Tiny growth for IT spending forecast

Posted on April 25, 2019 by - News

Analyst outfit Gartner is now predicting slow growth for IT spending this year.

The firm has adjusted its 2019 global IT spending growth forecast to 1.1 percent, down from the 3.2 percent the research firm predicted back in January.

The reason appears to be economic factors such as a stronger US dollar; analysts now estimate that total IT spending will amount to £3.79 trillion – roughly the same as in 2018.

Gartner research vice president. John-David Lovelock said currency headwinds fuelled by the strengthening US dollar have caused Big G to revise its 2019 IT spending forecast down from the previous quarter

“Through the remainder of 2019, the U.S. dollar is expected to trend stronger, while enduring tremendous volatility due to uncertain economic and political environments and trade wars.”

Despite the slight overall growth, Garter said the data centre systems segment would suffer the most significant decline of 2.8 percent, as expected component cost adjustments continue to drive down average selling prices (ASPs) in the server market.

The ongoing enterprise shift from traditional, non-cloud to cloud-based setups, however, will continue to fuel enterprise software growth. In 2019, analysts predict the market to hit $427 billion, marking a 7.1 percent increase over 2018’s total of $399 billion.

While application software has so far seen the most extensive cloud shift, Gartner said it expects increased growth for the infrastructure software segment in the near-term – particularly in integration platform as a service (iPaaS) and application platform as a service (aPaaS).

“Disruptive emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), will reshape business models as well as the economics of public and private sector enterprises. AI is having a major effect on IT spending, although its role is often misunderstood,” Lovelock commented.

“AI is not a product; it is a set of techniques or a computer engineering discipline. As such, AI is embedded in many existing products and services, as well as being central to new development efforts in every industry. Gartner’s AI business value forecast predicts that organisations will receive $1.9 trillion worth of benefit from the use of AI this year alone.”

HP loses print patent battle

Posted on April 25, 2019 by - News

HP has lost a long-running court battle with 123inkt.nl  which supplies third-party print supplies.

The maker of expensive printer ink had claimed that supplier infringed patents related to memory chips found in print cartridges by producing cartridges that had too many similarities.

The court agreed with 123inkt.nl that HP’s patents were invalid and designed to obtain a monopoly on the print supplies market.

Tags:

Apple has a secret cloud

Posted on April 24, 2019 by - News

Fruity cargo cult Apple has made a great deal about the investment it has made in its datacentres but has not mentioned that it is Amazon’s biggest customer.

Apple spends over $30 million a month on Amazon Web Services (AWS), making it one of the cloud provider’s biggest customers.

M2 digested by SCC

Posted on April 24, 2019 by - News

M2 the managed print operation that SCC acquired five years ago will now be merged into its core business and “never be met with again”.

The move will create SCC Managed Print & Document Services. Under SCC ownership the M2 business has seen growth and been in a position to tap into a market for managed print services that have been experiencing increasing demand.

Percona apponts Martin James VP of EMEA and APAC sales

Posted on April 24, 2019 by - Moving People

Open source database software and services outfit Percona, has named Martin James vice president of sales for the EMEA and APAC regions.

James has more than 25 years of experience building and leading sales teams in Europe, James will be responsible for the entire Percona EMEA sales operation, including direct sales, business development and partner channels.

Slalom opens new Manchester base

Posted on April 23, 2019 by - News

Slalom has chosen Manchester as the location for its second UK office.

Partnering with over 200 solution providers including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Tableau. The company said that its London office, which opened in 2014, has established the firm’s reputation in the UK as helping companies across industries, in the private and public sectors, learn from their data, impress their customers, deliver faster, and transform their organizations.

SAP Group gets new portal

Posted on April 23, 2019 by - News

The UK & Ireland SAP User Group, the independent not-for-profit organisation representing all users of SAP software, launched its new Affiliate Member Portal, designed to help SAP users select the right technology partner. The portal will provide anyone visiting the site with an ‘at a glance’ one to five-star rating for each partner. Much like TripAdvisor, registered

Skills shortages killing data initiatives

Posted on April 19, 2019 by - News

Enterprise customers are finding it challenging to deliver data initiatives, with more than half of projects failing, according to research from database player Exasol.

