[kictanet] Safaricom abhors open systems

[Okech]

Robert,
This a splendid advise both to parents, teachers, industrialist and students.
However, I tend to believe that the idea is not new. The question is why are people glued to vendor specific courses,
Cisco has conquered the world through a superb marketing strategy. To oust them thus requires a radical strategy that I leave for the listers to deliberate on

On Fri Jun 3rd, 2011 6:07 AM PDT robert yawe wrote:

>Hi Listers,
>
>I have always said that it is wrong to train IT students on proprietary system 
>as is happening with Cisco training that is being offered as a career path. 
> Switching and routing principles are based on an open standard so students need 
>to have an appreciation of the technology and not a brand.
>
>I have been having an interesting exchange with Safaricom on setting up a 
>connection to their SMSC where their engineers insist that the solution can only 
>be implemented using a Cisco router. 
>
>From this experience it is clear that most of the engineers at Safaricom have 
>been trained on vendor specific and proprietary standards which has denied them 
>the flexibility to work with none Cisco equipment. 
>
>Safaricom has been a proponent of open systems by being open to various 
>handsets, so it is shocking that as they move towards becoming a data service 
>provider they are opting to close their systems.
>
>This attitude by Safaricom reminds me of Orange and their Livebox fiasco that 
>totally killed their broadband service yet all they had to do was allow any DSL 
>compliant equipment to be used on their network and used the funds tied in 
>equipment on advertising and any other activity.  
>
>I hope this is just a hiccup in their transition and that we shall see a more 
>open minded organisation as they move towards being a serious contender in the 
>corporate data provision service.
>
>For those of you with children or relatives basing their carriers 
>on proprietary technologies please advice them to acquire generic education as 
>well otherwise they might find opportunities passing them by, its the principles 
>that matter.  
> Robert Yawe
>KAY System Technologies Ltd
>Phoenix House, 6th Floor
>P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
>Kenya
>
>
>Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696