Zoho Corporation, the parent company of Zoho and ManageEngine, has launched Nathu La, a designed-in-house server, giving the firm performance with 12-18% lower power consumption and 20-30% lower total cost of ownership (TCO), thereby reducing inference costs.

The Nathu La server, comprising Intel® Xeon® 6 processors, was developed collaboratively with Intel, leveraging their enablement capabilities and technical expertise.

According to Veerakumar Natarajan, Country Head, Zoho Kenya. “With our strategy of using contextual, right-sized models, running on our own platform, on our own servers, in our own data centres, we are compounding the benefits accrued from owning and operating our entire technology stack. This ensures that our solutions are more sustainable and accessible for businesses. These long-term R&D investments we are making at every layer of the stack are aimed at delivering customer value.”

Building the Full Technology Stack

The design philosophy behind Nathu La is rooted in the Open Compute Project (OCP), emphasising modularity, thermal efficiency, and ease of maintenance. This enables Zoho’s data centres to significantly reduce total cost of ownership and power consumption.

Zoho plans to host its applications on the Nathu La server platform, enabling the company to optimise the full software-hardware stack for its specific workloads, reduce costs, improve performance, and strengthen data governance for its global customers. This will also help bring down inference costs for Zoho’s AI usage.

Developed Hardware Engineering Talent

In 2020, Zoho established a small R&D team in Nagpur, a Tier 2 town in India, focused on projects such as server design and systems engineering. Members of the Nathu La R&D team include hires from SETU – short for Student’s Engagement for Transformative Upskilling – an initiative designed to build a pipeline of industry-ready engineers, with a focus on advanced learning in Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM).

The initiative directly addresses the growing need for stronger foundational engineering skills in an era increasingly influenced by AI-assisted development. By prioritising hands-on innovation and first-principles problem-solving, SETU helps cultivate deeper research capabilities, creativity, and applied engineering expertise. To date, over 300 students have been trained through the programme, some of whom have joined Zoho.

What’s Inside

The Nathu La server motherboard and chassis platform is the result of five years of R&D across hardware, firmware, and systems management. Based on Intel® Xeon® 6 Processors, the server is designed to optimise performance for virtualisation (VM), High Performance Computing (HPC), AI inference, and storage applications. This results in improved performance of Zoho applications for end users.

The server features customised power delivery subsystems, an in-house DC-SCM (Data Centre Secure Control Module) design, and modular chassis options compatible with diverse end-user environments, offering flexibility across deployment types.

All modular components – including the DC-SCM and NIC (Network Interface Card) – were designed in-house by Zoho’s hardware engineering team and assembled through electronics manufacturing partners, enabling tighter integration and quality control across the platform. Over five patents have been filed covering advanced thermal management and cost-optimised server architecture designs.

Moving Towards Technological Sovereignty

Nathu La is engineered with hardware-rooted security at every layer of the stack. The platform’s indigenous IP-driven approach reduces dependency on external entities for security audits, firmware updates, and licensing continuity.

The solution aligns with open-source software principles and reflects Zoho’s broader commitment to building sustainable, secure, and scalable digital infrastructure. It also supports the growing global focus on digital sovereignty, local innovation ecosystems, and high-performance computing capabilities.

Amazon Inc. has selected Kenya as the site of its first satellite ground gateway in Africa, advancing its $10 billion Project Kuiper and setting up a deeper challenge to SpaceX’s Starlink in one of the world’s fastest-growing internet markets.

The ground station—critical for linking low-Earth orbit satellites to terrestrial networks—will anchor Kuiper’s planned expansion across East Africa, according to people familiar with the matter. The move signals Amazon’s shift from early deployment to regional build-out as it races to meet regulatory deadlines and begin commercial service.

Kenya offers a mix of regulatory openness, fiber backhaul, and proximity to the equator that makes it attractive for satellite operations. The country has positioned itself as a technology hub, with Nairobi hosting a dense cluster of data centers, cloud regions, and fintech firms. A local gateway could reduce latency and improve reliability for users across the region, particularly in underserved rural areas.

