Tellumat Defence sponsors, exhibits at MICSSA conference, continues unbroken patronage since event`s inception

The Tellumat Defence division in the innovative Tellumat Group has again taken Platinum Sponsorship of the Military Information and Communications Symposium of SA (MICSSA), held from 20-23 July in Pretoria.

Brian Ferguson, Tellumat Defence marketing and sales manager, says the company exhibited an extensive array of technologies and jointly presented an industry paper at this year`s event.

MICSSA was attended by communications specialists from the South African and SADC countries` armed forces, vendors and dignitaries. Tellumat received significant interest from SADC and other countries, with which the SA government has co-operative agreements.

"Our strategy is to seek partnerships that will further our government`s co-operative stance," Ferguson says. "To that end, we develop and source technologies with a clear focus on interoperability."

The turnout at the highly targeted event was a modest-sounding 350, but Ferguson says MICSSA presents quality networking opportunities, often planting the seed for enduring partnerships. Tellumat has certainly benefited from being an integral part of the event, having sponsored it four times in succession since its inception in 2003.

As part of its obligation, Tellumat sponsored a post-graduate Military Academy student, Slt Maseko Bocheli, to present a paper on mobile telephone forensics, at MICSSA.

Tellumat jointly presented an industry paper that generated a great deal of interest at MICSSA this year. Advancing arguments in favour of using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology in military applications, it included its own experiences in a recent radar upgrade as a case study.

"Going the COTS route can be a win-win situation for all involved," says Ferguson. "The upfront investment is lower than with traditional military designs and as long as continuous updates are planned and budgeted for, the customer will always be at the leading edge of technology." He adds that the means exist to ensure commercial technology is fit for military purposes.

One of the opportunities at the event was the chance for vendors to showcase and demonstrate their technologies. Tellumat exhibited a broad range of products, including:

* Identification
* IFF Transponders
* National Identification Systems - secure, unique country-specific IFF systems
* Tactical Communications - including analogue and encrypted digital data links for UAVs
* Point-to-point microwave communication links
* WiMax - quickly deployed point-to-multipoint communications.

Partnerships:

Ferguson says Tellumat`s standing as an independent, privately-owned South African company has benefits for both local and overseas customers. "As we are a black-empowered company and Level 4 contributor to BBBEE, our customers receive recognition for contracting our technologies and services.

"For other territories, we offer empowerment and self-reliance through partnership." He explains that emerging economies are under restrictions from some developed countries in the military technology that they may buy from them. To solve the quandary, Tellumat is actively seeking mutually beneficial co-development partnerships with organisations in other countries, under the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) partnership, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 20 (G20) countries. It is following up such deals in South America, North Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia.

Tellumat has a lot to offer its partners, having built up extensive intellectual property and deep domain expertise in defence and complementary areas, including electronic manufacturing and commercial communications. The company has product engineering, development, project management, supply and servicing skills in numbers.

Tellumat`s customer successes are far-reaching. It honours multiple supply, installation, maintenance and upgrade contracts with the SANDF and SAAF (via Armscor), civil aviation organisations (including Airports Company of South Africa and Air Traffic and Navigation Services), and state-owned enterprises (like Meraka Institute). It has been named a supplier of microwave links that will help power the national network of Neotel, the country`s second fixed-line operator.

All told, Tellumat Defence`s strong partnership ethos has benefited a multitude of partner organisations in other countries, customer entities and suppliers. "We believe we have a lot more to offer existing and new partners with our continued focus on leading innovation, interoperability, collaboration and full-service market engagement," Ferguson concludes.