Category: News

Microsoft to store more cloudy data in EU

Posted on January 16, 2024 by - News

Software King of the World,  Microsoft has revealed plans to store and process all personal data from its European users in the EU.

Julie Brill, corporate VP & chief privacy officer at Microsoft, confirmed the decision, saying that the firm is changing the ‘EU Data Boundary for the Microsoft Cloud.’

The plan, which started in 2023, first covered some of Microsoft’s cloud services, including Microsoft 365, Azure, Power Platform and Dynamics 365.

This week the firm expanded the promise to include all personal data, even automated system logs, in the Microsoft EU Data Boundary.

EU officials and American tech giants have been in long talks over how to handle European data. There have been worries about how EU citizens’ data would be dealt with in the US, which has weaker privacy laws than the EU.

SoftwareONE snubs Bain Capital’s bid in bold move

Posted on January 16, 2024 by - News

SoftwareOne has turned down a takeover bid from private equity firm Bain Capital, choosing to stay independent after a big review.

The global software and cloud solutions provider’s board of directors looked at ways to make more money, including selling the company in the big review that started in July 2023.

After a thorough check, PE firm Bain Capital made a non-binding offer to buy SoftwareOne, but the board decided that Bain’s offer was not good enough or fair enough.

With help from an independent valuation and expert advice, the board all agreed that saying no to Bain’s offer was the best thing for the company and its people.

SAP fined in bribery case

Posted on January 15, 2024 by - News

The maker of expensive business software, which no one is sure what it does, SAP, has been slapped with a  £159 million fine after admitting to paying bribes to officials in seven countries.

The US authorities accused SAP of breaking the law by using middlemen to grease the palms of government officials in South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Indonesia and Azerbaijan.

SAP confessed to the dodgy dealings, which took place between 2014 and 2022 and agreed to cough up the cash to settle the charges.

The US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said SAP had cheated honest businesses by securing lucrative contracts with public sector customers through bribery.

The DOJ revealed how SAP had paid off officials at state-owned enterprises in South Africa and Indonesia to get their business.

Accenture song snaps up Work & Co in mega-deal

Posted on January 15, 2024 by - News

Tech giant Accenture Song has splashed out on Work & Co, a trendy New York design and technology firm, in a secret deal worth millions of pounds.

Work & Co has nearly 400 staff and boasts a dazzling array of skills and clients, including IKEA, Gatorade, Apple, Disney, Airbnb, and Google.

On Tuesday, Accenture Song, which used to be called Accenture Interactive, said that Work & Co will join its digital experience business, which helps clients boost their growth and value with cutting-edge products and services.

The exact price of the acquisition was not revealed, nor was the date when it will be completed.

Accenture Song is not done yet. The company also announced it will buy Navisite, a Massachusetts cloud solution and service provider.

UK Tech Cluster Group wants government cash for every region

Posted on January 12, 2024 by - News

A West Midlands delegation stormed the Houses of Parliament to launch a report that tells the next UK Government to provide more cash for regional tech groups.

The Ecosystems of Innovation report, delivered by the UK Tech Cluster Group, presents four big ideas to ensure that every region of the UK gets a boost.

The West Midlands group was led by Yiannis Maos MBE, CEO of TechWM, part of the UK Tech Cluster Group. Bringing together tech groups from every region and nation of the UK, the UK Tech Cluster Group’s Parliamentary bash called on the central Government to commit to four key areas that will unleash tech’s power across the UK regions.

PC sales up after eight quarters of slump

Posted on January 12, 2024 by - News

Global shipments of PCs hit 63.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2023, a rise of 0.3 per cent, marking the first increase after eight quarters of drop, according to Gartner.

The analyst firm’s research shows 2023 to be the worst year ever in PC history, falling 14.8 per cent.

This is the second year with a double-digit fall, with shipments totalling 241.8 million units.

This marks the first time that shipment volume has gone below 250 million since 2006, when 230 million units were shipped.

Big G analyst Mikako Kitagawa said the market has hit rock bottom after big adjustment and normalisation in stock, with the “slight growth” suggesting demand and supply are “finely balanced.”

But she warns this situation will likely change due to the expected component price rise in 2024 and political and economic uncertainties.

HPE spends £11 billion on Juniper

Posted on January 11, 2024 by - News

Former maker of expensive printer ink HPE is buying Juniper Networks in a £11 billion deal that sets up a fight for network supremacy in the AI era between HPE Aruba Networking and market leader Cisco Systems.

HPE said the deal to buy California-based Juniper gives it more AI networking power and doubles its networking business, making what it called in a statement a “new networking leader with a huge portfolio that gives customers and partners a tempting new choice to drive business value.”

HPE is paying £31 per share in a cash deal that expects to boost its non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow in the first year after the deal closes.

On a pro forma basis, the new networking segment will go up from about 18 per cent of total HPE revenue as of fiscal year 2023 to about 31 per cent and make more than 56 per cent of HPE’s total operating income.

