Author: Nick Farrell

Salesforce wants to help firms reopen

Posted on May 5, 2020 by - News

Salesforce logoSalesforce  has announced its Work.com site which it says will provide new technology solutions and resources to help business and community leaders around the world reopen safely, re-skill employees and respond efficiently on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Work.com includes new solutions to accelerate private and public sector response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including employee wellness assessment; shift management; contact tracing; emergency response management; and grants and volunteer management. The Work.com Command Center brings all data streams together so that businesses and communities can make more informed decisions.

Veritas increases top partner support

Posted on May 4, 2020 by - News

The data protection player Veritas  launched the latest version of its Partner Force programme to boost channel growth, particularly in the mid-market.

Jamie Farrelly, vice-president EMEA channels and mid-market sales at Veritas, had already devised a triple A strategy for this year to make sure the firm is in the best position to support partners that want to embrace its portfolio and meet customer needs around gaining insights into their data.

The outfit said it is working closely with those partners that have specialised around certain technologies and is encouraging the development of a network of experts that can deliver a bespoke service to customers.

NetApp swallows Cloudjumper

Posted on May 4, 2020 by - News

Cloud data services provider NetApp has written a cheque for  remote desktop services (RDS) and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) market outfit CloudJumper.

The acquisition means that a new service dubbed NetApp Virtual Desktop Service (VDS) will be released. The product sorts out virtual desktop services and application management and claims to be a total solution for public cloud management, deployment and monitoring applications.

Crock of gold for Amazon Web Services tips up

Posted on May 4, 2020 by - News

Amazon Web Services’ quarterly sales have topped $10 billion for the first time increased by 33 percent.

An an earnings call Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said that the AWS business has been protected by its diverse customer base during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What we’re seeing post-COVID is it varies by industry I think probably where we’re a bit well positioned is that we have such a breadth of customers. There’s millions of active customers from start-ups, to enterprises, to public sector. So there’s a lot of variance. “In individual industries are seeing right now, things like videoconferencing, gaming, remote learning, entertainment all are seeing much higher growth and usage”, he said.

Epson UK launches ReadyPrint

Posted on May 1, 2020 by - News

Epson UK has launched ReadyPrint, its first subscription printing service for its consumer cartridge printer models.

ReadyPrint claims that it will give customers savings of up to 70 percent on print costs with the added convenience of new ink delivered straight to their door. Epson’s cartridge-free EcoTank printers will be also soon be added into the ReadyPrint service.

The outfit is hoping that its service will find a place for those locked in during the Coronavirus and needing printers for home use.

To help ease costs during this challenging time, Epson is offering its monthly subscription service, ReadyPrint Flex, for free for an initial three-month launch period until 31 July 2020.

Outsourcing deals grew four percent

Posted on May 1, 2020 by - News

Information Services Group (ISG) said that the annual value of outsourcing deals in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region rose almost four percent in the first quarter of 2020.

The analyst outfit said it would have grown at a much higher rate had the impact of COVID-19 not hit the market in March.

The firm uses its EMEA ISG Index which measures commercial outsourcing contracts with annual contract value (ACV) of €5 million (£4 million) or more, shows combined market ACV (including both as-a-service and managed services) in EMEA increased by 3.8 percent year on year, to €4.5 billion (£3.9 billion).

BlueVoyant supports DarkOwl’s security service

Posted on May 1, 2020 by - News

Cybersecurity services outfit BlueVoyant has been selected by DarkOwl to deliver its Managed Security Service.

BlueVoyant will provide its Managed Detection and Response (MDR+) capabilities, including support from its team of intelligence analysts and security experts, to protect endpoints, detect intrusion and defend against the latest and most sophisticated security threats.

DarkOwl lets organisations search the world’s largest dataset of darknet content. Its Vision API lets data to be directly integrated into a client’s native platforms, while its DarkINT risk scores simplify risk management based on the organisation’s darknet footprint. Monitoring and alerting let clients quickly discover breached material appearing on the darknet.

McAfee gets Curry as new global channel chief

Posted on April 30, 2020 by - News

McAfee has announced the appointment of former Apple sales executive Kathleen Curry as its new global channel chief, as the cybersecurity vendor looks to better accommodate remote workers through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Curry officially takes the role of senior vice president of global enterprise channels, OEM and strategic alliances, and is tasked with and pulling together McAfee’s channel, operations, alliances and OEM teams, as well as expanding its partner program to tackle the increase in remote workers.

