, HP SA. Timm joins the HP

team from Faritec where he held the position of

group sales director. Oliver Fortuin, TSG Country

Manager says, “Timm will be responsible for dri-

ving HP sales, creating a new TSG sales culture

and building an investment plan for the sales

team. He hopes to significantly influence the strategic aspects of

the HP sales organisation in SA.” Fortuin adds that Timm’s

appointment marks an important step forward in growing HP’s

sales with a well-led sales force.

3Com promotes Wiggill3Com, one of the leading global networking

companies, has promoted Derek Wiggill to

regional sales director for Africa. Wiggill joined

3Com in January 2007 as regional telecommuni-

cations sales manager. Before that he was sales

director of Redline Communications, where he

was responsible for opening its Africa office. He

has extensive experience in telecommunications, consultancy and

channel management in the region, and is responsible for defin-

ing strategy for 3Com in Africa and driving innovative solutions

that benefit partners and customers.

Wiggill says: “3Com is committed to providing the highest

level of service and support to its customers in Africa as well as

maximising the tremendous growth opportunities that exist

across the region.”

EMC has new technology solutions managerEMC South Africa recently appointed Palesa

Mapetla technology solutions manager. Mapetla

holds a diploma in business IT systems and

Advanced Business Programme Management

from Wits Technikon. She was also a recently

awarded her MBA from the University of

Johannesburg. She combines her formidable

qualifications with considerable industry

experience, having worked for several years in various roles at

other international IT vendors. Mapetla will be responsible for IT

service management (ITSM), backup and recovery, consolidation

and related disciplines.

Pfungwa Serima

Kevin Kemp

Stephen Moore

Adrian Wainwright

Allan Timm

Derek Wiggill

Palesa Mapetla


WHAT’S NEWS

Ingram Micro adds backup solutionsIngram Micro SA has added a full range of HP tape drives to its port-

folio. Jacques van Zijl, product manager, Ingram Micro SA, says this

will enable the company to sell HP tape drives to customers, while HP

installs services and provides the warranties on the solutions.

Citrix expands channel programCitrix Systems has extended its Citrix Advisor Rewards programme to

pay channel partners on sales of Citrix XenServer software. The pro-

gramme, originally introduced in 2004, pays Citrix Solution Advisers

for designing and delivering solutions based on Citrix application deliv-

ery products. According to the company, the programme has been

extend to include embedded versions of XenServer and eliminates any

potential channel conflict with OEM partners. This also ensures strong

incentives across the board by compensating partners that influence

embedded XenServer deals as well as those who fulfil them.

ProScan launches GPS systemProScan Enterprise Mobility has launched the CoPilot Live 7 GPS from

ALK Technologies for Windows smart phones and pocket PCs. Andrew

Fosbrook, group MD, ProScan says that the CoPilot Live 7 software

redefines mobile satellite navigation with its simple and intuitive

menus, new clearer 2D and 3D map views, and real-time mobile

Internet navigation-based services. “The redesigned destination entry

makes finding to destinations simple, with step-by-step address entry,

finger-touch buttons and predictive address matching. Frequently used

features are quickly accessible, including changing the map view and

locating the nearest petrol station,” he says.

HP goes gold HP has launched its upgraded and expanded Gold Preferred Partner

Programme to the local market. HP announced that it will invest in

additional channel sales resources for its preferred partner programme,

while including a new gold level and a new virtualisation specialisa-

tion. “We believe in our partner strategy more than ever,” says Mark

Perry, country manager, solutions partner organisation, HP, SA

“Our channel commitment is defined by business results and we’re

investing heavily in partners who share this vision, while making it sim-

pler and more rewarding to work with us,” adds Perry. With the new

programme, HP aims to extend its flagship programme to even more

resellers looking to maximise their relationships with the company.

GovTech needs make-overPublic and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi stressed

the need to change GovTech from being a talk shop to a more out-

comes-focused event. She says the government’s IT agenda should be

one the people follow to make a difference, especially considering the

huge budget that is set aside for ICT procurement by the government.

Fraser-Moleketi stresses that ICT should be primarily used to find solu-

tions to the challenges the country faces. She adds that making a suc-

cess out of the technology that the government procures goes beyond

effective public private partnerships (PPPs) to cohesion within govern-

ment organisations like OGCIO, GITOC Council and SITA.

Citrix unveils Project KenshoCitrix Systems, one of the global leaders in application delivery

infrastructure, has announced the release of Project Kensho, which

is designed to allow independent software vendors (ISVs) and

enterprise IT managers to easily create hypervisor-independent,

portable enterprise application workloads. These tools are set to

allow application workloads to be imported and run across Citrix

XenServer, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and VMware ESX

virtual environments.

Project Kensho will enable ISVs and enterprise IT staff to leverage a

hypervisor-independent portable virtual machine format that

packages a complete application workload as a secure, portable and

pre-configured open standard virtual appliance.

Acer presents P243W widescreen displayAcer has released the new P243W LCD monitor, a 24-inch

widescreen display for the home or small office environment.

According to John Geypen, business development manager

Acer SA, the widescreen display integrates the latest panel

technology for an improved contrast ratio of 3000:1, wide viewing

angle of 170° and 400 cd/m? brightness.

He says the P243W supports resolutions of 1 920 x 1 200 and

94.1 pixels per inch (PPI) enabling users to take full advantage of the

latest multimedia applications. “This new 16:10 widescreen monitor

allows media lovers and professionals to comfortably view multiple

applications simultaneously,” he adds.

New Logitech driving forceLogitech will release a wireless force feedback racing wheel for the

Playstation 3 console. Robert van de Vegte, regional director,

Logitech SA says the device is very quick to set up and easy

to store.

“The Driving Force Wireless force feedback wheel delivers the type

of racing experience you’d expect from a Logitech force feedback

wheel and the one-piece design is easy to set up and just as easy to

put away, keeping the living room free of clutter,” says Van de Vegte.

The Logitech Driving Force Wireless force feedback wheel is expected

to be available in SA in September at a suggested retail price is R1

199, including VAT.

Sahara unleashes desktop PCsSahara Computers has released its latest range of desktop PCs.

The latest offering is designed to meet the needs of a growing

end-user base as resellers experience an increase in demand

for competitively priced, multi-functional PC solutions.

Gary Naidoo, deputy MD at Sahara, says the company has

received substantial feedback from its resellers indicating an increase

in demand for desktop PCs, from entry-level to the high-end

gaming market.

“The focus is on quality, feature-rich desktop products. Aspects such

as LCD monitors, the latest in sound and graphic cards, wireless

peripheral devices, Internet connectivity and the most up-to-date

software are all key factors behind a decision to invest in desktop

solutions,” he says.

Westcon SA partners with SymantecWestcon SA, one of the leaders in the networking field, has formed a

partnership with storage and security specialist Symantec. Jacques

Malherbe, CEO, Westcon SA says: “Westcon SA is committed to its

channel and continuously aims to offer its partners the best value in the

business. To ensure that Westcon SA offers the best-of-breed technolo-

gy, it is crucial to build partnerships with industry leaders such as

Symantec,” he adds. Mark Smissen, channel manager, Symantec Africa

adds that the prospect of working with Westcon across Africa is a sig-

nificant step for Symantec, especially as Westcon SA demonstrates a

keen vision to expand Symantec’s reach outside of the traditional enter-

prise space.

Comztek gets Iomega accountICT distributor Comztek has added Iomega to its dynamic consumer

electronics product line. Heinz Stephen, director of consumer electron-

ics, Comztek says, “Iomega fits in perfectly with the rest of Comztek’s

blue-chip product mix. The partnership with Iomega puts us in a

unique position to offer our customers true end-to-end solutions in the

consumer electronics market.” Stephen explains: “The decision to work

with Iomega was an easy one. Comztek sought a partner that would

match its culture of innovation and customer-centric service delivery

together with providing reliable quality products, and this was achieved

through the partnership with Iomega.”

BDS appoints Ugandan partnerBytes Document Solutions, has partnered with Service and Computer

Industries (SCI). Coenraad Ackerman, Africa operations manager, Bytes

Document Solutions says that SCI has been chosen because of its

strong reputation in Uganda as an independent services provider. “The

company has entrenched partnerships with some of the world’s lead-

ing ICT companies, demonstrating a depth of experience that makes it

an ideal Ugandan partner for us,” he says. Amitava Chatterjee, project

manager, SCI says, “We are focused, with the support of Bytes

Document Solutions, on providing superior delivery and implementa-

tion of Xerox products and solutions to our customers and to follow

through with quality after-sales support.”

Biodata gets rights from IBMBiodata, local security distribution company, has secured rights to dis-

tribute IBM Internet Security Systems (ISS) products. According to

Biodata, it is currently the only distributor of ISS products in the region,

and plans to deliver the full scope of ISS security solutions in SA,

Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. “As a specialised security distributor

with a wide array of solutions in our stable, we feel the IBM ISS range

truly complements our current offerings,” says Christian Runte, MD,

Biodata.

Workgroup now CommVault distiWorkgroup has landed the exclusive distribution rights to CommVault

Simpana software. According to Stephen Moore company?designa-

tion?, “While there are a host of synergies between the two compa-

nies, with Simpana working seamlessly with a range of our hosted

products like Microsoft and VMware, we’re looking forward to brand-

ing the product locally and cementing it as a singular information man-

agement tool to be reckoned with.” Nick Wonfor, country manager,

Africa, CommVault concurs saying: “CommVault’s partnership with

Workgroup was the natural next step in its growth phase internationally.”

WAM signs with Rifle-ShotWAM Systems, one of the leading providers of supply chain planning

solutions, has signed a distribution agreement with Rifle-Shot

Performance Holdings. Jack Weiss, CEO, WAM Systems says: “Rifle-

Shot’s wealth of knowledge, its strong customer base and expertise in

the process industry in both South and sub Saharan Africa made it the

ideal partner to assist us in expanding our business in Africa.” “Our

product range fits well within the climate of opportunity in Africa,” adds

Weiss. Ian Huntly, Rifle-Shot Performance Holdings MD comments: “We

are very excited about this partnership and the expanded benefits we

are now able to offer our clients through WAM Systems’ solutions.”

Pinnacle Micro gets Cherry dealPinnacle Micro has signed a distribution agreement with specialised

computer input devices manufacturer Cherry GmbH. According to Hans

Steyn, business

development manager, Pinnacle Micro, the replacement market for

keyboards in sectors such as retail and banking, and general points-of-

sale will easily be in excess of R1 billion. “All current keyboards will, over

the next year or two, have to be replaced so that they will be able to

transact with the new EMV technology,” says Steyn. In addition, Cherry

keyboards are integrated with contact/contactless smart card readers as

well as standalone smart-card readers, which have been awarded certi-

fication from the USA security programme.

TomTom gives distribution to RectronTomTom, one of the market leaders in portable navigation systems, has

appointed Rectron as its sole local distributor. The appointment of

Rectron follows Tom Tom’s ending its relationship with Core Peripherals

SA in May this year. Joost Jetten, TomTom regional manager, South

Africa and Middle East, says TomTom has identified Rectron as the ideal

partner to help it expand its distribution network, set up the required

presence and further establish the brand in SA. “Since Rectron focuses

on best-of-breed products, TomTom is clearly the quality brand we

want to be identified with,” says Mark Lu, Rectron chairman and CEO.

Lexmark secures Itec, OfficeSmartLexmark, through its Value Print Partner Programme, has secured local

partnerships with office solutions providers, Itec Distribution and

OfficeSmart.

“Lexmark’s channel-centred culture now offers an additional avenue

of revenue for service dealers,” says Lawrence van Namen, Lexmark

sales director. “Itec and OfficeSmart’s immediate commitment is a clear

indication that the programme will be accepted in SA,” adds Van

Namen. According to Lexmark, the programme’s “save more” philosophy

provides channel partners with the tools to help their customers print

less and gain control over their printing costs, which can equal

between one and three per cent of a company’s turnover.


ANALYSIS: DISTRIBUTION MOVES

SOLUTION PROVIDERS


HIGH FIVE: EMCSOLUTION PROVIDERS

BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

EMC gearing for growth.

Palesa Mapetla is the new technology solutions manager at EMC, one

of the leading developers and providers of information infrastructure

technology and solutions. Mapetla holds a diploma in business IT

systems and another in Advanced Business Programme Management

from Wits Technikon. She combines her formidable qualifications with

considerable industry experience, having worked for several years in

various roles at other international IT vendors. CRN had a chat with

Mapetla about her new position.

CRN: What is your management style?PM: My personal leadership style is one of being approachable. I like

to consult with my colleagues and to draw on the broad range of skills

and expertise within my team to ensure that we develop solutions that

offer clients powerful, compelling and meaningful solutions.

CRN: What changes are you making?PM: I will be implementing changes and restructuring my department

with an increased focus on services. This will include a specific sales

focus in the services arena, with particular emphasis on high-end ser-

vices. We are going to offer best-practice services and solutions, lever-

aging off the benefits of the experience that EMC has gained, particu-

larly in the Middle East.

CRN: What challenges is the storage sector facing?PM: Our Expanding Digital Universe survey, which we conduct in con-

junction with IDC, indicates that the volume of data is growing at an

increasingly rapid rate and that it should reach 1.8 zettabytes by 2011,

a compound annual growth rate of 60 per cent. This vast volume of

data will need to be stored and managed effectively and efficiently to

ensure that critical data is always available when required. One of the

key issues this highlights is the requirement for storage hardware.

CRN: What benefits is EMC offering customers?PM: EMC has evolved substantially over the past few years and

through acquisitive growth and internal innovation and development,

we offer a far more comprehensive range of solutions and products

than ever before. Wherever individuals and organisations are using

information to imagine, to discover, to create, and to build relation-

ships, you’re very likely to find EMC working behind the scenes to

enable this by making information fit and ready for use. We created

the Information Lifecycle Management category and we are evolving

this proposition in line with constantly changing information manage-

ment requirements.

CRN: Where do you see EMC in the future?

PM: EMC will continue to focus on four areas of information man-

agement: storage; protection; optimisation; and leveraging. We will

assist companies with their information requirements through:

Managing growth – particularly as there is a dramatic growth in the

amount of information and the storage of this will pose increased

infrastructure complexity

Managing risk –where we will play a role in protecting against

information loss, securing information against unauthorised access,

and complying with legal and corporate mandates

Managing effectiveness – where we will play a role in reducing

capital and operational costs, improving flexibility and responsiveness,

and delivering service levels demanded by the business

Creating new value – where we will leverage information in new

ways, using infrastructure to drive the business.

EMC appoints new technologysolutions manager

“We are going to offer best-practice services and

solutions, leveraging off the benefits of the

experience that EMC has gained in the Middle East

in particular.” – Palesa Mapetla, EMC.

n the aftermath of the 2008 global Cisco

Partner Summit held in Honolulu in April, Cisco

Systems is urging its channel partners globally

to follow it down a new path and on a course it

believes will catapult it and its channel commu-

nity to the forefront of the IT industry.

That path, according to the vendor, is

Intelligent networking which has been stimu-

lating and continues to enhance collabora-

tion via online Web 2.0 tools and Software-

as-a-Service (SaaS).

The collaboration strategy Cisco has been

preaching in the channel over the past three

years is a combination of technologies such

as VoIP, unified messaging, instant messag-

ing, IP video, Telepresence, mobility, SaaS

and Web tools like blogs and Wikis.

