₦airaland Forum

Uzumma: B.A. English Language and Literature. Thanks for giving us hope.

Are you in Lagos? Can you do marketing? If so send your CV to info@surfcity-networks.com

slimskin: My Name Is Jennifer And I Studied English Education (B.A) ed

Are you in Lagos? Can you do marketing? If so send your CV to info@surfcity-networks.com

Apesin001: my name is Oseni Ganiyu Apesin. I studied Bus Admin from Olabisi Onabanjo University. Ago iwoye

Are you in Lagos? Can you do marketing? If so send your CV to info@surfcity-networks.com

opeyemi ewumi: Mine is hnd in business administration & mangement.thnk u

Are you in Lagos? Can you do marketing? If so send your CV to info@surfcity-networks.com

blessangel: Hi, my name is Blessing. Am an OND holder in public administration. I really do need a job please help. Thanks.

Are you in Lagos? Can you do marketing? If so send your CV to info@surfcity-networks.com

alexosegha: i have ond in mass communication but i have experience as a house keeper

Are you in Lagos? Can you do marketing? If so send your CV to info@surfcity-networks.com

cutelyda40@yaho:
Hi,am linda .HND in Mrktn,BSC in Acctn.

Are you in Lagos? Can you do marketing? If so send your CV to info@surfcity-networks.com

Of course there are jobs. I think the question is. Is there really unemployment? Are we sure this unemployment thing hasn't been bloated up for our politicians to bring out money to steal. After all, there is no way for us to know how many jobs will be created anyway if they tell us they have spent trillions to create jobs for all of us. I am writing this because I don't understand how there can be huge unemployment and yet It seems impossible to find two people to recruit for my newly created marketing department.. I think this unemployment thing is exaggerated.

IT marketing company looking for a Boy and a Girl to employ as marketers. Minimum of OND. You must have a fair knowledge of Computers. You will be required to identify schools and Internet Cafes and discuss with them our innovative products that will save them cost and boost revenue.
Send CV to
info@surfcity-networks.com

I thank a good number of you who have contacted me and showed appreciation for my post. I also noticed that a good number of people simply post the usefullness of thin client without necessarily telling buyers the problems associated with this technology. I also sell thin clients because if you have any chance of surviving in the Cybercafe business, they are your only chance. They are also a good solution for Public Schools in Nigeria. Private Schools may need not have it because they are usually rich. I will explain this.

Problems: There are three major Cafe-Killers. Thin Clients(TC) if properly chosen and deployed with a fortified server, will solve two of these problems in a cafe, Namely power and constant maintenance.   The third being pilfering by attendants.  

How TCs do this:
 Power: TCs will immediately reduce your power consumption by 90%. Most TCs consume within the 2-6watt range as against a whole CPU-80-150watts. 
Case Study:Recently we reorganized a cafe of 50 Systems. Here is what we had before our reorganization. The owner use to run two 6KVA generators. He will only run one of the Gen during the day and limit his system to only 29systems and in the night he runs the two Gen to accommodate 50 systems. By the time we replaced 29 systems with TCs he was already able to use one Gen for the entire 50 systems (29TCs + 21PCs). Now we have replaced all and obviously the 6 KVA gen has now become underutilised. According to him, the Gen he powers during the day consumes a full tank and a quarter(Between 25-30 litres). When he powers both at night he spends 50-60 litres on fuel. In short he claims to spend about 9000 Naira on fuel everyday. Now, because the TCs have made it possible to deploy all 50 systems during the day he makes more money. With the Gen now underutilized fuel consumption is about 20 litres during the day and same at night. He saves 50 litres everyday. 

