The Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town is the venue for IT, communications and electronics (ICTE) business conference, Futurex Cape 2004.
The main aim of the two-day conference is to continue discussions around the future direction of local IT and telecommunications.
Freemarket Foundation council member Neil Emerick, one of the keynote speakers at the event, will take a critical look at the telecoms industry in his presentation, "The real digital divide". According to Emerick, there is not enough job creation in the industry.
"Everyone knows we could at least support another two or three telcos. We have so many ISPs in this country, and there is no reason why we can`t have the same amount of telco providers. It would create so many jobs."
Emerick will also discuss Telkom and its position in the market, as well as the implications of the arrival of the second national operator.
Also on the topic of telecoms, Gary Cousins, development manager of messaging solutions company Clickatell, will take a futuristic view of where it is going, focusing on mesh networks, grid computing and peer-to-peer networks.
"Tim Parsonson, director of voice and data solutions company Storm, will discuss voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP). "I think we will see it expanding everywhere, because it is very cost-effective. But you will have to offer a decent service and grow with your user base. If you don`t, you will fall out of the market."
Parsonson will also discuss how companies can benefit from VOIP.
On the issue of broadband, communication solutions company Sentech`s Winston Smith and Marcel Steyn will provide a dual presentation on the challenges facing the broadband Internet service provider as it expands its operations.
Cape IT Initiative executive director Masedi Molosiwa will discuss the state of play in the Western Cape ICT sector.
The conference is organised by ITWeb in association with the CSSA, EIF, CITI and ITA, and will run alongside the Futurex Cape Town exhibition. To register for the conference, click here.
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