eNetworks

And the winners of our survey are ......

2011-05-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

We've finally managed to capture the moment as our winners collected their prizes. How easy was it to win? This easy ..... they simply responded to our 5 minute survey. Now for the moment we have been waiting for, presenting our three winners.

And the winners of our survey competition are:

First prize winner - Faiza Arendse – won Seagate 1TB external drive
Second prize winner - Lillian Kattan – won Canon Inkjet Printer
Third prize winner - Joerg Masche - Samsung Digital Camera

First prize winner - Faiza Arendse – won Seagate 1TB external drive

Second prize winner - Lillian Kattan – won Canon Inkjet Printer

Third prize winner - Joerg Masche - Samsung Digital Camera

Congratulations to all our winners and a sincere thank you to everyone who has responded to our survey. Your feedback allows us to service you better.

Lessons from a growing company ... especially around public holidays ...

2011-04-28T05:01:00.000-07:00

Public holidays are great, but a chinese-torture to employers. Not only do holidays need to be paid for, but staff on "stand-by" need to be scheduled and backup plans put into place.

What can you do to minimise downtime and make the most out of public holidays:

Know your staff schedule
It is important to know who takes time off in between public holidays but assume staff not on your scheduled leave list will also call in "sick".
Have a "backup-backup" plan 
For public holidays where "stand by" staff are not on call, have two or three alternate numbers clients' can call for assistance.
Re-adjust deadlines 
The month of consists of 18 working days. Of these the 8th, 15th and 29th are Fridays and the 9th, 16th and 30th are Mondays.

Scenario 1: 25% of your staff call in sick on either the Friday or Monday, this leaves your workforce very thin. Communication to clients' that any projects in April will add "X" amount of days to the project deadline will save any shouting matches from happening later in the month.
Plan ahead of time
The two major disruptions in the year are April (Easter) and December (Christmas). Knowing this and planning ahead will save you from those stressful situations arising during the holiday time.

Either way, in between the back up plans public holidays exist and if you can, try and enjoy it.

Highlights from the ITWeb Social Security Summit

2011-04-12T23:40:00.000-07:00

Attended the ITWeb Social Security Summit at the Southern Sun, presented by Kaspersky Lab and ITWeb. Stefan Tanase, Senior Security Researcher from Romania, flew in just for the event and delivered his presentation.

The top tips highlighted were:

Malware is becoming more complex
Networks have three layers of ways targeted attacks can happen.

Company networks
Devices connecting to the networks
Social media platforms

Kaspersky Labs process 70 000 malicious programs daily
More and more worms are created for additional platforms such as Mac

Top 5 threats for business:

Targeted attacks
Information leakage
Social networking account gets compromised
Malware distribution ("customers" can post to your wall and their machines are infected)
Social networking - information available freely available

Tips for staying safe:

Know your "social" friends
Be "security aware"
If you're not sure about something, don't post it
Companies need to realise that blocking these sites is not the best idea. Educate your staff and create policies around usage
Scan your pc for Malware every few days
Update your Anti-Virus software every few days

View the Kaspersky Lab products here.

For information on eNetworks Anti-Virus products, visit our website www.enetworks.co.za

Congratulations, Dumisa Melane for being nominated as "Top Black Female Entrepreneur"

2011-03-31T04:31:00.000-07:00

Our hearty CONGRATULATIONS, from all of us at eNetworks, to Dumisa Melane, one of our Directors for being nominated a finalist in the:

"Top Black Female Entrepreneur"

category for the Metropolitan Oliver Empowerment Awards (MOEA) 2011.

Nominated along with other phenomenal women such as:

Nokuthula Luthuli – Bloom Marketing
Zolelwa Molapisi – By Design Marketing Group
Dumisa Melane – eNetworks
Pria Hassan – WOA Fuels & Oils (**Category Winner**)
Johanna Mukoki – Travel with Flair

Dumisa currently fills the role as Customer Relationship Manager at eNetworks and has been with the company for ten years.

Well done Dumi ..... we're proud of you!

More about the MOEA - 2011

A decade of empowerment progress came to a spectacular climax last night (Thurs. March 24) with presentations to the country’s foremost champions of empowerment in the public and private sectors, among major corporates and across the ranks of small, medium and micro enterprises.

10th Metropolitan Oliver Empowerment Awards (the ‘Olivers’), the mark of BEE distinction for transformation leaders, were bestowed by guest of honour and keynote speaker Mr Thembelani Nxesi (Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform) at the Sandton Convention Centre before an elite audience of political and business leaders and media personalities.

The Olivers are hosted every year by Impumelelo, a pioneering publication dedicated to black business success, and organised by Topco Media in partnership with headline sponsor Metropolitan, the leading life assurer and investment solutions provider."
- Extract sourced from official press release provided by Topco Media.

About Topco Media
Topco Media is a leader in South African business-to-business communication, where our primary service and product offerings i.e. Events and Publishing, aim to reward, celebrate and advertise the best in South African business and government; educate; inform; foster relationships; and facilitate understanding on a range of topical issues and subjects.

For more information on how winners and finalists are selected, visit the MOEA Website.

A glance at where the world is moving toward ...

2011-03-23T04:36:00.000-07:00

I am a lady, but not any kind of lady, I am a lady who is completely and utterly in love, no, obsessed with technology and the way the world evolves around it. I love it so much that I made a career out of it. Fourteen years later, here I stand. Every now and then, I gaze at what is, what was and what will be?

