Author: Tamlin Magee

Web spending leads in retail sales

Posted on June 20, 2013 by - News

poundsRetail sales increased year on year this May, the Office for National Statistics has revealed.

In its monthly survey of 5,000 UK retailers, it was found that sales volumes increased 1.9 percent compared to May last year – with the quantities bought in retail marking the highest level since the series began.

Amounts spent grew 3.1 percent, also the highest level on record.

It was the non-store retail sector that brought in the largest quantities. Compared with May 2012, goods bought here increased by almost 20 percent, at 19.1 percent. The non-food sector enjoyed some growth, at 2.2 percent.

In terms of amounts spent, the food sector saw an increase of 3.4 percent.

There was downwards pressure from petrol station, with the amount spent here declining 1.8 percent compared to the same time last year. But the amount bought showed minimal growth at 0.1 percent, over the same period. The ONS points out that this indicates price deflation.

Compared to April 2013, both quantities bought and amount spent grew by 2.1 percent. Here, the food sector also drove the most upward pressure on amount spent and quantities bought – at 3.4 percent and 3.5 percent respectively.

Every store type enjoyed growth from the previous month, signifying a slight upwards trend compared to a bleak overall picture in April.

The overall proportion of non-seasonally adjusted online sales stayed healthy at 9.7 percent. Average weekly spending for online retail reached £582 million – an increase of 10 percent compared to the last year.

Canon offers editable scanning in the cloud

Posted on June 20, 2013 by - News

Canon logoPrinting company Canon is offering partners the use of Nuance Scan to Cloud as part of its Imagerunner Advance Multifunctional Devices (MFDs).

This software lets customers turn paper documents into forms that can be edited digitally, which can then be uploaded to the cloud using services like Google Drive, Dropbox and Salesforce. Canon promises that the technology will nicely complement other already available scanning software in the Imagerunner Advance platform, such as Scan Kit and eCopyShareScan.

Scan to Cloud is available to partners from today – and is offered on three, four or five year contracts. Partners can pick whether they want a limited or unlimited amount of scan-to-edit conversions.

Partners will be able to install the software on the MFD’s multifunctional embedded application platform – remotely and without needing access to a server. As a result, according to Canon, installation is cheap as chips and easily scalable for customers. Devices at an organisation can be configured with an all in one utility tool, cutting down on installation times.

Canon exec Daniel Seris pointed out that, as more organisations plan on pushing their businesses to the cloud, there will be loads of physical documents lying around that firms will need to hold onto. They “expect partners to be able to provide them with the best technology to support this trend,” Seris said. “Employees need to access and edit documents whenever and wherever they want, in the office, at home, or on the go,” he added.

IT buyers out of touch with office needs

Posted on June 11, 2013 by - News

Canon logoCanon has commissioned a study which found those making buying decisions in the office are often out of touch with the needs of the actual user.

Canon Europe surveyed 1,671 end users and decision makers. It found that firms all over Europe are having a hard time bringing in technology to enable flexible working – with a real minority making sure employees had smartphones or tablet PCs. BYOD, then, is crucial at the moment, as those with these devices find they are crucial to their jobs.

Most respondents said they need advice and support from their IT departments if they’re to properly reach their working potential, whether in the office or on the go. Just one quarter knew the office technology inside out, and the report highlights many workers feel they are excluded when it comes to picking technology they feel would be right for their companies.

Canon also found that, while the majority of respondents work with sensitive documents, they are being allowed onto insecure devices on insecure networks. Many end users believe that their organisation is managing document security – when that isn’t a case at all, with under five percent of IT buyers indicating that as a concern in printing, copying or scanning.

The company’s European and UK marketing manager, Matt Wrighton, said the gap between staff and decision makers is obvious. “It’s clear to see how the division within organisations between the two key parties, decision makers and employees, will, if not already, prove harmful to productivity in the workplace,” Wrighton said.

Brits hate their jobs

Posted on June 10, 2013 by - News

officegervaisA survey of professional adults in the UK has revealed that just 10 percent are satisfied with their jobs.

The study, commissioned by Peer 1 Hosting, asked 1,300 professionals about their job satisfaction. Over a third of those surveyed – at 36 percent – believed they could be at least twice as effective at their job if their employer recognised their full potential.

