Binary Innovative Technology Solutions, a provider of end-to-end integrated solutions, has partnered with Hitachi Vantara and Networks Unlimited to complement its existing business suite of offerings in the ICT solutions and services, enterprise systems and digital technology arenas.
Binary CEO Salomi Ramlall says: “We deliver innovative, customised technology solutions to our clients across multiple sectors, including telecommunications, utilities, the media, manufacturing, retail, financial management, mining and the public sector. Our key focus areas are agile bespoke development, human capital management and system integration to various existing platforms, as well as the supply of customisable off-the-shelf (COTS) systems.
“Additionally, we are committed to creating jobs and growing the economy. To this end, we aim to support the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which represents a new era of innovation in technology – one that’s enhancing human-machine relationships by delivering solutions built on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotic process automation and smart analytics.”
Gideon Coetzee, GM: networking and storage at Networks Unlimited, comments: “In this regard, the value-add for Binary Innovative Technology Solutions in partnering with Hitachi Vantara has been very clear.
“Hitachi Vantara provides a portfolio of infrastructure, IoT and data analytics solutions that offers its customers superior data management, infrastructure, content and analytics products and industrial IoT solutions for a wide array of industries, including financial services and insurance, government, industrials and manufacturing, telecommunications and transportation.”
Ramlall continues: “Our particular challenges revolved around our ability to respond to certain quotation requests. This was eliminated when Hitachi Vantara introduced us to Networks Unlimited, late last year, when we had engaged Hitachi Vantara to assist us with a telecommunications deal in Africa. We discovered that, like Binary, Networks Unlimited understands that the markets have changed, and the world has a ‘new normal’. In support of this new normal, companies expect quick delivery times to support their revenue models.
“Networks Unlimited and Binary are able to successfully implement solutions in a short time frame, thereby enabling organisations to meet their business objectives and maintain their competitive edge. Additionally, the Hitachi Vantara solutions are highly scalable and supported by their analytical suite of products, namely Pentaho business intelligence software, which provides solutions including data integration, reporting, information dashboards, and data mining and extract. The time to market response has been quicker and more efficient.”
Hitachi Vantara’s Pentaho platform for data integration and analytics offers traditional capabilities and big data connectivity, to power any analytics in any environment. Pentaho has enabled early big data and emerging IoT deployments, connecting people, things and data to drive organisations’ digital transformations. Pentaho can be deployed on-prem, in the cloud, or via a hybrid model.
Coetzee adds: “Hitachi Vantara offers solutions from the edge to the cloud, and Pentaho is part of that solution. It provides a scope of products to engage with your customers, allowing Binary to offer even more solutions to their clients.”
Ramlall concurs, noting that the new Hitachi Vantara partnership, facilitated by Networks Unlimited, has made Binary Innovative Technology Solutions more competitive. “Our partnerships with Networks Unlimited and Hitachi Vantara have broadened our offering. We combine their technology with our software ecosystem to deliver world class solutions.
“We are very tightly aligned with Networks Unlimited and appreciate their culture of offering teamwork, transparency and trust, which are very similar drivers to those of our own business culture. Additionally, we maintain continuous discussion in search of technology that could enable 4IR in Africa, in line with the commitment and drive of President Cyril Ramaphosa since early 2019.”
The report outlining South Africa’s strategy and planned response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution was gazetted in October 2020 and makes recommendations on how South Africa can best position itself in the global 4IR context. President Cyril Ramaphosa himself chaired the presidential commission on 4IR, which was announced in April 2019.
The commission, consisting of leaders from academia, business and civil society, began its work the following month, in May 2019, and was tasked with advising the government on relevant policies, strategies and action plans to position South Africa as a smart, connected and competitive global player.
The 4IR report will form the basis of a national discussion on how all sectors of society can contribute to a technologically-enabled future, which will bring about greater economic and social inclusion, and enhance the country’s competitiveness.
Ramlall concludes: “Our vision is to establish a stronger footprint within Africa, in order to help build and grow our developing continent. In the long term, I hope to see Binary’s partnerships with Hitachi Vantara and Networks Unlimited positioning us as a leading innovative technology company, allowing us to service both South Africa and the wider African arena together.
“The world is on a digital transformation, and we intend supporting companies and fellow African countries to give them that competitive edge, aligning with the Gartner Technology Quadrants. Our focus will be to enable the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Africa and other developing countries, and break the barriers that we are facing from the Covid-19 pandemic.”