|
NEWS
Fashola canvasses local technology
solutions
Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, Governor
of Lagos State, Nigeria challenged Nigerian
Universities to provide a technological component of
what society owes geniuses like the late Prof
Ayodele Awojobi by delivering homegrown technologies
which are capable of solving contemporary problems.
He made the call midweek while
unveiling the late Prof Awojobi’s statue which Lagos
State erected at the newly constructed Ayodele
Awojobi Park at Onike in Lagos.
Government throws in weight to resolve Ministers’
fracas
THIS DAY newspaper reported during
the week that the Presidency in Nigeria has gone
ahead to hand over a clear duty delineation for the
two ministers in the Ministry of Information and
Communications. The newspaper reported the Minister
of State would now directly supervise communication
agencies such as the Nigerian Communications
Commission and Nigeria postal services while the
Minister of cabinet rank superintends over all the
other information agencies under the ministry.
According to the report, there has
been some stress between the two incumbents arising
from the expired crisis on 2.3GHz licensing which
the Presidency earlier intervened to resolve. The
crisis left the Minister taking over the earlier
functions of communications agencies from the
Minister of State. What the Presidency has done was
to reverse the Minister’s decision in that regard.
Regardless, analysts are unable to
decipher government’s policy thrust in the manner of
its intervention on issues which challenge its focus
on building institutions rather than building
personalities.
Investment in IPv6 surprises planners
There is report from the American
internet registry that the uptake of next generation
internet addresses IPv6 is incredibly increasing
even in the midst of global economic recession. That
is to say that ISP’s are investing in the new
platform more than what planners had expected. They
also say demand for IPv4 is slightly on the decline.
IPv4 uses 32-bit
addresses and can support 4.3 billion individually
addressed devices on the Internet while IPv6 uses
128-bit addresses and supports 2 to the 128th power,
an inconceivably huge amount of addresses.
What is
surprising is that IPv6 is conceived to solve a
problem which has only been forecast but not emerged
yet investors appear to have embraced it even ahead
of its real time. Somehow the law of cautious
investment in IT emerging resources seems to have
been challenged here.
Rogue security software on the rise
Businesses and PC users have had a
lot of cyber criminality to contend with this year.
This site had reported the threat posed by cyber
criminals who have targeted trusted
websites to infect the computers of the
viewer/subscribers (see cyberschuulnews 356). Now
there is the added threat of rogue
security software (RSS).
This is
a form of computer malware that
deceives or misleads users into paying for the fake
or simulated removal of malware. It is believed that
the threat has become serious security threat in
desktop computing and
is set to increase in 2010
according to a report from security
firm Symantec released this week.
The report said there is a new
generation of organised cyber criminals earning
astronomical sums of money from tricking people
profiting from a highly organized
affiliate-based business model that rewards scammers
for selling bogus security programs to users caught
off-guard by persuasive online scare tactics. The
preferred modus operandi is one where a bogus pop-up
tells the user: "Your computer may be infected" and
urges them to download security software that will
scan their computer for viruses, protect it from
future infection or both. Users are urged to buy to
software which is not only useless because it
provides little or no protection
and in some cases dangerous because
it downloads malicious code onto their computer but
also
information buyers enter such as
name, address and credit card details are also
captured by cybercriminals to sell on or use for
further online fraud.
How prevalent is rogue security
software? The Symantec report revealed that between
July 2008 to June 2009 alone, researchers identified
250 distinct types of fake
security software with 24% of the top 50 most
common kinds introduced in this period and have
warned businesses and other computer users to avoid
becoming victims of rogue security software sold
through nearly 200,000 websites. The report further
states that an astounding 93% of bogus security
software is downloaded intentionally
(at
$30 to $100 a pop) by victims who
believe they are buying added protection against
security threats.
A happy new year? Not for everyone -
it would appear.
Technology Review
Is Cloud Computing the future?
Cloud computing is a new
concept/ideology/practice, call it what you wish,
doing the rounds in ICT circles. It is a general
term for anything that involves delivering hosted
services over the Internet. The name cloud computing
was inspired by the cloud symbol that is often used
to represent the Internet inflow charts and
diagrams. From its inception to the present,
interest in cloud computing has gathered pace
primarily due to significant innovations in
virtualization and network computing as well as
improved access to high-speed internet.
The distinguishing feature of cloud
service that differentiates it from traditional
hosting is its flexibility. Like electricity, water
or indeed a mobile phone subscription where you
pay-as-you-use, cloud computing is also known as
utility computing where the consumer purchases
services on demand and can have as much or as
little of a service as they want at any given time
typically by the minute or the hour. These services
are broadly divided into three categories:
·
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
which provides virtual server instances with
unique IP
addresses and blocks of storage on demand allowing
customers to use the provider's Application Program
Interface (API) to start, stop, access and configure
their virtual servers and storage. Amazon Web
Services deploys this mode.
·
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
in the cloud is defined as a set of software and
product development tools hosted on the provider's
infrastructure which may be website portals or gateway software
installed on the customer's computer. Developers
create applications on the provider's platform over
the Internet. GoogleApps is a good example of this
category.
·
Software-as-a-Service
(SaaS).
This can be likened to a huge market place. In its
cloud model, the vendor supplies the hardware
infrastructure, the software product and interacts
with the user through a front-end portal. Services
range from web-based email to inventory control and
database processing. The service provider hosts both
the application and the data leaving the end user
free to use the service from anywhere.
But what does cloud computing mean to
those of us who do not know our ISPs from our APIs?
Its relevance is that a cloud can be private or
public. The objective of either (and both) is the
same - provide easy, scalable access to computing
resources and IT services. A public
cloud is another kind of market place which sells
services to anyone on the Internet of which
currently, Amazon Web Services is the largest
whereas private cloud is
a proprietary network or a data centre that supplies
hosted services to a limited number of people.
In an entrepreneurial sense, cloud
computing allows a company to pay for only as much
capacity as is needed, and bring more online as soon
as required but the phenomenon has extended to the
realm of politics with several
players briefing politicians. But why? For a start
with governments facing severe criticism for the
failure and cost of many IT projects, they are right
to be interested. It is important to know why global
data centres of Google, IBM and Microsoft are
effective in comparison to those of EDS and Fujitsu
used by many government IT projects. Beyond this
there are questions about a regulatory framework
which addresses the issues of responsibility for
resilience and content and liability for service
failure or abuse that need to be addressed. .
