Category: Product News

Vox has bundled many of its IT solutions into an integrated IT-as-a-Service offering that delivers flexible, cost effective IT resources with the option of fully managed services.

Vox IT-as-a-Service delivers an all inclusive suite of infrastructure, application and managed services, irrespective of whether the business´ strategy is in the cloud, onsite or a hybrid model.

“Our aim is to find flexible, value driven products, services and solutions, that enable companies to focus on their core business. We act as an extension of our customer’s IT team, offering senior level expertise,” says Craig Freer, Executive Head: Cloud | MIT at Vox.

The IT-as-a-Service offering includes (amongst others) fully managed Infrastructure-as-a- Service (IaaS); Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Communication-as-a-Service (CaaS) and Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) whilst the broad application portfolio includes Digital Communications, Productivity, Collaboration and ERP.

Adds Freer, “Vox understands the importance of technology to a business and that managing day-to-day tasks can be a distraction to strategic business objectives. Our aim is to become a turnkey partner to our customers through fibre, voice and their entire IT infrastructure and application portfolio”.

Frogfoot Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary of integrated ICT and connectivity provider, Vox, has been appointed as the exclusive partner for fibre network and connectivity infrastructure for the property portfolio of Atterbury Property Holdings.

Frogfoot Networks will be responsible for the funding, roll out and management of open access infrastructure required as part of Atterbury´s development projects which make up an estimated 1 100 000m² over the next three to five years.  Vox has been appointed as the preferred connectivity solutions provider for all future developments.

“Property developers have realised that having an open access fibre network differentiates their properties and provides the platform for SMART buildings, offices and cities.

Historically, connectivity solutions only offered telecommunications and Internet services to retailers and businesses.  Today, fibre infrastructure investments leverage everything from traditional telecommunications, to point of sale, monitoring and management systems, and ultimately, a SMART environment – be it for retail or offices,“ says Jacques du Toit, CEO of Vox.

“Having connected, smart buildings is no longer optional.  To remain ahead of a growing demand for high speed and always on connectivity, requires planning from the foundations up. Strategic partnerships with infrastructure providers like Frogfoot, coupled with best of breed service providers like Vox are increasingly critical,” concludes Stoffel van Beek, COO Atterbury Property Holdings.

Atterbury will leverage the connectivity infrastructure for mixed use in its retail and commercial property projects.  There is a small component of residential development in Atterbury’s portfolio that will also see fibre rollouts.

Concludes Du Toit, “It’s a matter of association.  Partnerships such as the one with Atterbury not only advances our fibre strategy, but provides a platform for better connectivity services and solutions to consumers, businesses and homeowners.  Better infrastructure and connectivity is good for business and enables an already connected society to benefit from value added services and solutions.”

Vox has launched its Online Marketing Toolbox aimed at providing start-ups and SMMEs with bundled services aimed at creating an online presence.

“We wanted to simplify the digital tools available to small (and micro) enterprises, that need to have a footprint online, but either don’t have in-house marketing capabilities, or are not sure where to start,” says Carly Sutton, Senior Product Manager Cloud: Digital Communications at Vox.

The Toolbox consists of three components – domain registration for a .co.za company; Sitebuilder, a do-it-yourself website building and hosting solution, and Bulk Mailer, an email marketing tool that utilises Everlytic software, that comes with 1 000 email credits once off.

Adds Sutton, “We have also included an email address with the bundle that is intended to assist with driving responses from the website, back to the business.”

Sutton points out that the combination of Sitebuilder and Bulk Mailer in a single packaged offering, provides business owners with the ability to create and maintain a subscription database for customer communications.  

The bundles, which comprise similar offerings for Bulk Mailer and domain registration, vary in price to accommodate three Sitebuilder options – Starter, Booster and Turbo – dependent on the storage, number of pages and (insert one other) that might be required.

“For those business owners that would prefer to have the site built for them, there is the Sitebuilder Do-it-for-Me option, and our in-house developers will design and set-up the site,” says Sutton.

Sitebuilder Do-it-for-Me has two pricing options (again based on the size of the site required) and can be paid as a once off amount, or over a 24 month period.

The Online Marketing Toolbox is a 12-month contract with the domain registration requiring an annual renewal and is not limited to existing Vox customers.

Concludes Sutton, “Having an online presence is no longer optional, and by combining the right tools with a simplified (but effective) platform, we believe small businesses can more easily launch their digital shopfronts.”

Vox has announced that effective immediately, it has decreased pricing on its 100mb and 50mb uncapped bundles.  More importantly, the company has introduced a new 200mb line speed product, that it anticipates will see more South Africans joining the fibre revolution.

Claire Williamson, product manager for FTTH at Vox says, “There was once a time when we could not imagine the line speeds available to home users, at such competitive rates.  We are excited to launch a 200mb offering starting from R1 299  per month.”

The new bundles are available to new subscribers and existing subscribers can upgrade with ease.  Our existing customers enjoy competitively priced FTTH bundles and we look forward to continuing to deliver fast, reliable, high quality connectivity to them,¨ adds Willamson.

Pricing is applicable on the Vumatel network and is applicable to the Uncapped Basic and Uncapped Pro options.

While a growing number of South Africans in urban areas are turning to fibre to the home (FTTH) for higher bandwidth, they often overlook a vital piece of equipment in the connectivity chain, leading to a less than satisfactory end to end internet experience.

