Less than a week until Cloud Computing World Forum Africa

There are only five days until the highly anticipated Cloud Computing World Forum Africa opens its doors, on 8 May, at the Sandton Sun Hotel, Johannesburg.
This is the first time that the Cloud Computing World Forum has been held Africa, and interest in the one-day conference and exhibition has been high, with over 400 senior IT decision-makers registered to attend.
Africa has experienced an increase in both infrastructure and broadband in recent years, leading to many businesses and organisations across the continent looking for new ways to integrate the use of cloud services into their IT operations.

The agenda is set to address the state of the cloud computing market in the region, covering topics such as the commercial risks and opportunities of cloud computing, cloud in the public sector, security issues of cloud and the future of broadband development in Africa.
Speakers confirmed for the event include:
* Paul Kukubo, CEO, Kenya ICT Board
* Yolisa Skwintshi, Head of IT Development, First National Bank (FNB)
* Chris Pickles, Head of Industry Initiatives, Global Banking and Financial Markets, BT Global Services
* Strini Mudaly, Group CIO, Goldfields
* Kim Andersen, Principal Advisor, CXO Advisor
* Mandla Mkhwanazi, Group CIO, Transnet
* Frank Pinto, CIO, BankservAfrica
To view the full speaker list and agenda, please visit the Web site.
The event will also feature a free-to-attend exhibition and workshop sessions. Attendees can expect to meet the latest providers of this rising technology, including T-Systems, Oracle, BT Global Services, Panduit and Kwezi Software Solutions.
Drinks will be served immediately after the conference in the expo area, enabling attendees to talk cloud with fellow industry professionals.
To register your place at this event, please visit the Web site at www.cloudcomputinglive.com/africa/register or e-mail [email protected].
For further information on speaking opportunities, sponsorship ad exhibition options, please call the team on +44 (0)845 519 1230.
This event is part of the Cloud Computing World Series, which has events in India, Hong Kong, Dubai, New York, Sao Paulo and Europe.
For information on any of these events, please visit http://www.cloudcomputinglive.com.

Facebook introduces ‘Action Links’

Facebook has added customisable links, or ‘Action Links’, for Timeline applications.
The social network says the links provide another way for people to interact with applications and to publish actions via Open Graph to the news feed, Timeline or ticker.
Facebook software engineer, Alex Wyler, explains the new feature: “For example, when someone checks in on Foursquare and shares it on their Timeline, friends can already like or comment on the resulting post through the links that appear as part of the story.
“Now with Action Links, Foursquare added another link – ‘Save this Place’ – that enables people to save a place to their foursquare to-do list directly from Facebook.”
Other action links already introduced by applications include options such as ‘Fave this Product’ or ‘Save this Recipe’.

“Action Links tie one action to another, and can be part of any Open Graph story. Developers can designate an Action Link for any action they define, which will then appear throughout Facebook,” says Wyler.
Take action

The new Action Links show up next to the ‘Like’ and ‘Comment’ actions, which Facebook says allows for user to quickly take action in response to a story. “This in turn will drive more distribution to your app with fewer user clicks.
“Action Links can be configured for a built-in action type or a custom action type. When the user takes the action, you should then publish a story against that action. The resulting Action Link story may be seen in the user’s Timeline, on their friends’ news feed and ticker,” says Facebook.
Action Links are currently not available for mobile, but developers can find the full guide for setting up the new feature here.
Facebook introduced the first Timeline-optimised applications in January. The applications tap into Facebook’s Open Graph and are tightly integrated with the new design, with the option of ‘frictionless’ sharing. The new applications also introduced ‘action verbs’ which could be defined by developers and broadened the scope of the standard Facebook ‘Like’.

Facebook’s IPO show starts on 7 May

The roadshow for Facebook’s initial public offering is scheduled to start on Monday, meaning the company’s shares should begin trading on 18 May, a source familiar with the process said yesterday. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has mostly operated in the background during Facebook’s closely watched journey to public markets, will be involved in the roadshow, another source said.