Kuiper, which aims to deploy more than 3,200 satellites, is designed to deliver high-speed broadband to households, enterprises and governments. Amazon has already launched initial satellites and is working with telecom operators and distributors ahead of wider rollouts. Establishing ground infrastructure is a prerequisite for scaling service and managing network traffic.

The decision heightens competition with Starlink, which has moved quickly across Africa, launching in multiple countries including Kenya. SpaceX’s service has gained early adopters among businesses and remote users seeking alternatives to patchy terrestrial connectivity, though equipment costs and monthly pricing remain barriers for some consumers.

An Amazon entry could intensify price competition and broaden distribution partnerships, especially if Kuiper bundles connectivity with its cloud and enterprise offerings. Analysts say dual-operator dynamics may accelerate coverage while pushing both providers to differentiate on performance, pricing and local partnerships.

For Kenya, the investment underscores its role as a regional digital gateway and could support sectors from education and healthcare to agriculture and logistics. It may also spur further policy development around spectrum, licensing and infrastructure sharing as governments balance competition with market stability.

Amazon hasn’t disclosed a launch timeline for Kuiper services in Africa. But the establishment of its first gateway on the continent suggests commercial availability is moving closer, setting the stage for a head-to-head contest with Starlink over Africa’s next wave of internet users.

For many patients in Uganda, getting an MRI scan has never been just a medical appointment. It often means long, costly journeys to major cities trips that can delay diagnosis and, in some cases, treatment itself.

At Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), a quieter, more hopeful story is taking shape.

Inside a small lab, researchers and students are working with an ultra-low-field MRI machine, less powerful than conventional hospital systems, but far more accessible. Until recently, however, producing clear, reliable images from the machine remained a challenge.

“We could capture signals, but turning them into images we could confidently interpret was difficult,” said Eng. Dr. Johnes Obungoloch, dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology at MUST.

That changed when the team partnered with Spain’s Institute of Instrumentation for Molecular Imaging (I3M) and began using Tyger, a cloud-based imaging platform developed by Microsoft Research.

Instead of relying on local computing power, raw MRI data is now sent to the cloud, where advanced algorithms reconstruct and enhance the images before returning them to the lab. The improvement has been striking.

“Early on we could only image part of the head,” Obungoloch said. “Today, we can acquire full-head images.”

For students, the project is opening doors beyond the classroom. Engineering and medical trainees are working side by side, learning how to operate imaging systems, process signals and interpret results skills that are still scarce in many parts of the region.

In a country where access to advanced imaging is limited, the implications extend far beyond the lab. Patients with conditions such as stroke, head injuries or hydrocephalus often depend on timely scans to guide treatment. Yet for many, distance and cost remain major barriers.

“For some patients, traveling hundreds of kilometers for a scan is simply not possible,” Obungoloch said. “If we can bring this closer, it can change outcomes.”

Since 2025, the team has scanned dozens of volunteers while refining the system. Though still in the research phase, the work points to a different model for delivering healthcare one where lower-cost machines, combined with cloud computing, can expand access without requiring massive infrastructure.

What is unfolding in Mbarara is not just a technical breakthrough. It is a practical attempt to shrink the gap between patients and diagnosis using connectivity, collaboration and a rethinking of how medical technology is delivered.

MTN Group Ltd. has begun a phased rollout of a new video entertainment platform, MTN One TV, as Africa’s largest mobile operator accelerates its expansion into digital services beyond traditional connectivity.

The offering, launched under its Ambition 2030 strategy, aggregates local storytelling, live television channels and international programming into a single platform tailored to Africa’s diverse markets, where affordability and access to payment systems continue to shape streaming adoption.

Viewing options will vary by country, ranging from free-to-view and advertising-supported content to pay-as-you-watch and subscription models. In a bid to lower barriers to entry, MTN will enable payments through airtime, mobile money and other locally supported methods in select markets, targeting millions of users outside the formal banking system.

