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SME GUIDE 2011TECHSMART MAGAZINE

w w w . t e c h s m a r t . c o . z a

® smart

August 2011 1st edition

The IT future:What SMEs must know


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SME GUIDE 2011TECHSMART MAGAZINE

w w w . t e c h s m a r t . c o . z a

August 2011 | 1st edition

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Rolling out all the latest tech news,reviews and interviews.

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CONTENTS

7 Hardware

17 Sotware

27 Communications

3

Find your answers here There seems to be such a lot happening in the world o tech, that even here in the TechSmartofce, we find it very difcult to keep track. For companies, these ast-paced changes, themajority brought about by speedy broadband access, are extremely difcult to navigate. Theproblem is, o course, that a wrong decision now can severely influence business in uture. Forexample, a question that rings in many companies’ boardroom is whether it’s wise to move to thecloud, or simply stick with legacy equipment?

This is the first edition o TechSmart’s SME Guide and we hope that in these pages you’ll be ableto find answers to some o your big IT questions. We’ve covered issues relating to hardware,sotware and o course telecommunications, with leaders rom Telkom, HP, Internet Solutions andDimension Data piecing together a clear understanding o what the uture might hold or SMEs.

Hope you find what you are looking or inside,Mike Joubert ([email protected])

9 Interview: Manoj Bhoola, HP SA11 HP’s “Just Right IT” portolio or

small businesses12 Netshield SA company profile13 New Lenovo X1 thin-and-light15 ASUS Eee Pad Transormer16 Win a UPS with Eaton

18 Interview: Bradley Bunch,Dimension Data

20 Dimension Data PartnerProgramme

23 Kaspersky: Arica is a growingcybercrime hub

24 Symantec launches NortonMobile Security

25 ShadowProtect 4 Server/ Smallbusiness Server sotware

25 New VMware vSphere Storage Appliance

28 Interview: Dr Brian Armstrong, Telkom

31 XDSL’s new uture-proo datacentre now open or business

32 Interview: Hillel Shrock, InternetSolutions

FROM THE EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Editor TechSmart & TechSmart.co.zaMike Joubert > [email protected]

Business managerGeorge [email protected] media managerSuzanne Rall

[email protected] ManagerChantell Nell-Marais > [email protected]

Advertising (Agencies)Carmel Ann Singh > [email protected] Brett WilsonAccounts & subscriptionsRonel Keet > [email protected]

DistributionRenier van Vuuren > 073-166-1515

[email protected]

Copyright © 2011. All rights reserved. No material,

text or photographs may be reproduced, copied or in any other way transmitted without the writtenconsent of the publisher. Opinions expressed arenot necessarily those of the publisher or of theeditor. We recognise all trademarks and logos asthe sole property of their respective owners.TechSmart shall not be liable for any errors or for any actions in reliance thereon. All prices werecorrect at time of going to print.

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7

Iaas is still an emergingmodel, but is likely to

become a popular option for SMEs within thenext five years.

Falling prices bring big-business techwithin reach or SMEs

H ARDWARE

T

rends around the world point towards small businesses investing in servers and storage at an

earlier point in their development than they used to in the past. One reason or this is the explosion in the amount o data they manage and their growing dependence on resource-hungryapplications.

IDC research on 2011 SME IT spending indicates that where small businesses used to buytheir first servers when they hit 50 employees, they are now doing so with as little as ten peopleon the payroll.

Luckily, buying the company’s first dedicated server and storage device to cater or the growtho a business is not the crippling expense it once was. With entry-level servers and storage subsystems available or under R10 000, one can start small and add to inrastructure as dataand user base grows.

First server The point at which it makes sense to put a first server in place will depend largely on the nature o the business. However, with servers becoming so aordable, many companies find it makessense to use a server to share documents and printers between their employees. It is a more efcient way o working together than peer-to-peer networking. Most o the major vendors,

including Apple, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Dell, Mecer and Acer, oer a range o servers designed orthe needs o smaller businesses. Options range rom a compact and energy-efcient device notmuch dierent to a PC, through to a bigger unit that has multiple processors as well as redundanthard drives and power supplies.

Storage space is also rapidly becoming an issue or SMEs as the amount o data they need tostore piles up. Depending on the business, one may need to be able to efciently store allscanned paper documents, customer records, emails and even some big video files or images.Given how important this data is to business, backing it up to compact discs and leaving it scattered across multiple PCs and notebooks isn’t good enough anymore. It is difcult to manageand share data in this environment and to ensure availability o back-up copies o everything thatis important.

Increasingly, SMEs can now look towards low-cost storage area network (SAN) and networkattached storage (NAS) solutions that have been designed specifically or smaller organisations.

The advantages o using these solutions may include better control over your data, automation o tasks such as back-ups, and better inormation security through eatures or example encryption.

O course, much o the cost o running hardware inrastructure comes rom the act that youeither need to pay a reseller to support and maintain it or have someone in your company withthe skills to tend to your servers and storage. This is one o the main reasons that iaas isbecoming a compelling proposition or smaller companies.

Inrastructure-as-a-serviceIaas involves provisioning o hardware unctions such as storage space and processing power asa cloud-based service. Some advantages o buying hardware services in this manner includelower costs because o sharing inrastructure hosted at a service provider’s data centre with othercompanies. In addition, companies can quickly access new processing power when needed orthe Christmas rush or financial year-end, without buying new hardware that would not be neededon an average day. For this, companies pay each month or the capacity used.

Iaas is still an emerging model, but is likely to become a popular option or SMEs within thenext five years. Cloud-based data back-up services such as Carbonite (www.carbonite.com ),Mozy (www.mozy.com ) and MWEB’s Store-It cloud storage service, are already gaining groundamong SMEs.

Thanks to the alling prices o computing hardware and the growing maturity o inrastructure-as-a-service (iaas) oferings, SMEs have access to powerul IT hardware to drive their businesses at an increasingly afordable cost. Lance Harrisfinds out more.



TechSmart (TS): What are the requirements rom the South Arican market that you do not necessarily see rom theinternational side?Manoj Bhoola (MB): One o the challenges that we see isaround the pressure to reduce cost. Customers are looking atthe IT environment to drop their budgets quite aggressively.

TS: And in the market in general?MB: There are three trends. The first is around businesseschanging their models. The second trend is theconsumerisation o IT, where people believe that technologyshould be replaceable with the click o a mouse. I I amunhappy with my supplier, I should not be tied down and Ishould be able to change it easily. The third is around theworkorce changing. In the past, the way to do business wasto build a very methodical strategy and ollow it. Today’s “netgeneration” are the people that have grown up withtechnology and they want instant gratification. So we needto make sure that our systems are geared or that new wayo thinking amongst corporates.

This leads into what HP is actually doing to manage those new trends. We’ve come up with a

strategy that we call Instant On, where the Server, Storage and the Networking are instantlyavailable when you need it. This will also give an organisation the ability to swop and change easily. An example o this is HP’s BladeSystem matrix product, where we have taken a blade chassisenclosure and with innovation like no other vendor included technologies o Servers, Storage andNetworking as ONE unit working as a single solution. So now you have a very dynamic environmentwhere, it works and perorms as a single piece o technology. At month end when a payrollapplication needs to be done, you initiate the process and the Servers arm realises the impact o this routine and will virtualise more servers i required. Similarly Storage and Networking will optimiseitsel to provide a single efcient platorm or the application. Once the process is complete, thevirtual Servers, Storage and Network will return to its initial state. All this is done by very integratedmanagement sotware. With this model, one can now implement a pay per use model.

The big question I get is, isn’t that cloud computing? And in a way, yes it is, it is a privatecloud. The system will now virtualise three dierent technologies to manage one process. Thisprocess can be implemented to manage a single customer or many customers on a single pieceo hardware. I you think about cloud computing, our Blade Matrix is ready or this new wave o computing.

8

We’ve come up with astrategy that we call

Instant On, where the Server,Storage and the Networkingare instantly available.

INTERVIEW:M ANOJ BHOOLA,ENTERPRISE SERVERS,STORAGE AND NETWORKING

COUNTRY M ANAGER,HP SOUTH AFRICA

TechSmart sat down to talk some

serious business with Manoj Bhoola,Servers, Storage and Networking country manager at HP South Arica. Hetold us more about the impact otoday’s “net generation” on tomorrow’sway o doing business.

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TS: How does this relate to SMEs?MB: In South Arica there are SMEs that do not want to deal with the complexity o IT, so we areseeing more and more outsourcing opportunities, where the entire IT oering is run by a partneror a vendor. Two years ago HP acquired outsourcing giants EDS, as HP wanted to move into thecloud space where a data centre in every country is key. South Arica now has a twin data centrethrough this acquisition and are ready to deploy cloud services or our customers.

TS: Are all companies raring to go?MB: As many companies are not sure i this route will save them IT costs, HP oers customers acloud workshop where we investigate whether this computing technology will reduce their ITcosts. Depending on the ROI, HP will then recommend moving to a Cloud Strategy or remain

with their current Capex methodology o purchasing technology. We oten see a huge costreduction in moving to a cloud strategy.

