Category: Cloud Services

  • Dandemutande partners Oracle, brings cloud service that competes with AWS, Azure to Zim

    Dandemutande partners Oracle, brings cloud service that competes with AWS, Azure to Zim

    Dandemutande, the Internet Service Provider, partnered with Oracle, a huge American tech company, to bring Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to Zimbabwe.

    OCI is not something individuals will come across in their daily lives. However, you may have heard of some of its competitors – Microsoft’s Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud.

    So, yeah, that’s what they are all about – cloud computing. They allow businesses to use Oracle’s data centers to store and manage their data, run applications, and access computing power over the internet.

    Dandemutande is now an Oracle partner. Which means they will resell Oracle products and services, and it appears OCI will be a major focus.

    Dandemutande will offer OCI services, helping businesses migrate to the cloud, manage their cloud resources, and optimise performance.

    As you would imagine, they will also provide consulting and help Zimbabwean companies implement. Then they will offer training and support on an ongoing basis after that. The typical.

    We asked Dandemutande who they are targeting with OCI and it’s mid-sized to large enterprises. Dandemutande does have solutions for smaller companies, OCI is not suited to them.

    Why choose OCI?

    Why should enterprises choose OCI over the competition? I was informed that many still don’t trust the cloud and so for some it’s not a question of why OCI over the competition but rather a ‘Why cloud?’ question.

    Of course Dandemutande has some compelling answers. Listen, this is most definitely not my world and everything they said to me made sense but of course the businesses will ask the relevant questions.

    According to Dandemuatnde CEO, Never Ncube, it has something to do with better scalability, performance and security.

    There apparently also is a cost saving probability. A service provided by a company called VMware which IT guys depend on recently went up in price by a huge margin.

    VMware, allows companies to run multiple virtual machines on a single physical server. Each virtual machine acts like a separate computer with its own operating system and applications, but they all share the same underlying hardware.

    All this lowers costs for businesses which can afford not to buy more servers. So, we are talking hardware, power and cooling savings.

    Now, many Zimbabwean companies love(d) VMware, especially those that don’t care about/trust the cloud. However, now that VMware increased its prices, it could be cheaper to go with OCI or its competitors.

    It is because of the reasons above and more that Dandemutande believes this is the opportune time to introduce OCI to the market.

    I think all those who would be mulling these decisions were at the venue when Dandemutande and Oracle announced the partnership.

    I merely talked about it to catch you up on what’s going on. So, go easy with the ‘And this concerns me how?’ retorts.

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  • Outlook and Teams are down for thousands of users. Microsoft Azure network outage is the cause.

    Outlook and Teams are down for thousands of users. Microsoft Azure network outage is the cause.

    Microsoft Azure is facing a global outage to what they are claiming is a subset of their users. The classification of this subset of users is not specified however Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Teams, services that run on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform seem to be down.

    Azure Networking – Multiple regions – Investigating

    Starting at 07:05 UTC on 25 January 2023, customers may experience issues with networking connectivity, manifesting as network latency and/or timeouts when attempting to connect to Azure resources in Public Azure regions, as well as other Microsoft services including M365, PowerBI. 

    We’ve determined the network connectivity issue is occurring with devices across the Microsoft Wide Area Network (WAN). This impacts connectivity between clients on the internet to Azure, as well as connectivity between services in datacenters, as well as ExpressRoute connections. The issue is causing impact in waves, peaking approximately every 30 minutes. 

    We have identified a recent WAN update as the likely underlying cause, and have taken steps to roll back this update. Our latest telemetry shows signs of recovery across multiple regions and services, and we are continuing to actively monitor the situation.

    This message was last updated at 09:36 UTC on 25 January 2023

    Microsoft Azure Status Page

    According to this statement, the root cause of the outage is network related and the network outage is a result of a bad software update done to the network which they are working on rolling back. How soon the service will get back to normal is still not clear however Microsoft is sharing real-time updates on its Azure page that you can view here.