In fact, the networking vendor has been at

the forefront of making it easier for cus-

tomers to communicate easily with each

other using an amalgamation of technolo-

gies as the linchpin of its broader intelligent

networking strategy.

Clearly, a combination of the above tech-

nologies is the foundation on which Cisco’s

strategy is based as it rallies partners to go

beyond their traditional networking focus of

selling and implementing routers and switches.

To this end, Cisco is moving towards soft-

ware and is advising solution providers to

skill up and get their hands on software

applications or find someone to partner with

who is operating in this space.

The networking and convergence solu-

tions vendor is moving away from its tradi-

tional business focus and embracing soft-

ware to be at the forefront of what should be

its key offering in the new intelligent network.

As this strategy becomes clearer, Cisco

does not want to leave its partners behind

and is urging them to get up to speed with

applications or partner with their peers who

are well vested in this market.

SaaS investmentCisco’s SaaS strategy has gained momentum

following the vendor’s US$3.2 billion acqui-

sition of WebEx Communications in May

2007. At the time of concluding the deal,

industry pundits touted the purchase would

yield a long-term impact on Cisco.

In an exclusive interview with CRN SA,

Keith Goodwin, senior VP worldwide chan-

nels at Cisco, says the main motivation

behind the push of intelligent networking and

SaaS is to ensure that Cisco becomes the

most influential IT company in the next three

to five years.

Goodwin says Cisco resellers around the

globe will have to adapt to take advantage

of the collaboration opportunity, even in the

way they engage with the company.

“Traditionally, we have been strong in the

networking space,” he notes. “To capitalise

on the opportunities that have been created

as a result of Web 2.0 technologies, partners

will have to not only invest in systems but

solutions and software capabilities.”

Goodwin emphasises that changing the

way partners do business with Cisco is not

enough as they need to evolve themselves

and their business models for them to capi-

talise on the opportunities that are emerging.

He says through initiatives such as the

Industry Solutions Partner Networking (ISPN),

which has brought over 200 Cisco solution

providers globally into direct contact with

ISVs, the company has been able to assist

partners to jump onto the software applica-

tions bandwagon. “We are investing a lot in

SaaS as we believe it is a multi-billion dollar

industry,” he says.

Locally, Cisco has three partners enrolled

on the ISPN programme following its launch

in August 2007.

Prabashni Pillay, regional channel manag-


COVER STORY: CISCO

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

BY MANDA BANDA

IPioneering a new IT path.

Intelligent Networking

“If you look at our business, 96 per cent goes throughthe channel.” – Steve Midgley, Cisco

COVER STORY: CISCO

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • AUGUST 2008 • 13

er at Cisco Systems SA, says the local sub-

sidiary has two partners serving the mining

sector and one partner playing in the real

estate industry enrolled on the ISPN pro-

gramme. Pillay adds that four more partners

are to register before year end, which will go

a long way in persuading others to join the

programme. “Through our interactions with

these partners, we are getting positive feed-

back,” she says.

Pilot channel programmesAs Cisco maps out channel building blocks

to assist channel partners, it is also testing a

number of channel programmes for partners

working in service models particularly out-

sourcing and managed services.

In addition to a managed services pilot

programme launched in the second half of

last year and another pilot initiative around

WebEx, the company it acquired this year,

Cisco is also piloting a channel programme

for outsourcing.

In fact, the outsourcing programme is part

of a strategy that Goodwin unveiled at the

2006 Partner Summit conference with the

aim of creating what he dubbed then as

“offer-based” partner programmes.

Steve Midgley, country manager at Cisco

Systems SA, says although these programmes

have not been kick-started locally, there is a lot

of interest from local partners. The vendor will

start local pilots at the start on the fourth quar-

ter. Midgley says the interest emanates from

the fact that Cisco’s addressable market in SA

has doubled. “If you look at our business, 96

per cent goes through the channel,” he says.

“Locally, we only have one direct client.”

Product roadmapWith the vendor having launched its

Aggregation Services Router (ASR) family of

products earlier this year, Goodwin says the

company sees virtualisation as an area that is

growing and should receive more attention

from Cisco both from a technology and

product perspective.

In addition, Goodwin says SME networking

products, the new midrange routers together

with video and Telepresence products are

slated to receive a lot of attention this year. “It

is vital to point out that while we are embrac-

ing software and services that go with soft-

ware applications, Cisco will continue to bring

to market networking solutions in the SME,

midrange and enterprise space that have

made it a strong and trusted brand,” he says.

While many solution provider partners are

upbeat about Cisco’s vision and push of the

intelligent network and what it can do, end-

user customers who, in essence, are sup-

posed to benefit from these initiatives are

slow to embrace full-scale collaboration and

Web 2.0 solutions.

The success of Cisco’s partners in changing

the mindset of their customers will be the

yard stick on which Cisco’s vision of intelligent

networking will be measured.

“Changing the way partners do business with Cisco isnot enough as they need to evolve themselves and theirbusiness models for them to capitalise on opportunitiesthat are emerging.” – Keith Goodwin, Cisco

Keith Goodwin, Cisco

P has updated its Preferred Partner

Programme with new initiatives focused on

profitable growth and business development.

Mark Perry, Country Manager, SPO, HP, says

HP has invested in additional channel sales

resources for its Preferred Partner Programme

and included a new Gold level for 2009.

According to Perry, the Gold level for

2009 is for Partners who are specialists

that have gone the extra mile in terms of

accreditation and dollar commitment to HP.

“These partners operate in the corporate

enterprise and public sector space. They will

offer specialised solutions to their customers

and their Gold status will further HP’s

commitment to these partners and vice

versa,” he says.

The updated Preferred Partner Programme

will benefit partners by suiting their market

conditions, enabling them to experience big

technology shifts and implementing quicker

to their markets.

“We have very good programmes for our

partners and we can’t keep them stagnant,

our partners will get bored. There are many

technological and environmental changes

taking place and we have to keep them

informed. In addition to that, we found that

the existing Preferred Partner Programme is

still desirable and growing bigger, so we

looked at our programme and standardised

around the world,” he says.

Perry says that eligible Gold partners have

been identified. Partners who still want to

register should be catering to the enterprise

and public sector and be registered by

1 September 2008.

HP Gold Preferred Partners are required to

meet the following criteria: � Revenue threshold� HP Certified Professional Certifications� Specialisation-specific criteria� Self-profiling� Sales and service partner contracts

with HP

Revenue thresholdPerry says to apply for entry into the Gold

Preferred Partner Programme partners are

required to meet sales revenue of $2 million

(net value) per annum from HP SA

authorised distributors for the previous full

12-month period.

He says that partners wishing to specialise

in any of the focus areas below, will need to

ensure that they meet the necessary individual

specialisation requirements by 1 September

2008.

He states that the 2009 specialisations

are:� Computing Systems� High-Performance Computing� DataCentre Solutions� StorageWorks Solutions� Virtualisation� Workstations� ProCurve Networking� Service� Professional Service Partner (previously

ASDP specialisation)� Authorised Services Partner (previously

ABSP specialisation)� Office Printing� Office Printing Solutions� Large Format Printing


ANALYSIS: HPSOLUTION PROVIDERS

BY DUDU SHABA

H

“The Gold level for 2009 is for partners who are specialistsand have gone the extra mile in terms of accreditation anddollar commitment to HP.” – Mark Perry, HP

New Gold level for 2009.

HP updates PreferredPartner Programme

ANALYSIS: HPSOLUTION PROVIDERS


HP Certified Professional Certifications

Perry says that the HP Certified

Professional Programme is structured

around five certification focus areas which

are sales, pre-sales, integration, administration

and development.

“There is a requirement to achieve and

maintain at least two Accredited Sales

Professional Certifications or one Accredited

Sales Professional Certifications and one

Accredited Pre-sales Professional

Certification,” he explains.

HP recommends the following certification

for partners who are new to the HP Certified

Professional Programme – Commercial

Solutions Sales Professional or Commercial

Solutions Presales Professional.

“For those partners operating in the enter-

prise market we have an

equivalent Sales and Presales Certifications

in Enterprise Solutions. HP Certified

Professional Certification can be achieved

through the passing of the required exams.

Sales exams can typically be taken on the

Web, technical exams will normally require a

visit to a secured Prometric exam centre,”

he comments.

Once partners have completed all of the

above, they should email hpcommuni-

[email protected] requesting entry into the

programme, with: “Request for Entry into

the Preferred Partner Programme” in the

subject header.

Perry goes on to say that partners who

want to be considered for membership of the

2009 HP Preferred Partner Programme

should consider the following criteria: � Revenue threshold – Preferred Partner

Programme partners are required to meet

sales revenue of $100 K net value per

annum from SA HP authorised distributors � Self-Profiling – HP Preferred Partners

must complete and submit self-profile

information on an ongoing basis. The

information required ranges from general

contact details and job functions to

employee statistics, turnover for the past

two financial years, business segmentation

and focus, product turnover, vertical mar-

ket details and details of other vendors

used and brands� ASP – Partner Fundamentals Training� HP Certified Professional

Certifications – the HP Certified

Professional Programme is structured with

five certification focus areas: Sales, Pre-

sales, Integration, Administration and

Development. � SSP Contract – To sign and return the

SSP contract, the request can be sent to

[email protected] with: “Contract

Request” in the subject header.

For 2009, Perry says that HP is also

aggressively targeting the small business

small office (SBSO) Preferred Partners.

“We are creating a pool in this market for

HP products. We will do this via marketing

as well as our acquisition database,” he says.

Perry says the updated Preferred Partner

Programme will enable its partners to have

more market share and be more profitable.

“HP is a channel organisation and we

have been dealing with partners for many

years. Our updated Preferred Partner

Programme endorses our new commitment

to the channel and shows that it will

continuously evolve,” he concludes.

Mark Perry, HP

s part of its commitment to stimulating

economic growth by making technology

more accessible to small and medium busi-

nesses (SMBs), Cisco has this month

announced the winner of its Extreme

Business Makeover competition.

The Cisco Extreme Business Makeover

competition, which targeted SMEs in SA,

was launched in March this year. Val

Moodley, regional sales manager for

Commercial, Cisco SA, says the exciting

initiative was aimed at working with SMEs

to assess what their current networks entail,

what their actual requirements are and

how they can grow by implementing best-

in-class Cisco technology.

Moodley says SMEs were offered an

opportunity for a total makeover of their

network, free of charge.

“After receiving more than 350 entries,

Cisco announced Redpeg the deserving win-

ner on 7 August 2008 in Sandton. The

overall prize is a complete networking

transformation featuring the latest Cisco

products and solutions valued at R300 000.

The campaign marked another step forward

in Cisco’s ongoing commitment to help

stimulate economic growth by making tech-

nology more accessible to SMEs,” he says.

The competition was open to all busi-

nesses in SA, employing between 8 and

250 people, which had been trading for

three or more years.

“To take part and qualify, participating

businesses had to answer various questions,

such as how the Cisco technology will

enhance their business growth and efficiency.

Cisco received a massive response to the

competition. The number of entries

exceeded all expectations. We had entries

from SMBs from all around the country

which proved that local SMEs are

increasingly looking to build an IT

infrastructure that will present them with

a differentiator,” he says.

In determining the deserving winner,

Moodley says that a panel of ICT and SME

industry experts assessed the entries and

evaluated them against various criteria to

determine the competition winner.

“Our technology experts will now con-

duct a detailed analysis of Redpeg’s needs

and instigate a renewal of its technology

platform with Cisco integrated solutions,

including a fully integrated Cisco network

with voice, video, wireless communication

and desktop applications,” he says.

“As our business grew, so did our

requirement for a reliable, well integrated

and cost-effective networking and commu-

nications infrastructure. Managing the vast

amounts of data we work with in a secure,

reliable and cost-effective manner is key to

our business, so is the ability for employees

working remotely to access this informa-

ANALISYS: CISCO

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

BY DUDU SHABA

ACisco’s Extreme Business improves productivity.

Reaching out to SMEs

Val Moodley,Cisco SA

ANALISYS: CISCO

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

tion,” says Tracy Jean-Pierre, founder and

director, Redpeg.

“As our existing system no longer meets

our business requirements, we are thrilled

to be the winners of this makeover. The

new Cisco network will enable our employ-

ees to remain connected, productive and

able to access the information they need in

an efficient and reliable manner.

Additionally, the ability to collaborate with

various stakeholders in creating up to date

and quality HIV/Aids material and reports is

essential to maintaining a competitive

advantage,” Jean-Pierre adds.

According to Moodley, there has been a

call for the larger IT industry players to be

more supportive of the SME market and

provide enablers for them to grow.

“Through campaigns such as our Extreme

Business Makeover we are able to demon-

strate that Cisco is responding to this call by

delivering tangible support for this growing

portion of our economy. Our research indi-

cates that SMBs are becoming increasingly

sophisticated and demanding in their use of

technology; they are now in a position to

take advantage of what has always been

within the realm of larger organisations.

Until recently, large enterprises had an edge

over SMEs with regard to emerging tech-

nologies,” says Moodley.

Moodley explains that the common chal-

lenge faced by small businesses is finding

the right technology tools to increase

productivity and efficiency. “As part of our

ongoing commitment to the SME segment,

we are pleased to be playing an important

role in assisting them to transform the way

they do business. In Redpeg’s case, we

believe our technology solution will provide

it with the tools it needs to increase produc-

tivity and competitiveness, and develop

quality materials and reports to create

competitive distinction

Effectively, we see ourselves as the

change agent, creating new opportunities

for SA SMEs to leverage and grow their

businesses and contribute towards job creation.

The kinds of solutions we provide are simple

roadmaps that emphasise scalability of

technology as well as optimisation of costs.

In driving our messaging through, we used

various media, including print, broadcast

and online, and it’s thanks to all these

media institutions that we were able to

reach so many SMEs,” Moodley concludes.

“The Extreme Business Makeover competition marksanother milestone in Cisco South Africa’s ongoingcommitment to help stimulate economic growth by mak-ing technology more accessible to small and mediumbusinesses (SMEs).” – Val Moodley, Cisco SA


ANALYSIS: GOVTECH

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

his year’s GovTech conference was a great

event for resellers, not only because they

were able to see and hear about plans

made by government, the biggest ICT cus-

tomer in the country, but also to learn about

some of the pledges and suggestions made

by key players in the public sector.

To start with, Telkom announced it will

continue updating its infrastructure, which is

great news for channel players that are lucky

enough to be part of Telkom tenders.

For example, a spokesperson from the

fixed-line operator mentioned that the com-

pany is setting up WCDMA networks as a

way of deterring the cable thefts that have

plagued the company for many years.

This will also contribute to improved

bandwidth availability and affordability

as end-users become more sophisticated,

and at the same time be a better facilitator

of e-government.

At the event, Public Service and

Administration Minister Geraldine Frazer-

Moleketi stressed the need to change confer-

ences such as GovTech from being mere talk

shops to being events where stakeholders

can formulate action plans that are actually

followed through.

The minister said IT spend must make a

significant difference in the business of the

companies that supply it to the public sector

as well as improve the functioning of govern-

ment departments considering the sheer size

of the public sector’s annual IT budget.

“IT should be used to find answers and

solutions to the challenges faced by both the

government and its citizens but, at the end of

the day, collaboration between local IT sup-

pliers and government? is critical in achiev-

ing this,” she explained.

