Jonathan commends AVCNU, CWG-led consortium on NgREN

ITRealms:

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has commended the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU), National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Computer Warehouse Group (CWG plc)-led consortium on the establishment of the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN), reports ITRealms.

The president, represented at the occasion held in Abuja by the Minister of State for Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike and were supported by Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Senate Committee Chairman on Education, Honourable Aminu Suleiman, House Committee Chairman on Education, Dr. Mrs. Omobola Johnson, Honourable Minister of Communication Technology, Dr. Macjohn Nwaobiala, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Senator Amadu Ali, Chairman, NUC Board and Prof. Julius A. Okojie, Executive Secretary, NUC and Chairman, NgREN board.

“As I join the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU) and the National Universities Commission (NUC) in the celebration of this achievement in the establishment of the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN), I commend the individuals and groups that dedicated time and energy to make it a reality,” he said.

President Jonathan also appreciated the World Bank for its support to the NgREN project, and the Executive Secretary of the NUC for championing its cause and the hardworking team of dedicated individuals from within the university system to realize this dream.

He said that government expects all education and research institutions to enlist as members of the NgREN and that the current low ranking of Nigerian universities in quality of teaching and research output will improve significantly within a short time as a result.

Further, President Jonathan urges NgREN stakeholders to ensure the broadband infrastructure and services already provided are maintained and improved upon for the use of all education and research institutions in Nigeria, while directing the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to provide the necessary funds for this purpose.

For Dr. Omobola Johnson the major milestone in local technology advancement with a network of this magnitude wholly designed by Nigerians, built by Nigerians and managed by Nigerians. She specifically singled out CWG Plc, Resourcery Limited and Phase 3 Telecoms for commendation.

Commenting, CWG group CEO, Mr. Austin Okere said his team has never doubted local capacity to deliver major technology projects for government.

“We have matured in delivering projects of this scale, and are grateful to the NUC and World Bank for the opportunity to prove this with the timely delivery of the NgREN. We do look forward to the opportunity of extending this success in the next phases of the project,” he said.

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Pix: Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, Minister of State for Education; Dr. Mrs. Omobola Johnson, Honourable Minister of Communication Technology; Mallam Yakassai, Deputy Director, Public Relations, NUC and Mr. Phillip Obioha, Chief Operating Officer, Computer Warehouse Group Plc during the commissioning event of Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN) recently in Abuja.

Airtel launches Touching Lives CSR Initiative

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Airtel Nigeria in effort to better its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the country has introduced a scheme tagged “Touching Lives Initiative” in Lagos, reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

Chief executive officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya told DigitalSENSE Business News at the launch that the initiative is to enrich the CSR intervention of the mobile network operator to Nigerians through provision of succour to the under-privileged members of the society.

This initiative, he said, marks a significant milestone in the company’s history of CSR interventions in the country, noting that Airtel Touching Lives is a responsive CSR project targeted at providing timely aid to underprivileged Nigerians irrespective of their gender, background or geographical locations.

According to him, Touching Lives Initiative seeks to identify underprivileged persons with specific challenges, pains and struggles with the ultimate objective of providing the needed help to empower and enrich the lives of these individuals.

He went on to describe the programme as a timely, deliberate and responsive CSR initiative to tackle myriad of life challenges confronting most Nigerians.

“At Airtel, we’re passionate about the people we serve and the Nigerian society. Airtel Touching Lives provides a platform for the underprivileged in our society to be identified, heard and also cared for,” he said.

Stressing that it is this commitment to connect with millions of Nigerians, alleviate their suffering and bring smile to their faces that encouraged Airtel to come up with this initiative.

He insisted that the primarily objective for embarking on this initiative it’s genuine interest in the general well-being of Nigerians, especially people with special needs. Pointing out that the project is one of the vehicles by which the company complements the developmental efforts of various governments.

Also speaking on the project, Airtel’s Director of Corporate Communications and CSR, Mr. Emeka Oparah, expressed the readiness of the telecommunications operator to contribute to efforts of government, non-governmental organisations and individuals who are highly-spirited like Airtel Nigeria in humanitarian courses.

 “Touching Lives is one of the philanthropic gestures of Airtel Nigeria designed to connect and alleviate the suffering of helpless people across the country. This initiative underscores our determination to enrich lives and contribute to humanity.”