TS: What’s the second step?MB: Ater the workshop and recommendations are done, the next step is to look at their businessapplication and modernise them i required. Looking at all their applications will enhance their ROIand hence reduce IT costs urther.

TS: Should SMEs look at virtualisation?MB: Virtualisation is massive. Everyone is doing it. I suggest that every company that has a datacentre investigate their strategy as we have seen companies rationalise their server arms andmake a saving o between 20 to 30% o their server costs.

TS: What are the other cost saving elements SMEs can apply?MB: Apart rom virtualisation, they should start looking at making their data centres more efcient.

An easy way o doing this is to deploy a server, storage and networking technology rom a singlevendor. With this strategy price negotiations are easier. Ask questions about open systems hencereducing vendor lock-down.

TS: What’s happening in the printer market?MB: A lot o companies are moving to the “Pay per Use” model where companies can realisehuge cost savings. A large organisation in South Arica is currently saving up to 35% on theirprinting costs, and that includes paper, ink and maintenance. This is realised as they have aManaged Print Services contract where they pay or only the pages they print. We alsolaunched ePrint which has really taken o in a big way. With this technology your printerconnects to the net and you can download applications needed to print specific ormats.

TS: Do you have a release date or the HP Slate WebOS tablet in SA?MB: It was released in the UK in July and South Arica normally lags behind by about six totwelve months. When we do launch them, you will be happy with the eatures and the waitwill be worth-while. Palm phones will also be launching in this country very soon. One o the

big plusses o those devices, is that it will be working very closely with our tablets. Youliterally put them together and you can sync them. The integration between them is going tobe much better than anything you would have seen until now.

TS: Tell us more about the HP ProLiant MicroServer you recently launched.MB: The eedback we got rom the small business customer is that they needed a server tosimpliy things. Many tell us that they run their applications on powerul desktops or evennotebooks. The challenge they have is that these desktops and notebooks are notdesigned or huge storage and network trafc. So we launched the HP ProLiantMicroServer, providing file and print sharing, and it’s also the ideal system or backups. It isalso the only server in the market that can run o a solar panel.

What SMEs should look or when buying servers:1. Look at which vendor has the highest percentage o market share. Because o its

market share, HP can negotiate prices down with their suppliers, providing bettercosts per CPU.

2. Look at your partner/reseller and question their skill level. Make sure you go to areputable reseller and look or HP certifications.

3. Look at the specs you are being given. Make sure you use the HP kit that has beentested and put together by HP.

4. Look at the power usage o the servers, keeping in mind the “green” side o technology.

5. Stay away rom a pricing war, keeping in mind that a low margin might mean lesssupport or service in the long run.

6. Beware o Grey Marketers. Ensure that the kit was procured via an authorisedchannel in South Arica and not sourced via grey routes. The Consumer Protection

Act clearly states that the vendor does not have to provide services i the productwas imported via a grey channel.

About HPStanford University classmates Bill Hewlettt

and Dave Packard founded HP in 1939. The

company’s first product, built in a Palo Alto

garage, was an audio oscillator – an electronic

test instrument used by sound engineers. One

of HP’s first customers was Walt Disney

Studios, which purchased eight oscillators to

develop and test an innovative sound system

for the movie Fantasia.

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11

The HP “Just Right IT” portolio makes it easy or micro and small businesses to get the right IT capabilities required at just the right

time and the right price so that they can ocus on serving their customers better.

“With small to medium sized businesses still concerned and cautiousabout the economic situation they continue to ocus on looking or newways to simpliy operations and grow their business, says AndrewMcNiven, HP South Arica’s industry standard servers product manager.“HP, with the help o i ts channel partners, oers an extended technologyportolio with realistic financing options that enable the SMB to managedata expansions, improve employee productivity and retain, as well asattract, clients.”

HP solutions increase productivity and simpliy the management o business operations within micro and small businesses with increasing IT needs and constrainedbudgets.

HP line-upLeading the line-up o Just Right IT oerings is the HP ProLiant MicroServer. This quiet, energy-efcient server combines aordability, perormance and data protection or business with up toten employees. It assists in eectively centralising inormation and accessing files aster, enablingemployees to share inormation with ease whilst ensuring the business and customer data is secure.

The HP Ofcejet Pro 8500A e-All-in-One series and HP Ofcejet 7500A Wide Format e-All-in-One include HP ePrint and print apps, allowing users to send print jobs rom any mobile deviceand directly access content rom the web without a PC.

From a cost perspective the Ofcejet Pro 8500A delivers proessional colour at up to 50%lower cost per page than lasers, while the Ofcejet 7500A oers the lowest cost per page in itsclass.

Data availability and protection is o paramount importance to any business. SMBs need tosecure business data as well as maintain accessibility to inormation. HP data availability andprotection solutions, such as the HP StorageWorks P2000 G3 Modular Smart Array (MSA),increases perormance and storage flexibility. The HP Data Protector Express 5.0 Sotware is designed specifically or the general user with improved business continuity and a s implified userinterace or managing backup and recovery.

Communications and connectivity is integral to your business and wireless. Voice and datanetworks can be complex and difcult to manage, but with HP’s voice-over-IP and wireless oerings, SMBs can connect up to 64 simultaneous mobile users to a network at significantspeeds thanks to the HP V-M200 802.11n Access Point Series.

“The Just Right IT portolio lets channel partners save their micro and small businesscustomers time and money by meeting the ull range o technology needs – rom printers andPCs to servers and networking – with one trusted partner,” concludes Niven.

For more inormation on HP’s “Just Right IT” portolio contact Andrew McNiven on011-785-1000.

HP solutions increaseproductivity and simplify

the management of businessoperations within microand small businesses.

YOUR BUSINESS PARTNER

Expanding new business opportunities orchannel partners

HP’s “Just Right IT” portolio includes new server, printer and PCproducts designed and priced toa deliver afordability and value tosmall businesses.

HP ProLiant MicroServer

HP Officejet Pro 8500A

HP V-M200 802.11n

HP’S “JUST

RIGHT IT”PORTFOLIO

FOR SMALLBUSINESSES



NETSHIELD SOUTH AFRICA

Netshield (Pty) Ltd is an electronic engineering company that specialises in the research and development o products suitable orvarious markets. Established in 1994 as a small business developing customised products or the IT environment, the company has grown toa position where it is now proud to have a well-established product range.

Netshield’s initial ocus was to develop, design and to provide “customised commercial products”which has now evolved into o-the-shel solutions distributed throughout South Arica. These solutions consist o environmental management and monitoring equipment, specialised surge protection, renewable energy systems, media and protocol conversion and dedicated products orthe mining sector.

Netshield has our main business divisions:• The R&D Division – specialised engineers responsible or the research and development o a

product, including design, prototype and production.• The Technical Division – responsible or the procurement o components and the manuacturing,

testing and packaging o the finished product.• The Marketing Division – responsible or establishing brand and product awareness.• Monitoring and Facility Management Division.

The Netshield product range is divided into the ollowing categories.

1. Environmental management (NVIROMON-1U and associated products)

These products are used to monitor and control the conditions inside, or example, a server or medicine room, detecting whether it is too cold, too hot, too wet or i there are any unwantedgasses or fire. It also identifies power outages and allows one to have complete control on who enters the room, when and or what reason.

With the NVIROMON you will be able to see and hear i anything is out o the ordinary, thanks tothe option o a ull security alarm system that can even capture images o people entering. Best o all, it will alert you via SMS or SNMP i you are not close by.

The NVIROMON works well with the Netshield Monitor One SNMP manager sotware that enables one to have a bird’s eye view on all the data rooms in the network, irrespective o whichprovince or country they are located in. There are no licensing ees involved, only a once o purchase price. A demo version is available rom the Netshield Website www.netshieldsa.com.

2. Surge protection and power managementIt’s a act o lie that PCs, computer related products, process control and communications equipment can be damaged by high-voltage surges and spikes. Although most oten caused bylightning strikes, surges and spikes can also result rom direct contact with power/lightning circuits,static build-up on cables and components, incorrectly wired systems and even electrostatic discharges rom a person. The Netshield Lightning and Surge Protector range has been designed toprovide superior protection or computer equipment, home entertainment systems or any othervaluable electronic equipment in the home, SOHO or SME environment.

3. Media converters The Netshield media converter range consists o auto sensing 10/100/1000 Ethernet converters, either in table top or rack mountable varieties. Netshield can supply options o ST and SC connectors and whether the converter is needed in multimode or single mode, with distances varying rom 550 m to 150 km. Chassis are available in 6-, 14- and 16-slot, multi-port convertersare also on oer.

4. Telco products This range consists o products such as:• bridges and routing devices (G703/E1 devices)• data communication products (V11/X21 converters, Async to sync, RS232/RS485)• modem eliminators• structured telecommunication products• multiplexers

5. Fibre patch leads and compatible interace modules This range o fibre patch leads, cables, SFP and GBic interace modules are compatible with Cisco,3com and HP modules.