But there are some fundamental
questions. Are we ready for the consequences of
end-users being as dependent on their broadband
connection as their local PC? Are we content to have
the same law on-line as off-line and the legal
ramifications around liability avoidance small print
and business-to-business disputes being incessantly
dragged through the courts? What will we do about
businesses, who in a bid circumvent all the national
regulators queuing up for a slice of their profit,
will attempt to move their operation off-shore? The
answers to these questions are not so well defined.
However, what is incontestable is
that the global financial crisis has affected
businesses of all kind, and consequently it has
transformed the way many firms go about with their
everyday operations. As the IT industry is not
immune to this, it is imperative (as it is
inevitable) there will be an acceleration in
transformative technologies as IT companies curtail
spending.
In certain quarters cloud computing
has been branded a kind of ‘disruption’. This is
because with the advent Cloud Computing, business
services and applications will now run on external
infrastructure such as over the Internet, rather
than infrastructure that they own. In other words,
why own buy computer infrastructure and
applications, when you can rent computing and
processing time?
It will appear that the cloud
computing is mirroring the ‘globalisation’ agenda –
a drive
to continue to evolve into the
borderless, unbiased global tool but its advocates
believe in the need for it to be separated from
politics but currently, countries like China and the
United States are legislating in a bid to try and
rein in this development – get the genie back into
bottle – so to speak.
Strange that politicians tell us that
everything is geared toward economic growth but now
we are in hard times and trying to generate economic
growth, politics is holding it back. Funny isn’t it?
359
Google
Voice:
Action
Speaking
Louder
Than
Words
As the
economic
downturn
continues
to bite
in the
US,
businesses
are
getting
a bit
more
tetchy
and
doing
all they
can to
make
themselves
more
viable
and not
lose
market
share.
That
sometimes
involves
turning
on,
those
who in
less
fraught
times,
are
competitors
or
affiliates.
With
Google
sending
inviting
subscribers
to join
Google
Voice
and the
revelation
that
Google
Voice is
now
available
on both
BlackBerry
and
Android
smart
phones,
Google
is
signalling
its
intent
to
augment
its
telecommunications
portfolio.
The US
communication
authorities
are
investigating
allegations
initiated
by
telecoms
group
AT&T
that
Google
has an
unfair
advantage
because
Google
Voice is
not
covered
by
federal
rules
that
govern
phone
service
providers.
Earlier
this
month,
AT&T
complained
Google
is not
playing
by the
same
rules as
its
competitors
by
Google’s
claim
that its
Google
Voice
telephony
management
application
is not a
traditional
phone
service
as such.
This
affords
Google
the
opportunity
to block
calls to
rural
areas to
save
access
costs
but
competitors
are
bound by
a 2007
Federal
Communication
Commission
(FCC)
ruling
are
prohibited
from
doing
the
same.
Opponents
argue
that
Google
Voice,
though
its
application
has a
web
interface,
it still
uses
regular
phone
lines,
unlike
Skype
and
other
systems
that use
internet
data
channels,
and
therefore
must be
bound by
the FCC
ruling.
Robert
Quinn, a
senior
vice
president
at AT&T
said
that
excluding
Google
from the
FCC
ruling
would be
ineffective,
legally
suspect
and, for
all
intent
and
purposes,
a direct
refutation
of
president
Barack
Obama's
call for
a level
playing
field.
On the
blocking
of
calls,
Quinn
said
‘"By
blocking
these
calls,
Google
is able
to
reduce
its
access
expenses.
Other
providers,
including
those
with
which
Google
Voice
competes,
are
banned
from
call
blocking
[by the
FCC]."
The
Financial
Times
reported
that in
response
to the
AT&T
letter
of
complaint
on the
25th
September,
the FCC
has
asked
Google
to
explain
its
reasons
for
blocking
the
calls.
Google,
in its
defence
said in
a blog
post
that it
avoids
making
connections
to local
phone
networks
because
they
charge
"exorbitant"
termination
rates
for
calls.
They
also
said
local
networks
partner
with
adult
sex chat
lines
and
conference
calling
centres
that
result
in
‘ludicrously
high
charges’
It
appears
the
gloves
are off
on this
one.
Dell
cuts its
cloth
(and
plant)
One of
the
three
largest
US
computer
manufacturers,
Dell
Inc.
announced
this
week it
will
close
its
desktop
computer
manufacturing
plant
near
Winston-Salem
once
seen as
a job
generator
worthy
of the
promise
of more
than
$300
million
in state
and
local
inducements
in four
months
by the
end of
January,
shedding
905
workers-
a victim
of new
corporate
calculations.
The
announcement
came two
days
after
the
plant,
which
produces
desktop
units
primarily
for
business
customers,
marked
four
years in
operation.
At its
inauguration,
politicians
cited
studies
estimating
the
plant
would
not only
employ
1,500
and
generate
about
500 more
related
jobs, it
would
have a
$24.5
billion
economic
impact
over 20
years.
For that
reason,
they
lavished
what by
some
measures
was the
richest
incentives
package
in state
history
-- a
deal
worth up
to $318
million
in tax
breaks
and
grants.
But
since
then,
consumers
have
moved to
laptops
and
handheld
devices
thus
severely
weakening
the
market
for
desktops
that has
also
been
battered
by the
recession
and
sharper
competition.
Round
Rock, a
Texas-based
company
said
closing
the
plant is
part of
an
effort
to
simplify
operations,
improve
efficiency
and a
drive to
save $4
billion
a year
by 2011.
It is
also an
expression
of the
business
strategy
to move
away
from
hardware
and into
more
profitable
technology
services.
It
announced
last
month it
will
spend
$3.9
billion
for
Perot
Systems
Corp.,
adding
consulting
and
computing
services
like
systems
integration
to its
portfolio.
Obviously
Dell's
decision
did not
go down
well in
recession-weary
North
Carolina
characterised
by
jobless
claims,
home
foreclosures,
bailout
dollars
and an
escalating
health
crisis
wth questions
about
the
appropriateness
of the
massive
incentives
package
and how
much
could be
recouped
abound.
Winston-Salem
Mayor
Allen
Joines
issued a
statement
saying
Dell
would
repay
all the
money
the city
provided
to the
company
in
upfront
costs
and
annual
incentive
payments.
