NEWS
MEA enterprise infrastructure hardware
market continues to decline
The MEA enterprise
infrastructure hardware
market, which includes
servers and external storage,
suffered a year-on-year
decline of 8% in the first
half on 2017 to total $1.1
billion, according to the latest
Quarterly Server and Disk
Storage Systems Tracker from
IDC. The global technology
research and consulting firm
blames the ongoing oil crisis,
regional unrest, currency
fluctuations, and political instability
in certain parts of the region for the
decline in enterprise spending.
“We are witnessing a shift in purchasing
patterns as organisations are
increasingly looking to consolidate their
server purchases and optimise their
installed base rather than boost their
server capacity through new additions,”
says Victoria Mendes, a Senior Research
Analyst for Enterprise Infrastructure at
IDC MEA. “We are also seeing a shift
towards higher-end servers when new
purchases are made.”
Despite suffering a YoY decline in value
of 4% in H1 2017, the MEA storage
market saw a huge
uptake of flash drives
during this period. The
value of the flash space
was up 21% YoY in H1
2017 versus a decline
of 37% over the same
period for hard disk drives
(HDDs). While there is a
general shift underway
from traditional HDDs to
flash drives (both all-flash
and hybrid flash), the
huge decline of HDDs
was caused by a shortage of memory
chips, which is negatively impacting
shipments globally.
Looking ahead, IDC expects the
enterprise infrastructure hardware
market to grow 3% in the second half
of 2017 when compared with the
corresponding period of 2016.
Ecobank launches mVisa across 33
African countries
Ecobank has partnered with Visa to launch Ecobank Scan+Pay
with mVisa solutions to their consumers.
The strategic tie-up signals interoperability on a cross-border
level – and potentially huge gains – as it affords consumers
with the ability to use their mobile phone to directly access
the funds in their bank accounts to pay person-to-merchant
(P2M) or person-to-person (P2P).
Ecobank Scan+Pay with mVisa delivers instant, secure cashless
payment for goods and services by allowing customers to
scan a QR code on a smartphone or enter a unique merchant
identifying code into either a feature phone or smartphone.
The payment goes straight from the consumer’s bank
account into the merchant’s account and provides real-time
notification to both parties. This serves to accelerate digital
commerce and combat some of the challenges merchants
have faced using traditional point of sale systems, including
the cost of installation coupled with the requirement of
electricity and Internet connectivity.
Ecobank mVisa solutions also enable customers to send
money instantly to any Visa cardholder worldwide. This is
8
INTELLIGENTCIO
a major innovation that serves the need of Africans in the
diaspora by enabling them to simply link their Visa card to the
Ecobank unified mobile app to send money home to another
Visa cardholder quickly and securely.
The partnership demonstrates both Ecobank and Visa’s
continued commitment to provide financial services to the
banked and unbanked in Africa by leveraging digital platforms
to offer convenient and affordable payment mechanisms.
www.intelligentcio.com