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The world is calling In this edition, we have highlighted major vendors’ continued interest in the African market, in general and East Africa in particular.
Focus - 12
Content
Editorial
How can the East African IT industry take advantage of this new international scramble for the African consumer?
For Microsoft, it’s clearly Time for Africa
East Africa could become merely a giant ICT supermarketwhere global IT giants just come for the sell before siphoning profits away. Ideally, authorities and IT players should insist on true partnership with the vendors, ensuring some level of technology transfer and skill development for the local population.
Mustek in strong growth in 2012/2013
For guidance, the region just needs to look to China. The South Asian giant realized long ago that for her economy to grow, the country needed to scale its human capacity through partnerships with large multinationals. For any investment made, China insisted on tie ups with local partners to enhance capacity building and skills transfer. The results are clear: today China is a technology giant in its own right having picked the best expertise from some of the largest names in IT. This is the path that East Africa needs to follow. There are some encouraging signs with IBM and Microsoft, among others, having entered into deals with govts and other public bodies to develop key areas in the region’s ICT infrastructure. However, this needs to be scaled even higher while having a formal structural framework in place to ensure that a process is in place and is followed, a step up from the ad hoc engagements we are seeing now. The region must not let this golden opportunity go to waste.
David Ndichu Editor Publisher: Vivek Sharma Editor: David Ndichu Editorial Consultant: R. Narayan Art Director: Faiz Ahmed Sales Director: Alishan Zaidi Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan Business Development Manager: Mallika Rego Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh
News in Detail - 8
Interview - 9/10
The journey continues for Mitsumi Cursor’s eye is on the prize TechKnow - 14/16
Rack Systems gains ground in TZ
SanDisk plants roots in East Africa Point–to-point - 18
The region in safe hands courtesy of Symantec Insight - 20
Commscope plans for the Future of Cabling with Cat 8 Case Study - 22
Tripp Lite helps KAA in set up of data centre Review - 24
Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 Regulars
News EyeTech
Stats and Trends
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Disclaimer: While the publishers have made every attempt possible to get accurate information on published content in this handbook they cannot be held liable for any errors herein.
Aug/Sept 2013 | The Integrator East Africa
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News
Techno Brain launches SAP training in Tanzania
NetApp appoints new African Head
Techno Brain, a leading African ICT Solutions provider in association with SAP conducted an event to announce officially about its partnership with SAP in Tanzania on August 30, 2013 at Holiday Inn in Dar es Salaam.
Computer storage and data management firm NetApp has appointed Mark Ridley as its new regional director for Africa. NetApp in a statement says that Mark Ridley is an experienced sales leader with over 15 years of experience in IT. Prior to joining NetApp, he was country manager for Dell Computers and responsible for Dell’s business across Africa. He has also held senior management positions at Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Panasonic. Ridley is planned to be responsible for all NetApp business in Africa, including offices in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. His role also covers development and execution of sales and marketing strategies, enhancing the channel ecosystem and expanding the NetApp customer base in this region. “With many markets emerging and maturing at a fast pace, the African continent offers a very interesting field. I am confident that NetApp’s solutions hold tremendous value for partners and end-customers," said Ridley.
The theme of this event was: “Inspiring Solutions Run better with SAP and Lead in today’s Environment”. Dr. Patrick Makungu – Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Communications Science and Technology was the chief guest of this event. Other notable attendees included Kenneth Ringera and Samuel Njeka from SAP. The event also saw presentations on SAP Solutions for Public Sector, Energy and Natural Resources, as well as Business Intelligence. Attendees for this informative and interactive session included participants from manufacturing, utilities, oil / gas and public sector companies. Techno Brain with operations in Africa, Asia, USA, UK and UAE offers ICT Solutions and Products in the areas including Enterprise Business, Identity Management, IT Infrastructure, ICT Consulting among others.
Compulynx offers cloud lifeline for Kenya’s insurance Kenya-based IT solutions company Compulynx has launched Cloud9, a cloud solution for insurance intermediaries that will enable companies to administer various insurance products, offer automated alerts on policies and generate tailor made reports. According to CEO Sailesh Savani, Compulynx has acquired the software to a multi-tenancy cloud platform but recommends that clients only migrate the master data into the cloud, not historical information.“Customers are demanding access to critical business information when most needed, and such deliveries are best handled on the cloud platform,”Savani said. Though the company focuses on various industry segments including retail, education, banking, finance, government and manufacturing, improved business response time is critical for the insurance market, an area the Cloud9 service will be vitally important, according to Savani. Agnes Ndirangu, technical manager at regulator Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA), said Compulynx’s new solution is vital as insurance brokers handle 70% of insurance business in the Kenyan market.IRA recently engaged a similar cloud technology innovation where agencies and brokers will apply for insurance licenses online from September 2013.
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The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
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News
Cisco appoints new GM for East Africa
IBM has a new East Africa GM IBM has appointed Nicholas Nesbitt as its East Africa general manager. Nesbitt, founder of Kenyan business process outsourcing (BPO) firm Kencall, takes over from Anthony Mwai., the long-serving senior IBM Africa executive who takes on a leadership role in IBM's Systems and Technology Group in South Africa Nesbitt holds an MBA from Stanford and a degree and masters in engineering science from Dartmouth College and has served in executive roles in markets across Africa, Europe and America. In 2006, Nesbitt was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior (OGW) in recognition of his contribution in the Kenyan ICT sector by Kenya’s former president, Mwai Kibaki. “Kenya’s technology sector is at a pivotal moment as the country shifts to become a more intuitive and mature user of smart solutions,” Nesbitt said, “With its full suite of products and services, IBM has the unique ability to help drive the transformation of governments and businesses through more innovative use of new technologies. I am excited to be part of IBM’s continuing growth story in Africa.”
Cisco has appointed Sabrina Dar as its new general manager for East Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Dar will report directly to David Meads, vice president for Cisco Africa, and oversee operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia. “Cisco is committed to align with the national agendas for broadband acceleration by supporting both the public sector through this transformation and East African organizations to thrive in the new digital environment,” Dar was quoted as saying. “I am delighted to be leading this dynamic, innovative region and with our partners take our focus and investment to the next level,” she added. Dar has worked in Cisco’s emerging theatre partner organisation, and was also the marketing lead for Cisco’s London 2012 Olympics sponsorship.Dar was also shortlisted in the business category of the Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2011.
