Author: Nick Farrell

Microsoft partners will mostly hit net zero targets

Posted on March 15, 2022 by - News

Software King of the World Microsoft claims that its UK partners will mostly all hit their net-zero targets by 2050. We guess Bill Gates and Mike Magee will be dead by then.

Redmond updated its sustainability research conducted in October, revealing that 89 percent of partners said they are working to ensure that they do not add to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by, or before, the target date.

Orla McGrath, Global Partner Solutions lead at Microsoft UK said the research showed that Microsoft’s UK partners are eager to play their part in the UK’s transition to a greener and more prosperous future.

“With their deep expertise in delivering innovative technology and consulting solutions, Microsoft partners are well placed to accelerate both their own journey to net-zero and that of their customers.”

Highgate IT Solutions trials four day working week

Posted on March 15, 2022 by - News

Highgate IT Solutions is trialling a four-day working week, which means that it will be one of the first in the UK channel to try the idea.

Highgate IT sales director Bob Sahota said the trial will run for three months starting this April. It if works, the company will move to a four-day working week permanently.

It will work using a “buddy system” in which staff pair up and work on alternating days to cover each other when they are off.

The reseller employed 12 staff as of the end of last year but has hired six new members this year who will join over the next three months.  All its staff are remote working.

ELKO considers retreat from Russia

Posted on March 14, 2022 by - News

ELKO Group is considering pulling out of the Russian market amid the country’s war with Ukraine.

The outfit had already stopped deliveries of IT equipment and household appliances to the Russian market since the start of Russia’s invasion.

The group said in an effort to comply with all sanctions against Russia – including partner, product and transaction-related restrictions – the supply chain and the movement of goods by ELKO to Russia has been suspended.

ELKO Group acquired Russian $300m-revenue devices and appliances distributor Absolut Trading back in March 2019.

MSPs are cybercriminal’s targets

Posted on March 14, 2022 by - News

IT security solutions provider N-able claims that MSPs were “quickly overtaking their customers as a primary target for cybercriminals”.

Almost 90 percent of MSPs surveyed in its State of the Market: The New Threat Landscape report had suffered a cyberattack in the last 18 months.

The report claims that the number of attacks MSPs are preventing has almost doubled over that period – from six to 11.

N-able chief security officer Dave MacKinnon said:”MSPs have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to ensure that the businesses they support can stay online and connected as circumstances changed. But the cybercriminals they’re protecting against are working equally as hard to make use of these shifts against their targets.”

Nvidia buys Excelero

Posted on March 14, 2022 by - News

Nvidia has snapped up Tel Aviv-based high-performance software-defined storage provider Excelero.

The GPU maker was after Excelero’s core NVMesh offering which software-defined block storage using networked NVMe SSDs.

It said most of Excelero’s team of engineers – including co-founders CEO Yaniv Romem, engineering vice president Ofer Oshri and chief scientist Omri Mann – will join the business, bringing their specialist expertise in block storage.

Writing in his bog, Nvidia’s Senior Director of Engineering for NGC Storage and Data platform services, Suresh Ollala, said the mission will be to help expand support for block storage in Nvidia’s enterprise software stack such as clusters for high performance computing.

“Block storage also has an important role to play inside the DOCA software framework that runs on our DPUs.”

Exclusive’s Ignition starts in Europe

Posted on March 11, 2022 by - News

After a trial in Blighty, Exclusive Networks is extending its Ignition Technologies operation across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Ignition offers cyber security technologies to the channel it was acquired by Exclusive last year and the decision to expand its coverage is also an opportunity for the firm to add more depth to its senior management team

Now the operation will cover EMEA, which includes decent-sized territories, including France and the Middle East, where Exclusive already has a strong foothold.

HP announces new channel head

Posted on March 11, 2022 by - Moving People, News

HP has named Neil MacDonald its new UK&I channel director tasked with “go-to-market” strategy and sales performance of HP’s print, personal systems, services and solutions.

The role also includes looking after the commercial, consumer and distribution sales teams, as well as the relationships with the vendor’s channel partners.

He replaces Neil Sawyer, who left the business late in 2021 to step into the role of UK&I managing director and general manager at Lenovo.

Tags:

CrowdStrike shuffles channel management

Posted on March 11, 2022 by - Moving People, News

CrowdStrike is shuffling its channel leadership team.

The firm has announced the appointment of Michael Rogers as vice-president of global business development, channel and alliances.

Former channel head Matthew Polly is moving into the role of vice-president of North America mid-market sales, where he will continue to operate in a channel-friendly position.

Rogers is no stranger to the business, having previously been global vice-president, partner and alliance sales at CrowdStrike. His CV, which spans 25 years in the cyber security industry, also includes time in channel and partner roles at McAfee and Sophos.

Rogers said: “The difference with CrowdStrike – and why we’ve been able to bring together such an elite network of partners – is that we’ve always advocated for an ecosystem approach that puts customers at the centre of our programme.” 