Maintenance: This is the most crucial deployment of TCs. TCs themselves, depending on the OS installed might never need maintenance. But the TC server needs to be adequately prepared for the task ahead. Here is why. Because TCs process all their activities on the server, the server is much much much vulnerable to malware. If you have an 8 systems cafe, your server is 8 times more likely to be infected than servers deployed using normal systems. If you have 20 it is 20 times. Without adequately taking care of your server you are doomed. This is the major reasons people dont use TCs in cafes. I also notice that sellers keep trying to point out the power advantage while ignoring the Server vulnerability. This of course makes them sell, but in the long run it spoils the TC market, because buyers will eventually encounter the problem. Most people that have called me have this problem. They have bought somewhere else and now have the problem. If they are engineers they can find their way around it. If not, they have to keep calling the seller. This makes nonsense of Maintenance and cancels the advantage inherent in thin clients.
What we have researched and done is to make sure the server is fortified in such a way that if anything goes wrong you are back and running within 3-5  minutes. And this can be done by your Computer-Illiterate attendant. To even avoid anything going wrong, your Computer-Illiterate Attendant can carry out this 3 minutes procedure every morning before starting and you will never experience a crash. But if he forgets and you do then he can do it afterwards and in 3 minutes you are up and running again.
We have our own way of doing this  I do not intend to disclose or discuss it here. I can only advise you to interrogate your sellers on his own method before buying them otherwise you will run into problems. Anti Virus is not a solution and don't let them tell you it is. It has never been a solution for running Cafes even when using a normal PC.

Public Schools: we have done recent deployments for public Schools and one thing has come out of these. Donors who donated computer labs to public school do not know that most public schools end up not using these laboratories. This is because they simply can't afford to buy fuel to power the generators and no donor, after donating all necessary equipment including a generator  wants to be bugged down buying fuel to power the generator on a daily basis. This labs become grossly grossly underutilized, if they are ever utilized. TCs are the solution to this problem. They make it possible to include solar power in the donation without necessarily breaking the bank. And most donors will be able to afford it. Schools will need not buy fuel and labs will be utilized to full capacity. After all schools are open for only 8 hours in a day and closed on Saturday's and Sunday. The sun has enough time to charge batteries. With adequate permutation of batteries the labs can run all the time.

Private schools don't need this. They bill parents enough to power their Gen. 

I forgot to add that our cybercafe model also has a component that adequately addresses the pilfering problem by attendants. This of course is only available to those with three or more cybercafes. If you have only one or two you do not need it and the cost can't be sustained by your two Cafes anyway.

If you are running a cybercafe or you are philantrophist/Donor that wants to donate Computer laboratory to a PUBLIC school, TCs are your only hope of achieving your goals. This isn't a sales pitch but the result of over 10 years of research and practice.

I realized I didn't put my email last time. Here is it 

faniyi@yahoo.com or info@surfcity-networks.com.  
www.surfcity-networks.com. 
08052633663.

quest4$:
i have used it for a computer training school wit 10clients, works perfectly. tried it on cafe was also ok but u will encounter some problems as regards the cafe.

1st will be timer,as your regular timers do not support d technology.so getting a timer that works with it is your number 1 problem.

2nd the type of clients that browse in your cafe might be another source of problem.Some people come and start installing all types of stuff and since everything rungs from one system that's enough worries and when you restrict people 4rm installing things you lose some group of customers

3rd Most of the thin clients work with windows xp and most also do not work when an anti-virus is installed on the system so u will have to run it on a system without anti-virus.This means any attack and you are on total shut down except if you have a back up system.

well all these are a few of the problems with thin clien technology that i now of and probably a few that i didnt remember to mention.but for training schools its the best option ever.

Forget about what Quest4 said. Thin Clients are the best for a cafe. We have been using them for over ten years now and have over 15 cafes scattered all over Nigeria using them only. We have many more built for people. No other system can save you from the wahala of cafe. 

All the problem Quest highlighted are for either a novice in it or someone who is not research and solutions oriented. Let me tackle each one after the other.

1. Timer is a non issue at all. If you are a programmer you will know how to do that. In anycase you know cafes cant work without timers and we have 15 of them.

2.That one is no issue too. What you should know is that thin clients allow you to focus on one computer. The server. you need not worry about others. So. in a cafe of 20 or more systems, you are maintaining only one system. All you need do is to fortify that server. I am not talking anti virus here. We all know antivirus cannot help you in a cafe. We have our own way of fortifying. Thats why we can sit in Lagos and have them in Ibadan, ilorin abuja etc. When you are a programmer and thirsty for solutions you will always find it.