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  • Tano Digital Solutions, a Zim-owned IT solutions company acquires Mozambique and Botswana IT firms

    Tano Digital Solutions, a Zim-owned IT solutions company acquires Mozambique and Botswana IT firms

    As part of their regional expansion drive, Tano Digital Solutions has acquired Altron’s Botswana and Mozambique businesses. Tano Digital is already present in Zimbabwe, and Botswana and is headquartered in South Africa. The recent acquisition of Altron’s Botswana and Mozambique business further expands Tano’s presence in Mozambique while growing its regional business.

    Tano took over the Botswana and Mozambique business on November 1, 2022 after approval by the competition authorities in both countries

    The Independent

    Altron itself is a group offering similar services to Tano Digital in the field of IT but with a bigger presence that spans South Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. They too are headquartered in South Africa and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with a Market Capitalization of close to R4 billion (about US$234 million). So Altron is quite a formidable IT business that looks to be consolidating its position and in the process offering some of its business to players like Tano Digital Group.

    What Tano group stands to gain apart from a bigger presence is also the relationships that these firms were enjoying thanks to them being under the Altron group as well as inheriting the skills, customers, and list of suppliers from these businesses.

    In 2022 Tano digital was the runner-up for Best Zimbabwean Exhibition: Small To Medium Enterprises and the 2022 Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. In February of 2022, they also became an SAP reseller to deliver a partner-managed cloud for SAP Business One & Business ByDesign. Enterprise IT services for corporate entities.

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  • Africa Data Centres is building a new 20MW facility in Cape Town

    Africa Data Centres is building a new 20MW facility in Cape Town

    Africa Data Centres, part of the Cassava Technologies Group, has announced that it is building a second data centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The new 20MW facility will cover 15,000 square meters in eight data halls and is situated on the northern periphery of Cape Town’s city centre.

    According to Tesh Durvasula, Chief Executive Officer of Africa Data Centres, there is a clear pipeline of demand for colocation space that cannot be served by the existing Diep River data centre. And he added that “The new Cape Town facility is a critical part of Africa Data Centres expansion drive in the area“.

    The site is located in a secure business park that is well served by two major national roads, the N7 and M12, and is in close proximity to Cape Town’s city centre, the V&A Waterfront harbour, Cape Town International Airport, and is within easy reach of Africa Data Centres’ existing Africa Data Centres’ facility in Diep River.

    As volumes of data in South Africa grow, so does the demand for the capacity to store and process it.

    “This is why Africa Data Centres has such ambitious expansion plans in the region. As Africa’s largest and leading network of interconnected, carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre facilities, we are continually working to provide the infrastructure to help companies achieve their digital goals.”

    Tesh Durvasula, Chief Executive Officer of Africa Data Centres

    There are several regions experiencing high data centre demand in Africa, and data centre capacity has more than doubled in the past few years. South Africa is leading the charge and is now brimming with new projects.

    “Hyper-scaler cloud providers have been eyeing the region for some time, with Amazon opening its first African cloud data centre in South Africa in April 2020. In addition, Google Cloud recently selected Africa Data Centres as the first location for Google Cloud Interconnect in Africa”.

    Tesh Durvasula, Chief Executive Officer of Africa Data Centres

    Cape Town is the number two data centre market in South Africa and currently has a connectivity ecosystem made up of several colocation data centres and a wide range of cloud service providers and networks.

    Research estimates that the market for data centres in Africa is expected to reach between US$3 billion and US$5 billion in the next four years, growing at a compound annual growth rate of between 12 and 15%, depending on the report.

    South Africa remains the largest data centre market on the continent, with a thriving data centre industry, and has been ranked number 25 globally by Cloudscene based on data centre density.

    Over and above bringing digital services to Capetonians, the facility will create a wide range of job opportunities through the provision of digital services and hiring local contractors and workers for the builds, from entry to high-tech level.

    The Cape Town building is currently in the initial design phase, with work set to start on site in the last quarter of 2022. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2023.

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  • TelOne officially opens its first Matabeleland data centre

    TelOne officially opens its first Matabeleland data centre

    State-owned telecommunications company TelOne, yesterday commissioned its Bulawayo data centre and customer experience hub in a move set to improve data connectivity and customer interface in the Southern region. The data centre, a first of its kind in the Matabeleland region, is part of TelOne’s product expansion drive which has seen the concern investing more than US$4million since 2016.

