Ingram Micro has expanded its relationship with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) outfit UiPath
The move means UiPath’s entire RPA and software portfolio is now available to Ingram Micro’s worldwide channel partners.
For those who came in late, RPA is designed to help organisations increase efficiency, workflow determinism, operation accuracy and regulatory compliance by automating manual tasks. Software-powered robots establish end-to-end automation across the organisation while keeping costs low.
Ingram Micro vice president Sabine Howest said the segment has become one of the organisation’s fastest-growing global practices.
Millions in the UK could be using insecure routers according to an investigation carried out by Which?
A survey of more than 6,000 adults conducted in December 2020 found that millions of households could be using devices which are more than five years old and are no longer being supported with firmware updates.
Among the security flaws discovered were weak default passwords which are easy to guess by hackers, as well as local network vulnerabilities which would allow hackers to direct users to malicious websites.
Which? claims it sent some of the most used older devices to security specialists Red Maple Technologies, who discovered problems with more than half of them which included ISPs such as Virgin, Sky, TalkTalk, EE and Vodafone.
Cloudy MSP Kerv has bought another company and snapped up digital transformation outfit cloudThing.
The acquisition of cloudThing is the fifth company that Kerv has swallowed in a year and is the largest.
It means that the combined group is now a £35 million revenue business with more than 330 employees, serving over 800 customers and with offices in London, Birmingham and Bangalore, India.
Kerv executive chairman Alastair Mills said that the acquisition was a significant step for Kerv and a major investment in the “digital transformation” market.
Insight CEO Ken Lamnech has announced his retirement from the company at the year’s end.
Lamneck, 66, who has been with the company since 2010, will continue his roles as president, CEO and as a member of the board until a successor is found before transitioning to an advisory role.
During his 12 year reign, Insight has seen its sales grow from $4.1 billion in 2009 to $8.3 billion in 2020 as the business some of that through acquisitions.
Over that same period, Insight’s share price has increased from $11.42 to more than $100 a share, an 800 percent increase.
Insight’s share price fell by more than eight percent when the news was announced.
Big distieTech Data has announced that Cisco easylease payment plans can now be provided through its Tech-as-a-Service offering, making it easier for partners to quote end-user customers for a subscription payment option using the online portal.
The cunning plan is to make it simpler and faster for resellers to quote for finance options on smaller orders, giving the customer more choice and helping them to fund new infrastructure purchases.
Any Cisco partner can log-on and explore subscription payments options for their customers on the purchase of Cisco equipment, allowing them to spread the cost over a period of up to three years, instead of funding the full investment in new equipment up-front.
Maintel has just finished work modernising JD Sports Fashion phone network.
JD Sports wanted to maintain connectivity across its European store network and upgrade its Unified Communications infrastructure and incorporate new store premises into its network.
The solution uses JD Sports’ VPN cloud connectivity to enable colleagues to communicate via video, audio, and web conferencing links. By using Maintel’s Unified Communications as a Service solution, ICON Communicate, JD Sports has been able to improve telephony services across its European store estate with a modern cloud-based unified communications infrastructure, Maintel claimed.
The global PC market saw a year on year rise of 53.1 percent with 122.1 million units shipped, according to research from Canalys.
Chromebook sales in the education sector boosted the PC market during the first quarter of 2021 and while the education sector accounted for the majority of shipments, their popularity with consumers and traditional commercial customers reached new heights over the course of the last year.
Tablets closely followed as one of the key growth drivers, logging an increase in sales of 51.8 percent and shipment volumes of 39.7 million units.
Canalys research analyst, Brian Lynch said HP and Lenovo dominate the Chromebook market, but Acer and Samsung carved out substantial shares within the PC market by providing Chromebooks.
Data management as a service outfit Komprise has hired two new executives joining the company’s EMEA division based in the UK.
Martin Gibbons joins as Channel Director, EMEA, and is responsible for leading channel strategy across the region. Gibbons has over 25 years of experience working in the channel, recently serving as EMEA Channel Director at Cohesity and, before that, at CommVault.
Ben Conneely joined Komprise in January 2021 as Regional Sales Director for the UK, Ireland and Northern Europe and was promoted to VP of EMEA in April. Conneely brings more than 20 years in senior-level sale roles in the data management industry, including at HPE and EMC.
Komprise wants to grow its EMEA presence. In November 2020, Fortune 500 technology reseller/distributor Tech Data signed on to add Komprise to its solutions for the pan-European market.
Nokia has launched its Data Marketplace as-a-service to encourage secure sharing of data and AI models, allowing what it describes as digital transformation and data monetisation for enterprises.
The outfit said that as AI and machine learning are increasingly crucial in business decision making. Nokia Data Marketplace is designed to help enterprises and communications service providers (CSPs) use data in strategic decision making, by providing real-time access to massive trusted datasets.
The new service also enables enterprises and CSPs to become data marketplace providers themselves, by monetising data exchanges between customers or business ecosystem participants.
