CHANNEL ROUND-UP

VENDOR

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■ Comms vendor 8x8 took the wraps o� a new communications platform that combines call, collaboration, conferencing and contact centre technology. It claims the X Series platform o� ers enterprises one set of data, one work� ow engine and one analytics engine inside a single solution for voice, meeting, team collaboration and contact centre.■ A report mooted Washington DC as a favourite for the location of Amazon’s second headquarters, HQ2. A report by Business Insider has compiled what it calls “compelling evidence” that indicates Amazon will select the capital for its new facility. � is includes the fact that Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, which border DC, are also on the short list of 20 US locations and are the only proposals not from a major city.■ Aruba, part of HPE, has added machine learning-based analytics to its NetInsight Mobile First Architecture, which uses machine learning to monitor networks and deliver insights and recommendations for optimisation around mobile workers and workplace-critical IoT devices. � e � rm claims the move gives its channel partners the opportunity to chase new customers, and expand existing customers’ point of contact.■ Broadcom plans to move back to the US from Singapore by mid-May, according to a Reuters report. A US company until it was bought in 2016 by Singapore's Avago, the chip maker said in November that it would return to the US but did not specify a timescale. Broadcom is looking to acquire rival Qualcomm, and this move could erase a barrier caused by the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which can stop deals that it believes will harm national security.

However, later in the month it was dealt a blow when president Donald Trump blocked the takeover of Qualcomm on the grounds of national security. Read the full story here.■ Object storage vendor Cloudian has acquired Milan-based software-de� ned � le storage vendor In� nity Storage for an undisclosed sum. � e deal means Cloudian will o� er customers integrated � le and object-based storage solutions that can consolidate unstructured data types, and reduces

the cost of ownership by over 70 per cent.■ Commvault signed up to HPE Complete, a reseller programme for third-party vendors. Under the deal, HPE and its channel partners will be able to sell Commvault’s backup, recovery and data protection software. ■ CompTIA is to o� er a new certi� cation covering wired and wireless networks. � e IT trade association claims the Network+ certi� cation is the � rst of its kind in the industry as networks grow increasingly complicated thanks to cloud, virtualisation, SDN and other emerging technologies.

Separately, the organisation bought two companies to strengthen its training o� erings. Gtslearning – which supplies learning resources for IT certi� cation – was the � rst buy, along with the IP from Logical Operations, a specialist in instructor-led CompTIA training content. Both acquisitions were for an undisclosed sum. ■ Datto unveiled its global expansion plan for 2018, which will see the vendor release new products and partner programmes and take on more sta� . � e � rm acquired Autotask last year and has been drip-feeding details of the combined company’s strategy ever since. � e � rm also revealed it intends to hire

over 100 new employees in both North America and the UK in roles such as software and product engineers. ➔

■ Dropbox revealed it was collaborating with Equinix on six new points of presence to improve performance for its users. � e points of presence are expected to go live in Atlanta, Denver, Berlin and Toronto in H1 2018, followed by Stockholm and Oslo in H2. By the end of the year the � rm expects to have an infrastructure footprint that spans 29 facilities in 12 countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. ■ Google unveiled a series of security updates to its Google Cloud Platform (GCP), G Suite and Chrome Enterprise. � e � rm claimed in a blog that its VPC service controls will help keep enterprise data private while using GCP’s managed storage and data-processing capabilities.

Separately, the � rm unveiled plans to expand its datacentre in the north of the Netherlands by splashing out €500m into the facility. Google claims the expansion is needed due to growing demand among customers and businesses for services such as Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube. ■ Rumours emerged that Intel could be weighing up the possibility of making a bid for Broadcom, which is itself looking at Qualcomm, according to the Wall Street Journal. � e combined giant would dominate the smartphone and datacentre market, both areas Intel has marked down for further growth.■ Uni� ed end-point management vendor Ivanti unveiled a cloud-delivered AI application for service management, claiming its new Hub and Bot app features a new intelligent virtual support agent that is fully integrated with overall service management work� ow and automated to minimise help and service desk resource engagement. ■ Kaseya launched its Uni� ed Backup solution powered by Unitrends MSP. � e product, dubbed KUB, brings together enterprise-class backup, ransomware detection and cloud-based business continuity disaster recovery services in an all-in-one appliance-based platform, the vendor claimed.

