Author: Tamlin Magee

Most CIOs coming round to BYOD

Posted on September 11, 2013 by - News

smartphones-genericMost CIOs are happy to let employees bring their own devices to work as the BYOD trend shows no sign of slowing.

IT departments were forced to adapt when personal devices frequently had better compute power and more utility than company-issued Blackberrys. At the same time, there was a challenge in securing devices to make sure sensitive data did not fly off company networks. But when a CEO is wondering why he or she can’t use their iPad at work, and a user’s laptop is better than the company box, it saves cash for the company and keeps employees happy as long as IT can secure the tech.

A report claims over three quarters – 76 percent – of CIOs now let employee devices into the workplace. Understandably, IT managers are concerned about security.

The top BYOD devices are laptops, followed by smartphones, memory sticks, tablets, external hard drives, and iPods.

Managing director of Robert Half Technology, which conducted the survey, Phil Sheridan, said there are a number of factors leading to BYOD’s growth. “Consumer friendly technologies prompt employees to rely on a certain level of productivity at work as they have at home,” Sheridan said. “Only 24 percent of IT directors in our survey said that they do not currently allow employee owned devices into the workplace, so the tide has clearly turned in favour of BYOD”.

It is, however, still necessary for companies to consider their BYOD strategy to prevent any embarrassing data SNAFUs.

Additionally, there can be financial costs in upgrading infrastructure to properly manage employee owned devices, or to provide training. However, almost a third of those surveyed did report cost savings by adopting BYOD policy.

“Although CIOs have security concerns when considering BYOD policies, their teams are best placed to implement the correct infrastructure to support extra devices in a safe environment and to understand the impact of extra devices and apps on the network,” Sheridan said.

Seagate hatches insurance scheme

Posted on September 10, 2013 by - News

seagate-longmontStorage company Seagate is introducing insurance plans to give customers some peace of mind.

For $30, customers can sign up for two years of Seagate Rescue, where the company will save your lost data from a dodgy hard drive. Rescue and Replace, meanwhile, will not only recover your data but also send you a replacement hard drive.

Veep of marketing at Seagate, Scott Horn, suggested the company is actively trying to maintain its reputation of trust, as well as having it “provide peace of mind for those unforeseen events that might damage a drive or its contents”.

At the moment the service is only available at Seagate.com. In addition to the starting price of $30 for two years of Seagate Rescue, Rescue and Replace begins at $40 for two years, $50 or $60 for three and four respectively.

Rescuing data can prove expensive, but it will be up to the customer if they want to spend cash on a failure that may or may not happen.

For those even more paranoid about their data, it might be worth investing in an ioSafe hard drive, which can be submerged in water, run over with bulldozers, or blasted with a shotgun.

Acer’s Shih declares doom for Wintel alliance

Posted on September 10, 2013 by - News

shihceAcer founder Stan Shih has turned on the Microsoft-Intel alliance, claiming that its PC empire will eventually fail because management is too greedy.

Speaking at a Taipei media conference, Shih said Wintel is doomed because both Microsoft and Intel keep too high a share of the profits for themselves, leading other players towards emerging rivals like Google’s ecosystem.

Shih claimed the Wintel alliance is no longer profitable for partners, and IT players are increasingly turning elsewhere. He said it wasn’t Google’s open platform driving companies to its ecosystem, suggesting instead it was a systemic flaw with Microsoft and Intel themselves.

He compared Google’s platform to Linux. Although the latter is open, it has not been driving similar adoption rates. The key here is profit, which Google understands.

For Taiwan’s technology sector, Shih believes that more investment needs to go into arts, software and technologies, to keep one of the country’s top economic drivers healthy.

Microsoft’s Nokia buy could have been the correct choice, Shih added, as long as the deal leads to value for companies, shareholders, consumers and partners. He refused to comment on rumours that Acer may be for sale, although earlier he admitted he’s neutral about the idea, Digitimes reports.

EE reaches 1 million 4G customer mark

Posted on September 9, 2013 by - News

eeEE has announced it has reached the one million mark milestone for its 4G customers – but it could have done even better.

The company aggressively rolled out its infrastructure ahead of the pack as it was the first major telco granted access to the UK’s 4G spectrum. EE had some attractive smartphones to peddle, including the top players like the iPhone 5 and Samsung’s popular Galaxy range.

One million customers is not to be sniffed at. However, EE was alone in offering LTE, so potential buyers who wanted to make the most out of 4G capabilities on newer devices had to turn to the company.

With the aggressive launch came aggressive price points. Ovum’s Steve Hartley explained to TechEye how EE could have been leaving the competition completely in the dust.

