Author: Nick Farrell

New research from Microsoft partner Advania has found that IT complexity is hindering mid-market organisations’ efforts to harness the full potential of new technologies.

The scale of the challenge is significant, with more than 81 per cent of mid-market organisations needing help scaling, updating, and future-proofing their underlying tech stacks in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) era.

This independent study by Censuswide, the largest of its kind, surveyed 966 mid-market IT decision-makers across organisations in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland. Read more…

Juniper Networks shareholders have given a resounding thumbs up to being snapped up by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), paving the way for a staggering £11.06 billion merger.

On 2 April, Juniper held a special meeting of stockholders to vote on the HPE acquisition. More than 265 million shareholders backed the deal, with a mere 258,000 naysayers voting against it. This means less than one per cent of Juniper shareholder votes were against the merger, demonstrating massive support for the acquisition.

Both companies want to seal the deal before we officially ring in 2025. Read more…

Blighty and the United States have sealed a historic pact to pioneer AI safety testing, becoming the globe’s inaugural nations to formalise a collaborative agreement in assessing the threats of artificial intelligence.

The accord, signed by Britain’s tech secretary Michelle Donelan and US commerce supremo Gina Raimondo, outlines a course for joint efforts and pooling expertise, data, and insight.

The duo intends to construct a “unified strategy” for AI safety testing, conducting “at least” one shared testing drill on a model accessible to the public. Read more…

Number crunchers at Juniper Research predict that the dosh flowing through POS terminals will hit a whopping £13 trillion by the end of 2024, and that’s not all—it’s set to balloon by 25 per cent by 2028!

Despite a spate of tills going kaput at shops worldwide, causing a right kerfuffle with closures, we’re on the brink of a till revolution. That’s right, out with the old clunky cash registers and in with the snazzy ‘smart’ ones.

The new report, “Global POS Terminals Market 2024-2028” says that loads of shopkeepers have been caught with their pants down, not ready to tackle their ancient tills conking out Read more…

Israel Checkpoint

Israel cyber security powerhouse Check Point has inked a deal with the Software King of the World, Microsoft, to supercharge its Infinity AI Copilot service with the Azure OpenAI service.

For those who came in late, Check Point’s Infinity AI Copilot is an automation service that the company hopes will redefine security administration. If it works, it promises to significantly reduce incident response times and bolster protection against cyber threats, setting a new standard in the industry.

The company claims it can harness the power of artificial intelligence; this innovative solution tackles routine and complex security tasks with lightning speed, freeing up precious time for security teams to focus on staying one step ahead of cyber villains. Read more…

UK-based security startup Goldilock has adopted a channel-only approach to drive its business forward.

The company, renowned for its physical network isolation service, is banking on an indirect strategy to unlock access to a broader customer base and expand its market reach.

At the heart of Goldilock’s range is a revolutionary appliance that swiftly isolates and secures systems, effectively halting breaches in their tracks. The National Cyber Security Centre’s NCSC For Startups programme, in collaboration with Plexal, and support from the Ministry of Defence’s Defence and Security Accelerator support the startup. Read more…

Softcat is purring over an 11 per cent gross profit leap to £196.5 million, and its gross invoiced income has clawed up a four per cent increase to £1.263 billion in its half-yearly financial fiasco up to 31 January 2024.

Operating profits have pounced up 5.8 per cent to £66.7 million, and Softcat’s saying it’s more than they’d hoped for.

However, the reseller’s revenue has tumbled by eight per cent – a bit of déjà vu from last October when they reported a similar 8.6 percent drop.

The bigwigs at Softcat reckon it’s all down to hardware sales hitting the skids, which make up a hefty chunk of the revenue pie, while software and some services get a trim under IFRS15. Read more…

TD SYNNEX has announced a staggering revenue of £12 billion and a net income of £147 million in its fiscal first quarter, defying market expectations.

Despite revenues hitting the forecasted range between £12 billion and £12.5 billion, they are a 6.7 per cent dip from last year’s figures.

The distie dropped a bombshell with a new £1.7 billion share repurchase programme that’s got the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street all excited.