The evidence that technology is made the world flat is irrefutable. Those of us who are technophobes are being roped in by new user interfaces such as touch screens and voice activation. Gone are the days where one could shy away from being connected and gone are the days when we could simply disappear for days without an IM, DM or SMS asking "where are you?" Yes, technology has invaded every sphere of life.
As a consumer, the way we transact online is becoming simpler yet more complex. We demand user friendly front-end experiences, safe and secure back-end experiences and because of our assumptions that is should be there, sometimes, we fall prey to hoax sites and scams.

Here are some tips to keep you safe online:

If the company is a relatively new one, search for it via GOOGLE and BING, legitimate companies have a track record, even the new ones. If you cannot find anything on them, step away from the browser!
Look for Trust Seals or Digital Certificates which indicate that the company belongs to some kind of membership organisation or has been verified by a trustworthy company.

When transacting online, ensure that your browser displays a secure lock and https (not only http).

Browse around to see which other companies offer the products you are looking for. This will give a relatively good idea on what to expect on this kind of business website.
Email the company and ask for information on delivery or products, if they

don't respond, this is a bad sign of service and or their non-existence
respond one week later, also a bad sign, it may take you ages to receive your goods as well

My Favourite, find them on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Most companies have profiles set up on at least these social networking platforms and judging by the amount of fans and followers, this is a good indication of the kind of business they operate.

What about businesses? How are they affected? Businesses are being bombarded by information overload, a flurry of new and ever improving web applications and life is starting to move into the Cloud. Bottom line? Businesses need to ensure that:

their existing processes cater for new set of demands consumers make
their networks need to be secure and stable enough to handle the extra load due to:

smart phones
cell phones
table pc's
laptops

their company policies are modified for information sharing and "leakage"
their staff pc's, laptops and smart phones are protected against hackers and viruses
they have a presence on social networking platforms
they engage with their consumers/customers
they move to web application environment, since staff are travelling more and working remotely

Tips for business?

Be VIGILANT against VIRUSES. Audit your existing Anti-Virus packages and update regularly
BACKUP your data, daily and by the hour
Monitor bandwidth consumption and make adjustments where needed
Communicate and engage with your customers, they are starting to expect this as the norm
Allow your staff to engage on social media platforms, they too are the voice of your company, although audit sites (such as pornographic ones) when monitoring bandwidth

At the end of the day, be careful online but enjoy it. There are so many applications and websites designed to enjoy and make life easier. Knowing how to filter the fluff from the awesomely-incredible is an art you learn over time, but ...... it does happen.

Info overload because of unsolicited email? We can help!

2011-03-19T02:19:00.000-07:00

Checking email first thing in the morning adds the first layer of anxiety for the day. First, we look for important email, but the holy grail of emails seems to be drenched in that which we call "UNSOLICITED EMAIL". One cup of tea/coffee down and we're already "ansi" about the day ahead.

Wouldn't it be great if we could reduce our
email by as much as 90%?

We've spent years researching and testing various ways to do JUST that and have developed a SPAM SCANNING SOLUTION.

How does it work?

All mail is scored on its probability of being SPAM
Mail under a certain threshold score, is let as non-SPAM
Mail over a certain threshold score, is discarded as SPAM, and if there is a valid sender associated with the mail, the sender with be notified of the action taken.

WHAT HAPPENS to DISCARDED MAIL? It is kept for 5 days in the event recovery is required.

For more information on our SPAM SCANNING SOLUTION, download the brochure explaining more.

We care about providing solutions which solve your problems, saving you time and money. Give the brochure a browse, then give us a call.

Staff "Cocktail Shake-Down" in true eNetworks style of course ..

2011-03-09T04:07:00.001-08:00

Who says celebrations have to happen at the end of the year? Our motto, celebrate anytime! To get our team motivated for a great year ahead, we gathered all staff for a "cocktail shake-down".

As our staff arrived at the office, they were greeted with a cocktail demonstration and drinks with colourful umbrellas.

Seeing that the shake-down was a competition, everyone was eager for the games to begin. The participants had a limited time to invent their own cocktail, along with a name for their creation.

These drinks were judged on:

taste
creativity of name
presentation

It was pure entertainment for everyone as the competitors got stuck into their cocktail mixing. Those not taking part in the "cocktail shake-down" watched as spirits got mixed, shakers clattered, blenders buzzed and pineapple flew.

As you can imagine we had some seriously creative cocktails, some that looked absolutely fantastic and others that just looked well...what can I say ... interesting :).

There were three judges (all staff) who had the difficult task judging the cocktails. One of the judging criteria was "taste" and boy did they taste the good, the bad and the down right yukky. The good ones looked appetizing, interesting and ultimately tasted good, but then there were the “special” ones... say hello to “what the hell is that!?!”.

The memory is scarred by one drink in particular...the "Chunky Cocktail" that looked like it had been cooked up in a lab. It had an interesting blue-green colour with a strange texture I can only hope was pineapple.

I had the pleasure (or displeasure) of tasting this one. As you sucked on the straw something gets lodged in it (blowing is not an option as the glass is full to the top) and the only option is to suck harder. Close your eyes and wait for it...WACK, a chunk of pineapple gets shot down your throat with a flourish of strong alcohol. Shame those poor judges, but they were great sports and did a great job of judging!

