Kropmann at Africa Geospatial event: promises positive developments for Utility Companies

In efforts to expand  partnerships, and inform the Nigerian Market on the value and benefits of adopting GIS Solutions to improve on asset, and operational  management, as well as the analysis of numerous forms of data  Kropmann Communications was fully represented at the just concluded Africa Geospatial forum 2014 held in Lagos on December 9-10.

Speaking at event, Ryan Swanepoel a representative from one of Kropmanns Partners, said it was necessary to be here in person to understand the market, and the opportunities the Nigerian Market presents. Mr Swanepoel stated that GIS solutions and technology has applications across all sectors of the economy.

GIS Solutions are capable of capturing and displaying a wide array of data and displaying it visually in relationship to the  physical location  the data is relevant to.

There are some CIS solutions, which can be used to capture geographically dispersed equipment and represent this equipment in a pictorial or graphical manner referenced to the physical location the equipment is tied to. Such GIS Systems are particularly relevant in utility companies involved in power distribution, water networks, the oil and gas and telecommunication sectors, and can definitely enhance operational effectiveness and asset management within these organizations.

According to Mr. Swanepoel " there was significant interest from a number of states and in particular Lagos state in achieving a better understanding of how they could deploy and utilize GIS systems to improve and enhance government operations in respect to watershed management, land management, rural development, improved locational deployment of government facilities and general assets deployed by the government for the population.

He also indicated that customers have the options of buying GIS solutions and managing or engage with a company such as Kropmann and its partners for a fully managed solution from initial setup to data capture and formatting, migrating the data onto the tool, database administration, and the ongoing introduction of new and relevant sets of data. Whatever the clients’ choice, he indicated that Kropmann and its partners were up to the challenge. He stated that Kropmann Communications the Real World Systems representative in Nigeria, have proven their worth and ability in respect to delivering GIS based solutions and technology, and Real World Systems fully expects  the exclusive partnership with Kropmann Communications to continue and prosper.

Mr. Swanepoel explained that in partnership with Kropmann, they’ll jointly deliver Specialized GIS products  such as Smallworld, Water World, Electric Office, Spatial World etc for clients seeking to enhance their operations and gain a greater understanding of the information/data currently stored in paper formant or scattered across multiple databases within there organization.

“Young entrepreneurs should maximize e-commerce potentials”...PMM Boss

A communications and enterprise solutions advocate, Mr. Ejiofor Agada has enjoined business owners and young entrepreneurs to take advantage of opportunities that is on the abundant on the e-commerce platform, to create a huge market base for any business they can think of Mr. Agada, who is the chief executive officer of PMM Integrated (the IT solutions advocacy firm of premier business and market communications firm, Private Media Mart Limited), made these views known at the recently concluded Actors Guild of Nigeria, Lagos chapter’s capacity building workshop in Lagos.

In his presentation delivered at the event, he noted that the trending thing in business at the moment is E-commerce and any intelligent business that wants to stay alive in this era must be actively alive on the internet. He stated that with e-commerce, anything can be sold online. And enjoined the participants to explore this option.

According to Agada, “The advent of e-commerce has changed the face of buying and selling because I could be in my room and with my phone I can make purchases of anything I need, which means, I can only do businesses with those that are on the e- commerce platform and not just a company that has a website. This is where businesses are headed at the moment.”

He made reference to Tilda Kart 1.0, an online shop management tool that is designed to help businesses sell on the internet.  The Tilda Kart he said is designed to make it possible and yet cheaper for prospective businesses to become like the big online shops, but with less cost more reliable features like the ability of the solution to generate invoices, receipts and quotation. Another unique feature of the tool is its high search engine performance. And the fact that to implement this solution costs less than 80% of most e-commerce platforms.

Justifying the choice of Mr. Agada as a resource person, the Chairman of AGN Lagos chapter Don Pedro Aganbi, said that it is imperative that young and upcoming actors and actresses should look beyond the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry and explore other avenues to create wealth, “so that the dance continues even when the music stops”, he concluded.

Blackberry to solve dual-SIM constraint with latest acquisition

BlackBerry Ltd. has bought Movirtu Ltd., which makes a virtual SIM card that allows mobile customers to have more than one phone number on a single device as the bedraggled mobile giant continues to build on its plan to target business users.

As BlackBerry’s share of the smartphone market has diminished, CEO John Chen has refocused the Waterloo, Ontario - Canada-based company to develop services for businesses and governments. The Movirtu technology lets employees who use one phone for work and home switch easily between business and personal profiles with billing clearly separated, BlackBerry said in a statement recently.

