Author: Nick Farrell

Fujitsu to shutter European BU Client Computing Devices operations

Fujitsu is closing its BU Client Computing Devices operations in Europe and will no longer sell PCs, notebooks, workstations and peripherals after April 2024.

The fact that the PC market tanked means is Fujitsu has had enough and is walking away.

Its PC business including peripherals, will be discontinued in Europe from next April, in favour of servers, datacentre technologies, hybrid cloud infrastructure, and data-driven platform services.

Fujitsu has confirmed that maintenance contracts will be fulfilled, and spare parts for clients should still be available five years after the end of operations in April 2024.

Microsoft makes Office concessions to AWS

Software King of the World, Microsoft is granting customers with specific licenses the power to run Office products within an AWS cloud.

This partially reverses a policy change made in 2019, which required customers with perpetual licenses to purchase new licenses if they wanted to run those applications on AWS, Google Cloud or Alibaba clouds.

Microsoft is the UK’s third largest cloud provider and so this has made it a target of a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  In the complaint Google accused Microsoft of using its dominant position to trap customers into contracts within its Azure cloud server business.

Exclusive Networks sees growth

Exclusive Networks did rather well in the first half of 2023 with growth in most areas of the business and a “record high” gross sales clocked at £1.99 billion.

The outfit reported Year-on-year, gross sales grew by 20 per cent on a reported basis and 22 per cent at constant currency.

Most of this growth was driven by business with existing vendors in their current geographies.

The remainder of the growth was due to vendor expansion which was a combination of vendors entering into new geographies and new vendor relationships.

The distributor reported improvements in vendor retention rates in H1 2023, supported by increasing demand for vendors’ solutions and the continued engagement of channel partners.

Net vendor retention rate on a rolling 12-month basis at H1 2023 was up 131 per cent (vs 122 per cent in H1 2022) with net reseller retention rate on a rolling 12-month basis at H1 2023 at 130 per cent (vs 122 per cent in H1 2022).

Net margin was £191.63 million in the first half of 2023, an increase of 18 per cent year-on-year, reflecting a mix of geography and deal size.

Operating expenses increased 14 per cent to £119.12 million, aligned with tight control on new hires and overhead cost structure.

The company said costs are evolving at a slower pace than the top line, improving its operating leverage.

Adjusted EBIT rose to £72.51 million, up 26 per cent year-over-year.

In second quarter gross sales were £.99 billion, an increase of 12 per cent year-over-year on a reported basis, 15 per cent at constant currency.

Compared to Q1 2023, when gross sales clocked at £1.02bn, Exclusive Networks saw a slight dip in sales this quarter.

Exclusive Networks CEO Jesper Trolle said he was pleased with the excellent performance in the first half of 2023, with strong margin progression and sales growth ahead of the cybersecurity market.

“Our momentum reflects the differentiation, resilience, and operational gearing of our model, combined with a laser focus on efficiency and cost control. As a result, we have moved closer to our long-term target of adjusted EBIT margins of c.40% with high cash generation. In addition, we continue to grow strongly in the US, a significant market with exciting long-term growth potential.”

Trolle acknowledged how after a surge in demand for cyber technology in 2022 – reflecting the shift to hybrid working, increasing use of cloud technology and threats linked to the war in Ukraine – the company is now seeing sales activity return to a “normalised” long-term trend of double-digit growth.

 

Hackers using Salesforce zero day

Salesforce logoHackers have been using a zero-day hole in Salesforce email services and SMTP servers, enabling malicious actors to specifically target Facebook users.

According to Guardio Labs the threat actors used a vulnerability named “PhishForce” to conceal malicious email traffic in Salesforce’s legitimate email gateway services, capitalising on Salesforce and Meta’s size and reputation.

The attackers managed to evade conventional detection methods by “using Salesforce’s domain and reputation and exploiting legacy quirks in Facebook’s web games platform,” the researchers said.

Financial institutions going all digital

Financial institutions are ramping up data-driven financial management support according to new research by Tink.

Tink’s report said that more than four in five bank executives believe they have a responsibility to assist clients in better managing their finances during the challenging economic period.

Additionally, 45 per cent of those polled felt it is their obligation to make their products and services inclusive and accessible.

Enterprises want single-vendor SASE solutions

According to a new report, an increased enterprise preference for single-vendor SASE solutions is expected to propel its growth at twice the rate of multi-vendor SASE solutions.

The report, compiled by Dell’Oro Group, said that enterprises are anticipated to spend nearly $34 billion between 2022 and 2027 on single-vendor SASE solutions.

Though multi-vendor SASE solutions are projected to grow slower, they will continue to occupy a significant part of the SASE market, with enterprise spend expected to be $29 billion between 2022 and 2027.

