Tesco profits dented

Posted on October 2, 2013 by - News

Tesco HudlMegagrocer Tesco said it saw a 23.5 percent slump in its profits for the first half of its financial year to the end of August.

Its non-UK businesses saw bigger profit drops – European profits fell by over two thirds it said.

Profit margins fell from 5.4 percent to 4.9 percent but the sheer size of Tesco saw a £1.6 billion profit.

Philip Clarke, Tesco’s CEO, claimed that performance in the UK was stronger in the half, especially in its online food sales business.

He said: “The challenging retail environment in Europe has continued to affect the performance and profitability of our business there.”

Tesco recently released its low price Hudl tablet (pictured).

Microsoft has cunning plan to sell Surface tablets to businesses

Posted on October 2, 2013 by - News, Products

surface-pro-2Microsoft’s Surface tablets failed to gain much traction in both the consumer and enterprise space, but now Redmond hopes to change a thing or two with the second generation, especially when it comes to businesses.

The original Surface RT filed to impress business users, while the Surface Pro which was supposed to do exactly that didn’t do much better, either. The new generation has vastly superior hardware, but that’s not enough in the consumer space. Windows RT is practically on life support and the Surface 2 is the only product based on Redmond’s tablet OS. The Surface Pro 2 is a bit better, with a snappy Haswell chip, backed by up to 8GB of RAM and 512GB of solid-state storage, it is pretty much the best Windows 8.1 tablet money can buy – and you will need quite a bit of money, since it doesn’t come cheap.

So what will be different this time around? Surface Commercial director Cyril Belikoff told CITEworld.com that the RT-based Surface 2 is actually getting more and more love from big corporate customers. Most companies have not deployed tablets on a large scale yet, hence they are willing to take a look at Microsoft’s offer. Those that already use iOS or Android tablets probably won’t make this leap of faith.

As for the Surface Pro 2, Microsoft is now marketing it as a laptop replacement. However, Microsoft is not offering any incentives to partners to sell Surface Pros rather than other Windows 8 laptops or tablets. Belikoff reckons business will realise the advantage of replacing some laptops and boxes with Surface tablets, as it combines the advantages of a proper PC with the portability of a tablet.

Asked why Microsoft didn’t make more of a push towards corporate with the first generation, Belikoff didn’t exactly have an answer. He merely said the first Surface RT was designed as a “personal device” and that it is getting business friendly only with RT 8.1.

That seems to be the whole point. The original Surface RT wasn’t designed with businesses in mind, but at the same time it flopped in the consumer market, prompting other vendors to drop Windows RT altogether. So what exactly was it designed for in the first place?

IBM buys into Irish Big Data

Posted on October 1, 2013 by - News, Products

IBM logoAmerican behemoth IBM said it has bought Dublin based company the Now Factory but didn’t say how much it paid for it.

The privately held firm makes analytics software targeted at communication service providers (CSPs).

IBM said that the software complements its own range of products – IBM Mobile First. These products are intended to help organisations analyse mobile device usage.

The Now Factory’s stuff analyses large quantities of business data and networks data, and that provides better management of outages.

IBM claims that people create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data a day, whether its healthcare, social media, climactic information and the rest.

Big Blue wants to position itself as the leader in the Big Data field. The buy will be completed in the fourth quarter, and the company borged into  the IBM mother ship.

HP rejigs certifications again

Posted on October 1, 2013 by - News

HPHP has made some updates to its PartnerOne programme which it promises will make doing business with the company “easier” and “more predictable”.

There’s a range of specialisations in new areas, as well as more rebates to go along with its compensation model, better partner portal navigation, role based certs, and “a consistent membership structure”.

New specialisations include platinum for software and converged infrastructure, gold for cloud builder, Vertica, ServiceOne Enterprise, and ServiceOne Printing and Computing, while silver certs include Autonomy, Vertica, ServiceOne Enterprise, and Workstations in Printing & Personal Systems for EMEA.

HP insists that racking up ExpertOne certified sales will make partners more likely to close further deals. The company points out it slashed technical certifications by half and put together role based certs in their place, leading to less time out of the office for the courses.

Partners can now take a gander at rebate rates at every PartnerOne level on the partner portal, building on the compensation model introduced in June this year.

Other announcements include HP’s Cloud Partner Solution Navigator, to check up on details of partner specialities, and listing them for the customer to pick, particularly with cloud migration. Top partners will be promoted through an HP marketing campaign, which are to be listed by membership level on HP’s Global Partner Locator.