A huge THANK YOU to the THREE of them.

After much deliberation three winners were selected. Taking 1st place was Ezaad and his drink "The Broken Toon nael" in 2nd place was Conrad and his "Vesper Martini", and in 3rd place were Karen and Melanie with their drink "It’s a wrap".

Well done to the three winners who all won prizes for their efforts.

What is a party without the great people? Luckily, we have loads of them and much laughter, fun, face pulling, drinks and sticky floors were had, as one would expect from a staff-cocktail-party :)

What a great day, when’s the next one :)?

Why use eNetworks? This is NOT a sales pitch!

2011-03-02T04:47:00.000-08:00

We hate trumping our own horns, so this is not a sales pitch. We're simply here to tell you who we are and why pick us to partner with you ➸►.

So, who are we? Why do we do what we do? And why should you choose us? We could say something like "unlike other service providers, we are:

passionate
relationship driven
reliable"

Instead we'll take the direct approach. eNetworks started as a small business with specific needs and growing pains and we understand the challenges of a small, thriving business all too well. We've spent a DECADE perfecting what we do, to deliver the best service in South Africa.

We get that your needs are different, we get that your business fluxuates and we get that you need a stable service from a reliable service provider.

Having engaged with clients' across different industries with specialised needs, we've realised we need to be FLEXIBLE, LISTEN and RESPOND according to YOUR specific needs.

To help us deliver a quality service, we work with the best suppliers, to offer you the best, stable, most competitively priced services.

For more on what we do and who we are, visit our website www.enetworks.co.za or join our Facebook group. We value your comments, pleas feel free to add yours.

ƪ(ˆ◡ˆ)ʃ eNetworks. Service IS everything.

Valued client, help us service ☞ better ... in all ways ツ

2011-03-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

We know everyone hates surveys, we do too ツ, but it is important for us to hear your voice. We are constantly looking for ways to ensure we meet and/or exceed your expectations.

By completing this short survey you would not only be helping us to improve our current services, but also stand a chance to WIN one of these fabulous prizes:

Seagate 1TB external drive
Canon Inkjet Printer
Samsung Digital Camera

Spend 5 minutes completing the survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S2CL3NZ and who knows, you could be one of our lucky winners!

Thank you - in advance. Have a wonderful day ƪ(ˆ◡ˆ)ʃ .

eNetworks, where service IS everything.

We are hiring! Could you be part of our awesome team?

2011-02-23T05:15:00.000-08:00

We are growing! Last year we grew in office size and this year, we grow in staff compliment. Will you be part of our dynamic team? If you have the skills and drive to make a great team player, then submit your CV ASAP!

Available Positions:

Web Developer
Debtor's Clerk

Web Developer

This person will need to have a clear understanding of our client’s businesses to build creative and professional websites, developing the concept into live websites and keeping the projects on track with respect to meeting deadlines. An ability to work well under pressure to deliver projects on time is essential.

A very strong understanding and knowledge of Joomla (technical and navigational functionalities), HTML, intermediate PHP, MySQL and current web trends. Experience with Google Adwords, Analytics, WordPress is beneficial. Ability to scope, develop and manage a website from start to finish.

General Duties

Contribute to the development, implementation, and achievement of departmental objectives in a non .net environment ; Provide solutions to complex problems; Responsible for executing projects to meet briefs, standards, client requirement and deadlines including:

Lead the web development analysis process
Responsible for ensuring that all work meets best practice code re-usability
Ensure adequate unit testing of all development to meet quality standards (permutations, usability, stability and accuracy)
Meeting deadlines as per scope of work/enhancements
Ensuring understanding of and the compliance to company development methods and standards
Ensure issues are timorously escalated and appropriately resolved
Design and develop web-based applications for eNetworks clients using Joomla, HTML, intermediate PHP, MySQL and current web trends, according to brief
Work on legacy systems to develop, enhance existing applications
Mentoring: It is a specific requirement that mentoring of the junior developer takes place

Personal Development

Proactively remain abreast of industry knowledge
Development of both technical and soft skills

Competencies

Analytical with strong problem solving skills
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Attention to detail
Strong technical and navigational Joomla knowledge
Ability to work under pressure
Fast learner
Must thrive in fast moving environment

Please note that .net developers need not apply as this is not a .net environment.

View the Debtor's Clerk position.

Please submit your CV to Leslie Maliepaard who will be in touch with the candidate for an interview.

We are hiring! Debtors Clerk needed, be meticulous and get paid for it!

2011-02-23T02:08:00.000-08:00

** This position has been filled ***

Are you a pain, meticulous about the finer details? Cross your t's and dot your i's, always? Love ACCOUNTING? May be considered obsessive compulsive when it comes to your work? Then we need you!

A Debtors Clerk position has become available for a meticulous and target driven individual. Strong ACCOUNTING SKILLS a prerequisite with Pastel Partner Experience essential.

We will only consider applicants who meet with all the below minimum requirements of this position due to the high level of professionalism, accuracy and consistency needed within this role.

Please note that all applicants that are successful for client interview will be tested on RECON & EXCEL skills.

