Gartner consults crystal ball about cloud

Posted on April 16, 2013 by - News

crystalAround 10 percent of IT security enterprise products will be delivered through the cloud by 2015, Gartner has said.

Gazing into its crystal ball, the analyst house has also said that these services will also drive changes in the market landscape, particularly around a number of key security technology areas, such as secure email and secure Web gateways, remote vulnerability assessment, and Identity and Access Management (IAM).

It said as a result it expected the cloud-based security services market to reach $4.2 billion by 2016.

Eric Ahlm, research director at Gartner said demand remained high from buyers looking to cloud-based security services to address a lack of staff or skills, reduce costs, or comply with security regulations quickly.

He said the shift in buying behaviour from the more traditional on-premises equipment toward cloud-based delivery models offered “good opportunities for technology and service providers with cloud delivery capabilities.”

He warned that those without such capabilities needed to act quickly to adapt to this “competitive threat.”

Gartner referenced a security survey from January which  it said showed high demand from security buyers for cloud-based security service offerings. Security buyers from the US and Europe, representing a cross section of industries and company sizes, stated that they planned to increase the consumption of several common cloud services during the next 12 months.

The highest-consumed cloud-based security service is email security services, with 74 percent of respondents rating this as the top service.

Furthermore, 27 percent of the respondents indicated they were considering deploying tokenisation as a cloud service, while another area cited for growth was security information and event management (SIEM) as a service.

Gartner is now advising value-added resellers (VARs) to supplement product implementations with cloud-based alternatives that offer large customers reduced operational cost and thereby increase the likelihood of customer retention in this market segment. VARs that fail to offer cloud-based alternatives might experience a decline in implementation revenue from customers seeking cloud-based solutions in certain market segments.
Around 10 percent of IT security enterprise products will be delivered through the cloud by 2015, Gartner has said.

Rubbing its crystal ball the analyst house has also said that these services will also drive changes in the market landscape, particularly around a number of key security technology areas, such as secure email and secure Web gateways, remote vulnerability assessment, and Identity and Access Management (IAM).

It said as a result it expected the cloud-based security services market to reach $4.2 billion by 2016.

Eric Ahlm, research director at Gartner said demand remained high from buyers looking to cloud-based security services to address a lack of staff or skills, reduce costs, or comply with security regulations quickly.

He said the shift in buying behaviour from the more traditional on-premises equipment toward cloud-based delivery models offered “good opportunities for technology and service providers with cloud delivery capabilities.”

He warned that those without such capabilities needed to act quickly to adapt to this “competitive threat.”

Gartner referenced a security survey from January which  it said showed high demand from security buyers for cloud-based security service offerings. Security buyers from the US and Europe, representing a cross section of industries and company sizes, stated that they planned to increase the consumption of several common cloud services during the next 12 months.

The highest-consumed cloud-based security service is email security services, with 74 percent of respondents rating this as the top service.

Furthermore, 27 percent of the respondents indicated they were considering deploying tokenisation as a cloud service, while another area cited for growth was security information and event management (SIEM) as a service.

Gartner is now advising value-added resellers (VARs) to supplement product implementations with cloud-based alternatives that offer large customers reduced operational cost and thereby increase the likelihood of customer retention in this market segment. VARs that fail to offer cloud-based alternatives might experience a decline in implementation revenue from customers seeking cloud-based solutions in certain market segments.

4G auction probed by National Audit Office

Posted on April 15, 2013 by - News

ukflagA complaint from Labour MP Helen Goodman, shadow minister for media and communications, looks like it will lead to an investigation from the UK’s National Audit Office about the “value-for-money” of the 4G auction.

A letter seen by the Guardian from NAO’s auditor general Amyas Morse to Labour MP Helen Goodman confirmed that the Office intends to “conduct a value-for-money study of Ofcom’s recent auction of 4G spectrum”. The NAO is apparently getting the investigation ready, prompted by Goodman’s complaints, which raised Ofcom chief exec Ed Richards’ concerns that the Coalition hadn’t focused on maximising auction revenues.

