ICTworks by Inveneo

The Bayview Webspot is an Internet Cafe in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, USA.  The goals of the Bayview Webspot are to strengthen low-moderate income communities by continually providing access to, and ownership of, high-end technology.  As well as provide an environment of education and accessibility for our clients in a safe, friendly manner.

This location proved to be an ideal setting for Inveneo to test some new Internet Cafe software, CyberCafe Pro made by OneRoof.  Inveneo was tasked by Cisco with installing a low-cost, effective Internet Cafe software in the Community Knowledge Centers (CKC) it is installing throughout rural Kenya.  It was ideal for a couple of reasons.  The Webspot clients are similar in skill and computer knowledge as the CKC target market.  Also they have similar computer needs and usage as well as income levels, which makes Webspot a good place to test.  Finally one of the owners also works at Inveneo so access and approval was made easy.

CyberCafe Pro by OneRoof is the perfect price point, FREE, however the free version has advertisements at the bottom of the page.  It is possible to purchase a non-banner version for $99 per year but this requires an international credit card which is difficult to come by in rural Kenya.

The ease of use and flexibility of the software is amazing!  CyberCafe Pro comes bundled with terminal time management, employee tracking and point-of-sale software.  These are the three most used tasks in any internet cafe and that they are in one program makes training and deployment so much easier.  It also allows for easy tracking and control.  

Finally, OneRoof understands that CyberCafe Pro is not always intuitive and has dealt with this issue by providing YouTube video tutorials.  They are simple to follow and easy to access.  Kudos to the OneRoof team.

Inveneo continues its experimentation of the CyberCafe Pro software at the Bayview Webspot but so far Inveneo has deployed this solution in three CKCs throughout rural Kenya and all is well.

The the University at Nsukka, Enugu, Ituku Ozalla, and Aba is partnering with pretty much every major IT company operating in Nigeria to bring Internet connectivity of 1-4mbps per 1000 students and staff, and create 10-400 Terabytes of local data storage for students and faculty.

As reported by Daily Sun:

Other features, according to Dr. Christian Bolu, project coordinator and Director of the Innovation Centre, UNN, include a packet based voice service (VoIP), use of open source software for teaching and learning in several key subjects, provision of laptop charging bays as well as hardware repair centre and use of dedicated power supply.

Google Inc is lead sponsor of the UNN Wireless Network Infrastructure project and has committed to provide a minimum 25megabytes per second (mbps) of international Internet bandwidth to the university over an initial three-year period. Google would also contribute US$40 000 for the last mile/local loop costs, another US$15 000 for consultancy and training to ensure optimal utilisation of the IT services as well as email and collaboration tools and guidance.

MTN Nigeria Communications would lay the fibre optic cables...Other contributors to the UNN Wireless Infrastructure Network project are Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems. Project contractors are Business Connexion of South Africa, while network infrastructure would be provided by Xirrus Inc of USA and Wavion Technologies of Israel.

Hewlett Packard Inc is providing switches, servers and storage equipment at highly discounted education rates while also providing manpower support for training. Cisco Systems Inc would also assist the University of Nigeria with training in Cisco certification as well as developing the capacity of students and staff for entrepreneurship through the establishment of a model incubator company.

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I wonder if this huge investment will have the $4 million dollar annual impact of ICT at Kenyatta University?

Since 2001, Investment into the African telecommunications sector has hit $18bn, however Africa has missed many opportunities to deploy cable infrastructure to the same extent as its competitive continents such as the Middle East and Asia.

Nevertheless leading authorities understand that such an infrastructure is vital for the continents development and they are planning to announce future moves into 4G at NGT Africa summit hosted by GDS international.

South Africa’s international connectivity received a major boost last year with the launch of the Seacom cable, a high-bandwidth data link connecting Africa with India and Europe. Two further major cables, the West African Cable System and the East African Submarine Cable, are due to come into operation over the next two years.

Africa can offer competitive prices to emerging companies and has obvious mass growth potential. Recent infrastructure improvements throughout the African Markets have allowed the continent to rival the likes of Dubai. As a direct result of the NGT meetings regions such as East Africa are now the choice of many multinationals as a gateway to the Middle East and Africa.

“So far, technology has been a strong point for Dubai. But the arrival of the new submarine cables will allow Africa to run services at a reduced cost.” Will Gary Austin, NGT Director

With so much growth potential and increased investments into the African telecoms market it comes as no surprise that the Middle East telecoms elite have been quick to announce their attendance at the NGT MENA summit to discuss how they plan to maintain their dominance within the market and provide the best services possible to outside investors.
Representatives confirmed to attend the NGT Discussions include Tony Shakib – VP Service provider Emerging Markets from CISCO and Knut Aasrud GM Communications Sector EMEA who will be on hand to share their thought leadership as technology innovators with Ghana Telecom (Vodafone Ghana) - Eric Valentine, Head of Technology Core Networks Orange Uganda - Phillipe Luxey, CEO MTN Group - Sifiso Dabengwa , COO Telkom SA - Charlotte Mokoena, CEO Vodacom Group - Vujani Jarana, Ex. Director Operations Virgin Mobile South Africa - Steve Bailey, CEO

"Cisco and SEACOM share a common goal to enable accessible broadband across Africa while lowering the cost of communication to spur growth within urban and rural communities. We're working with SEACOM to help transform Africa by outlining process change, building networks, and then providing the application services and expertise that support key services for citizens, such as education, healthcare, public safety, economic development, and national security. SEACOM will provide the catalyst for African consumers, business and government to realise the benefits of connectivity and collaboration across the globe." Courtesy of CISCO Systems Inc.