She will oversee the development of a strategic vision and approach for go-to-market initiatives for the firm’s multi-tier global channel organisation, it said.

Pandemic shows the important of mobile voice

Posted on April 30, 2020 by - News

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that mobile voice is still a vitally important communication channel, one that becomes even more important in a crisis, according to analysts GlobalData.

Andy Hicks, Principal Analyst at GlobalData, said: “A third of the world’s population is stuck at home, yet mobile phone calling has increased during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Classic text messaging has also increased – even with competing with free voice and message channels.”

Cirrus adds two to its leadership team

Posted on April 30, 2020 by - News

Cloudy outfit Cirrus has announced two senior level appointments to its leadership team. Dean Cook joins as Finance Director and Bernard Ross joins as Customer Operations Director.

Both industry veterans, the appointments come just two months after the merger between Cirrus and TelXL, and will be key in supporting the company’s planned growth for 2020.

Cook has been appointed Finance Director of Cirrus’ UK operations. Dean brings more than 20 years of finance expertise from PwC, KPMG and a range of rapidly growing SMEs, helping them to enhance shareholder value, and to architect profitable and sustainable growth.

Security professionals find their jobs have changed

Posted on April 29, 2020 by - News

Certified cybersecurity professionals association (ISC) has released a survey of 256 cybersecurity professionals which shows many of them have found their jobs have changed during the pandemic with 90 percent of them indicating they are now working remotely full-time.

Wesley Simpson, COO of (ISC), said: “While this was certainly not an in-depth study of the situation, it does provide a current snapshot of the issues and challenges our members may be facing during this unprecedented time. Sharing this information helps our members and other professionals in the field understand the challenges their peers are facing, and hopefully realise they are not alone, even if many of them are feeling isolated as they adjust to working from home.”

Easter hit channel in a bad way

Posted on April 29, 2020 by - News

Supply problems and the impact of the Easter holidays have taken some toll on the channel over the last few weeks according to analysis from Context.

The Easter break, and the double bank holiday days of Good Friday and Easter Monday, reduced trading and pushed the UK into its first decline of the year,  The same problems also had an impact on trading in Germany and Spain.

Context uses a rolling four-week average to track the response to the virus and found that the last few weeks, to 6 April, have been tougher for the channel across Western Europe.

A surge in demand for home working hardware and software had bolstered growth across the region, helping the channel to produce 10 percent growth in the week of 16 March.

Networks experiencing disruptions due to work-from-home move

Posted on April 29, 2020 by - News

Nearly two thirds of companies experienced at least moderate disruptions to their network security business practices – and nearly a quarter (23 percent) experienced major disruptions – due to the sudden shift to a work-from-home model as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report.

Security outfit Neustar has just released its Neustar International Security Council (NISC) report noting that that more than 29 percent of companies did not have a fully executable business plan in place to keep their network secure in the event of a major crisis such as the current pandemic.

You need a roadmap when your head is in the clouds

Posted on April 28, 2020 by - News

Companies need a roadmap when they move to the cloud, according to  iland Vice President Justin Justin Augat,

Justin Augat said as with other major, transformational initiatives, cloud deployment can be risky if not done correctly. When deploying cloud services, organisations need to develop and agree on a cross-functional business plan that minimises risks.

“Cloud services can be a positive presence across the business with benefits like reduced time to market, lower costs and new resources to focus on innovation. But they can also create a risk of missing expectations if the organisation is not ready for the financial and operational impact”, he said.

UN says eCommerce is up eight percent

Posted on April 28, 2020 by - News

E-commerce sales hit $25.6 trillion globally in 2018, up eight percent from 2017, according to the UN’s trade and development body, UNCTAD.

According to the UNCTAD analysis, the estimated 2018 e-commerce sales value, which includes business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, was equivalent to 30 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) that year.

Shamika Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s director of technology and logistics said that the coronavirus crisis has accelerated the uptake of digital solutions, tools and services, but the overall impact on the value of e-commerce in 2020 is still hard to predict.

The 2017 value of global e-commerce was estimated at $23.8 trillion, based on a revised methodology.