6. Renewable energyNetshield is dedicated to provide the design, supply, installation and management o renewable energy solutions, such as wind- and solar power, to generate electricity. In addition to oering renewable energy solutions, they also ocus on being able to reduce the total amount o energybeing consumed, thus providing a holistic view around energy use and generation.

7. Mining equipmentNetshield has expertise in providing ull and complete solutions to the mining industry, by designingand manuacturing a growing range o products or the mining industry. Solutions include:• mining saety and health monitoring equipment • mining process control• mining lighting • mining asset management

Tel: +27 (0) 86-111-4428 | Email: [email protected] | Web: www.netshieldsa.com

With a major thrust into Africa, backed by the

shareholding of Comztek, a

leading IT systems and communications distributor, the Netshield range hasgrown substantially.

NVIROMON-1U environmentalmanagement

Surge protection and power management

Media converters

Renewable energy solutions

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13

Fans o the ThinkPad range o notebookswill be excited by the launch o Lenovo’snew ThinkPad X1, seeing that it’s thethinnest notebook in the range, but stillpacked with perormance.

Measuring 17 mm and weighing a very manageable1.72 kg, the X1might not be

the most lightweight thin-and-light available. That said it’s packed with protectiongoodness that the ThinkPad range hasbecome known or, including an interior rollcage and a magnesium chassis. Notebookusers who have ever suered a crackedscreen (and the repair bill that goes alongwith it), will be happy to learn about theappearance o Corning Gorilla Glass, usuallyound on smartphones such as the iPhone 4,that provides extra protection and durabilityor the 13" screen (1366 x 768, 350 NITS).

2nd generation Intel insideWhile all this is nice and good, it’s the appearance o Intel’s second generation Corei processors takes the cake. No more ultra-low voltage (ULV) processors that arecommonly ound in thin-and-light units,instead Lenovo stocked the X1 with the sameprocessors ound in regular sized notebooks, ranging rom the Sandy Bridge Core i3through to the extremely powerul Core i7.

Also included is Dolby Home Theatre v4,an HDMI port and Intel Wireless Display technology, so users can connect or stream1080p wirelessly to a TV or projector.

Furthermore a number o port requirementsare taken care o thanks to the inclusion o USB 3.0, eSATA, Mini-Display and an SDcard reader.

Go quick withRapidCharge

The X1 boots in 20 secondsthanks to the inclusion o a Solid State Drive inthe package (sizes dier, with 128GB most probablyhitting the

sweet-spot interms o costvs. size), while anotheruseul eature is the X10’s ability torecharge 80% o the battery in just 30 minutes. Called RapidCharge, this technologyrecharges batteries two-and-a-hal timesaster than previous ThinkPad models.Lenovo states battery lie or the unit at 5.2hours with a regular battery, and an excellentten hours with the addition o the optional“slice” battery.

The Lenovo X1 should be available withan asking price starting at R9000 or thelower conigurations.

NEW LENOVO X1 THIN- AND-LIGHTSecond generation Intel goodness in thin body launched in SA

RapidCharge technology recharges

the battery two-and-a-half

times faster than previousThinkPad models.






15

Looking to delve into the world o tabletPCs but with the flexibility that Google’s Android operating system brings along?Look no urther than Asus’ Eee Pad Transormer.

Analysis company, Gartner, predicted close to70 million tablet PC to be sold in 2011.

Taiwanese company ASUS’ recently launched EeePad Transormer is ast becoming one o the best-selling Android tablets in this expanding market.

Featuring an expandable keyboard docking station and combined battery lie o up to 16 hours,the Transormer is running Google’s designed-or-tablets Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.Combining Honeycomb with ASUS’ intuitive Waveshareuser interace and the most powerul hardware eaturesavailable, makes the Transormer an exciting portable device, supporting both ofce work and social communication.

Powerul mini-cinema entertainment on-the-goPowered by the award-winning NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor, the Transormer browses the web at blazing speeds,providing a snappier response time and better perormance when multi- tasking. An IPS Panel, made rom durable and scratch-resistant glass, isviewable at angles up to 178°, producing a crisper and more accurate colourrange by up to 50% when compared to other tablets in the market. Built-inSRS Sound technology provides a dynamic 3D stereo audio experience,with maximum bass response and a wide sound field rom the discrete speakers housed in the 12.98 mm thick rame that weighs only 680 g.Both the 5MP rear- and 1.2MP ront-acing cameras can shoot and recordvideo, which can be played back in video on HDTVs via a mini HDMI outputport, making it a true mobile entertainment device.

Transorm rom pad to notebook mode with keyboard docking

station The Transormer sets itsel apart rom other tablets on the market by eaturing an optional dockingstation. This provides access to a ull QWERTY keyboard along with unique Android Function keys, turning the tablet Transormer into a ull-fledged notebook. Preloaded on the Transormer is PolarisOfce 3.0, a proessional Mobile Ofce Solution which enables users to edit various types o ofcedocuments including documents (.doc), spreadsheets (.xls) and presentation (.ppt) files, making the

Transormer very attractive or proessional use. A touchpad, 3.5 mm audio jack, two USB ports aswell as a built-in SD card reader or easy file sharing and storage expandability, makes the Transormer a versatile media hub. In addition, the ultra-convenient ASUS WebStorage with oneyear o unlimited storage space, provides worry-ree cloud computing. The docking station also extends the Transormer’s 9.5 hours o battery lie up to 16 hours, so users can use it all day orwork and play.

Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS with ASUS Waveshare UIGoogle’s Android Honeycomb is a revolutionary operating system specially designed and optimisedor tablets, and enables users a ull web experience or on-the-go web browsing, communicatingand casual computing. Supporting Adobe Flash 10.2 and the ever growing Android Market, entertainment is a finger swipe away. The convenient ASUS Launcher also allows users to easilylaunch sotware, manage content, access online services and connect devices with a ew simpletaps, while ASUS’ Waveshare Interace hosts a variety o unique applications such as MyNet, MyLibrary, MyCloud and more. MyNet easily streams digital media wirelessly within home networkdevices, so HD videos or music can be played on devices such as an HDTV or desktop PCs or aneven better experience rom the Transormer. MyLibrary consolidates downloaded books,magazines and newspapers in to one easy to browse profile while MyCloud is a total cloud solution,providing access to digital content such as music, videos and files rom the cloud anywhere,anytime. Users can even use MyCloud to remotely access and control any PC or Mac system andaccess applications or files to extend the versatility o the Eee Pad Transormer experience.

The ASUS Eee Pad Transormer is available rom ASUSTek South Arica on 011-783-5450.

For TechSmart’s ull review visit http://bit.ly/asustransorm

Quick Specs• Android 3.0 Honeycomb

• 10.1" screen, 1280 x 800 resolution

• Nvidia 1 GHz dual-core Tegra 2, 1 GB RAM

• 680 g, 271 x 171 x 12.98 mm

• 16 GB / 32 GB

LAUNCHES THE EEE P AD TRANSFORMER An innovative tablet with an expandable keyboard dock

The award-winningNVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-

core processor provides

snappier response time and better performance

when multi-tasking.



A UPS providesinstantaneous

protection from power interruptions and is the firstline of defense againstsurges and power outages.

16

Win a UPSwith Eaton

and ensure a

continuouspower supply.

Although South Arica is currently experiencing ewer power cuts, companies should stillensure that they have a continuous power supply solution. By establishing an inrastructurethat allows business continuation despite power cuts, power surges and blackouts as a resulto lightning storms or base station malunction, Eaton helps business owners minimise thenegative efects on their operations.

An uninterruptible power system (UPS) provides instantaneous protection rom powerinterruptions and is the first line o deense against surges and power outages. By providing a

continuous supply o power to all devices connected to the UPS, you are able to avoidmalunction, damage and downtime that can result rom the inevitable power cuts and surges.

Power management company, Eaton, has a range o uninterruptible power supplies ideal orhome and small-ofce-home-ofce (SOHO) use. It will keep your PC and equipment protectedand powered up, at the very least, or long enough to save your work and shut down. I you haveanything rom one to three PCs in your home or ofce, Eaton’s Ellipse MAX 850 USB oers both

cost-eective and reliable protection.Ellipse MAX UPS units not only provide a battery backed up supply to keep equipment

operating when there is a power cut, but also provide protection against damaging surges. EllipseMAX UPS units also protect telephone broadband and Ethernet connections, ensuring yourbusiness can run at ull capacity when disaster strikes. Above all, Eaton’s Ellipse Max 850 UPS iseasy to use and maintain.

For more inormation about any Eaton UPS units, visit www.eaton.com, or call Eaton ElectricalGroup on 011-564-9300.

Win a UPS or your business To win one o two Eaton Ellipse MAX 850 UPS units, email [email protected] withEATON in the subject line, and answer the ollowing question: “What is the acronym UPS shortor?” Please also include your name, company and designation. Competition closes 31September 2011.

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17

For smaller businessesthe potential benefits

of cloud computing

are numerous.

