The Pay Tv service depends solely on the availability of internet connection. Therefore, for a continent like Africa whose internet infrastructure development is still lagging behind, only a few people are able to enjoy a wide range of television entertainment that comes with the pay tv.

Cape Town, December 15, 2018 – The internet has really changed how people do business around the world. Its efficiency and convenience are beneficial to almost every industry. The pay tv sector being one of them. Gone are the days when homeowners and businesses relied on tv aerials for transmission of signals in order to watch favourite television shows, movies, and sports. The internet has redefined television viewing across the globe. Unfortunately, here in Africa, it would be a while before everybody gets to enjoy benefits of pay tv. That is because for one to be connected to the service they need internet connectivity, which isn’t available in many areas around the continent.

According to statistics, only 35% of Africa’s population had access to the internet by the end of 2017. The percentage is distributed unevenly between the countries, with the more developed states like South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal having more than half of their population connected to the internet.

The connectivity is mainly focused around urban areas where wired infrastructures are already in place, hence making the set-up process easy and cost-effective. Mr. Clinton Francis, the owner of Supersat DStv Installation Cape Town, noted that there is a growing demand for diversification of content which is made possible by the availability of pay tv. “MultiChoice is doing a very good job with its pay tv service called Showmax. They provide clients with many hours of both local and international content which they can view comfortably from their televisions, personal computers, smartphone, or tablet – provided they are logged in and there is internet access.”

As more pay TV solutions are gearing to take over the market, and local content producers like “Nollywood” in Nigeria working tirelessly to produce quality movies and series, the entire industry will grow faster once internet connectivity reaches more areas in a couple of years.

“After working in the industry for a while, and helping hundreds of our esteemed clients with their on-demand pay TV subscriptions, we can’t wait to get everybody on board,” added Mr. Clinton.

Media Contacts
Mr. Clinton Francis
26 Fir Street, Observatory, Cape Town, 7530, South Africa.
+27 87 551 0527
Website: https://www.dstvinstallation-capetown.com/contact/

Project Isizwe - the innovative NGO behind Africa’s most successful, large-scale Free WiFi network - has announced Dudu Mkhwanazi as the new CEO. Mkhwanazi is deeply committed to enabling social justice and empowering South Africans through free access to the internet.

Mkhwanazi’s appointment to the executive role is set to see Project Isizwe ensure its mandate as the advocate for Free WiFi as a human right. “Project Isizwe is lobbying for ubiquitous, government subsidised internet access within a walking distance of every South African”, says Mkhwanazi.

The 26-year-old describes herself as an “activist” for Free WiFi. “I believe in being part of an organisation that not only sets out to change people's lives, but also rewrites the history as far as empowerment is concerned.”

Mkhwanazi has a demonstrated history of successfully managing complex projects at scale and holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy Analysis from Université Montpellier. Her unique leadership approach combines authentic relationship building with thorough business rigour to deliver sustainably impactful projects in pursuit of social justice for all South Africans.

“Internet access is a tool to empower those in low socioeconomic ranks. When the government heeds the call to make internet access a basic human right akin to water and electricity in South Africa, it will be more than a progressive pioneering policy, it will be a selfless act to bridge digital, economic and social divides.”

Handheld AirCheck G2 wireless communications tester provides rugged portable testing for network issues 

Johannesburg, South Africa, 27 July, 2017 - RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, has announced availability of a wireless network tester from Netscout, which provides fast, simple and accurate isolation and troubleshooting of wireless issues. Supporting a large variety of maintenance and troubleshooting issues such as interference problems or access-point access and configuration, the new AirCheck G2 targets network system designers, technicians and maintenance engineers, as well as anyone working in an industrial or commercial building with a wireless network. 

The AirCheck G2 is a rugged handheld purpose-built wireless tester that supports the latest Wi-Fi technologies (802.11a/b/g/n/ac). The unit has a one-button AutoTest, which quickly provides a pass/fail indication of the wireless environment and identifies common problems. It also shows an instant view of test results including network availability, connectivity, utilisation, security settings, rogue hunting and interference detection.

The tester also enables connectivity to a centralised test results management platform – Link-Live – which facilitates greater job visibility, project control and fleet management for larger distributed environments. Based on the original AirCheck Wi-Fi tester, the G2 unit builds on its legacy to offer additional functionality such as 802.11ac 3-stream radio, a 5-inch touchscreen display, Ethernet tests for AP backhaul verification, automatic uploads of basic connectivity tests to the Link-Live cloud service, and adjacent channel interference testing in AutoTest. The new Netscout AirCheck G2 is now available from RS. 