Goodman told Morse that “by not making maximising the auction’s revenues an objective for Ofcom, the government has failed to get value for money on this project”.

The Treasury forecasted £3.5 billion from the auction, a small amount next to 200’s 3G auction which raised £22.5 billion.

Auction bidders themselves have stated the auction had been poorly designed – as Ofcom didn’t raise the amount the government was looking for, or make sure spectrum went to everybody who wanted it, an anonymous bidder told the Guardian.

The NAO will not be able to force another auction, however, a report will go to the Commons public accounts committee – which can grill chancellor George Osborne for a response.

However, Ofcom claimed the auction was a success which “will deliver the maximum benefit to UK citizens and consumers in line with Ofcom’s statutory duties”. The body insisted the auction will create satisfactory competition which will lead to further investment. “The auction was designed to promote competition and ensure coverage, rather than to raise money,” an Ofcom spokesperson said.

Hilco to cut another 400 jobs at HMV

Posted on April 15, 2013 by - News

hmv-administrationHilco, the new owner of HMV, is planning to cut 400 jobs at the troubled entertainment retailer. The Times reports that Hilco is looking to save as much as £7.8 million from its annual payroll and the latest round of cuts is just one in a series of cost cutting measures.

An internal memo to HMV staff listed the positions earmarked for layoffs. Although Hilco did not say exactly how many jobs will be cut, the memo states that three positions in most of HMV’s remaining 141 stores will go, which amounts to about 400.

Security guards will be among those dropped in nearly all stores, except those in “high risk” areas. Cashiers in more than 100 stores will also lose their jobs, along with supervisors. It seems that part-time staff will eventually account for about 50 percent of HMV’s total workforce.

Hilco scooped up HMV earlier this year and it apparently plans to focus its revival efforts on 141 stores, employing around 2,500 souls. However, the future of dozens of stores across the country has already been sealed.

Nissan turns over a new Leaf

Posted on April 15, 2013 by - News, Products

nissanleaf2gNissan has revamped the Leaf for the UK market, and the updates aren’t just skin deep. The new Leaf boasts more than 100 improvements over the first generation, including spiced up trim levels, new battery warranty programme and perhaps most importantly, the option of leasing a battery.

The battery pack is the single most expensive component in any fully electric car, and concerns about battery life and the cost of a replacement battery have plagued electric cars since their inception. However, by simply leasing the battery for £70 to £109 per month, Nissan is practically eliminating the risk altogether.

Leafs with leased batteries will bear the “Flex” moniker and they will end up cheaper than previous models. The cheapest Flex model with the Visia trim level starts at £15,990, which is pretty competitive for an all-electric car. Then again, buyers will have to spend at least £840 per year on the battery lease.

Consumers who opt for the more traditional approach and buy their own battery stand to benefit from Nissan’s new warranty protection. Nissan is now covering capacity loss under its 5-year warranty. A battery that loses 25 percent of its capacity over the first five years of 60,000 miles will be eligible for repair or replacement, which should put some minds at ease. The cheapest Leaf with a battery starts at £20,990.

In addition to cosmetic improvements, ranging from new alloys to LED headlamps and a Bose audio system, the new Leaf also promises to deliver a bit more range. Nissan claims the car’s range has been extended from 109 miles to 124 miles and the battery is now capable of recharging in about half the time of the first-gen Leaf, provided a 32 amp charger is used.

Gartner thinks it knows everything

Posted on April 15, 2013 by - News

gartnerThe global energy and utility markets face significant challenges from ongoing environmental sensitivity, policy maker decisions and consumer demands, Gartner has said.

The research company has made the claims within its top ten technology trends within the industry for 2013.

Report author Kristian Steenstrup, vice president and Gartner Fellow said searching for successful business models that will address these issues and generate anticipated shareholder returns in uncertain regulatory settings was a top priority for this industry.

He added this was in addition to protecting the security of critical generation and delivery infrastructure, as well as maintaining system reliability with aging physical assets.