    TelOne Main Exchange, Bulawayo

    TelOne’s data centre has a total rack capacity of 120 Racks, a total power capacity of 400kVA and is a Tier 3 Designed facility that offers redundancy for all critical components such as power, cooling, and other active equipment.

    Essentially, this means that TelOne customers, who are large part banks and financial organisations, telecommunication providers, private companies, government departments, and a range of information technology service providers will, according to the telecoms company, have highly customizable, fully managed, and secure disaster recovery hosting for carrier-grade IT resilience.

    According to TelOne chairman, Dr Douglas Zimbango, Hillside was particularly prioritized to be the second in line to be revamped as it is one of the group’s bigger exchanges servicing a total of 6 500 clients from more than 10 surrounding suburbs for Voice Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), Fiber to The Home (FTTH) and VSAT services from a capacity of 10 000.

    Battling network vandalism, TelOne intends to roll out a fibre network and an LTE service which, besides countering network vandalism, will also improve service quality. Consequently, TelOne will give prominence to Hillside for the technology upgrade such that the client experience transformation is comprehensive from all fronts.

    Part of the bigger plan through which TelOne is presently sourcing funding, this upgrade will eventually see the telecoms company deploy 100 000 FTTH service lines in the next five years as well as 150 000 LTE lines in the next three years under the National Broadband Phase II project.

    Meanwhile, the Chipo Mtasa-led firm will also open doors to its revamped Client Experience Centre in Bulawayo. The move, according to TelOne, speaks to the company’s “commitment to modernizing customer experiences in all cities across Zimbabwe“.

    TelOne Hillside Customer Experience Centre

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  • Local ICT firm now offering SAP software via partner-managed cloud

    Local ICT firm now offering SAP software via partner-managed cloud

    Tano Digital Solutions (TDS) is a South Africa and Zimbabwe-based technology company that offers a range of services and products which include business consulting, domain expertise and technology consulting. TDS has announced that it has become an SAP reseller to deliver a partner-managed cloud for SAP Business One & Business ByDesign.

    SAP is a German multinational software firm that offers enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Tano Digital Solutions says it will be offering the aforementioned SAP products by way of monthly subscriptions through its Private Managed Cloud (PMC), enabling customers to access SAP software more quickly and easily without the need for up-front infrastructure costs associated with on-premise software deployments. 

    “We are excited to be able to provide this service because it allows us to meet our customers’ where they are. With the PMC service, we are able to provide implementation, management, and support services to give customers a fully-tailored solution for a single, monthly subscription fee” 

    Wallen Mangere, Tano Digital Solutions (TDS) Director

    Tano Digital Solutions is the only authorized SAP Valued Added Reseller in Zimbabwe, having won the Rookie of the Year award at the SAP PKOM Partner of The Year Awards in 2021. The award was in recognition of TDS’ partnership as an SAP Partner in delivering solutions to help solve business and technology challenges in 2020.

    TDS has also ventured into the provision of Robotics Process Automation Software as well as Document Management Solutions in partnership with a leading documents management vendor. In addition, TDS also serves as a hardware and technology infrastructure solution provider for brands including IBM, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Oracle and Huawei. 

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  • Cassava appoints new Africa Data Centres CEO

    Cassava appoints new Africa Data Centres CEO

    Cassava Technologies has today announced that it has appointed Tesh Durvasula as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Africa Data Centres (ADC) effective 7 February 2022. He will be responsible for driving growth, innovation and strategy of Cassava Technologies’ data centres to meet Africa’s accelerating demand for data and digital infrastructure.

    “At Cassava Technologies our objective is to empower individuals and businesses with technology, based on our vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind. Through our digital infrastructure and services, we are empowering our customers to fully participate in the fast-growing digital economy in Africa. Expanding our data centres footprint and management capacity is key to our strategy”.

    Strive Masiyiwa, Cassava Technologies Executive Chairman and Founder

    Durvasula is an experienced technology and real estate industry executive with a 25-year track record of leadership and value generation in the digital infrastructure sector. He will lead the ADC team as the organisation rapidly expands its footprint of hyper-scale data centres throughout Africa with a plan to add an additional ten data centres in the top ten economic centres in Africa. 

