Dube iConnect: A Base for IT Resellers to Grow

In the space of a year, Dube TradePort Corporation’s Dube iConnect operation has assisted nine small- to medium-sized reseller enterprises to break into a competitive environment, offering services equal to those of big data centres, at a cost-effective rate.

“It is in this reseller market that Dube iConnect is realising its growth which, for the year ending March 2014, is 82,7%,” says Steve Johnson, Dube TradePort Corporation’s Key Accounts Manager: Dube iConnect.

The unique model enables resellers to sell Dube iConnect data storage as a base and enhance the offering with their own specialised services.

“As an example, one reseller will, in March, launch a product it has developed that achieves a desktop in the cloud, so you can run your entire office, including Pastel, from your phone, Windows machine, iPad and so on,” says Johnson.

“We were building this ICT infrastructure for our own purposes. Dube iConnect was providing voice and data and we predicted where the market was going. Therefore, the next logical choice was a data centre equipped to meet the economic development objective across the board in KwaZulu-Natal,” says Hamish Erskine, Dube TradePort Corporation’s Executive: ICT.

“Dube iConnect is now in a position to empower small to medium enterprises to deliver cloud-based services, while Dube iConnect provides the infrastructure, so we are not competing in the same space,” says Erskine.

Two years ago, when Dube iConnect was starting on its Data Centre journey, it met a company planning to set up the same thing. That company had R250 000 for hardware, from which it planned to sell basic cloud storage.

“We asked if they would like to see our Data Centre and if they would like to become a reseller. They did and they now have a successful business without having to spend that money. With the infrastructure that we have, our resellers are able to see a return immediately.”

“Our job is to stimulate the KwaZulu-Natal economy and this data centre has given us the opportunity to encourage businesses to flourish, creating jobs and getting ahead of the market,” says Erskine.