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Tag: MainOne

  • MainOne powers MEST Incubator

    West Africa’s leading connectivity and data centre services provider, MainOne, has partnered with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) to provide high-speed internet access to the MEST Incubator in Ikoyi, Lagos. MEST is a not-for-profit organisation which provides technology training, seed investment and mentorship for the next generation of globally successful African software entrepreneurs.

    This partnership will leverage MainOne’s fiber connectivity, as well as MEST’s seed fund and incubator to foster the growth and success of entrepreneurs by providing work space, high-speed internet, hands-on support, resources and a vibrant community to help start-ups succeed.

    According to MainOne Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke, MainOne remains committed to powering up the startup and technology ecosystem in Nigeria which remains underdeveloped and  to foster socio-economic development of Africa through the creation of sustainable businesses and enterprises.

    “We will continue to support initiatives like the MEST with investments in fibre-optics infrastructure to deepen broadband penetration and create enabling environment for these companies”, she said.

    “Our expansion into Lagos was in response to the vast amount of talent present combined with the surge in the development on technology in the country. Our pan-African network of incubators is aimed at discovering the best tech talent on the continent and providing our existing entrepreneurs the support they need as they expand into new markets across the continent”, said Neku Atawodi-Edun, Director of Investor Relations at MEST.

    Speaking on the partnership she applauded MainOne’s support in enabling the hub with the capacity to meet the requirements of entrepreneurs who just need the space to focus and work on their big ideas. “The MEST Incubator is a hub where different tech and digital start-ups, are availed seed funds and resources essential to the success of their business.

     

     

  • MainOne powers MEST Incubator

    West Africa’s leading connectivity and data centre services provider, MainOne, has partnered with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) to provide high-speed internet access to the MEST Incubator in Ikoyi, Lagos. MEST is a not-for-profit organisation which provides technology training, seed investment and mentorship for the next generation of globally successful African software entrepreneurs.

    This partnership will leverage MainOne’s fiber connectivity, as well as MEST’s seed fund and incubator to foster the growth and success of entrepreneurs by providing work space, high-speed internet, hands-on support, resources and a vibrant community to help start-ups succeed.

    According to MainOne Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke, MainOne remains committed to powering up the startup and technology ecosystem in Nigeria which remains underdeveloped, to foster socio-economic development of Africa through the creation of sustainable businesses and enterprises.

    “We will continue to support initiatives like the MEST with investments in fibre-optics infrastructure to deepen broadband penetration and create enabling environment for these companies”, she said.

    “Our expansion into Lagos was in response to the vast amount of talent present combined with the surge in the development on technology in the country. Our pan-African network of incubators is aimed at discovering the best tech talent on the continent and providing our existing entrepreneurs the support they need as they expand into new markets across the continent”, said Neku Atawodi-Edun, Director of Investor Relations at MEST.

    Speaking on the partnership she applauded MainOne’s support in enabling the hub with the capacity to meet the requirements of entrepreneurs who just need the space to focus and work on their big ideas. “The MEST Incubator is a hub where different tech and digital start-ups, are availed seed funds and resources essential to the success of their business.

     

     

  • MainOne: technology key to growth

    MainOne: technology key to growth

    Increased technology adoption will create jobs, grow the bottomline for businesses, reduce corruption and lead to rapid economic transformation, the Chief Executive Officer, MainOne, Funke Opeke has said.

    According to her, a survey by the company showed that Nigeria is one of the world’s top three consumers of the internet, adding that more needed to be done to harness the potential of digital transformation.

    Speaking at MainOne’s flagship IT event, Nerds Unite, in Lagos with: Radical digital transformation as theme, she said aside connectivity to the internet, there was need to collaborate in the areas of increasing the rate of technology adoption, local data hosting and content distribution.

    Opeke said it was important to engage technology gurus in sharing ideas and finding new ways to improve the standard of living, adding that the conference was a platform designed to bring together professionals in the world of technology.

    “Technology is critical to the sustenance of the community. There is no way the economy will grow without technology. Therefore, there’s need for radical digital transformation,” she said.

    Other IT experts highlighted the importance of applying technology to every facet of life in line with digital transformation agenda of the Federal Government.

    The keynote speaker, Nnamdi Oranye, urged Nigerians to be passionate about the development of the country, adding that technology remained the only way to move the country forward.

