Platform tackles SME tech costs

Johannesburg, 23 Jul 2009

A locally developed server operating system, Vulani, has been unveiled in Durban.

According to Thusa, the company responsible for developing Vulani, this "business services gateway and edge networking platform" can be used for tasks like file sharing, backup and e-mail, firewalling, VPN, e-mail security and bandwidth management.

Thusa MD Warwick Chapman explains: "We believe Vulani will be an extremely important product for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and possibly even developing economies in general." He said the platform bridges the gap between the opportunity which open source software presents on the server and skills required to leverage that opportunity.

According to the company, the platform is easy to use, cost-effective and positioned towards the SME markets. Chapman says it can be used to replace a stack of multiple software and hardware products for a fraction of a cost. "With as much functionality as we believe most SMEs and branch offices require," he adds. If used correctly, the platform can save capital outlay, technical skills and maintenance costs.

While the platform`s features can be found in numerous other solutions, Vulani lead developer Colin Alston says focusing on that would miss the point of Vulani. "The point was never to provide features and ideas that did not exist," he says, but to package them in such a way that those features and ideas would be accessible to businesses.

"With this platform, users and technicians can be empowered to perform the simple tasks as and when required," he points out.

Focused functionality

In building Vulani, Thusa wanted to achieve a product that "performs many roles in a sensible fashion, providing focused functionality".

"Our research and experience has shown that SMEs and branch offices utilise a very small slice of functionality available in the hardware and software products they purchase," says Chapman.

They usually struggle to find and afford the skills to maintain much of their proprietary infrastructure, he adds. SMEs are often unable to benefit from certain services and functionality because it requires additional investment in capital and skills, which are at a premium, according to Chapman.

Chapman believes one of the key sets of challenges facing African economies is the shortage of available skills. "Most serious is the shortage of technical skills, such as those in engineering and technology." Creating practical solutions to simple problems is central to sustainable advancement and development.

"While skills development is the obvious and most suitable solution to a skills shortage, this can be paired with another approach: designing solutions which reduce unused functionality and flexibility - or bloat - in the interest of keeping the skills requirement low," he concludes.