Enterprise Technology

ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY

Kenya KES 500 Rwanda RWF 4000 Tanzania TZS 7200 FEATURE Uganda UGX 10000 the rocky road to the digital migration EVENT 2nd ICT Expo

S TO EA E ST M A O F

C A

X marks the spot ISSUE 6

EXECUTIVE loren Bosch :: Sophia Bekele

ERP :: Electronic queue :: Virtualization :: Smartphones :: Cloud Computing :: BPO

IN ISSUE 6 | 2011 14 16 44 27

FEATURE 5 | CONTRIBUTORS 32 | THE ROCKY ROAD TO THE 6 | TECHNOLOGY BYTES DIGITAL HIGHWAY 8 | EDITOR’S LETTER Mapping East Africa’s migration to digital television

10 | GOOD READING Regulatory Intervention or Disruptive Competition? Lessons from East Africa on the end of International Mobile Roaming Charges by Alison Gillwald and Muriuki Mureithi p40

EVENT 2nd ICT Expo and Digital Revolution ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS 14 | SOCIAL MEDIA IN EAST AFRICA 38| Choice picks; Berries Vs Apples Trends and statistics Choosing a smartphone for your enterprise PEOPLE Cloud computing 40| VIRTUALIZATION 18| EXECUTIVE DISCUSSION Drivers of adoption in East Africa Data centre consolidation drives usage 12| Loren Bosch Internet Solutions 21| Expert guide to ERP 42| Revolutionalize onsite customer Sales Director in East Africa Vendor verticals service shares his ideas for creating a Wavetech electronic queue system world class company 22| Google comes to East Africa 11 solid made for business apps 45| Website hacks 16| ENTERPRISE FOCUS Preventive measures Meet Ethiopia born Sophia 25| IPv6 transition Bekele the fun loving Internet for IPocalypse? 47| WEBSITE RANKINGS Africa champion and renowned Strategies for getting to the top business woman 27| Uganda’s BPO industry Challenges and opportunities Enterprise Technology

Managing Editor Joyce Kyeyune Tonda

Contributors Farida Nakawooya Nicholas Katumba Douglas Onyango Rogers Karebi Cavin Mugarura Peter Atkin

Photography Edson Ruyondo

Technology Advisory Board Bridge Africa and Partners

Publisher ICT Creatives

www.ictcreatives.com

ICT Creatives offers technology consulting services through its network of leading IT Consultants. Copyright © 2010 ICT Creatives. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without permission from the editor.

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Social Media Facebook: Facebook.com/Enterprisetechnology Twitter: http://twitter.com/technologyEA LinkedIn: Enterprise Technology magazine Blog: joycetonda.blogspot.com CONTRIBUTORS

Farida Nakawooya is the Managing Director of Missy Apps Ltd and has a BSc. Computer Science from Cavendish University. She possesses a strong background in Applications Design and has been involved in the development

under AFNOG-Egypt. Farida was involved in pioneering Electronic Voucher of various IT infrastructure. She is also a certified Unix System Administrator Distribution and mobile commerce in Uganda, under Payplus Uganda Ltd. Her interests include career development, fashion and social events. Email [email protected]

Peter Atkin is the Managing Director at Computer Facilities and has over 20 years of commercial experience in: mission critical network; data centers, network integration and disaster recovery planning. He is also a power solutions consultant. Peter loves problem solving on both a technical and creative level, and enjoys a wide range of outdoor and underwater activities. Email [email protected]

Nicholas Katumba is the Commercial Director at ATM Plus. He previously tworked with RAPS Uganda Ltd as Enterprise Solutions Manager (Sales); with Virtual Works, Kenya selling NetApp Storage Solutions and has also worked with Uganda Telecom and AFSAT Communication (U). Away from work, Nicholas loves traveling, watching rugby and soccer and is crazy about cars. He reads widely both in the self-improvement and technology genres.

control so that he can watch Nat GeoWild, National Geographical Channel His love for nature and adventure ensures daily family fights for the remote and Discovery Channel. Email [email protected]

Cavin Mugarura holds a Master of Science in Information Systems, an

of Computer Science. He is an IT Consultant and a researcher in the ICT international certification in Management of IT Projects, and a Bachelor

international conferences, and he has a special interest in Open Source for development field. He has published and presented papers at major Software. He has consulted for leading organizations and companies in Africa, Europe and the USA. Email mugarurac@gmail.com

Douglas Onyango is an IT Systems and Projects Consultant designing and implementing Systems and Network infrastructure solutions for over 8 years. An Internet Governance expert who has participated and spoken at ISSUE 6 | 2011 various IG events and debates including I-Network events, Ug-IGF, EAIGF, and AfriNIC He is also involved in Critical Internet resource Policy Development and authors the Softlanding Policy at the AfriNIC. Email [email protected] TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY

Interested in contributing an article to Enterprise Technology? Send an email to the [email protected] 5 technology BYTES March/April 2011 global value conferences

March 9th March 22nd April 12th-14th April 16th Cloud Computing Africa Innovation TradeTech Europe Exploring ICT in WHO’S WHO World Forum Middle Digital Summit 2011 London UK Education East & Africa, www.wbresearch. Doha Qatar technology professionals in East Africa started Dubai com/tradetecheu- www.qatarictcon- Alice Wanjira-Munyua one of the most prolific www.cloudcloud rope/ ference.org/ out as a programme assistant working for the computing Vatican Radio. Equipped with an MA in Social live.com/mea/ April 15th 22nd April Communications, Wanjira-Munyua championed International International Conference on 27th April GovTech Asia 2011 Conference on Engineering & Infor- Transforming- Information Society effort and consequently chaired the Geneva Civil The 5th annual GovTech 2011 will give the effort to encourage Africa Civil Society to contribute to the first World mation Management Healthcare with IT the latest technologies and solutions for Society Caucus towards the process in 2002. She has served on the DOT- Chengdu China Hyderabad, India government including strategies on how Digital Opportunity TRust-DOT which creates opportunities through the www.iceim.org http://www. to improve government information and transformhealth-it. effective use of ICTs in developing countries. An active player in ICT in East service delivery. Singapore, Singapore org/ Africa, Wanjira-Munyua is the Convener of the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), and the East African Internet Governance Forum (EAIGF) a

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enterprise Technology is a leading regional technology solutions BenefITs fOR sTUDenTs & ReCenT GRADUATes Enteprise Technology Young magazine and is read throughout Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. • Learn how to use your qualifications in the workplace represents the Government of Kenya on ICANN- the internet governing • What do they mean by ‘experience’? • Employment opportunities

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enterprise Technology is a leading regional technology solutions BenefITs fOR sTUDenTs & ReCenT GRADUATes magazine and is read throughout Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. • Learn how to use your qualifications in the workplace • What do they mean by ‘experience’? • Employment opportunities

BenefITs fOR emplOyeRs • Raise your company profile as a leading employer to attract the best talent • Share your expert skills with young professionals and raise your profile • Reduce your recruitment costs by benefiting from a database of technology graduates • Promote your brand within the young professionals market *

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JARGON BUSTER CROWD SOURCING Quoted

A great example of Crowd Sourcing was the use of the Ushahidi software created by now Google employee- Ory Okolloh, to tap into business is that automation applied to an

ISSUE 6 | 2011 the collective knowledge of the general public- also referred to as “The first rule of any technology used in a the crowd. From a business perspective Crowd Sourcing enables businesses to listen to what their customers are saying without The second is that automation applied to efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. having to employ professional poll takers or consultants. Crowd Sourcing has gained increasing importance with the extensive use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube an inefficient operation will magnify the where consumers now generate content which can be tapped inefficiency.”Bill Gates, Founder and CEO of Microsoft Corp, now its Chairman and Chief Software Architect

TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY by companies for example holding public competitions to solve 6

difficult technology problems or submit creative product designs. technology BYTES

Issues| Why Bill Gates’ kin are camping in Kenya NUMBERS ll evidence pointed at Rwanda becoming the innovation hub of East Africa but in investors that the region is ripe for picking. business markets and this has restored confidence 4 the gradual or perhaps sudden spurt of The strong developer market is highly skilled in A Factor by which the innovation in Kenya is placing the focus firmly developing any number of applications and the price of a mobile phone on developers there. Crowd Sourcing platform, Ushahidi is its most call dropped in East famous export. In addition, Kenyans are spending 20% more Africa within the last on Internet services than all other countries in iHub, eMobilis, and other technology communities year. East Africa and the level of internet penetration in Kenya are building Africa wide partnerships in Kenya- 10.8% exceeded that of South Africa- that will further enrich the developers eventually Africa’s rich Godfather. culminating in the creation of an online Africa 22 Million phone applications platform where apps can be purchased. Kenya’s growth in innovation is in many ways subscribers in Kenya a result of the mLab Initiative, a WorldBank Bill Gates kin- the Googles, Nokias, IBMs have all set sponsored training that seeks to support local up shop in Kenya- the early bird catches the worm. and regional innovation. The presence of global This may well be the cheapest and most effective 9.2 stalwarts like Nokia has driven the growth of local way of shifting software and apps development Million registered mobile applications developed for East Africa’s from Asia to Africa for these industry players. Tanzanians registered for mobile payments ICT SMEs in East Africa: starting up and succeeding 30 Networked districts in Rwanda due to investment in a countrywide fibre optic cable. 2.4 Percentage of Orange internet subscribers in Kenya 3,000 University graduates to be trained in using ICT for BPO in Uganda 28 Minutes of talktime ISSUE 6 | 2011 you will get when you charge your phone using the Nokia bicycle phone charger pioneered in Uganda

Source: InfoDev report “Transforming the East African ICT Sector by Creating a Business Engine for SMEs” ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 7 editor’s LETTER

MORE CONNECTIONS, MORE BUSINESS

a business development job in the technology sector. As he spoke I realized Sometime this month, a gentleman walked into my office- he was looking for design knowledge that I had not encountered in a long time and he also had a he was no ordinary techie- he clearly had a fine flavour of web applications knack for recognizing product ideas that would sell like hotcakes in East Africa.

