Right now I am relaxing on a sunny summer morning looking out over a small lake occupied by various species of exotic birds. Given that it is February and I usually reside at a latitude of fifty two degrees north, this is unusual for me.

This week we launched Nimsoft in South Africa. That gave me the unusual opportunity that I am enjoying right now. Earlier in the week it gave me the opportunity to take the revolving floor cable car to the top of Table Mountain, something that I chose not to do twenty years ago when I first had the opportunity. Maybe I am not so bothered by heights as I used to be.

As to the launch itself, I was positively surprised and impressed by the reception that we got in Cape Town and Johannesburg. It seems as if this country has been waiting a long time for a solution like Nimsoft. There are unique ICT challenges in South Africa not least that the Internet has to travel a long way to get here. All the major cables come along the sea bed and right now there are not enough of them. As to internal point to point communication, the geography and the economics of copper have driven the adoption of currently low bandwidth cell communication. ATMs linked by GPRS as an example. All in all a unique IT landscape that cries out for simple yet powerful, efficient yet scalable IT management solutions like Nimsoft.

But it is not just about technology in South Africa. History has shown that the most important part of ICT success is the availability of local trusted suppliers. And now that Nimsoft is represented by CA South Africa, a franchise business wholly owned by EOH, a highly respected organization in South Africa, I have every confidence that we have the appropriate channel to the African market.

All in all a great week both professionally and personally. Time to see some lions?