The Johannesburg-based telecom operator is leveraging its scale across connectivity, fintech and digital infrastructure to compete with global streaming platforms such as Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., as well as regional broadcasters and pay-TV providers.

“Entertainment is increasingly becoming an important gateway to digital participation,” said Selorm Adadevoh, MTN Group’s Chief Commercial, Strategy and Transformation Officer. He said the platform is designed to expand access to relevant content while creating new opportunities for Africa’s creative and digital economy.

MTN One TV is also positioned as a distribution channel for creators, advertisers and broadcasters, helping improve content discovery and extend audience reach across the operator’s footprint.

The rollout will be gradual, with the company adapting its approach based on local market dynamics, regulatory environments and partnership opportunities. Over time, MTN plans to unify its video services and partnerships under the One TV brand to build a more scalable entertainment ecosystem.

The move underscores a broader shift among telecom operators toward bundling connectivity with digital services as traditional revenue streams mature. With rising smartphone penetration and expanding network coverage across Africa, MTN is betting that integrated entertainment offerings will help drive user engagement and unlock new growth avenues.

Zipline’s autonomous drone logistics network is delivering measurable gains across nutrition, agriculture and local economies in Africa, according to three new studies that extend the company’s impact well beyond its core healthcare operations.

The research finds a 22% reduction in child fatalities linked to severe acute malnutrition, a 68% return on investment for smallholder pig farmers, and between $850 and $1,200 in additional annual household income for communities located near Zipline distribution hubs.

“This research shows what communities and governments across Africa have seen firsthand: when essential supplies reliably reach the people who need them, outcomes change,” said Caitlin Burton, CEO for Africa and Emerging Markets at Zipline. “Zipline began by improving access to critical health supplies. Today, the same infrastructure is strengthening nutrition systems, agricultural productivity and local economies.”

A peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science examined Zipline’s role in Rwanda’s pig farming sector, where drone delivery of temperature-sensitive pig semen was paired with training for community animal health workers across eight rural districts. The initiative, run in partnership with the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board and Feed the Future Rwanda, aimed to determine whether reliable logistics could make artificial insemination a viable and scalable income stream.

The results point to significant gains. About 17% of the increase in farmers’ income was directly attributed to Zipline’s logistics support, while the program generated nearly $129,000 more in farmer income than it cost to implement—equating to a 68% return on investment. Artificial insemination success rates also rose sharply, from 48.8% to 74.8% following the integration of drone delivery.

A second study focused on healthcare outcomes, specifically the delivery of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) for treating severe acute malnutrition in Rwanda. Comparing 299 facilities over five years, researchers found that Zipline-enabled supply chains reduced in-hospital child deaths from severe malnutrition by 22%.

The data also showed a broad decline in severe malnutrition cases across all age groups, including a 22% drop among children under two, 42% among those aged two to five, and 84% among children older than five. Severe anemia cases in children aged two to 59 months fell by 46%.

While malnutrition-related hospitalisations rose by 21%, mortality did not increase—an indication that more children were being identified earlier and receiving sustained treatment due to improved supply reliability.

“The protocol for treating malnutrition has not changed. What changed was whether supplies were there when clinicians needed them,” said Pedro Kremer, Head of Impact and Research at Zipline. “That is the variable these studies are measuring—and the results are unambiguous.”

A third study assessed the broader economic footprint of Zipline’s GH3 distribution hub in northern Ghana, combining household surveys with satellite analysis of nighttime light intensity—a widely used proxy for economic activity. The findings suggest that proximity to the hub correlates with tangible economic gains.

Households within a two-kilometre radius of the hub reported annual income increases of between $850 and $1,200. Asset accumulation declined with distance, dropping by roughly 27% for every additional 1.5 kilometres from the hub, with a gap exceeding 30 percentage points between the nearest and farthest communities. Access to drinking water also followed a similar pattern, improving more significantly in areas closer to the hub.

