Author: Nick Farrell

FireEye flogs its products business

Posted on June 7, 2021 by - News

Security outfit FireEye is selling its products business and the FireEye name to private equity firm Symphony for $1.2 billion.

The company, which will have to be renamed, will retain its Mandiant cyber forensics division but will part with its cloud security, networking, and email products as well as the name.

The new entity will keep the name Mandiant Solutions which was created by FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia, integrated into the broader FireEye portfolio and became a key segment.

Mandia said the sale of the broader FireEye portfolio to private equity will help to grow the Mandiant Solutions business, which FireEye claims has established its position as the market leader in threat intelligence and security expertise.

Despite security breaches, companies don’t act

Posted on June 7, 2021 by - News

Even when there are security breaches, companies don’t act to protect themselves very well, according to VMware’s latest Global Security Insights Report.

VMware’s 2021 Global Security Insights Report found that there was a lack of urgency despite surge in material breaches. While 81 percent of respondents have suffered a breach in the last twelve months with 82 percent being significant security professionals have underestimated the likelihood of a material breach. Only 56 percent say they fear a material breach in the next year, and just over one-third have updated their security policy and approach to mitigate the risk.

The report highlights a resurgence of ransomware and remote work creates an unpredictable attack surface. More than 76 percent of respondents said attack volumes had increased – with the majority pointing to employees working from home as the cause. Another 79 percent said attacks had become more sophisticated. Cloud-based attacks were the most frequently experienced attack type in the past year, whereas the leading breach causes were third-party apps (14 percent) and ransomware (14 percent).

Pound takes CompTIA chair

Posted on June 4, 2021 by - Moving People, News

British technology entrepreneur, business owner and activist, Tracy Pound will be  chairwoman of the board of directors of CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry.

The founder and managing director of Maximity in Birmingham, England, Pound is the first industry executive from Britain to chair the CompTIA board.

Pound identified three areas of focus for the board and the association in the coming months.

“CompTIA has made great advances in workforce development and in championing apprenticeships as an opening to careers in technology and I look forward to expanding both of these programmes. The CompTIA ISAO will be a huge help in fighting cybercrime. CompTIA’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion remain central to all that we do. I’d really like to see a great step change for the better in our industry”, she said.

Martin Fairman named as Kyocera’s Group marketing chap

Posted on June 4, 2021 by - Moving People, News

Kyocera UK has appointed Martin Fairman as the company’s new Group Sales and Marketing Director.

Fairman was previously UK & Ireland Managing Director and Channel Director at Lexmark, and brings over 20 years of senior leadership experience in technology organisations to his new position.

Fairman spent over 12 years at Lexmark, occupying a number of sales and channel roles during his tenure. Prior to this, he was a senior exec at Samsung and Konica Minolta.

ISG builds a cybersecurity unit

Posted on June 4, 2021 by - News

IT research outfit Information Services Group (ISG) has launched an expanded global cybersecurity unit to help clients contend with the growing threat of cyberattacks in an increasingly connected and vulnerable technology environment.

ISG Cybersecurity is a dedicated, “vendor-agnostic” business unit that supports enterprise customers.  The expanded offering, includes dedicated cybersecurity professionals operating in key markets worldwide to support clients via the ISG iFlex global delivery network.

SG Cybersecurity co-lead Doug Saylors said: “ISG has provided cybersecurity advisory services since our inception, typically as part of our sourcing advisory offerings for Infrastructure, ADM and Network services. Our new, global cybersecurity unit responds to increasing enterprise demand for independent advice and support on cybersecurity strategy and execution across all domains, with an added focus on cloud security.”

Logicalis snaps up Siticom

Posted on June 3, 2021 by - News

Logicalis has written a cheque for  Siticom, which specialises in network infrastructure and 5G.

The deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, gives Logicalis access to an 11-year-old business that has a staff of 130 experts based in five German locations, and will be the foundation of an EMEA centre of expertise in 5G networks.

Logicalis CEO Bob Bailkoski said: “The strategic decision to acquire Siticom is driven by the growing demand for broadband services and fibre optics expansion as we continue to deliver speed, scale and agility for global customers. As a Cisco Global Gold Partner, we are already developing SD-WAN solutions and together with Siticom we can build on our partnership to create end-to-end 5G offerings for the business of the future.” 

Complete Voice and Data Solutions provides fibre to Staffordshire

Posted on June 3, 2021 by - News

Complete Voice and Data Solutions is rolling out a single order generic ethernet access (SOGEA) fibre broadband across Staffordshire ahead of the ISDN shutdown.

Because the solution doesn’t require a landline connection it is around 30 per cent cheaper than current fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) set-ups, while being quicker and easier to install and more reliable.

Complete Voice and Data Solutions MD Mike Ridgway said: “SoGEA provides dependable connectivity of up to 80Mbps because it’s a single connection focused solely on broadband. This means businesses will be able to do more online, without the worry of buffering or interruptions.

Fessing up over supply shortages wins customers

Posted on June 3, 2021 by - News

Vendors that admitted to customers that there were supply shortages and encouraged flexibility were well-placed to benefit in the PC market during the first quarter (Q1).

