From Africa to the world: Konn3ct officially enters global video-conferencing market

From Africa to the world: Konn3ct officially enters global video-conferencing market

Amidst rising adoption of video-conferencing solutions to by-pass obstacles of Coronavirus pandemic and facilitate seamless e-conferencing, Konn3ct, the first of such solutions coming from Africa has been officially launched by a Nigerian tech company, Newwaves Ecosystem.

The official unveiling of Konn3ct took place on Wednesday after months of pilot deployment and usage by corporate, religious, business and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) during which its features were perfected to compete favourably in the global space with early brands.

The launch of the solution has been described as the watershed for technological revolution in Nigeria and the continent by prominent experts including Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the director general of the Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) who unveiled the brand at the launch.

Prominent Nigerians from all walks of life, Wednesday, praised the creative ingenuity behind the development of Konn3ct, Africa’s first online meetings and conferences solution, saying its historical launch will be the watershed for technological revolution in Nigeria and the continent.

Developed wholly by Nigerians, Konn3ct is a suite of web-conferencing solutions that cover a range of applications used for meetings, conferences, webinars, live-classroom, syndicate events, and remote cinema among others.

Its formal launch on Wednesday signaled the entry of the first company of African origin into the fast-growth global online meetings business that analysts project to be worth more than $78 billion in the next 10 years.

Leading eminent personalities at the launch, which held at a meeting room in konn3ct.com was the Director General of the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi – represented by Dr Abdullahi Usman, Deputy Managing Director and Director IT Infrastructure, was optimistic about a company in the Nigerian ICT sector making it to the exclusive list of the Forbes 500 companies in the future.

Abdullahi, who said the launch of the new meetings app represents a milestone development during his tenure as the DG of NITDA, added that with the unique features built into the new solution, Konn3ct will strongly fare better against competing solutions in the market.

“Konn3ct boasts of the most robust security architecture in the industry; it has an amazing video experiences and, in a continent, where broadband costs and penetration are still major challenge, the low data consumption cost and other conferencing options that have been built into this solution has all the makings of a world-beater,” he said.

Former Managing Director, Segun Oleketuyi, Wema Bank PLC said Konn3ct is challenging the statuesque. “Konn3ct is challenging the forerunners. This is a bold initiative from Konn3ct”.

He praised the efforts of NewWaves Ecosystems in giving Africa its first online meetings app, saying that the development falls in line with the agenda of the Federal Government towards encouraging indigenous Nigerian content in the information and communication technology sector.

Citing the role played by online meeting solutions in facilitating government activities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021, he expressed the belief that the arrival of an indigenous solution will be of greater benefit to the government and people of Nigeria.

Prof Adeshina Sodiya, President, Nigerian Computer Society, said Nigerians do not need to look outside for software. “Any software you need you can get it in Nigeria. Konn3ct has proved this fact. It is adequate for our need as a nation and for the world. Whatever product NITDA puts its stamp on is always good. With Konn3ct we will not need to use our foreign exchange on foreign product. Let us accept this product. IT products globally have room for improvements. There will always be new version of Konn3ct”.

In His goodwill message, Prof. Charles Uwadia – President and Chairman-In-Council (Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), linked the innovation behind the building of the Konn3ct meetings solution to the power of the indefatigable Nigerian spirit that, according to him, had earlier manifested during the financial technology revolution that was then, inspired by the banking sector.

Referring to its 3.16 percentage contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at a time of national and global economic lockdown, Prof. Uwadia was sure that the ICT holds strong promise in the economic revitalization of Nigeria.

“I am proud of this feat by NewWaves Ecosystem in developing such an amazing solution that will rival any solution in the world today.  I congratulate the DG of NITDA for shining the light for innovation to thrive in Nigeria and the birth of another testament of success in the Nigerian project,” he concluded.

The CEO of NewWaves Ecosystems and lead innovator behind the Konn3ct meetings app, Mr Femi Williams, highlighted the value propositions in the new solution that differentiate it from all other solutions in the market.

Femi Williams

He said the Nigerian Local Content Act was a major inspiration behind the project, saying the law convinced him and his team of the possibilities and opportunities for enterprises and innovations of Nigerian origin.

“The Local Content policy of the Nigerian government gives Konn3ct its backbone. Konn3ct is therefore a testament that the policy is not just something borne out of nationalistic ego, but designed to enhance the technological growth of Nigeria and our capacity to provide solutions on home soil with home resources,” Mr. Williams, who also worked for Chams Nigeria Ltd, stated.

“Konn3ct is the first fully featured web-conferencing solution developed in Nigeria and Africa. This gives Konn3ct the pioneer status and puts Nigeria in the leadership role we have always provided on the continent. This leadership statement is best proven with Konn3ct’s adoption by large corporate organisations and governmental institutions, and its commercial success. This gives the technological edge to every African country as well as her people to thrive on.”

Williams explained that Konn3ct is an enterprise solution with features and management modules that makes it suitable for highly structured and sequenced environments. It is one of the largest online conferencing rooms in the world with capacity for a peak of 250 participants in a meeting and an unlimited number via livestreaming.

He added that it boasts of top-quality audio and video interface for smooth conferencing experience there is also a recording option that makes for documentation and sharing of meeting proceedings.

According to him, another unique feature of Konn3ct App is the capacity for break-out sessions. “This apes brick and mortar conferences where delegates and teams and enables time-outs for strategic group sessions within the same meeting. Users are allowed as many as eight break-out meetings within the larger meeting. The feature allows for private chats and group chats during the meeting, enabling the harmonisation of positions of interest groups even while the meeting is going on”.

He harped that Konn3ct has two security features: the Secure Socket Layer Encryption (SSL Encryption) a process undergone by data under the SSL protocol in order to protect that data during transfer and transmission by creating a uniquely encrypted channel that gives the user a private communication link channel over the public Internet; the other is the Transport Layer Security, which primarily provides privacy and data integrity between two or more communicating computer applications.