This was
corroborated
by Kip
Thompson,
Vice
President
for
facilities,
that
Dell
will
honor
its
commitment
to repay
the
$15.56
million
the city
has
provided
since
Dell
agreed
to build
the
plant.
But
ardent
opponents
argue
that
millions
of
dollars
spent on
public
agencies
to
prepare
the Dell
site for
construction,
widen
roads
leading
to the
plant,
and
equip
community
colleges
to train
company
workers
will not
be
recouped
and are
asking
for a
100
percent
refund
if the
plant
closed
within
its
first
five
years.
That
means
that
Dell
will be
handed a
bill of
about
$20
million
so far.
Bob Orr,
a former
state
Supreme
Court
justice
and
executive
director
of the
North
Carolina
Institute
for
Constitutional
Law who
unsuccessfully
challenged
the Dell
deal in
court,
said ‘No
matter
how big
the
incentives
package
... with
these
large
out-of-state
companies
and
corporations,
their
loyalty
is only
to the
bottom
line and
not to
the
community.’
Indeed.
GLOBAL INDUSTRY REVIEW
A new global interaction is in the
making
No
question
the
internet
has made
the
globe a
village
where
one
person’s
access
to
everyone
else has
become
more up
close
and
personal
and this
in turn
has
become
the
‘talk of
the
global
village’
–
literally
and
metaphorically.
Now
Google
and
Facebook
are
collaborating
to make
sure all
peoples
of the
global
village
speak a
universal
language
with
both
designing
new
translation
tools
though
adopting
different
approaches.
Let us
be clear
about
one
thing.
The
adhesive
that
binds
this
global
village
rapidly
disintegrates
where
any
entity
–individual,
community,
region
or
country
-
decides
not to
invest
in the
resources
of
Information
and
communication
technology.
Governments,
some
quicker
than
others,
are
discovering
the
power
and
capabilities
of the
internet
and
those
with a
negative
disposition
to
people
empowerment,
democracy
and
freedoms
are
desperately
trying
to put
the
genie
back in
the
bottle.
Some
turned
to
drastic
means of
censoring
the
internet
usage
and
access
wishing
the
technology
never
existed
in the
first
place.
After
all
nothing
scares a
government
with
tyrannical
tendencies
more
than
people
being
informed
and able
to
communicate
their
thoughts
and
ideas to
others –
that is
deemed
extremely
dangerous.
According
to a
recent
report
on the
CNN
Facebook
aims to
translate
the Web
using an
army of
volunteers
and some
hired
professional
translators.
Meanwhile,
Google
plans to
let
computers
do most
of the
work.
Where
does
that
leave
us?
It has
always
been
said
music is
a
universal
language,
There is
an
addition
now because
it means
no
matter
what
language
we
speak,
we can
buy/sell,
chat/gossip,
laugh/cry,
celebrate/commiserate
breakup
and
makeup
on line
24/7.
When
John
Lennon
told us
to
‘Imagine’,
he
certainly
did not
have
anything
as
elaborate
in
mind the
opportunities
it
leaves
us
with.
There is
gulf
however
between
us and
this
boundless
opportunity?
Simply
access
to
broadband.
The
interesting
thing is
that
while
Facebook
uses
human
beings
to do
its own
translation,
Google
uses
mathematics
to do
it.
Amazing.
Isn’t
it?
NIGERIA
CHANGES
FOCUS
FROM
LICENSING
OPERATORS
TO
MONITORING
AND
IMPROVING
QUALITY
OF
SERVICES
Executive
Vice-Chairman
of the
Nigerian
Communications
Commission
told
journalists
in
Geneva
midweek
that the
priority
of
Nigeria’s
regulatory
regime
is to
focus on
monitoring
and
improving
quality
of
services
provided
as well
as
attending
to the
needs of
the
consumer.
He said
this in
a speech
inviting
world
class
investors
to come
to
Nigeria
and be
part of
the
rapid
expansion
which
characterized
the
sector
in the
past 10
years
and
which
now aims
at
expanding
the
needed
services
in the
areas of
Internet
and
broadband
services
across
the
country.
He said
Telecom
investments
in
Nigeria
has
reached
over
US$18
billion
within
the last
eight
years
on
account
of
predictive
regulatory
environment
and
supportive
government
for a
deregulated
telecom
industry.
This
figure,
according
to him,
is made
up of
about
US$12
billon
from
Foreign
Direct
Investment
while
the
balance
is from
domestic
investments
which
tells us
that the
task at
hand
might
perhaps,
for a
host of
reasons,
be
beyond
the
capabilities
of the
local
entrepreneurial
class.
Mr
Ndukwe
at
another
event
flew the
kite of
a "Fibre
Without
Borders",
FWB,
initiative
which
emphasizes
the need
for the
continent
to
evolve a
solution
that
would
ensure
seamless
connectivity
across
the
continent.
NEWS
O2 to
trial
LTE
mobile
broadband
Presumably
as part
of a
fight-back
to
losing
its
exclusive
deal
with
Apple to
supply
the
iPhone
in the
UK, the
network
operator
O2 has
confirmed
that it
will
test
so-called
next-generation
4G data
networks
next
year
across
six
countries.
It
confirmed
it will
run
trials
of Long
Term
Evolution
technology
(LTE) in
the UK,
Spain,
Germany,
the
Czech
Republic
and
Argentina.
The
trials,
the
first to
be
carried
out by a
network
operator
in the
UK could
achieve
mobile
internet
speeds
of up to
340
megabits
per
second,
almost a
hundred
times
faster
than the
average
broadband
speed
and 50
times
faster
than the
7.2
megabits
per
second
mobile
broadband
connections
currently
enjoyed
by UK
consumers.
Previously
tests
had been
more
smaller
and
localised
-
confined
to
particular
geographical
areas –
but with
the
larger
operators
like
Orange
and
Vodafone
now
joining
the
fray,
they
nave
have
indicated
that
they
intend
to roll
out LTE
networks
in
future
At
Telefonica,
O2's
parent
company,
Julio
Linares,
Chief
Operating
Officer
said “We
are
working
with the
conviction
that we
can only
offer
our
clients
the
maximum
levels
of
quality
and
innovation."
Microsoft’s
Windows
7 launch
- The
Best is
yet to
come?
Microsoft’s
impending
launch
of the
impending
Windows
7 has
been
fraught
with
difficulties.
