North Africa Com Agenda Now Confirmed | Visit our website to download your exclusive copy

North Africa Com 2012
15-16 May 2012, Sheraton Tunis, Tunisia
www.comworldseries.com/nafrica

THE ONLY NORTH AFRICAN EVENT DEDICATED TO THE ENTIRE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

We have pleasure in attaching the newly released final agenda for the 6th Annual North Africa Com.

North Africa's premier dedicated digital conference and exhibition this year presents an unparalleled opportunity to network with those shaping the future of the digital landscape in North Africa.

With 35+ C-level speakers confirmed from major players such as Tunisie Telecom, Orange, Tunisiana, Vodafone Eqypt, Google and V-Net TV the event promises a fascinating insight into how businesses are poised to capitalise on the next set of opportunities within the regional market.

This year’s North Africa Com caters for all layers within the Digital ecosystem and includes keynotes and sessions dedicated to content & applications, mobile broadband & LTE innovation, networks and devices, regulation, enterprises, customer experience management and much, much more...

* Click here http://bit.ly/xccIDu to Download the brochure *

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?

- Network with 550+ Decision Makers from across the whole of North Africa and share best practice to grow your business.

- Be inspired by the biggest names in the digital world, hear from 35+ visionary speakers including 20+ operators & 7+ media & alternative players

- Enjoy enhanced networking time over two days, including extended breaks and one-to-one speed networking sessions.

- Explore new ways of working with other players in the digital ecosystem to improve your business’ performance

- Meet first-hand leading international vendors showcasing their latest technologies in the co-located exhibition

- Bi-lingual event the agenda is simultaneously translated into French and English

* Click here http://bit.ly/xccIDu to Download the brochure *

Learn from 35+ Industry Leading Speakers From the North African Digital Ecosystem

Operators
- Fadhel Kraiem, Director General, Tunisie Telecom
- Michel Monzani, Senior VP, Middle East and North Africa Operations, Orange
-Ken Campbell, CEO, Tunisiana

Regulators
- Moez Chakchouk, CEO, Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI), Tunisia
- Dr Nani Ould Chrougha, President, ARE, Mauritania

Media & Alternative Players
- Nader Gohar, Chairman, CNC Cairo News Company,
and Chairman, ARABUEM, the Arab Union of Electronic Media Journalists
- William Kanaan, Head of New Business Development, Middle East & North Africa, Google
- Chafika Chamas, Founder and CEO, V-Net TV, Tunisia

REGISTER TODAY for your *FREE or discounted pass!

*Regional operators and regulators can attend for *FREE. Click here http://bit.ly/zFXYG2 *apply. *Conditions apply*

Early booking discounts apply to all others so register today and save up to $300. Click here http://bit.ly/w0iX9U to register!

Register here: http://bit.ly/w0iX9U

We look forward to meeting you at North Africa Com, 15-16 May, Tunis, Tunisia

Kind Regards

The North Africa Com Team
www.comworldseries.com/nafrica

TECHNOLOGY PARTNER:
Tunisie Telecom

ASSOCIATE SPONSORS:
Corning
BICS

News channel Africa24 will be present at West & Central Africa Com

Constant Nemale, President & Founder of broadcaster of Africa24, will give a keynote presentation at West & Central Africa Com, the region's event for the telecoms, media and ICT industry taking place in Dakar, Senegal in June.
Constant's career started as a journalist and deputy editor-in-chief of the no. 1 selling basketball magazine in Europe Mondial Basket before being involved in the launch of several projects in the world of communications. He created the first Afro-European and Pan-African television channel, 3A TELESUD, a generalist channel, which has been broadcasting in Europe and Africa for ten years. He also founded ETNIUM, the first ethnic marketing & communication agency in France in 2001.
In 2008, Constant created the first African News channel: AFRICA24 TV. AFRICA24 TV broadcasts its news programs throughout Africa, Europe and the US. As of today, less than 3 years after its foundation, the channel studios have 90 employees from 23 different nationalities. Infrastructures are located in Saint-Cloud, a West Parisian suburb. With its large correspondents network in a score of countries across Africa, AFRICA24 is positioned as the First Francophone News Channel with 12,8% of market share by the EMS Africa charts and the company aimed at profitability in 2012. Constant also initiated the launch of AFRICA24 MAG, a luxury quarterly printed magazine of 200 pages focusing on the African continent strengths, challenges, and major actors.
Constant's presentation will cover how to deliver compelling TV services for Africa and will look at the issues of producing local content, delivering it on multiple formats, screens and platforms, and business models and partnerships to ensure sustainable revenues.
In addition, Africa24's presence at West & Central Africa Com will include TV coverage from the channel's journalists with daily broadcasts on the event.

The awareness of cloud in Kenya is rapidly growing : Tom Juma, Head of IT Service Delivery at Old Mutual Kenya

Tom Juma is Head of IT Service Delivery at Old Mutual Kenya. His responsibilities include the charge of operations and ICT (strategic and operational management) for a group of companies that includes investment services, life assurance, asset management and stock brokerage. Cloud Africa organisers, the Com World Series chatted with Tom about his vision of cloud in Africa – ahead of his participation at the event (Cloud Africa, Sandton Sun Hotel, Johannesburg) on the 23-24 May.

CWS: How would you describe existing ‘’cloud services’’ in Africa?

TJ: For Africa, I see cloud computing as the convergence of three worlds: consumers, business and technology. The rise of mobility, social networking and mobile devices has created a new norm for interaction with customers and employees. At the same time, businesses are experiencing speed-to-market and cost containment pressures as never before. Technologies for virtualization, open-source software, automation, bandwidth availability and more continue to evolve. However apart from South Africa, cloud computing is relatively new in other parts of Africa. Safaricom’s recent launch of a cloud computing service that it says will be the largest on the continent, reflects the cloud's emerging importance to economic growth in Kenya and other parts of Africa.

