Category: News

Lots of opportunities for MSPs, says Barracuda

Posted on June 1, 2021 by - News

There are shedloads of opportunities coming up for MSPs in the coming year, according to a Barracuda report.

Barracuda’s The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, claims that the appetite for managed services is stronger than ever, with many survey respondents identifying managed services as the biggest sales opportunity in the coming year.

The report said that that to seize this opportunity, MSPs can identify areas in which to focus their growth and expand their offerings. This is particularly key for those that are in the early stages of their journey or those that were forced down a specific route due to the demands of the pandemic.

Barracuda spoke to more than 400 partners from across the globe, with the combined answers indicating similar challenges for MSPs worldwide when it comes to service provisioning and meeting the complex needs of their customers. Data from the study also indicates that security remains the number one concern for customers and the leading driver for seeking out managed services.

Nokia and Microsoft team up on AI

Posted on June 1, 2021 by - News

Nokia has been telling the world+dog that it has come up with multiple AI uses cases delivered over the public cloud, with its chum Microsoft.

By integrating Nokia’s security framework with Microsoft Azure’s digital architecture, communications service providers (CSPs) can securely inject AI into their networks nine times faster than using private cloud and scale fast across their network. AI use cases are essential for CSPs to manage the business complexity that 5G and cloud networks bring, and will help accelerate digital transformation.

Deep learning could be a big help to MSPs

Posted on June 1, 2021 by - News

Deep Instinct’s Brooks Wallace, vice-president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sales has said that deep learning was there to help MSPs help their customers get a step ahead of the cybercriminals.

Wallace said that people often make the mistake of thinking in terms of artificial intelligence when they mean machine learning when they actually need deep learning which is much more useful.

“Deep learning works by building a neurological network with all these algorithms, sitting there to learn on its own from a vast amount of raw data. So we don’t give it what is benign or malicious files, we give it all the data and we let it learn on its own and it makes its decision process, organically and autonomously, and it is much more accurate than machine learning.

Zix expands UK Global Partner Programme

Posted on May 31, 2021 by - News

Cloud email outfit Zix has expanded its global partner programme in the UK meaning its partners can add Data Archive Residency to their product portfolios.

The company said that Zix is dedicated to investing in its channel programmes to meet its partners’ evolving needs amid global growth in cloud adoption and the corresponding need to ensure critical data remains secure.

The company has been implementing product changes based on survey feedback from its 5,000+ partners, including the recent strategic acquisition, CloudAlly, a cloud backup and recovery solution.

Zix CEO Dave Wagner said: “Our unique relationship as a Microsoft top partner allows our partners to build a full portfolio of security, compliance and productivity solutions from one vendor. We are excited to bring the committed level of support as we continue to expand our dedicated, in-country, resources across all key functions”

PTG swallowed by Fulcrum

Posted on May 31, 2021 by - News

UK IT services and solutions company the pure technology group (PTG) has been snapped up by the Fulcrum Technology Group.

PTG employs 140 people across three locations in Leeds, Wakefield and Wigan. It has increased turnover every year since it was founded in 2007, reaching £39.7 million in its last financial year.

Fulcrum plans to retain all PTG personnel, including the senior management team led by founder and CEO Stephen O’Brien.

O’Brien said: “We’ve had many approaches over the last couple of years because, fundamentally, we’re a great business. Fulcrum’s pitch was different though; they have a bigger strategy in play, which will propel us towards being amongst the top echelon of UK IT Service Providers.”

Pandemic slump over by Yule – report

Posted on May 31, 2021 by - News

Research outfit Gartner says the pandemic slump will likely dissipate by the end of the year at least as far as tech companies are concerned.

According to the research firm, 2020 saw tech providers briefly affected by the global COVID-19 crisis – but M&A activity then “quickly rebounded” in 2021 as economies began to recover.

It thinks that competition for acquisition targets is expected to continue to rise as the pandemic volatility subsides.

Max Azaham, senior research director at Big G said: “Market conditions for deal-making will continue to improve as volatility stemming from COVID-19 subsides. Tech CEOs pursuing acquisitions should anticipate increased competition for targets and take steps to gain advantages over other acquirers to earn seller acceptance.”

Analysis found that acquisition activity was hit hardest during Q2 2020 – but, by Q4, it was higher than any previous quarter in the last two years.

Ringover moves to indirect sales and wants more channel partners

Posted on May 28, 2021 by - News

French Telephone operator Ringover is turning to indirect sales to grow its market share in the United Kingdom and Europe.

For those not in the know, Ringover flogs a cloud telephony solution that allows you to make unlimited calls from your CRM, from any device to 110 destinations.  Ringover wants to form new relationships with leading distributors, resellers, integrators and telephony specialists to increase its market share.

The French SaaS software publisher aims to build a network of 100 partners across the UK  in one year. Ringover is seeking new partners to be a part of their long term success as they steadily grow their UK customer base.

Black Box teams up with Adey Electronics

Posted on May 28, 2021 by - News

Black Box has partnered with UK-based systems integrator Adey Electronics to peddle Black Box high-performance KVM solutions in Blighty.

