Author: Nick Farrell

Prime snaps up G3 Solutions

Posted on September 7, 2021 by - News

Prime Networks has announced the acquisition of Bournemouth-based MSP G3 Solutions.

Prime Networks’ managing director Mark Simons said G3 Solutions will further bolster its team and widen its national reach.

“G3 Solutions was a natural fit for us and we are excited once again to be growing our team with such a talented group of people and formidable clients”, Simons said.

G3 Solutions offers server and network installation, cloud solutions and backup and disaster recovery and counts HP, Microsoft, VMWare and Dell among its vendor partners and works with over 130 businesses while employing nine staff, according to its website.

Most businesses say tech is their biggest challenge

Posted on September 7, 2021 by - News

More than half  of UK organisations say making effective use of technology to meet their business needs is their biggest challenge over the next 12 months, according to research commissioned by Daisy Corporate Services (DCS).

In addition, 47 percent say improving digital skills is a challenge at a time when 41 percent of organisations say that improving the performance of a distributed workforce is a top business priority.

The survey of 165 UK organisations across the private and public sector reveals that cybersecurity remains top of mind, with more than a third stating the increase in cybercrime presents a challenge over the next 12 months. Unsurprisingly, this has led to half of the organisations saying that protection against cybercrime and data theft will be a technology investment priority.

Lyndsey Charlton, COO at Daisy Corporate Services said: “Technology undoubtedly played an important role in helping many organisations negotiate the pandemic. However, the research reveals there is a danger that some have tried to run before they can walk, which in turn has highlighted a skills gap. If organisations are to maximise their current and future technology investments, it is vital they provide their employees with the necessary training and support. This will not only boost productivity but also improve cybersecurity – allowing organisations to educate employees to use technology insecure manner.”

TechnologyOne snaps up Scientia

Posted on September 6, 2021 by - News

Aussie SaaS company TechnologyOne is set to buy UK-based higher education software provider Scientia for around £12 million.

TechnologyOne said the acquisition would strengthen its offering in the higher education market, considering that 75 percent of institutions in Australia and 50 per cent in the UK currently use Scientia’s products.

The “likely consideration” for the acquisition will be £12 million and includes an initial payment of £6 million.

TechnologyOne CEO Edward Chung said the acquisition will accelerate TechnologyOne’s growth and competitive position in the UK as well as having significant benefits in the Australian higher education market.

HPE loves its as-a-service cunning plan

Posted on September 6, 2021 by - News

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) claims its GreenLake portfolio as-a-service strategy has been boosting its bottom line, as it has never been boosted before.

Earlier this year the vendor revealed that it had 80,000 partners globally, with 70 percent of its revenues coming from the channel, and it has been using its GreenLake subscription model as a major channel play.

Since then, HPE has been adding more options to GreenLake, with unified compute operations and cloud data services both being recent additions. Following its acquisition of Zerto, data recovery services will be the next to add.

In the firm’s third quarter earnings call, CEO Antonio Neri gave an update on progress said that HPE GreenLake has more than 1,100 customers.

Beyond Identity building UK channel

Posted on September 6, 2021 by - News

Passwordless security outfit Beyond Identity is building a two-tier channel approach in the UK.

The firm has signed up Distology to do its distribution in the UK and Ignition Technology to cover the Nordics and is already working with a number of resellers that specialise in password authentication.

Beyond Identity vice-president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at  Tony Shadrake said he wanted to extend the firm’s channel base by using partners.

“It’s a build-out year and we’re getting great support from corporate in the US as we build the business. So far, I think we’ve been pretty successful in our efforts, taking on Distology and Ignition, as we build out the Identity platform”, he said.

Amazon boosts UK staff by 2,500

Posted on September 3, 2021 by - News

Online bookseller Amazon is about to create 2,500 new staff in the UK as part of its move to hire 55,000 new staff to technology and corporate roles globally,

Andy Jassy, who took over from Jeff Bezos in July, highlighted the growth of cloud and Project Kuiper, the firm’s initiative to launch satellites into space to improve broadband access, as two areas that would need more staff.

The bulk of the positions will be in the US, where the firm plans to create 40,000 roles, while about 2,500 will be created in the UK, according to the Guardian.

It also reports that Amazon will hire the new UK staff for its offices in London and Manchester, as well as its “tech hubs” in Cambridge and Edinburgh.

 

A little trouble from nig China

Posted on September 3, 2021 by - News

There are rumblings from behind the bamboo curtain which could indicate a push from China to export services and promised to share locally developed technology with the world.

In a speech delivered yesterday at an event called the “Global Trade in Services Summit of 2021” China’s President Xi Jinping said China will change rules for its services sector.  The move will bring them into line with international norms and make it harder for the US and UK governments to complain about.

“We will create more possibilities for cooperation, by scaling up support for the growth of the services sector in Belt and Road partner countries and by sharing China’s technological achievements with the rest of the world”, Xi said.

China is currently a net importer of services, but is rated the world’s second-finest destination for outsourced labour thanks in part to workers being well-educated.

Air does a double deal

Posted on September 3, 2021 by - News

MSP Air IT has made its fourth double acquisition in the space of a year.

The outfit has just written a cheque for Reading-based MFG UK and Uttoxeter-based Infinity IT Solutions Limited for undisclosed sums.

