[kictanet] Resiliency of our Internet Infrastructure during the COVID -19 Season

Mon Mar 30 19:48:06 EAT 2020

Thank you all for the flow of information. Much appreciated indeed.

On Mon, Mar 30, 2020, 13:14 Walubengo J via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> I would hesitate to write-off any product based on security concerns.
>
> Security is as good as you configure it to be.  TEAMS can be as less
> secure as the alleged insecurity of ZOOM depending on how it was
> implemented and configured.
>
> In short, security is one independent conversation that cannot be
> collapsed into a singly product name.
>
> Otherwise you create a false sense of security....e.g, I use TEAMS so I am
> safer than those who use alternatives eg. ZOOM.
>
> When I was growing up, I used to have similar thinking.  .. since I used
> LINUX, I always had this false sense of being more secure than those who
> used WINDOWS platforms ;-).
>
> Security is more about the hardening, updating, configuring, maintaining,
> etc of your digital assets as opposed to the product itself.
>
> walu.
> nb: ofcourse some products are outrightly nefarious and would still be
> unsafe even if you spend hours hardening them to be safe.
>
> On Monday, March 30, 2020, 12:11:53 PM GMT+3, Erick Mwangi via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks GG. Zoom is a mine field.
>
> I would advise folks to stay off zoom for any 'serious' discourse ( its
> ideally for social interactions).
>
> There are a ton of options depending on industry (Skype for Business will
> be obsolete very soon) TEAMS is one suggestion in terms of ease and setting
> up.
>
> Eric
> E Njoroge Mwangi
> Technology| FINTECH | Big Data
>
> Cell +44 7539372742
> Skype: Erick.mwangi
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 30, 2020 at 7:17 AM Kathy Mwai via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> Hon Abshiro,
>
> Even the G20 has gone virtual. Here they were discussing their countries
> contributions to the fund researching on a vaccine. Just 2 days before the
> UK Prime Minister was taken ill.
>
> Kathy
>
> On Mon, Mar 30, 2020, 00:48 Abshiro Halake via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> Thank you Kaka, Noah, Barrack,
>
> I will look out for the  Gire bill and see what in our context is the
> equivalent. I may need your help with providing the appropriate content. We
> don't have much time so time is of the essence.
>
> Barrack thanks for the recommendation/suggestion of use of Zoom. I am a
> fun but Grace' insights yesterday opened my eyes to the fact that it may
> not be very secure. That said, what is, these days. Will add it to the list
> of apps to consider for sure.
>
> Thanks you all once again.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Abshiro.
>
> On Sun, Mar 29, 2020, 21:31 Barrack Otieno via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> Kaka,
>
> You raise very interesting points. I actually think the East African
> Community should also take up the matter. For Citizens to properly embrace
> the Internet in the Region, Trust is key. Quality of service, reliability
> and security of the Networks is a key consideration. We need more
> investment in connectivity within the EAC Countries and within the region.
> We also need affordable smart devices. What is the use of connectivity if
> citizens cannot afford devices that will enable them to make good use of
> the links. If it means zero rating so be it.
>
> Mheshimiwa Abshiro we need the equivalent of the High Perfomance Computing
> Act aka the Gore bill to move our country forwad in ICT issues.
>
> Regards
>
> On Sun, 29 Mar 2020, 8:14 pm Noah via kictanet, <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> I totally agree with you @Walu and I believe we are on the same page but
> my only caution was for us not to focus so much on vendor sythax (which can
> be crammed to aid implementation) but rather principles.
>
> Back to the main topic, Internet infrastructure across East Africa more
> than just Kenya needs robust upgrades and improving.
>
> Bloody Covid19 is already a game changer and I believe we are all taking
> lessons from it especially within our space with the ICT infrastructure
> which politicians used to think was some luxury for a few elites proving to
> be a necessity in such a time.
>
> *ICT could emerge stronger post COVID-19*
>
> Some foresee an increase in demand for cloud computing platforms with
> enterprise applications proving to be inaccessible during lockdowns and
> #karantini.
>
> Increasing usage of remote and collaboration tools. This requires
> bandwidth like serious bandwidth.
>
> Increase in traffic to video streaming sites and social media platforms
> (Isolation is tough hey, humans are not wild beasts or gods, they must
> continue socializing)
>
> Increased usage of apps from grocery delivery apps to essential goods
> apps.
>
> Most importantly the future of education in the face of another future
> pendamic [1] with online education becoming defacto especially when schools
> in future could possibly be closed beyond just one moon.
>
> #ICT infrastructure is #critical infrastructure.
>
> Cheers,
> Noah
>
> [1] Hellooooo....., there was the Spanish Flu, then the Influenza, then
> the SARS, then the Swine Flu, the Ebola and you guessed it right COVID-19.
>
>
> On Sun, 29 Mar 2020, 19:52 Walubengo J, <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> True, BUT assume I am Safaricom with maybe 70% of my infrastructure on
> Huawei and want to hire a Telco Engineer.
>
> I prolly would get a candidate who has the Telco degree (the principles)