He said one of the top ten technology trends for this sector this year was social media and Web 2.0, which would give utility IT leaders the opportunities to use social media as a customer acquisition and retention medium for competitive energy retailers and as a consumer engagement channel to drive customer participation in energy efficiency programs.

Big data will also play a part this year with Gartner predicting that smart grid development would increase data quantity by several orders of magnitude, driven by a host of edge devices, as well as new IT and OT applications such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), synchrophasors, smart appliances and microgrids.

Mobile and Location-Aware Technology was also cited as a trend with Gartner claiming this could lower costs and improve accuracy and effectiveness of the field force, which were the main drivers for utilities to deploy mobile and wireless technologies.

Gartner also pointed out Cloud Computing and SaaS would help in the smart meter, big data analytics, and demand response coordination and GIS industries, while sensor technologies, which would be applied extensively throughout the entire supply, transmission and distribution domains of utilities.

Increasing use of in-memory computing (IMC) application infrastructure technologies as enablers inside multiple types of software and hardware products would, according to Gartner, result in rapid IMC adoption by mainstream, risk-averse IT organisations.

The company added the ability of IMC to support high-scale, high-throughput and low-latency use cases would also make it possible for IT organisations to implement innovative scenarios, such as those addressing processing of the smart-grid-generated metering and real-time sensor data.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure was also highlighted as a priority as it would provide communication backbones for low-latency data aimed at improving distribution asset utilisation failure detection, and facilitating consumer inclusion in energy markets.

Actian completes Pervasive Software deal

Posted on April 12, 2013 by - News

Hands across the waterActian has signed on the dotted line and completed its purchase of Pervasive Software.

The big data management company has said that having the cloud-based and on-premises data business on board means it will be able to deliver a portfolio of highly scalable, elastic and performant products that drive positive business outcomes in the Age of Data.

Steve Shine, chief executive officer of Actian said that big data could and would impact every industry as organisations struggled to take action on their data due to legacy technology too rigid or expensive to scale.

Robin Bloor, chief analyst and co-founder, The Bloor Group, described the merger as “powerful”. He said the combination of the technologies would provide Actian with a performance capability for BI and Data Analytics which no other company could “currently equal”.

Morrisons to replace 700 staff with robots

Posted on April 12, 2013 by - News

morrisonsMachines could take the jobs of nearly 700 Morrisons back office staff.

The supermarket, which employs around 131,000 staff and has 490 UK stores, has reportedly embarked in four week consultation talks with with  689 cash office managers after looking at the machines to cut costs.

It follows the company posting a loss of £879 million in 2012, which was a drop of seven percent.

Last month it also announced that it had seen a pretax profit drop to £901 million in February this year compared to the £935 million made in 2011.

Over the past few months the company has been making changes in a bid to compete with its supermarket rivals.

In March it announced it would be moving into the online grocery delivering space. It is also planning to build up its army of 12 convenience stores, and snapping up  62 sites from the  administrators of Jessops, HMV and Blockbuster.

The supermarket claimed that using the new robots would speed up the cash counting process. It said it would continue to support those potentially affected throughout this consultation process.”

WH Smith posts profits rise

Posted on April 12, 2013 by - News

smithsWH Smith has announced a profit for the last half year trading period.

The newsagent said it had seen a five percent rise in its figures, giving it a pre-tax profit of £69 million, with its successful “travel shops” helping it out and offsetting the falling sales it had experienced on the highstreet.

Its stores in airports, railway stations and motorway service areas saw a rise of seven percent, for the year ending in February, which outperformed the company’s traditional highstreet stores that rose by two percent.

The company also said various cost cutting measures shaving £9 million off its costs and outlining a further £8 million reductions in the future.

However it said that the trading environment would “remain challenging”.

The company currently has 621 high street stores in the UK and has also announced a move into China with plans to open 30 kiosks in the country.

Microsoft shakes up UK Channel management

Posted on April 12, 2013 by - Moving People, News

msMicrosoft has confirmed that it has made changes to its UK channel senior management team.