BlackBerry plans to start offering the phone-splitting software to customers early next year, with iOS, Windows and Android versions. Though the strategy will definelty enhance the flexibility and cost-cutting measures of Blackberry device users, it may not have much impact on Android and Windows phone users in Nigeria, most of which have devices with physical double SIM capabilities already.

Though no terms of the deal has been released, it's worthy of note that Movirtu was founded in 2008 in London,  and is run by CEO Carsten Brinkschulte and has 22 employees.

In a blog posting recently, Brinkschulte said working with BlackBerry gives his company direct connections to hundreds of mobile operators around the world. "Leveraging these existing connections would be the best way to offer quick and reliable deployment of the Movirtu Virtual SIM solution with minimal effort for the operator. Additionally, BlackBerry will help bring the solution to market through their wide network of mobile operators," Brinkschulte said.

BlackBerry's first new handheld devices to be released under Chen's leadership, an old-style BlackBerry dubbed the Classic and a new format called the Passport, are expected this month. The company is planning invitation-only events on Sept. 24 in Toronto, London and Dubai, but hasn't provided details. Chen said in August that BlackBerry had completed reductions to its workforce that began three years earlier and that it was preparing for modest hiring and small acquisitions.​

This acquisition is coming on the heels of the company's recently celebrated altercation with Apple on the vulnerability of the iCloud hacked recently.

BlackBerry might be struggling to regain its footing in the mobile market right now, but it still has a few strengths that outshine some rivals in key areas. And according to BlackBerry, one of those strengths is the BBM cross-platform messaging app, which apparently tops Apple’s popular iMessage service in a number of ways.

Now, in a new post on BlackBerry’s blog, the company has listed five ways that its BBM product is better than iMessage, and they all focus on BBM’s ability to avoid the huge number of spam attacks that are currently plaguing iPhone and iPad users.

“We all hate spam, whether in our e-mail inbox, or, even more jarringly, when it comes as a mobile message,” BlackBerry’s Jeff Gadway wrote on the company’s blog. “Yet according to an article in WIRED, ‘Apple’s iMessage is being taken over by spammers’ and Cupertino is ‘moving slowly’ to help out ‘beleaguered users.'”

Signal Alliance partners with Cisco for Customer Care Service Solution

Adanma Onuegbu, CEO Signal Alliance

As part of efforts in keeping its leadership strides in quality service delivery to its numerous customers in various sectors of the economy, Systems Integration and Solutions Provider Signal Alliance Limited, recently announced the introduction of the Cisco Smart Care Services, a services solution platform that fosters proactive infrastructure support services for customers.

During an industry presentation to announce this, Mr. Kingsley Nnamchi, Signal Alliances’ Presales Manager described the Cisco Smart Care Service as a unique, proactive services platform that allows Cisco products and solutions customers to take advantage of Cisco’s database of networking expertise, methodologies, technical tools, best practices and service infrastructure to create new, personalized and proactive support services for their networks.

According to Kingsley Nnamchi of Signal Alliance, Smart Care Service provides the capabilities needed to offer the network-level insight, proactive maintenance, and proactive network support services that customers require. He continued, “Imagine – as a network administrator with your usual tight work schedules - a situation where you are already aware of a network fault well before it occurs! Imagine a scenario where you know about the latest updates/patches needed for your sensitive security equipment that protect your infrastructure and services from unauthorized access and attacks. Clearly, this is a tool that takes the goal of achieving maximum infrastructure and services uptime to a whole new level. Smart Care services is miles ahead of the well-known SmartNet services, combining so many of the other Cisco products and services support modules to provide a robust, well-rounded total infrastructure backup for the enterprise business. From the onset of subscribing for the Cisco Smart Care service, the enterprise customer begins to grow and differentiate their businesses in the commercial marketplace.

With Cisco Smart Care Service, Signal Alliance can provide their customers with capabilities such as remote monitoring and repair of Cisco devices and software applications, proactive health checks and periodic assessments of Cisco Network of Data communications, Voice, Wireless and Security Technologies to identify potential issues, need for IOS updates, technical support for all Cisco hardware and software in the network with a single network-wide maintenance contract, new technologies and applications over time, Disaster Recovery services to back up the customer’s active devices. Furthermore, another uniqueness of the solution is in the high Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity capacity regardless of power fluctuations or outage. It is important to note here that this service positions a business much more for Business Continuity than just Disaster Recovery.

