Pamoja Africa, the Cloud services business unit of Pan-African ICT enabler SEACOM, has entered into a partnership with Symantec, a recognised leader in the security technology solutions development space, distribute  Symantec’s suite of Cloud services in sub-Sahara Africa to meet growing security, compliance and archiving needs.

 

The alliance will ensure that Pamoja’s expanding channel and service provider ecosystem has access to these services, thereby enabling transfer of value to customers and add impetus to Pamoja’s objective of solidifying Africa’s Cloud community.

 

The company, established in 2011 by SEACOM’s founder Brian Herlihy and Stafford Masie, former GM of Google SA, is a provider of wholesale Cloud computing services via telecommunication companies, ISPs and other service providers in Africa.

 

Pamoja is focused on a wider market, incorporating the fast-growing Small-to-medium Enterprise (SME) segment, and leverages off SEACOM’s infrastructure, exposure to partnerships and Africa’s growing mobile and Internet market to entrench its services model.

 

Mark Smissen, Cloud Services Manager at Symantec, says the partnership provides Symantec the opportunity to address an exciting new route to market for its Cloud services. It is delivered by the next generation of specialist partners and service providers that are uniquely positioned to capitalise on the exploding demand for Cloud security services.

 

“It’s an opportunity for Symantec to address under served and unmet needs of customers and partners in Africa, and to do this quickly,” says Smissen.

 

“Pamoja exists to drive the adoption of Cloud services in Africa, and have purpose built their strategy to make this a reality. What this means is that the reach and scale required in bringing security and compliance Cloud services to the SMB market is now possible. These enterprise class Cloud services have typically only been accessible by larger organisations… this changes with the Pamoja partnership in that SMB and corporate customers can enjoy the same level of protection and service,” he continues.

 

Through a new data peering arrangement between SEACOM and Symantec these services are delivered via the shortest and fastest route to the Pamoja cloud datacentres in South Africa and Kenya.

 

Both companies share the belief that the partnership will strengthen the value of service each offers the market.

 

For Pamoja, the partnership is a testament to the increasing credibility of its Cloud services model in Africa and a progressive step in demonstrating the value of Cloud to emerging markets – particularly to help businesses effectively safeguard their information and enhance their operations.

 

Albie Bester, General Manager at Pamoja, describes the alliance as a ‘win-win’ for all stakeholders in the evolving ecosystem. “We are all about adding value and assisting the market with all the dynamics involved in Cloud service and solution uptake. This is another major achievement for the market and our contribution towards it.”

 

Symantec strategy is to protect, secure and manage customers’ information wherever this resides.

“We know the approach to securing information must change. Security can no longer be about running numerous point products. Customers want unified security – security that’s multi-tier, multi-layer, integrated and automated – all delivered as a service,” Smissen adds.