SOFTWARE

SMEs can benefit witha move to the cloud

In cloud-based computing, users access business applications across the internet as an onlineservice, rather than buying licences and installing sotware on their own servers and PCs. The

concept is gaining traction as more and more SMEs look or ways to drive down their technologycosts. A recent study conducted by Microsot among SMEs in South Arica and 15 other countries,ound that our out o every ten small businesses expect to be paying or at least one cloud service

by 2014. In South Arica, 88% o those with more than 50 employees expect to be paying or nearlyfive cloud services within three years.

Cloud-based services There is a good chance that users already use some cloud-based services, even i that is notknown by that terminology. For example, Google’s Gmail service manages email, while GoogleDocs can be used or collaborative document creation. Many companies also rely on Dropbox(dropbox.com) to back-up and synchronise files between dierent devices or to share them with ateam. Some other examples o cloud-based sotware solutions that companies might be amiliarwith are the SalesForce customer relationship management solution (salesorce.com), the Base-camp project management tool (basecamphq.com), the Zoho business sotware suite (zoho.com)and the Backpack collaboration sotware (backpackit.com).

From accounting packages and messaging, through to contact management tools and billingsotware, a growing range o the tools used in day-to-day business are available as cloud solutions.

Competition is heating up as traditional sotware vendors such as Microsot become more

serious about taking their products to the cloud. Microsot is receiving raving reviews or itscloud-based Ofce 365 set o apps, which include Microsot Ofce, Microsot SharePoint Online,Microsot Exchange Online as well as Microsot Lync Online. The product is not yet available inSouth Arica, leaving Zoho and Google Apps as the options or cloud-based productivity sotwareor now.

Benefits or SMEsFor smaller businesses the potential benefits o cloud computing are numerous. Working on thecloud may be cheaper than buying sotware licences and installing them on existing inrastructure,since there’s no need to worry about running and maintaining servers. That means companies canspend less money on hardware and IT labour each month. There’s also less stress about securitypatches or sotware updates since the service provider will take care o them.

In addition to the cost-savings, SMEs may enjoy better levels o uptime and security rom cloudcomputing than they would rom running their own applications. This because a service provider willhave the human resources and technical inrastructure to run a ar more reliable and secure servicethan possible with one IT guy and an IT budget o a ew thousand rand a month.

With a dispersed or highly mobile team, cloud computing can make it easier to access andshare inormation, since co-workers can simply access data or documents across the web usingnearly any device with a web browser and any internet connection.

Another benefit is in the flexibility that cloud computing oers. With cloud-based solutions, onecan easily add or remove users to the system as needs change. Configuration is usually quick and simple, with no need to worry about whether server or storage capacity is required to grow the business.

DrawbacksBut cloud computing is not without its drawbacks. It involves trusting a third-party service provider tokeep data sae and private. That means businesses need to ensure the cloud provider is a financiallysolid company with a sound inrastructure. Businesses should careully check the service level agreement rom any cloud provider to ensure that it guarantees the levels o uptime your companyneeds. Furthermore, bandwidth costs associated with moving a lot o data to the cloud each monthcan be high, while good connectivity is a must, since business depends on ast, always on internet.

Cloud computing is likely to soon change the way that SMEs use and pay or sotware, i it hasn’t started to do so already. This approach to sotware usage isbecoming an increasingly viable option or smaller businesses in South Arica asbandwidth costs continue to all. Lance Harris investigates.



What is all the uss about? There is little doubt that the technology landscape, and communicationin particular has changed dramatically over the last five years. “Therehas been a tremendous push or technology to enable aster and richer

engagements. But as more and more mechanisms are introduced tobring people together: instant messaging, email, visual communicationsand so on, the diversity also creates a more complex and conusing environment than ever beore. In some cases all this ‘choice’ can actually be counter-productive,” says Bunch.

“UC&C has emerged as a means o eectively harnessing the potential o communications and channelling it more appropriately towards achieving critical business objectives, such as productivity,agility and competitiveness.”

How does it work?UC&C in simple terms is an evolving set o technologies that automates and unifies communications between people and devices to create a common context and experience. It enables an individual to send a message on one medium and receive the same communication onanother medium. This may sound very straight orward, but the impact is significant. Take this

scenario: You need a colleague’s input on some figures you require or an urgent proposal, you callhis landline and he is not there. You call his cellphone and leave a voicemail. In desperation yousend an email, repeating yet again your urgent need or assistance. And then you wait. And fire oa series o rustrated SMSs in the process. How much time have you wasted? And how will your colleague contact you when his meeting is concluded? Will he ollow the same circuitous route asyou just have, wasting more time and energy to respond to a relatively simple request?

Now what happens when 50, 100, or 500 people are doing this same thing, over and overagain? UC&C optimises business processes and enhances human communications by reducinglatency, managing flows, and eliminating device and media dependencies.

When operating in a UC environment, presence can determine your contact’s current statusand the most eective means o contact. Your initial call is routed directly to your colleague’s mobile phone, where the voicemail message you have let can be accessed via e-mail orcellphone, where an SMS could alert him to your need even i in a meeting. It will use yourpresence inormation to acilitate a aster response – perhaps immediately through text chat orvideo call i you are immediately available. Or, i you have had to dash o to that next meeting, anon real-time message that can be accessed through a variety o media as soon as you are able.

18

About Dimension DataFounded in 1983, Dimension Data plc is an

ICT services and solutions provider that uses

its technology expertise, global service delivery

capability, and entrepreneurial spirit to

accelerate the business ambitions of its

clients. Dimension Data is a member of the

NTT Group. www.dimensiondata.com

Unified communications and collaborations (UC&C) has emerged as a key business enablement trend. But what exactly is it and how is this technology, reserved until now or corporate juggernauts, starting to benefit the small to medium size enterprise? We speak toBradley Bunch, general manager or Microsot Solutions Dimension Data South Arica, abouthow UC&C is fitting itsel to the needs o the SME.

Unified communication

introduces collaborationpower tools

that help

smaller enterprisesthink big.

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Great value adds to any businessUC&C tools have the potential to add considerable value to SMEs and their employees starting firsto all with some really impressive business unctionality. “Communication and collaboration are thelieblood o any business, and the flow o inormation and ideas is what keeps the engine running.Excellent presence, rich engagements across multiple channels and meaningul contact lists thatallow deep reerencing into existing databases or context are all things that add to enhanced collaboration and productivity. Better productivity equates to better and aster return on all invested resources,” explains Bunch.

From a people aspect, UC&C is helping organisations to create an attractive and desirable working environment, including the ability to migrate this work space to a completely remote location with little loss o unctionality. In the South Arican context where imminent toll levies onmain arterial routes, rocketing uel costs and rising pressure on business to lower carbon ootprintsis a reality, enabling a workorce that can work rom home is becoming very attractive.

“There is also a lot more emphasis on the importance o work-lie balance and the quality o theworking experience, UC&C and its ‘how ever, where ever’ availability oers employees the meansto appropriately leverage the tools at their disposal to enhance their quality o lie, spend less timeaway rom home and generally be more constructive with their time,” says Bunch. “Not only willpeople be more productive and less atigued, but it puts the company in the position where it canattract and retain the best quality skills based on the appeal o its working environments. This issomething that a smaller business may use eectively as a draw card or talent.

From a cost benefit perspective, savings may seem negligible at first, but given the opportunity,UC&C tools will oer significant compound savings in terms o travel expenses, unnecessaryor missed communications such as cellphone calls, as well as operational costsassociated with running acilities or 100% o your sta complement 100% o the time.On top o this is also the cost savings associated with improved productivity, as everyextra billable hour created will eventually add up,” say Bunch.

Helping SMEs capitalise on global trendsFor the small to medium-size enterprise, who are inherently more agile and more flexible in its processes,UC&C can be a great business enabler as it aids organisations in embracing many o the key trends driving IT, and business today.

Bunch uses mobility as a prime example. “The modern workorce is no longer just a hive o ofce-bound workers. A prolieration o mobile devices andhuge advancement in connectivity has created a workorce that is ully unctional where ever they happento be. In a smaller business where multi-skilling is thename o the game and people tend to wear multiple‘hats’ the need to be on point 24/7 and make every

minute count becomes that much more crucial.”Consumerisation o IT is another huge trend hitting

business. “People want to bring their own preerred devices to the workplace and are more than willing tocontribute financially to acquire the technology that theywant to work with. Tablets and smartphones are both excellent examples,” says Bunch. “UC&C provides avaluable platorm or integration, and since it is deviceagnostic, renders the end point irrelevant. Control meetsconvenience and everyone wins. This is a big plus or the small business as it means that in manycases, a portion o IT spend can be transerred to HR as part o the cost to employ.”

So, how do I apply this to my smaller business? There is a perception that UC&C is a big price tag technology reserved or big business, but this isdefinitely no longer the case. “Microsot has always made a point o working towards

commoditising technology sets to make them more accessible and aordable. This is exactly thecase with Microsot Lync Server, Microsot’s dedicated UC server which brings high-end unctionality like video and instant messaging within reach o the mid-size business,” explainsBunch. “It’s also been designed or easy integration into popular, pre-existing Microsot inrastructures, so it’s the ideal fit or those with an existing investment in the Microsot Stack,” headds.

