Author: Nick Farrell

Excel Esports extends partnership with Chillblast

Excel Esports  has extended its partnership with the UK PC manufacturer, Chillblast, as its official PC supplier.

The new agreement includes the creation of a bespoke range of Excel equipment with three systems covering beginner, player and creator specifications. The branded towers are available.

Chief Commercial Officer of Excel Esports, Robin McCammon had the following to say: “In Chillblast we have a dedicated and true supporter of Excel. The quality and speed of the Chillblast PCs allow us to compete at the highest level and prove ourselves amongst the world elite in professional gaming and Esports. We look forward to gaming together with this key partner.”

Arcserve has Renaissance

Security outfit Arcserve has named  value-added IT distributor Renaissance as a new partner to help out in the Irish market.

Renaissance director  Michael Conway said: ” Arcserve brings a phenomenal depth of data protection experience to the table, particularly in terms of mitigating the rising threats posed by ransomware and phishing attacks. As we have well over twenty years of experience distributing Sophos’s cybersecurity solutions this seems like a natural, complementary partnership.

“Despite the looming challenges facing the IT industry, we expect this partnership to allow us to further meet the needs of our partners and resellers during this uncertain time, by giving them the all-in-one, turnkey, business continuity solutions they need now more than ever”

Glide sees growth in wholesale channel

Infrastructure and utilities outfit Glide said that it has noted a remarkable growth in the UK’s wholesale channel market.

Having started from scratch just over a year ago, Glide now has more than 300 partners who are using the Glide fibre network.  Additionally, Glide says it is already billing a significant amount per month with 183 of those partners – a figure which continues to grow on a month-by-month basis.

Glide’s business is based on allowing the channel to cross sell products on top of a better level of connectivity, which is a key requirement for cloud services. One of Glide’s key objectives is opening up a whole host of connectivity options to its channel.

There is gold in BYOL for robots

Oracle Partner Blue Prism has noted that its Bring your own licence [BYOL] is doing rather well with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) users.

The new Oracle Cloud Marketplace offering makes it easier for customers to run Blue Prism on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, it’s claimed. It also gives customers access to end-to-end automation solutions that cover the broadest range of IT environments — including on-premises, hybrid and SaaS — an industry first, the company claims.

The BYOL listing on Oracle Cloud Marketplace is Blue Prism pre-installed on an image for easy deployment on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure; those with existing Blue Prism licences can migrate software licences to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Oracle customers can also use existing Oracle Universal Credits to pay for cloud infrastructure services. The offering gives Oracle customers an opportunity to experience Blue Prism on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, as well as introduces them to the possibilities of intelligent automation.

Demand for cybersecurity is increasing exponentially

A report from MSP Barracuda shows that cyber-criminals have been taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Barracuda Vice President,  Brian Babineau, channel partners currently on their MSP journey, now is the time to really think about adding security to their services portfolio.

The report shows that  88 percent of partners questioned, believed demand for security services was set to increase over the next 12 months.

“It also is no surprise that  91 percent of the global MSP partners we surveyed are planning to increase the number of services they offer in the coming year, particularly around security”, he said.

Managed services are set to be the top revenue generator for the vast majority of respondents.

A total of 69 percent of respondents picked managed services as the biggest opportunity for increasing  sales this year. This is significantly up on 2019 where 54 percent saw managed services as their biggest opportunity, he said. 

Gaming industry could be the Cloud and 5G’s next conquest

The gaming industry could be the next target of cloud and 5G based sales teams according to beancounters at GlobalData.

Traction towards gaming-on-demand is fuelling the migration of games to the cloud while trying to utilise the peak speed abilities of 5G, says GlobalData

‘Cloud’ and ‘5G’ have become rising topics of discussion in the gaming industry in 2020 as tracked by GlobalData’s Filing Analytics platform. Mentions of these terms in earnings transcripts of companies in the gaming industry witnessed double digit growth in Q1 2020 when compared to Q1 2019. Nvidia GeForce Now, Google Stadia, Playstation Now and Microsoft’s Projext xCloud are some of the top cloud gaming services mentioned.

Rinaldo Pereira, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, said: “Following the video streaming industry trend, subscription models will cause a shift in the gaming sector due to the dawn of cloud services. The expansion of cloud 5G gaming is attractive for telecom operators – with consumers accustomed to paying for subscriptions in the industry, network operators with the right assets will gain growth and competitive agility in the lucrative market.”

Dell cuts staff benefits

Tin box-shifter Dell plans to cut some staff benefits including pay rises, promotions and 401(k) contributions as it looks to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis unscathed.

According to Bloomberg, Dell will halt several staff benefits as of 1 June and until at least the end of the year.

It is basically refusing to make contributions to employee 401(k) retirement plans and will freeze internal pay rises and promotions as it looks to preserve cash during the COVID-19 crisis.

Dell has put in place a hiring freeze until at least the end of 2020. Dell said the actions will help set it up for success when the pandemic subsides.