Just one in seven respondents believed their employer properly nurtured their potential and talents – and only one in five felt inspired by their company. Not only are employees unhappy, but the majority did not agree that customers were “very happy with the products or services that they receive”.

The prime motivation for almost half of those surveyed as not money. The majority wanted their talent recognised and nurtured through personal development and training – at 87 percent.

Asked to describe, in 140 characters or less, chief problems with their organisations, responses included ineffective management that does not listen to staff and head office imposing its own, out of touch policies. Others said the workload is getting bigger – with longer hours – as well as citing lack of opportunities, salary, and funding.

IT workers in particular were outspoken about the financial gains relating to personal growth and training. Overall, employees in smaller organisations felt more satisfied.

Young Londoners working in the financial sector were found to be most dissatisfied with their job, while 16-24 year olds working in professional services in Northern Ireland appreciated their job the most.

EMEA MD of Peer 1, Dominic Monkhouse, said it’s vital for companies to nurture individual employees to help them realise their own ambitions – “this then becomes a virtuous circle, unlocking potential and productivity while also making the working environment one that staff value,” he said.

 

Microsoft exec: uproot work status quo

Posted on June 10, 2013 by - News

brokenworkA top Microsoft UK exec has claimed in a new book that the current status quo for work is totally broken – and that the way forward for productivity relies in harnessing advances in technology and flexibility, rather than the traditions of hierarchy.

Chief envisioning officer of Microsoft UK, Dave Coplin, said “the future of work must be based on being open, on focusing on results, not process and on empowerment, not hierarchy”.

He backs up his point quoting a YouGov survey that said almost half of all British office workers have a manager that judges performance by the number of processes completed. Almost a third said their company doesn’t support flexible working at all.

Coplin’s book claims businesses are thoroughly entrenched in the old guard of management and dismiss new ways to collaborate. Employees, Coplin argues, are “not liberated to work creatively” nor are they trusted to set their own processes.

There is a block on progressive work policies and this appears to be management and the accepting of the status quo. Workers don’t feel engaged at the office, Coplin says, and are unable to utilise advances in communications properly.

“The massive risk here is that in a world defined by its processes and not its outcomes, working smarter is not an option and the only feasible other alternative is simply to work harder,” Coplin claims, adding that businesses should use collaboration and flexible working if they want to make the most of their employees.

Otherwise workers are simply being stifled by the monotonous daily grind. Coplin’s book, “Business Reimagined – Why work isn’t working and what you can do about it”, argues that businesses operating with an open mind will reap the rewards. Competitive advantage, Coplin says, will lie with those who can adapt to a changing world and increase collaboration.

SAP buys Hybris

Posted on June 5, 2013 by - News

sapbeerSAP is acquiring e-commerce technology company Hybris, which SAP hopes will help it to further develop on premise or cloud deployment for the platform.

Hybris, SAP boasts, is currently the fastest growing e-commerce software company and covers web, mobile, call centre and in store channels. The idea is to help Hybris customers sell whatever they’re offering against each of these channels, using data to provide insight into every layer of the buying process.

The Zug, Switzerland based company’s top investor is Palo Alto investment firm HGGC.

SAP believes combining its own SAP HANA and SAP Jam platforms with Hybris’ software will help it expand the reach of the commerce platform. “The acquisition will further SAP’s ability to help companies fully engage customers to improve loyalty and create stronger, more valuable relationships,” SAP said in a statement.

Co-CEOs at SAP AG, Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe, said in a joint statement: “Hybris puts SAP on the leading edge of the consumer economy. With Hybris, SAP has made a decisive move to raise the stakes in customer relationship management”.

Essentially, the acquisition will see SAP trying to carve up a larger slice of e-commerce, taking on players such as Salesforce and others.

The acquisition is expected to complete in the third quarter of this year, subject to all the usual approvals and closing conditions. Hybris will be owned by SAP but operate as an independent business, keeping its management team.

WD rolls out anorexic 1TB drive

Posted on June 3, 2013 by - News

westerndigitalWestern Digital has announced the world’s thinnest 1TB 2.5-inch drive. The new Blue series drives are already shipping and they are available in capacities ranging from 320GB to 1TB.

However, it’s not the thinnest thing around. Both WD and Seagate are making a lot of noise about their new 5mm drives, but they max out at 500GB. The 7mm drives are designed for mainstream notebooks and other thin and light systems, including All-in-Ones.