Mr. Nnamchi explained that “As we look at changes in the market by setting proactive services as the baseline experience, we always look at defining new and smarter service experiences as leaders in the industry, using the Cisco Customer Care Service as a perfect ground for driving proactive service capabilities which provides trusted visibility into customers business network’s health”. He went further to say that “this model shift will drive new levels of experience/lifetime value and accelerate the business’ ability to compete based on value rather than cost”.

The Smart Care Service that Signal Alliance is bringing into the market is targeted at specific customers. These include businesses that place high value on secure and highly available network, businesses whose network is critical to its operations, and businesses with minimal IT staff working with limited networking expertise.

Being an active player in the IT industry for 2 decades, Signal Alliance Limited is the natural Partner to choose in this regard due to the depth of our competencies, alliances with industry giants and ability to deliver across the value chain. Signal Alliance is a renowned Cisco Premier Partner for almost two decades.

Considering Online Stores? Tilda Systems and PMM unveil low-cost E-commerce solution - Tilda Kart

With the market style taking another dimension and going the e-commerce route as a means of getting visibility for their products in a much larger scale,
Tilda Systems in Partnership with its West African representatives PMM Integrated Ventures (the technology advocacy firm of Private Media Mart Limited), has unveiled another software solution to ease the pain of merchants that wish to gain wider markets for their products on the internet. The unique e-commerce software solution Tilda Kart, is an online shop management and e-commerce solution designed to give the Small enterprise businesses the global visibility that would translate into productivity and profit maximization without draining their resources.

In a statement released from their location in Lagos recently, the PMM Integrated Ventures head of business development, Mr Obinna Ibeawuchi said that the Tilda Kart 1.0 system is actually a complete online shop manager which gives the user the most effective and efficient platform for business. “Customers can go online to a particular merchant from anywhere around the world, buy and pay online for any goods on offer”.

According to him, the uniqueness of this platform lies in its functionality of automatically generating reports, invoices and quotations for the various transactions. It also has the best of viral marketing functionality through its fully optimized search engine options (SEO). In addition to that, he said, “the integration of online payment platform is world class as it can take all the recognised pay cards and also work on all the currency of the countries where the software is accepted. The user’s freedom to review all products on the platform without interference with automated discount system, which means you just input your percentage rate and it computes same on all highlighted products” he said.

“We have looked at all the e-commerce sites domiciled in the Nigeria and discovered that most of them are dysfunctional and others have implementation prices that are way out of reach for the common businessman, continued Mr. Ibeawuchi, “and most of these sites either don’t go beyond the home page of the site or don’t even have the access to the functionalities of a genuine e-commerce site”. He added that another handicap noticed in most e-commerce systems is the fact that the providers here in Nigeria and some parts of Africa have some very expensive platforms. “These are what we considered before going into these project with the mind-set of reaching the affording powers of the mid-stream players in the commercial circle. Therefore, we can gladly say that we have provided a platform that is as effective and more efficient than most of the other ecommerce platforms, yet is 80% less the cost of what is available in the market today” he concluded.

Lending his voice the chairman of Tilda Systems, Mr Tomy Brown said, “Africa has the potential of creating the largest market activities using the e-commerce solution especially with the Nigerian population. Our presence in Nigeria and our interaction with PMM Ventures give us the insight as to aspiration and yearning of the average businessman using technology based platform like the Tilda Kart 1.0., and these keep us moving and providing such technology solutions to soothe their needs”.

The Tilda Kart 1.0 the company says will deliver unequalled profit maximization for user of the solution, as the company in turn will provide the adequate technical and publicity support, ensuring the continuity of the customer’s business.  

The Agriculture sector to thrive using the ERP solution

As part of concerted efforts in making IT prevalent in virtually every sector of the Nigerian economy, Signal Alliance one of the leading IT companies in Nigeria recently came up with proposition for an Agro-based  ERP solution. This was contained in a white paper which it recently published on Agriculture Titled “ERP for Agriculture Sector: transforming big data into big value in the agriculture sector.

The ERP solution is to provide an integrated real-time view of core business processes, using common databases maintained by a database management system in the Agriculture sector. The SAP myAgri and Microsoft Dynamic AX ERPs are the solutions that are in effect designed to carry out definite activities beneficial to the Agriculture sector. MyAgri which operates on SAP business intelligence is designed to create automated control of field and production operational activities reducing costs in their resources management. Improve flow of products through the processing plants, allowing for much better interaction. The Microsoft Dynamic AX Microsoft Dynamics AX, is designed to build a unified business infrastructure that facilitates an unimpeded flow of information.  