Lenovo “at crossroads” in servers

Posted on September 30, 2013 by - News

lenovo_hqA report from Patrick Moorhead’s Moor Insights & Strategy has asserted that, although the server market is dominated by Dell, HP and IBM at present, Lenovo is well positioned to break out of the “other” category and start making a serious dent in market share.

Players like Cisco and Fujitsu, 4th and 5th in the server market respectively, could even be overtaken by Lenovo in the near future. But it has some hurdles to leap and if it is to do so, Lenovo will have to prioritise servers.

Looking at Lenovo’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT), it’s clear the company can compete on price and has a robust supply chain behind it. The company is leading in the growing China market, performing well with SMBs, and there remains a perceived tie with IBM when Big Blue sold off a chunk of its hardware.

However, Lenovo doesn’t offer cloud services or a complete product line outside of its home turf and is somewhat lacking on the ineternational enterprise stage. It has no small core direction, according to Moor Insights, a weak storage offering, and no apparent network switch or fabric offering.

Moor Insights & Strategy believes Lenovo will have the opportunity, although not without challenges, to pick up IBM’s x86 server business, which could address some of the above concerns. There is also a window for Lenovo to expand its SMB offerings within EMEA, particularly western Europe, where small to medium businesses are highly concentrated.

If Lenovo decided to buy IBM’s x86 business, Moor thinks it’s likely it’d go for the whole lot, while IBM could minimise damage to its own bottom line by maintaining blade IP, which it could then license to Lenovo. An acquisition would propel Lenovo to #3 in the server charts, way ahead of Fujitsu and Cisco, but the buy would have to be twinned with serious efforts to maintain previous IBM customers to prevent seduction over to rivals like HP or Dell.

Moor Insights suggests Lenovo focus on the cloud, where it is underrepresented, as well as building a portfolio it can extend to the large business market.  It must also underline its “message” – although it’s understood Lenovo performs well in client devices, the message is “not translating in the server market,” according to Moor. Lenovo needs to reinforce its position to potential enterprise customers.

Lenovo, the report says, is “at an interesting crossroads in the server market”. While there is ample opportunity for the company to really cement its position and overtake some of the competition, it will need to invest heavily.

“Lenovo has an opportunity to break out of its position and quickly move up in the market, as well it remains a company that could disrupt the market the way that Dell did years ago. But in order to do that, it needs to get into the market in a serious way,” the report concludes.

HP announces open SDN app store

Posted on September 30, 2013 by - News

HPHP has announced what it calls the first enterprise class software-defined networking (SDN) open ecosystem, with the HP SDN Developer Kit (SDK) and the HP SDN App Store.

HP boasts the emergence of SDN should do away with fiddling around with legacy network gear and epic customisation projects, instead automating network operations. But an open SDN ecosystem, HP argues, will encourage collobration and innovation to improve the technology, compared to closed, proprietary SDN.

The HP SDN dev kit is up for grabs in November this year, and includes all the necessary stuff for building SDN apps. HP hopes this will bolster its position in the market as well as complement support services. On the app store, customers can browse, search, buy and download SDN apps onto their virtual application networks SDN controller.

HP partners and indie software developers will be able to develop, simulate and validate enterprise level SDN apps to then sell on HP’s app store. Developers will have access to API documentation, developer guides and sample code, as well as the ability to test app functionality and interoperability that can simulate user conditions, using the SDN sim suite and HP SDN Virtual Lab.

Partners registered for HP SDN developer kit include Citrix, F5, Infoblox, Intel, Microsoft, Mitel, Riverbed, Shoretel, Samsung, SAP, Tech Mahindra, VMware, Websense, and more.

The company wheeled out IDC network infrastructure veep Rohit Mehra, who pointed out it will be the apps that will bring SDN technology to the forefront of mainstream networking.

“The catch 22 is that to innovate through applications requires a large investment in infrastructure to develope, which becomes prohibitive,” Mehra said. “The advent of an SDN app store and developer kit makes this an accessible alternative for developers”.

Clearly there is value for HP, too, which has a wide range of products and software that fit in with SDN. In addition, the company added OpenFlow support to 10 new routers in HP FlexNetwork.

SDN certification will be available December 2013, while the SDN app store should be ready in the first half of 2014, along with apps services and support, and services and support for HP OpenFlow. Developer support is available in November this year.