-Ends- 

About RS Components 

RS Components is the market leader in the high service level distribution of electrical, electronic, mechanical, tools and industrial products. Operating in 26 countries whilst serving a further 100 through third-party distributors, RS serves every sector of industry in the procurement of their products relating to maintenance, repair, operations, low volume production, research and development.   

With over 500 000 products across 2500 leading brands, the company is committed to ensuring that their 1,5 million customers have fast access to a broad, as well as deep range, of products and technologies, all under one roof. RS’s customers, whether ordering single or multiple items, experience a quick, easy, secure, painless and cost effective process. 

The RS catalogue, available at za.rs-online.com, offers full colour pictures with extensive clear product specifications.  Free access to thousands of datasheets ensures the correct product choice.  Order placement is easily facilitated through za.rs-online.com, the call centre, e-mail, fax and trade counter. 

Locally held stock is delivered to customers within 24 hours, and products held internationally, within four to six working days.    

It is proven that departments traditionally spend 80% of their time sourcing products that account for only 20% of their total procurement spend. RS is focussed on reducing the customers “total cost of product ownership” by reducing the need to make multiple calls to various companies to source products, reducing supplier related administration and allowing for the amalgamation as well as consolidation of supplier bases.Through this process, procurement efficiency is improved and time is freed up to concentrate on the more important business decisions. 

For more information, please visit the website at za.rs-online.com 

Press Office
Le-andra Olivier
PR and Communications Specialist
RS Components South Africa
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
+27 11 691 9345 

Further information is available via these links

• Twitter: @rsonline_SA; @DesignSparkRS
• Facebook: facebook.com/rssouthafrica/RS Components on
• LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/company/rscoms 

Relevant Links

• RSProRS Components South Africa
• www.electrocomponents.com

DesignSpark Magazine -

http://www.designspark.com 

Johannesburg, June 2017: THE Landrush Phase for the newly launched .africa domain name enters its 4th Phase and final week from 26th June 2017.

The Landrush Phase for .africa domain name system offers companies, organizations and individuals to apply for domain names containing keywords valuable enough to pay a premium for. Domain names with single words that attract heavy every day use are very typical during this Phase.

.africa is the top-level domain name system for the continent of Africa. It is open to all individuals and entities in Africa or ones that identify with with Africa, globally. .africa domains are available in Landrush Phase from Web4Africa, an accredited .africa domain name registrar, said Managing Director, Web4Africa (www.web4africa.africa), Mr. Oluniyi Ajao.

This Landrush Phase is not exclusive to the .africa top-level domain but is normal with all newly-launched domain name extensions. All things being equal, there is a much better chance that the domain can be obtained during this Phase.

Speaking on the Landrush Phase which ends this week, Mr. Oluniyi Ajao, reiterated certain names that have got prior rights associated with them will not go through unless the applicant has already specifically validated rights in the Mark Validation System (MVS) or Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) database. When processing a Landrush Application, Web4Africa will receive a Claims Notice if the string is registered in the MVS or TMCH.

At the end of the Landrush phase, he reemphasized, all uncontested domain applications will be delegated while all contested domain applications will proceed to an Auction Phase. Applicants will be notified by the .africa registry on the Auction process should this occur.

Domain auctions will last a minimum of 3 days. Any bids within the final 12 hours will extend any auction by an additional 24 hours.

.africa has already demonstrated serious interests from global brands and entities within Africa who are trademark owners as about 1,000 domains were successfully secured during the Sunrise Phase, making it one of the top ten largest number of domain name reservations during the sunrise phase of the new geographic Top Level Domain (gTLD) 's launch process.

The General Availability phase would follow, from 4th July 2017. The domains would then be available on a first-come-first-served basis.

“We are in Africa, and Africa is in us. We believe in the future of Africa and that .africa would offer Africans a strong identity on the World Wide Web”, Mr. Ajao said.