he had just recently moved back to East Africa, having left 18 years ago. When I What baffled me was why he was failing to get regular business, until he told me questioned him further about how he was approaching prospects he said it was

professional network; he said: “Hmm basically my uncle and a couple of other arbitrary. He would simply ask his friends. I prodded further to find out about his

relatives.” “What’s your uncle’s profession?” “HeThis is very in the talented agricultural web designersector.” was not a member of any technology group or association of any sort, did not attend technology events and although he had a

to his target market. His case is a classic but also a very common one. Everyday LinkedIn profile it was not visible to the public. He had no viable connections I meet people and companies that have some of the best products and services but refuse to sell themselves with the new brand of online media tools available. In business one thing is a constant, the more connections (people you know) the more business you will get. Essentially, people buy from people they know. It is precisely for this reason that we are advocating for increased adoption of social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube by the business community. We are aware that many business owners regard these as time wasters

but for companies that have branded, customized and set specific objectives for connections which have bumped up the bottom line. The number of companies and their social media platforms, the benefits have included a significant growth in businesses on social media is exploding and companies that stubbornly choose to stand by the wayside will join the steamrollers or become part of the road. After consulting with several prospects on Social Media Strategy we have discovered that the biggest fear for most business owners is measuring ROI. This fear stems more from misinformation than reality and we have the intel to prove that. In this issue we also have an impressive array of seasoned technology practitioners deciphering and discussing topical solutions like the Digital Migration, Cloud Computing, Customer Service technologies, Business Process Outsourcing opportunities and a slew of Google tools that will improve your business activities

byWe’re bringing also excitedthe world’s about information our April muchYoung more Professionals quickly to Technology your fingertips. Symposium ISSUE 6 | 2011 which will attract over 500 talented graduates from universities and other higher

ready as seasoned professionals discuss the careeer opportunities technology education institutions around Uganda, to fine tune their skills and be work offers including The Innovator’s Dream business concept competition where one professional stands to win a complete business startup suite which includes

tomorrow’s leaders, today. TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY business metnorship and financial aid. We invite you to partner with us in shaping 8 Joyce Kyeyune Tonda | [email protected] Missed a magazine issue? Download back issues online from www.ictcreatives.com

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Note: Prices exclusive of VAT| Email sales@ictcreatives to learn about our 50% discounted rates ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 9 enterprise RESOURCES ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY HOSTS THE 2nd YOUNG PROFESSIONALS TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM Regulatory Intervention or Disruptive Competition? Lessons from East Africa on the end of International Good Reading Mobile Roaming Charges Alison Gillwald and Muriuki Mureithi Disruptive innovations in the telecom sector Availability: Free PDF for download at www.ResearchICTAfrica.net

ven if you’ve never read, The EInnovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen, one of Harvard Business School most celebrated Professors, where he expounds on several problems technology innovators face, you will still appreciate the insights expounded on in this research report, especially if you live in East Africa. In the telecom sector, East Africa stands “...a disruptive out as a global beacon of innovativeness- with the highest mobile phone adoption business model can rates; the most transformational uses generate attractive of mobile phones-payment systems; and as Gillwald and Mureithi point profits at the discount out- East Africa brought an end to the prices required to cumbersome practice of international roaming charges which are still very win business at the much a thorny issue in the developed points that should inform telecom low end and create an world. operators in the face of a highly Zain- now Airtel, was the forerunner competitive market where price has extraordinarily of the disruptive innovation that become the key differentiatior albeit an valuable growth was to become the end of roaming unviable one. asset if it targets charges through the introduction of its A key assertion in the report is that One Network. Capitalizing on its key although Zain moved from the laggard products and markets advantage at the time of having multiple position to number two in Uganda, that the established licenses in East Africa Zain went off on as a result of its One Network it was a totally different tangent and created a companies are uniform rate for its users throughout the disruption as all the other telecoms unable to reap huge benefits from this motivated to ignore for the heart of corporate East Africans, was gone. Disruptive technologies must region. With a fiercely competitive battle simply followed suit and the key benefit or flee from..” who were the main users of the roaming tackle markets that are unattractive to facility, other operators followed suit and incumbents in order to gain sustainable by de facto, roaming charges within East advantages. Africa quietly disappeared.

Thus this research report puts the FACT: Roaming revenue does not One Network innovation through contribute significantly to the bottom the disruptive technology litmus test line- it makes up about only 5%, developed by Christensen. however it is c ritical for customer acquisition and retention. ISSUE 6 | 2011 ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY The report highlights some important 10 ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY HOSTS THE 2nd YOUNG PROFESSIONALS TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM

“Discovering new career opportunities in technology”

• Speaker series Date: April 30th 2011 • Product demos Venue: Makerere University Kampala • Panel sessions Time: 10 am - 5pm • Career Q&A • Practical how-tos PLUS “ THE INNOVATORS DREAM” BUSINESS IDEA COMPETITION

CALL FOR SPONSORS Find details on www.ictcreatives.com Tel: +256 414 266 423 Mob: +256 773 092 290 +256 701 100 516 Email: [email protected] LOREN BOSCH: THE “EASY GOING GUY”

East Africa Sales Director for Internet Solutions, Loren Bosch is a successful entrepreneur in the technology sector, having founded iBurst in Ghana, iBurst South Africa, Storm Voice & Data and Duxbury Networking and Telkom in South Africa. He has a wealth of experience in Technical Sales, Consulting and Management built over 12 years in the ISP and VoIP industry. He shares his passion and his plans for IS dominance in East Africa.

What professional strengths do you within the business and that we rely on them and clear leadership yields better results

ISSUE 6 | 2011 contribute to the success of IS in Kenya? to do it to the best of their ability. If you get than aggressive management techniques. Any good businessman or leader will tell you this bit right; the rest falls into place. Our ‘tag When times are tough and extra effort and that without people to execute it, the best line’ : DO WHAT YOU LOVE, LOVE WHAT YOU focus is required from people in a business, business strategy in the world is worthless, so DO also relates directly to that. leadership will provide a far stronger making sure you have the right people doing motivation to go the extra mile than draconian How would you describe yourself as a management. So within the context of the the right things correctly is key to the success person? working environment I try to be a leader and of any venture. I believe this and have seen Leadership and people are two key

TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY clearly communicate where we are heading as it many times so I try to make sure that our components of my approach to managing a a business. Outside of that; I guess you could 12 staff have a very clear description of their role business. I have always believed that strong executive DISCUSSION say that I am a pretty easy going guy with sharing. These kinds of services have IS South Africa has 80% of the top 250 a taste for adventure and a strong focus on only recently become viable options listed companies in South Africa. How my family. due to a great deal of investment from do you plan to grow market share in infrastructure providers to expand East Africa? You came from South Africa where the terrestrial and wireless networks off IS’s last mile agnostic position in the local ISP landscape is significantly different. the back of the arrival of Seacom, EASSY and regional market makes us an ideal What unique challenges are you and TEAMS, but also due to the fact that outsource partner for a fully integrated addressing in the Kenyan market? products and services like these need to and managed network solution that offers The Kenyan market place is indeed a be run from world class data centres; like a customer access to all the available very exciting place to be. It is far less the one at IS, which is now a tier 3 Data infrastructure without the headache of restrictive in terms of the regulatory centre. All these exciting options and multiple vendor management and the environment and the current rate of opportunities are now available in the required investment in skilled resources growth in the region presents a number region garnering alot of interest. to utilise multiple networks to build and manage a single integrated environment. most challenging aspects has been clearly What type of customer are your of significant challenges. I’d say one of the The fact that IS is not an infrastructure communicating to the market about the targeting for your hosted Data Centre provider allows us to be objective about IS positioning statement and helping services? the best combination of infrastructure “Any good businessman or leader will tell you that without people to execute it, the best business strategy in the world is worthless...”

to meet a customer’s requirements. large organisations with decision making The Data Centre is only part of the picture. There is no other player with the same around ICT infrastructure investment and Remember that we have integrated all the international network capacity and the outsourcing model in particular. With local infrastructure providers into our alternate routing in the region and all the price activity in the market there network environment with fully redundant certainly no competitor on the continent has also been a need to clearly focus on North- and Southbound international that has access to the same skill and the IS value proposition to prevent us from capacity. If you view all of these elements getting drawn into price wars and thereby together you will see that we have created cherry on the top is the fact that IS is an diluting the differentiation that we have in a managed infrastructure platform resource pool across Africa. Then the final exclusively corporate service provider the market. that includes all local and international which means that our customers do connectivity options. This platform can be What Internet based service/product not have to compete with thousands of utilised by large regional and multinational are businesses in East Africa not fully consumers for support. companies to build international MPLS taking advantage of? based private networks with centralised What main dish would you prepare for We’re only just starting to see the hosted system and application resources a CTO executives luncheon? transition from mainly using internet and services run from our data centre. access to companies building managed It’s also the perfect environment for clean and healthy food that is easy to eat private networks with centralised and It would definitely be sushi. Beautiful, software as a service and cloud computing and offers a variety of options. shared services. This relates to almost ISSUE 6 | 2011 vendors to host their services from since every information system within a we host the 2nd KIXP pop in the same You have a degree in Psychology how business from email to ERP. So services environment. In this scenario we are able did you make the transition to a career like MPLS networks connecting multiple to support SaaS vendors with security, in technology? back-up, redundancy and connectivity as Computers are easier to talk to, actually it’s solutions within a private or public cloud a very easy transition, because technology offices and branches, hosted application well. IS is ideally positioned to support the and of course SaaS solutions like hosted DR and BCP requirements of customers is about people. ET

with critical data and system needs. ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 13 mail, hosted security, back-up and file 14 ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY ISSUE 6 | 2011 enterprise More insights onhow to usethese toolsbusiness? [email protected] Other socialmediatoolsworthexploring gender statistics,postfeedback, fan pageviews engagement, andreferrers. company’s fan baseproviding detailssuchascountryoforigin,age range, Facebook analytics isapowerful tool thatprovides hardcore insights into a 5. Google Alerts 4. Bit-ly 3. Flickr 2. YouTube 1.WordPress blog SOCIAL MEDIA 10. TechnologyEA 9. TandaaKenya 8. SethGodin 7. GuyKawasaki 6. the99percent 5. DharmeshShah 4. MosesKemibaro 3. FastCoLeaders 2. JonathanBriggs 1. BrianSolis SOLUTIONS MUST USETOOL Enterprise Technology solutionsforEastAfrica Kenya digitallocalcontentdevelopers Customer managementunpluggedandupset Rich DadPoorfameonfinancialhealth Unique insightsonproductivity Best Startupjunkiefullofyummyideas Kenyan techieandsocietalcommentator Out oftheboxinspirationalbusinessideas Renowned e-commercestrategistandpublisher Globally recognizedexpertinCRMandnewmedia 10. Wikis 9. Delicious 8. BlogPulse 7. BackTweets 6. AllTop RECOMMENDED FOLLOWS 15. Foursquare 14. TweetDeck 13. SocialMention 12. Ushahidi 11.Digg mention your company. app helpsyou monitor alltweets that about your brand and products, this track ofwhat otherpeopleare saying 5. Company Buzz:Want to keep event worth itssaltshouldbehere. people who attend similar events. Any try events andto network withother 4. Events: ment opportunities. men andopensuppotential employ more insight into your businessacu- helps provide viewers ofyour profile reflected inyour LinkedIn profile ability to have your blogandtweets 3. Wordpress /Blog/Twitter: The answers. an expert by regularly contributing knowledge andposition yourself as 2.Answers: Share your business can thenbeviewed easily. which profile company your publish like awebsite. You media canalsouseitto online other your to back fic results.You canuseitto redirect traf- thing yourank postwill high insearch tized by search engines therefore any The SlideShare format is also priori projects orprevious consultancies. powerpoint slidesofyour business, 1. SlideShare: Allows you to share THE BESTAPPLICATIONS Agreat way to findindus - - - - enterprise SOLUTIONS IN EAST AFRICA

Usage of social media platforms by country

COUNTRY FACEBOOK PERCENTAGE GROWTH ON TWITTER YouTube CHANNELS FACEBOOK

Burundi 17,860 +27.8% 99 2,090

Kenya 1,050, 180 +5.64% 7,766 23,200 Rwanda 82, 580 +12.62% 344 6,820

Uganda 277, 440 +9.61% 407 13,100 Tanzania 246, 340 +10.4% 1,045 10,100

As of 19/02/2011

KENYA leads the way in all social media platforms far ahead of all the other countries in East Africa and therefore B2C marketing

means there must be a waterproof strategy inwill place yield as significantthe users are leads likely though to be it more also sophisticatd.