Hospitality industry feels ripped off by IT

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News

mcdsThe food industry feels completely stitched up by long-running and misleading IT contracts packed with hidden costs leaving them out of pocket, according to a survey.

Over half of managers in the food and beverage industry think they have been completely misled by IT suppliers – and with exclusive contracts, are finding themselves tied in and trapped by ongoing costs that were not made clear from the beginning.

Of those surveyed, many said their IT systems cost too much money to start with, but are near impossible to get out of.

A staggering 81 percent of managers felt disappointed or unhappy with their IT systems, and one in ten thought picking a big IT supplier in hospitality would make their IT better. Instead, the technology was missold and doesn’t do what it said on the tin.

Just ten percent of all managers surveyed said they were content with their IT systems.

The survey, carried out by Censuswide and commissioned by Caternet, asked 180 managers in hospitality what they thought of their IT.

“Supplier and customer relationships are a two-way thing – they’re about trust and honesty, or at least they should be,” Jerry Brand, Caternet’s MD said.

x86 revenues, market share down

Posted on September 4, 2013 by - News

8086According to the latest IDC statistics for EMEA, x86 server revenues are down 4.5 percent in Q2 2013, year on year.

x86 sales still held 71.3 percent of the total EMEA server market – a fall from 80.4 percent in the quarter before. The previous quarter saw a revenue decline of 1.5 percent. It’s not all doom and gloom: IDC’s Giorgio Nebuloni in the enterprise server group said product refreshes head for Q4 were the main reason for leaning on server spending for Q2, particularly in volume SMB.

IDC expects stabilisation for x86 spending next year, and perhaps some growth, with local cloud service projects and broader product refreshes contributing. But IDC also hopes for a “less negative macroeconomic scenario” – which is not entirely a given.

Mainframe performance did well for the quarter, however, with strong demand in western Europe – especially in the UK, France and Germany. Refreshes on previous generation mainframes helped, and IBM’s decision to release zEC12 in Q3 2012 helped.

“Mainframes are increasingly being deployed on Linux operating systems and high-availability needs remain a primary market engine in some industries,” IDC enterprise server group’s Beatriz Valle said.

In terms of vendors, HP was top for Q2 2013 – even with an annual revenue drop of 13.2 percent thanks to weaker demand for the x86 ProLiant servers. IBM was second, and Dell third, reports Digitimes.

 

Dell unifies software partners under PartnerDirect

Posted on September 3, 2013 by - News

Dell logoDell is making some changes to its PartnerDirect program by introducing four software competencies, plus new service and referral programs, to bring different specialties under one umbrella.

It’s possible for mixed hardware-software Dell partners to get Premier status through a mixed competency, and an advanced competency makes Premier available for partners who are in one line of business. Legacy North America and EMEA partners will now be rolled in from other, separate programs into PartnerDirect, as Kace, AppAssure and SonicWall were earlier.

Dell software partners can grab benefits through PartnerDirect with new paths to Premier status, as well as rewards for training and sales achievement and the usual tools like marketing tools to generate future leads.

Now security, systems management, data protection, and information management will all be rolled into the PartnerDirect program as a series of different competencies.

Dell’s director of Worldwide Channels and Alliances for Dell Software, Marvin Blough, asserted the importance of well trained partners, and noted that being part of a single program with a range of different offerings should help the company and partners.

The convergence is reminiscent of HP’s recent channel decision to reform the company through less disparate and bureaucratic channels, and streamline different segments under a single program.

N2S uses Avnet’s Unity

Posted on September 3, 2013 by - News

avnettsAvnet EMEA has partnered with IT installation and management company N2S to deploy the former’s Unity Estate Management service.

The point of Unity is to help companies minimise financial risk by recognising the right time for IT assets to be disposed of – then seeking to reuse the equipment instead of completely destroying it. Because it adheres to the latest set of WEEE directives it can dodge regulatory fines.

Apparently, since Unity was deployed, N2S managed to detect 2,500 disks and other IT bits over 1,000 sites that weren’t in use, but were also not listed on customer inventory, amounting to a potentially massive waste of energy.

N2S will be giving customers the choice of building a Unity Estate Management framework for themselves, or have N2S manage it on their behalf as a managed service provider.

Avnet EMEA veep Christian Magirus said CEOs are starting to wonder if they’re disposing of IT assets in the correct way. “They’re starting to look at putting in place tigheter controls to promote industry best practice and minimise financial risk,” Magirus said.

N2S’ Andrew Gomarsall, director, said previously it “wasn’t uncommon” for N2S to clean customer sites but turn out more equipment than expected.

“With redundant equipment lying around, the potential for security breaches and fines is high, not to mention the impact on the environment,” Gomarsall said.

