Cloud infrastructure services market soars

Posted on November 1, 2019 by - News

The worldwide cloud infrastructure services market increased by 37 percent  in the third quarter, according to beancounters at Canalys.

As you might expect AWS was at the top, followed by Microsoft Azure then Google Cloud.

Canalys research analyst Daniel Liu said that a lot of customers were using a mixture of providers to house their data and applications the analyst house is arguing that the big cloud providers need to make sure they have a decent network of channel relationships to reach the largest number of customers.

Giacom helps resellers to get server smart

Posted on November 1, 2019 by - News

Giacom, a reseller-only Cloud Services Provider (CSP), has launched its newest product, Cloud Server. Powered by Azure, Cloud Server claims to be a simple out-of-the-box replacement for an on-premises end of life server.

The outfit said that the cloud services market has grown rapidly over recent years and is projected to grow exponentially through to 2022. Yet, the complexity and pay-as-you-go pricing models of Azure can be a steep learning curve for IT companies supporting small businesses. Cloud Server, fits in the market by offering a simple, fixed cost server solution hosted in the cloud.

Computacenter’s business bounces back

Posted on October 31, 2019 by - News

Computacenter has seen its business bouncing back after a challenging first half.

The reseller saw strong trading across the whole group, with revenue and profitability well ahead of its 2018 Q3 year-to-date performance, without taking acquisitions into account.

Computacenter’s Technology Sourcing and product business continued to flourish in the UK, it added.

Avaya denies losing partners

Posted on October 31, 2019 by - News

Avaya has denied that it is losing partners because it lacks a cloud product.

For those who came in late rival, Genesys claimed it was luring away Avaya and Alcatel partners because it has a bulky cloud offering which customers loved.

Avaya maintains it does have cloud options, pointing to the recent UK rollout of its enterprise private cloud offering dubbed ReadyNow. 

ContactEngine scores a gong

Posted on October 31, 2019 by - News

ContactEngine, the conversational AI technology used by large corporations to automate customer communications, together with BT’s Enterprise business, has won a gong in the category of ‘Use of Technology’ at the UK Customer Experience Awards 2019.

The award recognises the success of BT’s ‘Brilliant Installations’ initiative, whereby its Enterprise unit implemented ContactEngine conversations across broadband and landline customer services in order to deliver a ‘brilliant customer experience’.

Hutchinson exits PCM UK

Posted on October 30, 2019 by - News

PCM UK’s managing director Donavan Hutchinson is clearing out his desk after creating a business with sales of over £35 million.

Posting on LinkedIn, Hutchinson (pictured) said he has slung his hook after PCM’s acquisition by US reseller Insight.

“With the recent acquisition and the combined efforts of the two organisations coming together, I am confident that the newly joined companies under the Insight brand will together succeed in their goals and strategy”, he said.

“After working endlessly as a team to build the PCM UK brand, we have accumulated a number of key accolades while building a reputable brand delivering bespoke solutions for our customers and helping them on their digital transformation journey”, he wrote.

Mainframe skills crisis looms

Posted on October 30, 2019 by - News

A sudden wave of retirements has left the mainframe industry suffering from a skills shortage, according to figures compiled by LzLabs

Mainframe migration specialist LZLabs has carried out a global survey to get a clear picture of what is happening at a customer level and discovered that just shy of half of those responding saw the loss of skills to support applications as the main concern. 

Fortinet snaps up enSilo

Posted on October 30, 2019 by - News

Fortinet has completed its acquisition of endpoint security provider enSilo.

The cybersecurity firm will integrate enSIlo’s endpoint detection and response (EDR) technology with its own FortiSIEM product, FortiInsight user entity behaviour analytics (UEBA) features, as well as its FortiNAC network access control offering.

Intel unveils unified Partner Alliance

Posted on October 29, 2019 by - News

Chipzilla has announced details of its new Intel Partner Alliance, which it claims has been designed to enable and empower businesses to connect, and grow.

Launching in the second half of 2020, the Partner Alliance programme will unify the firm’s multiple existing initiatives into a single, integrated platform to help enhance the value, relevance and experience it delivers to partners.

Sharp teams up with BITVU on Screenspace

Posted on October 29, 2019 by - News

Sharp Business Systems UK announced a partnership with BITVU to resell its Screenspace digital signage solution.

Screenspace is a small form factor, Wi-Fi enabled Freedom media player, a CMS built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows content to be easily uploaded, customised and displayed remotely from a computer or the Screenspace App for iOS and Android. Screenspace will be available on all of Sharp’s Professional Display models.

Shift in IT buying behavior

Posted on October 29, 2019 by - News

Research from Arcserve has found a shift in IT buying behaviour and the resulting evolution of UK channel providers to keep up with on-demand environment and prolific threat landscape.

Cloud transformation and cyberattacks have become commonly discussed topics within the IT community as more business leaders push for digital transformation and ransomware soar to epidemic proportions.

Check Point warns channel of ransomware rise

Posted on October 28, 2019 by - News

Israeli security company and maker of firewalls, Check Point, is predicting a rise in the use of ransomware in 2020.

It warns that the ransomware, but will not be the standard type of random attack, with it becoming more targeted.

Writing in its bog Check Point is forecasting more sophisticated ransomware attacks coming next year across the business and the public sector: “Attackers are spending time intelligence-gathering on their victims, to ensure they can inflict maximum disruption, and ransoms are scaled up accordingly.”

Rubrik and NetApp team up

Posted on October 28, 2019 by - News

Cloudy outfits Rubrik and NetApp have announced a merger between their two products.

Rubrik Cloud Data Management’s technology will be integrated with NetApp’s proprietary SnapDiff APIs, creating data services and orchestration product for enterprises. Rubrik and NetApp claim it will provide business continuity via data mobility across the data centre and cloud, decrease time to market for new feature development, increase ROI with smarter data usage, all the while supporting ever-increasing data privacy regulations and compliance.

Agilitas IT Solutions pulls off Greensafe partner accreditation

Posted on October 28, 2019 by - News

Agilitas IT Solutions announced the launch of a new partner accreditation scheme.

Dubbed Greensafe, Agilitas’ secure IT recycling and Workplace Support partner, has signed up as its first accredited partner. More specialist partners are expected to join in the next twelve months.

Greensafe has been selected as Agilitas’ first partner to receive accreditation for their assistance in helping Agilitas to deliver its workplace and ITAD offering.

EBI.AI becomes Google Nest reseller

Posted on October 25, 2019 by - News

Warwick based EBI.AI has been awarded authorised reseller status of Google Nest smart home devices.

EBI.AI’s most recent collaboration is with Get Living, an operator in the UK’s build-to-rent sector and best known for East Village E20, the former London 2012 Olympics Athletes’ Village.

Google Assistant is a new addition to the EBI.AI communication portfolio.