Category: Vox 4 Thought

According to Oxbridge Academy, IT related skills are the most sought after in South Africa. The skill shortage in SA is believed to not be due to a lack of educated IT professionals, but a lack of experienced IT professionals who don’t have a broad enough skillset to manage every aspect of a company’s IT environment. Peter Searle (BBD CEO) and Ralf Dominick (BBD Chairperson) in their article, SA’s shortage of software skills needs urgent attention, are of the opinion that the government needs to adopt a flexible education strategy to upskill IT professionals. This would include tech companies sharing best practices and innovative ideas with IT professionals.

Barry Kemp, Head of Managed IT at Vox comments how the shortage has made experienced IT professionals with a broad skillset invaluable. “Skilled IT professionals in SA are incredibly valuable, they get head hunted and often leave the country as a result,” says Kemp.

The lack of experienced IT professionals with a vast knowledge of the IT field has created a dilemma for companies in SA who are embracing new technology. One area where this impact can be seen is in securing a company’s IT infrastructure. “SA companies are highly vulnerable when it comes to IT security, especially since it’s the field of IT with the least number of skilled professionals. It’s no wonder SA is the third most hit country for cyber-attacks,” says Kemp.

 

What’s the solution?

While companies can hire an inhouse IT professional with a breadth of IT knowledge, this will be both hard to find and expensive. Hiring several different IT professionals who specialise in different IT fields is another option, but this will be difficult to manage and won’t be cost effective.

A third option is to hire a company that has a team of skilled IT professionals who together share a wide range of IT knowledge and can manage your whole IT environment for you. This will be both cost effective and easy to manage.

Vox found the third solution to be the most valuable to customers and created managed IT, a service that employs a host of IT engineers who together share the knowledge needed to run any company’s IT environment.

 

The skillset of a managed IT service:

 

• Managed Desktops – This includes patching Windows updates, actively monitoring and maintaining company computers, clearing temporary files and making sure machines don’t run out of space.
• Managed Servers – This includes day to day management and monitoring of the servers as well as ensuring that server updates are installed so that hackers will find no vulnerabilities in a company’s server.
• Managed Backup – This includes managing a company’s data backups and ensuring critical and sensitive information is protected from loss.
• Managed Email – This includes managing email configuration, security and email archiving.
• Managed Cloud – This includes managing cloud security and managing the cost of cloud platforms which are usually pay per use – clients don’t realise what they are paying for unless their cloud platforms are managed by a managed services provider such as Vox Managed IT.
• Cloud Migrations – This includes moving data and applications from an on-premise server to the cloud or from one cloud platform to another cloud platform.
• Managed Security – This includes antivirus and firewall management, as well as monitoring security reporting analytics.
• Managed Network – This includes cabling and switches and looking after the inside of a company’s network.

 

Vox employs a broad set of IT engineers who together have a breadth of knowledge to best manage any company’s IT environment – big or small. Visit https://www.vox.co.za/managed-it-2/ to find more about their Managed IT services.

Physical security is never about a single layer of technology – the tighter the mesh, the stronger your security. The secret is to have an integrated solution where devices talk to each other; for example, when a beam, seismic sensor or vibration sensor is triggered the nearest camera should be automatically activated to zoom in on that zone. This is the holy grail of intelligent intruder detection and perimeter security.

In its simplest form, cameras can be associated to alarm zones, allowing a feed to automatically pop up when an alarm is triggered. There are products out there that condenses this feed into, say, 10 x 1 frame pictures, providing you with a short video clip of the event, without abusing bandwidth. One must be cognisant that while connectivity on premise might not be a problem, the user might be mobile without access to stable, high-speed connectivity.

Connectivity is the conduit to deliver next-generation services. Faster, stable connectivity enables the delivery of rich content. An alarm signal on a radio frequency network has now evolved to a video alarm over a fibre network. This starts a larger movement in the market, driving the industry towards self-monitoring.

