2merkato

Crescent Tech, a technology service center, is to inaugurate a Hewlett Packard service center to serve organizations and large networks in Ethiopia. The center will service international brand computers and was set up for a total capital 80 million US dollars.

Crescent is a gold partner of HP but is ready to provide services to other brands as well explained Nathnael Mamo, Accounts Manager with Crescent.

The service center will provide services including backup and recovery problems that Ethiopian organizations had to call in professionals from abroad for according to Nathnael.

Ethiopian based organizations including money transfer agents, embassies and other enterprises dependent on internet and related operations voiced frustration at the services they receive from Ethio Telecom services.

The Ethio Telecom customers complained against the weak internet services in particular.

Complaints were heard at the event commemorating Ethio-Telecom’s Second Enterprise Customers Day on Wednesday.

An increasing number of people in Ethiopia purchase counterfeit software unintentionally according to the Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft loses an approximate 240 million birr to software piracy annually in Ethiopia.

Piracy adversely affects economic growth in Ethiopia as illegal software cannot create jobs for students, IT professionals or developers according to Eric Odipo, Channel Lead, Microsoft East and Southern Africa. 

Karel Electronics of Turkey signed an agreement on Monday with View Computer Engineering, an Ethiopia IT company, to work in partnership and to sell Karel’s IT products in Ethiopia.

It was pointed out during the signing of the agreement that in the long run the Turkish company might start assembling its products here and that the agreement could pave the way for such a venture.

Colvir Software Solution, a U.K.-based company that provides postal software and core banking solutions, launched its products in Ethiopia last week.

Representatives of Colvir said that the company entered the Ethiopian market following the steady growth of banks and other financial institutions in the country.

Plans to set up manufacturing plant here in the long run

Nokia, one of the largest phone makers, is planning to invest in Ethiopia within the coming six to twelve months, Brad Brockhaug, head of sales for Nokia in Africa, said.

Brockhaug declined to reveal how much money Nokia might invest in Ethiopia.He said that the company was considering opening a manufacturing plant in Ethiopia in the long run.

Yetim ePayment Service PLC, a newly formed local company, Friday launched a service that provides instant information including schedules of Ethiopian Airlines's departure and arrival, foreign exchange rates, prices of coffee, gold and related items as well as cinema schedules via cell phone to potential customers.

Seven Seas Technologies (SST), a Kenyan integrated information technology services provider, is set to open an office in Addis Ababa.

The Kenyan SST said that it was going to invest nearly one million dollars in its move to register a strong market presence within the horn of Africa region.

SST's venture into the Ethiopian market is powered by a joint venture agreement with Netcom Limited an Ethiopian company.

Hewlett Packard (HP) launched this week a Toner Cartridge Authentication (TCA) program to help customers confirm the purchase of original HP toner cartridges.

The new technology works on select HP LaserJet printers such as HP Colour LaserJet Pro CP5225 Series, HP LaserJet Pro M1530 MFP Series, HP LaserJet Pro P1100 Series, HP LaserJet Pro P1560 Series and HP LaserJet Pro P1600 Series.

The HP – TCA is free software that validates whether the installed cartridge is an original HP LaserJet toner cartridge or an alternative supply, such as a remanufactured, refilled, cloned or counterfeit cartridge.

When the cartridge is not a genuine HP cartridge, the TCA will present users with additional information to address potential counterfeiting.  If a user receives a notification when they believe they have purchased an Original HP cartridge, they will be directed to HP’s Anti-counterfeit website to report the potential counterfeit cartridge.

The new product is available to customers all over Africa who can download the HP TCA Software and apply it on any HP LaserJet printer that supports the digital authentication

Over the last four years, HP has assisted in the seizure of nearly nine million pieces of fake printing supplies products and components in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Source: HP press release

Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Seacom Ltd., a company that operates a fibre-optic link in East Africa, said it was planning to extend the cable into Burundi, Southern Sudan and Somalia in cooperation with partners as demand for internet services continues to grow.

"We would like to expand our footprint," Julius Opio, the company's regional head, said. But he refused to give more details.

Opio said that the first country to be linked to the cable would be Brundi once it has installed 1,300 kilometres (810 miles) of fibre network next year. The cable would then be extended to Southern Sudan within a year of its independence, scheduled for July 9. Over the following two or three years, the cable will be extended to Somalia, he said.

The company currently has fibre-optic links in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya (where its east and north African office is based), Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, Opio said.

Source: Bloomberg