Three tiers of connectivity for a hyper-connected world

Hugo van Zyl, chief technology and systems officer at Openserve, a division of the Telkom Group.

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In today's hyper-connected world, connectivity plays a vital role. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) are nothing without effective connectivity.

Hugo van Zyl, chief technology and systems officer at Openserve, a division of the Telkom Group, says across the board connectivity requires a network in three tiers:

1. IP-enabled optical core and transmission network that can transport data quickly and efficiently.

2. An aggregation network that brings together access technologies to enable the data to get onto the fibre superhighway.

3. Access networks that can be used to build networks for customers using as many or as few of these solutions as required.

ICT providers play a vital role in the economic development of South Africa, as everything from AI to the Internet of things (IOT) is part of the new platform economies being established. Without connectivity, this cannot happen.

"The impact of 'everything connected' will add to the high data requirement. Providing world class-connectivity is crucial to this country's future, as it's vital for the enablement of e-education, e-government, and other platform businesses," says Van Zyl.