Separately, the RMM vendor unveiled a new reseller agreement and integration partnership with IT documentation platform ITGlue. It claimed the partnership will o� er IT e� ciency, operations and documentation within the Kaseya IT Complete uni� ed MSP growth platform.■ Kaspersky Lab has revealed it will o� er rewards of up to $100,000 for the discovery and co-ordinated disclosure of “severe vulnerabilities” in its products. � e reward is part of the vendor’s Global Transparency initiative and is open to all members of the

HackerOne platform.Separately, it revealed it was set to open its � rst

‘transparency centre’ in Europe, but was tight-lipped about where it would be located. Reports are pointing to Switzerland, as the vendor looks to combat concerns from western governments that it is allegedly spying on customers on behalf of the Russian government. ■ McAfee launched a security solution for Microsoft Azure customers, based on the back of its acquisition of Skyhigh Networks. � e � rm’s Skyhigh Security Cloud for Azure secures applications, cloud infrastructure and enterprise data for customers building applications on Azure. ■ MicroFocus saw half its valuation wiped o� the London Stock Exchange in March after it posted a sales warning. � e � rm apportioned part of the blame to its acquisition of HPE’s software unit, with implementing a new IT system, a greater-than-expected reduction in sales sta� , disruption in global HPE customer accounts and sales di� culties in North America, all cited as reasons. ■ Microsoft could be on course to beat Apple, Amazon and Google to become the world’s � rst $1tn company, according to Morgan Stanley analytics. � e � rm predicts Microsoft could hit that valuation within a year based on the growth in its public cloud business. ■ Mitel showcased a new global partner programme that is due to launch next month. � e new programme will integrate ShoreTel’s channel programme, following its acquisition last year. Mitel claims it has streamlined requirements in its new three-tiered ➔

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programme to make it easier for partners to “reap immediate bene� ts”.

Separately, the � rm revealed it is to cut a swathe of its distribution partners in EMEA as part of a review process this year. � e � rm currently has 65 distribution partners across EMEA and Westcon is the � rm’s only pan-European distributor. ■ Nutanix revealed it was to acquire India-based Minjar – the � rm behind cloud management service Botmetric – for an undisclosed sum. � e � rm said its enterprise cloud OS will be able to o� er customers new capabilities to better manage multi-cloud deployments, as a result of the acquisition. ■ Oracle hit out at rival AWS, claiming its new automated database is one tenth of the cost. CEO Mark Hurd made the comment after Oracle’s disappointing third-quarter � nancials, which saw cloud revenue on the up, but new licence and hardware revenue down.

For the three months ended 28 February, Oracle saw revenue jump six per cent to £9.8bn. Cloud revenue grew 32 per cent, while hardware sales fell three per cent and ‘new’ software sales fell two per cent. ■ Pivot3 started o� ering its new Acuity X3 Series HCI solutions to SMBs and remote and branch o� ces for � rms that require a smaller footprint. � e vendor claims the solution allows � rms to consolidate multiple, mixed-application workloads onto a single infrastructure, lowering cost and reducing datacentre footprint.

Separately, the � rm launched Cloud Edition on AWS, an extension to its hyperconverged infrastructure software platform to the public cloud. ■ Dell-owned Pivotal Software has � led for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. � e � rm, which o� ers a ‘cloud-native platform’ for software development, is looking to raise $100m by � oating, the o� cial document claimed. Pivotal was initially spun out of EMC and VMware in 2013, but came under Dell’s ownership when it bought EMC. ■ Polycom was grabbed by headset vendor Plantronics for $2bn this month after it spent two months in the hands of PE � rm Siris Capital. � e deal comprises

around $690m of net debt, $948m in cash and 6.35 million Plantronics shares and is likely to close in Q3. Plantronics claims the deal will help it “capture additional opportunities” in the $39.9bn UCC market, and give its channel partners an expanded services o� ering.■ Pure Storage smashed through the $1bn revenue ceiling in March – revealing full-year turnover of $1.023bn for 2017, up 41 per cent year on year and two per cent ahead of expectations. Q4 turnover was up 48 per cent on 2016, at $338.3m.

� e � rm also rolled out what it claims is the industry’s � rst AI-ready infrastructure, called AIRI. Designed by Pure Storage and NVIDIA, AIRI is intended to “operationalise AI at scale for the enterprise”, allowing them to innovate at a product level and also within day-to-day operations.■ Rackspace's private equity backer is considering an IPO for the hosting provider, less than two years after taking the � rm private, reports have claimed. Sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported, claimed that Apollo Global Management has already held talks with advisers as it looks to begin the process by the end of the year. Apollo took Rackspace private in August 2016 in a deal ➔

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worth $4.3bn (£3.0bn), but will reportedly value the � rm at around $10bn if it opts for a public listing.■ RapidFire Tools has taken the wraps o� AudiGuru – a compliance process automation solution designed for the EU’s GDPR, coming into force in May. � e o� ering includes a cloud-based portal that helps resellers manage the entire GDPR audit and reporting process. ■ Red Hat saw its 64th straight quarter of revenue growth for its Q4 � nancials, with a 23 per cent jump in revenues to $772m for the quarter ended 28 February. � e open source vendor party attributed this to customers buying a wider breadth of its technologies, with a whopping 169 deals of over $1m for the quarter, up 50 per cent. � e channel generated 71 per cent of its revenues in Q4 2018, up from 69 per cent in the same quarter the previous year. ■ Rubrik is set to “go deep” with a smaller number of partners, according to its VP of worldwide channel, with the aim of being more central to its partners’ business. � e cloud data management vendor also intends to ramp up partner technical enablement, it claimed. ■ Salesforce launched Salesforce Essentials, a set of apps for small business teams. � e o� ering has been launched as two apps – Sales Cloud Essentials and Service Cloud Essentials – served via its main CRM platform. � e vendor claimed it would allow salespeople to have mobile access to activity history, key contacts, customer communications and internal account discussions.

