COUNTRY FOCUS: KENYA
intervene and prevent system outages,
Muthoria says, “We utilise GSM
solutions for communication between
our systems and our devices. Our
devices are designed so that they are
resilient to connectivity challenges
that can occur in remote locations
around the continent. Microsoft
supports various flavours of Linux and
other open-source technology, so we
run both Microsoft and open-source
solutions for workloads, including
proactive monitoring of hardware and
software systems.”
of deployment, geographical proximity,
scale, security, connectivity and total cost
of the service.
“We needed to scale horizontally during
peak periods and vertically (both up and
down by increasing RAM and compute)
when there is a brief and urgent spike
in demand. We needed a platform that
would deliver services to our employees
and customers within East Africa.”
Microsoft’s announcement earlier in
2017 of plans to offer its services from
local data centres in Johannesburg and
Cape Town made them an appealing
partner for M-KOPA Solar, “Microsoft
demonstrated a commitment and
presence in our core markets, and the
scheduled launch of the first Africa
data centres in 2018 will be key in us
building resilience into our systems,”
says Muthiora.
“Given M-KOPA’s investment in the
underlying Microsoft technology
and in the partnership between both
businesses, Microsoft was the logical
partner to host our customer- and
employee-facing services.”
The technology life cycle
Muthiora continues, “We have
implemented Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service
(PaaS) and Software as a Service
(SaaS) technology across the business.
Microsoft solutions are deployed
through the entire technology life
cycle from project planning through
development, testing, operational
readiness, and actual deployment.”
The chosen solution leverages the hybrid
cloud capabilities of Microsoft Azure
to maintain a consistent experience
between Azure and M-KOPA’s data
centre infrastructure. This model enables
a cost-efficient solution to reduce
storage and increase manageability
across all sites. M-KOPA’s home solar
system, with the power of Microsoft’s
Cortana Intelligence Suite, can receive
predictive information about battery
failures and payment assessments.
This system provides a reliable and
affordable energy solution for residents
across Africa.
40
INTELLIGENTCIO
Upgrading the lives of customers
John Muthiora, Head of IT Systems,
M-KOPA Solar
“By leveraging
mobile technology,
IoT-enabled
devices, and Azure
Machine Learning,
M-KOPA is able
to understand
consumer
behaviour and
provide continuous
improvement to its
product range.”
By leveraging mobile technology, IoT-
enabled devices, and Azure Machine
Learning, M-KOPA is able to understand
consumer behaviour and provide
continuous improvement to its product
range. M-KOPA remotely controls the
equipment, monitors its performance,
troubleshoots issues and proactively
intervenes to prevent system outages.
Expanding further on the technology
that enables the company to remotely
Connectivity and power in rural areas
of Africa are not reliable. By leveraging
Microsoft Azure and the sun, M-KOPA’s
energy solution is providing reliable
energy and expanding services to
many in Eastern Africa. This system
enables residents to access a cleaner
and safer power option while
expanding the potential services in
their homes.
“The Microsoft cloud solution gives
M-KOPA a single technology platform
and solution partner whose technology
can overcome some of the unique
connectivity challenges faced by off-grid
homes,” says Muthiora.
“Through different capabilities built
into the platform we are able to
determine which cloud resources are
available, when they are available and
how long they are available for. We are
also able to run analytics on usage and
platform data. We are able to leverage
some open-source solutions within
the cloud to lower our total cost of
technology services.”
“M-KOPA was born in the cloud and we
are now the largest user of Microsoft’s
cloud in Africa,” Muthiora continues,
“We have enjoyed significant speed of
deployment of new solutions and now
we utilise the latest technology such as
IoT, big data, machine learning in the
cognitive intelligence suite and power
BI to upgrade the lives of our customers.
We are able to process more than 1.5
billion data points a month. “The result?
Almost $200 saved per household
annually, with around $375 million
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