    “We are delighted to welcome Tesh into the Cassava Technologies family and look forward to leveraging on his extensive industry experience as he leads our data centres business into its next phase of rapid expansion to meet the increased demand for data centre capacity in Africa. Following the conclusion of our $300m funding with the US IDFC and the recent $90m equity investment by IFC, it was imperative that we scale up our management team”.

    Hardy Pemhiwa, President & CEO of Cassava Technologies

    Prior to joining ADC, Tesh served in a variety of executive roles at CyrusOne, culminating in his appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of the company.  And, before that, he served as president of Europe operations for CyrusOne, overseeing CyrusOne’s expansion into England, Ireland, France and Germany, helping grow CONE into one of the largest publicly traded REIT’s in the US. 

    “The potential to grow digital infrastructure is bigger in Africa than anywhere else and this will provide a number of opportunities for economic transformation. I am extremely pleased to be joining Africa Data Centres and Cassava Technologies, especially now as Africa has become one of the fastest-growing data usage regions in the world. I feel we are well poised to make an invaluable contribution to Africa’s rapidly developing digital ecosystem,” concluded Durvasula.

    Tesh Durvasula as the new CEO of Africa Data Centres

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  • Cassava announces joint venture with UK cyber security firm to expand security operations & Microsoft cloud security expertise in Africa

    Cassava announces joint venture with UK cyber security firm to expand security operations & Microsoft cloud security expertise in Africa

    ITC Secure (ITC), a leading advisory-led cyber security services company and a Microsoft Gold cyber security partner, and Cassava Technologies have announced today that they have entered into a Joint Venture (JV) to build and launch an extensive portfolio of cyber security services, powered by Microsoft Azure cloud technologies in Africa.

    Digital transformation in Africa is accelerating the adoption of cloud services which is creating an urgent need to better protect users and business-critical data. Cassava Technologies footprint covering more than 15 countries in Africa, we are well-positioned to meet the growing needs of businesses and individuals and expand access to cybersecurity and other digital services. We look forward to bringing ITC’s world-class cyber expertise, coupled with Microsoft’s industry-leading technology, to build Africa’s digital future.”

    Hardy Pemhiwa, the CEO of Cassava Technologies

    Replicating best practice of a leading UK SOC to build a cutting-edge SOC in Africa

    ITC’s 24/7 Operations Centre, based in London, is at the forefront of delivering managed security services. As part of the JV, ITC and Cassava Technologies will build a state-of-the-art SOC in Africa. The centre will leverage Cassava Technologies’ in-depth knowledge of the African continent and ITC’s extensive experience in cybersecurity, to enable the rapid delivery of cyber services and operations on the continent.  

    “The strategic partnership between ITC Secure and Cassava Technologies, as a pan-African technology leader, will bring Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud security solutions to the African market to drive the growth of the technology sector and innovation across Africa.”

    Andre Pienaar, the Chairman of ITC Secure

    Steering the future

    ITC’s mission to ‘make the digital world a safer place to do business’ echoes Cassava Technologies’ vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind.  This JV addresses the growing need to ensure that individuals and organisations are safe and secure online and will further demonstrate how cyber security can be a business enabler, helping to drive growth and create jobs across Africa.

    “The combination of ITC Secure and Cassava Technologies will help guide us to the future while addressing the growing needs of individuals and organisations in the African market for a secure digital world, built on the best solutions and delivered by the best experts.”

    Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of ITC Secure USA

    Facilitating knowledge transfer locally

    The skills gap in the cyber security industry continues, with recruitment and retention an ongoing challenge.  The JV will facilitate access to experts globally and close collaboration and knowledge transfer locally. This will enable faster on the ground response, the sharing of cyber security best practices and streamlined sharing of internal resources.

    Extended portfolio of cyber security services

    ITC’s integrated delivery model provides access to the best cyber security skills, technology, and governance. Encompassing a unified suite of solutions that start with an advisory-led approach, including Identity and Access Management capabilities and managed security services like Managed Detection and Response.

    At the heart of ITC’s integrated delivery model is PULSE, an extended detection and response platform powered by Microsoft Sentinel, that integrates specialist knowledge and expertise.

