Category: News

Companies must think twice before paying ransom demands to hackers, according to the head of global CISO at Check Point Software

Deryck Mitchelson commented after it was revealed that the Qilin cyber gang demanded $50 million in ransom to the NHS, targeting health service laboratory partner Synnovis.

The attack, first detected on 3 June, affected several NHS trusts, most prominently Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (including the Royal Brompton and Evelina hospitals) and King’s College NHS Foundation Trust, but also the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, along with GP surgeries, clinics and services in Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, all of which rely on Synnovis services. Read more…

Data breaches remain a significant concern in today’s digital landscape, affecting companies of various sizes and sectors, according to a new report.

Recent statistics from 2023 highlight a substantial increase in such incidents, with over 1,200 data breaches reported by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). This figure marks a 25 per cent rise compared to the previous year.

One particularly alarming trend is the prevalence of ransomware attacks.

In 2023, 75 per cent of organisations experienced at least one ransomware attack. Phishing attacks are similarly pervasive, with 84 per cent of UK businesses encountering at least one phishing attempt within the same period. Despite the growing threat, many companies still need to be prepared. Read more…

Diversity and inclusion body, the Tech Talent Charter (TTC) had announced its closure, with its board of directors voting to dissolve the organisation.

For those not in the know, TTC is a government-supported, industry-led membership group that assists over 700 signatory organisations with networks and resources to drive their diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts.

Since its launch in 2015, TTC has fostered a community of thousands of D&I professionals and over 800 tech employers, representing nearly a quarter of a million tech workers.

Its annual Diversity in Tech reports have compiled and curated thousands of insights and data points, revealing the state of diversity in the UK’s tech sector and equipping organisations to adapt and evolve their approach. Read more…

Cloudy AI-driven tech consultancy Devoteam has acquired Ubertas Consulting, a UK-based AWS consultancy.

Established in 1995, Devoteam focuses on cloud platforms, cyber security, data, and sustainability. It has over 12,000 employees in the EMEA region.

As an AWS Premier Consulting Partner, Devoteam A Cloud has teams in the UK and other regions.

This acquisition, Devoteam’s first related to AWS since 2017 and the first in the UK, aims to bolster its Amazon Cloud services and presence in the UK and Ireland.

Bruno Mota, Group VP of Devoteam A-Cloud, expressed his confidence in the strategic move to enhance their cloud solutions in EMEA, a decision to strengthen their position in the market. Read more…

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan has defended his controversial changes to VMware’s business model claiming that before he bought the company its sales model was chaos.

For those who came in late, after Broadcom bought VMware, made hugely unpopular to its licence scheme, focused on a few large customers and limited its channel.

However, Tan claims VMware’s sales model was complex and conflicting. Following Broadcom’s acquisition, VMware streamlined its sales model by significantly reducing the number of product options (SKUs), decreasing the number of channel partners, and directly managing many top customer accounts.

“Before, we had a wide range of partners, and the biggest deals received the largest discounts. This created a lot of confusion and conflict in the market. Now, customers can buy directly from VMware or through resellers,” explained Tan during Broadcom’s earnings call last week.

Following this change, the number of SKUs has been reduced from 8,000 to just four main products, and the top 2,000 strategic accounts are now managed directly. Read more…

Managed service providers (MSPs) are feeling the heat to master artificial intelligence (AI) and deliver the support their customers are clamouring for.

Barracuda Networks’ latest study, “The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business 2024,” illuminates the hurdles the channel community is currently facing.

On the bright side, there’s an anticipation that recurring revenues will make up 45 per cent of total earnings, a jump from last year’s 35 per cent. It’s also expected that most partners will roll out five new services in 2024, with the top performers zeroing in on security.

This focus on recurring income is telling, signalling a move from one-off projects to more enduring partnerships. Read more…

Following a new pact between Freshwave and Manchester City Council, residents, visitors, and businesses in the centre of Manchester and the surrounding districts will soon benefit from improved mobile connectivity from Virgin Media O2.

Connectivity infrastructure-as-a-service provider Freshwave is set to install over 20 outdoor small cells for Virgin Media O2 in bustling parts of the city, such as outside the Arndale Shopping Centre, Manchester Piccadilly Station, and Piccadilly Gardens.

In densely populated urban centres, the sheer volume of individuals using their mobiles simultaneously can exert immense pressure on the mobile network. Outdoor small cells are designed to address this demand at the street level, easing the load on the broader network and enhancing the mobile service for users.

