Category: News

Exclusive sales on the rise

Posted on November 9, 2022 by - News

A year after its IPO, Exclusive Networks saw its third quarter gross sales up by 42 percent to €1,127 million.

The company’s Americas Region grew by 66 percent, overtaking APAC for the first time and its cloud-based sales reached  €1 billion annualised run rate.  Exclusive upgraded its outlook in September and it looks like its 2022 prediction will hold firm.

Jesper Trolle, Chief Executive Officer, said: “A year on from our successful IPO, I am delighted to report another very solid quarterly performance. Our strong momentum since becoming a public company continues, with Q3 Gross Sales growing by 42 percent compared to the same period last year.

“This is down to the hard work and commitment of our talented teams around the globe who continue to leverage our unique position and influence within the cyber ecosystem to capitalise on strong cybersecurity market demand.”

Christmas business likely to be low

Posted on November 8, 2022 by - News

Any hope that Christmas sales might boost retail business are likely to be dashed, according to a new report from Barclaycard.

Barclaycard said 48 percent of people it surveyed plan to spend less this Christmas, with 59 percent intending to buy less generous gifts and 42 percent cutting back on socialising.

The British Retail Consortium said spending at major stores in October was 1.6 percent higher than a year earlier, slowing from 2.2 percent in September and representing a big fall in the volume of purchases once inflation was taken into account.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Christmas will come later than last year for many and there may be more gloom than glitter as families focus on making ends meet, particularly as mortgage payments rise.”

Telefónica Tech does well

Posted on November 8, 2022 by - News

Telefónica Tech saw a 69 percent annual leap in its third-quarter revenues.

The cybersecurity, cloud, IoT and big data specialist generated €386 million in the three months to 30 September 2022, bringing its year-to-date total to €1.02 billion. The wider Telefónica business saw revenues rise 11 percent to €10.3 billion.

Telefónica Tech counts the UK as one of four key investment territories alongside Spain, Germany and Brazil.

Contactless mobile payments are growing, says Juniper

Posted on November 8, 2022 by - News

Contactless mobile payment users will reach a billion globally by 2024 according to Juniper Research.

This is an increase from 782 million in 2022, representing a growth of 60 percent over that time.

The report identified increased investment in contactless acceptance infrastructure, especially across emerging regions, as key to driving growth, through which over 200 million new contactless payment users will be added to the market by 2024.

The research predicts that increasing consumer demand for convenient and frictionless payment methods is also accelerating this growth, as consumers only require a smartphone or NFC-enabled device to use contactless payments, thus eliminating the need to carry multiple payment cards.

Node4 snaps up Tisski

Posted on November 7, 2022 by - News

Node4 has written a cheque for the independent Microsoft Business applications partner Tisski.

The deal is part of a cunning plan to strengthen Node4’s ability to deliver Microsoft solutions by adding Microsoft Dynamics customer experience and relationship management.

Established in 2011, Tisski is a Microsoft Gold Partner and Cloud Solutions Provider and works primarily with public sector organisations, including the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Transport. 

Exchange rates carpet bomb Insight EMEA performance

Posted on November 7, 2022 by - News

Exchange rates have had an effect on Insight performance in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

While the company saw higher levels of net sales in both North America (up four percent) and APAC (19 percent), EMEA was flat.  Had fluctuating exchange rates not been a problem EMEA figures would have been a respectable 16 percent.

Gross profit in EMEA was also down by seven per cent year on year to $51.8 million compared to a 12 percent increase in North America and 13 per cent in APAC for the three months ended 30 September.

If fluctuating exchange rates had been taken out of the equation, consolidated gross profit would have been 11 percent and consolidated earnings from operations would have risen by ten per cent.

11:11 Systems completes SAS take over

Posted on November 7, 2022 by - News

11:11 Systems has completed the sale of Sungard Availability Services’ (SAS – no relation) Recovery Services business and its Cloud and Managed Services (CMS) business.

Once the integration is complete, the acquired brands will operate as 11:11 Systems.

11:11 CEO, Brett Diamond said: “We had the opportunity to bring together expertise, solutions and services from leading companies, including these two Sungard AS businesses, to form the foundation of 11:11 Systems.”

Oracle tells 200 workers to get off of its cloud

Posted on November 4, 2022 by - News

Oracle has laid off more than 200 employees from its cloud unit.

