Category: News

CrowdStrike’s warranty has people talking

Hacker typing on a laptopCrowdstrike is getting a lot of attention after it posted a new warranty where it will pay customers if something goes wrong with the security of their products.

At  an InfoSec event, the decision by CrowdStrike to offer a $1 million warranty if a breach occurs in a protected environment stood out. All this is happening as endpoint protection specialist looking to take advantage of customer movement away from legacy products.

Matthew Polly, VP of worldwide alliances, business development and channels at CrowdStrike, told the assembled throngs that customers had changed. Legacy vendors are really designed for file-based attacks b ut the threat is now over 50 percent file-less hacks. Hackers were, “threading laterally, dumping credentials on the way and the legacy technology are not designed to plot that type of activity.”

The firm is working with resellers, MSPs and ISVs as well as striking up technology alliances that give it the chance to reach out to other vendor resellers.

He said that the reaction from partners and customers to the warranty had been positive and it was stirring a debate about endpoint protection. “Resellers have been excited about it and it is a very fast growing offering.”

 

 

Retailers to invest in machine learning and voice search

washing machine warQueryClick’s new CMO Performance Report 2018, has found a significant number of retailers plan to invest in technology including machine learning and voice search to spruce up their digital marketing campaigns.

The report, which includes a survey of over 150 Chief Marketing Officers for UK consumer brands found that 66 percent of CMOs for large retail brands have plans to invest in machine learning to enhance their digital marketing strategies within the next year.

The survey also found that over half of retailers will invest in voice search technology within the next 12 months. By 2019, the voice recognition market is predicted to be a $601 million industry, and its value is set to accelerate even further as research predict half of all searches will be voice searches by 2020.

Overall, 75 percent  of CMOs said their brand will change its SEO strategy to ensure it appears in voice-led search results. Of those, 43 percent said they would do this within the next year.  And 32 percent said they would make the changes in a year

Only three percent of brands surveyed have already adapted their SEO strategies to ensure their brand appears in voice-led search results, despite consumers already making 50 billion voice searches per month today.

Another growing trend, the study found that retailers will continue to invest in influencer marketing to promote their brand and products. 63 percent of CMOs for large retailers said they will be investing in influencer marketing within the next 12 months. This follows reports that influencer marketing grew by 198 percent  in 2017.

 

 

 

 

Commvault signs new deal with Biggish Blue

satanic pactCommvault has signed a new deal with IBM to provide its its Business Resiliency Services with a managed service based on the Commvault software portfolio of data management and protection software, including the Commvault Data Platform.

The deal will give IBM Business Resiliency Services a single powerful platform for managing, backing up, recovering, migrating and indexing of all their data, whether it is located on-premises or in the cloud.

IBM Business Resiliency Services can deploy Commvault software on-premises, on infrastructure managed in IBM data centers and in IBM Cloud environments. IBM Business Resiliency Services will offer the software both as a solution or as a managed service. The Commvault software offerings will also enable IBM healthcare customers to manage critical MEDITECH, Epic and other EHR data, as well as medical images, across their healthcare enterprise.

Daniel Witteveen, Vice President, Global Portfolio, IBM Business Resiliency Services said: “The enterprise finds itself in an era where clients are seeking more simplicity and agility in their data backup and recovery solutions to help enable their digital transformation. Seamless integration of IBM and Commvault solutions for on-site or off-site data backup will help deliver a more simplified business continuity model and help reduce operational risks and costs for customers.”

 

Tintri lays off staff

an-queue-at-a-job-centre-in-1924-pic-getty-images-762512302Storage vendor Tintri is laying off 200 members of its workforce in a bid to save cash, however the outfit is still likely to go tits up  by 30 June.

In a filing to the SEC, Tintri revealed that the terminations were “ongoing” but that it expects to complete the process soon, leaving a skeleton staff of 40 to 50 to keep it afloat.

CEO Thomas Barton left the office last week, and Tom Cashman, Tintri’s VP of worldwide sales and alliances, was also laid off.

Tintri is currently $15.4 million in debt with Silicon Valley Bank and owes $50 million to TriplePoint Capital.

In its filing, the vendor said: “Tintri has very limited cash resources remaining and currently does not expect to have sufficient liquidity to continue its operations beyond 30 June 2018.”

It is expected to be delisted soon and then the the company’s common stock may trade only on the over-the-counter market, or not at all.

 

Mayflex signs distribution deal with Mist

walkers-486583_1920_1Converged IP outfit Mayfle has signed a new distribution agreement with AI-driven wireless compnay Mist.

Through this agreement, Mayflex will distribute the Mist learning WLAN throughout the UK, providing key channel expansion and enablement functions, by leveraging the latest in cloud, wireless, AI and big data technologies.

