The top industry sectors in the region has always been tourism and agriculture, with building and property development coming third. Recent economic changes has seen the building industry shrink, and the ongoing drought has made agriculture less sustainable. The economic profile of the region needs a change in order to sustain growth and employment.

Repositioning the region as a technology destination is not only a smart economic move, it is also the ideal move given all the region has going for itself already.

It has the infrastructure, the people, political will and the ability to make it happen.

Infrastructure

• Airport servicing all key centers, well established roads network
• Reliable power and other municipal services
• Fast and stable internet connectivity to other key centers
• Already well established Call Center industry

People

• Top class world experts in technology are already based in and operate from the region
• Lots of well educated and articulate matriculants and students are available locally, making it easy to recruit a high tech workforce
• Many highly skilled people have retired to the region, bringing with them a wealth of experience

Political Will

• Provincial government is adding its weight behind the various initiatives and creating the framework for economic development through technology.
• Regional government is willing and able to bring technology and innovation to the lives of all the region’s citizens.
• Local government is able to make it happen by creating the environment that makes technology investment more attractive.

Key Enablers

• The Garden Route IT Consortium is leading the way in bringing the local IT industry together and joining forces with local, regional and provincial government to market the region as a technology destination. The IT Consortium is also attracting new technology business to the region by allowing multiple local companies to pitch for national business as a cohesive unit.

• Digital Village is creating the next generation wireless backbone that will service the entire region and enable innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish. Digital Village is a non profit section 21 company and is already connecting the region’s schools and communities to the network, and the world.

• Western Cape Provincial Government‘s Economic Development department  is working closely with the Garden Route IT Consortium to explore various initiatives that will promote and strengthen the region’s technology focus.

• The Regional Innovation System is a Department of Science and Technology initiative. It brings businesses, institutions and government (Triple Helix)  together to jointly and individually play a part in promoting innovation processes within a province, and have a key role to play in economic development and regional and national competitiveness. In the Garden Route the Regional Innovation System has the backing of local government and local business, and is a key driver in redefining the technology destiny of the region.

A consortium of Garden Route based companies is ready to launch an IT technology hub in George which will create jobs and train up new skills.

George’s IT company owner Imel Rautenbach is currently drumming up support for the initiative at provincial and national level.  The consortium aims to use the Western Cape Province’s business arm to market and develop in order to get launched nationally and internationally. IT technology and electronic centred businesses will be the engine that will drive this local initiative. “The idea behind pooling resources and skills is to keep all our software and hardware developmental work in the Garden Route. We already have around 30 businesses on our data base that have all the necessary skills and technology to form the nucleus. “

“We plan to link up our efforts with that of the Province. By collectively marketing and taking on projects jointly we can land contracts which may otherwise have been outsourced to companies outside the region. With the skills data base we now have we can take on big contracts, and the risk of one small company folding, is eliminated because collectively we can pool our skills to ensure continuity” says Rautenbach who was recently elected the Vice President of the George Chamber of Business.

On www.gardenrouteconsortium.co.za you can read more about their quest to “Provide project management and quality control services during the full lifecycle of large and complex projects. To define, enable, and manage key technology growth areas in the region.”

Provincial government support

Rautenbach has just returned from a very successful round of meetings with Western Cape Government on how the IT Consortium can link in to and benefit from the Western Cape’s own IT strategy and marketing initiatives. Alan Winde, MEC for Finance and Tourism is very excited about the potential the consortium holds for the Garden Route region. He has committed to bringing a high powered delegation of provincial officials to the region to further explore this potential.

”This initiative fits perfectly with our own plans for the growing of the Technology industry within province”, said Jo-Anne Johnston, Western Cape’s Chief Director of Trade and Industry Development.  She has committed her department’s full support for the initiative and is exploring ways of bringing other government departments onboard as well.

Jenny McKinnel, Executive Director of the Cape IT Initiative (CITI), is equally excited. Citi is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to develop and support the information and communications technology (ICT) cluster in the Western Cape. “CITI is keen to support the Garden Route IT Consortium as their goals are directly in line with our own”, said McKinnel.  CITI are going to be working together with the Garden Route IT Consortium to unlock government funding and help promote the region as an IT destination, especially focussing on the impressive line-up of currently supplied services and R&D projects the various consortium members are working on.

Research and Development

The Consortium also has a strong focus on Research and Development (R&D), with several innovations currently in the works. These includes projects like fridge magnets that will show the current water level in your rain tank, a stock theft project that tracks animal and vehicle movements on farms in real time and alerts the farmers the moment the animal’s movements indicates distress, as well as a project to track hikers in remote mountain hiking trails.