Adding on to the fact that collaboration is

a prerequisite to success Frazer-Moleketi said

that it should go beyond just being between

the government and its suppliers but also

within government structures themselves.

“These structures must ensure that they get

the basics right if they intend providing effec-

tive service delivery. I must also caution

against conference euphoria where people

leave and forget most of what they dis-

cussed. We need to make GovTech a real

knowledge platform and not just a talk

shop,” she said.

Former State Information Technology

Agency (SITA) CEO Llewellyn Jones stated

that 2008 has been an eye opener for both

the private and public sectors because of the

global economic downturn.

As good news for local channel players,

Jones announced that SITA would ensure that

local distributors and resellers enjoy the majori-

ty of public sector business. This, he said,

would help to develop the local IT sector,

which has been going through turbulent times.

He said that although the power crisis still

hangs over the country, he sees 2008 as a year

of change with the emphasis on strategies.

“Even us as an agency have shifted from

BY KAUNDA CHAMA

TFormulating action plans.

Govtech 2008,great for resellers

“What we want to do as a government is give ourcitizens a ‘single view’ of the public sector so that wecan better serve them.” – Frazer-Moleketi

ANALYSIS: GOVTECH

SOLUTION PROVIDERS


being a very inward focused entity primarily

focused on fixing SITA to one that is more

outwardly focused on helping government

better deliver services through IT,” Jones said.

He added that although the S ITA Act

makes it mandatory for companies to go

through the agency when doing business with

the public sector, Jones would like companies

to do business through SITA because of its

quality of business and level of service.

The agency has committed to maintaining

a collaborative delivery model where it will

ensure the involvement of local technology

suppliers, while at the same time adopting a

shared services model. SITA could potentially

set aside more than R500 million for the

extension of its ICT infrastructure as a way of

ensuring that it remains financially stable.

“We will deliberately focus on working with

local companies to get the best technology

solutions into the public sector. Although the

multi-nationals are perceived to have the best

solutions on the market, a good number of

local hardware and software developers and

system integrators have been making an

impact globally,” Jones explained.

One hopes the person who takes over

from him shares these feelings as this

could help further the local ICT channel

which is struggling.

He added that SITA will also work to help

develop local small development houses

through the imposition that they are involved

in its procurement process.

He, however, could not give an indication

of how much local companies could poten-

tially gain from the agency’s millions in?.

Of the areas that companies can target to

gain reasonable revenues from the public

sector, Jones said that networking, hardware

(server consolidation) and software licensing

are hot areas.

He added that most of the spending will

be on networking, which is critical in facilitating

better service delivery.

commented that local distributors and

resellers have great potential for revenue

generation as the government continues on

its journey towards automating and integrat-

ing its service delivery processes through ICT.

“What we want to do as a government is

give our citizens a ‘single view’ of the

public sector so that we can better serve

them,” she said.

Another area where local technology

providers might make money is through

the provision of technology products and

services to the public sector while it strives

to upgrade its systems in line with the

requirements of what has come to be known

as green computing.

As the government moves to become a

leader in implementing more environmentally

friendly systems, there is great potential for

companies to sell more products and

solutions to the public sector.

According to the minister, although

government has not yet formulated a specific

policy on green computing, it is committed to

keeping in line with the principles of adopting

environmentally friendly technology solutions.

“Although the power crisis still hangs over the country, hesees 2008 as a year of change with the emphasis onstrategies.” – Llewellyn Jones, SITA

LlewellynJones, SITA


ANALYSIS: GOVTECH

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

t this year’s GovTech conference, Jonas

Bogoshi, CEO of system integrator Gijima

AST, which is also the platinum sponsor of

the event, said that procurement has moved

from just getting the best product at the best

price to creating solutions partnerships.

He stressed that companies and the

government have to start looking at the

entire value chain when selecting procure-

ment partners.

“Sadly, we find ourselves in a situation

where procurement remains at the lower end

of ICT maturity,” he said.

Looking at government and large enter-

prises specifically, Bogoshi said that as a sys-

tem integrator Gijima AST has noticed that

the time taken from the time companies and

corporates identify technology needs to when

they actually implement systems is too long.

“This situation makes it such that the

time to the actual realisation of technology

benefits is prolonged unnecessarily,”

noted Bogoshi.

He suggested that a workable alternative

is for the public and private sectors to

change their procurement strategies from

technology specific to solution oriented.

“Both these entities have to adopt value-

based adjudication processes and not just

focus on elements such as cost and black

economic empowerment,” noted Bogoshi.

He advised that government and the pri-

vate sector also have to develop models that

result in the sharing of risks and rewards.

“SA does not have a good and clear public-

private partnership model which tends to

delay project implementation times,”

commented Bogoshi.

He added that the time overrun when

using traditional implementation models can

be more than 30 per cent, whereas through

effective public-private partnerships the time

can be reduced to about 11 per cent.

At the event, the then SITA CEO, Llewellyn

Jones, announced that the theme for this

year’s GovTech conference was

“Collaborate, Innovate and Deliver”.

The theme was the result of recognition by

the government that it is critical for it to work

more closely with the private sector on deliv-

ering large complex projects.

“This close partnership will also help to

mitigate the shortage of appropriate ICT

skills in SA,” he said.

According to Bogoshi, a new approach to

planning, procurement and implementation

of ICT projects by the public sector is needed

to ensure successful delivery and the sustain-

able leveraging of new technology frontiers.

“It is also necessary to simultaneously

stimulate the development of a local industry

capable of competing with established and

emerging ICT giants globally. Conferences

like GovTech help in driving public service

transformation and enhancing the strategic

role of procurement in enabling public sector

service delivery,” he said.

According to him, it is vital to develop and

grow technology continuously to meet the

needs of South Africans while ensuring that

projects are completed on time and in line

with a broader national strategy.

“This is why particular attention must

be paid to the final aspect of delivery,”

noted Bogoshi.

“There is a need to differentiate between

simple traditional procurement and strategic

BY KAUNDA CHAMA

A

A new look atprocurement

Conferences like GovTech help in driving public servicetransformation and enhancing the strategic role ofprocurement in enabling public sector service delivery.”– Jonas Bogoshi, Gijima AST

ANALYSIS: GOVTECH

SOLUTION PROVIDERS


procurement. Simple procurement is appro-

priate for known products with fairly simple

and known functionality. Experience has

shown that normal or traditional procurement

processes are inappropriate for complex

strategic projects like government’s

Integrated Financial Management System

(IFMS) and Home Affairs’ ‘Who Am I

Online’. In this situation procurement needs

to foster partnerships for sharing risks and

rewards between the supplier and consumer.

A more strategic partnership will enable

quicker realisation of benefits by the con-

sumer,” he explained.

Bogoshi further said that government’s sup-

port for the IT sector is vital, as the majority of

IT companies around the globe continue to

grow because they are able to spend money

on research and development, banking on

continued support from their governments.

“SA faces its own unique challenges,

including a shortage of skills. Although this is

prevalent throughout the world, the shortages

here are more acute. Another problem is that

the industry is too fragmented. There are too

many small companies in a sector where

only the big players have the financial where-

withal to spend reasonable sums on research

and development.

“These issues highlight the importance of

conferences such as GovTech, which are

unique in that they allow for both private

and public sector organisations to come

together to share best practices while finding

solutions to the problems plaguing the sector,”

he explained.

Blowing his own company’s horn, Bogoshi

was quick to say that he believes it is Gijima

AST’s diversified and comprehensive range of

ICT consulting and delivery capabilities,

together with its in-depth knowledge of?

experience in? systems integration, that pro-

vides a solid foundation from which to devel-

op the kind of integrated and focused solu-

tions that will play the biggest role in

enabling government to better meet the

needs of its people.

As government continues to embrace

open source software, CEO of Europe-based

OpenForum Graham Taylor commented that

the potential for open source software and

open standards arguably has the biggest

potential for discontinuity in the ICT industry

since the Internet.

“Open source software can now be as

commercial as proprietary alternatives?, the

only difference now is the business models

and licensing structures, ” he said.

He adds that the open source movement

is no longer an anti-software industry move-

ment, quoting research group Gartner as

having predicted that by 2012, 90 per cent

of public sector organisations will be using

open source software in one way or another.

“Open source software is here to stay and

so is proprietary, the key for government and

private organisations is to develop integrated

strategies,” explained Taylor.

He added that with 70 per cent of

e-government applications being developed

in-house, open source and standards present

an opportunity for lowering ICT costs,

encouraging a sharing culture, faster

development timescales and increasing

accessibility to citizens by reducing dependence

on specific software.

In addition, Taylor pointed out that adopting

open standards also increases opportunities

for local software developers and SMEs to

get a slice of public sector business.

Jonas Bogoshi, Gijima AST

C Solutions (Pty) Ltd, one of the most

popular terminal solutions companies in SA

has offered PostNet in Northgate shopping

centre, Johannesburg, a user-friendly virtual

PC Internet café.

PostNet upgraded its Internet café to

NC Solutions’ NComputing X300 virtualised

terminal solution and TrueCafe billing system.

This upgrade follows PostNet

Northgate’s previous experiences of age-

related issues and security problems which

rendered each PC vulnerable to numerous

virus onslaughts which became increasingly

difficult to manage. Additionally, the

Internet café’s multiple points of entry

added to the system’s vulnerability.

Alex Hughes, owner of PostNet

Northgate says, “Due to these challenges I

decided to partner with NCSolutions as it

provided me with a solution that will allow

me to run one central system with six ter-

minals, which means I have only one PC to

worry about.

“In addition to this, it was important to

have a robust and easy-to-use billing system

and that is where TrueCafe shone out from

the other billing systems.

“It just made a lot of sense; the chances

of users installing malicious software is

virtually zero, plus running only one copy of

software improves manageability and miti-

gates system vulnerability,” he adds.

PostNet Northgate enjoys improved

infrastructure manageability, system security,

usability and reliability since upgrading to

NC Solution X300.

Working on both Linux and Windows,

the X300 uses only 1 watt of electricity per

added user (compared to 115 watts for a

typical PC). With a longer useful life and far

smaller size, the NComputing solution

also helps to reduce e-waste, a growing

problem around the world. The X300

terminals get their power from the PC via

the CAT5 fly leads.

“What many businesses don’t realise is

that up to 90 per cent of a PC’s processing

power is unused. In addition, hard drives

with large capacities are now standard,

making the solution ideal as the hard drive

capacity is shared among the terminals,”

says Sean Owen-Jones, MD, NC Solutions

The NC Solutions X300 terminal solution

is optimised for clustered applications such

as Internet cafes; expanding one PC by

adding a PCI card and connecting up to

seven multi-user terminal boxes. It essen-

tially redistributes excess computing power

to each PC terminal.

Owen-Jones explains that connected

users enjoy the same speed and perfor-

mance as the host PC while working inde-

pendently and securely from each other.

“The X300 is really easy to install and in

the case of PostNet we were up and run-

ning in no time. We are very happy with

the outcome of the project and believe

PostNet Northgate is a true indication of

an Internet café using virtualised terminal

solutions,” he adds.

According to Hughes, the X300 solution

has allowed him to cut down on the

number of PCs, network points, power

points and cabling which translates into

cost savings. The system is now simple and

easy to use, the environment is more

streamlined and aesthetically pleasing, and

service delivery has improved

Hughes adds, “I believe other Internet

cafes can take a snapshot of my environ-

ment and implement it. The system copes

with the high usage and heavy-traffic

requirements associated with Internet cafes.

The user response has been very good and

the number of complaints has gone down

to virtually zero.”

In addition to the hardware, NC

Solutions also provided PostNet with

TrueCafe’s billing system which allows for

complete flexibility in billing customisation.

TrueCafe software is designed to work in

“virtualised” environments hence the good

marriage with NComputing’s X300 which

shares one IP address for up to seven users

per PC.

“We hope to support more operating

systems this year and will also be launching

our “Virtual IP” product for the X300 and

as well as two additional size variations of

the X300,” concludes Owen-Jones.

Do you have demand generator stories

to share with us? Please e-mail Dominic

Khuzwayo at [email protected]


DEMAND GENERATOR: NC SOLUTION

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

N

“We are very happy with the outcome of the project andbelieve PostNet Northgate is a true indication of Internetcafé environments from virtualised terminal solutions.” – Sean Owen-Jones, NC Solutions

NC Solution X300boosts Postnet

Sean Owen-Jones, NC Solutions

t this year’s Microsoft Partner Summit, Manoj

Bhoola, the company’s executive for the

server and tools business, outlined what the

company has identified as major trends.

The first and most obvious technology

trend he pointed out is virtualisation; he says

that this trend has stemmed from the fact that

companies have identified that in the past

corporates would install large amounts of

hardware and only five per cent of it was

ever used at a time.

“Today, for example, with the use of the

right virtualisation solution, a company can

put three servers in a single box and attain

up to 70 per cent utilisation,” he notes.

He comments that the advantage of the

virtualisation solutions on the market is that

they are hardware and software agnostic. “A

company can take many different servers all

running different server solutions and run

them in the same box, and with solutions

such as Hyper V managing the environment

is relatively easy,” explains Bhoola.

He adds that a solution like Microsoft

System Centre can manage any heteroge-

neous virtualised environment and with

Windows Server 2008, companies can

get from a single to an unlimited number

of server licences depending on the nature

of the licence.

According to the software giant’s research,

there will be more that 50 000 servers

shipped in the next fiscal year. Bhoola

reveals that even with virtualisation gaining

momentum, the number of servers being

shipped does not seem to be decreasing and

looks poised to grow at 14 per cent in the

next fiscal year.

He explains that the enterprise space

accounts for the bulk of server consolidation,

while the SME space continues to experience

growth in server numbers being shipped.

According to Microsoft, the Internet and

email are the major drivers of server growth

in the SME space and will continue to be for

some time.

ANALYSIS: MICOSOFT

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Looking further aheadBY KAUNDA CHAMA

Microsoft looks at future trends.


Manoj Bhoola, Microsoft

“It is nothing new to say that the days when workerswere stuck at their desks are over, and companies large and small are looking for solutions to help themkeep up with the pace of development.” – ManojBhoola, Microsoft

A

“With 64-bit technology contributing to

the enhancement of virtualisation and

because solutions like Hyper V and the

new Exchange are dependent on it, there

will also be a lot of interest in the technology,”

says Bhoola.

Another trend he pointed out is integrated

collaboration, the most common example of

which would be unified communications,

which has become quite the buzzwords in

the corporate space.

A good number of local and international

corporations are considering or have

already deployed unified communications

solutions as a way of streamlining their

networks as well as to save costs on

external communications.

Management of server environments both

physical and virtual will be a focus area

going forward. “Large corporates, in future,

will run large boxes with anything up to 40

virtual servers in them,” he notes.

Another important factor that is and will

continue to be a catalyst in increasing server

sales is compliance with international

regulations. The likes of the King II

Report and Sarbanes-Oxley require that

corporates keep certain important informa-

tion for specific periods and have systems in

place in terms of disaster recovery and

backup, and storage.

In addition, Bhoola explains that security

will continue to be a growth area for

companies and distributors as well as resellers

who can earn good revenues by becoming

their end-user customers’ solution partners.

“Security is no longer what it used to be

because today’s threats demand that security

solutions are integrated and multi layered,”

he comments.

