​TikTok has announced plans to open its first European data centre in Ireland, an investment worth around €420 million (£380 million).

The news comes following the US government’s crackdown on the video-sharing social media platform. President Donald Trump had previously threatened to ban the app on the basis of Chinese-linked security threats and on Monday he demanded that the US Treasury receive a cut of the proceeds from the forced sale of TikTok. However, according to regulatory lawyers, this may be open to challenges.

TikTok’s decision to open a data centre in Ireland, the first in Europe, could signify a desire to shift its operations away from the US as well as secure its position in the European market.

The million-euro investment is expected to create hundreds of jobs, as well as facilitate faster loading time and safe storage of European users’ data, according to Roland Cloutier, TikTok’s global chief information security officer.

“This data centre signals our long-term commitment to Ireland and we expect the data centre to open and be operational by early 2022,” Cloutier wrote in a blog post.

Late last month, TikTok Ireland became the data controller for users in the EEA and Switzerland.

“Ireland already plays a key role in our rapidly expanding European operations,” said Cloutier. “Since establishing our EMEA Trust and Safety Hub in Dublin at the start of this year, we have rapidly expanded our team and appointed senior leaders who are continuously enhancing the strategies, policies and processes designed to keep people on TikTok safe.”

Commenting on the announcement, Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, the agency responsible for the attraction and retention of inward foreign direct investment into the country, said:

“TikTok’s decision to establish its first European data centre in Ireland, representing a substantial investment here by the company, is very welcome and, following on from the establishment of its EMEA Trust & Safety Hub in Dublin earlier in the year, positions Ireland as an important location in the company’s global operations.”

With the new investment, TikTok might be hoping to receive better treatment from regulators in the EU than those in the US.

In late June, the platform signed the EU’s Code of Practice on disinformation, agreeing to a set of voluntary steps aimed at combating the spread of false information and ‘fake news’. However, it is unclear whether this will be enough to appease the EU and ward off the sort of restrictions imposed on fellow Chinese tech companies.

Zoom will suspend direct sales of its video conferencing products in mainland China, opting to only offer its technology through third-party partners. 

The change to Zoom’s sales policy, which is scheduled to come into force on 23 August, comes after US lawmakers raised questions about the company’s ties to the Chinese government, following its decision to suspend the accounts of several Chinese activists in June. 

The company announced the decision on its Chinese website and issued the following statement: “Our go-to-market model in Mainland China has included direct sales, online subscription, and sales through partners. We are now shifting to a partner-only model with Zoom technology embedded in partner offerings, which will provide better local support to users in Mainland China.”

Zoom’s services will now be embedded in offerings from its Chinese partners such as Bizconf Communications, Suirui Zhumu Video Conference, and Systec Umeet. Despite the change, users in mainland China will reportedly still be able to join regular Zoom meetings as participants.

The decision is likely to be linked to Zoom’s efforts to avoid facing the same scrutiny as video-sharing social networking service TikTok, owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance. The US government has been exploring the option of banning the service and this could extend to other tech services in any way affiliated with China.

In May, Zoom decided to limit new registrations in China to enterprise users who sign up for the teleconferencing service through an authorised sales representative.

Zoom’s founder and CEO Eric Yuan moved to the US from China in 1997, becoming a US citizen in 2007. Zoom is headquartered and founded in San Jose, California, but a significant portion of its development team is based in China. 

Nevertheless, the company has recently shifted its focus from China to India. Last week, it announced that it is recruiting DevOps engineers and IT, Security, and Business Operations personnel for a new technology centre in Bangalore.

​HPE has announced that it is helping the University of Edinburgh build what will be Europe’s first regional data innovation centre.

The company is to provide high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) tools powered by HPE Apollo Systems and HPE Superdome Flex Servers, as well as software supported by HPE Ezmeral Container Platform. The deal is expected to be worth over $125 million (£95 million) over the next 10 years.

The Edinburgh International Data Facility (EIDF) will assist 1,000 public, private and non-profit organisations in developing products and services using R&D and other data-driven programmes, as well as elevate Edinburgh to the title of the Data Capital of Europe, the company claims.

The EIDF is expected to play a crucial role in the region’s Data Driven Innovation (DDI) programme, pioneered by the University of Edinburgh to overcome societal and industrial challenges as well as deliver benefits from the data economy, all while improving the digital and data skills of over 100,000 people from across the region.