CITI’s McKinnel is putting her full support behind the formation of a new R&D Lab in the Garden Route, which will help accelerate these R&D ventures. The Western Cape Agriculture department has also been tasked to get involved in some of these projects. DTI and other government funding for R&D spending will be applied for to cover the lab setup and initial phases of some of these projects. Talks with the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) on how it can assist the consortium in its R&D and marketing initiatives is ongoing.

Wireless technology is ready to be unfolded

As part of the R&D venture a state of the art wireless network is being set up. This network will eventually cover the entire Garden Route but is currently being rolled out in the George area. The network uses the latest wireless technology which promises much faster speed than traditional networks.

The network will be non-commercial and completely free to join. The network will not supply internet access but rather will be a backbone for R&D projects and educational programs.  Through wireless technology business can monitor activities through CCTV camera link-ups and WEBCAMs. Regional weather and water consumption monitoring can be done for instance through wireless technology.  “The potential of the new network is limitless. With remote monitors farmers can even check-up on where their cattle is grazing, or see what vehicles are accessing their farms.” said an excited Rautenbach.

Western Province Government is busy drafting a policy on City based networks and will be liaising with the consortium to learn from the initiatives taken in the Garden Route.

Training
On of the consortium’s major aims is to boost education in the Southern Cape. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT University) in the USA, has made available to the consortium around 2000 online programs focussing on science and technology. These programs will be made available to local schools completely free of charge, once they have connected to the new network.  ”The beauty of this is that it is all so achievable. Video conferencing can be set up so that children in a small rural school can also listen to and view someone in the USA giving a lecture and so be brought into the world of science and technology.” Students can do courses as well through internet. Ms Johnston from Western Cape Government is currently exploring ways of unlocking government funding to get all the region’s schools connected to this initiative.

Virtual hub

“By creating a virtual hub, we want to create a momentum which will bring about enough technology based work here in George which will mean that those people who are currently commuting to bigger centres, and living in George, can in future work here as well.
“We are having a road show to launch the roll-out and we are pleased that Western Cape Finance and Tourism Minister Allan Winde’s revitalization programme happens to coincide and slot in with our initiatives, and we hope to tap into those being rolled out.”

For more info contact Imel Rautenbach on 044 802 0402 or visit the consortium website at www.gardenrouteconsortium.co.za or send an email to info@gardenrouteconsortium.co.za

During the last few months the average ADSL bandwidth usage has grown to over 50 GB per month.  As bandwidth is still relatively expensive in SA (I use Afrihost’s excellent value for money ADSL at R29/GB) I needed to see where this actually goes.

The solution is a ubuntu based linux server with a collection of different open source products installed, plugged into the network just before the traffic enters the internet.

The ideal place for this server is between the network switch and the default gateway.  All traffic from devices on the inside of the bridge will now have to pass through the bridge server before entering the internet.

The server contains two network interfaces and is configured in bridge mode, allowing network traffic to pass through the server transparently, without even being aware of being scanned.

The key to this working is by bridging both ethernet interfaces together, using the ubuntu bridge-utils package and brctl command. Also make sure that http traffic  destined for the web gets redirected to dansguardian for filtering before leaving the network.

Using bridge mode has the added advantagew that it is not only completely invisible, it also require no changes on the existing netork pc’s. As long as it is placed just before the external gateway / firewall then all traffic will pass through it, including hardware devices like wifi routers, etc.

Once the server is installed, configured and switched into bridge mode the necessary monitoring software is installed. I use squid as a proxy server, dansguardian for traffic filtering and ntop for bandwith monitoring.

Dansguardian is great for rule based filtering, but comes with a static set of rules. I expanded my configuration by adding blacklists from shalla. The shalla lists are broken down by category and contains over 1.3 million entries.  As the lists are updated frequently I configured a cron job to download the lists nightly and copy it to the appropriate folders.

In dansguardian I then enable the specific categories that needs to be blocked, like porn, gambling, etc. Dansguard also contains exception lists for blocking or unblocking specific sites, keywords or ip addresses.

Another handy feature of dansguardian is that is uses clamav to automatically scan all downloaded files for virusses before letting it through.

Squid is configured as a transparent proxy server, allowing traffic caching and reporting. Squid is a caching proxy for the Web supporting HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and more. It reduces bandwidth and improves response times by caching and reusing frequently-requested web pages.

Ntop is used to monitor and report on all network traffic passing through the server. When configuring ntop make sure to set it to watch the external interface only, so you do not pick up traffic not destined for the internet.

