To assist countering the country's IT skills shortages by building resources to meet the growing demand for Unix skills within the New Economy, a Unix lab has been established at the University of the Western Cape (UWC).
The joint initiative by Sun Microsystems SA and its business partner Ariel Technologies will see UWC students graduate to working on Unix.
The two companies teamed up and donated 20 SunRays and a Sun E250 server to help establish a computer laboratory at the University of the Western Cape. Undergraduates using the new facility will have access to a total of 50 SunRays. The other 30 were bought by the university. The Sunlab was sponsored from a fund established by Thintana Communications.
"Ariel Technologies believe that we have found the ideal system for the University," explains Virgo Martin, Ariel Technologies account manager. "Not only is it on the cutting edge of technology but is also extremely cost effective."
Enabled by Hot Desk technology and enterprise server software, the "plug-and-work" SunRay requires no client administration or upgrades while putting the power of the server on your desktop. Users get the added advantage of being able to "hot desk". They can simply disconnect the SunRay and plug in back into the network from a different location to take up their computing session where they left off.
"We're thrilled about the Sunlab because for the first time our students now get to work on Unix. This really widens their scope and we'll soon be moving all our programming courses over to the Unix platform," says Karolina O'Donoghue, director: teaching and learning technologies at UWC.
"Sun regularly gets involved in corporate responsibility programmes with a particular emphasis on education at all levels. This forms part of our commitment to assist in addressing educational inequalities in South Africa," says Paul Mostert, sales in Africa, from Sun Microsystems SA.
"The IT industry is a knowledge-based sector and is highly dependent on people skills. The global skills shortage is magnified in South Africa where the continued exodus of skilled labour, coupled with the legacy of educational inequalities, has had a negative impact on many facets of South African business."
"Sun is growing more than the industry average. This means there are a multitude of customers that require quality Unix system administrators, database tuning as well as integration skills," continues Mostert.
"This laboratory creates a win-win situation for Sun and the students. They'll definitely be more marketable once they graduate and we are always looking for student graduates to pursue a career at Sun, either in our pre-sales department or as part of support services. We also have a network of resellers that require Unix skills on an ongoing basis," says Mostert.
"This University was previously sidelined and it is wonderful for Ariel Technologies, which is committed to social upliftment, to be able to assist them in ensuring that students have the best products at their disposable. This will ensure that when they graduate they will be well equipped to take their rightful place in the workplace," concludes Bolelang Rakeepile, Ariel Technologies Western Cape regional manager.
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