TANZANIA AND UGANDA have similar usage and growth patterns-although several miles behind Kenya, businesses selling services

receptive online audiece especially since growthand products is much in higher these than countries Kenya’s. will find a

RWANDA AND BURUNDI generally lag in social media usage but they also have the fastest growing adoption rates of social media platforms ensuring that companies that capitalize on reaching the early adopters

companies that prefer to wait for a critical mass.will find more eager customers than those ISSUE 6 | 2011 ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 15 16 ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY ISSUE 5 | 2010 16 ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY ISSUE 6 | 2011 Network. Committee for AfricanStakeholders Africa ontheUNsponsored Steering Francisco Bay andhasrepresented East founder oftheInternet Societyfor San on Information Society.Bekele isco- e-Government attheITUWorld Summit Business series,SiliconValley; andon spoken attheStanford Women in and hernative Ethiopia shehasalso with businessesinbothNorthAmerica Commission,. Asuccessfulentrepreneur events -UNECA,ISOC,theAfricaUnion (AISI); andhasspoken atahostofglobal African Information SocietyInitiative Numbers (ICANN),United Nations Corporation for AssignedNamesand international bodiesincludingInternet executive who hasserved onnumerous BekeleSophia isanEthiopian born enterprise FOCUS

Tell us about your professional and on the internet. It is a new idea which will in business and government. This will academic background be guided by the ICANN policy embodied provide a lot of opportunity for internet My elementary and high school education in the rule book – that’s a process which is capable African professionals as there will was in Ethiopia, a private Catholic high be many opportunities that would need school enveloped by African values. I solutions. bothWhat competitive international and policy “bottoms changes up”. then went to the US to study for my would you like to see regarding usage of How can we drive creation of local higher education in Business Analysis Internet domains? content useful for Africans? and Computing Systems and an MBA in We have seen a major one in this recent For a long time it was assumed that Management of Information Systems. I also past on International Domain Names Africans would be interested in the rest of the world rather than what is happening governance where I have various studied Corporate finance and Corporate made by the international community in Africa. The success of African media (IDNs), which exemplifies the benefits to support language development to the and Auditing and Systems Governance. certifications in Information Systems internet based on non-English scripts, Africans are very interested in things Certainly I have adapted the US values of – music, films and so on – shows that which was great. The international African. We can drive this through great individual rights, freedom of speech, risk platforms and communications – band taking and business entrepreneurship, given credence to DCA its contribution width for instance. Of course some community that were beneficiaries have SOPHIA BEKELE Ethiopian champion of the .africa initiative

Africa Top Level Domain. On 11th December 2010 the International Domain Resolution Union endorsed the dotafrica projectBekele for is the DotConnectAfrica Executive Director stating of a that: non-profit “ Ms. Bekele, organization as a former DotConnectAfrica, gNSO advisor which to ICANN, adovcates you have for workedthe adoption hard andof a dotlong to champion Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). You have made the case within ICANN for a policy development

process that will see IDNs in service of the world community. And you have done so successfully.” which laid a great foundation in the to the ICA policy development process content should be paid for either through way I view the world and my interest towards this end ad have endorsed our advertising and of course the creation of in developing economies. My policy initiative for such. Further to this, I would opportunities. Driven by mobile phones work as an advisor to various United like to see a continuation of the internet Nations agencies including the UNECA governance such that it remains free of new thing in Africa. local content will definitely be the next politics – truly independent of any single has also shaped my understanding and What is the future of the Internet in the and ICANN in the ICT and internet fields or group of countries. balancing of agendas between developing context of East Africa? economies and western expectations What can we expect now that the dot Very, very bright – East Africa is really and further fuelled my interest in the Africa dream is gradually becoming a embracing the possibilities that the internet and its governance which is the reality? internet has to offer and we have a ISSUE 5 | 2010 role of ICANN. This led me to see what dotAfrica will encourage unity in Africa generation of management that is tech other continents had done and the idea of through a single brand, be it in showcasing products and services of Africa as as East Africa will only improve access and dotAfrica was born. savy. EASSY and other fibre landings in well as presented a united voice on the content development. The economic What is the DotConnect Africa internet; in parallel to that, we will integration of East African countries initiative? see much greater use of the internet to are on speed, and so the future is full of DotAfrica is really Africa’s response to the

tremendous opportunities . ET ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 17 promote efficiency and transparency benefits of a unified continental domain enterprise SOLUTIONS CLOUD COMPUTING TAKES CENTRE STAGE Initially a North American and European trend, major shifts in the business model and technology landscape are driving the attractiveness of Cloud computing for East Africa’s business community.

Peter Atkin

GOOGLE

OFFSITE BACKUP ORACLE

CRM INTERNET = THE CLOUD

MICROSOFT

s a metaphor for the Internet; Exchange for example, hosted physically brought easily available internet based Cloud Computing is a way of at the company . content managed systems accessible to delivering internet hosted the main stream market . A Cloud services is not a new idea in fact it’s Information Technology services to Cloud Services Provider (CSP) have been been envisioned since the early 1960’s

ISSUE 6 | 2011 businesses. In essence this is aimed at providing services such as back-end and brought to the masses by Amazon removing the need for the business to servers, storage, networking, support and in 2006 by initiating a new product purchase, install, support and maintain software to many companies enabling development effort to provide cloud back-end I.T. infrastructure with minimal them to pay for their I.T. services on- computing to the market by launching hassle. In fact the most common cloud demand in the form of ideally a low cost, Amazons own Amazon Web Service computing service is hosted email monthly service charge. (AWS) and shortly after that various services like hotmail, yahoo, or Google companies like Oracle, Microsoft, IBM Cloud Computing provides the business

TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY mail, Mozilla Thunderbird. This is in began to offer cloud services which with advanced I.T. infrastructure and 18 contrast to companies using Microsoft

enterprise SOLUTIONS

services that would be too costly to In South Africa for example Call initial infrastructure investment provide in-house. Centres were able to do away with a and software costs has limited the number of players. With cloud Drivers of Cloud Computing in East costs and have realized a 20% computing, BPO providers simply Africa significant portion of infrastructure Although the trend has been popular in increase in productivity. need to log in from any location without incurring the high costs many developed countries its become • Business pressure to deliver I.T. required to set up a call centre. increasingly attractive in sub-Saharan as capacity and resources – faster, at the business and technology landscape lower costs and with reduced risk to Challenges and Risks the business. Cloud computing allows Some things are still way off - for instance here are some of the reasons why: for scalability both up and down while offsite backup via the internet is has undergone significant change and • Plunging prices of Internet access attractive and while it is true that prices not get tied up - which is especially have dropped for internet access in East due to the recent introduction of enabling efficiencies as capital does fibre connectivity in East Africa. useful for seasonal businesses that require fewer employees and where offsite internet based backups can With increased access to the Internet, Africa it’s still not at a level financially Cloud Services Providers are now resources at some point in the year be done without incurring unrealistic A Sandhill survey of 500 IT decision-makers found that 50% of respondents cited business agility as their primary reason for adopting cloud applications

focusing on the East Africa market and then need to scale up resources charges. Internet is still circa $450.00 per especially since developed markets Mb full duplex to the end user in Uganda season. For instance, companies , and you would need for most SME’s at tend to be more competitive. and employees during a specific that maintain huge databases across least 5-10Mb or more depending on the • The rapidly expanding use of the several different branch locations, amount data being backed up. Internet (average regional internet hosting on the cloud becomes even While the cloud can bring the region up usage growth of 4250% between more attractive as information can be to speed with sturdy security systems, 2000 and 2010) in business activities updated from a centralized location- nevertheless, there are concerns related in East Africa means that users are the cloud. more conversant with its operations to corporate espionage and unauthorized and more willing to embrace internet • Growing concerns about lagging access to cloud based data though this based services. security. A Kenyan researcher has been the norm with onsite security (Kinyanjui 2009) for example and the cloud maybe the better devil of • Increased alignment of East reported that at least 60% of the two. Africa businesses with global time Kenyan banks did not have adequate Inspite of the increasing access to PCs, operations to ensure 24-7 availability security systems. Equally In Uganda, which necessitates usage of Cloud and growing usage of the Internet, the two factors are still not at an optimal Services Providers who work at all been attributed to insecure systems. significant financial losses have level severely limiting the adoption of hours. Outsourcing security to the cloud cloud computing. To address this some

ISSUE 6 | 2011 offers secure systems maintained by • Spiralling costs of managing in- scholars have suggested the development highly experienced security experts-a house data centres and reduced IT of mobile phone based cloud computing resource that is not in high supply in infrastructure spending has forced business models (China Mobile’s East Africa. many companies to focus on less BigCloud )since the ratio of cellphones cumbersome alternatives like hosted • Growth of the Business Process per capita is much higher than the ratio of services which do not require heavy Outsourcing Industry. East Africans PCs per capita. ET infrastructure investment, regular are eager to participate in the TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY software updates and maintenance. growing BPO business but the 20 enterprise SOLUTIONS

The 2011 Focus Experts’ Guide to Enterprise Resource Planning

“When choosing ERP software, select a vendor with functional capabilities that match your business.” ISSUE 6 | 2011

KEY: X = Have this capability P= Partial capability

0= Do not have this capability/not a focus area ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY Focus research is availabe at www.focus.com 21 enterprise SOLUTIONS

Google’s strategy in Africa is to get more users online by developing an accessible, relevant and sustainable internet ecosystem “ -http://www.google.com/africa/

MES TO O E C A S T

X A

ISSUE 6 | 2011 A

ISSUE 6 | 2011 X marks the spot TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 22 TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 22 enterprise SOLUTIONS 11 solid, made-for-business, Google Apps For most business users, Google’s claim to fame is its impeccable search engine and hosted email service- Gmail. What most users are not aware of are the other Google apps that can enhance business decisions and improve productivity.

1. Gmail Tasks: Effective scheduling.Within Gmail in the top with the same type of images. It will also be helpful if you left corner under Mail is the Task tool which essentially is are looking for design ideas in your company colours. You that-it allows you to write all your tasks and cross them off or can also search by image type for example photographs, line delete them as you complete them. The reason it’s so handy drawings, vector graphics or even just facial pictures. is because it’s given a visible priority position which means every time you’re checking your mail you are going to be able to pull it up very easily to see what needs to be done.

