Dimension Data Holdings

Dimension Data is a global company specialising in information technology services, with operations on every inhabited continent.

Dimension Data's focus areas include network integration, security solutions, data centre solutions, converged communications, customer interactive solutions, Microsoft solutions and a range of professional, consulting, managed and support services.

In 2010, the company was fully acquired by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.

History

The company was founded by Werner Sievers in 1983 in South Africa as an information technology specialist. It listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in 1987.

In 1998 it acquired Plessey South Africa. During the next two years it bought a series of companies in the UK, North America, Europe and Australia. It listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2000. In 2001 Dimension Data acquired ComTech Communications, an Australian company run by David Shein. In 2008 it acquired Data Processing Systems, an IT business based in the United Arab Emirates, and completed the acquisition of Datacraft Asia, which rebranded to Dimension Data in 2011.

Dimension

In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it – for example, the point at 5 on a number line. A surface such as a plane or the surface of a cylinder or sphere has a dimension of two because two coordinates are needed to specify a point on it – for example, both a latitude and longitude are required to locate a point on the surface of a sphere. The inside of a cube, a cylinder or a sphere is three-dimensional because three coordinates are needed to locate a point within these spaces.

In classical mechanics, space and time are different categories and refer to absolute space and time. That conception of the world is a four-dimensional space but not the one that was found necessary to describe electromagnetism. The four dimensions of spacetime consist of events that are not absolutely defined spatially and temporally, but rather are known relative to the motion of an observer. Minkowski space first approximates the universe without gravity; the pseudo-Riemannian manifolds of general relativity describe spacetime with matter and gravity. Ten dimensions are used to describe string theory, and the state-space of quantum mechanics is an infinite-dimensional function space.

Data

Data (/ˈdeɪtə/ DAY-tə, /ˈdætə/ DA-tə, or /ˈdɑːtə/ DAH-tə) is a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables; restated, pieces of data are individual pieces of information. Data is measured, collected and reported, and analyzed, whereupon it can be visualized using graphs or images. Data as a general concept refers to the fact that some existing information or knowledge is represented or coded in some form suitable for better usage or processing.

Raw data, i.e. unprocessed data, is a collection of numbers, characters; data processing commonly occurs by stages, and the "processed data" from one stage may be considered the "raw data" of the next. Field data is raw data that is collected in an uncontrolled in situ environment. Experimental data is data that is generated within the context of a scientific investigation by observation and recording.

The Latin word "data" is the plural of "datum", and still may be used as a plural noun in this sense. Nowadays, though, "data" is most commonly used in the singular, as a mass noun (like "information", "sand" or "rain").

Steve Cummings

Stephen Philip "Steve" Cummings (born 19 March 1981) is an English racing cyclist for UCI Professional Continental team Team Dimension Data.

Biography

Cummings won the team pursuit at the 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Los Angeles and at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He also took bronze in the individual pursuit. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens Cummings and the Great Britain team achieved a time of 3–59.

In 1999, riding for Birkenhead North End CC as a junior, aged 17, Cummings won the Eddie Soens Memorial Road Race, a handicap race open to all categories. It remains the only time in 46 years that a junior has won. He went on to take the British National Road Race Championships that year.

In 2006 he rode for Landbouwkrediet–Colnago and came second in the Trofeo Laigueglia to Alessandro Ballan of Lampre–Fondital. In 2007 he switched to Discovery Channel before moving to Barloworld in 2008.

His first professional win was in 2008, stage 2 of the Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria.

Tour de France

The Tour de France (French pronunciation: ​[tuʁ də fʁɑ̃s]) is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. The race was first organized in 1903 to increase paper sales for the magazine L'Auto; it is currently run by the Amaury Sport Organisation. The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1903 except when it was stopped for the two World Wars. As the Tour gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened and its reach began to extend around the globe. Participation expanded from a primarily French field, as riders from all over the world began to participate in the race each year. The Tour is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly UCI WorldTeams, with the exception of the teams that the organizers invite.

The Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España make up cycling's prestigious, three-week-long Grand Tours; the Tour is the oldest and generally considered the most prestigious of the three. Traditionally, the race is held primarily in the month of July. While the route changes each year, the format of the race stays the same with the appearance of time trials, the passage through the mountain chains of the Pyrenees and the Alps, and the finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The modern editions of the Tour de France consist of 21 day-long segments (stages) over a 23-day period and cover around 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi). The race alternates between clockwise and counterclockwise circuits of France.