Author: Nick Farrell

CMS Distribution teams up with Fujitsu

Posted on April 7, 2022 by - News

CMS Distribution has signed a distribution agreement with Fujitsu that covers the full range of technology products, solutions and services.

The partnership with Fujitsu will see CMS Distribution’s partners gain access to Fujitsu’s full suite of tech solutions and enable the Japanese business “to broaden their customer reach”.

CMS Alliance’s Nick Bailey said: “We’re incredibly excited to partner with Fujitsu and be able to offer their business and consumer solutions and support its channel growth with our targeted marketing programmes, technical support and financial services.

Forrester McBain defects to Canalys

Posted on April 6, 2022 by - Moving People, News

Forrester lead global analyst Jay McBain has confirmed he has defected to join rival Canalys, according to his Linkedin profile.

The channel guru will be Canalys’ chief analyst and lead its North America Research Programme while participating in wider worldwide research.

Canalys VP Channels Alex Smith said: “Jay is both a thought leader and challenger in the field of channels and ecosystems. We are delighted to have Jay join our growing team of analysts across the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe.”

SysGroup swallows Truststream Security Solutions

Posted on April 6, 2022 by - News

SysGroup is acquiring Truststream Security Solutions for more than £4 million.

The buy out will be funded from SysGroup’s existing cash balance and a new revolving credit facility of £8 million provided by Santander.

For those not in the know, Edinburgh-based Truststream is a provider of security transformation services and its offering covers all aspects of cyber security from analysis and threat detection, through protection architecture and implementation, to incident response and ongoing 24/7 support and training.

K3 bottom line improves thanks to burning Sage

Posted on April 6, 2022 by - News

K3’s losses have improved after the outfit off-loaded two non-core units, including its Sage business for £1.68 million.

The software cloud solutions provider for the fashion industry has posted its final financial results for the 12 months to 30 November 2021.

It shows revenue was up three percent to £45.3 million while losses before tax from continuing operations decreased to -£7.8 million, compared with -£20.8 million in 2020.

This comes after Pinnacle Computing acquired K3s former Sage business for £1.68 million in September last year. K3 sold off its Starcom MSP arm to Node4 last February for £13.3 million.

Brother tries subscription service to open small business doors

Posted on April 5, 2022 by - News

Brother has launched a pilot subscription service in a bid to encourage smaller firms to use managed print services.

Customers will pay monthly for support, device installation, supplies recycling and maintenance services, with a three-month notice period. Prices range from £17-62 a month, depending on page volumes and the hardware.

The channel will be able to pitch the option to customers, with no need for credit agreements and cancellation at any time, which should make it attractive for small customers looking for inkjet and laser printers.

Greig Millar, general manager for sales at Brother UK, said that the firm had seen some of its highest levels of growth with managed print services in the past year and viewed MPS as an area where there were further opportunities.

Exclusive shares first post-IPO numbers

Posted on April 5, 2022 by - News

Exclusive Networks has shared its first set of full-year numbers since going public, with the distributor delivering against the strategy it set out to investors in its IPO.

For the year ended December 2021, the channel player produced a 15.1 percent year-on-year improvement in gross sales, coming in at €3.3 billion. Adjusted net income of €72.6 million represented an 85.1 percent increase.

The distributor also saw its channel base widen, signing up more than 1,250 new resellers (seven percent growth), servicing 110,000 end-customers, up 4,000, as well as expanding with vendors into 21 fresh countries. The firm added 22 vendors to its roster, including Diamanti, Hashicorp, Salt Security and Sonatype.

The year saw the business use its financial muscle to acquire additional expertise, with buys of emerging vendor support specialist Ignition Technology and Networks Unlimited.

Nuvias looks to Eastern Europe

Posted on April 5, 2022 by - News

While many Western companies are a bit worried about working in Eastern Europe, Nuvias has opened its chequebook to buy cyber security and networking distributor NetSafe.

The move will bolster Nuvias’ moves in Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.

Based in Bucharest, Romania, Netsafe has been in business for 13 years and is a Brocade, Fortinet, Barracuda and Ruckus partner with around 50 staff.

Capita completes Trustmarque sale

Posted on April 4, 2022 by - News

Capita has flogged off the professional services giant Trustmarque which it bought for £57 million in 2016 but agreed to sell to private equity firm One Equity.

The company received net proceeds of £118 million at completion which included an additional £3 million of contingent consideration.

Capita says the proceeds, net of transaction costs, will be used to strengthen the balance sheet and reduce debt.

One Equity Partners has a history of investing in channel businesses on an international level.

Microsoft buys Minit

Posted on April 4, 2022 by - News

Software King of the World, Microsoft, has announced it is buying process mining technology company Minit.

