Author: Chris Anu

The Open Group, the vendor-neutral technology and standards organization, today announced the formation of the Industrial Advanced Nuclear™ Consortium (IANC).The Consortium Members will collaborate to enable integrated advanced nuclear heat and power solutions to serve industrial customer needs. Through standardization of interfaces and sourcing terminology and adopting risk-appropriate design practices, the Consortium will deliver open standard framework and business guidelines to encourage competition, lower costs, decrease regulatory risks, and reduce schedule uncertainties. The benefit to the industrial end-users will be diversification of their energy sources with reliable, safe, and carbon-free heat and power.“There is an urgent need to better leverage…

Jason Lane-Sellers Travel fraud and related crime is on the rise worldwide as criminals take aim at the security vulnerabilities of rewards programmes offered by airlines, among other loopholes. According to Jason Lane-Sellers, director of fraud and identity for Europe, Middle East and Africa at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, criminals are hacking into multiple rewards programme user accounts, consolidating the rewards points into a single account, and cashing these out for big ticket items such as smart TVs and other household and electronic goods. However, smart technological interventions are coming to the rescue. People aren’t as secure about their loyalty and…

On-demand delivery platform Sixty60 was introduced in 2019. Last-mile delivery platform Checkers Sixty60’s sales increased by 47.7% to R18.9 billion, for the year ended 30 June.In a SENS announcement, Shoprite Group says its Checkers supermarket chain recorded sales growth of 13.8%, adding R11.6 billion, to reach almost R100 billion in sales.“We continued executing on our strategy to focus on growing the businesses that form part of our core Supermarkets RSA, and in doing so, we reduced exposure in certain non-RSA regions, while also selling our furniture business to Pepkor Holdings. See also “Looking ahead, our focus remains on developing an…

iOCO co-CEOs Rhys Summerton, left, and Dennis Venter A turnaround at IT services group iOCO – previously EOH Holdings – is gathering pace. The group said on Tuesday in a trading update to investors that it expects to swing to positive headline earnings per share for the year ended 31 July 2025 when it reports its results at the end of October. The numbers disclosed in the trading update all show a big improvement under the new management team, led by newly appointed co-CEOs Rhys Summerton and Dennis Venter: Ebitda, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, is expected…

The third cohort of the Women in Tech Programme kicks off. Standard Chartered, in partnership with WomHub, announced the launch of the third cohort of the Women in Tech (WiT) programme. Standard Chartered South Africa has invested $50 000 to empower women‑founded tech enterprises.The WiT incubator programme aims to improve gender equality and innovation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by offering mentorship, technical support to scale, training, networking and funding access. Anjani Harjeven, CEO of WomHub, says: “Enabling female founders to grow and scale is at the core of WomHub. We’re proud of our continued partnership with the Standard Chartered Bank Women in…

Digital platforms have become the essential infrastructure of modern life. They power everything from our group chats to businesses, shopping, election campaigns and emergency coordination. They instantly connect us and continuously feed us information. Yet, although they broker information everywhere, the power of digital platforms remains largely invisible. They control content and harvest information from behind a curtain, and avoid accountability by claiming they’re neutral. Section 230, the US law that states online platforms can’t be treated as publishers, helps them avoid legal responsibility for the content they host. In a new study published in Political Communication with Francesco Marolla,…

Public sector procurement preference this week turned to low-value, quick-win quotation requests. Activity on National Treasury’s eTenders Portal remains high this week; however, public sector procurement preference has now turned towards low-value, quick-win quotation requests. Nevertheless, the ICT sector will be pleased to see that national government departments are once again considering their technology requirements, with both the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities placing tender advertisements. The DPSA takes precedence with its call for a service provider to configure its SharePoint online system to align with its knowledge management…

Nedbank is the latest non-telecommunication brand to enter the mobile market, launching an MVNO – or mobile virtual network operator. Nedbank Connect has partnered with MTN South Africa to provide the service to its clients and is offering aggressively priced data and voice plans. The build-your-own plan feature enables custom combinations of data, minutes and SMSes The MNVO provides month-to-month plans, no contracts, no penalties and a group plan feature that is designed for families, small businesses and other groups of people. The service uses “established mobile infrastructure to offer its clients both predefined plans and a build-your-own option, allowing…

WiTechnology officially launched its digital marketplace platform in Midrand last week, bringing together female entrepreneurs, corporates and government partners to strengthen gender equity and inclusivity in the technology sector.The digital platform was unveiled during the second WiTechnology Summit. It aims to enable women-led small and medium enterprises (SMMEs) to connect with corporates, access funding opportunities and receive policy guidance.Porchia Muller, head of sponsorship and fundraising at WiTechnology, outlined the platform’s goal of creating a business exchange hub. “We’re bringing together the elements and the ecosystem of corporate, together with SMME as well as funding, to propel the movement of women in…

Advancements in wireless technology have made it possible for vehicle owners to access and start their cars without having to insert a physical key into the door or ignition cylinder. However, the convenience of keyless access does have its drawbacks, with criminals exploiting technology loopholes to make vehicle theft much easier. They no longer need to make any contact with the driver as they would in an armed hijacking. “With the rise in keyless entry technology, incidents of keyless access theft have also increased and today it ranks among the most common methods of vehicle theft,” said Tracker chief operating…