Intelligent Fin.tech Issue 06 | Page 9

NEWS

African Development Bank provides funding for Diamniadio Digital Technology Park

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group have approved additional financing of € 5.01 million for the future Digital Technology Park in Diamniadio , Senegal .

With this new loan , the bank is assuming 87 % of the € 73.62 million total project cost , with the Senegalese government contributing € 9.64 million . The Senegalese Ministry of Economy , Planning and Cooperation is coordinating the aid through its Directorate of Economic and Financial Cooperation . The 25-hectare future park is being developed in the emerging Diamniadio urban hub , located about 35km from Dakar . Twenty companies , including ATOS , Free and Solution Informatique Durable ( SOLID ), have expressed interest in locating some of their activities in the forthcoming park . However , they need a solid communication infrastructure to operate .
Furthermore , this loan will help equip the planned data centre within the park with a state-of-the-art storage and processing architecture through an international tender .
In addition to the data centre , components of the ambitious project include business process outsourcing facilities , an ICT incubator , a training centre , a research centre and an audiovisual production and content development centre . The project also provides for institutional support , capacity building and the establishment of a management team responsible for its implementation .
“ The ICT sector is one of the most advanced in West Africa and the project will benefit an entire ecosystem ,” said Cherfi Mohammed , Senegal Country Manager , African Development Bank .

Radware expands relationship with one of Africa ’ s leading banking groups

With malicious bot attacks pressuring its infrastructure and disrupting user services , the bank turned to Radware to bolster its application security . The customer wanted to detect and distinguish between legit customers , good bots and bad bots and improve the mitigation of automated attacks more accurately .

Radware , a leading provider of cybersecurity and application delivery solutions , has expanded its relationship with one of Africa ’ s leading banking groups .

As part of the new agreement , the customer added Radware ’ s Cloud Web Application Firewall ( WAF ) Service , Bot Manager and Emergency Response Team Services to its existing Radware solutions . The customer also uses Radware ’ s DefensePro DDoS Protection and hybrid Cloud DDoS Protection Service .
“ Applications are the core of a financial services business . They are the primary revenue drivers , growth and retention engines and main customer engagement platform ,” said Yoav Gazelle , Chief Business Officer , Radware . “ Radware ’ s onestop-shop for cloud security services keeps banks and their applications protected against emerging threat vectors as their business grows . We were able to expand this customer relationship due to the technical strength and ease of use of our products , quick response times , seamless onboarding and dashboard visibility .” www . intelligentfin . tech
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