Cloud Distribution signs A10

Posted on January 30, 2014 by - News

Adam Davison, Cloud DistributionValue added distributor Cloud Distribution said it has signed up A10 Networks.

A10 produces high performance products for accelerating, optimising and securing apps cost effectively.

Adam Davison, director at Cloud Distribution said that the Application Delivery Controller market has gone through a shake up after Cisco discontinued its ACE product.

And, he added, a number of enterprise customers need to refresh existing IT products that have now reached the end of their lives and have discontinued support.

“The recent addition of A10’s dedicated DDoS offering is an added bonus for our partners because it broadens the market opportunity with an enlarged portfolion of products,” he said.

According to Gartner figures, the Application Delivery Controller market and will doubtle to be worth $2.9 billion in the next few years.

Ultraportables hold notebook hotspot

Posted on January 29, 2014 by - News

framedwindowsA report from ABI Research said that of the 22.5 million notebook shipments in 2013, the ultra portable segment held 12.3 percent of the market.

Selling prices worldwide averaged between $940 to $1,540 but the higher end represented the majority of the ultra portables sold.

Most of these machines use the Windows 8 OS, which “suffered fits and starts during 2013”, largely because of usability problems and “poor first impresions”.

ABI believes that many people and organisations are still waiting for hiccups in the OS to be sorted out.  And as tablet prices fall, many are testing the water with the slate form factor.

LTE mobile broadband will soon become a key differentiator as it reaches critical mass.

Daisy holds industry summit

Posted on January 29, 2014 by - Events, News

DaisyThe Daisy Group said it has set a date for an industry summit with ubiquity as its topic.

Dubbed #DaisyWired2014, and to be held at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire on the 7th of May, the event will have as guests and speakers John Cridland, director general of the CBI, futurologist Tom Cheesewright and senior Daisy executives Nathan Marke and Matthew Riley.

Speakers will explore how technology everywhere will affect the future of British business and how companies should prepare themselves to maximise its potential.

Last year, at a similar event, over 100 companies attended. The programme includes speeches, presentations, workshops and debates.

A billion smartphones ship

Posted on January 28, 2014 by - News, Products

threeiphonesIDC said that a billion smartphones shipped worldwide.

There are over seven billion humans on the planet.

IDC said that that vendors sold 1,004.2 million smartphones – a rise of 38.4 percent from 2012 – which equates to 725.3 million units in 2012.

And smartphones accounted for 55.1 percent of all mobile phone shipments in 2013 – a rise from the 41.7 percent smartphone share in 2012.

Samsung was the market leader, with Apple, Huawei, Lenovo and LG occupying the top five vendors.

Samsung shipped 313.9 million units in 2013, Apple 153.4 million, Huawei 48.8 million, LG 47.7 million and Lenovo 45.5 million.

“Others” exceeded Samsung by shipping 394.9 million units during 2013.

UK plc shows signs of growth

Posted on January 28, 2014 by - News

ukflagAfter a dreadful dose of the recession clap, it appears the UK economy is showing signs of growth.

It’s growth, but not much growth, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

In the fourth quarter of 2013 the economy grew by 0.7 percent. GDP is growing at 1.9 percent and that is the best UK plc has seen since 2007.

Industrial production fell, and the construction industry fell, too, during the fourth quarter. The other vital signs are a fall in unemployment, while inflation is wobbling along at the Bank of England’s targeted rate of two percent.

Samsung trims its notebook sails

Posted on January 27, 2014 by - News

Samsung HQ in CaliforniaIn further evidence that the market for X86 notebooks is on the wane, it appears that Korean giant Samsung has decided to cut down manufacturing the beasts.

According to Digitimes, it will only ship seven million notebooks during this year – that’s a drop of over 40 percent compared to 2013.

The wire said that Samsung wanted to ship 17 million notebooks last year but only managed to sell 12 million units.

Further, it has no plans to launch new notebooks in 2015, unless they are Chromebooks, Digitimes claimed.

Samsung was unavailable for comment.  Last week the giant released results that were slightly dented by a fall in demand for its range of smartphones.

ChannelCloud gets cloud cert

Posted on January 27, 2014 by - News

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeThe Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) has a independent certification partner called the APM Group.  And CIF said that ChannelCloud UK has achieved certification from the APM Group for the third time.

ChannelCloud was launched in the UK and Ireland three years ago  and with its partners sells integrated cloud offerings – its goal is to streamline IT and cut costs.

The cloud service provider (CSP) joined CIF in 2011.

Paul Byrne, ChannelCloud’s UK and Ireland CEO, said that when it launched in the UK in 2011 it couldn’t trade on its 10 year brand equity but the CIF code of practice allowed it to get independent validation for its services and make more sales in the UK market.

Tablet sales soared in last quarter

Posted on January 24, 2014 by - News

ipad 3Rather as expected, global tablet shipments in the fourth quarter of 2013 showed a 29.8 percent rise compared to the same quarter a year before.

That’s according to the research wing of Digitimes, which thinks 78.45 million units shipped during the period.

But the research doesn’t spell particularly good news for Apple.  It hogs 29.7 percent of shipments, other vendors account for 36.6 percent, while white box units represent 33.8 percent of the market.

According to Digitimes Research, the Android OS represent 51.2 percent of shipments, Apple’s iOS 44.9 percent and Microsoft Windows based tablets a trifling 3.9 percent.

