Category: News

Fujitsu is piloting a new Service Provider Programme in the UK and will work with MSPs to offer end users a bespoke  digital transformation services.

The programme offers a foundation of infrastructure and services on which MSPs can build complementary tools to help organisations modernise their technology infrastructure.

Fujitsu said it launched the programme because it can no longer take a “one size fits all” approach to its products. Instead, by working with MSPs, Fujitsu can help build tailored offerings to help businesses address specific needs.

Leigh Schvartz, head of cloud and managed service provider offerings at Fujitsu UK & Ireland, said competitition amoung service providers, competition was fierce and to compete they need to offer their customers a highly personal and differentiated service – and that means our partners need to be getting one themselves.

“The service provider programme is designed to provide the solid infrastructural base on which resellers can accelerate the transition to a service-based model, which has innovative technology at its heart. By taking a co-creation approach and melding our expertise with service providers’, we’re looking to introduce a flexible model that enables our partners to focus on where their customers, and therefore they, are winning.”

Fujitsu explained this service-driven approach will be a “shared-risk” venture with partners, creating services that meet customers’ existing SLAs. The company is now looking for MSPs that want to take part in the pilot. Any that are can contact Fujitsu directly.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has sold almost one third of his shares raising $35.9 million.

Nadella flogged 328,000 of his Microsoft stocks last week, according to a regulatory filing, with the sale equating to 29.6 per cent of the total shares he held.

The stocks were sold at prices ranging between $109.08 and $109.68, averaging out at $109.44.

In a statement Microsoft said: “The stock divestitures made today were for personal financial planning and diversification reasons.

“Satya is committed to the continued success of the company and his holdings significantly exceed the holding requirements set by the Microsoft board of directors.”

Nadella is required to hold 15 times his base salary in shares. His salary in 2017 was $1.45 million, with total compensation exceeding $20 million.

Following the sale, Nadella owns 778,596 Microsoft shares.

The vendor’s valuation has tripled since the CEO took over from predecessor Steve Ballmer in 2014.

German-based reseller Cancom has written a cheque for HPE and Microsoft Azure’s top UK partners, OCSL.

Cancom said the move “represents a determined move towards a substantial UK market presence and the international growth of the business”.

Based in West Sussex, OCSL has more than 200 employees. Its parent company, The Organised Group Limited, hit pre-tax profits of £2.8 million on revenues of £85.9 million in its year to 31 March 2017.

Cancom said that both companies have moved into cloud-based and hybrid IT having started off as resellers of hardware and software.

Cancom president Thomas Volk said the aim is to expand its cloud and managed services business and this requires international structures.

“The close co-operation of both new British members of the Cancom family together with the total group, not only offers numerous opportunities in the UK, such as introducing existing and potential clients to our IT infrastructure management software AHP. It also allows us to build a UK-based hub to serve international clients even better than today and it intensifies Cancom’s transformation towards becoming an international company.”

Ironically Cancom exited the UK market in 2012, although at the time it was just an Apple dealer.

Tim Thrower, founder of OCSL said: “I am delighted that the next stage in OCSL’s evolution is to become the UK-based hub of such a large, successful and forward-thinking company as Cancom. OCSL has been on a journey to become a more services and cloud-centric business. Becoming part of the Cancom family will accelerate that future for us.

“I feel we share a good cultural fit and this bodes well for a very exciting future. I would like to thank OCSL’s employees for all playing their part in making OCSL the chosen partner for Cancom’s future growth in the UK.”

Sitedesk and SRO  have signed a partnership deal making SRO the main distributor of a solution which sprovide IBM Maximo users with powerful 3D BIM and IoT functionality.

SRO is an authorised IBM reseller and Gold-accredited IBM Maximo partner which sells and supports IBM Maximo software around the world. Sitedesk’s collaborative 3D BIM software has been integrated with IBM Maximo to provide users with a new 3D visuals  on desktop and mobile devices.

Tony Lackey, Managing Director of SRO said: “Sitedesk is the fastest and most flexible 3D tool we have come across. The integration of Sitedesk with Maximo provides users with an increasingly important visual context that is currently not available in Maximo.”

Michael McCullen, Chairman of Sitedesk added: “IBM Maximo users now have a quick and intuitive way of accessing asset data directly from a 3D building model. This will lead to improved maintenance planning and quicker impact assessment when IoT alerts are triggered. We are delighted to be working with SRO Solutions to bring this solution to market.”

Using the integrated solution, IBM Maximo users can now navigate through their buildings in 3D when analysing assets, systems and spaces. They can also respond to work orders and view alerts from Internet of Things (IoT) sensors in 3D.

Bluefin and payment service provider Anderson Zaks have formed a partnership to sort out security on payment processing.

The idea is to provide Bluefin’s PCI-validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) security solution to merchants and retailers using Anderson Zaks’ RedCard Payment Processing System.

Anderson Zaks provides a global, integrated payment processing environment for retailers and merchants through the company’s RedCard Payment Gateway, which includes EPOS, Payment Page, Virtual Terminal, UPT and Cloud processing. The company serves over 15,000 sites and provides seamless integration between the merchants and Payment applications, supporting all UK and Irish acquirers as well as many from across continental Europe.

Bluefin allows PCI-validated P2PE on processing platforms and point-of-sale (EPOS) systems using their Decryptx Decryption as a Service (DaaS) product, which lets gateways, applications, and processors to connect directly to Bluefin for P2PE service, it’s claimed.

