Channel news

NTT says it wants to achieve net zero emissions across its operations by 2030 and across its value chain a decade later. It’s also working towards powering its 600 000-square metre global datacentre division, across 20 countries, with 100% renewable energy by 2030. Other measures include engaging half of its workforce in conservation initiatives in their local communities as well as ensuring that more than half the workforce will belong to diversity categories of gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background and disability. It also plans on doubling the diversity of its executive leadership team by 2025,, with an emphasis on female representation. It will help partners and customers in decreasing 200m tonnes of greenhouse gases by 2026.

Software AG says it is helping to repair the Innovation Co-Lab in Durban, which was destroyed by rioters in July. Over R1.6 million worth of equipment was destroyed. Software AG has secured funding from its Darmstadt head office in Germany to start repairing the centre. The company, along with the Innovate Durban non-profit, set up the centre in Cato Manor in 2019/2020. Between 80 and 90 students used it regularly, and also attended training courses. As Kholiwe Makhohliso, Software AG country VP, says, the centre provided tools, resources and information, and ‘was a place where budding entrepreneurs could innovate and create opportunities; that was taken away from them in a matter of days’. While KwaZulu- Natal bore the brunt of the violence, many small businesses in Alexandra township near Sandton were also damaged or destroyed. Now, the company has partnered with the Department of Small Business Development and other technology players to build the Alexandra Hub, which will provide township youth-owned startups and innovators with the opportunity to connect with digital technologies. Ndazi Nokoane, Software AG’s transformation manager, says she hopes the lab will help business owners to get back on their feet.

“We know that history will not remember the wake of destruction left by the unrest, but, rather, how we rallied together to pick up the pieces and move forward as a stronger, smarter and unified nation,” says Makhohliso.

Fortinet’s SD-WAN solution is seeing strong uptake in the market as enterprises make the move from legacy infrastructure to improve their security postures, according to iOCO. Brett van Rensburg, sales director at iOCO Compute, says he’s seeing this shift accelerate due to the increased adoption of both public and private cloud, and with it, an increased focus on security. He says Fortinet has now converged security and networking in a single device, and its next generation firewall (NGFW) has proved to be a successful SD-WAN solution. iOCO’s security offering is based on Fortinet’s NGFW portfolio, and Networks Unlimited is its distribution partner.

It’s been just a few years since iiDENTIFii launched its remote biometric platform, and now it’s reached Microsoft co-sell partner status. The solution is hosted on Azure, and will also be available on the Microsoft commercial marketplace and be part of the Microsoft Global Partner Network. Chief strategy officer Lance Fanaroff says the co-sell status marked a milestone for the company and its cloud solution will mean greater visibility to more customers. The biometric solution means that corporates can verify an individual’s identity in real-time using a selfie and ID document. This is then checked against the Home Affairs database. The solution is available as an app or an SDK. Fanaroff says the South African uptake of digital authentication and onboarding solutions is in its infancy, but is on a rapid growth curve, which was spurred on by Covid-19. The company’s solution has also been included in Brett van Rensburg, iOCO Standard Bank’s OneHub platform.

As Veeam blows out 15 candles on its birthday cake, it also reports it has grown its annual recurring revenue 28% year-over-year in the third quarter. In the climate of increased threats, it also reports the fastest revenue growth of 25.3% among those polled in the most recent IDC tracker for data replication and protection.

The Lenovo Group reports record quarterly results, which it thinks is due to quicker digitalisation and IT upgrades of devices, infrastructure and apps. For its second quarter results for 2021 and 2022, the company almost doubled group revenue to $17.9 billion, up 23% year-on-year. It’s Infrastructure Solutions Group recorded sales of $1.97 billion, and while it’s nearing break-even, it still recorded a $17 million loss.

As distributed workforces drive demand for high-quality video conferencing, Logitech has announced a partnership with Mustek to meet growing demand. Logitech has a large range of video conferencing solutions for conferences, meeting rooms and personal workspaces of all sizes.