Satellite data reinforced these findings, showing higher nighttime light intensity around the GH3 site compared with 82 benchmarked locations across Ghana.

Together, the studies suggest that Zipline’s logistics infrastructure is not only improving access to critical health supplies but also acting as a catalyst for broader economic activity in surrounding communities.

Zipline, which operates across four continents, currently serves more than 5,000 hospitals and health facilities globally and completes a delivery approximately every 30 seconds. With over 130 million autonomous miles flown, the company has positioned itself as a key player in transforming supply chains for healthcare, agriculture and commerce, particularly in underserved regions.

Earlier this year, Zipline and the Government of Rwanda signed an expansion agreement under a $150 million pay-for-performance award granted to Zipline by the U.S. Department of State. While Rwanda was already a pioneer as the first country to launch Zipline’s service in 2016, this new phase was expected to introduce Africa’s first urban drone delivery network and a dedicated autonomous delivery testing centre.

Large enterprises face a cybersecurity mismatch: rising AI-powered attacks and Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) outpace understaffed teams. Fragmented tools create visibility gaps and alert fatigue. To build resilience, organisations should consolidate platforms, automate responses and embed AI-driven detection, shifting from reactive firefighting to intelligence-led protection at scale.

In the space of a few short years, the cybersecurity environment at large enterprises has evolved dramatically. Hybrid workforces, multi-cloud architectures, AI-driven operations and complex third-party supply chains have expanded the attack surface beyond what traditional security models were designed to protect. Meanwhile, the threat actors targeting these environments have grown more capable, more organised and more persistent. The result is a structural mismatch: the scale and sophistication of threats is outpacing the capacity of many security teams to detect, investigate and respond effectively.

For security leaders the challenge is managing the intersection of accelerating threats, workforce constraints and fragmented security architectures, all while justifying investment to the board and maintaining operational resilience. Three interconnected challenges define this landscape today.

Challenge 1: Rising volume and speed of attacks

The pace of modern cyberattacks is straining enterprise security operations. Threat actors are moving faster, from initial compromise to lateral movement to data exfiltration and the window available to detect and contain an incident is shrinking.

APTs remain the most consequential risk for large organisations. These groups, well-funded, disciplined and operating with nation-state backing or organised criminal infrastructure, were detected in 21% of customers in 2025 and accounted for 23% of all high-severity incidents, according to a Global Report by Kaspersky Security Services.

What makes APTs particularly dangerous is their operational discipline. Rather than relying on a single exploit, these actors combine credential theft, living-off-the-land techniques, lateral movement and stealthy persistence to remain undetected for extended periods.

What security teams should focus on:

• Establish real-time endpoint visibility to detect anomalous behaviour and early indicators of compromise
• Correlate telemetry across endpoints, identity, email and cloud to uncover multi-stage and lateral attacks
• Automate triage and containment to reduce dwell time
• Embed proactive threat hunting to identify stealthy persistence and advanced adversary activity
• Accelerate critical response times with pre-built response scenarios that can be launched in a single click

The goal is to shift security operations from reactive firefighting to sustained, intelligence-driven defence where threats are identified early, contained swiftly and investigated with sufficient context to prevent recurrence.

Challenge 2: Defending against AI-powered threats amid talent shortages

AI enables attackers to automate reconnaissance, generate convincing phishing content at scale and adapt techniques in real time, making campaigns faster to execute and harder to detect. Kaspersky research into the RevengeHotels campaign illustrates the trend: threat actors leveraged AI-generated code to enhance malware development and delivery, improving both the effectiveness of phishing lures and the evasiveness of payloads, reflecting a broader shift in how sophisticated adversaries operate.

At the same time, enterprises face a persistent shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals. The global cybersecurity workforce gap runs into the millions and 41% of information security professionals report that their organisations are somewhat or significantly understaffed. Security operations centers are absorbing growing alert volumes with teams that are not growing at the same rate. Burnout and high turnover compound the problem. The strategic response is not simply to hire more analysts, hiring pipelines cannot keep pace with demand.

