Dimension Data, the global specialist IT solutions and services provider, has been positioned by BMI-TechKnowledge as the largest provider of IT services to the South African market.

“In its latest IT services market sizing and forecast of 2010-2015 report published in December 2011, BMI-T recognised that Dimension Data was still the largest provider of IT services in South Africa in 2010, accounting for 15.4% of the total IT services market, up from 14.8% in 2009,” the company said on Tuesday.

According to BMI-T, the South African IT services market was valued at R33.8 billion in 2010, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 8.5%. The market was expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 9.5% over the five-year forecast period, reaching a total of R53.3 billion by 2015.

“The reason we have grown is because of the quality of our people and their desire to deliver exceptional services to our clients,” Brent Flint, services executive for Dimension Data Middle East and Africa said.

BMI-T reported that the maintenance, support and upgrade service segment was expected to account for the largest portion of the total IT services market, while hosting was expected to reflect the fastest growth rate over the five-year forecast period, with a CAGR of 18.1%.

Managed services were also expected to reflect a significant growth over the forecast period, with a CAGR of 14.6%.

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Convergence Partners investee company, Dimension Data has been positioned by Gartner, Inc., in the Leaders Quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Communications Outsourcing and Professional Services (COPS) report.

Compiled by Gartner analysts, the Magic Quadrant examined 19 vendors of IT services for business communications systems worldwide, employing two main evaluation criteria. These include:

• ability to execute; and
• completeness of vision.

Dimension Data CEO, Brett Dawson said, “Our placement in the Leaders Quadrant is an important milestone for Dimension Data as we believe it illustrates that the market and most importantly our clients recognise the significant progress we’ve made on our journey towards becoming a world leading services led organisation.

Didata Press Release

Convergence Partners investee, Dimension Data, which was delisted about a year ago, after being bought out by Japan-based NTT in a R24.2 billion deal, reported double-digit top line growth for the year to September.

The company says revenue grew 14.8%, to $5.79 billion, from $4.74 billion for the 2010 financial year. It also reported double-digit operating profit growth of 10.8%.

Dimension Data’s system’s integration business, which makes up 78% of total revenue, grew 12.8% year-on-year, to $4.5 billion, and operating profit was 7% higher, at $202.7 million.

By region, Europe, Asia and Australia delivered good growth, while Middle East and Africa was steady, says Dimension Data. In the Americas, Canada, Mexico and Chile recorded “excellent growth”, but operating profit in the US was flat, it adds.

Internet Solutions grew revenue 6.9%; Plessey lifted revenue 22.9%; and Express Data’s revenue expanded by 24.3%. Merchants and Learning Solutions delivered “strong contributions”, the company says.

Internet Solutions grew operating profit 9.1% at an operating margin of 12.6%. However, operating profit in Express Data declined 5.6% for the year due to product margin pressures.

Dimension Data says Plessey’s operating profit improved “substantially” off a low base in the 2010 financial year.

CEO Brett Dawson says “this year’s double-digit growth is an outstanding performance”, considering the current volatile global economy and tough trading conditions.

In the next 12 months, the group will focus on building its cloud solutions and services portfolio, and global cloud infrastructure and platform.

“The group’s acquisition of OpSource in July, and the formation of our cloud business unit were critical steps in accelerating our cloud computing strategy,” says Dawson. He adds the company is on track to go to market with its cloud value proposition.

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Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, has won the IT Security Sesames award for Just4YourEyes™. The winning innovation was distinguished at the 2011 CARTES & IDentification industry fair.

Just4YourEyes is a first-of-its-kind software solution which enhances secure access to emails from a variety of devices, including tablets, smartphones or laptops, using the cloud for securely sharing a common credential. The solution allows for any mobile device or a secure element (such as a UICC or secure memory card) in that device, to act as a single repository to store the PKI credentials required to encrypt or sign emails. Those credentials can be accessed remotely by the email client, native or web-based, via a secure cloud service, removing the need to store secret keys on multiple devices. Just4YourEyes is the first and only solution to enable nomadic access to email securely from multiple terminals leveraging a single credential source across cloud access. This unique model is a pioneering key milestone towards a truly secure cloud-based eco-system.

“This Sesames award recognizes Gemalto’s expertise in securing cloud computing for enterprise applications,” commented Tan Teck-Lee, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer. “Gemalto’s secure cloud services meet the increasing need to access corporate content on-the-go, while easing digital rights and identities management.”