    Oranye, who is the author of Disrupting Africa’ stated that a recent United Nations survey estimated that Nigeria would be the third largest country in the world by 2050.

    He said Nigeria could not afford to fail, adding that Africa is looking up to the country described as a developing because of its low industrial base.

    Oranye further stated that before the country could be developed, technology and innovation had to be used to identify new trends, provide incentives and develop new ideas. He added that people should take advantage of available tools to build a legacy for the coming generations.

    During a panel discussion which centred, on ‘Disruptive solutions for enterprise,’ Presales Customer Solutions Manager, SAP West Africa, Chibuzor Ezeasor, said technology could be used to engage customers and the workforce in an organisations.

     

    Ezeasor said SAP, through its CSR programme, would organise events and training around Africa for young entrepreneurs and developers. He said SAP would also build an application for entrepreneurs to build other applications.

    Also speaking, the Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft, Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, stressed the need for SMEs to adopt technology. “Enterprises are driven by customer experience and engagement and technology can be adopted to get adequate feedback and suggestions,” he said.

    Adeniji-Adele, who noted the interdependence of technology and innovation, also stated that there was no way an entrepreneur could innovate without using technology.

    He said 62 per cent of the revenue generate by Microsoft was from the innovation of CloudShare.

    On the other hand, Senior Government Manager at Avanti Communications, Srinath Logasubramanian, described innovation as critical to human existence, adding that the day innovation ends, is the day the world will come to an end. He noted that even big companies had to be on their toes in innovation in order not be pushed out of business by new firms and hinted that Avanti would be launching a satellite system in March to cover broadband services across sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Technology adoption key to growth, says MainOne

    Technology adoption key to growth, says MainOne

    Increased technology adoption will create jobs, grow the bottomline for businesses, reduce corruption and lead to rapid economic transformation, the Chief Executive Officer, MainOne, Funke Opeke has said.

    According to her, a recent survey carried out by the company showed that Nigeria is one of the world’s top three consumers of the internet.

    Speaking at MainOne’s flagship IT event, Nerds Unite, in Lagos with: Radical Digital Transformation as theme, she said aside connectivity to the internet, there was need to collaborate in the areas of increasing the rate of technology adoption, local data hosting and content distribution.

    Opeke further said it was important to engage technology gurus in sharing ideas and finding new ways to improve the standard of living, adding that the conference was a platform designed to bring together professionals in the world of technology.

    “Technology is critical to the sustenance of the Nigerian community. There is no way the economy will grow without technology. Therefore, there’s need for radical digital transformation,” she said.

    At the event, other IT experts highlighted the importance of applying technology to every facet of life in line with digital transformation agenda of the Federal Government.

    The keynote speaker, Nnamdi Oranye, urged Nigerians to be passionate about the development of the country, adding that technology remained the only way to move the country forward.

    Oranye, who is the author of Disrupting Africa’ stated that a recent United Nations survey estimated that Nigeria would be the third largest country in the world by 2050.

    He said Nigeria could not afford to fail as a country, adding that Africa is looking up to the country described as a developing because of its low industrial base.

    Oranye further stated that before the country could be developed, technology and innovation had to be used to identify new trends, provide incentives and develop new ideas. He added that people should take advantage of available tools to build a legacy for the coming generations.

    During a panel discussion centred on ‘Disruptive Solutions for Enterprise,’ Presales Customer Solutions Manager, SAP West Africa, Chibuzor Ezeasor, said technology could be used to engage customers and the workforce in an organisations.

    Ezeasor said SAP, through its CSR programme, would organise events and training around Africa for young entrepreneurs and developers. He said SAP would also build an application for entrepreneurs to build other applications.

    Also speaking, the Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft, Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, stressed the need for SMEs to adopt technology. “Enterprises are driven by customer experience and engagement and technology can be adopted to get adequate feedback and suggestions,” he said.

    Adeniji-Adele, who noted the interdependence of technology and innovation, also stated that there was no way an entrepreneur could innovate without using technology.

    He said 62 per cent of the revenue generate by Microsoft was from the innovation of CloudShare.

    On the other hand, Senior Government Manager at Avanti Communications, Srinath Logasubramanian, described innovation as critical to human existence, adding that the day innovation ends, is the day the world will come to an end. He noted that even big companies had to be on their toes in innovation in order not be pushed out of business by new firms and hinted that Avanti would be launching a satellite system in March to cover broadband services across sub-Saharan Africa.