“What’s more, UC&C is a technology that lends itsel to a cloud-based delivery. Many o its management elements, which the smaller business may eel reluctant to take on because o a lacko skills or ear o the complexity involved can be outsources and deployed as a ully managed service. The smaller organisation gains the same positive impact, cost-eectively, with very little administrative headache.

“Let’s ace it, South Arica has an entrepreneurial culture and today’s SME has the potential tobe tomorrow’s business giant. For integrators such as ourselves, we are eager to assist this segment adopt any kind o technology that will enable them to achieve these ambitions or their organisation. UC&C, and Lync in particular is just the right kind o power tool that will help oursmaller businesses think big,” concludes Bunch.

UC&C has emerged asa means of effectively

harnessing the potential of communications andchannelling it more appropriately towardsachieving critical

business objectives.

About Dimension Data

Microsot Solutions As a result of its powerful competencies in this

space, Dimension Data Microsoft Solutions is

currently Microsoft UC&C Partner of the Year.

With more than a decade’s worth of

compound experience on a global scale in

guiding customers through what has been an

extremely dynamic landscape, the team is

openly acknowledged as one of the premier

business integrators and enablers in the world.

Locally, Dimension Data Microsoft

Solutions have invested significantly in its

Microsoft-based skills set with no less than

three Microsoft Masters in the current team.

With all this experience at hand, Dimension

Data is perfectly positioned to assist clients

‘lync’ into what is promising to be a ‘can’t-live-

without’ technology.

19



To ensure the success o the communities in which it operates, Dimension Data, through its

Partner Programme, works closely with small businesses to deliver solutions and services.

The Dimension Data Partner Programme addresses the need or the ICT services company to

meet the requirements o its local and global clients while providing world class multi-vendor

solutions. The Partner Programme enables small ICT businesses in the region to sell and support clients

using Dimension Data services and solutions. Through these partnerships, Dimension Data is

able to establish a strong network o support while empowering small businesses in the region.

Dimension Data partners are the company’s most trusted and qualified resellers in the IT

business, authorised to consult, sell and support across all Dimension Data solution oerings.

Dimension Data Preerred Partners guarantee the delivery o the best possible level o business

engagement to clients.

The Partner Programme enables Dimension Data to deliver its services and solutions in the

Middle East and Arica (MEA) region by working with the top ICT small businesses across the

region. Certified and promoted by Dimension Data, every partner oers in-depth knowledge and

experience, to ensure clients receive the best and most consistent service in the industry.

Benefits o the Programme

As the region’s largest ICT company, Dimension Data draws on a wealth o local knowledge andglobal experience. The company ensures that partners are enabled to oer in-depth technology,

industry and business expertise, a firm understanding o what is required or success, coupled with

proven ability and industry skills to help clients meet their business objectives − a solid oundation

on which they can build success. Partner Programme members gain access to top o the range

Dimension Data services and solutions to oer clients.

The Dimension Data Partner Programme has established a consolidated network o approved

partners that can deliver multi-vendor capabilities in geographies where Dimension Data does not

have a direct presence.

Dimension Data maintains a collaborative relationship with partners to ensure a better

understanding o its business and an aligned delivery strategy. The company has developed a

process where partners work with Dimension Data Supply Chain Services (SCS) to provide a

seamless delivery o multi-vendor solutions across the MEA region.

The Dimension Data Partner Programme helps partners develop and deliver solutions through

consistent and eective service delivery that extends across multiple geographies and technologies.

20

Dimension Data drawson a wealth of local

knowledge and globalexperience. The company ensures that partners are

enabled to offer in-depthtechnology, industry and businessexpertise.

DimensionData PartnerProgramme

Dimension Dataprovides more

inormation abouthow companies

can become involved in its

Partner Programme As the ICT marketplace continues to evolve and mechanisms or service delivery difer romeach country, companies cannot operate successully in Arica without ensuring that the com-munities in which they do business benefit.

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The solutions and services can be customised as per the client’s needs, as well as turnkey.

Furthermore, the partner will have access to a team o highly qualified sales and technical resources.

Partners also have access to training, which allows skills transer to small businesses by involving

these organisations through all phases o the project, including pre-sales, implementation and

maintenance.

In addition, partners benefit rom a range o in-house sot skill courses delivered through the

Dimension Data University (DDU). The knowledge gained helps Dimension Data partners urther

improve their engagement with clients.

Partner Categories All Dimension Data Partners are categorised based on a number o actors including, among otherthings, competency, contribution, size, experience, and accreditation. Each partner is given a

proper process and plan on how to move rom one category to the next. The higher the partner is

on a category level, the more rewards the partner will benefit rom. The categories as based on

international standards and are in line with industry best practice.

Who qualifies? The Dimension Data Partner Programme is open to all small ICT businesses in the Middle East and

Arica (MEA) region. Each organisation will be subjected to due diligence to ensure legitimacy and to

conorm to legislation o the country. I you meet the minimum criteria, you could become a

Dimension Data Partner and share in some o our industry leading benefits within days.

Dimension Data oers a number o benefits to IT resellers who are on the Dimension Data

Partner Programme. Dimension Data partners gain direct access to Dimension Data solutions and

services, which uniquely positions them to provide the best possible experience to the client. Real-

time support and the best service delivery ensures that small businesses have the best competitivedeal or clients.

Partners work with Dimension Data and:

• Be empowered to oer in-depth technology, industry and business expertise and skill − a solid

oundation on which to build success.

• Access top-o-the-range Dimension Data services and solutions or your clients.

• Work with Dimension Data Supply Chain Services (SCS) to provide a seamless delivery o multi-

vendor solutions.

• Develop and deliver solutions through consistent and eective service delivery that extends

across multiple geographies and technologies.

• Gain access to training, skills transer and required industry certifications.

• Access the Partner Portal or documentation, sales tools and required inormation.

• Get measured on your perormance and progress through the Partner Scorecard.

How to become a partnerDimension Data has a consistent process or identiying, accessing and engaging suitable partners,

which gives it the capability to deliver solutions to agreed service levels.

This process includes three phases:

• On-boarding

• Accreditation and Activation

• Operation

What can we expect to see rom the Partner Programme in uture?Dimension Data will be hosting the first Dimension Data Partner Summit event in 2012. This will

provide a platorm to recognise partners as well as establishing a partner network that promotes

Dimension Data solution oerings to the broader market. Partners who attend will get invaluable

advice on how to expand sales and marketing skills, as well as deepen their business and technical

expertise and networks. The Summit will also encourage partners to exhibit and showcase their

skills and capabilities to the market. It is the ideal opportunity to network with clients and peers, gain

greater exposure to Dimension Data’s solutions and services, and learn more about Dimension

Data’s operational processes like the PM process and delivery process.

Contact detailsProspective partners must contact:

McDonald Nheke

General Manager: Partner Programme

Tel: +27 (11) 575 3440

Mobile: +27 (83) 6771773

Fax: +27 (11) 576 3440

[email protected]

http://www.dimensiondata.com

21

About Dimension DataFounded in 1983, Dimension Data plc is an

ICT services and solutions provider that uses

its technology expertise, global service delivery

capability, and entrepreneurial spirit to

accelerate the business ambitions of its

clients. Dimension Data is a member of the

NTT Group. www.dimensiondata.com






23

AFRICA IS A GROWING CYBERCRIME HUB

According to the February 2011 figures rom the RSA Anti-Fraud Command Centre, South Arica was, ater America and Britain, the

country experiencing the greatest volume o phishing attempts. In addition,according to the figures, over the past three years more than R1bn is estimated to have been lost in South Arica alone owing to cyber crime – astartling statistic!

With this in mind, it can be said that Arica is ast becoming a hot cybercrime destination resulting in the need or businesses operating withinthe continent to be cautious and take the necessary measures or eective

network security.

More Aricans now have internetI we consider the rapid landing o the undersea cables and as a result, data is becoming more o acommodity, an increasing number o Aricans are now able to access the internet at anytime andanywhere. According to World Wide Worx, by 2013* there will be a orecasted 10 million internetusers in South Arica, which not only highlights potential growth in an unsaturated market, but certainly the potential or urther cybercriminal activity in just this country – never mind the rest o the

Arican continent.Emails are oten the main orm o this activity, through spam, and i we consider the stats, Arican

companies should be warned. According to statistics**, in the first hal o 2011, 14 893 cybersecurity incidents had been reported, o which 3 477 where related to raud. O these figures, 1 280were phishing attacks that targeted banks in East and Southern Arica.

What’s more, according to Kaspersky Lab research, in Arica, Egypt accounts or 31% o victims

aected by malware. Algeria sits at 12%, Morocco at 9% and South Arica at 7%. And i spam and phishing attacks aren’t enough – social engineering is on the rise, with manycorporates allowing employees to use such sites on their business network.

