Tag: eu

Microsoft dodges EU rules for its search engine and browser

Posted on January 25, 2024 by - News

Microsoft’s search engine Bing, browser Edge, and advertising services might be spared from Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation.

In 2022, the European Commission named the world’s most notorious tech giants, including Microsoft, as internet “gatekeepers,” who would be subject to special rules.

The DMA, which has been in force since November 2022, was meant to protect consumers while giving rivals more chances to survive against big tech companies.

Microsoft’s widely used services such as Windows, Bing search and the Edge browser came under the eagle eye of European antitrust regulators. As a result, the Redmond-based tech giant was added to the gatekeepers list.

Last year, both Apple and Microsoft tried to get iMessage and Bing off the EU’s tech gatekeepers list, with Microsoft arguing their platforms had neither hit the set thresholds nor attained the size to qualify as a gatekeeper.

EU probes Vole’s AI antics

Posted on January 10, 2024 by - News

The EU has launched a probe into Microsoft’s $13 billion deal with OpenAI, the firm behind the world’s most popular chatbot, ChatGPT.

The Brussels bigwigs want to know if the deal is a sneaky way of merging the two tech giants and creating a monopoly in the booming artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

The EU’s competition boss, Margrethe Vestager, who is jetting off to California this week to grill the top dogs of Apple, Google and OpenAI, said she wants to keep the AI market fair and open.

She said she is asking businesses and experts to spill the beans on any dodgy dealings in the AI sector, and keeping a close eye on any cosy partnerships that could harm competition.

Microsoft investigated by European Commission

Posted on July 28, 2023 by - News

The European Commission has launched an antitrust probe into Microsoft bundling its Teams communications app with its Office suite, on concerns the firm could be cutting out competitors.

The investigation is concerned Vole is “abusing and defending its market position.”

The commission’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said: “Remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams have become indispensable for many businesses in Europe. We must therefore ensure that the markets for these products remain competitive, and companies are free to choose the products that best meet their needs.”

A Microsoft spokesman said the tech giant would cooperate with the commission’s investigation.

“We respect the European Commission’s work on this case and take our own responsibilities very seriously,” he said.

EU gives billions to chipmakers

Posted on June 14, 2023 by - News

The European Commission is giving £6.95 billion to the semiconductor supply chain.

Dubbed Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI), the funding is on microelectronics and communication technologies. The EU hopes that it will trigger £11.8 billion of private investments so that the industry will have £18.9 billion sloshing around.

This IPCEI will fund 68 projects from 56 companies from 19 Member States (plus Norway), involving 600 indirect partners. It could potentially create more than 8,700 direct jobs in Europe.

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Government expected to relax fraud rules on tech

Posted on May 3, 2023 by - News

The UK government plans to relax a proposal that would mandate technology companies to reimburse victims in the event of online financial fraud.

The move follows concerns raised by the Treasury and the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology regarding the proposal’s impact on the UK tech industry.

The annual cost of fraud to the UK amounts to billions of pounds. The government wants a new national fraud strategy to foster collaboration between the government, law enforcement and private companies.

It is expected that the measures will introduce a voluntary agreement where the technology sector will commit to tackling online fraud, rather than being held accountable for reimbursing victims. All a technology company has to do is promise that the attack will not happen again and show what steps have been taken to prevent it.

European Commission investigates Broadcom-VMware merger

Posted on November 16, 2022 by - News

The European Commission is investigating the $61 billion Broadcom-VMware merger.

The regulatory arm of the European Union said it was notified of the deal and expects to deliver its initial decision on 20 December.

The investigation is in what’s called “phase one” and many deals are approved afterwards. However, the agency can elect to take a more detailed “phase two” look and there were rumours that the Commission wants to take the Broadcom-VMware merger to the second base.

Broadcom was not too worried that the regulator might squash the deal even if the last time Broadcom tangled with the European Commission, it settled a case in which regulators accused the company of giving illegal rebates to customers who signed exclusive supply agreements for its semiconductors.