The programme allows Nigerians to nominate disadvantaged persons who are in need of care or special interventions.

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Pix: Touching Lives: L-R, Former Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Muiz Banire; Director, Legal & Company Secretary, Airtel Nigeria, Olugbenga Rotimi; Producer, Airtel Touching Lives Programme, Patricios Spero; Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya; Mrs Tijani Azizat, representing Dame. Abimbola Fashola, First Lady of Lagos State; Mrs. Oluranti Odutola, representing the Deputy Governor of Lagos State and Jibril Saba, HR Director, Airtel Nigeria at the unveiling of Airtel Touching Lives CSR programme held in Lagos.

Upperlink becomes ICANN registrar

ITRealms:

Finally, the Nigeria’s internet industry received a boost as the global internet body, Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers [ICANN] announced the accreditation of Nigeria’s leading registrar, Upperlink, reports ITRealms.

Upperlink is first Nigerian registrar and eighth accredited registrar on the content of Africa by ICANN, just as the new status, would avail Upperlink to serve Nigerian and international markets comfortably.

Upperlink’s core areas are in internet and mobile applications, software development and deployment, database management, systems integration and cloud solutions.

As the leading Nigeria Internet Registration Association [NIRA]’s registrar, Upperlink is in the forefront of registrars spearheading the migration of Nigerian companies from .com to the .ng domain name, which is Nigeria's Country Code Top Level Domain.

The Managing Director and chief executive officer (CEO), UpperLink, Mr Segun Akano, said the .ng domain “is a shorter and unique domain.”

As ICANN registrar, he said, Upperlink would offer Nigerians opportunities to register any domain name extension such as .com, .org, .net etc at affordable prices locally.

Upperlink’s accreditation follows a similar exercise that was achieved in Ghana, Senegal and South Africa.

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CPN CEO calls on African TLDs to create demand

ITRealms

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Computer Registration Professional of Nigeria (CPN) Mr. Sekiru Shehu has called on the African Top Level Domain (AfTLDs) to create more demands, reports ITRealms.

Speaking to ITRealms in his keynote to the 2014 Africa Domain Name System (AfDNS) forum holding at the Nicon Luxury Abuja on “Monetizing the Africa Domain Name Space” Mr. Shehu noted that there are two sides to a business, namely the supply and demand sides respectively.

According to him, the problem is not supply so “we have not done well in creating demand – And so, we have to wake up.”

Members of the African TLDs community need to develop capacities for business development, take seriously the issues of quality of service (QoS), quality of experience (QoE) and put in place friendly operational policies and procedures.

He pointed out that as many Africans go online, African businesses and governments are turning to the internet and in particular the domain name industry to help them elevate their work to the next level, to help them grow and increase impact.

“The domain name industry is increasingly becoming a major contributor to our countries, Gross Domestic Products (GDPs). This has brought about the need to look at ways of taking advantage of the new opportunities through investment and monetization,” he asserted.

In addition, Shehu said there are many different categories of domain investment and monetization, with some being easier than others.

“Some methods have a higher return than others. They all have their pros and cons, and they all take time and hard work to utilize effectively. This will form the basis of our discussion in the next three days,” the CPN boss said.

Monetisation within the domain name space include developing affiliate websites – Think of a good domain name, register it, and then build a website filled with various advertisements for other sites that bear a similarity to your domain name, making money off anyone who clicks on the ads and purchases the advertised products.

As said by him, by developing Pay Per Click (PPC) websites people make money one, which means these are very much like affiliate sites, except the revenue generated comes from PPC advertising systems like Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network.

Additionally, domain parking – There are several services, like sedo.com, where you can “park” your domain. The domain will have a variety of keyword targeted ads, similar to the ppc and affiliate sites mentioned above. You make money off the ads that your parking company puts up. Additionally, you can also list your site for sale at the same time.

For him, domain leasing, which entails renting the domain name out to advertisers or other interested parties, could be a source of monetisation, just as domain purchase and resale – register use domain or buy an existing domain with hopes of reselling it to other domainers.

“Domain Development – Register a domain name and develop a website for it, with unique content and some sort of business model,” he said.