Instead, organisations need to embed AI-assisted automation directly into security workflows: automating alert triage, accelerating investigation through contextual summarisation, standardising response through pre-built playbooks and enabling smaller teams to operate with the effectiveness of larger ones. Consolidating tooling further reduces the cognitive load on analysts who currently switch between multiple dashboards to reconstruct a single incident timeline.

Challenge 3: Tool sprawl is causing drag and weakening visibility

Enterprise security stacks have grown organically over years, with solutions added in response to specific threats or compliance requirements. The result, in many organisations, is a fragmented architecture with dozens of standalone tools across endpoints, networks, cloud environments, identity and data protection, each generating alerts, each requiring management and each operating largely in isolation.

The operational consequences are significant. Security teams spend substantial time integrating tools, reconciling telemetry and switching between consoles to piece together the scope of an incident. Alert fatigue sets in. Investigation timelines lengthen. Skilled analysts, already scarce, are absorbed by manual correlation tasks rather than focused on proactive risk reduction. Over half of security experts globally report feeling overwhelmed by managing cybersecurity tools from multiple vendors.

The business consequences are equally problematic. Fragmented stacks create visibility gaps at the endpoint level, still the primary enterprise network entry point for cyberattacks and make it difficult to demonstrate measurable security ROI to the board. Total cost of ownership extends far beyond licence fees: integration complexity, infrastructure requirements and ongoing tuning can multiply initial investments by three to five times.

Addressing tool sprawl requires deliberate consolidation. Organisations should:

• Consolidate overlapping tools into integrated EDR and XDR platforms
• Centralise telemetry collection and incident management to close visibility gaps
• Automate correlation and response workflows to reduce manual effort and context switching
• Implement pre-defined investigation workflows and response playbooks to enforce consistent handling
• Align tooling decisions to measurable operational outcomes and demonstrable ROI

The objectives are cost reduction and operational clarity. A unified security operations foundation turns tool reduction into stronger visibility, faster response and sustainable efficiency that scales without requiring proportional increases in headcount or infrastructure.

Building resilience at scale

The challenges of accelerating attack volume, AI-enabled adversary activity and the operational drag of fragmented security architectures do not exist in isolation. And addressing any one of these challenges in isolation is no longer sufficient. Solutions from the Kaspersky Next Expert product line are designed to address these challenges directly, providing continuous AI-driven protection, as well as detection and response across endpoints and beyond, real-time cross-domain correlation, and a unified management platform that reduces tool fragmentation and lowers total cost of ownership.

Enterprises can discover how to improve their security posture through Kaspersky’s expert guidance customised to fit their specific environment.

Salesforce is expanding its services in East Africa to help businesses improve client engagement, data management, AI-enabled insights and revenue growth.

The new Salesforce capabilities include Agentforce Financial Services, Agentforce Marketing, MuleSoft and Data 360. The services include consulting, implementation, integration and ongoing support. Salesforce will be working with NTT DATA, a global leader in AI, digital business and technology services to help firms get a clear view of customer data, personalised customer service, better service delivery and AI-powered decision-making.

“Kenya is one of Africa’s most innovative digital markets, with a financial services sector that continues to raise the bar for customer experience and technology-led growth,” said Lauren Wortmann, NTT DATA Managing Director: Applications, Middle East and Africa. “By extending our Salesforce services in Kenya, we’re bringing together global capability, in-region expertise and deep industry knowledge to help clients turn customer data into meaningful engagement, improved service and measurable business value.”

In Kenya, NTT DATA sees significant opportunity to help organisations use Salesforce to better understand, serve and grow their customer relationships. The new offering builds on NTT DATA’s existing applications services in East Africa and last year’s acquisition of EXAH, a Salesforce Consulting Partner and AI implementation specialist in South Africa, which strengthened the company’s expertise in the region and ability to deliver locally relevant Salesforce solutions backed by global scale.

