Local cloud gets hyperscaled

There is no cloud, it’s just someone else’s computer.” I saw that on a meme recently, along with a picture of a sad-faced little cartoon cloud, and thought I should share it. The reason is that the sentiment of that meme has particular resonance for this edition of The Margin.

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We’ve covered the cloud and its implications for the channel in previous forms and in previous editions of The Margin. Obviously, there’s good reason for its coverage, as cloud computing enables such a monumental shift in business, especially for the channel.

However, in this edition, we delve into the impact of hyperscale cloud, looking at the different players in the ecosystem, to try to determine the opportunities and models. It’s a topic that’s been mapped out on The Margin’s offi ce whiteboard for some time, and fi nally, we’ve committed it to print. But the timing for covering this now is intentional. we know that microsoft will be launching its Azure datacentre regions in the country before the end of the year. And with microsoft laying the groundwork, we can expect other hyperscale players, such as AwS, google and perhaps even Alibaba, to start landing computing equipment locally.

But what does it mean for existing local datacentre operators, resellers and distributors?

The clue to the level of impact is literally in the name: ‘hyper’scale. In fact, it’s both a huge disruptor and presents signifi cant opportunities for the channel. The topic, along with the various implications, is well covered in this edition’s In focus section. I hope you find it as interesting to read as we did putting it together.

In this edition, you’ll also fi nd stories around the changing wifi landscape, the local market for drones, and our roundtable discusses the reality of the Internet of Things in South Africa.

There’s also an interesting piece around vendor fi nancing. The topic made headlines with the gupta’s sale of its media assets, Ann7 and The New Age, to Jimmy manyi.

But, away from the scandals and in the channel context, this is an avenue to help resellers and end-clients transform technology environments with cashfl ow assistance.

And who doesn’t want to look at alternative funding options?

The last story I’d like to bring to your attention is the profi le of Silulo Ulutho Technologies, and its founders, the rani brothers. It’s an inspiring tale of a local channel success story, and one that’s continuing to grow.

I hope you fi nd the stories in this edition both interesting and thought-provoking.

Happy reading.

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Adrian Hinchcliffe
Editor
adrian@itweb.co.za