Asus targets growth in Kenya with new netbooks Notebook vendor ASUS seeks to increase its market share in the Kenya market with the introduction of their Taichi convertible Ultrabook, Zenbook Touch Ultrabook and the G-Series gaming laptop. “We are keen to meet the insatiable demand for new technology products in Kenya and the wider East African region. Our products are designed to meet the ever changing lifestyles of our customers with emphasis on simplicity and entertainment,” said Chris Wen, Product manager of ASUS Kenya. Taiwanese Asus has earmarked Nairobi as its regional hub and is expected to launch an intensive marketing campaign in Q4 to sensitize Kenyans on their products, which include the recently launched Fonepad, Nexus 7 and VivoBooks. “We have experienced tremendous growth in our tablet market share in international markets. We are keen to replicate that trend in Kenya that also has a vibrant tablet market,” added Wen.Wen is confident that the Asus ‘Design Thinking’ philosophy, central to their innovations, will make their devices appealing to Kenyans. A recent report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) ranks Asus as number three in global tablet markets after shipping 2.7 million units in the first quarter of 2013, a 5.5% market share.
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The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
News In Detail
Mustek in strong growth in 2012/2013
David Kan CEO, Mustek Ltd.
One of Africa’s largest IT distributors and PC assembler Mustek, Mustek Limited has revenue up 16% in the past financial year, financial results for year ending June 2013 show. The Mustek Limited Group, which wholly owns the Mustek and Rectron companies, has produced financial highlights that reveal: • Revenue from continuing operations up 16% to R4,072 billion, from R3,503 billion in 2012 • Cash from operations up 226% to R145.5 million, from R44,6 million in 2012 • Dividend per share up 18% to 20c, from 17c in 2012 • Net asset value per share up 9% to 762c, from 697c in 2012 “We are highly encouraged by this progressive set of results for the financial year ending June 2013. We set ourselves very clear goals at the beginning of FY13, to deliver revenue growth with enhanced efficiencies and to secure competitive, sustainable margins, while still exploring diversification
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Mustek East Africa Headquarters in Nairobi Kenya
in products with growth potential. I believe we have managed these goals well and I am pleased with the bold efforts displayed by our sales teams, resulting in a respectable performance of the company from a revenue perspective,” said David Kan, CEO of Mustek Ltd. Revenue growth during this period was supported largely by the addition of the Acer and Lenovo computer brands, as well as an expanded list of solutions including the introduction of Huawei Enterprise Solutions, Asus, Miniflex’s range of fibre cables, as well as solar panels. “We’ve had an exceptional year, considering the turbulent times the broader IT industry experienced in FY13, said Hein Engelbrecht, Managing Director of Mustek Ltd. “We believe that this coming year provides the ideal platform to carry on supporting our provision of solutions in the mobility, cloud, security (CCTV), networking and fibre arenas, continuing our emphasis on the Education, Health, Security and Solar energy industries."
The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
Mustek Limited is focused on growing broad-based distribution, as well as its tablet business, including offerings from Asus, Mecer, Lenovo, Acer and Toshiba, said the company in a statement. Mustek was recently appointed as Microsoft Volume Licensing distributors – bringing to Africa a cost-effective, flexible, and manageable way to acquire Microsoft software and cloud services. The goal is to target the market with an innovative strategy, the company added.With that in mind, Mustek has pioneered an electronic tool that will serve to revolutionise the volume licencing sales process, enabling resellers to translate the usually complex licencing program. This will serve as a significant competitive advantage for the Mustek Group. While the IT sector is expected to remain challenging and unpredictable, Mustek Limited believes that its broad product offering and in-depth understanding of its value proposition, it has secured a sustainable future for the company and its stakeholders.
Interview
Jagat Shah - CEO, Mitsumi
However, we also do not want to lose sight of the traditional volume business where a lot of our growth is coming from. In Africa, value may mean a different thing. For instance, how much credit you are giving in local currencyto your partners is a value proposition. Then you have logistics which is a challenge across the continent. With Mitsumi having been in business for 17 years, we have the experience and competence of moving through theselogistical challenges in Africa. All this is part value addition that we undertake and that is why Mitsumi is a preferred distributor for many vendors and resellers.
The Journey Continues
Despite being the most visible of all African-centric distributors, your hunger for expansion seems undiminished. Which areas are looking to expand to in the coming year. We are growing organically and opening new territoriesall the time. This year we are consolidating our position in the SADCregion through opening a hub in South Africa to manage the Southern African region. Going forward, we are looking at French West Africa where we already have a presence but it’s a region we hope to scale even morewith countries such as Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast as well as Indian Ocean Islands. Mitsumi will thus become the distributor with the largest footprint in terms of offices, warehouses, service centres in the majority of African countries.
There’s no slowing down Mitsumi. Despite its enviable position at the top of the in African ICT distribution pyramid, the company poised foran even greater presence in the continent as CEO Jagat Shah explains. After years of being based out of Kenya, you recently moved Mitsumi Distribution to Dubai. Please discuss the motivation towards this shift? Dubai is a very strategic location. A lot of the vendors are based out of here and it becomes that much easier to deal with them when in close proximity. Thus we are seeing better focus on Mitsumi from vendors. Plus you get more leverage when you are based out of Dubai when dealing with financing and insurance. We also a better look of Africa from here; if you are sitting in East Africa you will tend to focus more on the Eastern region and so on. You are also in the middleof the international market here in Dubai so that you are able to catch and react to trends and changes much faster. Since we’ve been here, we have seen better business development and with new areas of business opening up.
Mitsumi
Now we have North Africa that has opened up for us, the SADC region and a lot of developments in West Africa as well. We are no longer an East Africa-centric company, now we are a fully-fledged African distributor. Please discuss some of your valueadded services This year we launched our VAD division and already signed with such value brands as Riverbed, IBM, and HP Networking. We have hired a lot of personnel for this division-30+ employees including a very experienced ex-Cisco employee to head this VAD division. VAD is a major area of focus for us moving forward and we are making huge investment going in this area. By next year this division is expected to become a major contributor to our top line and bottom line.
Most importantly, we are hoping to expand through acquisition in Africa and we are in the process of identifying a viable candidate so we can scale our growth. You are returning to GITEX this year. Please discuss some of the plans you have for this event We hope to have a lot of visibility for our key vendors on our stand. Towards that, we are running a lot of media campaigns with stand advertisement in regional media and social media to pull visitors to our stand.
Aug/Sept 2013 | The Integrator East Africa
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Interview
Cursor Technologies
Murali G. MD, Cursor Technologies
markets. Some of the more popular models in East Africa are our Speaker range as well as UPS systems.
phone compatible with WorldSIM. This model has shown significant interest especially in Africa.
Why have you decided to launch your tablets at this point considering the large number of brands in the market and the intense competition in the space? We acknowledge we are late entrants in the market as far as tablets are concerned. The reason we have entered into the tablet business is because our distributors have been expecting us to expand our portfolio of products. We already have over 200 SKUs of our products but our distributorsconvinced usto go further and launch tablets as well as Bluetooth speakers. So by adding this line to our portfolio, our partners can get a wide range of products from the same Cursor brand.