2. Gmail Mail merge: Instant marketing. If you’ve ever wondered how companies are able to send the same email simultaneously to thousands of customers but customize it using the name of each recipient for example, ‘Dear Tracy Musoke’, well you can actually run a Gmail script which will create this for you. To use it effectively you need to put your contacts in a group to which you can send the same email simultaneously. 6. Google Search: Customized search. On a broader level you 3. Google Alerts: Industry tracking. If you’re a keen business, can decide exactly what type of search results the search you will want to know what issues are hot in your industry engine should bring up. For example if you’re a lawyer and by tracking how often certain industry key words are mentioned on the Internet. Through Google Alerts you can you can type legal in the search box and then on your left you specify certain key words you want to monitor and every you want to find all bloggers that write about legal topics, select blogs or video or books. You can even specify that you time they are mentioned in blogs, news, video or discussions Google will send you an alert in your email letting you know says, this saves you time by bringing you information much where the keywords were mentioned. You can also change only want discussions a specific length of time. Like Google faster than doing a generic search the frequency with which you receive alerts. Alerts are great for competitor analysis as well as you can track press 7. Google Scholar: Patent search. Have you invented a mobile mentions for example for your competitors which should application for example and you want to see what patents or help you gauge how well you are or not performing and what articles if any exist on your innovation? Go to Google Scholar you need to do to change. publish regularly- you can get inspiration by reading other 4. Google Directory: Find information really fast. Let’s imagine and find out. Perhaps you’re an academician required to scholarly papers and identify little known topics that can help your publishing drive. contraption. You can go to Google Directory and type in you’re a mechanic and you need to find a manual for a certain Science and then type in manuals; you will be able to access 8. Google Download Helper: Digital library.You’ve stumbled all the online manuals available. This Google directory helps upon a sales business video but have to rush for a meeting. you search by category which will enhance your productivity You want to keep the video in your digital library, however ISSUE 6 | 2011 YouTube does not have an option to download it and keep it. If you use the Google Toolbar, get the Download Helper 5. asGoogle you find Images: your informationTrue imagery. faster. Yes we’ve all used Google add-on which will make downloading any video easy and images but did you know you could search for images by convenient and help you build your own professional digital colour- for example you can specify that you only want blue library. images or yellow images, or black and white images and those are the only pictures you will see. This is helpful if you want Google Realtime: Instant updates. As its name says, if you 9. ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY to colour code your report to make it look more professional want to live by the minute, Google makes it possible for you 23 enterprise SOLUTIONS

to be up to date on your favourite term they are using for topics- in real time. Type in a search example ‘funding’ ‘GM term like ‘cars 2011’ and you will maize trials’ ‘jobs in get aggregated content of different East Africa’ and you will types from minute by minute Twitter also be shown which updates to news, blogs, Facebook month these searches updates and a graphical timeline were made and how showing mentions of your search many times the term was term at different times of the day. This searched for. Insights can help you monitor a critical news can guide your product piece which affects your business. campaign team by in email, there is also a graphical revealing consumer keywords that 10. Google Insights: Online intelligence. mapping of the results done for you you should use in your marketing as Although still a new tool, Google automatically by Google. well as help you differentiate your Insights is poised to be a catch-all campaign from your competitors by for businesses. As a form of online 12. Google Maps: Also known as “The noting what they are using. business intelligence it helps provide insights about services and products 11. Google Docs: Documents in email. the tradition physical maps we learnt Killer App”, Google maps goes beyond people are searching for; keywords Google Docs is a great way to about in school. Apart from being able consumers are using; marketing create the most common type of to put your business on the world’s messages that are selling; which documents including presentations, most ubiquitous searchable global region of the world is searching for spreadsheets and reports as well as map, for businesses that charge fees collaborate with other users online based on location, Google maps has even during which months it is most to work on the same document. With on-traditional uses for maps include: a specific product or service and searched for. For example: When you Google forms for example you can type in a search term like ‘East Africa’ create a form quickly and email it to the location of famous art pieces; you’re an art dealer and need to find you will be shown which regions are searching this term the most. and send it back to you. The best thing illnesses; map political issues and a multiple recipients who then fill it in tracking specific news items; map You will also be shown the search is that you not only view the results

GOOGLE CHROME: THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF LEGACY OPERATING SYSTEMS You’ve probably offers Spreadsheets, Word Processor, develop hardware for the OS include Acer, heard of Google Picture editors for example with the Dell, Lenovo, Intel, Adobe and Toshiba, Chrome-as a suite growing regularly. And here is Samsung and HP. browser; but where it gets more interesting. Because It all sounds very fantastical and that’s not what’s there are no more programs, rather web unnatural but if Google has its way and sparking off a applications, everything you create or gets a critical mass, Chrome will bring an heated debated and lots of doomsday edit will be saved on the Internet. If your end to legacy operating systems installed talk- it’s the Google Chrome Operating computer crashes you still have access on your computers like Windows and Mac system. Yes, there’s room for one more OS and pave the way for a revolutionary web except Google Chrome OS is not going to online. There will be no need to install

ISSUE 6 | 2011 to all your files because they are saved based computing model supported and be a client based operating system- it will troublesome drivers (those annoying compatible with only Google Apps. be ‘cloud based’. In other words, instead tools that connect the software and of installing the operating system on your hardware) and you wont need to re-start Issues surrounding Chrome include computer, you will ‘log onto it’ from the your operating system because you privacy of data hosted entirely on the Internet. All the programmes you need actually wont have access to it- it will be web, a likely monopoly of Google apps to use to create or edit documents will on the cloud remember. and the lack of computational power on be internet based and in fact already netbooks pushed by Google to perform Companies working with Google to TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY exist- through Google Documents which more complex and intensive tasks. ET 24 enterprise SOLUTIONS

he Internet in its each host (Computer, simplest form can Server, Smartphone) on a T network – or shall we say system of Interconnected the internet. For a host to be defined as a Networks. This system was invented as a the Internet it must have be uniquely identified on research project mainly at least one IP Address. backed by the US Military addresses respectively. and went on to become a The Problem communications medium Like I mentioned for geeks in a few Hi- earlier, the Internet was Tech research facilities nothing more than a where the creators and

KEY DIFFERENCES IPv4 address: 212.298.0.1 IPv6 address: 201:db8:0:1234:0:567:8:1 IPv6 allows for faster processing of internet requests, enhanced security, and more quality features. It is also more suited to mobile networks which is the most popular platform in regions like East Africa.

a few learned colleagues research project turned punched away lines of communication tool. The commands just to read an original creatures of this email. ubiquitous technology Since the technology didn’t exactly envisage involved communication their baby helping a or interaction, recipe or even help people IPOCALYPSE? housewife find a steak communicating nodes or with bad taste in music identification of Douglas Onyango computers in this case watch Justin Bieber on was necessary; hence Youtube – Ok, not the best As time goes by, more buzz is being generated on the adoption of the example, but you get the the subject of IPv4 exhaustion and the transition Internet Protocol (IP) as point. the preferred addressing to IPv6. The problem is that many people still don’t Because of this, the scheme. We won’t go into understand what this means, how they will be addressing scheme affected and how they should respond; while others (IPv4), only allowed for to say there were other have compared the dawn of IPv6 as an ‘ipocalypse’ the details, but suffice it about 4 billion unique IP

competing addressing ISSUE 6 | 2011 addresses. Like Bill Gates’ which will lead to the collapse of the Internet as we schemes at the time, but prediction on Computer know it today. the Internet Protocol v4 Memory (1981), The gained the most traction. Engineers thought the Internet Protocol (IP) 4 billion addresses as Address An Internet Protocol – This prediction has sufficient at the time (IP) Address, is a unique turned inaccurate thanks ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY to the Dot-com Bubble 25

number that identifies enterprise SOLUTIONS

in the early 2000’s that put computers of address exhaustion – let’s take a look minimize the size of the Internet’s routing into ordinary households and the rich at some of the other remedies that have table. CIDR allows routers to group routes content available on the internet which gained wide adoption and why they fall together in order to cut down on the is over a billion users strong. As a result short of being a panacea to the problem of quantity of routing information carried of this problem several mechanisms have address exhaustion. by the core routers. With CIDR, several been devised in the last decade to cater IP networks appear to networks outside NAT: Network Address Translation for this short coming in the Version 4 of the group as a single, larger entity. CIDR is or NAT allows Network Operators to the Internet Protocol Addressing scheme. perhaps the most widely used method but allocate private addresses to End-users We will go over some of these shortly, but because the internet is growing constantly, and requires only one or a few globally It just can’t keep up with the exhaustion of reachable address for a potentially large or the reports of one. first, The impending doom of the internet group of customers. Of course this means IPocalypse the End users have to use the gateway a finite resource. There have been reports on the impending Protocol (DHCP) is the protocol used to DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration doom of the internet. Some have even with this that it:- 1) Breaks the end-to- assign addresses to hosts in a network for traffic to the Internet. The problem made allusions to an IPocalypse – end model of the Internet Protocol and automatically. DHCP is used to avoid the (Apocalypse of the Internet Protocol)an the Internet itself. 2) Mandates that the administrative burden of assigning static erroneous and misleading view. There network keeps the state of the connections addresses to each device on a network. won’t be a crash of the internet. Even after It also allows multiple devices to share the current pool of internet resources has to go out through the node that is limited address space on a network if 3) Makes fast rerouting difficult as traffic runs out, the internet will continue to exist facing the global internet at all times. only some of them should be online at a thanks to its design; early adopters of the 4) Because of its nature NAT, breaks the particular time.The Problem is that nodes newer version (6) of the Internet Protocol End-to-end security model 5) also some that communicate over the internet have and the major websites that already run applications are not NAT friendly this the need for an always-on connection state services on this Protocol. Websites like can cause problems sometimes. This is and DHCP simply doesn’t offer this. This Google, Yahoo, Youtube, CNN and AfriNIC why NAT is an imperfect solution to the makes it a less than ideal solution to the can now be reached on IPv6. exhaustion problem. exhaustion problem. ET

A common question is whether IPv6 was CIDR:Classless Inter-Domain Routing the most ideal solution to the problem employs aggregation strategies to

How will the transition to IPv6 affect your business, company or organization?