Retail and financial services were the verticals most impacted by skills shortages with 40 percent of firms in those sectors blaming lack of expertise for why their data projects fail.

Midwich celebrates 40th birthday

Posted on April 19, 2019 by - News

Midwich, the audio-visual (AV) distributor, is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Established in 1979 by husband and wife David and Ruth Watson, Midwich Computer Company initially flogged computer components and supplied BBC computers to schools and colleges. In 1991, the Company was sold to Memec, an Oxfordshire-based distribution company.

UK falls behind Europe on outsourcing

Posted on April 19, 2019 by - News

The European outsourcing market saw a record first quarter this year but beancounters at ISG, said that the UK has slipped behind other parts of Europe

In the first three months of the year the value of outsourcing grew 23 percent year on year to £3.4 billion.

Traditional outsourcing, which has often faltered in recent quarters, saw growth of 24 percent as-a-service outsourcing rose 21 percent.

Steve Hall, partner and president of ISG, said: “The drive for digital transformation shows no signs of slowing. European businesses are investing in their future, despite the continuing political and economic uncertainty in Europe and the six-month extension to the Brexit deadline.

“Much of EMEA’s regional growth is being fuelled by a robust IaaS market, with hybrid and multi-cloud emerging as the architecture of choice.”

In the UK, traditional outsourcing grew a “modest” seven per cent, ISG said, with the number of new deals flat.

“With an extended timeline and no clear conclusion in sight for the Brexit negotiations, UK companies are continuing to exercise caution in their traditional sourcing investments and are focusing their spending on new technologies that will increase their agility and efficiency,” the analyst explained.

The DACH market saw traditional outsourcing grow 63 per cent year on year after “several quarters of lacklustre contracting”.

ISG said the German market was helped by the start of a number of contracts that had previously been delayed as a result of Brexit uncertainty.

Globally, the market watcher said that regions globally are preparing for economic struggles.

“Growth has slowed in Europe and China, large enterprises appear to be preparing for a downturn in the US during the second half of the year and concerns of a broader, global slowdown remain. While the dark clouds of a looming economic downturn are on the horizon, the long-term forecast for sourcing remains sunny,” Hall said

Cato Networks appoints second UK distributor

Posted on April 18, 2019 by - News

SD-WAN vendor Cato Networks has appointed a second UK distributor, with Cloud Distribution joining Ignition Technology.

Cato has been working with Ignition since launching in the UK market in 2016 but has now tweaked its strategy, so the pair of them are working on it.

Sharp Europe hires Ian Barnard

Posted on April 17, 2019 by - Moving People

Sharp Europe has hired Ian Barnard as European General Manager, Visual Solutions. He will be responsible for managing and developing Sharp’s Visual Solutions business across Europe, driving forward Sharp’s sales and product strategy.

Barnard brings more than 25 years’ experience in strategic development at some of the world’s largest technology and electronics businesses, including Sony and Canon. He has spent 15 years in either global or pan-European leadership roles and has a track record of launching professional technology products. He will be based at Sharp’s European head office in Stockley Park, London.

Barnard said: “This is an exciting time to join Sharp, now that we can offer a full range of products and solutions that answer every vertical from corporate to education, from retail to transport. I look forward to building on the success of our new product portfolio, and developing strong relationships with our factories, our partners and our customers to ensure we continue to deliver engaging propositions.”

Alexander Hermann, President, Sharp Information Systems Europe, said, “Ian will play an essential role in bringing sustainable growth to our product portfolio as we continue to invest heavily in new technologies. With experienced leadership alongside our strongest ever range of products, we are in a position to assert our leadership in corporate meetings but also in new areas such as 8K.”