Hosted at the Interswitch Headquarters in Lagos, the event delivered a dynamic mix of knowledge sharing, networking, and thought-provoking conversations, a testament to Interswitch’s dedication to driving excellence within the tech ecosystem.

The energy was palpable as leading experts, industry pioneers, and passionate developers addressed key challenges and explored exciting opportunities in software engineering.

Through insightful presentations and white papers, the sessions offered valuable perspectives on the industry’s evolving landscape.

The event themed, ‘Innovating with Emerging Technologies’, featured an impressive line-up of speakers from Interswitch and other renowned organisations like Microsoft, NetApp and Remita, offering actionable strategies and deep insights into a range of relevant topics and reinforcing the importance of collaboration in navigating the complexities of modern software development.

Speakers from Interswitch included Abdul-Hafiz Ibrahim, Divisional Head, Engineering; Abdulbasit Kabir, Head of Infrastructure Engineering; Aihe Omoede, Divisional Head, Engineering and Technology; Folarin Oladunni, Enterprise Automation Engineer; and Suleiman Suleiman, Software Engineer.

They were joined by notable external speakers including Yves Weisser, Senior Consulting Solutions Architect, NetApp; Rabiu Yaya, Principal Group Engineering Manager, Microsoft Kenya; and Mujib Ishola, CTO of Remita.

Throughout the sessions, experts unpacked the latest tools, frameworks, and methodologies shaping the future of software engineering.

Suleiman explored gRPC Remote Procedure Call technology, highlighting its high-performance communication framework and its role in enhancing speed, security, and efficiency in transaction processing. Oladunni showcased Microsoft PowerApps, demonstrating how developers can build low-code applications to accelerate development and boost productivity.

Omoede discussed Docker, a Platform as a Service Product, illustrating how containerisation enhances developer efficiency and streamlines application deployment while Ibrahim introduced Hoverfly, an Application Programming Interphase (API) simulation tool that enables developers to test and optimise interactions without dependencies, leading to more reliable software.

Other key sessions focused on AI-driven software development, with discussions on how artificial intelligence automates repetitive tasks and optimises workflows. There were also deep dives into ways to automatically protect applications using GitOps methodologies and how to set up a Disaster Recovery Plan for stateful databases.

Experts further demonstrated how JHipster accelerates enterprise application development by seamlessly integrating backend and frontend frameworks. Beyond the sessions, the event provided an unmatched platform for networking, where participants exchanged ideas, built connections, and identified opportunities for collaboration.

With the resounding success of the maiden edition of the summit, Interswitch has set strong precedent for future gatherings. Interswitch’s unwavering commitment to fostering continuous learning and professional development consolidates the company’s position as a key driver of innovation in Nigeria’s software ecosystem.

Stay tuned for updates on future editions as Interswitch continues to champion innovation, collaboration, and growth within the tech ecosystem!

 The availability of cloud credits for third-party purchases through the hyperscalers’ marketplaces and the emergence of new digital-first buyers are reshaping enterprise customer procurement behavior, vendor sales strategies and channel models.

While most vendor sales via these marketplaces are today “direct” to end customers, channel partners are playing an increasingly important role. By 2027, Canalys expects more than 50% of marketplace sales to flow through the channel.

This trend is explored in a new Canalys research report: Now and next for hyperscaler marketplaces.

Enterprise customers have committed to spend over US$360 billion on the top three hyperscalers’ cloud services on a multi-year basis.

Spend is shifting to the hyperscalers’ marketplaces as customers seek to burn down a portion of their cloud credits on third-party software and SaaS.

AWS Marketplace remains the clear leader in terms of sales volume, but Microsoft and Google Cloud are focused on closing the gap.

With enterprises facing IT budget pressure, the opportunity to use pre-approved cloud budgets to source a wide array of software and cybersecurity products while taking advantage of simplified billing and consolidated purchasing can be highly compelling.

This is tempting vendors from across the technology spectrum to sell through the hyperscalers’ marketplaces. CrowdStrike and Snowflake were among the first to publicly claim US$1 billion of total cumulative sales through marketplaces, and a host of the largest software and cybersecurity vendors are actively embracing this route to market.

Cisco, Citrix, IBM, NetApp, Nutanix, Red Hat, Salesforce, ServiceNow and Zoom are just some of the vendors that have launched or grown their sales on the hyperscalers’ marketplaces so far in 2024.

At the same time, many smaller “digital native” ISVs built on one of the three top hyperscalers’ cloud platforms are using their respective marketplaces as their primary routes to market.

