Author: Nick Farrell

Edge outfit Netskope acquires Kadiska

Posted on September 8, 2023 by - News

Canalys Forum EuropeSecure access service edge (SASE) vendor, Netskope has acquired digital experience monitoring firm Kadiska.

Kadiska was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in France, with a international team of digital experience management experts.

It built its technology to combine real user experience monitoring with end-to-end network and application performance visibility from user devices to hybrid, SaaS and cloud applications.

These capabilities complement and enhance Netskope’s AI- and ML-fuelled proactive experience remediation cross the technology stack.

Netskope CEO and co-founder Sanjay Beri said: “Kadiska matches well with the Netskope platform.

NTT DATA UK&I hires Massimo Fatato

Posted on September 8, 2023 by - News

IT services provider and consultancy NTT DATA UK&I has appointed Massimo Fatato as the new Head of Networks.

The appointment is part of NTT DATA’s investment into strengthening its telco business, with Fatato heading up work in OSS Transformation, Telco Cloud and public and private 5G network areas.

Fatato joins NTT DATA with a wealth of experience and knowledge thanks to a career spanning more than 30 years in the telecoms industry.

His career began as a Systems Engineer at Telecom Italia, where he led the design of its OSS, one of the first European carrier deployments, before moving on to Nortel, where he started as a System Engineer and rose through the ranks to become an Account Director.

Expel expands partner programme

Posted on September 7, 2023 by - News

Security outfit Expel unveiled its new partner programme, which it claims will make it easier for channel organisations to go to market with its products.

Expel CEO Dave Merkel said the channel was critical in addressing the security needs in the market.

“We’ve made significant investments in our team and programme resources aimed at delivering even greater value to our partners and customers,” he said.

“As we continue to grow, we’re committed to being a partner-first organisation, and this evolved programme reflects a significant step forward in providing a first-rate partner experience.”

Panasas taps Claffey as CEO

Posted on September 7, 2023 by - News

Data outfit Panasas has appointed Ken Claffey as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Claffey replaces Tom Shea, who will remain Chief Operating Officer on the Panasas executive leadership team.

White Oak Global Advisors CEO Andre A. Hakkak said that it was decided to hire Claffey because Panasas was well-positioned to build on its success over the last few years as it has moved to a software-defined architecture, increased its revenues, and is now ready to take a step function in its growth and scale.

White Oak Global Advisors has committed significant incremental funding that will enable Claffey and the Panasas team to execute significant business growth.

Midwich Group declined in the UK

Posted on September 7, 2023 by - News

Midwich Group saw growth everywhere in the world other than the UK.

The Norfolk-based distributor saw revenues decline slightly by 2.2 per cent to £234 million in the UK & Ireland.

Based on independent market data, Midwich believes the decline is significantly less than the overall decline in the region.

Revenues for the six months ended 30 June 2023 grew 7.4 per cent to £610.4 million.

Gross profit was up 17.5 per cent to £99.6 million in H1 2023.

TD SYNNEX scores Lenovo’s ThinkReality contract

Posted on September 6, 2023 by - News

TD SYNNEX has been appointed as a distributor for Lenovo’s ThinkReality portfolio of virtual and mixed-reality headsets and says it is ready to bring partners on board and them take the solution to their customers.

Designed for business, the ThinkReality solutions provide an innovative and highly effective platform for simulated training, collaboration and 3D design applications.

TD SYNNEX, business unit director, mobile / CE / mixed reality, UK Ryan Thomas said this was a good opportunity for B2B resellers to start venturing into an area of largely unexplored potential.

Getac embeds LiFi technology with Signify

Posted on September 6, 2023 by - News

Getac has embedded LiFi technology into its rugged devices as part of an innovation project with Signify.

Getac was one of the first manufacturers to engineer rugged devices with integrated LiFi via external dongles. The company has taken this a step further by fully embedding the technology into its devices, achieving another industry-first in the process.

Getac is working closely with Signify’s Trulifi technology on the project, with the aim of bringing LiFi technology to its customers. Further announcements detailing the devices themselves and their commercial availability will be made in the future.

Both Signify and Getac are part of the Light Communication Alliance (LCA), a community of industry leaders, researchers, and innovators who believe in the power of Optical Wireless Communication to transform the way organisations connect and communicate.

Car companies falling short on privacy

Posted on September 6, 2023 by - News

All 25 major car brands reviewed in Mozilla’s latest edition of *Privacy Not Included (*PNI) received failing marks for consumer privacy.