It had
not even
been
released
Windows
Vista
Service
Pack 1,
when a
‘leaks
frenzy’
began
about
Vista’s
successor
Windows
7. MS
enthusiasts
rallied
claiming
that
inadequacies
highlighted
were
fake and
we
experienced
something
similar
after
when
Vista
was
launched
after
Windows
XP.
However
the
focal
point of
criticism
that
appears
immovable
is on
the
issue of
software
proprietary.
On this
particular
point of
proprietary
software,
critics,
like
enthusiasts,
argue
that
Windows
7 has
the same
problem
that
Vista,
XP, and
all
previous
versions
have had
-- its
users
are not
permitted
to share
or
modify
the
Windows
software,
or
examine
how it
works
inside.
They
further
argue
Microsoft
ab-use
their
power
through
one or a
combination
of
copyrights,
contracts,
and
patents
to abuse
computer
users.
Microsoft’s
commercial
practices
have
been
under
scrutiny
for some
time. It
had
always
been
accused
of
monopoly
behaviour
dictated
by the
fact
that nearly
every
computer
purchased
comes
with
Windows
pre-installed,
forces
updates
on its
users,
by
removing
support
for
older
versions
of
Windows
and
Office,
and
enforcing
digital
restrictions
with
Windows
Media
player,
it
offers
the user
little
or no
choice.
There
have
been
claims
and
counterclaim
that
Microsoft's
decision
to
release
Windows
7 in
Europe
without
its
Internet
Explorer
browser
is a
sensible
step.
Microsoft
says it
is
enhancing
choice
by aid
yesterday
enabling
PC
makers
and
consumers
to
install
a
browser
of their
choice.
Legal
minds
say it
is a
compromise
and
Microsoft
bent to
pressure
from
European
Union
antitrust
regulators.
With
this
move, it
sought
to
remove
the
European
Commission's
ability
to
attack
them for
bundling.
European
anti-monopoly
authorities
had
already
charged
Microsoft
with
harming
browser
competition
by
bundling
IE with
Windows
for
which
Microsoft
could
still
face
punitive
action,
including
a hefty
fine, by
the
European
Commission
when
competition
commissioner
Neelie
Kroes
rules on
the case
later
this
year.
Regardless
and
amidst a
lot of
scepticism,
Microsoft
is
making a
last
ditch
attempt
to
wrestle
some
positive
public
attention
for the
release
of
Windows
7.
Microsoft's
CEO
Steve
Ballmer
has
ruled
out
reviewing
its user
licenses,
despite
acknowledging
the fine
print
and
complexity
can
cause
headaches
for
customers.
In a Q&A
session
at a
customer
event to
promote
the
launch
of
Window
7,
Ballmer
was
quizzed
on
whether
of the
vendor
would
simplify
its
licensing
processes.
"I don't
anticipate
a big
round of
simplifying
licenses.
The last
round of
simplification
was done
six
years
ago and
a lot of
clauses
and fine
print is
there to
help
customers
reduce
costs,"
he said.
Critics
say with
the
launch,
Microsoft
is up to
their
usual
tricks
again
only
this
time,
they are
also
inserting
artificial
restrictions
into the
operating
system
itself.
While
not the
first
time
they
have
done
this,
this is
the
first
release
of
Windows
that can
magically
remove
limitations
instantly
upon
purchasing
a more
expensive
version
from
Microsoft.
Microsoft
last
week
announced
that
Windows
7 would
go on
sale on
October
22. How
can
users
connect
to the
Internet,
much
less
choose
another
browser
over IE8
– now
that is
the
question
OPINION
ICT in
Nigeria:
A
Proposed
Direction
of
Travel
by
Abi
Bilesanmi
From a
plethora
of
communiqués,
symposiums,
data and
all
conceivable
indices
and
indication,
mobile
telephony
as a
platform
of
development
and
social
change
is
largely
incontestable.
How so?
You may
ask but
the
facts
speak
for
themselves.
The
African
mobile
market
is
fastest
growing
in the
world
with 17
percent
of
Sub-Saharan
population
owning
mobile
phones.
We have
also
reported
on a
host of
initiatives
to
extend
ICT
revolution
to
broadband
for
Internet
users.
The fact
that
currently,
less
than 1
percent
of
Africans
have
access
to
high-speed
Internet
also
speaks
for
itself.
When we
ask the
questions
like ‘Is
the web
your
window
to the
world?’
or ‘Are
you
struggling
to
connect?’
What
kind of
response
will we
get?
Without
being
patronising,
telephony
is not
telecommunication
but an
integral
part.
With the
advent
of high
speed
broadband
internet
and its
capacity
to make
a
difference
to
people's
daily
lives,
we can
not rest
on our
laurels
for we
are a
long way
from the
‘technological
promise
land’
The
internet
is not
helping
most
business
owners
expand
and make
links;
or
students
study
for
qualifications
online
as
educational
institutions
are not
connected;
or
tourist
operators
attract
visitors;
or
musicians
promote
their
music
online;
or
farmers
grow
crops
and
their
market?
The
facts
are
still
that in
Nigeria,
not
enough
of us
are
connected.
Those
who are,
feel
held
back by
slow
download
speeds
and
expensive
costs
Political
leadership
(or lack
of) on
this
issue
has been
well
documented
and so
there is
no
mileage
in
‘flogging
that
dead
horse.’
The
Telecoms
industry
is doing
a
considerable
amount
but
because
it, more
than any
other
sector,
know the
cost of
not
embarking
on this
‘ICT
revolution’,
it must
double
its
efforts
by
putting
forward
a range
of
measures
to
enhance
the
value of
ICT to
the
populace.
The
industry
need to
educate
the
Government
that,
like it
is the
case in
other
developed
nations,
it ought
to
run some
of the
country's
largest
computer
systems.
It needs
to
expand
the
political
leadership’s
imagination
(should
not have
to… but
hey) and
enlighten
them
that
these
systems
are an
essential
element
in the
delivery
of
public
services,
be it
helping
people
into
jobs or
storing
digital
x-rays.
Hundreds
of
thousands
of
public
servants
can use
their
desktop
computers
to work
far more
efficiently
than we
could
ever
dream.
The
industry’s
short
term
goal is
to
transform
the
value it
offers
both its
members
and
other
key
communities
by
introducing
a wide
range of
new
qualifications,
products
and
services
designed
to do
this.
