Page 46 - EngineerIt May 2021

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

NeoFace Watch Thermal improves health capacities? It’s very difficult using manual
systems and it can be even more difficult to
and safety in the workplace prove that you’ve been responsible”.
NeoFace Watch Thermal is GDPR and POPI-
compliant and enables consenting employees
any organisations are challenged by the protocols and regulations around monitoring and and visitors to pre-register, significantly
Mmanaging Covid-19. To date, teams of people have manually scanned temperatures and captured speeding up entry. It can use existing databases
details at the entrances to facilities. “It’s very difficult to get a real-time view of what’s happening in your or any other SQL database. It can also use
business,” says Jannie Erasmus, head of surveillance and analytics at NEC XON. “How do you contact existing CCTV cameras for identity management
trace if there’s a confirmed Covid-19 case on the premises? How do you ensure people always wear to maximise returns from existing infrastructure.
their masks, and how can you ensure social distancing and numbers of people don’t exceed allowed “It can be difficult for organisations
to justify the costs of standalone Covid-19
solutions, particularly given the requirement
may dissipate with the rollout of vaccines
achieving herd immunity,” says Erasmus.
“However, the functionality also exists to
cater for Covid Passports, which may become
a compliance requirement. Being AI-driven
and automated, it can also automatically alert
employees should they be required to update
vaccinations. The open nature of the platform
allows for enormous scope.” n

Contact details: (011) 237-4500,
mark@nec.xon.co.za

IITPSA announces SA team for prestigious International Olympiad

in Informatics (IOI 2021)

he Institute of Information Technology They are:
TProfessionals South Africa (IITPSA) has • Andi Qu (18), formerly of St John’s College and now working prior to studying at MIT. Andi has
announced the South African team for taken part in two previous IOI contests. The first was in person in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2019. In the
the prestigious International Olympiad in 2020 IOI, he took part online from Stellenbosch University and earned a strong bronze medal,
Informatics (IOI 2021), where informatics scoring above two thirds of the 441 IOI contestants from 87 countries.
students from around the world will compete • Brent Butkow (18), formerly of King David Victory Park and now a first year student at
against each other in June this year. Wits University
The team of four was selected after a • Faran Steenkamp (18), formerly of Thomas More College and now studying AP Physics
lengthy process in which the top participants • Jean Weight (19), formerly of Curro Hermanus and now a first year student at
in the Institute of Information Technology Stellenbosch University
Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) Computer
Programming Olympiad 2020 were trained and IOI 2021, hosted by Singapore, will take place as a virtual event from 19 - 25 June. Considered to be the
prepared for the IOI over several months. most prestigious computer science competition for secondary school and high school students around
After preliminary training rounds at UCT, the world, the competition is one of five international science Olympiads held annually.
the four members of the South African team
were selected recently. The South African team members will now undergo further training and are also practising on their
own using international sites such as Codeforces, as well as testing themselves on past IOI problems.
They will also work intensively together at two more weekend training camps. At IOI, they will be
tested on
• Understanding the elements of each problem accurately;
• Thinking critically about possible strategies and algorithms to adapt and apply;
• Coding efficiently in the language C++;
• Examining their code to find niggling errors (debugging)

Michael Cameron, IITPSA Olympiad Spokesperson says: “We are delighted that South Africa has an
ever-increasing corps of students who are able to compete convincingly against the world’s best on
the informatics stage. We wish our team members the best of luck at IOI 2021, and hope to see them
Andi Qu bringing their skills to the South African ICT industry in future.” n

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