News & Insights

How do you gain insight and visibility into your information technology services? You have so many options, like: Telemetry, NetFlow collection, syslog(s) collection, network taps (lawful data interception), SNMP polling, ICMP or TCP polling, application APIs, orchestration software APIs, cloud APIs… the list goes on.

Historically, the concept of network monitoring meant software polling the network devices to confirm if they were up or down. In time, more advanced systems evolved to measure performance metrics and check configuration compliance too.

My dear fellow South Africans,

The year 2021 was not easy and like 2020, it was still overshadowed with COVID-19-related challenges. We are currently facing the last part of a fourth wave of infections and the latest variant, Omicron. 

These years will be recorded in our history books, like the Spanish Flu of 1918 – 1920. They will always be thought of as the time when our global society was put to the test.

One of the best pieces of advice you will ever receive in your life is to always be a lifelong student.

I know it sounds like a drag – twelve years of school, followed by +/- 3-6 of further education studies seems like a soul-sucking, moneymaking concept without adding more ‘education’ to the mix.

But the truth is: most of what we learn in school and even university can only take us so far in life. No one teaches you how to do your taxes; how to navigate difficult relationships and conflict as adults; how to inspire greatness or bravery in others by being the best, most authentic version of yourself and showing kindness to all things, man and beast alike.

In a world where technology and online content are the lifeblood of our communication, connectedness, and even careers – having your business sites or IT infrastructure experience outages or go down for even a few moments (or worse, hours) can be devastating.

The Pitfalls of Machine Learning when Striving for AIOps

On the roadmap to Artificial Intelligence for IT operations (AIOps), organisations need to consider implementing a Machine Learning (ML) platform that can ingest and analyse large volumes of data from multiple sources.

A while back, I wrote a short piece on ideas and in the spirit of innovation – especially with the Load Shedding API competition that we’re running (https://loadshedding-api.sintrex.com/) – I thought that I would share a practical flow of how we try to guide ideas towards potentially becoming commercial products. 

As August is nationally recognised as Women’s Month in South Africa, it seemed appropriate to write about women in the workplace – especially as one such woman. 

Last year, when the President called for a national lockdown, few of us were prepared to work from home.

I recall the days of supporting users. A helpdesk call would be assigned to you and off you would run to help the exec’s PA print something.

Imagine that you are phoning your friend, “Angie”… It rings 6 times and then diverts to voicemail. Irked, you leave a pleasant message: “Hey Angie… it’s me… call me. Miss you. Mwah.”

I have always been someone who grapples with stress. I could blame a genetic predisposition, character-forming years or simply, an unfair personality type… but whatever the reason, it is just how I am wired.

My father always said, “If it’s working, don’t fix it!” It is great advice and I still don’t fiddle with things that don’t need fixing – but I have, in life and in my career, encountered scenarios that definitely cannot be left alone for too long.

While Christmas is all about family, eating, drinking and making merry, there are many of us that are not fortunate enough to have a honey glazed gammon as the centre piece of the table.

IT Operational Management is one of the toughest positions to fulfil (in my opinion) – it’s also one of the most challenging environments within which to effectively apply changes that result in improvements.

We all have them. Ideas, right? How many times have you thought of something… and then sometime later you see it happen? Someone else has done it. Someone has re-invented or improved something that you’ve already thought about.

Because we are inundated by the many negatives related to this pandemic daily, I decided to rather highlight some positive experiences… So, if you were looking for more politics or more negativity, you’ll be sure to find it – but you can close this page now. 

In these challenging times, it is interesting watching the politics evolve. A couple of months ago USA and China were big buddies – and now look at them… flinging mud at each other regarding the origin of COVID-19.

If you have a look at the average global statistics, as cited on Worldometer, 5% of those who contract COVID-19 will die. In South Africa’s context, that is about 3 million people (assuming everyone gets infected).

Dear Client, In light of the COVID-19 virus recently being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the declaration by the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, of a national state of emergency from 15th March 2020

Sintrex recently hosted a coaching company to enlighten our staff on their personality types and behavior patterns… One of those really cool HR session where you learn a lot about yourself and your colleagues.

Monitoring systems that statistically indicate that things are bad, implies that certain actions must be taken to rectify. “But you’re telling me what my users are already telling me” is NOT the desired response.

An IT infrastructure is the central nervous system of a business. It allows the company to function, ensures that operations are smooth and seamless, and ensures that the productivity companies require, remain constant and available for successful trading.

Twenty years ago, “Brain Drain” articles were common and I remember thinking that I’ve chosen the right career. Forecasts at that stage predicted that in ten years, most companies would struggle to find or retain the right tech skills for their businesses.

Wispeco Aluminium is the largest aluminium extrusion company in South Africa.

The company recently suffered issues after implementing SYSPRO ERP for its branches across the country.