    ITC is a Microsoft Gold Partner in Security and Cloud and a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association. Organisations will gain access to a level of expertise recognised by Microsoft as the “highest, most consistent capability” – underpinned by a cohesive set of services that scale.

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  • Cassava Technologies’ solar subsidiary to power Africa Data Centres’ SA facilities

    Cassava Technologies’ solar subsidiary to power Africa Data Centres’ SA facilities

    Africa Data Centres has appointed Distributed Power Technologies (formerly Distributed Power Africa DPA) to provide renewable solar energy and storage solutions for its data centres across South Africa. The partnership will begin with the deployment of renewable energy generation facilities to meet the more than 10 MW power requirements at Africa Data Centres’ Cape Town facility.

    Africa Data Centres is the continent’s largest network of interconnected, carrier and cloud-neutral data centre facilities, and they are continually expanding across the region through the construction of new facilities and the extension of existing ones. The new builds and extensions are in line with Africa Data Centres’ commitment to sustainable, low-impact data centres.

    “Our existing data centres are being upgraded to accelerate the deployment of green technologies, within our commitment towards carbon neutrality. We are looking at making all our data centres sustainable to allow for greater efficiency and a greener environment.”

    Stephane Duproz, CEO of Africa Data Centres


    DPT is already operating solar PV systems for Africa Data Centres in the region, namely the 1.1 MW East Africa Data Centre in Nairobi solution and is in the process of completing a 1.2 MW rooftop installation at the Midrand campus.

    “We continue to build for Africa’s unique energy needs and to support the continent’s digital transformation. We understand the power needs of data centres and have designed our data centre solutions as hybrid solutions to improve energy resilience”

    Norman Moyo, DPT CEO

    Distributed Power Technologies provides tailored renewable energy solutions at zero upfront investment and on power purchase and power lease agreement to Commercial & Industrial users across Africa. The company guarantees its customers zero technical risk, by employing the best technologies available. DPT takes full responsibility for funding, engineering, procurement, installation, monitoring, maintenance, warranties, and insurance.

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  • OneDrive will stop syncing files for users on Windows 7 & 8 in March 2022

    OneDrive will stop syncing files for users on Windows 7 & 8 in March 2022

    Users who are still using Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 will no longer be able to sync files automatically with OneDrive starting from March next year.

    In order to focus resources on new technologies and operating systems, and to provide users with the most up-to-date and secure experience, beginning January 1, 2022, updates will no longer be provided for the OneDrive desktop application on your personal Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 devices.

    Personal OneDrive desktop applications running on these operating systems will stop syncing to the cloud on March 1, 2022. 

    Ankita Kirti, Microsofts WW Product Manager via Microsoft Tech Community Blog

    If you haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 or 11 after the deadline, you will have to use the web to manually transfer the files from your PC to OneDrive. Business OneDrive customers will also be affected by this move because Microsoft has tied support to the Windows cycle.

    This is all makes sense because it will push the subset of users who are on OneDrive (who are also affected) to upgrade to the newer version of Windows rather than trundle along on Windows 7 and 8. Moreover, users will be better protected from viruses and malware because they will be closer to the newer release software and security upgrades.

    However, it is worth noting that the extended support for Windows 7 and 8.1 is until 10 January 2023, while Windows 8 support has already been phased out.

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  • Liquid named best African Wholesale Carrier for 10th year in a row

    Liquid named best African Wholesale Carrier for 10th year in a row

    Liquid Intelligent Technologies was awarded the Best African Wholesale Carrier for the 10th consecutive year at The Global Carrier Awards ceremony in London last night.

    The annual awards are the most prestigious in the wholesale telecoms industry and the most prominent global celebration of the wholesale market. They recognise innovation, vision, and excellence to award the best companies, projects, and partnerships across the industry.

    Winning this award for 10 years in a row confirms Liquid’s position as the wholesale provider of choice across Africa for operators of all sizes from across the globe.  The title also recognises the organisation’s continued investment in its network infrastructure and digital services portfolio.

    “Congratulations to everyone in our team who have been working tirelessly to ensure that Liquid remains true to its vision of bringing connectivity to the entire continent.  We have dominated the wholesale industry for 10 years in a row, and we continue to build and bring high-speed connectivity and digital services to every African to ensure we retain our position for the next decade and beyond.”

