UK’s Emerdis, a technology distribution firm is set to launch in Kenya in a move to provide IT Security, Connectivity and Data Storage solutions for “small- and medium-sized” businesses (SMB).
According to Emerdis Director Mark Neville, “as small- and medium-sized businesses in Kenya, like the rest of Africa, continue to grow, they are creating a demand for enterprise-level capacity and performance in their IT Infrastructure but find the cost of traditional enterprise providers prohibitive and impractical for their IT budgets”.
“Emerdis is delivering a range of solutions that meet the overall performance needs and financial constraints of a wider range of businesses and industries. Kenya is the IT Hub of East Africa and the fastest growing in terms of technology adoption. The continued infrastructure investment and expansion to meet the forecasted economic growth makes Kenya the right choice to launch Emerdis in Africa,” he said.
Emerdis Kenya office will serve the entire East Africa region and expect to recruit commercial and technical consultancy staff in 2015 to support its business activities and partners within the East Africa region. The firm is also building a select partner channel in Kenya to assist in developing, installing and supporting all the solutions it’s selling. The partners will be trained and certified to a high standard and their high level of expertise will be maintained by regular training refresher events in Kenya.
“Emerdis is committed to establishing a solid, long-term business in Africa. Investment in staff, skills will come but our preference in the initial stages is to focus on our partners and customers, invest our energies in supporting our partners in developing their business with our solutions, expand the minds of customers who are looking for new, value-driven solutions that make their organizations successful, improving their return on investment,” Neville said.
The Emerdis portfolio includes security solutions from Genie CCTV and Milton Security, connectivity solutions from Mellanox Technologies and data storage solutions from Datacore, Dot Hill, Overland Storage.
With many companies having expanded their IT Infrastructure over the last 10 years and data growth increasing by the minute Neville sees an opportunity in providing smart, affordable solutions that store and deliver data at greater speeds and securely.
“We anticipate a huge interest in Dot Hill’s “AssuredSAN” storage range from the Oil/Gas industry and other industries where Big Data and Analytics are key. From Seismic interpretation, Reservoir characterization to Prospect evaluation systems and Petrophysical Analysis “AssuredSAN” provides value and performance for key applications,” he said.
Neville noted that the growth of Datacenter’s across the region will also see a demand for increased speed and reduced latency providing users unfettered access to data in real time. Through Mellanox InfiniBand and Ethernet solutions customers can increase throughput, reduce latency in their network and see lower CPU Utlisation, all vital ingredients in this real- time world.
Another area the company is expecting increased demand is the adoption of closed circuit TV (CCTV) on companies/individuals IP networks, allowing the use of high definition (HD) cameras to provide improved imaging over the old analog technology.
Emerdis aims to take advantage of the demand by introducing a comprehensive range of CCTV and Access Control products ranging from a simple single door entry keypad right through to the latest in high definition 1080p cameras and biometric access control solutions, face and fingerprint recognition as well as automatic number plate recognition (ANPR).
“With nearly 25 years commercial experience on the African continent and over 15 years successfully building technology partner channels and opportunity for vendors and partners alike we are uniquely placed to accelerate and sustain the market potential of emerging and fast growing technology companies in the region,” he said.
Neville concludes “Kenya is great starting point for our new business in Africa and we look forward to working with Kenyan’s in building a future, with technology as a platform, where peace and prosperity sit side by side and shared by all.”
