Category: News

Networking resellers look to spruce up SME wi-fi

Posted on November 26, 2018 by - News

Small and medium businesses are suffering wi-fi issues that have the potential to undermine their customer relationships and deny them the chance to retain and grow their user base, according to a new report from Netgear.

Most SMEs realise they need to offer customers access to decent wi-fi huge numbers but are finding the task too tricky.  More than 90 percent of UK SMEs had some problem with wi-fi. Those issues included poor coverage, dropped connections and problems with speed. But the majority of SMEs quizzed by the networking vendor (82 percent) viewed it as essential to be able to offer a good wi-fi connection, with half needing it for customer retention.

Glasswall gets Microsoft’s Gold ISV Co-Sell status

Posted on November 26, 2018 by - News

Glasswall has obtained Microsoft’s Gold ISV Co-Sell status which means its sales teams will work with Vole on targeted customer opportunities and related account planning activities, in the commercial and government, defence and security sectors.

Glasswall has developed a Deep-File Inspection, Remediation and Sanitisation Technology – d-FIRST – which prevents malware and understanding of organisational risk from file-borne cyber-attacks. It reverses the traditional signature-based security approach by validating ‘known good’ elements of a file which are finite and bounded, regenerating a new identical and safe copy, typically in fractions of a second.

Cisco snaps up Ensoft

Posted on November 23, 2018 by - News

Networking king Cisco has written a cheque for UK outfit Ensoft to add talent and technology to its service provider support.

Ensoft has a £10 million turnover and develops Cisco’s IOS XR features. After the deal, it will become part of the vendor’s Service Provider Networking Group.

Writing in his bog, Rob Salvagno, vice president of corporate business development and head of Cisco’s M&A and venture investment team, said that the purchase fitted in with the ambition to, “simplify service partner networks through automation and programmability”.

Redcentric boss leaves after disappointing first half

Posted on November 23, 2018 by - News

Managed services specialist Redcentric’s CEO has fallen on his sword after a disappointing first half of the year.

Chris Jagusz has resigned from the Board and as Chief Executive with Peter Brotherton, CFO assuming the leadership for now.

What led to that decision were the numbers for the first six months to 30 September, which saw revenues drop by 7.6 percent year on year to £47.5 million and worryingly for an MSP the recurring monthly revenue slipped by 7.4 percent to £41.3 million.

Amazon ‘technical error’ exposes customer data

Posted on November 23, 2018 by - News

Just days before its big “Black Friday” sale, Amazon suffered a breach of its cloud.

The outfit wrote to some users warning that their names and emails had been exposed due to a “technical error.”

The email said that the online bookseller had fixed the problem and users did not have to do anything else.

Dell and Intel have a peek at digital transformation

Posted on November 22, 2018 by - News

Dell and Intel have got together to have a look at what is happening with the mid-market and enterprise space and appear to have opened a Pandora’s box of doom and gloom.

The pair’s Digital Transformation Index shows that that UK firms are aware that things are changing and meeting customer demands is going to become more challenging.  Nearly a fifth of them were scared that their organisations will be left behind.

Black Friday is going to flop

Posted on November 22, 2018 by - News

Consumer tech is not expected to see a Black Friday surge this year, according to market watcher Context.

Its predictions are based on analysis of distribution volumes into retailers and etailers over a six-week period at the start of the fourth quarter.

Adam Simon, global MD at Context, said most vendors prepare for this event in advance by ensuring most of their shipments to retailers and distributors are mostly complete by the end of week 39.

May’s Brexit gets Microsoft’s backing

Posted on November 22, 2018 by - News

Home Secretary Theresa MaySoftware king of the world Microsoft has thrown its considerable weight behind Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Writing in her bog,  Microsoft’s UK managing director Cindy Rose said the deal was in Vole’s interest because it allowed the “free flow” of data in and out of the UK.

“Many of our customers and partners operate businesses that rely on Microsoft’s cloud computing services. These businesses require the frictionless flow of data across borders in order to operate effectively.  We have consistently advocated to the government the need to ensure this data flow continues post-Brexit.”