 

 

Vodafone sells Verizon stake

Posted on September 2, 2013 by - News

vodafoneVodafone is reportedly in the late stages of selling its 45 percent stake of Verizon, the largest mobile company in the USA, for as much as $130 billion. [It was confirmed this afternoon, Ed.]

Over the weekend, Vodafone said it will be looking for the full $130 billion for its stake and said talks were at an advanced stage.

It is reported that the agreement now just needs the approval of the Verizon board.

Vodafone hopes that – should the deal go through – it will be able to expand further and raise value for shareholders.

In Robert Peston’s BBC business blog, he reported Vodafone may not need to pay any UK tax at all on the £84 billion deal – citing Labour’s 2002 Finance Act which introduced an exemption from tax on capital gains from substantial shareholdings held by companies.

For the three months ending 30 June, Vodafone’s revenues plummeted 3.5 percent – with the company directing the blame at economic difficulties across Europe. But even in Germany, where Vodafone holds its largest share of the market, revenues dropped by five percent. Vodafone also cited market regulation in some European countries as a problem.

Earlier this year, Vodafone bought Kabel Deutschland for €7.7 billion in a bid to diversify its service offerings, including in sectors like broadband and TV.

Shareholders will be expecting the company to turn the ship around,

There could be final confirmation from Verizon later today.

Carnegie: US PC imports stumble

Posted on September 2, 2013 by - News

pc-sales-slumpAccording to an analyst note from Carnegie, world chip sales are likely to be largely untouched between the June to July – at one percent seasonally adjusted month by month – and $24.9 for the month.

A May spike could have been thanks to Samsung’s latest Galaxy handsets, but a drop in June could be down to clearing previous inventories of previous phone and PC models ahead of new launches.

Carnegie’s early indicator for the three month moving average of chip sales for July suggests a “modest improvement slightly better than the normal seasonal pattern”.

Korean chip exports were better throughout July and August compared to June levels. Other tech production in South Korea was on the up after a long slump post the Q4 iPhone and iPad boom.

Taiwanese production improved over July thanks to electronic components and parts, however, overall it was held back by a weakness in high end smartphones and a drop in TV manufacturing.

Japan has been losing market share in semiconductors to other countries in the APAC region, in particular China and Vietnam. A sharp drop in chip segments was noted for Japan, with Carnegie adding an overall drop in Japanase consumer electronics market share and less production in Japan likely contributed.

Carnegie estimates world semiconductor sales will drop by one percent for the year.

Carnegie warned that US PC imports have been weak since March – and that the numbers could include tablet computers. Meanwhile, retail sales are sluggish for tech categories. Some of this is attributed to shopping patterns, as internet sales replaced buying through brick and mortar stores.

US inventory levels for electronics fell sharply, with leading retailers like Best Buy slashing their stock.

For the US telecom enterprise sector, it is expected that imports are flat, including Ericsson and Cisco equipment. Although the July numbers are not in, May and June imports were weak after a spike in April.

 

IBM tops server charts, revenues fall

Posted on August 28, 2013 by - News

ibm-officeIDC’s latest worldwide server market figures are out, and IBM was top dog yet again despite a 10 percent yearly decline in factory revenue, and soft demand for System x and Power Systems.

Factory revenue overall worldwide decreased by 6.2 percent – but still netted $11.9 billion for the second quarter of 2013 alone. This was the second consecutive year of revenue decline as demand weakened in most regions around the world, while server unit shipments dropped 1.2 percent to 2.0 million units, the third consecutive quarterly decline.

Volume systems dropped 2.4 percent, while midrange system demand decreased a chunky 22.3 percent. High end systems decreased 9.5 percent.

HP was just behind IBM with 25.9 percent of the market. HP also experienced a 17.5 percent decline in factory revenue, as well as poor demand for the x86 ProLiant servers and continued declines in HP Integrity demand.

Dell came in third with 18.8 percent factory market share for the quarter, but factory revenues were up 10.3 percent compared to the same time last year, pitching Dell at its highest ever market share.

Oracle stayed at number four, holding six percent market share, with factory revenue decreases of 5.7 percent compared to the same time last year. Cisco was fifth with 4.5 percent share, but experienced a 42.6 percent yearly revenue growth, putting it above last quarter’s tie with Fujitsu.

IDC’s GM for enterprise platforms, Matt Eastwood, said: “Mainstream SMB and enterprise server customers around the world continue to focus on consolidation, virtualization, and migration initiatives aimed at increasing efficiency and lowering datacenter infrastructure costs. At the same time, challenging economic conditions are dampening demand for new IT projects necessary to grow the server market globally”.

“It is clear that the competitive dynamics in the server market remain fierce as the leading server vendors work to offset weak demand for generally higher margin Unix and blade servers with lower margin rack and density optimised servers,” Eastwood said.

