Author: Nick Farrell

Ingram Micro going public again.

Posted on September 21, 2022 by - News

Distributor Ingram Micro is going public again and has taken its paperwork to the the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

In its press statement, Ingram Micro wrote: “The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. The initial public offering is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.”

The US distribution giant was once the world’s largest distributor until Synnex acquired Tech Data last year to create a $57 billon-revenue business. It was then bought by private equity powerhouse Platinum Equity in a blockbuster deal that freed the distributor from Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.

The deal gave Ingram Micro new financial resources to focus on new ways of doing business, including building its cloud and digital transformation businesses.

Ingram Micro went private in late 2016 when it was acquired by HNA Group.

 

Exclusive Networks has a good set of numbers

Posted on September 20, 2022 by - News

Exclusive Networks has had a good first half of the year with a 33.3 percent increase in revenue to €1,473.7 million.

This is a 49 percent increase in adjusted net income to €47.4 million for the six months to 30 June 2022. The firm also reported first-half operating free cash flow before tax of €166 million.

More than 72 percent of growth was from existing partners while the the rest of the growth came from expanding relationships. The firm saw its retention rates with suppliers improve.

Nokia introduces new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

Posted on September 20, 2022 by - News

Former rubber boot maker Nokia introduced a new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), AVA Charging, to help communication service providers (CSPs) and enterprises commercialise new offerings for 5G and IoT use cases.

Using software consumed on demand through a subscription-based model, Nokia AVA Charging incorporates business intelligence derived from hundreds of customer engagements to enable fast monetization of 5G and IoT services.

Nokia claims that AVA provides “Intelligence Everywhere” through AI, no code configuration, open APIs, multi-cloud orchestration, and digital ecosystems.

5G Fixed Wireless Access services will be a money spinner

Posted on September 20, 2022 by - News

A study by Juniper Research has found that total operator-billed revenue generated from 5G Fixed Wireless Access services will rise from $515 million in 2022 to $2.5 billion next year.

This growth will be driven by 5G’s advanced network capabilities, such as ultra-low delay and increased data processing to provide connectivity services that were previously unachievable with 4G technology.

FWA includes services that provide high-speed Internet connectivity through cellular-enabled Customer Premises Equipment for uses including broadband and IoT networks.

Red Hat and Dell team up on containers

Posted on September 19, 2022 by - News

Dell and Red Hat have entered a new partnership which they think will simplify deploying and managing on-premises containerised infrastructure in multi-cloud environments.

Dell says the deal will help companies speed the development and operations of cloud-native applications while removing IT management barriers.

Dell president of infrastructure solutions Jeff Boudreau said: “The Dell and Red Hat collaboration is key to our efforts to build a multi-cloud ecosystem that offers customers greater flexibility and choice as they develop new applications and modernise existing ones in multi-cloud environments,”

Capita flogs more family silver

Posted on September 19, 2022 by - News

Capita has sold off another company claiming that it is part of a cunning plan to become “more focussed and sustainable”.

The professional services giant confirmed it has agreed to sell Pay360 to Access PaySuite in a £150 million deal on a cash-free and debt-free basis.

For those who came in late, Pay360 is a UK-based, FCA regulated payments business with 2,500 customers across the public and private sectors.

Its gross assets at 30 June 2022 were £63.6 million and for the year to 31 December 2021 it generated revenue of £45.8 million , EBITDA of £10.5million and profit before tax of £7.1 million .

Hyperscale cloud certifications through the roof

Posted on September 16, 2022 by - News

Hyperscale cloud certifications in the IT services sector have rocketed over the past three years, according to ISG.

The outfit said that Enterprise demand for cloud modernisation is at an all-time high. Much of this is taking place on hyperscale clouds.

A new report said that hyperscale cloud certifications grew by more than 300 percent between 2020 and 2022.

Of the total cloud-certified workforce, more than half have Azure certification, over 30 percent  have Amazon Web Services certification and eight per cent have Google Cloud certification.

SAP jacks up support costs

Posted on September 16, 2022 by - News

The outfit which makes expensive business software, which no one is quite sure what it does, has jacked up its support fees.

SAP is increasing its support fees for the first time in nearly a decade for existing agreements for SAP Standard Support, SAP Enterprise Support, and SAP Product Support for Large Enterprises, based on the respective local Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Support costs will be raised from 1 January 2023 by a maximum of 3.3 per cent (or the local CPI rate, if lower).

Tech Data offers zero carbon service

Posted on September 16, 2022 by - News

Tech Data is providing a new net zero carbon consultancy service (NZC) to help partners sort out their carbon emissions.

