In my role as vice president of Cisco’s Africa and Levant region, I’m fortunate to meet dynamic people from across the region face-to-face and via TelePresence. I hear inspiring stories of how technology is improving lives, and I feel proud of the role we play in assisting in country transformation, providing the backbone to a human network where technology empowers people to connect, process and share information.
I was honored to address the launch ceremony of the Seacom submarine cable in Tanzania this week. It was a major announcement, as SEACOM will provide the catalyst for African consumers, business and government to realise the benefits of connectivity and collaboration across the globe.
Pictures on Flickr
I shared the stage with His Excellency, President Kikwete of Tanzania and Brian Herlihy, the CEO of SEACOM. We simultaneously addressed dignitaries, partners and journalists situated at venues in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa.
Cisco and SEACOM jointly built a voice, data and video platform for this launch, relying on the Seacom network to create a collaborative environment to stream live video over Internet Protocol to the five launch locations. The Cisco team supplied routers, switches, DMS equipment and encoders for this launch.
The benefits of Seacom’s 1,28 Terabytes per second (Tb/s), 17,000 kilometers, submarine fiber optic cable system are far reaching, and its far more than simply installing broadband in homes and offices. It’s about the people of Africa, bringing networks to them, changing lives and about improving how nations plan public services, health care, transportation, construction, and even sporting events.
Take health care as a primary example. Broadband is key to the success of telemedicine, as it will provide communities with multichannel access to a wide range of health care services. This milestone will help improve collaboration among health workers as well as provide for greater capability for self-treatment and improvements in primary care. This improvements will help optimize the performance of health care service as a whole, resulting in a healthier and economically stronger nation.
There is no doubt it is an exciting and truly transformational time for Africa.
John Chambers, our President and CEO, says that ‘Education and the Internet are the two equalizers in life’. As a company, Cisco is firmly committed to advancing the Human Network in Africa. I look forward to sharing more of this excitement with you over the next few days and months.
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