  • MainOne mulls IT stakeholders’ summit

    MainOne mulls IT stakeholders’ summit

    MainOne will for the third time host ICT stakeholders at its annual flagship event, Nerds Unite. With a focus on digital disruption with the theme: “Radical Digital Transformation”, the 2018 edition will feature a keynote address from the author of Disrupting Africa: The Rise & Rise of African Innovation, Nnamdi Oranye, supported by speakers from companies including Avanti, SAP Africa, Wema Bank, Andela and Microsoft, among many others.

    The event, which will hold in Lagos on February 23, is expected to bring together over 500 mid to senior ICT executives across multiple industries for intense innovation sessions, featuring latest best practices and emerging trends in data center, collaboration, enterprise networking and cybersecurity, among  hot topics.  Nerds Unite is also expected to provide unparalleled networking opportunities with all these professionals under one roof.

    The radical digital transformation being witnessed globally in recent times is the key focus of the event. The event will have four predominant discussion tracks: “Disrupting the Nigerian ICT industry”, “Radical Digital Transformation: Perspectives across industry players”, “Digitalisation and Business” and “The future of mobile content delivery in Nigeria”, with discussions led by executives from leading companies exploring various industries and the digital transformation altering industry verticals. Participants will also be empowered with technical insights on the latest trends as it relates to the realities of the Nigerian environment and how these can be adopted for improved efficiencies for their respective organisations.

    Created by leading provider of network and data center solutions, MainOne and its partners for ICT Executives, Nerds Unite is an annual technology conference hosted by MainOne, which brings ICT professionals across sectors together for impactful technical knowledge sharing sessions and social networking. Last year, the event featured the first ever showcase in Nigeria of Microsoft HoloLens, the world’s first self-contained holographic computer running Windows 10, in addition to representation by the Internet Society and a keynote by Microsoft.

  • Manufacturing, healthcare leverage technology, says MainOne

    The manufacturing and healthcare sectors have leveraged technology to reduce inefficiencies,  and improve production capabilities and customer care even during harsh operating climes at its MDXi, a Tier III datacentre, MainOne, has said.

    It said such companies have been able to streamline their information technology (IT) infrastructure while guaranteeing best-in-class up time and connectivity to their businesses.

    Its Head of Marketing, Tayo Ashiru, who spoke on the sideline of a breakfast meeting at the Renaissance Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, said the company had technology solutions that businesses have adopted and successfully implemented to ensure success in today’s marketplace.

    The forum, which had: Future proofing your business with ICT as theme was attended by business executives and IT heads of leading manufacturing and healthcare companies in the country.

    “MainOne is not just a service provider but also a partner to businesses. We have made significant investments in leading technologies to enable Nigerian businesses increase operating efficiency and achieve improved results faster. These solutions are available from our open access, Tier III certified data centre, MDXi,” he said.

    The main panel session had representatives from leading healthcare and manufacturing firms, such as UAC of Nigeria Plc, Reddington Hospitals, Avon HMO and Honeywell Flour, discussing the benefits of leveraging technology for business transformation and how such has helped them achieve organisational goals.

    Avon HMO CEO, Adesimbo Ukiri, said leveraging MainOne’s services helped the organisation to remove the barrier to health care access in teh country as patients could easily subscribe to various Avon HMO health plans online at the click of a button.

    “As a business, we also could not afford to have a downtime considering the very sensitive nature of healthcare. Having our servers at MainOne’s datacentre decreased our downtime risks and, so far, we have not had any downtime with MainOne. ICT also provides us with better customer data analytics which enables us to give our customers the best experience,” she said.

    Joseph Udem of Reddington Hospital said being on the MainOne network has evolved the Hospital Record Management (HRM) process from manual to digital, connected all the offices in various locations and improved accessibility to customers. “We also use the same network via a separate pipe to provide free Wi-Fi services to our customers so that they can keep in touch and remain at ease while at our facilities,” Udem said.

    An official of UAC Nigeria Plc, said as a large enterprise, the firm had to run several server rooms in multiple regions across the country all requiring 24/7 power, workers and security accruing huge capital and operating costs which was not sustainable.

    “In trying to align our IT goals to the business objectives, we needed to consolidate all our business critical servers at a Tier III facility which made us engage MainOne. The business savings and efficiency from the first year were extremely notable, so much so that we have won numerous awards in our sector for driving business efficiency and innovation,” he said.

