Telkom has signed an agreement with Cisco to become the first Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) strategic partner in SA.
Cisco HCS offers collaboration solutions for public, private and hybrid clouds from partners delivering Cisco-powered cloud services.
Telkom says its customers in SA will experience the flexibility of cloud-based collaboration and, as a result, be able to more quickly and seamlessly deploy applications.
In a statement, Telkom says whereas, historically, organisations shied away from hosted services due to a perceived lack of security and control, Cisco HCS will provide customers with carrier-grade security and manageability and much more.
It offers collaborative technologies delivered as highly secure and reliable cloud services which include voice and video-as-a-service; instant messaging and presence-as-a-service; Web conferencing-as-a-service; and mobility-as-a-service.
"As more devices and people in South Africa are connected on the network, service providers like us will need to continue to innovate, diversify and transform to meet the demands of our customers," says Johann Henning, MD of Telkom Business.
"Telkom has an established, longstanding strategic partnership with Cisco and we are delighted to be expanding our portfolio with Cisco's Hosted Collaboration Solution which takes our product offering into the collaboration market for the first time."
He explains that Telkom will start by providing HCS to its customers in SA but does have plans to also eventually roll it out through the company's partner network to other countries in Africa where it has coverage.
"Our strategic collaboration with Cisco is designed to achieve this goal as well as help provide our growing portfolio of customers the latest technology solutions which will serve their ever-changing needs."
Alpheus Mangale, Managing Director for Cisco in South Africa, says: "We are privileged that Telkom has chosen Cisco's Hosted Collaboration Solution to help develop this previously untapped market opportunity for its customers in South Africa.
"Cisco's key objective is to work with leading service providers to help them focus on greater innovation in order to take full advantage of the growth opportunities within the telecoms sector in South Africa as well as the African continent as a whole. Our shared goal has always been to better serve customers as well as continue to help build profitable businesses. As the needs of its customers change, Telkom will be able to expand its capabilities accordingly to stay ahead in an environment of increasing competition."
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