Social networkingGlobally we have already seen numerous natural disasters occur in 2011 – all o which serve as anideal platorm or cybercriminals to exploit internet users at work or at home, and social networkingsites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are only making this task much easier. Despite the tragedies associated with natural disasters and the deaths o high profile people, hackers thrive on these typeso events or cybercriminal activity or their own financial gain. Adding to this is the growth in usage o mobile devices, which also poses a potential security risk. Having access to the internet and emailson the go is certainly very convenient or the everyday workman, but also or the smart cybercriminal.

The act is that there is no such thing as an ethical cybercriminal, as they are constantly lookingor more sophisticated ways to hack into corporate networks and entice internet users into giving uptheir personal inormation and this is evident in the number o attacks that are occurring every day.

As a result, this year and going orward, businesses and the consumer will be aced with thewidespread use o a new class o spyware programs, the aim o which can be defined quite simplyas: steal everything! They will gather any inormation that they can about users, right down to thecolour o their hair and eyes, and will examine every document stored on inected computers.

EspionageFurthermore, industrial and state espionage will become more pervasive, with less emphasis on precision attacks. Cybercriminals will start targeting a much broader range o organisations, nolonger concentrating solely on online banks and electronic payment systems. The principal aim o many new virus writers, and their clients, will be the acquisition o someone or something’s completeprofile, rather than making a quick buck by stealing credit card details or distr ibuting spam.

It is possible that we will only see the beginnings o these kinds o attacks in Arica, with their ullorce only being elt in the years to come. However, it is already clear that the arrival o more internet,and subsequently this new generation o cybercriminals, means that those tasked with counteractingsuch cyber threats will need to raise their game considerably.

By Costin Raiu, Chie Security Expert, EEMEA, Global Research & Analytics Team at Kaspersky Lab

*World Wide Worx Research Group, IT Leaders

Summit in Johannesburg 2010

**Cyber crime in Africa, May 2011, http://contador-

wanarua.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/cybercrime-in-

africa/

If we consider the rapidlanding of the undersea

cables and as a result, data is becoming more of a commodity, an increasingnumber of Africans are now able to access the internet at anytime and anywhere.



24

Norton Mobile Security or Android Anytime, anywhere protection that guards your mobile device and keeps your personal inormation private.

You can now protect your mobile device and the inormation on it with Norton Mobile Security.I your mobile device is lost, stolen, or its SIM card removed, you can remotely disable yourmobile device to prevent thieves rom using it or accessing your private inormation. You can evenremotely delete all o your personal inormation so cybercriminals can’t use it to steal your identityor money.

“We’ve taken the approach to developing a post-PC era Norton that includes introducing newmobile products, expanding our current products with mobile apps and combining our technology with mainstream consumer brands to protect more people in more places. The market reception has been highly positive and in the coming year we’ll continue creating partnerships and technologies that will bring a trusted name in PC security to mobile and Wi-Fi users all over the world,” comments Con Mallon, director o Mobile Product Management, Symantec Corporation.

Say goodbye to cybercriminals

and virusesNorton Mobile Security lets you remotely disable your phone,erase all o your personal inormation, and instantly locateyour phone, all with a simple text message.

I your phone is lost or stolen, you can locate it ast andnot worry about cybercriminals running up your bill or usingyour private inormation to steal your identity or hardearned money. It even automatically locks your phone i itsSIM card is removed, so i thieves try to use it with another SIM card they’re out o luck.

Tired o being harassed by unwanted calls andtexts? Norton Mobile Security helps protect your privacy - and your sanity - by letting you block callsand texts rom specific phone numbers.

“As Android devices become increasingly popular,

there is a greater chance they could be targeted by cybercriminals or more commonly, lost or stolen,” saysMallon. “We are delighted to now oer customers the abilityto secure their smart phones or tablets rom physical and online crime with the powerul protection o Norton security.”

When it comes to viruses and other threats, your phone is just as vulnerable to attack as your computer. Norton Mobile Securitydetects and eliminates mobile threats beore they can inect your phone. It automatically scans all the files and app updates that you download. And it even gives youthe option o automatically scanning SD (Secure Digital) memory cards or threats when youplug them into your phone. Weekly updates help ensure you have the most up-to-date protection. And it only updates when you’re in your home service area, so you won’t have to payoutrageous roaming charges.

Easy to installNorton Mobile Security is a breeze to use. It installs with a ew simple clicks. And we include astep-by-step tutorial that shows you how to use all o the eatures.

Contact inormation. Calendars. Text messages. Email. Usernames. Passwords. Your lie is onyour phone. Keep both sae with Norton Mobile Security.

Norton Mobile Security is available at select retailers and the approximate recommended retailprice is R399.

With Norton Mobile Security, you can:• Prevent strangers rom using your phone in case o loss or thet

• Protect your privacy and the personal inormation on your phone

• Detect and eliminate mobile threats beore they inect your device

Operating system: Android: 2.x or later

Device requirements: Android 2.0 with 1.8 MB o storage

Symantec’s Norton products protect

consumers from cybercrime with technologies

like antivirus, anti-spyware and phishing

protection - while also being light on system

resources. The company also provides

services such as online backup, PC tuneup,

and family online safety. Like Norton on

Facebook at www.facebook.com/norton and

follow @NortonOnline on Twitter.

Norton Mobile Securitydetects and eliminates

mobile threats before they caninfect your phone.

SYMANTEC LAUNCHES NORTON MOBILE SECURITY An overview o the new Norton Mobile Security or Android

downma az.com





25

The heart attack that goes along with your servers crashing is over, thanks to some innovativenew sotware that minimise your recovery time objective.

According to Cornel van der Westhuizen, new products development manager at IP Dimension,distributors o ShadowProtect in South Arica, almost 90% o SMBs and Enterprise organisations

in South Arica still make use o Windows NT based backup procedures or through productsavailable on the shelves in IT retail stores. “The problem is not in how the backups are perormed, buthow long it takes to restore rom those backups in case o hardware or sotware ailure,” said Van derWesthuizen. “Organisations seem to orget that perorming a ull system backup only leaves you witha copy o the data; you still need to integrate the data ater reinstalling the operating system in theevent o hardware or sotware ailures and this is where the most time is lost”.

ShadowProtect Server and ShadowProtect Small Business Server provide ast and reliable disaster recovery, data protection and system migration to get servers online as quickly as possible.ShadowProtect Server includes bare metal recovery to the same system, dissimilar hardware or toand rom virtual environments. The sotware also helps in protecting a company’s entire server environment, including the operating system, applications like Microsot Exchange and SQL, anddata. It gives IT sta the tools needed to centrally manage point-in-time backup images and restorethem in a matter o minutes.

The easy-to-use management console allows you to simultaneously push install ShadowProtectto all your Windows servers rom a central location and view the backup status o all protected Windows servers in an organisation. In addition, ShadowProtect Server provides you with VirtualBoottechnology — or ailover to a virtual server — as well as a virtual converter to convert ShadowProtectbackup images into virtual machines. ShadowProtect ImageManager allows you to consolidatepoint-in-time backup images on a daily, weekly and monthly basis or simplified management. Automatic verification and re-verification tools ensure your backups are in a known good state whenserver recovery is necessary.

ShadowProtect licenses and support is now locally available rom IP Dimension, an IT servicescompany based in Centurion, Pretoria. For more inormation, prices or demonstrations, contact Cornel van der Westhuizen on 012-665-4123, email him on [email protected], or visitwww.ipdimension.net.

Fast and reliable disaster recovery, data protection and system migration or Windows servers.

The term “virtualisation” is being heard quite a lot these days, and one o the big players inthe field is o course VMware, a leader in virtualisation and cloud inrastructure.

VMware’s new vSphere Storage Appliance sotware brings the business continuity and automated resource management capabilities o VMware vSphere to small and medium-size

enterprises (SMEs) – without the cost and complexity o shared storage. According to an October 2010 Gartner survey o midmarket companies, by 2012, slightly

more than 75% o SMEs expect to have server virtualisation in wide use – with disaster recoveryrepresenting the largest areas o IT investment or SMEs over the next two years.

The new VMware vSphere Storage Appliance will transorm server internal storage into sharedpools o storage, removing the shared storage hardware requirement and enabling more SMEs totake ull advantage o the unique business continuity and automation capabilities o VMwarevSphere, including High Availability, vMotion, and Distributed Resource Scheduler.

In the last two years alone, VMware has tripled the number o customers in the SME segmentby introducing solutions and services aimed specifically at this market. These include:

• VMware vSphere Kits or SMEs: VMware vSphere Essentials and Essentials Plus Kits enablesmall ofces to consolidate workloads, improve availability, and centrally manage their environments, with a low investment.

• VMware Go: VMware Go is a ree, web-based IT management service delivering simplifiedasset tracking, inventory and security services or SMEs. VMware GO also guides users o anyexpertise level through the installation and configuration o VMware vSphere Hypervisor.