Also new for Cursor are Bluetooth speakers. Discuss some strong qualities that sets them apart from the competition Our new range of Bluetooth speakers, like our other products, is unique and not competing with other products out there. That is our main selling point. We do not go for common models but only unique models and designs that no one else has in the GCC. Our Bluetooth home theatres and speakers also incorporate USB Flash support, SD card reader and FM radio with remote control. We already have two models out in the market and we’re finalizing 10more models we are hoping to launch soon. Next month, we are also planning
Eye on the Prize Keen to make a mark in East Africa’s IT accessories market is Cursor, a relatively new brand but with great ambitions of penetrating the increasingly sophisticated East African IT market as MD Murali G. explains Please discuss your East African strategy and its success so far Cursor Technologies has appointed Nairobi-based NITI as our distributors in Kenya and Tanzania and we hope to have a distributor in place in Uganda in a month. Through NITI, we are arranging road shows and other marketing campaigns in East Africa and we are pursuing our presence in retail and B2B in those markets through them. One of the most important aspects for the regionis logistics to and making sure that our partners have stock available at all times. We are able to supply our East African market from our base in Dubai as well as directly from our manufacturing centre in China. The popularity of our brand is such that we’ve been able to create and build up demand in these African
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Discuss some of the key specs and features in these new tablets We have started with two models, the 3G and the Pro series, both running on the latest Android Jelly Bean 4.1/4.2.2OS. The Pro Series is meant for business people who require high quality tablets to carry out their business with the apps to match. These tablets havetop-notchdisplay and touch capabilities with all the specs one can find in some of the leading brands. We are already receivingand filling orders coming in from our target group-the business community. Based on market feedback, the first impression from our customers is that of asolid-built tabletwrapped in an attractive design. The 3G modelson the other hand are the result of rising demand for 3G tablets. This tablet can also act as a
The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
to bring new UPS range in the market while we launch to add surveillance security cameras in our portfolio at GITEX this year. Discuss your resale strategy in light of different market conditions in the areas you operate In Dubai, we do direct retail ourselves while working through our distributors in the rest of the markets including East Africa. We work with our specific distributors and retailers as we don’t want to compete with the other brands out there in the market. We have been able to reach 25 countries already. In 2014, we’ll be expanding to India and Europe as well. Our products are accepted all over the world and we are actually doing very well in the ...Continued on P - 17
Focus
Microsoft
Why now? We have been doing business in Africa for just over 20 years, and in that time we’ve achieved a great deal – primarily with large enterprises and governments. As we were approaching the 20 year milestone, we started thinking- ‘How do we want the next 20 years to look? What do we want to accomplish?’ – and it was the answers to those questions that informed the development of the 4Afrika Initiative. So, 4Afrika serves to further deepen our commitment to the continent, and in particular to Africa’s youth, small businesses, developers and entrepreneurs. We believe there’s really no better time than now to invest in the world’s fastest growing continent. With 4Afrika, we have identified a few key
able to use the internet to empower themselves and open new doors for economic participation while learning 21st century skills. In terms of app development, we realised that there needs to be a focus on locally relevant and locally developed apps. Through our programmes including Microsoft DevCampsand the App Factories in South Africa and Egypt, we are helping aspiring software developers unlock their potential and show how local innovation can lead the way for global citizenship. Our Windows developers in turn can develop the skills they need to be worldclass and inspire a new generation of local application developers. We believe
Time for Africa areas where we believe we are uniquely placed to positively impact development – namely, affordable access, innovation and world-class skills. Fernando de Sousa General Manager, Africa Initiatives, Microsoft
Microsoft is investing in Africa like no other.With the 4Afrika initiative, the tech giant is devoting unprecedented resources to a continent just emergenton this side of the digital divide. Fernando de Sousa, GM of Africa Initiatives explains.
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4Afrika goes beyond what is traditionally Microsoft’s turf through projects like internet access, App development centres among others. Please discuss 4Afrika’s core pillars are innovation, world-class skills, and affordable access. We believe these three things will empowerbusinesses and consumers with critical skills for entrepreneurship and employability, which can feed back into the broad technology ecosystem and accelerate economic growth.At Microsoft, we believe deeply in the potential of technology to change Africa, but we believe equally in the potential of Africa to change technology for the world. A first step in making the potential a reality is making technology accessible in an affordable manner. This is one of the reasons why we have implemented TV white spaces projects in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa, with more to come. Through this, previously unconnected communities, hospitals, schools, and universities are
The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
in Africans owning their own growth and development. You’ve already been through the initial period of the programme. What is your initial analysis of the process? So far we’re very pleased with the results. To date we’ve rolled out three white spaces projects in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa bringing internet access to communities where there was none before. We’ve also launched the 4Afrika Scholarship Programme that will bring education, mentorship and jobs to Africa’s deserving youth as well as partnering with President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative to mentor future African leaders.We successfully hosted 4Afrika Academy training sessions, which help those in the technology sector develop critical skills, while providing employment opportunities within our ecosystem, and we’re in the process of rolling outan online hub to help African SMEs get online. This is just a few of 4Afrika’s many programmes. Many people ask why certain programmes are implemented in some countries over others, and we
explain that we have chosen to start our expansive roll-out in certain markets due to business opportunities, available resources on-the-ground, and a desire to start in established “hub” markets which are regionally influential. That said, we are constantly working to broaden our reach to as many markets as possible in Africa. What in the end does Microsoft hope to achieve? With the 4Afrika Initiative, we are focused on economic development and a set of commercial partners with whom we share goals around employability and economic growth. Our aim is to provide the most impactful set of economic development enablers to the continent so as to trigger waves of innovation, global competitiveness and world class skills and solutions. These enablers are investments such as the App Factories, the 4Afrika Academy and an investment climate for start-ups and SMEs. Overall growth in employability, skills development, smart device penetration, a thriving SME population, and youth empowerment will be reflected in an economically superior Africa and a growing market for our products and services. The 4Afrika promotional material barely mentions Microsoft’s core commercial products and services. How then do you balance between business development and social initiatives? Microsoft’s work in citizenship is founded in the principles of corporate social responsibility, and primarily targets underserved communities and K-12 education. Much of our citizenship works takes the form of software donations and aid to social development partners including NGOs, aid agencies and community centres. With the 4Afrika Initiative, we are focused on economic development and a set of commercial partners with whom we share goals around employability and economic growth. Our goals with 4Afrika are designed to link the growth of our business with initiatives that accelerate growth for the continent.