At the same event, Microsoft’s chief security

adviser Edward Gibson commented that

security trends have come full circle since

early 2000. He says the biggest security

threat within corporates remains the user and

they need to be a little more stringent with

their security policies.

“Microsoft does have a number of

security competencies that partners

can qualify for, but what we find is

that a lot of our partners are more

interested in selling our other value and

volume products rather than our security

products,” he comments.

He says that when it comes to the

business world security is not the

“sexiest” subject.

He, however, adds that corporate are

doing well in curbing security threats but they

still remain vulnerable to botnets from users.

“The biggest data leaks come from inside

the corporate,” notes Gibson.

He cites organised crime as a very big

threat to corporates as well as individuals

because the criminals work continually to

extort or obtain information from corporates

and individuals.

“Social networking comes with its own

unique threats and with broadband being

rolled out in SA at a fast pace, corporates

need to update their security policies and

procedures to be able to meet any potential

threats head on,” explains Gibson.

In addition, Bhoola says standards and

interoperability will be a big trend as different

vendors respond to end-users’ demand for

heterogeneous environments.

“A good example of this is the agreement

that Microsoft signed with Novell last year

which means that there is better integration

between Microsoft’s operating system and

Suse,” he notes.

Mobility has also come of age and

Bhoola comments that there is a lot of

scope for business in this space as compa-

nies continue to embrace the concept of the

mobile worker.

“It is nothing new to say that the days

when workers were stuck at their desks

are over, and companies large and small

are looking for solutions to help them

keep up with the pace of development,”

he comments.

High-performance computing is yet another

area that is seeing notable growth with many

companies embracing clustering and taking

their servers and maximising their capacities

and capabilities as if they were a single system.


ANALYSIS: MICOSOFT

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

“Social networking comes with its own unique threatsand with broadband being rolled out in SA at a fastpace, corporates need to update their security policiesand procedures to be able to meet any potential threatshead on.” – Edward Gibson, Microsoft

t this year’s Microsoft Partner Conference,

the company stressed the importance of

selecting the right partners for business

success. The software giant believes that

partner selection is a very important process,

adding that a company must ensure that its

views, vision, policy and goals are all shared

by its partners.

The company says that partners, if aligned

properly, can gain reasonable amounts of

revenue above and beyond just distributing and

reselling its software solutions. According to

Microsoft, for every rand spent on its technology

about R6.25 is spent on hardware, R1.25 on

services and R1.50 on software.

The company recognises the mammoth

task of skills development and retention

facing the country and has pledged to work

much closer with its partners in overcoming

this major challenge.

According to Mark Reynolds, the company’s

group manager of small business and

transactional partners, Microsoft has very

serious plans for regional expansion in

Africa. Some of the business areas that the

company sees as being good revenue gener-

ators for its business partners include Internet

Server Share, Virtualisation (Hyper-V), soft-

ware as a service/hosting as well as its Small

Business Server solution.

He adds that Microsoft Dynamics ERP

and CRM are seeing very impressive market

penetration and this is giving the vendor a lot

more reference sites.

On the voice-over-Internet protocol

side, Microsoft says it is looking to

migrate its voice-enabled customers to

Microsoft Exchange 2007 and get them

“fully VoIP” ready.

Microsoft says it is very committed to

continually improving the customers’

experience and will put a lot of focus on

ensuring that that its customers perceive

value as well as derive it from its solutions.

The company admits that licensing

remains an issue that needs urgent attention

as piracy levels are relatively high and

end-users need to be educated around legal

software issues.

The company’s Sandy Overtveld says the

company is more than ever focused on

improving the eco system between itself, its

partners and end-users.

“Our strategy involves looking at our

partners as well as end-users and identifying

what is pertinent to them, and then working

with them to develop three- to five-year

growth plans,” he explains.

The company is consciously bringing more

partner account managers on board as a

way of better servicing its channel partners.

These individuals will also be responsible

for ensuring that the company conducts

regular reviews with its partners either on a

quarterly or bi-annual basis depending on

the requirements of the software giant.

“A major part of this is obviously that we

want to align our objectives with that of our

partners as it is imperative that we are both

headed in the same direction with the same

vision and objectives,” says Overtveld.

He adds that because planning ahead is

important to Microsoft, it will remain

committed to supporting its partner network

through assistance in sales, support and

marketing initiatives.

“We are also looking at working very

closely with our partner channel to identify

where the skills gaps are in the sector and

also to see how we can work together to

address this issue,” notes Overtveld.

One important aspect that he stresses is

that Microsoft wants to ensure that not all its

partners grow in the same direction as it

wants them to focus on specialisation in

particular disciplines.

Hot specialisation areas include skills in

SQL Server, virtualisation and the manage-

ment of virtual environments.

“Our partner capacity planning priority

areas include systems management,

networking infrastructure, infrastructure

security, business intelligence, Windows

deployment, Microsoft Office deployment

and unified communications,” Overtveld says.

He adds that part of the vendor’s go-

to-market strategy is recognition of the fact

that customers buy solutions as opposed to

just products.

The vendor agrees that one of the major

principles for success will be aligning and

clearly mapping its partners’ businesses to its

solution areas and capabilities.

ANALYSIS: MICROSOFT

SOLUTION PROVIDERS


“We are also looking at working very closely with ourpartner channel to identify where the skills gaps are inthe sector and also to see how we can work together toaddress this issue.” – Sandy Overtveld, Microsoft

The importance ofpartner selectionBY KAUNDA CHAMA

Partnering with Microsoft.

A

ccounting software remains the core of any

business system and is always mission

critical. What has changed is that, in the

past, it was a defensive tool. Now it’s also

pro-active in that it helps you to manage

your business better.

This is according to Steven Cohen, MD,

Softline Pastel, who says that SMEs that

have used accounting software to improve

efficiencies now want to be more creative

about how they manage their businesses

and are moving towards add-on functionality

such as customer relationship management

(CRM), business intelligence (BI) and

mobile solutions.

“So, overall, accounting software is giving

companies more insight into their operations

than was possible before,” he remarks.

Jumana Helal, head, Microsoft Dynamics

business, Microsoft SA, says that companies

have a pressing need for partner support

they can trust and solutions they can use,

giving products with a familiar interface

and trusted brand equity a head start in

the marketplace.

“The financial and accounting software

arena is undergoing a major business and

technology overhaul and the market’s grow-

ing need to replace high-priced infrastruc-

ture with cost-effective, highly scalable tech-

nology is creating gaps for savvy channel

players to emerge as strategic technology

partners to business and to use their techno-

logical edge to seize market share and grow

profitability,” says Helal.

“Moreover, every company has a different

set of needs, one size most certainly does

not fit all and flexibility is a key factor in

ensuring that a company realises the full

potential of its financial software spend,”

Helal adds.

“Accounting software is vital to all busi-

nesses, particularly in a fast changing global

economy. With costs escalating almost

weekly it is now more important than ever

for decision-makers to keep an eye on their

businesses’ profitability,” says Malcolm

Granville, CEO, Accknowledge Systems.

Current trendsAccording to Cohen, the 2008 trend is that

vendors are pre-integrating vertical solutions

such as CRM and BI into their core

accounting product. He says they are also

integrating operational activity into account-

ing to make their product a more complete

business solution rather than only an

accounting solution.

“But the quality of the accounting core

has still to be preserved and SMEs, in

particular, will only go with a business

rather than an accounting solution if it is

easy to use and can be implemented

quickly and with minimum disruption to their

operations,” he says.

“More accounting applications are

offering Web support, allowing access to

business accounts remotely, a key feature for

decision-makers. Globally, as the trend

towards higher interest rates and slower

economic growth continues, customers

are tightening up on expenditure and this

could drive the ”software as a service”

model, and encourage more small businesses

to purchase accounting applications,”

Granville comments.

Helal says that ease of integration is a

key factor in adoption and potentially the

customer experience.

“We believe it’s extremely important for

the end-user to have the feeling of having

been there before, and know intuitively how

to navigate in their business software

applications. This provides real productivity

to the end-user,” he says.

What to look for When looking for a good accounting sys-

tem, Cohen says that users need to be sure

the systems they buy give them solid after-

sales service, good vertical products and

software development kits, particularly for the

integration of legacy systems.

“This is a trend that Pastel has seen esca-

late over the past two years. About a year

ago, the requirement for interoperability in

even the smallest of businesses became so

noticeable that Pastel embarked on a process

of building its own software development kit

(SDK) for its Pastel Evolution product.

ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE FEATURE


Ease of use drivesaccounting software boom

“Flexibility is a key factor in ensuring that a companyrealises the full potential of its financial softwarespend.” – Jumana Helal, Microsoft Dynamics business.

Are grey imports undermining channel legitimacy?

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

ABY DUDU SHABA

Also, your accountant and auditor should

know the package. There should be a solid

existing user base in the geography you

operate in, because that automatically

guarantees you easy access to support,”

Cohen says.

He goes on to say that users should make

sure that the software they end up with is

from an established developer with thou-

sands of customers.

“Pastel has 180 000 customers worldwide

and is the most popular accounting software

package among SMEs. Get referrals. Ask

your accountant’s opinion. Accountants work

with a variety of their clients’ accounting

packages and will have an accounting

package of their own. So their advice is

based on first-hand knowledge. 9 out of 10

accountants who recommend accounting

software to the SME market recommend

Pastel,” he says. In addition to that, he says

that customers should choose software that

does the basic accounting work as well as

have add-on modules for other business dis-

ciplines such as CRM and BI that will give

them deeper insights into their business and

its potential.

“Thereafter, stick to doing what you

do best, which is run your business. Don’t

try and be a hero and set up everything

yourself. That’s what value-added resellers

(VARs) are for, to save you time, money and

headaches. But do take the time to let your

VAR know what you need out of the system,”

he comments.

ERP and CRMAccording to Helal, the typical ERP applica-

tions in the market provide the same user

experience, whether you are in finance,


SOLUTION PROVIDERS


“Accounting software is giving companiesmore insight into their operations thanwas possible before.” – Steven Cohen,SoftlinePastel.

production, sales or are the CEO. Helal says

the next wave of financial and accounting

software identifies some 50 key roles in an

organisation and provides specific user

experiences to those roles.

“It’s still the same business processes and

the same data that you are going through,

but the way they are being presented to you

is different,” he explains.

Another key driver of usability and pro-

ductivity is the way new-generation financial

and accounting applications are linking

structured information from other business

applications like BI, CRM and ERP with

unstructured information in Word, Excel,

PowerPoint or even a voicemail. He says this

provides a complete overview of what infor-

mation is available in an organisation.

Helal has no doubt that the future of busi-

ness software lies largely in a Web-based

hosting model or software as a service,

which gives customers unprecedented flexi-

bility in the way they source, deploy and use

mission-critical business software. Depending

on their specific business and IT needs, cus-

tomers will be able to deploy accounting

software either as a traditional on-premise

solution, a Web-based on-demand solution

or as a flexible mix of on-premise software

and on-demand services.

According to Jeremy Waterman, MD,

Softline Accpac, the SaaS-based ERP is a

completely different animal. He says that ERP

is not typically a “vanilla” application and

“one size does not usually fit all”.

“Companies use these applications as a

means of differentiating themselves in the

market to build and develop competitive

advantage. SaaS-based ERP stands in direct

contradiction to this. By making use of this

centralised, hosted model, you essentially

forfeit this type of customisation and

tailoring. If you’re looking for something

more than this, the only real option available

to you is to use the hosted service in

conjunction with on-premise software – a

hybrid version that would seem to defeat the

object of hosting the application in the first

place,” he says.

While this often makes SaaS-based ERP

an inappropriate solution for larger

organisations, Waterman says that it still

holds appeal for the middle and lower ends

of the market where companies have more

standard requirements.

“In this type of situation, the cost and

operational benefits may outweigh the

customisation requirements. This is some-

thing we’re seeing more and more in the

local context, with smaller companies weighing

up the advantages of owning their own

bottom-end solution or choosing the

SaaS-based ERP model to take advantage of

tools that were previously the domain of

bigger market players,” he explains.

Waterman says the SaaS-based

applications are set to continue adding

value and allow smaller-sized companies to

operate like larger ones.

“While the model would seem the ideal

one for “vanilla” applications, ERPs are not

such applications As such, companies

weighing up the costs and benefits will find

themselves caught in the interminable debate

of customisation versus costs,” he says.

How can SMEs benefit?With an SME start-up failure rate of up to 80

per cent in SA, says Cohen, small businesses

need to do everything they can to avoid a

similar fate.

“The move to an automated accounting

system is a smart one. There’s an urgent

need to differentiate your business quickly,

relevantly and affordably. But to do that, you

need to spread your information base

beyond the admin office and on to the desk-

top of every employee.

Applications specific to disciplines other

than accounting –human resources, CRM, BI

and ERP - enable you to do that,” he says.

He adds that SMEs are beginning to

explore and gain comfort from the idea of

adding this functionality to their existing

accounting solutions.

“They’re also realising the benefits of pro-

viding this extended functionality in a familiar

environment that drives internal adoption

and reduces the time needed for training.


“Companies use these applications as a means ofdifferentiating themselves in the market to build anddevelop competitive advantage.” – JeremyWaterman, Softline Accpac.


SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Jeremy Waterman, Softline ACCPAC

For the first time users can be pro-active

exploiters of the available solutions. And as

the needs of their businesses change, they

can keep their own technology stacks up to

date through upgrades, add-ons and

modifications. A small amount of time spent

exploring the full potential of software

investments can pay dividends when SMEs

gain the ability to sculpt their own solutions

ultimately saving them time, money and

differentiating them in the market,”

he comments.

SkillsFor solution providers to be successful in this

space, Cohen says they need to be attractive

to their customers. “You need to understand

the flow of information through a business.

You also need to understand the features of

the software you’re selling. Only then can

you work out how to map those features to a

customer’s business requirements,” he says.

Granville comments. “Accknowledge Web

Accounting software resellers require basic

computer skills with accounting or book only

a few hours training users can be operational

in no time at all”.

Decent marginsGranville says that Accknowledge Systems’

dealers receive up to 50 per cent annuity

income on the retail price of the software

sold and can charge for service, training and

configuration. There is also the option for

dealers and accountants to brand the

accounting software as their own.

He adds that there are many revenue

opportunities in selling and installing

Accknowledge Web Accounting.

“Providing training and consulting, setting

up call centres and report writing are a few

areas where resellers can increase their rev-

enue,” he says.

“From a Pastel-specific point of view, we

enable our resellers to increase their margins

in direct proportion to their efforts. In other

words, as they increase sales and staff train-

ing, for instance, so their margins grow,”

Cohen comments.

Future Cohen says that accounting software will

continue to be mission critical.

“It will continue to expand from the purely

accounting domain into the operational

domain and I believe, the Web will become

the major delivery platform in the medium

term,” he says.

“Web-based accounting applications are

the future,” concludes Granville.

SOLUTION PROVIDERS


Applications specific to disciplines other than accounting–human resources, CRM, BI and ERP - enable you to dothat.” – Steven Cohen, MD, SoftlinePastel

ireless technology is no longer a business

luxury and has now become ubiquitous in

the market. It’s not just a boardroom wire-

less deployment anymore and employees

increasingly expect to have wireless access

across the board and enterprise wide. This

is according to Kevin Mitchell, Systems

Engineer for Enterprise, Wireless sector,

Cisco Systems. He stresses that new recruits

in the modern marketplace expect to have

wireless access to the network and the issue

has recruitment implications for companies

looking to attract and retain young talent.