Minimum Requirements

Must have Matric and relevant tertiary qualification
Must have minimum of 3 years experience when it comes to full debtors function
Previous bookkeeping/basic internal auditing experience will be highly advantageous
Previous experience in stock management is essential
Must pay high attention to detail and accuracy
Must have excellent communication skills (English & Afrikaans)
Must be fully computer literate (emphasis - strong Excel skills)
Must possess solid administration skills
Must be well groomed and presentable
Must be a team player and adapt to change easily
Must be reliable and trustworthy
Registered debt collector advantages
Target Driven

Key Performance Areas

Process invoices to clients and distribute accurate monthly statements to clients
Follow up with clients in regards to outstanding payments and gain commitment from client in this regard
Receive client statements and resolve all queries within agreed timeframes
Manage necessary reconciliation process to consistently provide current status and feedback to management
Build strong and professional relationships with clients
Ensure that there are no client complaints by providing world class client service
Ensure client phone calls are returned promptly
Ensure written communication with client is 100% accurate and easily understandable
Maintain all filing systems
Perform ad hoc duties based on specific projects if and when required
Report directly into Accountant and on a dotted line to the General Manager
Implementation of charging interest on overdue Accounts
Drafting of demand letters
Customer Record creation, credit checking, bank reconciliation, issuing receipts and statements
Issuing receipts and statements, customer record creation.

We offer:
Salary is commensurate with experience

Please submit your CV to Leslie Maliepaard who will be in touch with the candidate for an interview.

Dark fibre? What is it and how can your business benefit?

2011-02-02T02:11:00.000-08:00

I've been reading up on connectivity and fibre and came across Dark Fibre. A dark fibre network is a privately operated optical fibre network that is run directly by its operator over dark fibre leased or purchased from another supplier, rather than by purchasing bandwidth or leased line capacity.

It is quite new to the South African market, but has been the standard in Europe for years. How can dark fibre benefit your business?

From the research I've gathered, it seems as if Dark Fibre is carrier neutral (great) and is able to carry voice, data and internet, seamlessly.

What can Dark fibre networks be used for? We can call the Dark Fibre, the landlord allowing:

private networking
Internet access
Internet infrastructure networking

Dark fibre networks may be:

point-to-point
point-to-multipoint
use self-healing ring or mesh topologies

So what's the big deal?
Dark Fibre access allows companies to increase business operations without spending huge amounts of cash (capital) and all of this possible due to the change in the Electronics Communications Act in 2004. Prior to the change in Act, operators were simply not allowed to offer their own networks, now they can.

More on How Dark Fibre can benefit your business at EzineArticles.

Should you have any queries on fibre in general, contact our sales department at sales@enetworks.co.za or call 0861 55 33 11.

2011 Technology trends to take note of, plan now, save later ...

2011-01-04T08:28:00.000-08:00

The hardest thing to do post New Year is get into the work groove.

How can we help? By bringing the top technology trends to take notice of, while you do the hard work, like plan your life and your business.

We've scrutinized the predictions provided by the following resources, then picked our top 10:

Our top 10 technology predictions for 2011 are:

Table PCs

With the showcase of 80 new Table PCs at the Consumer Electronics Show, most of them actually run on Windows 7 and have been reviewed to be easier to carry around than laptops and more suited to daily ops one would carry out when on the move.

Mobile web

Mobile is exploding. We can see this. How? Even users in third world countries without access to computers have mobile phones and then there are the Generation Y's and even these users are getting younger and younger. What should we watch out? Security issues pose a HUGE threat to this booming industry.

Platform-Independent Mobile AD Tools

A common complaint by web development companies is often that they cannot develop applications that would work 100% across all platforms within project time or budget.
Tools such as Flash, Silverlight and AIR, as well as multiplatform development tools such as Qt, Appcelerator and Java Micro Edition will be used more and more to deliver more stable, cross platform apps.

App stores

App stores are becoming a vital part of the online ecosystem for users in both personal and business capacities. One of the biggest advantages I have personally used many times, is my directions map when traveling anywhere.
(We've heard a rumour that Microsoft will launch their own app store soon, lets see how true this is.)

Virtualization or the "Cloud"

Gone are the days where clunky hardware is require. Rated the no.1 technology (by Gartner) in 2010, the "Cloud" is here to stay. Not only does it reduce the need for actual space, it can save your company thousands annually.

Video

Although not a new trend, Gartner believes that video will become the mainstream medium for communication with users across platforms.

Social Analytics

"Social analytics describes the process of measuring, analyzing and interpreting the results of interactions and associations among people, topics and ideas."
Why this would be important to your organization is post data collection, identifying relationships and evaluating the impact of managing that relationship directly affects your bottom line.

Social Media

Your audience may not frequent social media for business purposes, but it is becoming a vital tool for business. Information is distilled into bite size which users choose to consume and quick engagement with consumers is now possible.
Use social media to network, collaborate, publish and get feedback.

Touch Screens

With companies like Sony and HP already in the market with touch screen desktop monitors, we see them becoming the dominant user interface on large-screen handsets as well.

Device-Independent Security

Device-independent security solutions will be developed to help to deliver web applications that run on a range of devices across multiple platforms. This will significantly reducing security risks

It pays to take notice of these trends, although nothing is set in stone. Happy planning for 2011.

Mobile phones, wireless connectivity and notebooks making this round world flat ..

2011-01-02T05:29:00.000-08:00

In a world of wireless technology, access to .. well anyone is easy. So easy that should you live in a "third-world" country, the ability to wire funds anywhere in the globe is possible as long as you have a mobile phone.