The cuts occurred this week and affected Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The cuts follow other redundancies in Oracle’s North America cloud and technology unit.

The affected roles include ones working on OCI object storage, operations and support and engineering architecture.

The news comes months after Oracle completed its acquisition of healthcare systems vendor Cerner. Oracle’s plans to dominate electronic healthcare systems with its new subsidiary.

Oracle reported its most recent quarterly earnings in September, avoiding the heightened cloud budget concerns voiced by cloud vendor giants Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google Cloud in its October earnings reports.

MSPs fear tough competition

Posted on November 4, 2022 by - News

The latest Datto report into the state of MSPs has found that they are very worried about competition.

MSPs are seeing signs and portents about profitability and revenues that vex those with channel partners.

All this fear is countered by the fact that MSPs also think it is a great time to be an MSP, the report said.

Top areas where MSPs had invested included cloud-based infrastructure and management, office productivity software, and business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR).

There were signs that demand for break-fix was also increasing as customers looked to partners as a source of help to make existing technology work, rather than opting for a fresh vendor.

WalkMe joins G-Cloud

Posted on November 4, 2022 by - News

WalkMe has joined  the G-Cloud Digital Marketplace by the Crown Commercial Service of the UK government.

This means that WalkMe is now a part of the G-Cloud 13 initiative, a centraliaed hub for the streamlined procurement of cloud-related IT services and technologies by public sector organizations such as central and local governments, non-profit organisations, education, defence and emergency and health services.

Noname Security announces new channel plans

Posted on November 3, 2022 by - News

Noname Security has lifted the kimono on its EMEA channel strategy.

The company thinks that demand for API security solutions is accelerating throughout EMEA as businesses continue to transition to public cloud and are increasingly adopting cloud-native development strategies.

High-profile API breaches have underlined the critical nature of API security and the need for advanced solutions such as the Noname API Security Platform that accelerate digital transformation while addressing API security risks and vulnerabilities, the company said.

Cisco shows off lighter-weight specialisations

Posted on November 3, 2022 by - News

Cisco has been showing off a new pack of “lighter-weight specialisations” designed to match customers’ changing buying habits.

The networking king claims the new products will enhance partners’ ability to deliver more comprehensive solutions and help its channel to battle the ongoing backlog of business.

Cisco said that it began rolling out the new solution specialisations in September and noted that cross-architectural solutions were in high demand, particularly among cross architects.

Lumen sells EMEA business to Colt

Posted on November 3, 2022 by - News

Lumen and Colt Technology have entered into an exclusive arrangement for the proposed sale of Lumen’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business to Colt for $1.8 billion.

The envisaged transaction involves Lumen flogging its EMEA business, including its terrestrial and subsea networks, data centres and network equipment to London-headquartered Colt.

When the dust has settled Lumen will invest in core businesses that are expected to drive long-term, profitable growth.

Lumen President and CEO Jeff Storey, said: “This transaction would enhance our focus so we can invest more efficiently in our most strategic opportunities – our key Enterprise and Quantum Fiber initiatives – and partner with regional leaders like Colt in Europe and Cirion in Latin America to continue serving our multinational enterprise customers.”

Highgate moves to four day working week

Posted on November 2, 2022 by - News

Channel outfit Highgate IT has made its four-day working week trial permanent.

The company trialled the idea in April and has decided to make it a permanent feature after a successful six months.

IT found that service levels remained consistent, productivity increased and targets were hit or over-achieved.

Highgate managing director Stuart Marginson said that companies needed to find a balance between the wellbeing of employees and the success.

“We wanted to support our employees and ensure the right resource was available across the business. By not doing so, we risked overloading our employees, which could hurt their well-being and undo the positives that the four-day week brings.

IT industry no longer attractive for kids of today

Posted on November 2, 2022 by - News

CompTIA’s CEO Todd Thibodeaux has warned that the IT industry is no longer attractive to the kids of today.

He noted that the industry is only the fifth most desirable career globally, coming in behind sales, hospitality, healthcare and general business roles.

Speaking to the gathered throngs at the organisation’s 2022 EMEA Member and Partner Conference in London Thibodeaux said that there were about 10 million working age people out there looking for new job opportunities.

However, they were spurning the IT industry as if it were a rabid dog. They believe a tech career takes longer to train for, is harder to understand and is more expensive to learn than other more desirable careers.