Category: News

WannaCry was the most common crypto Ransomware Attack in 2019

Posted on January 9, 2020 by - News

More than 23 percent of all encryption ransomware attacks during 2019 were based on the WannaCry virus, making it the most ordinary type of hack in the last year.

According to PreciseSecurity.com research, Wannacry caused $4 billion damage globally

The number of ransomware attacks against government agencies, organisations in the healthcare, energy sectors, and education continues to rise. While some simple ransomware may lock the system in a way that is not difficult for a knowledgeable person to reverse, more advanced malware exploits a technique called crypto-viral extortion.

Stanhope becomes Unitas Global new Chief Marketing Officer

Posted on January 9, 2020 by - Moving People, News

Hybrid cloud solution provider Unitas Global appointed Mary Stanhope as its Chief Marketing Officer.

Walker, who heads to Unitas Global from iMarket2, and brings more than two decades of experience in leadership positions in marketing, product, and channels at technology and services companies.

Her previous work has included Global Capacity, Sidera Networks, Atos Origin, and SchlumbergerSema. She also has been named CRN’s Top Women in the Channel, Global Telecom Business’s 50 Women to Watch in Communication, and Fierce Telecom’s Top 10 Wired Women.

Calligo snaps up DC Networks

Posted on January 9, 2020 by - News

Global data optimisation and privacy specialist, Calligo announced it has acquired DC Networks, a Dublin-based IT managed services provider, specialising in IT support, telecommunications and networking and managed Microsoft Azure services.

In the last three years, Calligo has completed six acquisitions – three in Canada, one in Guernsey, one in Luxembourg and now DC Networks.

UK supply chain could be damaged by US/Iran tensions

Posted on January 8, 2020 by - News

The US assassination of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani could have a knock-on effect on the UK IT supply chain.

Jake Olcott, VP of Government Affairs at BitSight and former lawyer at the House Homeland Security Committee, said there was an increasing cyber threat to the UK supply chain as tensions in the Persian Gulf escalate.

Olcott said: “With the current international climate surrounding Iran, the need for British agencies and critical infrastructure operators to remain vigilant is crucial. Organisations need to ensure their basic security hygiene is kept up-to-date through updated software and patching. Organisations need to ensure that risks in their supply chain, which are a huge concern for critical infrastructure are monitored against threat actors.”

Steve Turpie named as DXC senior vice president

Posted on January 8, 2020 by - News

DXC Technology has appointed Steve Turpie as senior vice president and general manager for the company’s region covering UK, Ireland, Israel, the Middle East and Africa.

Turpie reports to DXC President and CEO Mike Salvino. Maruf Majed, who has led the region since DXC’s inception, will retire from the company. He will remain on the DXC senior leadership team to ensure there is a smooth handover.

Silver Peak has new global field operations president

Posted on January 8, 2020 by - News

Silver Peak has appointed Ian Whiting to the role of president, global field operations.

Whiting will lead direct and indirect sales, sales operations and all aspects of the company’s go-to-market strategy for channel and service provider partners. Whiting reports directly to Founder and CEO David Hughes.

Silver Peak was recently recognised for the second consecutive year as a Leader in the Gartner 2019 “Magic Quadrant” for WAN Edge Infrastructure.

Practical Software has new sales head

Posted on January 7, 2020 by - News

London-based Practical Software has appointed a new head of sales.

John Hetherington joined the London-based computer software provider before Christmas after working for ETZ payments as managing director.

“It’s an exciting moment to make a move like this. And I’ve taken it in my stride. The first couple of months have been pretty hectic, and I’ve tried to talk to as many people as possible on a long list of contacts”,  he said.

Xerox gets cash for HP takeover

Posted on January 7, 2020 by - News

Xerox has collected $24 billion to pay for its unsolicited bid to take over printer rival HP.

In a letter to HP’s CEO Enrique Lores, Xerox boss John Visentin confirmed that the vendor has obtained financing to push through a takeover, suggesting that the loan should allay any doubts HP shareholders have over Xerox’s ability to afford the transaction.

Micron supplying tech to Huawei

Posted on January 7, 2020 by - News

US chip manufacturer Micron Technologies has been granted licences to supply some of its products to Huawei providing good news for both.