Established in 2002, Web4Africa is an ICANN Accredited Domain Name Registrar offering popular top-level domains (like .com, .net, .xyz, .africa) and country-code domains (like .ng, .za, .uk) to clients worldwide. Based in Johannesburg South Africa, Web4Africa offers Web Hosting, Virtual Private Servers, Dedicated Servers and related solutions from 4 datacentres across Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. www.web4africa.net

RealSense development kit from Intel delivers superior depth sensing for applications such as augmented reality and facial recognition Johannesburg,

South Africa, 1 June, 2017 - RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, has announced availability of the Intel RealSense SR300 development kit, which is ideal for software development, prototyping and depth-sensing evaluation in a wide range of applications such as full-hand skeletal tracking and gesture recognition, facial recognition and tracking, depth-enhanced augmented reality, and voice command and control. 

Based on Intel’s RealSense technology, the kit features the SR300 webcam, which integrates an audio subsystem together with the SR300 Intel RealSense front-facing camera. The advanced SR300 camera has a short-range coded-light imaging system to deliver depth information in a variety of imaging applications.

The camera also offers 1080p full-HD video image quality at up to 30 frames per second (FPS), or 720p HD video image quality at up to 60 FPS.  The audio subsystem integrates a dual microphone array that provides audio input to the client system to improve the voice module robustness in noisy environments.

Use of Intel’s Depth Camera Manager (DCM) software for Windows also enables users to realise all the capabilities of the kit, which is available for download at:software.intel.com/en-us/intel-realsense-sdk/download. Key potential applications include dynamic background segmentation, in which user backgrounds are masked out and replaced with alternative backgrounds for video conferencing, for example.

The SR300’s improved colour quality in low-light conditions also enables 3D scanning applications with an increased range for image capture at only 70cm at 50 FPS. In addition, hand-gesture recognition can be enabled using three primary tracking modes, which includes ‘cursor mode’, ‘extremities’ and ‘full-hand’ mode. 

The SR300 kit also supports legacy applications and RGB data based on the Intel RealSense F200 camera. Compared to the F200, the SR300 provides an increased depth range of 1.5m, dynamic motion capture with higher quality depth data, lower power consumption, and increased middleware quality and robustness.

It also provides improved support for Skype video communications. The SR300 camera weighs only 9.4g and has dimensions of approximately 110 x 12.6 x 3.8–4.1mm, which allows it to be easily clipped onto a mobile platform lid or desktop monitor, while also providing stable video output.  

-Ends-  

About RS Components 

RS Components is the market leader in the high service level distribution of electrical, electronic, mechanical, tools and industrial products. Operating in 26 countries whilst serving a further 100 through third-party distributors, RS serves every sector of industry in the procurement of their products relating to maintenance, repair, operations, low volume production, research and development.   

With over 500 000 products across 2500 leading brands, the company is committed to ensuring that their 1,5 million customers have fast access to a broad, as well as deep range, of products and technologies, all under one roof. RS’s customers, whether ordering single or multiple items, experience a quick, easy, secure, painless and cost eff+ective process.  The RS catalogue, available at za.rs-online.com, offers full colour pictures with extensive clear product specifications. 

Free access to thousands of datasheets ensures the correct product choice. Order placement is easily facilitated through za.rs-online.com, the call centre, e-mail, fax and trade counter.  Locally held stock is delivered to customers within 24 hours, and products held internationally, within four to six working days.    

It is proven that departments traditionally spend 80% of their time sourcing products that account for only 20% of their total procurement spend. RS is focussed on reducing the customers “total cost of product ownership” by reducing the need to make multiple calls to various companies to source products, reducing supplier related administration and allowing for the amalgamation as well as consolidation of supplier bases. Through this process, procurement efficiency is improved and time is freed up to concentrate on the more important business decisions.  For more information, please visit the website at za.rs-online.com 

Press Office:                                                                       

Le-andra OlivierPR and Communication SpecialistRS Components South This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.+27 11 691 9345 

Further information is available via these links:Twitter: @RSNewsSA; @RSElectronics; designsparkRSFacebook: facebook.com/RSSouthAfricaRS Components on LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/company/rscoms 

Relevant Links:RSProRS Components South Africawww.electrocomponents.com

DesignSpark Magazine - http://www.designspark.com 

2016 was a standout year for cyber attacks with crypto ransomware, IoT Botnets  and crimeware-as-a-service to mention a few. With 2017 upon us, WatchGuard’s Chief Technology officer, Corey Nachreiner has released his predictions as to what we threats we can anticipate for the year ahead.  

