Free Internet access promised for South African schools

14 February 2001 News

Free e-mail and web browsing facilities for every pupil in every school in South Africa is being offered by British company The Web Foundry, in association with local partner, SO4B.net. The offer was made during a trade mission by a group of British educational equipment suppliers recently.

According to the company, the service offered by The Web Foundry will give school information technology managers complete control over Internet access and allow them to monitor the web browsing activity of each user, via Internet software developed by a company called InterLinx. The system is designed to make Internet access easy and is supported by SO4B.net, The Web Foundry's South African distributor, which will provide all technical support, installation and training.

Individual e-mail addresses InterLinx will work with any number of networked computers and provide all pupils with their own e-mail address. 'Firewall' and site-blocking technology is provided to give the school network protection from infiltration and abuse.

Nigel Mills, Managing Director of The Web Foundry, says: "The Internet is still young in South Africa and we hope to make an impact early. InterLinx offers an impressive array of features at a very affordable price."

Export promotion

Heading the mission is BESA's Mark Roelofsen, who says: "We have been involved in South Africa for about 10 years and see this as an exploratory mission to update ourselves on what is happening in this exciting and expanding market."

The Web Foundry is one of 13 companies from Britain taking part in the mission, organised by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), with the backing of Trade Partners UK, the United Kingdom's export promotion body.

For further information contact Ms Bernie Charles, British Consulate-General, Johannesburg, (011) 327 0015.

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