The company released a statement late yesterday afternoon following rumours of the shake up, confirming that Clare Barclay, had been promoted from her current position as Senior Director of SMB to General Manager of SMS&P Small, Medium Solutions and Partner Group).

Barclay, who in February told ChannelEye that Microsoft’s resellers where embracing the cloud, replaces Barry Ridgway who has accepted a new role as the SMSG (Sales, Marketing, Services Group) Vice-President for Microsoft in Latin America.

Clare joined Microsoft in 1998 as a Marketing Manager in SMS&P, having come directly from the Channel. She then progressed to roles within Partner Sales, prior to broadening her career in Services and EMEA.

She said in a statement she was “thrilled to be given the opportunity to lead the SMS&P business and work more closely with Partners and Customers”.

However, it’s not good news for all Microsoft’s employees. Yesterday one of the company’s creative directors at Xbox resigned following a Twitter mishap

Adam Orth, who had worked at the company since February last year, was forced to voluntarily resign after Game Informer shared a rumour that the next Xbox would require an active internet connection at all times, last week.

Orth then followed up the article making some very open comments on the matter on Twitter.

His comments seemed to have upset head honchos at the company, which, according to Game Informer, read him his rights before forcing him out.

Disties stick up for Windows 8

Posted on April 11, 2013 by - News, Opinions

Windows-8A recent report laying a fair chunk of blame on Windows 8 for the demise of PC sales has been queried by distributors.

Speaking with ChannelEye the sources have said it was unfair to lay the blame just on Microsoft and Windows 8, pointing out other factors such as Apple kit and the ongoing economic crisis.

Their comments come as IDC published its latest Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, where it pointed  the finger at Windows 8 for disrupting the market in tough trading conditions.

It found that shipments totaled 76.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013, a decline of 13.9 percent compared to the same quarter in 2012.

The Windows 8 launch was blamed partly for the decline. Bob O’Donnell, IDC Programme  Vice President, Clients and Displays said it not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but had also slowed down the market as a result of the “radical changes” to the UI. This included the absence of the Start button, plus the costs associated with touch had made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices.

However, disties have stuck up for the company.

One told ChannelEye: “I don’t think it’s fair to put all the blame on Microsoft for disrupting the market, PC sales were flagging long before it bought out Windows 8 to the forefront. If you really want someone to blame then look towards Apple, which has totally changed the landscape with its fancy products.

“It’s tablets, not PC innovation that’s disrupted the pace of PC life.”

Another pointed to the economic climate, saying the recession has a huge part in the slow growth and decline of PC sales as consumers opt for laptops that can be used by everyone in their family.

“Businesses are also cutting down on IT spend, usually opting to repair or reuse their current kit,” the distie said.

However, there were a few choice words for Microsoft’s OS.

“Windows 8 has a small part to play in the way it has disrupted the landscape, offering people touchscreen products and making older, less feature-based PCs seem less glam,” the distie said. “Maybe people are waiting for other operating systems to come out mimicking this, hoping that competition will drive down the prices and get them the bargain they are looking for.”

Avnet says bye to Magirus man

Posted on April 11, 2013 by - Moving People

avnettsAvnet has waved goodbye to Fabian von Kuenheim.

The CEO of Magirus, which was acquired by the distie in October last year, is said to be moving on to pursue “new entrepreneurial challenges”.

Avnet said in a statement that von Kuenheim had played a key role in the initial integration of Magirus into the company. It added that he would continue to provide advisory support to Avnet for a transitional period until September 2013.

Graeme Watt, president of Avnet Technology Solutions, EMEA said the Magirus integration was going to plan and the company was “making good progress” on realising the short- and long-term goals it had set out to bring together the two companies.

He said he was grateful to the work von Kuenheim had done to help with this.

von Kuenheim, who has been with Magirus for 25 years, thanked his staff and said he was proud of what the company had achieved.