EU businesses will snub large IT expenditure

Posted on January 27, 2021 by - News

More than half of EU businesses will move away from using large capital expenditure to acquire IT assets in 2021 in favour of more flexible procurement models, with mobility remaining an urgent IT priority in the wake of COVID-19, according to a report  by 3stepIT.

The survey of over 1,000 IT decision-makers reveals that EU businesses are prioritising the ability to replace assets easily when making purchase choices, in order to meet changing circumstances.

The research also shows that businesses who already adopt a more flexible approach to IT acquisition were better able to cope with the disruption caused by COVID-19. 89 percent of companies that finance assets were able to make swift IT investments early last year, enabling employees to quickly make the shift to working from home. This compared to 75 percent of businesses that own their IT assets outright.

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Cisco finds that GDPR is not helping sales

Posted on January 30, 2018 by - News

euCisco has warned that many customers are concerned the tech they buy will not adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming in May.

For those who came in late,  GDPR is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU). It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU.

It was thought that the rush to become compliant would create a bit of a bonanza for those selling security, data management and authentication tools.

Cisco has discovered that far from rushing into buying fresh technology,  two thirds of those businesses quizzed were reporting sales delays because of customer data privacy concerns.

Cisco’s Privacy Maturity Benchmark Study found that some of the public sector verticals, including health and government, are suffering the longest delays because of the stricter standards they are working towards.

The Cisco study also exposed the level of losses with what the vendor termed as “privacy-immature” companies being hit the hardest.

A lot of the concerns stem from doubts that products and services purchased will have the privacy protections that are required under GDPR.

As well as delaying spending it also reveals the levels of confusion that still exist around just what will be required to become compliant.

Research from  Clearswift looked at the preparations for GDPR in the UK, US, Germany and Australia found that only 21 percent of middle management felt they were ready for the compliance regulations.

The firm found a disconnect between the board and middle management, with the more senior executives more optimistic about the ability to take right to be forgotten requests.

 

Abolition of global roaming will not mean cheap calls

Posted on June 16, 2017 by - News

PhoneThe abolition of roaming charges within the EU does not automatically lead to lower calling charges or reduced expenses for companies, according to telecom consultancy A&B Groep.
The outfit said that calling abroad were no cheaper, and was sometimes even more expensive. The costs for out-of-bundle calls increased, new subscriptions were more expensive, and companies are charged higher fees due to complex contracts.
Roaming charges are still applied in other European countries, calling from Switzerland, for example, has even become more expensive than before.

Under the title ‘Roam Like at Home’, the EU has put an end to the high fees charged by mobile providers for voice, SMS and internet use abroad, also known as roaming.

However, A&B Groep said that while abolition of roaming charges is a step in the right direction, it is not enough. It says that companies will not be able to save as much in costs as previously thought.

It was implied in recent months that roaming would be free of charge, but practice proves this to be a false implication, the outfit said
Ron Rijkenberg, CEO of A&B Groep said: “Why did the European Commission avoid dealing with this ‘real abolition’ of telecom country boundaries?” He clarifies his question with a practical example: “There is a person in the Netherlands. His colleague in Belgium uses his or her mobile telephone to call that person’s mobile telephone. The call is charged a higher fee than when the Belgian colleague first crosses the border with the Netherlands and then calls from the Netherlands. That roaming call has a lower charge than the international call.”

As of today, people in another EU country can use their standard bundle to call and use the internet. The current EU packages – as options in business telecom contracts – are voided by these new regulations.

Jorg Wiedijk said: “The perception that everything is now cheaper will lead to increased usage of data. The use of such data will now also be charged on to the national allowance. The data package limits are reached sooner, because of which the out-of-bundle charges will be charged when those limits are exceeded. Those rates have been drastically increased over the past months.”

Companies with existing contracts always receive an adjusted fee plan, as a result of which people will likely have to pay much more.

Also, optimisation of telecom contracts is not always possible during the term of the contract. The outside calling fee package charges can, therefore, lead to an increase in costs.

European distributors did better than the US

Posted on June 16, 2017 by - News

CLINTDEMPSEYvsgermanyThe European market IT market is growing faster than the US according to findings from the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC).

There was a sales surge in the first quarter that helped Europe to have a strong start to the year.

