IBM has announced it will be acquiring Spanish hybrid cloud consultancy firm Bluetab Solutions as it continues to flesh out its new hybrid cloud and AI strategy.

The financial details of the deal have not been revealed, but it’s expected to be completed by Q4 of 2021.

Bluetab will become a key part of IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI strategy as a data services consulting practice. The firm, which is based in Madrid, was founded in 2005 and has brand partnerships in banking, telecommunications, and energy and utilities industries across Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.

It works with enterprises by migrating their on-premise systems to hybrid multi-cloud data platforms using a combination of public cloud providers and technologies, such as Red Hat OpenShift.

“The outside-in digital transformation of the past is giving way to the inside-out potential of using company-owned data with AI and automation to generate business value and create intelligent workflows,” said Mark Foster, senior vice president of IBM’s Services and Global Business Services.

“Our acquisition of Bluetab will fuel migration to the cloud and help our clients to realise even more value from their mission-critical data.”

Bluetab’s expertise in data and cloud migration services includes specialised data strategy, data fabric, and advanced analytics, according to IBM.

The firm’s data experts will also be joining IBM’s Global Business Services to capitalise on opportunities in the rapidly growing market for data services, which is estimated to reach $232 billion by 2024, according to Gartner. That’s double the $123 billion it reached in 2020.

“The key to solving data challenges for our clients has been the exceptionally talented and experienced team we have been able to build as well as the value-added accelerators we have developed,” said José Luis López, co-founder of Bluetab. “We could not be more excited by the opportunity that IBM offers us to continue to grow our team, to build on our accelerators and to help more clients achieve leadership positions by leveraging their data.”

The Bank of England (BoE) has warned about the financial sector’s increasing reliance on “secretive” cloud service providers that operate online servers. 

In its latest survey on the state of financial systems, the BoE expressed concerns that the UK’s banks are moving more and more of their administration and accounts online, warning that this “could pose a risk to financial stability”. 

The BoE has previously raised concerns that the market for cloud services is highly concentrated, with companies such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) heavily dominating. Ministers have also previously questioned the government’s own reliance on those two tech giants. 

However, the organisation’s concerns have been repeated due to the pandemic, which has seen financial institutions accelerate digital transformation plans and increase their reliance on cloud service providers (CSPs). 

In a news conference, BoE Governor Andrew Bailey expressed his concerns about the “secretive” nature of these CSPs, saying that while he “understood cloud providers’ desire not to reveal too much publicly about their operations in case it opened the door to cyber attacks, firms needed to give more information to regulators and customers.”

“That concentrated power on terms can manifest itself in the form of secrecy, opacity, not providing customers with the sort of information they need to monitor the risk in the service,” he said, according to Reuters. 

The Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority have recently strengthened regulations regarding operational resilience and third-party risk management, according to the BoE, but the increasing reliance on a small number of CSPs could increase financial stability risks without greater direct regulatory oversight of the resilience of those provider’s services. 

“The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) is of the view that additional policy measures to mitigate financial stability risks in this area are needed, and welcomes the engagement between the Bank, FCA and HM Treasury on how to tackle these risks,” the Bank of England said in its report. 

“The FPC recognises that absent a cross-sectoral regulatory framework, and cross-border co-operation where appropriate, there are limits to the extent to which financial regulators alone can mitigate these risks effectively.” 

Google has announced plans to move users from its Backup and Sync file-syncing services to a new unified desktop app for Drive. 

Onboarding for the Drive for Desktop app will start on 19 July, with Google recommending users make the switch by the end of September before they’re locked out on 1 October.

The transition is just for Backup and Sync users, however, as business clients who are already using Drive File Stream – the enterprise name for Drive for Desktops – should already be set up. 

The aim of moving to a unified desktop app is to create “a powerful and unified sync client”, according to Google, with the best features from both consumer and enterprise services that should be more straightforward to use and easier for IT teams to manage.

In a blog post, Google suggests the new app will be pretty familiar to anyone who used its previous file-syncing services. Drive for Desktop will offer easy access to files and photos stored in the cloud, and will sync files in the background to keep them up to date.

Google also suggests the app can sync external storage devices like flash drives to Drive, mirror files between Drive and local files on a desktop computer, and let users choose whether they store individual photos and videos in Drive or Google Photos.

