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T. R. E. N. D. S |
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| Infosys
Unveils Finacle v10 For West Africa Banks |
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Infosys
Technologies Ltd has announced the launch of version
10 of Finacle's Universal Banking Solution to
the West African banking community.
Reinforcing Finacle's global leadership in banking
transformation, seven Tier-1 and Tier-2 banks
around the world have already reposed their trust
on Finacle 10 to power their domestic and international
operations. |
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new version will enable banks to transform their multi-country
operations through a standard platform and processes.
A set of over 5000 parameters and an enhanced scripting
studio will deliver rapid product innovation.
The new version also brings with
it a whole new set of offerings including Islamic banking,
wealth management and an enhanced mobile banking solution.
With Finacle 10, Infosys offers banks in the region
an agile, scalable, proven solution that lowers total
cost of ownership and accelerates time to market.
West African banks are now being
confronted with increasingly complex internal and external
environments that require business agility, a reduced
cost structure and minimum risk.
According to Amit Dua, Associate
Vice President and Head EMEA, Finacle, Infosys Technologies
Ltd, “Finacle's powerful architectural foundation
enables banks to rapidly respond to changing customer
demands and a competitive market landscape. We have
invested over $60m in the last three years to build
a state of the art banking solution. Our strong commitment
towards the West African market, along with strong alliances
for surround implementation services, offers banks a
truly differentiated offering”.
With an estimated 278 million cellular
phones subscribers today, mobile banking is slated to
grow in a big way in Africa. Africa today has an estimated
90% unbanked population and with an estimated 230million
unbanked households, solutions like mobile banking and
'Financial Inclusion' that enable banks to reach out
to the unbanked are also expected to open doors of opportunity
for banks in the region.
Infosys has had a long standing
partnership with Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) for
the West African region. CWG and Infosys have worked
together in sales and support of banking solutions for
a large number of banks in Nigeria.
“Utilizing CWGs world class
system integration services and Infosys portfolio of
banking solutions and services, the two companies help
banks address changing business and technology cycles
and assist them in achieving and sustaining a unique
competitive advantage”, said Austin Okere, Group
Managing Director/CEO, Computer Warehouse Group.
As a leader in banking transformation,
Finacle has a global footprint across 61 countries and
has been acknowledged by top analysts including Gartner,
Forrester and Celent among the leaders in the core banking
solution space. Finacle is also the winner of a series
of awards for its innovation and implementation capabilities,
the most notable ones being The Banker Technology Award
and the Asian Banker IT Implementation Award.
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Nokia
Siemens Networks Plans Operation Connect Nigeria |
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| Nokia
Siemens Networks, one of the largest telecommunications
infrastructure companies in the world, has just
concluded its first Nigeria industry seminar in
Lagos, which focused mainly on connecting Nigeria
through its wide array of products specifically
designed for emerging markets.
According to Mladen Risticevic,
Country Director, Nokia Siemens Network, “the
industry seminar, the first of its series in Nigeria
brought together key stakeholders in the communications
industry to discuss the future and shed light
on how to grow connectivity and revenues”.
The industry seminar addressed challenges in the
Nigerian telecom market and shared best practices
from other markets. |
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Dr.
Bashiru Gwandu, Executive Commissioner,
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
talked about the challenges of connecting
Nigeria and the One Nigeria Project.
He stated that the Commission hopes to
partner with other key players in the industry
to introduce Wireless connectivity in rural
Nigeria. Topics at the seminar included:
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Telephony
services for all Nigerians; Reducing the cost
of ownership, Meeting the power challenge in Nigeria
and Broadband access and Connecting Businesses.
The one day seminar is one of the
several ways in which Nokia Siemens Networks is
advancing its footprint and operations in Nigeria.
As one of the top three telecommunications infrastructure
providers globally, Nokia Siemens Networks provides
deep local presence and know-how with a global
reach.
Commenting on the Nigerian industry
seminar, Shahzad Abid, Head of Marketing for Middle
East and Africa region, Nokia Siemens Networks
said: “Conducting Industry Seminars around
the region is an innovative approach developed
by Nokia Siemens Networks to create an open communication
between industry players, and encourage constructive
dialogue on topics of common interest for all
stakeholders .”
Similar successful industry seminars
have been held in Ethiopia, Morocco, Levant region
and Pakistan, and Nokia Siemens Networks will
extend this forum for industry dialogue to more
countries in the Middle East & Africa region.
“We are really excited
about the turn out for this seminar and with active
participation by players in the industry”,
said Risticevic.