Gemalto Press Release

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SkillPod Media, although a relatively new player in the world of mobile apps and, more specifically, mobile game apps, is making headway in this congested market. The first of their apps were launched at the end of June 2011 and are currently published across Apple iTunes, Android Market, Amazon App Store, SlideMe.org, LG World and a host of other app stores across the globe. To date, 11 mobile games have been developed for Android and Apple iOS, all of which have been approved and are for sale across the various app stores.

The first batch of these mobile app store game titles were deployed with 3 different focuses, these being; A – Free games with ad support, B – Trial versions that include ads and have only a few active levels, C – pay for download, with no ads included.

Skillpod Press Release

Dimension Data has achieved Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner status, held by less than 1% of Microsoft partners around the world. Combined with Dimension Data’s existing Microsoft Hyper-V Private Cloud partner status, it re-enforces the Group’s position around providing clients with architectures and roadmaps for adopting cloud computing, at a pace that suits the client.

Introduced in 2010, the Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Programme is designed to showcase and support the top partners committed to delivering the next generation of cloud services to their clients.

Dimension Data achieved the status by demonstrating excellence in service delivery and a proven track record of delivering cloud projects around the world. Cloud Accelerate Partners are able to further their capabilities via access to relevant online services, Microsoft promotion of cloud capabilities, and access to higher levels of pre-sales training and technical support.

Peter Menadue, Dimension Data’s Group General Manager, Microsoft Solutions, said: “Dimension Data has reached yet another milestone in our longstanding relationship with Microsoft. We recognise the value of working together when deploying solutions for our clients. Indeed, leveraging the Microsoft skills and support is often the backbone of our implementations.

Dimension Data is a Microsoft Gold Partner on five continents, and has more than 1 100 Microsoft certifications, including 450 Microsoft Certified System Engineers. In addition, Dimension Data participates, by invitation only, in a number of Microsoft’s Partner Advisory Councils. In 2006, Dimension Data and Microsoft extended this partnership by entering into a multi-year Global Alliance Agreement that sees ongoing investment by both companies in the pursuit of new market opportunities and improved value to their joint clients. As a direct result of the agreement, their clients experience improved support for their Microsoft environments and benefit from more innovative and robust solutions to their needs. Today, Dimension Data is one of only a few of Microsoft’s thousands of partners worldwide that can transfer the benefits of such an agreement to its clients.

Dimension Data Press Release

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Britehouse, a Convergence Partners investee, is still one of the best companies to work for, according to Deloitte’s annual survey 2011. The fact that all levels of staff are empowered to contribute to company strategy makes Britehouse SSD, Britehouse’s specialist SAP division and a leader in mobile business software applications, one of the best companies to work for.

Says Britehouse SSD CEO, Paolo Masselli: “In spite of an extremely disruptive year in which we acquired several companies and then merged nine into four, we still came fifth in the Small to Medium category in Deloitte’s 2011 Best Company to Work For survey – and second in the Business and Professional Services category.

“This was the first year in which we entered the Business and Professional Services category. We maintained our position in areas in which we’ve always had a good standing, and we jumped straight to the top echelons in consulting.

“All of which was possible only because our employees are expected to take responsibility for themselves in getting the job done. For some people, not being micro-managed is frightening. For Britehouse achievers, relying on their own initiative is the only way to live and work, and they revel in it. They also appreciate the fact that our management structure is pretty flat. So their input is valued, and can actually change the company’s strategy.”

In most organisations, retaining staff enthusiasm in the midst of turning over more than R400 million, while simultaneously repositioning to increase growth to half a billion rand in the next 12 to 18 months, would have been more than challenging. But Britehouse employees are committed to the company’s objective of increasing annuity income.

Until 2011, 80% of the company’s revenue was project-based. “The IT landscape is now shifting strongly towards software as a service and, eventually, to the cloud,” Masselli says. “In the process, the need for bespoke systems is dwindling, and the need for outsourced or hosted systems is increasing – and, along with that, the need for support of entire systems.

“Organisations are feeling the need to be able to take their systems for granted so as to focus on optimising their solutions. Some, in fact, just want the output of the solutions, and are looking for someone reliable and innovative to look after both the systems and the solutions that run on them.

“We’re particularly well positioned to do both, because some of our subsidiaries have always either hosted SAP solutions, or managed business processes. And, in most of our client interactions, we’ve had to supply a significant measure of innovation and optimisation support services. So, it’s been a matter of repackaging what we already had in a more integrated way, and filling in a few gaps here and there.

“We might be a bigger ship now, but it’s always going to be a tight one. Our operational philosophy doesn’t change. We’re still exclusively delivery-orientated because we want long-term relationships with our clients and we believe that giving them what they need in as short a timeframe as possible is the best way to encourage them to use us again.

