Howard Earley, COO of Plessey, a Convergence Partners investee says that Plessey has identified the opportunities that exist and need for a next-generation service provider with the ability to build the infrastructure required by the fast growing communications industry.
Convergence Partners Chairman, Andile Ngcaba, was named as TechCentral’s newsmaker of 2011 for his significant impact on South Africa’s technology sector over the past 12 months, topping an impressive list consisting of Pieter Uys, Mamodupi Mohlala, Karel Pienaar, Robert Gumede, Roy Padayachie, Lars Reichelt, Michael Jordaan, Pinky Moholi and Mteto Nyati.
Convergence Partners in partnership with Dimension Data presented certificates and prizes to the top performing students of the Dimension Data Saturday School Programme, on Friday, 2 December 2011 in recognition of their outstanding academic achievements for the year. The Dimension Data Saturday School Programme is a two-year initiative that benefits 100 grade 11 and 12 pupils from disadvantaged public high schools in Gauteng each year. The programme provides learners with weekly supplemental tutoring from 8am to 3:30pm on Saturdays in addition to holiday camps over Easter and the June vacations.
Co-author of Convergence Partners’ first research report, Russell Southwood of Balancing Act, reports back on the optimism surrounding the ICT sector during the 14th annual AfricaCom conference held in Cape Town in November 2011.
Russell reported that AfricaCom, expanded this year to include Enterprise ICT and Africast streams, has become a necessary meeting place for the role-players in the industry. He identified the following key threads at the conference:
Convergence Partners successfully participated as a sponsor and exhibitor at the 14th annual AfricaCom Conference, held in Cape Town on 9 and 10 November 2011. AfricaCom is the largest communications conference and exhibition on the Continent, gathering together more than 5,000 telecoms decision-makers. This is the second year that Convergence Partners has exhibited at the conference.
Exhibiting on the Convergence Partners’ stand was Comsol, FibreCo, Plessey and SEACOM with each of the companies presenting their offerings in the communications infrastructure space.
The International Institute of Communications (IIC) announced on 3 October 2011, the launch of a South African IIC chapter. The announcement was made at their annual conference held in Johannesburg. The theme of the conference, co-hosted by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), is: “Trends in Global Communications: Making Digital Society a Universal Reality.”
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.
Convergence Partners’ investee company, Internet Solutions, is making moves towards an enhanced sustainable data centre model, with the development of its new Tier3 facility in Johannesburg, scheduled for completion in Q4 of 2011. This is the first African facility of its kind to be designed and equipped with the world-class KyotoCooling technology solution for efficient and reliable autonomous cooling for data centres.
Seacom, a Convergence Partners investee company, has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Square Kilometre Array (SKA) South Africa to provide support for the country’s €1.5-billion SKA radio telescope project.
SKA South Africa site bid manager Dr. Bruce Wallace said in placing the SKA data transport capacity requirement in perspective, the SKA network is estimated to be 100 to 150 times larger than the current World Wide Web network.
Convergence Partners Foundation is a strategic partner and benefactor of the Foundation for a Safer South Africa (FSSA) and its YouthZone project. In the context of this special relationship, Convergence employees hosted members of the Siyabuswa YouthZone on 23 July 2011, in a follow-up to Convergence’s earlier visit to the YouthZone in Mpumalanga.
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