    Nic Rudnick, Group CEO at Liquid Intelligent Technologies

    Liquid now has more than 100,000 km of fibre that connects more than 100 million people across 643 towns and cities in 20 countries in Africa. In addition, the organisation recently launched the shortest route connecting East to West Africa between Mombasa (Kenya) and Muanda (DRC). With the completion of this route, Liquid establishes a new global Internet transit route between Asia and the USA through Africa, avoiding high-risk bottlenecks in the Middle East and Europe.

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  • Dandemutande has more on the way on top of Facebook powered Wi-Fi hotspots

    Dandemutande has more on the way on top of Facebook powered Wi-Fi hotspots

    Dandemutande is probably the most soft-spoken internet provider in Zimbabwe. Most would be forgiven for thinking that the mobile internet, broadband and VSAT market only consists of ZOL and TelOne. This is of course incorrect because, in terms of market presence, Dandemutande is up there with the other players.

    The company yesterday held a launch event for its Facebook Express Wi-Fi partnership. And at the ceremony CEO of Dandemutande, Never Ncube gave me and my colleagues in attendance more than we bargained for when it came to what the company has in store for the future.

    Utande LTE

    Dandemutande, earlier this year announced the launch of its subsidiary Utande’s LTE, a service that would come in direct competition with ZOL’s Wibroniks and TelOne’s Blaze LTE. When the service launched it started off quite well with coverage at 31 locations/areas.

    Eastlea, Belvedere, Graniteside, Hillside, Ridge View, Avondale, Monovale, Sunningdale, Highlands, Ardbennie, Mbare, Sunningdale, Southerton, Lochinvar, Highfield, Willowvale, Houghton Park, Workington, Malvern, Prospect, Mainway Meadows, Grobbie Park, Eastlea, Athlone, Msasa, Greendale, Hatfield, Chadcombe, Queensdale, Highlands

    The only gripe that most had with Utande LTE when it launched was that it was pretty expensive compared to the alternatives.

    Data allocationSpeed (Mbps)Price (US$) per month
    Supermaxuncapped5125.00
    Megamaxuncapped10210.00
    Gigamaxuncapped15295.00

    This was a sticking point for a lot of people even though Utande was offering uncapped (with the package price difference showing for internet speeds). To remedy this the folks at Dandemutande just under a month after launch slashed the prices for the service by 18% which made the service a lot more appealing.

    Utande LTETelOne BlazeZOL Wibroniks
    Supermax:
    5 Mbps
    US$99.00
    Blaze Superernova Uncapped
    US$112.00
    WiBroniks Nano Office
    7Mbps
    US$125

    Wibroniks Home Unlimited
    15Mbps
    US$119
    Megamax
    10Mbps
    US$210
    WiBroniks Micro Office
    10Mbps
    US$185
    Gigamax
    15Mbps
    US$295
    WiBroniks Small Office
    15Mbps
    US$295

    The price drop put Utande LTE, at the entry-level package, well below its competitors. And at yesterday’s launch event, Dandemutande CEO Never Ncube said that they are expanding coverage with 20 new base stations. Where this infrastructure will be located is yet to be known but more coverage is always good news.

    However, the one thing that we are all patiently waiting for are capped or pay as you go packages.

    Dandemutande fibre roll out

    As demand for internet services has continued to increase. All operators in the space have been trying, under harsh economic constraints, to meet demand. Dandemutande, as quiet as the company is, hasn’t been sitting idle. The internet access provider is expanding its fibre network in Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare.

    e-learning

    The penultimate revelation at yesterday’s launch event was primed by the company’s partnership from a year ago with InventXR offering an e-learning platform called iStudyXR. That partnership seems to have pushed Dandemutande towards more collaborations as we were teased yesterday with upcoming e-learning services that would cater for companies and software providers as they continuously training their staff and clients.

    The growing cloud business

    Dandemutande earlier this month joined the Console Connect ecosystem, which is powered by PCCW Global.

    What this essentially means is that you can get Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and many others through Dandemutande.

    So all in all an impressive display by the team at Dandemutande. It will be interesting to see what else they have in store for the future.

