Author: Nick Farrell

Ultima sets up shop in South Africa

Posted on October 27, 2023 by - News

Cloudy AI outfit Ultima has built itself a new office in South Africa as part of its global expansion moves.

Reading-based Ultima, has offices in Australia, Singapore, and the United States. By expanding its presence in South Africa, Ultima aims to use the region’s thriving technology industry and diverse talent pool.

Ultima Scott Dodds said the expansion is a significant milestone for Ultima, and underscores its commitment to providing exceptional services and solutions to our growing base of global clients.

Cohesity signs up big business names for CEO Advisory Council

Posted on October 26, 2023 by - News

AI security outfit Cohesity has signed up some big industry names to join its new CEO Advisory Council

The company said that Indra Nooyi, Jim Snabe, Ken Denman, and Tami Erwin will guide Cohesity’s CEO and executive staff as Cohesity expands its ambitions as an AI-powered data security and data management leader.

  • Indra Nooyi: Former Chair and CEO of PepsiCo. Current Board Director at Amazon, Philips, and the International Cricket Council. Named in the Top 10 of the Fortune Most Powerful Women List for several years.
  • Jim Snabe: Chairman at Siemens and Northvolt. Current Board Director at C3.ai. Former Co-CEO of SAP. Member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum.
  • Ken Denman: General Partner at Sway Ventures. Current Board Director at Costco, VMware, and Motorola Solutions. Former CEO of iPass, Openwave, and Emotient.
  • Tami Erwin: Former CEO & EVP of Verizon Business. Current Board Director at John Deere and York Space Systems, Aptiv’s Strategic and Technology Advisory Council member, and an Operating Partner at Digital Gravity. Named in Fortune’s Most Powerful Women List.

Cohesity CEO Sanjay Poonen (pictured) said he deeply respected these leaders—for many years.

“ I have known them as friends and mentors to me. They are some of the best leaders in the industry. Today, data is a uniquely valuable resource that can be a significant advantage. Protecting our customer’s data and providing insights into it is our core mission, with ground-breaking technologies in AI, Security, and Cloud,” he said.

Bytes hits a cool billion

Posted on October 26, 2023 by - News

Bytes gross invoiced income (GII) surged 38 per cent, reaching £1.082 billion in the last six months.

The company said this is all down to Bytes winning large public sector Microsoft contracts, leading to public sector GII spiking by 44.4 per cent.

Revenues came in at £108.7 million, representing a growth of 16.3 per cent for H1 FY24.

Bytes Technology Group CEO Neil Murphy said the company’s success was due to our skilled workforce and strong vendor relationships.

Broadcom VMware deal has big trouble in China

Posted on October 25, 2023 by - News

Broadcom wants to close its $61bn deal for VMware in a couple of weeks, but the deal is in peril with Chinese government regulators.

Three people told the Financial Times that Beijing is threatening to block the merger, even after it has cleared regulators around the world, in retaliation for new US trade rules that prevent China from receiving advanced chips from Nvidia and Micron.

The US this week announced tougher measures to limit China’s access to high-end chipsets that could fuel breakthroughs in AI and sophisticated technology for its military. The US restrictions hit China, Russia and Iran and blacklisted a Chinese chip designer.

Forrester principal analyst Tracy Woo said it was unlikely China would follow through on its threats to block the deal and was more likely just trying to rain on Broadcom’s parade.

Softcat has up and down results

Posted on October 25, 2023 by - News

Softcat’s weird year of up and down results has continued.

Softcat has reported 14.2 per cent growth in gross profit in its latest annual results to £373.8 million and operating profit up 3.5 per cent to £140.9 million. However, the company has reported a decrease in revenue – down 8.6 per cent to £985.3 million.

Softcat CEO Graham Charlton said the decrease was due to the revenue figures only accounting for the margin element of software growth.

Westcon-Comstor reports record revenue

Posted on October 24, 2023 by - News

Westcon-Comstor is reporting a record 14.9 per cent year-on-year increase in first-half revenue to $1.85 billion.

The company saw double-digit revenue growth for the six months to 31 August 2023 (H1 FY24) across each of its three operating regions: Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa.

Gross profit jumped 33.4 per cent to $203.7m, with gross margins increasing to 11 per cent due mainly to more stable foreign exchange rates than H1 FY23. The company’s EBITDA also increased by 15.9 per cent to $59.7.

Nokia improves operator network capacity

Posted on October 24, 2023 by - News

Former rubber boot maker Nokia announced a new 5G Fixed Wireless Access outdoor receiver and a new indoor gateway with Wi-Fi 7.

The FWA devices enable operators to conserve radio capacity and improve coverage of their FWA service.

Nokia said that operators can save as much as 60 per cent of potentially wasted network capacity simply by placing the right device in the right location of the customer premise.

This means using outdoor Receivers where signals are weaker and indoor Gateways where signals are strong. Proper placement of these devices in or on the home with the aid of intelligent smartphone applications alone, can help operators to recover 30 per cent of network capacity.

Print customers want more sustainability commitments

Posted on October 23, 2023 by - News

The print channel is seeing increased pressure from customers to demonstrate their sustainability commitments, according to a new report from Quocirca.

Quocirca customers increasingly look at corporate sustainability goals as part of their supplier selection process, and failure to provide any enthusiasm could result in lost contracts.

Most of those making buying decisions want to see a commitment from suppliers to reduce carbon emissions. Quocirca’s Sustainability market trends study makes it clear many users are tracking their print suppliers’ efforts.