1. Fast acting Ransomworms will spread threats faster than ever.  
2. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) will be exploited.  
3. Botnet zombies will primarily target IoT’s.  
4. In 2017, we’ll see civilian “casualties” in the Cyber Cold War.  
5. Under siege by cyber criminals, SMBs turn to small MSSPs for cyber security.   
6. Increased biometrics usage hides continued credential insecurity; passwords aren’t really gone.  
7. Attackers start leveraging machine learning and AI to improve malware and attacks. 

Get the complete report

Cyber-attacks will continue to be a major threat to businesses in 2017 and beyond. Staying educated on the latest InfoSec threats and solutions is the best way to improve your defences.   Click here to learn how Robinson Distribution and WatchGuard can help set up the defences for your network today.  

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in network security, providing best-in-class Unified Threat Management, Next Generation Firewall, secure Wi-Fi, and network intelligence products and services to more than 75,000 customers worldwide. The company’s mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard and ideal solution for Distributed Enterprises and SMBs. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.  

About Robinson Distribution
Robinson Distribution specializes in business critical solutions for South Africa and Africa. They offer a selection of only the best solutions from reputable suppliers with the ability to provide excellent service. Robinson Distribution has established themselves as one of the top distribution companies in South Africa.  Visit Robinson Distribution’s website for more information.

While the term land grab has negative association, in the telecommunications space it means good news. South Africans pay a lot more than other countries for broadband and the move this week by MTN to slash fibre broadband bodes well for consumers.  

As fibre networks started rolling out it was inevitable that broadband prices would start bottoming out, as evidenced by MTN’s announcement on Tuesday to slash fibre broadband costs for consumers.  

Warren Bonheim, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Zinia, an Internet service provider (ISP) and wholesaler that compares products and providers for companies says: “Land grab in the context of the telecoms industry is a strategy large networks have of offering last mile fibre with pricing at breakeven levels, to secure customers and market share on a large scale.”   He explains that once a customer is on the fibre network the telecoms provider will have retention of those customers. This allows the networks to get a return on investment of the actual fibre, which is the majority of the costs. “With the fibre infrastructure paid off said network will be able to out price its competitors and ‘secure that land’,” he says.  

“The fibre space is very exciting with networks jousting for land and market share, but ultimately it is consumers and businesses that benefit from this competitive strategy.”  

However, Bonheim explains that cheaper doesn’t necessarily mean you will get the speeds promised. He explained that South African broadband users still get relatively low value compared to the rest of the world. He cites the 2015 Ookla Household Value Index statistics as evidence, where SA came 56th out of 64 tested countries when comparing actual speed and “promised speed”.   His only concern with this strategy is that locking in customers through long contracts and underperforming in terms of delivery, could in the long-term damage relationships with customers.

In Zinia’s experience businesses often only pick up issues with lack of coverage or delivery after signing up for the offer.    “This is a great step in the right direction, but As Telecom providers we have to continually work on bringing more value to businesses. This means bringing the best speeds, contention ratios and uptime to meet their needs and providing better service levels. We need to make sure once the customer is brought into the fibre experience that we deliver consistently. It’s much like water or power; it is expected to always be available when we need it!” 

Mobile network operators aren’t paying close attention to leverage DCB in mobile vertical markets. TeleResearch Labs examines many such hot opportunities in adjunct telecom markets for operators in its latest report: Vertical & Horizontal Worlds of Mobile.

As mobile payments is one of the broadest areas of horizontal potential, US-based telecom research company TeleResearch Labs strongly encourage operators to try incorporating direct carrier billing (DCB) – for physical goods. Though there are a few cases where it has started but operators have not yet focused on it. San Francisco-based company Boku, which specialises in direct carrier billing solutions, has entered into partnerships with the UK's three main telcos for supporting DCB payments for items such as magazines and bus tickets, and is looking for expanding into the food industry.

While operators do not foresee DCB in developed markets where the focus currently is on NFC/ mobile wallets, this payment method could be explored in emerging markets where millions of people don't possess credit/ debit cards and don't even have bank accounts. Telcos charge upwards of 25% of the cost of items purchased via DCB, and they could do worse than lowering this amount so as to expand scale of such payments. Moreover, this platform can also assist operators in competing with incumbent e-commerce/ m-commerce companies such as Amazon.

If only, mobile operators work with app developers facilitating DCB and the merchants to bring down the rates they charge, as has been done in South Korea, humongous revenues are in store as they would compete head-on with credit card companies. It would be additionally one more way to lure prepaid customers to sign up for postpaid contracts, especially in markets such as India, Pakistan, and countries in Africa.

