Tag: UK

Government expected to relax fraud rules on tech

The UK government plans to relax a proposal that would mandate technology companies to reimburse victims in the event of online financial fraud.

The move follows concerns raised by the Treasury and the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology regarding the proposal’s impact on the UK tech industry.

The annual cost of fraud to the UK amounts to billions of pounds. The government wants a new national fraud strategy to foster collaboration between the government, law enforcement and private companies.

It is expected that the measures will introduce a voluntary agreement where the technology sector will commit to tackling online fraud, rather than being held accountable for reimbursing victims. All a technology company has to do is promise that the attack will not happen again and show what steps have been taken to prevent it.

UK businesses go-slow over emerging tech

Big snail in Old TaipeiA quarter of UK businesses are overwhelmed by emerging technology, according to research from CompTIA.

A quarter of the 1,500 global business and technology professionals cited budget constraints, risk aversion and feeling “overwhelmed” with options that are causing some organisations to go-slow.

While 46 percent of respondents viewed emerging tech positively and 25 percent expressed equal parts excitement and fear towards it.

Huawei will play a role in UK 5G

Huawei has been cleared to play a part in forming the UK’s 5G network and the UK government might actually stand up to its American overlords.

A meeting of government officials yesterday concluded that a “limited role” for the vendor would not pose a threat to the UK’s cybersecurity. The UK’s National Security Council will meet next week to decide if and how Huawei’s technology is used.

The government has been under pressure for the US to snub Huawei in the 5G rollout claiming it is all about spying when it is more likely to be about its trade war. The US claims that Huawei’s close ties to the Chinese government could facilitate espionage, which Huawei has consistently denied and the US has so far never come up with any evidence.

Earlier this month the US government reportedly told the UK that allowing Huawei’s equipment into the 5G network would be “nothing short of madness”.

But the UK government views Huawei’s technology as more advanced than that of its competitors such as Ericsson and Nokia – a view that has also been pushed by network providers BT and Vodafone.

 

Huawei to invest £3 billion in the UK

Huawei is looking at shifting all the cash it is spending in the US to the UK.

The announcement follows the National Cyber Security Centre saying the vendor will not be treated as harshly as it was in the US.

The NCSC said it it believed it could mitigate any security concerns related to China, although the final decision as to whether Huawei will be allowed to work on the UK’s 5G network will be made by the government.

UK government falling behind on Cyber Crime

Hacker typing on a laptop

Ministers are not acting with “a meaningful sense of purpose or urgency” in the face of a growing cyber threat to the UK’s critical national infrastructure (CNI), a parliamentary committee has warned.

The joint committee on national security strategy said at a time when states such as Russia were expanding their capability to mount disruptive cyber-attacks, the UK’s level of ministerial oversight was “wholly inadequate”.

It urged Theresa May to appoint a cybersecurity minister in cabinet to take charge of the efforts to build national resilience.

Brexit about to give the application development market a kicking

1046922917The application development, testing and maintenance market is about to be dusted up by Brexit, according to a report from a report from Information Services Group.

Banking, financial services, healthcare and life sciences are likely to suffer some adverse impact from Brexit as no one knows what software they are going to need.

This means that the majority of companies in the UK have not yet begun preparing for Brexit, and there are growing fears of supply-chain disruptions. As for providers, the large ones should be able to cover most situations that arise, but smaller UK-based providers may struggle with the changing market dynamics.

Many vendors hope that there will be a spike in demand after 29 March next year as customers try to get in-line with any changes quickly.

Banks had already started to move headcount out of the UK, and there was talk of some movement in the car manufacturing areas, and that would be a strain on existing systems based on the current situation, the report said.

There were also signs that aside from Brexit customers were looking for more focus on next-generation options from their application development management partners. Areas of interest included: analytics, IoT, cloud-native architecture, SaaS-based offerings, security, customer experience and mobile.

Brexit be damned! UK is still Europe’s tech leader

ukflagThe UK remains the tech capital of Europe, according to beancounters working for London and Partners.

A report into which companies have received the most VC funding shows that British tech firms have received £5 billion worth of VC funding since June 2016 – more than France (£1.55 billion), Germany (£2.15 billion) and Sweden (£644 million).

Tech firms in London pulled in £4 billion, ahead of Paris (£1.14 billion), Berlin (£814 million) and Stockholm (£542 million).

In the last year, British finetch firms such as TransferWise secured £211 million and Monzo £71 million in investment. Meanwhile, a recent £177m injection for Revolut, has made it the UK’s latest unicorn company, valued at a cool billion.

It joins the list of 13 others, helping the country maintain the mantle of Europe’s unicorn capital with 37 per cent of Europe’s total unicorn companies.

London Tech Week ambassador and angel investor Sherry Coutu CBE said: “From Artificial Intelligence to cybersecurity, EdTech and GovTech, the UK is home to companies that are leading the way in developing and implementing the latest cutting-edge technologies.”