The rationale for Air IT’s latest purchases is to extend the company’s geographic reach, as well as adding more expertise to its MSP portfolio. The addition of the latest two businesses adds 270 staff to the group headcount and will give it more muscle in the south-east and the Midlands.

Air IT CEO John Whitty said the aim was to be the go-to MSP and MSSP for SMEs across the UK, delivering a local service on a national scale.

Synnex and Tech Data deal done

Posted on September 2, 2021 by - News

Synnex and Tech Data have completed a blockbuster $7.2 billion merger which will see the joint company become the industry’s largest distributor.

The name Tech Data will be history and the new company will be TD SYNNEX, and led by Tech Data’s Rich Hume as CEO.  It will have combined revenues of almost $60 billion, putting itself in front of rival Ingram Micro.

The merger sees Synnex shareholders own 55 percent of the combined company and private equity firm Apollo Global Management own 45 percent.

“TD SYNNEX is uniquely positioned in today’s relentlessly transforming technology ecosystem”, Hume said.

“As a versatile distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem, we’re strengthening our entire portfolio of solutions and raising the bar on the value we deliver to customers and vendors with exceptional reach, efficiency and expertise.

Check Point snaps up Avanan

Posted on September 2, 2021 by - News

Israeli security outfit Check Point has acquired cloud email security firm Avana,

Avanan will integrate into the Check Point Infinity consolidated architecture to enable cloud email malware protection, and expand security to SaaS collaboration suites.

Check Point said that it means the offering will be the only one on the market to protect the remote workforce from malicious files, URLs and Phishing across email, collaboration suites, web, network, and endpoint.

Check Point’s chief product officer Dorit Dor said that as more businesses shift to cloud-email platforms, said the acquisition represents a “huge potential” as organisations look for a new approach to email and collaboration suite security.

Education laptop market growing

Posted on September 2, 2021 by - News

The market for educational laptops is still growing, even if the rest of the sector is showing signs of slowing.

Beancounters at market analysis outfit Context said that the rate of shipment growth is slowing down in the UK.

But in Western Europe sales of educational laptops being sold through distribution increased year on year by 38 percent, indicating that demand from educational buyers remained high.

Context senior analyst Marie-Christine Pygott said: “The rise in sales of notebooks targeted at education was lower than in previous quarters, during which a number of significant institutional deals were completed,” said, senior analyst at Context. “Despite this slower growth, the volume sold to commercial channels was still up by 53 percent and that to retailers and consumer retailers by 20 percent.”

Computacenter says its sales are “robust”

Posted on September 1, 2021 by - News

Computacenter insists that its trading has continued to be “robust” even if the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street were reluctant to upgrade their market forecasts.

In an unscheduled update, Computacenter said that trading has been “robust” in July and August.

The reseller admits that the second half of 2021 will be pretty rubbish compared to last year when demand was particularly high amid the throes of the Covid pandemic.

Zoom warns of slow down

Posted on September 1, 2021 by - News

Zoom has achieved its first  $1 billion revenue quarter but has warned that some parts of its business will begin to slow down.

For its quarter ending 31 July 2021, revenues grew by 54 percent year on year – hitting $1 billion for the first time in a single quarter.

The revenue growth was driven by new customer acquisition, Zoom claims. New customers accounted for around 74 percent of Zoom’s incremental revenue during the quarter, while existing customers accounted for 26 percent.

In addition, the video communications vendor saw a 131 percent uptick in the number of customers contributing more than $100,000 in trailing 12-month revenues, as well as a 36 percent jump in the number of customers with more than 10 employees.

Businesses think they should have gone hybrid before Covid

Posted on September 1, 2021 by - News

Three quarters of UK IT decision-makers believe their organisation could have made the transition to a hybrid model sooner if they were aware of the pros and cons before the pandemic.

Research from eFax found that with most employees now accustomed to the flexibility of being able to work remotely, and many employers now offering this in the long term, organisations that do not offer such flexibility risk deterring their workforce and being unfavourable to future talent.

Half of all UK IT decision-makers believe the inability to attract and retain talent and over a third believe being unable to accommodate family life, are big risks if businesses do not enable a hybrid workforce. A further third believe it would risk a disengaged culture among employees.

SASE adoption rockets

Posted on August 30, 2021 by - News

The adoption of SASE has increased dramatically over the last 18 months, with 87 per cent of enterprises reviewing their remote connectivity during the pandemic.

The Versa Networks report, with the terse title, Experiences and Attitudes Towards a Post-COVID Workforce, based on a survey of 500 IT and security professionals in the US, UK, France and Germany, highlights numerous security and connectivity problems experienced by workers and growing adoption of SASE to provide seamless security and reliable connectivity across cloud, hybrid and on-premises networks.

Common complaints include dropped connections when using bandwidth-hungry applications, such as videoconferencing (36 percent); a lack of real-time tech support (31 percent); an inability to enforce security policies across a remote workforce (37 percent); and an inability to spot new threats facing users (34 percent).

More than  34 percent of businesses surveyed claim to have adopted SASE in the past year, compared to just 23 percent that have implemented VPNs. An additional 30 percent are planning to adopt SASE in the next six to 12 months.