TrendsWhile the network continues to be the back-

bone of any IT infrastructure, it is expanding

in scope due to the need to support an array

of next-generation applications such as data

and video applications that reach across the

divides between television, personal comput-

ers and mobile devices.

The trend towards the convergence of net-

work infrastructures has improved and

changed the way people communicate in

today’s enterprise environment. This is

according to Andy Robb, chief technology

officer at Duxbury Networking.

“In this new era, the network has gained

in sophistication and is able to carry Web

applications, data, voice and video, and

accommodate devices such as IP phones,

security cameras and bar-code readers.

“However, this level of openness has

placed increasing pressure on companies -

from small businesses to large corporates -

to control access to the network and

strengthen security to protect critical, sensitive

data,” he says.

Robb says organisations are realising the

necessity to secure their internal infrastruc-

tures against external threats. However, the

challenge is to achieve this without sacrific-

ing network performance.

What’s new As businesses scale, traditional wireless net-

work deployments become more complex,

more costly and less secure, users expect the

ability to roam between access points. Wynand

Moller, regional manager Western Cape,

D-Link Africa, says that new applications like

NETWORKING FEATURE


Wireless networkinghas become a prerequisite

BY DUDU SHABA

W

Wynand Moller,D-Link Africa

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

“Unlike traditional wireless networks, wireless switchingoffers a user-based approach to administration policy asopposed to policy tied to ports and, addresses.” –Wynand Moller, D-Link Africa

Business and homes need to be securely connected to networks.

Wi-Fi VoIP require the ability to roam seam-

lessly and securely.

“For example, wireless switches provide a

simple, centralised, iron-clad solution, with

management tools, policy enforcement and

built-in security. They make wireless LANs as

secure as their wired counterparts. With

today’s technology, you can overlay WLAN

switches without compromising the integrity

of the original wired infrastructure,” he says.

Unlike traditional wireless networks, Moller

says that wireless switching offers a user-based

approach to administration policy as opposed

to policy tied to ports and addresses.

“This puts the network administrator back

in charge, with a centralised console for

managing and troubleshooting any contin-

gency. Network administrators centrally con-

trol authentication and encryption, manage

VLAN groups, enforce roaming policies and

maintain tight control over Quality of Service

traffic. Each client is tracked by user identity,

rather than by port, device or approximate

location, making the environment more

secure and intruders much more visible.

Policies that govern who can do what and

where while roaming wirelessly can be easily

implemented. Centralised WLAN systems fol-

low users and know who they are, so it is

much easier to locate rogues when they

appear on the scene,” he says.

In terms of mobility, he comments that

users stay connected because Layer 2 and

Layer 3 switching on the wireless switch

allows them to move between access points,

VLANs and subnets.

Moller says that D-Link integrates

Microsoft NAP Technology into xStack

Switches, expands Green Ethernet line-up

and offers all-in-one Wireless and Wired

Smart Switch, providing the freedom to con-

nect virtually anywhere at anytime.

Robb says that the deployment of policy-

based, user-orientated solutions such as

Network Access Control (NAC) will enable

ease of use.

“NAC solutions monitor activity on the

network and collect data within the frame-

work of pre-defined rules. They use this data

to implement the appropriate access policies

for each user on the network, which is

enforced at strategic points throughout the

network,” he explains.

“This strategy stands in stark contrast to

traditional approaches which emphasised

the installation of firewalls and access control

lists inside the network,” he adds.

Against this background, Robb says it is

important for companies to embed security

into their networking infrastructure and not

allow it to form appendages that are vulner-

able to attack.

“Security information management tech-

nologies are available to correlate informa-

tion from numerous sources throughout the

organisation, forming a single picture of its

security posture.

These technologies must be leveraged to

provide a highly available, secure and appli-

cation-focused communications environment

that can deliver all of the converged services

necessary to support next-generation busi-

ness environments,” he comments.

Robb says that correlating network data

with security information yields a more accu-

rate picture of network and user activity and

provides greater forensic granularity for

investigating compliance violations.

Mitchell says current technologies largely in

pilot stages include Outdoor Wireless MESH

(WiMESH) in metropolitan areas that could

enable users broader connectivity. “From the

specific WiFi hotspots at coffee shops and air-

ports to bigger interconnected hot zones that

provide city-wide access from the office to the

pavement to the park to the home.

Indoor MESH in the office will also alleviate

the need for expensive and time-consuming

fibre optic cabling to each switch or access

point, providing blanket coverage without an

unwieldy cable infrastructure,” he says.

To address the lack of access to ICT

in rural communities and developing

countries, Mitchell says that technologies

such as WiMESH and WiMax are being

increasingly adopted.

“In the last year alone, we saw more of

these technologies being deployed as they

have matured to provide secure, reliable and


“In this new era, the network has gained in sophisticationand is able to carry Web applications, data, voice andvideo, and accommodate devices such as IP phones,security cameras and bar-code readers.” – Andy Robb,Duxbury Networking.

NETWORKING FEATURE

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Andy Robb, Duxbury Networking.

scalable communications for wireless data,

voice and video applications.

Cisco provides MESH solutions via the

Cisco Unified Wireless Solution using Aironet

1522 MESH access points, and can offer

WiMax solutions from its recent acquisition

of Navini Networks,” says Mitchell.

Broadband and consumers According to Moller, D-Link is fuelling broad-

band to consumers by developing and mar-

keting products that thrive on bandwidth.

He says that the new Draft 802.11n wire-

less technology improves bandwidth speeds

and coverage, while enabling next-genera-

tion Internet applications like VoIP.

“Small businesses that are considering

wireless to expand network coverage and

add connectivity and flexibility need to con-

sider new draft 802.11n wireless equipment.

Draft 802.11n products enable faster perfor-

mance and longer connectivity range. They

are perfectly suited to small organisations

needing a more robust wireless solution.

Draft 802.11n wireless solutions are much

faster than traditional 802.11g, 802.11b

and 802.11a equipment. Draft 802.11n

technology also expands coverage much fur-

ther than previous 802.11 technologies.

The implications for small businesses and

home offices are clear. VoIP telephony, large

file sharing and streaming, and numerous

other performance-dependent applications

are now much easier to maintain without

delays or network traffic hiccups,” he says.

Pierre Holtzhausen, channel manager,

Nology, comments that the ability to offer

multimedia products that truly enable the dig-

ital home will be a key differentiator.

“Ethernet over Power is an interesting

development and there are products that use

existing home electrical wiring to connect

computers or network devices in different

rooms or to share printers and files as well as

high-speed Internet connection.

Additionally, Ethernet over Power can be

used to expand a wireless network into a

dead zone, as wireless signals cannot pene-

trate thick walls or reach down to lower lev-

els,” he says.

ConvergenceAccording to Moller, organisations of all

kinds are taking advantage of IP network

convergence solutions to integrate applica-

tions, boost productivity, save on network

management and maintenance, and lower

the cost of communication. These new solu-

tions bring people together more efficiently to

connect with customers, solve problems and

make better decisions.

“IP convergence does not require rip-and-

replace modifications. Converged IP services,

software and equipment can be added as

necessary and infrastructure can be improved

incrementally. IP networks exist at most

organisations,” he says.

“Furthermore, there are now file

servers available that are optimised for

converged services.

In a nutshell, these servers allow USB stor-

age devices such as flash drive,

MP3 player, DSC, USB HD and USB CD-

ROM to be shared on your local network or

over the Internet,” comments Holtzhausen.

TrainingMoller says that D-Link is offering a course

that is designed to introduce, enhance and

maintain valuable skill sets that are required

in the IT industry. He says that the DCE train-

ing is a full two-day intensive training course

that encompasses the very basics of network-

ing, taking the student through a series of

simple modules right through to some very

advanced and interesting topics.

He says that focus areas include wireless,

switches, security and surveillance, and

entails theory as well as practical hands-on

sessions on the following:� Providing network professionals with the

knowledge to design and implement

end-to-end solutions.� Channel partners to greatly benefit

from course.� To achieve the highest level of technical

knowledge across a broad range of inter-

networking-related technologies.


NETWORKING FEATURE

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

“New company recruits in the modern marketplaceexpect to have wireless access to the network and theissue has recruitment implications for companies lookingto attract and retain young talent.” – Kevin Mitchell,Cisco Systems

Kevin Mitchell, Cisco Systems

“Delegates attending the two-day course

will be required to pass assessments to gain

certification. On successful completion of the

assessments, the delegates will receive a

unique D-Link Certified Engineer Certificate

with an authentication number,” he says.

Solution providers For solution providers to win customers,

he says it is advisable for them to offer

complete solutions.

“At Nology we provide our partners with

products, service and professional advice to

do just that,” he says.

Solution providers can also earn recurring

revenues by offering maintenance and man-

agement services such as patch updates and

security audits which provide a consistent

revenue stream to integrators.

In today’s competitive landscape, comput-

er resellers will have trouble differentiating

themselves from their opposition if they do

not add value to the products they sell.

This is the view of Andy Robb, chief tech-

nology officer, Duxbury Networking, who

says resellers who offer hardware at cut-rate

prices are simply not going to be successful

in a climate where margins are already tight.

“The low-margin, high-volume, low-touch

sales model has failed time and again,” says

Robb. “Hardware and many software prod-

ucts have become commodities that can be

easily bought online, allowing customers to

bypass the reseller completely.

“Resellers who understand market

dynamics realise that they need to offer

solutions that add tangible value to their

customers’ businesses.

“These resellers will invest in the skills nec-

essary to integrate diverse product sets and

sought-after security solutions which ‘future-

proof’ their customers’ current systems – at

the same time offering value for money.”

WAN OptimisationLooking at what will pioneer WAN optimisa-

tion in the market, Nelio DeFreaitas, techni-

cal authority, Riverbed, SA, says that the

WAN optimisation controller (WOC) market

is maturing rapidly, but remains dynamic with

a high level of innovation from vendors.

“Organisations looking to acquire WOC

capabilities should identify their specific needs

and conduct real-life trials before committing

to a purchase. Optimisation techniques for

WANs can improve most organisations’

application response times, particularly where

network latency is high, which is often due to

centralisation of servers and IT resources.

Typically, WOCs serve to prevent network

latency having a severe impact on the

performance of applications and underlying

protocols. Through data reduction and

prioritisation techniques, WOCs can also

help organisations to avoid costly bandwidth

upgrades,’ he says.

“This has led to different vendors offering

different combinations of features. So, before

choosing a vendor, ensure you understand

the applications and services running on

your network, and the protocols they use.

Also conduct a detailed analysis of your net-

work traffic to identify specific problems, for

example, excessive latency, bandwidth

oversubscription or lack of prioritisation for

certain types of traffic. Finally, insist on a

real-life trial before committing to any

purchase,” he explains.

Holtzhausen says ROI will drive WAN

optimisation adoption. “Organisations such

as Riverbed and Packeteer are leaders in the

WAN optimisation space. Riverbed’s WAN

optimisation solutions, for example, remove

repetitive traffic from WANs through data

streamlining,” he comments.

Holtzhausen says that the evolution of the

network in the enterprise, SME, SoHo and

home environment has been more evident.

“We are continuously seeing the emer-

gence of more data capturing devices that

not only improve networking and information

capture but offer a more price-sensitive

means to do so.

Also, with the increase in fuel prices we

have seen an increase in the number of

people working from home and more

companies need to be able to connect their

mobile and remote workers to the office

network securely,” he concludes.


“It’s no longer just about opportunities in the voice market, but

rather in the areas where we are able to marry data and security,

unified communications, and wireless solutions where the real

opportunities exist.” – Richard Menton, Bytes Communications

NETWORKING FEATURE

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

MOBILE AND WIRELESS FEATURE

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Businesses can continue to grow on the move.

BY DUDU SHABA

M

Mobile technology addresseseconomic challenges

obile and wireless communication is becom-

ing more important as we battle with a host

of challenges in the workplace, such as soar-

ing petrol costs. As a result of this, there are

huge opportunities for service providers in

the mobile and wireless business sector.

This is according to Christopher Riley, MD

and founder of laptop and accessories retail-

er, The Notebook Company.

Riley says that with petrol prices having

soared by 43 per cent so far this year, com-

panies are being hard-hit and are urging

staff to plan their diaries better.

“With the punitive petrol prices it is no

longer a case of just jumping in your car to

visit a customer, the costs are just too high.

More and more communication with cus-

tomers and staff is going to have to be mobile.

“There is no point in an employee who has

a meeting in, say, Pretoria, rushing back to

the office in Johannesburg. Besides the loss in

productivity due to travelling time, the actual

cost of this travel is becoming hair-raising and

is going to affect companies’’ bottom line

directly. This is one of the cardinal reasons

companies are going to have to look at arm-

ing key staff members with laptops which are

wirelessly connected. The initial cost of pro-

viding the technology will soon be offset

against overall cost savings,” he says.

But Riley says that it is not just the cost of

travel that should make companies rethink

their business strategies. “If a salesperson

arrives at a customer with a laptop which is

linked to their company’s system, they will

not only be able to do a client presentation

showing its latest products and services, but

they will also be able to effect a sale right

there, in real-time, if the customer is keen to

order something. This level of professional-

ism and of being ‘in touch’ with the company

will increase productivity and customer ser-

vice significantly,” he comments.

Cathleen Lester, product manager, HP

Retail, Axiz, says that in today’s society the

idea of a balanced life demands that we

think, plan, work and communicate on the

move. She says this will be more achievable

with mobile and wireless technology.

“In the workplace, mobile and wireless

solutions afford employees the opportunity to

log on to their organisation’s network

remotely while at a doctor’s appointment, for

“In today’s society the idea of a balanced life demands that

we think, plan, work and communicate on the move.” –

Cathleen Lester, Axiz

CathleenLester, Axiz

example, or at home waiting for peak-hour

traffic to pass. Users are able to do what is

possible and important through anytime-any-

where access to the Internet, corporate

intranet, e-mail and other important informa-

tion,” she says.

Yaron Assabi, CEO Digital Solutions Group,

says that mobile phone penetration has

reached more than 90 per cent in SA whereas

Internet penetration is at around 11 per cent.

“Although Internet penetration is low, the

growth seen in the past few years in con-

sumer connectivity is primarily due to mobile

Internet. There are also more subscribers

accessing the Internet from their mobile

phones or 3 G cards than fixed lines.

Therefore companies have to consider

mobile as the primary channel for interaction

with their customers.

The high market penetration and the fact

that the mobile channel is a personal always

on medium makes it a highly profiled and

extremely targeted channel. The fact that

communication via mobile and wireless is

instant and delivery is immediate makes

them very powerful, especially because

response and effectiveness can be mea-

sured,” he comments.

Trends Lester says the smartphone industry is boom-

ing worldwide. Consumers have discovered

the beauty of converged devices that not

only keep them connected, but also afford

them the luxury of a handheld computer that

manages their diary and enables them to

view and edit documents remotely. Lester

says notebooks are also in high demand

because they are a very affordable means of

ensuring you have timely information at your

fingertips, which is essential in today’s com-

petitive and dynamic markets.

“Consumers and entrepreneurs are clearly

demanding mobile and wireless devices, and

the winning tool in the market at the moment

is definitely the ultra low-cost notebook.