Mark Parsons, director of EPCC at the University of Edinburgh, said that the institution is “pleased to be working with HPE” on what he believes is “the only facility of its kind in Europe focused specifically on data-driven regional growth”.

“With the Edinburgh International Data Facility, we are combining computing and data resources to create a facility that will allow organizations to use data to innovate throughout their organizations. HPE is uniquely positioned to provide the spectrum of infrastructure and services, as well as the flexibility that this project demands,” he added.

In order to manage AI workloads and applications crucial to scientific research and engineering, EIDF will be deploying the HPE Ezmeral Container Platform, which provides native Kubernetes support and enables self-service ML applications with flexible use of accelerators, such as GPUs.

The platform runs on HPE Apollo Systems, which are purpose-built to support HPC, deep learning and other data-intensive workloads. What is more, the platform will also support HPE Superdome Flex Servers to support applications requiring large in-memory processing, as well as include pre-integrated persistent data storage in the form of the HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric file system.

HPE is also set to provide the Cray Shasta ClusterStor E1000 storage system, which is purpose-built to support EIDF’s ongoing data growth and converged HPC and analytics workloads using intelligent data management.

EIDF is expected to gain 20 petabytes of storage capacity with the new system which will also be used for vital COVID-19 research at the University of Edinburgh.

Lee Rand, director of HPC and AI at HPE EMEA, said that the company is “proud to embark on this long-term initiative with the University of Edinburgh, following a highly competitive tender process”.

“We were chosen due to the flexibility and reliability offered through our end-to-end solutions portfolio, and because we were one of the very few organizations able to seamlessly combine all of the Edinburgh International Data Facility’s requirements into a single framework. In the data-centric era deriving insights and value from across multiple datasets will be a key to success for business and government alike. We look forward to boosting the UK’s capacity for data-driven innovation through this initiative.”

The EIDF is expected to be fully operational later this year.

Microsoft has announced new updates to its suite of offerings including Azure, Teams, and Microsoft 365. The new features, which were announced on the first day of the company’s virtual Microsoft Inspire conference, are aimed at providing businesses with better remote working solutions in the age of social distancing.

The company announced a slew of new business applications which prioritise the health and safety of employees returning to offices post-lockdown and support independent software vendors (ISVs) in developing, publishing, and marketing their apps.

Microsoft Azure

As part of the Inspire commencement, Microsoft unveiled the second generation of Azure Stack HCI (hyper-converged infrastructure), which allows users to run virtualized workloads on-premise while connecting to Azure. In contrast to the original release, which was introduced in March 2019, the latest version of the Azure Stack HCI is not reliant on the Windows server. 

Azure Stack HCI can be used to modernise data centres with high-density virtualization and storage, as well as to view and manage multiple clusters and virtual machines (VMs) at the same time using Microsoft’s multi-cloud management solution Azure Arc.

Catering to a growing remote working environment, customers can run Azure Stack HCI on their own hardware, under the condition that it matches Microsoft’s validated node solution. Azure Stack HCI is currently delivered by Dell EMC, HPE and Lenovo.

As a part of the second-generation Azure Stack HCI, Microsoft also announced a new deployment wizard which aims to help IT administrators to quickly setup an Azure Stack HCI cluster and connect to Azure, as well as a Stretch Cluster for high availability (HA) and disaster recovery, allowing to easily extend a cluster from one site to multiple.

The new Azure Stack HCI is to include Extended Security Updates for Windows Server 2008 virtual machines, at no additional cost.

Microsoft 365

One of the most interesting announcements to come out of Inspire 2020 are the changes to Microsoft 365’s UX, which sees an increased focus on simplicity. 

Head of Microsoft Office design John Friedman said that «the next wave of Microsoft 365 UX changes will go even further by fading brand colors from app headers and exploring adaptive commanding», including «a flexible ribbon that progressively discloses contextually relevant commands at the right time just where you need them». The standard ribbon UI had graced Office since 2007 and has not experienced many changes until now.

«We’ll further advance our seamless, cross-suite Search to bring relevant information to your fingertips, and myriad forthcoming experiences will leverage Fluid Frameworks. Microsoft 365 will bring the power of Office to wherever you are, ensuring you won’t need to interrupt your creative process to open a different tool,» Friedman explained in a blog post.