Beancounters at Canalys had a look into the component shortages that hit the hardware industry for the past 18 months and discovered that it was not so bad for some.

An analysis of first-quarter PC shipment numbers across Western Europe from Canalys indicated that there was strong growth in the market, with desktops, notebooks and workstations hitting 16.1 million units, a 48 percent year-on-year  improvement.

On the vendor front, there will be celebrations over at HP, with the vendor regaining top spot from Lenovo by shipping 4.1 million units and with a 26 percent market share, with its closest rival having four million units and 25 percent share. Dell, Apple and Acer fill out the rest of the top five.

Tech Data increases services team

Posted on June 2, 2021 by - News

Tech Data been swelling the ranks of its services team as it makes further investment in what it thinks is a key growth area for its partners.

Six new members have joined the team recently, and the company said that there is further recruitment to come.

The team’s new members will boost support to partners around Tech-as-a-Service, configuration services, and B2C finance, principally the Tech Data Easy Upgrade programme, which enables retailers and websites to offer easy subscription payment options on new devices.

Cost drives public cloud adoption

Posted on June 2, 2021 by - News

Figures from Enso show that IT leaders want a distributed cloud due to cost and cut down on network problems and control issues.

IT leaders credited the lower risk of network failure because the distributed cloud enables cloud services to sit in local or semi-local subnets – able to operate untethered if necessary.

Enso’s survey found a growing interest in distributed cloud, with significant cloud providers already leading the way with solutions supporting the strategy, such as AWS Outposts, Google Anthos and Microsoft Azure Stack.

These allow a single plane of control to operate and manage public cloud infrastructure housed across a range of environments, including with the public cloud provider, on-premise or in another colocation space.

Cohesity appoints Gadd as general manager

Posted on June 2, 2021 by - Moving People, News

Cohesity has named Richard Gadd as vice president and general manager, EMEA sales.

Gadd has more than 30 years of experience in technology sales and business development throughout Europe.

He will manage the company’s business and sales operations throughout the region.

Cohesity said in a press release that Gadd would play a key role in continuing to accelerate the rapid growth and adoption of the company’s multi-cloud data management solutions.

He joins Cohesity from Hitachi Vantara, where he served as senior vice president and general manager EMEA for five years. For two years before that, he was vice president and general manager for the UKI.

Before Hitachi Vantara, Gadd spent more than eight years in various senior leadership roles at EMC. He has previously held leadership and sales positions at Computacenter, Morse, and Xerox.

Lots of opportunities for MSPs, says Barracuda

Posted on June 1, 2021 by - News

There are shedloads of opportunities coming up for MSPs in the coming year, according to a Barracuda report.

Barracuda’s The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, claims that the appetite for managed services is stronger than ever, with many survey respondents identifying managed services as the biggest sales opportunity in the coming year.

The report said that that to seize this opportunity, MSPs can identify areas in which to focus their growth and expand their offerings. This is particularly key for those that are in the early stages of their journey or those that were forced down a specific route due to the demands of the pandemic.

Barracuda spoke to more than 400 partners from across the globe, with the combined answers indicating similar challenges for MSPs worldwide when it comes to service provisioning and meeting the complex needs of their customers. Data from the study also indicates that security remains the number one concern for customers and the leading driver for seeking out managed services.

Nokia and Microsoft team up on AI

Posted on June 1, 2021 by - News

Nokia has been telling the world+dog that it has come up with multiple AI uses cases delivered over the public cloud, with its chum Microsoft.

By integrating Nokia’s security framework with Microsoft Azure’s digital architecture, communications service providers (CSPs) can securely inject AI into their networks nine times faster than using private cloud and scale fast across their network. AI use cases are essential for CSPs to manage the business complexity that 5G and cloud networks bring, and will help accelerate digital transformation.

Deep learning could be a big help to MSPs

Posted on June 1, 2021 by - News

Deep Instinct’s Brooks Wallace, vice-president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sales has said that deep learning was there to help MSPs help their customers get a step ahead of the cybercriminals.

Wallace said that people often make the mistake of thinking in terms of artificial intelligence when they mean machine learning when they actually need deep learning which is much more useful.

“Deep learning works by building a neurological network with all these algorithms, sitting there to learn on its own from a vast amount of raw data. So we don’t give it what is benign or malicious files, we give it all the data and we let it learn on its own and it makes its decision process, organically and autonomously, and it is much more accurate than machine learning.

Zix expands UK Global Partner Programme

Posted on May 31, 2021 by - News

Cloud email outfit Zix has expanded its global partner programme in the UK meaning its partners can add Data Archive Residency to their product portfolios.

The company said that Zix is dedicated to investing in its channel programmes to meet its partners’ evolving needs amid global growth in cloud adoption and the corresponding need to ensure critical data remains secure.

The company has been implementing product changes based on survey feedback from its 5,000+ partners, including the recent strategic acquisition, CloudAlly, a cloud backup and recovery solution.

Zix CEO Dave Wagner said: “Our unique relationship as a Microsoft top partner allows our partners to build a full portfolio of security, compliance and productivity solutions from one vendor. We are excited to bring the committed level of support as we continue to expand our dedicated, in-country, resources across all key functions”