Focusing on addressing the requirements of industrial, medical, traffic management and blue light verticals, Adey Electronics include the Black Box Emerald range of KVM solutions and then augment this offering with additional high-performance KVM product families.

Black Box’s  KVM business development manager Frank Noelken, director of KVM business development, said Adey Electronics was a reliable, well-established and respected partner that wants to grow its project business with high-performance KVM and AV products.

“We look forward to teaming up on technical projects and leveraging our long-standing relationship to deliver exceptional solutions backed by Adey’s technical support and services.”

Customers hate targeted marketing

Posted on May 28, 2021 by - News

Hitting customers with targeted marketing appears to be a rather good way of killing a sale, according to a new survey.

A Realtime Research survey by Invisibly that polled 1247 people, found that three-quarters of customers don’t want targeted marketing ads.

Invisibly found that 68 percent of respondents say data privacy is important to them and 82 percent of respondents support measures that would prevent companies and devices from collecting or sharing their data.

Based on that it is not surprising that 76 percent don’t like getting targeted marketing ads online and say it needs to stop. Oddly men are bigger fans of targeted adverts than women with  11 per cent more men than women like getting targeted online ads.

Softcat hunky dory

Posted on May 27, 2021 by - News

Channel player Softcat has told the world+dog that it expects its full year results to exceed expectations.

The firm indicated to the markets that it had built on strong momentum in the first half with a decent performance in its fiscal third quarter with “double digit year on year growth in revenue, gross profit and operating profit”.

That first half saw Softcat deliver increased revenues of 10 percent to £577 million, gross profits improving by 20 percent to £134.5 million and operating profits up 41 percent to £57.1 million, for the six months ended 31 January.

Bytes shows five percent revenue rise

Posted on May 27, 2021 by - News

Bytes has released its first numbers since its launch onto the stock market in December 2020 and is showing a five percent rise in revenue.

The numbers are the first numbers since its initial public offering (IPO) and indicate a five percent rise in revenues to £393.6 million, compared with £373.1 million a year earlier, and a 33 percent climb in gross invoicing income totalling £958.1 million. This means that adjusted operating profit of £37.5 million represented growth of 18 percent since the IPO.

Bytes indicated in its preliminary statement that the two months since the fiscal year closed have seen momentum continue, with gross profit in line with board expectations. There has been strong activity in the public sector and the firm has kept its customer satisfaction levels up.

Selling customer data is a good way to hack them off

Posted on May 27, 2021 by - News

People all over the world are upset at how their data is being collected and used according to a recent survey by Invisibly.

The survey said that more than 79 percent of people do not approve of companies profiting from their data, and 77 percent want to control who can access their data.

Invisibly Dr Head of Product Don Vaughn said: “It takes education to understand why data privacy is important and free time to actually take action. Unfortunately, those who earn lower wages and work more hours, on average, don’t necessarily have the time to think about and manage their data privacy.”

Those familiar with data collection and online advertising understand just how difficult, if not impossible it currently is to have control over your data.

Of course Invisibly wants to flog a data platform where people can choose what data they share, and get compensated for it, but the point remains that channel businesses will get into rather a lot of hot water if they start peddling customer data.

 

 

Nuvias snaps up Cloud Distribution

Posted on May 26, 2021 by - News

Nuvias has expanded its depth in the security, cloud and networking worlds by acquiring Cloud Distribution.

Last week it added Ava Security to the list of vendors it works with, bringing on board the firm’s video surveillance and data loss products. Apparently, this has made the company attractive for Nuvias.

The purchase, the details of which were not disclosed, is part of its own cunning plan to develop its own platform, and the Cloud Distribution tie-up will give it a chance to add more emerging technologies and vendors.

Simon England, CEO of the Nuvias Group, said the addition of Cloud Distribution would enhance the business.

Beyond Identity appoints Shadrake

Posted on May 26, 2021 by - Moving People, News

Passwordless identity management provider Beyond Identity has appointed Tony Shadrake as its EMEA Vice President.

Launched in April 2020, the company replaces insecure passwords with stuff based on asymmetric cryptography and X.509 certificates. This  underpins TLS (the lock in the browser) which is ubiquitously deployed across the internet to protect trillions of pounds of financial transactions daily, it is claimed. The cloud-native solution can be deployed in under an hour.

With 20 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry – both in the UK and the US – Tony brings with him insights from these two markets. Previous experience includes senior roles at VMware/Carbon Black, Webroot, and Computer Associates. At Carbon Black, Shadrake was instrumental in building the business from the ground up.

Gamma partners with Highlight again

Posted on May 25, 2021 by - News

Comms outfit Gamma has signed a three year strategic partnership with service-assurance specialist Highlight, which aims to build on their existing six-year relationship.

Using Highlight’s services, Gamma said it has built better relationships with its customers and improved the service it delivers.

In its Direct division, Gamma says it tailors Highlight’s services for each customer, providing a window through which Gamma and its customers can view an accurate picture of what is going on within their networks. The common perspective prompts open conversations and enables Gamma to strengthen its service delivery.