The UI updates are part of the Fluent Design system which has been changing Office over the past couple of years by adding new icons and introducing dark mode.

Microsoft also announced the public preview of Microsoft Endpoint Data Loss Prevention in Microsoft 365, which aims to help customers identify and protect information on endpoints. The tool is built into Windows 10, Office Apps, and Microsoft Edge, therefore facilitating deployment and eliminating the need for an additional agent. 

The company also unveiled Universal Print, a new service solution that provides a secure print experience for customers moving their workload to the cloud. The service eliminates the need for a complex hybrid print setup, thus expanding opportunities for reseller and hardware partners.

Microsoft Teams

The tech giant also introduced new features to its collaborative platform Microsoft Teams, which aim to ensure a secure and collaborative working environment while working from home.

The now generally-available Teams Room Premium provides customers with a cloud-based IT service that includes 24/7 proactive management and monitoring delivered by Microsoft experts. Teams Rooms Premium aims to provide users with the option to shift the operational burden of their rooms to Microsoft or a certified Microsoft partner.

As a part of its Teams updates, the company also announced the new RealWear head-mounted devices, which provide first-line workers with hands-free access to information and the ability to conduct calls with remote experts directly from their job sites. Users will be able to access chats, remote assist capabilities and other resources using only voice commands. 

Another newly-announced Teams feature is Walkie Talkie, which allows customers to turn employee- or company-owned Android smartphones and tablets into a walkie-talkie, enabling clear, instant and secure voice communication over the cloud. The app reduces the number of devices employees must carry, potentially lowering IT costs.

Microsoft also announced enhancements to its Power Platform within Microsoft Teams, aiming to facilitate the creation, deployment and management of apps without the need to leave Teams. Apps and chatbots built with Power Apps and Power Virtual Agent will now be able to access data residing in the Microsoft Dataflex, a relational database which has been built into Teams at no additional cost. Thanks to DataFlex, users will be allowed to build applications and workflows directly within Teams without having to consider back-end tech logistics. The new Power Apps features will be available for public preview starting next month.

Partnership priorities

Lastly, Microsoft outlined its partnership priorities for the fiscal year 2021, which are the following:

• Remote work
• Business continuity
• Security
• Cloud migration

As a part of the new “remote everything” environment, Microsoft announced that it would focus on empowering employees, engaging customers, optimising operations, and transforming products. According to the company, the combination of these factors would create an inclusive, trusted workplace which respects fundamental rights.

Microsoft-owned Minecraft will stop using Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud and will shift its workloads to Azure.

The tech giant has used AWS to run its popular Minecraft video game since 2014, when the game’s original developer, Mojang Studios, chose AWS to run its Realms – virtual places where small groups can collaborate in playing the open-world game together. In September 2014, Microsoft announced its acquisition of Mojang for $2.5 billion (£1.9bn).

Since then, Minecraft has become one of the most popular games of all time, being played by 126 million people each month and selling over 200 million copies as of May this year.

A Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC in an email that “Mojang Studios has used AWS in the past, but we’ve been migrating all cloud services to Azure over the last few years”, adding that Microsoft will be “fully transitioned to Azure by the end of the year”.

Microsoft’s decision to stop relying on AWS is fuelled by the growing rivalry between the two tech giants. Although AWS is considered the leading provider of public cloud infrastructure, Microsoft’s Azure has experienced growth huge growth, largely due to the skyrocketing demand for cloud services during the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent shift to remote working.

Last month, Microsoft acquired enterprise data modelling company ADRM Software, aiming to combine the firm’s “information blueprints” with Azure storage and compute to create sophisticated data lakes. The company also announced new features for its IoT platform, Azure Digital Twins.

Prior to that, in late May, Microsoft also launched 10 new Azure cloud services, including Bastion and Confidential Computing, for its UK customer base in order to improve security and allow users to take advantage of technologies such as IoT.

Microsoft’s independence from AWS could not only save the company money, but it also has the potential to communicate to its customers and rivals that Microsoft is confident in its own technology and does not have to rely on an industry-pioneer like Amazon in order to maintain its data storage.