While subscribers are turning to FTTH packages with line speeds that go all the way to gigabit speeds, they find that the throughput to end user devices – their smartphones, tablets, media players and smart TVs – are sub-optimal. The real culprit here is very likely their WiFi router.

To provide a more seamless upgrade process, Vox now offers WiFi routers to customers who are selecting FTTH packages, with the option to choose from a wide range of products – priced between R1 799 and R6 999 –  depending on their connectivity requirements.

These include entry-level devices from MikroTik, mid-range devices from Ubiquiti Networks, high-end devices from Ruckus Wireless, and home mesh solutions from AirTies, with the option of once-off upfront payment or rental over 24 months.

Matching your connectivity requirements

“To select the right equipment, customers need to take into account the area they want to cover, as well as how many devices will be connected to the network concurrently,” says Richard Aikman, senior product manager at Vox. “If they are going to be doing a lot of HD streaming across devices, they need to make sure that the WiFi router can handle that.

“They might also want to consider a dual band WiFi router, so that they can make use of the 5Ghz band, which is far less congested, but they need to make sure that their devices support that band.”

Users must take into account where in the house their WiFi router is installed, and from where most of the devices are accessing the wireless network. They are often positioned next to the wall that is closest to where the external line comes in, with the wireless signal strength degrading as it passes through walls and other obstacles, leading to lower down- and upload speeds.

“While the best experience can be gained by ensuring that these two locations are as close together as possible, the WiFi router can also be placed in a central location to ensure even coverage across the house,” explains Aikman.

If users feel that their home WiFi router isn’t sufficient, or want coverage across a larger multi-story house, they should consider investing in additional infrastructure, such as wired access points that can provide stable and reliable connectivity to various rooms, or make use of a home mesh WiFi network. Turning to mid- and high-end routers further gives users the functionality to better manage their local network: to allocate bandwidth to users, to give priority to certain services, create guest accounts, and more.

“Consumers are spending to regularly update their devices and improve their internet connectivity, but the WiFi router is often neglected,” concludes Aikman. “While this is not an issue when using ADSL, switching to high speed fibre can quickly turn this piece of equipment into a bottleneck.”

By Vox CEO, Jacques du Toit

A number of planned communities being built with connectivity at their core – and not Johannesburg and Cape Town – are leading the local race toward being truly integrated smart cities that are using technology to enhance livability, workability and sustainability.

Cities around the world are increasingly turning to ICT to solve challenges arising from rapid urbanisation, inadequate infrastructure and residents demands for enhanced livability, workability and sustainability.

Smart cities collect data about themselves through a variety of means, communicate that data using wired or wireless connectivity, and then analyse the data to understand what is happening, and predict what is likely to happen in future.

While the smart city concept is gaining momentum in South Africa, local cities are still a long way off when compared to their counterparts in the US, Europe or – closer to home – with Dubai.

A major challenge deals with issue of legacy – it’s why we don’t believe that the first smart city in South Africa will be Johannesburg or Cape Town. These major urban areas have been built over a period of time using closed systems that aren’t designed to connect or communicate with each other.

Smart city initiatives often fail because of this siloed approach to city management, but overhauling these systems requires substantial investment. As such, turning these existing urban environments into smart cities takes time and upgrades need to be implemented in a staggered and economically sustainable manner.

Partnerships key to connectivity

However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t any smart cities in South Africa: smart city environments are being driven by developers who are entering into strategic partnerships with ICT providers to deliver broadband internet access to planned mixed-use communities and large-scale shopping centres around the country.

Planning is critical and Vox has been working with multiple top level developers in the country to ensure new developments are built with connectivity in mind from the very start. Without an abundance of data, and the ability to manage that data, a smart city or even a smart home cannot function.

Through these partnerships, Vox has developed an engagement model specifically geared towards the property development market in both the residential and retail space.  We have a selection of agile and tactical models which can be customised and tailored to the customer’s specific needs along with dedicated resources that are staffed to meet the property developer’s requirements.  Our formula is unique and we invite property development companies to talk to us about so that we can understand customer needs and align ourselves with meeting their business objectives and successes.

Developers have also realised that providing open-access high speed connectivity helps differentiate their properties in a competitive landscape and lay the groundwork for the creation of smart communities.

Economies of scale at such developments also mean it is far more cost-effective for connected homes to be offered off-plan. Some planned communities are even offering connectivity as a ‘fourth utility’ – in addition to electricity, water and gas – with the costs being added to the homeowner’s estate bill.

Vox has launched IT in a box, workstation maintenance and support services specifically designed for SMEs.

¨Instead of overwhelming SMEs with multiple options, we focused on three key pillars namely productivity, security and communication to simplify maintenance and IT support within their businesses,¨ says Ruan du Preez, senior product manager: managed IT services at Vox.

Designed for SMEs with 5 – 30 employees, IT in a Box provides user workstation fundamental maintenance and support.  In an effort to simplify the choices for business owners and decision makers, Vox has developed structured plans that provide a sliding scale of services, with pricing that starts at R379 per month, plan dependent.

For those SMEs that require additional flexibility, the company has also created a menu of customisable extras, that offers everything from Cloud backup to video conferencing through VoxAir and uncapped voice services through Vobi.

Concludes du Preez, “We know that SMEs are under immense pressure to keep their business running, and IT support and systems are often not a priority, but if not maintained, can lead to unforeseen downtime and compromised security.  We just want to make is easier and more cost effective for them.¨