In the key emerging markets
like Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa and
Uganda (to mention a few), Nokia Siemens Networks
is also introducing Village Connection Solution.
Village Connection Solution is a current key driver
for economic growth.
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| HP
Nigeria Launches Workstations For Digital Content
Creators |
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HP has announced
the immediate availability of two performance-boosted versions
of its high end personal workstation computers for digital
content professionals in the broadcast, film/video post production,
animation and graphic arts industries.
“HP personal workstations are widely known as the favourite
workhorses of the industry's top professionals that require
superior performance and graphics” said Tarae Onyeje,
the category manager, Personal Systems Group, HP Nigeria.
“A new generation of multimedia content, and the incredible
groundswell of creativity behind it is driving technology
innovation to new heights and HP continues to help power this
movement with the latest performance enhancements in workstations
technology innovations”
HPs two updated high-end workstations, the HP xw8600 workstation
and the HP xw9400workstation, offer customers the latest in
quad-core processor advances to boost performance for power
users working with real-time video, high definition, animation
and special effects.
The HP xw8600 workstation, the higher performing of the two,
includes up to two Quad-core Intel Xeon X5482 processors with
a 1,600-MHz front size bus, 800-MH-z memory and HPs world
class expandability.
The HP xw9400 workstations offers a choice of three new Quad-core
AMD Opteron 2300 processors demonstrating HPs environmental
leadership, both workstations are listed Electronic products
Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Gold, the highest rating
available.
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Professionals
in the broadcast, film/video post production and animation
industries already use HP workstations to power their
most demanding applications.
HP and DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc previewed a display
technology that helps solve a longstanding obstacle
for digital content creators: affordable and consistent
colour accuracy between devices.
The result of an unprecedented collaboration between
the two companies, the HP Dream colour |
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technology
computer display provides accurate predictable colour and
a simple colour management process to assure vision-to-production
colour consistency in a widescreen liquid crystal display
(LCD).
The display generates the industry's first
combination of true 30-bit colour-enabling a range of 1 billion
colours-in an LED-backlit LCD at a fraction of the cost of
most high-end, studio-quality LCD displays.
Designed for the broadcast, film/video
post production, animation and graphic arts fields, the HP
Dream colour Technology display offers richer colour and darker
blacks than previously available through LCD display technology.
“In continuation of HPs annual “the
art of small business series, this year, the focus is on the
small business and Digital Content Creation. In partnership
with Adobe and Intel, HP will be displaying an extensive range
of workstations and displays including the new 2480zx Dream
colour monitor.
“The xw8600 will be on display running
Intel's Xeon technology, amongst other workstation hardware.
Adobe will launch their CS4 platform at this event which is
scheduled to host the bulk of Nollywood's producers and editors,
broadcast and advertising professionals” said Ijeoma
Onyiuke, marketing manager, HP Nigeria.
“The DCC seminar in Nigeria will
mark the public preview of a display technology developed
under the HP Dream colour Technology initiative, a two-year
collaboration between HP and DreamWorks Animation”,
said Chioma Iwuchukwu, District Manager, Personal Systems
Group.
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| APC
Launches High-Performance Back-ups |
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APC by Schneider
Electric, a global leader in integrated critical power and
cooling services, has announced the APC Back-UPS RS 650VA
and 1100VA. These new units offer four power outlets in proven
product design, with 390 or 660 watt of power, extensive runtime
and Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) technology.
“We continue to make great strides in the advancement
of APC's Back-UPS family to meet the evolving needs of power
customers,” says APC's Paul-Marie Dable, Manager: English
Speaking Area and Service Centre West and Central Africa and
Indian Ocean. “Today's business desktops are highly
configured with several peripherals and higher power and runtime
requirements. Users are looking for cost-effective, reliable
solutions for protecting their hardware and more importantly
their data on their desktops.”
The Back-UPS RS 650 and 1100 offer high performance protection
for home and business computer systems. These new units provide
abundant battery backup power, allowing users to work through
medium and extended power outages with runtimes of up to 46
minutes (BR650CI) and 84 minutes (BR1100CI), depending on
the units' load.
The units' AVR feature enables users to work through just
about any power condition by supplying safe, consistent power
to the computer in case of over-voltage or brownout conditions,
without running on battery.
With four outlets, three with battery backup and surge and
one with surge protection only, the Back-UPS RS also safeguards
equipment from damaging surges and spikes that travel along
utility and phone lines. APC's new Back-UPS RS 650 and 1100
units are currently available through all distribution channels
including retail, catalogues, resellers and online.
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