Vole says it will empower the company to help its customers digitally “transform and drive operational excellence” (which we guess has been parked in a car park on bricks for a while now).

Minit apparently helps businesses gain insights into how processes run, uncover root causes of operational challenges and help mitigate undesired process outcomes.

Founded in 2017, the tech scale-up has offices in Amsterdam, London, Bratislava and New York.

Justin Graham, Microsoft’s general manager of process insights, said: “This acquisition will further empower Microsoft to help our customers digitally transform and drive operational excellence by creating a complete picture of their business processes, enabling every process to be easily and automatically analysed and improved.

Datacentres crippled by rising power charges

Posted on April 4, 2022 by - News

The UK’s cloudy dreams are being scuppered by huge power increases, and the effects of the Ukraine war are biting.

Already the UK arm of US-based colocation provider Sungard entered administration, due to spiralling energy costs that came on the back of the Covid pandemic.

Energy prices have been getting progressively ridiculous over the past year, with data from the UK government’s Office for National Statistics confirming that the wholesale price of gas was four times higher in January 2022 than it was at the start of 2021.

Datacentres’ largest cost is energy and providers are frantically trying to talk to energy wholesalers.

To be fair, Sungard’s issues included a decline in demand for its services for some time and certain datacentre and workplace facilities becoming unprofitable, with fixed lease and energy costs no longer being offset by customer revenue.

It’s not grim up north

Posted on April 1, 2022 by - News

The number of professionals with technology skills is expanding at a faster pace in the North of England than in London and the south.

Number crunchers from Accenture found that demand for technology professionals is increasing in the UK as the technology jobs market continues to recover from the pandemic.

The figures show that London has maintained the lion’s share of the UK’s open technology roles (68,000) with demand increasing by 89 per cent from last year.

But the data reveals there is sizeable potential for cities outside of the capital to become technology hubs in the future, with growth in demand increasing in Manchester (234 percent), Birmingham (385 percent) and Oxford (264 percent).

US scaring Kaspersky customers

Posted on April 1, 2022 by - News

Kaspersky customers are “scared” as the US government eyes potential sanctions against the security outfit.

CRN has been chatting to one unnamed Kasperky’s partner who is worried that customers who are coming up for renewal are looking elsewhere.

“Customers that are coming up for renewal are obviously looking elsewhere—they’re scared”, said one solution provider CEO who partners with Kaspersky and declined to be identified. “People don’t know if this is just some kind of geopolitical BS? Or is there really something there? They’re thinking, ‘Well, if I’ve chosen Kaspersky, is my boss going to fire me if something happens?’ Just the optics right now, it’s troubling.”

“The board of directors of Kaspersky clients are saying, ‘We are not going to use this anymore. Find something else.’ I mean, it’s no different—or I guess it’s a little different—to people pouring out Russian vodka. ‘Hey, if it’s got a Russian stamp on it, let’s get it out. I don’t want to get cancelled,’” said the CEO. “It’s a no-win situation for everybody.”

James quits Computacenter

Posted on April 1, 2022 by - Moving People, News

Computacenter’s group CCO Kevin James has exited the company after 32 “amazing” years.

James told his Linkedin friends that he wanted to spend more time with his family, a little more time on the golf course and “seeing much more of the world” following his departure from Computacenter.

James joined Computacenter in 1990 as a general manager/regional sales manager. He became director of industry and corporate in 2005, director of services and solutions in 2011 and UK managing director in 2015 before becoming group chief commercial officer in 2017.

Corporations more likely to talk to banks through APIs

Posted on March 31, 2022 by - News

Corporate bodies are three times more likely to primarily communicate with their bank through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces – a form of machine-to-machine communication) versus primarily communicating person-to-person.

Number crunchers at  NTT DATA found a shift in post-pandemic corporate banking towards more integrated, digitised, sustainable banking aligned to the new generation of millennials taking up senior positions in corporate businesses.

The research found that accelerated adoption of technology combined with generational shifts in clients, and the ongoing recovery from a global pandemic has fundamentally changed banking.

The traditional corporate banking image of personal client relationships is confined to history as corporates prioritise end-to-end digitisation and frictionless banking. 85 percent of banks report they are working on rationalising their portals, a change driven by client-centricity and improving the customer experience.

Avoid Russian tech, warns NCSC

Posted on March 31, 2022 by - News

The UK’s cybersecurity body, the NCSC, has warned organisations and businesses to avoid Russian tech.

Ian Levy, technical director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), follows guidance released in 2017 warning those involved in national security about the use of Russian products.

Writing in his bog, Levy said that public sector organisations, organisations providing services to Ukraine, high profile organisations, those involved in critical infrastructure and those doing work that could be seen as opposed to Russia’s interests should consider their reliance on Russian technology.