“Like all companies right now, we’re constantly evaluating our business to plan for resiliency in the current environment and to support our team members, customers, and community in a way that sets us all up for success on the other side of this pandemic”, the company said in a statement.

EclecticIQ teams up with PolyLogyx

Security outfit EclecticIQ is joining forces with PolyLogyx, a creator of endpoint and cloud workload threat detection and response technologies.

The partnership  will allow the two companies to bring intelligence-led cybersecurity products to market.

As the creator of PolyLogyx Endpoint Platform, PolyLogyx OSQuery Agent and PolyLogyx Kernel Library, PolyLogyx has significant experience in the field of endpoint detection and response (EDR).

The company’s expertise in this domain is an important part of EclecticIQ’s ambitions to accelerate the adoption of intelligence-led security across key industries. By joining forces, the two companies will use their combined capabilities to re-imagine how security analysts detect, hunt and respond to sophisticated threats, it is claimed.

Suppliers named on NHS Cybersecurity Services framework

The new NHS Cybersecurity Services framework has been announced with Softcat, Logicalis and MTI are among the 25 suppliers listed.

The framework has an estimated value of up to £250 million and runs until February 2024. Other reseller names on the supplier list include Trustmarque, CGI, NCC and Novosco.

The framework comprises three Lots.  The first deals with Emergency Cyber Incident Management and has an estimated total value of £90 million and 11 suppliers. The second lot is centred on Cybersecurity Consultancy Services and has a total value of £80 million and 19 suppliers, while the last is focused on Security Personnel, also with a total value of £80 million and 15 suppliers.

Enterprise hardware takes a hit

Beancounters at Context have added up some numbers after rolling the corporate dice and came to the conclusion that hardware has been the worst hit segment of the enterprise channel market in the first four months of this year.

According to it, data enterprise hardware revenue declines have widened from a per cent year on year in January, to 11 percent in March and 17 percent in April.

Context’s head of enterprise, Gurvan Meyer, said the market has been strongly impacted by the suspension of projects during the crisis.

Softcat did OK in the first three months

Softcat has been doing OK during the year despite the general woe and issued its own third quarter trading update, which covers the three months to 30 April, to prove it.

That period covers a large chunk of the lockdown, and some of the weeks after a significant number of customers had made hardware, software, and security investments to facilitate a move to a home working.

“The company has traded satisfactorily during the period and delivered growth in revenue, gross profit and operating profit. Cash receipts from customers have remained broadly in line with normal trends”, stated the trading update.

“There remains a high degree of uncertainty in the coming months, and Softcat is not immune to the challenges faced by the wider economy”, the firm stated. “However, we have moved seamlessly to a remote working model and the board is encouraged by the resilience of the business thus far.”

Exertis makes life easier for resellers

Exertis has spruced up its services to make it easier for resellers to provide customers with an end-to-end “solution”.

Company  managing director, Rod McCarthy designed the plan which involves covering  six areas: consult, deploy, maintain, manage, assist and recover.

The idea is to point resellers towards a range of services networking, security, software, AV, print, mobile management and recycling and refurbishment.

Services will come from its support centres in the UK and Ireland, staffed with tech experts which will provide resellers with 24/7 assistance.

inTec adds iTek

North West-based technology company, inTec Business Solutions, has bought Kenda-based iTek Computer Solutions. The company join telephony specialists’ Hale Communications, Vision Corporate Services and Cheshire Business Services plus Cloud and I.T. experts CFM Hub and Titan Networks as part of the inTec Business Solutions group.

inTec Business Solutions is building a network of telecoms and IT partners allowing them to expand their product and service portfolios, instantly transforming them into full-service ICT solutions providers. It specialises in the design, implementation and support of a range of Cloud services and business applications including IT managed services, IT infrastructure support, hosted collaboration and communication solutions.

iTek Computer Solutions are the sixth company to join the inTec family and bring with them a team of forward-thinking engineers who provide full I.T. expertise with in-depth cross sector experience. They offer reliable computer support and consultancy services to a range of businesses in South Cumbria and north Lancashire. 

GDPR helping cyber criminals

While GDPR has been important in making sure that companies look after customer’s data it is providing an opportunity for cyber criminals to further their own agenda.

BlackBerry has found a new trend in the last couple of years with ransomware groups using GDPR to their advantage, threatening to alert data regulators to the fact that victims had been breached, adding additional pressure on the targets to cave to their demands.

Adam Bangle, Vice President EMEA at BlackBerry  said that two years ago, few could have predicted that a regulation put in place to make data safer could turn into a tool for blackmail.

Colt appoints Gilder to top slot

Colt Technology Services has appointed Keri Gilder as its new chief executive officer, replacing Carl Grivner.

Grivner said that during his time at the company it stayed ahead of the curve by investing in high bandwidth connectivity, blockchain and APIs, even before we saw customer demand for these innovative solutions.

“It has been a privilege to lead an organisation during such a transformation, and it’s been an honour to have the backing of the Board, my team and the wider organisation as we pushed ahead with doing some things that haven’t been done before.”