Category: Vox 4 Thought

Fibre is a game changer when it comes to Internet connectivity. It’s faster, cheaper, weatherproof and theftproof. LTE is quick to install, while Microwave and ADSL – not be as fast as Fibre – are still convenient for those who don’t have Fibre in their area. So why do we need Satellite for Internet connectivity? Can’t we label it “old tech”, take it out of the sky and throw it in the garbage dump along with our IBM PCs from the 90s?

Here’s why Satellite is very much still alive and needed to enable new tech:

Internet at sea

You can’t exactly attach a Fibre line to a cruise ship or expect your LTE to automatically connect when you plug it in, in your cabin. You can however create an Internet connection via a satellite beam when you find yourself in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Having WiFi on a cruise ship may be a luxury, but as the world becomes more and more reliant on Internet connectivity, being connected to the Internet while at sea will start to become a necessity.

Internet in the air

WiFi on a plane is possible through a mobile signal tower connection, but this would be interrupted once a plane flies out of that tower’s range, like over the sea. A satellite connection on the other hand would not be interrupted by this. Similarly to Internet at sea, WiFi in the air may be a luxury now, but a necessity in the future.

Unserviced areas and under-services areas

There are several places around the world that do not have Fibre infrastructure, telephone lines or mobile signal towers in range – think islands, farming areas, non-developed rural areas, etc. Satellite unlike other connectivity options is accessible globally and can provide Internet to the most remote locations on earth. Satellite is one of the most reliable connectivity services and as such is used as a primary or redundant service in serviced and un-serviced areas.

Contender for IoT

According to Business Insider, Elon Musk along with his company SpaceX, are planning to launch a total of 42 000 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This is part of an effort to provide Internet access across the globe. Satellite that low in the orbit can produce Internet speeds with latency as little as 15 milliseconds. Companies like Amazon, OneWeb, and Telesat are also working on projects like this.

The question is, why is providing global Internet access of interest to these giant companies? There are probably multiple reasons. One theory is that it will enable the Internet of Things (IoT). Could it be that Elon Musk who is not only the CEO of SpaceX, but also the CEO of Tesla, may have an interest in making Internet accessible on a global scale because it could power up the futuristic driverless electric cars sold by Tesla? Seems beneficial enough. And if Satellite can power up driverless cars, can it not power up other technology?

But what about high cost and slow speeds?

According to Jacques Visser, Head of Wireless at Vox, high latency and high cost will be neutralised by Middle Earth Orbit (MEO) and specifically Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites. “The launch of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) stationary Satellites has kicked off to provide broadband coverage across the globe at a lower cost,” says Visser. “Preparation for a local Low Earth Orbit (LEO) ground station in South Africa is already in process,” he adds.

Visser comments that Oneweb is one of the international role players currently in the process to provide global broadband coverage from Low Earth Orbit (LEO). “This service will be commercially ready in 2021. It is foreseen that throughputs up to 450Mbps with latency less than 50 milliseconds will be possible,” says Visser. “This means that it will not only provide a primary connection anywhere in South Africa, but it can be used as a backhaul for Fibre, Microwave and GSM deployments in remote locations, in a very short time,” he adds.

High throughput Ka-band Satellites from YahClick have already increased throughput speed substantially and decreased the price point of Satellite services in South Africa, to compete with terrestrial GSM services.

To find out more about Vox’s Satellite connectivity packages, visit vox.co.za.

Company data is the lifeblood of all businesses and loss of that data can have serious implications for a business. With the increase in ransomware attacks and encryption Trojans, the need for a reliable backup is an essential part of any business security strategy.

The question is, is it part of your strategy? If a problem should arise in your datacentre that will impact on your business performance, are you able to restore operations to where they were before the problem occurred? And if you have a backup strategy, or recovery plans in place, are you confident that your last backup can be successfully restored?

One backup is a good start, but not nearly enough for a comprehensive data protection plan. More often than not, the first, or only backup is stored in the same physical location as the primary data. Consider a crisis in your datacentre, such as a fire or power failure. If all your data is onsite, your business would be unable to restore and continue business as usual.

Ensure your data is kept safe in almost any failure scenario with the 3-2-1 Backup Rule.

Your 3-2-1 Backup Checklist:

1. Keep 3 copies of your data (1 primary copy and 2 backup copies).
2. Store 2 backup copies on different storage media, like a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, tape drive or local drive, etc.
3. Store 1 one copy offsite, for example in the Cloud.

