Author: Nick Farrell

Vodaphone and Amazon edge to be on the same wavelength

Posted on June 17, 2021 by - News

Vodafone has coupled with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch Multi-access Edge Compute (MEC) services delivered with AWS Wavelength for Vodafone business customers in the UK.

The launch follows Vodafone trials with companies in a range of areas, including sports technology, autonomous transport, biometric security, remote virtual reality, and factory automation. Vodafone is the only telecoms operator able to offer business customers the combination of 5G and MEC services in the UK.

MEC infrastructure is better known as moving services ‘closer to the edge of the network’. AWS Wavelength brings AWS compute and storage services to the edge of Vodafone’s network, enabling applications that require increased speeds, massive bandwidth, and ultra-low latency, such as industrial automation, video analytics and machine learning inference (artificial intelligence) at the edge, and interactive live video streaming.

The pair said that hosting applications closer to the end-user means that data does not have to cross the internet to be processed in locations around the world. This approach means that lag, known as latency, can be almost eradicated as data is both captured and processed closer to the device, offering much faster response times and a much-improved experience.

Avast scores Enterprise Nation as a partner

Posted on June 16, 2021 by - News

Security outfit Avast has announced a strategic partnership with Enterprise Nation small business network and business support provider, which will see it become the exclusive cybersecurity partner for the UK national network.

The partnership aims to deliver key cybersecurity resources and training for more than half a million UK small businesses to help them securely operate and thrive in today’s digital economy.

According to the Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Study 2021, 39 percent and a quarter of charities reported cyberattacks in the last 12 months. The study also suggested that the threat level was potentially higher over the pandemic as businesses found it harder to administer security effectively.

Avast VP Worldwide Channel & Alliances Marc Botham said: “SMBs are the lifeblood of the UK economy, and they have faced unprecedented challenges in recent times, including temporary closures of their businesses, implementing remote working, and scaling e-commerce for sales and customer communication. For many, they have had to do this without dedicated, or at best minimal, IT support in the face of increased cyberattacks. The focus now must be on post-Covid business recovery and growth. We are committed to working with Enterprise Nation to support SMBs by providing them with the tools, resources, and insights they need to optimise their digital possibilities securely and effectively.”

Iguazio teams up with Boston

Posted on June 16, 2021 by - News

Iguazio, a data science & MLOps platform build firm, announced a partnership with Boston Limited, an Nvidia Elite Partner and leading provider of high‐performance, mission-critical server and storage .

The partnership enables both companies to extend their offerings to enterprises across industries looking to bring data science into real-life applications, regardless of the size or skill set of their internal teams.

Iguazio CEO and co‐founder Asaf Somekh said that companies need better ways to implement their AI solutions in real‐world environments, to help them cut costs, work more efficiently, and accelerate the rollout of new AI services and products for customers.

“This radical shift to transforming business models with AI typically requires highly customisable infrastructure, as well as a streamlined data science workflow to navigate the transformation effectively and efficiently”, he said.

IT leaders worried about debt

Posted on June 16, 2021 by - News

More than 69 percent of IT leaders identify technical debt as a major threat to their companies’ ability to innovate, according to a new report from OutSystems.

In OutSysem’s latest report, “The Growing Threat of Technical Debt examines the cost of technical debt facing businesses across industries and geographies.

OutSystems CEO and Founder Paulo Rosado, said the combination of old code along with the new generation of mobile apps, stack applications, and SaaS sprawl are robbing organisations of resources, time, and the ability to innovate.

“This report proves that technical debt will continue to compound, and requires a new approach to move past it and innovate at a pace and scale for true competitive advantage.”

Ensono appoints Birch as new GM

Posted on June 15, 2021 by - Moving People, News

Cloudy Ensono has appointed Hannah Birch as General Manager (GM) and Deputy Managing Director for the European business.

In this role, she will drive the European growth strategy as Ensono looks to use the investment from new owner KKR and its recent acquisition of cloud-native consultancy Amido.

Ensono’s, Managing Director, Europe Barney Taylor said: “With our recent acquisition of Amido and KKR’s investment in Ensono, we have significant momentum and an accelerated opportunity to invest and grow in both the UK and European markets. Hannah is the right person to drive our growth ambition and to continue to build on our reputation as a leader in the technology space.”

Birch joins Ensono from Accenture where she led the company’s UK Technology Business for Insurance and was a member of the Technology Leadership Team for UK & Ireland.

Delphix appoints Barrett as senior vice president

Posted on June 15, 2021 by - Moving People, News

Delphix, which works on programmable data infrastructure, announced the appointment of Steve Barrett as Senior Vice President of International Operations. Based in the UK, Barrett will be responsible for leading revenue operations for both EMEA and APJ.

Delphix Worldwide Field Operations President Steven Chung said that Barrett’s track record of leading teams to deliver consistent performance and drive customer engagement will be a key advantage for us as we continue to pioneer data automation.

“In addition to his domain expertise in DevOps, enterprise apps and data centres, Barrett’s focus on employee engagement and passion for encouraging diversity, equity and inclusion make us very excited to welcome him to the Delphix team.”

Barrett has 20 years of experience in enterprise software and SaaS companies. He joins Delphix from PagerDuty where he led the European business from early stages to post IPO as Vice President of EMEA.

Vodafone expands connectivity portfolio to channel

Posted on June 14, 2021 by - News

Vodafone has expanded its partner channel to include SoGEA and FTTP for business customers.

With traditional phone lines becoming redundant by 2025, Vodafone is now allowing SoGEA – Single Order Generic Ethernet Access – provides one connection, all through the Internet, with no need for a separate telephone line. Businesses will have everything they need for home and broadband connectivity in a single order. The other method will be FTTP – Fibre to the Premise – removes the need for traditional street cabinets and copper wires and enables the fastest available broadband speeds. It allows businesses to connect broadband directly, without a traditional phone line.