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  • Windows 11: The good, the bad and the meh…

    Windows 11: The good, the bad and the meh…

    Microsoft is launching the next generation of the Windows (11) operating system, tomorrow the 24th of June 2021. We browsed the internet to see what was being said about it and here are our thoughts.

    You can play or download the podcast with the link below:

    NB: Techzim is now zero-rated for text-based content. However, for embedded videos and media like podcasts, you will need to have data.

    You can subscribe & listen to Technikari on these podcast sites & apps

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    Zimbabwe’s Cannabis grower’s licence is priced way too high and this is keeping the country from a rapidly expanding and lucrative industry.

    The cannabis growers licence fee is keeping Zim from a billion-dollar industry

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    Does Huawei’s Harmony OS stand a chance against iOS & Android?

    ZIMRA recently gave a grace period for the importation of cars that are 10 years or older. Now, this comes after the ban the govt instituted in April 2021 which leads us to believe it’s all about the revenue dip ZIMRA was experiencing on its end.

    Extending 10-year-old car imports after “the ban” is all about the money

  • 5 awesome backup services that support FTP, Rsync and SCP

    5 awesome backup services that support FTP, Rsync and SCP

    Some weeks ago I wrote about backing up your important files on Ubuntu to Google Drive. It’s a trivial process that will save your hide on the day disaster strikes. You lose your laptop unexpectedly for example or you fall prey to a ransomware gang as has become trendy these days. But what if for some reason you cannot use Google Drive? What should you do?

    I found myself in such a situation recently. While in the process of trying to add a new tool to my webhost, I later discovered the tool was not meant for sites in Zimbabwe and wanted it removed from my hosting platform. I wrote an email to the web hosts support with this request and the person who answered the ticket was a French guy. English is not his first language and he thought I wanted out of their service. He wanted to delete everything. I mean everything including the backups they had of my sites.

    This was valet service. They do everything while I work on other things that need my attention. I had no backups of my own. Fortunately, the French guy was asking for confirmation that this is what I wanted. Had he just deleted everything, I would have lost all my sites and my only fallback would be the backups I made over a year ago before I moved to the valet service. That frightened me enough and I wanted to do an immediate backup in case there was some miscommunication in the reply I sent to his email. That hit a snag.

    When you cannot use Google Drive

    The service allows me to log in via ssh, to use SCP, FTP, FTPS and Rsync but it would not allow me to install anything. I couldn’t install the scripts I need to back up my files to Google. This was an almost vanilla Debian environment meant for highly optimised WordPress hosting and caching and nothing else. What I needed was a cloud service that would allow me to use these protocols to back stuff up.

    Turns out finding such a service is harder than you that it seems. During the rush to roll out cloud services a lot of cloud providers have rolled out their own proprietary protocols and abandoned the good old ones like FTP, FTPS, SCP and Rsync. The last one is especially powerful and will match any proprietary protocol any day. The appealing option was for me to buy a storage VPS, install Ubuntu and backup to it using rsync but I that would mean keeping an eye on the thing, setting up firewalls, keeping it up to date etc. I just didn’t have time for that.

    After extensive research, I came up with 5 cloud backup services that you can use to back up your files using these prevalent open file transfer protocols for when you cannot use Google Drive, OneDrive or a similar service.

    The five winners are:

    • Rysnc.net these guys have been around for a long time. I had issues that prevented me from using their service though. The first one was the fact the minimum storage size you can buy from them is 400GB which goes for $10.00 per month or $108 per year. Google gives you 2TB for less than that! What’s worse, is it does not even offer redundant backups for this. You will have to pay almost double if you want it. Still, they are a noteworthy service that deserves inclusion
    • Livedrive.com offers FTPES, FTP-SSL and FTP Secure protocols when you sign up for its briefcase plan which goes for about $130 per year. You get 2TB and although it’s $30 more than you pay for Google Drive you get the same perks Google offers including redundant storage and more. You can even mount the remote drive and treat it like a local drive if your connection is fast enough you won’t even notice that this is not a local drive.
    • Adrive.com allows you to use rsync, FTP, SFTP, SCP and a couple of more protocols. It starts at a reasonable $2.50 for 100GB and I ended up settling for this one. They even give you two months to test the service. The biggest drawback is that rather low speeds of about 60 Mbps. Maybe it’s because I am still at the trial phase. I will see how it goes.
    • Drivehq.com supports WebDAV, FTPS and SFTP and plans start at about $4 per user although they have an unconventional pricing model where you have to have at least 3 users. This makes it somewhat expensive if you just want to use the service alone
    • Bakop.com support FTP. Their plans start at $4.99 but they limit the amount of data you can transfer to and from their services.

