The Network: Unique Numeric Codes, a Central Routing Platform and Silos of Autonomous Data Centers.

Commentary by Francis D. Habadah.

Credit: a16z General Partner Alex Rampell.

The idea of using unique numeric codes as sustainable solutions to some of the problems that worry us in business, government, and in finance is not a new one.

One example is the barcode, a universal product code that was first introduced in the early 1970's. Nearly all organizations, especially the ones in the retail, health, and airline space now depend on it for results related to the tracking of items, managing inventory, ensuring the safety of patients, and for record keeping purposes.

Within the last 30 to 40 years, what can be described as a remarkable change did happen perhaps in the technology space. Technology tools have increasingly become more powerful and more streamlined, and improvements particularly in data management and data storage technology have made it possible for us to collect and process large amounts of data at record speed for productive and meaningful work and for socioeconomic progress.

If you marry the right technology platform (database management system) with the unique numeric ID of all the people who live in a community, the outcome will be a powerful technology infrastructure for the management and development of that ecosystem, whether that particular ecosystem is a small and thinly populated one with only one country, or a very large and densely populated ecosystem with many countries(economic block/union). And we will argue that this unique numeric ID infrastructure is the heart of that ecosystem, an all inclusive HR digital platform for serious government work that at the same time empowers the people who live in that ecosystem. Let everyone count.

We say that we want to help uplift Africa through sustainable socioeconomic development projects, and thereafter we picked a digitization project as our first mission for Africa. This project is all about introducing unique numeric ID into the ecosystem of Africa, and it is for this reason that we begun phase one of this project by first working with technology groups, being a part of a technology incubator, and wanting to add to our board of directors people with experience in the digital technology space. And it is still for this same reason that we approached grant making institutions whose founders made a great deal of fortune in the technology and digital retail space. They get it.

In this video, a16z General Partner Alex Rampell "helps us solve the great mystery of what actually happens when you swipe your credit card. He takes us from the beginning of the credit card revolution to how both information and money travel through unique numeric codes, and the parties involved in every credit card transaction, transactions which are often completed within a few seconds..... ......transactions, which now drive our daily lives".

The technology platform described by Alex in the video is somewhat similar to the platform that we have designed for Africa's unique numeric ID project; a network of 55 autonomous country data centers (Africa has 55 countries) with a one central routing platform that will enable the country data centers to link and 'talk to" one another when they need to, and it will all be in the cloud. Thank you Alex.

Credits also to: Historical footage courtesy of the Prelinger Archives and the Internet Archive. Music by William Ryan Fitch. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

A Brief History of Credit Cards (or What Happens When You Swipe)

Read all about Africa's Unique Numeric ID Project.