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COMSOL NETWORKS SOUTH AFRICA

TECHNOLOGY

From Industry to IoT

“Quality, responsiveness, and speed,” Justin Colyn, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Comsol Networks South Africa, discusses the company’s quality provision of wireless connectivity Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: Lewis Bush

As a young kid, I was always interested in electronics; my dad ran his electrical contracting business and I worked for him during my school vacations. This really cemented the ‘engineer’ in me.” For Justin Colyn, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Comsol Networks South Africa, work is more than just that; it’s a passion. This passion in the field stems from his innate interest in problem solving; a trait that has led him to the position he holds in the company today. Comsol Networks South Africa

specialises in providing licensed wireless connectivity infrastructure for companies and government entities, no matter the size and complexity, and across all sectors that comprise a hybrid of private and public connectivity solutions. Comsol’s focus on laying a solid foundation in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) spans across enterprise grade and broadband last mile connectivity, WiFi solutions, low power long range (LoRa) IoT solutions, and 5G-FWA (fixed wireless access) solutions for LAN, WAN and Campuses. Africa Outlook issue 90 | 3

COMSOL NETWORKS SOUTH AFRICA INDUSTRY AFRICA “The telecommunications industry in South Africa has been and remains extremely exciting,” Colyn explains. “New connectivity technologies are changing the way people connect to the internet and providing incredibly fast speeds. “Technologies like 5G-FWA are fast becoming the new fibre, and it is more cost effective to roll out, more flexible and, to a large extent, completely

comparable to fibre for customer requirements for the foreseeable future.” However, the telecommunications space within Africa is not without its problems, as Colyn elaborates. “South Africa, and for that matter Africa on the whole, continues to make huge strides in building and delivering broadband solutions to both consumers and businesses, yet still, enough is not being done

THE FIVE-PILLAR SOLUTION CUSTOMER SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS - Bespoke, end–to-end solutions. - Comprising the building out of networks to remote and rural areas for high-capacity and high-availability requirements. - The linking of large enterprise processing hubs and datacentres within major metropolitan areas at ultra-high capacities. - Bespoke on-campus solutions - a range of specialised connectivity solutions. COMSOL CONNECT SOLUTIONS - Comprising the delivery of services from one-megabit (Mbps) per second to multiple gigabits per second (Gbps) services over Comsol’s licensed mmWave Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) wireless solution leveraging Comsol’s owned network of point-to-point and point-tomultipoint infrastructure. WIFI SOLUTIONS - Comsol’s bouquet of WiFi LAN solutions span across single offices, campuses and larger public areas ensuring that customers are connecting optimally to their services. IOT – LONG RANGE, LOW POWER – LORAWAN - Comsol operates South Africa’s public LoRa network that is a Low Power, Wide Area (LPWA) networking protocol designed to wirelessly connect battery operated ‘things’ to the internet in regional, national or global networks, and targets key Internet of Things (IoT) requirements such as bi-directional communication, end-to-end security, mobility and localisation services.

IRIS Network Systems The world has become abundant with high speed fibre interconnecting countries and continents to the internet. Last mile access has been a more challenging problem to solve, especially for countries that are encumbered with a slow deregulation process. Today there are many last mile options to consider in the market. From the start of the internet in South Africa, Comsol Networks South Africa have been a leader providing relevant technologies as they become available, including Open Access and high speed connectivity options across the country. At Iris Network Systems we are both proud and grateful to be a key partner of Comsol Networks South Africa. We have been part of their journey for the past decade and have seen as much change in our domain as Comsol Networks South Africa have seen in their’s. Currently we are focused on expanding our data collection methodology which ingests data into our advanced monitoring platform where value is derived from the various sub-systems that work in unison. Ingesting telemetry is a critical feature, where we process data and provide this to the consumer as quickly as possible in a relevant and enriched format. To support the augmented consumer who is moving away from pre-defined dashboards, we are exploring the use of user controlled dashboarding tools which ensures the consumer is then able to explore the data in any way they wish. We look forward to supporting Comsol Networks South Africa in the future on their exceptional journey.

