PC sales up after eight quarters of slump

Posted on January 12, 2024 by - News

Global shipments of PCs hit 63.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2023, a rise of 0.3 per cent, marking the first increase after eight quarters of drop, according to Gartner.

The analyst firm’s research shows 2023 to be the worst year ever in PC history, falling 14.8 per cent.

This is the second year with a double-digit fall, with shipments totalling 241.8 million units.

This marks the first time that shipment volume has gone below 250 million since 2006, when 230 million units were shipped.

Big G analyst Mikako Kitagawa said the market has hit rock bottom after big adjustment and normalisation in stock, with the “slight growth” suggesting demand and supply are “finely balanced.”

But she warns this situation will likely change due to the expected component price rise in 2024 and political and economic uncertainties.

HPE spends £11 billion on Juniper

Posted on January 11, 2024 by - News

Former maker of expensive printer ink HPE is buying Juniper Networks in a £11 billion deal that sets up a fight for network supremacy in the AI era between HPE Aruba Networking and market leader Cisco Systems.

HPE said the deal to buy California-based Juniper gives it more AI networking power and doubles its networking business, making what it called in a statement a “new networking leader with a huge portfolio that gives customers and partners a tempting new choice to drive business value.”

HPE is paying £31 per share in a cash deal that expects to boost its non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow in the first year after the deal closes.

On a pro forma basis, the new networking segment will go up from about 18 per cent of total HPE revenue as of fiscal year 2023 to about 31 per cent and make more than 56 per cent of HPE’s total operating income.

Which? blasts telecoms firms for price hikes

Posted on January 11, 2024 by - News

Which? has told telecom firms to stop any plans to go ahead with ‘unconscionable’ broadband and mobile price hikes in April, even after the industry watchdog found the practice hurts consumers and set out plans to ban it.

Ofcom recently planned to ban the practice of inflation-linked mid-contract price rises, saying that they cause ‘big consumer harm’, but this will not happen before the next wave of expected hikes in April 2024.

Many providers seem ready to shamelessly go on – with next week’s CPI inflation news set to start the announcements of the latest round of shocking hikes for consumers. Many may have already suffered increases of up to 17 per cent last year.

Which? Has written an open letter to big broadband and mobile providers – BT, EE, O2, PlusNet, Shell Energy Broadband, TalkTalk, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone – telling them to cancel any unfair and unpredictable price hikes planned for April this year. The letter has been published as a full-page national newspaper ad this morning.

HPE to snap up Juniper for £10 billion

Posted on January 10, 2024 by - News

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is close to sealing a £10 billion deal to buy Juniper Networks, the US firm behind the world’s smartest network.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal could be announced this week unless the talks go pear-shaped.

A spokesHPE indignantly said the company doesn’t comment on gossip or hearsay and Juniper Networks did not say anything either.

Juniper Networks, based in Sunnyvale, California, used to make most of its money from service providers, but has now shifted to selling more to businesses, with its intelligent software and AI gear. It is now the leader in AI-powered networks, with its Juniper Mist platform, which rivals Cisco Meraki and HPE Aruba’s ESP.

EU probes Vole’s AI antics

Posted on January 10, 2024 by - News

The EU has launched a probe into Microsoft’s $13 billion deal with OpenAI, the firm behind the world’s most popular chatbot, ChatGPT.

The Brussels bigwigs want to know if the deal is a sneaky way of merging the two tech giants and creating a monopoly in the booming artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

The EU’s competition boss, Margrethe Vestager, who is jetting off to California this week to grill the top dogs of Apple, Google and OpenAI, said she wants to keep the AI market fair and open.

She said she is asking businesses and experts to spill the beans on any dodgy dealings in the AI sector, and keeping a close eye on any cosy partnerships that could harm competition.

SoftwareOne still stalling on Bain deal.

Posted on January 9, 2024 by - News

SoftwareOne is still talking to Bain Capital after turning down several takeover offers from the private equity giant and fresh gossip that the deal was losing support from the board.

The statement comes after media reports that Bain’s planned buyout was “hitting the brakes”.

SoftwareOne’s statement said: “The board is still focused on driving shareholder value and acting in the best interest of the company and all stakeholders. The board hopes to finish talks and give an update on the outcome of the strategic review to shareholders by the end of the month.”

A report from Bloomberg said Bain Capital’s chase of SoftwareOne had stalled after an offer of nearly £2.7 billion got a “cold response from the software firm’s board”.

Broadcom dumps VMware partners.

Posted on January 9, 2024 by - News

Broadcom has taken 2,000 of VMware’s best customers in a direct-only sales model drive.

It also told partners they would reject any deal they tried registering for a strategic account.

“If you send new opportunity registrations for strategic customer accounts, they will be turned down,” Broadcom told shocked VMware partners.

If a VMware partner’s deal with a strategic account is waiting, it “will be turned down,” Broadcom wrote.

Lloyds gets more Kick.

Posted on January 8, 2024 by - News

Lloyds Banking Group’s private equity arm, LDC, has splashed out a huge investment into Scottish IT firm Kick ICT.

The move will help Kick’s UK growth plans.

The deal also marks a win for BGF, the investor backing Kick ICT since 2021.

Kick is based in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, providing IT, communication, and digital services to over 1,000 customers.

The company, which has more than 170 staff, specialises in Microsoft and Infor business and finance solutions and modern infrastructure, cloud services, and IT support.