​Salesforce has announced its plans to roll out three new Marketing Cloud product updates which aim to facilitate working from home for enterprise marketing teams.

The updates include three AI-focused innovations to its Interaction Studio, four new features in the enterprise addition of Pardot, as well as a new Datorama integration with Tableau.

Salesforce’s Interaction Studio, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to manage customer interactions, is to be improved with technology integrated from the company’s Evergage acquisition, which was finalised earlier this year.

Users will be able to to build, manage, test, and implement AI-powered recommendation strategies with the new Einstein Personalization Recipes, use an “advanced, continuous learning algorithm” to choose the best suitable offer or experience through Einstein Personalization Decisions, as well as improve personalisation campaigns and customer engagement efforts using A/B/n Testing.

Salesforce also announced that it would be integrating its Datorama analytics platform with Tableau, which was acquired by the company last year for $15.3 billion (£12 billion). The integration is to aid marketers in optimising their budget and data using Automated Marketing Data Integration.

Lastly, the software company will roll out four new features to its enterprise edition of Pardot, Salesforce’s marketing automation product. With B2B Marketing Analytics Plus, users will be able to use AI to sift through and understand data as well as determine best future marketing strategies.

Pardot will also be equipped with Einstein Attribution, which produces report and dashboards for optimised revenue credit assignment and Pardot Business Units, which facilitates campaign management across brands, geographies and segments. Admins and developers will also be able to test, audit and configure IT processes with the new Developer Sandboxes for Pardot.

While the Datorama Integration with Tableau is already available, Pardot Premium is to roll out later this month. Salesforce announced that the Interaction Studio will become generally available in the third quarter of 2020.

​New research into cloud security management has found that 83% of UK organisations believe threats to cloud systems are outpacing their ability to effectively deploy countermeasures.

This places the UK behind the global average, at 71%. By contrast, only 53% of German enterprises believe the same.

Cyber security company Palo Alto Networks has published its findings about the practices, tools, and technologies that companies around the world use to manage security for cloud-native architecture, interviewing 3,000 professionals in cloud architecture, information security, DevOps, and application development located across the UK, Germany, USA, Singapore, and Australia.

The State of Cloud Native Security report shows that UK organisations today host 42% of their workloads in the cloud and expect this to increase to 65% in the next two years.

A significant majority (93%) of UK businesses admitted to using more than one cloud platform, while one in two (57%) said they use between two and five. The trend was reflected on a global scale, with 94% and 60% of global organisations admitting to the same respectively.

However, the report has found that the growing reliance on cloud infrastructure has not translated into increased confidence in cloud security. In fact, 84% of UK respondents admitted that their organisation struggles to draw a clear line between their own responsibility for cloud security and their cloud service providers responsibility for security.

Low confidence in cloud security, and undefined responsibility for it, coincides with a surge in the number of attacks on cloud accounts, up by 630% between January and April of this year, according to McAfee. A majority of these external attacks were large-scale attempts to access cloud accounts with stolen credentials and usually targeted collaboration services like Microsoft 365.

The research also found that, while overall enterprise use of cloud services increased by 50%, access to the cloud using unmanaged, personal devices doubled, contributing to the risk of company data being stolen.

​Google has decided to abandon the development of a controversial cloud computing project named “Isolated Region”, which catered to various governments’ desires to control data within their borders.

The tech giant scrapped the initiative in May, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic but also due to the rising geopolitical tensions between the US and China, where Isolated Regions was being developed, according to two anonymous Google employees speaking to Bloomberg.

The project, which was launched in early 2018, sought to comply with Chinese regulations which require Western companies to form a joint venture with a Chinese partner company when they provide data or networking services. However, the development was paused in January 2019, reportedly due to Google choosing to focus on potential customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

However, according to one source, the geopolitical issues placed demands on Isolated Region that Google was not capable of delivering.

A Google spokeswoman refuted the claims made by the employees, telling Bloomberg that Isolated Region wasn’t shut down for either of the given reasons and that the company “does not offer and has not offered cloud platform services inside China”.

Google has said that the cloud initiative was cancelled because “other approaches we were actively pursuing offered better outcomes”, although it has yet to elaborate on the specifics of these approaches.