These entry-level products offer the channel

great margins in today’s economic climate,”

says Lester. With recent developments and

the trend towards a multi -play environment,

Assabi says that the mobile experience has

become more engaging and can be a rich

media experience.

“Mobile data services applications

abound and mobile network operators,

globally, have realised the data average rev-

enue per user (ARPU) will surpass voice

ARPU in the next few years.

Mobility is high on the chief information

officer’s agenda as an efficient means for

employees to communicate immediately.

Ideas and innovations surrounding new ways

of approaching mobility, taking security and

corporate infrastructure into account are a

primary concern. The trend towards unified

communications and mobile offices is

becoming mainstream,” he says.

SOLUTION PROVIDERS



“With the punitive petrol prices it is no longer a case of just

jumping in your car to visit a customer. More and more

communication with customers and staff is going to have to be

mobile.” – Christopher Riley, The Notebook Company

Rick Rogers, Alvarion

3G in notebooks Embedded wireless broadband (3G) capabil-

ities for laptops has been difficult for compa-

nies to justify but as the mobile worker

becomes more of a necessity this new-wave

technology is set to become imperative.

Christopher Riley, MD of laptop and

accessories retailer, The Notebook Company

(www.notebook.co.za), says it is still difficult

for companies to justify the higher upfront

purchase costs, added monthly costs and

asset protection, but new pricing plans and

technology evolution are going to change

attitudes.

“Pricing will come down and as compa-

nies realise the benefits of workers being in

touch anytime, anywhere, and provide 3G-

enabled laptops to those workers who they

believe will be able to add value to the com-

pany by being constantly in touch.

In addition, higher travelling costs due to

the petrol price, which has risen 43 per cent

so far this year, is compelling companies to

look at ways to save costs. If workers keep

driving to and from offices for meetings when

they can be working remotely, petrol costs

are going to spiral. So despite the costs of

kitting out staff with 3G laptops, overall costs

could come down and productivity could

also increase,” he comments.

WiMax an answer for AfricaRick Rogers, director, Alvarion, says Africa is

one of the most promising regions in the

world for WiMax. He says the lack of devel-

oped cable infrastructures is forcing the

search for the best alternatives, and trends

indicate that operators are choosing to use

wireless broadband rather than satellite con-

nectivity for cellular backhaul. “True comput-

ing mobility is not the pipe dream it used to be.

It has, in fact, for various business and environ-

mental reasons, become more of a necessity

than an option. Industry leaders are aggressive-

ly launching technologies which will give con-

sumers even more mobility and connectivity.

Alvarion is at the forefront of mobile computing

and WiMax, in particular, is one such technolo-

gy that will be a catalyst in the global market-

place as far as mobility is concerned,” he says.

He adds that the key challenge is to rapidly

meet the demand for broadband in Africa as

more people and governments realise that a

key means to bridging the digital divide is the

existence of readily available primary broad-

band connectivity. “WiMax is the obvious

choice, because it offers a very cost-effective

solution with fast deployment cycles, thereby

facilitating a super-fast response to the needs

of operators in different countries across the

continent. Furthermore, WiMax will bring

lower costs for both operators and end-users,

allowing new entrants to build attractive busi-

ness models to address both the residential

and business segments,” he says.

SecurityAccording to Lester, security is the lifeblood

of the ICT sector, therefore it is essential to

ensure that confidential data and unique

identities are protected.

“In addressing the high importance of this,

HP has installed multi-layered security solutions

and user-authentication devices across its

mobile and wireless ranges,” Lester comments.

Assabi agrees that wireless networks are

becoming more popular and a better

understanding of security has become

essential. He says that vulnerabilities in

wireless networks leave users open to the

following:� Session hijacking – where users are

interrupted in their online endeavours. � Eavesdropping – in the mobile sphere

where callers are overheard and conver-

sations meddled with. � Data manipulation – at some points

in the data capturing process as well as

afterwards, hackers have access to

important and confidential data allowing

them the opportunity to destroy relevant

and critical data. � Lack of privacy – due to the open

nature of mobile.

“Security is a concern but can be mitigat-

ed by using the right service provider, net-

work design, and customer and end-user

education,” says Assabi.

Staying abreast

Assabi believes it is essential for solution

providers to ensure that both their staff and

clients are aware of new trends and

advancements and at the same time offer

them tools and solutions that match

current trends.

“A company’s inward focus on knowledge

workers that are connected to their informa-

tion all the time can provide a huge

competitive advantage.

From a customer perspective, an

online strategy has to include a mobile

Internet experience and to ensure the

customers that access their site via

a mobile phone is the same rich experience

they have when accessing the website

from a PC.

Service providers need to consider that

developing application for mobile access

requires adaptation as mobile phones have

different size screens and operating systems.

Service providers have to look at mobile and

wireless communication as an essential part of

any solution,” he comments.

Lester emphasises that it is imperative for

resellers to leverage their strong distributor rela-

tionships to keep them up to date and on the

frontline of what’s new and upcoming.

“Axiz understands the importance of

this communication link and continuously

strives to bridge the information gap with its

resellers in the form of roadmap updates,

customer visits or vendor-driven technology

events,” she remarks.

Future Wireless technologies, Rogers says, will

continue to compete for wallet and air

space as its competitive landscape pushes

fringe mobile computing devices into the back-

ground. “Mobility is no longer an expensive,

top-level business tool, but something that is

accessible to the man in the street. As long as

consumers keep adopting mobile technology,

they will expect it to evolve,” he concludes.


“Mobile phone penetration has reached more than 90 percent in SA whereas Internet penetration is around 11 percent.” – Yaron Assabi, Digital Solutions Group.


SOLUTION PROVIDERS

...as gender discrimination is becoming less of a factor.

By Manda Banda

40 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • Woman in IT • AUGUST 2008

Women in IT: Michelle Kasselman, Iomega

OOvveerrccoommiinngg bbaarrrriieerrss ooff ssuucccceessss

“Gender and gender discrimination are becoming less of a factor in an

individual’s success in today’s business world,” says Michelle Kasselman,

key account manager at removable storage vendor Iomega.

Kasselman says although statistics still support the view that generally

senior management positions across all industries in SA are still the pre-

serve of males, this situation is changing rapidly with increasing numbers

of women occupying positions at all levels of management in varying

degrees of seniority and influence.

According to Kasselman, across the spectrum from politics and sport to

the IT industry and commerce, women are featuring more prominently

and achieving as much as their male counterparts. She says there isn’t a

thing a woman cannot accomplish if she puts her mind to it as most barri-

ers have been overcome.

“While the IT industry may have been dominated by males in the past, I

think this is changing very quickly and may not even be the case any-

more,” she says. “A useful indicator is that an increasing number of

women are making their presence felt on all levels and contributing signif-

icantly to the successful growth of the IT sector.”

Kasselman says she joined the IT industry by accident rather than

design as her childhood ambition was to be a choreographer. “In 2002

my husband and I moved from Witbank to Johannesburg and, frankly, my

attempt to be a stay-at-home mum drove my family crazy,” she recalls.

“My husband, who is in IT, introduced me to the industry where I started

working in the components reseller business.”

Kasselman says she has no regrets about developing her career in

the IT industry as it is the most innovative market sector, with

technology evolving at a rapid pace. She adds that keeping track of

new developments and the latest technologies make it a challenging and

stimulating environment in which to operate successfully and keep abreast

of the competition.

Kasselman says specifically relevant to Iomega and the space in which

the company operates – namely data storage and protection -the speed

at which technological development has accelerated over the past few

years has been nothing short of amazing. “Each year I anticipate that we

are going to reach a plateau in terms of storage capacity, but it just keeps

on growing,” she says. “From a couple of hundred megabytes a few years

ago, we are now delivering portable hard drives with terabytes of storage

and NAS systems with advanced features that would have been unimagin-

able in the not too distant past.”

After leaving high school, Kasselman started out as a photographer,

later moving into company administration and then into the retail sector,

where she owned several small businesses.

Having kick-started her IT career in the components reseller business,

she soon moved into the storage solutions distribution environment, where

she spent five years, progressing from internal and external sales into

product and retail management, finally becoming business unit manager.

“I’m a people person. I thrive on the challenges involved in establishing,

developing and maintaining business relationships that end in a win-win

situation for Iomega and its clients.”

She says women can compete on an equal footing without losing their

femininity, which can be turned to their advantage.

She adds that as women across the country celebrate Women’s Day, it

is vital for them to be themselves, be proud to be a woman and, above

all, believe in themselves and their abilities. �

“As women across the country celebrateWomen’s Day, it is vital for them to be

themselves, be proud to be a woman and,above all, believe in themselves and their

abilities.” – Michelle Kasselman,Iomega

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • Woman in IT • AUGUST 2008 • 41

IInnssppiirraatt iioonn ffrroomm wwiitthhiinnBy Kaunda Chama

Watching her husband working in the IT indus-

try in the ‘90s inspired Microsoft Dynamics’

Tracey Newman to work in the sector.

“I kept thinking that it seemed like an incred-

ibly dynamic sector to be operating in. When

an opportunity presented itself that placed me

slap-bang in the ‘IT fray’ I took it,” she says.

Newman explains: “I don’t think that I’ve

faced particular challenges as a woman in IT. I

think that I face the same challenges that

women in all sectors face: how to balance

work and home. How to be there for your

children in a really engaging way when you’re

working long hours and sometimes get home

just wanting to vegetate on the couch.

“Interestingly, I know a lot of men who face

exactly the same challenges so I’m not even

sure that the work/life balance issue is specific

to women.”

She says that some of the lessons she has

learned include always doing one’s homework.

“I was doing an MBA at the time I decided to

move into IT and this gave me an opportunity

to find out all I could about the industry before

I moved into it,” Newman says.

Regarding issues the industry still needs to

overcome, she says digital access is an issue

that plagues the African continent.

“How do we provide the people of this con-

tinent with access to technology as well as the

requisite skills, so that they can join the global

economy and improve their lives?

She says that Microsoft is intent on

helping people to realise their potential

through technology.

“This commitment takes a number of forms:

On the one hand, it speaks to employability

through the acquisition of 21st-century skills.

This means that we share government’s aims

of creating a thriving and integrated economy,

which draws on the creativity and skills that

our population can offer, creating meaningful

work for all to help eliminate poverty and

reduce unemployment.

She believes that the local software economy

is an important economic driver that has the

capability to deliver massive exportable innova-

tion and address unemployment. According to

her, the sector has done away with its issues

with gender equality.

When not being an IT professional,

Newman is a mother, a wife and a friend.

Newman’s vision for the future is one of a

prosperous, innovative and entrepreneurial

Africa that is able to help its children to realise

their dreams. �

LLaannddiinngg iinn IITT bbyy cchhaanncceeBy George Maseko

Heather Third, one of this year’s CRN top

women in IT says she joined the industry not by

design but by chance. She explains that a

major reason for her joining the sector was the

possibility of working for Microsoft.

“I was attracted to the strength of the

Microsoft brand and as a marketer, wanted to

know all the secrets behind the company’s

marketing machine. I was attracted to the

potential of what technology could offer and

the Microsoft catch line at the time– Where do

you want to go today? – summed it up for

me,” she explains.

When asked about her challenges as a

woman in IT, she says, the age-old challenge

of finding balance between family and career is

top of her list.

Other challenges she initially faced include

the fact that she did not hold a technical

degree and so to be in a position of product

manager for Microsoft Office meant she started

out having to understand bits and bytes from

the very beginning.

She adds that because the IT industry is all

about solving life issues with technology, it has

an amazing “can do” aura about it.

She advises that to stay ahead in this space,

one needs to take time to get perspective. One

has to make sure they stick with their personal

values and that they bring themselves to the

table every time they interact with their col-

leagues or customers.

According to her, Microsoft’s mission is to

enable people and businesses throughout the

world to realise their full potential, adding that

technology is a clear enabler of human poten-

tial, creativity, imagination and productivity.

“That’s especially true on a continent like

Africa where there is so much potential for

technology to help leapfrog historical chal-

lenges, to transform education, foster innova-

tion, and help create sustainable economic

growth, she says. Third comments that the

channel for the future may well not be the tra-

ditional channels we are used to. Partnerships

will be critical in solving the technological chal-

lenges, while stronger alliances are sure to see

new and different solutions evolve.

Regarding gender issues in the IT space,

Third says: “I don’t think there are any, however,

I can only speak from my own experience and I

have never seen it. Admittedly, I have been priv-

ileged to work in a progressive company like

Microsoft whose gender equality and diversity

outlook and policy is unquestionable.” �

Tracy Newman

Heather Third

Women in IT: Tracy Newman, Microsoft

Women in IT: Heather Third, Microsoft

succeeding against all odds.

By Manda Banda


Women in IT: Lorna Hardy, HP

SSttaayyiinngg ffooccuusseeddWhen Lorna Hardie was growing up, all she wanted to become was a

physiotherapist. However, she did not fulfil her childhood ambition as at

age 19, she decided to venture into the IT industry when she joined

her mother who ran her own business from home. “I joined her while

on a six-month sabbatical when I returned from the UK when I was 19,”

she recalls.

Hardie says it was this stint working with her mum that laid and gave

her a strong foundation and understanding in terms of the IT industry, as it

involved everything from building PCs to installing software and even

training customers. “I actually had plans to return to the UK and become

a physiotherapist but one year in IT and all of that changed. It is history

and I am still in IT and enjoying it.”

Although the local IT industry is largely dominated by males, Hardie

firmly believes both males and females have different experiences and

attributes that they bring to the table. She says the fact that more women

are becoming visible in the industry as leaders and drivers is a sign that

the benefits of communication are paying off. “I believe we all bring dif-

ferent perspectives to the industry and with each perspective comes an

opportunity to review and reflect on challenges that may have not been

obvious had we not had the opportunity to work together and that cannot

be defined by gender,” she says.

Aside from that, Hardie is delighted by the dynamism in the IT

industry, especially the ever-evolving landscape. She is particularly

pleased at seeing and experiencing the HP ProCurve brand adapt and

develop in line with what the industry and market truly needs to meet their

business objectives.

Prior to joining HP in her current role as ProCurve business unit

manager, Hardie gained tremendous experience and exposure to

IT as a whole when she joined Introstat in a sales role. A six-year

stint saw her honing her skills with POS International (division of Mustek)

where she moved from telesales to sales and ascended to the sales

manager position.

Hardie’s defining moment came in November 1999 when she joined

HP as a business developer for the English African, Imaging and Printing

division. “I moved on to work its channel organisation for several years

and finally took on the role of ProCurve Business Unit manager in June

2005,” she says.

Hardie says as the country celebrates Women’s Day it should pay trib-

ute to women who are working in IT and influencing others to join the

industry. It is vital that women continue to work hard, stay focused, always

consider their actions and remember that respect is something you earn

and is never something you can buy or demand.

She adds that mentorship programmes offer a sustainable means of

developing and encouraging young women entering the business world.

Hardie says HP is proactively driving graduate programmes to encourage

and develop graduates as it fosters real value and growth opportunities

for those who are new to the working world.

“Ladies, we are all fabulous and sometimes we need to just remind

ourselves of that fact,” she concludes. �

“Ladies, we are all fabulous and sometimes we need to just remind

ourselves of that fact.” – Lorna Hardie, HP ProCurve

Michelle Janse van Vuuren, GM: marketing at

Canon Consumer Imaging SA entered the

office automation industry when she joined

Panasonic in March 1992. After eight years

she moved to Canon SA, again in office

automation and photo/video.