By getting the client to eliminate false alarms before they even hit the armed response control room, we assist in driving down operational expenses, which in turn should result in a decrease in armed response subscription fees. This ultimately will drive the industry towards an Uber-like model for security, where armed response becomes about the person who gets to the incident first, as opposed to the dinosaur model of being locked into a single provider.

Video verification is still in its infancy, but slowly but surely making inroads. The current rate of adoption is higher in the corporate industry than with the consumer, with access to technology being the biggest inhibiting factor. With the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision and access to cloud-based products, the adoption rate is set to increase in the consumer space.

Ultimately, it is important to have a healthy mix of technology. There is no silver bullet here, but rather strength in numbers. One does not need to break the bank when securing your valuables, but rather have the right mix of various layers of technology.

While cost-conscious mobile customers are increasingly forgoing traditional cellular calls and using mobile app-based alternatives to benefit from lower data prices, these voice calling solutions do not provide an adequate alternative for South African business users.

Though people may think nothing of using a variety of instant messaging applications to place personal or social voice calls to friends and family, they are far more hesitant to use this method in their professional lives: to contact employees or employers, suppliers or service providers, or to reach out to prospective customers.

Add to this the fact that most instant messenger applications only let you reach out to people who are already in your address book, are already your ‘friends’, or need to have the same application installed on their phone; it becomes apparent that while these types of services can help us make cheaper voice calls, they are not suited for business or professional usage.

What organisations or entrepreneurs need is something that gives them the established benefits of having a traditional phone number, together with the cost competitiveness and mobility that using these alternative calling methods bring. Thankfully, there are purpose-built mobile applications on the market that help tackle these very challenges.

Instead of using consumer targeted instant messaging, the solution for businesses is to turn to a mobile application-based softphone service, such as Vox’s Vobi, which makes use of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to make calls to any number, at reduced rates across South African networks. Despite a monthly subscription, basic data usage – set at around 500kb per minute-long call – and a flat-rate VoIP call cost, it still works out cheaper than using a traditional circuit switched cell phone call.

Uncapped calling subscription service offerings further help frequent callers save, as there is no additional call cost. Using locally-based servers and network infrastructure also means lower latency and higher quality voice calls, while calls between two people using the same application are free – with only their data being used.

Choosing the right solution

The shift being observed in the South African market is not a decline in voice calling, but where the service terminates. When it comes to businesses, voice traffic is increasingly moving off private branch exchanges (PBXs) and internal extensions and onto mobile devices.

Businesses choosing the right alternative stand to benefit further from features such as number portability. By keeping their existing landline number, companies (and individuals) can minimise disruption to their communications and cut out the need for any additional time and resources to be spent on updating contact details on digital assets, business cards and other marketing material. Those who do not want to port will be allocated a number from within the non-geographic 087 range.

Additionally, the ability to integrate with selected cloud PBX systems brings true mobility to an organisation, as smartphones with the application installed can be turned into mobile extensions. This also means that employees do not have to give out their personal mobile numbers for work purposes, or – even worse – have to carry multiple devices with them.

This further means that businesses with a presence in multiple countries can cut down on roaming costs for employees travelling for work; as long as they have access to a reliable Wi-Fi or data connection, they can make and receive calls as though they were still in South Africa.

Having a mobile application with features such as conference calling, call recording, seamless integration into the users address book, and bluetooth handset compatibility completes the full phone-like experience for end users, while push technology ensures that battery usage is minimised.

Lastly, there are also consumer use cases; because number portability is available, residential users who are moving away from ADSL toward fibre or other fixed-wireless forms of connectivity can easily make the switch. Consumers can still retain their existing phone number while benefiting from lower call costs.

Cost-effective options to traditional voice calling are already available on the local market but they are not a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Business and individual users need to carefully consider the various alternatives and make sure that the application or service they choose offers the right functionality to suit their requirements.

While upcoming 5G technology will have a crucial role in providing the level of connectivity to expand broadband wireless services beyond mobile internet and into the Internet of Things and critical communications, it will not replace, but complement existing connectivity options.

Digital transformation is rapidly changing the way in which we live, work, and play, and upcoming 5G technology will be crucial in providing the level of connectivity that will improve user experiences and expand broadband wireless services beyond mobile internet.