Vox offers extensive audits to assist with a solution tailormade for your business. Should you require an investigation into whether your backup strategy supports your business requirements, contact assessments@voxtelecom.co.za.

If your organisation is like most across the globe, you have clients, partners and employees that want to connect with you on different video conference platforms. But with so many options available, you may be grappling with which one to deploy.

Vox has the cost effective and easy to deploy solution that you have been looking for – Vox Air.

Vox Air, powered by Pexip – rated number 1 by video conferencing users worldwide – simplifies video communication across borders, businesses and platforms. The conferencing tool provides any business, regardless of its size, with a flexible and scalable video conference platform that enables interoperability between multiple disparate video conference systems.

It eliminates the need for costly and complex bridge equipment, allowing you to video conference with anyone in the world, on any device, at any time.

Your subscription to Vox Air will provide you with:

1. A smarter way to communicate with external organisations that may use different tools.
2. A transparent bridge between existing systems so your users do not have to learn new software or workflows.
3. A Vox hosted and administered cloud bridge to help you simply use and extend the life of the end points you currently have.
4. A future-proofed solution that protects your current investments.

This Platform is always-on 365 days a year – so your employees can video conference as and when they need to.

 

Before you consider purchasing or upgrading your video conferencing solution or platform, speak to your Vox account manager or our video solution experts about Vox Air.

You can contact us at Gareth.Edwards@voxtelecom.co.za or Andrew.King@voxtelecom.co.za.

Don’t you hate it when you’ve booked a meeting room, you’ve got clients waiting with you, and someone else is in your room – claiming they also booked it?

Frustrations continue to soar when someone books a 10-person meeting room for two people while you’re left to squash your 10-person team in a four-person room.

Introducing your room booking solution – Reserva

Reserva is an intuitive meeting room booking solution that integrates with your company’s calendar software so that everyone knows when a meeting room is booked, and which meeting room is booked.

Your Reserva room booking solution is a cost-effective solution regardless of whether you have one, two or 200 meeting rooms.  It has no central server or high cost maintenance and licensing agreements. To be up and running, Reserva simply needs the door-side display, and a connection to your network.

Related: Two meeting rooms for the price of one

How Reserva helps you take control over meeting spaces:

• A user-friendly solution to help employees find space to meet and collaborate.
• Integrates with Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Office 365, Google Calendar, Google Apps and Scientia so that your conference rooms are dynamically linked to your calendaring system.
• Books a meeting in two clicks, extends a meeting, shortens a meeting and cancels a meeting directly on the room sign or in your calendaring system.
• Manages ‘no shows’ with automated removal of a meeting if the organiser does not attend after the no-show time limit (set to your custom specification).
• Prevents double bookings.
• Eliminates the distraction, confusion and frustration caused when two meetings are scheduled in the same room at the same time.
• Finds your meeting venue easily.
• Shows all employees and guests which meetings are about to start and where they are being held.
• Has the best in class security framework based on ONELAN’s proprietary NTB Linux operating system.

Optimising your meeting room bookings does not need to ‘break the bank’ with Vox’s expertise and the award-winning Reserva Edge system.

Call Vox today for a free assessment of your meeting room environment and we will advise you on the best solution for your requirements. Alternatively, contact Gareth.Edwards@voxtelecom.co.za or Andrew.King@voxtelecom.co.za

Hendrik Meyburgh is the Technical Head of Cloud at Vox. He keeps the light on for Cloud and is one of the creators of Vox Cloud, a local Cloud provider. We chatted to him about Multicloud strategies, Cloud Computing and the rise of mega Cloud companies in Africa and South Africa.

 

Cloud computing, while formerly uncommon in South Africa, is fast becoming a necessity for business. Do you believe this?

I believe a Multicloud strategy is a company necessity. Every Cloud provider has its own unique set of offerings. A Multicloud strategy allows companies to select the right infrastructure for the right reasons.

 

Because of the necessity of Multicloud, do you see the rise of many mega Cloud companies?

Definitely. Microsoft Azure is already here and AWS is on its way. I can’t say for sure if all the other mega Cloud companies will come, because there are a couple of regulations they would need to work through, but I think they will come to Africa. There’s a big market for Cloud on our continent.

 

What industry trends are these mega Cloud companies pushing?

They are pushing cost effectiveness and creating demand by show casing the tech they have available through use cases. For example, (Internet of Things) IoT and (Artificial Intelligence) AI.

 

Why would you say these companies are pushing these trends?

Quite simply, they love tech and want to capitalise on the available market.

 

What are the difficulties people are finding with Cloud Computing?