Add to this working longer hours and anywhere, the world is (I wish I could say it was literally spinning faster since it feels that way sometimes) spinning faster.

But does technology hamper or enable?

On the plus side, we can work remotely anywhere in the world.

On the minus side, we can work remotely from anywhere in the world.

Ironic, isn't it?

Gone are the days where holidays meant leaving your notebook behind and even when you do, your Smart Phone beeps away as emails are received. At the end of the day, the innate need to be connected or not really lies with the holder of the Smart Phone.

To iPhone, Android or Blackberry that is the question. Oh and let's not forget Windows?

Android has overtaken iPhone in market share and although Blackberry offers best value for money in the Smart phone category, Android has managed to take the top spot.

How to know which make is best for you?

Personal preference really? Personally, I am an Apple fan, although I have to confess that the HTC gives me a slight stirring. Once you're used to touch screen, I find I assume everything is.

My coolest find for 2011? Touch screen monitors.

For health reasons, it may take off sooner than later. Why? Although most users now have notebooks, we still use a mouse and extended mouse use has been shown to cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

If we've learned anything about technology though is that it enables and makes life more efficient. The trick is to know when not to react to every beep that comes along.

Oops, have to go (☆◑‿◐).

(◠‿◠) Your top 5 highlights, a year in review, the eNetworks way ✩

2010-12-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

What a year it has been! Sex, drugs and rock and roll? And then there was 2010. As we wind down and bid farewell to 2010, we look back and reflect on the top highlights.

Our top 5 highlights of 2010 includes:

World Cup Soccer

The "gees" was electric, everyone got along, and although there were disruptions in standard working days, it was a pleasure to be part of the World Cup placing South Africa as a World Class destination. We laughed, we cried and we had a blast. Memories will remain forever.

New / bigger premises

After 11 years, we finally moved / expanded into 592 sqm. Starting from a humble 13 sqm, we have grown from strength to strength and plan to continue.

Company growth

SCS - Staff, clients and space. 2010 has been a year of growth in all areas. We added our eDSL product to the existing range and focus exclusively in providing the best ADSL service we can. Thank you to the team for all the efforts throughout the year.

World Cup Soccer

I have mentioned it already, but ....... World Cup 2010, worth mentioning twice ✩*•

11 years and still counting

Congratulations to eNetworks and our team working tirelessly to ensure that our clients' are happy and that the service delivery we have always provided remains of top priority. We celebrated our 11th Anniversary in 2010. Something we are very proud of.

There were many highlights, such as all the events we attended, (Google SA event and iWeek), but those are the TOP 5 we felt we needed to highlight. We would add to this list a BIG thank you to the eNetworks team and to end off the year, we hosted our year-end function on a boat in true Cape Town style.

Last, but not least, we would like to thank you, our client who without, we would not be here today.

We wish a happy ¸.•* ✩ festive season ¸.•* ✩ and an easy entry into 2011.

Moustache Mafia strikes again - a mu'ving way to end Movember ..

2010-11-29T20:18:00.000-08:00

They're back! The "Moustache Mafia" strikes again and this time, they mean business.

As "Movember" draws to a close, the business of making sure everyone remembers the month throughout the year is their top priority.

They're serious about "Movember" and about showing their support.

What they do leave us with looking at the photo above reminds me of a scene in the Godfather where Al Pacino, (who plays Michael Corleone) meets with his "family" because something "big" is going on.

But in true "Moustache Mafia-boss-style", "Corleone" calmly stares into space and leaves us with these famous last words as we end of the month, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse".

Let "Movember" be on your mind all year and remember, the "Moustache Mafia" is watching .... dah dah dahm..... (cue cheesy mafia movie music).

Moustache Mafia Mu-ving through Movember ..

2010-11-26T04:54:00.000-08:00

I love the "gees" the team at eNetworks sprouts throughout the year. From Valentines Day, to Halloween, the team spirit is always visible. BUT, we have to compliment the guys for their "Movember" spirit.

The team has officially been named "Moustache Mafia", sprouting their "Movember" 'taches and matching outfits, one has to commend their support for the month of mo's.

But what IS "Movember" and why all the fuss surrounding facial hair? Movember (formerly known as November), is a month long moustache growing charity event held each year to help raise funds and awareness for men’s health.

Having started in Australia seven years ago, Movember has grown to be an international event, taking place in six countries. This global expansion looks set to continue with demand from Mo Bros and Sistas around the world wanting to grow moustaches and celebrate Movember in their own countries. As a direct result, six new countries have been added to this year’s campaign, of which South Africa is one!

Nice "growing" team eNetworks. We love that your spirit is fun and cause all rolled into one.

Happy Movember!

What IS the excitement of checking into a hotel room? You guess it, FREE WIFI

2010-11-15T03:31:00.000-08:00

You're a regular traveler, whether locally or internationally. As you sit at the airport waiting for your flight to board, your notebook is whipped out and away we go. Most airports have wireless access providing a multitude of service providers to choose from, wonderful!

Time to board (wishing all airlines had on board Internet access), we may or may not whip our our notebook again to work (it all depends on the flight schedule) and sooner than later, arrive safely at our destination. Either a driver from the hotel collects us from the airport, or we hire a car and voila, we arrive at our hotel.