Exertis rumoured to replace and cut staff

Exertis is rumoured to have replaced and cut significant numbers of staff in an organisational reshuffle.

The dark satanic rumour mill has manufactured a hell on earth yarn claiming that more than150 staff have exited the outfit as a result of organisational changes .

However the company is currently advertising for approximately 70 roles this will leave Exertis UK with a slightly reduced headcount than it had in August 2022.

In a statement Exertis said it was a large business, and people left all and joined all the time.

Employees fed up with ancient technology

Canalys Forum EuropeMore than 77 per cent of employees are frustrated with outdated tech at work, according to a OnePoll survey commissioned by Paycom.

The report said that while some industries like finance and retail have embraced technology and automation to streamline processes and improve customer experiences, others have been a little slower.

Surveyed workers said they could get more work done with fully up-to-date technology. A similar number cited ongoing technology- and software-related issues, including ready access to information, even after months spent working from home.

Capgemini sees slow down

Capgemini generated revenues of €11.42 billion in the first half of 2023, up 6.9 per cent, with organic growth was up by 7.3 per cent.

The French service provider said that after two years of record growth, the more challenging macroeconomic environment led to a slowdown in line with its expectations.

Capgemini growth in the second quarter was lower than in the first, reaching 5.2 per cent at constant exchange rates and 4.7 per cent organically.

The company said this performance is driven by “good momentum” in its added-value services, particularly in Intelligent Industry, activities driven by cloud, data and AI, which are clients’ major digital transformation projects.

Kirkby named BT’s new CEO

Canalys Forum EuropeAllison Kirkby will be BT’s first female CEO when she assumes the role early next year

Britain’s largest broadband and mobile company BT Group announced on Monday that Kirkby, current chief executive of Sweden’s Telia Company, will be taking on the role of BT’s next CEO.

She is scheduled to assume the new role by the end of January 2024, replacing the current CEO, Philip Jansen, who disclosed his upcoming departure earlier this month.

Government wants more 5G projects

The UK government wants to catalyse local digital transformations and unleash the full potential of 5G technology by splashing out £40 million.

This investment aims to empower local areas across the country, enhancing their digital connectivity and facilitating the development of advanced wireless technologies, from cutting-edge healthcare solutions to futuristic farming and smart transport systems that combat congestion.

Intel wants AI everywhere

Intel CEO Pat [kicking] Gelsinger said that AI will become part of every business and an inflection point for the PC market, and Chipzilla will have a product everywhere.

“We see AI as a workload, not as a market, which will affect every aspect of the business—whether it’s client, whether it’s edge, whether it’s standard data centre, on-premises enterprise or cloud,” Gelsinger said .

“We’re going to build AI into every product that we build—whether it’s a client, whether it’s an edge platform for retail and manufacturing and industrial use cases. Whether it’s an enterprise data centre. … We firmly believe in this idea of democratising AI, opening the software stack and creating and participating with this broad industry ecosystem that’s emerging. It’s a great opportunity and one that Intel is well-positioned to participate in.”

Whitten exits Dell in management restructuring

Dell Co-COO Chuck Whitten is cleaning out his desk and leaving the outfit with his belongings in a photocopying paper box.

The move is part of a leadership restructuring that CEO Michael Dell said was necessary to move to its next chapter.

“After discussions with Chuck and the board of directors about the leadership profile the company needs and its next chapter we have jointly decided that Chuck will depart Dell Technologies. His last official day will be 18 August,” Michael Dell wrote in a statement to Dell employees.

Integrity360 snaps up Advantio

Integrity360 has acquired the Irish payment card industry qualified security assessor (PCI QSA) and cybersecurity services reseller Advantio.

The acquisition will enable the MSSP to expand further into continental Europe and provides an additional cyber services practice focused on PCI compliance.

The MSSP said the acquisition will complement its existing service practices which include cyber risk and assurance, cybersecurity testing, incident response, infrastructure, end-point and SIEM professional services and a range of cybersecurity managed services.

Microsoft investigated by European Commission

The European Commission has launched an antitrust probe into Microsoft bundling its Teams communications app with its Office suite, on concerns the firm could be cutting out competitors.

The investigation is concerned Vole is “abusing and defending its market position.”

The commission’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said: “Remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams have become indispensable for many businesses in Europe. We must therefore ensure that the markets for these products remain competitive, and companies are free to choose the products that best meet their needs.”

A Microsoft spokesman said the tech giant would cooperate with the commission’s investigation.

“We respect the European Commission’s work on this case and take our own responsibilities very seriously,” he said.