Connectivity solutions provider Maxwell Technology has released a backup solution that uses satellite technology.
The company says the solution reduces the impact caused by cable theft, which South African organisations are grappling with.
The solution is offered in conjunction with Sat-Space Africa, while connectivity is provided via the AMOS 5 satellite, which Maxwell Technology says provides fast and reliable connectivity.
According to Maxwell Technology, cable theft has become endemic in certain areas, leaving companies unable to transact business and suffering losses.
Kallie Carlsen, technical director at Maxwell Technology, says the high rate of copper theft is driven by soaring copper prices - the metal has quadrupled in value since 2009 - and looks set to continue into the future. It can take days or even weeks for the stolen cable to be replaced.
He adds that one estimate puts the direct and indirect cost to the South African economy at R10 billion per year.
ITWeb recently reported that Telkom, Eskom, Transnet, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and Metrorail alone suffered R3.2 billion in direct losses due to copper theft between 2006 and 2011.
The Ministry of Transport also recently confirmed that the loss due to copper theft at government entities has steadily increased since 2008.
In that vein, Carlsen says the indirect costs relating to lost productivity and business opportunity is much higher, and affects the whole economy.
“In today's connected business environment, losing connectivity is equivalent to crippling the business down - the business stands to lose a progressively greater proportion of each day's turnover the longer the outage continues,” Carlsen notes.
“Then there's also the long-term damage to the company's brand in the eyes of customers and business partners.
“This is a revolutionary concept because it simply requires the purchase of a satellite dish and modem, along with a data bundle. Thereafter, the system is always on, and can kick in the moment normal connectivity is lost. There are no monthly charges, and the data bundle never expires - this is a genuine failsafe option and the pricing has been structured accordingly.”
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