Identity is often viewed merely as part of the infrastructure that falls within compliance budget constraints and is checked during audits, rarely making it onto the agenda related to growth. However, identity lies at the foundation of every digital interaction, customer relationship, and product decision. In most companies, this foundation has never been properly designed.
Most enterprises lack a unified identity strategy; instead, they have accumulated a series of seemingly sensible, isolated solutions. A biometric solution was implemented here, and a verification provider there, while the compliance layer was only added when required by regulators.
The Covid pandemic accelerated digitalization faster than planned. Companies had to quickly establish processes for onboarding, verification, and fraud prevention. The providers available at the time were created to solve isolated tasks, not to function as a single integrated platform. As a result, teams acquired what they needed when it was necessary.
Financial costs are not neatly reflected in the risk budget. They manifest when a customer visits a store, opens an app, or calls a contact center, but is perceived as a completely different person each time.
It is not uncommon to find enterprises using five different identity providers across three channels, yet they do not communicate with each other. No one planned such a scenario; each provider solved a real problem. Nevertheless, every such junction is a point where the customer leaves, audits take longer, or new product launches are delayed by half a year. The true cost is not related to compliance, but leaks into the realm of growth.
Enterprises are beginning to move away from scattered, piecemeal solutions toward consolidated identity platforms. The reason is simple: when identity solutions are scattered, their impact is felt precisely in the areas most important to the board of directors.
These areas include: growth—broken journeys lead to customer loss even before interaction begins; operational costs—each unconnected provider requires additional integration for servicing; and fraud prevention and scaling—inconsistent rules create gaps, and entering new markets requires a complete overhaul of the identity logic from scratch.
Especially in Africa, multi-market expansion and stricter compliance requirements make a fragmented identity structure even less viable. It is in such cases that identity ceases to be a compliance issue and transforms into a problem of growth, risk, and operating model, requiring attention at the executive level.
Imagine one verified identity that accompanies the customer across all channels, products, and interactions. The onboarding process becomes faster, fraud control more uniform, and audit trails clearer.
When a new product, partner, or market can be layered onto a robust identity foundation, growth stops being an integration problem and becomes a business solution.
It is worth adding the following question to the agenda: Are we still acquiring identity as a set of checks, or are we viewing it as infrastructure? The answer is that it now shapes not only compliance but also the speed at which the business can grow.
Physicists from the University of Wits have demonstrated that light-carried information can pass through turbulent air completely undamaged, even if the light itself arrives severely distorted beyond recognition. This discovery is significant as it could lead to the creation of so-called 'unbreakable' quantum communication channels.
Quantum communication is valued primarily because any attempt to eavesdrop disrupts the light signal and leaves a trace, making undetected data interception impossible. However, current systems transmit very little information per photon and operate optimally either through fiber optic cables or in clean, still air.
The property that the Wits team managed to make resistant to weather conditions allows a single photon to carry significantly more data and do so in open air. This is critically important for transmitting quantum-protected traffic between buildings or to a satellite on a normal cloudy day. The researchers overcame the problem of fragility, which is also an obstacle to connecting quantum computers in a network, as such connections depend on delicate links between particles.
The results of the work were published in the journal Physical Review Letters on Tuesday. The lead author, Tatiana Kleine from the Wits School of Physics, collaborated with colleagues from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the University of Naples Federico II in Italy. The work focuses on a property of light known as its 'spiral' or orbital angular momentum. Light can be shaped to spiral forward, similar to the thread on a screw, and the number of turns in this spiral is used to encode information.
Since there is no practical limit to the number of turns that can be imparted to a beam, this provides engineers with a vast set of symbols to work with—much larger than the simple on-off pulses used in conventional optical communication—and allows for more data to be transmitted per photon. The problem was that this spiral is very sensitive: when passing through the atmosphere, bad weather, or water, its pattern is almost instantly destroyed, which kept this idea confined to the laboratory for decades.
The Wits team abandoned attempts to protect the shape of the light and instead focused on what is inside it—its topology. Topology is defined as a branch of mathematics that studies the properties of an object that remain unchanged despite stretching, compressing, or deforming it. For example, a knot in a rope remains a knot even if the rope is crumpled or thrown in the mud.
Previously, physicists assumed that creating a topological structure in light required using only the robust properties of light. The Wits group asked what would happen if they built a structure based on a fragile spiral. They were motivated by a practical consideration: such spiral structures arise naturally when generating quantum light, so the topology is obtained 'for free,' without additional engineering effort.
To test the hypothesis, the team sent pairs of entangled photons—light particles whose properties remain linked regardless of distance—through a channel with varying levels of turbulence and measured the result. Although the spiral patterns degraded significantly, and the entanglement between the photons weakened, as expected, the topological number, or 'knot count,' remained unchanged. Kleine noted: 'We observed how physical patterns were distorted under extreme turbulence, and traditional quantum communication reached a point of severe degradation. However, because the topology is inherently embedded in the entanglement itself, it remained completely intact.'
Professor Andrew Forbes, head of the Structured Light Laboratory at the Wits School of Physics and corresponding author of the paper, stated: 'Now we have access again to this huge alphabet of spatial modes, provided we look at the topology rather than the state itself.'
Forbes is a key figure in South Africa's quantum efforts. He led the development of the national roadmap for quantum technologies, and his laboratory released Button Optics—the first product to emerge from South Africa's quantum technology initiative. It is important to understand that this was a controlled experiment with regulated turbulence, not an operational city-wide link, and the ability to read the topological number is not yet equivalent to the ability to send a message using it. A suitable communication protocol needs to be developed and tested.
The authors describe their result more modestly than the university press release, calling it a 'new perspective on using OAM entanglement in noisy channels' and suggesting it may extend to other spatial bases and channels. If true, this falls into the area warned about by South African researchers: physics-protected communication, not mathematically protected, at a time when encryption protecting banks and critical infrastructure is coming to an end. Longer quantum links are already being demonstrated from South Africa, including a 12,900 km satellite link between Beijing and Stellenbosch in October 2024.
Samsung introduced a new range of televisions equipped with Vision AI technology in 2025, aiming to elevate both the image quality and the smart capabilities of the screens. For those planning to replace their living room television, three standout models have been selected and are already available on Amazon.
The Samsung Vision AI TV 43" NEO QLED ULTRA 4K QN90F 2025 model was launched using NEO QLED technology. This technology employs mini LEDs to ensure precise control over illumination and very deep contrast. This 43-inch panel, with 4K resolution, incorporates the Neural Quantum processor, which uses artificial intelligence to automatically optimize both the image and sound depending on the content being displayed. It is recommended for those seeking superior quality in a more compact format.
The S85F model offers the most advanced in OLED panels, characterized by perfect blacks, wide viewing angles, and extremely accurate colors. With 55 inches and 4K resolution, it is endowed with Samsung's Vision AI technology, which continuously analyzes the content to adjust image parameters in real time. This device is considered an excellent choice for cinema enthusiasts and gamers who prioritize visual quality above all else.
Finally, the Q5F emerges as the entry point to Samsung's QLED line in 2025, maintaining notable features. This 43-inch model supports Xbox Cloud Gaming directly on the TV, includes integrated free channels, and offers HDR and the Virtual Motion Sound feature, which simulates spatial audio without the need for an external soundbar. It represents a more accessible alternative for those who want QLED technology with extra entertainment-focused functionalities.
All three mentioned models are currently available on Amazon. Due to the frequent variation in stock for this type of television, it is recommended to check the conditions while the products are listed. Consumers can click the button corresponding to each model to access details directly on the store page.