One such
measure
is to
open
‘Academies’
of
computing,
expanding
nationally.
It
should
start a
new
networking
group,
launching
a new
national
website
and job
site. It
needs to
fine-tune
its
qualifications
by
adding
"Chartered
Institute
for IT"
to its
portfolio.
This is
nothing
new as
individual
and
private
organizations
like The
Cyberschuul
in Lagos
is
already
doing
this but
there
needs to
be a
national
rollout
programme.
Institutions
like
these
represent
a
reservoir
of
expertise
and
could
represent
a good
template
for
training
as well
as
learning
This
‘reorganization’
would be
in
anticipation
that the
changes
will
help it
to
address
the main
issues
that
face the
ICT
industry
which
include
the
digital
divide,
information
vulnerability,
poor
information
management,
the
conspicuous
absence
of
worthy
IT
projects,
IT
skills
shortages
and a
lack of
clear
career
paths
for IT
professionals.
It
should
aim to
extend
its
international
reach,
by
securing
proper
accreditation
so that
its
qualifications
are
recognized
and
graduates
are
competent
enough
to meet
demand
for IT
personnel
particularly
at home
but also
abroad.
The
industry
should
seek to
establish
better
and
deeper
working
relationships
with
domestic
and
international
organizations
that can
help
deliver
services
and
qualifications
to IT
professionals.
Information
and
Communication
Technology
(ICT) is
a major
user of
energy
and
natural
resources.
As
technological
innovation
gathers
pace and
computers
and
accessories
quickly
become
obsolete,
we have
to think
about the
use and
disposal
of
computers,
servers
and
printers
(simply
because
we will
be
unable
to get
parts
for
them.)
This has
to
happen
in a
sustainable
way and
not have
a
negative
impact
on the
environment.
We have
already
heard
about
the
green
shoots
of
‘green
IT’ when
Reime
West
Africa
in its
presentation
at the
Co-location
of
Telecommunications
Infrastructure
forum
back in
May
focused
on Green
Telecom
as a
means of
to
reducing
and fuel
consumption,
eliminating
waste
and
generally
improve
energy
management
through
better,
smarter
and
greener
technology.
This
needs to
be
adopted
nationwide
with
further
accreditation
and
incentives
for
green IT
practitioners.
It will
be naïve
as it
would
churlish
to think
that
this
would
take
place
outside
the
context
of
existing
woeful
infrastructure,
and dire
economic
circumstances
which
are the
responsibilities
of the
government
–
responsibilities
which
they
have not
discharged
with any
veracity.
The
industry
is
already
doing
its fair
share,
but the
responsibility
to make
the
case, in
no
uncertain
terms,
that the
ability
to
process,
share
and
manage
information
will
determine
the
success
of
society
and its
ability
to face
up to
future
challenges.
The
reality
is that
we need
a
high-performing
ICT
education
system,
ICT
literate
policies,
a
respected
and
well-supported
ICT
profession
and a
population
with the
skills
and the
opportunities
to be
active
and
informed
citizens.
If the
industry
says
this
loud
enough,
often
enough
and for
long
enough,
the
government
and
indeed
the
people
will
have no
choice
but sit
up and
take
notice
CyberschuulNews
357
NITEL: Hard times bite
NITEL’s workers who have remained unpaid for 15
months warned during the week that they would
disrupt attempt by bidders for the company to carry
out due diligence unless government pays them their
outstanding salaries.
The distressed company turned to being the baton for
a renewed relay race, apparently a journey to
nowhere, which Vice-President Jonathan Goodluck
signed on a few weeks ago in Abuja when he
inaugurated a committee of bureaucrats to go find a
purchaser for NITEL in 60 days,
NEWSAnalysis
Migration to the digital economy:
Nigeria’s ‘slow motion’ worries the world
With work virtually abandoned on Nigeria’s march to
industry restructuring of the information and
communications sector, a euphemism for preparing a
basis for migration to the digital economy,
Nigerians in the Diaspora are beginning to raise
issues with the home base now that it is becoming
appreciated that ‘gsm’ is not all there is to
telecommunications. Nigeria’s position on the West
African Telecom Regulators’ Assembly, WATRA, is very
critical especially for the leading role Nigeria
played in its formation and impliedly its funding.
Reform is critically required in Nigeria for other
West African states to announce their reform
packages which are at various stages of completion.
It worries lovers of Nigeria that the country may
just be retrogressing in the all important
telecommunications sector.
President Obama almost said it in Ghana that that
country should begin to work as if Nigeria does not
exist since the latter has shown to use the
snail-mail approach. He sent Mrs. Hillary Clinton to
go round to wake African officials up with hard
talks, perhaps they would just listen. But now they
are beginning to remove Nigeria from the comity of
nations. Many say that would not be acceptable as it
may ultimately threaten the dignity of black peoples
all over the world.
It is dangerous enough for Nigeria no to be at the
United Nation’s talkshow in New York last week. The
only sector of the Nigerian economy that has a good
story to tell is commencing a descent to return to
where it left others. That brings up lots of issues
and various efforts are known to being made to
confront the issues.
In Europe. It’s Crunch Time!
There are real fears that plans to create a vibrant
European digital economy may be hamstrung by reform
of the telecommunications sector. Communications
Commissioner Viviane Reding recently said Europe's
governments had to dismantle barriers to new
communications services if Europe was to release the
economic potential of its 'digital natives'. "We
must make access to digital content an easy and fair
game," she said.
To this end,
European telecommunications ministers could decide
this week whether to endorse a net neutrality clause
in the long-awaited Telecoms Package.
The background to this development is that for
sometime now the
EU Commission has tried to harmonise and reform
telecommunication law across the EU. Its telecoms
package - a bundle of related directives - has
passed the scrutiny of the EU's two law-making
bodies, the European Parliament and the Council of
Ministers, but a section known as Amendment 138/46
is proving to be a stumbling block.
This is because Amendment 138, which protects
Internet users’ rights against blocking and
3-strikes measures, has been scrapped in a back-room
EU deal. Opposition centres on the view that the
European Parliament has sacrificed users’ rights, in
order to appease the French and UK government
demands, so that they can move ahead with plans for
3-strikes and protocol blocking. Critics are
impressing upon the European Parliament that it is
their job to stand up for what is right for citizens
or face the consequences at the ballot box –
something Nigerian politicians rarely heed.