� e � rm also con� rmed plans to acquire data integration company MuleSoft for $6.5bn. � e � rm has over 1,200 customers, and it will be used to power the new Salesforce Integration Cloud.■ SolarWinds ventured into the world of end-user backup, with its � rst dedicated o� ering. � e platform is a web-based console which it claims enables recovery from anywhere, even mobile devices. Features include deduplication and compression. ■ SonicWall launched a new MSSP programme aimed at helping partners take advantage of the growing demand for managed security. � e SonicWall SecureFirst MSSP Programme replaces the vendor’s previous programme. Full story here.■ Sungard AS unveiled an expanded partnership with Dell Technologies as the managed cloud vendor launched a hosted private cloud solution

that leverages Dell EMC storage and compute. � e o� ering also incorporates VMware's NSX network virtualisation platform. Sungard AS claimed the o� ering will bene� t organisations seeking to keep data in a private cloud, through a single tenant resource control, as well as added security and performance.■ Toshiba has failed to meet the deadline for selling its chip unit by the end of March, according to reports because it is still awaiting anti-monopoly approval from China. ■ VMware posted a strong set of Q4 numbers, but remained schtum on rumours it could acquire Dell. For the three months ended 2 February, the vendor saw revenue increase 14 per cent to $2.31bn. GAAP losses were $440m, compared with a GAAP pro� t of $441m in 2016, due to a one-o� $970m tax bill. Hybrid cloud and SaaS accounted for eight per cent of the vendor’s total revenue.

Separately, the � rm extended its VMware Partner Network channel programme to include VMware Cloud on AWS – an on-demand service that enables users to run VMware vSphere-based applications on AWS infrastructure.

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DISTRIBUTOR

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■ Poland’s largest distributor AB Group saw Q2 pro� ts drop 7.8 per cent for its 2017 � nancial year, citing pressure from rival ALSO. Revenues for the quarter, ended 31 December 2016, rose by 8.6 per cent to €660m year on year. � e distributor closed FY2016 with revenues of €1.9bn.■ D&H Distributing has launched a set of support services for its Cisco partners under its ‘Driven’ for Cisco Meraki programme. Aimed at helping VARs increase sales through Cisco Meraki cloud managed solution for SMBs, the programme features proprietary o� erings from D&H such as a partner performance tracker portal, training vouchers, promos, discounts, rebates and MDF. ■ EET Europarts made yet another acquisition in March in the form of CCTV and security specialist Pro-Vision Distribution. � e � rm is an authorised distributor for over 60 brands, and EET claims the deal will allow it to strengthen its surveillance and security focus. ■ Esprinet saw EBIT drop 11 per cent for its 2017 � nancial year to €34.3m, marking yet another YoY decline for the Italian powerhouse, after its 2016 � gures saw a 16 per cent drop in EBIT compared with 2015. However, in better news, revenues for the year were up six per cent to €3.22bn. Read the full story here.■ Exclusive Group’s US integration is ahead of schedule and targets according to its COO Barrie Desmond. � e � rm has expanded its US portfolio to include additional vendors such as Gigamon and has introduced value-based services such as

training, through its PASSport services proposition. � e � rm added that it was trading with 10 per cent more channel partners globally than in 2016.

Separately, the � rm posted revenues of €1.7bn for its 2017 year-end results, up 38 per cent year on year. Desmond said acquisitions made in Benelux with TechAccess and in the US with Fine Tec have help the � rm grow its top line.■ Midwich posted positive full-year results for the year ended 31 December, with revenues growing 27.5 per cent YoY to £471.9m, with adjusted operating pro� t over £22m, up 35 per cent on the previous year. In the UK, revenue grew 15 per cent to £283.7m, with adjusted operating pro� t up 25 per cent. Click here for full story.■ Tech Data expanded its StreamOne Cloud Marketplace this month with the addition of Cisco Spark and Cisco Umbrella. � e distribution giant said the move will allow Cisco resellers “unparalleled access” to self-service quoting, ordering, provisioning, billing and management of customer subscriptions.

Separately, the distribution giant missed analyst expectations, with its Q4 results sending its shares into a 19 per cent plunge on the day it released its results. Non-GAAP operating pro� t rose 77 per cent to $216m for the three months ended 31 January, with FY2018 non-GAAP pro� ts increasing by 78 per cent to $602.7m. Revenue for the quarter rose 49.3 per cent to $11.09bn, thanks to its acquisition of Avnet. FY2018 revenue hit $36.78bn, up 40 per cent YoY.