According to Signal Alliance’ SAP consultant, Charles Esumeh “In Agribusiness, there are strong tendencies towards increasing the role of IT in creating positive value, decreasing costs and ensuring high quality food products to final recipients. At the same time, the number of regulations concerning the food market is on the increase, including those associated with the necessity to ensure the identification of the origin of ingredients and semi-products in food supplied to the market. Information and data is an essential ingredient in agricultural development programs but Nigerian farmers seldom feel the impact of agricultural innovations either because they have no access to such vital information or because it is poorly disseminated”.

He highlighted some the challenges the local sector is faced with at the moment as lack of awareness, marketing process and technology challenges.

 With the Agric ERP integration the sector, would cut across many platforms, bridging the gap between the producers and the final consumers. For instance, using a SAP ERP Software running on a smart phone, a local buyer of cashew nuts is able to record single buying transactions. Each bag of cashew nuts is labelled with a barcode. By scanning the bar code on the bags of cashew nuts, the system can track every bag. The phone collects the data and sends it directly to the farmers’ cooperative. The cooperative controls the daily pricing for cashew nuts and this information is also sent to all buyers’ smart phones

Some notable features of this proposed ERP is that it is suited for small, medium and large farms with facility to manage to manage multiple farms at multiple locations. It will also improve farm producer’s operational efficiency and profit. Agriculture ERP is designed also to help optimize resources, maintain quality and improve staff performance levels.

Production, post production and sales, marketing and accounting also is considered on the ERP solution.

The Agric ERP can keep track of planting - cultivation - harvesting – Production - marketing history of multiple farmers and farm produce. Land information with scanned photographs and documents can be stored. This Agric ERP maintains farmer database to aid the Management in taking critical key decisions based on data available in terms of irrigation, crop cultivation practices, pest and nutrient management, marketing of crops harvested, etc.

The implementation of ERP in agriculture business enterprises is a requirement resulting from the progress of information technology, BIG DATA and economic globalization. This is a method of not only improving the business processes in the agriculture industry but also a source of obtaining competitive advantage on the market, which leads to an improved financial situation of the industry. Analysis shows that there is significant internal variation within the scope of the food production sector with reference to the scope of IT system use in management of agricultural produce. However, without doubt the agriculture industry is a field in which the implementation, range and pace of ERP system implementation will be increasing.

Due to the influence of ERP systems in obtaining a competitive advantage of enterprises, their implementation is highly recommended for the agriculture sector. Countries are now moving from the small subsistence farming to the industrialized and mechanized form of farming to meet growing population demands. However, attention should be paid to the appropriate adjustment of systems to the needs of the enterprise; depending on its size (less complicated and cheaper systems can support the development of micro and small enterprises).

The benefit of the system will enable farmers to avoid long paper works involved in the supply chain process. It will also increase the revenue of low-end Farmer that deals on seed plants.

In conclusion, the role of technology in all sectors of industries is becoming increasingly relevant. The Agriculture Industry is no different from any other industry. ERP systems implemented in various organizations have not only improved business processes overall but boosted revenue of that organization. Developed countries have recognized the importance of a modernized agriculture industry and have leveraged on technologies like The ERP to gain comparative advantage in the industry and generate massive income revenue for the country.

IDC Launches East Africa CIO Summit in Nairobi...parades Region's Leading Social Network of CIOs

Celebrating its 50th year of delivering leadership in global IT advisory services, IDC has launched the inaugural installment of its East Africa CIO Summit at the InterContinental Hotel Nairobi. The event opened with a keynote speech delivered by the Kenya ICT Authority and addressing the largest gathering of CIOs, IT thought leaders, and vendors in East Africa. With delegates drawn from across Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania, the Summit explored the pivotal role of the CIO in the new business world of technology transformation.

"The strategic place of CIOs cannot be overemphasized as ICT increasingly emerges as a driver of business and egovernment services," said Mr. Victor Kyalo, acting CEO of the Kenya ICT Authority, in his opening address. "The Kenya ICT Authority recognizes this new reality, and through its ICT Masterplan has identified the development of high-end ICT skills as a key growth proponent. It goes without saying that we believe thought-leadership forums such as this one here today can only add to the development of our collective ICT knowledge as a country."