5G-FWA - Comsol’s spectrum assets, a large chunk of 28 gigahertz (GHz) mmWave and a piece of 3.7GHz is allowing it to leverage the latest 5G-FWA technology to bring cost effective broadband connectivity to many South Africans that are just not getting the value they deserve based on their current experience. www.irisns.com

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COMPREHENSIVE NETWORK VISIBILITY Inspired by the everyday challenges faced by ISPs, Iris was designed to solve a range of problems with ease. The system makes it possible to report on large amounts of data in a meaningful way.

IRIS Network Systems is a provider of uniquely scalable, lightweight and robust Network Management Software. Designed to present your network information in an easy to understand, comprehensive visual format, IRIS gives you simple and effective control over your environment. Because we believe in supporting your business and not only our software, we also offer on-demand training resources and technical assistance to all our clients.

With over 20 years’ experience in networking and telecoms, our team is made up of industry experts who are passionate about the work they do.

COMSOL NETWORKS SOUTH AFRICA

Connecting Africa Since 1995 Connecting Africa has built an enviable reputation as a leading Technology Integrator with a strong focus on reliability, service, thorough attention to detail in the technology architecture, installation and maintenance we provide. Our mission is to continue to optimally serve our clients well and meet their requirements to the best of our ability. This is achieved through our staff and industry affiliates who are well qualified and trained on the most modern and advanced technologies currently available. Among others, our vast knowledge and experience in the areas of IPTV digital signage, V-sat and Wireless connectivity has involved the deployment of numerous successful projects.

Africa Outlook: How important is the supply chain to Comsol Networks? Justin Colyn: “Given that Comsol’s differentiators are built on responsiveness and speed, it is vital to have an organised and ‘slick’ in-house supply chain. “Comsol rolls out hundreds of links per month and given the strict OH&S rules and guidelines we need to follow, our engagement and arranging access with customers and landlords and the special equipment we use to do many installations, we cannot encounter delays. Having equipment ready on a daily basis for installations and maintenance is paramount. Just in time delivery of radios, antennae, accessories are vital to uphold our promise to customers.”

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www.connectingafrica.co.za to connect the ‘unconnected’ at the quality and price that consumers need for the dream of broadband penetration to truly drive GDP growth,” he tells us. “Given the past 14 months, the industry has also undergone a lot of change due to the pandemic and remote working has somewhat changed the data demand patterns. Many smaller businesses have closed down or migrated to homes, and this has left the business connectivity opportunities wanting.”

ANSWERING DEMAND In order to provide professional and high-quality telecommunication services across South Africa and the broader continent, Comsol bases its solutions around five key pillars that maximise its provision in the market and industry and has been doing so for over two decades. “Comsol has been around for 23 years and in all this time has focused

Quintica We deliver technology that creates great experiences and unlocks productivity As a ServiceNow Elite partner, we are trusted by some of the largest Telcos in the world connecting their operations—from the network to the customer—on a single platform. Streamlined Order Management • Accelerate time to revenue • Minimize pre-activation churn • Reduce operational costs • Improve productivity Proactive Customer Care • Reduce cost to serve • Improve customer experience • Increase customer satisfaction & NPS Automated Service Assurance • Improve employee productivity • Reduce operational costs • Maximize Network QoS

TECHNOLOGY

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COMSOL NETWORKS SOUTH AFRICA and colleges,” Colyn elaborates. “The TENET and SABEN institutions have been spread out in very remote areas where connectivity is limited. Comsol has managed to plan and deliver these services due to its experienced RF planning and High-Site infrastructure business units – finding the routes and acquiring optimal high-sites to make the connectivity a reality.”