Computacenter takes on more IBM products

Posted on March 10, 2022 by - News

Computacenter is expanding into new areas of its partner Biggish Blue’s product portfolio.

The pair have been working together since the 1980s but it seems that Computacentre had a look at IBM’s portfolio in areas such as AI, automation and observability solutions and thought it wants some of that.

Computacenter’s director of solutions, John Beard, said the company had been putting a lot of time, energy and effort into the relationships with the public cloud providers, and modernising its “go-to market” around cloud platforms.

Google signs off on Mandiant deal

Posted on March 10, 2022 by - News

Google has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Mandiant, which will join Google Cloud. The deal is worth about $5.4 billion.

Google said the acquisition of Mandiant will complement Google Cloud’s existing security. Mandiant enables Google to enhance its offerings to deliver end-to-end security operations with even greater capabilities to support customers across their cloud and on-premise environments.

The tech giant underlined that Mandiant brings real-time and in-depth threat intelligence gained on the frontlines of cyber security with the largest organisations in the world.

Treating staff like humans could be the way forward

Posted on March 10, 2022 by - News

Research firm Gartner has dared to say that treating staff like 19th-century slaves rather than highly skilled staff who companies are lucky to get is probably not a good way to keep them working for you,

It seems that Big G added up some numbers and was shocked to discover that companies that IT workers are more inclined to leave their current jobs than those working in other professions with only 29.1 percent of IT workers having a high intent to stay with their current employer.

Gartner surveyed 18,000 employees globally in Q4 2021, including 1,755 employees in the IT function, and found that only four in 10 IT workers (38.8 percent) have a high intent to stay in their job in Europe.

That figure was much less in other geographies, with only 19.6 percent in Asia, 23.6 per ent in Australia and New Zealand and 26.9 percent in Latin America claiming they had a high intent to stay in their current position.

Focus Group swallows Evad

Posted on March 9, 2022 by - News

Focus Group has written a cheque for  Derby-based communications specialist Evad.

The move is part of Focus’ “ambitious plans for growth and development into new sectors”.

Evad has expertise in contact centres, PCI compliant platforms, professional services organisations and the healthcare sector.

Rhys Bailey, sales director at Focus Group said: “The acquisition of Evad is a great achievement for Focus Group and we’re delighted to welcome them on board. There is a brilliant cultural fit between the two companies that will create great collaborations and opportunities for geographical reach across the Midlands. Evad, as a dynamic and ambitious brand, will bring extensive experience in contact centres, enterprise business solutions and healthcare expertise. Focus Group will provide Evad with the power to diversify its product portfolio with IT, cyber and connectivity services.”

HPE’s Greenlake taking off

Posted on March 9, 2022 by - News

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is doing rather with its Greenlake product which signed up more than 100 new customers last quarter worth more than $500 million.

Amazon Web Services, the industry’s largest cloud provider, grew at 40 per cent in the most recent quarter, while Google Cloud grew at a 45 percent clip and Microsoft grew its Dynamics products and cloud revenue by 45 percent.

HPE GreenLake channel sales were up 115 percent in the quarter compared to the year-ago quarter, said HPE Worldwide Channel Chief George Hope during a recent partner conference call. “We’re firing on all cylinders from a partner perspective.”

HPE’s annualized recurring revenue increased 23 percent to $798 million even in the face of supply constraints.

Google cloud snaps up Mandiant

Posted on March 9, 2022 by - News

Google has seen off rival Microsoft to acquire cybersecurity vendor Mandiant for $5.4 billion.

For those not in the know, Mandiant provides threat intelligence to protect against cyber-attacks and will.  Google claims it will play nicely with Google Cloud’s “existing security strengths”.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said that organisations around the world were facing unprecedented cybersecurity challenges as the sophistication and severity of attacks that were previously used to target major governments are now being used to target companies in every industry.

“We look forward to welcoming Mandiant to Google Cloud to further enhance our security operations suite and advisory services, and help customers address their most important security challenges.”

Google says the cybersecurity firm’s offering will now be used to “enhance” its existing cloud security capabilities – including BeyondCorp Enterprise for Zero Trust, VirusTotal for malicious content and software vulnerabilities and Chronicle’s planet-scale security analytics and automation.

Cloud services have revolutionised Business Continuity Planning

Posted on March 8, 2022 by - News

Cloud-based SaaS products have streamlined BCP and disaster recovery, argues Tarek Meliti, CEO and founder of TDM Group

For those not in the know, a BCP (Business Continuity Plan) outlines how a business will continue operating during an unplanned disruption in service. It’s more holistic than a disaster recovery plan because it details contingencies for business processes, assets, human resources, and partners – providing an enterprise-wide view of recovery.

A 2019 LogicMonitor study reported that 96 percent of organisations have experienced at least one outage in the past three years and 95 percent had experienced at least one brownout. Although data loss is by no means the only risk that highlights the importance of a thorough BCP, it is stats like this that should bring business continuity planning into sharp focus for IT decision-makers.