Phoenix nabs HP accreditations

Posted on August 20, 2013 by - News

HPUK IT infrastructure services company Phoenix has been picked by HP as a converged infrastructure partner in the UK.

HP converged systems is the company’s line of system based products that combine components like servers, storage, networking, software and services for specific workloads, Phoenix says.

Phoenix is now a preferred supplier, and will be providing services such as helping customers build their cloud networks.

Vendor director at Phoenix, Stuart Dickinson, said IT infrastructure is often complex, and can slow company progress because of costs and limitations, but converged infrastructure services lets businesses tackle it more easily.

Phoenix also nabbed other accreditations, including Advanced Storage Specialist, Professional Networking, PC Specialist, and Advanced Computing Specialist, in addition to being a break fix partner of HP’s, offering consultancy, implementation and support.

 

STAP IT – IDC expects boom in threat market

Posted on August 19, 2013 by - News

stapThe advanced threat detection market may experience a boost on the back of increasingly sophisticated financial and intellectual property theft, according to a report from IDC.

Malware is becoming increasingly specific and stealthy, and is able to dodge signature based defence – and code writers understand that highly targeted attacks are even more difficult to detect.

Reacting to this, there has been the emergence of a new suite of products that go beyond the traditional signature based defences. IDC calls these products Specialised Threat Analysis and Protection, or STAP, which use mostly signature-free tech like sandboxing, emulation, and big data analytics to detect malware.

These can be based on the network level or at the endpoint, or both, and look for both inbound and outband traffic – scanning for anomalies in this data.

STAP products, IDC believes, should have a compound annual growth rate of 42.2 percent from 2012 to 2017, with revenues approaching $1.17 billion in 2017.

According to IDC research manager John Grady, they have become a “strategic necessity for many organisations, especially in the financial services and government sectors, with budget being quickly allocated to prioritise deployment”.

 

Cloud Industry Forum slams Google over .cloud gTLD

Posted on August 19, 2013 by - News

cloud 1Industry group the Cloud Industry Forum has slammed Google for what it calls the company’s attempt to control the future of the .cloud generic top level domain (gTLD).

ICANN had been looking at reviewing thousands of gLTDs, and one of the most disputed was .cloud – with three top brands, Google, Symantec, and Amazon, applying for it as a closed registry. This would make the bid winner the sole registrar of the domain and would exercise all control over it.

An open letter to ICANN, penned by Cloud Industry Forum founder Andy Burton, says none of these companies should have the right over a domain that could represent an entire industry. “Clearly none had the right to exercise ownership over the phrase, and indeed none could ever dream to achieve it in a comparative activity such as registering a trademark,” Burton said.

The CIF thinks Google’s moves to convert the closed .cloud application to a “restricted” one has done “little to allay industry fears, and is likely to compound competition concerns and give Google an unfair advantage over everyone else in the industry”.

The threat is that, by controlling the .cloud domain, other players will be relegated to third level domains and, as a result, will give Google an unfair ability to promote, categorise and develop cloud services.

“As one of the largest and most powerful cloud services companies in the world, Google would have both the incentive and ability to undermine its rivals’ ability to innovate and promote their own cloud services via this gTLD,” Burton writes. “A situation we believe, that no matter what the positive motive of Google’s application may have been, should not be allowed to arise in the first place”.

“We cannot allow market size and funding to win over common sense and fairness in matters such as the control of a generic term,” Burton said.

The letter is available to read in full here.

Although Google does its best to distance itself from anticompetitive claims, the company has been under the eye of both the US FTC and, now, the European Commission. Critics have alleged Google used its market leading position to redirect search results to its own services, and away from those of rivals.

Intel thinks PC market a-ok

Posted on August 16, 2013 by - News

Intel-logo “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,” an Intel spokesperson said, before insisting that the PC market isn’t seriously in the doldrums.

At a New York event, Intel execs showed off an Intel sponsored IDC survey that claimed the PC market holds enormous potential, and that there is no better time than now to buy a PC. Cash strapped people in Europe and the US may disagree – instead spending their cash on daily necessities like food instead of replacing functional consumer electronics.

The survey said 97 percent of respondents consider their PC their main computing device, and of these respondents, 41 percent plan to buy a PC in the coming year. Many also said they would rather give up exercise, sweets, caffeine, and TV than their computers.

As AllThingsD points out, a rather different recent IDC document showed PC sales trends are the worst they’ve ever been, ever, not just in the US and Europe, but also in emerging markets like Latin America and Asia.

Intel’s Merlin Kister said retailers were partly to blame because they frequently do not show off the capabilities of hybrid-style notebook, tablet crosses.