She explains that one of her major chal-

lenges has been exceeding what management

believed was the proverbial glass ceiling for her.

“In terms of prejudice, I have not experi-

enced it and find it quite painful that women

are perceived to be treated unfairly and

provided with fewer opportunities due to their

gender,” says Janse van Vuuren.

She says that one of the lessons she has

learnt as a woman in IT is to remain true to

what she is. “Don’t try to be a man – be your-

self and don’t overcompensate. It might take

people a while but they will eventually get used

to the fact that you are a woman in a leader-

ship position,” explains Janse van Vuuren.

She adds that from a multinational perspec-

tive, women are treated equally, so in her

experience she has found that, for instance, if

there is any discrimination it is limited to smaller,

privately-owned organisations.

Janse van Vuuren notes that she has not

experienced discrimination based on her

gender in the IT industry in general, although

senior management in larger companies is still

male biased.

Regarding what the industry still needs to

overcome Janse van Vuuren comments: “In

tough economic times channel players will

have to differentiate themselves from the com-

petition. It is particularly second-tier partners

that face a troublesome time as there are so

many of them and only so much business.”

On what key issue her company is facing

she says: “Differentiation – what is your value

add as product alone is no longer good

enough. As a result, we are focusing heavily on

our brand and reputation to ensure that we

gain a competitive advantage.”

She says that when she is not busy running

Canon’s consumer imaging business, she

enjoys being a wife and mother.

Looking ahead, she says she would like to

establish Canon as the foremost input,

throughput and output solutions provider

enabled through the company’s strong focus

on research and development, and resultant

patented technologies. �

By Dudu Shaba

By George Maseko

Zelda Emmerick, product manager, Microsoft,

Axiz, has been nominated as one of the 20 top

women in the ICT industry by CRN. She says

she has always strived for professionalism and

excellence as well as to respect other people.

Emmerick’s career in the industry started with

SDD in 1999.

“When the company was liquidated in

2001, I was one of 13 staff to open ACT with

Anton Herbst. I worked at ACT until 2005

and then joined Axiz where I am the product

manager for Microsoft,” she says.

“IT is a very competitive environment and the

challenge for me is to stay focused and ahead

of the competition. My biggest realisation has

been not to measure myself against other peo-

ple’s achievements but to simply do my best.

“Anton always used to ask us about our

‘value proposition’ to the company and this, I

believe, holds true in many aspects of a per-

son’s life. If you are not adding value to your-

self and those around you, then what are you

actually achieving?” she comments.

Emmerick says that Women’s Day is about

women celebrating their independence, their

ability to have successful careers while being

moms, wives, friends and even students.

“Times have changed dramatically and

women are no longer expected to be submis-

sive. For the ICT industry to continue empower-

ing women, education and training should

remain key.

“It would be a welcome advancement if the

industry offered women study bursaries,

encouraged flexi-hours and mentorship pro-

grammes,” she says.

For her, Axiz is a great company to work for

when it comes to family. “Our CEO values fami-

ly time and encourages employees to keep a

balance in their life. I firmly believe a person has

to look after all four aspects of their life, physical,

mental, emotional and spiritual,” she says.

She goes on to say women bring skills such

as multitasking, empathy, understanding and

flexibility to the table. “I hope 2010 delivers on

all its promises, that the Gautrain is a success,

and that our national power crisis is resolved,”

Emmerick concludes. �


Women in IT: Zelda Emmerick, Axiz

Women in IT:Michelle Janse van Vuuren, Canon

RReemmaaiinniinngg ttrruuee

AAddddiinngg vvaalluuee ttoo ppeeooppll ee aarroouunndd yyoouu

Zelda Emmerick

Michelle Janse van Vuuren


By Dudu Shaba

Jane Thomson, MD, Softworx, has been nomi-

nated one of the top 20 women in the ICT

industry by CRN. She attributes this to her pas-

sion, commitment and enthusiasm.

Thomson started her IT career as a pro-

grammer for 3M, and then moved through the

ranks as an analyst and project manager

before she joined the management team.

She has held the posts of DP manager, IT

manager and divisional manager, and then

hopped the fence to the supply side. “Here I ran

the Baan consulting business for Q Data and

then started my own business as a partner. I then

joined Baan SA as it was undergoing a manage-

ment buyout and became Softworx in 1999.

“I am the only female board director at EOH

and run the Softworx division. We market, sell,

implement and support the Infor and Cognos

ranges of solutions in sub-Saharan Africa.”

As far as challenges are concerned,

Thomson says she has never been treated dif-

ferently as a woman, and doesn’t consider her

gender a challenge in the IT industry.

“I have grown from a technical person and

perfectionist who wanted to do everything

themselves to a manager who gets the best

from people. I believe in gathering the best

people as part of your team and keeping

them,” she comments.

This month, Thomson says she will celebrate

the fact that ICT is one of the sectors that

embraces the advancement of women and the

principles of non-discrimination.

One of Thomson’s wishes is that all children

should have an equal opportunity for a good

education. “I hope to see an end to squatter

camps, and that these shack dwellers are

moved to better living conditions. I also hope

to see crime levels normalise and our national

soccer team take the World Cup in 2010,”

she concludes. �

Women in IT:Jane Thomson, Softworx

By Dudu Shaba

Jorina van Rensburg, CEO, Condyn, has been

nominated one of the top 20 women in IT. Van

Rensburg says this is as a result of a combina-

tion of aspects such as passion, vision growth

and team support.

“Throughout my career, I have believed in

hard work, determination and getting the job

done. I am passionate about the industry, my

employees and clients,” she says.

Van Rensburg, who is CEO of Condyn, says

she has been a major player in the field of

information security for 15 years and has expe-

rience in the IT industry which includes hard-

ware, software, networks and security.

“As CEO, my tasks are varied. What I like is

that no day is the same as the previous one.

Between dealing with clients and employees,

negotiating contracts, providing vision and guid-

ance, and having fun, I have to ensure that all

the balls stay in the air and that we continue our

culture of service provision,” she comments.

Van Rensburg says her first challenge in the

IT industry was that she had no experience and

no idea what people were talking about when

they spoke about IT.

“I had to learn very quickly through friends,

speaking to experts, reading and so on,” she

explains. Nevertheless, she says that her entre-

preneurial nature surfaced and she decided to

establish a network company in 1995.

“Condyn has always been a company that

has been able to change in parallel with mar-

ket needs. After attaining success as a network

company, Condyn was converted into a

focused information security solutions company.

Today, it is a well-established organisation that

has a wealth of experience in networking and

information security,” she says.

Van Rensburg has learned many lessons

over the years through trial and error. The three

major lessons that she has learnt during this

period is that she has to listen to her inner

voice in the decision-making process, that busi-

ness is just business and to always persevere.

She believes that both male and female

counterparts are human beings with emotions,

and perceptions and generalisations are most

often defined by society.

“In my view, any person female or male

reacts differently to different things. But both

genders react in the same way in a family crisis.

Sometimes the male will be more level-headed

but both react emotionally. The bottom line is I

believe that we should stop judging people if we

do not know them and their circumstances. In

other words, stop putting people in boxes

because you might find that the predefined

generalisation was incorrect,” she says.

For everyone to have equal opportunities,

Van Rensburg suggests that people should stop

trying to find excuses for not reaching the top

of the corporate ladder. “People in general,

and not just women, should make a difference

due to passion, skill and knowledge. We

should grow within ourselves and do the best

we can within our own assessment and

definition of success,” she concludes. �

Women in IT: Jorina Van Rensburg, Condyn

EEmmbbrraacceedd bbyy tthhee IICCTT sseeccttoorr

EEvveerryyoonnee hhaass aa ddeeff iinnii tt iioonn ooff ssuucccceessss

Jane Thomson

Jane Thomson

The force that has made World Computer Systems’ (WCS) export division

grow in the SADC region is evident when you see and chat to Inocencia

Mojane, export sales and assistant sales manager at WCS.

Mojane has single-handedly built WCS’ export division from scratch

and propelled it into a force to be reckoned with in the IT distribution

space. The company continues to enjoy favour from solution providers

across the borders of SA in countries, including Angola, Mozambique,

Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Swaziland, Botswana and the DRC.

Since starting out in IT in 2003, Mojane’s passion for the industry has

grown from strength to strength.

Given that she got involved in IT by chance, Mojane’s first introduction

to the industry came five years ago when she landed a job at OEM

assembler Sahara Computers. “I always wanted to pursue law when I was

growing up,” she recalls. “I wanted to specialise in mercantile law.”

Having started out as a clerk at Sahara in 2003, Mojane says her

diploma in computers put her in good stead and it didn’t take long before

she was offered a position in sales. “I have not regretted my decision to

pursue and develop a career in the IT industry.

In 2006, Mojane joined WCS and was straight away tasked with

setting up the company’s export division. “Initially, it was a bit of a

challenge as customers across the border can be demanding,” she says.

Being multi-lingual has helped her a lot in her current role as she

speaks English, Portuguese and a few indigenous African languages.

Mojane adds that the fact that she has the right attitude towards her job

and clients has really helped her to develop and grow the export division.

“What I love about my job is that I have direct contact with my clients,”

she says.

Although she is delighted to be among the Women in IT that have

been honoured by CRN, she strongly believes that having a good state or

public education system and foundation from which all will benefit will go

a long way in aiding particularly girls to choose careers in industries that

are still dominated by men. “Nothing beats the power of knowledge and

being knowledgeable,” she says.

While Mojane has not experienced any form of discrimination in the IT

industry because she is a woman, she says the best way to excel in what-

ever women do is to learn and keep abreast of what is happening. “There

is no job that is a male-only domain and women around the world can

achieve anything in the workplace if they have the right attitude and are

always optimistic,” she says.

A self-confessed religious person, Mojane likes to spend most of her

time away from the IT selling business with her family.

Looking ahead, Mojane would like to continue growing WCS’ business

and see peaceful co-existence between the company and the entire

dealer channel. �

Right attitude leads to success.

PPaassssiioonn ffoorr IITTBy Manda Banda


Women in IT: Inocencia Mojane, WCS

“There is no job that is a male onlydomain and women around the world canachieve anything in the workplace if they

have the right attitude and are alwaysoptimistic.” – Inocencia Mojane, WCS

Making the mark.

FFrroomm aauuddiittoorr ttoo IITT ssoolluuttiioonnss sseelllliinnggBy Manda Banda


Women in IT: Loraine Vorster, CompTIA

Trained as an internal auditor, Loraine Vorster, regional director at

CompTIA says she stumbled upon the IT industry and ended up in several

sales and marketing positions after completing her first two years in an

accounting role.

“I started my career in the IT Industry 18 years ago working for TDF

Associates as a PR officer and remained in the IT industry in various roles

working with both corporates and training providers as clients,” she says.

She points out that she has always been passionate about equality for

women in the workplace.

“I believe it is easier for women to make their mark in the IT industry

than many others that are traditionally male and might remain so for a

while yet. The one challenge I still find annoying is women being paid a

lower salary than their male counterparts. Most women I meet still fulfil all

the traditional roles at home and have a demanding job as well. It is

extremely difficult to juggle all these responsibilities,” comments Vorster.

She explains that women are emotional and tend to manage that way.

In her opinion, men tend to me more practical. “As a woman in a senior

management position, I had to learn not to react emotionally, survive

company politics and have the company’s best interests at heart as well

as those of my staff. Never be afraid to stand up for what you believe in,

even if you are the only one standing,” she adds.

Looking at the IT industry as a whole, Vorster comments that despite

many projects and efforts from major companies the sector is still facing a

skills shortage.

“CompTIA members are struggling to retain good staff and source new

staff. The association is working on several industry partnerships to find

sustainable solutions,” she says.

As an industry association, CompTIA exists to serve the IT industry; its

members attend various forums which provide a neutral platform for them

to raise their issues and concerns.

“CompTIA then assists to find solutions to those issues and concerns.

We are concerned about the skills shortage and believe the solution lies

at school level, where we are focusing our resources at the moment.

CompTIA provides a valuable link between industry and the academic

environment,” Vorster explains.

She believes that the industry should be doing more, faster, to bring ICT

to all people across Africa. “We still meet young people every day who

have never worked on a PC, who have never been on the Internet. Can

you imagine your life without it? There are several great projects that have

made progress towards solving this problem,” she explains.

Vorster still sees certain IT jobs being filled by women and some by

men. “Although I believe we have come a long way in the past 14 years

with our government setting an excellent example for us, we still have

work to do. Women must not be scared to apply for jobs they are interest-

ed in, even if that job has traditionally been male oriented,” she explains.

When she is not staking her claim in the IT world, she is mother to two

teenage boys. “I love nurturing their interests, which currently include

skateboarding, PC gaming and heavy metal music.

“I enjoy reading and can spend hours in bookshops, particularly looking

for books on self-improvement and motivational topics. I have also

always had some crafty hobby and for the past few years have been an

avid scrapbooker.

As for the future, Vorster has hopes for a crime-free SA; a country

where race and culture is not an issue, and where children will have

access to the best education to enable them to build a future. �

“Although I believe we have come a long way in the past 14 years with our

government setting an excellent examplefor us, we still have work to do.” –

Loraine Vorster, CompTIA

By Stanley Chishala

It is not common for someone to trade in their

love for nature conservation for the ever-evolv-

ing and fast-paced IT industry. But for Corlette

Wessels, retail branch manager at local distrib-

utor Comztek, IT proved more appealing than

preserving nature so in 1991 with no formal

knowledge of what IT was, she kick-started her

career in the sector.

“I knew absolutely nothing about IT 17 years

ago as I always wanted to go into nature con-

servation,” she says. Everything changed when

she met the man who became her husband as

it was then that nature conservation took a

back seat.

Wessels says for now, the closest she is to

fulfilling her childhood dream is that she lives

on a game farm north of Johannesburg and

enjoys nature at its best.

She says although the IT industry has

opened up a lot of avenues for her, it can be

challenging at times but she is delighted that

the market has changed a lot and women in

leading roles have become more acceptable.

Wessels joined the IT industry in 1991 start-

ing as a receptionist at TSD the then trading

arm of Acer Africa. After a year at TSD, Wessels

joined software specialist distributor Workgroup

in its retail business unit and has loved being in

retail ever since.

Wessels is particularly thrilled by the retail

business as it is not only fast moving and

changes frequently from marketing to stock

deadlines but is also the fastest-growing sector

in the local IT industry.

Having had the opportunity to work for TSD,

Vantage Distribution, Hensta Structured

Cabling, Workgroup and now Comztek,

Wessels says the biggest lesson she has learnt

is to leave emotions out of business. “Women

shouldn’t be intimidated even if the boardroom

table is full of men,” she says. “Women in SA

and elsewhere on the globe need to believe in

themselves and their capabilities, and be pro-

fessional at all times.”

Wessels points out that there should be more

mentorship programmes to assist women enter-

ing male-dominated industries. She emphasises

that this is especially necessary with young

women. “It is important to ensure that local

companies do not just adhere to black empow-

erment but also encourage women to join

industries that are male dominated and assist

them to be successful,” she concludes. �


Women in IT: Corlette Wessels, Comztek

CChheerr iisshhiinngg tthhee IITT cchhaall ll eennggeeBy Manda Banda

Candice Gouws, internal sales and call centre

manager at Comztek, is aware that to be suc-

cessful in the cut-throat solutions selling game,

one has to always stay a step ahead of the

competition. It is precisely this that has kept

Gouws going since 1988, when she started out

as sales assistant to eight account managers

for an IT solution provider company.

