We Need To Say Goodbye To Third-World Communication

When networks fail, manufacturers can’t access the inventory data they need to respond to RFPs. Healthcare organisations can’t deliver patient information or test results to the point of care, or empower practitioners with the clinical systems they rely on. Financial services companies can’t process transactions. VoIP and other communication channels are severed, stranding both work teams and customers. Employees are cut off from the centralized services their work requires, and business flows grind to a halt.

Enter the age of SD-WAN.

Through SD-WAN, organisations have the ability to manage multiple types of connections – from MPLS to broadband, satellite, wireless and LTE. With the utilization of SD WAN, companies are able to build a hybrid network and the intelligence in the software is able to dynamically decide from all the available mediums which is the best path for a data packet to be sent, reports Africa’s Technology News.

This will allow traffic efficiency through dynamic bandwidth allocation. As a result, organisations may offer always-on services and overall improved performance. What makes it special is that it offers an alternative to the costly nature of WAN while remaining flexible, resilient and scalable.

According to IDC, the software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) industry is set to grow at a remarkable rate from the paltry $225 million of 2015 to a $6bn industry by 2020. Gartner further supports this by predicting that the usage of SD-WAN is set to rise by 30% by 2020.

From a SnapChat Feature To a GoFundMe Feature, Facebook introduces Crowdfunding Features.

It’s not even many months after Facebook rolled out SnapChat’s main feature on all its app that it announces a new feature that may be described as yet another copycat move.

This time, the social networking giant is taking on the likes of GoFundMe and YouCaring with a feature that enables personal crowdfunding (some might prefer a pejorative term like internet panhandling or cyber-begging). To the company’s credit, though, the new Facebook crowdfunding feature is for a good cause — or good causes, for that matter. These causes include;

  • Education: such as tuition, books or classroom supplies
  • Medical: such as medical procedures, treatments or injuries
  • Pet Medical: such as veterinary procedures, treatments or injuries
  • Crisis Relief: such as public crises or natural disasters
  • Personal Emergency: such as a house fire, theft or car accident
  • Funeral and Loss: such as burial expenses or living costs after losing a loved one.

Read more here about here https://appadvice.com/post/facebook-crowdfunding/744301 

Factories Should Float in Space in the Future

Orbital manufacturing is already paving the way for better solar panels, faster internet, cleaner computer chips, and lab-grown human hearts; why not factories in space?

Private spaceflight companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX have been criticized as vanity projects for plutocrats surfing on taxpayer investments. But the emergence of these companies has led to nose-diving prices for sending goods and equipment into space. Today it costs roughly $5,000 to launch one kilogram of stuff, compared to $30,000 during the space shuttle era. So a growing number of entrepreneurs and researchers are looking to use this relatively cheap access to harness the unique qualities of low Earth orbit—including its vacuum, microgravity, unlimited solar power, and extreme temperatures—for manufacturing. Their experiments are already spurring innovations in medicine, technology, and materials science. Eventually, if it takes off, orbital fabrication could revolutionize the way we make things.

Find out more about this here; http://www.popsci.com/factories-in-space 

 SnapChat Identity Crisis

For some years on Twitter, Facebook, and now Snapchat have, for years, grappled with their identity. Some reasons have been prosaic. In the early days of their development, the original employees of these companies self-identified as technology outfits, with only tech employees. They were generally based in a technological metropolis and were wired with tech DNA. They didn’t hire traditional writers, photographers, or journalists.

But after years of this self-imposed demarcation, some of these social-media companies are starting to feel some blow back. More than a decade after social media spread across the dorm rooms of elite East Coast colleges, Wall Street still can’t figure out how to value these companies. Just take exhibit 2,421: Snapchat. The five-year-old not-a-media company, which allows users to create and disseminate content (plus view loads more from established media brands) filed to go public last year, yet no one knew what it was worth. Some estimates were as high as $40 billion; others suggested $25 billion; there was also an array of other valuations from outsiders and insiders alike. Then Snapchat went public at $24 a share, up 41 percent from its I.P.O. price of $17. But all the while, some investors were saying it was only worth $10 a share. For weeks after the I.P.O., the stock bobbed up and down as Wall Street analysts issued sell and hold ratings. It wasn’t until the end of March that Snapchat finally got a buy rating, which was followed by a flurry of others, and it’s stock is back in the low 20s.

Read more about this here; http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/snapchat-identity-crisis 

Africa Technology and Innovation Report 2016

Uganda ranks 19 in Africa Technology and Innovation capacity index of 2016, with 54.0 while its neighbors Tanzania and Rwanda rank 2nd with 68.8 and 3rd with 68.2.  Kenya ranks 17 with 55.2 capacity.

The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) has, over the past five years published its Africa Capacity Report (ACR). The ACR seeks to measure and examine the capacity of African countries to pursue their development agenda by focusing on key determinants and components of capacity for development. ACBF (2011: 31) defines capacity as the “ability of people, organizations, and society as a whole to manage their affairs successfully; and capacity development as the process by which people, organizations, and society as a whole unleash, strengthen, create, adapt, and maintain capacity over time.”

The 2016 Africa Capacity Index (ACI) shows, among its four sub-indices or “clusters,” excellent policy environments and good processes for implementation in most African countries. Even though countries continue to struggle on development results at country level, 2016’s results are a significant improvement on 2015’s. In contrast, despite a slight gain over 2015, capacity development outcomes remain low and the most pressing issue. The performance of the thematic indices (policy choices for capacity development, development cooperation effectiveness related to capacity development, gender equality and social inclusion, and partnering for capacity development) is generally positive, with most countries posting strong gender equality and social inclusion outcomes.

Download the report here -> http://elibrary.acbfpact.org/acbf/collect/acbf/index/assoc/HASH417f.dir/doc.pdf

Embracing Smart City

A smart city can be defined as a vision to integrate multiple ICT and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to manage the assets of a city. Of course, this extends to beyond just dropping in technology and hoping for the best.

A true smart city is one that is focused on better service delivery, improved municipal services, infrastructure enhancements, and utilizing real-time monitoring systems for the betterment of all citizens, to name just a few things.

Last year, the Konza Technopolis Development Authority in Kenya (or Konza Techno City for short) entered an agreement with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme to standardize the development of what many consider would lead to the creation of the first African smart city.

Smart cities are already a reality in places like Singapore where the initiatives being explored are reinventing urban living. In other geographies around the world, public and private sector organisations are collaborating in smart city initiatives to explore opportunities and challenges to come up with new solutions.

In South Africa, smart cities are still about 20 years away, although several projects have begun to increase broadband and Wi-Fi connectivity – the foundations on which smart cities are built – and introduce smart utilities.

In Uganda I am don’t know what the ministries are thinking but here is how we can secure Smart Cities. Read the article here http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2017/03/securing-smart-cities/

Patricia Kahill

Patricia Kahill is a multipotentialite Christian entrepreneur, Content Marketing Coach and founder of the Content Marketing agency, Kahill Insights that helps business owners create engaging and interactive content items for digital platforms with a focus on returning a desired outcome. Patricia was the producer of SlamDunk Basketball Talk a show on House of Talent online TV, a former fellow at Harvest Institute for leadership and now an assessor there, and an alumnus of the YELP class of 2017. A member of the BNI Integrity chapter and African Women Entrepreneur Cooperative. She is driven by passion and curiosity, been taking every opportunity that has been given to her with an ambition of stamping her footprint on the world.

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