Forrester analysts have been adding up some numbers and reached the conclusion that COVID-19 has given Blockchain initiatives a kick in the pants.
A new report with the catchy title, ‘COVID-19 Is Accelerating Critical Enterprise Blockchain Initiatives’ shows that blockchain initiatives, particularly related to supply chain and logistics, have accelerated during the pandemic, despite many budgets being cut.
Security outfit McAfee announced significant enhancements to its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution by launching integrations with third-party Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) solutions, and extending its UCE platform tolet global strategic partners deliver managed SASE offerings.
McAfee has been working with global service providers Atos and BT to offer a range of managed Web, CASB, and SASE offerings to help organisations who are struggling with the challenges of digital transformation.
MSP Kaseya expanded the capabilities of its IT Complete platform by acquiring and integrating Graphus, an automated phishing defence platform.
At a time when workforces are nearly all remote and cloud email adoption is at an all-time high, businesses have an even greater need for strong cybersecurity defenses to avoid devastating data breaches and financial consequences. Kaseya claims that with this acquisition, IT Complete now includes a simple, automated, powerful and cost-effective email security and phishing defence platform.
Alibaba saw its cloud sales rise in its last quarter, driven by both public and hybrid cloud adoption.
The Chinese giant’s cloud sales shot up 59 percent year on year to $1.7 billion during the quarter ending 30 June, equating to eight percent of the firm’s total revenue.
Alibaba CEO Daniel Daniel Zhang said: “The pandemic has transformed the way enterprises work, accelerating demand for cloud infrastructure and services. If you look at our revenue breakdown, obviously, cloud is enjoying a very, very fast growth and what we see is that all the industries are in the process of digital transformation.”
Alibaba remains the largest cloud provider in China, but Zhang said that analysts have pegged the US market as being much larger than in its homeland – indicating that there is still plenty of room for growth.
Channel outfit Softcat is having rather a good 2020 and weathered the COVID-19 storm.
The reseller delivered 20.8 percent growth in revenues to £524.1 million for the six months to 31 January. Operating profit climbed by 19.5 percent, hitting £40.5 million.
During the first half of its financial year, Softcat cut the ribbon on a new office in Birmingham, which already has a staff of 20, increasing the overall headcount by just shy of 13 percent.
The firm last updated the market in May, and has seen trading continue to remain “satisfactory” in the last three months of its fiscal year, with operating profit for the full year slightly ahead of the board’s expectations.
Resellers are being sought for two IT frameworks.
The first, managed by KCS, is worth up to £400 million and caters for the procurement, refurbishment and disposal of hardware, including desktops, laptops, tablets, servers and storage.
Applications close on 18 September, with the four-year framework set to go live on 1 November 2020.
The framework will be split into four lots: IT Hardware; Remanufactured IT Hardware; Refurbished IT Hardware; and IT Hardware Repair, Disposal and Recycling.
The second framework is run by Crescent and is valued at £40 million.
The six lots are: Servers and Associated Equipment, Enterprise Storage, Back up and Archiving, Networking Equipment and Services, Security Hardware and Maintenance.
Contract notices are expected to be sent out in October, with the frameworks predecessor due to expire in January 2021, having gone live in 2017.
Suppliers on this iteration include CDW, CAE, Insight and Bechtle.
Beancounters at IDC claimed that the global public cloud services market totalled $233.4 billion (£176 billion) in 2019, representing a 26 percent increase year on year.
The report claims that the top five public cloud service providers – Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.com – accounted for more than a third of the worldwide total, growing a combined 35 percent year over year.
Software as a service (SaaS) remained the largest segment of public cloud spending with revenues of more than $122 billion in 2019, an increase of 20 percent year-over-year. IDC expects SaaS growth to continue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as businesses shift to subscription-based models and look to software collaboration tools to facilitate remote working.
IDC’s Rick Villars said that the cloud is expanding far beyond niche e-commerce and online ad-sponsored search and underpinned digital activities that individuals and enterprises depend upon as we navigate and move beyond the pandemic.
Former maker of expensive printer ink, HPE, is looking for a new worldwide channel boss after the exit of the firm’s Dan Belanger.