Nokia Data Marketplace ensures trusted data exchange and authorisation mechanisms, it’s claimed. This allows a wide range of vertical use cases, including electric vehicle charging, environmental data monetisation, supply-chain automation and preventative maintenance powering numerous vertical segments, including transportation, ports, energy, smart cities and healthcare.
Friedrich Trawoeger, Vice President, Cloud and Cognitive Services at Nokia, said: “Our customers need secure and trusted access to data for effective business decision making. With Nokia Data Marketplace, enterprises and CSPs can now benefit from richer insights and predictive models to drive digital ways of working and tap into new revenue streams.”
VMware has announced the launch of its zero carbon cloud partner initiative.
The goal is to encourage the move to zero carbon clouds and help its customers reach their sustainability and decarbonisation targets by connecting them with cloud providers with aligned goals.
Participating VMware Cloud Verified providers must operate infrastructure-, energy- and carbon-efficient data centres based on VMware software-defined data centre (SDDC) technologies and be committed to powering those data centres with renewable energy sources by 2030. European-based partners Atea and OVHcloud and Equinix, IBM, Microsoft and OVHcloud US have joined the initiative.
Atea Sweden Head of Sustainability Chiara Salvetti said: “Atea’s clear 100 percent renewables goal makes it easier for customers to understand the sustainability impact of their IT investments and for Atea’s employees to advise customers on sustainable choices.”
OVHcloud chief industry officer François Sterin said that the world has become data dependent. The wide scale transition from onsite storage toward cloud-based stuff represents an opportunity for the industry to help companies make progress toward sustainability.
McAfee inked a multi-year extended partnership agreement, with Fujitsu Client Computing (FCCL) to deliver consumer security stuff to FCCL device users.
McAfee and FCCL’s longstanding partnership makes the integration of the products seamless to end-users allowing them to use McAfee security solutions to protect their digital lives quickly.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, McAfee Labs observed an average of 648 threats per minute, increasing 60 threats per minute (10 percent). The latest McAfee Threats Report: April 2021, which examined cybercriminal activity related to the malware and the evolution of cyber threats in the third and fourth quarters of 2020, found the two quarters saw COVID-19-related cyber-attack detections increase by 240 per cent in the third quarter and 114 percent in the fourth.
IT Glue has acquired MSP TruMethods with the aim of integrating its “myITprocess” with IT Glue, and deliver a high-value virtual CIO (vCIO) software platform. Make of this sentence what you will.
IT Glue CTO and general manager Nadir Merchant said as MSPs mature, a vCIO offering will become a must-have capability in their arsenal.
“Ninety-five percent of myITprocess users use IT Glue, which demonstrates just how well our products go hand-in-hand. As we worked on this integration, it became clear that we could do so much more for the MSP community by going beyond just the technology. This acquisition is a milestone for our industry as Gary Pica – a legend in the MSP space – and his team join forces with IT Glue to take MSPs to even greater heights.”
Security outfit Core to Cloud has appointed Phil Howe as Chief Technology Officer.
Howe said: “The tech Core to Cloud has in its product stack is best of breed and very innovative. I had worked with Core to Cloud for the past five years and have been a customer when I was deputy CTO at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. At the Trust, we had a small IT security team. I needed a partner who could work alongside my team, who understood my needs, who I trusted, listened to, and came back with solid recommendations to help overcome some of the challenges we were facing.
Prior to joining Bolton NHS, Phil Howe was a senior IT specialist for Ehealth at NHS Dumfries and Galloway.
“Core to Cloud was an integral part of our team and hit the mark, bringing innovative solutions to us that were fit for purpose. They helped us build out the security for the organisation, and I was so impressed with the company culture and ethos, not to mention its growth ambitions, that I decided this was the right place for my next career move. I’m excited about the opportunity.”
BT has announced its new Partner Plus channel programme for its Wholesale division.
The arrangement is set up using a three-tier system Partner, Premium and Elite to make it easier for partners to collaborate and integrate with BT Wholesale’s suite of experts and services. This includes helping business support, marketing resources, and productivity gains.
Each tier offers a greater range of benefits which will be delivered through BT Wholesale’s new Partner Plus Hub, including commercial support and marketing resources, learning tools built by industry experts, and access to exclusive events.
Accenture has announced its intent to acquire French cybersecurity services outfit Openminded.
The move is apparently part of a cunning plan but Accenture to strengthen its security presence in the country and across the EU.
For those not in the know, Openminded specialises in delivering advisory, cloud and infrastructure security, cyber defence, and managed security services and the move will give Accenture more than 100 highly skilled cybersecurity employees to Accenture’s existing workforce of almost 7,000. Founded in 2008, Openminded is powered by a security operations centre and helps clients anticipate and reduce security risks, rapidly detect and respond to cyber incidents, as well as implement best practices in regulatory compliance.
Ingram Micro has expanded its relationship with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) outfit UiPath
