Huawei showcases regional innovation at Cape Town Tech Club 2025

Mail & Guardian

20-05-2025

On 15 May 2025, Huawei successfully hosted its highly anticipated Cape Town Tech Club at the prestigious Venue D'Aria. With the theme 'Accelerating the Intelligent South Africa,' the event brought together 190 key decision-makers from across the ICT landscape – including CTOs, CIOs, senior engineers, architects, and department heads – for an insightful deep dive into Huawei's cutting-edge enterprise technologies.
Building on the momentum of its Johannesburg Product Line events, the Cape Town edition was tailored to reflect the infrastructure priorities and digital ambitions of the Western Cape region. The agenda offered an impressive lineup of expert-led presentations that sparked dynamic conversation and underscored Huawei's ongoing commitment to local innovation and collaboration.
The event kicked off with a warm welcome speech by Shaun van Zyl, Director of Huawei's Cape Town Regional Business Department. Setting the stage, van Zyl emphasized Huawei's strategic vision for the region and its pivotal role in driving South Africa's digital transformation with innovative, scalable, and intelligent ICT solutions.
'Our mission is clear: to support the creation of a digitally inclusive and intelligent South Africa. We are committed to delivering affordable, secure, and locally tailored solutions—from AI-powered analytics to hybrid cloud platforms—designed to transform and elevate industries across the nation,' van Zyl stated. This gathering brought together top industry leaders and technical experts to explore ground breaking, cost-effective solutions that are defining the future of digital transformation, AI integration, and operational efficiency across South Africa.
Jessica Wu, Product Manager at Huawei Southern Africa ICT Marketing & Solution Sales Department, delivered one of the morning's most engaging presentations. Her session introduced the Xinghe Intelligent Unified SASE Solution, a powerful approach to secure access service edge infrastructure. As businesses increasingly navigate hybrid work and multi-cloud environments, the session resonated with attendees looking for robust, integrated security frameworks that ensure seamless and secure access to applications and data.
Following this, Bernhard Alexander Heyer, IP Products Executive at Huawei South Africa Enterprise ICT Marketing and Solution Sales Dept, explored the concept of the Xinghe Intelligent Campus. His presentation showcased how next-generation campus networks – built on AI-driven automation, intelligent data flows, and seamless integration – are redefining enterprise environments. This topic was especially relevant to organisations in education, healthcare, and government aiming to modernise their infrastructure and enhance user experiences.
Another key highlight was the presentation by Lukhanyiso Sobhuza, IT Solution Architect from Huawei South Africa's Enterprise Data Center Solution Department, who addressed the growing demand for robust data protection with his session on All-Scenario Data Protection. Lukhanyiso unpacked Huawei's approach to end-to-end backup, AI-driven risk detection, and business continuity – a topic that drew considerable interest in light of the ever-increasing cybersecurity and compliance demands faced by enterprises.
Jonathan Zhang, IT Solution Architect at Huawei South Africa Enterprise ICT Marketing and Solution Sales Department, focused on the Optimal Virtualization Full-Stack Data Center. Zhang detailed how Huawei is enabling greater agility and efficiency in data centre operations through full-stack integration of computing, storage, and networking. His insights provided practical solutions for organisations seeking to boost performance while reducing total cost of ownership.
In a compelling look ahead at the future of connectivity, Li Yanbang, Optical Solution Manager at Huawei South Africa Enterprise ICT Marketing and Solution Sales Dept, presented 'F5G-A – When fiber leads, the future follows.' He showcased Huawei's innovations in next-generation fiber-optic networks, underlining the technology's critical role in driving high-speed, low-latency infrastructure for smart cities, industry, and enterprise. His session highlighted how fiber is at the core of South Africa's path to digital equality and industrial progress.
Concluding the technical sessions, Will Zhang, Optical Fiber Sensing Solution Architect at Huawei South Africa Enterprise ICT Marketing and Solution Sales Dept, presented on High-Precision Optical Sensing and its impact on accelerating industrial intelligence. From predictive maintenance to enhanced safety monitoring, Zhang demonstrated how optical sensing is enabling a smarter, more efficient operational environment across sectors like manufacturing, energy, and logistics.
The Cape Town Tech Club event succeeded in offering more than just a technical showcase – it fostered meaningful dialogue between Huawei experts and local industry leaders. By linking the journey from intelligent IP network solutions, to secure data storage systems, and finally to groundbreaking optical innovations, Huawei demonstrated a comprehensive and integrated approach to digital transformation that equips South African enterprises with the tools to thrive in an increasingly connected world.
Attendees left with practical insights and a renewed understanding of how Huawei's technologies can be applied to solve real-world business and infrastructure challenges in South Africa. As Huawei continues to expand its footprint and partnerships across the country, events like these play a pivotal role in shaping a more connected, intelligent, and inclusive digital future.