 2014 - a year of controversy and disconnection
by Hans van de Groenendaal, EE Publishers
The past year certainly had its ups and downs. he Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act was signed into law but nothing seems to have happened. There has been much speculation but nothing can happen until a regulator is appointed and regulations promulgated... (more)
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In conversation with Prof. Barry Dwolatzky
by Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT "Young South Africans have dedication and passion, but funding is lacking!" If I was allowed only two words to describe Prof. Barry Dwolatzky, director of the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering at Wits University (JCSE) it would be "dedication and passion"... ( more) |
 Q&A: Cloud - dispelling the mythsAnswers from Arthur Dell, Citrix
Cloud represents the biggest technology disruption since the transition from mainframe to client-server computing and is transforming the way that businesses and consumers are experiencing technology. Yet, despite attracting so much interest in the IT marketplace, the concept still generates a lot of misinformation... ( more) |
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Virtual panel discussion: SA electronics industry still has great potential
by Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT
In this month's virtual panel discussion we focussed on the electronic components supply industry. Industry experts were invited to share their views on grey imports, market segmentation, DTI support for the components and electronic manufacturing industry; and other burning and topical questions... (more)
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Stake your claim, the fibre land grab is on
by David Meintjes, Connection Telecom
The fibre rollout race has been hotting up properly of late. Connectivity providers are falling over themselves to cover as much ground as possible with increasingly high-capacity fibre access at aggressive prices and with minimal lead times... (more)
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by Nirmal Narotam et al, PAS Automation; Brian Thompson et al, Engen Petroleum
Abnormally high process alarm rates can usually be traced back to a few "bad actor" alarms. These alarms are the result of instrument faults, poor DCS/SCADA configuration or process design... ( more) |
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Virtualised environment for manufacturing
Information from Wonderware
Virtualisation is here to stay but for many manufacturers, the switch to this technology still seems to remain unnecessary, probably risky and definitely expensive. The South African Breweries (SAB) disproved all this... ( more)
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Information from Krohne
Shipping across Egypt instead of through the Suez canal is cheaper, quicker, and more flexible, but it requires custody transfer metering that is accurate with billing acceptable to owner, customer, and Sumed - the transport company... ( more)
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by Jeanri Mellanby, Comtest
Thermal imaging technology is being used daily. The main question to ask is whether this technology is being used correctly and how important is it for the people using it to be properly trained to interpret the results adequately?... ( more)
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Three ingredients for improving efficiency through the cloud
by Vikram Narayan, Alex Barreto and Randy Gullett, Red Hat Consulting
A successful cloud implementation focuses on a holistic view of all the aspects within an organisation - beyond IT - that are impacted by the initiative, including people, process, and technology... ( more)
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by Paul Colmer, Paul Colmer & Associates
The steps involved in originating a VoIP call are signalling and media channel setup, digitisation of the analogue voice signal, compression, packetisation, and transmission as IP packets over a packet-switched network. On the receiving side similar steps reproduce the original voice stream... (more)
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Same hardware, different application
Information from Altium
Device intelligence enables product "ecosystems" to be created, fostering deeper relationships between suppliers and their customers, improved service efficiency and quicker updates.What happened to the fun part of electronics design?... (more)
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Introduction to VoIP fraud
Information from Transnexus
The most prevalent threats to today's VoIP deployments are rooted in traditional data networking and PSTN attacks. Today, VoIP devices are the primary tools used by fraudsters. In the first half of 2012, 46% of fraudulent calls were made from VoIP phones...
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Gigasample ADCs run fast to solve new challenges
by Ian Beavers, Analog Devices
A new class of analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs) is beginning to emerge. ADCs that can directly RF sample at GHz rates and above, without the interleaving artifacts, provide new solutions to systems for direct RF digitisation of communications systems, instrumentation, and radar applications... ( more) |
Information from WAPA
The Wireless Access Providers' Association (WAPA) has released a draft position paper on spectrum, and recently hosted the second Future Wireless Technologies Forum. Both these initiatives are for the purpose of giving real-world examples and industry insight to the regulator and to policymakers... ( more)
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Gadgets4Geeks
- Mini wireless speakers with great sound
- Compact portable light
- Bluetooth audio link
- Cutting edge music system... (more)
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Compiled by Matthew White
- IBM deploys supercomputing, mobile and cloud technologies against Ebola
- Political uncertainty holding back North African telecoms investment
- Liquid Telecom continues to invest East Africa's internet infrastructure
- Namibia's MTC accused of "poor service, disappearing credits"
- Kenya's Safaricom announces massive upgrade of infrastructure
- Movitel named fastest-growing telco in Africa-Mid East
- Phone tower firm IHS raises $2-billion in equity and $600-million in debt
- Viettel to invest US$1-billion in Tanzanian 3G network... (more)
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Amateur radio: 5 MHz propagation research project shows unexpected results
by Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV, South African Radio League
Earlier this year ICASA awarded two licences to the South African Radio League (SARL) to carry out propagation research on the 5 MHz band in preparation for the agenda item to grant radio amateurs spectrum in the 5 MHz band... (more)
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Views, Comment and Opinion
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