Author: Nick Farrell

Several ransomware groups have been exploiting a vulnerability in vSphere ESXi, VMware’s bare metal hypervisor.

The attack was as simple as creating a Microsoft Active Directory (AD) group called “ESX Admins”, which was allowed for users with limited domain-level permissions. Adding users to that group automatically gave them full admin status in a privilege escalation attack.

A VMware by Broadcom advisory published on 25 June said: “A malicious actor with sufficient Active Directory (AD) permissions can gain full access to an ESXi host that was previously configured to use AD for user management by re-creating the configured AD group (‘ESXi Admins’ by default) after it was deleted from AD.” Read more…

Software King of the World Microsoft’s recent batch of outages might be down to the large number of staff cuts that Vole has been carrying out.

For those who came in late, on 30 July, Vole faced a major outage affecting its Azure infrastructure and Microsoft 365 services. This outage significantly disrupted services for users globally, impacting businesses and individual users reliant on Microsoft’s cloud services. The outage began at approximately 11:45 UTC and was reportedly resolved by 19:43 UTC, which means it lasted almost 8 full hours.

According to BestBrokers analyst Paul Hoffman wonders if there is a causality relationship between the outage and the fact that on June 3, Microsoft laid off hundreds of employees from its Azure cloud unit. Read more…

Pure Storage has announced major updates to its service level agreements (SLAs) to boost customer cyber security and resilience.

As part of this update, the data storage company will expand its ransomware recovery SLA on the Evergreen//One platform to include disaster recovery scenarios.

In a press release, the company said the new ‘Enhanced Cyber Recovery and Resilience SLA’ will offer tailored recovery plans, clean service infrastructure, onsite installation, and extra professional services for data transfer.

Pure Storage will also work with organisations to develop comprehensive cybersecurity strategies, conduct quarterly reviews to help businesses follow best practices, and perform risk assessments. Read more…

Schneider Electric has launched a new training programme in the UK and Ireland to address the digital skills gap.

The Schneider Electric Training programme aims to offer top-notch training by combining specialist academies, courses, and digital campuses into one comprehensive package.

The company, known for its energy management and automation solutions, says this initiative is in response to the ongoing skills shortage in engineering and the crucial role training plays in managing the complexities of digital transformation. Read more…

Red Hat has announced significant updates to its partner programme, which it claims will provide its partners with greater simplicity, choice, and flexibility.

The open-source solutions vendor emphasised the necessity for coordinated cross-collaboration among multiple technology vendors and solution providers.

Today, Red Hat unveiled the first wave of updates to its Partner Programme, anchored in three core pillars:

1. A globally standardised partner programme designed to facilitate more straightforward and transparent transactions, guided by a tiering framework based on partner engagement, expertise, and performance.
2. Streamlined partner incentives applicable across all partner types to help build and accelerate partner business pipelines.
3. An enhanced digital experience, providing unified tooling and access to critical resources for partners via Red Hat Partner Connect.

Read more…

Computacenter has released a trading update which signals a decline in year-on-year sales for the first half of 2024.

Despite rising technology sourcing in North America, the company foresees that overall technology sourcing volumes have stabilised compared to the exceptionally robust performance in H1 2023.

The resale and services behemoth reported a solid underlying performance in Germany and North America. However, it noted a weaker-than-anticipated demand for hardware in the UK, with customers exhibiting greater caution and taking longer to finalise purchasing decisions.

Computacenter’s committed product order backlog has grown significantly since the start of the year, driven by notable technology sourcing successes in North America.

The company projects that H1 2024 figures will be lower than the previous year’s. The adjusted profit before tax for H1 2024 is expected to be approximately £87 million, down from £121.8 million in H1 2023. This decline is attributed to adverse currency translation effects and the timing of specific large orders in North America, which have been deferred to the year’s second half. Read more…

Software King of the World Microsoft has defended itself against allegations of anti-competitive behaviour in its cloud licensing practices, accusing competitors Amazon and Google of obfuscating the issues at hand.

This comes in response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) ongoing investigation.

