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By now Umoya customers would be aware of the failure of IS-4, a satellite which Umoya has used extensively to date to provide connectivity to a number of our customers.  This is the first of what is likely to be a number of updates on progress with restoring service.

* What happened?

- Intelsat announced on Monday 1 February 2010 that its Intelsat 4 satellite (IS-4), located at 72° East Longitude, experienced an anomaly at 00:18 GMT that morning. Intelsat has stated that it is working with affected customers to identify restoration capacity.  It is not yet clear why the geostationary satellite went into a spin.  IS-4 is scheduled to go out of service later this year, having been launched in 1995.

* Can it be fixed?

- Early indiactions from Intelsat are that it will not be possible to rectify the problem and that alternative satellites will need to be used until such time as the scheduled replacement satellite called “New Dawn” is launched later this year.

* What is Umoya doing to restore service to its customers?

- Umoya is working with a number of upstream service providers to identify available bandwidth on satellites covering similar terrestrial footprints to IS-4.  A number of repair teams are on standby to make the necessary adjustments to the VSAT terminals on the ground once new or revised contracts have been concluded.

* How long will that take?

- We envisage being in a position to send repair teams within the week of 8 February 2010 at the latest.

* What redundancy plans does Umoya have in cases like this?

- While it is just not practical to purchase spare capacity on permanent standby on neighbouring satellites, Umoya has ensured that relationships with a number of satellite service providers are in place such that transitioning to new satellites is possible.  Relationships with competent local technical contractors who can assist with adjustments to site equipment enhance our ability to respond in such circumstances.

* How often does this happen to satellites?

- Anomalies such as this are in general very rare.

* What impact does this have on Umoya's business?

- This obviously has a significant impact on Umoya's business as most of our customers rely on VSAT for connectivity.  We will be working around the clock to have all of our customers back on the air as soon as we possibly can.

* What other organisations are affected? 

- Anyone who was utilising transponders on IS-4 has been affected.  To the best of our knowledge there are a number of South African entities which are also striving to find alternatives.  In a market which is as under resourced as it is and eagerly awaiting the launch of new satellites over the next few years, this is no easy task.

* What can be done to avoid service interruptions like this?

- Apart from reserving and paying for space segments on alternate satellites, which dramatically increases costs, there is little one can do to prepare for satellite failures.  Umoya are in the process of planning an Earth Station to be built in Cape Town, partly to increase capacity and partly as redundancy protection for possible outages on the Midrand hub.  We will continue to maintain our good relationships with satellite service providers which allows us options in times like these.

It is time we took up the mic again and interrogated some of the team here.  Today, we decided to pick on: 

Tim Keller : Lead Developer and general software guru.

[Ed] Tim, you've been with a Umoya for a few years now, how did you get to be working here?

[Tim] I got to know Peter through Sunvalley school, he became aware I needed financial assistance to complete my university studies, took a risk and offered to fund me in return for me coming to work at Umoya. 

[Ed] Are you Cape Town born and bred?

[Tim] I am indeed.  I've lived in the same house all my life (until just recently).

[Ed] Ah yes, you've just given up bachelorhood I believe - congratulations!

[Ed] I gather your dad is head of Sunvalley Primary, is your mom also a teacher?

[Tim] My family: Teachers, Teachers and more Teachers

[Ed] I sympathise – my siblings were also all teachers.

[Ed] Have you always wanted to be a software developer?

[Tim] No, as a kid I wanted to be a .... wait for it - Teacher!  Then of course an Astronaut, Computer Engineer, then Lawyer.... the list goes on.

[Ed] Where did you study?

[Tim] The great UCT!

[Ed] [what is it about UCT students?!  Humble as anything.]

[Ed] So was it straight from school to varsity to Umoya?

[Tim] Not quite.  I've worked as: a teacher, video editor, sound engineer, and web designer.

[Ed] What are some of the things you love

[Tim] My wife (hopeless romantic I know) [Ed: don't worry, you'll get over it], Apple Macs [Ed: terrible fanboy!], photography, formula1, gadgets and (good) music.

[Ed] What do you hate?

[Tim] Hating things.

[Ed] o...k... moving right along...

[Ed] Your role in Umoya?

[Tim] Lead Developer and Systems guy for staffroom.  I created staffroom in response to my dad's frustrations with school admin, and it is now looking like being something that could gain some substantial usage in South African schools.  It helped immensely to have Umoya take staffroom under their wing.

[Ed] You're known in Umoya as...?

[Tim] Pink shirt guy.

[Ed] If you were a wild animal, what would you be?

[Tim] Meerkat (pokes head up every now and then to see the bigger picture)

[Ed] A meerkat in a pink shirt?  I'm going to let that one slide right by or the conversation might turn weird! 

Stuart Phillips.

Today we bring you Stuart, our support engineer and comedy relief for the day :)

Ed: Where were you born Stuart?

Stuart: Cape Town.