The Mist Learning WLAN delivers unprecedented insight into the Wi-Fi user experience and eliminates the operational burdens of legacy wireless architectures by replacing time consuming manual tasks with proactive automation. In addition, Mist is the first vendor to bring Enterprise grade Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and IoT together to deliver personalised, location-based services for wireless users.

Anita Mistry, Director of Sales – Networking at Mayflex said, “I am delighted to welcome Mist on board. Their products execute on a bold vision of being the leader in AI for IT, introducing exciting new opportunities to Mayflex with both our existing and potential new customer base. The dedicated Mayflex networking team are geared up and ready to work with this exciting brand to provide exemplary support and services to our customers.”

Anita said, “Companies of all sizes, from SMBs to large enterprises, can leverage Mist’s
AI-driven services to simplify wireless operations and/or deliver value-add location services, such as push advertising, wayfinding, visitor analytics, and asset tracking. Customers can get in touch with our team who can talk you through this new range.”

“The UK market is key to Mist’s global growth strategy,” said Jeff Aaron, vice president of marketing at Mist. “There is an abundance of companies looking to leverage AI to simplify Wi-Fi operations, increase  Wi-Fi reliability and deliver new location-based services using virtual Bluetooth LE. Mayflex is ideally equipped to bring the Mist learning WLAN to the UK market and ensure its ongoing success, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership.”

Brits suffer from mobile addiction

shoe phoneNew research published by Textlocal, one of the UK’s SMS marketing platforms, highlights how a third of respondents feel that they are addicted to their smartphones, with 15 percent checking their phones within 15 minutes of waking.

The research also highlights how smartphones are now an intrinsic part of everyday life, often at hand for more than 16 hours a day with the average user checking their phone 10,000 times a year, 4,000 of these entirely out of habit.

The research was commissioned to find out exactly how consumers are using their phones and what they think about mobile communications, found that currently 85 percent of the adult population now own a smartphone, an increase of more than 63 percent in the last five years. This figure is forecast to grow to 93 percent of adults by 2023, with the 55+ the fastest growing age group.

The findings illustrate how smartphones are now part of everyday life and that the primary role of making calls is becoming less important, with only 59 percent saying they make calls via the phone every day. Other than making calls, the other most popular functions include sending SMSes (92 percent of respondents), taking photos (91 percent) and checking emails (86 percent).

More than 60 percent of people use at least one messaging medium daily, meaning that it has become a more popular way of communicating than making calls. Other popular daily activities uses include browsing the internet (75 pecent), checking social media (67 per cent) and sending SMS (61 percent). Of those who check social media and regularly send SMSes, a third responded to say they were ‘constantly’ checking social media and 22 percent constantly using SMS to message friends, family or colleagues.

The growth in online shopping via mobile is also evident with three quarters (75 percent) using their phones to browse every day and with an average monthly spend growing to £21.15 (Ofcom 2017). The average person now spends 40 hours per week browsing internet on their mobiles – six hours a day – and in 2017 smartphones overtook computers in terms of devices being used to get online.

Jason Palgrave-Jones, Managing Director of Textlocal said: “Smartphones have truly revolutionised the way we work, rest and play. People of all demographics have embraced the convenience and advancements in technology, allowing the devices to play a vital role in how we live our lives today. These technologies have bought convenience and connectivity to our lives and if used appropriately provide excellent opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.”

The advances in technology, connectivity and availability mean that smartphones are typically ‘to hand’ for more than 16 hours a day with 56 percent using them as their daily alarms, more than half (55 percent) tracking their well being on their phones and just under half watching video clips every day on their phones – less corporate videos but more ‘how to’, humour or influencer marketing videos.

Teleopti boss says super-agents are the way forward

supermanRather than fear robots taking over the contact centre, Teleopti’s Business Manager for UK and Ireland Nick Smith says it’s time to harness the power of both worlds to improve the customer’s experience.

Smith said Teleopti’s experience suggests that both human agents and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have a powerful role to play. On the one hand, AI and chatbots are simultaneously revolutionising customer service and elevating the status of agents.

WeChat in China is one of the most successful pioneers of chatbots supplying 10 million businesses and enabling people to hail a taxi, order food, pay a bill and book a doctor’s appointment without human intervention. However AI is only as good as the data that fuels it and the things AI finds hard are the qualities that make humans unique: conversation, empathy, creativity, intuition and negotiation, Smith said.

He said a combination of AI and well scheduled human agents, with the right skills, might be the silver bullet for effective customer service.

Smith said by the time a customer gets to speak to a live agent, the chances are they have already used their mobile app, searched for answers on websites and trawled numerous YouTube clips to no avail.