Contrary to the Commissioner’s plea and desire to
dismantle barriers, a commission opinion released
last week could have the combined effects of harden
the barriers, slow the introduction of new services
and open the way to internet censorship, according
Monica Horten, a blogger and intellectual property
researcher.
She argues the text to be considered by the
lawmakers next month creates a right for governments
to implement "measures regarding end-users' access
to or use of services and applications through
electronic communications networks" with particular
reference to Amendment 1.2a of the Universal
Services and Users Rights directive, which will
permit broadband providers to block or impose
"conditions limiting access to and/or use of
services and applications".
A spokesperson for Reding retorted, saying the
reforms were intended to regulate the behaviour of
telecommunications companies, not consumers. He said
the commission explicitly rejected an earlier French
proposal for a "three strikes and you are out" or
graduated response to internet abusers.
The new pan-European regulatory regime could be in
force by March 2010, but some experts believe that
the whole package could fail if there is no
agreement on Amendment 138/46. Watch this space.
If you can’t join
them, beat them
The arrangement which gave mobile phone operator O2
exclusive rights to sell Apple's iPhone in the U.K
and had been in place since 2007, has come to end
with the announcement that the British mobile phone
carrier Orange has reached an agreement to
‘gatecrash the party’ later this year.
On its website, Orange says the iPhone 3G and 3GS
will be available to its British customers "later
this year," but doesn't mention a launch date or
price.
Orange, which is owned by France Telecom and
announced earlier this month that it had agreed to
merge with T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom (see
cyberschuulnews 354) to create the UK's largest
wireless provider, surpassing O2 -owned by Spain's
Telefonica – seems to have wasted no time publicly
flex it’s new-found commercial muscle.
O2 will continue to sell the iPhone but the end of
the exclusivity agreement signifies the
synchronization of the U.K. market with countries in
Europe and South America where multiple carriers
offer the iPhone. In China,
Apple's iPhone will arrive via China Unicom, which
signed a three-year service deal with Apple in
August and will start selling the iPhone in October.
FEATURE
IT disasters: 5 of the
best (or worst)
It was more than three decades ago that computers
and related information technologies were introduced
to most of us. Today, in most parts of the developed
world it is almost inconceivable to think of
schools, government departments, institutions –
public and private - which do not use computers of
some description.
In the developed world, technology has been shown to
have positive effects not only on the
socio-political and economic process, but has also
changed the very nature of these societies – a
template to be emulated and replicated.
But while measures of evaluation are overwhelmingly
positive and justifiably so, we discount that the
developed world have sometimes been ‘asleep behind
the wheel’ and experienced and overseen IT projects
and incidents that have been monumental disasters
sometimes costing hundreds of millions. We have
covered many positive IT stories but in the interest
of balance, below are the exceptions to the rule – 5
‘big’ ones. They do not better define the role of
technology in its wider context, but to be
acknowledged nevertheless – and yes they all
occurred in the developed world.
Faulty Soviet early warning system nearly causes
WWIII (1983).
We have all watched some sci-fi film where the
threat of computers coupled with military egos
purposefully starts World War III. Inexplicable
software glitches have brought us perilously close.
A little over 25 years ago, a software bug in the
USSR’s early warning system incorrectly told their
military that the US had launched five ballistic
missiles. How close we came to an apocalyptic
disaster, we will never know.
The AT&T network collapse (1990).
Those in the US who made an apocalyptic premonition
that the millennium bug will pose huge IT problems
were a decade late.
Their premonition had come 10 years earlier on
January 15, 1990 when AT&T's long-distance telephone
switching system crashed. This was a monumental
unprecedented event which those in the know say
occurred for no apparent physical reason. In the
nine long hours of frantic effort that it took to
restore service, 60,000 people lost their telephone
service completely and some seventy million
telephone calls went uncompleted. The crash was a
grave corporate embarrassment especially coming at
the first month of a new, high-tech decade
The explosion of the Ariane 5 (1996)
It was ‘egg-on-faces’ for The European Space Agency
back in 1996 when Europe's newest and unmanned
satellite-launching rocket, the Ariane 5, was
intentionally blown up just seconds after taking off
on its maiden flight from Kourou, French Guiana. The
estimated total cost of developing the Ariane 5 was
about $8bn (£4bn). On board Ariane 5 was a $500m
(£240m) set of four scientific satellites created to
study how the Earth's magnetic field interacts with
Solar Winds. According to a piece in the New York
Times Magazine, the self-destruction was
triggered by software trying to stuff ‘a 64-bit
number into a 16-bit space’. Oops!
EDS – Take your Pick
EDS one of the largest IT services companies in the
world, has a reputation that precedes it. Its
illustrious list of major project failures in the UK
and to which it has owned up includes the slipshod
Armed Forces Pay Administration Agency - an EDS-run
contract -which bungled the pay of Armed forces
personnel and the infamous CS2 computer system
somehow managed to overpay 1.9 million people,
underpay around 700,000 and cost the taxpayer over a
£1 billion. This IT disaster was a knell that
summoned the destruction of the Child Support Agency
(CSA). The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee
said of the wreckage left behind: "Ignoring ample
warnings, the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP),
the CSA and IT contractor EDS introduced a large,
complex IT system at the same time as restructuring
the agency. The new system was brought in and, as
night follows day, stumbled and now has enormous
operational difficulties."
Exploding laptops (2006)
It was like something from ‘Mission Impossible’
(with Greg Morris not Tom Cruise) when a laptop
manufactured by Dell internally combusted at a trade
show in Japan. Rumors of laptops catching fire had
been circulating, but the Dell laptop managed to do
it for real in the full glare of publicity.