CEO Rich Hume said: “We generated strong results in our fiscal first quarter, driven by our expansive portfolio and an improving IT demand environment. This resulted in record margins, EPS at the upper end of our expectations, healthy free cash flow and robust capital returned to shareholders.” Read more…

Avaya and Zoom have just inked a partnership deal that would see Avaya join Zoom Workplace, the AI whizz-kid of collaboration platforms.

It will mean rolling meetings, chit-chats, and doodles into one sleek package.

Avaya’s CEO Alan Masarek said: “By partnering with Zoom, we can deliver on the promise of ‘innovation without disruption’ for Avaya customers, providing added value to enterprises through world-class collaboration experiences within the Avaya platform.”

Zoom’s Eric Yuan said: “Customers and partners like Avaya continue to look to Zoom to power their collaboration needs because of its speed of innovation and because it just works. We are excited to deliver that same experience to the thousands of Avaya customers who will benefit from a simple yet powerful way to collaborate.” Read more…

IBM has announced its EMEA geography winners of its 2024 IBM Partner Plus Awards, celebrating IBM partners who advance businesses, reshape industries, and create positive impact through partnership.

A company spokesman said: “We are thrilled with the number of incredible stories submitted from EMEA partners who continue to demonstrate innovative ways to help clients capitalize on the game-changing potential of hybrid cloud and AI. The winners in each category showcase how working together to build, service, and sell with IBM technology can deliver tangible results and drive transformative change for clients.”

The EMEA geography winners of this regional round in the IBM Partner Plus Awards for each category include:

AI for Business in EMEA – Reinventing the way business gets done.

Agile Business Process UK Limited

Modernisation in EMEA – Unlocking innovation through infrastructure.

any.cloud A/S

Digital Defence in EMEA – Building more secure businesses.

SmarterProcess

Automation in EMEA – Increasing performance through automation.

HABBER TEC SL

Digital Labour in EMEA – Unlocking the power of data.

Visito AS

Sustainability in EMEA – Turning sustainability ambition into action.

ERNST & YOUNG LLP

The EMEA geography winners have also been named finalists for the global awards in each category. The winners will be announced at IBM Partner Plus Day during Think 2024 on May 20, 2024.

Partners self-nominated for the IBM Partner Plus Awards, and entries were judged based on Expertise, Partnership, Impact, and Innovation. Winners were selected across six categories in five geographies: APAC, EMEA, Japan, Latin America and North America. For more information on the IBM Partner Plus Awards, including a list of all geography award recipients, visit here.

Partners eligible to self-nominate for the awards are part of IBM’s Partner Plus program, which is designed to help deepen partners’ technical expertise, accelerate time to market, and win with clients using AI and hybrid cloud.

VMware is beefing up its game across Europe, chucking nine new spots into its distribution deal with TD SYNNEX – Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, and Turkey,

This means TD SYNNEX’s mates can get their paws on all the subscription goodies VMware’s dishing out. And get this: They’re throwing in some extra treats like boot camps, webinars, and all sorts of stuff to get the partners up to speed on the latest cloud and virtualisation tricks. Read more…

Software King of the World Microsoft has announced that it will suspend its cloud services for Russian companies by the end of March 2024.

This decision comes as a direct response to the economic sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russian-owned companies in December 2023, amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

The suspension, which was initially set to commence on March 20, has been delayed following discussions with Softline, a key IT platform and Microsoft customer. Vole has emphasised that this action is not politically motivated but is a commitment to adhering to international trade laws and regulations. Read more…

Channel-first cloud and disaster recovery specialist VirtualDCS has launched the world’s most comprehensive Azure backup service, protecting over 250 configurable items within an established Microsoft 365 estate.

Known as CloudCover Guardian for Azure, the new service is part of VirtualDCS’s CloudCover 365 solution and offers complete Microsoft 365 backup and recovery.

Additionally, VirtualDCS has introduced a unique ‘Clean Room’ service for organisations and users requiring system restoration in a sterile and isolated environment following a Ransomware attack. Read more…