Johannesburg, 19 Feb 2014
In the keynote welcome address to delegates attending the 2014 CA IT Management Symposium, Gary Lawrence, MD CA Southern Africa, will unveil the CA Mainframe Academy - an initiative aimed at establishing SA as a centre of excellence for mainframe skills.
The CA Mainframe Academy will offer ICT graduates the opportunity to gain certification - and enhanced job opportunities - in a sector of the industry with rapidly escalating skills shortages.
"Mainframe usage over the past decade has continued to grow around the world and in South Africa, because of the reliability and secure operating environment of this technology," notes Lawrence. "However, the availability of skilled mainframe technicians has not grown in tandem with the market expansion and a high percentage of the current technical skills base is close to retirement. It is estimated that a staggering 60% of the current mainframe workforce will be lost in the medium term."
Lawrence says the CA Mainframe Academy is designed to grow South African mainframe skills and to provide new graduates - with a significant ICT component in their degrees - with privileged entry into an area where such skills are much sought after.
"This initiative is aimed at addressing what is currently a serious shortage of skills and turning it into an opportunity for SA's young graduates. Trainees will be exposed to a comprehensive orientation programme plus a year's work experience in mainframe environments at some of our leading customers," says Lawrence.
Lawrence highlights the fact that this ambitious scheme cannot be undertaken by a single organisation. "In order to grow it into what we envisage - a globally competitive mainframe skills academy - we need support from the corporate business community and government. We believe this is a powerful opportunity to lend public support for the establishment of a significant learning institution that provides opportunity for SA's young graduates and stabilises the mainframe enterprise environment with pipeline skills."
Lawrence confirms that a number of major corporations in South Africa have already endorsed the initiative.
Recent research by CA Technologies shows that mainframes are becoming lynchpins of enterprise architectures around the world, a solid foundation in a technology environment that is changing at bewildering speed. The research showed that 56% of respondents believe they will face a shortage of mainframe skills in the next five years. Twenty-seven percent plan to increase spending on mainframe resources. Therefore, industry leading IT management products, without the necessary skills base to support them, is an issue.
CA Technologies has a global mainframe Centre of Excellence in Prague with a structured training programme. CA Southern Africa will use material developed for the global programme along with skilled instructors who will be flown to South Africa for the classroom-based portions of the academy.
CA Technologies is a leading global vendor of IT management mainframe software, which positions CA Southern Africa exceptionally well in driving this exciting initiative.
"Graduates from the CA Southern Africa Mainframe Academy will also have the opportunity to pursue job experience through the EOH job creation programme," Lawrence concludes.
For further information on the CA IT Management Symposium 2014:
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66525&Itemid=2869