Interview: iOCO's Richard Vester on the brave new world of hyperscale computing

Loading player...
In this promoted episode of the podcast, TechCentral is joined by Richard Vester, executive director and head of cloud at IT services company iOCO, for a discussion on the "brave new world of hyperscale computing".
In the podcast, Vester explores the impact of the opening in South Africa of hyperscale data centres by international cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services, and what this means for the local IT ecosystem.
He explains why service providers like iOCO still have a strong role to play in assisting local customers on their cloud journeys. The emergence of hyperscale cloud providers in South Africa should not be seen as a threat, but rather as an opportunity for local players, Vester believes.
A shift in thinking is, however, required, both by the local IT service provider industry and by end-user customers, many of whom are still "box huggers" in that they are relatively slow to move to the hyperscale world, he says.
Vester also discusses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and explores whether companies should be using the crisis to accelerate their digital transformation projects and the shift to cloud computing.
Don't miss the discussion!
2 Jun 2020 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | Pick n Pay’s Enrico Ferigolli on Penny, the AI that shops for you

Pick n Pay has switched on an AI shopping companion called Penny inside its asap! app, and in this episode of the TechCentral Show, retail executive for omnichannel Enrico Ferigolli takes editor Duncan McLeod through what it does and why it matters. Built on Google's Gemini models, Penny lets customers…
2 Jul 23 min

TCS+ | How Tracker is turning vehicle data into business strategy

Vehicle tracking has come a long way from its origins as a stolen vehicle recovery tool. Today, the data generated by connected fleets – covering driver behaviour, fuel consumption, route efficiency and real-time events – has elevated telematics from an operational afterthought to a boardroom conversation. In this episode of…
1 Jul 13 min

TCS+ | IBM Bob: an AI-powered ‘development partner’ for the enterprise

It’s been roughly 18 months since AI researcher Andrej Karpathy coined the term “vibe coding” – using natural language alongside AI tools to write and deploy code – and the market for AI coding assistants has grown rapidly since. IBM’s entry into this space is Bob, an AI-powered development assistant…
30 Jun 22 min

Watts & Wheels S1E6: ‘A flawless Alfa and a bakkie that divides’

Episode 6 of Watts & Wheels – TechCentral’s electric motoring show – sees hosts William Kelly and Duncan McLeod wade into the most opaque corner of the South African car market: tariffs, subsidies and what they really cost the people buying the cars. William opens with a deep dive into…
17 Jun 1 hr 15 min

Watts & Wheels S1E5: ‘A Bentley of the bush and a car that swims’

After a few months away, Watts & Wheels returns for the fifth episode of season 1, with William Kelly in studio and Duncan McLeod dialling in from the Southern Cape. Watch episode 5 now In episode 5, William and Duncan dive into: • The new Suzuki Across, an entry-level SUV…
8 Jun 1 hr 01 min