A year to remember

It is that time of the year when many take a moment to look back and decide if 2010 was a good or bad one.

Many agree the most important event in SA this year was the successful hosting of the Fifa World Cup, which showcased the technology and broadcasting capabilities that were demonstrated during the global event.

Industry players shared with ITWeb what they think were the noteworthy events that stood out in 2010.

Peter Stewart, MD of ClickThinking, says with the successful hosting of the 2010 World Cup in SA, and the goodwill and confidence that was built among South Africans, everyone should be proud. “This event really made a mark in the history of Africa,” he adds.

“The recession, the mixed sentiment that has followed and, with it, the confusion expressed by economists in predicting the end of it, is one thing that was being discussed across the globe in 2010.”

He says he is looking forward to working with great people on challenging technology projects in 2011; making the odd mistake and learning from it.

The head of marketing for Nokia SA, Sarah Crowe, agrees that the Fifa Soccer World Cup transformed the South African heartbeat and attitude away from recessionary concerns to unity.

“Importantly, though the base has been laid for every South African to believe that there is no opportunity we cannot reach for, it is in our hands,” she says.

She reckons that, while it may not have been an event in itself, “the drop in data costs in SA - starting with broadband and transitioning significantly to mobile towards the end of the year - is laying a stage for true adoption of smartphone usage in SA”.

Consumers will move from owning smartphones to having an always-on presence with them wherever they are, she says.

According to Isett Seta CEO Oupa Mopaki, the evident convergence of fixed and mobile technology has opened up competition and new opportunities in the ICT value chain, and is one of the life-changing events that took place during the year.

“Content development opportunities are available through the pending mobile TV and Internet protocol (IP) TV,” he adds.

In line with this, entertainment and media industry leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers Southern Africa, Vicky Myburgh, says she is looking forward to SA having greater broadband access and joining the rest of the world as far as access and speed goes.

“I am also very much looking forward to having mobile television and being able to watch TV anytime, anywhere. Next year certainly promises to be an exciting year,” she adds.

Mopaki says the introduction of 8ta, Telkom's mobile arm, brings about more competition and opportunities too for operators and consumers. “This is one of the events that really caught my attention this year, besides SA hosting the World Cup.”

Agreeing with Mopaki is MD of World Wide Worx Arthur Goldstuck, who says the introduction of 8ta by Telkom, and Cell C's release of its high-speed broadband network, really stood out when compared to other events in the ICT arena.

“Not necessarily because they were important in themselves, but more because they sparked a shake-up of the market that has not yet fully played itself out,” he says.

Goldstuck says the switch-on of the Eassy submarine cable, in June, and the resilience and high performance of the SA telecoms networks during the World Cup, were probably more significant, but made fewer headlines.

He says next year either the switch-on or the delay of the switch-on of the West Africa Cable System will be big news, as will the completion for the national fibre network being laid down by Neotel, MTN and Vodacom.

Internationally, he reckons, the biggest stories of 2010 were the release of the iPad, the Stuxnet virus attack on the Iranian nuclear reactor, and the cyber war sparked by the WikiLeaks controversies.

“In 2011, the explosion of the tablet market will be the big story, as it will be seen to herald the demise of the PC and the netbook,” he points out.

Goldstuck says a new war on information freedom will be waged next year, as governments use the WikiLeaks issue and the DDOS attacks that followed as justification for trying to control free information flow over the Internet.

“The mobile and smartphone revolution will also intensify, and apps will start becoming more important than Web pages,” he adds.

The head of sales at Nokia SA, Vithesh Reddy, agrees that the WikiLeaks debacle - even though it happened towards the end of the year - really stood out. “This proves that cyber war is here and also the power that people have with technology to influence issues.”

IDC senior analyst Hannes Fourie believes virtualisation adoption had much impact in 2010 and it caught his attention. “In my view, virtualisation played a key role in shaping the IT industry in SA in 2010,” he adds.

The 2009 recession forced CIOs to cut back IT spending, and operational efficiency became top of the agenda, Fourie says, adding that virtualisation played a big role in solving some of the issues associated with cost savings.

“Virtualisation enhances utilisation of servers, reduces power and cooling expenditure, lowers your capital and operational expenses, and contributes to overall cost reduction,” he points out.

“In 2011, I am looking forward to seeing economic growth,” Fourie says, adding: “Which at the same time will spur IT expenditure growth.”

Fourie says he is also looking forward to seeing cloud offerings make a mark in 2011. “On the consumer IT side, I expect the media tablet or media reader devices, such as the iPad, to make a big impact next year, firstly being adopted by consumers, and later on, I expect to see corporate adoption as business applications mature.”

Brainstorm editor, Samantha Perry, says what stood out in 2010 was the decrease in interconnect rates. “People still seem to think that this wholesale price reduction will impact retail prices, which it won't.” She explains why it is important that the regulator put its foot down, intervened in the market, followed procedure, and made things happen. “Usually, any attempt by the regulator to intervene anywhere results in one of the other operator delaying by instigating court action. That this went through, and relatively rapidly, is significant,” she adds.

Another significant event was that SA got a new minister of communications, “who not only seems willing to solve the problems that have plagued the sector, but seems more than able to do so, too”.

“Minister Roy Padayachie has a history in the sector, is well regarded by industry and government alike, and has already made some positive moves, like removing the public service Broadcasting Bill off the table, because of some fundamental flaws,” says Perry.

According to Perry, his appointment is a good sign and should result in real, positive action on such overdue matters as the Independent Communication Authority of SA's funding and independence, local loop unbundling, the drafting of an overall policy framework for the sector and getting government and industry working together next year.

Sustainable IT CEO Tim James says, to date, corporate SA has paid scant regard to green ICT. “As a result of Nersa's approval of 25% increases in energy tariffs in 2010 and for the next two years, increasing costs have forced companies to start seriously looking at energy efficiency technologies, which, obviously, have an environmental benefit in terms of CO2 emission reductions,” he points out.

He says this stood out from other events in 2010. “The less energy you use, the less CO2 is produced,” he adds.

Increasing energy rates will continue to be the main driver in corporate sustainability initiatives in the near future, James points out.

The emergence of public and private clouds can only be a good thing in terms of driving ICT efficiencies and lowering energy and CO2 usage, he states.

“It should be noted that the cloud is really nothing significantly new and is merely just the reinvention of services and concepts that have been around for years.

“However, by leveraging collective infrastructure through cloud-based services, companies can gain not only operational efficiencies, but also lower energy consumption and CO2 emissions.”

James says the most important event in SA, and potentially the planet, will happen in Durban in December 2011, namely the COP 17 Summit on Climate Change.

“We expect that as we gradually move out of economic recession, more focus will be placed by the nations of the world on climate change and Durban may, in fact, be where the successor to the Kyoto Protocol is signed,” he says.

According to James, COP 17 is another massive opportunity (after World Cup 2010) for SA to showcase itself, and it is hoped that government and business take this opportunity and demonstrate concrete actions around CO2 emissions reduction and provide leadership to the rest of the world.

He says, from an ICT perspective, sustainability is expected to become more focused on the CIO agenda, as rising energy rates and sustainability (both in terms of risk and opportunity) become more pressing strategies at board level.