Cape Town, May 16: FuseForward, a provider of cloud and analytic solutions, is demonstrating the benefits real-time analytics can deliver to African utilities during the African Utility Week conference and exhibition.

Held from 14-16 May in Cape Town, South Africa, African Utility Week is the leading conference for African power, energy and water professionals. FuseForward’s Founder and CEO, Mark Damm, is excited about the opportunity to provide analytic solutions that shed light on the challenges faced by utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Utilities in Africa face a range of issues, many of which affect their ability to meet basic demands for water and electricity,” says Mark. “We know that the availability of reliable and complete data is critical in order for utilities to find solutions to their challenges.

Data from IoT devices and smart meters can help, but developing the technology required to ingest, store and make sense of this information is a barrier for many resource-strapped utilities.” FuseForward’s cloud platform provides a secure, reliable way for utilities to store, aggregate and analyze data from their IoT and smart devices, delivering the comprehensive performance information utilities need within a single interface.

Example utility challenges that FuseForward can address include:

• Demand management: Data from devices and external sources can be used to predict peak electricity or water usage times, enabling better management of resources.
• Preventative maintenance: Deteriorating infrastructure can often be the cause of outages in Sub-Saharan Africa.

By analyzing sensor data from equipment and infrastructure, utilities can obtain real-time maintenance alerts, preventing outages before they occur.

With the event set to close today, Mark is optimistic about the future for the industry, and the role FuseForward can play. “We’ve had a chance to hear first-hand about the challenges facing utilities and are looking forward to the opportunity to help solve them. Not only do analytic solutions in this sector have the ability to provide business improvements for utilities, they also play a role in improving the delivery of power and water across Sub-Saharan Africa—and that’s something our team is very enthusiastic about!”

About FuseForward
FuseForward is an AWS Advanced Technology Partner and Select Consulting Partner that provides secure cloud environments and analytic solutions for critical infrastructure providers and public agencies. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, we serve customers around the world from our offices in South Africa, Europe and North America.

For more information visit www.fuseforward.com

Media Contact: Wendy Scott at +27 83 270 7765 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

“Enriching lives in the era of energy intelligence”

Huawei, the well-known global information and telecommunication giant, has signed a platinum sponsorship with African Utility Week, the leading conference and trade exhibition for African power, energy and water professionals, taking place from 16-18 May 2017 in Cape Town. The company will also be the lead sponsor of the African Utility Week Industry Awards.

Additionally, Huawei will host its 5th Huawei Power Summit, where Huawei will demonstrate its industry-leading solutions. This summit will be co-located at African Utility Week on 17 May from 14h00 – 18h00. The main theme for Huawei’s showcase this year is “Leading New ICT, The Road To Smart Grid” and will host its exhibition area in Auditorium 2.

Mr. Jerry Ji (Xiang)  is President of Energy Industry at Huawei’s Enterprise Business Group: “Huawei hopes that through Africa's most influential energy expo, we will better understand the needs of our customers and integrate Huawei's latest solutions and practices into smart grids to help the African power companies achieve safe, efficient operations and green sustainable development, and thus enriching lives in the era of energy intelligence.”

“We have been honoured to have Huawei as a long-term partner with not only African Utility Week, but also our regional power shows on the continent,” says event director Evan Schiff, adding: “we are thrilled that they have chosen to expand their investment in the show, and we believe this is testament to the value we offer to our esteemed partners. We take our task of gathering the best in the industry to discuss the challenges, solutions and successes very seriously and as market leader, Huawei should be part of that conversation. We look forward to their contribution in May.”

Real world doers share their expertise
The 17th annual African Utility Week will gather over 7000 decision makers from more than 80 countries to source the latest solutions and meet over 300 suppliers. Along with multiple side events and numerous networking functions the event also boasts a five track conference with over 300 expert speakers. The conference programme will once again address the latest challenges, developments and opportunities in the power and water sectors: ranging from generation, T&D, metering, technology and water. These include two exclusive plenary keynote sessions featuring the most sought-after international speakers.

The African Utility Week expo offers an extensive technical programme sessions that are CPD accredited, free to attend, hands-on presentations that take place in defined spaces on the exhibition floor. They discuss practical, day-to-day technical topics, best practices and product solutions that businesses, large power users and utilities can implement in their daily operations.

The fourth edition of the African Utility Week Power Industry Awards brings together 800 of Africa’s most renowned power and water industry professionals. The Power Industry Awards is the leading gathering to recognise, reward and celebrate the successes of Africa’s power and water sectors during 2016/17.

Energy Revolution Africa will provide a unique forum for solution providers to meet with the new energy purchasers such as metros and municipalities, IPPs, rural electrification project developers and large power users, including mines, commercial property developers and industrial manufacturers. The latest innovations and projects in the sectors of renewables, future technology, energy efficiency, micro/off-grid and energy storage will be showcased.

African Utility Week and Energy Revolution Africa are organised by Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and part of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK. Huawei has also been a longstanding supporter of another flagship event of Spintelligent, formerly known as WAPIC (West African Power Industry Convention) in Lagos, and rebranding as Future Energy Nigeria and returning in November this year.

Other leading events in Spintelligent’s power portfolio are Future Energy East Africa (formerly EAPIC), Future Energy Uganda and Future Energy Central Africa.

Dates for African Utility Week and Energy Revolution Africa:
Conference and expo: 16-18 May 2017
Awards gala dinner:  17 May 2016
Site visits: 19 May 2016
Location: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

Websites: http://www.african-utility-week.com   
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfricaUtilities  
Linkedin: African Power Forum

Contact:
Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3558
Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.