The Summit also saw the formal launch of IDC's Technology Advisory Council for East Africa, whose fundamental aim is to enable a new wave of IT development across the region. The Council's members will draw on their rich experience to assist upcoming IT talent through mentoring sessions, while they will also head key development programs that recognize breakthrough performances in the field of IT. The founding members of the IDC Technology Advisory Council include esteemed IT leaders from various industries such as government, banking and finance, aviation, education, and telecommunications. Membership is strictly by invitation only and is restricted to senior IT representatives of the region's foremost end-user organizations.

"As IDC celebrates its 50th year of providing international markets with groundbreaking IT analysis, we are profoundly excited to kick start the Technology Advisory Council for East Africa," says Onesmus Mbogo, country manager for IDC East Africa. "The Council will provide a far-reaching source of thought leadership on issues relating to strategic planning, research and development, and technology innovation."

The day's proceedings got underway with an in-depth assessment of the ways in which this new era of transformation is likely to impact the East African IT landscape over the coming years. This was followed by an eclectic mix of insightful presentations and informative panel discussions on everything from cutting-edge information security and telecommunications strategies to CIO best practices and ICT predictions for East Africa.

"The last five years have seen the emergence of a new era in computing," says Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC's group vice president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. "We call this new era the 3rd Platform. Harnessing the power of key technology pillars such as Big Data, mobile, cloud, and social media, this unstoppable force is transforming entire industries and empowering customers in new ways. It is also driving a fundamental evolution of the CIO's role in the organization, the tasks and responsibilities of the IT department, and the skill sets required by CIOs and their IT staff, and events such as today's play a key role in getting that message across."

The delegates in attendance represented a variety of industry sectors, including banking and financial services, government, oil and gas, construction and real estate, utilities, and healthcare. Senior IDC analysts from across the globe were available for private one-to-one meetings throughout the course of the Summit, offering strategic advice on the most pressing business and technology concerns facing the region's CIOs today. The event came to a close with a lavish dinner and evening of entertainment hosted for the CIOs and IDC's technology partners.

To make sure the very latest technology developments were covered at the East Africa CIO Summit 2014, IDC partnered with some of the world's foremost ICT vendors, including the Kenya ICT Authority as the Public Sector Partner; EMC as Summit Partner; FVC and Polycom as Platinum Partners; Oracle, FireEye, and Kaspersky as Gold Partners; Commvault, Global Knowledge and HCL as Silver Partners; Datagroup and Entrust as Exhibition Partners; and Business Connexion as Gala Dinner Partner.

‘Expect New Things’…Adanma Onuegbu, new Signal Alliance CEO

As part of efforts in maintaining its giant strides as one of the leading IT integration companies in the country, Signal Alliance recently announced Mrs. Adanma Onuegbu as its new CEO. The development which came up in the last quarter of 2013 and made official in 2014, was necessitated by the elevation of the former CEO Mr Collins Onuegbu, as the new Executive Vice Chairman of Signal Alliance Group.

Addressing newsmen in her first media interactive session, Mrs Onuegbu said there was the need to keep the public updated on the activities of the company and her determination to take the company to the next level. She said part of her new job will be to complement the work done in the company so far and to seek out new areas of opportunities that will be of benefit to the company.  

On her top priority, Mrs Onuegbu said, “We’ll aim to improve on the service delivery of Signal Alliance toward its numerous customers with renewed vigour ensure customer satisfaction, which is the biggest challenge most companies in the sector are facing at the moment. “Another area we’ll be focusing on is the area of data security, because of the shift to big data, there is the need to position the company to favourably compete with big players in the industry with regards to cloud computing which is where most organisations are moving into at this time”. She added that the company will be engaged in re-engineering as partners with OEMs such as SAP Microsoft, CA technologies, and Cisco.

Mrs. Onuegbu is presently the only woman CEO in the IT services and integration industry, which she says it is rather a challenge than honour as she will be expected to achieve more and carve a niche for herself in the industry. She is a graduate of Agro-economics and has risen through the ranks in Signal Alliance from inception. In addition to several industry recognitions and trainings garnered over the years, Mrs. Onuegbu is also known to have engineered most of the high-end IT solutions in key sectors of the economy.

These key solutions had also won various local and international awards for Signal Alliance over the years. “I actually see what this company has achieved over the years as a challenge and opportunity to doing more and surpass what the company has been known for” she said.

Signal Alliance is an end to end Information Technology company with specialization in systems integration and has a rank of highly skilled and certified consultants with industry experience cutting across all the sectors of the economy, with core competencies in Business Optimization services, Service Management, Networks & Monitoring, Cloud Computing and Business solutions.

