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6 Weekend Post SATURDAY : SEPTEMBER 17, 2016NEWS

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NEWS IN BRIEF

PORT Elizabeth israpidly rising as asoftware develop-ment city. Compa-nies with headquar-

ters in other South African andinternational cities are openingoffices or expanding their basehere for a number of reasons,including the lower cost ofproperty and rentals; the qual-ity of life and the pipeline ofgraduates who are skilled insoftware development – a mas-sive global market.

“We develop software for ourinternational partners in the auto-motive industry, mainly in Ger-many and Belgium, and there is amassive and growing demand,”said Nico Claassen, the softwaredevelopment manager for S4, aPort Elizabeth-based industrial au-tomation company whose clientsinclude Volkswagen, Porsche andBentley, as well as electric vehiclemanufacturers such as FaradayFuture and Karma.

The company employs 40 soft-ware developers, almost all ofthem from Nelson MandelaMetropolitan University (NMMU),

Johannesburg-based companycalled Yellow Professional Serv-ices (YPS) – the technology arm ofthe international Business DoctorInvestments (BDI).

It is negotiating an on-campusjoint venture company calledUniYellow that will offer studentsthe opportunity to earn moneywhile working on applied knowl-edge software development, and anopportunity to join the company.

“Software development is a glo-bal language that is not confinedto a geographical space, and withthe scarcity of skilled graduates inthis sector, companies are activelyengaging with us,” said ProfessorJean Greyling from NMMU’s com-puting sciences department.

“Our department promotescomputer science in schoolsthroughout the province and inGeorge where NMMU has a cam-pus,” Prof Greyling added.

This month, one of NMMU’s in-formation and communicationstechnology (ICT) graduates, JustinDrennan, was selected as one ofthe top 31 entrepreneurs under 40making waves in South Africa withmultimedia digital publisher BurnMedia’s ventureburn.com.

His startup, ParcelNinja, is ane-commerce warehouse wherebycompanies drop off their stock atsmart-warehouse locations, andcustomers then order via Parcel-Ninja’s admin systems and deliv-ery network.

To build and support innovativenew businesses, NMMU estab-lished a city-based business incu-bator called Propella.

The university offers Propella’s

expertise and research, as well asinnovative projects, and its par t-nership with the Telkom FutureMakers programme supports thedevelopment of software develop-ment and ICT entrepreneurs.

“A big advantage of being part ofPropella is that start-ups aregroomed and linked with industrypar tners,” P ro p e l l a ’s business sup-port manager Ellen Fischat said.

The Seda Mandela Bay ICT Incu-bator (SNII) is also addressing thegrowing need for software devel-opment in our city, including 24ICT startups.

According to SNII’s executivemanager Phumza Mfenyana, theyhave identified role players in thelocal economy who can benefitfrom innovative ICT solutions.

“The software developmentlandscape in PE has really started

to change into a product develop-ment hub,” NMMU masters grad-uate Direshin Pather said.

Pather is the CEO of AppN Tech,a Port Elizabeth-based softwaredevelopment company that spe-cialises in native mobile app devel-opment for a range of clients.

Third-year NMMU computer sci-ence student Cornelius Greylingopened a software house in PortElizabeth called Avocado Choco-late in January this year, togetherwith three NMMU graduates and acolleague from Cape Town.

AvoChoc clients include CopaAmerica (the world’s oldest andone of the largest internationalfootball tournaments) and ProjectIsizwe, the largest governmentfunded public space free Wi-Fiprovider in Africa.

Another PE startup is Hello

World Code, founded and run bycomputer science and electricalengineering students turnede n t re p re n e u r s .

NMMU graduate Chris Went-wor th established his own compa-ny in Port Elizabeth this yearcalled W2IT Solutions.

Wentworth said that up until re-cently, computer science gradu-ates from NMMU tended to rushoff to Johannesburg, Cape Town orhead overseas because Port Eliz-abeth didn’t offer sufficient soft-ware development opportunities.

“This is changing and it’s excit-ing. It will make a huge differenceto the economy and intellectualcapital of Nelson Mandela BayMetro and the Eastern Cape.”

Software City - PE risingPort Elizabeth is rapidly turning into a software development hub, writes Heather Dugmore

FORWARD-THINKING: One of Korbitec’s software development teams in action

predominantly computer scienceand electrical engineering gradu-ates.

Claassen himself is an electricalengineering graduate from NMMU.

Cape town-based Korbitec, amember of the LexisNexis Group,is one of the international compa-nies that opened a software devel-opment office in Port Elizabeththis year.

“Port Elizabeth is a really goodprospect for us because we are inthe business of product develop-ment, not outsourcing. NMMU andRhodes University are our main re-cruitment areas and have been forthe past 11 years,” Korbitec’s soft-ware development and operationsgeneral manager Peter Raine said.

Also engaging with NMMU, is a

“It will make a hugedifference to the economyand intellectual capital ofNelson Mandela Bay Metroand the Eastern Cape”CHRIS WENTWORTH

GLOBAL APPEAL: The CEO of Port Elizabeth-based softwaredevelopment company a AppN Tech, Direshin Pather

New police response system tested in Bay pilot projectGareth Wilsonwilsong@timesmedia.co.za

PORT Elizabeth is the testingground for a new policing modelto ensure speedy response timesand better control over the emer-gency control room and officials.