Kick ICT, set up in 2015, has grown organically and through buying other companies in the past few years.

Coppers probe fraud in Post Office cases

Posted on January 8, 2024 by - News

The Met Police say they are investigating possible fraud offences linked to fraud prosecutions against hundreds of Post Office staff.

They are checking the money that the Post Office clawed back from the sub-post managers through civil actions.

For those who came in late, hundreds of sub-posties were wrongly convicted of nicking cash from their branches after a dodgy Horizon IT system supplied by Japanese tech giant Fujitsu made them look guilty. To make matters worse, the Royal Mail knew its system was spitting out false data and covered it up.

Bosses who ignored the problems with the software made the workers pay back the shortfalls. Some ended up in jail or out of pocket, while others lost their jobs and homes.

Giacom buys intY

Posted on January 5, 2024 by - News

Cybersecurity star Giacom plans to buy app protection expert intY from US firm ScanSource.

They did not say how much the deal was worth, but Giacom is getting intY’s UK cash, partners and business.

It will also boost Giacom’s cloud power thanks to intY’s link with Microsoft, with the two firms making one of the biggest sellers of licences to the small business UK market.

Giacom boss Terry O’Brien said the move makes Giacom stronger and shows its promise to give top solutions to its partners.

SentinelOne snaps up PingSafe to rule cloud security

Posted on January 5, 2024 by - News

Cybersecurity outfit SentinelOne plans to buy app protection expert PingSafe in a move it thinks will dominate cloud security by putting its tech under the bonnet of SentinelOne’s Singularity Platform.

SentinelOne’s chief product and technology officer Ric Smith said that with PingSafe on board, SentinelOne will change cloud security by mixing top-notch cloud workload protection, AI and analytics skills with a modern and complete cloud-native application protection platform.

Smith said this new way of cloud security will get rid of the need for firms to “deal with the hassle of multiple point solutions, sort out and investigate, or move data between different data piles.”

“Instead, clients can fully manage their whole attack area from a single platform that – unlike old CNAPPs and stand-alone providers – gives the full picture, real-time chat and analytics needed to link, spot and stop multi-stage attacks in a simple, automatic way,” Smith said.

Shyft snaps up testing firm Cokeva

Posted on January 4, 2024 by - News

AI giant Shyft has snapped up IT testing and repair firm Cokeva.

Shyft is a tech service provider with firms worldwide, offering complete product and customer service.

The deal with Cokeva boosts Shyft’s repair service and opens up new chances for Shyft customers with Cokeva’s huge 220,000 sq. ft. base in Roseville, California.

The Roseville space adds to Shyft’s global reach, which includes bases in Groveport, Ohio; Warsaw, Poland; Tiel, Netherlands; and Tampines, Singapore.

Shyft boss Ron Brinckerhof said the deal shows Shyft’s investment in global green goals with more circular economy skills.

Rayscape mixes its tech with Blackford’s AI

Posted on January 4, 2024 by - News

Blackford has teamed up with Rayscape to mix its chest and lung scanning solutions with AI

The deal will see Rayscape’s technology merged with Blackford’s AI platform. Blackford gives health workers access to over 115 medical AI solutions to boost efficiency and help patients.

Using Rayscape’s advanced technology on the Blackford Platform, Blackford can offer health workers powerful tools to spot multiple problems on chest X-rays and lung CT scans.

Blackford boss Ben Panter said he was chuffed to partner with Rayscape and to add their CXR and Lung CT solutions to our vast AI portfolio.

“Rayscape’s dedication to finding and managing a wide range of chest and lung problems matches our mission to improve patients’ lives by using AI to improve healthcare.”

Rayscape CXR is ranked as a top-notch solution for chest X-ray analysis that boosts doctors’ skills. It can spot 148 problems and has unique features like the CTR index calculation, COVID-19 scoring, bone suppression and subtraction. He said this solution gives doctors a complex picture of the patient’s condition.

Virtuoso Partners taps VAR expert Josh Winters

Posted on January 3, 2024 by - Moving People, News

Virtuoso Partners, the smart automation and content management firm, hired Josh Winters to lead its sales team.

Winters has nine years of experience in the industry and spent the last four at the VAR Softcat.

Virtuoso said they hired Winters as part of their mission to “Unleash Partner Success” and said it was a strategic move to beef up their support for their valued partners.

Winters knows the VAR game inside out and can meet the unique needs of partners who want to offer their customers smart automation and content management solutions.

Virtuoso said it wanted to empower its partners to make a killing in the booming market of smart automation and content management.

SonicWall snaps up Banyan Security.

Posted on January 3, 2024 by - News

Global cyber secrurity giant SonicWall announced today that it has bought the cloudy security outfit Banyan Security.

This deal boosts SonicWall’s portfolio by adding zero trust security trusted by big-name Fortune 100 firms to small businesses ditching old cloud security solutions systems, including Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA).

SonicWall boss Bob Vankirk said: “For years, firewalls have been the backbone of cyber security defences. But with the rise of cloud computing and secure access service edge (SASE), the industry is changing its focus to more complete and flexible approaches that include cloud security and ZTNA as a must. SonicWall and Banyan Security will offer cloud-based secure access service edge (SASE) solutions that help partners deliver a security architecture for any stage of their customers’ cloud journey.”