Category: News

Microsoft promises to be good with cloudy promise

Posted on May 24, 2022 by - News

Microsoft has promised to change its licensing practices and overall principles to “level the playing field” for local cloud providers in a bid to see off European anti-trust watchdogs.

Brad Smith, Microsoft president, outlined the changes after the Financial Times pointed to the potential for new antitrust action against the company in Europe. Critics said the company was tying Windows and Office to Azure to fuel its cloud growth.

The changes include the ability for European cloud providers to offer Windows and Office on a hosted basis as part of their own solutions, independent of Microsoft’s cloud platform.

Fujitsu partners with AWS on digital transformation

Posted on May 24, 2022 by - News

Fujitsu is teaming up with AWS to accelerate the “digital transformation” of the finance and retail industries.

Under the move, the Japanese technology giant creates new offerings that are a new part of the FUJITSU Hybrid IT Service which is Fujitsu’s cloud service.

The company says it will use AWS Professional Services to develop and operate new systems as well as modernisation and in-house development of support services for existing systems.

Gelsinger shocked by Broadcom’s VMware plans

Posted on May 24, 2022 by - News

Former VMware CEO [Kicking] Pat Gelsinger said he has mixed feelings about the outfit’s potential merger with Broadcom.

Gelsinger left VMware to take control of the Intel executive drinks cabinet after making VMware what it is today.  He said that he hopes the deal will make VMware a more “compelling, innovative growth story”.

However he said:  “I’m sort of mixed on the current thinking. If it helps VMware be a more compelling, innovative growth story, then it’s good – if it does not, then it’s not good.”

Broadcom is in talks to buy VMware, the latest in a string of software acquisitions for a company that made its early money in semiconductor chips and hardware. Gelsinger who now helms Intel Corp. was speaking in Davos, Switzerland to Bloomberg TV when he was asked about the deal.

More than 9.3 million homes on high fibre gigabyte broadband

Posted on May 23, 2022 by - News

Ofcom’s December 2021 annual report has found that there were more than 19.3 million homes with gigabyte broadband.

This figure was 66 per ent up from 13.7 million (47 percent) since the last update. Much of the large increase was attributed to Virgin Media O2’s December 2021 announcement that it had made its network gigabit-capable.

A third (9.6 million) of all homes can now get full-fibre packages that offer faster and more reliable internet. This is up from the 21 per cent  Ofcom reported in May 2021, and up from 28 percent  in the four months between September 2021 and January 2022, with just under 9.6 million homes now covered.

Ofcom said that the boost was due to deployments by the larger fibre infrastructure operators but supported by a number of smaller providers across the UK serving individual communities and regions.

19 Oracle companies bust $15.4 billion from cloud

Posted on May 23, 2022 by - News

Gartner’s 2022 Magic Quadrant For Oracle Cloud Application Services show that 19 Companies Generate $15.4 billion between them

Big G said that demand for Oracle Cloud application services continues to increase as total annual cloud revenue for the company currently stands at over $11 billion, growing at a double-digit clip year after year.

A big chunk of the cash in Oracle cloud sales growth accruing for many large channel partners including the likes of Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), according to Gartner’s new 2022 Magic Quadrant for Oracle Cloud Application Services, Worldwide.

Just 19 vendors who made Gartner’s Magic Quadrant cleaned up earning $15.4 billion in total revenue from Oracle cloud application services last year, up from $12.5 billion year over year.

Barracuda warns that digital transformation requires better security

Posted on May 23, 2022 by - News

Barracuda president and CEO Hatem Naguib said that his outfit’s moves in the digital transformation industry have been validated over the lat two years.

He said that digital transformation made customers realise that traditional security was not cutting the mustard and they needed a much more elevated level of security. ”

Speaking to the gathered throngs at Barracuda Discover22 Naguib said that the market has “fundamentally changed”.

“Customer’s environments have become far less centralised and far more distributed. Now they have to worry about cloud access, individuals being at home and having an online presence. Nobody buys on-prem software anymore’ and there is a proliferation of SaaS and SASE,” he said.

Arctic Wolf dances with sales teams

Posted on May 20, 2022 by - News

Cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf is aiming to ramp up its sales team in the UK.

For those not in the know, Arctic Wolf launched in EMEA in April 2021. Since then, the company says its partner programme has seen “significant growth”, reaching 35 partners, while experiencing increasing demand for its Security Operations Cloud.

The firm has also sealed partnerships with Formula One’s Oracle Red Bull Racing and Premier League football club Wolverhampton Wanderers, adding to its roster of partnerships with over 30 professional sports teams worldwide.

Exertis sees profits increase

Posted on May 20, 2022 by - News

Exertis’ profits have increased over the course of a year as demand fell.

