SMC Networks, a global provider of LAN hardware and broadband connectivity devices, has launched the SMC7824M/VSW 24-port switch and SMC7801A/VCP CPE unit – two new VDSL2 products that form a complete Extended Ethernet solution for providing High Definition (HD) internet media service over standard copper telephone wiring.

Nology has partnered with Peplink to deliver the company's innovative products to South Africa. Peplink offers a range of professional multi-Wide Area Network (WAN) routers that converge several WAN links and offers intelligent load balancing, automatic failover and true line bonded site to site Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections, for unprecedented connection speeds and reliability.

Teraco Data Environments, South Africa’s first provider of vendor neutral data centres, has appointed Brendan Dysel as its facilities manager.

XON, which represents Juniper Networks in South Africa, has unveiled a range of new Juniper software, services, systems and partnerships that will help enterprise IT dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of data centre networking while also improving application and business performance.

Alcatel-Lucent will provide Saipem – a leading engineering procurement and construction contractor in the oil and gas industry - with a solution that will boost efficiency and increase safety and security for 19 sites in Algeria that perform gas extraction, treatment and transport within the framework of the Menzel Ledjmet East (MLE) project.

Polycom has signed a multi-year, strategic global agreement with Microsoft to deliver integrated end-to-end unified communications (UC) and to improve customers’ business productivity.

Corporate executives wielding the expense management knife are carving out huge growth opportunities for video conferencing providers, according to Imago Communications SA.

As the number of communications devices and contact channels used by consumers and businesspeople continues to rise, organisations face a growing problem in maintaining effective communications with staff, partners and customers. And it’s a situation that hasn’t been helped by the economic recession when, with stretched IT budgets and limited infrastructure expenditure, many companies chose to cut back heavily on their investment in new office communications systems.

Polycom believes that telepresence is now at a tipping point due to three factors. Firstly the improved networks and widespread availability of bandwidth, secondly the accessibility of telepresence solutions ranging from consumers and the mobile market to SMBs, enterprises and service providers and lastly due to the cultural acceptance of video.

Has the advent of cloud computing and cloud-hosted services heralded the death knell for the corporate network as we know it?

As with any new technology that holds opportunity for the business world, there has been a lot of buzz recently surrounding VoIP and its benefits, writes Fiona Mclean-Banks, Polycom business development manager at distributor Zycko. However, many businesses - both large and small - are still unaware of the extent to which VoIP can benefit them.

It’s now possible to run a business without ever having to deal with Telkom, writes Jacques du Toit, MD of Vox Orion.