5G will stand on three primary pillars namely, massive type communication, enhanced mobile broadband and ultra-reliable low latency communications. The biggest challenge is whether we will succeed in providing it at an affordable price to a broad base and beyond the already well-serviced metro areas.

With its very low latency communication, the technology enables business use cases such as remote access for high availability sites, and mission critical applications like medical equipment, augmented reality, Internet Protocol TV, and even connected self-driving cars. For the consumer market, this benefit will be especially appealing to gamers.

In addition, 5G is being seen as a true enabler of the Internet of Things, with applications in healthcare, retail, energy and utilities, industrial automation, intelligent buildings and infrastructure, and public safety and surveillance.

5G will not replace, but complement existing connectivity options.

We are optimistic that fixed-wireless “5G” services will be launched by late 2019, enabling operators to provide broadband services with the use of radio spectrum. With its high throughput, businesses – especially smaller ones that are more nimble – are likely to be the first adopters, with fixed-wireless 5G being used to link their internal corporate networks using solutions such as Software Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN).

However, home users with dozens of connected devices – with family members surfing the web, streaming HD videos, playing online games, and making online voice and video calls – are unlikely to shift away from their existing fibre connections any time soon. As such, 5G is not going to replace fibre, but rather complement it, by giving users a high-speed, low-latency broadband connection even when they are on the move. In addition, business users can make use of multiple connection types – and even service providers – to ensure redundancy.

Getting from concept to mainstream

The industry is still waiting on a decision from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on what spectrum will be allocated for the use of 5G, but we are hoping that a decision will be made by the end of the year.

While the 5G standards have yet to be finalised, there are only a limited number of bands which can be used, and a number of operators around the globe – and in SA – are already running trials. The most prominent band options currently under consideration are so called low band below 2GHz, middle band 2GHz to 6Ghz and high band above 6 GHz.

Comsol Networks performed a proof of concept in Soweto on their 5G deployment in 2018, and achieved more than 1GBps throughput speed using the 28GHz spectrum, while Rain has recently announced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona that they would roll out their 5G network from mid 2019. As a reseller of wireless connectivity services, Vox is monitoring these developments closely, and will seek to be involved once commercial services are launched.

It is expected that the Minister of Communications will provide government’s policy guidelines with regard to the allocation of spectrum soon. This is a critical requirement to plan Mobile Network Operator (MNO) networks for 5G and to expand broadband services on 3G in rural areas. It is well known that some of the state-owned enterprises like Eskom and Transnet are in possession of fibre infrastructure running through rural areas, and there is an expectation from service providers in South Africa that the government will make this unproductive fibre available to provide broadband services in those areas.

The required end-user devices will start appearing before long too; at the MWC, several manufacturers unveiled their 5G compatible smartphones and consumer premises equipment, which will become available in the market later in the year.

What can hold back widespread deployment?

There are still some major hurdles to the widespread deployment of 5G in South Africa, the biggest of which is the coverage area. Due to the frequencies being used, each base station can only cover a small area as compared to existing cellular technologies, meaning that there has to be a considerable investment in the rollout of additional base stations.

In addition, having a higher throughput needs to be matched with a backhaul link of a similar capacity; with each 5G base station requiring up to a 10GBps connection, coverage will be restricted to areas with the fibre connectivity required to receive and transmit such large volumes of data.

It is likely that 5G coverage will initially be limited to areas where there is both a concentration of users, and the availability of fibre networks for backhaul – meaning city centres and other dense urban areas. Currently, it is not financially feasible for this technology to be deployed to smaller towns or rural areas.

Despite these challenges, there is a reason to be optimistic: South Africa ranks among the top 25 countries in the world in terms of quality of GSM networks, primarily as a result of having multinational telecommunications providers investing substantially in the country. Similarly, one can expect that the local commercial 5G networks, once up and running, will be of a world class standard too, ensuring that local users get to benefit from high-bandwidth, low latency connectivity that will fuel South Africa’s growth in the digital age.