• VMware Go Pro: VMware Go Pro is a comprehensive cloud service that enables SMEs toconsolidate, manage, control and secure their physical and virtual IT inrastructures. Availabletoday by subscription,

• VMware vSphere Hypervisor: VMware vSphere Hypervisor is the easiest way to get startedwith virtualisation—and it’s ree. Based on VMware ESXi, the hypervisor architecture that setsthe industry standard or reliability, perormance and ecosystem support, VMware vSphereHypervisor allows customers to consolidate applications onto ewer servers and start savingmoney.

For more inormation on any o these products, contact VMware South Arica on 011-513-4800.

New solutions or a new cloud-based era, simplifies IT or SMEs.

By 2012, slightly morethan 75% of SMEs

expect to have server virtualisation in wide use.

ShadowProtect Server includes bare metal

recovery to the same system, dissimilar hardware or to andfrom virtual environments.

SHADOWPROTECT 4 SERVER / SMALL BUSINESS SERVER

NEW VMWARE VSPHERE STORAGE APPLIANCE







27

With price competition heating up between the

country’s four major cellular networks, you can now buy mobile data for as little as

two cents per megabyte.

Competition causestelecoms prices to tumble

COMMUNICATIONS

Fierce competition among South Arica’s cellular networks has helped to dramatically drive downthe prices o mobile broadband services during the course o the year. In the process, mobile

broadband has become an attractive and aordable alternative, or addition, to ADSL connectivity ormany small businesses or the first time.

With price competition heating up between the country’s our major cellular networks, you cannow buy mobile data or as little as two cents per megabyte on the cheapest special rom Telkom’s8ta. 8ta’s broadband package oers 10 GB o data per month or R199 on a two-year contract – archeaper than renting an ADSL line with the same amount o bandwidth.

The catch is that the cheap rate applies only in areas where 8ta has its own towers. But in-bundledata rates o less than 20 cents per megabyte are now available rom all our operators. To put that inperspective, mobile networks were charging as much as R50 per megabyte or internet connectivityin 2005.

Reasons or price dropChanges to South Arica’s telecoms laws and investments in new network inrastructure are the mainreasons that prices o mobile data are suddenly plummeting. These market changes have allowedgrowth-hungry Cell C and 8ta to challenge the dominant Vodacom and MTN with lower prices.

New telecoms regulations introduced a ew years back cleared the way or cellular operatorsand other companies to build new network links between South Arican cities. Previously, they had to lease this inrastructure through Telkom or Broadband Inraco. This has enabled cellular operators to bring their costs down andpass the savings along to their subscribers.In addition, cellular operators have also benefitted rom the commerciallaunch o new undersea cable systems that link South Arica to the rest o the

world. The prices o international bandwidth have allen through the floor since Seacom inparticular launched. Telkom used to control the bulk o South Arica’s international bandwidththrough its stranglehold on the Sat-3/Sae cable system.

ADSL remains the same The mobile broadband price war ollows a sharp decline in ADSL prices last year that saw MWEBunleash the country’s first truly aordable uncapped oerings on the market. Again, it was largelythanks to Seacom that internet service providers such as MWEB and Arihost were able to slashprices so dramatically.

The cost o ADSL bandwidth has dropped rom R70 per gigabyte five years ago to R30 or evenR15 on some specials. As a small business, you can now choose rom a range o ‘capped’ and ’uncapped’ ADSL oerings that answer to a range o business needs and budgets. Since the ADSLprice war o 2010, ADSL pricing has stagnated. Bandwidth costs may all again as new underseacable systems such as the West Arica Cable System go live. However, a disproportionate part o thecost o ADSL now lies in the access ee (the line rental) and this not likely to change soon.

Local loop unbundling The reason or this is that Telkom still controls the last-kilometre inrastructure – the copper cablethat links your business or home to the telephone exchange. Telkom still orces you to pay ananalogue voice line rental ee i you want to have an ADSL line, whether you want the voiceservice or not.Rolling out last-kilometer copper and fibre is expensive, meaning that Telkom will most likelycontrol this part o the fixed-line inrastructure or the oreseeable uture. Icasa, the regulator o theSouth Arican telecoms industry, hopes to tackle this problem through a regulatory interventionknown as local loop unbundling (LLU).

The regulator hopes to draw up LLU regulations by the end o the year, though most in theindustry are sceptical that it will meet this deadline. LLU would give competitors direct access to

Telkom’s last-kilometre network and bring competition to this vital part o the telecominrastructure. However, LLU is a complex process and many service providers question whetherit comes too late to make a dierence or telecoms users and Telkom’s competitors. High-speedwireless solutions such as HSPA+ and long-term evolution (LTE – which MTN is already piloting)are more likely to intensiy last-kilometre competition to Telkom in the months to come.

A lot can happen in a year, and it seems not more so than when it comes to broadband pricing. Lance Harris looks at the reasons behind this very convenient drop in internet costs.



TechSmart (TS): Tell us more about the oferings Telkomhas available or SMEs?Brian Armstrong (BA): We have our main portolios o products. Our traditional voice portolio, our data portolio,our IT services portolio and our mobile portolio. Obviouslyvoice is still a undamental requirement o all businesses,

including small businesses. In act, that is where we have thegreatest penetration, with 400 000 small business customers.

On the data side there are a ew areas. For a small business ADSL is a core product and we think there is a loto growth still to be had in the ADSL space. What is interesting is that only about hal o our voice customers actually have an ADSL line. However, this will grow as peoplebecome more and more dependent on being connected andhaving an online presence. We also launched our VPN Lightoer which uses an ADSL connection to create a private network. We are seeing quite a lot o appetite or that, so thatis an important product or the uture.

Our third is our cloud portolio. This is our IT services where we oer small and medium business the “ofce in a box” solution. Here we bundle computing, support and services together

with connectivity, internet service providing and voice communications.However, more interesting or the uture is cloud. This allows small business to get applicationsand sotware, and indeed computer power or storage, as a service. So instead o having to buy aserver, you can actually buy a virtual server and pay or it on a pay-as-you-go per virtual machinebasis. This means you don’t have to own the hardware and you don’t have to keep it current orupgrade it. That comes with benefits, or instance, all the automatic back-up and data management are eectively provided as part o the service – no more hard drive crashes and nomore data lost.

The third portolio also includes sotware as a service. Certain applications like payroll, evenyour financial system and email, can be provided on a pay-per-use basis. You don’t need a big investment or an upront licence ee and you aren’t hassled with the act that the sotware youare using is three versions out o date rom the current one. We see these as particularly attractiveto small and medium businesses and the large end o the market as well.

The final portolio is mobile. As you know we launched 8ta, our consumer mobile product lastyear. In the second hal o the year we will be launching our business mobile product, and that willhave product eatures which should be very attractive to small businesses.

28

There is no question that

the future of voice is IP.

INTERVIEW:DR BRIAN ARMSTRONG,SENIOR M ANAGING

E XECUTIVE: ENTERPRISE

M ARKETS,TELKOM

TechSmart talked to Dr Brian Armstrong, Telkom’s senior managingexecutive, Enterprise Markets, to findout more about what companies canexpect rom SA’s telecom giant.

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TS: Where are you seeing the SME market heading in South Arica?BA: The SME market has not traditionally been adoption leaders in IT, but they have becomemore pragmatic. They are ocused on “how do I serve customers now in a very direct way”. Interms o ICT they are three to our years behind the corporate market, not in terms o modernisation, but in terms o practical employment. But because o that there will be a continued inusion o ICT into the small and medium business sector.

TS: Voice over IP (VoIP) started of with lots o hype, but received a lukewarm reception. Nowwe hear people starting to talk about VoIP again.BA: There is no question that the uture o voice is IP. The only question is how long it will take toget there, the reasons why people want to move to VoIP are cost and productivity. Our researchshows that or 70% o all businesses the demand or IP is cost-based. But the reality is the traditional voice call, be it mobile or landline, is still convenient, relatively cheap and o high quality.

There is not really a big cost benefit in moving over to IP-based services, and this has been oneo the things that have slowed things down. In the area o unified communications we are startingto see some o the productivity benefits that can come with VoIP. As these productivity benefits become more tangible, I think we will see more adoption o VoIP.

TS: Where do you think unified communications is heading, specifically relating to SMEs?BA: At the moment unified communications reers more to a fixed environment where you have anumber o eatures. My view is that we are still in the very early stages o adoption there becausethe benefits aren’t a habit yet and they need to be made easier. But some o our currentpackages oering these eatures are starting to become more popular with medium businesses,and they are slowly becoming dependent on these sorts o eatures. Long term you will have onenumber, fixed or mobile, intelligent routing, that you will find whoever you want, rom whereveryou are, in the cheapest cost highest quality root, and you will have an integrated messaging

environment and conerencing and collaboration will be considered de acto.

TS: What is the time rame on that?BA: Some o this stu is already available, but or proper fixed line conversion we are talking twoyears. The dominant orce driving unified communications in the short run is going to be theequipment vendors and system integrators. In the medium to long term it will be driven by serviceproviders, and the transition will happen when service providers can truly make it a completelycommoditised product.

