Independent News and Media group in SA, owned by Independent News and Media PLC, has joined the electronic arm, Independent Online (iol.co.za) on UUNET SA`s backbone.
The three-year contract was signed on 20 July and UUNET SA will be responsible for all hosting services and bandwidth provision for both business divisions.
Independent Newspapers, based in Gauteng with offices in Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal, owns the majority of English newspapers in SA. With iol.co.za distributing large volumes of content daily over the Internet to various communities and organisations worldwide, a stable, secure and redundant environment was a priority to the business.
IOL has been a UUNET SA customer for approximately two-and-a-half years. "We have received excellent service and dedication from UUNET SA over this time and it did not make sense to operate both elements of our organisation on separate Internet service providers (ISPs). It was inevitable that Independent Newspapers would move its business to UUNET SA, with its ability to provide a stable network connection, 24x7." says Marius Bock, technical director at iol.co.za.
"Previously, iol.co.za were on UUNET SA`s network in Cape Town, but due to outstanding functionality services, we subsequently moved bases to include Johannesburg, enabling further connection points between the regions. Therefore, should a network failure occur in one region, we have automatic redundancy and backup, optimising our connection. This move also gives us the network capabilities to launch new initiatives within iol.co.za," concludes Bock.
Pieter Praetorius, multi-national account manager at UUNET SA, says: "UUNET SA understands that it is vital for the iol.co.za Web site to be constantly up and running with sufficient redundancy capabilities to bring up-to-the-minute breaking news. We look forward to giving Independent Newspapers the same high level of service that iol.co.za is accustomed too. We are proud to be associated with one of the world`s leading information sources."
UUNET SA is southern Africa`s only pan-African provider of Internet-based network services and is the largest global carrier of Internet traffic. The company provides Internet connectivity and corporate network services to major corporations as well as access services to Internet service providers.
All UUNET SA products and services are delivered within the required regulatory conditions.
For more information, please visit the UUNET SA Web site on www.uunet.co.za.
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