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Small Internet firms struggle not to fall to the big players... and what about KDN????
by alice 03 Oct '07

03 Oct '07

Small Internet firms struggle not to fall to the big players Written by Kui Kinyanjui October 03 2007: Broke A$$?" asked an aging billboard along Nairobi's Argwings-Kodhek Road. Get connected to the cheapest ISP." Apart from its corny use of language, the billboard was fairly nondescript. It's symbolism as a monument to the evolving Internet industry was more apparent. The ancient billboard belonged to Bidii.com, an up-start of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that challenged the both the norms of advertising and the ISP business. In its short-lived existence in 2001, the ISP managed to gain a notable share of the lower-end Internet market. It was later swallowed up by Africa Online, a much larger ISP, in a tale that is familiar to many of the service providers who existed during the heady years when acquisitions and mergers were the catch-words of the Kenyan ISP market. Gateway Online, ISP Kenya, Nairobinet and Net2000 were a few of the casualties of the consolidation movement taking place in the market, with most of them either running out of steam in the rapidly competitive market or being bought by larger Kenyan operations. And then, late last year, the buying started again. This time, the bigger boys who managed to survive the rout of the earlier buying spree were the target, and the buyers were not Kenyan. In 2006, a South African firm acquired a controlling stake in Interconnect, a local Internet service provider. As part of the deal, IS injected Sh300 million in fresh capital in to the ISP. "There was no way we could have continued on our own. For many Kenyan grown ISPs, getting access to cheap bandwith and financing makes it harder to survive in the market," said Mr Tejpal Bedi, Managing Director of IS Kenya. Much of the investment, Sh100 million, was set aside to upgrade systems. The company planned to roll-out new technologies and services, hoping to maintain its share of the corporate market by offering cost effective virtual private networks to organisations. "The only way we could maintain our market was by partnering with the South Africans and diversifying our product line, which costs money," said Mr Bedi. The acquisition was touted as part of the South African company's growth strategy to gain a footprint in the local and the greater Eastern and Central African market. "We will ensure the product mix is right for the Kenyan market, by deploying our proven services in Kenya," said IS business development director Ermano Quartero, at a function to announce the deal. The company that bought Bedi's company is one of the leading converged communications service providers in South Africa, boasting a client base at the time of the Interconnect aquisition that included 80 per cent of South Africa's top 250 listed companies. A few months later, the industry was abuzz with the biggest acquisition yet. The target was Africa Online, one of the largest ISPs in sub-Saharan Africa – and the South Africans were after it again. Telkom South Africa eventually won what was an acrimonious battle for the Kenyan-born company. "With the decline of the voice market we are extending and defending our core profitable services. This acquisition fits that objective," said Africa Online's new Chief Executive Officer John Joseph. Telkom SA has plans to invest Sh300 billion over the next five years in projects aimed at gaining the company a foothold in key African markets. Formerly the giant of the Kenyan ISP industry, the South Africans took on a company that was cash-strapped and had struggled with periods of losses over the last few years under it ownership by London firm African Lakes. The situation may get worse for the few small ISPs still fighting for market share. Smaller ISPs have traditionally been dial-up providers, an industry currently being affected by a shift in consumer preference. Although over 50 per cent of users still use dial-up access, use of the service is estimated to be decreasing by 30 per cent while mobile and wireless Internet access is increasing by 40 per cent annually. Up from just under 4,000 users in 1996, Kenya's Internet market grew by its largest margins last year, and now includes 200,000 users. The cost of international bandwidth, still expensive and accounting for most of ISPs' operating costs, has largely limited more rapid growth. Still, Kenya's Internet industry is set to grow more rapidly than ever in the next five years according to new research from Frost and Sullivan. In order to tap into that growth, Frost predicts small companies will fall to larger Internet firms. "Consolidation is likely to increase on the market between the smaller market players in order to gain market competitiveness as the Internet markets are currently dominated by a few major players," says the report. A large number of African ISPs are now controlled by large international organisations, with a few "for Africa, by Africa" ISPs. This is attributed to the high operating costs associated with ISPs in the market. "It is true that many of the ISPs are foreign owned however other major firms are still Kenyan owned. By market share it is probably 50/50," said Mr David Somen, of Access Kenya. His firm broke with tradition and sought local investment funds through a listing on the Nairobi Stock Exchange earlier this year – raising Sh800 million to fund its growth. Access has since bought two Kenyan IT firms and is said to be on a major spending spree. "We believe that with the correct incentives there is no reason why large ISPs should not remain Kenyan. There are great opportunities in the ISP industry and Kenyans continue to invest in this business," said Mr Somen. ISPs in Kenya still face three major challenges. They have limited access to investment and venture capital; there is still a shortage of skilled ICT personnel especially at management level; and Kenyans themselves need to see more local content on the net to for demand for Internet services to go up. But allowing more foreign investment is often the only recourse many ISPs have to keep their businesses running. As a result, the industry regulator, the Communications Commssion of Kenya (CCK) is said to be revising its rules to allow for Kenyan ISPs to have more foreign ownership. Also looming on most providers' radar screens is the increasingly urgent need to own their infrastructure. "My prediction is that East Africa will become a global top ten ICT hub within 10 years – we're betting the farm on the fact that this will be the case," said Richard Bell, whose largely locally owned venture capital firm, East Africa Capital Partners, took on Telkom SA in the recent Africa Online buyout saga. "The ISP industry is a "non industry". Any ISPs that aren't dead already will die – it's just a matter of time. The only business model with any legs on it is that of being an Infrastructure provider," said Mr Bell, who firm has already made three Kenyan acquisitions and one Tanzanian in that line. Infrastructure ownership issues have also driven the latest purchase by a South African firm of a Kenyan business. Technology company Altech is said to be willing to pay nearly Sh5 billion for a 51 per cent stake in the Sameer Group's ICT division. http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3383&Item… <http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3383&Item…>