    Bonus mention goes to Veerotech.net which supports FTP as well and has RAID plans starting at $3 per month.

  • Google Docs & Sheets experiencing outages

    Google Docs & Sheets experiencing outages

    A number of Google Cloud services like Docs, Sheets, Slides and Classrooms are currently down. The outage started about half an hour ago from what we can tell and it is similar to the Google outage that we all experienced last year.

    Thankfully this time Gmail was not affected and it seems like Google has acknowledged the outage and according to a report by The Verge, they are investigating the cause of the problem.

  • European cloud services provider OVHcloud suffers fire at data centres

    European cloud services provider OVHcloud suffers fire at data centres

    One of Europe’s largest cloud services provider, OVHcloud, had servers destroyed in a fire at its Strasbourg facility today. In a report by Reuters, the blaze came just before the French firm was about to embark on an initial public offering.

    The fire broke out sometime around midnight and destroyed one of the four (SBG 2) data centres while another was damaged.

    “We don’t have access to the site. That is why SBG1, SBG3, SBG4 won’t be restarted today”

    Octave Klaba, Founder and Chairman of OVHcloud

    SBG referes to OVHcloud’s four data centres

    OHVCloud later told its stakeholders and clients which include the French government and the cryptocurrency exchange Deribit that they have to activate disaster recovery plans.

    The fire has, according to a report by ZDNet, been doused. However, the assessment of the damage might take some time.

    Cover Image Credit: Data Centre Dynamics
  • Dandemutande CEO sheds more light on Utande LTE

    Dandemutande CEO sheds more light on Utande LTE

    Utande, a subsidiary of Dandemutande recently launched an LTE service to rival Telone’s Blaze and ZOL Wibroniks service. Utande LTE is launching with uncapped packages only, which puts it more in line with ZOL’s Business Packages.

    To find out more about the service, and to ask if there were capped packages in the near future. We were joined by Dandemutande’s CEO Never Ncube.

    On top of Utande’s LTE service we discussed:

    • The changes that Dandemutande has seen in the internet services market since its inception. (Afterall the internet has gone from being a luxury to a necessity.)
    • Why Utande went the LTE services route.
    • If/When Utande LTE will be launching capped or pay-as-you go style packages.
    • What the pandemic has done for Dandemutande/Utande’s business in terms of customer uptake and data consumption.
    • Residents in areas old and new have had issues with getting internet services. Was Utande LTE a way of improving access to the sprawling neighbourhoods as well as service existing ones.
    • Dandemutande has a number of services in its product catalogue, vehicle tracking, cloud services and e-learning. Is the company going to add on to these services in future?

    You should also check out

    Our conversation with Tendai Mupaso the co-founder of logistics startup Yaita. It had been a while since we touched base and we thought we’d talk about the business as well as their new product the Fulfilment Centre. The product is basically a warehouse where e-commerce businesses store their inventory.

    The biggest difference with a normal warehouse and what Yaita is doing, is that Yaita will handle delivery of those goods. Your customers can order through you but you don’t have to ship anything, all of that is done by Yaita.

    Yaita a delivery startup now looking to be the complete e-commerce business partner

    We also had a chat with Fresh Ideas founder Kuda Musasiwa. The startup is offering the tools for anyone or business that wants to start an e-commerce operation. There is, of course, a fee of US$99 a month but for that, you get payments intergrations, website design and more

    Kuda Musasiwa is bullish about Fresh Ideas’ e-commerce platform

    Lastly, with the buzz around Spotify we thought we would have a chat about all the the things we should expect the service to bring to Zimbabwe.

    Spotify coming to Zimbabwe, the good & the bad (mostly good)