“It’s an extremely disciplined work ethos that creates a great deal of pressure for our employees. But they never get bored. The credit for getting a job done on time and on budget always goes to our staff. And they thrive on it.”

Britehouse Press Release

Article from ITWeb

Dimension Data division Internet Solutions (IS) has increased its stake in its Kenyan subsidiary from 51% to 80% as it seeks to further expand its presence in the fast growing East African region. IS initially acquired a 51% stake in Kenyan service provider iConnect in 2005, which was then rebranded Internet Solutions Kenya.
The Kenyan business also serves Tanzania and Uganda. IS has plans to expand into Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan in the near future and has secured an option to acquire the remaining 20% stake in its Kenyan operation.

See attached press release

Article from TechCentral

FibreCo Telecommunications (“FibreCo”), a joint venture between Cell C, Convergence Partners and Internet Solutions, announced the awarding of a contract for construction of its nation-wide open-access fibre optic network. FibreCo’s objective is to facilitate affordable and reliable high-speed Internet access for South African citizens and businesses.

The initial phase of FibreCo’s development will result in the creation of 2,300 direct and indirect job opportunities. FibreCo will also facilitate the training of at least 100 fibre optic technicians who will be involved during construction and maintenance of the network in all provinces along its route. Furthermore, FibreCo will make heavily subsidized fibre capacity available to academic and research institutions, enabling greater innovation in the use of information and technology.

FibreCo’s total investment will amount to R5 billion.

The Company envisages the development of a national network stretching over 12,000 km. Phase 1 involves linking up Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban as well as the East and West coast submarine cable landing stations.

Andile Ngcaba, Chairman of FibreCo, said: “This landmark investment will provide affordable, reliable and fast Internet access to ordinary South Africans.”

FibreCo proudly announced that they have awarded the contract to ZTE for the network construction and supply of technology equipment. ZTE is China’s largest publicly listed global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions. Work on the initial leg of Phase 1 is already underway, which is a 1,900 km link between Johannesburg and Cape Town via the Free State and Eastern Cape valued at R1 billion.

FibreCo has also signed capacity purchase agreements with its first 3 clients for the Johannesburg-Cape Town route, namely BT, Cell C and Internet Solutions, allowing them ownership of fibre infrastructure and the ability to build bespoke optical transmission networks.

Arif Hussain, CEO of FibreCo, commented: “We are delighted to welcome BT, a client with a truly global brand, to the FibreCo network alongside Cell C and Internet Solutions, who have been valued partners since inception. On the strength of these contracts, coupled with the financial backing of our shareholders, we have secured the necessary funding”.

FibreCo Press Release

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SEACOM, the pan-African ICT enabler, announced the appointment of Mark Simpson as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect 5 September 2011. Brian Herlihy, the current CEO, will remain with the company as a member of the Board and take on the new role of Executive Director where he will focus on strategic projects essential for SEACOM’s continued success.

An industry veteran with more than 25 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry, Mark Simpson has held a number of senior international executive positions during his career, most recently as President and CEO of Pacific Crossing, a company operating a trans-Pacific cable system between the United States and Japan. He was also Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Asia Netcom (now Pacnet) and CEO of C2C Pte Ltd, Asia’s then largest cable system.

Commenting on his appointment, Mark Simpson said: “The SEACOM system has changed the African ICT landscape and I am pleased to be joining a market shaping company with a firm plan to evolve its core infrastructure and lead Africa into the next stage of ICT growth.

“It is a great opportunity to come to a company with a great team that has accomplished so much already and set out a clear strategic plan going forward. I look forward to working cooperatively with Brian, who has meant so much to SEACOM.”

Simpson will be responsible for leading SEACOM into a new era of data-based projects and growth assisted by Herlihy. In addition he will bring to bear his operational know-how in developing and running a best-in-class quality of service international network and ensuring that SEACOM’s customers are well served by its network, products and services.

In his new capacity as Executive Director, Brian Herlihy will retain a key role in the strategic direction of the company focusing on maximizing development opportunities and network deployment.

“I am delighted to welcome Mark on board. His experience will contribute considerably to securing SEACOM’s efforts to consistently improve network operations while maintaining our position of being first to market with new products.

“Mark’s extended experience ensures that SEACOM can leapfrog technology evolutions and develop a best-in-class pan-African solution.

“I am confident that our cooperation will provide me the capacity to pursue the correct partnerships necessary for SEACOM’s vision to truly lead the development of the African Internet,” concluded Brian Herlihy.

SEACOM Press Release

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