BRC: Easter drove retail sales, fashion crumpled

Posted on April 11, 2013 by - News

highEaster and Mothers Day went some way to helping rescue the high street, but the winter weather kept clothes on their rails.

That’s the latest from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG, which said in their monthly survey that UK retail sales had risen by 1.9 percent on a like-for-like basis from March 2012, when they had risen 1.3 percent on the preceding year.

It said on a total basis, sales were up 3.7 percent, compared to 3.6 percent for the same time last year.

Easter, which fell in March this year as opposed to April last year, had helped the growth, however the winter weather still had a knock on effect in the fashion categories.

Online sales rose 6.6 percent compared with March 2012, when they had risen by 13.9 percent.

Helen Dickinson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said food and homewares had done well last month as a result of Easter, while the weather also drove consumers to  buy hearty meals such as roasts and chocolates. However, as a result, fashion suffered.

She said retailers were now hoping for a boost in consumer confidence as they headed into the second quarter, praying for some sunshine to get things moving.

David McCorquodale, Head of Retail, KPMG,  agreed – claiming the early Easter this year boosted the March sales figures and food and drink sales in particular soared as people stocked up to enjoy the long weekend. He said there was “also a welcome rise in house-related spending over the Easter break”.

Marks and Spencer sees decline in fashion

Posted on April 11, 2013 by - News

marksandspencerExpensive celebrity fueled adverts have lost their magic with Marks and Spencer reporting a fall in clothing sales.

The company has struggled with its clothing sales over the past few year.

However, it enjoyed a brief success after a range of initiatives. This included
hiring celebrities such as Myleene Klass, Dannii Minogue, Lulu and Gary Barlow to promote the brand, as well as targeting younger consumers.

Despite its latest figures rising slightly in the first three months of 2013, the company pointed out that the profit was gained through its food business, which offset a fall in clothing sales.

UK food sales hit a four percent growth compared to the same time last year, however clothing and merchandising was down by 3.8 percent.

M&S chief executive Mark Bolland said the company was “working hard” to improve its performance on general merchandise, blaming “difficult trading conditions.”

The company said its food division had been outstanding, with Easter food sales their best ever. The figures matched recent research by the British Retail Consortium, which in its latest highstreet tracker said Easter sales had helped revenue rise.

And it isn’t isolated in failing to make a profit on clothing with the highstreet in general suffering as a result of prolonged bad weather and the economic climate.

According to Clive Longbottom an analyst at Quocirca, there are a few things the chain could do to improve its flagging fashion figures.

“I think that M&S has started to slide back to the things it was doing wrong before,” he said. “It has a massive range of clothes, far too many for the sort of clientele it has”.

“Therefore, it has to carry a lot of inventory, and I expect that a lot of this has to be disposed of through sales or through cutting the labels out and selling off to others at cost or below,” Longbottom said.

He gave an example of a personal trip to a store , which he said was “laid out badly”.

“We were there to find a dress for my mother-in-law, a woman in her late 80s.  If she had been with us, I doubt that M&S would have made a sale at all, the clothing was laid out in completely different areas with no commonality or means of identifying where we should go,” he said.

“Better structure to how M&S lays out its goods may well help in ensuring that its mainstay audience can shop by category, rather than having different “makes” of clothing bunched together when all of them are M&S anyway.”

However, he praised the company’s underwear department, which he said kept everything in in one place and it is easy to compare and contrast and said Marks and Spencer should extend this to other parts of its store.

“Try to compare and contrast a skirt and blouse – you’ll need to pick things up and carry them around the whole store so that the three that you want to compare and contrast are in the same place at the same time – and then you have to dump the two that you don’t want, as it will be impossible to remember where they came from in the first place – so causing cost for staff to put things back where they came from,” he said.

“I’d advise cutting back on the number of styles M&S stocks; grouping by type of clothing, like skirts, dresses, blouses, etc, and having more staff on the floor to provide sales help to shoppers. On the whole, the M&S people we saw were generally behind the sales desks.”