As part of the HP ExpertOne program, those interested in learning more can sign up to the cheerily named “SDN Learning Journey” course.

Senior veep and GM for networking at HP, Bethany Mayer, said the networking industry should leap on the disruptions offered by SDN.

“HP has created the industry’s most comprehensive SDN product portfolio as well as an open SDN ecosystem, which offers an environment for enterprises and partners to rapidly tune the network to their business and application needs,” Mayer said.

Brands eager to adopt ‘responsive design’ ads

Posted on September 30, 2013 by - News

tesco-hudl-tabletOne in ten of the UK’s top spending advertisers have built websites that automatically bring up content depending on the device of the end user – otherwise called responsive design.

If a user clicks on a website through a tablet, for example, the ad content will be designed specificallu for that platform, and likewise with a PC, laptop or smartphone. Research from the UK’s Internet Advertising Bureau indicates the leading 11 adopters of responsive design are Peugeot, Nissan, Direct Line, Go Compare, Sainsbury’s Bank, Sky, EE, Microsoft, Colgate-Palmolive, the Department of Health and Chanel.

Leading the way per sector are the automotive and tech or telecoms sectors, followed by finance.

IAB senior mobile manager, Alex Kozloff, said in a statement the speed of responsive design adoption is “encouraging” because it demonstrates brand leadership on how consumers are interacting with advertising.

“Responsive design is the next stage in mobile optimisation and represents a multi-platform experience that enables users to have the best surfing experience on whatever device they’re using,” Kozloff said.

And for the rest of us, there’s Adblock.

Rural SMEs struggle with cloud

Posted on September 30, 2013 by - News

clouds3Small to medium enterprises are increasingly looking to local cloud providers rather than monolithic tech companies that do not necessarily inspire trust in their customers.

According to local cloud provider for local people, Prism Solutions, there are hyper geographical requirements for cloud that remote providers may not be able to address, such as being aware of connection speeds or the need to support existing IT structures.

Because of the government backed drive to boost web speeds in cities across the UK, SMEs are turning toward cloud as a faster way to access their data rather than office based servers.

Prism’s MD Richard Alexander noted there are plenty of firms in small towns or rural areas which simply do not have good enough connectivity to make the most use of cloud services.

“Unfortunately, some of them seem to have figured this out only after they have attempted to make the transition into virtual computing,” Alexander said. “They are then faced with the increased costs of leased lines or bonded digital subscriber lines, which effectively eradicate any savings they thought they would make”.

While it is somewhat indicative of a company’s common sense if they try to shift to virtual computing on a 28.8k modem connection, Alexander warns that some companies are interested in getting the contract signed and don’t give two stuffs about actually advising their client’s needs.

“Many seem more fixated on the land grab opportunity of new business,” he said.

AMD Hawaii event has aggression written all over it

Posted on September 26, 2013 by - News, Products

radeon-r9-290Huge GPU launches are back. An AMD  webcast dragged on for more than two and a half hours and the ailing chip firm went to great lengths to explain a few new technologies, showcase games and of course talk GPUs. In fact, the event was so big that many complained the presentations were too long and too elaborate.

Let’s take a quick look at what AMD graphics boss Matt Skynner announced last night. As expected, AMD has a new naming scheme, mid range products now come with an R7 prefix, while the R9 prefix is reserved for high-end and performance boards.

The line-up starts with the R7 250, with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. AMD says the card scores 2,000 in the Firestrike benchmark and it’s priced at $89, so AMD calls it the king of sub-$100 gaming. The R7 260X comes with 2GB of memory and hits 3,700 in Firestrike.

The R9 series starts at $199, with the R9 270X with 2GB of RAM and a Firestrike score of 5,500. The R9 280X is priced at $299 and scores 6,800 in Firestrike. AMD says it was designed for 1440p gaming.

The flagship R7 290X boasts 4GB of RAM and a 512-bit memory bus, with bandwidth of over 300GB/s. AMD did not reveal its price or the exact specs and clocks of any of the cards. Rumours point at a $599 price tag, but rumours can be wrong. The general consensus is that the R7 290X should outpace Nvidia’s GTX 780, perhaps even the pricey Titan.

All in all the new generation looks very competitive, at least on paper. We’ll have to wait for some proper reviews before jumping to conclusions. The cards are expected to hit retail in the second half of October, but this isn’t official, either.