TS: How has the market reactedto sotware as a service?BA: It is early days yet, particularlyin small and medium business.What is interesting is that corporates have been doing what I

call private cloud or some time already, and they are starting to dovirtual cloud quite a lot now. According to analysts it is the number one issue or big CIO’saround the world.

What is interesting is there is avariant o cloud which we reer toas “Over the Top” and that is theGoogles o the world. There isquite a lot o early uptake o Google-like services the likes o Gmail, Google storage and their competitors. And we are certainlyseeing the appetite. What we as

Telkom will be able to oer dierentto that, is a slightly more tailoredservice to South Arican small andmedium businesses. Which wouldgive some degree o comort towhere the data actually is, and thesecurity around that data. But it should not be considered in isolation. It is about having the connectivity as well to enable the cloud service. It is about having the connectivity and the appropriate on-site IT support because that is where you still need someone on the premises.

TS: What about security concerns?BA: Our view is that i the biggest banks can do cloud storage, then small businesses can too. It issomething we take very seriously, bearing in mind the amount o sensitive customer inormation

Telkom holds in any case. We’ve got our million customers and their bank details, so it is somethingwe take very seriously. We haven’t yet been breached and we certainly intend to stay that way.

The dominant forcedriving unified

communications in the short runis going to be the equipmentvendors and system integrators.

29

About TelkomTelkom is Africa’s largest integrated

communications company, providing

integrated communications solutions to an

entire range of customers. Telkom’s passion is

to become world-class.







In this day and age o cloud computing and dependencyon instant, always-on communication, a company’s choice o

data centre does not only influence its current business, but alsohow its uture might unold. Data solutions provider, XDSL, hasrecently completed a uture-proo data centre, providing best-in-class hosting strategies.

Located in Samrand, XDSL’s data centre is equipped with some o the best IT equipment currently available, ensuring both high quality

hosting and next generation compatibility. “We wanted to provideclients with not only the latest but also the best technology currentlyavailable,” says Martin van Dyk, director o XDSL. “For this reason thecentre was fitted rom the start with top-o-the-range equipment, whichmeans there is no legacy to maintain and upgrade on a constantbasis,” he continued. The act that high-speed fibre optic networks are

setting a new connectivity standard also played an important role in choice o equipment, withthis data centre ready or a bandwidth intensive uture.

Xsigo onboard A good example o this, is XDSL’s use o Xsigo Systems’ equipment. Xsigo is widely regarded asan innovation leader in Server I/O, with their Xsigo Director server technology allowing XDSL tovirtualise the I/O to the server hardware doing the hosting. Shaun Jones, technical manager orNetXcom, distributors o Xsigo in South Arica, explains it as ollows: “Network and Storageresources are configured as ‘Resource clouds’ in the Xsigo management. These ‘clouds’ can be

linked to virtual NIC’s (vNic) and virtual HBA’s (vHBA) which can be presented to any o the hostservers cabled into Xsigo.”

Apart rom cost savings or XDSL clients, another major benefit is almost instantaneous servercreation. A new Windows server can be deployed in mere minutes instead o the usual days,

while Linux and Windows can beprovisioned with the press o abutton. Customers can also sleepsoundly, since every part o the

Xsigo system is redundant, whilebottlenecks are a thing o thepast, since XDSL is able toconnect two 20 Gbps InifinBandchannels to each host server.

Xsigo is also used by a number o big clients, such as the Star

Alliance airlines group, VMware,New England Biolabs and Avaya.

TrustConnection Telecom is one o the businesses that makes use o XDSL’s data centre, with MD o the company, David Meintjes, very satisfied. “The data centre is proessionally run, veryresponsive when it comes to assistance and well serviced with fibre,” Meintjies believes. XDSL isalso part o the ConvergeNet group o companies, providing the data centre with a solidoundation and shared expertise.

Future-proo solution Van Dyk says it best when he concludes: “Thanks to the implementation o the Xsigo directorsand XMS management systems, XDSL has uture prooed our business and leaproggedcompetitors with our technology.” For orward-thinking companies looking to uture proo their ITservices, XDSL’s Samrand data centre is now open or business. For urther inormation contact

XDSL on 086-100-9375 or visit www.xdsl.co.za.

31

Data centre ready or fibre optic networks

Xsigo is widelyregarded as an

innovation leader in Server I/O, with their Xsigo Director server technology allowingXDSL to virtualise the I/O to

the server hardwaredoing the hosting.

About XDSL XDSL is a Pretoria-based Internet Service

Provider, and has been in the industry since

the time that broadband first became available

in South Africa. The company specialises in

connectivity solutions, Voice over IP, hosting

and managed services such as firewalls, VPNs

and mail spooling.

XDSL‘S FUTURE-PROOF DATA CENTRE NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESS



32

TechSmart (TS): How does IS view the current market and how doyou see the uture specifically relating to SMEs?Hillel Shrock (HS): One o the big shits in the market is the sheervolume and critical richness o inormation that is reshaping how SMEsuse internet based services and what these enable. From anorganisational perspective, organisations o all shapes and sizes arereally rethinking how they use inormation, collaborate and share

inormation across online communities. At an inrastructure level, there is an absolute demand or bandwidth,storage, online content, processing and memory capacity. From theclients’ business perspective, they want to be in a position where content is instantaneously available and completely searchable. Richmedia, including video, is increasingly a requirement. SMEs do have

dierent requirements in terms o the services and the management thereo, and or this reasonwe have evolved to deliver a dierent portolio o services or this particular client segment.

TS: What about the cloud?HS: The cloud or us is not a new thing; we’ve built this business on the concept o sharing inrastructure and outsourcing through our data sectors. Cloud is a major trend, with more andmore inormation technology services being delivered via this model. It’s literally transorming theway in which businesses consume inormation and is really at the heart o many strategies inbusinesses. I think that applies very clearly to SMEs. Obviously there will be dierent types o businesses that use dierent applications, but as a general concept, businesses are looking to

consume services through a shared cloud model, and there will be an adoption curve or that.

TS: But how soon?HS: There are so many varied views and orecasts o the adoption curve, but there is no doubtthat cloud services are being adopted in pockets quite rapidly. With the growth in applicationsavailable, and bandwidth, barriers to SMEs utilising cloud services are diminishing. To meet market demand, we are scaling our investments in data centres, last mile connectivity and bandwidth capacity, on a scale that ar exceeds any historical growth.

TS: Tell us more about your broadband capacity.HS: We’ve made substantial investments in undersea cables and we are a consortium shareholder in a project called FibreCo, where we will be rolling out fibre capacity nationally. All o these elements will come together to answer that question o “how do we get our users more andmore capacity as content, online collaboration and commerce expand?” Our view is that thismarket segment has been stifled in terms o the capacity that has been available because o the

costs. But we are playing our role in changing that.

TS: Is unified communications something that you are involved in?HS: Absolutely. We have our business units – Cloud, Connectivity and Carrier, with the ourth unitcalled Communications. A key strategy or that unit is unified communications as a service. Mysense is that in the SME market, hosted unified communications can provide a meaningul valueproposition to SMEs. Although a ull package o services will be developed over time, we alreadyprovide a number o the core components o these services, such as outsourced email, messaging, and telephony. We aim to improve productivity through a consistent experience, regardless o the channel or device being used.

TS: What adoption time rame are we looking at?HS: We always think adoption will happen a lot quicker than it actually does. I would say over thenext two to three years, and a little longer to become mainstream. It’s interesting that, in the past,big corporations led the adoption o new trends. But now it has been turned on its head and insome areas it’s actually the consumers and SMEs that are leading adoption.

We are scaling our investments in data

centres, last mile connectivity

and bandwidth capacity,on a scale that far exceedsany historicalgrowth.

INTERVIEW:HILLEL SHROCK,CHIEF M ARKETING

OFFICER,INTERNET SOLUTIONS

About Internet Solutions

Internet Solutions (IS) prides itsel on having stayed at the oreront o the telecommunications market

since its inception in South Arica, in 1993. This

has aforded the company the opportunity to

spearhead communications innovation and

pioneering within this ever changing, highly

competitive environment. Today IS is a provider o

internet protocol-based Connectivity,

Communications, Cloud and Carrier Services in the

Arican market and or Arican clients into the

global market. IS provides services to large public

and private sector organisations, medium sized

organisations and smaller organisations and

consumers through its value channel program.

Using this toolbox o solutions IS tailor-makes and

packages services that simpliy technology or its

clients, ensuring the company continuously

enables and evolves communications.

Unified communications, broadband

capacity and the cloud – TechSmarttalked to Hillel Shrock, chie marketingocer at Internet Solutions, to find outmore about SMEs’ place in a connecteduture.

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Book now or the 2012 TechSmart SME Guide (May 2012).

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Contact

Carmel SinghCell: 079-515-8708Email: [email protected]

Suzanne RallTel: 012-362-2732Email: [email protected]

Chantell Nell-MaraisCell: 082-780-4696Email: [email protected]

Connect directly with the customers who will benefit mostrom your business services.



Documents

TechSmart SME Guide 1st Edition 2011 08 Downmagaz.com