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Re: [kictanet] [Kictanet] Call for Participation: AITEC's Wireless BroadbandAfrica conference 29Nov-1Dec 2006 Hilton Hotel
by Sean Moroney 03 Oct '07

03 Oct '07

Dear Colleagues, I'm sorry there is low Kenyan attendance here at our Outsourcing & Contact Centre Conference here in Mauritius, opeing today. But as you can see from my Welcome Speech, attached, I'm doing my best to fly the Kenyan flag. Brian Longwe is also here to support me, so I hope we can attract participation in the East African Outsourcing & Contact centre Conference in Nairobi over 21-22 November. Regards, Sean Sean Moroney Chairman AITEC Africa seanm(a)aitecafrica.com UK Tel: +44(0)1480-880774 UK Fax: +44(0)1480-880765 UK Mobile: +44(0)7973-499224 Kenya Mobile: +254(0)721-845674 Nigeria Mobile: +234(0)802-0571766 SA Mobile: +27(0)72-610-7153 Skype: seanmoroney www.aitecafrica.com Registered as:AITEC Conferences Ltd at Companies House, No. 4698475. Address: Cromer House, Caxton Way, Stevenage, Herts SG1 2DF, UK

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Fwd: ITS CREATORS CALL INTERNET OUTDATED, OFFER REMEDIES
by Alex Gakuru 02 Oct '07