WD VP and general manager for client storage Matt Rutledge said consumers with huge content portfolios need not worry about getting a thin and light notebooks.

“This most compact 1TB hard drive to-date offers manufacturers of systems an upsell path for their customers who will now be able to choose systems offering both sleek design and high capacity,” he said.

Intel and Acer are also talking up the new drives, which are showing up just in time for Intel’s Haswell refresh. The new 1TB Blue drive comes with a two-year warranty and it’s priced at $139.

SMB managers don’t take BYOD seriously

Posted on May 24, 2013 by - News

kasperskylogoA survey by TNS Infratest commissioned by Kaspersky Lab claims that just 35 percent of IT managers have admitted having strict rules in place to understand and control company information on personal devices – despite the upsurge in BYOD corporate policy.

Many SMBs are not taking the implications that come with BYOD serious enough, the report suggests. More and more employees are using their own devices in the workplace, and the study points to the over 500,000 mobiles stolen in 2011/2012 as reason enough management should be making more considerations. “Businesses can face company data falling into the wrong hands if not effectively managed,” TNS says.

Because smartphones and tablets are a desirable target for pickpockets and thieves, IT managers must know precisely what corporate information is on their employees’ devices. A sandbox style approach to operating systems can help here.

Kaspersky’s senior security researcher David Emm said in a statement that “only when clear BYOD rules are in place can adequate steps be taken to build robust security, should a device be lost or stolen”.

“To best protect data a policy should include file encryption, blocking access to the corporate network and, in the best case, wiping all data on the device,” Emm said.

This survey questioned 1,762 IT decision makers all over Europe. Companies with 10-500 employees were surveyed.

Samsung Young in shops this weekend

Posted on May 24, 2013 by - News

Samsung rules the roostSamsung’s Galaxy Young, an Android smartphone running Jelly Bean, will be available through retail channels and networks this weekend.

The Young is a 1Ghz device with a 3.2″ HVGA TFT display and a 3 megapixel camera. It will ship with the usual torrent of Samsung extras loaded into Jelly Bean including TouchWiz, Kies, Apps and Hub, but where the company wants to differentiate is with its integration with Dropbox.

Of course, there are other cloud services available, including Google Drive, and Dropbox is available to download for free from the Google Play store anyway.

The device comes with 4GB internal storage and will be available in different colours.

The mid-range smartphone is not exactly a flagship device but is more affordable for those who can’t justify splashing out on an S4. Samsung has said it will be available from a “number of networks and online retailers”, but the Carphone Warehouse and O2 are the ones it specifically mentions.

Chip revenues down

Posted on May 22, 2013 by - News

arm_chipRevenues for the global semiconductor market dropped two percent year on year to $295 billion in 2012, IDC’s latest semiconductor application forecast reports.

Consumer spending slumped in the second half of the year which had a significant impact, but this was also combined with a slowing down in industrial and other market segments too. Europe’s economic crisis leaned on the PC market and China, too, was not spending as much as had been hoped. IDC notes the “lackluster” Windows 8 launch did not prove to be the boon for PC sales manufacturers were praying for.

Cheaper Chinese suppliers pressured average selling prices and dragged down overall revenues.

Just 17 companies with revenues of a billion or more, of the 120 that IDC tracks, managed growth of over five percent for 2012. Most saw declining revenues, including the majority in the top ten. Qualcomm, Broadcom, NXP, Nvidia, MediaTek, Apple and Sharp were the few in the 25 largest companies that registered positive growth.

Intel, IDC points out, saw revenues plunge $50 billion for the year, a drop of three percent, attributed mainly to weak PC demand and failing to make significant inroads into the tablet and smartphones market. Samsung saw revenues fall six percent. Texas Instruments , at number four, saw a decline of six percent.

Qualcomm, however, was a winner – ranking third in 2012 and growing revenues 34 percent to reach $13.2 billion. IDC states that this is largely due to Snapdragon and its prevalance in modem technology.

Altogether, the top ten vendors – including Broadcom, Renesas, Hynix, STMicro and Micron, held 52 percent of global semiconductor revenues, seeing a three percent decline compared to the previous year. The top 25 companies overall declined three percent, bringing in revenue of $206 billion.