Discuss some of the SME projects under the 4Afrika initiative One of our core goals with the 4Afrika Initiative is to bring 1 million African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) online by 2016. We’re approaching this goal from many angles, for example, providing internet access to communities like the Rift Valley in Kenya. We are also creating an online hub for SMEs in Morocco and South Africa, specifically designed to aggregate all the best resources – both IT and nonIT resources – available to them in their market. Our goal is to bring together in one convenient location the best products and services available to SMEs to help them communicate, collaborate, manage their business, trade, and improve their overall competitiveness. We are starting with these two countries because both have strong governmental support for and emphasis on the development of small businesses, and are looking to expand into other markets in the coming months. Recently we also partnered with the
South African Jobs Fund to extend Microsoft’s BizSpark programme to help accelerate 500 new South African tech start-ups and are also actively working on some other exiting options related to venture capital funding for African startups more broadly across the continent. If possible, please mention how much money Microsoft is investing in the 4Afrika initiative To achieve the targets we’ve laid out for the 4Afrika Initiative, Microsoft is investing approximately $75M incrementally, in addition to our current annual investments, into the African continent over the next three years. Microsoft has been doing business in Africa for 20 years. With the 4Afrika Initiative in mind, what would you want the next 20 to look like? In the next 20 years we foresee affordable smart devices available to nearly all Africans,with the infrastructure in place to provide access to information, educational tools, and IT skills essential for employability.
Aug/Sept 2013 | The Integrator East Africa
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Rack Systems
Briefly describe your market strategy Rack Systems Marketing Strategy has been and is geared towards focusing on current trendswhich are heading towards cloud solutions. We have gained astrong position as a niche player in the Tanzanian Market and recently we are also focusing on the Rwanda market which is a very exciting IT market currently. We ofcourse also push the traditional switching and routing business as this still has a good customer base and now an upsurge by clients to upgrade still keeps that LOB (Line of Business) Active. The East African region as a whole is experiencing strong growth not just in IT but the economy as a whole. We would like to be part of this dynamic story. Briefly discuss the status of the networking industry in Tanzania at the moment. The Networking Market in Tanzania is dominated by the service provider market and the Government, at least for the last few years. Demand is mostly for switching/routing products and security. The Tanzanian market is still attractive but mostly on select clients. It is however extremely competitive and we have had to providethe highest level of service to be where we are. Which major brands are in more demand in Tanzania and why do you believe this is the case? For select clients, Cisco remains the most popular brand, but cost implications have for a long time kept D-Link as the choice for most SMB businesses with a small but highly concentrated in terms of size for also Huawei products in the Service Provider space. Our solutions include Security and Surveillance, Voice and Conferencing, Unified Communications, Network Storage, Inter Networking and Structured Cabling and Application Development and Customization. We represent some of the biggest vendors in the industry including Cisco, Symantec, Dell, Microsoft and Cyberoam. 14
Peter Wamutte - Managing Director, Rack Systems
TechKnow
Rack Systems has been in the Tanzania networking business for a while, all the time establishing itself as one of the strongest players in that space. Managing Director, Peter Wamutte discusses the how the company hopes to keep this momentum as the market evolves and expands.
Gaining Ground The new 802.11AC technology; is it available in Tanzania yet and if so, how has been the market response? It is available as we have already got customers inquiring on this technology but it has yet to get mainstream and are not yet supported by the distributors locally including stocking. However, we feel that this new technology will be a hit in Tanzania. Our clients have been demanding more and more network speeds and this will be an opportunity to support our customers with their networking requirements. When AC technology becomes available, we will be among the first to offer this solution to our clients. What major verticals do you target? We are in all the main verticals in Tanzania including Insurance & Banking, IT Service Providers, and the booming mining industry in East Africa as well as Education. Each of
The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
these segments requires very specific solutions and very specifics skill sets for integrators. This is testament to our strength that we are able to provide these solutions to the satisfaction of our customers as well as increasing our market share year-on-year. What challenges do you face particular to Tanzania? Like many African countries, our import and customs structure is not strong and we face issues with import irregularities. This makes it difficult for us sometimes to fulfil our customers’ requirements. There’s also a thriving and widespread grey market overflowing with nonchannel products. These have severely undercut the business of legitimate businesses like ours. However, with the rest of the industry, we continue to engage the authorities and we are looking forward to have these issues resolved.
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TechKnow
SanDisk
SanDisk sets great store by E.A. market Storage solutions giant SanDisk is making a big splash in East Africa, spurred on by a mobile industry that continues to expand at explosive rates. MEA Regional Sales Director Tareq Husseini explains how SanDisk hopes to keep this early momentum going
Tareq Husseini Regional Sales Director MEA, SanDisk
You have recently signed a number of distribution agreements with African distributors. Briefly discuss Africa is a major market for us going forward due to the mobile phone explosion in Africa. Africa as one of the fastest growing markets globally for mobile phones and with that a growing appetite for extendable phone storage SD cards. If you look at current statistics on Africa, the continent’s population is about 1 billion people with mobile phone penetration at about 65% and growing every year. So we look at Africa as a strategic market for our development in the next few years. So we’ve started to put people on the groundby hiring a country manager for Kenya who also manages the East African regionbased out of Nairobi. He is been with us for the last 15 months covering the distribution and the retail landscape in East Africa. So we’ve have done market mapping in East Africa through our office in Nairobi and we’ve selected several distribution partners based on their market coverage, the lines of credit they provideand their reputation. And through this exercise we have found two major distributors covering East Africa as well as other regions across the continent. One of them is Mitsumi, a major African distributor with operations in over
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27 countries. Mitsumi offers us broad line or channel distribution in East and West Africa. Then we have on board Despec, a reputable distribution company with a regional history of over 20 years. They are now focusing their efforts in Tanzania to cover East Africa. So they fit within our strategy in terms of channel reach. They are a distributor very focused on consumables; handling HP printer consumables, for instance as well as several other brands that give us the reach we require. South Africabased Sahara Computers on the other hand is part of southern Africa regional strategy. Explain the timing in deciding to put focus on Africa this year and not any time in the past We did not want to rush any steps and did not wish to just go to market with any distributor. We started with mapping the market, looking for the opportunities, meeting with the channel partners and retailers. This is a process that has been going on for the last 24 months. After that the next logical next step was to identify the opportunities, get people on the ground and then begin to understand the best partners in the territory. Wesigned them up and then worked to bringthe retail partners on board.It
The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
is the approach we use in every market we enter. The answer to the question “why now?” it’s because this is the right time. We have done all the background exercises and now is the time to go to the channels. For the year or so that your African focus has been in full swing, what has been the market response? The market response has been amazing. We have done three channel events since the beginning of summer. In June we were in Nigeria for a channel event in Lagos. We met several leading retailers as well as wholesalers in the city. The feedback we got was tremendous; there is potential for a lot of business. The Africa middle class population is growing every year. The new infrastructure for mobile is being updated and upgraded to reach many more people. The demand for our products for mobile devices or USB flash drives has also grown. The market also appreciates the fact that the vendor is coming to them instead of them having to look for suppliers or support from other countries. We have also done a dealer meet in Nairobi, covering East Africa in August and the feedback was similar. appreciating that SanDisk as a brand is coming to support right in the local marketthat finally bringing a
reputable brand, value to the consumer but also limiting the counterfeit products in the market. Similarly, we have done a dealer event in South Africa with the launch of Sahara as our partner. We do this once we sign up a new distributor by undertaking a channel activity to get the introduction and the proper launch of the brand. With a major existing counterfeit market for SanDisk products, what are you trying to do to curb this threat? Again it is a process. After acquiring the distributors, the retail and wholesale partners, we consequently follow that up with an awareness campaign. The awareness campaign comes in two parts. We have below the line which comprises proper display materials, branded materials, educational content inside the store and we also put official SanDisk reseller stickers on the retailer windows so consumers are aware that this reseller is actually selling a genuine product. We also undertake above the line activity with billboards and media advertisements. We have set up a billboards ATL campaign in Kenya urging consumers to buy only original products. We have also done radio campaigns as well as newspaper ads. For instance we carried full page ads in The Daily Nation newspaper in Kenya again urging consumers to only purchase original SanDisk products with information of retailers stocking our genuine products. How much of a market share do you command and what steps are you taking to expand that? Today SanDisk retail has 50% of the market shareglobally for our storage products. We understand the limitations and the complexities whenentering into a new market like Africa and trying to establish relationships with end users, distributors, retailers to gain market share. Roughly, our target is to gain about 20-25% in the next 18 months.