Consider the fact that in East Africa vendors and web hosting companies to Although IPV6 has for example, the percentatage of make the necessary changes that will been touted as mobile phone penetration is 40% have you and your website ready for the more secure than while Internet penetration stands at transition. Fortunately if you’ve bought IPv4, experts warn less than 15% throughout the region. your technology recently, components that the likelihood This has consequently led to more like your router should be compatible as of bug issues will East Africans accessing the internet computer hardware manufacturers have grow significantly via mobile phones rather than PCs. been aware of the transition for several as operators move

ISSUE 6 | 2011 Because IPv6 is the most ideal protocol years; the issue however will be with to an unproven for mobile communication and will your software as most older versions are platform with unknown problems in be adopted by telecom networks, it not compatible with IPv6. addition to the fact that there are a follows that if you want more visitors limited number of network engineers Governments and public institutions to your website your website will have that fully understand security on IPv6. websites for example that provide to be IPv6 ready. However the onus June 8th has been set aside as the date resources to the public will have to will fall on Internet service providers, where major sites like Yahoo, Google, ensure that they are directly reachable

TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY hardware makers, operating system Microsoft to trial run IPv6 for 24 hours. by clients who will be using IPv6. 26 enterprise SOLUTIONS

DESTINATION UGANDA

Total potential regional revenues are projected at USD 1 billion for period “2011-15

UGANDA’S FLEDGLING BPO INDUSTRY: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES Rogers Karebi

ontrary to the general belief that direct interaction with customers or clients. Challenges to the BPO industry in BPO is all about Call centres, Uganda CBPO constitutes a vast range of constitutes outsourcing of customer related Uganda has a very small and struggling Front office outsourcing on the other hand functions and activities. Business Process services. The most common functions BPO Industry. We have a few in-house or Outsourcing (BPO) is the contracting of are contact centres, marketing, customer captive call centres, mainly in the telecoms surveys. The service provider interfaces industry like MTN, Warid, Airtel. A number processes to a third party service provider. of initiatives have been generated in the specific non-core business functions or directly with clients.

past to facilitate the growth of the Industry, ISSUE 6 | 2011 however not much has been realized. This BPO can be categorized into Back-office standards and expectations to the service The contracting firm sets minimum can be attributed to a number of challenges Outsourcing,Back-office outsourcing and Front-Office Vs Front Outsourcing. office provider. This includes outsourcing of the Internal faced by the Industry in Uganda. The objective of outsourcing is to allow Business Functions of a company like The bandwidth rates in Uganda are the contracting company focus on its core Human Resource, Finance and Accounting, still very high in comparison to the Billing, Data Entry and the like. This neighbouring countries. These rates have well as saving costs. constitutes functions that do not require activity, thereby becoming more efficient, as ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY Continued on page 30 27 however dropped significantly in the enterprise EVENT The 2nd Annual Kampala ICTExpo & the East Africa Digital Revolution Forum, 2010 Organized by the ICT Expo organizing As the Media Partner for the ICT Expo, of the redundant spectrum as well as Committee, chaired by Nasser Ntege, Held Enterprise Technology magazine, spoke public sensitization. Attracting a wide on the 29th-30th November, Kampala to various exhibitors about the transition array of professionals from Educational Serena Hotel, the ICT Expo in its second from analogue to digital television and institutions, Telecommunications, year turned out to be a useful platform for the general concensus was that the region Banking & Finance, Government, Leisure business networking and for companies & Hospitality, Customer Care, and that exhibited, an opportunity to explain towards the transition. Most stakeholders Regulatory Agencies as a whole was making significant steps their newest technology innovations as however agreed that the process was Sponsors included: Grameen well as create awareness in the public fraught with challenges that needed Foundation, Uganda Revenue Authority, arena role in fostering the adoption and to be addressed such as standards Hardcat, NITA-Uganda, Foris Telecom, usage of ICTs. for equipment, policy on allocation Warid Telecom, Posta Uganda

Best in ICT Research and Development: iLabs, Makerere Best in ICT Innovation and Creativity: NITA-Uganda Best in Embracing ICT to improve service delivery: Uganda Revenue Authority Best in ICT Customer Care and Public Relations: Posta Uganda

The Enterprise Technology booth was kept busy with visitors requesting copies of Enterprise Technology Top: James Saaka, ED, NITA(U); magazine; requiring help in troubleshooting technology problems or passing by to see the faces behind the team. Bottom: Acting ED, UCC, Patrick URA, exhibitors at the expo spent most of the time explaining the recently introduced e-TAx platform. Mwesigwa ISSUE 6 | 2011

Delnet Engineering staff (left) exhibited various technologies including their Information Management System and Visitors to the expo exchange various products for the Telecommunications sector. (Right) Uganda Communications Commission, co-sponsors knowledge and receive updates on TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY of the expo are key stakeholders in the development of policy regarding the digital migration process different technologies 28 enterprise EVENT

(Left) Hardcat, Fixed Asset Management company, describing how their software (Left to Right) John Musajjakawa, Senior Advisor on ICT in solution works to booth visitors. (Right) Wilson Kutegeka, ClinicMaster software for Uganda Investment Authority chats with stakeholders during health institutions addressed the expo on ‘Centralized Electronic Health Exchange’. the expo cocktail.

(Left) Makerere University, Faculty of Computing discussed the iLABS@MAK Project which will help the Top to bottom, Warid Telecom sales development of school technology online labs (Right) Logix display their security solutions representatives, STAR Times

(Left to right) Posta Cash employees, Jane Kasumba of UBC, Nasser Ntege and Derek Kasedde ICT expo organizing committee, middle, Joyce Tonda, ISSUE 6 | 2011 Enterprise Technology magazine. (Left)Moshe Kalige, Foris Telecom;Badru Ntege, NFT; (Right)Simon Vass, Linux Users Group

Uganda(LUG) ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 29 enterprise SOLUTIONS

Uganda’s BPO Strategy

Input Description Proposed Action Plan for Government of Uganda Responsibility

Policy Framework • National ICT Policy • Revise ICT Policy to incorporate BPO model MoICT MoJCA

• Cyber Laws • Update Cyber Laws bill to incorporate strong Data protection and NPA privacy laws.

• Laws should be enforced and awareness promoted all key stakeholders • Establish guidelines for investment in the BPO industry Finance Financial support for startups in form of Support should be extended to BPO operators to meet start up costs of Grants, Incentives the following • Infrastructure MoICT Telecommunications costs o MoFPED o Bandwidth o Computer hardware and related software UIA o Furniture and fittings UCC o Power backup systems • Skills development Telecom Operators • Premises rentals and Construction • Provide incentives such as tax holidays Infrastructure • Bandwidth and Telecommunica- • The National Transmission Backbone to be connected to the tions infrastructure submarine cable system; MoICT • Provision of sufficient power supply should be ensured; • Electricity • Set up well serviced Information Technology Parks where MFPED • Premises premises can be provided at subsidized rates. The IT parks would also enable defining Special Economic Zones (SEZ) for firms that UIA • Accessibility operate within these IT parks. Private Sector • Water Supply • Allow and encourage private sector to develop, build and operate IT parks as PPP or as purely privately owned venture .this would help Government in avoid heavy investments in the development of the facilities

Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship development • Potential Entrepreneurs should be sensitized and encouraged to MoICT Programme invest in BPO industry. Private Sector • The Banking sector as well should be brought on board and offered training to understand how BPO industry operates and BoU encouraged to extend equity financing. Banks Human Resource Training for both Managerial Category • HR Training should be of highest priority, as it is a people inten- Skills and sive business.

Operator Category • Training courses to be developed and arranged to meet major MoICT segments of the BPO industry. • The HR training should be subsidized by the GoU for employees MoES

ISSUE 6 | 2011 and the companies by: Training Institutions o Providing grants for BPO Trainings o Training of Trainers o Accrediting Centres to offer training in BPO Subcontracting To kick start the industry in Uganda, the • The Government should send out teams to these countries to MoICT Public/Private sector can subcontract study and attract business to Uganda. business from countries like India, UIA Israel and Ireland which have sub- contracted to countries like Mauritius, MoFA TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY Ghana and India. 30 enterprise SOLUTIONS

From page 27 last one year, from $4,000 to $600 per Addressing the Challenges of BPO by NITA-U is to develop BPO Standards megabyte, but are still very high compared in Uganda and Ethical guidelines that will ensure to $20 in Europe and $30 in India. However The core objectives of the government’s quality service levels are adhered to by BPO with the commercialization of the National interventions are to help facilitate BPO companies. Backbone (NBI), Uganda’s bandwidth Other interventions that are under scrutiny rates are expected to go down further. growth and thereby create jobs specifically include developing a BPO Incubation centre, The neighbouring country, Kenya will always have a comparative advantage on in Namanve Industrial park. A location and development of BPO parks specifically study for the BPO Industry is also in the bandwidth rates because of their “last-mile” NITA-U roadmap while benchmarking as the World Bank/IFC subsidy project. advantage on the fibre optic cables as well studies are planned for later in the year Another challenge faced by the BPO to countries with well developed BPO Industry in Uganda is high start-up cost industries. and operation costs. The start-up costs of Developing the BPO Industry requires establishing and operating a BPO Business both the public and private sectors to work are high. These include, rent of premises together through Public (Government), or construction, partitioning, equipping, Private (Private Sector) Partnerships (PPP). The private sector through its association, air-conditioning, electricity installation and Roger Karebi, Chairman UBPOA The Uganda Business Process Outsourcing sound proofing, ICT hardware and software, monthly bills. Association has drawn a roadmap geared The success of BPO depends largely on for the youth, increase government revenue towards making its advocacy role more faultless power and bandwidth services and attract investment. relevant. To ensure that the private sector however, the unreliable electricity and The Government of Uganda, through its prepares for the growth of the BPO Industry, mandated implementing body, National there is a need to engage the operators in invest in alternative power supply sources Information Technology Authority, Uganda, professional BPO Operators’ training as well bandwidth supply means that firms have to like stand-by generators and alternative NITA-U through a Public Private Partnership as sensitizing them on standards and ethical Internet connectivity like V-Sat, which is (PPP) arrangement is setting up a multi- operating guidelines. This will ensure much more expensive. function plug-and-play BPO centre in sustained minimum quality levels. Kampala with fully subsidized electricity, Lack of well-enforced cyber laws has According to a study carried out by Perwitt, limited the Ugandan BPO Industry from bandwidth connectivity, paid up rent and penetrating the off-shore outsourcing fully furnished. This will help solve the that Uganda has great potential to grow a Canadian consulting firm, it was observed Industry. Several laws need to be rent, electricity and infrastructure set-up into one of the biggest BPO powerhouses challenges. in the world, owing to good and stable foreign markets. Further on, NITA-U in conjunction with political climate that created a good operational to ensure confidentiality of the Makerere University Faculty of Informatics and conducive investment climate, high Uganda lacks trained BPO ready -agents, a major input in the BPO Industry. The and Communication Technology launched academic standards, high numbers of education system however reportedly graduates churned out annually low cost of course subsidized up to 90% by the labour, the country’s location 3 hours ahead graduates over 50,000 every year. an internationally certified BPO training government. This is designed to produce a of GMT and the improving Infrastructure The Ugandan BPO Industry still operates critical mass of BPO trained agents to close which work in favour of making Uganda the without any standards and ethical the BPO skills gap. preferred BPO destination. ET ISSUE 6 | 2011 guidelines, thereby subjecting it to sub- Rogers Karebi is the Chairman of the Uganda standard BPO services. This is risky for a NITA-U is in the process of sourcing for Buisness Process Association and Managing Director of DIAL-A-SERVICE a contact/call BPO companies in Uganda open and close contracted to market Uganda’s BPO services centre in the heart of Kampala. He holds an sustained flow of outsourced business. a competent marketing firm that will be within a year of operation, and this is both locally and globally. This should create MBA Human Resource from University of Kent, largely attributed to low local demand and the much-needed demand for the services. London and enjoys motorsport, golf, football lack of public awareness. Another initiative that will be undertaken and travelling. TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 31 enterprise FEATURE THE ROCKY ROAD TO THE DIGITAL HIGHWAY

