NEWS
Nerd academy
programme
launches in
the Karoo
Dimension Data and
Cisco take anti-poaching
technology into Africa
Piehole.tv will be running a nerd programme
in the Karoo
A
nerd alert has been issued by the
Karoo Tech Hub, an initiative run by
video production company Piehole.tv in
collaboration with ProcurementExpress.com.
With an estimated 45% unemployment
rate in the Eastern Cape, the tech hub has
launched a free programme called the Nerd
Academy aimed to uplift the platteland
community. By offering online studying
opportunities and training in terms of
pitching to foreign businesses, Priscilla
Kennedy, founder of Piehole.tv, says that
the Nerd Academy is one way that the
jobless are able to find new and seemingly
improbable ways to solve unemployment in
the Karoo.
“Education at university level is not always
possible for families in the Karoo,” she said.
“It places untenable pressure on the family
and if in rare cases they do complete a
course, finding a job is near impossible.
The Nerd Academy is one way in which we
can assist to upskill unemployed people of
any age, and then assist them to market
themselves successfully.”
The programme caters for technical as
well as creative skill sets. Creatively driven
individuals often don’t believe there are
viable careers available and part of the Nerd
Academy approach is to assist those who
display creative potential to find a way to
build a career using that same talent.
8
INTELLIGENTCIO
The reserve
is monitored
24/7 from the
control room
G
lobal technology giants Dimension
Data and Cisco are to expand their
anti-poaching Connected Conservation
programme into Zambia, Kenya, and
Mozambique to continue protecting
rhino, as well as help fight the war on
the startling numbers of African savanna
elephant being poached.
animals are not touched and are left to
roam freely while a ‘layered’ effect of
sophisticated technology, people and
gadgets protect them.
This move follows a successful pilot
which saw the two companies install
some of the world’s most sophisticated
technology in a private game reserve
located next to the world-renowned
Kruger National Park in South Africa. Cisco and Dimension Data’s vision is
to replicate the solution to protect all
forms of endangered species including
lion, pangolin, elephant, tigers in India
and Asia, as well as sharks and sea rays
in the ocean. The next project is already
underway in an unnamed park in Zambia,
which will be followed by Kenya and
Mozambique with a strong focus on
protecting elephant.
Since the technology for Connected
Conservation was deployed in the private
reserve in November 2015, the number
of rhino poaching incidents has been
reduced by 96% and last year, no rhino
in the reserve was poached. A control room for Zambia’s special
marine unit is being built to monitor
operations across the lake and in the park
and a second marine unit powerboat
will be deployed to assist with intercepts
before poachers get to the animals.
With the Connected Conservation model,
the technology is designed to proactively
protect the land against humans. The The Connected Conservation technology
includes digital infrastructure, hybrid cloud,
digital workplace, and cybersecurity.
www.intelligentcio.com