 

PCM doing well in the UK

indexUS-based PCM’s UK divisions did very well and saw revenue hit $9.1 million in the last quarter

For the three months ending 31 December, the wider PCM business saw its revenue decline four percent to $563.4 million, but its UK division, however, continued to grow, with its revenue more than trebling from the $2.7 million it hit in the previous quarter.

The UK arm launched in April last year and has since taken on a host of ex-Misco staff and made two acquisitions.

PCM CEO Frank Khulusi said the UK business has capitalised on UK market conditions.

“Concerning our new UK segment, it continues to grow rapidly and capture the attention of vendors, customers and competitors alike in this significant market”, he said.

“We are delighted to share that January was our first month with the UK segment operating results near break-even. This significant milestone for a start-up was reached eight months from our launch date.

“We are confident in our trajectory for our UK business, and we currently expect at least a $1 million improvement from the fourth quarter in our UK bottom line in Q1, and we continue to expect full-year profit for 2018.”

The  UK segment of PCM has generated $12.2 million in sales since its launch in PCM’s Q2.

However, Khulusi was not so happy with PCM’s performance in the US where it lucked out in the US public sector.

“We experienced significantly lower than anticipated contribution during the quarter from our public sector business that drove the year-over-year decline in consolidated results.”

 

UK cyber security staff shortage loom

wargames-hackerUK companies are facing a cyber security staff shortage and companies fear they are being exposed to  hacker attacks.

According to a recent survey of recruitment agencies, 81 percent  expect a rise in demand for digital security staff, but only 16 percent were meeing the demand.

A number of high profile cyber attacks in 2017 have fuelled demand for professionals. In March, the mobile phone company Three suffered a serious breach that compromised 200,000 customers’ data. In April, the payday loan company Wonga had 250,000 customer records stolen including bank account details, phone numbers, and email addresses. A third of NHS trusts werei nfected by ransomware this year.

Adam Thilthorpe, the director of external affairs at BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, warned that  there is going to be a shortage of skilled IT professionals.

He called for an integrated strategy across government and business from education, apprenticeships and diversity initiatives.

“We should recruit more women, ethnic minorities and [retrain] older workers to unfilled posts.”

 

Brexit harms PC prices shock horror

are-we-afraid-noUK PC prices have suffered from the UK’s stand against foreigners coming over here and doing all the jobs we don’t want to do at reasonable rates.

Britain might be great again and have full employment, rule the waves etc since it stood up to Brussels, but Brexit has caused a spike in the price of various goods, ranging from computers to coffee and wine, with the channel having to pass on the bad news to customers.

According to Which? magazine,  the consumer watchdog asks questions about the impact of Brexit and details the range of price increases that have hit customers.

Apple MacBooks, which in some cases have increased by just shy of 20 percent, along with Microsoft Surface models that have gone up between 11-15 percent. But those are not the only two vendors that have been forced to increase retail prices. Ever since the referendum result slightly more than a year ago there have been movements in the prices of goods because of the slump in sterling.

Which? tech expert Jack Turner reckoned that some vendors had been quicker than others to pass the price rises on but exchange rates had caused a huge impact across the sector.

Nearly all of the major hardware vendors have been forced to bow to currency pressure and put up prices. So far since the Brexit vote the likes of HP, Dell, Lenovo along with Apple and Microsoft have raised hardware prices between 10-15 percent and software prices by 20 percent.

Context, which monitors the ASPs being offered through distribution, has seen rises over the course of the last year, which have continued into Q3.

Distributor ASPs for PCs were up 17 percent year-on-year across Western Europe, from €486 in July and August 2016 to €567 in early Q3 this year.

Currency fluctuations have been driving PC ASP increases since Q3 2016 but Context has also noted a move towards more high end gaming systems in the consumer segment, which has had an influence on prices.

Still at least the lot of the common man is better since Brexit… oh

Monoprice is over here now

220px-The_Yanks_Are_Coming_FilmPosterThe US electronics and accessories retailer Monoprice is setting up shop in Europe.

The move is part of an aggressive growth into the European consumer market through the launch of localized versions of its e-commerce platform.

The Monoprice site will be available first in the United Kingdom, followed by Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, where its growing global consumer base will have access to hundreds of the brand’s offerings.

The company’s new sites will provide European consumers direct access to a diverse selection of premium products at a fraction of marketplace prices.

Monoprice CEO Bernard Luthi said that global adoption of consumer electronics is evolving rapidly but the higher costs of products available in the market pose a challenge to continued growth.

“We see that international consumers experience similar frustrations as those shopping for affordable electronics in America. With Monoprice’s expansion into key markets abroad, we are thrilled to bring our brand guarantee of simplicity, fair pricing and confidence to consumers and businesses throughout Europe.”