“They are frustrated and want to speak to someone who knows all the steps they’ve taken, why they are frustrated and how to solve their query from one single encounter of the human kind. In short, they are looking for a superagent”, he said.

To create a team of superagents, organizations need to re-think their learning environment, capture an organization-wide talent pool in a centralized Workforce Management (WFM) solution and then add Real-Time Adherence (RTA) to re-allocate idle time to training. Through advanced forecasting, scheduling and competence management, human agents will remain more productive and valuable than robots can ever be.

While AI is radically transforming customer interactions but there is no substitute for the human touch when it comes to closing sales calls or delivering an exceptional, personal customer experience, Smith said.

More women are signing up as contractors

I TAKE THIS WOMAN, Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, 1940More women than ever before are joining IT businesses as contractors, attracted to the more flexible working practices.

According to a study by accountancy business Nixon Williams, the number of female IT workers switching to self-employment increased by almost 25 percent between 2016 and 2017. Women now account for 16.5  percent of the total IT contractor market, up from 13.8  percent in 2016.

Chief executive officer of Nixon Williams Derek Kelly said that there were more women in IT in both permanent and contracting roles, but the increasing proportion of contractors who are women is particularly significant as contractors tend to earn more than their permanent counterparts, which suggests that the pay gap between men and women in the IT sector is likely to be narrowing.

Generally the number of IT workers now self-employed has increased by 4.5 percent over the last 12 months – more than the general IT workforce increase of 3.9 percent year-on-year.

“The increase in the proportion of the IT workforce operating as contractors has been driven by demand from both IT professionals and the end users of their skills. The shift in the composition of the IT workforce since the financial crisis is doubly remarkable because much of the change is due to an influx of women into contracting.”

Although contracting is generally riskier than standard employment, more people are recognising the benefits of working for themselves as in-house benefits are losing momentum, he said.

“In areas which suffer from chronic skills shortages, such as IT and engineering, many contractors are rarely out of work, and higher levels of pay generally more than compensate for any gaps between contracts”, Kelly said.

It has greater benefits for cash-strapped businesses too. Because firms can’t guarantee their cashflow with the threat of Brexit, businesses are favouring using contractors, which present a smaller financial risk.

 

Maplin shuts for good

indexHigh street retailer Maplin has finally shut its doors

The outfit went into administration in February following a failure to secure a sale for the troubled business.

PwC, the administrator appointed for the electronics giant, blamed Maplin’s troubles on the post-Brexit slump in the pound which led to a higher price being paid for US goods, the withdrawal of credit insurance and the current challenging climate for high street retailers.

PwC was allowed to trade as usual   to achieve the best result for creditors, and store closures were not expected. However, as no buyer was found for the ailing retailer, staff redundancies began in March and shops around the country were forced to close.

Started in 1972, Maplin developed into one of the largest electronics retailers in the UK, employing 2,335 staff at the time administrators took over, and had an annual turnover of £235.8m. Its final owners were Rutland Partners, who acquired it in 2014.

 

Lenovo is the supercommuter king

lenovo2Top500 has named Lenovo as the world’s biggest supercomputer provider.

According to Top500 research, 122 of the 500 supercomputers are Lenovo installations accounting for 23.8 per cent of the market.

HPE is in second place in the rankings with 79 installations, followed byInspur, Sugon and US-based Cray.

Top500, which compiles data and statistics on high-performance computers and publishes its findings twice a year, announced at the International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt.

Kirk Skaugen, president of Lenovo’s datacentre group, welcomed the news, saying that the company is two years ahead of its original goal of becoming the world’s largest provider of Top500 computing systems by 2020.

“This distinction is a testament to our commitment to prioritising customer satisfaction, deliver cutting-edge innovation and performance and be the world’s most trusted datacentre partner”, he said.

Lenovo claims that 17 of the top 25 research universities and institutions in the world currently power their research using its HPC and AI solutions.

“Lenovo has an industry-leading ability to bring deep innovations and a comprehensive approach to execute on the largest scale and highest performance, working with our customers to design supercomputing systems that meet their needs in terms of design and compute power”, said Madhu Matta, vice president and general manager of HPC and AI at Lenovo Data Center Group.

“This flexibility and customer-first attitude positions us well for future growth in the high-performance computing and artificial intelligence markets.”

Pat “Kicking” Gelsinger not going for Intel job

Pat-Gelsinger-300x199Intel‘s former chief technology officer, Pat “Kicking” Gelsinger, is not having a crack at the vacant Intel CEO job.

For those who came in late, Intel’s Brian Krzanich quit last week and some thought Intel should pursue 30-year Intel veteran Gelsinger to replace Krzanich.

VMware’s CEO took to Twitter to rule that out.

VMware, which is majority owned by Dell Technologies, and said the CEO will drive software innovation for years to come.

