Organisations today are increasingly demanding more value, improved operations and positive business results. One way to close this gap is to deliver ‘as a service’ programmes to meet the above with predictable, consistent and reliable outcomes.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) has emerged as a feasible option that maintains crucial infrastructure such as IT, power consumption and business continuity while organisations focus on their core business.
In South Africa, we are seeing an increase in IaaS adoption with managed service providers delivering innovative, critical infrastructure services. And the benefits are numerous, particularly to those businesses that require consistent secure power and IT to operate at peak performance.
Why IaaS makes sense now
In the case of IT infrastructure, organisations often must commit to considerable CAPEX to acquire and maintain the technology. Here, managed service providers can play a valuable role as they own the infrastructure and manage it on behalf of the organisation. This means the organisation not only saves on acquisition and installation time but only pays for what it uses, be it secure power, IT infrastructure or cooling, or all the above.
Organisations are now freed to focus on their core business while the experts service and manage the infrastructure. This also enables businesses to predict their monthly expenditure and manage their operation costs accordingly.
The provision of secure power is another important IaaS benefit. Secure power provides critical protection to IT infrastructure and, importantly, business continuity. It enables organisations to operate while mitigating the potential loss of business earnings.
At its core, secure power provides clean, continuous power and encompasses equipment such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) standby generators and automatic voltage regulators and so forth.
When this infrastructure is then delivered to organisation on an IaaS basis, it is then called Secure-Power-as-a-Service (SPaaS).
At Schneider Electric, we have seen SPaaS starting to enjoy some uptake, albeit on a smaller scale. Managed service providers are now starting to provide secure power to customers using, for example, a pool of single-phase UPSs, installed on site. The organisation is then billed for the usage of the SPaaS.
There is no doubt that the local marketplace is ready to start adopting SPaaS. The world is moving towards a consumption economy where it only pays for the experience and not for the assets that enable it.
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...The rise of software-defined brownfield automation Schneider Electric South Africa
PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert is enabling brownfield operators to modernise incrementally, decoupling control logic from hardware to bridge legacy equipment and future-ready operations without disrupting production.
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...Retrofitting for sustainability Schneider Electric South Africa
Electrical Power & Protection
As budgets tighten and sustainability targets increase, retrofit and modernisation strategies are gaining traction across Africa, allowing organisations to upgrade only what limits performance while preserving existing infrastructure and extending asset life.
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.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.
printer friendly version