As organisations seek to leverage AI and automation, trusted data foundations and integrated client platforms are becoming increasingly important to improving loyalty, service quality and revenue growth.

“Salesforce is dedicated to helping businesses in Africa use trusted AI, data and CRM to provide better customer experiences and grow,” said Nick Christodoulou, Salesforce Area Vice President, Africa, “Our partnership with NTT DATA in East Africa brings Salesforce’s new platform ideas with NTT DATA’s experience and relationships with clients in the region. This helps companies move faster from planning to impact.”

NTT DATA has recently joined Salesforce’s Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) Partner Network, deepening the strategic relationship between the two organizations and helping customers accelerate the successful deployment of Agentforce at scale.

NTT DATA has worked with Salesforce for more than 25 years, has delivered more than 3,500 Salesforce projects worldwide and was recognized with seven Salesforce Partner Innovation Awards. The company’s expertise was further recognized in 2026 when it was named MuleSoft Partner of the Year and Marketing Partner of the Year in South Africa.

The expansion also supports skills development and long-term technology enablement in Kenya. By growing its Salesforce services locally, NTT DATA aims to help create new opportunities for digital skills development while ensuring Kenyan organisations have access to the same enterprise platforms, capabilities and competitive advantage as leading organisations globally.

Absa Group Ltd. has renewed its partnership with Salesforce Inc. in a three-year agreement aimed at scaling artificial intelligence and data-driven banking services across its African footprint, underscoring intensifying competition among lenders to digitize operations and personalize customer experiences.

The expanded collaboration—one of the largest Salesforce deployments in Africa’s financial sector—will introduce tools including Agentforce, Data Cloud and Loyalty Cloud across multiple business units. Absa said the rollout is expected to improve operational efficiency, speed up product development cycles and deepen customer engagement on its digital platforms.

The lender is betting on AI to sharpen its competitive edge in markets where mobile-first banking and fintech disruption are reshaping consumer expectations. As part of the agreement, Absa has already deployed Salesforce’s Agentforce capability, becoming the first bank on the continent to do so. The system powers “Abby,” an AI assistant integrated into the bank’s app and website, offering real-time support and navigation. On its business banking platform, the tool operates in all 11 of South Africa’s official languages.

“This renewed collaboration speaks to Absa’s continued focus on customer-centric, data-driven transformation,” said Thato Matolong, the bank’s chief information officer for personal and private banking.

Salesforce, which has been expanding its enterprise AI offerings globally, is positioning the partnership as a flagship example of localized AI adoption in emerging markets. “Absa exemplifies what it means to be a truly AI-driven enterprise,” said Linda Saunders, Salesforce’s country manager for Africa.

The platform is now used by about 15,000 Absa employees across frontline and back-office functions, highlighting its role as a core enterprise system rather than a niche tool. The bank has also ramped up internal capabilities, with nearly 500 active Salesforce certifications among staff as it builds out AI-related skills.

Absa’s investment comes as African banks face mounting pressure to modernize legacy systems while expanding financial inclusion. Institutions across the continent are increasingly turning to cloud-based platforms and automation to cut costs and scale services to underserved populations.

The lender has also sought to raise its global profile through regular appearances at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference since 2023, where it has showcased its progress in AI integration and customer experience transformation. Its efforts have earned industry recognition, including AI and data innovation awards from Salesforce’s South African unit.

Financial terms of the renewed agreement were not disclosed.

Zee Dunia, Africa’s free-to-air channel, has entered Kenya’s top 10 most-watched television stations less than a year after launch, posting a 91% surge in daily audiences between December 2025 and March 2026, according to Ipsos Kenya data.

The Swahili drama channel, which went live in March 2025, grew its average daily viewership from 95,664 in December to 183,288 in March, cementing one of the fastest climbs in a market with more than 400 active stations.

The growth was sustained month-to-month rather than driven by a single spike, with audiences rising steadily across the first quarter of 2026.Viewer engagement also deepened over the period.