...Continued from P - 10 CIS countries. This is because we have defined European models that fit our European consumer requirements. We supply our international distributors through two methods; we supply them with assorted containers from Dubai mixed with our range of products which we can do from here. When they need much more quantity of just a few products, then we supply them directly from our China office. Discuss some key factors behind the continued success of the Cursor brand despite itsrelatively short period of existence Our success is the result of the confidence that our partners have for us as a brand as this assures them of the reliability of our products.We care about the expectations of our customers matched with the best service possible. In fact, in the last one year that we’ve been selling products through the Cursor brand, we have had less than 0.5% RMA (Repair and Maintenance) requests from our customers. Our strategy is based on having a brand focus and service. Customers cannot get this from the no-brand models in the market. A decade ago competition was low and margins were high. Now it’s the reverse. That is why we are trying to emphasise on service and support as our main strategy in addition to our distribution model and market development. The plan for 2014 is to sustain those gains we have made in the region and then move to streamline business operations in these markets. The aim is to increase market share in East Africa while keeping an eye on opportunities in other countries in Africa.
Discuss the basis behind your designs, with their different and unique designs Before implementing a design, we make sure that it’s not a common design-we want unique products that are not competing with every other product in the market. We consult with our manufacturing teams in China but most importantly we get feedback from our customers. We also research and analysis exactly what the market requires. Our R&D teams keep up with the trends to make sure we present to the market the latest technologies. What are the criteria for selecting your distribution partners? We are very selective on giving distribution rights of our products and we won’t go with just anyone. We use the one country-one person model. This will help the distributor grow more because they do not have competition in their own domains with similar brands. The ideal distributor should have a distribution network in terms of adequate infrastructure. They also need to operate a network of service centres that can carry out service directly because they are in charge of R&M within our recommended turnaround time of one week. Please briefly discuss your GITEX plans this year We will be present at GITEX as alwayswhere we will be showcasing our products as well as meeting our valued distributors. We also hope to get some positive feedback from customers and distributors on our old and new products. We are also counting on meeting representatives from new markets where we can have new inquiries from these countries.
Aug/Sept 2013 | The Integrator East Africa
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Symantec
What are you looking forward to as you embark on your new role as Regional Director? Key for me is better enabling our partners across the region. We are a channel-oriented company so it’s essential that we help distributors and resale partners improve their expertise with the message of how we can better help our customers and businessesprotect their digital information along with delivering a high level of security awareness.In three years’ time, we should have a highly committed and skilled partner base, highly enabled anddelivering solutions to consumers that delight them.
Parag Mendiratta, Power Quality Sales, East Africa, EATON
Discuss the progress of your African strategy moving forward We already have major business hubs based in Nairobi, Lagos, Nigeria and Mauritius. Our focus this year is improving and developing our business across French Speaking Africa as well as putting more focus on developing the Central and Southern African markets. We have a major business office in South Africa and Morocco. We have identified across the META region the high growth opportunities and through the combined resources of Symantec and our partners and distributors in the region we should see that strategy come to fruition. The continent is a high growth market for Symantec and we will continue to invest to make sure we leverage the opportunity. With cloud, customers have a new model for accessing software and solutions. Discuss how Symantechas embraced this technology in delivering solutions to your customers The ways that customers make purchases are changing. Our objective here at Symantec is to delight our customers and in order to do that, we need to give our customers choice in how they want to buy software and solutions. Today there are multiple form factors of how to do that caused by a major drive in increasing cloud adoption. There are customers who
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Symantec’s newly-appointed Middle East and Africa Regional Director Gordon Love sat with us to discuss his vision for the company and how this security software giant hopes to face off against an increasingly unpredictable security landscape.
