Integr8 technology keeps the fiscal wheel turning for business

JOHANNESBURG - May 27, 2013 - PRLog -- Managed ICT service is critical to the strength and sustainability of every sector within the economy, but few have the credentials and experience to meet the needs of all businesses. South African managed ICT services provider offers its service globally and has a solid foundation of experience across several key vertical and horizontal sectors, achievement and success that differentiates it within the ever-competitive and growing service provider community. The financial sector is one that the company has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with

Upon its inception in 2001, Integr8 – founded by high-impact tech-entrepreneurs Robert Sussman and Lance Fanaroff – was immediately positioned to serve as the chief cog in a client’s ICT infrastructure wheel.

Management went about channelling the company’s intellectual capital, technical expertise, resources and experience into a proactive services model based on quick turnaround time and the most practical solutions. The end result has been a reliable and constant technology service provider to fast-growth sectors, including Finance.

Established companies within this sector can attest to the services of Integr8 and the credibility of the company as a trusted service provider.

Master Currency, now Bidvest Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Bidvest Group Limited, is a former and long-time client of Integr8. The company has served as a provider of financial services to travellers, with bureaux located in high profile areas across the country – including OR Tambo International Airport and Cape Town International Airport.

Inter-branch connectivity and reliable ICT infrastructure has always been a critical component of the company’s daily operations.

Master Currency’s partnership with Integr8 resulted in a strengthened and enhanced ICT capacity, which effectively positioned the company to successfully grow its ICT infrastructure and meet the demands on the network.

Today the company is fully equipped to handle external and internal demands on network infrastructure, particularly those that relate to the impetus of key trends including BYOD, consumerisation, cloud and social networking, amongst others.

Blue Financial Services

JSE-listed Blue Financial Services continues to benefit from its partner Integr8.

Blue Financial Services is based in Gauteng, South Africa, and has successfully entrenched its business network across key areas in Africa including Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. It is also expanding into West Africa. The company has over 106 branches and a staff compliment of over 600 people.      

Its service offering to clients includes personal loans, mobile technology and home improvement loans. Roll out in Africa and the realization of its capital-raising strategy is a key priority for the company as it minimizes regulatory risk and mitigates exposure to exchange rates.

Since outsourcing the management and maintenance of its entire IT operation to Integr8, the financial company has solidified its core ICT capability, ensuring its status as one of the most competitive financial organisations on the continent.

ATM Solutions

ATM Solutions, a subsidiary of VISA third party processor Paycorp, outsourced their entire infrastructure management and managed services to Integr8.

Integr8 has also tailored a network refresher Program for ATM Solutions, which has resulted in an enhanced, more powerful and progressive communications infrastructure.

Paycorp is the largest independent provider of payment services in Southern Africa. The company works across all major payments streams including ATM, card issuing and merchant services.

The company operates one of the largest third-party financial transaction switches in Southern Africa, connecting to the majority of Southern African banks.

ATM Solutions is one of the company’s subsidiaries. It required an upgrade on the current network infrastructure.

The main objective was to address the future requirement of the network, using a phased approach, and implement a solution that allowed for rapid expansion and the addition of new nodes without massive recapitalisation on the network core.

As part of the foundation, Integr8 introduced a unified fabric series of switches that help address business, application, and operational requirements of the ATM evolving data centre.

This installation provides infrastructure simplicity to decrease the total cost of ownership, as well as:

Support for Unified Ports functionality, which can support traditional Ethernet, native Fibre Channel (FC), and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)

Enhanced business resilience, with greater operational continuity, based on modular Cisco NX-OS operating system

Ability to use existing operational models and administrative domains, for easy deployment

Ability to synchronize system clocks with an accuracy of less than one microsecond, based on IEEE 1588

Robert Sussman, joint CEO at Integr8, says the financial sector is a high-growth area of the economy and is renowned for its application of technology to enhance operations.

“Obviously the strength of the financial sector is critical to the sustainability of the country’s economy. Technology is fundamental to the success of this sector and operations within it. We are very proud of our long-time association with this sector and our contribution to its sustainability and influence, particularly from a technology point of view,” says Sussman.

“The sector is ahead of the curve in terms of readiness to manage and leverage off key influences including Big Data, Big Data analytics, social networking, cloud services and consumerisation,” he adds.