Microsoft pricing miffs government sector

Posted on November 21, 2018 by - News

Microsoft campusMicrosoft’s price increases have gone down like month old milk left at the back of a fridge with public sector customers and the channel being blamed for not explaining them well enough.

Vole made changes to its pricing structure from the start of last month, with the aim of simplifying things. That meant that there would be an introduction of single prices in some areas and the removal of complicated discount structures in others.

Government asks outsourcers to write their wills

Posted on November 21, 2018 by - News

Outsourcers are drawing up “living wills”, which lay out contingency plans should they die.

The government was caught off-guard by the collapse of construction giant Carillion earlier this year and wants to avoid a repeat of the mess that followed.

Cabinet minister David Lidington said that Capita, Serco and Sopra Steria have volunteered to create protocols if they drop down the loo.

Digital transformation will make SMEs unrecognisable

Posted on November 21, 2018 by - News

A Ricoh Europe report claims that the SME/SMB arena is undergoing massive changes due to digital transformation.

The research found that a quarter of SMEs expect to be selling different products and services in the next five years and are looking for help innovating their businesses now to make sure they can deliver those sorts of changes.

There might be different degrees of commitment to change, but 91 percent of those quizzed by the printer maker accepted that they would be changing products and services to some extent in the next few years.

Most blame retailers for their own insecurities

Posted on November 20, 2018 by - News

More than 75 percent of shoppers feel that retailers are not doing enough to reassure them that they are protected online during busy shopping periods, according to the first in a series of social media polls conducted by Infosecurity Europe 2019.

In the lead up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday later this month and ahead of the Christmas shopping rush, only a quarter of respondents are reassured that retailers are doing enough.

Oracle refugee replaces Greene on Google’s cloud

Posted on November 20, 2018 by - News

Thomas Kurian, former Oracle President of product development and technologist, is going to head Google Cloud from early next year.

The current CEO of Google Cloud Diane Greene will continue through January, working with Mr Kurian to ensure a smooth transition and will remain a Director on the board of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

Kurian worked at Oracle for 22 years but quit over disagreements with Executive Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison over the future course of the company as the Cloud business gets highly competitive.

“Kurian, a respected technologist and executive, will be joining Google Cloud on November 26 and transitioning into the Google Cloud leadership role in early 2019”, Ms Greene said in a statement on Friday.

UK government falling behind on Cyber Crime

Posted on November 20, 2018 by - News

Hacker typing on a laptop

Ministers are not acting with “a meaningful sense of purpose or urgency” in the face of a growing cyber threat to the UK’s critical national infrastructure (CNI), a parliamentary committee has warned.

The joint committee on national security strategy said at a time when states such as Russia were expanding their capability to mount disruptive cyber-attacks, the UK’s level of ministerial oversight was “wholly inadequate”.

It urged Theresa May to appoint a cybersecurity minister in cabinet to take charge of the efforts to build national resilience.

Ciena launches new Ciena Partner Network

Posted on November 19, 2018 by - News

Networking systems outfit Ciena launched a new Ciena Partner Network (CPN), as it moves away from a “one-size fits all” model.

The CPN programme is designed to enable and reward all partner business models from a single platform and allows Ciena partners to access resources to deliver training and come up with joint business plans to react to changes in the market and better work with other reseller partners.

It helps partners to reduce time to market, drive incremental sales, expand technical expertise and deliver measurable outcomes, Ciena said.

Ciena’s Partner Academy certification program also offers the same comprehensive training as the firm’s staff, while the Solution Enable Toolkits (SETs) allow businesses to build specialised Data Center Interconnect (DCI) and Ethernet offerings based on Ciena products.

Sandra Glaser Cheek, vice president of Global Partners and Alliances at Ciena, said that the outfit’s new partner programme complements the adaptive Network approach to help Ciena clients and partners adapt to changing market conditions.

“By moving away from the traditional programme structure to a more collaborative, personalised and empowering approach, our CPN programme delivers unprecedented flexibility and customisation that harnesses the unique value of each partner.”

The Ciena Partner Network will include more than 200 specialised, industry partners, including Anycomm, CenturyLink, Comcast, Kapsch, LightRiver, Windstream and Zayo.