In a detailed 27-page rebuttal to the CMA’s June 2024 working paper, Microsoft challenges the interim findings that suggest its cloud software licensing strategy may undermine competition in the UK cloud infrastructure services market.

The CMA’s report had raised concerns that Microsoft’s practices could be inflating costs for enterprises using its licenses on rival cloud platforms, potentially stifling competition.

The CMA’s working paper highlighted that Microsoft’s licensing terms might make a significant portion of customer demand less contestable for its rivals, weakening its ability to scale and compete effectively in the cloud infrastructure market. Read more…

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Exclusive Networks’ CEO says the cybersecurity VAD enjoyed a “strong” first half of 2024, despite “continued soft market conditions”.

The Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks distributor, which recently received a take-private approach, saw gross sales growth reaccelerate to 14 per cent in Q2, thanks partly to a significant Australasian acquisition.

Looking at its wider first half, gross sales came in at £2.15 billion, a ten per cent year-on-year increase.

CEO Jesper Trolle said: “We had a strong first half of the year amidst continued soft market conditions. Gross sales growth accelerated steadily over the first half, positioning the business well for the second half of 2024,”.

Having only floated on the Paris Euronext in 2021, Exclusive could be set to move back into private ownership after confirming a go-private approach from an investor group earlier this month. Read more…

Leading distributors Westcoast and ALSO Group have announced a merger agreement and will operate under the ALSO name. The merger is awaiting regulatory approval.

Westcoast chairman Joe Hemani will become a major shareholder in ALSO, mainly owned by the Düsseldorf-based Droege Group.

The merger includes Westcoast’s UK, Ireland, and France businesses, while the German and Dutch operations will stay under Hemani’s control.

This merger follows Westcoast’s 2022 acquisition of telecommunications distributor Komsa, which is expected to be completed by 2025. Neither Westcoast nor Komsa has provided any updates on this integration since the announcement. Read more…

CallTower has partnered with Tollring to offer call analytics on Microsoft Teams with  Analytics 365.

The pair say this new solution, designed for Microsoft Teams, changes how organisations use call data to boost team performance, improve customer engagement, and increase revenue.

Companies say that using Analytics 365 Call Analytics in their communication strategies can significantly boost sales and customer satisfaction. Users can identify missed revenue opportunities and improve customer experience by understanding call queues and missed calls.

This Microsoft Teams app helps organisations manage customer-facing teams and build lasting customer relationships. By monitoring call activity, staffing levels, and performance, organisations can use easy-to-read dashboards and create wallboards to improve performance and meet customer expectations. Read more…

AI outfit ServiceNow has acquired Raytion to score its information retrieval technology.

The idea is that  ServiceNow will provide real-time access to business data from various sources, making AI search more powerful, efficient, and personalised.

ServiceNow said in a statement that Raytion’s technology, combined with ServiceNow AI Search, will help users find answers without knowing the exact location of the information.

It securely integrates data from different sources, including data within ServiceNow and third-party systems, offering a smart search experience from a single entry point. Read more…

Customers want to see more transparency when tech companies flog their products based on AI.

The 2024 Smart Communications “State of Customer Conversations” report reveals consumer opinions on Generative AI (GenAI) and the importance of personalised, clear communications for customer experience, trust, and loyalty.

It found that most consumers want human oversight and clear indications of when GenAI is used. Over three-quarters (77 per cent) want companies to state when GenAI is used, and four in five (81 per cent) believe a human should check GenAI content. Consumers have ethical and security concerns about GenAI, with two-thirds expressing worries. Less than half (47 per cent) think GenAI can improve communications. Read more…

The Co-op has been transforming its retail business using SAP’s Retail ECC suite on Hana software to improve stock visibility and forecasting.

It has migrated all its SAP systems to the SAP Rise cloud to move to S/4Hana on Rise. Co-op relies on fast-moving goods and quick turnaround times, adapting to weather and events like the Euros championship.

Ian Cox, Co-op’s director of technology for SAP, said that external factors like supply chain issues and high fuel prices influenced their decision to embed the ERP system into the business.

Co-op had many bespoke legacy systems, which were holding the company back. Reinvesting in SAP and embedding the software into the business was beneficial. Read more…