Quocirca CEO Louella Fernandes said: “A combination of stakeholder expectations and the implementation of legislation such as the corporate sustainability reporting directive [CSRD] are prompting organisations to speed up their sustainability initiatives.”

Rubrik hires another Zscaler

Posted on October 23, 2023 by - News

Security outfit, Rubrik has appointed Ismail Elmas as GVP of international business.

The former Zscaler GVP is the second Zscaler staff member to be poached. This year, Rubrik hired Sean Sullivan from the Zscaler ranks to lead its sales strategy development and support for service providers in EMEA.

Rubrik CRO Brian McCarthy said Elmas will build and scale Rubrik’s international business.

“His expertise and skill set is a great fit for our vision as we accelerate our market strategies to deliver cyber resilience to our customers worldwide,” McCarthy said.

GenAI impacts unfelt until 2025 predicts Gartner

Posted on October 20, 2023 by - News

Fortune tellers at Gartner predict that GenAI impacts will not be felt until 2025 despite a boom in IT spending next year.

Gartner said that worldwide IT spending is projected to total $5.1 trillion in 2024, an increase of eight per cent from 2023.

However, the soothsayers said that while generative AI (GenAI) has not yet had a material impact on IT spending, investment in AI more broadly supports overall IT spending growth.

Gartner analyst VP John-David Lovelock said that GenAI impacts will not be felt until 2025, even if organisations continue to invest in AI and automation to increase operational efficiency and bridge IT talent gaps.

IP Infusion teams up with NTT DATA

Posted on October 20, 2023 by - News

IP Infusion has teamed up with global IT services provider NTT DATA to accelerate the adoption of open networking technologies and solutions.

The pair will bring go-to-market open networking solutions to bring enhanced disaggregation, scalability, and choices to network operators.

For those who came in late, open networking enables network operators to use disaggregated hardware and software components from different vendors rather than relying on proprietary and closed systems from traditional vendors. This allows operators to reduce costs, increase flexibility, and foster network innovation.

This collaboration for expanding broad connectivity was initiated by the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), including TIP solutions for Disaggregated Cell Site Gateways (DCSG) or Cell Site Routers and Cassini for Routed Optical Networking projects. Both NTT DATA and IP Infusion are members of TIP, which is driving development and deployment of open, disaggregated, and standards-based technology solutions to advance global connectivity.

IP Infusion is seen as a pioneer in open networking and flogs a comprehensive portfolio of products and services that support various open networking standards and platforms, such as Open Compute Project (OCP), Telecom Infra Project (TIP), Open Network Install Environment (ONIE), Open Network Linux (ONL), Open Network Operating System (ONOS), OpenDaylight (ODL), OpenSwitch (OPX), and SONiC.

GenAI software and related hardware and services set to boom

Posted on October 19, 2023 by - News

Beancounters at IDC have added up some numbers and divided by their shoe size and concluded that GenAI software and related hardware and services are expected to see a massive surge in demand in the next few years.

In a new report, IDC predicts that worldwide spending on GenAI solutions will reach $16 billion in 2023 and grow to $143 billion in 2027, with a CAGR of 73.3 per cent. This is much faster than overall AI and IT spending.

IDC’s group vice president of worldwide artificial intelligence and automation market research and advisory services, Ritu Jyoti, said that GenAI is not just a hype but a game-changing technology that can transform industries and society.

Avanade research uncovers AI skills gap

Posted on October 19, 2023 by - News

Avanade has published a report on the state of artificial intelligence (AI) skills in the business world.

The report, entitled “AI and Me: The Skills Gap”, reveals that while most organisations recognise the value and potential of AI, they lack the talent and expertise to use it fully.

According to the report, which surveyed over 1,200 senior decision-makers across 12 countries, 85 per cent of respondents agree that AI is essential for their organisation’s competitiveness and growth. However, only 16 per cent of respondents say they have enough AI skills in their workforce, and 69 per cent say they face a moderate to extreme AI skills gap.

Park Place snaps up Xuper

Posted on October 19, 2023 by - News

Global data centre and networking outfit Park Place Technologies has acquired Xuper an IT solutions provider based in Derby, UK.

Xuper was founded nearly 40 years ago and has grown to include UK, US, and German offices. The company offers various services, primarily third-party maintenance and professional services.

Xuper’s chairman and managing director, Peter Grogan, has announced his retirement alongside the acquisition. He will continue to assist during the transition period, ensuring a smooth handover.

This acquisition holds promise for both Xuper’s and Park Place’s clients. Xuper’s customer base will benefit from Park Place’s global reach, access to a vast inventory of parts and engineering expertise. Additionally, they will have access to Park Place’s complete portfolio of IT lifecycle offerings, including professional and managed services.

Major shake-up at Atos

Posted on October 18, 2023 by - News

It is starting to look like the predicted changes at Atos will be profound and transformative.

In August, the company said it was about to sell its Tech Foundations business to EP Equity Investment (EPEI).

Atos now confirms that preparatory stages of the project are underway and it has started social consultation with the Societas Europaea Council (SEC) and submitted most regulatory pre-filings or filings across the various concerned jurisdictions.

Atos reaffirmed the sale would offer the “most achievable execution path” to the separation of Tech Foundations and Eviden and would improve the risk profile of the group post-transaction.

The company announced its transformation plan in June 2022 of the full separation of Eviden and Tech Foundations.