Which? blasts telecoms firms for price hikes

Posted on January 11, 2024 by - News

Which? has told telecom firms to stop any plans to go ahead with ‘unconscionable’ broadband and mobile price hikes in April, even after the industry watchdog found the practice hurts consumers and set out plans to ban it.

Ofcom recently planned to ban the practice of inflation-linked mid-contract price rises, saying that they cause ‘big consumer harm’, but this will not happen before the next wave of expected hikes in April 2024.

Many providers seem ready to shamelessly go on – with next week’s CPI inflation news set to start the announcements of the latest round of shocking hikes for consumers. Many may have already suffered increases of up to 17 per cent last year.

Which? Has written an open letter to big broadband and mobile providers – BT, EE, O2, PlusNet, Shell Energy Broadband, TalkTalk, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Media and Vodafone – telling them to cancel any unfair and unpredictable price hikes planned for April this year. The letter has been published as a full-page national newspaper ad this morning.

HPE to snap up Juniper for £10 billion

Posted on January 10, 2024 by - News

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is close to sealing a £10 billion deal to buy Juniper Networks, the US firm behind the world’s smartest network.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal could be announced this week unless the talks go pear-shaped.

A spokesHPE indignantly said the company doesn’t comment on gossip or hearsay and Juniper Networks did not say anything either.

Juniper Networks, based in Sunnyvale, California, used to make most of its money from service providers, but has now shifted to selling more to businesses, with its intelligent software and AI gear. It is now the leader in AI-powered networks, with its Juniper Mist platform, which rivals Cisco Meraki and HPE Aruba’s ESP.

EU probes Vole’s AI antics

Posted on January 10, 2024 by - News

The EU has launched a probe into Microsoft’s $13 billion deal with OpenAI, the firm behind the world’s most popular chatbot, ChatGPT.

The Brussels bigwigs want to know if the deal is a sneaky way of merging the two tech giants and creating a monopoly in the booming artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

The EU’s competition boss, Margrethe Vestager, who is jetting off to California this week to grill the top dogs of Apple, Google and OpenAI, said she wants to keep the AI market fair and open.

She said she is asking businesses and experts to spill the beans on any dodgy dealings in the AI sector, and keeping a close eye on any cosy partnerships that could harm competition.

SoftwareOne still stalling on Bain deal.

Posted on January 9, 2024 by - News

SoftwareOne is still talking to Bain Capital after turning down several takeover offers from the private equity giant and fresh gossip that the deal was losing support from the board.

The statement comes after media reports that Bain’s planned buyout was “hitting the brakes”.

SoftwareOne’s statement said: “The board is still focused on driving shareholder value and acting in the best interest of the company and all stakeholders. The board hopes to finish talks and give an update on the outcome of the strategic review to shareholders by the end of the month.”

A report from Bloomberg said Bain Capital’s chase of SoftwareOne had stalled after an offer of nearly £2.7 billion got a “cold response from the software firm’s board”.

Broadcom dumps VMware partners.

Posted on January 9, 2024 by - News

Broadcom has taken 2,000 of VMware’s best customers in a direct-only sales model drive.

It also told partners they would reject any deal they tried registering for a strategic account.

“If you send new opportunity registrations for strategic customer accounts, they will be turned down,” Broadcom told shocked VMware partners.

If a VMware partner’s deal with a strategic account is waiting, it “will be turned down,” Broadcom wrote.

Lloyds gets more Kick.

Posted on January 8, 2024 by - News

Lloyds Banking Group’s private equity arm, LDC, has splashed out a huge investment into Scottish IT firm Kick ICT.

The move will help Kick’s UK growth plans.

The deal also marks a win for BGF, the investor backing Kick ICT since 2021.

Kick is based in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, providing IT, communication, and digital services to over 1,000 customers.

The company, which has more than 170 staff, specialises in Microsoft and Infor business and finance solutions and modern infrastructure, cloud services, and IT support.

Kick ICT, set up in 2015, has grown organically and through buying other companies in the past few years.

Coppers probe fraud in Post Office cases

Posted on January 8, 2024 by - News

The Met Police say they are investigating possible fraud offences linked to fraud prosecutions against hundreds of Post Office staff.

They are checking the money that the Post Office clawed back from the sub-post managers through civil actions.

For those who came in late, hundreds of sub-posties were wrongly convicted of nicking cash from their branches after a dodgy Horizon IT system supplied by Japanese tech giant Fujitsu made them look guilty. To make matters worse, the Royal Mail knew its system was spitting out false data and covered it up.

Bosses who ignored the problems with the software made the workers pay back the shortfalls. Some ended up in jail or out of pocket, while others lost their jobs and homes.

Giacom buys intY

Posted on January 5, 2024 by - News

Cybersecurity star Giacom plans to buy app protection expert intY from US firm ScanSource.

They did not say how much the deal was worth, but Giacom is getting intY’s UK cash, partners and business.

It will also boost Giacom’s cloud power thanks to intY’s link with Microsoft, with the two firms making one of the biggest sellers of licences to the small business UK market.

Giacom boss Terry O’Brien said the move makes Giacom stronger and shows its promise to give top solutions to its partners.