Harith General Partners unveiled the smartest building on the continent on Thursday in partnership with Cisco, one of Silicon Valley’s biggest operators, as they spelt out opportunities for greater investment in such projects in Africa.
Across the world, companies are turning to technology to help manage their premises, office spaces and campuses, hoping to reduce costs that come from inefficient energy use, while monitoring the movement of people among a host of items that include access control, venue management and surveillance systems.
On Thursday, the partners showcased the smart building where Harith’s offices in Johannesburg are housed.
Harith, a digital infrastructure investor on the continent, and Cisco are seeing an opportunity to bring this technology to new and existing clients. Both companies have a presence in SA and a number of African countries. The rationale is to see where common areas lie, then combine Harith’s infrastructure, such as fibre, with Cisco’s networking capability and technology as a package.
Harith is a $1.2bn infrastructure fund associated with Tshepo Mahloele, chair of Arena Holdings which owns Business Day.
As an example, Lanseria, Johannesburg’s second-largest airport that Harith is invested in, could use Cisco’s technology to make it a smart set of buildings and campus overall. Connectivity in and around the airport would then be provided by fibre operator Maziv, another of Harith’s investments.
“A partner like Cisco enhances [our offering] with the next level of connection. For example, we have ambitions of creating a smart city around Lanseria. We see that node as something to take forward. We’re investing a lot there. We believe in that project,” Mahloele said in an interview.
“The type of technology that Cisco has [can] enable the realisation of that smart city. Bit by bit, the layer of their security and networks enhances our assets,” he said.
Cisco executive vice-president and chief people, policy and purpose officer, Francine Katsoudas, told Business Day Harith’s building joins the tech company’s New York office as an example of the full smart building experience and showcase of what the technology can do.
“Companies have these buildings and offices that often run inefficiently. Our technology can help clients to manage them better, reduce costs and increase return on investment,” Katsoudas said.
Valued at about $255bn, Cisco is 40 years old and one of the world’s largest technology companies that manufactures and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment and other products.
Increasing efficiency is often seen as a game of small gains that can go a long way to improve business processes and reduce cost.
For large business operations, this is especially true. For example, Discovery is estimated to spend about R23m annually on rent for its head office premises.
A 10% efficiency gain for water, electricity and other utilities would amount to millions in cost savings.
A smart building integrates technology such as Internet of Things sensors and data analytics to automate and optimise building operations, such as air conditioning, lighting and security, aiming to enhance energy efficiency, occupant comfort and overall safety by using real-time data to create a responsive and sustainable environment.
Putting this technology into a number of buildings and locations also helps to advance the government’s ambitions to build smart cities.
During the launch event Maropene Ramokgopa, minister in the presidency responsible for planning, monitoring & evaluation, highlighted that the Harith-Cisco partnership falls in line with the government’s agenda about boosting the digital economy.
She said infrastructure development was key to driving economic growth and that this ties in with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s work as the chair of the AU’s infrastructure unit.
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