Peter Jack consolidates position as NITDA DG

When President Goodluck Jonathan approved the appointment of Mr Peter Olu Jack as the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for a first term of four years with effect from April 7^th  2014, it came to many as a surprise. However those could be said to be in the dark about the technical and administrative depth of the man, Peter Jack.

Prior to his appoint to replace by Prof. Cleopas Angaye, who retired in July 2013, having served for a maximum term of eight year, Mr Ashiru Daura, acted as the Director General of the agency until Jack's appointment.

A native of Abonnema in Rivers State of Nigeria, Mr. Peter Jack has been into private sector practice in the area of core information technology solutions and services since leaving NITDA in 2007. As a consummate technocrat, he is a product of International Information Technology Policy Program, College of Engineering, Seoul National University, South Korea. He holds a BSc. in Chemical Engineering, University of Ife, Ile Ife, a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Lagos in Nigeria.

He represented the DG/CEO on several key national committees including the National Committee on Outsourcing, and the Public Service Reform Committee and led the team that wrote the National Outsourcing Policy. He set up the National Cisco Networking Academy Program in Nigeria. Mr. Jack designed and implemented the Niger Delta Youth Computer Training Program for Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2003.

Peter Jack is also one of the receipents of the Global Fund Research Fellows between 2009 and 2010. The Global Environment and Conflict Resolution award was meant to fund the first phase (Research) of a grand intervention plan to ensure peace, social inclusion, and sustainable development in the Niger Delta.

The research focused on exploring a consensus approach among stakeholders to identify the best path to peace-building in the Niger Delta. It will methodically review the current state of affairs in the Niger Delta Region in relation to level of threat to national security and stability as well as catalogue previous and current efforts at intervention in the Niger Delta.

Just like Etisalat, Aviat Networks also signs managed services deal with MTN Nigeria

Aviat Networks Inc, has reported that it has been contracted by the telecom major MTN Nigeria to offer enhanced managed services and associated technical support to the telecom network of one of Africa’s largest cellular operator.

The deal would also involve the Santa Clara based firm managing and controlling the conduit of materials into and out of MTN Nigeria facilities which are being managed by Aviat Networks Inc. The services rendered would also include the setting up of, managing and augmenting of network resources of high net worth customers who would be identified by MTN Nigeria. This is not the first time Aviat Networks is being contracted to manage the facilities of a telecom firm in Nigeria, as Etisalat had signed a similar deal with the company in 2012.

While explaining the reasons for going ahead with the contract expansion, MTN Nigeria’s Senior Manager Core and Transmission Implementation in the NID-Network Group has been quoted to have said that, “This is an opportunity to work more closely with our partner on planning and deploying Aviat equipment into the MTN Nigeria network. This new agreement demonstrates our confidence in Aviat’s capabilities to efficiently manage our inventory. The agreement reduces our overall costs and pain points and improves visibility to better plan future inventory requirements.”

Even though the details of the contract was not disclosed (especially to the Nigerian audience) Aviat Networks Inc has gone on record to state that MTN Nigeria is one of its key customers and is thrilled to be accepted as a trusted partner by the telecom operator in helping the firm provide value added services to its key customers. The services provider has also added that its speciality offering of managing the inward and outward flow of products for a company, is one of the key differentiators for the firm. It hopes to break into new accounts on the back of its success with MTN Nigeria.

Aviat Networks Inc, had in 2012 announced the signing of a service level agreement (SLA) to provide Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), operating as Etisalat Nigeria, with a comprehensive suite of Managed Network Services. The agreement, financial details of which were not available, covers establishing a network operations centre, providing an element management system and implementing spares management programme.

With that deal, Aviat Networks established a Network Operations Centre (NOC) to operate 50 hops of Etisalat's Enterprise Data Network, comprising 100 radios of the Eclipse Packet Node microwave networking solution, on the mobile operator's network nationwide within Nigeria.

Canadian Software coy Partners PMM Int. Ventures for Software solutions in W/Africa

As part of their objective to provide workable and cost effective IT solutions to SME’s in Nigeria, indigenous Enterprise technology Advocates, PMM Integrated Ventures and Canadian software firm Tilda Systems Incorporated, has entered into a partnership to ensure that Small and Medium Enterprises harness the potentials of a high end IT solutions at minimal cost.

The Canadian company Tilda, with research operations base in Kochi - India, provides unique software solutions to carter for the various degrees of IT consumers in the E-Governance, Enterprise Portal, Education and Telecommunications sectors.  In a statement issued after the signing of the partnership arrangement which will see PMM Integrated Ventures supporting and distributing the solutions from Tilda Systems in English-speaking West Africa, the Head of Business Development and Communications of PMM Integrated Mr Obinna Ibeawuchi, said that there was need to make all business outfits in Nigeria have access to Workable solutions to suit their business without necessarily straining their finances. 