RESELLER

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■ Polish software specialist Asseco posted a 30 per cent year-on-year drop in its operating pro� ts at PLN 301.3m (€71.24m) for 2017, down from PLN 466.6m. Meanwhile, revenues were also down to PLN 7.83bn from PLN 7.93bn a year earlier. Asseco’s VP of the management board Rafał Kozłowski laid the blame squarely on the � rm’s part sale of Formula Systems last year.■ German powerhouse Bechtle closed its 2017 � nancial year with a 15.4 per cent jump in revenues to €3.75bn, with its UK arm putting in a strong performance, growing 30 per cent across the board. EBITDA also grew 14.2 per cent to €196.1m. � e � rm has plans to become a€5bn giant by 2020. ■ Blue Cube kicked o� a growth spurt by opening an o� ce in London, and is planning a northern base later this year. � e West Sussex-based security specialist underwent a rethink of the business last year and saw revenue grow 20 per cent year on year with its pipeline up 40 per cent. � e � rm is also mooting a move into managed services after a trial run with selected customers. ■ Cancom returned to the UK market with the acquisition of London-based uni� ed communications MSP Ocean Intelligent Communications. � e Munich-based VAR, which expects a turnover of €1.16bn for 2017, grabbed an 82.1 per cent stake in the company. � e deal will strengthen Cancom’s cloud and managed services o� ering as well as UCC. Cancom hasn’t had a presence in the UK market since 2012 when it sold its Apple Premium Reseller business to Trams. ■ Critical Start is set to acquire next-generation security analytics platform Advanced � reat Analytics (ATA). � e integrator claims the deal will help it compete in the growing MSSP/managed detection and response (MDR) market. ■ Computacenter recorded its best-ever revenue in 2017 thanks to a strong performance from its German and French businesses, and the UK returned to growth after a tough period. For the 12 months ended 31 December, the � rm’s revenue grew 16.9 per cent to just under £3.8bn, while operating pro� t remained � at at £106.8m.

Separately the � rm revealed it will open a new service centre in Poland by July, in the western Polish city of Poznań to support its German operations. Computacenter also

has centres in Hungary, Spain, South Africa and Malaysia. ■ Chicago-based services player Ensono has grabbed Wipro’s hosted datacentre services business for $405m, giving it a footprint in India. � e deal will see Ensono take on eight Wipro datacentres and more than 900 sta� , doubling its size overnight and generating annual turnover of $550m. � e deal will go through at the end of June. ■ French services player and publisher Hardis Group is aiming to double its Salesforce revenues, after its 2017 � nancials saw sales grow by almost a � fth. For the year, the � rm saw operating pro� ts hit €7.2m, up nine per cent on last year, with revenues growing 19 per cent to €99.1m. Hardis opened three new subsidiaries in 2017 – in France, Spain and Switzerland – and is building a new head o� ce in Grenoble. It aims to smash the €100m turnover mark this � nancial year. ■ Managed print specialist ICA Digital was acquired by the Automated Systems Ltd Group (ASL) of companies for an undisclosed sum. � e move will swell ASL’s headcount to over 115 and it will look to combine ICA’s MPS service with its capabilities. ■ German player itelligence has bought Swedish SAP specialist EINS consulting as it looks to cement its position as a SAP full-service provider in all Nordic countries. � e deal will see EINS become part of itelligence – itself part of the NTT Data Group – by 1 April. � e move means itelligence has over 6,0000 sta� across 24 countries. ■ Apple specialist reseller Jigsaw was sold to private equity � rm Alcuin Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum, ➔

six months after a potential sale was � rst bandied about. � e move marks the end for Martin Balaam as CEO and previous PE backers NorthEdge Capital. Jigsaw24 founder and current managing director Roger Whittle will take over as CEO. ■ Maintel saw group revenue grow 23 per cent to £133.1m for the year to 31 December 2017, and has insisted that its Avaya business is in recovery mode. Group gross pro� t increased 11 per cent to £38.8m in 2017, compared with £34.9m in 2016. � e results included a full 12-month contribution from Azzurri Communications and � ve months from Intrinsic Technology which it acquired in August 2017.■ Comms specialist Ostertag has smashed through the €100m mark after acquiring Mitel’s Berlin-based systems integration arm DeTeWe for an undisclosed amount. � e deal, which closes in Q2, means Ostertag takes control of DeTeWe’s 11 regional o� ces, employees and customer contracts. ■ PCM’s UK division hit revenues of $9.1m (£6.5m) in Q4, while the wider business saw revenue drop four per cent to $563.4m. � e UK business launched last April, and has since taken on a host of former Misco sta� , and also made two acquisitions. ■ Softcat’s market value reached parity with its long-term rival Computacenter in late March, with Softcat’s market capitalisation standing at $1.34bn,

compared with £1.32bn for Computacenter. � e Marlow-based reseller’s CEO Martin Hellawell stood down this month after a 12-year reign, taking up a non-exec chairman position. New boss Graeme Watt has now taken the reins.