Average time spent per viewer increased to 152 minutes a day in March from 109 minutes in December, signaling stronger retention in a competitive free-to-air segment where loyalty is typically fragmented.

The performance has pushed Zee Dunia into the top tier of general entertainment channels nationally, while its parent network — which includes subscription-based sister channel Zee World — now ranks seventh by weekly reach, according to Ipsos Kenya Audience Tracker (IKAT) figures. Ipsos described the Zee portfolio as the fastest-growing TV network in the country.The gains highlight shifting consumption patterns in Kenya’s television market, where cost-free access combined with localized premium storytelling is drawing younger urban audiences.

Ipsos data shows Zee Dunia’s strongest growth among viewers aged 15 to 34, particularly in Nairobi, the Lake region, Central and Upper Eastern Kenya, with women aged 25 to 34 forming a core segment.

Digital platforms are amplifying that reach. Zee Dunia had accumulated about 183,000 YouTube subscribers by March, while its combined social media following surpassed 1.1 million, extending its footprint beyond traditional broadcast.

Zee Entertainment Africa, a unit of India’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., operates across 52 countries on the continent, reaching about 176 million daily viewers.

The company holds leading TV positions in Nigeria and Zambia and ranks among the top three in South Africa, according to company figures.

“Kenya’s audiences have told us clearly what they want — premium storytelling, available to everyone,” said Seema Sarkar Manji, the company’s Kenya business head. “We are here to compete at the top of this market.”

Zee Dunia is distributed nationally on Kenya’s free-to-air platforms PANG and Signet, positioning it to compete directly with established broadcasters without a subscription barrier — a model that appears to be gaining traction as broadcasters seek scale in Africa’s price-sensitive media markets.

Kenya has begun distributing laptops and interactive smart boards to more than 10,000 junior secondary schools, as the government accelerates efforts to digitize education and align learning with workforce demands.

The rollout will cover 10,382 schools, each receiving one teacher laptop and one 65-inch interactive smart board, under the Kenya Digital Economy Acceleration Project (KDEAP), a government programme supported by the World Bank.

The scale of the initiative highlights the growing emphasis on digital skills in Africa’s education systems, where countries are racing to prepare young populations for participation in the global digital economy.

“Today, we are not merely flagging off devices; we are investing in human capital, digital skills and the future prosperity of our children,” said Stephen Isaboke, principal secretary in the State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications.

Kenya’s digital push is underpinned by parallel investments in infrastructure. The government says it has already deployed more than 30,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable toward a 100,000-kilometre national target, while over 8,000 public institutions have been connected to the internet.

Officials say these investments are critical to ensuring that the devices translate into real classroom impact, particularly in underserved and rural areas where connectivity gaps remain a challenge.

Jessy Maruti, chief executive officer of the ICT Authority, said the programme’s success will depend on outcomes rather than distribution figures. “The true value of this programme will not be measured by the number of devices delivered, but by the impact they create in classrooms,” he said.

The World Bank, which is backing the project, said the use of interactive technology could significantly improve student engagement and learning outcomes. “These devices will make lessons more visual, interactive and engaging,” said Aneliya Muller, KDEAP task leader.

Lawmakers have framed the rollout as a strategic investment in Kenya’s competitiveness. John Kiarie, chairperson of the National Assembly Committee on Communication, Information and Innovation, said integrating technology into classrooms will help equip learners with skills needed for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The government said the programme is part of a broader ecosystem that includes teacher training, digital content, connectivity, maintenance and monitoring systems aimed at ensuring sustainability.

The phased rollout marks one of Kenya’s largest recent investments in classroom technology, with officials positioning it as a key step toward building a digitally skilled workforce and a more inclusive, knowledge-driven economy.

Apple Inc. has introduced a fully reengineered version of Siri, marking one of its most significant pushes into artificial intelligence with a system designed to be more conversational, context-aware, and deeply integrated across its ecosystem.

The new assistant, branded Siri AI, is powered by Apple Intelligence and is capable of understanding personal context, interpreting on-screen content, and delivering real-time information from across apps, messages, emails, and the web.