> and the Huawei Certification as the added advantage.
>
> The other way around it would be that I hire then send the candidate back
> to finishing school for some hands on training.
>
> Universities providing both principles and skills will have an advantage.
>
> On a light note, Imagine teaching Blockchain Technologies using only Satoshi's
> Paper (the principles) <https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf> and not having
> access to say IBM Blockchain platforms
> <https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/what-is-blockchain> to provide students
> with some  Lab exposure. The ones with Lab exposure will often stand out.
>
> Having said that, there are those who 'cram' and pass vendor-certificate
> exams without really learning the principles. That is also a major risk to
> employers.
>
> walu.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sunday, March 29, 2020, 07:37:26 PM GMT+3, Noah <noah at neo.co.tz>
> wrote:
>
>
> @Walu
>
> I agree that a cocktail of standard principles and *mutlivendor* sythax
> should be the approach that can go on to see us provide better skills
> transfer.
>
> I only caution us from repeating the old and outdated approach of only
> focusing training on one vendor since this only goes to help promote the
> vendors products in our markets rather provide true knowledge.
>
> Employers should careless about Cisco or Juniper or Huawei but rather seek
> knowledgeable candidates who understand technology rather than people who
> have  crammed how to implement a specific vendor sythax.
>
>
> Noah
>
>
> On Sun, 29 Mar 2020, 19:26 Walubengo J, <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> @Noah,
>
> Maybe we can do both.  Teach the principles as well as offer exposure to
> one or several of the vendor technologies (whichever that maybe).  I always
> find such an approach much more enriching and complimentary in my classes.
>
> Teaching 'principles' without offering some practical vendor sessions is
> like teaching Wordprocessing - without using MS-Word/OpenOffice/etc because
> you are trying too hard to be vendor-agnostic ;-)
>
> In short, I do appreciate the need to teach principles but also appreciate
> the need to use vendor specific examples/labs to drive the point home.
>
> walu.
>
> On Sunday, March 29, 2020, 07:03:16 PM GMT+3, Noah via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>
> The intermittent ip networks and grid-power aside.
>
> Am curious to know why in this day and time and day, we are still focusing
> on vendor specific trainings.
>
> During earlier 2000's we focused so much on the Cisco's, then somehow the
> Junipers and today we are seeing the Huawei syntax.
>
> Shouldn't we be focusing in todays Africa on teaching standard protocols
> even at a fundamental level and cocktail of vendors sythax rather than
> continually pushing some specific vendors technology which indirectly
> markets their kit as defacto to those we keep imbibing the skills too.
>
> Just my thoughts....
>
> Noah
>
>
> On Sun, 29 Mar 2020, 11:28 Kelvin Kariuki via kictanet, <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> This is very true Barrack,
> I have been teaching a live online class on a Huawei Certification in the
> past week
> using Zoom and some of my students, who are on different parts of the
> country,
> have really had issues keeping up because of poor internet connections and
> regular disconnections. Thank God Zoom has a feature to record the classes
> but for sure this is something that we need to look into.
>
> PS: All my students are using Safaricom as Huawei Kenya offered them with
> credit cards to buy internet bundles in order to be able to learn online.
> The training
> I'm doing is Huawei Certified ICT Associate (Routing & Switching)
>
> On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 11:14 AM Ali Hussein via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> Barrack
>
> You got that right. Both Safaricom and Zuku have been intermittent over
> the past few days. Let's not even start with Kenya Power...
>
> Regards
>
> *Ali Hussein*
>
>
> Tel: +254 713 601113
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
> Skype: abu-jomo
>
> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
> <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
>
>
>
>
> Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely
> mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the
> organizations that I work with.
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 1:07 PM Barrack Otieno via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> Listers,
>
> It seems the quality of our Infrastructure is taking a hit as more people
> are working from home. Talking to friends from different corners of the
> countries across different Networks, there seems to be a challenge. I hope
> the Communications Authority is paying attention. The Internet and
> Infrastructure service providers should not just focus on free Internet and
> double speeds, quality of the connection is critical.
>
> Best
>
> --
> Barrack O. Otieno
> +254721325277
> +254733206359
> Skype: barrack.otieno
> PGP ID: 0x2611D86A
>
>
>
>
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>
> --
> Best Regards,
>
> Kelvin Kariuki
> Assistant Lecturer
> Multimedia University of Kenya
> Faculty of Computing and Information Technology
> Twitter Handle: @teacherkaris
> Alt email: kkariuki at mmu.ac.ke
> Mobile: +2547 29 385 557
>
> The Lord is my Shepherd
>
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> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
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