Connectivity solutions tailored for Africa are essential to overcome challenges faced by businesses operating on the continent. All too often, connectivity falters precisely where it matters most – at the network edge. This results in lost revenue, operational disruptions, and frustrated customers when fibre cables are cut or mobile coverage becomes unreliable. The financial impact can be severe for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), while larger organisations experience these problems across all their branches.
Global networking solutions often prove inadequate for the realities of the African landscape. Many SD-WAN platforms designed for international markets assume the presence of stable fibre connections, require expensive hardware, and are burdened by dollar-based annual licensing fees. Furthermore, they rely on support teams located overseas. These imported solutions involve costly forex-linked pricing structures, rendering them inaccessible to the majority of SMEs and presenting a questionable return on investment, even for larger players.
The Economic Imperative of Reliable Connectivity
The problem of unreliable connectivity is as much about economics as it is about engineering. As Ralph Berndt, Head of Sales and Marketing at inq. South Africa, explains, “Connectivity is the lifeblood of modern business, but it’s pointless if it isn’t affordable, resilient, and secure where it matters most, i.e. at the edge. Africa needs solutions that work here, not ones adapted from somewhere else and marked up for our market.”
Introducing inq. EdgeSentry: A Home-Grown Solution
This philosophy spurred the development of inq. EdgeSentry, a fully managed connectivity and security service specifically designed for African infrastructure conditions. Instead of forcing African businesses to conform to a global template, inq. EdgeSentry acknowledges the realities on the ground: diverse last-mile options, potential power instability, and varying IT capabilities across organisations.
inq. EdgeSentry combines intelligent failover, built-in security, and real-time network visibility into a single solution. It can effectively protect a single-site SME and a multi-branch enterprise alike. Because it is developed and supported locally, it delivers enterprise-grade features without the hefty price tag typically associated with such solutions.
Key Features and Benefits of inq. EdgeSentry
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Made in Africa, for Africa: inq. EdgeSentry is specifically designed for the unique challenges and infrastructure conditions present in Africa. It understands local infrastructure, challenges, and price sensitivities.
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Cost-Effective Solution: It offers maximum value at a price point that is accessible to SMEs while remaining scalable for the largest enterprises.
Addressing the Downtime Dilemma
One of the unique strengths of inq. EdgeSentry lies in its ability to differentiate between network outages and power outages. This is particularly crucial for African businesses, where service level agreement (SLA) discussions with service providers are often hampered by guesswork. For instance, was the outage caused by a fibre line failure or by local power instability?
The inq. EdgeSentry solution eliminates this uncertainty by providing clear reporting that pinpoints the root cause of the problem. This ensures that SLAs are based on facts rather than assumptions, enabling IT teams to take targeted action.
Automated Failover for Uninterrupted Connectivity
inq. EdgeSentry also prevents downtime through automated LTE failover. If the primary link (fibre, microwave, or satellite) goes down, the system automatically switches to LTE within seconds. A multi-SIM design guarantees access to the best-performing mobile network in the area, minimising coverage gaps. LTE usage is billed on a pay-per-use basis, ensuring that users only pay for the bandwidth they actually consume.
For companies with multiple sites, this failover capability can be extended across locations using pooled data, further optimising costs.
Integrated Security Features
inq. EdgeSentry integrates security directly into the service, eliminating the need for separate appliances and subscriptions. Key security features include:
- DNS filtering: Blocks access to malicious websites.
- Managed threat feeds: Provides up-to-date protection against emerging threats.
- Vulnerability scanning: Identifies and addresses security weaknesses.
- Zero trust guest Wi-Fi: Secures guest network access.
These features provide enterprise-grade security for SMEs without requiring a dedicated security team. For regulated sectors like finance, healthcare, and logistics, inq. EdgeSentry offers compliance-ready controls and reporting. Monthly activity reports and automated SLA breach alerts provide IT teams with actionable insights, eliminating the need for manual data crunching.
Enhanced Visibility and Control
The inq. EdgeSentry Portal allows businesses to monitor the real-time status of every site, track uptime, and examine incident logs.
Transparency in automated SLA reporting is a key differentiator. inq. EdgeSentry not only records downtime but also distinguishes between network and power outages. Reports can be tailored to show performance during office hours or across 24x7 operations, providing each business with an accurate picture of availability against the commitments that matter most.
This level of clarity enables IT teams to resolve issues more quickly and escalate them with confidence, supported by accurate evidence. Alerts can be sent via WhatsApp, email, Microsoft Teams, Slack, or webhooks, ensuring that the right people are notified immediately.
Extending Protection Beyond the Edge
While inq. EdgeSentry prioritises secure, resilient connectivity, inq. also provides a comprehensive security portfolio that extends protection from the edge to the core. This includes:
- Endpoint detection and response (EDR)
- Security information and event management (SIEM)
- Zero trust architecture
- Managed security services through its security operations centre.
Furthermore, it can be bundled with the option to centralise all traffic through a state-of-the-art next-generation firewall for complete perimeter security, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes.
A Foundation for Digital Transformation
For many clients, inq. EdgeSentry represents the first step towards broader digital transformation. Addressing connectivity challenges creates a stable and secure foundation upon which businesses can build advanced security and cloud services to modernise their operations.
Scalable for Growth
Whether it is a small retailer, a regional logistics firm, or a national enterprise, inq. EdgeSentry is designed to be adaptable. Site-specific SLAs allow each location to have the uptime guarantees and redundancy it needs, without incurring unnecessary costs for excess capacity.
The service is delivered as a managed offering, reducing the burden on in-house teams and eliminating the need for extensive training on complex networking platforms. By making reliable, secure, and affordable connectivity accessible to every African business, inq. EdgeSentry empowers them to compete on a global scale.
About inq.
inq. is a Convergence Partners company, a global leading-edge computing technology company focused on providing innovative, customised, and business-relevant digital services on the edge. inq. connects over 1,200 of Africa’s leading corporations across nine countries, serves clients in Europe and the UAE, and has a presence in India. The company is known for its innovative IP and business-rendering solutions and services, including Edge AI & IoT, Fabric, SDN/NFV, Edge Orchestration, and Elastic Edge. inq. continues to invest and expand its footprint as a global leading-edge solutions provider.
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