The hyperscalers meanwhile are funneling substantial investments into marketplace co-sell resources, demand generation, sales incentives and channel programs (along with cuts to marketplace fees) to attract vendors to their cloud platforms.

The channel is becoming a focal point in the battle between the hyperscalers as vendors prioritize partner-first marketplace strategies.

Through models such as AWS’ Channel Partner Private Offers, Microsoft’s Multiparty Private Offers and Google Cloud’s newly launched Marketplace Channel Private Offers, vendors can enable their partners to create customized offers for their customers on the hyperscalers’ marketplaces while seeking to maintain margins for the channel.

“The channel has concerns about the rise of marketplaces, but both hyperscalers and vendors acknowledge the vital role of channel partners in driving customer adoption and growth,” said Alastair Edwards, chief analyst at Canalys. “Customers often prefer buying through trusted partners for help with managing cloud commitments and accessing professional services and technical expertise when sourcing complex technologies from multiple marketplaces.”

IT distributors are facing increasing competition from hyperscaler marketplaces that are themselves acting as digital distribution platforms.

Yet distributors will be important to reduce operational challenges for partners and vendors as adoption grows globally and to support the growing number of second-tier partners whose customers want to buy this way.

Canalys expects the development and expansion of new programs, such as AWS DSOR, to support greater distributor involvement.

Channel partners are vital to ensure customers can access the technologies they need, regardless of their buying preferences.

“A seamless buying experience is essential, and success will depend on greater API-led integration between hyperscalers, distributors and partner platforms,” said Edwards.

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This is, according to Westcon-Comstor, particularly problematic when it comes to storage infrastructure purchases, but it’s a problem it feels customers can address with NetApp Advance.

“Infrastructure modernisation is a term used in almost every conversation. But the bottom line is that it can’t be viewed as an option. It is a necessity,” says Daniel Thenga, NetApp and SolarWinds Architecture Manager & Business Unit Manager, Comstor Southern Africa. “Market disruption is a huge problem for customers navigating inflation, budget cuts, limited capex, skills shortages, and sustainability mandates. This makes it even more difficult for a business to future-proof their tech investments, of which storage remains a key part.”

Working with NetApp, Westcon-Comstor assists partners in guiding customer decisions around solutions that offer clients the right performance, at the right price, with the lowest carbon footprint, and that can scale regardless of the future, which is where the distributor suggests using NetApp Advance.

NetApp Advance is a best-in-class portfolio of programs and guarantees that go hand-in-hand with the vendor’s NetApp AFF and FAS systems, including its new capacity flash AFF C-Series.

The Storage Lifecycle Program (SLP) is central to this offering, following a ‘buy once and get IT technology that evolves with you’ model.

The program centres on

• More accessible, more straightforward, and faster upgrade cycles when purchasing a NetApp AFF or FAS system with the SLP option, the solutions are upgradeable indefinitely with nondisruptive refreshes of storage controllers every three years at no additional cost.
• Trade-in capacity that limits investment risk and will future-proof storage purchases when acquiring additional capacity and trading in existing SLP-covered storage media for a 100% capacity credit.
• VIP services and AI-powered analytics provide insights into the performance of storage systems through proactive monitoring, full-stack visibility, and actionable insights.
• A simplified software experience through continual software updates and access to new ONTAP capabilities and advancements as soon as they become available.

With NetApp Advance, NetApp has also factored in that most clients will undergo some form of cloud journey if they aren’t already. This is supported through its Cloud Advantage program, which allows a customer to swap an on-premises controller refresh for cloud services or hybrid cloud storage as a service with NetApp Keystone. This is optionality never really seen before, as your purchase follows your plans without creating a legacy problem,”

– adds Thenga

Within the NetApp Advance program, there is also a storage efficiency guarantee. NetApp offers a guaranteed storage efficiency of 4:1 for SAN workloads and 1.5:1 for NAS workloads on its ONTAP AFF systems. This is essential for African businesses looking to improve energy usage, and reduce energy costs while trying to become more sustainable.

Right-sizing and tiering are also simplified as users can automate the movement of infrequently used data to more cost-efficient object storage without refactoring applications. NetApp’s storage is also natively available on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, allowing clients to tier to a cloud of choice or from high-performance all-flash to hybrid-flash/HDD systems.

“NetApp Advance is not a crystal ball, but it’s a bold move by a company in recognising the challenges facing CIOs when needing to upgrade or refresh technology, or even when they need to pivot their tech model to a more modernised approach,” ends Thenga.