Windows 8 drags down PC sales

Posted on April 11, 2013 by - News

Windows-8The first quarter of 2013 was the worst for PC sales since 1994, IDC said.

In its Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, the company pointed the finger at Windows 8 disrupting the market amongst tough trading conditions, reporting that shipments totalled 76.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013, a decline of 13.9 percent compared to the same quarter in 2012.

The dismal figure was also even worse than the forecast decline of  percent 7.7 percent IDC had predicted, with the company adding the extent of the year-on-year contraction marked the worst quarter since it began tracking the PC market quarterly in 1994.

The results also marked the fourth consecutive quarter of year-on-year shipment declines.

Despite some mild improvement in the economic environment and some new PC models offering Windows 8, PC shipments were down significantly across all regions compared to a year ago.

IDC said fading Mini Notebook shipments had also taken a big chunk out of the low-end market while tablets and smartphones continued to divert consumer spending.

And it seems innovation has also hindered rather than helped the PC industry with IDC pointing out that efforts to offer touch capabilities and ultraslim systems have been hampered by traditional barriers of price and component supply, as well as a weak reception for Windows 8.

It added that the PC industry was struggling to identify innovations that made PCs stand out from other products and encourage people to buy.

The Windows 8 launch was blamed partly for the huge decline with Bob O’Donnell, IDC Programme  Vice President, Clients and Displays claiming it  not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but had also slowed down the market .

He said the “radical changes” to the UI including the absence of the Start button, plus the costs associated with touch had made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices.

“Microsoft will have to make some very tough decisions moving forward if it wants to help reinvigorate the PC market,” he warned.

And other vendors have also been blamed with the restructuring and reorganisation efforts of HP and Dell claimed to have hampered the market.

In fact it seems only Lenovo has come out smelling of roses, with IDC claiming it continued to “execute on a solid “attack” strategy”,

It said to keep up with the rat race, vendors had to revisit their organisational structures and “go to market strategies” – whatever that means, as well as their supply chain, distribution, and product portfolios in the face of shrinking demand and looming consolidation.

And regionally there wasn’t better news. Across the pond, the United States contracting 12.7 percent year on year, with a drop of -18.3 percent for the first quarter of 2013 compared to the fourth quarter of 2012 and quarterly shipments reached their lowest level since the first quarter of 2006.

In Blighty and the EMEA region, the news remained bleak with IDC claiming that the area
posted a stronger double digit decline than anticipated in the first quarter of 2013.

Results fell short of expectations in the consumer segment as softness in demand persisted amid a continued shift to tablets and budget pressures. Meanwhile, the market response to Windows 8 and touch-enabled devices remains slow, leading to cautious “sell-in” from most vendors.

Japan fared a little bit better, with PC shipments in line with expectations in the first quarter. IDC said this was down to some economic improvement, which was helping to support commercial replacement demand ahead of the scheduled end of support for Windows XP next year.

However, consumer shipments remained very weak.

And Japan’s friends in the Asia/Pacific region didn’t have much to celebrate about with PC  shipments declining  sharply, dropping a record 12.7 percent.

IDC also pointed out that this was the first time the region had experienced a double digit decline. Although much of the earlier Windows 7 stock had cleared, a lukewarm reception toward Windows 8 hampered new shipments.

China’s inactivity contributed heavily to the decline, as public sector spending continued to be constrained.

HP remained the top vendor, but posted a substantial double digit decline in shipments after an aggressive fourth quarter kept growth flat during the holidays. HP’s worldwide shipments fell more than 23 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2013, with significant declines across all regions, as internal restructuring continued to affect commercial sales. Although HP maintained its leadership position in the United States, the company saw US shipments fall -22.9 percent from a year ago.

Lenovo remained second in global shipments and nearly closed the gap with HP, while Dell saw shipment decline by 10 percent globally and 14 percent in the United States. The vendor continued to face tough competition and struggled with customer uncertainty about the direction of its restructuring.

Apple fared better than the overall US market, but still saw shipments decline as its own PCs also face competition from iPads.