South Africa IT Provider First Technology Using Pivot3

Pivot3, Inc., a supplier of VDI serverless
storage appliances, announced that First
Technology (Pty) Ltd, one of South Africa single-source providers of IT
products and services, is using its vSTAC VDI appliance to consolidate server
and storage resources.

The first test trial was completed at Stellenbosch
University‘s new Ukwanda Rural Clinical School in Worcester, the Faculty of
Medicine and Health Sciences.

"We see a huge potential for this
solution to address our IT infrastructure limitations when hosting large
numbers of students during online assessments and exams," said David
Wiles, Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences computer
users area manager. "Until now,
obtaining enterprise class VDI has only been within the scope of corporate IT,
as it was too costly and complex for a university environment like ours."

Ranked second by the Times Higher Education World University
Rankings, Stellenbosch University is recognised as one of the four top research
universities in South Africa. Educational institutions around the globe are turning
to VDI as a way to provide faculty and students with mobile desktops, as well
as enable students to connect securely to hosted curricula and exams.
Currently, VDI is simplifying the IT operations of universities by eliminating
patching, provisioning and repair time by offering instantaneous delivery of
custom classroom or laboratory applications for different fields of speciality.

"The Pivot3 vSTAC VDI
appliance consolidates server and storage resources into a single hardware
appliance, which makes it particularly well-suited to the South African market,"
said Johan de Villiers, regional director of First Technology. "By eliminating the complexities, skill
levels and costs normally associated with enterprise-class VDI installations,
Pivot3 will enable us to better serve our customers and control our virtual
environments."

"We believe that there is
significant pent up demand for a simple and affordable VMware-based VDI
solution that can be easily deployed and scaled," said Mike Holt,
director of channels and strategic alliances at Pivot3. "First Technology is the ideal partner for us
to work with in South Africa as they are one of the leading roviders of IT
products and services."