Author: Nick Farrell

CloudClevr has just snapped up Twisted Fish IT, marking its fourth high-profile M&A.

The Rigby Tech-backed powerhouse is on a shopping spree, having already bagged NGC Networks, 4Sight Communications, and Bamboo Technology Group.

Twisted Fish boss Ben Woodhouse was delighted to conclude the deal with CloudClevr and will stay on as managing director, alongside his leadership team, to drive the next level of growth within our business.

Woodhouse expressed his excitement about joining a high-growth business that shares the same strong cultural and directional fit as Twisted Fish. In CloudClevr, they’ve found their perfect match, a partnership that promises a bright and prosperous future for the Twisted Fish squad and their customers. Read more…

Cloudy backup outfit  Keepit has announced the opening of its first two data centres in Switzerland.

Keepit has strategically partnered with Equinix to operate its new data centres in Switzerland. This collaboration ensures that Keepit can provide a data storage solution that fully complies with Swiss laws and regulations, catering to the needs of businesses both inside and outside Switzerland.

Keepit CTO Jakob Østergaard said: “Our data centre strategy enables Keepit’s customers to recover lost or compromised data instantly. Read more…

Zeus Cloud CEO Mark Grindey has warned that public sector IT services are no longer fit for purpose due to its poor tendering system.

He said that reports of constant security breaches, unacceptable downtime, epidemic overspending, and delays in vital service innovation that would reduce costs and improve citizen experience have become rampant.

“While the UK’s public sector is on the front line of a global escalation in cyberattacks, the number of breaches leading to service disruption, data loss and additional costs to rebuild and restore systems are unacceptable and unnecessary. A lack of expertise, insufficient procurement rigour and a herd mentality have led to over-reliance on a handful of vendors, ubiquitous infrastructure models and identical security vulnerabilities that are quickly and easily exploited,” Grindey said. Read more…

Cisco supremo Chuck Robbins is adamant about not getting left in the digital dust again, especially not in artificial intelligence (AI) arena.

Cisco was the networking kingpin that got a bit of a shock when cloud computing came knocking. But Robbins does not want the same thing to happen with AI. He reckons Cisco has the upper hand this time, unlike the cloud kerfuffle when they were behind the eight ball. Read more…

TD SYNNEX has become the first UK distributor to stockpile Sophos’ shiny security gadgets, ready to wing their way to partners immediately.

The Sophos suite of cyber shields is up for grabs on TD SYNNEX’s InTouch e-commerce platform, and it’s not just any old stock list – we’re talking next-business-day delivery as standard.

TD SYNNEX UK security boss Alison Nixon said: “This is a huge change and opportunity for Sophos partners. Our customers have been wanting us to apply our top-notch stocking and ordering to the Sophos hardware products, and we’ve pulled out all the stops to make it happen.”

This means partners can now zap orders to their clients faster than you can say ‘cybersecurity’, Read more…

Crew-based Radius has just announced a strategic partnership with Vodafone Ireland Business. They’re bringing a complete communications service to their business customers in the Republic of Ireland (RoI).

This is not the first time Radius has teamed up with Vodafone. They’ve been working together in Northern Ireland, and now they’re expanding to cover the whole of Ireland.

Through this partnership, Radius’ telecoms business unit will offer a range of Vodafone communications products and services, including 5G mobile broadband solutions to those hard-to-reach regions with no fibre. They’re even throwing in unlimited 5G tariffs, giving networks like Three and Eir a run for their money. Read more…

US-based Evergreen has just snapped up another firm, Digital Origin, based in Milton Keynes.

This is not their first rodeo in the UK, mind you. Last year, they took over The Final Step, a London-based MSP.

Digital Origin, founded in August 2018, is a one-stop shop for businesses needing IT solutions. Its connectivity-as-a-service (CaaS) model delivers wholesale IT, MSP, and cybersecurity solutions across three sectors: IT connectivity, telephony, and mobile solutions.

Its top dog, James Evans, is sticking around to keep the ship sailing smoothly. He reckons the UK IT MSP (CaaS) sector is going through a bit of a transformation, what with all the political shenanigans and the lingering effects of the pandemic. But he’s confident that Evergreen and Digital Origin are ready to seize the day. Read more…

Kristin Russell, who was steering the ship of Arrow Electronics’ £5.8 billion Global Enterprise Computing Solutions business, has been given the boot, effective 2 April. And no, they didn’t even have the decency to give a reason. A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing stated that it was just a cold, brutal termination.

The plot thickens as Eric Nowak, a 20-year Arrow stalwart, most recently the big cheese of EMEA and Australia-New Zealand for ECS, steps into Russell’s shoes. He’s been handed the reins of the business that Russell led for the last three years. Read more…

Tech behemoth Cisco and a veritable who’s who of the tech world, including Accenture, Eightfold, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft, and SAP, have united their strengths and expertise to form the AI-Enabled Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Workforce Consortium. This alliance, driven by a shared vision, is poised to prepare the global workforce for the impending large-scale adoption of AI.

Cisco top brass, Francine Katsoudas, said, “AI is turbocharging the global workforce transformation, and it’s high time the private sector stepped up to the plate to upskill and reskill workers for the future.”

The newly formed consortium is not waiting for the AI revolution to catch up. It is on a mission to arm organisations with the knowledge of AI’s impact on the workforce and equip workers with the necessary skills. “We’re taking the first crucial step to ensure the AI revolution leaves no one in the dust,” Katsoudas added. Read more…

New research from Microsoft partner Advania has found that IT complexity is hindering mid-market organisations’ efforts to harness the full potential of new technologies.

The scale of the challenge is significant, with more than 81 per cent of mid-market organisations needing help scaling, updating, and future-proofing their underlying tech stacks in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) era.

This independent study by Censuswide, the largest of its kind, surveyed 966 mid-market IT decision-makers across organisations in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland. Read more…

Juniper Networks shareholders have given a resounding thumbs up to being snapped up by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), paving the way for a staggering £11.06 billion merger.

On 2 April, Juniper held a special meeting of stockholders to vote on the HPE acquisition. More than 265 million shareholders backed the deal, with a mere 258,000 naysayers voting against it. This means less than one per cent of Juniper shareholder votes were against the merger, demonstrating massive support for the acquisition.

Both companies want to seal the deal before we officially ring in 2025. Read more…