“This one of the reason we are having this Tilda/ PMM Ventures partnership as we believe it’ll will chart a new course for all Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria with regards to maximising productivity as we storm the Nigerian market with the most cost effective and top-of-the-class IT solutions while ensuring these medium companies harness the potentials embedded in these dedicated software solutions” he said.  

On his part, the Chairman Tilda Systems, Mr Tony Abraham said, “We are excited to partner with PMMI to bring innovative, ground-breaking Software Products and Services to Customers in Nigeria and other British West African Countries. PMMI’s excellent knowledge of the Nigerian market and product marketing strategies will complement our focus on delivering high-performance applications to Global consumers. Our joint efforts with PMMI will enable us to push the future of Path Breaking Technologies and Services to the African Citizens”.

The solutions he added would actually create a big shift from the norm where only big companies could afford these solutions before now. He further disclosed that Tilda Systems hopes to start off with providing services that’ll help Construction sector with Enterprise Resource Planning solution (CO-ERP) to track and monitor their projects both on and offsite;  Eval Mate 2.0, which is going to be the first ever online examination/certification portal solution to come into the region; as well as the E- commerce portal called E-Cart, that will make online commerce available to all.

According to Mr Ibeawuchi, solutions from Tilda Systems costs about 80% less than the conventional solutions in the market. He was also quick to state that Tilda have been able to break down some of the intricate nature of these solutions that were available before now, into a less complex and user friendly system. As part of the Market segmentation, Mr Ibeawuchi said PMMI will try to start with companies who are in dire need of cost effective IT solutions and would in the Long term make Tilda solutions a brand in the Nigeria and English-speaking West Africa.

PMM Integrated Ventures (a specialized arm of Private Media Mart Limited) is a unique technology solutions advocate for the Enterprise market with its strength on the ability to match consumers in the enterprise with the right and most cost-effective technology solutions available in the world today.

CRM solutions recommended for Power Sector by SA

In a bid to enhance the experience of customers in the power sector in Nigeria, Signal Alliance one of the leading systems Integration companies in the country has introduced two Customer Relationship Management (CRM) CRM solutions for Power Sector: Microsoft Dynamics and SAP CRM. The solutions, which have been specially recommended for the players in the reformed sector as the best CRM solutions for Power Sector in Nigeria, are meant to help the GENCOs and DISCOs, improve on their customer relationship and at the same time ensure positive bottom-line.

In a white paper presented by Signal Alliance, the company streamlined the challenges in the present-day power sector under the new private owners and how the solutions have been designed to help the sector surmount the challenges of satisfying their customers, while making profit through seamless productivity. According to the white paper, “the need to create the right relationship between the electricity providers and their customers and the need for the power infrastructure owners to deliver quality service formed the basis of the CRM solutions”.

As explained in the white paper, Microsoft Dynamics, an integrated Software Solution that will simplify complex management of electricity through; managing power usage intelligently, delivering power and analysis based on Customer demands, improve asset utilization, increase power availability, while the SAP CRM is meant for the Utilities Industry to help the companies retain customers loyalty. Reference was made to situations where there is power outage and nobody explains anything to anybody because of the communication breach. Also a case where a power transformer blows up and it will takes days before it is attended to were attributed to the lack of proper relationship structure between the owners and the direct users, justifying the need for specific CRM solutions for Power Sector.

According to the Signal Alliance Head, MS Dynamics, Mr. Maro Ologe “We have broadly explored the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) practices in the electricity distribution sector in Nigeria, identified some of the existing challenges and came up with how they can be improved with the use of CRM solutions for Power Sector and gain better service design”. 

The white paper also shed light on the history of the power sector from inception, the challenges and added that these solutions draw strength from state of the sector, and give a better understanding of the key actors and their roles, giving a few specific recommendations that are outlined using the short, medium and long-term lenses. To move from the identification of challenges and potential solutions to implementation of some of the recommendations on the ground, a series of concerted efforts are required by a number of key stakeholder groups,

With the CRM solutions for Power Sector - Microsoft Dynamics and the SAP CRM - the power sector would be able to achieve A new way of thinking: a change in paradigm, change in the messages sent and received and Change in the overall culture. The competencies required for an effective CRM process according to the publication would be: Reliability, Responsiveness, Accessibility, safety, Courtesy, Consideration, Communication, Recognizing the customer and competence on the part the providers.

