 Business unusual - new rules for a hyper-connected world
by Pieter Geldenhuys, Innovation Agency
"Fish discover water last" - French proverb. The global acceptance of the world wide web opened up huge opportunities in the way we conduct business. Terms like e-commerce, disruption and disintermediation became the keywords of this new ecosystem... ( more)
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 In conversation with Prof. Mervyn E King SC by Hans van de Groenendaal
I had the privilege of a conversation with Prof. Mervyn King SC a few hours before he was due to jet off to attend international meetings in various European capitals. He is probably known to most of our readers as chairman of the King Committee on Corporate Governance in South Africa... ( more) |
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How secure is the cloud?
Panel discussion
Cloud technology has taken off in South Africa, although there are still those who believe that it is still early days. Perhaps the reluctance to move business into the cloud is because they are not convinced that sufficient security and safeguards are in place. This prompted us to ask four experts to share their experiences and views... (more) |
| Data storage and protection for SMBs
by Anamika Budree, Western Digital
Businesses today depend on data. It is the heart of the modern enterprise, and the risk of losing this data is a daily threat that can have dire consequences. The increasing pace of business as well as a growing trend towards mobility means that this data also needs to be shared, while it is being protected to prevent data loss... ( more) |
Africa's fight against corruption and bribery hits the boardroom
Information from Trifecta Capital ServicesThe fight against corruption and bribery is a global phenomenon which has gained worldwide momentum. However, the problem is that if anything, it's getting worse, and especially so in Africa. The fight is more than a moral obligation; it's a reality that is now criminally enforceable with severe penalties for those who flout the law... ( more)
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Students excel again at SATNAC 2012
by Hans van de Groenendaal
Presentations by students from Telkom Centres of Excellence at the annual Southern Africa Telecommunications Networks and Applications (SATNAC) 2012 conference were, as always, of a high standard. The Telkom Centres of Excellence form a joint venture by Telkom, the telecommunications industry and THRIP... (more)
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SATNAC 2012 review
by Hans van de Groenendaal
At conferences such as the Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference, one of the challenges is to adequately cover the theme without speakers duplicating topics. In my view, SATNAC 2012's theme "The internet of things - smart homes and cities - evolution or Tsunami?" achieved this... (more)
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Analogue to digital terrestrial television transition - an update
by Hans van de Groenendaal
SA has embarked on the process of transition from 40-year old terrestrial analogue television to the latest digital terrestrial television (DTT) technology. The transition promises more and better quality services and to release some of the frequency spectrum previously used for analogue television broadcasting to other users... (more)
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Fracking in the Karoo - automation to the rescue!
by Hans van de Groenendaal Now that government has lifted the monotorium on fracking in the Karoo, it may soon become a reality. There are many opinions about fracking and how it may affect the environment and whether it will be profitable and create jobs... ( more)
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LTE for troubleshooting throughout the technology lifecycle
by Murat Bilgic, Tommi Tallgren and Gerold Haase, EXFO, Canada
This article details the high-level functional requirements of long term evolution (LTE) testing and presents solutions for assuring high quality of service across networks. The challenges at each phase of the LTE technology will be discussed... (more)
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WiFi will soon surpass wired traffic
"Currently 36% of all internet traffic is being delivered over wireless networks. By 2015, this figure will grow to 46%, with less than 10% of traffic delivered over cellular networks. Wi-Fi will soon surpass wired traffic" - Christopher Geerdts, chairperson of the South African Wireless Access Providers' Association (WAPA)... ( more) |
| Tips for streaming audio and video through the connected home
by Ross Griffiths, Nology
Homes are becoming increasingly connected as more and more devices are developed with the ability to communicate. This allows users to create an entire home network of audio and visual technology for easy sharing of content across devices. However, it has become clear that the actual networking itself can prove challenging... (more) |
SCADA security basics: why are PLCs so insecure?
by Erik Schweigert, Tofino Security Recently Eric Byres (Tofino Security) addressed the difference between SCADA, ICS and other jargon in our industry. In this article I am going to address the question: "Why are industrial networks so hard to secure?" This is a big topic, so for now I will address only "Why are PLCs so insecure?"... ( more) |
Connecting the shop floor to the top floor using secure networks
by Deon van Aardt, Invensys Wonderware South AfricaIdeally, manufacturing and mining enterprises are unified entities with business goals and priorities which can only be realised through the efficiency and performance of their operational or wealth-creating processes. History bears ample witness to the foolishness of trying to divorce business from operational systems... ( more)
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New developments with SCADA and PLC
by Arthur Bosman, GE Intelligent Platforms
Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems have been around for nearly 50 years, and they are arguably two of the most widely used products in industrial automation... ( more) |
Accelerometer transverse sensitivity measurement system at NMISA
by Ian Veldman, National Metrology Institute of South Africa
Accelerometers are widely used as the vibration sensor of choice, due to their ease of use and low cost. Unfortunately a variety of different models are required to cover the extremely wide field of vibration measurement applications in modern society... ( more) |
Optimising oil and gas production testing
by Chaitanya Shah et al, Valve Automation
Using multiport flow selectors (MPFS) in oil and gas applications improves production testing and reservoir management. MPFSs facilitate cost-effective and compact selection and diversion of fluids from individual wells for testing, without disrupting the production from all other wells... ( more)
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Transforming the light curtain for safer material transfer
Information from SICK Automation, Germany
Safety light curtains now have the ability to configure the number of objects, the distances between objects object sizes, and tolerances, providing huge advantages in material transfer applications. This article discuss how to improve the performance of your material transfer applications... ( more)
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Avionic and radar soar with multicore DSPs
by Hector Rivera and Tom Flanagan, Texas Instruments, USA
Today's radar and avionics require high processing capabilities, but face restrictive size, weight and power (SWaP) constraints. The functions driving these systems benefit from efficient implementations of digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms executed on size, performance and power efficient processors... ( more)
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| Amateur Radio: Amateurs and the space business
by Hans van Groenendaal
In July 2002 the German Amateur Radio Satellite Association (AMSAT-DL) announced its plan to take amateur radio to Mars. The association was planning to build two spacecrafts to be named AMSAT-Phase 3-E (P3E) and AMSAT-Phase 5-A (P5A)... (more)
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Telecoms Developments in Africa
Compiled by Matthew White, Iona Press Services- UN promotes food-voucher system for Africa
- Illegal optical-fibre network discovered in Cameroon
- Egyptian firm seeks to shut down Google over "offensive" film
- Kenya switches off 1,9-million counterfeit phones
- New Nigerian broadband strategy due within three months
- Ghana tops African broadband penetration log
- Good and bad news for China's Huawei Technologies
- Ethio Telecom warned that "world class" ambition threatened
- Airtel inaugurates solar-powered towers in Tanzania... (more)
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