Gordon Love - Regional Director, MEA, Symantec
Point2Point
In Safe Hands want to procure their own licences through the a perpetual model; there are customers who want to move into a more flexible model so that licensingscales with their businesses either by the number of devices or by data growth and also customers who want to purchase through the normal form factors. We are thus working with the channel to be able to put all these options on the table. Online sales are now a very big part of our business predominantlyin the
The Integrator East Africa | June/July 2013
consumer business. We still deliver all this through the channel and we will continue doing so. The goal is to give our customerschoice and flexibility on how they want to procure. With different market dynamics across the Middle East and African region, how do you localize your strategy to match local market conditions? Africa is the third largest market for smartphones. Kenya is the leading
We back up country in around 35% of terms of mobile "So the future is around trust, protecting the the world’s data. payment systems. Internet of Things and around organizations We have 1/3 of There are a the world’s email lot of unique having a better understanding of missionor 8billion of opportunities critical data that they want to protect and they them, coming across the region understand the associated risks." through our that we are in, infrastructure. each with its Our consumer own dynamics. products through At Symantec, Information Security Officers being the Norton brand protect about 350 this is the big reason in moving appointed. You are seeing risk and million users worldwide. In terms of our channel and our partners to a compliance executives appointed into our security software market share, we specialization model. Basically we tell the board. Organizations increasingly currently own 21.6% of the worldwide our partners-don’t try to sell each and understand the value of information security software market, about every Symantec solution. Focus on and the value of what they are trying double the market share of our biggest your specific skills and where you are to protect. Security is definitely competitor. The value we take to our able to deliver significant value to the increasingly getting more focus from customers through our partners is that customer in terms of your inherent skill executives. we are a market leader in solutions set and follow an appropriate Symantec that are globally recognized and we specialization program whether that With the explosion in the number can solve bigger problems for them. covers information security, mobility, of mobiledevices, online criminals As a worldwide leader in information and data centre optimization or have found millions of fresh targets protection and the biggest security information management. Granted, to exploit. Discuss the market and software vendor in the world, we have we have some partners who do all of it solutions for mobile platforms the tools, the solutions and the skills because they have the skill capability Mobile malware increased 58% in the and with our channel, we can go and and the market opportunity. The rest last year with a third of that designed deliver that value to our customers. are highly focused in or two of those specifically to steal information. In areas which they use to differentiate 2011, the market for mobile security As technology evolves, please discuss themselves. solutions was around 682 million some trends that will be shaping dollars and expected to grow to around Software piracy is an issue that a 2.5billion in 2016. Mobility is becoming internet security in the period to come There were more tablets than PCs lot of vendors face in Africa. How a great revenue opportunity for our shipped worldwide last year, according does Symantec ensure that your partners as customers ask for more to analysts. We are also moving into intellectual property rights are integrated solutions that help them an era of more connected equipment respected across the continent? enable Bring Your Own Everything beyond the traditional computing Software piracy is not particular to while protecting the identity and devices, or what is called the Internet Africa nor is it specific to Symantec corporate-critical information. With of Things. When the internet was alone. It’s a global challenge that every our Mobile Device Management and originally created, it was designed to be software company is dealing with Mobile Application Management anonymous. This is no longer the case. at the moment. We are part of the the mobile device itselfis irrelevant. The next wave in internet is around Software Alliance specifically across The issue is protecting your identity trusted relationships, around identity, Africa and we are working as part of and protecting access to critical and the confidence that when you this global coalition, investing money corporate information. The Symantec goonline,you know you are who you and resources to try to increase user Mobility Suite delivers this benefit think you are. So the future is around awareness by education campaigns to customersacross all the globally trust, protecting the Internet of Things across the continent. supported platforms, all deviceand around organizations having a independent. better understanding of mission-critical How seriously are organizations data that they want to protect and they treating the issue of data security as What sets Symantec apart from understand the associated risks. You’ve threats proliferate? what has become a crowded security got 20 million new malware variants Security has now become a boardroom solutions field? sentlast year. Our customers want trust issue. Security was for a long time Our main differentiator is that and confidence in the connected world considered merely as a form of Symantec is a global organization, and that is what Symantec can provide. insurance. Now you have Chief a 7billion dollar software company.
Aug/Sept 2013 | The Integrator East Africa
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CommScope
The pressure on data centre capacity has never been greater. It is now commonplace for 10 or more virtual machines to be running on the same physical server, making a high-speed uplink essential to ensure all these applications can run without excess latency or degradation of service. As more and more servers migrate to 10GbE links to support this data deluge, 40G uplink speeds are forecast to be a requirement for server interfaces by 2018. CommScope recently verified a proof-of-concept solution for a viable 40GBASE-T channel by utilizing prototype Category 8 RJ-45 connectors and copper twisted pair cables at an IEEE 802.3 NGBASE-T study group meeting. This proof-of-concept demonstrates that data centre operators can use Category 8 cabling to support 40 GBASE-T. One of CommScope’s key intentions in helping to develop the industry standard for 40GBASE-T was to ensure that it could be supported and rolled out cost-effectively. The new standard will minimize the time it will take to develop new electronics for switches and servers that can support 40GBASE-T connectivity, by building on the work already completed
speeds. However, Category 7A is only specified to a frequency of 1GHz and PHY industry experts have shown that higher bandwidth, in the range of 1.5-2GHz, will be required to support 40GBASE-T transmission. To date, the work of standards bodies indicates that a higher bandwidth solution than Category 7A cabling is needed in support of 40GBASE-T. Additionally, Category 7A supports three different types of connectors that are not interoperable or backwards compatible with the RJ-45 connector. Their use in DCs will require the use of hybrid patch cords and equipment cords making operations more difficult, error prone and slowing down MACs (moves, adds, changes) in data centres.
Ciaran Forde - VP, Enterprise Sales, CommScope MEA
Insight
The IEEE has made it clear that it requires a low-bulk, high-density cabling solution for 40GBASE-T, given the limited real estate in data centres. Due to these factors, the wider cabling industry has agreed that Category 8 is the path forward for supporting 40GBASE-T. CommScope successfully demonstrated the technical feasibility of Category 8 cabling for enterprise networks. This is a step along the real path towards a viable 40GBASE-T system for data center applications.
Planning for the Future of Cabling with Cat 8 In recent months, 40GBASE-T has come several steps closer to demonstrating proven viability for data centre applications. Ciaran Forde, VP –Enterprise Sales, CommScope MEA, discusses the impact of this game-changing innovation. to support 10GbE connections. Additionally, the standard will also support the ubiquitous RJ-45 connector.
The way forward
It has been proposed in some corners that Category 7A cabling offers future-proofed support for 40GbE
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Today, 10GBASE-T continues to gain broad acceptance in the server and access layers, and CommScope anticipates bandwidth growth will necessitate a 40GBASE-T solution in the future. BASE-T technology in conjunction with RJ-45 connectivity is a widely accepted and cost-effective networking option in both data
The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
center and commercial building environments. The CommScope proofof-concept demonstrates that data center operators will be able to extend their preferred mean of communication technology for 40G.
Evolution or extinction
With the requirements placed on data
centres increasing rapidly, the ability to flexibly adapt to future demands is crucial for data centre managers. Often this can be achieved by deploying higher bandwidth solutions in one part of the data centre, provided that these systems are backwards compatible with existing infrastructure. Organisations that do not future-proof their data centres today, will face the need for wholesale upgrades in 3-5 years that may generate significant down-time. For this reason, data centre operators should be careful not to reduce their initial CapEx at the cost of greater OpEx during the total lifetime of their infrastructure. Purchasing better quality equipment can also reduce the need for on-going maintenance and technical support during a data centre’s lifetime. Similarly, media diversity can also play a crucial role in ensuring reliability in data centres.
40GBASE-T: Raising the value of intelligence As the bandwidth of each individual link in the data centre rises, so does the cost of a connection failure. The
huge volumes of data that will soon be running across individual cabling will mean that the failure of even one connection can have a significant impact upon a data centre’s overall performance. Unfortunately, the rapid increase in network complexity in recent years has produced many more potential points of degradation and failure in data centres - from a patchcord being accidentally unplugged to a software false alarm halting all network traffic. It is essential then that enterprises have the tools in place to proactively track and monitor data centre activity. Businesses are rapidly waking up to the reality that the less efficient methods used in the past for maintaining their networks and tracing faults are no longer adequate.
to ensure the security of their network by quickly eliminating blind spots, detecting and locating network breaches, and constantly keeping track of all moves, adds or changes within the network.
