Cyber protection provider Acronis and Team Qhubeka Assos, Africa’s UCI WorldTour cycling team, have announced a cyber protection partnership in which Acronis cloud services distributor, Resello, will provide Team Qhubeka Assos with cyber protection technology.
As one of only 19 UCI WorldTour teams, Team Qhubeka Assos participates in all grand tours and classics, including the Tour de France starting at the end of June. The team recently celebrated its most successful Giro d’Italia ever, claiming three stage victories.
Team Qhubeka Assos is Africa’s only UCI WorldTour team and says it races for something greater than just victories. Their long-standing partnership with the Qhubeka Charity and its #BicyclesChangeLives campaign ensures people in Africa move forward with the help of a bicycle, improving access to schools, clinics and jobs.
“As a cycling team at the pinnacle of the sport we are a high-performance sporting organisation, but it’s our unique purpose that sets us apart as we race to change lives with bicycles,” says Douglas Ryder, founder of Team Qhubeka Assos. “As an organisation that races across the globe over 250 days a year we are constantly in motion; and by working together with Acronis and their distribution partner Resello, we have a great shared opportunity to showcase the ultimate in integrated data protection and cybersecurity solutions.
“Our team is underpinned by the philosophy of the African saying, Ubuntu – I am because we are – and this valued partnership is yet another opportunity to highlight the platform that our team is able to provide in making a meaningful, positive, impact in the world.”
Moving forward, Qhubeka and Acronis will further collaborate on providing schoolchildren in South Africa with bicycles through the Acronis Cyber Foundation Schools Initiative. Qhubeka is a South African not-for-profit organisation that donates bicycles as part of the World Bicycle’s Relief’s charity programme in South Africa. Qhubeka has supplied more than 75 000 bicycles through fundraising programmes.
The funds raised by the #BicyclesChangeLives campaign are channeled into Qhubeka’s scholar mobility and mechanic training programmes. They help children to get to school and sports activities more easily, and mechanics to access economic opportunities.
Ronan McCurtin, Acronis vice-president: Europe, Turkey and Israel, says: “Cyber protection requires an integrated solution to provide superior protection. We are proud to support Team Qhubeka Assos to achieve success together.”
As part of the Acronis #CyberFit Sports partnership Resello will provide Team Qhubeka Assos with Acronis Cyber Protection Cloud. This machine intelligence (MI) powered solution integrates data protection with cybersecurity to help prevent cyberattacks.
Acronis Cyber Protect combines automation and integration, ensuring the prevention, detection, response, recovery, and analysis needed to safeguard all workloads while streamlining protection efforts.
Acronis has also announced that its #CyberFit Sports programme is open to managed service providers (MSPs) who are invited to deliver Acronis Cyber Protection solutions to world-class sports properties on behalf of Acronis.