The launch signals Apple’s ambition to compete more aggressively in the generative AI race, emphasizing a blend of advanced capabilities and privacy safeguards.

“Siri AI is a dramatically more capable and conversational assistant designed to help users find information and get things done throughout the day,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering.

A More Contextual and Action-Oriented Assistant

Unlike earlier versions, Siri AI can perform complex, multi-step actions across applications. Users can retrieve information buried in emails, locate recommendations shared in messages, or edit and share photos—all through natural conversation.

The assistant also introduces onscreen awareness, allowing it to respond to what users are actively viewing. For instance, it can suggest ideas based on a message thread and directly execute follow-up actions, such as saving notes or drafting replies.

Deep Ecosystem Integration

Siri AI is embedded across Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro, enabling seamless interactions across hardware. On Macs and iPads, it integrates with Spotlight for system-wide queries, while Vision Pro introduces spatial interactions through a 3D interface.

Apple is also rolling out a dedicated Siri app that synchronizes conversations across devices via iCloud, enabling continuity between sessions.

Built on Privacy-Centric AI Architecture

A key differentiator is Apple’s hybrid AI architecture, combining on-device processing with its Private Cloud Compute system. The company says personal data processed in the cloud is neither stored nor accessible to Apple, reinforcing its long-standing privacy stance.

Visual Intelligence and Writing Tools

Siri AI expands into multimodal capabilities, allowing users to interact with visual content via the camera or screen. It can analyze images, provide contextual insights, and even perform actions such as splitting bills or identifying food nutrition.

In addition, Apple is embedding AI-powered writing tools across its platforms, enabling users to generate, edit, and refine text in apps like Mail and Messages, tailored to individual communication styles.

Availability

The new features are currently available to developers, with a public beta expected later this year across Apple’s latest operating systems.

NTT DATA Inc. is expanding its partnership with Alphabet Inc.’s Google Cloud, betting that tighter integration and a larger talent pool will help corporations move artificial intelligence projects from experimentation into full-scale deployment.

The Tokyo-based IT services giant said Tuesday it will build a dedicated practice around Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise platform, with plans to certify 5,000 specialists globally. The companies also aim to co-develop as many as 500 AI “agents” tailored to industries including banking, insurance, manufacturing and retail.

The push reflects a broader shift among large enterprises, many of which have tested generative AI tools but struggled to translate pilots into measurable business outcomes. By combining Google Cloud’s AI infrastructure with NTT DATA’s consulting, implementation and managed services, the partners are targeting what they describe as the biggest bottleneck: operationalizing AI at scale.

“Enterprises need a practical path from pilots to production,” said Abhijit Dubey, NTT DATA’s chief executive officer and chief AI officer. “This collaboration is about embedding AI into how organizations actually run.”

The companies plan to deploy joint engineering teams directly within client organizations, a model designed to accelerate development and reduce deployment timelines. They will also introduce a “factory-style” approach to building AI agents, using reusable components to speed rollout and lower costs.

Google Cloud, which has been competing aggressively with Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. in the enterprise AI market, is leaning on partners like NTT DATA to expand its reach. “We’re seeing strong demand for AI agents that can transform core workflows,” said Matt Renner, Google Cloud’s president and chief revenue officer. “Scale requires both platform capability and delivery expertise.”

The expanded alliance will also focus on governance and compliance, including support for so-called sovereign AI deployments that meet local data residency requirements — an increasingly important factor for regulated industries and governments.

The timing underscores a widening gap between corporate AI ambitions and infrastructure readiness. In a recent NTT DATA survey, 99% of enterprises said AI is increasing demand for cloud investment, while 88% warned that current spending levels could undermine AI and modernization efforts.

By linking AI development more closely with cloud capacity and skilled talent, NTT DATA and Google Cloud are positioning the partnership as a way to turn early experimentation into enterprise-wide transformation — and, ultimately, sustained returns on AI investment.