The pilot-project system couldbe rolled out countrywide shouldteething problems be resolved.

This comes in the wake of re -cent crime figures showing a risein violent crimes like murder, carand truck hijackings, and homeand business robberies.

Earlier this week, police sta-tions were ordered to send policemembers, in some cases 10 from a

station, to the operational com-mand centre.

The new system will be rolledout in phases and will allow se-nior police officials to test reac-tion times and resources throughlive monitoring.

The need comes as the 2014-15annual police report revealed av-erage response time for police toan emergency situation in theEastern Cape was 18 minutes –one of the longest in the country.

The new project aims to con-solidate existing hi-tech resour-ces, such as car-tracking devicesand control room computer sys-tems, to ensure a more efficientresponse – particularly to crimes

still in progress.The project is the brainchild of

national Management Interven-tion Unit head and deputy natio-nal commissioner Lieutenant-General Gary Kruser – who is alsospearheading the anti-gang initia-tive, Operation Lock Down.

Similar concepts are alreadyoperational in several first-worldcountries.

The pilot project involves theMount Road cluster, which in-cludes the Mount Road, Hume-wood, Walmer, Gelvandale,Bethelsdorp, Kabega Park and Al-goa Park police station areas.

Should the pilot project work, itwould see police resources com-

bined, leading to intelligence-driven operations and quicker re-sponse times.

The project – which launchedon Thursday – will see the Bay’smultimillion-rand 10111 controlcentre in Korsten monitored bythe operational command centre.

Police spokeswoman ColonelPriscilla Naidu said the centreaimed to integrate and coordi-nate efforts to prevent and com-bat crime within the cluster.

Officials involved with the pro-ject – who declined to be namedas they are not allowed to speakto the media – said the new op-eration placed pressure on crimeintelligence operatives – who

work undercover – to provide in-formation about crime havensand hotspots.

“This would effectively en-hance command and control ofoperational officials on theg ro u n d .

“It allows management to iden-tify hotspot areas through crimeanalysis and then do a mass de-ployment in that area, while thevehicles and officials can be mon-itored by the centre.”

The operational command cen-tre is the heart of the operationand will be manned by staff andsenior officers who can overseeall response (and crime preven-tion) vehicles 24 hours a day and

also assess 10111 to make sure itoperates ef fectively.

One of the officials said the sys-tem would ensure a quicker re-sponse but also allow for betteroversight and control over policeon the road.

“For example, if there is a high-speed car chase and shootout,this system would allow the con-trol room to deploy vehicles to in-tercept the criminals as well asprovide backup to any member inneed without them even request-ing it,” the official said.

“The pilot project aims to iden-tify teething problems so manage-ment can assess if it should berolled out.”

PE court delayshacker’s sentenceTHE mastermind behind a R19.7-millionhacking scam will hear his fate in less than amonth, after yesterday’s sentencing waspostponed in the Port ElizabethMagistrate’s Court.

Former KwaZulu-Natal EducationDepartment official Mduduzi Mkhize, 42,appeared briefly in court, where his casewas postponed to October 6, due to a Zuluinterpreter being sick.

On September 6, Mkhize was convictedon c h a rg e s which included fraud.

He is accused with former NMMU studentLungisa Kosi, Nelson Mandela BayMunicipality former acting head of staffKholeka Ngqondi, her husband Khayalethu,Nonhlanhla Mazibuko, Mandisi Busakweand Phumla Ntonzi, of hacking into the Baymunicipality’s database in August 2009 tosteal close to R20-million.

They are being tried separately fromMkhize and will be back in court onNovember 25.

The syndicate installed a softwareprogramme onto the municipality’sdatabase, which then automaticallye-mailed the keystrokes to a member of thesyndicate.

This information was then used totransfer money from the municipality’saccount. – Tremaine van Aardt

Fund to appealJoost payoutTHE Attorneys Fidelity Fund’s board ofcontrol says its legal representatives haveread the judgment ordering it to pay formerSpringbok player Joost van der WesthuizenR385 000 and have advised there aresound grounds for an appeal.

The Pretoria High Court on Wednesdayordered the fidelity fund to pay the moneyto the ailing former rugby player‚ who saidhe urgently needed the money to be paidout from the trust fund of his formerattorney, Robert Klinkenberg.

The attorney died in December last year.The fidelity fund is a statutory body

whose objective is to protect the publicagainst loss as a result of the theft of trustfunds by legal practitioners.

Van der Westhuizen‚ who is seriously illwith motor neuron disease‚ took the fund tocourt after his claim for the allegedlymisappropriated money was turned down.

The fund said yesterday it appreciatedthe circumstances pertaining to Van derWesthuizen, but that it had a duty to applythe provisions of the Attorneys Act.

“A c c o rd i n g l y ‚ our legal team has beeninstructed to prepare an application forleave to appeal the aforesaid judgment.”

The filing of the notice of appeal willresult in the suspension of the judgment. –TMG Digital

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