02 Oct '07

> --- Alex Gakuru wrote: > See also: > Van Jacobson's talk:"A New Way to look at > Networking" > http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6972678839686672840&q=engeduthis > > > > "The Internet wasn't designed for people to watch > television," he says. "I know because I designed > it." > (Larry Roberts on below article) > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > From: WWWhatsup <joly(a)punkcast.com> > > Date: Oct 2, 2007 5:31 PM > > Subject: [isoc-ny] ITS CREATORS CALL INTERNET > > OUTDATED, OFFER REMEDIES > > To: isoc-ny(a)yahoogroups.com, discuss(a)isoc-ny.org > > > > > > ITS CREATORS CALL INTERNET OUTDATED, OFFER > REMEDIES > > [SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Bobby White > > bobby.white(a)wsj.com<bobby.white%40wsj.com> > > ] > > There's a growing debate over whether the > Internet's > > current infrastructure > > is sufficient to handle the explosion of > > bandwidth-hungry services such as > > Internet telephony and video. In a recent report, > > Cisco calculated that > > monthly Internet traffic in North America will > > increase 264% by 2011 to more > > than 7.8 million terabytes, or the equivalent of > 40 > > trillion email messages. > > If such Internet traffic continues increasing, > many > > believe networks could > > crash or at least slow to a crawl. Today, > > information travels the Web by > > being broken into tiny bits called packets, which > > are routed through the > > least congested pipes to their destination. Once > the > > packets arrive, they > > are reassembled into their original form. The > > problem is that the increasing > > size of files, such as video, has begun > overwhelming > > some equipment handling > > the traffic, resulting in errant or lost packets. > To > > tackle the problem, a > > slew of start-ups are producing gear and software > to > > accelerate Internet > > traffic or to increase the network's capacity. > > > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119128309597345795.html?mod=todays_us_marke… > > (requires subscription) > > * Our fraying Internet infrastructure (Commentary) > > > http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/01/EDGBSAN5C.DTL > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------- > > WWWhatsup NYC > > http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com > > > ---------------------------------------------------------- > > > > __._,_.___ Messages in this topic > > > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny/message/1778;_ylc=X3oDMTM0YzZnYnJrBF9…>( > > 1) Reply (via web post) > > > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJwZTJiY2g1BF9TAzk3MzU…>| > > Start > > a new topic > > > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJlN2VoczA3BF9TAzk3MzU…> > > > > > Messages<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny/messages;_ylc=X3oDMTJlYWRldTBjBF9TAzk…>| > > > Files<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny/files;_ylc=X3oDMTJmcjk1aG5oBF9TAzk3Mz…>| > > > Photos<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny/photos;_ylc=X3oDMTJlaTVjdm1xBF9TAzk3M…>| > > > Links<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny/links;_ylc=X3oDMTJmY2poZDI5BF9TAzk3Mz…>| > > > Calendar<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny/calendar;_ylc=X3oDMTJkNGx2ZmNtBF9TAzk…> > > ---------------------------------------------- > > http://isoc-ny.org > > "The Internet is for Everyone!" -- Vint Cerf > > ---------------------------------------------- > > [image: Yahoo! > > > Groups]<http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJkNXJhNHI2BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIxN…> > > Change settings via the > > > Web<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJmdjltc2dvBF9TAzk3MzU…>(Yahoo! > > ID required) > > Change settings via email: Switch delivery to > Daily > > > Digest<isoc-ny-digest@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email+Delivery:+Digest>| > > Switch > > format to > > > Traditional<isoc-ny-traditional@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change+Delivery+Format:+Traditional> > > Visit Your Group > > > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny;_ylc=X3oDMTJkZzQzcGN2BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0…>| > > Yahoo! > > Groups Terms of Use > > <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> | Unsubscribe > > <isoc-ny-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com?subject=> > > Visit Your Group > > > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isoc-ny;_ylc=X3oDMTJlaG5pZmgwBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0…> > > Search Ads > > > > Get new > > > customers.<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12jlkpmgp/M=493064.10729656.11333347.8674578/D=…> > > > > List your web site > > > > in Yahoo! Search. > > Y! Messenger > > > > Instant > > > hello<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12jfd4ook/M=493064.10729668.11333359.8674578/D=…> > > > > Chat over IM with > > > > group members. > > Food Lovers > > > > Real Food > > > Group<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12jkqnc86/M=493064.11036139.11614791.8674578/D=…> > > > > on Yahoo! Groups > > > > find out more. > > . > > > > __,_._,___ > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small > Business gives you all the tools to get online. > http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7

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Internet Statistics
by Alex Gakuru 02 Oct '07

02 Oct '07

Despite internet users increasing from 1 million (2005) to 2,770,300 (2007) end user prices have hardly reduced and in some instances actually they went high up. Obviously this has something to do with the 540 per cent mark up on local bandwidth prices by ISPs (CCK Internet Market Study) Well, notwithstanding the price pain penetration now compares well with Egypt's Enjoy http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm#africa (Update 30 Sept 2007) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Got a little couch potato? Check out fun summer activities for kids. http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&…

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Telecoms harmonisation in East Africa
by Rebecca Wanjiku 02 Oct '07

02 Oct '07

hi, KICTANet invites you to a working lunch to meet with David Souter, who is in kenya to discuss various ways of Telecoms harmonisation in East Africa. lunch will be at Jacaranda on October 8. the meeting will be ideal for representatives from private sector, government, civil society, and academia, to interrogate all attendant issues, please confirm directly with me.....off list, regards becky ____________________________________________________________________________________ Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting

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Re: [kictanet] KDN
by Kai Wulff 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