Dell put a brave face on and launched an
investigation which concluded that there was a
problem with the battery/power supply on the
individual laptop that had overheated and caught
fire. This episode proved to be very expensive issue
for Dell. As a result of its investigation, it
decided that it would be prudent to recall and
replace 4.1m laptop batteries. The ensuing ‘blame
game’ led Dell to the door of the battery cells’
manufacturers – Sony. This happened at the same time
many PC suppliers reported the same problem
including Apple who reported issues with iPods and
Macbooks. Sony estimated at the time that the
overall cost of supporting the recall programmes of
Apple and Dell would amount to between ¥20bn
(£90m) and ¥30bn
Others left out of this infamous list and which one
may argue do not constitute an IT disaster but
rather was down to human boo-boo include:
HMRC data loss (2008)
where two CDs which were password protected but not
encrypted, containing names, addresses, dates of
birth, child benefit numbers, National Insurance
numbers and bank or building society account details
personal details of 25 million Britons had been
"lost in the post" allegedly by a junior employee at
the HMRC;
The Airbus A380 and incompatible software issues
(2006)
where a
‘niggling’ problem arose due to incompatibility
between a German system that used an out-of-date
version of software and the French system used the
latest version resulting in a problem which was
eventually fixed, but only at a cost that nobody
seems to want to put an absolute figure but all
agreed was a lot;
The
two-digit year-2000 problem (1999/2000)
when rumors and scaremongering aplenty about the
impending disaster at the sound of clocks striking
midnight in time zones around the world sparked
astronomical contract rates and retainers but when
the moment came, predictions of doom came to a big
fat …naught;
Siemens and the passport system (1999) which brought
about a
summer of
discontent in 1999, when half a million British
citizens were discovered that their new passports
could not be issued on time because the Passport
Agency had brought in a new Siemens computer system
without sufficiently testing it and training staff
first.
The moral of this story is that regardless of
countless success stories, IT can go wrong. When it
does go wrong, it does so spectacularly and at a
huge cost.
CyberschuulNews
356
ITU’s conference
to focus on ‘Cybersecurisation’
The global meltdown has brought to focus the
interdependence of all peoples of the world. Such flow
of people and money has brought positive economic
benefits just as it has increased the vulnerability of
the cyberspace. The developed economies have built huge
software to contain virus, spy and intrusion while
developing ones do not have the means or expertise to do
all these. But do they have the will? Six leading
experts in cyber-laws development will on October 8 2009
speak on the issues at the ITU TELECOM WORLD 2009 in
Geneva. One of them is Nigeria’s Mr Basil Udotai,
Managing Partner, Technology Advisors, ICT Lawyers &
Consultants, Nigeria.
Mr Udotai is a well known advocate of local and
cross-border laws to contain the evils of cyber
criminality. He will speak on the subject
'Interconnected and vulnerable: Managing the weakest
link of Cybersecurity in Africa"
Cyber-criminals
change
tact in
the US
Trusted
websites
which
people
view are
increasingly
at the
mercy of
cyber
criminals
who now
choose
to
infect
the
computers
of the
viewer/subscribers.
This is
proving
to be a
successful
strategy
exemplified
by a
high-profile
security
lapse at
the top
US
newspaper
site.
Thousands
of
visitors
to The
New York
Times
website
last
weekend
had
their
screens
fill
with
what
appeared
to be an
automated
scan for
computer
viruses,
followed
by
warnings
the scan
had
uncovered
infections
and a
recommendation
that the
PC
owners
buy
protection.
Clicking
on the
offer
probably
installed
a
program
designed
to
badger
the
consumer
into
buying
worthless
“scareware”
in the
future,
the
Times
reported
Tuesday.
With
increasing
sophistication
of cyber
tools
for
online
innovation
comes
slicker
cybercrime.
A
multimillion
dollar
virtual
crime
wave
targeting
small
and
mid-size
companies
has been
reported
by NACHA-The
Electronics
Payment
Association--a
task
force
representing
over
15,000 institutions
in the
financial
industry.
NACHA
reports
that
cyber-criminals
have
been
swiping
small
business
usernames
and
passwords
associated
with
corporate
accounts
at banks
using
malware
and
tools
that
record
keystrokes. The
gangs
organizing
the bulk
of the
million-dollar
criminal mischief have
been
siphoning
off U.S.
small
business
funds
and
sending
the
funds
overseas
using
money
transfer
services.
Website
attacks
have
replaced
the
deceptive
emails
as the
preferred
modus
operandi
for
financially
motivated
attacks.
The
trust
that
consumers
have of
websites
as more
people
do more
things
online
makes it
easier
to fool
consumers
and also
to
circumvent
defensive
systems.
Criminals,
by means
of
familiarity,
(they
are
reported
to have
posed as
an
existing
advertiser
to gain
access
to The
New York
Times’
network),
are
using
dedicated
audiences
as their
mode of
target.
Once
inside a
corporate
computer,
malicious
software
can take
further
advantage
of
unfixed
security
gaps in
various
existing
applications.
Corporations
that
ignore
security
problems
in their
operating
systems,
do so at
their
peril as
they are
slower
to
resolve
flaws in
applications.
Sometimes
the lag
in
response
is
because
they
fear
that
taking
action
may
seriously
and
adversely
affect
their
key
internal
processes.
There is
also the
case of
crime
rings
that are
data-stealing
programs
sent via
emails
aimed at
a
targeted
company’s
named
executives.
The
payouts
from
either
combined
approach
are
growing
larger,
according
to law
enforcement
testimony
before
the
Senate’s
homeland
security
committee,
which is
plotting
new
cyber-security
legislation.
The FBI
and a
panel
charged
with
warning
financial
institutions
about
new
criminal
methods
issued a
joint
bulletin
last
month
alerting
banks to
a spate
of
electronic
intrusions
in which
cyber-criminals
gained
control
of the
bank
accounts
of small
and
mid-sized
businesses,
panel
chief
William
Nelson
testified.
Senator
Joseph
Lieberman,
the
committee
chair,
said
emailed
password-grabbers
recently
led to
fraudulent
account
transfers
totaling
$700,000
at a
Pennsylvania
school
district
and
$1.2m at
a Texas
manufacturer.
President
Obama’s
former
cyber-security
coordinator
Melissa
Hathaway
who
recently
resigned
warned a
private
conference
last
this
week
that the
US
needed
“to
prepare
for a
digital
disaster”
such as
a
cyber-attack
on
infrastructure
that she
said
could
cost
$700bn.
Mergers
: Three
the Hard
Way
(Hitachi,
Casio
and NEC
become
NEC
CASIO
Mobile
Communications,
Ltd.)
A trio
of
Japanese
electronics
groups
Hitachi,
Casio
and NEC
have
announced
plans to
merge
their
mobile
phone
operations
to cut
costs
and
become
more
competitive.
The deal
leaked
earlier
sees NEC
join an
existing
Casio
and
Hitachi
joint
mobile
phone
venture
created
in 2004
but will
largely
take it
over.