My first question to the con-siege, "Is there WiFi in this hotel?", one of three responses occur which affect the mood of my entire day:

yes, it is included with your package, free access, enjoy! (I hear my favorite rock tune start playing in my head, head banging, the works, feels great!)
yes, it is accessible via a voucher, which only costs Rxx (may as well be a million dollars, since it is always a rip off)
no, sorry, but we do have an Internet cafe, just around the corner (doh!)

As you can see, the price for convenience when traveling is priceless. If I have a 3G card around, no worries, but if I made the mistake of a) not having one or b) leaving it at home, the sound of inconvenience makes me cranky.

Hotels should realise (by now) how important reliable, consistent internet access in a hotel and especially the rooms are. Business people who travel frequently play catchup after the working day is over and not having connectivity in a hotel room adds strain to the day, since we cannot proceed with a daily catchup.

Today's tip: when booking a hotel, check if there is connectivity / WiFi access. Even if not used, the benefit of quick, easy, free access is definitely worth paying an extra buck for. Here are a list of hotels in SA, offering (or including WiFi, caveat, we cannot vouch for any of these hotels and always check their websites before you book, includes WiFi does not mean FREE ;))

Cape Town - WiFi friendly
Johannesburg - WiFi friendly
Durban WiFi friendly
Port Elizabeth WiFi friendly

Happy traveling and remember to check before you travel to avoid disappointment. However, if your favorite hotel does not have WiFi access in the room, how about suggesting they start offering it to guests. After all, a happy guest is one who returns.

Why not add some Fiber to your Broadband diet?

2010-10-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

Fiber (not the kind you have for breakfast) and Broadband, (not the kind used in the gym) makes headline news on a daily basis. "Uncapped" (although really"Capped" in disguise) is all the rage. But the question we often hear is, what is it or why would you need it?

Let's examine the term "Broadband". Now we could go into the fancy explanation mentioning frequencies, channels, carriers and signals, but we won't. Simply put it is "the ability to access the Internet and Be on the Phone, At the same time. ... "

Simple process with some efficient and cost-effective benefits:

"always on"
Fast loading of web pages and e-mail
Equally fast downloading of files, programs, and computer updates
It does not affect the phone line
Unlimited access and you won't be charged based on the connection duration
Provides cheap phone services via VoIP technology.
Connection sharing

Makes sense to go this route if your business is starting off and there is a high demand for voice and data transmission.

Next up, Fiber-optic cable. Again, we could use words like transmission, digitized pulses or wavelengths. Instead consider it to be "technology used for transmitting data, voice, and images through very fine, flexible glass or plastic fibers (a bundle of optical fibers)".

Apart from the "space-age" look it displays, it has many advantages and have revolutionized the way the telecommunication industry operates, here's why:

Less expensive
Thinner - Optical fibers can be drawn to smaller diameters than copper wire
Higher carrying capacity - Because optical fibers are thinner than copper wires, more fibers can be bundled into a given-diameter cable than copper wires. This allows more phone lines to go over the same cable or more channels to come through the cable into your cable TV box
Less interference - light signals from one fiber do not interfere with those of other fibers in the same cable. This means clearer phone conversations or TV reception
Digital signals - Optical fibers are ideally suited for carrying digital information, which is especially useful in computer networks

Well there you have it. If you are starting a business, going Broadband is a given. How you access the Internet all depends on the type of business you have. Given the advantages listed for the Fiber-optic option makes sense for growing businesses to consider, even at an early stage for the long-term benefits are clear.

Happy surfing and remember, if its not always on, what is it? And if your feeling slow and clogged up, perhaps it's time you added more fiber to that broadband diet of yours.

eNetworks

Connectivity questions? Free yourself from downtime and high costs, we can help!

2010-10-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Connectivity may be the buzz word of the day, but with hosting and server hardware costs dipping, none of that matters if downtime is an issue. Why struggle with looking for the cheapest service provider to save money? Does it not mean more find a provider that will take care of things for you and save you time and money?

As consumers of connectivity, and perhaps a different generation we often forget that moving from one service provider is as simple as making a telephone or sending an email.

BUT, before you make that call, ask yourself:

is going the cheap (no frills route) worth the hassle of dealing with connectivity issues and/or downtime
are they really "cheaper" or are there built in hidden costs?

Then ask the question, what is best for me and my business? ADSL or Diginet? Is it all Greek to you? With so many choices out there, what are your connectivity needs? We've decided to help make this choice easy for you by showing the benefits of ADSL vs. Diginet lines.

Benefits of ADSL?

ADSL has the potential for higher speed internet access with low latency when compared with most other access services.
Fixed monthly cost (as long as the monthly limit is not exceeded if you decide on a capped package).
Uses existing analogue telephone line.
Less expensive than a Diginet or Martis 64kbps digital leased line.
More convenient than a dial-up connection because it is almost "always on."

Benefits of a Diginet fixed line:

Diginet services can convey digital speech and video signals on a point-to-point basis, allowing users to develop highly efficient integrated voice/data networks offering new opportunities in the growing broadband multimedia market.
Improved performance, reliability and quality of service are provided at a fixed monthly cost.
High quality digital network ensures high-speed, clear connectivity for delay-sensitive applications
Faults are rectified quickly (often a fault is located and repaired before a customer even knows about it)
International connectivity
Higher speed range compared to analogue leased lines

A little more clear? We hope so. Should you have any questions we can help you with, email
sales@enetworks.co.za or visit their websites for quick (free) efficient support.