Iptables is used as a firewall for blocking specific protocols or destinations, and also for forwarding all HTTP traffic destined for the internet to dansguardian, which applies its rule based filters and then pass the traffic on to squid, which in turn passes it on to the internet if not served from the local cache.

Some outstanding issues is dealing effectively with bittorrent and peer to peer traffic, without having to create countless manual rules. For now the ntop reports give clear usage by source, target, protocol, etc. It is relatively easy to identify bandwith hogs and deal with them, but it takes time and is a re-active process rather than being pro-active.

Next step is to automate the creation of iptable firewall rules on the fly to filter traffic as it is identified as inappropriate. Another todo is to add is to scan mail for spam and virusses.

Thanks to the huge surge in online applications and cloud computing, combined with more affordable and faster  broadband connections it is now possible to make full use of online apps in South Africa.

These days I rotate between a office Laptop with a big screen, a desktop at home, an ultra portable netbook and an iphone. Each device has its time and place, but it has always been a nightmare keeping everything in sync, from contacts to emails to passwords to documents.  This was even more of a pain every time I had to re-install any of these devices.

Well, now it is a different story, and those about to re-install as part of their Windows 7 upgrade should take note.

I can have a newly installed PC ready with all my files, emails, bookmarks, passwords, etc in less than 15 minutes. All I do is install a set of apps that (securely) shares my digital life between dives. The list includes the following:

Application		Description	Windows	Linux	iPhone
	RoboForm	Syncs web links, passwords, identities and form data amongst PCs and the iphone
	GoodSync	Syncs folders and remote locations, ideal for backing up remote ftp sites, etc
	Google Bookmarks	Syncs bookmarks across multiple browsers and PCs. All you need to do is install the Google Toolbar, authenticate, and voila!, your bookmarks appear in your browser.
	DropBox	Syncs documents  across PCs and the iphone. I also use dropbox to sync settings for apps that do not natively allow this ,for example ftp clients, etc.
	Google Docs	Google Docs are ideal for viewing or editing MS office docs without having MS Office installed. It is also great for accessing your docs when on someone else’s PC.
	Gmail	I use Gmail as my main mail, calendar and contact store, accessing it online and via Thunderbird and the iphone.  Searching for emails in your desktop mail client can take forever, with gmail you find it virtually instantly.
	Thunderbird	Thunderbird does email, calendaring and contacts. I use IMAP to connect it to my gmail account and it does the rest. Email signatures are synced across PCs by storing it in a dropbox subfolder.
	eWallet	Store and synchronize passwords and sensitive information across PCs and the iphone. Good security and auto sync feature makes this a great tool for storing all sorts of information.
	Tweetdeck	Access Twitter from PCs and iphone. Tweetdeck also syncs your search and notification settings amongst all your devices.

Now obviously when storing your life online security is a major consideration. There are some things I will never store online, like pin numbers ,etc. As to the rest, I make sure I use strong passwords and never re-use the same password for different applications and sites. Both RoboForm and eWallet contain good password generators that can be used.

As I do use Linux (Ubuntu) on a regular basis I have indicated which of these apps have Linux versions available.

There are other apps I use frequently like MS Office, VirtualBox, Photoshop, Pastel, etc, but as these are not online or synchronize their data between PCs I do not include them in the list.

One important piece of the puzzle that is still missing is an online billing, time and attendance and project management app. Although there are many out there I am still to find one with the feature set and price that I am happy with.

I know that online or cloud apps are purely web based, but in this context I am including apps that share their data across the cloud, as for me the true definition of the cloud is being free from any single PC to perform one’s work.

Initial indications are that it is remarkedly zippier than the dated Windows XP that was on their previously. Note that I am not going to comment on any new windows 7 features, as this post is about the netbook install itself.

The install was done using an external USB CDROM drive, from the official 2GB DVD image. The total install time was less than 30 minutes, taking far less time than expected.  The only issue encountered during the install was that I could not re-format the origina lWindows XP partition. This resulted in the final result containing some of the old non windows directories on the C: drive.

As far as drivers go, Windows 7 detected and installed all the drivers except for the built in 3g module. I found the link for the Option Globe Trotter HSxPA drivers and Acer 3G Connection Manager utility relatively easily on this link.

Boot time since running Windows 7 is now down to around 20 seconds, compared to around 1 minute on XP. Note however that is “clean” boot time without any additional programs installed that needs to start services on startup.

I intend to keep the netbook relatively clean form clutter, rather depending on web based applications like Gmail and Google Docs. I do however use Dropbox and Goodsync to syncronise passwords, files and other stuff between my multiple computers. On my laptops I use RoboForm and Google bookmarks to keep favourites and their associated login details at hand.