The answer lies in “Intelligent Infrastructure solutions” – systems that provide the missing link between network management tools and the traditionally passive structured cabling infrastructures that connect network devices together. Intelligence provides better, real-time monitoring of the physical network layer, helping IT professionals and network managers
The combination of 40GbE data rates with the optimization possible through Intelligent Infrastructure is a potent one. It will allow data centre operators and enterprise IT directors to ensure minimal risk and maximum performance from their IT systems well into the future. Towards this end, it’s crucial that planning for the future starts today.
As the data rates of individual links in data centres increase, IT managers also need to “sweat the assets” they have, as the individual connections are becoming more valuable. To this end, Intelligence inside the data centre also improves operational efficiencies across the board, providing visibility into what resources are available, what data speeds can be supported and, if maintenance is needed, what ports are available and what systems can easily be moved.
CommScope launches Metro Cell concealment solutions Many wireless operators are considering strategies to keep ahead of surging mobile data consumption rates by offloading macro network traffic onto smaller, denser cell sites, particularly in congested urban areas. To help operators deploy such “small cells” more quickly, CommScope is supplying a family of equipment-integrated, factory-tested, modular solutions called Metro Cell Concealment Solutions. Part of the Andrew portfolio of wireless solutions, Metro Cell Concealment Solutions conceal the
key RF path equipment in a visually unobtrusive structure that more easily meets zoning restrictions in urban and suburban areas. The stealthy appearance of this integrated RF solution can help operators meet concealment requirements and physical space limitations for such cell sites, improving site acquisition and deployment times. Because it is often impractical to put typical cell towers in congested areas, operators need options for adding wireless capacity. “There are many logistical challenges when it comes to increasing sector
density in metropolitan wireless networks in addition to the technological ones,” said Philip Sorrells, vice president of strategic marketing, Wireless, CommScope. “Metro Cell Concealment Solutions can help speed the site acquisition process and deployment times by meeting aesthetic requirements and space limitations.” Metro Cell Concealment Solutions are radio agnostic and forward compatible to support multiple operators and technologies now and in the future.
Aug/Sept 2013 | The Integrator East Africa
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Case Study
Tripp Lite
Kenya Airports Authority Expands Region’s Largest Airport, Backed by Tripp Lite Protection
Customer
Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) manages over a dozen international and domestic airports in Kenya, including Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) — the busiest airport in East and Central Africa. Named after Kenya’s first president, JKIA coordinates over 100 domestic and international flights daily. Constructed in 1978 to accommodate 2.5 million passengers annually, foot traffic at JKIA has since almost tripled as Kenya has become an important region of economic growth. According to KAA officials, this number continues to grow at 10.7% per year. Modernisation and expansion initiatives, including implementation of self check-in kiosks, contemporary security equipment, new runways and terminal additions, have been undertaken to keep up with demand.
Goal
JKIA’s objective is to provide worldclass aviation infrastructure. Thus, the airport’s data centre is vital in ensuring that flights take off and land on time, as well as powering new and existing 22
“In an airport environment, any system downtime at all can result in a huge, logistical headache. We chose a UPS based on our current and expanding needs. Tripp Lite ended up fitting us perfectly.” – Jacinta M. Mutuku
KAA ICT Data Centre Project Manager
digital components throughout the airport. In a region where electricity is unstable, backing up this data centre with a quality power source is a necessity. So when KAA officials needed to back up their power to ensure smooth facility operation, they turned to the power protection experts at Tripp Lite. The first goal was to replace their current uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) with a brand whose equipment could better suit airport
The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
needs and keep up with the multiphase expansion. Downtime could mean data loss in critical systems and business disruption, resulting in rescheduling and missed flights. Tripp Lite UPS systems prevent problems by converting incoming (raw) AC power to DC power, and then converting it back into pure sine wave AC output. “If raw power goes to the data centre, then it will be a huge loss for KAA. Hence, it is important to connect reliable UPS Systems to protect our equipment in the data centre,” said Jacinta M.
Mutuku, ICT Data Centre Project Manager for KAA.
Solution
SU120KX2 SmartOnline® Modular 3-Phase UPS Systems • Protects connected equipment from the harmful effects of blackouts, brownouts, over voltages, spikes and line noise • Parallel capability (up to four units) expands load capacity and provides fault redundancy; 120kVA individual capacity, 480kVA in parallel • On-line, double conversion operation delivers pure sine wave AC output • Provides reliable battery backup power to ensure continued operation of vital systems; enables data saves and facilitates orderly system shutdown in chaotic environments • Includes PowerAlert software, enabling remote monitoring and equipment control from anywhere
Results
It was important for IT personnel to choose a brand that would protect the whole data centre— a place that contains high-end servers and mission critical equipment. The KAA switched from several 20kVA competitor models to four SU120KX2 SmartOnline 120kVA 3-Phase UPS Tripp Lite models, connected in a parallel configuration for redundancy operation. The equipment supports the load of critical data centre components during power failure, while regularly filtering out line noise. As the JKIA expansion project continues, the KAA will continue to back up the equipment that powers this new infrastructure. “In an airport environment, any system downtime at all can result in a huge, logistical headache. We chose a UPS based on our current and expanding needs. Tripp Lite ended up fitting us perfectly.” Aug/Sept 2013 | The Integrator East Africa
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Product Review
Fujitsu
Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 Portable Scanner The ScanSnap S1100 from Fujitsu is a nifty addition to your small office; it’s certainly one of the smallest portable A4 scanners I have come across, measuring just slightly wider than A4. Don’t let the size fool you though, the S1100 comes fully loaded with features that could put more elaborate desktop scanners to shame. I tested the scanner on a Windows 7 computer. Setup is very easy-simply install the software and connect the scanner via USB cable, which serves the dual purpose of a data and power cable. For a scanner of this size, the S1100 is incredibly fast, going through an A4 size document in less than 10 seconds. The continuous document feeding function allows users to insert pages one after another without pressing any extra buttons by detecting fed documents automatically. The ScanSnap S1100 doesn't come equipped with a duplexer (doublesided scanning). Instead, it includes a continuous scanning feature, which lets you scan one side of a document at a time and save all the pages you need as one file. When you are done, click finish on the onscreen utility or the button on the scanner to finish the scanning. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is the ability to scan bank and ID cards. For future reference, you can easily have all your cards scanned and saved in a folder.Colour management is 24
easy and hassle-free asScanSnapwill automatically inspect each document and scan the document either in black and white or colour. Through opening and closing the vertical output tray, you can either select a straight path suitable for photos, postcards, business cards, plastic cards or the U-turn path which is suitable for most common office paper. Rack2-Filer, software that comes with the S1100, is a third-party scanning and file management solution that allows users to quickly sort, organise and file paper documents digitally and manage all the documents in a virtual library with the click of a button. It enables users to convert scanned documents into PDF-files and organise them into graphical electronic binders and virtual cabinets. With the S1100, you can specify where to send the scan with options for local and cloud destinations including email, your printer, Evernote, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, as well as Fujitsu's own document management program (Organizer) and CardMinder for organizing business cards.Personally, I liked the fact that I could scan documents directly to my Google Docs and Dropbox accounts. Even handier for many of us is the ability to scan business cards and import the data into Excel, Outlook,
The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
Address Book and other database programs for fast referencing.Also, with the bundled ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnapand OCR capabilities, you scan directly into Word, Excel and PowerPoint enabling you to edit your data. With Word or Excel, the software will recognize the scanned text using ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap 4. The S1100 is also fully mobile, allowing you scan directly to Apple, Android or Kindle devices via the downloadable ScanSnap Connect application.
