Pamoja, the cloud services business unit of Pan-African ICT enabler Seacom, has launched its go-to-market strategy to partners and customers, opting to sell services via resellers.
The company, established in 2011 by Seacom’s founder Brian Herlihy and Stafford Masie, former GM of Google SA, is a provider of wholesale cloud computing services via telecommunication companies, ISPs and other service providers in southern and East Africa.
These institutions have also recognised the cloud as a source of new revenues, with global investments in cloud services projected to more than double from an estimated $55-billion in 2011 to almost $130-billion annually by 2015.
Pamoja is focused on a wider market, incorporating the fast-growing SME segment, and will leverage off Seacom’s infrastructure, exposure to partnerships and Africa’s growing mobile and Internet market to entrench its services model.
Albie Bester, GM of Pamoja, says the company is differentiated by access to Seacom’s extended network, which covers the entire continent, and its role as cloud business unit for the channel.
“Our wholesale model rules out conflict in the channel … there are no downstream issues resulting from us competing with our resellers. Another benefit to partnership with Pamoja is that we eliminate the risk for organisations entering the cloud computing market. This is about creating economies of scale,” says Bester.
“Aside from funding and infrastructure, we also have access to Seacom’s relationships with telcos and ISPs. Pamoja exists because of what is happening in the cloud. According to Forbes’ top 10 strategic CIO issues for 2013, at number six is ‘upgrade cloud strategy to business transformation enabled by the cloud’.
“At the end of the day, the cloud is not a technology matter to an organisation, it is about empowerment. In Africa, it is about business agility and for businesses to become more competitive,” he adds.
Steven Ambrose, CEO of Strategy Worx, says connectivity is critical to the growth of mobile and the realisation of the Internet in Africa.
“Researchers say 50-billion devices are going to be connected to the Internet by 2020. There are 7-billion people in the world and there are approximately 5-billion with mobile phones, so connections are key and will change the world.
“We are living in a time when new thinking has to come into play. In 2008 a total of 80Gbps of Internet capacity was available to the continent – it now stands at 35 460Gbps. There has been a huge shift in sheer capacity to Africa,” says Ambrose.
“We are also seeing a massive explosion in terrestrial connectivity. The fact is that you cannot do what people are doing on mobile unless you have terrestrial connections and connections to the Internet, nothing much would be happening in Africa,” he adds.
Pamoja’s cloud services will be provided via the company’s network of data centres, located directly on the Seacom submarine infrastructure. The first cloud platform is running in the Mtunzini cable landing station near Richards Bay. The second platform is planned for Kenya, after which roll out will occur as and where there is demand.
To date, Pamoja has three channel partners in South Africa, three in Kenya and in discussion with others in Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia.
“Our rapidly growing IP network has been, in recent times, a key enabler for Seacom and its customers, providing services that are more flexible and much more resilient. Our IP transit and Ethernet products have deepened our relationships within the market, particularly with emerging ISPs and customers working hard to build Africa’s ICT future,” says Mark Simpson, CEO of Seacom.
“We continue to monitor and participate in what we called the African Internet ecosystem.”
The company, established in 2011 by Seacom’s founder Brian Herlihy and Stafford Masie, former GM of Google SA, is a provider of wholesale cloud computing services via telecommunication companies, ISPs and other service providers in southern and East Africa.
These institutions have also recognised the cloud as a source of new revenues, with global investments in cloud services projected to more than double from an estimated $55-billion in 2011 to almost $130-billion annually by 2015.
Pamoja is focused on a wider market, incorporating the fast-growing SME segment, and will leverage off Seacom’s infrastructure, exposure to partnerships and Africa’s growing mobile and Internet market to entrench its services model.
Albie Bester, GM of Pamoja, says the company is differentiated by access to Seacom’s extended network, which covers the entire continent, and its role as cloud business unit for the channel.
“Our wholesale model rules out conflict in the channel … there are no downstream issues resulting from us competing with our resellers. Another benefit to partnership with Pamoja is that we eliminate the risk for organisations entering the cloud computing market. This is about creating economies of scale,” says Bester.
“Aside from funding and infrastructure, we also have access to Seacom’s relationships with telcos and ISPs. Pamoja exists because of what is happening in the cloud. According to Forbes’ top 10 strategic CIO issues for 2013, at number six is ‘upgrade cloud strategy to business transformation enabled by the cloud’.
“At the end of the day, the cloud is not a technology matter to an organisation, it is about empowerment. In Africa, it is about business agility and for businesses to become more competitive,” he adds.
Steven Ambrose, CEO of Strategy Worx, says connectivity is critical to the growth of mobile and the realisation of the Internet in Africa.
“Researchers say 50-billion devices are going to be connected to the Internet by 2020. There are 7-billion people in the world and there are approximately 5-billion with mobile phones, so connections are key and will change the world.
“We are living in a time when new thinking has to come into play. In 2008 a total of 80Gbps of Internet capacity was available to the continent – it now stands at 35 460Gbps. There has been a huge shift in sheer capacity to Africa,” says Ambrose.
“We are also seeing a massive explosion in terrestrial connectivity. The fact is that you cannot do what people are doing on mobile unless you have terrestrial connections and connections to the Internet, nothing much would be happening in Africa,” he adds.
Pamoja’s cloud services will be provided via the company’s network of data centres, located directly on the Seacom submarine infrastructure. The first cloud platform is running in the Mtunzini cable landing station near Richards Bay. The second platform is planned for Kenya, after which roll out will occur as and where there is demand.
To date, Pamoja has three channel partners in South Africa, three in Kenya and in discussion with others in Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia.
“Our rapidly growing IP network has been, in recent times, a key enabler for Seacom and its customers, providing services that are more flexible and much more resilient. Our IP transit and Ethernet products have deepened our relationships within the market, particularly with emerging ISPs and customers working hard to build Africa’s ICT future,” says Mark Simpson, CEO of Seacom.
“We continue to monitor and participate in what we called the African Internet ecosystem.”