The distributor has posted its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2022, saying it had revenues of £4.6 billion which was up 3.6 percent increase from the year before. Operating profit was  £81.7 million up 12.8 percent from the previous 12 months.

Exertis said its growth was driven by contributions from acquisitions completed during the year, with strong performance being seen in North America.

The UK business experienced a “significant level of supply constraints and reduced demand for consumer products as the pandemic eased”.

Econocom on UK M&A frenzy

Posted on May 20, 2022 by - News

Econocom is on the brink of closing multiple M&A deals across Europe.

The Euronext-listed reseller, which generated revenues of €2.5 billion in full-year 2021, wants to double its turnover and reach €10 billion in sales by 2030.

The target is part of a new business plan which was formulated last year after several years of transformation for Econocom.

In 2018 the reseller had an annus horribilis and issued a profit warning to investors after recurring operating profits for the first six months of the year plummeted by 43 percent to €34 million which sent its share price into a steep decline.

Cloud printing could be the next big thing

Posted on May 19, 2022 by - News

Quocirca’s Cloud print services report for 2022 claims that the next few years will see a move to cloud printing and print management services.

The report looks at what will happen in the market between now and 2025, with it clear that a shift to the cloud is going to be one of the main developments.

Cloud services were flagged as the top investment area, and the shift to hosted comes at a time when 45 percent of customers have implemented remote print job submission options for hybrid workers.

Customers felt it was often more secure than on-premise options, as well as a way of helping to reach so-called sustainability targets.

Apple gives up on servers

Posted on May 19, 2022 by - News

Fruity and nutty cargo-cult Apple has finally given up on servers and effectively ended its long history of poor networking technology.

MacOS Server pre-dated Mac OS X by a year, launching initially in 1999. One of its main feature was Open Directory, which launched within Mac OS X Panther Server. It was a poor man’s version of Microsoft’s Active Directory and was designed to manage Macs, user accounts, and any settings on Mac-based networks.

It was part of the life of publishers and newspapers which remained Mac based even when common sense suggested they would be better off with something that did not fall asleep on press day or slow to a crawl when a page needed saving.

Microsoft channel boss cleans out his desk

Posted on May 19, 2022 by - Moving People, News

Microsoft’s channel boss Rodney Clark has quit his job of 24 years and is headed for greener pastures.

Clark has worked for Vole for 24 years and took up the role of corporate vice president of global channel sales and channel chief last year.

He is leaving the company to take up a new role as an executive officer at a publicly-traded company that partners with Microsoft.

According to a blog post written by Nick Parker, Microsoft corporate vice president of global partner solutions, the company expects to have a new leader in place by the beginning of its new fiscal year in July.

PC shipments fall due to supply bottlenecks

Posted on May 18, 2022 by - News

PC shipments in Western Europe fell during the first quarter for 2022 following supply bottlenecks and increasing geopolitical tensions.

Beancounters at Canalys found that 15.8 million units of desktops, notebooks and workstations were delivered in first quarter 2022, down three percent on the first quarter 2021.

Despite the fall, Canalys says shipment numbers are still better than they were before the pandemic .

Research analyst Trang Pham said that commercial demand is strong as multiple markets have officially moved toward business-as-usual operations. In fact, nearly 60 percent of devices shipped in Western Europe in Q1 were for commercial use.

Spending on digital transformation about to go mental

Posted on May 18, 2022 by - News

Global spending on the digital transformation (DT) of business will reach $1.8 trillion in 2022 – an increase of 17.6 percent over 2021.

According to a new update to the IDC Worldwide Digital Transformation Spending Guide, DX spending will sustain this pace of growth over the 2022-2026 forecast period with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.6 percent.

IDC senior research manager in customer insights & analysis, Craig Simpson expects to see aggressive DX technology investment growth in 2022 following a minor slowdown during the pandemic.

“As organisations accelerate their pursuit of a digital-first strategy, they are channelling these investments into both internal operations and external direct engagement.  The investments in internal operations are largely focused on improving efficiency and resilience while customer experience transformation has become a DX priority for many companies.”

IDC’s data found that operational investments stand out among the 51 strategic priorities included in the DX Spending Guide. 

Google Cloud offers training

Posted on May 18, 2022 by - News

Google Cloud has announced the initial UK pilot of its new cloud training programme, Project Katalyst, a Google Cloud Academy course specifically targeting underrepresented and underprivileged individuals in the company’s workplace.

Taking place this summer, the Project Katalyst programme has been designed to help solve the industry’s challenge to inclusively increase the pool of available skilled talent in the market and prepare participants for their first role working with Google Cloud Partners.