Farida Nakawooya

elevision broadcasting began in global broadcasters resolved that all bound by this decree. the 1960s in Kenya and Uganda, analogue broadcasters migrate to digital What will happen when the 2015 monopolized by government technology by 2015 as digital technology T deadline is reached? broadcasters using analogue technology In 2015 analogue TV broadcasters will to transmit pictures and sound. Tanzania, cost effectively. For example, while an used the spectrum more efficiently and not be able to transmit pictures or sound Rwanda and Burundi would follow 30 analogue frequency can only support one and owners of analogue television sets ISSUE 6 | 2011 years later in the early 90s at which channel, a digital frequency can support will not be able to view any TV channels. point the pioneering governments were 12 channels. In Europe and indeed the Analogue television owners will need already opening up the broadcast sector to purchase Set Top Boxes (STBs) which to private players. Today there are over country to migrate its entire broadcast whole world, Luxemborg was the first receive the digital signal, convert it to 30 operational television stations in the system from analogue to digital in 2006. analogue and then take it back to the region, 12 of these in Uganda. Worldwide, after June 2015 analogue analogue TV so that the images can In May 2004 and 2006 Regional Radio television will not be supported any be viewed. Alternatively they may use

TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY Communications Conferences held in longer. East African states as members of external aerials or short indoor antennae. 32 Geneva, Switzerland and attended by the International Trade Union (ITU) are enterprise FEATURE

Advantages of Digital Television over enable text to be transmitted to television on a channel. Analogue Television sets. According to Uganda’s draft policy, Increased availability of channels will International obligations for the school curricula and relevant national translate into more programming choices migration will come with multiple data could potentially be broadcast. It for viewers and foster the growth and could further enable channels which production of local content. could be used for delivery of government benefits. The advantage of digital EAST AFRICA’S TRANSITION TO consumption is that it allows the programs like education, health and television and its efficient bandwidth DIGITAL TELEVISION provision of other related services like other public services. Provision of Digital television itself is not new in East multimedia games , TV shopping and the services broadcast in a variety of Africa. The technology was pioneered ability of viewers to interact with the TV languages would also increase access in the early 90s by leading Pay-TV to information which is key to meeting broadcaster, Multichoice which brought to access an available service. An added global poverty reduction goals. for example by pressing specific buttons

Digital Television also offers better over 40 audio and 70 video channels advantage will be the ability to provide picture and sound quality as opposed via Satellite to East Africa. Multichoice improved clarity of sound and images so to analogue, as well as creating currently has more than 2 million that for example, the smallest facial detail opportunities for multiple programming subscribers across Africa. Since then like sweat beads can be seen- also known / multi casting. Existing channels will be numerous Pay-TV digital broadcasters ISSUE 6 | 2011 able to provide multiple programmes; have joined the lucrative broadcasting asWhen High all Definition the analogue TV (HDTV). frequencies are for example if there is news on East market using TV aerials and cable to reallocated to digital frequencies, more African TV, viewers would be able to broadcast digital signals. Digital TV can regions in East Africa will be able to change and view a movie or music on the also be delivered via telephone lines – receive TV transmissions thus improving same channel. Multicasting essentially also known as broadband delivery or via coverage and signal strength. brings an end to the practice of linear mobile phones. broadcasting where viewers were forced Because the current status quo supports access to information. Digital format can both analog and digital broadcasting, ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY Overall the benefits will come from equal to watch only one programme at a time 33 enterprise FEATURE

it is known as the simulcast phase, frequencies; to decisions on the type the Rwandese population. and will end in 2015 when only digital of equipment that will be needed According to the Uganda Communication broadcasting will be supported. in households for access of digital Commission draft strategy, which awaits Africa’s digital switch is being led by broadcasts. Free to air TV stations cabinet approval, Uganda expects to South Africa where the government will also have to identify creative learn lessons in migration from countries has for example agreed to subsidise sources of revenue as previously linear like Malaysia and United Kingdom. In the equipment needed to receive programming has allowed them to ‘force’ the United Kingdom, areas with low images -STBs for the 6 million poorest viewers to see advertisers ads. With households that cannot afford the trialled in order to gain experience before they like, essentially skipping the ads as population density were first successfully boxes. South Africa is targeting a digital TV viewers can flip channels as moving it into heavily populated areas. In complete migration date of December they come. 2008, the switchover process began and 2013 although there has been public The status of East Africa’s digital was completed in 14 phases and will be outcry about the government’s inability migration concluded in 2012 resulting in a complete to involve all stakeholders (network With a government investment of USD migration to digital. The key lesson in

Digital Dividends the spectrum enabling this valuable resource to be used for other services like HDTV: Savings and Mobile arising TV from the more efficient use of

owners, manufacturers, viewers, vendors, $ 40 million in broadcast infrastructure, the UK was that the migration should be TV stations) in the migration planning Rwanda, a late player to the analogue a phased approach, starting with a few process. towns before a full scale switchover. East African country to be technically Challenges of migration broadcast realm, became the first Similarly Malaysia conducted trials with prepared for a complete digital migration In terms of free to air TV stations, 2,000 households in Kuala Lumpur with a switch-over planned for March East Africa’s late bloomers already by broadcasting analogue channels 2011. The investment in equipment like face a number of challenges during in digital concurrently with two fully additional transmitters will result in this transition period; from standards digital channels. The users opinions and increased coverage from 60% to 80% of of digital broadcasting; allocation of experiences would then be polled and

Comparison of two digital television modes: Digital Terrestrial Vs Digital Satellite ISSUE 6 | 2011 TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 34 *Terms and conditions apply. from onlyUGX24,000*permonth. international andlocalTVchannels Home oftheworld’sleading To subscribe call oursales office on 0312 245216/ 0759 202 217 orvisit anyof our authorised agents countrywide. $10 permonth $20 permonth $28 permonth

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* entertainment land. get yourpreferredbouquet andlivein your prepaidamountwithin the3monthsto months inadvancetogetthisofferortopup Subscribe totheAccessbouquetfor3 enterprise FEATURE

inform the migration process. broadcasting services that operate on among the Media Owners Association analogue network to a digital network. amidst allegations of foul play in in Uganda including NTV the Kenyan This will be done through the replication the allocation of frequencies, by the In November 2009 five television stations owned station, Nile Broadcasting, of all services operating on the analogue government broadcaster, KBC, leading East Africa Television and WBS and network to the digital network with to the suspension of the migration trial UBC switched from analogue to the aim of eventually switching off the process. The process was further injured digital in a pilot with 200 viewers that analogue services before the slated by the abrupt ban slapped on importation was supported by Next Generation date. The draft for the Digital Migration and sale of set top boxes of an older Broadcasting, a Swedish Digital Policy on Digital Terrestrial Television technology (DVBT1) in a move aimed at Terrestrial Transmission Company. Broadcasting in Uganda highlights encouraging the buying of the new December 2012 as the switch off date for DVBT-2 technology. The Ugandan Government has now the analogue signal. established the National Digital Equipment standards Terrestrial Broadcasting plan and Equipment costs Although all countries agree on the formation of the Digital Migration Equipment installations will also require need to migrate to digital TV, different Taskforce (DMTF). The taskforce standards are being adopted worldwide. equipment like studio middleware and comprises of a number of stakeholders significant financial investment including Environmental issues including the Ministry of ICT, Uganda transmitters required to realize the full James Kasigwa the Assistant Commissioner Communications Commissions, for Broadcasting Infrastructure, Uganda, benefitsFor the consumer of migration. Set top boxes, also says that although consumer awareness the Prime Minister. Recently the National known as Digital Terrestrial Television has been prioritized, due to the current broadcasting houses, and the Office of Information Technology Authority of (DTT) receivers will be sold for not less misinformation, consumers are disposing Uganda ( NITA-U )was added to the than USD $50 for the minimalist spender of their analogue televisions believing to USD $1000 for viewers who want a that they will be useless in the future. awareness has been prioritized. The more sophisticated box to receive HDTV As in North America, where consumers taskforce. As a first step, consumer DMTF will mainly develop an action for example. At that price for many East have higher income the disposal of plan for switch off of analogue television Africans it may be the less expensive analogue televisions has become a key broadcasting, monitor as well as alternative to buy a new digital compliant environmental issue as the disposed coordinate and monitor the technical roll television. out process . where their hazardous contents pose a electronics are dumped in landfills The switch over policy is expected to African states to commit to complete Although Kenya was the first of the East Africa will have to tackle this challenge be out before the end of March 2011, the switch by 2012, setting up a Digital significant threat to the environment. East according to Aggrey Awori Minister Transitional Committee to oversee the too. ET of Information Technology in Uganda. process its transition has suffered several The migration will involve transfer of mishaps stemming from discontent

Global Digital TV Standards DIGITAL TV STANDARD COUNTRIES ADOPTING IT NO OF COST OF SET TOP ADVANTAGES COUNTRIES BOX USD$ ADOPTING ATSC (Advanced Television USA, Canada, Mexico and 5 50-80 Minimal signal Systems Committee) South Korea interference, suitable for large area transmissions ISSUE 6 | 2011 ISDB-T (Integrated Services Japan, Brazil 2 100-130 Suppresses noise, good Digital Broadcasting for mobile and indoor Terrestrial reception DVB-T (Digital Video Europe, Asia, Africa and 2nd generation good for Broadcast Terrestrial) Oceania HD programming mobile reception and data 118 27-80 services TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 36 enterprise FEATURE Q & A WITH CHARLES HAMYA What implications does the planned offering lower prices for PayTV? migration mean for DStv MultiChoice As we know it competition is a healthy customers? development, as it provides the customer The planned migration will not in any way with more choice in selecting a pay affect DStv subscribers as qll the channels television service that suites their unique available on DStv are already digital. needs. DStv already has a number of Digital television was implemented bouquet products on the market which over a decade and half ago. However, compete very favourably on price with for television viewers in Uganda who competitors yet offers much richer are still viewing the free to air analogue content. These include DStv Access signals, he/she will have to migrate to a featuring over 35 channels at only Ugx24, new digital platform and should expect 000/= per month, DStv Family over to receive an improved TV picture quality 40 channels at Ugx48, 000/= and DStv and also be able to receive an increased Compact with over 50 channels at only number of channels due to the new Ugx67, 200/=. digital services which will provide many Additionally we are constantly launching new channels on each of the bouquets benefitsAt MultiChoice, to viewers. we are also exploring to further enrich the content, a fact we all the new possibilities so that we can Charles Hamya, MD, DSTV-Multichoice Uganda ensure that when the migration occurs, achieving our goal of retaining and firmly believe will be important towards to pass the proposed digital migration gaining new customers. digital broadcast to as many television policy. This should lay the framework for we will be able to extend the benefits of How will Multichoice be driving the a well regulated industry that guarantees viewers in the country as possible. generation of local content that is the adoption of the best available MultiChoice has always and will continue appealing to East African audiences? technology such as DVB-T2 as well as a place its customer at the centre of Together with M-Net and SuperSport, our business endeavours which is we are already doing a number of local the players. demonstrated by the constant innovations level but competitive playing field for all productions across the East African we have introduced in order to improve Lastly there are a number of digital market. Examples include the Patricia our products, programming and service technologies being marketed and sold Show and Stand-Up Uganda production. delivery to subscribers. The migration in Uganda, some have already been We have also invested in training and will allow us to take our customer centric rejected in other parts of the World due building the capacity of local television approach to the next level and to so many to new and more innovating technology producers so they can create regionally more people. produced high quality programmes the UCC will select the most modern and featuring East African nationals that can What can the different stakeholders becoming available; I am confident that up to date standard which offers Ugandan be showcased on DStv. This will be an do to ensure an effective migration to viewers the best usage of spectrum while on-going process. digital television? ensuring television viewers in Uganda First of all, I would like to applaud the M-Net is always on the lookout and ISSUE 6 | 2011 are provided the best digital television efforts undertaken so far by the Uganda procures locally produced television experience, in this way we will have one content in the region which they then single smooth migration and not a second Broadcasting Council to create awareness broadcast to a wider TV audience even Communications Commission “UCC” and or third. amongst the public about the impending beyond East Africa. How is DSTV MultiChoice positioning We are hoping that sometime in the step. I believe that the next step is for the itself in the face of mushrooming migration. This is an important first future, M Net will be able to launch an government and policy makers competitors, many of whom are East African channel. ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 37 enterprise SOLUTIONS KEY FACTORS Security: This should be a priority especially