Following Gelsinger’s tweet on June 22 about declining the potential Intel CEO position, Michael Dell tweeted his own approval of the news to Gelsinger’s Twitter account: a cartoon image of a man with a “you’re the best” plaque.

Dimension Data buys e2y

Dimension-DataDimension Data has written a cheque for a “majority stake”  in SAP partner e2y.

For those who came in late, e2y implements digital commerce platforms for its global customers and it has Amazon Web Services and Rackspace among its partners.

Laurent Christen, CEO of e2y, said: “The digitisation of goods and services disrupts established business models and existing value chains, enabling new models to emerge. e2y is a pioneer in digital innovation for commerce and marketplaces. We deliver solutions for our clients aiming to improve their customer experience and achieve growth. We’re excited to be joining forces with Dimension Data to help our clients benefit from enhanced digital commerce capabilities and transform their businesses.”

Dimension Data said e2y’s UK and European business will complement its existing solutions.

Scott Gibson, group executive for digital business solutions at Dimension Data, said: “With the future of commerce being firmly focused on the experience of trading online, and our digital business solutions portfolio centred on driving innovation for our clients, our investment in e2y will bring our clients closer to their customers on these advanced commercial platforms. It will also help us continue to guide our clients along their business transformation journeys.

 

Big Brother takes control of Managed Print market

bigbrotherBrother is increasing its share of the Managed Print Services (MPS) market at an annual rate of 200 percent across Europe, according to a new report.

Beancounters at Quocirca have added up some numbers and worked out that Brother’s success in the retail, healthcare and banking markets has “created an attractive proposition for its reseller partners and their end customers”.

In its report with the catchy title, “Channels to Managed Print Services 2018”, Quocirca said Brother’s MPS business to gain further traction as it continues to ramp up its offerings.

Philip White, European managed print sales manager at Brother, said: “We know that channel organisations are frustrated by margins, slow response times, a lack of vertical market experience and lead generation support. In response, our MPS offer has a rigorous focus on lead generation and has been fine-tuned to deliver improved margin against transactional sales by giving resellers the opportunity to earn revenue on up to nine streams, including hardware, supplies, software, and services.

“The Quocirca report identifies the strengths of the Brother MPS offer and recognises our investment in tools and resources to support the channel. We will continue this strategy of commitment and investment in the channel to ensure that together Brother and channel partners can continue to meet the many and varied needs of the customer.”

Daisy CEO Neil Muller quits

margarite-daisies-for-sale-at-fete-norfolk-england-b0xgj3Daisy CEO Neil Muller has left the firm after three and a half years in charge.

In an email sent to all staff Muller said that following “deliberation” with Daisy founder and chairman Matt Riley he had decided “to pursue a new direction”.

Under his watch Daisy has made a string of acquisitions as it pushed beyond its roots in comms and into cloud and IT services.

Daisy was formally put up for sale with a price tag of more than £1 billion earlier this year with private equity buyers circling the company. Muller said he hoped to double the size of the company with the backing of the right buyer, through organic growth and more acquisitions to create a clear alternative to BT in the market for enterprise telephony.

According to the FT  the sale process did not yield the expected outcome, with Riley — a significant shareholder who founded the business — moving instead to buy out the company. Muller appears to have departed as a result.

In the email, Muller said it had been an “honour to lead the significant transformation of Daisy over the last 3.5 years” adding that he is “extremely proud of what we have collectively achieved during this time”.

“More recently, our founder and chairman Matthew Riley and I have been discussing the next phase of the group’s evolution and, following much deliberation and conversations together, I have decided to take this opportunity to pursue a new direction”, he added.

“The support from you all, as well as our customers, partners and shareholders, has been incredible. So a heartfelt thank you for all your hard work and dedication. I would like to wish Matt and the entire Daisy family the very best of luck and every continued success, and I hope that our paths will cross in the future.”

Red Hat’s channel revenue gets boost

agent-carter-7683Open saucy specialist Red Hat has said that at the end of its first quarter three-quarters of its services business is going through the channel

Red Hat’s channel business has continued to grow with the open source specialist reporting increases in indirect revenues.

The firm reported that 75 percent of its business now goes through the channel as of its fiscal Q1, which was up from 72 percent a year earlier.

The vendor issued its first-quarter numbers, for the three months ended 31 May, giving investors the mixed bag of a Q1 with a 20 percent revenue increase to $814 million.

The results show that Red Hat is a bit worried about the rest of the year because of exchange rate issues.

Red Hat executive vice president and CFO Eric Shander said: “We are focused on building our strategic partnerships within our mid-market customers. In Q1, our mid-market deals greater than $250,000 increased 138% year-over-year from 21 deals to 50 deals, with notable growth in Ansible and OpenShift.”