Next step is to do a dual boot install of Ubuntu 9.10. I originally had 9.04 on the netbook under a second partition, but will wait for the official 9.10 release later this month before reloading ubuntu.

Overall impression is that Windows 7 is fast and solid on the Aspire One, but only time will tell.  Once I have used it for a month or so I will post an update.

I also make extensive use of the template addons, like the lightbox effects, sliders, accordians and other tools that are available from these template masters.

My one frustration has always been the limited choice, as both only brings out one template a month, and editing these into unique variations does make life a bore.

It seems there is now a new and credible alternative, in the form of Morph, brought to us by prothemer. Morph is not a template, more a “template engine on steriods”.  When installed it replaces your current theme with a theme configurator, which allows you to refine virtually every element of your site design.  (Read their blog post here for the real explanation)

To make things a bit simpler they have created pre-defined style combinations called theme-lets.  Currently we have two choices but I am eagerly looking forward to seeing more from them in the coming weeks.

I have taken the plunge and have bought a subscription to morph, and will be using it in upcoming site designs.  My experience so far has been that though there is a steep learning curve,  the interface is intuitive and you can figure everything out yourself in almost no time at all.

There are lots I still need to learn, like how to use the ModuleFX and other cool customization tools, but that’s what documentation is there for.  The examples and tutorials available really gives you no excuse not to succeed.

The configurator even tells you when updates are available, which you can apply with relative ease.

Gone is the pain in manually coding sidebar and module overrides for individual pages or components. Gone is the pain in easy menu manipulations. Gone is the pain in having truly flexible page variations, and I have only been using it for one day!

As someone whom regularly runs Joomla training courses, I now have a new must-have item to add to my training content.

Here’s hoping the new flexibility will give me the creative freedom that the other template subscription services are lacking.

eBox Platform is a unified network server that offers easy and efficient computer network administration for SMBs. It can act as a Gateway, an Infrastructure Manager, a Unified Threat Manager, an Office Server, a Unified Communication Server or a combination of them. These functionalities are tightly integrated, automating most tasks, avoiding mistakes and saving time for system administrators.

I have a fairly complicated home network, which includes several desktops , a linux server, laptops, media centre, x-box, nintendo, wifi access point, wifi phones, etc. All of these gadgets connect to the internet for email and other connectivity based stuff.

To make matters worse, we also run a B&B on the same property, so have guest access into our home network via the Wifi access point (via WPA2 encryption).

Bandwith costs have been spiralling out of control, and it has become impossible to keep track of where it all goes. At the same time the growth in desktops / laptops meant that files and pictures were being duplicated all over the place, with no clear network sharing or backup structures. As we use a combination of windows, mac and linux it is real hard to share stuff reliably.

Then came eBox. I installed it from the ISO image onto a fairly old desktop pc with dual network cards. It essentially becomes the new gateway, sitting between the internal home network and the internet.  It comes with a transparent proxy so caches all thoses sites, images and files accessed from multiple computers.  It gives me clear reporting of what traffic is used where, and it keeps the Wifi users fro mthe B&B out of the private network.

I have now defined SMB based file shares for the various desktops to use, automated backups and print shares. Finally it is possible to print form the Mac to the printer on the windows.

Ebox comes with a easy to use GUI but I have dived into the linux side to set up some custom apps.  For one I have installed ntop for extra reporting. I have also added some custom rules to allow incoming traffic from outside into the network.

The next project is to connect the asterisk module in the ebox into my asterisk server in the office, allowing for integrated comms between the two.

Overall ebox is a great solution, coming with a comprehensive list of modules, and allows inexperienced admins to configure all these options. It also allows experts to log into the linux side and make manual configuration changes.

I am a webafrica fanatic.  I have used them since my return to South Africa three years ago, and have converted countless friends and family into webafrica fans.  I run an internet based business and have invested close to R100K in services with webafrica over this time.

I love the simple yet powerfull control panels and account management tools.  Whenever I  have an issue I just fire up the instant message client and talk directly to one of the support people.

Then it all changed….

First the instant message client was discontinued, with the promise that this would streamline customer support.  No more realtime conversations.  What used to be fixed in a five minute instant message conversation now takes a few hours of ping pong via email, often having to deal with multiple support staff as issues are rarely resolved during a single shift.

Next came bugs in the new version of the Plesk control panel software.  Adding email redirects randomly fails. Creating new domains randomly fails.  Creating email aliases randomly fails.  Creating additional DNS entries randomly fails, etc.  The list goes on and on. Now, I come from a software development background and know that software is never perfect, especially when new versions are released, but for a hosting company the Control Panel is the most important cog in the machine. To make it fail repeatedly is like running a transport company on secondhand tubeless retread tyres.

