 But where are the surpluses?by Dawie Roodt, chief economist, Efficient Group
While capitalism has clearly won the battle of ideas over socialism, we, unlike the rest of the civilised world, seem to have turned the clock back a century. The ideological debate is again all the rage, and inevitably the same conclusion will be reached - again at a price!... ( more) |
 In conversation with Amith Maharaj, MD, Telkom Mobileby Hans van de Groenendaal
As head of a late entrant into the SA mobile industry, Amith Maharaj has experienced challenges and opportunities. I learnt that with the lowest rates for mobile data, 8.ta has more to come... ( more) |
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"Smarter" data centres of tomorrow are already here
by Mariana Kruger, IBM
Data centres are the backbone of information technology delivery for businesses and other organisations, with powerful servers and storage systems running business-critical technology including software applications, email and websites... ( more) |
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Ten ways to protect your IT infrastructure
by Carl Walker, Eaton Electrical
Even within our air-conditioned offices, it's a tough world for electronic equipment. Utility power cannot be taken for granted. Neither can other elements of the IT environment, but businesses of all sizes can take ten proactive steps to create a secure environment for IT equipment... ( more) |
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Data centres - to outsource or not?
by Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT
Industry in general has been slow to utilise outsourcing of data centres and moving into the cloud. This may be due mainly to the unavailability of affordable broadband... ( more) |
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Medicine goes wireless: A paradigm
by Axel Hansmann, Cinterion Wireless Modules, Germany
Chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and other recurring conditions top the list of health threats that impact the greatest number of people and contribute to high healthcare expenses worldwide... ( more) |
Data centre solutions for high-end technology demands
Information from Nexans
Data storage is becoming a huge issue for enterprises. The demand for bandwidth is spiralling and the need for capacity is ever-growing, driven in part by legislation requiring long-term storage of financial transactions, 24/7 reliability demands and power consumption concerns... ( more) |
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Real-time monitoring of a transmission system
by H F Vosloo, A Momberg, I T Josephine, Eskom and P E Frost, CSIR
The transmission system of Eskom is subject to a number of extraneous influences that cause line faults and consequently have a negative impact on power quality, leading to considerable costs to customers. One example is fires under power lines... ( more) |
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EMI and EMC testing
by M L Sibeko, South African Bureau of Standards
Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is the ability of electronic and electrical systems or components to work correctly when they are close together. In practice this means that electromagnetic disturbances from each item of equipment must be limited and also that each item must have an adequate level of immunity... (more) |
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There's more to batteries than meets the eye
Twenty-four children in an eastern China town were hospitalised recently, after dangerously high levels of lead were found in their blood. The children, from nine months to 16 years old, suffered from moderate to severe lead poisoning. Most of these children were living near two battery manufacturing plants... ( more) |
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Selecting batteries for standby power systems
by Jack Ward, Powermode
The choice of batteries for your UPS or standby power system is critical and could spell the difference between such a system functioning dependably or otherwise. It could also mean the difference between profitable business continuity or costly disruption in the event of a power outage... ( more) |
Gadgets4Geeks A robust phone with integrated answering machine; Don't miss the Rugby World Cup - watch the games with the new Drifta USB; Just what you need for good audio - great sound from this Hipbox; MP3 player just right for the gym... ( more) |
| Telecoms developments in Africa
Compiled by Matthew White, Iona Press Services
- Ericsson wins contract to modernise Bharti Airtel's networks
- New optical-fibre line set to boost Angola's telecoms
- France Telecom looks to buy Congo China Telecom
- Sweden's Ericsson part of new bid to acquire Nitel
- Airtel Tanzania expands further into rural areas
- Namibia climbs to eighth place in Africa in cellphone affordability
- Rwandatel to be sold to pay creditors
- Inquiry into Uganda's national internet project begins
- Ghana local council closes firm's offices over tax claim
- Kenya's mobile phone call rates set to fall again... (more)
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| Precision time protocol in utility and industrial networks
by Tim Craven, H3iSquared
Previously considered non-deterministic, with the development of protocols such as traffic prioritisation and virtual local area networks, as well as functions within managed network devices such as broadcast throttling, Ethernet is slowly changing to a more deterministic technology... ( more) |
Critical plant event notification
by Machiel Engelbrecht, Bytes Systems IntegrationImagine being able to set your own plant alarms from the office without affecting the control system. This article explores the practical application of the concept of remote event notification (REN) for engineers and managers... yes, even managers can be practical!... ( more) |
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Industry and institute news
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Amateur radio: A cellphone as an OBC on amateur satellites?
The NASA Ames Research Centre in California, USA is working on a project to use a cellphone as the on board computer (OBC) on small satellites. The basic philosophy behind the project, called PhoneSat, is to utilise commercially available off the shelf parts to make ultra-cheap satellites... (more) |
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