<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "></div><div style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">Hi Listers,</div><div style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif" size="3">I have always said that it is wrong to train IT students on proprietary system as is </font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif">happening</font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif" size="3"> 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.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif" size="3"></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif">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. </font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif">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. </font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif">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.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif">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. </font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif">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.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif">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. <br></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new
york', times, serif" size="3"> </font></div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif" size="3">Robert Yawe</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif" size="3">KAY System Technologies Ltd</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif" size="3">Phoenix House, 6th Floor</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif" size="3">P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif" size="3">Kenya</font><br><br><div style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; ">Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696<div><br></div></div><div style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; position: fixed; "></div> </div></body></html>