Author: Nick Farrell

Fraudulent data roaming traffic set to grow

Posted on November 7, 2023 by - News

Juniper Research has released a study in which growth in fraudulent data roaming traffic will reach 218 PB by 2028, driven by the evolution of sophisticated dishonest tactics such as SIM card swapping.

The new report, Global Roaming Fraud Market 2023-2028, predicts that Global outbound roaming data will grow from 230,000 PB in 2023 to over 2.2 million PB by 2028, driven by the rise of data-intensive 5G roaming connections.

However, this growth in roaming traffic will lead to increased opportunities for fraudsters, such as SIM box fraud, where data is allocated through local routes rather than monetisable roaming channels.

Smart Communications appoints Leigh Segall

Posted on November 7, 2023 by - News

Smart Communications has appointed Leigh Segall to be its new Chief Executive Officer.

James Brown, who has served as CEO for over five years, will assume the role of Executive Chairman of the Board.

Apparently, the management reshuffle will position it for “continued innovation and growth.”

Leigh joined Smart Communications in 2017 as Chief Marketing Officer, bringing over a decade of executive experience within the enterprise SaaS technology space.

As CMO, she played a pivotal role in driving consistent double-digit growth, the integration of acquired brands, and the development and launch of the Conversation Cloud™. Leigh was appointed President in February 2023.

Cisco taps Microsoft’s Rodney Clark as SME senior VP

Posted on November 7, 2023 by - News

Cisco has announced that Rodney Clark will join the company as Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Small and Medium Business.

Clark has a history as a global sales and business leader with deep channel experience.

In his new Cisco job, Clark will work on the company’s global ecosystem of marketplaces and the company’s position in managed services and cloud marketplaces, helping Cisco and its partners do better in the SME market.

Clark has worked for Microsoft for the last 25 years and held various senior sales leadership positions, including Corporate VP, Global Channel Sales and Channel Chief.

Before Microsoft, he spent nine years with IBM in sales, marketing, and management capacities. Most recently, he was the Chief Commercial Officer at Johnson Controls.

Lumen sells EMEA business to Colt

Posted on November 6, 2023 by - News

Lumen Technologies has sold its European, Middle Eastern, and African (EMEA) business to Colt Technology Services in a deal that will give the outfit $1.8  billion.

Lumen plans to use the proceeds on debt reduction, which will free the company up to fund its plans for future growth, which include a focus on Network as a Service (NaaS) – specifically, the Lumen Internet on Demand offering, fibre, and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).

Flogging the family silver has been part of the company’s strategy over the last year as things have not been going very well for the outfit.

Lumen in November 2022 announced the exclusive arrangement for the proposed sale of its EMEA business to Colt Technology Services.

The company in 2022 also finalised the $7.5 billion sale of its incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) business, which included its consumer, small business, wholesale and mostly copper-served enterprise customers and assets in 20 states to Brightspeed, a brand new company that launched its operations last fall.

Smart traffic management could be the next big thing

Posted on November 6, 2023 by - News

A new study by Juniper Research found by 2028, smart traffic management spending will be up 75 per cent from a 2023 figure of $10.6 billion.

This significant growth will be due to increasing government funding for smart city initiatives, with transport being at the centre of urban transformation projects.

Juniper found it is vital to deploy traffic analysis and systems at the earliest stage of city planning to avoid costly retrofits later, given the fundamental nature and impact of traffic flow on a city’s infrastructure.

Research author Cara Malone said: “Cities need to avoid solutions that will likely become obsolete quickly or result in vendor lock-in. By opening their process to a wide pool of vendors and developers, cities will encourage innovation and interest from various stakeholders and partners.”

Digital transformation growing

Posted on November 3, 2023 by - News

Global spending on digital transformation (DX) will reach $3.9 trillion by 2027, according to new figures from IDC beancounters.

This growth trajectory is underpinned by a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.1 per cent, IDC thunk.

While the US is poised to command a significant 35.8 per cent share of global digital transformation spending in 2023, the Asia/Pacific region (including Japan and China) closely follows with a robust 33.5 per cent share.

CyberCX provides guide to fight cyber extortion

Posted on November 3, 2023 by - News

Hacker typing on a laptop

CyberCX has launched its new Ransomware and Cyber Extortion Best Practice Guide to help fight cyber extortion.

The UK is the second largest market for cyber extortion (second only to the US), and attacks are increasing quarterly throughout 2023 and while the UK government did announce a crackdown in February this year, it’s not reducing attacks, instead moving cyber criminals’ focus to SMBs and dispersing hackers from organised gangs to less traceable pockets of activity.

CyberCX’s new Ransomware and Cyber Extortion Best Practice Guide reflecting significant changes to the global cyber security landscape as businesses, organisations, and governments continue to grapple with established and emerging cyber threats.