According to Mozilla research, popular global brands — including BMW, Ford, Toyota, Tesla, Kia, and Subaru — can collect deeply personal data such as sexual activity, immigration status, race, facial expressions, weight, health and genetic information, and driving routes.

Researchers found data is being gathered via sensors, microphones, cameras, and the phones and devices drivers connect to their cars, as well as through car apps, company websites, dealerships, and vehicle telematics. Brands can then share or sell this data to third parties.

Dell sees AI future

Posted on September 5, 2023 by - News

While grey box shifter Dell’s financial results were pants, the company thinks AI, other emerging technologies, and improved macroeconomic trends make for a very strong quarter.

Dell reported a significant year-over-year drop in revenue and GAAP net income along with tiny growth in non-GAAP net income.

While the company’s revenue guidance for the next quarter is for another double-digit decline.

However, talk about Dell’s investment in AI convinced investors the tech giant is moving in the right direction, giving Dell share prices a 7-plus-per cent boost in after-hours trading.

Eglon joins Nebula Global Services

Posted on September 5, 2023 by - News

Former Agilitas veteran Richard Eglon is joining Nebula Global Services as its chief marketing officer.

His job will be to drive its global sustainable services strategy, go-to-market, propositions, and brand equity.

Founded during the first lockdown in 2020 by channel duo Peter Murphy and Ross Teague, Nebula Global Services focuses on outcome-based global services.

SentinelOne and Wiz in a confused spat

Posted on September 4, 2023 by - News

Recently Wiz mentioned that it was considering buying cloudy security outfit SentinelOne, but now it seems the pair  are at war.

SentinelOne said that it had terminated its exclusive partnership with Wiz due to “lack of execution” by the cloud security firm and failed to mention anything to do with a takeover.

The dark satanic rumour mill suggests that the venture-backed Wiz’s comments had miffed SentinelOne’s leadership to the point it wanted to axe the six-month-old collaboration.

In the statemen,  SentinelOne said it “terminated its re-sell agreement with Wiz as a result of their continued lack of execution against their commitments.”

Additionally, “the Wiz partnership has not been material to our business,” SentinelOne said in the statement.

The partnership included an integration between SentinelOne’s cloud workload protection platform and complementary capabilities from Wiz, including its widely used cloud security posture management technology.

 

 

 

HPE busy among its channel parters

Posted on September 4, 2023 by - News

Canalys Forum EuropeHewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has reported a positive third quarter and busy market activity among its channel partners.

Overall revenue was up a per cent to $7 billion, from the prior year, and up 3.5 per cent in constant currency.

Annualised revenue run-rate (ARR) saw an increase of 48 per cent to $1.3 billion. At the same time, gross margins were 35.8 per cent for GAAP – up 130 basis points from the prior year and down 20 basis points sequentially.

Robot sales declining as automation stalls

Posted on September 1, 2023 by - News

After record robot sales in 2022, North American companies ordered fewer for the second straight quarter in 2023 leading some to question if industry automation could be more stable.

Folding in first quarter results, 2023 orders are down 29 per cent compared with the first half of last year.

According to the latest report from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), summarised in the release below, companies ordered 7,697 robots from April through June, representing a 20 per cent drop in value over the same period in 2022.

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SME business set to decline

Posted on September 1, 2023 by - News

Channel companies hoping to pitch products to UK SMEs could be out of luck.

New figures suggest SMEs are postponing their investment plans as they grapple with increased costs and inflationary pressures.

The Enterprise Nation Small Business Barometer found a 26 per cent drop in businesses looking to raise seed capital under £10,000 in the year’s second quarter. In comparison, the number seeking between £10,000 and £20,000 rose by eight per cent, suggesting more businesses are self-funding growth plans.

Despite that, growth expectations have been revised for this quarter by six percentage points, with 27 per cent expecting to grow by at least a quarter in the next three months, up from 21 per cent.

Christian Norris named PA consulting CEO

Posted on August 31, 2023 by - News

PA Consulting has named Christian Norris as its new CEO.

An economist by training, Norris joined PA in 2018 as a Partner. At PA, he has led the firm’s health and life sciences sector and its economics and strategy offerings.

The company said that Norris was instrumental in shaping PA’s business strategy over the last five years, which has seen the firm secure client work across its geographies and growth through acquisitions.