CHM Vuwani, the black economic empowerment (BEE) partner of First Technology, has completed numerous multi-million Rand network installations at several KwaZulu-Natal-based government departments.
Mike Elston, executive consultant to CHM Vuwani Pietermaritzburg, says the projects, predominantly cabling and networking infrastructure rollouts, have been conducted at sites across the province.
"We`ve completed seven very interesting jobs in the KwaZulu-Natal region, including the largest secondary healthcare facility in the Pietermaritzburg area. Many of these opportunities have been a result of our partnership with the Centurion based Tecor Group." he says.
In October 2002, CHM Vuwani was appointed as the Business Partner for the entire KwaZulu-Natal region to the Tecor Group, a very exciting and mutually beneficial relationship. The Tecor Group has a contract with Sita (State Information Technology Agency) to supply and install networking systems at all government sites through out the country.
Included in the seven projects is the Department of Health installation at Greys Hospital, which is not only upgrading from a secondary to a tertiary institution, but is also set to become a training facility in the region. In order to fulfil this need, the hospital had to first upgrade its networking backbone infrastructure to the value of R1.8-million. This included close on 10km of fibre optic cable and some very powerful 3Com switches, using their new XRN technology for resiliency and redundancy. Greys will later implement a new Hospital Information System, as well as modify and grow its existing systems, says Elston.
Other projects include the Department of Education in Vryheid as well as an installation in the Ezekeni district. CHM Vuwani completed 130 network and electrical points in both instances. Fibre optic and 3Com switching equipment was installed at both sites.
"We also completed a large cabling installation for the Department of Defence in Ladysmith, which comprised 150 UTP points and 3km of fibre with trenching, sleeving, and full electrical points, as well as UPS systems. This contract was valued at close to R1-million.
"And at the Department of Traditional and Local Government Affairs at the Southern Life plaza building, we undertook the replacement of data cabinets, revamped the existing networking infrastructure of over 500 UTP points and installed fibre redundant links. In addition, we upgraded the department`s legacy 10mb hub based network to a 10/100/1000mb 3Com switching infrastructure," he adds.
Additional projects have been completed at the Department of Finance - Treasury House, with close on 100 network points and several switching upgrades.
According to Elston, CHM Vuwani has a number of other projects in the pipeline, one of which is the upgrade of the Department of Health`s Natalia Building. He estimates that the project will be worth approximately R2.6-million.
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CHM Vuwani is one of SA`s largest, independent IT solutions providers, offering customers solutions and services that maximise business productivity, reduce the risk associated with deploying new technologies and minimise the total cost of Information Technology (IT) ownership. The company has fully-fledged branches in every major business node across South Africa and maintains one of the largest teams of highly skilled technical personnel in the country.
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