Semiconductor device types were a mixed bag. Fastest growing were sensors and actuators, but these made up just two percent of overall revenues. ASSPs represented 32 percent of overall revenues and grow four percent thanks to media, graphics, and application processors, as well as RF and mixed signal ASSPs. Optoelectronics made up six percent of the revenues, growing five person on the back of image sensors and LEDs. Microcomponents declined five percent, while memory declined ten percent, holding 17 percent of all industry revenues. Analogue declined by seven percent to account for seven percent of all revenues.

IDC’s semiconductors research manager Michael J Palma said in a statement that the challenge is to “zero in on their key value propositions”.

“Whether that is in modem or connectivity technologies, sensors, mixed-signal processing or power management, there are areas of the market showing strong potential,” Palma said. “However, competing in crowded segments with little differentiation has contributed to the slowdown in semiconductor revenues”.

Seagate shows off ultra quiet Video HDD

Posted on May 20, 2013 by - News

seagate-longmontSeagate has announced its Video 3.5 HDD, which it boasts is the industry’s first 4TB 3.5 inch HDD with digital video recorders, set top boxes and surveillance systems specifically in mind.

The Video 3.5 HDD was built for video, so it can store up to roughly 480 hours of HD content. This makes it a contender for satellite and cable providers as well as surveillance system builders, the company says, and is designed to deliver good performance in three key areas, those being high capacity and streaming capability, reliability, and acoustics.

Seagate’s drive can support up to 16 simultaneous HD streams or 20 standard definition streams, and can manage 24×7 operation capabilities.

Because the drive will be sitting in places where acoustics are crucial to limit other audible distractions, Seagate says this HDD lets designers manufacture the very quietest home entertainment systems. The company claims the Video 3.5 HDD is near silent and runs below the range of audible sound for the human ear – at 2.3 decibels – so it’ll only bother your dog.

Additionally, Seagate says this drive has a 0.55 percent annual failure rate which means it can be out in the field longer than the competition, as well as being made for low power consumption and heat emissions.

Seagate marketing veep Scott Horn said in a statement that the company’s experience in the video market has ultimately led to this product. “We’ve combined our knowledge on heat, acoustics and power to deliver what we believe to be the most reliable DVR drive in the world,” Horn said.

IDC notes strong storage growth

Posted on May 17, 2013 by - News

seagate-hddIDC’s worldwide storage tracker has noted that the personal and entry level storage market has shot up 73.4 percent year on year – reaching 20.2 million units shipped in Q1 2013, with shipment value growing 54.1 percent at $1.8 billion.

In the first quarter, there was both strong shipment and revenue growth. The market has finally recovered from the floods in Thailand several years ago which led to a worldwide shortage in hard disks. Thanks to cheaper average selling prices, better products and more user awareness about the need for storage and back up, the market is picking up nicely.

Personal storage makes up 99.1 percent of shipped PELS units and 89.8 percent of values for the quarter. Dual bay product shipments were up 43.6 percent year on year, but single bay devices are overwhelmingly still the most popular choice at 96.8 percent of all units shipped. Higher bay devices saw growth at 38.2 percent year on year.

3.5″ devices lost some market share to the 2.5″ form factor, declining 2.6 percentage points for the year. 3.5″ and 2.5″ devices did both see shipments increase, at 56 and 79.7 percent respectively.

Consumers are flocking to higher capacity storage, generally. 2TB devices made up 49.9 percent of the 3.5″ personal storage market, while 1TB devices held 50.6 percent market share for 2.5″ devices. 4TB devices had the most market share in the entry level segment at 28.3 percent of units shipped.

USB is still the dominant interface, with an increase of 76.4 percent units shipped. Ethernet grew 68.8 percent. Thunderbolt grew plenty at 5102.7 percent – but with a tiny base.

 

Market struggle leads to Dell on Earth

Posted on May 17, 2013 by - News

Michael DellDell’s quarterly net profit has slipped 79 percent as the company endures the struggle to see who will carve up the majority share and in which direction it will be taken.

That sounds rather dramatic, but in reality the company is still worth a heap. Total revenues for fiscal Q1 2014 were $14.1 billion.