Breaking the market share out, the research showed Apple at 29.7 percent, Samsung 17.4 percent, Amazon 5.4 percent, Lenovo 4.2 percent.  Acer, Dell and HP trailed with market shares of one percent or below.

Samsung sees profit dent

Posted on January 24, 2014 by - News

Samsung rules the roostGiant chaebol Samsung said its profit fell in the quarter between October and December.

Although it delivered net profit of £4 billion, it faces competition on its successful mobile phone francise.

In addition, it was also hit by currency movements and paid out a big bonus to its employees to celebrate 20 years of its glorious chairman’s hand on the tiller.

Mobile phone revenues  fell by 18 percent compared to the previous quarter in 2013.

It warned that competition on the mobile phone front would get tougher in 2014 but of course it is still a big player in the game.

Daisy provides Blackberry fizz

Posted on January 21, 2014 by - Events, News

DaisyDaisy Distribution is teaming up with BlackBerry by offering a partner incentive.

Daisy’s registered partners need to accumulate points – earned by selling Blackberry10s or BES10.2 CALs.

If partners tip up at its Evolving Solutions event, they’ll get a £50 voucher which can be used to close the fist sale.

BB10s are worth two points while BES10.2 CALs notch up five.  When they get to a minimum of 50 points, the partners can cash in. And if they clock up more than 300 points during the 1st of February to the 3rd of April, they can win up to £1,000.

Evolving Solutions kicks off at Whittlebury Hall & Spa on the 23rd of January.

Big Brother is worth more money

Posted on January 20, 2014 by - News

orwellplaqueCCTV equipment is set to grow by over 12 percent during 2014.

That’s according to report from IHS, which said that revenues in 2014 for video surveillance equipment will be worth $15.9 billion, compared to $14.1 billion in 2013.

Niall Jenkins, a research manager at IHS said 2014 will show strong demand for fixed dome and 180/360  degree network camera products.

There are other trends afoot –including police forces need to manage crowdsourced video surveillance data.  2014 will be an important year for thermal camera technology, while there will also be more emphasis on audio capabilities.

Acer turns in big loss

Posted on January 20, 2014 by - News

acer-w3Taiwanese PC maker Acer said that it lost $274 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.

That includes a chunk of money set aside to pay for depreciated stock as well as a provision of money to lay off seven percent of its staff worldwide. Executives will have to endure a 30 percent reduction in their salaries from now on.

Acer has brought in retired founder Stan Shih in a bid to turn the company around – its sales fell by 16.2 percent in 2013 compared to the year before.

Most of its woes are caused by the decline in PC sales, and it appears from the stock write-off that applies to Windows based touch notebooks.

High street sales rose in December

Posted on January 17, 2014 by - News

highstreetThe UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) said that sales in shops rose by 5.3 percent in December 2013 compared to the same period in 2012.

And, according to ONS, small shops did better than the megachains, rising by eight percent compared to 2.6 percent.

Growth in online sales now represents 12 percent of the pie and it’s thought that some of the growth was because shops frantically discounted in December.  That’s not necessarily a good thing, of course.

As we reported earlier this month, sales were mixed from the big boys – M&S and Debenhams didn’t do that brilliantly but John Lewis surged ahead.

Intel fails to shine

Posted on January 17, 2014 by - News

Brian KrzanichDespite getting swept up in hype over the internet of thongs, Intel’s predictions for 2014 are unlikely to bring much succour to its shareholders.

Reporting its fourth quarter results last night, its net profit rose 6.4 percent for the period ending in December but revenues only grew 2.6 percent.  Mind you, it still turned in a gross profit of 61 percent, which is no peanuts by any corporation’s standards.

CEO Brian Krzanich claimed the results were solid and the PC market is stabilising.

But its lucrative server market appears to be suffering with only a  one percent rise in its unit sales.  Krzanich said the firm had overestimated recovery in the corporate sector.

Intel is predicting a “flat” 2014 but Krzanich hopes that smartphone and tablet sales will pick up this year.  Both Intel and Microsoft have been outflanked by a change in habits from customers who prefer to swipe immediately rather than wait a good while for Intel-Microsoft tablets to boot up.

Smartphone shoppers smarter than average shopper

Posted on January 17, 2014 by - News

Amazon logoResearch from IDC suggests that your average smartphone shopper is smarter than your average bear.

And smartphones are turning out to be a bit of a nightmare for your average high street shop.

IDC analysed app and mobile of over 10,000 smartphone users during the holiday season.

One in three of the people IDC surveyed said they bought more online than from bricks and mortar outfits in the season, compared to the same period the year before.

Amazon did particularly well out of the trend.

Of those that were surveyed, 69 percent believed that smartphones were critical tools when you’re out shopping.  And 70 percent said they’d use their smartphones more in the future.

Five out of 10 people check reviews from their smartphones and shoppers tend to trust social networks for views.

IDC’s results were born out by Dan Wagner, founder and CEO of Powa Technologies. He said: “The traditional stores really need to up their game to compete in the new shopping paradigm that we are entering. Customer engagement is the key to survival in 2014, at present customers who walk through the doors of high street shops are unknown to them.

“This needs to change fast, customer engagement holds the critical path to growth in fierce market conditions. It is vital for retailers to know the buying behaviour of the person who has walked through the door: are they a loyal customer? What are they interested in? Online retailers have all this information and utilise it to engage their customers very effectively as the sales figures have born out.”