E-Business
Cisco Meraki Simplifies IT Solutions for MSMEs

Cisco Meraki, the global leader in cloud managed IT solutions, has announced its offerings to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeriasimplify IT.
With many organizations today dealing with the challenges of lack of funding for advanced digital solutions and a lack of IT specialists to manage those solutions, Meraki provides a simplified path to powerful technology.
The company announced these offerings at a round table held at the Cisco Office, Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to Cisco, digitization is the big trend of today and it is important for businesses, whether big or small to adopt digitization.
The new Meraki offerings are designed to simplify IT solutions for small and medium businesses even in the absence of an IT specialist.
The technology provides complete network visibility and control – no hardware controllers or overlay software required.
Configurations and management are easily performed remotely or on-site, while trouble shooting can be done in a fraction of the time with advanced networking analytics, allowing businesses to focus on more projects that are impactful.
Olakunle Oloruntimehin, General Manager of Cisco Nigeria, remarked, “Cisco Meraki creates the simplest, most powerful solutions, helping everyone from small businesses to global enterprises save time and money.
It helps organizations to rapidly roll out digital initiatives, delivering real business value. We are committed to helping our customers overcome challenges and achieve their goals. Technology can connect us, empower us, and drive us.
At Cisco, we believe that by simplifying powerful technology, we can free passionate people to focus on their mission and reach groups previously not utilizing technology”.
All Cisco Meraki devices are centrally and securely managed from the cloud using a single web-based dashboard. Their feature-rich, intuitive architecture enables customers to save time, reduce operating costs, and scale as a business grows.
Substantiating the importance of simplified IT solutions, Nick Malherbe is the territory manager for Nigeria ,Ghana, east and subsaharan Africa , explained the need for businesses to use data smartly and securely for business success.
He said, “In Nigeria, small and medium businesses account for 84% of employment attesting to the fact that they contribute greatly to the GDP of the economy. The success of this sector is key for the success of our economy, it is therefore imperative that these businesses use IT solutions that are secure, simple and intelligent.
“With Cisco Meraki, these MSMEs can enjoy agility, operational efficiency, and most importantly, data security that they require to accelerate their digital transformations. Our goal is to help customers benefit from digitization by simplifying IT solutions”.
Since inception in 2006, Meraki has grown to become an industry leader in the IT space, with over 230,000 customers and 3 million network devices and counting online around the world. Meraki was acquired by Cisco in 2012.
The Company’s comprehensive set of solutions includes wireless, switching, security, communications, EMM, and security cameras, all managed through Meraki’s web-based dashboard interface which allow customers to seize new business opportunities and reduce operational costs.
E-Business
Visa to Establish Data Centre in Nigeria to ‘Boost Digital Economy’

Visa, global payment services giant, has announced plans to establish a data centre infrastructure in Nigeria.

Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe and Vice-President Kashim Shettima
According to a statement by Stanley Nkwocha, senior special assistant to the president on media and communications (office of the vice-president) on Friday, Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, spoke during a courtesy visit to Vice-President Kashim Shettima at the presidential villa in Abuja.
“This is in addition to its investments of over $1 billion in the country, including a substantial technological partnership with @moniepoint to foster digital payment solutions, a $200 million investment in Interswitch, and a partnership with @thriveagric to empower smallholder farmers and enhance food security in Nigeria,” the statement reads.
During the meeting, Torre said the plan to establish the data centre infrastructure aims to bring new technologies into the Nigerian market that would bolster the nation’s growing digital economy.
“Visa has been making investments and will continue to make these investments in Nigeria,” he said.
Responding, Shettima welcomed Visa’s expansion efforts, assuring the delegation that the partnership between Visa and the Nigerian government would continue to flourish.
The vice-president commended the company for investing in ThriveAgric, noting that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is deeply committed to repositioning the agriculture sector, which remains a top priority in its 8-point agenda.
“Nigeria is where the action is. Of the 10 fintechs in Africa, about eight are in Nigeria, with moniepoint as the newest addition,” Shettima said.
“Agriculture is key to the 8-point agenda of the present administration. President @officialABAT is really keen on repositioning the agriculture industry here, and we have to invest in technology, we have to invest in modernisation.”
On January 23, Moniepoint, a Nigerian fintech company, announced it secured investment from Visa to support the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Andrew Torre, Visa’s regional president for central and eastern Europe and Vice-President Kashim Shettima
E-Business
FCTA Approves N242.8m for Microsoft 365 Licence to Digitise FCT-IRS

Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has approved N242.8m for the procurement of a Microsoft 365 licence for its Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) as part of efforts to digitise the service’s operations.
Mr Michael Ango, acting executive chairman of FCT-IRS, disclosed this after the FCT Executive Committee meeting chaired by Mr Nyesom Wike, the minister of FCTA, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ango said that the FCTA was making significant investments in technology to enhance revenue generation and collection.
“So, this is also one of those investments in technology that the FCT is undertaking.
“The licence, if procured, will enhance our ability to move most of our manual processes into automated processes.
“It will enhance our ability to communicate within our offices,” he said.
The executive chairman added that the move would also reduce the use of paper and ensure better record-keeping through the storage of information and documents in the cloud.
According to him, “The licence will essentially enhance our operations and assist us in generating revenue for the development of the FCT under Wike’s leadership.”
E-Business
Rack Centre Hosts Olla Systems’ Private Cloud Infrastructure

Rack Centre, West Africa’s Tier III Carrier and Cloud neutral data centre, has welcomed Olla Cloud Service, a new private cloud service by Olla Systems Limited, a leading provider of innovative technology solutions, to its facility.
Hosting at Rack Centre, Olla Cloud Service runs on a state-of-the-art, cloud-enabled infrastructure for enterprise applications across diverse platforms, including mission critical application, web applications as well as containerised applications using Kubernetes.
Lars Johannisson, CEO, Rack Centre, welcoming Olla Systems, noted that the partnership with Olla Systems Limited would reflect the company’s commitment to providing African businesses with high- quality cloud computing services.
He noted that Olla Systems would enjoy Rack Centre’s 13.5MW data centre campus facility, designed to meet the highest international standards and offering scalable solutions to Hyperscalers, Enterprises, and Cloud service providers.
As part of its commitment to sustainability, the facility is equipped with energy-efficient systems, advanced cooling technologies to mitigate environmental impact and an optimally-designed feature to handle high-density workloads with precision.
According to Johannisson, “With Olla Cloud Service hosting at Rack Centre, clients will experience fast performance and low latency, enabling businesses in Africa to access world-class cloud computing services within a secure and compliant local infrastructure.”
Also speaking, Olusola Adenuga, chief executive officer, Olla Systems Limited, expressed enthusiasm about hosting at Rack Centre, noting that Olla Cloud remains a groundbreaking private cloud solution for businesses.
While highlighting the benefits of the partnership between Rack Centre and Olla Systems, Adenuga disclosed that “subscribing to Olla Cloud Service is cost-effective to customers because of its local currency payment advantage.”
She also noted that the partnership between the duo, provides businesses the opportunity to meet regulatory requirements of data residency, while enjoying world-class infrastructure as a service (IaaS) locally.
“Other benefits of hosting with Olla Cloud include: 24/7 support, unparalleled performance, scalability and agility.” she added.
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