I am incredibly proud of the work my company, VAST Networks, has done. As the CTO, I am responsible for
- Continuously rearchitecting the network to deliver robust and varied services
- Deploying new hotspots
- Exploring and finding more efficient, cheaper and/or more scalable ways of deploying new hotspots
- Supporting and maintaining the hotspot locations
- Developing and keeping current products and overall network health
Our work over 2.5 years has resulted in us winning the Best Wi-Fi Service Provider in the World 2017, and Most Affordable Service Provider in the World 2017 as recognised by Wi-Fi Now. We were also shortlisted for Best Wireless Infrastructure in the World by the WBA, which we lost to Cisco. Not bad company to keep if you’re going to lose.
However, what I am most amazed by is the lack of interest in our local market in our products and/or services, when we seem to be smashing the lights in almost every metric that counts;
- Page impressions
- Unique visitors
- Concurrent visitors
- Session lengths / durations and repeat custom
- Network throughput
- Captive portal load times
- Redundancy and resiliency of the network
- Different on-boarding methods
Why is it that South African media and mobile companies haven’t woken up and exploited the network that is already there ? I am also convinced that local media/press only advertise companies or recognise innovation in success from people who advertise with them. Pathetic behaviour and so much for the “impartial tech press”.
