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South Africa’s new sockets and plugs: Everything you need to know
South Africa has a new standard for electrical sockets and plugs. Known as SANS 164-2, the standard, developed by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), replaces SANS 164-1 (the large, three-pin plugs used in the country for decades). In this episode of the podcast, TechCentral is joined by Gianfranco…
Unpacking BBD's MServ cloud management solution [promoted]
As the cloud continues to become a standard workplace technology for companies across all sectors, internal IT departments may struggle to effectively monitor and maintain an effective cloud environment. To alleviate this, BBD has launched a new, specialised cloud management service called MServ to help companies manage their cloud setups…
Ellies bets big on home solar as it eyes turnaround
Ellies Holdings is a 41-year-old JSE-listed company whose products, from television aerials to electrical cables and LED lighting, are well known to most South Africans. What many people don't know is the company has been through enormous difficulty in recent years -- to the extent that its auditors raised a…
South Africa's spectrum ITA, unpacked by top experts
In this special edition of the TechCentral podcast, Duncan McLeod chats to three top industry experts to unpack communications regulator Icasa’s invitations to apply for broadband spectrum and for the wholesale open-access network (Woan). McLeod is joined by Steve Song, Kerron Edmunson and Mortimer Hope to discuss the ITAs in…
DFA's Vino Govender on doing digital transformation right [promoted]
In this episode of the podcast, TechCentral speaks to Dark Fibre Africa executive for strategy, mergers & acquisitions Vino Govender about the digital transformation project the company embarked on and the lessons learnt. Govender shares DFA's approach to digital transformation, why it made customer experience the centre of its strategy,…
South African digital bank Bettr nears launch: An interview with the founders
South Africa will soon have a new "digital bank" in the form of Bettr, a fintech start-up that has been working on building a "new challenger" in the country's finance sector that promises to offer a "better alternative". In this episode of the podcast, TechCentral's Duncan McLeod interviews Bettr co-founders…
How IT can help smaller enterprises thrive beyond lockdown [promoted]
In this episode of the podcast, Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Deshan Moodley and Pinnacle’s Jeremy Lichtenstein unpack the impact of the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown on mid-sized enterprises, and the small and medium business sector, and the role IT solutions can play in the recovery. While the…
4Sight Holdings' Willie Ackerman on Covid as digital accelerant [promoted]
In this episode of the podcast, Willie Ackerman, chief sales and marketing officer at JSE-listed 4Sight Holdings, talks about how the Covid-19 lockdown has dramatically accelerated digital transformation. Ackerman believes the world is already moving on from so-called "fourth Industrial Revolution" technologies to what he calls Enterprise 5.0. What is…
Johann Els on running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server on SAP [promoted]
SUSE South Africa open-source specialist Johann Els joins the podcast for a discussion on why SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) makes SAP enterprise applications faster and more responsive, and how this can save companies money through reliability uptime and live patching. Els provides a brief introduction to SUSE, offers an…
Bob Skinstad on life after pro-rugby and investing in tech
Bob Skinstad on life after pro-rugby and investing in tech In this episode of the podcast, Duncan McLeod interviews former Springbok rugby captain Bob Skinstad. Skinstad, who now lives in London, talks about the career he's been building since retiring from professional rugby and his partnership with Knife Capital and…
Absa Group CIO Wilhelm Krige on the big Barclays de-merger
In this episode, Duncan McLeod interviews Absa Group CIO Wilhelm Krige about the mammoth project, now mostly completed, of separating the banking giant's IT systems from former parent Barclays. The total cost of the separation amounted to R17.5-billion, with Barclays paying R12.6-billion to help fund it. Much of this spend…
DataProphet CEO Frans Cronje on AI firm's R100m funding round
Frans Cronje, co-founder and CEO of Cape Town-based artificial intelligence firm DataProphet joins the TechCentral podcast to unpack the big fundraising round it announced last week with Knife Capital. The investment round, which also includes funding from the Industrial Development Corp and Norican Group, came to US$6-million (about R100-million) and…
The fascinating story behind Nedbank Money App Lite [promoted]
Nedbank has made big strides with Nedbank Money App Lite, a smaller, less resource-intensive version of its banking app that's built as "progressive Web application". In this episode of the podcast, TechCentral speaks to Tawanda Chatikobo, Nedbank's head of digital channels, to learn more about how the Covid-19 pandemic, and…
Revix CEO Sean Sanders on the future of crypto investment
Revix co-founder and CEO Sean Sanders joins TechCentral for a discussion on cryptocurrencies as an investment class and why current world events are underpinning the renewed boom in bitcoin and other cryptos. In the podcast, Sanders explains why he thinks cryptocurrencies - and gold - are booming in 2020 and…
Interview: Introducing Dimension Data’s Smart Virtual Workplace [promoted]
When the hard Covid-19 lockdown was introduced in South Africa on 27 March, many companies were forced to scramble to find ways to shift their workforces from their offices to employees’ homes. Some did better than others; some are still struggling to find the right balance and to support their…
Interview: SA's LightWare LiDAR raises R25m for global expansion
In this episode of the podcast, Duncan McLeod speaks to James Portman, founder and CEO of Centurion-based LightWare LiDAR, about the company's R25-million fundraising round with private equity player Sanari Capital. Portman, who is joined in the discussion by Sanari CEO Samantha Pokroy, explains how a South Africa light detection…
Interview: Pinnacle's Fred Saayman on the importance of Wi-Fi 6 [promoted]
In this promoted episode of the podcast, executive for the Huawei business unit at Pinnacle, talks about the latest version of Wi-Fi, version 6, and what it can do that previous versions could not. He delves into Huawei's AirEngine solution and what it is capable of, including supporting up to…
Interview: DStv's Mark Rayner on the Explora Ultra, streaming, 4K and more
Mark Rayner, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, joins TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod on the podcast to discuss the major announcements made by the pay-television operator on Wednesday, including the launch of the DStv Explora Ultra personal video recorder (PVR). In the podcast, Rayner unpacks what the new PVR can do…
Trend Micro's Mannie Tzingakis on IT security in a pandemic [promoted]
In this episode of the podcast, TechCentral is joined by Mannie Tzingakis, technical lead for sub-Saharan Africa at Trend Micro, for a discussion on the trends in the Internet security space, especially since the advent of Covid-19. Tzingakis talks about the biggest security problems associated with the work-from-home measures introduced…
Interview: IoT.nxt signs partnership deal with Vodafone UK [promoted]
South African Internet of things specialist IoT.nxt has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Vodafone's UK subsidiary that will see the two companies collaborating in delivering IoT solutions to the mobile operator's enterprise customer base. IoT.nxt, which was recently acquired by South Africa's Vodacom Group (which is also controlled by…