Then came the indifference from the support staff.  Whenever I raise an issue with the Control Panel it is quickly pointed out to me that it worked for the support guy when he tried.  (So the problem is with me, the customer, end of story).  Time after time I have to point out that it is not a once of, I have done their testing for them, from numerous machines, etc.  Eventually it gets sorted as I have the issues bumped back and forth.

Then came the over utilization (exploitation?). I host many many sites on the webafrica servers.  All my sites started running slower and slower, until I (and my customers) could bare it no longer.  I was told the server my sites were on was old and I needed to migrate them over to a new server. After baulking I was enventually assisted (thanks Matt for your help that time) in the process of recreating all the domain email accounts, copying databases, etc, from the old to the new server.  Guess what happened a year down the line?  Yes, once again the “new server” is overloaded.  It has  become so bad that some sites that loaded in under 5 seconds now takes 30+ seconds to load,  due to mysql and php performance issues on the hosting server.  How do I know this?  The support staff blamed my inefficient code,

I finally wrote a simple monitoring page to track the overall server utilization, so as to prove the server was being overutilized.  What solution do they have to the position I am now in?  Easy, support says, all I need to do is migrate all my clients, their sites, email accounts, databases, etc, over to the new new server, and webafrica will assist if need be, at R100 per item (website, database, email, whatever).  All just to be in the same boat again a few months down the line?  Why are shared hosting servers loaded to the point of deteriorated performance?

Now, in the beginning I used to be able to send Matthew Tagg (MD of webafrica) an email and get my issues sorted.  These days webafrica has turned into a burocracy,  nothing is simple or direct anymore.

I aim to provide a first class service to my customers, but can no longer do that by relying on webafcrica to support my underlying infrastructure.

What are my options now?

• Migrate to a new shared server and repeat the whole process again in a year or less?
• Switch to a dedicated managed server, ensuring no over-utilization?
• Switch to a managed dedicated server with another supplier like hezner (which offer a better spec’d managed server for half the price) ?

I have not decided which way to go yet.  I know I need to make a change, but do not want to end up being held ransom by deteriorating support again, so need to choose carefully.

I attended Joomla Day in Cape Town this weekend. Ryan Ozimek from the Joomla core leadership team gave the keynote address, giving us an overview on the people and passion behind Joomla. It is good to know that there is real professionalism and drive behind this great open source innovation.

One of the several highlights for me  was the overview of the new Morph template framework introduced by the the joomla junkies.  Another was the talk by Phehello Mofokeng on the real life world of using Joomla.

Four interesting point raised during the day are as follows:

• Call to action by Ryan to ensure Joomla continues its outreach into Africa. Only time will tell how this will happen, but given the amount of people adopting Joomla daily it is bound to succeed.

• Phelello was passionate about Joomla and other Open source tools being adopted and used to drive empowerment and enablement in all sectors and societies within Southern Africa, including goverment.

• Joomla web design pricing came up again. Some argue that others are undercutting “typical” web design pricing,  thus undervaluing the time, effort and skill investment made in Joomla. I see this often, someone picks up basic Joomla skills and starts pumping out really basic sites, often overcharging the customer horribly.  The other side of the coin needs to be argued as well though,  Joomla is an open source product and as such should be used to empower and bring web sites to those that would not typically have been able to afford professional sites.
• Collaboration on work. Sean suggested all the Joomla developers and designers pool their skills and resources so as to make best use of the numerous opportunities available. Sean will make a special SalesForce CRM page available for everyone to register opportunies and availability. (More details once available….)

Despite some technical issues I think my presentation on Jumi went down OK, with most of the audience getting the benefit and power of mixing Joomla with external code.

Many thanks to Sean Grant, Matthew Philogene and Brendon Hatcher for organising a great event, looking forward to the next one.

Update: Some photos of the event is available here

“Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.”

The course is split into three separate parts, on consecutive days.  This allows participants to pick the days that are suited to there particular skill level.

Training is performed hands on, using the Office Reliance training centre’s laptops and interactive whiteboards.During the three day course you will create your own fully functional Joomla website.

Course fees includes hot lunch, printed training materials as well as a CD containing all the software used during the training course.

Cost is R 750 for day 1, R 1,150 for day 2 and R 1,450 for day 3; or R 3,000 for all three days, inclusive of VAT.

Limited spaces available, so early booking & payment secures a space.

Call 044 802 0400 or email training@officereliance.co.za This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to book.