3. Where did he get that from. That anti virus does not protect them. Haba Quest. Obviously you need a professional yourself if you are using one. They are well protected by the server. Maybe what he means is the OS on the thin Client. Well, then use a thin client OS that is not windows based. Let me explain something here. The OS of the thin client does not matter here. What matters is the OS of the server. The thin client eventually works on the OS of the server though it needs a "thin" OS to boot itself before it can now acquire the OS of the server. So use a thin OS that is not windows xp embedded for the thin client and it will acquire your windows XP on your server and all your client are working on windows XP. This way your thin client will never never never never be hit by a virus. And if you fortify your server. Voila. your headaches are over.

If you can solve some of these things and a few others then you will have a completely problem free cafe. What you need to now do is to watch your boys from pilfering your money. Bye bye to engineers

Apart from that you save greatly on fuel. GREATLY!!!

As i said we have been using it for over 10 years now and it has helped us in expanding everywhere. We were not doing it for others in the first 6 years because of a lot of research into it. But we have now started selling OUR OWN THIN CLIENT BASED MODEL to others. 

We have a small cafe in Computer Village in Ikeja and done it for quite a number of cafes now around the country.

So, if you are interested. you better start talking to me.

You can call me to talk on 08052633663
faniyi@yahoo.com
info@surfcity-networks.com

We have constant vacancy for cybercafe attendant in Abuja. Right now we need 3 people to fill in vacancies as attendant in various cybercafe and it is urgent.

Please send your CV to faniyi@yahoo.com. You must live in Abuja!!!

Qualification for such a job is minimum School Leaving Certificate and maximum OND.

I think whatalife's posting is quite instructive. All the rest are either not people who solve problems or they are just the regular network engineers with no real cybercafe experience. I run 4 cafes myself and still opening more. Whatalife is right. If you can arrest the problems of the cybercafe It is not only good business it is a business that has the potentials to grow to a big one.

Most advise given dont deal with the real problem with a cafe. It is the lack of technical and managerial problem-solving skill that makes failure inevitable in the business.

Way back in the 90s this is the common story: You make your plans from abroad come into this country to setup, the combination of nepa,nitel and hungry relatives help you in setting themselves up properly instead of setting up as you planned. You continue to pour money into the venture until you are left with nothing except to run back to where you came from to begin from beginning. I was a victim and was lucky to get back because i had a brother who could pull me out of the country. I have so many friends who were not so lucky to be pulled out. The married ones ended up losing their oyinbo wives when they could not afford basic things. Of all the people posting on your topic Crazy Horse, BAC is the closest to what will happen to you if you are a first timer coming back. But you said you have been here before and its good you are seeking opinion. But seeking this opinion on the internet is even worse than getting it from your relatives or close friends (which use to be the norm in those days). While your relatives might do you in as a result of business naivety and a need to solve their personal problem (In my own case I later analysed that if i was told the absolute truth at that time i will not have released money for the venture, which in-turn meant that money will not flow to them to solve their percieved personal problems). This internet proposals could even be worse.

I truly believe that this country still needs people like you to come down with your world class experience. I think it is possible to succeed. I have since come back to Nigeria and now run my own business successfully even with the "dreaded Nigerian factor". I probably think its a mistake to have announced that you had money to bring down. Having said that I think you will need a lot of planning with very sincere people. I don't know how you will find them inthis place. You will probably bebetter off with someone who's had a similar experience. But as many have said "Due Dilligence"is key. You must come down and live and you should not make people know you are bringing in money. Try to start something with a fraction of that money and deliberately keep the rest is such a way that it is not easily reachable.

When i remember other things a tot i should have done myself then afterwards i will let you know. In actual fact there was a period in between my experience and now when i tot i should start a consulting job advising people like you. But i never got around doing it. If i had i wouldnt probably be telling you to let me recall and then advise precisely.

nthnymarce! what are you saying. If you have failed it doesn't mean others have. I run 4 cafes in 4 different locations and they are all doing well! Even with bad/no power. It all depend on your business model. Mine is working and paying handsomely!. Outlaws! the start-up cost you want depends on the type of cafe you want, the location and your business model jare! One will need to know more. Anybody that gives you a blanket cost will not help you. You will end up most likely failingly because you will get a standardised cafe.