Get connected today!

New digs after 11 years and still going strong ..

2010-09-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

Attending the office warming party earlier this week, I am proud to be associated with a company who has and continues to stand the test of time and grow along with their clients. eNetworks and their staff celebrated the official office warming in style as well as unveiling their new logo.

The eNetworks culture seems to be one of quality service delivery (with a smile) and an office environment which encourages creativity and fun.

It is very rare to see staff of all levels engaging with each other in positive "team-like" behaviour and truly celebrate the company they are and how much they have achieved.

Proud moments are many these days.

More photos are sure to follow, but for now we celebrate and remember how it all began in the basement of a house and look back at the growth from their first office occupying 13 sqm to presently securing an impressive 592 sqm. Yes, eNetworks has literally grown from strength to strength.

Good staff and a supportive management team goes without saying. And more important than that, are the clients who support them. Relationships are continuously nurtured and held, even through the "growing pains" which is normal for all growing companies.

The staff and management of eNetworks would like to thank their clients', old and new for their continued support and to leave a message which says "service IS and will continue to be ... everything!"

http://www.enetworks.co.za - visit their website to view their products or follow them on Twitter.

Author: Shana Kay

eNetworks celebrates Women's month and more ...

2010-08-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

August is Women's month and at eNetworks we are proud of the dynamic women we have supporting us. From our call centre to our Directors, we acknowledge the team of women that make things happen. Our focus this month is our senior team management team. They are:

Dumisa Melane - Customer Services Manager, eNetworks Director
Leslie Maliepaard - General Manager
Danielle Guignet - Sales/Procurement Manager
Karen Swart - Senior Accountant

We're celebrating more than just Women's month in August. Added to this, we've expanded our office to accommodate for future growth. Having started the business more than ten years ago, we have grown in both the services we offer and the office space we occupy. But most importantly, our promise of delivering a service beyond the call of duty remains our focus.

Dumisa Melane happens to be responsible for this. She provides the interface between customers, suppliers and most importantly, the technical team. Apart from having one of the most important roles, she has been with us since 2001 and this year, she celebrates her decade with us. Well done Dumisa!

She is passionate about many things. One of them is the ability to continuously learn from mentors and peers around her. The difference here is that as much as she loves learning, she gives back even more. In her spare time she likes reading, listening to music and likes playing handy "man" around the home and enjoys working on various DIY projects.

She cites one of her career highlights as the day she was offered the opportunity to become a Director in the company.

Official job title: Customer Service Manager

Leslie Maliepaard is a woman of many talents. She joined eNetworks out of a need to free up time for one of the Director's to focus on Business and Product Development.

The role called for a General Manager and she fit the criteria perfectly. Not much persuasion was needed for her to join the company. She has a strong Financial Management and HR focus as well as heavily driving Sales and Marketing.

Leslie cites her career highlight as being awarded a US grant to attend a Women Entrepreneurship programme in the USA. It was a 180 degree career changing experience where she learned about the power of women in business and how important, (no critical) their roles in business are.

She loves reading, cooking, yoga, photography, scuba diving and her passions are linked to food, travel, wine and cool gadgets of all sorts.

Official job title: General Manager

Danielle Guignet, a newbie to the team, has 16 years of experience under her belt. She became involved with eNetworks after being part of the Tarsus Technologies team.

She cites her career highlight as "knowing that every company I have worked for would employ me again".

Painting, spending time with her children (her passion in life) as well as her dogs, is how she likes spending her down time.

Official job title: Sales/Procurement Manager

Karen Swart another newbie to the team, is responsible for a critical aspect of business, the Accounts Department. She ensures that the accounts are processed smoothly. She enjoys the atmosphere in the office and the dynamic energy of the team.

"Never a dull moment in the office" she says.

Official job title: Senior Accountant

Visit our website: http://www.enetworks.co.za or follow us on Twitter for the latest updates on ADSL, remote backups, technology trends and more.

Monopolistic Principles and Poor Service Stifle Players

2010-07-29T04:01:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Maliepaard, MD of eNetworks, says the biggest hurdle to progress is the cost of bandwidth from the likes of Telkom and Neotel, which is disproportionately high.
"Local bandwidth now costs more than international bandwidth," he comments.
He says when the 5.6 gigabit West Africa Cable System (WACS) undersea cable lands in SA in 2010 the biggest problem will be affordable local bandwidth to access it. "The cost of deploying long-haul fibre is expensive, so the same old big companies are installing it and keeping prices high."

He says another issue is Telkom's monopoly over the last mile , or local-loop copper-wire telephone lines that support ADSL. Either the regular Icasa needs to introduce local-loop unbundling, which would allow other service providers to share this infrastructure, or Telkom needs to provide ISPs with fast, scalable, affordable access to its ADSL network, he says.

Click here to read the full Business Report here.

eNetworks polishes ArcelorMittal South Africa’s Saldanha Works enterprise network

2010-06-29T02:51:00.000-07:00

28 April 2010 – eNetworks, the enterprise network services provider, has vastly improved the performance of local area network (LAN) for Saldanha Works, one of the plants of leading steel company, ArcelorMittal South Africa.

eNetworks diagnosed and optimised the company’s existing LAN topology in order to increase performance and uptime. The LAN is used for both the network monitoring system of the steel plant as well as general administration functions. Poor LAN performance and downtime can mean a direct cost to the company from a production point of view and by preventing staff working at maximum capacity, along with the associated frustration of a slow system.

