Nairobi, 11th April, 2013 - In what is a step closer to
establishing a premier Cloud services marketplace for Africa, Pamoja, the Cloud
Services business unit of Pan-African ICT enabler SEACOM, has launched its East
Africa entity, Pamoja Cloud Services Limited and go-to-market strategy, to
partners and customers at a presentation held in Nairobi, Kenya.
Pamoja was established in 2011 by
SEACOM’s founder Brian Herlihy and Stafford Masie, former GM of Google SA. It
aims to provide wholesale Cloud computing services via telecommunication
companies, ISPs and other service providers.
Speaking during the East Africa
launch of the Pamoja Cloud Services in Nairobi, Pamoja General Manager Albie
Bester said Pamoja Cloud Services is focused on a wider market, incorporating
the fast-growing Small-to-medium Enterprise (SME) segment, and will leverage
off SEACOM’s infrastructure, exposure to partnerships and Africa’s growing
mobile and Internet market to entrench its services model.
Mr. Bester said the service
providers have recognised the Cloud as a source of new revenues, with global
investments in Cloud services projected to more than double from an estimated
US$55 billion in 2011 to almost US$130 billion annually by 2015. He said Pamoja
Cloud Services was differentiated by access to SEACOM’s extended network, which
covers the entire continent, and its role as Cloud business unit for the
Channel. “Our wholesale model rules out conflict in the channel, there are no
downstream issues resulting from us competing with our resellers. Another benefit
to partnership with Pamoja Cloud Services is that we eliminate the risk for
organisations entering the Cloud computing market. This is about creating
economies of scale,” said Bester. “Aside from funding and infrastructure, we
also have access to SEACOM’s relationships with telco’s and ISP’s. Pamoja Cloud
Services exists because of what is happening in the Cloud. According to Forbes’
top ten strategic CIO issues for 2013, at number six is “Upgrade ‘Cloud
Strategy’ to ‘Business
Transformation Enabled by the Cloud’. At the end of the day, the Cloud is not a
technology matter to an organisation, it is about empowerment. In Africa, it is
about business agility and for businesses to become more competitive,” he
added.
Mr. Brian Longwe, an independent ICT
consultant and recognised industry expert, while speaking during the event,
reckoned that according to global trends, Cloud Computing is an evolutionary
revolution, with 3 main options; Public Cloud and Private Cloud, whose unique
combination creates the Hybrid Cloud.
He went further to say that:
“financial benefits of Cloud Computing go beyond Capital expenditure, having a
direct impact on the organisation’s cash flow, operational costs, operating
expenses, reduced infrastructure investment and mitigated financial risk. In
essence the cloud value is about business agility, opportunities and
investment”
Pamoja’s Cloud services will be
provided via the company’s network of data centres, located directly on the
SEACOM submarine infrastructure. The first Cloud platform is running in the
Mtunzini cable landing station near Richards Bay. The second platform is
planned for Kenya, after which roll out will occur as and where there is
demand. As SEACOM’s strategic arm leading entry into content aggregation and
associated Cloud computing services, Pamoja Cloud Services is leveraging off
its parent company to build an SME Cloud services marketplace and take its
white-labelled Cloud services to the market through an exclusive channel of
resellers. Internet and technology service provider, AccessKenya, is the first
reseller of Pamoja Cloud Services in the Kenya region.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Jonathan
Somen, AccessKenya Group CEO said: “At AccessKenya we have come to the
realisation that we are yet to fully explore Cloud opportunities. By coming
together with Pamoja Cloud Services Ltd., we bring to Kenyan Small Medium
Enterprises SME Cloud computing services, so as to enable them to compete at
the same level with larger organisations,”
He further said: “Being the first resellers
of the Pamoja Cloud Services Ltd. venture in this East Africa market, our focus
will be to encourage customers to outsource their non-core services to the
Cloud so as to avoid costs related to setting up infrastructure and maintaining
them.” The Access Kenya Group boasts of vast experience in Cloud computing,
having provided the service over the years. The CEO said that the partnership
with Pamoja Cloud Services Ltd., will now formalise the package with a view of
netting more SMEs and is in line with the company’s market consolidation
strategies.
To date Pamoja has three channel
partners in South Africa, three in Kenya and in discussion with others in
Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia.
Speaking at the launch Mark Simpson,
CEO of SEACOM, said, “Our rapidly growing IP network has been, in recent times,
a key enabler for SEACOM and its customers, providing services that are more
flexible and much more resilient. Our IP transit and Ethernet products have
deepened our relationships within the market, particularly with emerging ISPs
and customers working hard to build Africa’s ICT future. We continue to monitor
and participate in what we called the African Internet ecosystem.”
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