data whose breach can have serious legal since companies work with confidential implications. The phone must therefore be able to support Virtual Private Networks in addition to user passwords and PIN access. Business applications: Without enterprise applications like Microsoft Exchange for mail a smartphone is nothing more than a fancy gadget. Ensure that any other critical applications your company runs will be supported on the smartphone you choose.

Ease of use and Form factor: Even though your enterprise might need a tonne of fancy features,

functions, then it will defeat the purpose of if employees are going to get lost finding the

form factor is important as a brick phone will introducing efficiency in the company. Equally, become cumbersome to pocket.

Battery life: It’s absolutely critical that a smartphone has a reasonable battery life - in

workforce will need a phone that can endure many cases traveling executives, in the field days of talk time, not hours.

Features: Although some features tend to be

employees travel, the phone must be able to fluff, some are important, for example if your work in different locations. For example not all smartphones access the web at the same speed and some do not even support high speed data services.

CHOICE PICKS;BERRIES Vs APPLES iPhone vs Blackberry: How to choose a smartphone for your enterprise Although both the iPhone and Blackberry are smartphones suited for business use, one ISSUE 6 | 2011

one you should buy based on your business primary needs. size does not really fit all-there are specific peculiarities which will determine which TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 38 enterprise SOLUTIONS

iPhone 4 Blackberry Bold 9780

No centralized management portal Centralized company wide security policies can be and therefore no company wide implemented due to the availability of the Black- security policies can be implemented berry Enterprise Server portal. The Blackberry was since the iPhone was initially posi- endorsed as inherently secure for transmission of Security tioned as a consumer device which sensitive data by NATO and various governments has become attractive to business worldwide. users You can carry your music as well as If you are a multimedia fan you need to carry both your cellphone since the iPhone has the Blackberry and iPod which becomes cumber- Device consolidated iPod functionality and some. consolidation mobile phone features

As a consumer device its business applications are limited although The Blackberry is the King of Apps with at least the iPhone developer community 15,000 apps available in 5 global languages. For is constantly churning out apps to example, the SAP Customer Relationship Manage- satisfy business users. The iPhone for ment is available for Blackberry users. Blackberry example can now integrate with Mi- Business apps include tools for data collection, real estate, crosoft Exchange allowing business applications users to access business mail. iPhone online meetings, media backup, Lotus Notes in an is also now running Oracle applica- endlesssales and list customer of apps. service, file transfer, WebEx tions as well as dashboard apps for business intelligence.

Videocalling: Yes Videocalling: Yes Multimedia Video recording: Yes Video recording: Yes capabilities Media player: Yes Media player: Yes Camera and Video: Yes Camera and Video: Yes

The iPhone has more storage capacity which obviously supports its mul- Storage phones have 512MB of RAM timedia functionality- up to 32GB Significantly less storage of 256MB but both Talk time up to 14 hours Talk time up to 6 hours Keyboard- in-built Keyboard-QWERTY Screen size 3.5 inches diagonally Screen size 2.4 inches diagonally Navigation: Multitouch input Navigation: Optical trackpad Usability features

Speakerphone: Yes Speakerphone: Yes ISSUE 6 | 2011 Weight: 137g Weight: 122g Durability: Scratch resistant screen Durability: Sturdy body SIM Card usage: Special SIMs SIM Card usage: Ordinary SIMs

VERDICT: If your phone is primarily used for multimedia perhaps you’re in the entertainment industry, or media business then an iPhone is the best choice for you. However, for users who are tasked to check and responding to business email and need to review documents regularly, the no-frills Blackberry will serve you best for business productivity. TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 39 enterprise SOLUTIONS

Virtualization Driven By Data Center Consolidation

35%

26%

2010 Primary virtualization technology used Source: searchdatacentre.com

Nicholas Katumba

Organizations with large-scale IT operating systems using server virtualization in most of their IT implementations and infrastructure are facing a double-edged techniques and software. this is mainly being driven by the new data center management approach; consolidation Virtualization is an approach where several on IT budgets have been exacerbated by the of all data center resources for a more challenge. The financial pressures exerted applications—sometimes running on never-ending increase in demand for storage different operating systems—run on the same and compliance requirements, along with organization wants to use less power, less effective and efficient management. Every the ever-present need to provide resilient space, and less personnel while aiming at servers from a single machine. Software business continuity solutions. In short, IT piece of hardware, creating multiple “virtual” gaining more advantage and value at the manages the different applications and managers are being asked to do more with same time. Virtualization is seen as the key systems, resulting in an experience for end less to a greater degree than ever before. enabler for organizations to achieve their users that is indistinguishable from having goals of reducing the cost of running IT A combination of computer density, the each application on a dedicated machine. infrastructures while improving their levels A virtualized environment, like a data center, of availability. energy conservation and information need for improved management efficiencies, uses fewer machines, requiring less physical

ISSUE 6 | 2011 quality has driven the issue of data centre In recent years, server virtualization has space and less energy for cooling. By avoiding consolidation to the top of every IT Manager’s hardware that runs at partial capacity, agenda. Typically organizations have often usage in development, training, and test virtualization provides greater return on evolved from a technology with significant responded to these challenges by employing environments to one that also has a viable IT investments, and a virtualized server server virtualization solutions. Data centre place in the data center. Space and power environment provides an IT organization consolidation traditionally focused on the limitations in the data center have fueled a migration of distributed data systems to a large consolidation movement, with server applications.

TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY shared infrastructure, later advancing to with greater flexibility to deploy new virtualization and clustering at the forefront. 40 Many enterprises are today going virtual enterprise SOLUTIONS

While virtualization allows organizations to reduction in physical infrastructures, run multiple unique operating systems on organizations no longer have the capital and requirements. In these circumstances it is lack of budget, or certain certification the same physical host simultaneously, it also operational burden of running expensive DC generally recognized as good practice for and DR sites. The ability to take hundreds of applications with non-intensive workloads to legacy, often poorly protected servers and use server virtualization in order to maximize offers benefits in high availability and system tradeoffs. There is little room for error when move them all to a fully clustered system consolidation. portability. Naturally, the benefits come with it comes to managing data center resources. at little additional cost and in no time at However, where maximizing consolidation, Understanding where each virtualization availability and agility are paramount; a technology is best suited in the data center virtualization also allows virtual servers to be all, is also of huge benefit. On top of this, combination of server virtualization and grid- backed-up as a complete image. This further based solutions are the best way to maximize of virtualization without falling victim to its reduces the risk to the business, particularly allows organizations to realize the benefits weaknesses. for those services that are no longer agility. Working in tandem, they can ensure supported by the vendor or the internal the benefits of consolidation, availability and IT organizations combining data center enhanced server virtualization, the ability to IT developers are long gone, and there are consolidation and server virtualization dynamically scale within and across nodes, plenty of these cases around. Many enterprises are going virtual in most of their IT implementations and this is mainly being driven by the new data center management approach; management consolidation of all data center resources for a more effective and efficient must understand how the sequence of In the early days, before many of the new and the dynamic resizing of virtual nodes. consolidation operations (i.e., server toolsets became available, the ability to virtualization before, during, or after replicate many virtual servers from one site to reduce costs for large-scale organizations The benefits of virtualization in being able data center consolidation) can impact to another was great but the recovery process are undeniable. However, while server different aspects of the project. With that understanding, an institution can make of manual processes or a very complex can also introduce potential vulnerabilities. was complex. It involved a significant number virtualization has brought major benefits, it the best choice for its particular set of In a physical server environment, loss of a circumstances. every time a change was made. Today, as set of scripts that required modification greater numbers of automation tools hit A successful combination of server than in the virtual world where, workload the market, DR for instance is becoming a single server has significantly less impact virtualization and data center consolidation dependant, the consolidation ratio of virtual ‘push-the-green-button’ solution requiring machines running on a single physical server fewer and fewer administrators. This level could be in the 10-15x range. A physical yields benefits, including a flexible of automation simply wouldn’t be possible reduced costs, and a better posture for server failure can affect all of the virtual infrastructure, efficient use of IT resources, without virtualization technologies. adoption of cloud-related services. In my machines and applications running on that opinion, the best path to this “consolidation Taking this one step further, the days of piece of hardware. Similarly failure of the virtualization layer itself impacts all running before data center consolidation. At its very unplanned disasters could be a thing of virtual environments. nirvana” is to perform server virtualization having specific DC and DR strategies for core, virtualization offers three key features the past as more and more technologies The complexity of this scenario grows that can greatly enhance most data center have business continuity solutions built in as organizations standardize on server and business continuity strategies: by default. Cloud storage solutions, based

virtualization and deploy tier one ISSUE 6 | 2011 a) The ability to provide high availability, on virtualization technologies, now enable applications in a virtual server environment. both local and remote, across a far broader data to be made available any time any In short virtualization, while hugely effective range of service tiers. place, regardless of where the critical failure in what it does, is not enough on its own b) The abstraction of services (compute, happened. to provide safeguards against unplanned storage, network and application) from the More still, some enterprises may not be in a downtime. Furthermore, while server underlying infrastructure, enabling greater position to deploy a grid infrastructure. The virtualization can address consolidation at reasons for this may be one of enterprise the server level, it can be found wanting at TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY c) Through consolidation and the resulting size, footprint size, IT policy, outsourcing, the level of storage, data and applications. ET levels of flexibility. 41 enterprise SOLUTIONS Revolutionalize your onsite customer service The VasTech Wavetech eQ system is a turnkey solution for companies that want to dramatically improve customer service and increase employee productivity while enhancing the management decision making process. The system has been widely used by top performing companies in various industries like banking, public service, media, diplomatic missions. In Uganda it is used by Emirates Airlines.

