Empowered software implementation firm OpenTop Africa is positive that its first order is on the way, with the second following closely behind.
The company, which has a staff of three, implements software solutions based on open-source standards as well as offering a virtual desktop solution. OpenTop Africa is in the process of completing a pilot project at a JSE-listed industrial company and is in discussion with Telkom around its products.
MD Jonathan Cloete says he hopes to provide its software-as-a-service capabilities to Telkom for its internal use and for end-users. The technology the company uses, he says, also makes it possible to provide the complete Microsoft Office suite for use on a cellphone.
OpenTop Africa is expecting its first order shortly and intends growing in increments to avoid overextending itself. Once it starts receiving orders in volumes, it will also franchise out installation aspects to smaller firms, a move Cloete hopes will create jobs.
Long road
The firm, which initially battled to find funding to get off the ground last year, offers virtual desktops based on Sun Microsystems's Sun Ray product. It also provides products that allow end-users to run open source and Windows operating systems simultaneously on desktops, and move between the two, says Cloete.
Cloete says that, as Windows becomes a desktop icon, resources are saved. "The virtual desktop infrastructure offers a full-blown pseudo PC on the stateless client." This, he says, increases the level of security and also allows users to 'move' their desktops through a smart card that saves the desktop image.
Other benefits, he says, include being able to offer software as a service as actual programs are imaged onto desktops as required from the network. "You have centralised management and application publication."
Cloete says the products, which took four years to develop, also reduce the risk of theft, as there is no actual computer to steal and OpenTop Africa is able to host any system the client requires.
He adds the system costs about the same as an entry-level PC but has a five-year guarantee, can be virtually reloaded in less than five minutes and staff cannot load extraneous software onto the desktop. "There is no end to what you can do," he says.
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