The private and hybrid Microsoft cloud delivers a cybersecurity step-change for East Africa’s data-sensitive organisations, providing a doorway to high-speed data safety.
Nairobi, 16th May 2019:
Liquid Telecom Kenya, part of the leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, has today launched a Microsoft Cloud service in East Africa that offers a step-change in cybersecurity for the region’s most sensitive databases.
The new Azure Stack service will allow companies to run a private Microsoft cloud within East Africa, rather than at one of Microsoft’s 54 public data centres located outside the region. This means users benefit from the cutting-edge security protocols developed and run by Microsoft on its cloud platforms, while holding their data locally, which makes data uploading faster for databases that can be as large as one terabyte or more.
The service will be available from today across East Africa, hosted in private cloud nodes in Kenya and Tanzania, which makes it possible to replicate databases at different locations to increase reliability and flexibility.
“The data transmission time to Europe is around 200 milliseconds, and for the closest Microsoft cloud server, in South Africa, 55 milliseconds. But the new Azure Stacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam will mean data transfer speeds of less than 20 milliseconds for all users within East Africa,” said Winston Ritson, Group Head of Cloud Services for the Liquid Telecom Group.
This increase in speeds will transform back-ups and uploads from previously lengthy processes to swift data exchanges. Globally, companies have reported that this has transformed their operations. With one logistics company in California achieving a 50% improvement in service delivery on increased data speeds.
Using Azure Stack also opens the way to a level of cybersecurity that few organisations have the capacity to develop. “Microsoft spends some $1bn a year on ensuring the security of its Azure platforms. This is a scale of spend and professional attention that companies cannot match or surpass in securing their data,” said Winston.
This comes as East Africa’s data security continues to deteriorate. In 2017, Kenya lost over Sh21bn to cybercrime. But the nation’s losses are forecast to rise further on new cyber threats. Including attacks on built-in Windows IT admin tools, PowerShell files and Windows Scripting executables.
“Developing the Azure Stack in East Africa has required intensive development and co-operation between Liquid Telecom and Microsoft.” said Adil El Youssefi, CEO East Africa, Liquid Telecom. “However, we believe that in offering a now unequalled level of cybersecurity, it has delivered yet another vital pillar to the economic development of Kenya and East Africa.”
The East Africa Fellowship of Microsoft’s 2nd cohort of the Insiders4Good program is under way. 20 ideas were selected from as many entrants from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The past weeks, the fellows have been involved in a boot camp led by Microsoft’s Insider team. The boot camp is to familiarize and prepare them for the six months fellowship program. Meet the East Africa fellows and learn about their ideas here. Below is a video shared by Neowin.com about the fellows and their ideas.
During the fellowship, fellows will be taken through how to build a business out of their ideas. There’ll be mentorship sessions, and fellows will receive technical, hardware and software supports.
Andy Weir spent some time with the fellows during the boot camp and shared a post on it.
I learnt from Andy’s interview with Jeremiah Marbel, Windows Insider Director that these fellowships will soon be translated as a model for Insiders worldwide. I’ve seen from various interactions, people asking when the Insider4Good program will get to their countries. This seems best as Microsoft might not be able to do the fellowship in each country.
Microsoft is now exploring ways to ‘package’ the Fellowship as a set of resources for Windows Insiders around the world. These will include videos, blogs, and other guides to enable people to ‘help themselves’ in working on their personal and professional projects, and Microsoft intends to expand and refine those resources based on feedback from its Insider community. – Andy – Neowin
What do you think about the Fellowship program and Microsoft’s plan to roll the model worldwide?
Microsoft has announced the second #Insiders4Good fellowship program in Africa. The fellowship is now opened to citizens of East Africa.
Bambo Sofola, Director of Engineering at Microsoft announced the fellowship on stage during the keynote session of NexTech Africa. This is an expansion of the Insiders4Good initiative of the Windows Insiders program launched in Lagos last year. The fellowship will be in partnership with Growth Africa.
The fellowship program is opened today to citizens of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda with innovative and creative ideas. At the end of March 25 fellows will be selected for the program. The program will see Microsoft supporting them with technical mentorship, business guidance, software and open them up to a global network.
We are looking for entrepreneurs like you problem-solvers who think deeply about the issues confronting their communities, visionaries who create solutions that could address these issues, and leaders that grow opportunities for their solutions to thrive in the market. Your work improves the lives of your fellow East Africans and has the potential to impact the world.
Microsoft announced the 