In a prepared statement, Dell CFO Brian Gladden said the company had made progress in building its enterprise offerings and is “confident in our strategy to be the leading provider of end-to-end scalable solutions”. Additionally, Gladden said the company has been taking actions to improve Dell’s competitive position. “We’ll also continue to make important investments to support our strategy and drive long-term profitability” – more shopping?

Enterprise Solutions Group had revenues of $3.1 billion, a ten percent increase on the previous quarter, with a 71 percent boost in operating income at $136 million. Dell Services enjoyed two percent growth to $2.1 billion and an 11 percent increase in revenues from infrastructure, cloud and security services. Support and deployment also grew two percent, but applications and business process services dropped 15 percent. Operating income grew 10 percent to reach $370 million.

Dell software saw an operating loss on the back of $295 million in revenues. However, Dell believes this segment is “on track to be accretive” to earnings for Q1 fiscal 2015. End user computing declined nine percent, with revenues at $8.9 billion for the quarter. Desktop and thin client revenues dropped two percent, mobility declined 16 percent, and software from third parties and peripherals declined six percent.

PC sales plunged nine percent but in fairness, this is expected. The entire world is in a slump and, although Dell offers some kit at the low end of the market, no one’s really buying.

However, Dell did point out that new technologies revenues as well as services and software gained a 12 percent boost, to reach $5.5 billion.

Tin-box enterprise supremo and founder Michael Dell really wants to gain a majority share in the company so he can take it off the public market and shift it in a new direction – some whispers suggest the way of IBM, discarding a burdensome consumer unit and focusing fully on enterprise, services and related businesses. Michael Dell’s proposed buy-out, along with Silver Lake, is just short of $25 billion.

Shareholders Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management are trying to wrangle the company back from Mike and Silver Lake’s grip, insisting that the valuation is peanuts and investors should get much more for their buck. They are making their own proposals for the company, in a power struggle which has been ongoing for months.

Dell did not issue a company outlook, citing the announcement for a merger agreement to take Dell private as the reason.

 

Gmail to let users attach cash to emails

Posted on May 16, 2013 by - News

google-ICAmong the flurry of announcements at the hours-long Google IO conference yesterday, there was one that threatened to step on Paypal’s turf – sending cash will soon be as simple as sending an email.

Provided you have a Google account set up for Google Wallet with your bank, at least in the US it is now possible to send cash for free, and all you have to do is click on a $ sign under attachments. You can link up credit or debit cards as well, which Google promises will charge low fees – a flat fee of 2.9 percent. Receiving money is free.

Users will be limited to sending $10,000 per day, or $50,000 for each five day period, which will be more than enough for most casual users. Google says sending money with your Google Wallet balance is always free and “usually instant”.

For now Google is rolling out the feature to all US Gmail users who are over 18, and earlier access will be available if friends have the feature and are actively using it.

Google also says it has purchase protection which “covers you 100 percent against eligible unauthorised payments”.

The service, if it picks up, could threaten to bite at Paypal’s ankles. It doesn’t take much searching online to find complaints about the latter, and casual users are likely to be particularly interested. For small trading, sending a protected payment via email is going to be quick and easy.

Still, there will be those turned off by such services. Having an account phished or simply compromising your own password potentially puts your cash at risk.

Oracle’s new G Cloud data centre is for Oracle

Posted on May 16, 2013 by - News

consultoracleOracle’s claims that it will be opening a data centre to support the UK government’s G Cloud service for the public sector are perfectly true, but appear to be designed as a boon to Oracle rather than the UK as a whole.

While G Cloud could, of course, always do with more power, an Oracle spokesperson confirmed to ChannelEye that the data centre will primarily be for existing or potential Oracle partners.

“Oracle will make Platform as a Service available to Independent Software Vendors (ISVs),” the spokesperson said. “Oracle’s PaaS provides Oracle Database and Java as a service, hence will be available to ISVs who run on this Oracle platform”.

“These ISVs will likely be existing Oracle partners, but we of course welcome new partners to join the Oracle Partner Network,” the spokesperson added. “The ISVs themselves need to have their cloud services accepted onto the CloudStore catalogue”.

Although presented as a helpful boost to the British economy, the plan appears to be fully Oracle’s with a light dab of spin.

“This investment is funded solely by Oracle,” the spokesperson said, “justified through our internal business case criteria and assessment of market opportunity, and is being made in advance of any contracts or orders from government”.