“It’s not enough to set up a network and sit back. You have to constantly fine-tune it to receive the best performance and efficiency. After all, a LAN is the lifeblood of a company,” said Jonathan Maliepaard, Managing Director of eNetworks.

The 10 Gbps fibre optic LAN stretches between four data centres on the ArcelorMittal South Africa’s campus, includes 52 managed switches and is used by more than 500 users. The network is built using HP Procurve equipment.

“eNetworks takes the expertise normally reserved for external networks and applied it to our internal network,” said Hennie Mey, Manager of Information Management at Saldanha Works. “We’ve seen the results in terms of increased uptime and productivity amongst our teams. In addition, they trained our staff at the same time to help us become more self-sufficient.

“We appreciated the fact that Jon and his team didn’t come along with an off-the-shelf remedy, but rather that they got a thorough understanding of the situation and our requirements, and then designed a solution for our specific circumstances.”

eNetworks has built and optimised some of the country’s largest high-end business networks. Its focus is on security, high uptime, redundancy and cost-effectiveness.

What does uncapped broadband mean for the consumer?

2010-06-28T03:33:00.000-07:00

By Jonathan Maliepaard, MD eNetworks

What does uncapped ADSL mean to the consumer right now, well it depends. The recent exuberance expressed by so many might be short lived when they realise that they might not be getting the same performance that they had before. Why you might ask? It is simple mathematics. Infrastructure and bandwidth cost lots of money and the only way to make an uncapped service sustainable is to make lots of clients share the same bandwidth. ISPs have been doing this for years, but it was easier to do when you were being paid for what you used. Now the playing field has changed and massive oversubscription ratios and caching will be the only way to survive.

What the slightly technical explanation above boils down to is the premise that there has to be a trade off. An uncapped, use-as-much-as-you-want model, means a sacrifice in performance. A pay-as-you-use model is more predictable for the ISP and will ensure better performance. It has been proven that the pay-for-use model is actually a premium model in some countries. So if you don’t need to download lots of (probably illegal) movies and music content and you are actually going to be working in real-time, then you want a pay-for-use product. Understand that the 4Meg uncapped products are selling for around R500 now, but for the same amount of money will buy you 10GB of bandwidth at most ISPs. 10G is more than most individuals will use in a month.

This sudden change is, in my opinion, not going to be healthy for the industry and will hurt a lot of ISPs caught between Telkom and the consumer. A huge number of people reselling Telkom’s services at cost or close to it have no room to move now. Let's hope that they can hang on until Telkom answers the offerings from MWEB and Internet Solutions. The larger ISPs who have managed to get the funding to purchase bandwidth on the Seacom cable, now have to pay for it, somehow. So understand, as a consumer, all that is happening is that they are getting as many people on their networks as fast as possible, because they have to make this investment work for them. It’s not that bandwidth suddenly costs nothing, they are offsetting losses in many cases, but have no choice but to make it work.

This is just the first instance of a wave of changes that will happen over the next years as more and more undersea cables come on line. The problem, sadly, for the bulk of ISPs remains the cost of getting the bandwidth off the Telkom ADSL network into their own. As it stands, to just get bandwidth from Telkom into an ISP costs R10,000 per Mb/s of bandwidth per month. So do the math, a 4Mb/s ADSL at 1:1 bandwidth costs an ISP R40K just to get from your door to their office. For this you pay R 413. Now understand why oversubscription ratios are what they are. Telkom is, as they always have, holding back our economy with predatory pricing and unfair practices. Sadly the competition, Neotel, appear to be a long way away from easing any of this pain.

Downside of Uncapped

2010-06-25T04:34:00.000-07:00

According to Jonathan Maliepaard, the managing director of eNetworks, the South African enterprise networks services provider and ISP, the recent exuberance expressed about the uncapped rate might be short lived when they realise that they might not be getting the same performance that they had before.
"It is simple mathematics-infrastructure and bandwidth cost a lot and the only way to make an uncapped service sustainable is to make lots of clients share the same bandwidth.
"ISPs have been doing this for years, but it was easier to do when you were being paid for what you used. Now the playing field has changed and massive oversubscription ratios and caching will be the only way to survive.
"What is boils down to is that there has to be a trade off. An uncapped, use-as-much-as-you-want model means a sacrifice in performance. As pay-as-you--use model is more predicatable for the ISP and will be better performance.
"It has been proven that the pay-for-use model is actually a premium model in some countries. Therefore if you do not need to download lots of movies/music content and you are working real-time, then you want a pay-for-use product.
"The 4 Mbps uncapped products are selling for around R500 now, but the same amount of money will buy you 10 Gbps of bandwidth at most ISPs, which is more than most individuals will use in a month.
"This sudden change is, in my opinion, not going to be healthy for the industry and will hurt many ISPs caught between Telkom and the consumer, who are reselling Telkom's services at cost for close to it and have no room to move now.
"Let us hope that they can hang on until Telkom answers the offering from MWEB and internet solutions. The larger ISPs, who have managed to get the funding to purchase bandwidth on the Seacom cable, now have to pay for it. "

Click here to read the full Business Report article (PDF).