Author: Nick Farrell

Rubrik completed its initial public offering, becoming the first cybersecurity vendor to go public in two years.

The offering was met with demand from investors, and the data security firm priced its IPO shares at £25.60 each. That’s above the previously anticipated range of £22.40 and £24.80 per share.

As disclosed by the company, Rubrik sold 23.5 million shares in the offering, raising £601.6 million. According to reports from Reuters and CNBC, the IPO values the company at an initial market capitalisation of £4.48 billion. Read more…

Last night’s announcement that Microsoft made $26.7 billion from its cloud business and increased its profits by 21 per cent was bad news for other providers, according to Civo CEO Mark Boost.

For those not in the know, Vole reported some outstanding results after the bell last night, and among its good news was that its Server products and cloud services revenue increased 24 per cent, driven by Azure and other cloud services revenue growth of 31 per cent.

But while that is good news for Vole and all who sail on her, Boost said Big Tech was strangling the cloud market. Read more…

EveryCloud IT Security has deepened its partnership with Transmit Securityfor a joint market approach to address fraud and friction in online consumer transactions.

Transmit Security offers solutions that improve the customer authentication process by abolishing passwords, thus markedly diminishing the risk of fraud. Its alliance with EveryCloud is rooted in its unmatched proficiency in IAM solutions, its worldwide reach in providing cybersecurity solutions, and its joint aspiration to supply cybersecurity solutions that meet the changing requirements of businesses globally. Read more…

QBS Technology Group has snapped up the South African-based cybersecurity distributor Maxtec

Established in 1986 with its headquarters in Johannesburg, the value-added distributor Maxtec spans the 16 nations that form the South African Development Community (SADC) region, and has additional operations in Kenya, Angola, and Botswana.

Incorporating the South African VAD has increased QBS’s workforce to over 250 individuals. Read more…

Broadcom’s efforts to ease concerns over its recent changes to VMware’s cloud licencing practices appear to have backfired.

Last week, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan attempted to reassure customers and investors with a blog post defending the company’s licencing practices.

Broadcom announced price cuts and increased flexibility for moving workloads between cloud environments, but CISPE has taken strong exception to Broadcom’s portrayal of the situation.

However, critics, including the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers Europe (CISPE) trade group, reject the adjustments, arguing they fail to address core issues like price hikes and restrictive licencing terms. Read more…

MSP Core Technology Systems has completed the acquisition of Velocity IT, a company known for its expertise in automation technologies.

The move is strategic, propelling the MSP’s ambitions for growth and innovation. It aligns with its goal to surpass the £15m revenue mark in 2024. It enhances Core’s offerings by adding advanced AI and automation capabilities to its portfolio.

The financial details of the transaction have not been made public.

Velocity IT, which employs 16 people in the UK and is headquartered in Milton Keynes, is recognised for its specialisation in business process automation (BPA), robotic process automation (RPA), and artificial intelligence.

Core CEO Conor Callanan said that Velocity IT was a perfect fit for Core in terms of technology and expertise, culture and values. Read more…

Salesforce has pulled out of its £8.8 billion deal to snap up data management software maker Informatica.

The two couldn’t agree on the deal’s details and have now stopped chinwagging, as reported by several news hounds, including The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

Informatica’s share price has taken a tumble since word got out about Salesforce’s interest in buying the firm earlier this month—it went from £30.76 per share on 12 April to £28.11 per share on 19 April.

The barney that led Salesforce to chuck the deal was probably over how much Informatica’s shares were worth, the dark satanic rumour mill claims. Read more…

Datech, the design software and part of TD SYNNEX, has teamed up with Unity, a creator of real-time gaming, apps, and creation tools.

The move is part of a deal to bring Unity Pro and Unity Industry to North America and Europe, adding to what they already offer in Asia Pacific and Japan.

Unity is adept at making digital twins, super realistic models for simulating and testing things. They claim to be game changers for making business decisions, forecasting, and trying new ideas.