AMD also used the opportunity to talk up TrueAudio, a new spatial audio technology incorporated in some of the new cards. The tech press had a chance to see it, or hear it in action at the event and the first impression is very positive.

Then there were games, loads and loads of games. AMD scored an exclusive bundle deal with EA and it will sell a limited bundle edition of the R9 290X with Battlefield 4. AMD also promised to deliver even better even better Never Settle bundles, which could help the new cards gain a bit more traction.

But in our opinion, the biggest news wasn’t a new card or a new game – it was the fact that AMD chose to stage such an event at all. AMD and Nvidia are now talking about a renaissance in PC gaming and analysts seem to agree. Sales of gaming gear are bucking the industry trend and they are still growing. This year the sector will net $18 billion, but by 2016 the figure should hit $21 billion.

AMD and Nvidia believe consoles are no longer directly competing with PC gaming, not to mention smartphone and tablet gaming.

Cheap tablets are getting even cheaper

Posted on September 26, 2013 by - News

cheap-tabletsNow that even grocers are targeting the 7-inch tablet segment, the dog eat dog of cheap tablets is getting even more brutal. Chinese white-box players are further cutting their prices, according to channel sources cited by Digitimes.

A quick glance at tablet prices in the UK and the continent reveals that there are already heaps of tablets priced at £99 or less, with some truly cheap models going for as little as £49.

What’s more, some big vendors like Asus, Acer and Lenovo also have products at or close to the £99 mark and let’s not forget Tesco’s impressive Hudl, which is priced at £119 yet it features a much better screen than similarly priced tablets.

Google and Amazon had a thing or two to do with this trend. The Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 series of tablets reinvented the £199 space last year, so quite a few companies introduced similar products and similar price points. As a result, the white-box crowd has no choice but to run for the hills, or in this case for the bargain bin.

This doesn’t appear to bode well for big brands. It was recently reported that Google was forced to slash orders for the second generation Nexus 7 due to soft demand. People who want cheap tablets seem to be going after even cheaper models and the £/$199 price point is now practically reserved for high-end 7-inch tablets.

In addition, the market share of small white-box outfits is going up, from 26 percent in Q2 2012 to 39 percent in Q2 2013. The top five brands are losing share, but if the prices of entry level Asus, Acer and Lenovo tablets are anything to go by – they are not far behind in the race to the bottom.

Global telco revenues to stay flat

Posted on September 25, 2013 by - News

smartphones-genericWorldwide revenues for the telecoms industry are expected to stay mostly flat over the coming years, according to a report.

A deep decline in spending on voice services will be offset by growth in mobile and fixed broadband data services, according to analyst house Ovum. Total telco IT spending is expected to reach US$60 billion in 2017, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.6 percent between now and then. It will be emerging markets such as APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America that will drive top spending.

For North America, it’s predicted spending will run a CAGR of 0.8 percent to hit $17.5 billion by 2017.

Telcos will have to get their thinking caps on about tariffs and services to build revenues over the next five years. LTE, network optimisation and “creative” approaches to partnerships will become ways for businesses to save cash, according to report author Shagun Bali.

“Telcos need to monetise new business models, leverage customer data by investing in analytics, and define their response to over-the-top players,” Bali said.

Ovum has mapped the overall trend as reducing internal IT spending while increasing spending on external IT projects. Telcos will have to outsource maintenance of legacy systems, and make use of trusted partners that can provide expertise in segments such as big data analytics.

“The combination of middling profits, high capital requirements, high risk, and uncertain economic growth requires telcos to place their bets carefully, including investing in growing revenue streams and managing customer experience more than ever before,” Bali said. “The result is increased opportunities for the IT industry. In the long term, telcos will place more focus than they have before on software to drive innovation”.

Dell attempts to clear the air on data laws

Posted on September 25, 2013 by - News

dellsig Dell SecureWorks has teamed up with European law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) in a bid to dispel common myths about data protection laws.

A whitepaper looks at current laws and exactly how they impact security implementation in the EMEA region, as well as providing some pointers on using external Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP) for security.

Top myths, according to the report, are as follows: using a third party to process personal data isn’t permitted, transferring data outside the European Economic Area can’t happen, organisations can’t use cloud services for processing or storing personal data, and foreign security and law enforcement authorities automatically have access to personal data.