     

    The general consensus of the panelist was that the benefits of technology to any industry cannot be over emphasised and successfully future-proofing business and making smart investments in new technology can transform businesses, improve efficiency, productivity and profitability.

  • MainOne completes repair of submarine cable

    MainOne completes repair of submarine cable

    MainOne has announced the completion of repair works on its submarine cable with a final splice on Sunday. The company has also conducted subsequent tests to ensure the cable is in good operating condition.

    In a statement issued by the company, the Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke expressed the company’s appreciation to its customers and partners for the patience and support during the recent outage incident on the MainOne submarine cable which occurred on June 18.

    Describing the outage as a Force Majeure, due to movement in the seabed, the Chief Executive Officer highlighted the company’s efforts to resolve the outage to its customers.

    “The submarine cable fault was in a known area of ridges in the seabed, at a location 3400 meters water depth in the international waters outside Senegal. After we discovered the outage and isolated the fault to a location 3000km South of Portugal, our operational processes and disaster recovery plans worked as expected and we deployed a repair vessel from our membership in the Atlantic Cable and Maintenance Agreement which left France by 8am on Monday June 19th. The vessel travelled to Portland, United Kingdom, where it picked up critical spares and then journeyed to the repair location which was further isolated to within a 2 kilometer range while the vessel was in transit. We have concluded a full repair of the submarine cable with a final splice yesterday, Sunday July 2. The cable has been tested to be in good operating condition and we have since restored all our customer’s services to normal operating conditions”, she said.

    She continued: “During this period, we had some restoration capacity and rerouted internet traffic on our network via alternative routes to minimize the impact of the outage to our customers. However, we were unable to provide enough capacity and interconnection to fully restore our entire network. We realize many of our customers have become solely reliant on MainOne for Internet services and we will continue to secure more restoration capacity in case of any such eventualities in the future”.

    While thanking its customers and partners for their cooperation and support during this outage, the company reiterated its commitment to transforming West Africa from a resource-based economy to a fully digitized, knowledge-based economy.

     

  • MainOne Submarine Cable will suffer 14 days service outage – Official

    MainOne Submarine Cable will suffer 14 days service outage – Official

    The Chief Executive Officer, MainOne, Ms Funke Opeke, on Tuesday said the company’s submarine cable would be out of service for 14 days due to a fault.

    According to a statement in Lagos, Opeke said that the company experienced a fault on its submarine cable system, 3000km offshore Portugal on Sunday, June 18.

    Opeke said that the service outage was the first of its kind in seven years since the cable system came into operation.

    She said that the fault had caused disruptions in service to MainOne’s international connectivity customers in West Africa.

    “Supported by our cable maintenance arrangement with the , we immediately mobilised a repair-vessel from France early Monday morning.

    “ACMA is to pick up the necessary spares and personnel to recover the affected sections of the submarine cable in the Atlantic Ocean and effect repairs.

    “The current estimated time for the repairs may be up to 14 days.

    “This is an event of Force Majeure, being beyond our control in the ordinary and normal course of business.

    “However, we have in the interim, made available existing restoration capacity and have secured additional capacity to offer temporary relief to our customers where feasible,’’ she said.

    Opeke said that the company would continue to provide updates on the progress of the repair
    works.

  • MainOne’s Nerds unite raises bar for Nigerian IT Professionals

    MainOne’s Nerds unite raises bar for Nigerian IT Professionals

    MainOne has continued to push the boundaries for IT professionals in Nigeria from its inception with a 7000km private submarine cable which changed the face of the Internet in West Africa, to the opening of a Tier III data center in 2015.

    The leadership the company provides in changing the technology landscape is providing the fuel for digital disruption in Nigeria. MainOne is building an arsenal of solutions to address the needs of business customers including Internet connectivity, private line connectivity, data center collocation services, Cloud computing and Managed security services and during the past year, the company turned its focus to the small business segment as well with its SME-in a-Box solution.

    For the third year, MainOne has organized the Nerds Unite IT conference, Nigeria’s biggest customer event for networking and data center professionals. The 2017 edition witnessed a convergence of IT professionals in Lagos, from the United States of America, South Korea, Israel, South Africa and Kenya, to network and share ideas on the latest technology trends. The event also provided a platform for the company’s leading OEM partners such as Microsoft, Cisco and SAP to showcase their futuristic innovations and solutions.