Micron has been struggling due to a slowing memory market, as well as the ongoing US-China trade disputes while Huawei has been under US pressure for alleged security reasons.

The market has struggled since Washington’s decision to place Huawei, Micron’s largest customer, on an “entity list” in May due to national security concerns – effectively preventing US manufacturers from supplying to it. Huawei has always maintained that its products pose a risk to US security, while a number of US companies have criticised the move due to the impact on their revenue.

Last month, the US began resuming licences to allow businesses to ship to Huawei, with Micron now revealing it has been awarded all those it had requested.

“We applied for, and recently received all requested licenses that enable us to provide support for certain products… as well as qualify new products for Huawei’s mobile and server businesses”, Micron said.

 

Hutchinson creditors might get some cash back

Posted on January 6, 2020 by - News

Defunct reseller Hutchinson creditors have been told they could get some cash back.

For those who came in late, Hutchinson went bust last May, owing £3.6 million to unsecured creditors, including £2 million to trade suppliers.

Arrow was owed £274,000 and Ingram was out of pocket by £617,000.

Administrator KPMG said: “Based on current estimates, we anticipate that unsecured creditors should receive a dividend.

AMD parties like it’s 1999

Posted on January 6, 2020 by - News

Chip challenger AMD has seen its share price reach an all-time high, beating a record it set at the height of the dotcom era in 2000.

Its shares climbing over seven per cent and are now worth $49.10.

AMD was the best-performing S&P 500 company last year, according to Bloomberg, with its valuation climbing over 150 percent.

The growth started around the beginning of 2016, with the vendor’s share price climbing over 2000 per cent since.

Global AI Storage could be a money spinner

Posted on January 6, 2020 by - News

The global AI-powered storage market has been tipped to grow by 27.1 percent by 2024, according to a new report by ResearchAndMarket.

The firm’s analysts think a steady rise in data volumes drives organisations to refresh their storage architecture.

Apparently, the market will expand from 10.4 billion in 2019 to 34.5 billion in five years’ time, thanks to the resulting increase in adoption of cloud-based services, as well as AI in HPC data centres.

The report claims this will present numerous opportunities for the market, along with several challenges.

VMWare completes Pivotal acquisition

Posted on December 31, 2019 by - News

VMware has completed its acquisition of Pivotal Software in a move that adds Pivotal’s cloud application platform and development tools to VMware’s technology portfolio.

VMware completed the acquisition, which carries a $2.7 billion price tag.

VMware CEO Pat (kicking) Gelsinger said in the statement that the combination of VMware and Pivotal is “poised to be the leading enabler of Kubernetes with a deep understanding of both operators and developers”.Gelsinger said that Ray O’Farrell, previously VMware’s CTO, would lead VMware’s new Modern Applications Platform business unit, which will include the Pivotal and VMware cloud-native applications teams. As announced at VMware’s VMworld conference in August, O’Farrell will serve as the business unit’s general manager and retain his executive vice president rank.

Allvotec snaps up ISG Technology

Posted on December 30, 2019 by - News

Allvotec has written a cheque for networking and physical infrastructure provider ISG Technology.

The move expands the partner-only IT service provider’s operations, bolstering its networking, Wi-Fi and physical infrastructure capabilities, while also adding ISG’s experience and expertise to the business.

Launched in June 2019 as a rebranding of Daisy Partner Services, Allvotec has positioned itself as a partner-exclusive provider with broad experience across public and private sectors.

Capita launches consulting arm

Posted on December 30, 2019 by - News

KR9984 Milan, Italy – August 10, 2017: Capita
logo on the website homepage.

Troubled outsourcing giant Capita is launching a consulting arm with the imaginative title Capita consulting.

The outfit is trying to paddle its way upstream with its hefty debt burden and perception issues.

The new division has 30 partner-level consultants and 270 analytical and technical consultants; this will grow to 450 consultants in total by the end of next year.

CEO Jon Lewis said: “Our new consulting business will challenge the established companies in this market, by offering practical, hands-on expertise drawn from 30 years of designing, building and running the processes of hundreds of organisations.”