Author: Kaluka wanjala

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has announced that they will be extending their African interconnection platform to PAIX Data Centres in Nairobi, to address the rising demand from the local networking community. LINX Nairobi is a neutral, multi-site interconnection fabric providing peering services and more for networks to improve performance, increase redundancy and lower latency. Launched back in November 2023, the new Internet Exchange Point (IXP) is going from strength to strength with a strong community of local Internet Service Providers (ISPs), global content networks and strategic partners already interconnected, and traffic is starting to build. The team at LINX have…

Check Point has published its Global Threat Index for August 2024. The index revealed that ransomware remains a dominant force, with RansomHub sustaining its position as the top ransomware group. This Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) operation has rapidly expanded since its rebranding from Knight ransomware, breaching over 210 victims worldwide. Meanwhile, Meow ransomware has emerged, shifting from encryption to selling stolen data on leak marketplaces. Last month, RansomHub solidified its position as the top ransomware threat, as detailed in a joint advisory from the FBI, CISA, MS-ISAC, and HHS. This RaaS operation has aggressively targeted systems across Windows, macOS, Linux, and especially VMware ESXi…

The Government of Rwanda, Africa50, and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), have officially broken ground on the construction of the 61-hectare smart city development dubbed Kigali Innovation City. This is happening as Kenya’s Konza City is still not completed over a decade since the project started. Rwanda being close to Kenya poses a challenge for Konza as it may find it difficult to attract investors who may see the project as a white elephant and opt to go to Rwanda. KIC will accommodate universities, startup incubators, and accelerators across sectors such as robotics, artificial intelligence, machine…

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has announced the upgrade of its 1,300km fibre route connecting Mombasa to Busia on the Ugandan border, bringing additional multi-terabit capacity and additional resilience to the region.   See: Liquid Intelligent Technologies Launches the first Azure Stack in Uganda This high-speed route and the upgrades to the existing routes between Kenya and Uganda enhance digital connectivity while supporting several other East African countries with greater efficiency and reliable regional connectivity. This expansion allows Liquid to offer 99.99% uptime availability of services between Mombasa and the Uganda border to its customers, further solidifying its role as a leader in…

Visa has awarded Safaricom a payment facilitator certificate, marking a significant milestone in its ongoing partnership with the Telco. This partnership will enhance Safaricom’s merchant ecosystem by diversifying payment acceptance modes through the introduction of card payments that support all card networks via Visa’s CyberSource Payment Gateway. This initiative is part of the continuing multi-year partnership, which began with the successful launch of the M-PESA GlobalPay Virtual Visa Card in June 2022. Through this partnership, Safaricom merchants will have access to and offer a broader range of payment options. Some of the key Highlights of the partnership include: “We are…

By Moses Muthui, Consumer Banking Director, Absa Bank Kenya Back in the early 2000s, paying my university fees meant dressing up and making a trip to the bank to deposit the money in person, and of course, the visit was laced with the greater respect of ‘where money lives.’ Fast forward to today, and the ways of banking have significantly changed, and the future of money is here with us. Modern consumers can effortlessly move money from their bank accounts to mobile wallets using basic or feature phones, while the more affluent transact through their wearable devices. As technology continues…

If you have used an Android smartphone over the last 10 years, you may have used one powered by a MediaTek processor. It is one of the handful smartphone processors we see on most smartphones. MediaTek is the 5th largest global fabless semiconductor company. It is a Chinese company that manufactures chips for smartphones and other home entertainment and IoT devices. Back in the day, MediaTek processors were mostly found on entry level Android smartphones. This has changed and you can now find MediaTek processors on wide range of smartphones in different price segments. In this article, I will be…

As AI workloads pivot to the network edge, the need for enhanced visibility at these remote data centre sites has become increasingly apparent. Recognising this, Vertiv has introduced Vertiv Environet Connect, a cloud-connected and web-based fleet management and monitoring solution. It features a device-agnostic interface that can handle diverse data centre infrastructure equipment across multiple locations, regardless of the manufacturer. Environet Connect is now available in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and in North America. Environet Connect speeds the deployment of remote Vertiv equipment and improves its health and efficiency through mass provisioning and firmware updates of network management cards.…

Infinix has finally launched its Xpad tablet into the Kenyan market. The tablet is available locally starting from Ksh 24,000 and you can get it through Xpark. This is the first tablet from the company and was unveiled globally last month. 25K is quite reasonable for a tablet and may appeal to those who want a device specifically for media consumption or just light tasks. There is nothing that stands out with this tablet as it is just decent for anyone looking for a tablet within this price range and they don’t really care about the brand or features. You…

FlapKap has announced the close of a $34 million new debt and equity funding. FlapKap is an Abu Dhabi-based fintech that provides revenue-based and embedded financing solutions in the MENA region. FlapKap was launched to help e-commerce businesses and other consumer-facing industries like retail and restaurants scale their inventory and digital ads through instant funding, with the flexibility to pay later. The company focused on supporting these businesses that had limited access to traditional bank loans or venture capital by streamlining the process of underwriting and has since expanded its services to support a broader range of SMEs. Flapkap could…