The new
business,
capitalized
initially
at 1
billion
yen ($11
million)
will be
66
percent
owned by
NEC,
17.34
percent
by Casio
and
16.66 by
Hitachi.
By June
2010,
that
will be
raised
to 5
billion
yen ($55
million),
with NEC
owning a
70.74
percent
stake,
Casio 20
percent
and
Hitachi
9.26
percent.
The
three
companies,
which
are
relatively
small
players
in the
mobile
phone
market,
have
suffered
badly
during
the
downturn
because
Japanese
makers
have
largely
failed
in
selling
handsets
overseas,
partly
because
the
mobile
technology
in Japan
is
different
from
U.S. and
European
systems.
Mobile
phones
here
also
tend to
be
loaded
with
and have
very
localized
features
and
complicated
interfaces
that are
not
popular
abroad.
NEC is
in the
process
of
cutting
20,000
jobs
worldwide,
while
Hitachi
recently
announced
that it
expects
to make
a loss
of 270bn
yen
($3bn;
£1.8bn)
this
year.
A
merger
will
ensure
that all
three
companies
pool
both
technology
and
resources.
Such consolidation
is both
a
reaction
to
Japan's
own
phone
market
and to
the
presence
of
outsiders.
It will
also
bring
about ‘lower
development
costs
and
boost
their
competitiveness
and
brands’,
they
said
CONFERENCES
ICT to
deliver
more for
less
Due to
current
global
economic
climate
where
public
spending
cuts
will be
the norm
rather
than the
exception,
there
are
increasing
calls
(particularly
from the
private
sector
which
has been
undergoing
this
process
for the
last 20
years,
that the
public
sector
must be
able to
deliver
tangible
returns
from all
investment
decisions,
considering
both the
latest
technologies
available
to
improve
performance
and
efficiency
targets
which
demand
cost
savings
from all
areas of
the
organisation.
To this
end a
conference
called
‘Unified
Communications
and
Collaboration
in the
Public
Sector’
was held
in
London
this
week for
Senior
public
sector
managers
of IT/ICT,
Procurement,
Operations,
e-Government/t-government,
enterprise
architects
and
systems
managers
and
analysts
involved
in
implementing
and
developing
integrated
data
systems
The
objective
was to
demonstrate
best
practice
with
real
business
case
studies
to
provide
delegates
with a
clear
view of
how they
can, and
why they
should,
implement
a
unified
solution
to
deliver
cost and
time
savings
across
the
sector.
Delegates
were to
discover
practical
solutions
for
reducing
costs
whilst
improving
delivery
levels,
explore
how
integrating
technologies
can
enable
remote
working,
learn
how to
ensure
converged
systems
are
resilient
enough
to
guarantee
full
continuity
and most
importantly,
prepare
to take
big
steps to
overcome
cultural
objections
to new
ways of
working
The
conference
represents
a
template
especially
for
countries
where
e-government
is in
its
infancy
to learn
and
develop
practical
ideas
that
will
drive
change
and cost
reductions
through
exploring
new ways
to work
smarter
for
less,
embedding
business
needs
into ICT
investment
and
improving
the
effectiveness
and
speed of
response
times
The International Conference and Exhibition
on Power and Telecommunications ( ICEPT ) 2009
Theme : Improved Power and Telecommunications
capabilities as key drivers for global economic
competitiveness.
Venue : Shehu Musa Yar' Adua Conference Centre, Abuja.
Date : 13th to 15th October 2009
Time : 9am to 5pm Daily.
WITSA Global Public Policy Summit,
Bermuda
Date: October 30-31 - Pre-Summit events
Nov 1-3, 2009 - Summit events
Nov 4-7, 2009 - Trade/Tech Visit to TechAmerica -
Washignton, USA (Optional)
INDUSTRY
REPORT
Broadband:
Enabler
for
freedom
and
security
of the
citizen
Selected
top
players
of the
communications
industry
in
Nigeria
recently
brainstormed
on the
way
forward
in
improving
the
Nigerian
citizen
and
their
environment.
In a
lead
presentation
paper,
Ernest
Ndukwe,
EVC of
NCC drew
a
correlation
between
freedom
and
security
on one
hand,
and
between
security
and
capability
to apply
knowledge
as these
apply to
the
human
being on
the
other.
He said
if the
application
of ICT
was to
solve
human
problems,
the
focus
must
necessarily
be on
the
human
beings
who use
technology
and not
on the
technology
itself.
It is
for this
reason
that
value-added
services
are key
to the
major
revenue
streams
of
service
providers.
He
believes
this is
how the
all-important
issue of
how
ICT’s
are used
to
enhance
e-health,
education,
industrial
development,
and
transportation.
To
aspire
to world
standard
services
in all
of the
applications
areas,
policies
must
favour
citizens’
application
of these
technologies,
and we
must
continue
to grow
and
expand
our ICT
facilities,
thus
enabling
our
people
to
emancipate
socially,
politically
and
economically.
Consequently
all the
above
leads to
the
conclusion
that the
ability
to feel
secure
and to
be free
in the
21st
century,
is
inevitably
tied to
the
availability
of
information
and
communications
facilities.
Other
panelists
among
who were
Mr.
Frank
Nweke
Jnr., DG
Nigerian
Economic
Summit
Group
and
Former
Minister
of
Information
and
Communications;
Mr.
Chinenye
Mba-Uzoukwu,
Managing
Partner,
Grand
Central;
Dr. Uju
Agomoh,
Founder
of
Prisons
Rehabilitation
and
Welfare
Action;
Dr. Ken
Ife, IT
Consultant
and Mr.
Ibrahim
Dikko,
Executive
Director,
Etisalat
have the
opinion
that
Education
is the
major
information
technology
factor
and more
resources
need to
be
channeled
towards
educating
the
youths
on the
benefits
of ICT.
Security
is all
about
creating
an
educated
population
that can
create
what
they
need to
solve
their
problems.
Mr.
Frank
Nweke
Jr. in
particular
recalled
his days
in
office
as
Minister
of
information
and
Communication
when
Nigerian
telecom
industry
was
always a
model to
be proud
of in
the
comity
telecom
regulators.
After
recognising
the
commendable
work
done so
far in
promoting
internet
access
from
dial up
through
GPRS,
the need
to
migrate
to
broadband
access
was
emphasised.
|