Data protection law, the report points out, applies almost exclusively to data controllers, meaning the office which decides why and how that data is processed. On the other hand there are data processors, for example, a person who processes that data on behalf of a controller, whether that’s an agent, contractor or service provider, without deciding why and how that data is processed.

Processors, Dell says, are not usually subject to European data protection law.

The ever expanding volume and types of cyber attack make it more difficult for companies to protect themselves. At the same time, laws governing how data is handled are becoming more strict. So it makes sense for organisations to use external security like MSSPs to make sure there is data compliance at the country level, the regional level, and global laws. Dell’s report argues how and why legislation supports these moves.

Stewart Room, partner at Field Fisher Waterhouse, said that compliance with security and data protection laws is vital – but some businesses are unsure of how to tackle the problem.

“It is no wonder businesses lack clarity as the requirements vary for different countries, within the EEA and globally,” Room said. “We have developed this whitepaper with Dell SecureWorks to provide guidance and reassurance for organisations and we have found that the laws in EMEA support the use of external providers such as good quality MSSPs which provide better data security because of their enhanced level of expertise, awareness and threat intelligence”.

The report is available on the Dell Secureworks website, here.

eBay, Argos partner for collection

Posted on September 24, 2013 by - News

argos-logoFor some time now, eBay has been pushing discussion about the future of etail, the high street, and how brick and mortar will intersect with online shopping – now, in a bold move, the company has joined up with Argos in a bid to offer the best of both worlds.

Online shoppers will be able to buy selected goods from eBay and pick them up in-store at Argos outlets across the UK. 50 eBay merchants are taking part, but are anonymous at time of publication.

Argos already has its own click and collect service but expanding it to include popular eBay stores will certainly not harm the company, provided the scheme is implemented properly. Amazon, which eBay increasingly sees as its top competition rather than its original selling point as a bidding website, has collection points in the UK too.

Earlier this year, Argos reported its first sales boost in years. It attributed much of this to the check and reserve feature. This is not to be sniffed at considering the otherwise lacklustre state of the UK’s tattoo-parlour, betting and pawn-shop packed high streets.

eBay has trialled a service called eBay Now across the pond in New York and San Francisco, partnering with popular retail outlets such as Home Depot and Urban Outfitters to arrange for goods to be delivered within the hour for a fee. This may be rolled out to Britain next year.

Commenting on the announcement, Warick Business School’s retail expert, Dr Scott Dacko, said whether or not this service becomes “the” model, integration between online and offline sales is “the future for retail”.

“It is likely to be a win-win-win arrangement, with both partners and UK consumers benefiting all round,” Dacko said. “I am sure the arrangement will prompt a host of competitors to move more quickly into not only seamlessly integrating their online and brick-and-mortar operations but also looking into similar partnerships as well”.

During Christmas last year, eBay experimented with a bricks and mortar showroom where customers could try out products and interact with them through an app.

Avnet to school partners on VMware

Posted on September 24, 2013 by - News

avnettsAvnet and VMWare are collaborating to open an End User Computing practice in Britain, to push channel partners towards the desktop transformation market, utilising VMware’s Horizon suite along with Avnet SolutionsPath.

Avnet insists that as the office environment rushes towards Bring Your Own Device, IT departments are faced with emerging threats to make sure their networks are fit for security as well as cost effective. By investing in the workspace, businesses can reduce headaches in the long run.

The company believes twinning SolutionsPath with VMware technology can manage all parts of a firm’s physical and virtual infrastructure centrally, meaning down the road businesses can implement a system that is not shaken by the consumerisation of IT.

The EUC practice promises to quicken entry into desktop transformation, and Avnet says it will do this by opening up access to its technology and multi vendor network, as well as providing specialist knowledge.

Businesses that sign up to the practice will have the opportunity to learn about delivering VMware gear in a way to fit a customer’s IT environment, as well as gauging the level ofvirtualisation that is required. Users can pick from Avnet’s wide range of VMware partners such as HP, IBM, Cisco, EMC, NetApp, Riverbed, and Nvidia.

Partners will also be encouraged to learn how they should sell VMware Horizon in markets such as healthcare, government and finance.

VMware’s UK&I head of channel, Ed Dolman, said the initiative will be a “powerful value proposition” as the company looks for new partners who are interested in desktop transformation but don’t have the right skills.

“By enrolling in Avnet’s SolutionsPath University, business partners have the ability to receive the training they need to develop knowledge and expertise supported by the generation of sales leads,” Dolman said.