Midwich opens new experience centre

Posted on June 14, 2021 by - News

Specialist audio visual distributor, Midwich Group,has officially opened Innovation House, its 50,000 square-foot experience, training and event facility in Bracknell (UK).

Home to five distributors – Midwich, PSCo, Holdan, Invision and Sound Technology – Innovation House features the UK’s largest multi-brand experience centre showcasing more than 200 AV, Unified Communication & Collaboration (UC&C), broadcast, smart home and rental solutions from 50 manufacturers. 

Egress swallows Aquilai

Posted on June 14, 2021 by - News

Security outfit Egress has announced the acquisition of Aquilai, an anti-phishing provider based in Cheltenham.

For those who came in late, Aquilai uses machine learning and natural processing technology that stops targeted email attacks, including business email compromise (BEC), spear-phishing and impersonation attempts.

The acquisition aims to strengthen Egress’ Intelligent Email Security platform, helping the offering to better protect against the complex issue of insider risk.

Egress said the combination of the two companies will deliver increased protection against all inbound cyber attacks targeting employees, as well as real-time outbound email security for shared data, including inadvertent data loss and email encryption.

Nutanix and HPE cuddle up closer

Posted on June 11, 2021 by - News

Nutanix and HPE widened their partnership to accelerate hybrid cloud and multi-cloud adoption by offering Nutanix Era, multi-database operations and management solution, bundled with HPE ProLiant servers, as a service through HPE GreenLake.

The cloud service lets customers to deploy applications and databases quickly and benefit from the agile, elastic, and pay-per-use capabilities of the cloud while gaining the governance, visibility and compliance of an on-premises environment.

HPE GreenLake Cloud Services, senior vice president and general manager Keith White, said that customers want to simplify database operations and management to move away from IT siloes that can often lead to higher maintenance costs, security risks, and lack of flexibility to deploy and run solutions.

Synaxon renews partnership with Integra

Posted on June 11, 2021 by - News

Synaxon UK has renewed its strategic partnership with Integra under which partners and members of each organisation will be able to access the benefits of the other at preferential rates.

Under this agreement Synaxon partners can sign-up as members of Integra, gaining access to the company’s preferential trading terms with leading office products distributors, such as Antalis UK and VOW Wholesale, and direct with over 100 suppliers. Synaxon partners will also have access to Integra’s own-brand range of Initiative office products, which are widely recognised for great quality and value.

Integra members will receive discounted Synaxon UK fees, giving them access to stock and availability from more than 30 IT distributors via the EGIS procurement platform. They will also benefit from exclusive offers available from Synaxon Distribution and the support resources the group offers to help resellers develop their managed services business.

SnapLogic adds to its Partner Connect Programme

Posted on June 11, 2021 by - News

SnapLogic announced the launch of its new and improved Partner Connect Programme.

The idea is to help global technology, consulting, and OEM partners capitalise on the growing market opportunities for enterprise automation and integration services, a part of the $50 billion application infrastructure and middleware software market.

The new programme lets partners differ themselves through vertical and functional specialisations, letting  them to communicate their value to customers, while using SnapLogic’s partner marketing and digital infrastructure tools to collaborate on new business.

In addition to supporting partners by vertical specialisation, the programme also breaks partner expertise out by three main functional areas – Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) for core application integration, data integration, and API management; enterprise automation for end-to-end business process orchestration; and cloud modernisation for legacy upgrade projects. This way, the right partners will be brought in to support the right customer use cases.

Cohesity launches Backup as a Service

Posted on June 10, 2021 by - News

Cohesity announced the launch of its Backup as a Service (BaaS) offering, DataProtect delivered as a Service, to customers in Europe.

Hosted on Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) in Europe, the offering gives enterprise and mid-size customers a way to back up data, eliminate silos, and drive down capital expenditure costs, while Cohesity takes care of managing the underlying infrastructure.

Cohesity DataProtect delivered as a Service includes support for an array of workloads including Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances and compute infrastructure, Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), Microsoft 365 SaaS applications, and data sources such as VMware, Network Attached Storage (NAS), and SQL Server.

Devo whips up a future cloud report

Posted on June 10, 2021 by - News

Cloudy security outfit Devo Technology has announced the results of a report assessing the current state and pace of change regarding enterprise cloud transformation initiatives and the ramifications on teams running a Security Operations Center (SOC).

The snappily titled report, “Beyond Cloud Adoption: How to Embrace the Cloud for Security and Business Benefits”, found that the global pandemic accelerated business transformation far past the cloud tipping point and uncovered severe and far-reaching implications for security teams. It also revealed that forward-thinking and high performing organisations took this opportunity to face the challenges head-on. Their businesses are far better for it—with more than half of high performing organisations seeing gains in capabilities and visibility.

The findings come from a survey conducted by the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) comprising 500 IT and security personnel in the ‘SOC chain of command’ at enterprise-class (i.e., more than 1,000 employees) organisations in North America and Western Europe in January 2021.

Thames Water wants two resellers

Posted on June 10, 2021 by - News

Thames Water wants at least two resellers to form an IT hardware and software, software renewals and software asset management framework worth an estimated total of £120 million.

The framework is split into two lots. The first focused on hardware services which is worth an estimated £10 million. The second lot concentrates on software services and is valued at an estimated £110 million, both excluding VAT.

Requirements under lot two include software reseller services, software license management, maintenance and support renewals and software disposal, and a maximum of three resellers.

Thames Water says it is looking for “value-for-money of reseller services, including access to special bid pricing; supply provision; speed and accuracy of delivery; issue resolution; OEM relationships and accreditations and the capability to execute projects and provide added-value services”.