CWS: What would you say is the level of awareness about cloud in your country’s ICT market?

TJ: For Kenya, the awareness of cloud, while still very low, is rapidly growing as more and more companies are now beginning to utilize cloud services and recently one of the largest telecommunications company in Kenya launched its cloud computing services for both local and international companies. The overall demand is really huge. This is so because Kenya is geared towards establishing itself as the ICT hub of Africa.

CWS: Which ‘type’ of cloud would be your choice – public or private?

TJ: IT doesn’t matter, both will work depending on the service that is sought after. Also the cost, convenient and reliability will be some of the determinants in deciding the type of cloud.

CWS: How rapidly do you think the adoption of cloud will reducing capital and operational expenditure for enterprises in Africa?

TJ: Many businesses are experiencing speed-to-market and cost containment pressures as never before. Technologies for virtualization, open-source software, automation, bandwidth availability and more continue to evolve. Lowered costs, enhanced flexibility and the ability to create new revenue streams are making cloud a technology of choice for high performance. But, cloud can do more. Cloud can:

- Connect customers and citizens anytime, anywhere.

- Enhance insight through advanced analytics.

- Eliminate organizational boundaries.

- Spur new products and services.

- Broaden global footprint at lowered cost.

Benefits in many industries include

- Software as a service resulting in low capital expenditure on software including maintenance and support costs.

- On Demand services, meaning you only take what you require at the moment and grow as your needs arises.

- Worldwide information availability i.e. Diseases records can be available to any Doctor in the world hence rapid development and access to healthcare. But this must be securely stored.

- Applications such as product barcode scanners have brought instantaneous, online comparison shopping to the retail industry.

- Global peer-to-peer lending services allow consumers to sidestep banks with hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions.

- Applications such as Pandora and Genius for iTunes aggregate and analyze user feedback in real time.

CWS: Have you seen an increase in IT spend (in your business/country/region), and if yes, has it included investment in cloud?

TJ: Yes, from a country, many organizations have started rolling out Cloud based. From Old Mutual’s perspective, we are recently rolling put a cloud based services in all our emerging market operations including Africa.

CWS: What do you think is preventing enterprises in Africa from implementing cloud?

TJ: 1) Fear of the unknown i.e. misnomer about security issues in the cloud, 2) Inadequate IT skills and knowledge in reference to Cloud computing, 3) Most companies have already heavily of traditional IT solutions yet are not willing to change. 4) Lack of cloud-based computing companies aggregately marketing their solutions and services to companies. 5) Cost of bandwidth and lack of reliable and secure internet connections is some parts of Africa. 6) Low IT usage in some part of Africa.

CWS: What do you think is needed to drive improved and cheaper bandwidth in Africa for cloud?

TJ: 1) Use of appropriate technologies like Fibre optic like Eassy, Teams, SAT-3/WASC/SAFE to connect to the global network, 2) PPP between investors, and governments and 3) the availability of Cloud based solutions in Africa which will spar more usage hence reduction to unit costs.

CWS: What do you think are the 3 key advantages gained by companies using cloud as part of their IT services?

TJ: There are lots of advantages to using cloud computing for international companies as follows:

1) One of the major ones is the flexibility that it offers. Cloud computing means that staff can access the files and data that they need even when they're working remotely and/or outside office hours. As long as they can get on the Internet, staff can access information from home, on the road, from clients' offices or even from a smartphone such as a BlackBerry or iPhone. Staff can also work collaboratively on files and documents, even when they're not physically together. Documents can simultaneously be viewed and edited from multiple locations.

2) Cloud computing can be very quick and easy to get up and running. Consider, for example, how quickly you can set up a Gmail or Hotmail account and start emailing - it takes minutes and all you need is a computer and the Internet. Downloading and installing software, on the other hand, takes much longer.

3) Cloud computing is often cheaper and less labor-intensive for companies too. There is no need to buy and install expensive software because it's already installed online remotely and you run it from there, not to mention the fact that many cloud computing applications are offered free of charge. The need to pay for extensive disk space is also removed. With cloud computing, you subscribe to the software, rather than buying it outright. This means that you only need to pay for it when you need it, and it also offers flexibility, in that it can be quickly and easily scaled up and down according to demand. This can be particularly advantageous when there are temporary peaks in demand, such as at Christmas or in summer, for example.

4) A major advantage of using cloud computing for many companies is that because it's online, it offers virtually unlimited storage compared to server and hard drive limits. Needing more storage space does not cause issues with server upgrades and equipment - usually all you need to do is increase your monthly fee slightly for more data storage.

Gilles Nembe of Viadeo will speak at West & Central Africa Com

Professional social network Viadeo will be present at the West & Central Africa Com conference and exhibition in Dakar, Senegal in June. The site has 40 million+ members including business owners, entrepreneurs and managers from a diverse range of enterprises; it is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Founded by 2 French businessmen and headquartered in Paris, Viadeo has a particularly strong presence in French-speaking countries, making it an ideal network for the Francophone communities in West & Central Africa.
Gilles Nembe is Chief Officer, Emerging Markets and Global Partnerships. As such he is in charge of general management, sales and organization build up for the Emerging Markets, and is responsible for the establishment and the maintenance of world wide partnerships.
He will give a presentation in the Service Innovation session at the conference in Dakar, and share his comapny's perspective on new business models and services for communications users.