NEWS
Irish Government Minister kicks off Irish Technology Challenge in South Africa
Minister for Housing , Local Government and Heritage , Darragh O ‘ Brien TD said , “ Ireland is committed to deepening trade and investment relations with South Africa . This includes the promotion of entrepreneurship among women and young people from backgrounds of historical disadvantage .”
Building on the success of previous editions , the 2024 Technology Challenge aims to accelerate the growth of South African-owned , technology startups aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals , SDGs .
The Irish Technology Challenge 2024 was officially launched by
Irish Government Minister , Darragh O ’ Brien TD , as part of a visit to South Africa to mark St Patrick ’ s Day . The Irish Technology Challenge South Africa , which seeks to foster partnerships between South African and Irish start-ups , is a partnership between the Embassy of Ireland in South Africa , the Department of Science and Innovation , the Technology Innovation Agency , along with implementing partners , Wits University ’ s Tshimologong Digital Precinct , South Africa and Dogpatch Labs in Ireland .
Speaking at the launch which took place at Wits ’ University ’ s Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct in Braamfontein , Ireland ’ s
Companies in clean and green technology , healthcare , education , and water sanitation and hygiene are particularly encouraged to apply , as part of the Technology Challenge ’ s aim to address pressing global challenges while promoting economic development and job creation in South Africa . The 2024 Technology Challenge will see an expansion with an increase of the number of winners to seven .
The selected seven startups will receive a range of benefits , including € 10,000 each in grant funding , a curated 10-day trip to Ireland to access global customers and partners , Ireland ’ s top technology expertise and business acceleration , and increased visibility through support from both Irish and South African governments .
NEC XON integrates Eutelsat OneWeb satellite technology for reliable disaster recovery
Maintaining uninterrupted Internet connectivity is essential to business operations these days . As NEC XON and other Midrand businesses discovered in February 2024 , natural disasters to infrastructure failures can disrupt critical communication channels . However , the NEC XON team had Low Earth Orbit-based , LEO low-latency satellite access solution provided by Eutelsat OneWeb , with which it had signed a distribution agreement in 2023 .
According to Faried Souma , GM Wireless at NEC XON , a severe storm swept across Midrand , South Africa on Tuesday , February 20th . “ It caused extensive damage to critical infrastructure , including a major fibre PoP . This disruption affected multiple organisations in the area , including NEC XON , whose office connectivity was compromised . With 250 employees relying on stable Internet access for their daily operations , the outage posed a significant challenge .”
Despite having both primary and backup fibre links , NEC XON found itself without connectivity as both channels were affected . The repair estimate provided by service providers indicated a downtime of three days , affecting NEC XON ’ s operations and productivity .
In response to the crisis , NEC XON turned to the innovative solution provided by OneWeb , a LEO pioneer . The company swiftly deployed the OneWeb satellite solution as a backup connectivity measure . As one of the early adopters of the technology in South Africa , NEC XON ’ s technical team configured the satellite access within an hour to provide seamless connectivity for the entire office . This swift deployment allowed NEC XON to circumvent the terrestrial communication infrastructure failures and maintain uninterrupted operations .
OneWeb ’ s low earth orbit satellite network bypasses terrestrial communication infrastructure vulnerabilities , such as power outages , fire , or flooding . With latency reduced from 650ms to under 100ms over traditional satellite solutions due to its low earth orbit nature , NEC XON experienced good performance , making it feasible for various communication needs , including voice and data transmission .
Faried Souma
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