Brian, KDN's aim is to run infrastructure to EVERY corner of the region and later the continent! Since I am constantly spending money (though operational very profitable) for this, I would be ill advised to chase people before they can give us an idea of what they want to do! If Altech or ANY other investor wants to participate by INJECTING (I am not talking about a sale of shares, I don't think this is in the interest of anybody at KDN or Sameer) substantial amounts of money to fasttrack this goal, I will listen VERY carefully! Rgds Kai ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian Longwe" <brian(a)isisweb.nl> To: "Kai Wulff" <kai.wulff(a)kdn.co.ke> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 14:48 Subject: Re: [kictanet] KDN hmmm - I seem to recall that the big man over there has a requtation for pulling v. surprising deals at the last minute - might this be one of them? Regards, Brian On Oct 1, 2007, at 11:08 AM, Kai Wulff wrote: > Morning! > > Isn't it interesting what the media can do? > > We have not even received an offer (although it is true that Altech is > interested to come into the East African Market and is looking around), > so > how can we be sold? > > If this was true, CCK would know about .. > > More updates (if anything happens) on this channel! > > Rgds > > Kai > > P.S. Buying Kai would be difficult .... > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> > To: <kai.wulff(a)kdn.co.ke> > Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 08:02 > Subject: [kictanet] KDN > > > Kai, > SA Group buys Kai. See below. > > > > Business Report > Altech's R500m Kenyan buy should give it access to new submarine cable > Thabiso Mochiko > 411 words > 28 September 2007 > The Star > e1 > 3 > English > © Copyright 2007 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited. All rights > reserved. > > Johannesburg - Allied Technologies (Altech) will pay more than R500 > million for a 51 percent stake in a division of Kenya's Sameer Group, > which should give the telecommunications technology company access to an > undersea cable. > Altech, which has a war chest of R1.2 billion, has agreed to buy a > majority shareholding in Sameer's information and communication > technology > (ICT) division, which houses Kenya Data Networks (KDN), Swift Global and > Infocom. > KDN operates an extensive fibreoptic cable network and plans to expand > into Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Swift Global is an > internet service provider with operations in Kenya and Tanzania. Infocom > provides broadband internet services in Uganda. > KDN is expected to participate in the African east coast submarine link, > which will support Altech's aggressive expansion into the telecoms arena. > Altech chief executive Craig Venter said growth opportunities in Kenya > were helped by its stable political environment. > The acquisition formed part of Altech's strategy to become a global > company, he added. > Venter noted that the ever-changing technology environment required > "equal > measures of prudence and agility". > Altech is still on the prowl for acquisitions, but says it will not buy > an > existing cellular network operator because its cellphone service > provider, > Autopage, continues to grow. The firm, which resells products of Cell C, > MTN and Vodacom, now boasts 850 000 subscribers. > Altech operates in India through its satellite television decoder > manufacturer, Altech UEC. Its vehicle tracking firm, Altech Netstar, has > opened shop in Malaysia and will expand to Brazil. > In the rest of Africa, Altech operates in Rwanda, where it has been > licensed to roll out a high-speed WiMax internet network. It has > profitable operations in Nigeria through NamITech, which manufactures 60 > million prepaid airtime vouchers a month for the country's five cellular > operators. > Altech will spend R30 million to expand capacity to make credit cards for > banks and SIM cards for cellular operators. > Another R90 million acquisition, of fleet management firm ComTech, is > subject to competition commission approval. > This week Altech, which is majority-owned by JSE-listed Allied > Electronics, posted a 20 percent rise in revenue to R4 billion for the > six > months to August. Interim operating profit increased by 6 percent to R306 > million from a year earlier. > Altech's shares gained 25c to R61.75 yesterday. The all share index added > 0.44 percent. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: kai.wulff(a)kdn.co.ke > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kai.wulff% > 40kdn.co.ke > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > > > > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: brian(a)isisweb.nl > Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/ > mailman/options/kictanet/brian%40isisweb.nl -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

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Who put me in the wananchi mailing list
by Alex Gakuru 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

(Sent on 1 October 2007 10:00 am) I only recall requesting to be on kictanet list but I get two list subscriptions reminders: http://mail.wananchi.com/mailman/options/kictanet/ http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ Could it be the reason some of my posts take 5 days to get bounced? Could moderators Walu and Alice explain plse Alex ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase. http://farechase.yahoo.com/

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[Fwd: [AfriNIC-rpd] Fw: Global Policy for the Allocation of the Remaining IPv4 Address Space]
by alice 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