A: Improving the customer experience ISSUE 6 | 2011 TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 42 enterprise SOLUTIONS

The challenge for many businesses that include the traditional queues which are serve as many customers as possible and regularly service huge crowds like those often fraught with problems like queue the customer who wants to spend as little found in places of entertainment, fast jumping, customer impatience; confron- time as possible in the queue while hav- tation of tellers and confusion regarding ing their needs met. Telecom companies banking halls, is how to effectively service service points. for example by nature of dealing with nu- food restaurants, government offices and customers by reducing waiting times, merous customers regularly are prone to Electronic queuing systems such as that engaging customers while they wait and pioneered by VasTech partnering with minimizing employee stress to improve these challenges and therefore would find productivity. queue technology. clear understanding of both worlds- the immediate benefits from using electronic Wavetech are specifically designed with a Manual systems of customer service company which attempts to satisfactorily

B: Improving employee productivity and management decision making ISSUE 6 | 2011 TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY 43 Building blocks for every business...

VASETECH TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS Sage Pastel Packages This is the ideal accounting solution for small to medium and large businesses and is not only innovative and flexible, but powerful as well. The rapid processing multi-user and multi-currency capability makes this accounting software the perfect core accounting application for your business. Choose from Pastel Evolution (ERP) for large organizations with complex needs; Pastel Partner accounting for mid-sized companies looking for flexibility to add modules, and Pastel Xpress for basic accounting needs of small-sized companies. HRM and Payroll System Software People Manager: A comprehensive Human Resource and Payroll Management system designed and developed by VASTECH specifically for the Ugandan market, serving a wide range of businesses. Easy to setup and use,highly customizable and with its powerful reporting capability, it is every Human Resource Manager’s delight. Fixed Asset Manager This is a complete assets register designed to speed up calculation of and reporting on asset depreciation, revaluations, transfers, disposals. This solution also automates depreciation of all an organization’s assets. Academic Records Management Software ARIMS is a powerful Students Information Management Software designed to manage Primary, Secondary and Higher Institutions of Learning student records.The Software eases Students Academic Records Tracking, Timetabling, Staff Management, Accommodation and Reports, Certificates and Transcript Issuance. Partner Micro-finance Financial Institution software set out to manage Loans and Savings for Micro finance institutions as well as Saccos.

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HACKED

WEBSITE ATTACKS; PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Douglas Onyango

It’s every website master’s nightmare, are astounding. This begs the question, against some of the most common forms getting hacked- worse still not being able what is common about these target and of attack. to put the site down for days. why are these miscreants succeeding on Security Framework this very malevolent quest? A couple of years back when we attended Internet Governance meetings, online security, is a security framework. The first and most important aspect of all we did was discuss access and This is a blueprint and without it, website connectivity. security and privacy developers and Admins will be unable issues that the early adopting to develop, or maintain secure web nations grappled with, we only applications. This document will usually mentioned in passing. This is fast changing thanks to the efforts of among other best security practices. It have access levels, file permissions groups like YOGYACARDERLINK, is critical that a corporation involved REALQW, and C4UR who have made in any sort of development on the web it their business to wake up East embed this into every single undertaking. Africa with their relentless hacking Incidences at Facebook and Twitter are attempts. a living testimony of what can happen if security measures are not adopted earlier Problem in the development life cycle. Employing various methods, these Background

groups have and continue to fell targets To answer this question, a few points may Update Web apps ISSUE 6 | 2011 at alarming rates; The targets include be helpful:- 1. Most of the targets felled Content Management Systems (CMS), Government, NGO, Businesses. Name are websites, 2. Nearly all the hacked have greatly improved the speed and it, they have all got a pinch on the ear sites use CMS’s – particularly Joomla and manner in which we design, build from this very unequivocal teachers who 3. Nearly 90% of the time a SQL injection and deploy websites and other web occasionally leaves messages like “Where is used with success. applications. Because of this, businesses have shifted their focus to rapid Solutions Now, whereas the Target selection seems deployment and getting as much info is your security!” on hacked sites. Let us see how we can protect ourselves ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY random, the success rate of these attacks out there as possible. The unintended 45 enterprise SOLUTIONS

consequence is that security is generally Rewrite URLs Changing Default Passwords overlooked. Fortunately most of the With Google Hacking, a search term During installation CMS’ will setup a commonly used CMS’ :- Joomla, Drupal, default password. You must ensure you Wordpress to name three, allow for change these as these trivial passwords, like “inurl:com_contact” can be used to automatic updating of modules or If your url’s are in their original form find vulnerable hosts on the internet. extensions. If you use a CMS be sure they could expose you to real threats. anyone who has ever done an installation, like “Password”, “Admin” are known by to enable updates so that modules The good news for you is that most CMS let alone the hackers. You open up your today have modules to rewrite your website to the possibility of a complete url from something like “test.ug/index. take over by leaving your passwords with flaws are fixed immediately a drastically lower your attack surface. at the default. Choosing a long, hard to vulnerability fix is found. This can php?option=com_content” to “test.ug/ Content Management Systems (CMS), have greatly improved the speed and manner in which we design, build and deploy websites and other web applications. Because of this, businesses have shifted their focus to rapid deployment... The unintended consequence is that security is generally overlooked

guess alphanumeric password combined Database Prefix and Version Numbers easier to read, index for search engines with special characters will go a long way Many Sql injection tools are written to index.php/sponsors.html”. The later is and conceals the Web applications preventing you from getting hacked. exploit CMS’s in their original form. Take components offering you security in the Joomla for instance:- it’s nomenclature Testing Web Apps process. Even with the best security framework Permissions and practices, it is possible to omit has a Database prefix of (jos_). A change any SQL exploits on your Database fail During installation and updating of certain parts of you applications security. in the Database prefix alone will make most of the time. CMS’s, it is common for the modules to The solutions is vulnerability testing.

And speaking of original form and It is also common place especially for are myriads of tools available today - Joomla, extensions have vulnerabilities in write to certain files and directories. This can cater for our human flaws. There the less adept Web Admin to allow both free and premium with some being particular versions and hackers usually more permission than is required in an complex to install or even requiring Linux abandon a target if reconnaissance gives attempt to make administration easier. to run, while other are as easy as a Firefox unreliable information or none at all. This creates the potential for upload Addon. At the end of the day it depends By removing the version numbers from on what you want to achieve. An example your extensions, you lower your chances be mounted on you. Always allow of freely available Firefox addon is “SQL of being attacked in the wild to nearly and execution of files should an attacked zero. You also create far more work for anything over and above can be misused. the targeted attackers given how much just sufficient permission to modules, Inject Me”. This will crawl your Webpage Also ensure you downgrade these after SQL inject vulnerabilities and present gambling the attacker has to do. and test Form fields and other things for installation if your modules really require you a report at the end of the scan which Sanitize User input a privilege escalation. usually lasts only a couple of minutes. ET A SQL injection occurs when a site is unable to preserve it’s query structure extension), should be set with a mask of

ISSUE 6 | 2011 given certain forms of input (usually As a standard:- Your PHP files (.php malicious). The Web application executes a query that otherwise shouldn’t have 644, Configuration files (.conf) should should generally maintain the 755. Use been processed resulting into malicious have the mask set at 666 while other files attacks. Sanitization includes excepting environments – especially Apache will URL’s parameters from being executed of the .htaccess file in most webserver allow you make directory level changes SQL INJECT ME FIREFOX ADD-ON and blocking operations that write, delete and keep the changes uniform across the

TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY from the DB. board. 46 enterprise SOLUTIONS

IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE RANKINGS With the exception of Facebook, Google and other internet giants, most businesses have over 30,000 online competitors. In order to attract web traffic to your business site, you have to employ innovative approaches to stand out from the competition. When a user types a key word in a search engine, over 10,000 results are displayed, less than 5% of the users will go to the next page, so its important to be on the first page, which is not an easy feat..

Cavin Mugarura

earch engines employ a myriad of involves adding keywords, meta tags and 7. Review. Visitors to your site will close parameters to display sites on the descriptions to your content and images. They believe that broken links show S 4. Images. When using images do not your site quickly if they find broken links. web ranking, take note: the information is probably not fresh or first page, in order to improve your embed text in them because search relevant or the webmaster has not been 1. Content is king. Websites that update engines cannot read embedded text. there in a long time. It is vital therefore their content frequently are able to gain Instead use the ‘ALT’ tag and give your to have an independent review of your favorable ranking and even more if they images descriptive names relating to website to ensure you dont have any have unique copy not marketing jargon. your primary business on your website. broken links and that navigation is easy. And when it comes to content, pictures Instead of leaving default names like do not count unless they are html tagged. ‘IMG325.jpg’ instead rename it to ‘Girl 8. Useful freebies. Reward your website A great way to incorporate good lengthy making African crafts’. Also take note that visitors with some freebies like manuals, content is to include relevant PDFs for you give image dimensions in the source videos, to keep them coming back to download in your site. If you lack useful code so the web browser can begin to your site for additional useful giveaways. PDF content then it is crucial that you render the image immediately since it employ a professional copy writer who knows its dimensions. This will help improves rankings. This improves traffic to your site which understands your business and what speed up the opening of your pages. 9. Directories. After designing keywords users search for in relation to 5. Web standards. Ensure your site spankingly beautiful websites a critical your business. complies with global standards such as stage is usually neglected- submitting 2. Incorporate RSS feeds. RSS stands web accessibility standards developed by the site to leading directories and for Really Simple Syndication, and it’s an the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) search engines. It can take up to several effective way to amalgamate content from to enable people with special needs like weeks before your site is listed in these ISSUE 6 | 2011 other sites for your users. It’s important the disabled to access it. directories and ignoring this step can to check the feeds for relevance. result in very low rankings. 6. Flash with keywords. Contrary to 3. Keywords. You need to have a Search 10. Incorporate Social Media networks Engine Optimization (SEO) checklist incorporate text keywords relevant popular belief you can use flash if you plugin, which can check that your to your site into it and keep it short visitors can recommend your content to into your site to drive more traffic as web website is search engine friendly. Search millions of people via these networks. ET TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY engine optimization is a process that otherwise many people find it irritating. 47 enterprise SOLUTIONS

TREND WATCHER: MOBILE MARKETING Although mobile marketing has received its share of bad press- from clients frustrated about the WHAT WILL YOU HAVE FOR LUNCH? CLICK TO lack of useful databases to reach high value prospects, to message recipients complaining about HAVE IT DELIVERED. unsolicited messages, the biggest problem is the lack of understanding of how mobile marketing should be done. Thus the launch of The Mobile Marketing Association, (MMA) (www.mmaglobal. com) Council in East Africa on March 8th in Nairobi, Kenya is a good indicator that East Africa is largely ready to embrace mobile marketing as an integral part of the marketing mix. The event which brought together media agencies, mobile telecom service providers, and leading brands in East Africa sought to establish partnerships and according to the East Africa Mobile Marketing co- Chairman, Frank Maina, “we will work to make the mobile marketing landscape across East Africa

MUST ATTEND: Mobile Web East Africa: 25th-26th May 2011, Nairobi, Kenya a lot more visible and easy to navigate.”

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