This deal boosts Datech’s portfolio, which is already full of stuff for the architecture, engineering, and construction crowd. They also plan to branch into the automotive, energy, and manufacturing sectors. Read more…

IT service provider Version 1 has acquired UK-based Farsight Consulting.

The transaction adds roughly £17.2 million in extra revenue and 133 employees to Version 1’s team.

Farsight is adept at executing digital transformation initiatives for public sector entities.

This acquisition enhances a pre-existing collaboration between the two firms, having partnered on several government projects.

Version 1 said it wants to bolster its value proposition to its clientele and prospects within the public sector. Read more…

B2B digital services outfit Econocom plans to recruit 100 elite sales agents over three years.

The announcement aligns with One Econocom’s strategic roadmap, which aims to expand its “unique network of independent sales agents across Europe.”

The firm aims to achieve a revenue of £3.44 billion over the next five years, a significant jump from its current turnover of £2.4 billion.

Econocom already has a robust team of self-employed entrepreneurs who represent the company and engage with customers daily.

This distinctive sales approach has been fundamental to its success for over four decades, fostering enduring, trust-based client relationships. Read more…

Salesforce is rolling out a bunch of nifty new features in the latest update to its Data Cloud platform to make data more accessible across its CRM apps.

In the newest release of its Data Cloud platform, Salesforce is offering a fresh set of features that improve data accessibility across its CRM apps and other business systems. The updates give the company’s hyperscale data platform a bit of oomph, letting users craft bespoke customer experiences that combine data from the platform with Salesforce’s Einstein AI to generate predictive insights that speed up business results. Read more…

ConnectWise is strategically reducing its workforce to streamline operations and focus more on partner growth, claiming that this reflects the company’s long-term vision and commitment to its partners.

The company said the redundancies were  limited organisational changes to improve operations and ensure resources align with our partners’ growth opportunities.”

“As part of these changes, the company has made the difficult decision to eliminate certain colleague positions. ConnectWise remains committed to our partners’ experience and is confident in our plans to support their success.”

Whispers from the Florida HQ hint at less than a hundred cuts, with the firm’s headcount north of 3,100.

A mole claims a global cull of 80 jobs, and blames buyout overlap.

One impacted employee, senior product manager CJ Wright, who worked at ConnectWise for 12 years, commented on LinkedIn that he had been caught in today’s round of layoffs.

“It’s been a wild ride and I have nothing but fond memories of the last 12 years there. Onward & upward.”

According to a recent Gartner forecast, global IT spending will reach £4.1 trillion in 2024, an increase of eight per cent from 2023.

The beancounters at Big G say the forecast indicates a rise from the previous quarter’s predicted 6.8 per cent growth, suggesting that worldwide IT spending is set to exceed the £8 trillion mark well before 2030.

Gartner VP analyst John-David Lovelock said that with spending on IT services on track to grow by 9.7 per cent to surpass £1.52 trillion, this category is on course to become the largest market that Gartner monitors.

“Companies must catch up with IT service firms to attract talent with essential IT skills. This leads to a greater need to invest in consulting expenditure over internal staff. Read more…

Westcoast has acquired the share capital of Dorset-based IT components distributor Spire Technology.

The distributor will join Westcoast but continue operating as a separate entity, maintaining its current structure and management team.

Westcoast MD  Alex Tatham said that one of the main drivers for the acquisition was the lack of crossover with vendors.

“We are strong in the components market, while they focus on branded components and OEM components. They are good at selling processes like motherboards and disk drives, which is an excellent opportunity for us. Westcoast can add value by providing them financial security and a larger customer base, and they bring complementary products.” Read more…

Cloudy security outfit Aqua Security has declared yet another year of remarkable channel growth – reaching more than 60 per cent.

The Aqua Advantage programme, spearheaded by Jeannette Lee Heung, Senior Director of Global Channel & Alliances, has played a pivotal role in propelling this positive trend.

Under Lee Heung’s stewardship, Aqua Advantage witnessed significant expansion in 2023. The partner pipeline emerged as the most rapidly growing segment within Aqua, with channel-driven revenue escalating to over 80 percent of Aqua’s total revenue. Read more…