Multicloud creates so many options! It’s quite difficult and complex for companies to understand what they need when it comes to Cloud Computing. Once they understand what they need, they then need to know when to use what technology. When all their questions have been solved, they have to drill down on which Cloud provider will be able to provide all these needs.

 

We have heard about several mega Cloud companies coming and that have come to South Africa. What do you think the impact of these international companies coming into SA will be?

I think it will be a positive impact. It will give Africa and South Africa the same opportunities that historically were only available to some regions because of physical and regulatory constraints. These opportunities will empower more entrepreneurs to launch new businesses, creating more work opportunities and a positive economy.

 

Are there any threats on local Cloud companies with the arrival of these mega companies? Or is it mostly seen as a positive?

It’s definitely a positive. It creates competition, giving local companies the drive to create a wider product set. Local companies can also run additional product sets alongside these mega Cloud companies, allowing for Intercloud Connectivity.

 

How does Multicloud fit into the mix?

Different Cloud providers (local and international) have different strong suits. Multicloud allows you to choose the best Cloud providers for different use cases.

 

Why should anyone be interested in Multicloud and not rather just use one Cloud service?

Not having a Multicloud strategy is like cutting off your own hands. You’re limiting your company and taking opportunities away from yourself.

 

Migration of Multicloud sounds tedious. Is it? Or is that the perception?

It depends on the use case. If you are migrating from your own infrastructure to the Cloud or refactoring your application to be Cloud native, it could be a quick job, but on the other hand it may be extremely resource intensive. The best is to get a professional Cloud migration team to assess your IT environment and potentially do the migration on your behalf.

Visit vox.co.za to learn more about Cloud computing and Cloud migration IT advisory.

Microsoft Office 365 is a monthly subscription service that, along with other services, includes Microsoft Premium Apps like Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. G Suite is also a monthly subscription service collection of Google products like Gmail, Drive, Docs and Sheets.

They are similar, so what is the difference? We’ve compiled a table to compare the two productivity and collaboration services and see where they differ.

According to w3schools 14.2% of computer users are still using Windows 7.

Come January 2020, Windows 7 will meet its end. In other words, if you’re currently using Windows 7, you will no longer have access to any updates – including security updates, or Microsoft support.

No security updates mean that any vulnerabilities discovered on the platform, will not be attended to, putting you and your business in the line of fire.

What does this mean?

To put it simply, if you don’t upgrade from Windows 7, you are not only vulnerable to normal viruses, but to ransomware and data theft, which can have dire consequences.

Companies targeted by ransomware have to pay between R50 000 and R150 000, and most small businesses choose to pay up rather than lose all their information – be it financial data, customer data, billing records and more.

But why Windows 10?

Apart from securing your IT, Windows 10 has more advanced security features including features that do not exist on Windows 7 like Device Guard and Bitlocker.

Windows 10 is one of the fastest operating systems out, and with a few tweaks, Windows 10’s speed can be boosted further. While it’s always better to get a new computer, Windows 10 can still run on old machines. This will increase efficiency and boost productivity.

To find out more about upgrading to Windows 10, mail MITsales@Voxtelecom.co.za or sign for Hardware as a Service, a Hardware rental option that comes with Windows 10.

Cloud vendors are pressurising you to move to the cloud. What they’ve failed to mention is that 60% of the South African market will retain all, or a portion of their infrastructure onsite.

No Cloud migration should be a quick move. A smooth migration to the Cloud requires detailed planning and a careful analysis of your current environment. Critical to this process is ensuring that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Managed Service deliverables are aligned whether your infrastructure is onsite or in a third-party data centre.

Then there’s understanding what the ROI is when migrating to the Cloud. With a number of cloud vendors offering capacity on demand, the risk of costs spiraling out of . For instance, a developer can spin up a test server and forget to turn it off once he/she is finished. This will result in a continuation of instant billing.

The Vox starting point to every Cloud engagement is a full Cloud assessment. This 4-step process entails:

1. Mapping infrastructure footprint, applications, network topology and analysing all workloads & performance stats in a customer’s IT environment. This will give insight into the total IT infrastructure of the customer.
2. Recommendations on optimising paths for workloads and determining the best Cloud service model.
3. A complete cost comparison between on-premises, Cloud and hybrid solutions.
4. A Cloud migration strategy and plan, including ongoing management of that Cloud solution with a single set of deliverables irrespective of whether infrastructure is onsite or in the Cloud.

To truly understand how to start and manage your Cloud journey, mail assessments@voxtelecom.co.za to book an IT assessment today.