Verdict
For road warriors, this is a great device; one can just pop it into a laptop bag and use at any venue. A space saving but high-quality scanner with accurate and bright colour output, while blackand-white documents come out clear. Fujitsu has remarkably been able to offer a high resolution for a portable scanner with 600 dpi standard. The only drawback with the S1100 is that it’s not compatible with TWAIN or ISIS standards, which means you cannot scan directly onto an editing software such as Photoshop. For that you have to save an image into a compatible format before opening it in your preferred editing software. Beyond that, the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 is a definite recommended buy.
EyeTech
Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook
HP LaserJet Pro CP1025 Colour Printer
The XPS 13 Ultrabook from Dellis the newest offering from Dell’s range of ultrabooks combining premium materials and improved performance.The XPS 13 is a slim 6 mm at its thinnest point (only 18 mm at its thickest point), and features a 33.782 cm (13.3") HD display cleverly fit into a footprint that's similar to an 11" laptop. Thanks to a comfort-designed keyboard and a sleek, gesture-enabled glass touchpad, operating this ultrabook is a breeze.
HP's LaserJet Pro CP1025 Colour Printer is the smallest colour laser printer and also one of the planet's most energy efficient with easy-to-use features. This printer is ideal for home office and small business customers who need a low-priced, compact colour laser printer that delivers highquality colour and affordable black. Key Features: • One of the smallestlaser printer • Affordable with the same black cost per page as a black- and-white HP LaserJet printer • Professional, accurate results with HP ImageREt 2400 • High-quality documents with ColorSphere toner
Key Features: • Rapid Start Technology • Intel Smart Connect Technology • 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 processor • Bonded Corning Gorilla Glass • Machined aluminium and carbon fibre body
For more details, log on to: www.hp.com
For more details, log on to: www.dell.com
Xerox Wide Format 6705 Multifunction Device TheXerox Wide Format 6705Multifunction Deviceis a compact digital multifunction device capable of A0-size output while offering the ease of use, functionality and productivity of office multifunction devices. Key Features: • Scanning of large-format colour drawings • Colour density adjustment using colour scanner characteristics • Digitization of drawings • Compact design and familiar interface allowing side-by-side use with multifunction office devices
• • •
10.4 inch colour touch screen Job memory Concurrent scanning and printing
For more details, log on to: www.xerox.com
Aug/Sept 2013 | The Integrator East Africa
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Stats & trends
Tablets top PCs in ME and Africa, IDC The size of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) tablet market exceeded the region's portable PC market for the first time in the second quarter of 2013, according to the latest results from International Data Corporation (IDC). The premier global market intelligence and advisory firm for the information technology and telecommunications markets today announced that tablet shipments for the quarter were up an incredible 208% year on year, reaching a total of 2.79 million units. The Android operating system was the major contributor to this massive growth, with 2 million such devices shipped during Q2 2013. The uptake of Windows OS was rather slow during the quarter, primarily as a result of vendors shipping more Android-based tablets in order to gain market share in the region. "The launch of the iPad mini could not prevent iOS from rapidly losing share to Android devices, with cost being a key factor in consumers' choice of tablets," says Victoria Mendes, a research analyst for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. "However, Apple’s new product launch, which is expected before the end of this year will
definitely spur some growth for the vendor in the region." While Apple’s shipment total of 682,000 units for the quarter was lower than expected, the vendor maintained its top position in the rankings, followed very closely by Samsung, which shipped a total of 627,000 units. Lenovo, though far behind, entered the market in third place, shipping 140,000 units. Lenovo, together with other FarEastern vendors like Asus, which took fourth place with a total of 107,000 units, and Acer, which grabbed the remaining top-five slot, seem geared up to increase their market shares given the extremely competitive prices they have entered the market with. The corporate segment will continue to grow steadily throughout the forecast period, experiencing a slight spike in 2014 owing to the Fatih project in Turkey, where one million units are expected to materialize. Education remains the main focus area for vendors in the commercial space, with various initiatives being launched across the region. "The tablet market will continue to be driven by low-cost tablets, be they from the newer Far-Eastern entrants or even from the more established multinational brands," says Mendes.
Tablet displays in rapid Q1 growth, IHS Shipments of panels used in media tablets have more than doubled in the first quarter of 2013, driven by the popularity of low-priced units with 7in displays, according to a new report from IHS. The new report, “Tablet PC Touch Panel Shipment Database,” reveals that global shipments of capacitive touch screen displays used for media tablets totalled 45.2 million units in the first quarter. The shipments represent a 111.9 percent increase over the same period last year, more than doubling the 21.3 million total in the first quarter of 2012. “Sales of smaller-sized tablets are rising at a rapid rate, driving shipments of capacitive touchscreen displays ranking in size from 7in to 8in,” said Duke Yi, senior manager for display components and materials research at IHS. “These tablets are inexpensive, with pricing at $199, making them popular among consumers.” The price of tablet PC touch-panel modules is dropping due to a growing number of competitors, according to the IHS report. The average selling price (ASP) of 7in tablet touch panels fell to $15.60 in the first quarter of 2013, a 16 percent decline from $18.60 in the first quarter of 2012. Compared to the pricing of 7in panels in the fourth quarter of 2012, first-quarter panel pricing fell 7.5 percent. At the end of the first quarter of 2013, display supplier TPK achieved the leading position in the tablet touch-panel market shipments, with a 29 percent market share in the tablet touchscreen market. The company’s clients include media tablet heavyweights Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Microsoft and Asus. Other major panel suppliers and their Q1 shipments were:
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The Integrator East Africa | Aug/Sept 2013
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