Earlier in the month, the � rm revealed plans to expand to Ireland as it posted its 50th consecutive quarter of revenue and pro� t growth. For the six months to 31 January, revenue jumped 25 per cent to £472.8m, with operating pro� ts up 15 per cent to £24.1m. ■ World Wide Technology (WWT) is claiming foul play after the state of Missouri awarded a mega IT contract to rival SHI International. � e � rm has held the contract – worth an estimated $40m – since 2001 and it ran out this month. A WWT lawyer said there were a “lot of irregularities” in the process and claimed the tender process should start again.

In separate news, the � rm announced a multi-year partnership with venture fund Six� irty, which invests in technology-based startups. � e deal will see two WWT execs join Six� irty’s investment committee and work with the fund to select FinTech startups in which to invest.

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RESEARCH

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■ A report from Trustwave claimed many companies are unaware of the potential security risks associated with IoT adoption. Its IoT Cybersecurity Readiness Report said just 28 per cent of adopters consider security strategies speci� c to IoT as very important. It also revealed that over a third of respondents said IoT security is somewhat or not important.

■ Global server revenue increased 25.7 per cent in Q4 2017, with shipments growing year on year, according to Gartner. For the year, global server shipments grew 3.1 per cent and server revenue increased 10.4 per cent compared with the previous year. Dell EMC and HPE were vying for the top spot, with Dell inching ahead with 19.4 per cent market share, and HPE with 19.3 per cent.

■ Figures from IDC on the server market said manufacturers increased revenues by 26.4 per cent year on year to reach $20.7bn in Q4. It

claimed global server shipments increased 10.8 per cent, with volume

server revenue increasing 21.9 per cent to $15.8bn, and mid-range

server revenue growing 48.5 per cent to $1.9bn.

■ Organisations are not doing enough to protect data privacy, according to PwC’s 2018 Global State of Information Security Survey. � e report claims fewer than half of executives (49 per cent) revealed their organisation limits collection, retention and access of personal information “to the minimum necessary to accomplish the legitimate purpose for which it is collected”. In addition, only 51 per cent have an accurate inventory of where personal data for employees and customers is collected, transmitted and stored. Furthermore, 53 per cent require employees to complete training on privacy policy and practices.

■ Wearable technology shipments reached new levels in 2017, according to market watcher IDC. � e � rm’s Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker revealed device shipments reached 115.4m units in 2017, up 10.3 per cent from the 104.6 million shipped in 2016. A surge in smartwatch shipment volumes pushed Apple into � rst place, ahead of rivals Fitbit and Xiaomi.

■ Cybercriminals are adopting new tools to grab new revenue streams, according to a McAfee report. � e McAfee Labs’ � reats Report: March 2018 claims Q4 2017 was de� ned by rapid cybercriminal adoption of new techniques and schemes such as � leless malware, cryptocurrency

mining and steganography as part of their attacks.

■ Data released by Spiceworks claims that nearly 90 per

cent of businesses will use biometric authentication

technology by 2020. Currently around 62 per cent use the technology, with an additional 24 per cent planning to adopt it within two years. A whopping 57 per cent use � ngerprint scanning technology, and 14 per cent use facial recognition technology on corporate devices, the research claimed.

■ Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks using DNS ampli� cation increased ➔

more than 357 per cent in Q4 2017 compared with 2016, according to the Q4 2017 � reat Report released by Nexusguard. Despite the overall number of DDoS attacks falling 12 per cent compared with last year, the vendor warned that a new class of powerful botnets may appear, due to wider DNSSEC adoption.

■ Almost half (48 per cent) of � rms that are implementing IoT are already using, or planning to use, digital twins this year, according to Gartner. � e analyst, which questioned � rms across the US, Germany and Japan, de� nes ‘digital twin’ as a virtual counterpart of a real object, which could be a product, structure, facility or system. � e analyst predicts the number will triple by 2022.

■ Complexity and security are two main issues when it comes to investing in hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), according to research by WinMagic. Just 15 per cent of the IT decision maker respondents to its survey report having any HCI technology in their infrastructure, despite analyst predictions that HCI will represent 54 per cent of total converged infrastructure by 2021, in a market worth $10.8bn.

■ A Vanson Bourne study commissioned by Veritas revealed that almost all companies globally will move their systems to the cloud within the next 12 to 24 months. � e Truth in Cloud study found that 96 per cent of respondents are set to make the shift to cloud. In addition, 66 per cent of respondents believe that dealing with cloud service interruptions is the main responsibility of the cloud service provider (CSP), and 76 per cent think their CSP is responsible for ensuring their workloads and data in the cloud are protected against outages.

■ Infrastructure shipments grew seven per cent in 2017, to $142bn, with servers growing 12.2 per cent to $66bn (partially due to hyperscale demand), networking growing 4.3 per cent to $59bn and storage 1.6 per cent to $26bn, according to Canalys. � e channel dominated infrastructure shipments, collectively representing 74 per cent of the global total, the analyst said. But due to the growth of Chinese and Taiwanese ODM server vendors selling to CSPs, direct sales grew faster than

channel sales in the overall infrastructure market. Cisco, Dell EMC and HPE accounted for 50 per cent of infrastructure shipments, with Cisco top with 20 per cent market share, followed by HPE with 14 per cent.