    The one-day program delivered a wealth of content on best practices in Connectivity, Cloud, Managed Security, and Small and Medium Enterprise solutions and also had leading experts from MainOne and its partners, including Microsoft, Cisco, Radware, Signal Alliance, SAP, Huawei, and Samsung facilitate sessions to further enlighten the audience on these latest developments.

    Delivering the keynote address on the future of content in Africa, Michuki Mwangi, Regional Development Manager at the Internet Society (ISOC), emphasized the role of locally relevant content as the key to disruption and stimulating the demand for online services. Mwangi shared ISOC’s 80/20 vision for the internet in Africa, stressing that by 2020, 80% of the African Internet traffic must be locally accessible, while 20% is international traffic. According to him, this will significantly increase participation of local operators, improve local content, increase value for Africa, and expedite internet penetration on the continent.

    Speaking during his presentation, Principal Group Manager at Microsoft, Roberto Di Bennedetto shared the company’s vision for a fully connected world enabled via Cloud Technology, describing it as a big shift from the traditional infrastructure-dependent IT approach. He demonstrated Microsoft’s Hololens and Internet of Things with different examples of how such technologies could be applied in a mobile-first cloud world, in industries as varied as healthcare, technology, Oil and Gas, among others.

    Other highlights included the Executive panel session where leading technology executives from Nigeria discussed how their companies were adopting disruptive solutions to grow their business. Speaking on disruption for customer-facing businesses, Vice President at Konga, Adeyinka Aderombi said businesses need solutions to be optimized for mobile phones and highlighted his company’s use of Progressive Web Apps which has improved the performance of their web site across devices and enables customer’s access content on the Konga marketplace without incurring heavy data costs. According to him, mobile-first technologies are driven by cost-effective cloud and reliable connectivity, and these have enabled Konga’s work in app development and ePayment deployment in Nigeria.

    Drawn from MainOne’s customer base, Nerds Unite participants were visibly excited to try out various product demos and engage the experts from MainOne and its partner companies on how they could apply these solutions to their business.

    For Aniedi Udobong, Managing Developer Ecosystem, Sub-Sahara Africa, Google, MainOne’s Nerds Unite has remained West Africa’s flagship IT conference given its rich and stimulating content. Michuki Mwangi, Regional Development Manager at the Internet Society (ISOC) also said he had been to a lot of IT events across the continent and observed that Nerds Unite was easily the biggest IT event he had seen, sponsored by a single company. He remarked that the Nigerian Internet ecosystem was proving stronger than most on the continent and he was impressed at MainOne’s ability to gather such momentum in only a few years of existence

     

     

  • Leverage technology to beat recession, MainOne advises businesses

    MainOne has advised business owners to take advantage of technology to lower cost and optimise productivity.

    Its Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke, gave the advice during the unveiling of Microsoft HoloLens, the world’s first self-contained holographic computer running Windows 10 at MainOne’s Nerds Unite 2017 event in Lagos.

    According to her, the current recession in the country was a motivator for the event theme for the 2017 edition: “Disruptive Technology: Achieve More with Less”.

    She said the economic downturn has left businesses with no alternative but to adopt and leverage disruptive technology to drive efficiency, save cost and deliver economic value.  She advised entrepreneurs to align business needs with technology, the need to be agile and the importance of security.

    She said the successes recorded in the e-payment, e-commerce sectors with businesses such as e-Transact, Konga, Jumia and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBBS) was as a result of the adoption of disruptive technology in Nigeria.

    Ms. Opeke said the annual Nerds Unite conference was a commitment of MainOne and its partners to share knowledge and ideas aimed at transforming the businesses of customers.

    “At MainOne, we believe that our customers are the most able in this society to bring about disruption in the Nigerian economy leveraging technology. Nerds Unite provides a vantage platform for us to enable our stakeholder community with new ideas to disrupt the Nigerian business landscape,” she said.

    Also speaking, Principal Group Manager, Microsoft Corporation, Robert Di Benedetto, highlighted the company’s products and services for cloud, security, productivity and intelligence, which will make it easier for IT professionals to drive digital transformation throughout their organisations.

    With the unveiling at the conference, Nigeria joins selected countries that have experienced the visually rich interactive experience that holograms provide.

    In its third year, Nerds Unite 2017   featured world-class leaders from global, blue chip IT firms sharing knowledge on new trends and other disruptive technologies facing today’s technology landscape.