Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 07 | Page 6

NEWS Johannesburg engineer becomes the first to pass new Veeam certification According to Schuck, this commitment to skills development bodes well not only for Veeam and the partner ecosystem, but also for end user customers – especially larger enterprises with thousands of virtual machines to backup – who will be able to use Veeam Availability Suite to its fullest potential. Claude Schuck of Veeam and Johan Grové of Aptronics Veeam® Software has introduced an advanced course for system engineers, the Veeam Certified Engineer (Advanced: Design and Optimisation V1). Johannesburg engineer, Johan Grové of Aptronics, has become the first Veeam Certified Architect in South Africa. “As we move into the enterprise space, we find increasingly complex, integrated environments that require detailed planning and customisation of service and design before we even begin an installation of Veeam Availability Suite,” says Claude Schuck, Regional Manager for Africa at Veeam. Course participants are required to have a solid virtualisation, backup and recovery knowledge base, and must have already completed the standard three-day Veeam Certified Engineer certification. Both courses can also be completed together over a five-day period. “The certification process includes a written examination as well as workshops, during which we are required to develop and present our own system designs. While the exam is quite challenging, it has helped advance my skills level when it comes to designing and optimising the Veeam Availability Suite solution,” says Johan Grové, a solutions expert at Aptronics. The VMCE-A: D&O certification will be available in South Africa in the near future, with local resellers required to have at least one Veeam Certified Architect in order to obtain or maintain their Veeam Platinum Partner status. Siemens signs agreement to acquire Crabtree in South Africa Siemens have announced the purchase of Crabtree Electrical Accessories in South Africa and its associated Lesotho business from Powertech Industries (Proprietary) Limited, a division of Allied Electronics Corporation Limited (Altron), subject to the grant of required approvals from relevant competition authorities. and power cords and predominantly operates within the South Africa construction market with some sales to the sub-Saharan Region. Crabtree serves a broad range of construction customers through an excellent established electrical distributor network. Together with market access to the African markets the acquisition provides Siemens with a significant manufacturing know-how through the facilities in Wadeville and Lesotho. The business, originally established in 1947, to be renamed Crabtree South Africa (Pty) Ltd, will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens (Pty) Ltd. Up until 1989 the company was part of Crabtree Electrical Industries Limited based in the UK, which now trades in the UK as part of Electrium Sales Ltd., in turn owned by Siemens since 2006. The purchase price has not been made public. Crabtree is one of South Africa’s main manufacturers of low voltage wiring accessories, cable systems 6 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com