“With the continual growth in credit and debit cards and transaction volumes, criminals have become aware of the monetary gains available from stealing card details. There have been many high profile data security breaches that have resulted in damage to customer reputation, fines and large financial losses”, said Adina Ahmed, CTO, Anderson Zaks. “We believe that PCI-validated P2PE provides our merchants significant security benefits and we are thrilled to partner with Bluefin to deliver this solution to our customers.”

“Data breaches show no signs of slowing down, both in the U.S. and internationally. In fact, hackers continue to breach the systems of major retailers, enterprises and healthcare organizations to get card data because unfortunately, many organizations are still not encrypting consumers’ credit cards upon entry”, said Greg Cornwell, Head of Global Sales, Bluefin. “This is a global problem and we applaud U.K.-based Anderson Zaks for providing the security and PCI scope reduction of PCI-validated P2PE to users of the RedCard Payment Processing System.”

Ricoh has successfully implemented  Juniper Networks’ high-performing solutions to modernise and simplify the operations of its core networking and security infrastructure that supports approximately 500 locations and 34,000 users, it claims.

Ricoh has several partner companies and branches using the same network. Coupled with the increase in cloud deployments, this led to more operational complexities and a lack of scalability over time, it said. As such, a high-performance network was required to support the rising demand for increased bandwidth and to alleviate Ricoh’s existing network issues while simplifying  operations across three particular areas:

Here’s the list Ricoh rolled out:

Internet connectivity: Due to the increase in network usage, speed slowed significantly and cloud applications could not function at their optimal level. The network had to be managed and operated separately across various locations, leading to increased operational expenses.

Wide Area Network (WAN): As Ricoh’s WAN services were managed externally through multiple service providers, its customers’ requests were not processed quickly enough, leading to delays in response rates. Due to this, streamlining and maintaining consistency of network functions across the entire organization remained a challenge.

Local Area Network (LAN): With the growing demand for access to data centers and the internet, there was a drop in overall speed and connection. To mitigate, Ricoh’s service providers had to troubleshoot issues individually, resulting in management inefficiencies and added costs in coordinating multiple investigations across different locations.
To resolve these challenges, Ricoh set out to reconfigure its entire network infrastructure based on a carefully developed framework that involved the simplicity of network configuration across multiple locations, automation capabilities to reduce operational complexities and operability that aligned with industry standards. After a stringent selection process, Ricoh selected Juniper Networks to undertake the modernization of its network infrastructure.

Juniper’s MX480 5G Universal Routing Platform, SRX5800 Services Gateway, EX9214 Ethernet Switch and the data center fabric switch QFX5100 were deployed to address the various network issues while significantly improving operability, stability and security across the Ricoh Group’s network.

At the core, the MX480 provides “agile infrastructure, pervasive security components and adaptive disaggregated software” that offers the strong programmability required by the solution, whatever that means. Investment protection is also secured with the newly-released Juniper Penta silicon-powered MPC-10E line cards, which provides high-interface density at 1/10/100GbE, enabling 1.5 Tbps throughput per slot and inline data-plane security, eliminating complexity without any performance penalties.

Alongside the implementation of the SRX5800 firewall, Ricoh was able to streamline its network connectivity and secure its network infrastructure through advanced threat detection and prevention. The organization also deployed Junos OS to further automate and simplify its network operations.

To optimise LAN connectivity in approximately 500 locations, Ricoh centralized the group’s network operations across its large-scale branches by utilizing the QFX and EX series switches leveraging Virtual Chassis technology, cutting its infrastructure footprint by 50 percent and energy consumption by 33 percent.

Additionally, with Junos OS being a common operating system, Ricoh was able to reduce its operational workloads through the unified configuration of network devices.

In the next phase of deployment, Ricoh aims to further implement the SRX series to unify, enhance and automate its security strategy through Juniper’s Software-Defined Secure Network (SDSN) framework. All sounds fine, if Ricoh’s claims are to be credited.

Enterprise cloud outfit Nutanix has launched its new channel charter.

Dubbed “Power to the Partner”, the charter, it claims, stands out from traditional channel programmes by looking at partner investments in Nutanix rather than solely on revenue targets.

The charter focuses on giving partners the tools they need to support their customers in adopting next-generation data centre technologies. As a result, partners will gain further avenues to grow their businesses with Nutanix and will be enabled to achieve ongoing, predictable success, said the firm.

The charter has tiered status with partner status based on number of deals closed and depth of Nutanix skills rather than revenue targets. This new structure enables partners of all sizes to achieve the highest partner category.

Tim Jeans, Datacenter & Cloud Practice Manager, Softcat said: “We have seen a fantastic return on investment in our Nutanix resources and activity to date, due to the continually increasing demand by our clients for Nutanix based solutions. We welcome this new channel charter as another sign that Nutanix is investing in committed partners such as ourselves, and look forward to additional growth and success together.”

Rodney Foreman, Vice President of Global Channel Sales, Nutanix said: “We’re thrilled to launch Nutanix’s very first channel charter that was created directly with our partners in mind. As Nutanix’s presence has grown, we see this charter as the stepping stone in our vision to empower our partners with the support and resources they need to reach their maximum potential alongside Nutanix. When our partners are successful, our customers’ businesses can better benefit from simplified and harmonised data centres for all of their cloud needs today and in the future.”