The CRM solutions for Power Sector tends to provide answers to the numerous questions on the minds of the customers, which can be put in perspective through the provision of a 24 hours dedicated call centres, a stakeholders interactive platforms, offering online services, such as downloading of necessary forms, usage and payment history information, options for online application and bill payment, load shedding forecasting, maintenance notification platforms.

cineSync Used to Complete VFX for Academy Award® Nominee, Gravity

Cospective’s video review software cineSync played a key role in a globe-spanning VFX pipeline for Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. Charting the lonely quest of an astronaut (Sandra Bullock) to survive after her spaceship is crippled, the film received ten Oscar® nominations, including one for Best Visual Effects. Framestore, principal VFX vendor on Gravity, tasked Australia’s Rising Sun Pictures with completing a spectacular reentry sequence. From their facility in Adelaide, Rising Sun was able to integrate seamlessly with Framestore via cineSync. With cineSync as a remote collaboration tool, distributed postproduction teams can work together closely to create groundbreaking VFX, regardless of locations and time zones.

In fact, cineSync was used for remote review on all of the movies nominated for Best Visual Effects this year, including The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Iron Man 3, The Lone Ranger, Star Trek Into Darkness, as well as Gravity. cineSync itself won a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy in 2011. 

Rarely has the big screen been put to better use than it is here, in conveying the immensity of space. The tight confines of spacecraft are set against infinite blackness. Often the only sounds in the film are the breathing of Bullock’s character, astronaut Stone. Physical objects float unbearably slowly, even as the narrative races inexorably forward. The tension is so complete, and the imagery so seamless, that is easy to forget that the entire film depends on visual effects work.

The film’s climactic scene shows Stone attempting reentry into earth’s atmosphere. Rising Sun Pictures completed 17 shots for this sequence. Using Framestore’s pre-vis for reference, Rising Sun worked with director Cuarón, executive producer Nikki Penny and Tim Webber, VFX supervisor at Framestore, to craft and deliver the 2.5-minute sequence.

“We came up with technical and creative solutions through talking to Tim and Alfonso,” said Tony Clark, VFX supervisor and co-founder of RSP. “These conversations required a large number of cineSync sessions, usually including various reference clips of elements they wanted to include in the reentry scene.”

For the scene, Rising Sun created stereoscopic, all-CG shots that included the space station and reentry module, plasma and flame effects surrounding the descending vehicle, the violent destruction of a space station, earth environments, atmospheric effects, parachutes and panoramic matte painting.

“It’s always great to work with a local VFX house, but these days, with communications as advanced as they are, it’s getting easier to work remotely,” said Webber. “On Gravity we worked with Rising Sun, literally at the opposite end of the world from our base in London. This was made significantly easier using cineSync. It is tried and tested software that has been such an integral part of so many films that it’s almost synonymous with remote working.”

“As the VFX industry continues to grow worldwide, we are seeing how facilities are constantly discovering new means to do better, more inventive work, with tight timelines and, in some cases, shrinking budgets,” said Cospective’s Rory McGregor, product manager of cineSync. “One particularly effective tool is remote collaboration between post houses. This allows you to bring in the best artists, regardless of where they are. This is precisely what Framestore did, using cineSync to communicate efficiently and clearly with the artists at Rising Sun Pictures.” 

An exemplar of remote collaboration, Rising Sun Pictures has contributed to many recent Hollywood features, including The Great Gatsby, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and others. Working from Adelaide, South Australia, RSP has been able to integrate their workflows with studios and facilities in North America, Europe and Asia, all thanks to cineSync.

Cospective, the maker of cineSync, has been continually innovating in the area of synchronized remote review and approval and recently released Frankie, which is tailored for the review of short-form media such as TV commercials and which allows cineSync-style reviews in an Internet browser. “Cospective’s remote review and approval tools have never been more in demand than today in the new world of international filmmaking and advertising,” added McGregor.

cineSync runs on OSX, Windows and Linux systems and is sold worldwide by Cospective, the maker of Frankie video review software.

cineSync is the Academy Award®-winning synchronized review-and-approval tool used for major film productions. It is made by Cospective, creator of innovative software solutions to visual communication challenges. Cospective’s product line also includes Frankie, the real-time video review tool that uses standard web browsers and is ideally suited for short-form content produced by ad agencies, production companies and post houses. Cospective is a privately held company based in Adelaide, Australia.