Facebook declined to comment.
Many on Wall Street had not expected Zuckerberg to turn up on the roadshow after he skipped a March analysts’ meeting, ceding the stage to COO Sheryl Sandberg and CFO David Ebersman. His March absence irked some investors who were indignant that the CEO, while wielding near-absolute control over the eight-year-old firm, had snubbed Wall Street.
IPO roadshows, in which company management presents its strategy to prospective investors, typically last one to two weeks. If the roadshow goes particularly well, shares sometimes start trading a few days earlier.
Facebook is set to raise at least $5 billion in what will likely be the largest Silicon Valley IPO ever. The world’s largest social network continues to command keen investor interest although disappointing first-quarter results raised questions about whether it can sustain breakneck growth for the longer term.
A source familiar with the offering said last week that a recent acquisition spurt by the company could have added about a week to the IPO timetable as regulators signed off on the deals.
This review is close to completion, however, allowing the company to go ahead with the roadshow on 7 May, according to the source who spoke with Reuters yesterday. The sources did not want to be identified because they are not authorised to speak about the company’s IPO.
“I have not seen as broad-based interest in an IPO since Google. Investor demand is immense,” said Scott Sweet of research firm IPO Boutique. “I expect a roadshow that will rival all roadshows where investors will be turned away at the door.”

Google Drive under scrutiny

The release of the long-awaited cloud storage service from Google, Google Drive, has been met with a flurry of concern over the implications of the service for enterprise and potential data ownership issues.
Google Drive went live last week Tuesday, offering Google users 5GB free storage space and deep integration of existing Google services – potentially giving the service an edge on competitors.
Principal analyst at Ovum, Richard Edwards, says the service will inevitably be used in the enterprise and may present some problems for CIOs.

“Chances are employees will start using this service to do more than share family photos and recipes,” says Edwards. “Corporate e-mail systems are notorious for their measly storage quotas and message attachment size limitations, and so the sharing and distribution of large corporate files, such as PowerPoint presentations, engineering drawings, and creative content, are an obvious use case for Google Drive.”
Edwards says the unsanctioned use of cloud storage services presents a “real headache” for corporate governance, risk and compliance managers. While some organisations already block access to file sharing services, Edwards says the inevitability of the use of such services warrants further investigation.
Ovum advises enterprises to consider the use of business-grade cloud drive and collaboration solutions, such as Box and Huddle.
“These services deliver user-friendly, device-agnostic, content-sharing features similar to Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft SkyDrive, but they also feature management and administration capabilities that Ovum deems essential from a compliance and audit perspective,” says Edwards.

Powertech CEO quits

JSE-listed Altron says Norbert Claussen, Powertech CEO, has resigned and will leave the company and relinquish his position on the Altron board at the end of June.
Altron, which is due to publish its results next week, owns all of Powertech, which supplies technology for the electricity sector.

Altron CEO Robert Venter says he has worked closely with Claussen for over 16 years. “I consider him to be more than a business colleague, and wish to thank him for the considerable contribution he has made to Powertech and the greater Altron group.”
Claussen joined the Altron group in 1996 as CEO of Willard Batteries, when Venter was CEO of Powertech. Willard Batteries rapidly expanded to become the Powertech Battery Group, comprising Willard Batteries, Dynamic Batteries, SABAT Batteries and Battery Technologies.
In March 2001, Claussen was appointed Powertech CEO. He guided Powertech through exceptional times between 2006 and 2008 when it was the largest contributor to the Altron group.
“After many years in a corporate environment, I am taking the opportunity to become a shareholder in a smaller private business unrelated to the power electronics industry. I have enjoyed over two decades in the corporate arena, the majority being at the Altron group, and will miss my interactions with Altron and its stakeholders,” says Claussen.
An announcement regarding Claussen’s successor will be made in due course after consideration of both internal and external candidates.