“We have a comprehensive approach to addressing these requirements that covers the governance of data, operational practices and survivability of software,” the spokeswoman said. “Isolated Region was just one of the paths we explored to address these requirements.”

“What we learned from customer conversations and input from government stakeholders in Europe and elsewhere is that other approaches we were actively pursuing offered better outcomes.»

The news comes just days after Google, alongside Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter, made the decision to suspend the processing of user data requests from the Hong Kong government, following the implementation of a new security law that criminalises protests. The Hong Kong government reportedly requested data from Google users 105 times in 2019 alone.

IBM has announced its acquisition of WDG Automation, a Brazillian software provider specialising in robotic process automation (RPA). 

Financial details of the acquisition weren’t disclosed to the public, but the companies said they expect the deal to close in the third quarter. 

IBM’s decision to acquire WDG Automation sees the tech giant continuing its expansion into the AI-infused automation market, as it looks to provide its customers with the ability to “quickly identify more granular opportunities for automation (…) as well as help ensure consistent and accurate data is being used across all tools and business functions, including customer service, IT, finance, HR, and supply chain”. 

RPA technologies have the ability to computerise repetitive tasks, removing them from the human employees’ workload and therefore boosting productivity, as well as general welfare and wellbeing.

WDG Automation, based in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil, is a provider of RPA, Intelligent Automation (IA), Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and chatbots. It markets its products at business users looking to create automations using a desktop recorder without the need for IT.

WDG’s software robots are able to run on-demand or by using an automated scheduler, depending on the customer’s needs.

The company’s founder and CEO Robson Felix called automation “crucial in the digital era, as businesses need to perform several repetitive or routine tasks so that employees are able to focus on innovation”.

“I’m incredibly proud of the role WDG Automation has played in the RPA market with a unified and integrated platform to help companies in Brazil increase their productivity,» he added.

WDG co-founder Kleber Rodrigues Junior said that |joining forces with IBM will scale our capabilities to a wider audience, helping companies around the world accelerate their growth on their business transformation journeys».

Denis Kennelly, general manager of Cloud Integration at IBM Cloud and Cognitive Software, added: «IBM already automates how companies apply AI to business processes and IT operations so they can detect opportunities and problems and recommend next steps and solutions». 

«With today’s announcement, IBM is taking that a step further and helping clients accelerate automation to more parts of the organization, not just to routine, but more complex tasks so employees can focus on higher-value work.»

The acquisition might signal a shift of priorities for IBM, which recently decided to «sunset» its general-purpose facial recognition and analysis software suite over ethical concerns following a fortnight of Black Lives Matter protests.

Last week, the company unveiled an AI-powered inventory control system to help businesses optimize their decision-making and build resilient supply chains more effectively.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that it’s introducing a new business segment that will aim to accelerate innovation in the global aerospace and satellite industry.

The Aerospace and Satellite Solutions unit will see AWS expand its services and solutions to the space enterprise sector by providing cloud solutions to support government missions and companies advancing space around the world.

The segment is to be headed by the former director of Space Force Planning at the US Space Force, major general Clint Crosier.

In a blog post announcing the launch, AWS VP Teresa Carlson said that the company is “excited to welcome” Crosier, who “has spent the last 33 years driving transformation and mission success across the space enterprise, and led the Defense Department’s efforts to stand up the U.S.’s newest military service”.

Crosier said that he had «watched AWS transform the IT industry over the last 10 years and be instrumental in so many space milestones”. 

“I am honored to join AWS to continue to transform the industry and propel the space enterprise forward,” he added.

AWS also unveiled Ground Station, a managed service that allows customers to downlink data as well as provide satellite commands across multiple regions. The company said that it is already being used by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.

Rick Ambrose, executive VP of Lockheed Martin Space, an AWS partner, said “it’s exciting to see Amazon Web Services extend that experience to space, fostering collaborations with Lockheed Martin to help solve some of the world’s toughest problems”.

«Lockheed Martin’s innovation focus is driven by tomorrow’s space missions. We’ve supported missions to every planet, participated in every U.S. Mars mission and built hundreds of satellites, from GPS to weather. Together, we share a vision to help our customers access data faster, and gain new insights from sensors in space that make data even more accessible,” he said.

The announcement comes days after AWS took its machine learning-powered CodeGuru development tool out of preview and rendered it generally available.