At Tarsus Technology Group we believe in empowering education through technology. We’ve put a lot of time and consideration into how best we can offer a complete solution for a digital classroom, and we’ve taken big steps toward making this more than merely a possibility.
The acquisitions we have made have allowed us to provide an end-to-end solution, such as security, cloud, point of sale, financing and a host of hardware offerings. For any bespoke software solutions we do not currently offer, we will form partnerships with companies who offer these software solutions.
The aim of the project is to pull together all the requirements of the education space and offer a solution that is a complete conception-to-completion offering. The entire solution need not be purchased as a single entity, but customers will be able to cherry-pick as they please. The offering extends from the digital classroom right through to the backend, and can be implemented in not only schools, but in tertiary institutions as well.
To understand the complete offering, it is important to look at the details of the parts that comprise it. The products and solutions currently on offer are as follows:
The Digital Classroom: this includes Promethean, which is a digital whiteboard, or alternatively a high-end touch display. A teacher can draw on it, pull up various apparatus and tools and create an interactive experience. Epson also provides an interactive projector which can display against any wall. These technologies all have their own ways of communicating the information out to the students’ notebooks and tablets etc., allowing the presenter to send their information directly to pupils’ desks. In our personal computing offering we have Lenovo, HP, Dell, Acer and Asus who offer a wide range of products catering for every student’s or teacher’s needs.
Networking: in the networking space we have several products such as Cisco, Juniper and HP Aruba. These will be used to offer WAN, LAN and wireless solutions to any school or campus.
Connectivity: we have partnered with several Telcos to offer enterprise connectivity solutions. We can put fibre, microwave, wireless or any kind of connectivity solution that customers might want, into place.
Cloud: Tarsus Cloud on Demand opens up the possibilities for us to do backups, DR, hosting and all types of storage solutions for the campuses. We also have access to Microsoft’s Azure platform which allows us to deliver the entire Microsoft suite of products from the cloud.
Security: Tarsus SecureData enables the supply of cyber security for the education sector. Due to the high volume of users, all the product sets are of enterprise quality. These institutions often have the same security requirements that a large enterprise would have. The security offerings cover the five security domains namely network, data, applications, device and security assurance. This can either be hosted, or on premises. Security is paramount and educational institutions need to comply with a range of regulations such as POPI, because of the nature of the information they keep.
Financing: Tarsus Channel Capital allows us to provide finance for the entire solution. Educational institutions can do a rental finance option should they not opt for an outright purchase. There are a number of warranty products available too, so specialised warranty services can be tailored to suit the customer.
Point of Sale: we acquired GAAP point of sale solutions who are able to offer tuck shop solutions for schools and tertiary institutions, allowing them to create a safer, cashless system.
Supply Chain Services: all products can be delivered anywhere, preconfigured and set up. We have also built a portal which enables our channel to offer online offerings to any educational facility. The reseller would be able to represent our entire offering through this portal to the community linked to that facility.
Technical Services: Technical skills across the spectrum are available to help the reseller put the entire solution together.
T-Bay: We will soon have an education corner on our premises, where you can view all these technologies. Our resellers can host schools or groups interested in these solutions here, and show them exactly what these technologies can do.
Our offerings are aimed at any educational institution wanting to digitise their current environment. We also want to help corporations who want to make a difference with their CSI spend by assisting them to implement a world class solution to any school or tertiary institution.
I’m very proud of what we’re doing here at Tarsus around education, and look forward to seeing widespread adoption and the country-wide learning and progress that it will facilitate over time.
Alan Hawkins is the Sales Director at Tarsus SecureData