The decision by Belanger, who has been with the vendor for 30 years was unexpected and led to a reshuffle that has seen Paul Hunter leave his channel role and step into Belanger’s shoes as North American manager.
A blog post from Heiko Meyer, chief sales officer at HPE had that Hunter had consistently demonstrated a keen awareness of customer needs, effective leadership skills, and the drive to push for better.
GKN Automotive has announced Dirk Kesselgruber as the new president of its ePowertrain division.
Kesselgruber job is boosting the already rapidly expanding GKN eDrive business. He reports directly to GKN Automotive’s Chief Executive Officer, Liam Butterworth and joins from Schaeffler AG, where he was President of the Chassis Systems business.
Kesselgruber follows over 20 years of experience in senior roles in the global automotive industry, including posts at BMW, TRW Automotive and ZF.
GPU maker Nvidia has announced a number of enhancements to its partner programme.
The new additions to the Nvidia Partner Network, which is apparently is comprises 1,500 members have been designed to boost opportunities for training, collaboration and sales, the firm says, while also ensuring the possibility of future expansion.
Alvin Da Costa, Vice President of Nvidia’s Global Partner Organisation, said that the new programme enhancements enable future expansion as Mellanox and Cumulus partner programmes are set to be integrated into NPN throughout 2021.
TIBCO announced the appointment of Tony Beller, the company’s new senior vice president of worldwide partner ecosystems and OEM sales.
In his new role, Beller will work to build new markets with the partner ecosystem, drive revenue, and ensure customer success through partners, including service providers, resellers, system integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs), OEM partners, and technology partners.
With over 20 years of experience in IT channels and alliances, Beller brings with him an established skillset to help strengthen and augment TIBCO’s partner programme. Prior to TIBCO, Beller helped Anaplan build its strategic partner ecosystem to drive its partner business globally and launched new “go-to-market” channels.
Prior to Anaplan, Beller was the Chief Channel Officer at ServiceNow, where his organisation was responsible for driving while managing an extensive partner ecosystem.
ConnectWise has announced two new cybersecurity educational offerings: IT Nation Secure and the ConnectWise Certify Advanced playbook and courses.
The offerings will arm technology solution providers (TSPs) and managed service providers (MSPs) with the knowledge and skills needed to build and improve their security posture for their clients.
The inaugural IT Nation Secure conference will be held virtually and will take place 14-15 October during Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The conference will include multiple keynotes, breakout sessions, security briefings, live labs, tabletop exercises, and more.
Dell Technologies announced Rola Dagher as its new global channel chief, reporting into Bill Scannell, Dell Technologies president, global sales and customer operations.
Dagher will lead Dell Technologies’ global partner strategy, vision, enablement, programme design and experience. She begins her new role 7 September.
Dagher returns to Dell after three years as president of Cisco Systems Canada. Prior to Cisco, Dagher held sales and leadership roles in Dell’s Enterprise segment and Infrastructure Solutions Group. Prior to that, Dagher helped lead the channel for Bell Canada for 13 years.
Dagher succeeds Joyce Mullen, who after a 21-year career at Dell, announced her departure in July.
UK auto industry linked businesses are going to take a hammering from any hard Brexit, warned analyst outfit GlobalData
David Leggett, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, warned that the UK automotive sector was facing decimated sales due to the COVID-19 crisis, the very real possibility of no-deal on free trade between the UK and EU when the Brexit transition period ends at the end of the year would be a double whammy that seriously jeopardises recovery, competitiveness and future investment.
CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the global technology industry, announced the opening of registration for its 2020 EMEA Member and Partner Conference.
The free virtual conference, scheduled for 13-14 October, is open to all companies that are involved in the business of technology; and educators, instructors, trainers and other individuals interested in trends impacting the tech workforce across EMEA.
CompTIA executive vice president for events and education Kelly Ricker said: “Technology companies and IT professionals have stepped to the forefront, providing the expertise and resources to help a changing world make its way through these unprecedented times,” said But the business of technology is not without its own challenges. During our EMEA Member and Partner Conference we will explore how tech companies can meet customers’ future needs and address their growing
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