I Matsepe-Casaburri: Launch of IBM New Business Continuity and Recovery
Services

21 June 2007

Managing Director, Mr Mark Harris
Mr Nyathi, Director Global Technology Services
Mr Steve Koen, NW Executive Committee Member
Representatives of the industry
Other distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to be part of this ground-breaking occasion in
which IBM launches its state-of-the-art Business Continuity and Recovery
Services Facility as part of the company's efforts to better its service
offering to South Africans and to the rest of the continent.

I think this invitation goes a long way to symbolise the good relationship
and partnership that has been developing between Government and the broader
information and communication technology (ICT) sector. As a developing country
that faces so many challenges, it can only be proper that we continue to work
and act together to ensure that we will maximise investments and returns. It is
most encouraging when we can come together to share our experiences, successes,
challenges and indeed to celebrate with each other in line with the sentiments
of this occasion.

The efficiency and effectiveness and security of our sector have
increasingly been challenged by more and higher level demands from users of our
services. I therefore congratulate IBM for setting up this state-of-the-art
facility and we hope that IBM will not only achieve what it sought to achieve
through this investment, but achieve also for its customers the assurance they
need as well as contribute to the development and growth of our country's
economy.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am informed that IBM has invested R110 million into
the development of this new facility. I have already taken a trip and have seen
what this facility is all about. I am convinced that the effort made by the
company will provide the very crucial service to ensure that businesses and
public organisations continue to operate, even in the face of disaster. As
Government, we are encouraged to see global companies such as IBM continuing to
invest heavily in our economy. This can only help to attract more investment
into the country, particularly in the area of information and communication
technology, which is central to making South Africa a key player in the
information-driven global economy.

A facility like this one plays a very significant role in achieving some of
the Government priorities, which among others, are primarily about increasing
service delivery to the citizens of this country. Uninterrupted and quality
service delivery is a prerequisite for competing in the global economic
environment that we now operate in.

IBM's history in this country does speak volumes. IBM first launched its
operations in South Africa back in 1952. It did heed the call for the isolation
of apartheid South Africa by being one of the first companies to train South
African black people in the Information Technology (IT) sector both here and
overseas; IBM therefore certainly knows and appreciates the challenges that are
facing this country. Hence I'm not surprised that this IT giant committed a
number of its people, who are IT specialists, to go and help the people of the
Democratic Republic of Congo during the country's recent landmark
elections.

This indicates that some private sector organisations share the view we hold
as government � that South Africa's political freedom and socio-economic growth
cannot be fruitful, if it is blind to the fate of the rest of the African
continent, especially, the Southern African region.

Chairperson, I was also informed that IBM invested more than R300 million in
the development of an Integrated Delivery Centre (IDC) in Sandton, not so far
away from here. In this centre, the company was again being equal to the task
inherent in our national call for all in South Africa, and those who do
business in this country, to rally together and help position our country as
the preferred destination for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) work. As one
of only six of IBM's global delivery centres (others are in India, Argentina,
China, Czech Republic and the US), South Africa is indeed counted among the
leaders in this space.

At least 1 500 new jobs have been created in this centre, which was
officially launched in March last year by the Deputy President, Ms Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka. This again illustrates the point that the BPO industry holds a
lot of promise for our nation.

This services industry, alongside tourism and manufacturing, really commands
the strategic ability to create a large number of jobs, while helping to
increase our critical skills base � the latter being another priority of
government. Projects like these, if we do them right, do tend to lead to the
creation of new enterprises across sectors, and ensure skills and knowledge
transfer.

The rise of information and communications technologies (ICTs) has also
inspired major changes to our societies. Balancing work and social life, while
working or delivering services twenty four hours a day/ seven days a week,
because of the increasing speed of globalisation, demands collaboration, across
boarders thus fuelling of worldwide economic growth � which all put pressure on
environment. This also challenges governments and economies to think and act
differently. South Africa long recognised the importance of ICTs for
development and the need to build an inclusive Information Society with a
development agenda. In February this year, the Cabinet approved the following
vision for the country in this regard: Establish South Africa as an advanced
Information Society in which ICT tools and information are key drivers of
economic and societal development. The achievement of this vision cannot be
achieved by government alone. Only when governments, industry, academia and
citizens come together, can the basis for sustained economic and social
innovation and change, be established.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, gives us a real opportunity to shape innovation
that will ultimately shape future social and economic progress.

I'm impressed on hearing that South Africa will in September, be home to one
of IBM's Global Innovation Outlook discussion forums. I'm told that they have
already held similar forums in countries such as Senegal and Kenya. I believe
that IBM has finally realised that Africa can indeed be an important player on
the global stage. The world cannot claim to be progressing when it shuts out
800 million Africans!

What I also find interesting are the questions that thought leaders who
participate in these forums are grappling with, such as:

* How IT can enable business models to advance the African economies?
* How can global business, best partner local enterprises, universities and
Governments to build a better platform for economic growth and
competitiveness?
* Who controls the message in an age of viral video, blogs and consumer
journalism?
* Where do intellectual property rights begin � and end?
* How can marketers, policy-makers and others adapt to take advantage of new
distribution channels and emerging business models?

What fascinates about these questions is that indeed these are the very sort
of questions South Africans, and other Africans through the New Partnership For
Africa's Development, e-Africa Commission and African Union are grappling with
daily, yet are exactly the same questions our ICT industry is trying to find
answers to.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the whole world is now sensitised to the importance of
responding to the energy and climate challenges. When you look at the business
challenge, it is estimated that rising energy costs for managing data centres,
which includes power and cooling systems, will increase by 54% in the next four
years, according to the research firm the Industrial Development Corporation
(IDC). This year, organisations will spend an estimated $29 billion (about R210
billion) on power and cooling systems for data centres. The question has to be
asked: What are our companies in South Africa doing to respond to this global
challenge? This is not a once-off problem that needs a once-off answer. IBM and
others in the sector may well invest billions of dollars in initiatives aimed
at addressing the energy and climate issues. But at the core of this issue is
that the industry has to take a lead and show South Africans what it means to
be truly green.

We should roll up our sleeves, now, and genuinely work towards ensuring that
all of us � in Government, the industry, Non-Governmental Organisations, our
business partners, the supply chain, the users of our products and services as
well as the media - really partner to elevate this all-important issue into one
that all of us can find solutions for. Clearly, failure is not an option as
this would only mean that we have failed our future generations.

Again, I have to emphasise the point that collaboration is a fundamental
bedrock of the accelerated path we seek to take for achieving our objectives in
the development of skills, in the creation of sustainable jobs and new
enterprises, and in giving our people access to the global information loop.
The continued growth in the contribution of our industry to the national Gross
Domestic Product is a responsibility that rests with all of us. As the nerve
centre of our economy, we do not have many options. One thing is sure � we have
to make ours an economy that works at a faster speed; that is above 6% growth.
And therefore, the relevance of continued investment by the private sector,
such as the one we are celebrating today, to complement our Government-driven
public sector investment, can never be over-emphasised.

Ladies and gentlemen, I also believe that it is developments such as this
facility and many other similar initiatives in the ICT sector that will also
contribute to the building of a robust and reliable infrastructure in South
Africa.

In closing, once again, I would like to congratulate IBM and to say, well
done! In the same vein, I call upon other companies and sector players to build
further on the collaboration we share today. I am confident that we can, and we
will do South Africa proud.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Communications
21 June 2007
Source: Department of Communication (https://www.doc.gov.za/)