Countries that had been in decline last year turning it around with Spain up 13 percent, Portugal 19 percent, France four percent, Belgium 12 percent, Germany seven percent, Norway 16 percent and the UK with 12 percent growth to the end of March.

UK distribution had high levels of new business even if there was the ongoing impact on customer plans from Brexit.

Tim Curran, CEO at GTDC, told the assorted throngs at its European summit that the year had started well across Europe, up by three percent in January, but had been six percent by the end of March.

He added that the role of distribution had changed and its position as a closer strategic asset for the vendor community was paying off.

“We come from an industry based on inventory, cost and fixed assets, but the amazing integration between distribution and the vendors has produced an industry with lower inventory, but much higher fulfilment rates. That makes it more efficient and profitable,” he said.

GTDC revealed at the summit that the top three services now being offered by distribution were: demand generation, education, and training along with solutions development.

“Vendors and solution providers are not yet fully utilising the range of services on offer from distribution, however,” he added.

“Distribution can also help solution providers with skills shortages, particularly in the technology solutions around the cloud. Vendors often say they need help to enable their partners to take advantage of the innovative ways of working,” Curran said.

Salesforce wants watchdogs to split up Microsoft and LinkedIn

Posted on September 30, 2016 by - News

dog-on-bed-with-people-no-text-590x388Salesforce has called on EU regulators to investigate antitrust issues related to Microsoft’s $26 billion bid for social network LinkedIn.

Vole is expected to seek EU antitrust approval in the coming weeks for its largest ever deal and Salesforce, which missed out on the sale is complaining.

It has asked competition authorities to go beyond a simple review, saying the deal threatens innovation and competition.

Burke Norton, Salesforce’s chief legal officer, said in a statement said that by gaining ownership of LinkedIn’s unique dataset of over 450 million professionals in more than 200 countries, Microsoft will be able to deny competitors access to that data, and in doing so obtain an unfair competitive advantage.

“Salesforce believes this raises significant antitrust and data privacy issues that need to be fully scrutinized by competition and data privacy authorities in the United States and in the European Union,” he said.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer, said in a statement: “Salesforce may not be aware, but the deal has already been cleared to close in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. We’re committed to continuing to work to bring price competition to a CRM market in which Salesforce is the dominant participant charging customers higher prices today.”

The European Commission’s preliminary review of merger deals lasts 25 working days, which can be extended by about four months if it has serious concerns.

Brexit causes UK services sector to fall

Posted on August 4, 2016 by - News

boris-parachuteThe UK services sector contracted for the first time in three and a half years thanks to Brexit.

The PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) survey data from IHS Markit and CIPS shows that the output and new business both declined and at the fastest rates since early 2009, with the Business Activity Index falling from 47.4 in July, compared with 52.3 in June.

It meant employment in the services sector stayed the same, marking the end of a 3.5-year period of uninterrupted job creation.

The volume of incoming new business dropped for the first time since the end of 2012. The report said that this was the fastest decline since early 2009 and again fuelled by uncertainty over the EU vote.

Chris Williams, chief economist at Markit, said: “It is too early to say if the surveys will remain in such weak territory in the coming months, leaving substantial uncertainty over the extent of any potential downturn. However, the unprecedented month-on-month drop in the all-sector index has undoubtedly increased the chances of the UK sliding into at least a mild recession.

“Service providers are certainly bracing themselves for worse to come with a record drop in business confidence about the year ahead, leaving optimism at its lowest ebb since February 2009.”

Still at least Brexit means we will no longer having foreigners telling us how to run things, even if they appear to have been doing it better than us.

EU starts €1.8 billion cyber security plan

Posted on July 5, 2016 by - News

european-commissionThe EU has signed an agreement with industry on cybersecurity and stepped up efforts to tackle cyber-threats which it hopes will trigger €1.8 billion of investment by 2020. It would be a big help to security suppliers, if the UK remained in the EU.

The new public-private partnership is part of a series of new initiatives to better equip Europe against cyber-attacks and to strengthen the competitiveness of its cybersecurity sector.