PAN-INDUSTRY PROVISION

“OUR CUSTOMERS ARE OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY” – JUSTIN COLYN, CHIEF SALES AND MARKETING OFFICER, COMSOL NETWORKS SOUTH AFRICA on delivering quality services as a result of leveraging licensed spectrum backbones and last mile solutions to customers,” Colyn informs us. “The emphasis on quality, responsiveness, and speed, as well as always having a plan to follow, has led to customers being loyal to Comsol. “Our customers are our number one priority, and all our people are passionate about Comsol’s customer experience.”

EXEMPLIFYING SOLUTIONS Comsol’s five pillared solutions 8 | Africa Outlook issue 90

provision can be seen at each and every level of operation, and it encompasses its various company projects; examples of Comsol’s ability to answer the demand of its customer base across South Africa and the wider continent. Of the company projects there is TENET (Tertiary Education and Research Network) and SABEN (South African Broadband Education Networks). “Comsol has over the past decade been delivering high-capacity last mile circuits to tertiary education, schools

The Exxaro mines project is another primary example of Comsol’s solutions. Comsol has been providing connectivity solutions to the mining industry for over two decades. A recent project included connecting four Exxaro mines to their central nerve centre, with on-campus connectivity solutions at each of the mines. “These on-campus solutions included industrial WiFi in very harsh environments including deployments in their open pits making use of Solar trailer solutions as WiFi hotspots,” Colyn continues. “Comsol built a point-to-multipoint communication (PtMP) network on site that would track vehicles and push both voice and video back to the mines control centre (nerve centre). This network also enabled Exxaro employees to stream voice and videos to and from the mine, be it at the bottom of the pit or outside around conveyer belts and offices.” A key element to this Exxaro success was running specialised RF planning Audits, making use of industrial wireless technologies. On top of these projects, Comsol will be rolling out its commercial 5G-FWA trial at the end of 2021. “We are extremely excited about this,” Colyn states. “Comsol sees the future of connectivity being licensed wireless FWA services that will bring quality connectivity solutions to many South African’s that only have access to expensive mobile services today.”

TECHNOLOGY

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entire logistics value chain. This ultimately ensures a seamless product supply chain for our customers. We provide the full spectrum of land, sea, and air transport services and our specialised expertise emanate from our vast experience in the global transportation of medical and industrial radioisotopes across a variety of industries.

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COLLABORATION Behind its operation it is the many dedicated employees that move Comsol forward. “Comsol has in excess of 150 staff- all passionate about licensed wireless solutions and customer centricity,” Colyn tells us. “One of the biggest differentiators is our people going the extra mile for customers and always willing to make a plan to get services up and running as long as they meet our minimum requirement for quality-based solutions.” Comsol employees are encouraged to embrace learning and development in multiple areas outside the company, that is subsequently supported by Comsol to best promote personal growth. “Teams meet regularly to ensure priorities are discussed and agreed to, resources and teams are aligned, and that pro-activity

is key to managing customers’ expectations,” Colyn adds. “Comsol has a flat structure, open door policy and as a result of the team being a tight-knit outfit, issues are addressed immediately, staff are acknowledged, and efforts are praised at all levels as a result of contributions made.”

THE PRESENT AND BEYOND For Comsol, the year ahead and those following are promising. Part of this is the company’s coming launch of its mmWave 5G-FWA commercial trial that its teams are continuously working on. “It is a new state of the art technology targeting not only Comsol’s existing market but moving into the consumer space is also a huge step in the right direction to deliver high quality, cost effective internet access to many more South Africans,” he informs us.

COMSOL NETWORKS SOUTH AFRICA Tel: +27 (0) 10 140 8800 info@comsola.co.za careers@comsola.co.za

Africa Outlook issue 90 | 9

COMSOL NETWORKS SOUTH AFRICA 152 Roan Crescent Corporate Park North Midrand Gauteng South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 10 140 8800 info@comsola.co.za careers@comsola.co.za

PRODUCED BY AFRICA OUTLOOK MAGAZINE