Egypt has submitted this proposal for allocation for remaining IPv4 addresses space... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: Hytham Zakaria EL Nakhal Organisation: National Telecom Regulatory Authority, Egypt Version: Draft Date: 07 July 2007 Status: Open for discussion Authors: Roque Gagliano (ANTEL), Francisco Obispo (CENIT), Hytham EL Nakhal (MCIT), Didier Allain Kla (ISOC Cote d'Ivoire) Policy Affected: The current on-demand global policy for the distribution of IPv4 address space to the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) system. Incentive: In order to assure the equal distribution of the IPv4 address space across RIR regions, this policy proposal describes a process for the allocation of the remaining IPv4 space from IANA to the existing RIRs Policy Proposal Name: Global Policy for the Allocation of the Remaining IPv4 Address Space. Proposal: -------------- Policy Statement: This policy describes the process for the allocation of the remaining IPv4 space from IANA to RIRs. When a minimum amount of available space is reached, an identical number of IPv4 allocation units (/8s) will be allocated from IANA to each RIR, replacing the current IPv4 allocation policy. In order to fulfill the requirements of this policy, at the time of its adoption, an identical number of IPv4 allocation units (N) will be reserved by IANA for each RIR. The number N is defined as 5. The reserved units will no longer be part of the available space at IANA pool. The process for the allocation of the remaining IPv4 space is divided in two consecutives phases: 1. Existing Policy Phase: During this phase IANA will continue allocating IPv4 addresses to the RIRs using the existing allocation policy. This phase will continue until a request for IPv4 address space from any RIR to IANA can not be fulfilled with the remaining IPv4 space available in the IANA pool. This will be the last IPv4 address space request that IANA will accept from any RIR. At this point the next phase of the process will be initiated. 2. Exhaustion Phase: IANA will automatically allocate the reserved IPv4 allocation units to each RIR (N units to each one) and respond to the last request with the remaining available allocation units in IANA pool (M units). 2.1. Size of the final IPv4 allocations: During this phase IANA will automatically allocate N allocation units to each RIR from the reserved space defined in this policy. IANA will also allocate M allocation units to the RIR that submitted the last request for IPv4 addresses. 2.2. Allocation of the remaining IPv4 Address space: After the completion of the evaluation of the final request for IPv4 addresses, IANA must: A) Immediately notify the NRO about the activation of the second phase of this policy. B) Proceed to allocate M allocation units to the RIR that submitted the last request for IPv4 address space. C) Proceed to allocate N allocation units to each RIR from the reserved space. Rational: --------------- The IANA pool of allocation units of IPv4 addresses (/8s) is decreasing rapidly. A new policy is proposed to replace the current "on demand" policy in order to bring certainty on how the remaining space will be allocated. This policy eliminates the pressure on the remaining central pool of addresses by allocating equal amount of allocation units (N) to each RIR. RIR may be studying slow-landing policies or the possibility to reserve specific address spaces for "critical infrastructure" or new companies in order to comply with anti-trust regulations in its region. This policy allows each RIR to adopt those policies through its PDP, which is simpler than a global policy discussion process. Each RIR will have the exact information on the amount of address spaces that they will be receiving as a last allocation from the IANA. The policy is written in such a way that the discussion could be split in two sections: first do we agree on the concept of the policy and second what is the appropriate value for the last allocation units N. Thanks & Best Regards Mostafa Ali NOL , Cairo Office Senior P&D Engineer Tel. : +202 760 6677 ext. 560 Mobile: +20 10 5151 189 Fax. : +202 760 7656 E-mail - mmostafa(a)nile-online.net _______________________________________________ rpd mailing list rpd(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/rpd

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South African Minister claims several consortiums interested in NEPAD international fibre project
by Eric Osiakwan 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

There were "several" consortiums that had shown interest in getting involved with the proposed information and communication technology broadband infrastructure for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, the minister of communications, said last week. Matsepe-Casaburri said the government was not delaying the process by insisting on an African majority shareholding for the under-sea cable. The minister did not identify the consortiums. Insiders say that the South African Government will probably end up financing the consortium if it goes ahead. (source: Myadsl) Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"

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Ubuntu Platform Training
by Alex Gakuru 29 Sep '07

29 Sep '07

sent on 29 Sept 2007 2:10 pm Hi all, I am pleased to update you on our earlier announced Ubuntu platform training program. We have received a lot of diverse and encouraging interest on this introductory course. (Also pleased to have reclaimed some earlier users:) We have decided to start off with Saturdays 9:00 am - 12:00 noon for lecture-type classes with students undertaking 2-hours practical work thereafter every class. Sorry *nix* gurus:) our angle is NOT kernel-dev or terminal oriented,rather a gentle Open users introduction easy Ubuntu desktop. ( can't wait for GNONE 2.20 in "Gutsy Gibbon". Obviously spicy IBM's Lotus Symphony will be our Open Office package (http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/09/gnome-update-po.html and http://www.howtoforge.com/ibm_lotus_symphony_ubuntu_7.04 resp) The venue remains our near Nairobi Club, along 4th Ngong Avenue offices, opposite George Williamson House (off Ngong Road) Nairobi. Unfortunately this course is not free because we are not funded by anybody. Full Cost is Kshs 10,000 and YES! One can pay in two installments @ Kshs 5,000/=. will update you in due course on other scheduled discussions on Open Source Training if something concrete is agreed upon. Finally, thanks all for your interest and Josiah Mugambi for Lotus download pointer and YOU for forwarding our training course to your various mailing lists. Remember we are always "send button" away - feel free to ask me anything related through gakuru(a)gmail.com. Thanks Alex "The Future is Open" ____________________________________________________________________________________ Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos & more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC

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