According to a recent survey, at least 80 percent of European companies have experienced at least one cybersecurity incident over the last year and the number of security incidents across all industries worldwide rose by 38 percent in 2015.

As part of its Digital Single Market strategy the Commission wants to reinforce cooperation across borders, and between all actors and sectors active in cybersecurity, and to help develop innovative and secure technologies, products and services throughout the EU.

Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: “Without trust and security, there can be no Digital Single Market. Europe has to be ready to tackle cyber-threats that are increasingly sophisticated and do not recognise borders. Today, we are proposing concrete measures to strengthen Europe’s resilience against such attacks and secure the capacity needed for building and expanding our digital economy.”

Under the plan the EU will invest €450 million, under its research and innovation programme Horizon 2020. Cybersecurity market players, represented by the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO), are expected to invest three times more. This partnership will also include members from national, regional and local public administrations, research centres and academia. The aim of the partnership is to foster cooperation at early stages of the research and innovation process and to build cybersecurity solutions for various sectors, such as energy, health, transport and finance.

The Commission also sets out different measures to tackle the fragmentation of the EU cybersecurity market. Currently an ICT company might need to undergo different certification processes to sell its products and services in several Member States. The Commission will therefore look into a possible European certification framework for ICT security products.

A myriad of European SMEs have emerged in niche markets  and in well-established markets with new business models (like antivirus software), but they are often unable to scale up their operations. The Commission wants to ease access to finance for smaller businesses working in the field of cybersecurity and will explore different options under the EU investment plan.

Of course this does not apply to the UK. By the time the scheme is ready to go, the UK will have Brexited and will have to find its own source of funds, or not have any cyber security schemes of its own. But at least it can make up its own mind and it still has royality.

Government likely to water down EU data regulations

Posted on June 24, 2016 by - News

ukflagNow that the UK has voted for Brexit the government is almost certain to water down the EU’s proposed tough data regulations to allow US companies to snoop on UK citizens.

The EU alarmed the US tech companies by drawing up rules, which would insist that European data stay in Europe. The US government wanted its companies operating in Europe to be able to hand over data with a court order. Essentially this meant that any Euro cloud data could end up in the hands of Uncle Sam.

While the Germans and French thing this is a bad idea, the British are less keen. Not only are they closer to the US intelligence communities, but they are also chummier with big US tech.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was due to come into place by 2018 and have been should be a huge shake-up of EU data protection laws. It included tougher penalties for companies in breach of EU data protection law. The UK government had wanted to water down the legislation, but it was not sure if it could get the EU to agree.

With Brexit that has all gone by the wayside. With the UK is out, the government can ignore bringing the laws in completely and can push ahead with its own data sharing plans. These could give data to whoever it likes and spy on whoever it wants. From a supplier perspective it means it will be easier to house data in the UK, but UK customers might have to be happy to have their data snuffled by US spooks.

Suppliers could also be forced to hand over data to US courts, if the UK really does need to suck up to the US government.

UK needs more tech immigration

Posted on June 14, 2016 by - News

immigration_2280507bImmigration policies need to be changed to address the “digital skills crisis” in the UK, a government select committee has said.

The Science and Technology Committee has published a report stating that it needs to be easier for SMEs to employ people from outside the EU, while claiming that the skills gap currently costs the UK £63 billion annually in lost GDP.

The report report called for the requirements for immigrants to be changed so that IT jobs can be obtained using Tier 2 visas. This allows SMEs to more easily employ people from abroad.

The government recently made changes to help SMEs recruit specialists from outside the EU, but the report says that the new rules exclude companies with 20 or fewer employees.

Science and technology committee chairwoman Nicola Blackwood said: “The UK leads Europe on tech, but we need to take concerted action to avoid falling behind.

“The government deserves credit for action taken so far but it needs to go much further and faster. We need action on visas, vocational training and putting digital skills at the heart of modern apprenticeships.”

Also unable to take advantage of Tier 2 visas, along with smaller companies, are firms that are more than 25 per cent owned by a larger company and those with “significant investment” from FTSE 100 companies.

The committee wants digital skills to be made one of the “core components” in all apprenticeships, not just digital apprenticeships.