NEWS
2017 JCSE ICT Skills Survey calls for
more rapid transformation
(JCSE) says economic pressure, a delay in policy implementation
and lack of improvement in South Africa’s basic education are key
concerns. The report says the situation is further plagued by a lack
of current, co-ordinated data about the ICT sector in South Africa,
which is leading to fragmented policy initiatives, that cannot be
properly measured.
Adrian Schofield, JCSE’s manager of Applied Research and author
of the report, says that the 2017 JCSE ICT Skills Survey highlights
the increased demand for cybersecurity practitioners as well as the
growth in software development: “There is an undeniable urgency to
make progress if South Africa is to benefit from the impending global
upswing in the ICT market. In this scenario, demand for relevant skills
will continue to outstrip supply, giving South Africa an opportunity
to empower its black youth to fill the gap, boost the economy and
extend these benefits into the broader continent.”
I
n its eighth consecutive year, the 2017 JCSE ICT Skills Survey
by Wits University’s Joburg Centre for Software Engineering
Professor Barry Dwolatzky, Director of the JCSE, says that the report
yet again emphasises the concern at the lack of improvement in
South Africa’s basic education for the majority of pupils: “Exposure to
and familiarity with ICT for all learners is essential, in order to equip
them to adapt the modern tools to their daily lives. Some laudable
initiatives have appeared but they have yet to reach a sustained,
critical mass for all grades of learners.”
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First Tier 4 data centre in Ghana to be
delivered by Etix Everywhere
design and technical know-how to tackle
this issue. The Tier IV certification aims to
ensure the quality of our infrastructure for
our clients.”
“Due to the unpredictable nature of
African power utilities and to secure an
uninterruptible power supply for the data
centre, Etix Everywhere proposed to build
a solar plant next to the data centre”, says
Ross Macdonald, CEO of Ngoya. “The
infrastructure will be able to support the
data centre at full capacity.” The solar plant
will be built and operated by Etix Energy, a
subsidiary of Etix Group.
T
he joint venture between Etix
Everywhere, Ngoya and Africa
Investment Group (AIG) announced the
start of the construction of a Tier four data
centre in Accra, Ghana. This multi-tenant
data centre (MTDC) will be carrier- and
www.intelligentcio.com
vendor-neutral. Etix Accra #1 will be the first
Tier four data centre in West Africa. “African
data centres always face a power supply
challenge,” states Dr Samuel Ankrah, Chief
Executive Officer of AIG. “We decided to
entrust Etix Everywhere and their proven
Based on the modular design developed by
Etix Everywhere, the first phase of the project
will offer a capacity of 150 racks. Over half
of the first phase is already booked. Due to
the increasing demand for carrier-neutral
colocation services, the joint venture is
planning to build a second site in Ghana to
provide full redundancy.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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