Each website will be tailored to the country’s language and currency for localised, intuitive use. Monoprice’s product managers and experts will curate a seamless online shopping experience, offering a variety of high-quality solutions across multiple product categories. Initial products will include 3D printers, headphones, small appliances, wall mounts, and AV/IT, personal and commercial products.

Monoprice currently leads the US 3D Printer market and sees this expansion as a significant opportunity to drive category growth globally.

Monoprice’s expansion is part of a multi-angle approach which includes in-country logistics and relationships with large marketplace partners. This approach signifies a strong commitment to European consumers and ensures orders have inexpensive shipping and faster delivery directly to customers’ doors.

Home Office wants help on Amazon public cloud

parliamentThe Home Office is looking for a partner to move one of its systems to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

According to an ad posted on the Government’s Digital Marketplace, the Home Office wants three suppliers to bid for a six month contract to move its Digital Capabilities to the public cloud.

“The HO Digital Capabilities programme deals with a significant amount of data and our current hosting provider has reached its potential… Home Office has determined that the in-house Amazon Web Service platform is the most appropriate location to run these services,” the advert says.

The Home Office wants to solve its migration problems of putting all its digital services on the new platform within the period and with minimal disruption to the live service. It  wants a supplier to provide solutions architects and developers to build the new AWS environment and provide a seamless switch to the new platform.

The closing date for applications is 17 August, with the start date pencilled in for no later than 9 October. The contract can be extended for a further three months if required.

Government is expected to be a big spender looking at AWS, Azure and Google (now that the search engine outfit has announced its UK datacentres).

 

Save the Games industry

gamestop-inside-930x618TIGA, the network for games developers and digital publishers and the trade association representing the video games industry, today published its Brexit and Beyond: Priorities for the UK Video Games Industry report.

TIGA’s report sets out a policy agenda for Government, Parliament and policy makers to consider as the UK negotiates its departure from the European Union.

Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, said that TIGA’s Brexit and Beyond: Priorities for the UK Video Games Industry, sets out a cogent, coherent and constructive agenda for ensuring the UK games sector is a leading player in an industry that is predicted to be worth approximately $100 billion by 2018.

“If the UK creates a favourable tax environment with an enhanced Games Tax Relief, improves access to finance and enables studios to access talent, then the UK video games industry will both survive and thrive in a post-Brexit world.”

The UK video games industry already contributes £1.2 billion to UK GDP. This contribution will increase with the right policy environment in place.

TIGA’s Brexit: Priorities for the UK Video Games Industry, said that if the government wants to keep things working it needs to create a favourable tax environment to encourage businesses to invest in the UK.

The Government should consider increasing the rate of Video Games Tax Relief from 25 to 27.5 or 30 percent and introduce a Video Games Investment Fund to provide pound for pound match funding up to a maximum of £200,000 to enable more studios to grow.

It would also be a good idea to maintain the UK Games Fund so that start-ups can access funding for prototypes.

The report called on the government to increase the amount of money that a company can raise via SEIS investment from £150,000 to £200,000 and ensure that EU workers already working in the UK are protected so that they can continue to work in the UK with the confidence that they are not going to be asked to leave the UK in the future.

The government needs to and clarify the status of EU workers who enter the UK following the EU referendum and prior to the UK’s exit from the EU. T

Meanwhile the government needs to negotiate a trade deal with the EU that avoids quotas, tariffs and other barriers to trade to maintain free trade in video games, negotiate trade deals with growing economies, examine the potential for incentivising more businesses to export through the tax system.

The UK Government should consider introducing arrangements for the conversion or extension of a EU trademark or registered community design to cover the UK.

It also needs to adopt and adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to ensure that companies based in the UK and doing business in the EU can continue to smoothly transfer information and data.

 

Asite gets into government G-Cloud programme

lightning-cloudAsite has announced it has been signed up to the UK’s Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud Programme.

Asite helps outfits manage their projects and supply chains collaboratively; the company has gotten onto the G-Cloud programme with its Adoddle which is a collaborative content management system designed to handle a wide range of content.

The content includes intelligent forms, multimedia supplier catalogues, complex BIM and product models, videos, and other various file types. The government is interested in Adoddle because it allows clients to store all of their content in one central, secure repository while enabling them to fully customise the structure of their content with highly controlled access.

The UK government launched G-Cloud 9 in May of 2017 as a means of enabling public sector bodies to buy cloud-based digital services, directly off the shelf from smaller distributors. The open framework is refreshed every three to 12 months, consistently bringing on new suppliers and services.

Tony Ryan, CEO of Asite, remarked: “Our appointment to the G-Cloud framework builds on our long-standing relationships, which provide project collaboration services in the cloud to the UK government.  Together with our longstanding commitment to supporting the government’s Construction Strategy and in particular to the achievement of Level 2 BIM with our cBIM service, we are fully committed to the improvement of procurement in UK construction.”