The service will help tackle a partner’s own emissions (Scope 1 and 2) and that of their supply chain (Scope 3).

It uses the greenhouse gas (GHG) protocol – it will provide a plan detailing practical and actionable strategies to help the partner achieve net zero carbon emissions.

Dell and Microsoft agree to be double act

Posted on September 15, 2022 by - News

Dell and Microsoft have teamed up in a new partnership which integrates Microsoft Azure with Dell’s infrastructure products.

Dell’s SVP and GM for the UK, Dayne Turbitt, was joined by Microsoft UK’s Azure boss Michael Wignall at Dell’s new executive briefs centre in London to announce the new partnership.

Turbitt claimed many of Dell’s largest partners in the UK run Dell and Volish practices and the new partnership will bring these together.

“We have partners in our ecosystem like Kyndryl and Computacenter and CA which all have Dell practices and Microsoft practices. So I’ve been saying to the Dell Partner Advisory Board that we might want to connect these two”, he said.

Twilio decimates staff

Posted on September 15, 2022 by - News

Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson is laying off more than 11 percent of its employees because the cloud communications company is growing “too fast”.

Lawson said that the layoff is the last thing he wanted to do, but it was “wise and necessary”.

“Twilio has grown at an astonishing rate over the past couple years. It was too fast, and without enough focus on our most important company priorities. I take responsibility for those decisions, as well as the difficult decision to do this layoff.”

Lawson is remaining at the company.

Automation and Tech Academies key to closing skills gap

Posted on September 15, 2022 by - News

Global IT services provider NTT DATA UK&I advises that a combination of automation and tech academies is the winning formula for bridging the skills gap.

Its research has found that employers now take an average of 66 days to hire a new technology employee, up from 55 days in 2018 and 43 days in 2015.

There is not enough technology talent available to meet demand and the issue has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. As a result, hiring managers are losing time and money as they struggle to fill technology-related positions.

NTT DATA said that combining automation and tech academies enables organisations to increase the talent pool while shrinking the processes that need to be carried out by skilled personnel.

Summit Hosting swallows Tech Commandos

Posted on September 14, 2022 by - News

Summit Hosting has acquired Tech Commandos, another step in a glorious five-year plan to become a leading financial cloud hosting provider with cloud computing and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) products.

The expansion will immediately grow the Summit Hosting customer base and add a new practice area focusing on ACT Hosting, further solidifying Summit Hosting as a leader in small and medium-sized business (SMB) hosting providers.

Summit Hosting CEO Warren Patterson said that he was excited about the Tech Commandos acquisition as part of his outfit’s glorious five year acquisition plan.  The buy-out will expand Tech Commandos’ hosting expertise and solidify our place atop the list of cloud hosting services in the SMB marketplace, he said.

Summit Hosting is a cloud hosting provider for financial applications, including QuickBooks, Sage, and SAP Programmes.

 

 

Google completes Mandiant acquisition

Posted on September 14, 2022 by - News

Google has completed its $5.4 billion acquisition of security outfit Mandiant.

The deal, announced in March, will see Mandiant retain its brand and join Google Cloud.

Together they will deliver an end-to-end security operations suite with “even greater capabilities to support customers across their cloud and on-premise environments”, a statement said.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, said buying Mandiant will help organisations reinvent security to meet requirements.

“The completion of this acquisition will enable us to deliver a comprehensive and best-in-class cybersecurity solution”, he said.

“We believe this acquisition creates incredible value for our customers and the security industry at large. Together, Google Cloud and Mandiant will help reinvent how organizations protect themselves, as well as detect and respond to threats.”

It also means that Google Cloud gains threat intelligence and incident response services capabilities.

Mandiant CEO Kevin Mandia said Google’s acquisition will create an “incredible opportunity”.

“Mandiant is driven by a mission to make every organisation secure from cyber threats and confident in their readiness”, he added.

“Combining our 18 years of threat intelligence and incident response experience with Google Cloud’s security expertise presents an incredible opportunity to deliver with the speed and scale that the security industry needs.”

Aerospike appoint James EMEA Vice President.

Posted on September 14, 2022 by - Moving People, News

Aerospike has appointed Martin James as EMEA Vice President. He is responsible for driving regional growth.

James brings 25 years of database sector expertise to Aerospike. He joined the company from Percona, where he trebled the business in EMEA and APAC. Prior to Percona, he was regional Vice President for Northern Europe at DataStax, managing enterprise sales to achieve double-digit growth. For Aerospike, James will develop regional sales teams that meet the exacting SLAs of today’s data-driven enterprise.

His job is to push the Aerospike Real-time Data Platform to businesses seeking to build large-scale real-time applications.