South African businesses are ready for the cloud
February 2023
IT in Manufacturing
The availability of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Oracle, Huawei, Google and Oracle cloud data centres in South Africa provides companies with the means to grow and expand in a digital environment more rapidly. This is according to Redstor, a born-in-the cloud software vendor and provider of the smarter cloud backup platform of choice for managed service providers (MSPs).
There is an increasing demand for cloud services in the country, which is driven by the need to use advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning while also providing hybrid workers with the means to access data regardless of their geographic location. Companies are aware that by moving their data and applications to the cloud they can reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and gain a competitive edge.
“With the cloud comes greater flexibility and scalability. Companies can easily add or remove resources as needed, without having to invest in their own hardware and software. Moreover, for those legacy investments already made, businesses can use them as a springboard to adopt a hybrid and multi-cloud strategy. This empowers local businesses to respond quickly to changing market conditions and take advantage of new opportunities,” says Justin Parker, sales specialist for Modern Workloads at Redstor.
The importance of these cloud data centres in South Africa cannot be overstated. With companies now having access to locally hosted multinational resources to store, manage and process data, they can rest assured that many of the complexities of data compliance are being taken care of. However data breaches, vendor lock-in, disaster recovery and business continuity must never be forgotten.
“It is crucial for businesses to thoroughly evaluate the security measures and compliance of their cloud provider, and also regularly assess their vendor contracts. Companies need to have comprehensive data management and disaster recovery plans in place to mitigate the risk of security breaches or other data-related failures,” adds Parker.
One of the ways to outsmart cyber threats can be found in Redstor technology. It automatically detects, quarantines and removes suspicious files from backup data. In doing so, companies can recover data from any cloud provider without having to be concerned about malware infecting the backups. This is especially important at a time when businesses need to be able to access their data backups from anywhere and at any time. Remote employees still need to be fully operational and to trust in the integrity of the data they access.
“As a manged service provider of choice, Redstor is committed to delivering a comprehensive approach to cloud-based data backup and recovery that meets every business requirement. Our customers recommend us, with our satisfaction levels at all-time highs. Redstor protects customer data regardless of the platform, whether on-premises or in the cloud, via a single app that provides infinite scalability,” concludes Parker.
For more information contact Dylan Cairns, Redstor, +27 21 888 6570, dylan.cairns@redstor.com, www.redstor.com
Further reading:
How to navigate the high-stakes economics of AI infrastructure
IT in Manufacturing
Nearly 60% of data centre operators are expected to adopt liquid cooling within five years as AI workloads drive demand for higher rack densities. Understanding the full financial picture of liquid cooling, from capital investment to long-term operational savings, is now essential.
Read more...
Protecting the digital mine
RJ Connect
IT in Manufacturing
As mining becomes increasingly connected and automated, cyber threats are emerging alongside the benefits of digitalisation. RJ Connect and provides rugged networking, edge computing and cybersecurity technologies from MOXA to help protect critical mining operations from evolving attacks.
Read more...
SICK launches AI-powered 3D quality inspection
SICK Automation Southern Africa
IT in Manufacturing
SICK has combined deep learning with 3D height data analysis in its Nova machine vision platform.
Read more...
Predictive maintenance is the critical enabler for AI data centre liquid cooling systems
IT in Manufacturing
As liquid cooling becomes essential for AI data centres, predictive and condition-based maintenance are emerging as critical enablers of thermal stability. Schneider Electric argues that the infrastructure is already generating the data needed and the question is whether operators are equipped to use it.
Read more...
Siemens software scales with Simple Energy EV development
Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
: Simple Energy, an Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturer, has expanded its use of Siemens Xcelerator software to manage complex vehicle variants and enterprise-level bills of materials, accelerating product development as its EV portfolio scales.
Read more...
ESG as a growth lever
RS South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Leading organisations are treating ESG not as a compliance obligation but as a practical tool for operational efficiency, supply chain resilience and business performance, with data and collaboration central to unlocking its value.
Read more...
Preparing Africa’s data centres for the demands of autonomous AI
Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Africa’s data centre infrastructure must evolve significantly to support agentic AI workloads, with GPU-intensive computing, advanced cooling and reliable power demanding a fundamentally different approach to facility design and investment.
Read more...
Virtualising the control room to reshape building management systems
Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Schneider Electric explains how virtualising building management systems frees facilities teams from ageing hardware, delivers stronger cybersecurity and enables portfolio-wide control from a single interface.
Read more...
AI infrastructure solutions for data campus
Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Schneider Electric and Motivair deliver more than $290 million in power and cooling infrastructure for TeraWulf’s AI-ready Lake Mariner data campus.
Read more...
Africa’s data centre evolution: AI, edge computing and new energy demands
IT in Manufacturing
With less than half a gigawatt of active white space capacity serving over a billion people, Africa’s data centre sector faces a stark gap that AI’s surging power and cooling demands are set to widen. Vertiv and Open Africa Data Centres unpack how modularity, edge computing and smarter energy strategies could change the equation.
Read more...