Today, as the internal sales and call centre

manager at specialist networking solutions dis-

tributor Comztek, Gouws is in charge of a

team of 15 people in three different areas. The

areas include the call centre/inbound telesales,

Gauteng telesales and telesales into the rest

of Africa.

Gouws explains that the competitive nature

of this industry is what excites her the most and

keeps her going. “The challenge of selling

products that are similar to those of your com-

petitors and still being able to make a profit is

what I cherish most about IT,” she says. “The

adage ‘you snooze you lose’ is certainly the

norm in the IT industry.” Gouws says although,

historically, men have dominated the technical

position in IT and other related industries, while

women have tended to lead on the sales side

of the business, she enjoys the challenge of

being in an industry that has more men than

women. “I love the challenge and I am not

intimidated by the men,” she says. “Women

are feistier than men and go for every opportu-

nity to be at the top of their game.

Having started out in 1988 after completing

her studies, Gouws’ first job saw her working

as a sales assistant at an IT reseller in Pretoria,

something which was totally different to her

childhood dream.

As a young girl, Gouws’ ambition was to

set-up her own secretarial school to train

women to be successful contributors in the

workplace because back in those days, women

were perceived as homemakers who stayed at

home and looked after the children. “Ambition

was something most women could not even

discuss,” she recalls.

From the time she started out at a reseller

company in Pretoria, Gouws has had an

opportunity to work in the IT distribution sector,

first with LAN Design in 1994, which was

acquired by Comztek at the start of the new

millennium. During that time, Gouws held sev-

eral positions from telesales, account manager,

telesales supervisor and call centre manager.

Take a Girl Child to Work programme has

been very successful in shedding light on all the

other possibilities available to young girls in the

job market,” she concludes. �

Women in IT: Candice Gouws, Comztek

Candice Gouws, Comztek

Corlette Wessels, Comztek

FFrroomm nnaattuurree ccoonnsseerrvvaatt iioonn ttoo IITT

oommiinngg bbaarrrrii eerrss ooff ssuuBy Manda Banda

Woman in IT: Michelle Kasselman, Iomega

oommiinngg bbaarrrrii eerrss ooff ssuuBy Manda Banda

Woman in IT: Michelle Kasselman, Iomega

OOnnee sstteepp aahheeaaddBy Manda Banda

Linda Balfour, HR manager at PC powerhouse

Lenovo SA, is a firm believer a challenge or

challenges in the work environment are only a

challenge if one chooses to look at their work

surroundings that way.

Having started her career as an IT recruit-

ment consultant, Balfour says the industry has

always been open to women. She says the

nature of the IT industry is influenced by the

constant change needed to stay ahead of

the competition.

Locally, Balfour says the change has seen

more and more women join the IT industry

serving in key and influential roles. “One of the

changes that has been well embraced is the

fact that more women are cutting their teeth in

IT, an industry widely believed to be a domain

for males,” she says. “This is an indication that

women are taking it on themselves to dispel the

myth that IT is only for males.”

Balfour says the IT industry is not as scary as

it sounds when you are sitting with men and

they are talking about gigs and megabytes. She

explains that these are common words that

only feel strange to a layman. According to

Balfour, once you are in the IT industry, most

technology terminology becomes part of your

vocabulary. “In my opinion, IT is definitely not a

male-only industry. There are a lot of women

who are making their mark in the industry and

climbing the corporate ladder to the top,” she

says. “Women need to gear up and take the

male folk head-on.”

Having kick-started her career as an IT recruit-

ment consultant, Balfour’s childhood ambition

was to become a graphic designer. She could

not fulfil her childhood ambition and opted to

pursue a career in the call centre industry.

Balfour’s first break was at PLP, a call centre

company where she worked as a call centre

supervisor a few years ago. She later moved to

join recruitment agency Kelly as an account

executive. It was during her stint at Kelly

Recruitment that Balfour was first exposed to

mainstream IT. After leaving Kelly earlier this

year, Balfour landed her current job as HR

manager at PC-maker Lenovo SA where she is

in charge of recruiting and handling all HR

functions for the China-headquartered multina-

tional PC vendor.

Balfour is a supporter of the Take a Girl Child

to Work campaign as she believes that such ini-

tiatives open young career seekers’ minds.

However, she says that barriers are being broken

by those women currently making a difference

and contributing positively to the IT industry.

“Being involved at Lenovo at a senior HR level,

I strongly believe that gender is not a factor

when it comes to performance,” she notes. �


Women in IT: Linda Balfour

By Dudu Shaba

Phumeza Bham has been nominated one of

the 20 top women in the ICT industry by CRN.

She attributes this to her family background of

entrepreneurs and political activists. Against

this background, Bham says she has become

passionate about creating a level playing field

for Africans to participate in the local and glob-

al economy, which is a vision she would like to

see realised in her lifetime.

“My current position as HR manager at SAP

Africa has provided me with a tremendous

opportunity to give effect to world-class human

resource practices and development in a sub-

sidiary of the world’s leading provider of busi-

ness software.

The company’s drive to employ the best

people in the software industry as well as its

rich diversity and cultural wealth are some of its

greatest assets which resonate perfectly with my

personal goals. I would attribute these as being

the primary reasons for being nominated one

of the top 20 women in the ICT industry by

CRN,” she comments.

Bham’s past experience in senior manage-

ment positions at ABSA and Ernst & Young

have provided her with an appreciation of the

value IT brings to a developing economy such

as ours. In addition, she has been exposed to

the limitless benefits that IT brought to the mis-

sion-critical operations of the businesses she

worked in.

For Bham the month of August means cel-

ebrating the achievements of the women of SA.

“This is the month when we come together

to advance women’s struggles for empower-

ment and our rights to full equality as

enshrined in the Constitution. During August

we commemorate and re-emphasise the

important role of women in the transformation

of the country into a democracy,” she says.

Bham says that organisations have a huge

opportunity to exploit the competitive

advantage that gender diversity can give them.

“Having women in leadership brings a com-

pletely different dimension to leadership, one

that is far more embracing,” she comments.

Looking ahead, Bham says she would like to

leave a legacy which highlights her role as an

enabler in creating a supportive environment

for employees, where the voice of the employ-

ee is heard, and where her interventions

enabled the leadership of the organisation to

lead through change.

“I would like to be remembered as a catalyst

of transformation,” she concludes. �

Women in IT: Phumeza Bham, SAP

Linda Balfour

Phumeza Bham, SAP

WWoommeenn eemmppoowweerrnnmmeenntt iiss iimmppeerraattiivvee


By George Maseko

Magda Engelbrecht, country manager of

Nortel, joined the IT industry working for an

end-user company where she managed the

company’s conversion of its accounting system

to MCBA.

“This gave me, at an early stage, exposure

to the challenges and frustrations customers

face in implementing new systems. I think it is

beneficial for a supplier to have worked as an

end-user to understand the challenges their

customers face.”

She notes that one of the main challenges of

her career has been balancing work and family

life. She says although work is important, life

outside work is equally important.

“The lesson I have learnt is that if these two

aspects of your life are not balanced properly,

there will be a downside. My vision for the

future is firstly to maintain a work/home bal-

ance and to ensure that Nortel provides the

same solutions to customers in sub-Sahara

Africa as it does globally,” explains

Engelbrecht. She also intends using what she

has learnt and her experience by giving back to

the industry in terms of mentoring staff and

growing Nortel.

Looking at Nortel, she says: “The brain drain

is a problem. It is severe and is affecting both

suppliers and customers. Customers are losing

good people which is impacting on their busi-

nesses. Good trained people are leaving SA for

more secure environments overseas where

there is no crime, and where there is political

stability and career opportunities.”

She comments that one way of getting

around this is to stabilise the country and get

rid of crime.

“The biggest challenge for the channel is our

economic climate. Channel players are not

seeing the so-called big government projects.

There are fewer projects than were expected.

There also appears to be less overseas invest-

ment in projects, possibly because of the uncer-

tain political environment and crime,” explains

Engelbrecht. She stresses that there is no gen-

der inequality in the ICT industry. “Any woman

who is prepared to work hard, has an aptitude

for ICT and is able to handle a stressful envi-

ronment will do well. There are many women

who make it in this industry, but you need to be

mentally tough,” Engelbrecht concludes. �

Women in IT: Magda Engelbrecht, Nortel

BBee ll ii eevviinngg iinn yyoouurrssee ll ffBy Kaunda Chama

Voula Philippides, managing member of soft-

ware distribution company Edutain says she got

into the industry purely by chance after her first

job in a data processing department.

“That job eventually prompted me to study IT

and move into programming, but in actual fact I

did not enjoy it as much as marketing IT,” she says.

When asked what she sees as the major

challenges faced by women in IT, Philippides

says the one that comes to mind is working

with a lot of men who think women are not

mechanically and technically minded.

“Competing in an excessively competitive mar-

ketplace with technologies and margins forever

changing mean you have to go to extreme lengths

to keep up and stay in the game,” she notes.

Regarding lessons she has learned that

women wanting to get into the industry can

benefit from, she says persistence coupled with

extreme drive, and continuous self-renewal will

keep them on the bleeding edge of the industry.

“One of the major issues the industry still

needs to overcome is that resellers need to

incorporate good business practices into their

marketing plans. The shortage of good skills

coupled with the unmet broadband needs of

being more ubiquitous and affordable are also

big issues,” explains Philippides.

Looking at Edutain specifically, she says that

broadband is a huge issue as high-power

applications like video broadcasting are still too

expensive and sluggish to broadcast in reason-

able quality and size.

Philippides adds that the current economic

slowdown is a stumbling block for retailers and

the channel, and ICT sector as a whole.

She further says that gender equality in the IT

space is slightly better now than it was in the

past decade.

“When I am not being an IT professional, I

am happiest when I am in motion; anything

from travelling to working out in the gym. I also

spend some quality time with family and friends

in between,” says Philippides.

Looking ahead, she says: “I have a vision

that communications will be revolutionised and

everything will be in video format and virtual

reality, making it so much easier to generate

material, paint pictures and send messages.

Robotics is also making huge advancements

and I am really looking forward to getting my

very first personal assistant robot in the not too

distant future.” �

Women in IT: Voula Philippides, Edutain

Voula Philippides

Magda Engelbrecht

CChhaall ll eennggiinngg tthhee uunncchhaall ll eennggeedd

RReeaacchhiinngg nneeww ffrroonntt ii eerrssBy Manda Banda

If ever anyone needed proof that survival in

today’s workplace is about people who are

multiskilled and can multitask, then Cheslynne

Britz, GM at local distribution powerhouse

Rectron would be it.

Having studied travel and tourism, Britz

realised soon after her tertiary studies that no

employer was willing to give her a chance in

the field of her qualification. “I tried to get a

job in the travel industry but did not succeed as

every potential employer wanted someone with

experience,” she recalls.

Although she could not fulfil her childhood

ambition of becoming a chef, she does not

have any regrets about carving a niche for her-

self in the IT industry. “To be honest, a career in

the IT industry wasn’t something I wanted to

pursue, as all I wanted to be when I was a kid

was a chef,” she says.

Fortunately for Britz, she came across an

advert in the local newspaper advertising a job

for a young dynamic individual for a local IT

distribution company. “At that stage I only knew

how to turn on a PC but I thought I should give

it a try and I have never looked back,” she says.

Britz got her break in the IT industry at the

age of 19 when Rectron hired her in the posi-

tion of PA and has been with the distribution

powerhouse for eight years. “I have only

worked for Rectron and through the years have

worked my way up to where I am today,” she

says. “Through that time, I have held many

positions moving from PA, sales executive, sales

manager, product manager, business manager

and now I am the GM for Rectron.”

Britz believes a woman can do anything or

be anything she wants to be. Because the IT

industry is dominated by males does not mean

one doesn’t have the chance of succeeding

and going beyond.

Britz says she finds it more challenging to work

in an environment dominated by women because

more women are putting themselves in line for

positions they never would have in the past.

Britz says as women from all walks of life in

SA celebrate Women’s Month, it is vital for

them to look after themselves and know that

they have a voice and, most importantly, that

they can achieve anything they want with the

right attitude, drive and charisma. “Remember

that nothing is out of your reach if you put your

mind to it,” she concludes. �


Women in IT: Cheslynne Britz, Rectron

By Kaunda Chama

Ingram Micro’s Nicola Homewood started in

the IT industry as a receptionist for a

company that rented out office space to start-

up businesses.

“At the time Storgate Cape Town was renting

offices from us. When Storgate moved into its

own offices, I was approached by the branch

manager and asked to join them. That was 11

years ago,” she says.

She comments that one of the major chal-

lenges she has faced as a woman in IT is the

assumption that because one is female they

know less than their male colleagues.

Another, she says is keeping ahead of tech-

nology and new products.

When asked about some of the lessons she

has learned in the industry, Homewood says:

“One has to have a positive outlook, be

assertive and look for new challenges. The IT

industry is always changing, so one should be

adaptable and open to new opportunities to

stay ahead of the game.”

Regarding the issues that she thinks the

industry still needs to overcome; Homewood

says the skills shortage is definitely top of mind

adding that another is the opening of more

management opportunities for women.

“As Ingram Micro South Africa is one of the new

kids on the block, we need to prove ourselves to

our customers and competitors,” she says.

Regarding pressing channel and ICT issues,

she notes that the volatile exchange rate and

margins are putting a lot of pressure on com-

panies that are struggling to stay afloat.

She admits that the IT space still has issues

with gender equality, and explains that in her

opinion, the situation is not unique to the sector.

When she is not busy being an IT profession-

al, she spends time with friends and family,

reads, shops, gardens, takes walks, gets cre-

ative in the kitchen, goes to the theatre and

attends talks on self-improvement.

Looking to the future, she would like to see

more young girls getting involved in ICT from

primary school level, thereby sparking an inter-

est in the very exciting industry.

She would also like to see more awards that

recognise women’s achievements and the

equality gap being bridged. �

Women in IT: Nicola Homewood, Ingram Micro

Cheslynne Britz

Nicola Homewood

MMoorree wwoommeenn iinn IITTnneeeeddeedd


PARTING: SHOTS

Company: Polycom

Position: Regional sales manager, Polycom business in

Israel, Greece and southern Africa

Age: 37

Best personal achivement: My two young daughters

Management style: Open door, results driven

Most admired company: Logitech

Most admired executives: Yitzhak Tshuva

Best IT product: The DSP

Most pressing local business issues: Bandwidth

Key to success: Analyse the situation from as many angles as

possible, learn from other people’s mistakes and your own

Favourite car: My first VW Golf

Your car: Mazda 6

Favourite authors: Dan Brown and Harlan Coben

Where do you live: Ramat-Gan, Israel

Birthplace: Jerusalem Israel

Hobbies/sports: Movies, tennis, football and golf

Favourite periodicals: Globes IT Popular Science (Israeli), IT

Magazine and Home Theatre/Stereo Equipment

Pet hates: People that are not open to change

DILBERT www.dilbert.com by Scott Adams

Snapshot

DanEngel

computer reseller news aug 08

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