Ed: And where did you grow up?

Stuart: With the sea and the sand in Fish Hoek.

Ed: So what did you want to be as a kid?

Stuart: Hmm a brain surgeon. I found the brain very interesting.

Ed: So where did you get to be so clever?

Stuart: Its natural of course! No, only teasing, Sun Valley Primary and then Fish Hoek High school.

Ed: Let’s see what else?... what do you love and what do you hate?

Stuart: I love God, drumming, sport, socializing, writing.

I Hate getting up early!

Ed: Your role in Umoya?

Stuart: Support engineer and Burger cooker :)

(Ed: He's not joking either – he makes good burgers!)

Ed: do you have a nick name among the Umoya team?

Stuart: yup... Stuwee!

Ed: If you were a wild animal what would you be?

Stuart: A White Tiger.

Ed: Do they sleep late, or what?

Users of the internet can thank the US military for its existence.  Advanced Research Projects Agency Network or ARPANET as it was known then, was born in the early 1960’s when J.C.R. Licklider, then head of the Behavioral Sciences and Command and Control programs at ARPA, the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, set out to design and build what he termed an "Intergalactic Computer Network".

"For each of these three terminals, I had three different sets of user commands. So if I was talking online with someone at S.D.C. and I wanted to talk to someone I knew at Berkeley or M.I.T. about this, I had to get up from the S.D.C. terminal, go over and log into the other terminal and get in touch with them. I said, oh, man, it's obvious what to do: If you have these three terminals, there ought to be one terminal that goes anywhere you want to go. That idea is the ARPANET." [Bob Taylor]

It was a common myth that the architects of ARPANET set out not only to ‘bridge’ disparate computer communications systems, but to make the network resilient under disaster situations like a nuclear attack where a communications node had been destroyed.  The internet protocol did provide the building blocks for creating a cheap yet resilient network, but this was not the primary aim.

Recently, Umoya was asked to consider expanding its uniti product to solve a major issue faced by Disaster Management during the Confederations Cup; that of different state agencies not being able to communicate across departments.  A SAPS two-way radio mere yards away was unreachable from an EMS radio, which in turn was not compatible with a SANDF radio.  Different terminals, functional silos, islands cut off from each other.  Not good for effective collaboration.

Over the last few months, Umoya have successfully demonstrated a technology known as Radio over IP, where it is possible to link not only disparate radio handsets and talk-groups, but to link fixed and mobile telephones to radio talk groups.  All over IP.  A Disaster Management team member sitting in a Joint Operations Centre in Joburg can link a VoIP enabled netbook in George to an NSRI radio talk-group in PE and an EMS radio talk-group in Bloemfontein; using and “drag and drop” application. Not only that, but a manager in his car can monitor and participate in that conversation from his cell phone.VoIP has always had a special place in my heart for the way it is liberating the telecoms voice market.  RoIP in these scenarios is for me even more exciting.  Coupled with the benefits of uniti as a unified communications platform, this offering looks to add significant value in managing the 2010 Soccer World Cup more effectively.

#RadioOverIP FTW!

This week, we take Dave Gale out from behind the mic and put him in front of it.

Ed: Dave, your role in Umoya?

Dave: To assist Peter in growing the business, giving input and help with Product, Sales, Marketing, PR, Regulatory, etc.

Ed: So Dave tell me where were you born?

Dave: Greytown, Natal on a forestry estate.

Ed: A forestry estate that sounds so awesome.

Ed: So tell us what did the folks do?

Dave: My dad was a forester, later a store-keeper, then an agricultural missionary.  My mom was a legal secretary.

Ed: Where did you grow up?

Dave: All over KZN! We moved a lot.  I had lived in 11 houses by the time I was 13.

Ed: Phew that is a lot of houses, I can’t keep up. You must be a highly skilled box packer.

Dave: We had about 20 wooden tea-chests - my dad had stenciled numbers on the side and we had a ledger which listed what went in which box.  I know, a bit bizarre!

Ed; What did you want to be as a kid?

Dave: A Game Ranger.

Ed: Where did you go to school?

Dave: hmm.. let me think, its been a while! ;)  Hilton College for high school and then UCT for BSc & MSc Elec Eng.

Ed: what else have you worked as?

Dave:  A number of things. Nature Conservator, Engineer, Project Manager, Product Manager, Business Developer.

Ed: I can tell you are a man of many talents.

Dave: I get bored easily.

Ed: We all have things we love and hate, what are yours?

Dave: I love a challenge, working with my hands, the outdoors, honest straight-talking, positive, enthusiastic people.

I hate lies and deceit, bad service, being sick, confined spaces and selfish, negative people.

Ed: I'm with you on that one.

Ed: What is your pet name with Umoya team?

Dave: I've been at Umoya too short a time to have any kind of rep.

Ed: Last but not least, if you were a wild animal what would you be?

Dave: A leopard- they're pretty independent types :)