■ � e market for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) hardware is set to bounce back this year after a weak 2017, according to IDC. � e analyst’s Worldwide Quarterly Augmented and Virtual Reality Headset Tracker revealed worldwide shipments for AR and VR headsets will grow to 68.9 million units in 2022, with a � ve-year growth rate of 52.5 per cent. � e analyst claimed the global AR/VR headset market retreated in 2017 due to a decline in shipments of screenless VR viewers.

However, it predicted a return to growth in 2018 with AR/VR volumes reaching 12.4 million units, showing a year-over-year increase of 48.5 per cent “as new vendors, new use cases and new business models emerge”.

■ Global Internet of � ings (IoT) security spending is set to reach $1.5bn in 2018, according to Gartner, up 28 per cent on the amount spent in 2017. � e growth is being fuelled by security concerns around the technology, with nearly 20 per cent of organisations experiencing at least one IoT-based attack in the past three years. � e � gure will increase to $3.1bn by 2021, Gartner claims, with regulatory compliance being a major in� uencer.

■ Security-as-a-service (SECaaS) is outpacing the rest of the security market, according to market watcher Canalys. � e � rm claimed the SECaaS market grew 21 per cent to $4bn in 2017 – double the pace of the rest of the market. ➔

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� e analyst said the growth will continue strongly throughout 2018 and 2019 as vendors continue to improve their portfolios and delivery methods.

■ � e PC monitor market enjoyed better than forecast sales towards the end of 2017, according to IDC. Its Worldwide Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker revealed that global monitor shipments totalled 31.7 million units in Q4 2017, a 2.5 per cent year-on-year growth. IDC added that the holiday season helped fuel the consumer sector, bene� ting vendors such as TPV, LG Electronics and Samsung. Looking ahead, the market watcher predicts monitors will decline at rates of around two per cent year on year from 2018 through to 2022.

■ Attacks, such as ransomware, are “seamlessly bypassing legacy security solutions” because organisations are neglecting to patch, update or replace their current products. � is is according to Webroot’s 2018 Webroot � reat Report, which claims ransomware has become “an even more serious threat”, noting that together, WannaCry and NotPetya infected more than 200,000 machines in more than 100 countries within just 24 hours. Cryptojacking also made the report for the � rst time this year, with Webroot revealing that since September 2017, more than 5,000 websites have been compromised.

■ IT companies are investing in more training and assessment for sta� than ever before, according to � gures from training and IT certi� cation � rm Pearson VUE. � e � rm questioned over 29,000 IT pros who took a certi� cation exam in the last year, and found 56 per cent of certi� cations were paid for by employers, up six per cent on the previous year.

■ Firms are failing to manage third-party IoT risks, according to the latest report by the Ponemon Institute. Its study: � e Internet of � ings (IoT): A New Era of � ird-Party Risk, shows that despite worries about unsecured IoT devices resulting in breaches and cyberattacks, most organisations “aren’t even doing the very basics”, such as IoT device inventory management. � e research claimed the average number of IoT devices in the workplace is expected to increase to an average of 24,762 devices – 9,000 more than last year.

■ Business decision makers (BDMs) are playing a bigger role in software purchases in the SMB and mid-market, according to analyst Techaisle. � e approach is more common with micro businesses which can lack ‘formal’ acquisition budgeting processes, the � rm claimed.

■ Worldwide spending on security-related hardware and software will reach $91.4bn in 2018, according to the latest Worldwide Semiannual Security Spending Guide from IDC. � e � gure is an increase of 10.2 per cent over the 2017 � gure as industries invest more in IT security in response to growing threats.

■ Sales of infrastructure revenue for cloud, including private and public cloud, hit $12.8bn in Q4 2017, a year-on-year increase of 27.3 per cent, according to the latest research from IDC. � e analyst’s Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker � nds combined public and private cloud spend reached $43.4bn for the year, a 21.7 per cent year-on-year increase.

IDC also claimed that public cloud infrastructure spend has “almost doubled” over the last two years to $8.5bn, a 34 per cent year-on-year increase in 2017. Meanwhile, private cloud spend hit $4.3bn, a 15.7 per cent year-on-year increase.

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ANALYSIS

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March was dominated by one main story outside the IT sphere, with Anglo-Russia relations under severe strain following the escalation of events surrounding the discovery of two unconscious people – later discovered to be Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia – on a park bench in Salisbury.

� e situation quickly went from a suspected drug overdose to a military-grade chemical attack, which the UK has said could equate to an “unlawful use of force” by Russia against Britain. It has prompted a major ejection of Russian diplomats from a number of countries worldwide in a very welcome show of solidarity with the UK, but left the ordinary person on the street wondering what on earth is going to happen next.

