Author: Staff Writer

Makwa-IT Technologies has been certified as a Cisco Gold Partner in South Africa. This makes it the first black and youth-owned company in Mzansi to achieve Cisco Gold Partner status. It plans to leverage the Cisco recognition to bring a better global solution to its customers, as well as grow its footprint both domestically and abroad. Founded in 2012, Makwa-IT Technologies is one of the youngest and fastest-growing technology companies in South Africa. It helps customers realise the benefits of digital transformation. Their world-class product portfolio, globally experienced professional services engineering teams and intelligent management services platform are built with passion,…

Enterprises around the globe are waking up to the importance of digital transformation when it comes to achieving their business objectives. But as more and more applications and office functions move to the cloud and operations evolve, so network capability will become increasingly critical. In fact, IP Intelligent Networks will be critical to enabling digital transformation at the enterprise, and even societal, level. That’s according to Kevin Hu, President of Data Communication Product Line at Huawei. Hu was speaking at Huawei’s IP Tech Summit, which takes place from 17 to 19 March and highlights the impact that IP Intelligent Networks…

Nedbank through its super app Avo is now allowing users to shop from digital malls. “Avo by Nedbank is bringing digital malls to the South African market with Sandton City being the first to launch,” said the bank. It added that this creates an immersive ‘mall’ experience in the palm of your hand. The digital mall is a first for any digital platform on the continent, opening up a luxury shopping experience across borders. Avo’s Click and Collect lounge feature lets users shop items from multiple stores in Sandton City, pay for goods on the app, and gives them the…

Softbank and Tencent are taking a $300 million (R4.5 billion) bet on PatSnap, an Innovation Intelligence (IP) analytics platform. The investment round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Tencent Investment with participation from CPE Industrial Fund and existing investors Sequoia China, Shun Wei Capital, and Vertex Ventures. PatSnap said in a statement it plans to use the funds to further advance its innovation intelligence platform, accelerate product development, and acquire additional domain expertise in the industry sectors where its technology is used by research and development (R&D) and intellectual property (IP) teams. The funds will also enable PatSnap to expand its sales presence around…

eMedia Holdings’ Openview has partnered with Vodacom to bring Wi-Fi connectivity to homes that remain unserved by fibre networks. The Wi-Fi enabler (dongle) is known as Openview Connect. The free-to-air satellite television provider said the Connect data dongle will drive increased connectivity for families across South Africa and act as a plug-and-play hotspot for Openview-enabled homes that wish to Get Connected and Stay Connected. For a once-off fee of R599, Openview customers can enjoy up to 10 devices simultaneously connected with operating data rates of up to 150 Mbps speed on 4G LTE – lightning-fast compared to most home fibre…

The BMW iX is the first model to be based on the group’s new future toolkit. The company’s new technology flagship represents a fresh interpretation of design, sustainability, locally emission-free driving pleasure, versatility and luxury. The market launch will get underway at the end of 2021 with two model variants. “We made a promise and we will deliver on that promise: the market launch of the BMW iX will get underway at the end of this year with a two-pronged approach – in the form of the BMW iX xDrive40 and BMW iX xDrive50,” says Pieter Nota, Member of the…

Microsoft is expanding its Surface device range in South Africa with the introduction of the Surface Book 3 for both commercial and consumer customers. The device is available for consumers in retail from Incredible Connection stores. Surface Book 3 is a robust laptop, powerful tablet with detachable touchscreen, and portable studio that adapts to all the ways users work and create best. It combines speed, graphics, immersive gaming and long battery life with the versatility of a laptop, tablet, and portable studio. Recommended retail pricing for the Surface Book 3 starts at R37,999. “We are excited to expand our Surface…

Huawei has underlined its commitment to the F5G (Fix 5G) solution, aimed at spurring the development of broadband in Africa.  The announcement was made at the recent SATACONNECT Virtual Expo 2021 where the key message delivered to suppliers and buyers was adoption and supplying the Africa region with the open standards, interfaces, and open-source solutions enjoyed by the rest of the world. ITU’s statistics show that nearly 1 billion households worldwide have no access to fixed broadband. Of the 1 billion households connected to fixed broadband, only 53% have access to the optical fibre. In Africa, the situation is even more…

Vodacom’s recent ShakeOff 2020 summer campaign has been a smash hit, with more than 23 million customers joining in the fun, setting the record as the most successful summer campaign ever by the network. ShakeOff 2020 engaged on average, over 5 million daily unique users. “We delivered on our ambition to create a campaign that was responsive to the needs of our customers, brought some fun, excitement and much-needed savings through our third party rewards, so much so, that our customers found ways to share their vouchers with close family and friends,” says Jorge Mendes, Chief Officer of Consumer Business…

DigitalFinTech enablement provider, Ukheshe Technologies, together with Infobip, a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected customer experiences across all stages of the customer journey at scale, have developed South Africa’s very first WhatsApp payment gateway for use by Telkom, one of the country’s largest mobile operators. In addition to being South Africa’s first digital wallet platform, the solution is also the first WhatsApp channel to enable payments using QR. The project and collaboration with Infobip forms part of Ukheshe’s objective of expanding its international reach as a solution-driven B2B provider of digital-first payment solutions that enable…