Veritas Software recently appointed six new VERITAS VPlus partners in southern and central Africa, a sure sign that IT opportunities in Africa are expanding. This expanding market, situated in SA`s back yard, is opening doors for local IT specialists to offer their expertise to countries as far a field as the Ivory Coast.
According to Nikki Keates, VERITAS Software and ADIC product manager for Storgate Zimbabwe, they have seen the storage area network (SAN) market explode in their region.
"There is a growing awareness amongst Zimbabwean corporates of the flexibility of this technology that allows heterogeneous environments to co-exist. Downtime is also becoming a serious issue and companies now demand systems that are available 24x7. Obviously a solid backup system goes a long way towards achieving these goals."
One of the corporates that takes backup seriously and bought into the VERITAS Backup Exec range is Alcatel East Africa, Kenya, which purchased through reseller, First Computers, Kenya, while Seychelles Saving Bank is currently rolling out several products from the same VERITAS family.
"Other prominent African VERITAS clients include Nestle Ghana and the Ford foundation in Nigeria. Nestle Ghana, through Microbyte International, purchased a Backup Exec Server Edition, SQL and Exchange Agent, while the Ford Foundation in Nigeria purchased a server and exchange module through Bi Trax, Nigeria," explains Keates.
She suggests there has been increased interest in VERITAS products in countries such as Angola, Botswana, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia. She attributes this to pricing and support. "Any company that wishes to succeed on African terrain has to be strong in both these areas. With the specialised products and services that are available in African countries, support needs are growing at a rapid rate, often too fast for the country itself to field."
Says Nick van Noordwyk, regional director, Middle East and Africa at VERITAS Software: "I believe the VERITAS adoption in the region is indicative of developing IT opportunities. Africa is one of the largest emerging IT markets and presents lucrative opportunities for countries such as SA that can provide products and services at rand rates instead of US dollar rates."
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