Remmy Nweke

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Pix Mr. Shehu, CPN, CEO

Axis names Interdist Alliance partner for Africa

ITRealms:

Leading network video operator, Axis Communications, has appointed Interdist Alliances as its authorised distribution partner for all African regions outside of South Africa, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this to ITRealms, the Public Relations and Marketing Manager for Axis, Sasha Bonheim, said that with this agreement, Interdist will distribute the full range of Axis Communications security cameras across these regions.

Bonheim quoted the sales manager for Axis Communications’ South Africa hub, Jason McGregor as saying that Interdist has a focussed African footprint, a solid business and reseller network and a strong technical competence that aligns with Axis’s brand and its African strategy.

“Interdist Alliances will be bringing global best practices and business value to our customers in these regions,” he said, stressing that with quality, reliability and accessibility being key requirements for its operations to maintain the high level of customer service and support expected of the company, expressing the believe they made a good choice in Interdist.

Kris Tierney, General Manager at Interdist said it is their commitment as a value added distributor to help companies like Axis find new opportunities and provide reliable, responsive support making full use of the reach offered through the company’s growing network.

“Interdist Alliances is very excited to announce our new relationship with Axis Communications. We are confident that innovative security solutions, including video surveillance will create a huge new opportunity for our partners who can use their expertise in networking and storage solutions to position the Axis range effectively in many sectors, including retail, property management and the financial sector,” Tierney said.

McGregor adds that this move marks an important milestone for the company globally.

“Africa is most certainly the fastest growing emerging market in the world,” he said, pointing out that the continent has gone through a remarkable decade of economic transformation and has become a very busy place to do business with talk of new investment, new cities, new airports and even new refineries.
"All of these places are going to need to be secured and it’d be remiss of us were we not to find our place amongst the buzz," he said.

Remmy Nweke

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Samsung, Intel, 4 others team up as Open Interconnect Consortium

ITRealms:

The Samsung Electronics, Intel  have teamed up with Atmel, Broadcom, Dell and Wind River to form a group with to improve interoperability and to define the connectivity requirements for the billions of devices that will make up the Internet of Things (IoT), reports ITRealms.

Also gathered by ITRealms, would be known as Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) with the aims to redefine connection standards that will ensure interoperability of devices including Personal Computers (PCs), smartphones, wearables and industrial appliances.

A press statement endorsed by Samsung Electronics showed that "The OIC is focused on defining a common communications framework based on industry-standard technologies to wirelessly connect and intelligently manage the flow of information among personal computing and emerging IoT devices, regardless of form factor, operating system or service provider."

Further, ITRealms gathered that some of the outcome could include the specifications capable of making it simple to remotely control and receive notifications from smart home appliances or enterprise devices using securely provisioned smartphones, tablets or PCs. Possible consumer solutions include the ability to remotely control household systems to save money and conserve energy

ITRealms recalls that member companies will contribute software and engineering resources to the development of a protocol specification, open source implementation, and a certification programme, all with a view of accelerating the development of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Remmy Nweke

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PocketMoni on BRT buses, promo messages says eTranzact

ITRealms:

The management of eTranzact International Plc has explained apprehensions over the Friday burnt of some mass transit buses belonging to the Lagos State government decorated with PocketMoni adverts, saying its only a promotional messages, reports ITRealms.

The Senior Public Relations Manager, eTranzact International Plc, Mr. Ifeanyi Abraham in an official press statement made available to ITRealms, said the attention of the company has been drawn to some publication, owned by Lagos State but bearing promotional messages about PocketMoni, an eTranzact International Plc’s mobile money service.

ITRealms recalled that earlier Friday some BRT belonging to Lagos State government were set ablaze along Palmgrove-Onikpanu axis of Ikorodu Road in Lagos for alleged involvement in the death of an Army officer.

“We received information and pictures of two BRT buses bearing promotional messages of our mobile money service, PocketMoni which were set ablaze on Ikorodu road, Lagos,” he noted.

These buses, he said, were not official buses of PocketMoni or eTranzact International Plc, but the property of the Lagos State government and were only used as part of promotional activities reaching out to Nigerians about its mobile money service.

“We sympathize with all parties who were involved in the unfortunate incident according to media reports, and we hope that any injuries received are not fatal,” he said.

Stressing that they have been in contact with the official owners of the buses and believe they have everything under control now.

Remmy Nweke:

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Pix: BRT buseses with PocketMoni poster.