Author: Gugu Lourie

Mercedes-AMG  is introducing a Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 4MATIC Coupé that offers unique combination of agility, elegance and everyday practicality, which is likely to compete with BMW X4. By Staff Writer The GLC 43 4MATIC Coupé also enables occasional off-road excursions to be undertaken: the ground clearance can be increased at the touch of a button, and the pneumatic all-round self-levelling ensures a constant vehicle level at all times. “The new GLC 43 4MATIC Coupé is characterised by a high level of agility and sporty driving dynamics. With its expressive design and high everyday practicality the Coupé is able to appeal to new…

The Wits Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, officially opened doors today. By Staff Writer Setswana for “new beginnings”, Tshimologong is Johannesburg’s newest high-tech address, where the incubation of start-ups, the commercialisation of research and the development of high-level digital skills for students, working professionals and unemployed youths will take place. “We hope that transforming Braamfontein into Africa’s premier techno logy hub will inspire new talent, create jobs and lead to an economic renaissance,” says Barry Dwolatzky, Professor of Software Engineering in the Wits School of Electrical and Information Engineering and Director of JCSE. Programmers, designers, developers, entrepreneurs and start-ups will congregate in this half-a city-block along Juta Street. It has flexible open plan co-working…

Without data centres, today’s world stops. Flights are grounded, Wall Street closes, and the internet grinds to a halt. Yet despite their emergence as nerve centres of the global economy, data centres have drawn almost no attention in debates about globalisation and nor are they often discussed outside of business and IT publications. By Brett Neilson; Ned Rossiter and Tanya Notley Even the recent debate on the bungling of the digital census managed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics focused on questions surrounding possible distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. This was despite mention of hardware failures as well as inadequate redundancy and load…

Cartrack has reached another growth milestone of 550 000 active subscribers, the vehicle tracking firm informed investors on Thursday. By Staff Writer The company was the first to market with a R150 000 recovery warranty, adding extra value to the consumer. To honour this warranty, the company has paid out in excess of R11.5 million since the inception in 2012. For the five-month period to July 2016, Cartrack has experienced a net growth rate of 76% in Asia with the signing of a number of significant partnerships. In Indonesia, Cartrack has developed technology locally for the transport industry. The company has…

Eileen Wilton, the CEO of black-owned IT firm Gijima won the Sponsors Leadership Award category at the inaugural Women in ICT – Partnership for Change Awards. By Staff Writer The selection of the winner of this prize was the prerogative of both the CEOs of MTN SA and Kagiso Media. The judges said the award was conferred to Wilton in recognition of the role she has played over the years as a source of great inspiration to many young professionals and in recognition of the outstanding work she has done in turning around Gijima. This inaugural programme is a partnership…

South-African based tech start-up WhereIsMyTransport has announced an investment of £1.165 million (R22.1 million) from Goodwell Investments; together with the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm created by eBay’s founder; and Horizon Ventures, as the first closing of a £2 million Seed Round. By Staff Writer The investment has been secured to fund WhereIsMyTransport’s transit API, which launches today. The API offers a new open information platform which, for the first time, collates transit data for formal and informal (i.e. demand-based and relatively unregulated) services, and combines it with analytics capability and communication tools. The journey-mapping capability the platform provides is…

It’s one thing to philosophise academically and another to put all of one’s theory into practice. In my PhD thesis I devise a deliberative (and theoretical) talk show model based in ubuntu. By Leyla Tavernaro-Haidarian Commonly understood as “I am because we are”, this South African humanist philosophy or world view of ubuntu is collaborative in nature. It lies at the core of the country’s reconciliatory stance and its transition to democracy. How do these carefully crafted and academically “sound” arguments translate into tangible action from which we learn and through which we evolve? Questions like these have motivated my latest…

Global network provider EOH Carrier Services has selected NewTelco SA as their service partner for the establishment of a new international Point of Presence (PoP) in Amsterdam. EOH is moving one of the three PoPs already held by EOH Carrier Services in London to Amsterdam, in order to address issues of redundancy and increase their global connectivity footprint to better service the market. A PoP is the physical location at which undersea and terrestrial cables terminate and is an important part of connecting businesses and people to the Internet. As a wholesale network provider, EOH Carrier Solutions already had…

The Labour Court of South Africa today handed down a damning judgement against the Communication Workers Union (CWU), describing the union as “confrontational”, “obstructionist” and noted that the CWU had withheld key facts from its founding affidavit, Telkom said on Wednesday. The judgement relates to an urgent application brought to the Labour Court on 1 August 2016. The CWU sought to interdict Telkom from completing the Section 189 (retrenchment) phase of the company’s restructuring of its corporate office. The judgement found against the CWU and was clear that the union had not consulted in good faith noting “…there is not…

MTN South Africa announced on Wednesday morning that it has appointed Enzo Scarcella as the new chief operating officer. His appointment is  effective 01 December 2016. Enzo started his illustrious career at MTN in 1995 where he served as product manager. Before he agreed to assume the COO role at MTN SA, Enzo was the Chief Marketing Officer of Telkom, and prior to that he served in various roles for Vodacom including as Managing Executive of Marketing. He has extensive brand and marketing experience, and has worked in the broadcasting, retail and fast moving goods industries. He served as brand manager for South African Breweries and Guinness in the United Kingdom, and worked at Edcon and M-Net where he served…