Typically attached to existing urban fixtures like lampposts, outdoor small cells augment mobile capacity in crowded locales without adding to street-level clutter. They will link to Virgin Media O2’s fibre network, facilitating data transfer to and from the internet. These small cells will boost the 4G signal and are primed for 5G. Read more…

Cloudy FluidOne wants to triple in size over the next five years and has just raised the cash to do so.

The outfit has secured a long-term refinancing deal with Pemberton Asset Management to back the comprehensive refinancing and is offering a dedicated acquisition facility.

This will supply funding for future strategic add-on acquisitions and bolster the channel partner’s intention to purchase several businesses annually.

In March, FluidOne CEO Russell Horton announced that the connected cloud solutions provider wanted to buy four companies annually to reach its target of a £300 million turnover.

This follows a busy 2023; it completed three acquisitions, including Computer and Network Consultants, Project Five, and Highlander Computing. Read more…

Pax8 claims its revamped cloud marketplace has been crafted to revolutionise how MSPs provide solutions to their end customers.

The cloud distributor launched the new marketplace at its Beyond conference in Denver this week, which saw attendance surpass 2,500.

Pax8’s chief product officer, Libby McIlhany, said the outfit had developed this marketplace with one goal: MSP your success.

“We’re giving you the keys to the kingdom of easy-to-use tools and AI insights designed to save you time and accelerate your business’s growth,” she said. Read more…

Oracle has reported a three per cent growth in the fourth quarter year-over-year, elevating revenues to £10.8 billion.

The results also highlighted that cloud revenue (IaaS and SaaS) surged by 20 per cent to £4 billion, driven by a 42 per cent increase in cloud infrastructure (IaaS) revenue.

For the entire fiscal year 2024, Oracle’s total revenue climbed by six per cent to £40 billion, with cloud services and licence support revenue growing by **twelve per cent** to £29.8 billion.

The company attributed this growth to a demand for training large AI language models on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Read more…

Coveo’s 2024 Relevance Report has shown that consumers want their online retail experience to match what they get in-store.

This yearly report, grounded on a survey of 4,000 consumers from the U.K. and the U.S., explores shoppers’ changing expectations, preferences, and obstacles in today’s swiftly evolving retail environment.

The 2024 Relevance Report underscores several critical retail and customer service trends that companies must address to improve their consumer interactions.

One discovery was that 49 per cent of U.K. respondents have encountered issues with customer experience when engaging with businesses. This proportion is even higher among younger generations, with 71 per cent of U.K. Gen Z and Millennials reporting problems, compared to 57 per cent of Gen X and Baby Boomers. Read more…

According to IDC, the public cloud services market in the UK experienced robust growth throughout 2023, maintaining the trajectory set in the first half of the year.

IDC said total revenue reached £669.2 billion in 2023, marking a substantial 19.9 per cent increase compared to 2022.

Revenues for the public cloud services market hit £315.5 billion in the first half of 2023 (H1), a 19.1 per cent jump from the same period in 2022.

These numbers are similar to those gleaned by analysts, Gartner which predicted that global end-user spending on public cloud services will reach £675.4 billion ($675.4bn) by 2024, primarily propelled by artificial intelligence (AI). Read more…

Lemongrass has unveiled its RISE with SAP Advisory offerings, designed to assist customers in migrating workloads to the cloud.

These services include strategic advisory and planning, S/4HANA Readiness Assessments, financial and operational planning tools, migration strategy and road mapping.

Lemongrass co-founder Eamonn O’Neill said the offerings provide clear guidance for enterprise clients navigating the path to SAP S/4HANA. Lemongrass’s transparency helps clients evaluate and analyse options tailored to their unique circumstances.

Lemongrass, already managing over 8,000 SAP servers and 750,000 SAP users, is well-positioned to pitch these services to its significant customer base. The company is part of the SAP PartnerEdge program and holds certifications as a RISE Service partner and RISE SELL Partner, specialising in migrating and modernising customer systems. Read more…

TD SYNNEX has launched its IBM watsonx Gold 100 programme, which aims to recruit 100 new partners and equip them to achieve IBM’s gold-tier partner status.

Gold-tier partners can take advantage of IBM Watson’s opportunities through a partnership of IBM technology and TD SYNNEX value-added capabilities.

The distributor is positioning this partnership as a key pillar of its AI enablement strategy as the channel moves to unleash the technology’s full potential.

According to the TD SYNNEX Direction of Technology report, the number of partners planning to offer AI solutions globally jumped 625 per cent in just one year. Read more…