HPE updates partner programme

Posted on November 2, 2023 by - News

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has updated its HPE Partner Ready Vantage programme.

For those not in the know, Partner Ready Vantage is designed for channel partners who want to deliver as-a-service solutions.

HPE said the improvements include comprehensive Centres of Expertise, new competencies and an evolved competency framework, and tools and offerings that drive repeatable profitability and foster long-standing customer relationships for partners.

HPE Vice President of Worldwide Channel & Partner Ecosystem Simon Ewington said the HPE Partner Ready Vantage helps unlock margin-rich opportunities across professional services, managed services, and customer success.

CDW has a miserable quarter

Posted on November 2, 2023 by - News

CDW has had a miserable third quarter. Not only was it hacked by an aggressive ransomware outfit it also saw net sales for the period amounting to £4.61 billion globally.

This figure was a 9.4 per cent decrease compared to $6.2 billion in the third quarter of 2022.

The IT giant’s UK and Canadian operations reported combined net sales of $601 million, a 15.4 per cent decrease compared to 2022.

Most of the problems were poor sales in the corporate and small business segments as businesses faced economic uncertainties.

Gross profit in the third quarter of 2023 stood at $1.2 billion, representing a slight decrease of 0.4 per cent compared to the 1.2 per cent reported for the third quarter of 2022.

Tech WM and Aston University team up on scale ups

Posted on November 1, 2023 by - News

Tech WM, the not-for-profit behind Birmingham Tech Week, is partnering with Aston University to create a scale-up programme.

The project will help local tech startups and spin-outs become international scale-ups.

The partnership emerged following behind-the-scenes discussions at the Birmingham Tech Week festival, which took place between 16-20 October.

The new programme will help students, entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses access world-class support, investment opportunities and local tech talent.

It will be based in the recently announced Tech Hub based at the Bruntwood SciTech facility ‘iCentrum’, as part of TechWM’s £1m investment into the West Midlands tech sector.

Cynical hacks think AI will create tech investment boom

Posted on November 1, 2023 by - News

Two-thirds of the UK’s top tech media – perhaps the harshest critics of the UK tech sector – believe the AI Safety Summit will create a boom in tech investment and bolster the UK’s position as a leader in the field.

According to new research announced today by Kaizo PR reveals that there is renewed optimism in the technology sector but also the challenges B2B tech publications and their respective reporters will face as demand for tech stories soars.

The research, which asked 100 leading UK journalists operating in the technology sector and was undertaken by Censuswide, sought opinions across a wide range of issues from industry drivers to communication concerns.

The summit is bringing together international governments, leading AI companies, civil society groups and experts in research in order to consider the risks of AI, especially at the frontier of development and provide a forum to discuss how they can be mitigated.

Academia adds up some great results

Posted on October 31, 2023 by - News

IT services and solutions provider to the education, business and public sector Academia has reported record results FY23.

The company has seen 22 per cent growth, increasing its revenue to £130 million FY23 for the tenth year in succession, leaving it well positioned going into FY24 as the IT services and solutions provider of trust for education, business and public sector in the UK.

Total revenues hit £130 million, which was an increase of 22 per cent from the previous year. Academia charges into FY24 with a Q1 performance that not only met but exceeded financial targets.

Zivver expands across the pond

Posted on October 31, 2023 by - News

Secure digital communications specialist Zivver is announcing its expansion into the US.

The company is launching an eCommerce offering that serves small and medium-sized businesses directly, and advanced applications for large enterprises directly and through its partner network.

Zivver has been doing rather well in the UK and Europe, and Oliver Brown, VP of Commercial at Zivver said the US was a pivotal market.

“Our success in the UK and Europe to date evidences the vital role of our secure email solution in empowering organisations to meet their compliance responsibilities, by arming people with tools to work securely, without complicating workflows.”

Amazon Web Services releases new clouds in the EU

Posted on October 30, 2023 by - News

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is about to offer its new sovereign cloud solution in the European Union (EU)  tailored to cater to government entities and industries with stringent regulatory requirements.

The move comes in response to the increasing demand for cloud solutions that adhere to Europe’s tight data privacy rules and the concept of ‘digital sovereignty,’ which emphasises European control over data and technology.

Dubbed the Amazon Web Services European Sovereign Cloud, this new infrastructure will operate separately from Amazon’s other cloud services, exclusively using servers located within the EU.

Alphabet sees solid cloud momentum

Posted on October 27, 2023 by - News

Alphabet has reported solid momentum in its cloud business, with $8.4 billion in quarterly sales.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said AI and generative AI are making their presence felt across a wide range of Alphabet’s technologies.

AI was improving knowledge and learning, including Alphabet’s work with its Search Generative Experience, which he described as an experiment to bring generative AI capabilities into search.

“We’ve learned a lot from people trying it, and we have added new capabilities like incorporating videos and images into responses and generating imagery,” he said.