Ian Engelbrecht, system engineering manager: Africa, Veeam. ITWeb, in partnership with Veeam, is running a survey on data resilience readiness among businesses in Africa. The survey aims to explore just how prepared these businesses are to recover from a ransomware or cyber attack, as well as the resources they have at their disposal to help them recover.Brendan Widlake, the Regional Director for Africa at Veeam, says, “Data is at the heart of businesses. It’s the most important asset.“However, the amount of data has absolutely exploded over the past few years. Data touches every aspect of operations, the customer database, internal…
Author: Chris Anu
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Fireworks erupted at the high court in Pretoria on Wednesday as the standoff between e.tv and communications minister Solly Malatsi over analogue television switch-off at the end of this month continues. The legal team representing Malatsi first refused to present to the court in their allotted timeslot on Tuesday, arguing that they needed more time to prepare their arguments. This was disputed by Malatsi’s opponents in the case – e.tv, Media Monitoring Africa and the SOS Coalition – and questioned by the judge, who highlighted the urgency of the matter given that the court has less than 10 days to…
Google’s products and services contributed R118 billion to SA’s economy in 2023. Tech giant Google has committed to help create 300 000 jobs in South Africa, through its ecosystem, by 2030. This was announced yesterday in Johannesburg, at the official launch of its first Africa-based cloud region, which went live in January 2024.At the event, Google announced an additional investment in its cloud region and skills development initiatives in SA. The latest round of investment forms part of Google’s commitment to invest $1 billion over five years, to boost Africa’s digital transformation. Its investment was first announced in 2021.Speaking at…
Google was warned to step in line with the EU’s Big Tech rules or risk hefty fines as part of a two-pronged escalation against Silicon Valley that risks further inflaming tensions with US President Donald Trump. The European Commission chastised Google for allegedly breaching the bloc’s landmark Digital Markets Act by favouring in-house services across its sprawling search empire and for preventing app developers from steering consumers to offers outside of its Play store. Meanwhile, Apple was told it must loosen the shackles on its prized iPhone operating system to comply with the law, approved last year to bolster the…
Nompumelelo Mokou, iOCO independent non-executive director. iOCO, formerly known as EOH, has appointed Nompumelelo Mokou as an independent non-executive director.She is former managing director of Dimension Data Southern Africa, which has rebranded to NTT Data.Mokou, who was appointed to the MD role at Dimension Data in April 2021, confirmed her resignation from the systems integrator in March last year.In a statement, iOCO says Mokou brings a wealth of experience from her career at Dimension Data since 2016.It adds that Mokou was chairperson of the audit committee of the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sports SETA from 2015 to 2019, and…
Google has launched a “cloud region” in Johannesburg, its first in Africa, as it chases its US rivals, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, in building data centre infrastructure in South Africa. Although the data centre “region” has already been operational for more than a year, Google on Wednesday held an industry event in Johannesburg to showcase the investment to customers and partners. The event came two weeks after Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith shared a stage with President Cyril Ramaphosa in Johannesburg to announce that the software giant would invest a further R5.4-billion in new data centre infrastructure…
Nvidia has unveiled a foundation model to boost to robot reasoning and skills in humanoid robots. US-based chipmaker Nvidia this week unveiled a portfolio of new technologies, including a customisable foundation model for generalised humanoid reasoning and skills.Named Nvidia Isaac GR00T N1, the foundation model software was unveiled at the company’s annual developer conference in San Jose, California.In a statement, Nvidia says GR00T N1 is the first of a family of fully-customisable models it will pre-train and release to worldwide robotics developers. The software is available now. “The age of generalist robotics is here,” says Jensen Huang, founder and CEO…
Nompumelelo Mokou Nompumelelo Mokou, formerly MD of Dimension Data (now NTT Data) in Southern Africa, has joined the board of iOCO with immediate effect. Formerly known as EOH Holdings, the JSE-listed IT services group recently changed its name to iOCO, after to its principal operating subsidiary. According to an iOCO statement Monday, Mokou will chair the JSE-listed IT services group’s audit and risk committee, replacing Rhys Summerton, who exited the role on 14 February to assume the role of joint CEO alongside Dennis Venter. Mokou brings a wealth of experience from her distinguished career at Dimension Data since 2016 “Mokou…
Meta is calling for proposals from Sub-Saharan Africa organisations leveraging Llama for economically and socially impactful projects. Meta, in partnership with Data Science Africa, has opened applications for the Llama Impact Grant for start-ups and researchers based in Sub-Saharan Africa. As part of Meta’s global Llama Impact Grants, this initiative will support innovative projects that harness the power of Llama, Meta’s open-source large language model, to develop solutions tailored to the region’s needs.Artificial intelligence (AI) has more potential than any other modern technology to increase human productivity and creativity, accelerate economic growth, and unlock progress in medical and scientific research,…
The newest instalment in Ubisoft’s blockbuster Assassin’s Creed franchise received a “very positive” rating on Steam based on 751 user reviews, with 80% of them being positive, around four hours after its launch on the game distribution platform. The twice delayed release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, based in rural Japan, is Ubisoft’s first major game premiere since the muted reception of Star Wars Outlaws in August last year. Its launch may be considered a “make-or-break moment” for the French videogame maker grappling with falling revenue, a sinking stock price and takeover speculation. Ubisoft’s shares were up 3.4% at 10.29am SAST…