For more strategical guidelines in mobile vertical markets, visit:
http://www.teleresearchlabs.com/view_document/73-vertical-a-horizontal-worlds-of-mobile
http://www.teleresearchlabs.com/
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +1   202-506-8078

Event organiser Kinetic has confirmed that industry-giant Performanta has signed on as platinum sponsors for this year’s anticipated 6th edition of their successful flagship event; the IT Leaders Africa Summit.

The event, taking place from 18 - 19 March 2015 at The Maslow Hotel in Johannesburg, is set to go beyond your usual routine business conference, evolving to deliver on a more exciting, topical, trendy and current platform, utilising both the latest technologies coupled with the latest in conference trends internationally.

Together with Performanta, the event aims to deliver an expert-lead agenda that features an educational conference program backed by the latest in technology workshops and demonstrations. 

Performanta’s workshop; Safeguard your organisation now, your wallet will thank you later; focuses on measuring your organisation against the industry on 10 information security and privacy measures, derived from real-world assessments.

Performanta Consulting was established by Anthony Olivier 4 years ago, aligning information security consulting services to the Performanta Technology & Services stable. Performanta Consulting has provided services to primary South African banks, insurance companies, brokers, mining companies, service and retail organisations. Their key differentiator: senior, qualified, experienced consultants, integrated frameworks and fair pricing. Furthermore, the team has assisted in addressing security problems in seventeen African countries and has a thorough understanding of the continental landscape.

As thought-leaders in the industry, they are amongst the most active South African participants in industry conferences, blogs and podcasts.An expert-led advisory panel will lead the summit with industry giants Robert Sussman, co-founder and joint-CEO of Integr8; Hugo Timmerman, Head of IT Southern Africa at British American Tobacco; and Tunde Coker, MD of Rack Centre (A Jagal Group Company).

The event also features over 35 speakers, keynotes, panel discussions and numerous educational workshop sessions hosted by key industry providers, all sessions led by some of today’s most notable individuals who are shaping the IT landscape in South Africa and beyond.

Speakers, just to name a few, include; David Visser, CIO of Coca-Cola Southern Africa; Anthony Hlungwane, Group IT Director of Mr Price Group; Sal Laher, CIO Eskom; Rocky Gwewera, Global Head of Infrastructure Architecture at Sasol; Stephan Ekbergh, CEO and founder of Travelstart; and Sunil Joshi, MD and CEO of Neotel.

Some sponsors and partners include; Telkom Business, HP, Performanta and Blue Coat Systems, SITA, Airwatch, Kofax, Dimension Data, Neotel, Meso Systems, Sage Pastel Accounting and ERP Africa, and Blackberry.

For more information on the event to register to attend or to sponsor, visit www.itleaders.co.za or contact the event organisers Kinetic on +27 21 180 4700.Follow the event and stay up to date on Twitter. @ITLeadersAfrica and join in on the conversation using #ITLAfrica.

Duxbury Networking, the distributor of Netgear products in South Africa will be hosting a roadshow in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban at which the full range of Netgear offerings - including network switches, wireless solutions and backup devices - will be presented and demonstrated.   Targeted at home as well as small to medium sized business users, the roadshow will highlight the new Netgear ReadyRECOVER, a complete backup and recovery appliance featuring next-generation file system technology.

“This guarantees data integrity, efficient use of storage capacity and minimal impact on computing resources,” says Duxbury Networking chief technology officer, Andy Robb.   He urges dealers and end users interested in discussing the latest trends and technologies with product and system specialists to make a note of the Netgear Roadshow’s schedule.  

Durban: Tuesday 10 March at the Garden Court Marine Parade, 167 OR Tambo Parade, Marine Parade.  
Cape Town: Wednesday 11 March at the Lagoon Beach Hotel, 1 Lagoon Gate Drive, Milnerton,  
Johannesburg: Thursday 12 and Friday 13 March at Duxbury Networking head office, 66 Oxford Road, Riviera.  

On each day a finger breakfast will be available from 08.30 to 09.30 followed by a presentation of new products and technologies. Thereafter there will be opportunities for one-on-one demonstrations and discussions. The Roadshow will end at 11.30am.

To secure an invitation, contact Mariette Oosthuizen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 011 351 9800 before 27 February 2015. [ENDS]

For more information contact: Mariette Oosthuizen, Marketing Coordinator, Duxbury Networking - Specialist Networking Distributor tel:        +27 (0) 11 351 9800