Fortunately, the industry seems to exist in its own little bubble, and just carried on with business as usual, bar one long-standing security player.

Kaspersky Lab is under increasing pressure, with allegations about its link to Russian spies and secret agencies gathering pace, particularly in light of the Salisbury incident. � e vendor plans to open a ‘transparency centre’ in Europe to try to distance itself from its homeland. But has the damage already been done?

In another show of mistrust, Facebook came under � re when it was revealed that the data of 50 million Facebook users fell into the hands of political data analytics � rm Cambridge Analytica, prompting a massive tank in Facebook’s share price, and an outpouring of ire from governments across the globe. With all the anger surrounding Donald Trump’s election and the alleged links to Russia over the election itself, this is the last thing Facebook needed. Users began deleting their accounts in droves, although to be fair, that is a little akin to shutting the stable door a week after the horse has bolted.

With Kaspersky and Facebook battling to save their reputations, it makes sense to stick with the vendor theme to start with. It was a pretty positive month for vendors, with star performers Pure Storage and Red Hat both putting in a stonking set of � nancial results; with Pure smashing through the $1bn revenue ceiling, and Red Hat seeing its 64th straight quarter of growth.

Microsoft also graduated top of the March class, with industry watchers predicting it would be the

� rst to reach a $1tn market valuation, beating rivals Apple, Amazon and Google to the crown. A de� nite victory for the Redmond giant in a battle that has become increasingly bitter over the years.

Acquisition activity was slow in the vendor space this month, with the biggest deal of note being Plantronics’ $2bn acquisition of Polycom as the headset vendor looks to grow its clout in the UCC market. And Intel waded into the Broadcom/Qualcomm acquisition saga, with reports claiming the chip giant is weighing up the possibility of acquiring Broadcom (which itself is trying to acquire Qualcomm).

Datto and Pivotal both revealed big plans for the future, with the latter � ling for an IPO and Datto planning a raft of new partner initiatives and growth following its acquisition of Autotask last year.

� e only sour taste of the month in the vendor space was from MicroFocus, which saw half its value wiped o� the LSE, blaming a lot of its problems on the acquisition of HPE’s software unit – it seems like the curse of Léo Apotheker and his ill-fated acquisition of Autonomy is still having repercussions.

Distribution was a fairly quiet sector this month, with some disappointing results for Italian giant Esprinet, and Tech Data missing analyst expectations with its Q4 results, but still seeing revenue rise a whopping 49.3 per cent, and non-GAAP operating pro� t rising 77 per cent. ➔

Midwich made noises about its M&A strategy this year and Exclusive Group is in a bullish mood after smashing its US integration ahead of time, and seeing revenues rise 38 per cent for its FY2017 results. EET Europarts keeps quietly adding to its acquisition tally in the background.

One large reseller – Softcat – dominated the news for March as it waved goodbye to CEO Martin Hellawell and welcomed new boss Graeme Watt. Hellawell was given an emotional send-o� into his new role as non-exec chairman, after presiding over 12 years of phenomenal growth for the Marlow-based behemoth. As the cherry on the cake for Hellawell, Softcat’s market cap overtook that of its biggest rival Computacenter this month. Softcat also revealed it is looking at Irish expansion as it eyes the £1bn revenue goal.

Elsewhere, there was some acquisition activity in reseller land, with M&A occurring across Europe, plus US player Ensono grabbing the datacentre business of Wipro – giving it a foothold in India.

Computacenter saw the UK return to growth in 2017, after the region had seen some weak performances during the last few quarters. German player Cancom also returned to the UK for the � rst time since 2012 through an acquisition, and German behemoth Bechtle put in a stonking performance for 2017, with the UK a beacon of success with an impressive 30 per cent growth.

Turning to the technology trends of the month,

it is no surprise that security dominated the research landscape, but the big surprise is just how unprepared � rms really are for the growing number of threats facing them.

IoT spending is on the up again, set to reach $1.5bn this year, a growth of 28 per cent, with security being the main driver for that increase.

Security-as-a-service is set to grow 21 per cent this year according to Canalys, so those not already o� ering security services need to think about adding them into their portfolios. Biometric authentication technology is a growing area, with 62 per cent of � rms questioned by Spiceworks using it already, and a further 24 per cent looking to adopt in two years.

And the security opportunities for the channel just keep coming. According to � gures from PwC, � rms are still not doing enough to protect their data privacy, with just 51 per cent of those questioned having accurate inventory of where personal data from employees and customers are collected. � ey need help, and fast.

Unsurprisingly, the cloud shift will continue, according to Vanson Bourne, and almost all companies globally will shift to the cloud in the next two years. � ere really is no escaping the cloud and end-user � rms need to be educated over just what they need to make their own journeys to the cloud and how it will bene� t their businesses.

We hear a lot about arti� cial intelligence, but there is still confusion over where the opportunities actually are for the channel. According to � gures, augmented reality and virtual reality hardware is set

to grow a staggering 52 per cent in the next � ve years, but the channel is crying

out for someone to guide them to the areas of opportunity. � ose who do will certainly reap

the rewards. Geopolitical issues aside, the industry put in a

pretty strong performance for March across the board and the outlook is appearing positive for the rest of the year.

� e customer appetite for investing in technology is de� nitely growing and the need for trusted IT advisers is not waning.

� ere may be a couple of big names struggling in the vendor and distributor space, but overall, the industry is in rude health, buoyed by an increasing need for security solutions as IoT and the cloud continue to grow, and the channel is still playing a vital role in helping customers on their transformation journeys.

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MISCELLANEOUS

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■ Trade association CompTIA lauded the e� orts of women in the industry, but warned they were still under-represented in tech. Speaking on International Women’s Day in March, the organisation said just 17 per cent of the tech industry are women and the number of girls taking IT subjects at school has fallen by 16 per cent. ■ A power outage in one of Samsung’s South Korean factories has reportedly damaged 11 per cent of the vendor’s monthly NAND output, sparking fears that memory price rises could follow. � e damaged components equate to around 3.5 per cent of the global supply of NAND for March, according to reports.■ French � nance minister Bruno Le Maire has revealed the EU is set to introduce a new tax plan for US tech companies that will see the � rms taxed at a rate of around two per cent of revenues. A European directive is expected to be disclosed in the coming weeks. President Donald Trump recently announced tari� s on foreign steel imports to the US – retaliation? Much?■ Microsoft was the subject of 238 internal gender discrimination or sexual harassment complaints between 2010 and 2016, according to a Reuters report. � e complaints were made by women working in US-based, technical jobs, it emerged.■ � e CEO of a Canadian manufacturer of secure smartphones has been indicted on racketeering drug charges, according to BBC reports. Investigators says the company, Phantom Secure, made “tens of millions of dollars” selling modi� ed BlackBerry devices for use by drug cartels, according to the article. � e charges marked the � rst time US authorities have targeted a company for knowingly making encrypted technology for criminals. � e BBC reported that the Department of Justice arrested Vincent Ramos in Seattle last week and indicted him on � ursday, along with four associates. � ey face a maximum penalty of life in prison.■ � e European Commission is set to hit tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple with a “digital tax” based on their EU turnover,

according to the Financial Times (FT).In draft proposals seen by the FT, the European

Commission will unveil “a three-pronged digital tax” next week that it claims will raise about €5bn a year. � e new tax, which it is thought will be set at a rate of three per cent, will target revenues rather than pro� ts, after complaints from France, Germany and the UK over tech giants’ tax avoidance.■ CA Technologies, Cisco, HPE, Microsoft, SAP and SUSE became the latest IT vendors to promote greater predictability in open source licensing. � is month the six committed to extending additional rights “to cure open source licence noncompliance”. � e announcement was made by Red Hat, which claimed the move will lead to greater co-operation with distributors of open source software to correct errors.■ Oracle’s lawsuit against Google for using Java to create the Android operating system had new life breathed into it this month when a US appeals court sent the case back for trial, according to Reuters. � e case – a multibillion-dollar copyright suit – was originally brought in 2010 and holds that Oracle should be entitled to royalties for Google’s use of Java. Google, however, argues that there should be no fee to use Java.■ Gibbs Hybrid, a UK-based supplier of technology, outsourcing and talent management, revealed it is expanding into North America, where it says it expects to reach $50m in revenue within two years.

� e company, which recently posted $102m in European revenues, plans to set up US operations in New Jersey, in addition to its presence in Toronto, Canada. Farida Gibbs, CEO and founder of Gibbs

Hybrid, said the � rm is pursuing its North American expansion following the Brexit vote. ■ Firms with more than 250 employees were set to publish their pay gap � gures at the end of March, as part of the government’s Gender Pay Gap report legislation. Females on average are paid 17 per cent less than their male counterparts, according to the � gures. Companies have until 5 April to publish the results, so

more data will be available next month.

EVENTS

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■ Fortinet Accelerate 18 conference, Las Vegas – the event covered a multitude of security-related issues including cloud, market saturation and the enterprise market, with CEO Ken Xie claiming the vendor’s strategy of prioritising R&D over marketing had given it a competitive advantage. Click here for a full rundown of the event.

■ Sage Sessions, London – � e accounting software giant revealed it was changing its global partner programme to focus on its 350 ‘core’ partners, admitting it has taken its eye o� the ball. � e � rm said it was looking to double its partner

business over the next two years. For the full rundown, click here.

■ Mitel Next, Munich – � e key message was that the comms vendor is now a cloud company as the � rm asserts its identity following its acquisition of ShorTel last year. For full roundup, click here.

■ Varnex, annual VAR peer community event held by Synnex, Indianapolis – � e � rm outlined its plans post its Wescon-Comstor Americas acquisition, and looked at key trends and opportunities for its partner network. Full rundown here.

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