The launch of Drive for Desktop coincided with a few announcements from the tech giant, which included changes to services that helped many through the pandemic. In April 2020, for example, Google Meet was made available to all users with day-long group calls, but that has been switched to an hour as of 1 July. As such, free Gmail users will now have to make do with calls with three or more participants at a limit of 60 minutes.

TikTok has launched a pilot programme in the US to help job seekers create and send ‘video resumes’ to potential employers as it looks to expand the platform into recruitment.

The new service, dubbed ‘TikTok Resumes’, already has a selection of job openings from brands such as WWE, Shopify and Target.

At a time when tech companies like Facebook and Twitter are scrambling to be more like the video-sharing app, TikTok itself is aiming to be more like LinkedIn, with the company suggesting that there has been a rise in “career and job-related creative content” on its platform over the past year and that this could be used as a “channel for recruitment”.

As an example, TikTok user and Berkeley graduate ‘Christian‘ has created a short video resume with graphics and background images to showcase his skills with Adobe and Google Dialogflow and his experience working with brands, such as flight operator KLM.

Users can pursue job listings via the app or the website’s TikTok discovery page, with US job openings available till 31 July.

“TikTok Resumes is officially open and accepting TikTok video resumes,” said Nick Tran, global head of marketing at TikTok. “We’re humbled to be able to partner with some of the world’s most admired and emerging brands as we pilot a new way for job seekers to showcase their experiences and skill sets in creative and authentic ways.”

Tran added that TikTok is hoping to “reimagine recruitment and job discovery”, and the social media platform has already made a start on that ambition with the hashtag ‘CareerTok‘ which pools together resume examples, career advice and interview tutorials.

According to the Pew Research Centre, 48% of 18 to 29-year-olds in the US have reported having a TikTok account, compared to just 30% who say they have a LinkedIn profile.

Nvidia has switched on what it claims is the UK’s fastest supercomputer, the Cambridge-1, which will be made available to outside researchers and academic scientists such as AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.

The company said it will offer use of Cambridge-1 for free and will use what it learns from running the system to improve its future healthcare-specific products. 

“Cambridge-1 will empower world-leading researchers in business and academia with the ability to perform their life’s work on the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, unlocking clues to disease and treatments at a scale and speed previously impossible in the UK”, said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA.

“The discoveries developed on Cambridge-1 will take shape in the UK, but the impact will be global, driving groundbreaking research that has the potential to benefit millions around the world.”

The system, which has been installed at the Kao data centre in Harlow, Essex, uses artificial intelligence (AI) for complex health research. For AstraZeneca, for example, the system will be used to learn about one billion chemical compounds represented by groups of characters that can be assembled into sentence-like structures. King’s College London and a special unit from the NHS will also use the system, as will privately held firms such as Oxford Nanopore Technologies. 

According to a report by Frontier Economics, an economics consulting firm, Cambridge-1 has the potential to create an estimated value of £600 million over the next 10 years.

“Disease prevention, climate change and efforts to drive a post-pandemic, green recovery are some of the most pressing issues of our time,” said Lee Myall, CEO at Kao Data. “I believe that Cambridge-1, and the continued efforts of its founding partners will be instrumental for the future of humankind. At Kao Data, we are delighted to be hosting the UK’s fastest supercomputer sustainably, and supporting ambitions to build back better through our work with Nvidia.”

Nvidia has spent around $100 million on the installation and has also suggested that figure was just “a starting point”. The move is part of a set of steps to show a commitment to the UK while it completes its controversial $40 billion deal to take over Cambridge-based Arm from Japanese investment group SoftBank. 

The deal is under heavy scrutiny from regulators around the world, including the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, over concerns Nvidia will use it to create a monopoly within the chip manufacturing industry. 

Nvidia has also said it plans to build a supercomputer centre in the UK with Arm-designed chips. 

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that the government’s working from home guidance will be scrapped on 19 July as part of plans to lift the country’s remaining COVID restrictions.

Johnson said that it was now a decision for employees and employers to “work out for themselves” during a news conference on Monday’s evening.

​The announcement came as part of a plan to fully lift all COVID restrictions, such as requirements to wear masks and social distancing, which will be removed later this month. The government’s decision seems to be based on the success of the vaccine rollout, with a claim that the “overwhelming proportion” of the workforce has had two jabs, which it said equalled a “huge wall of immunity”. 

However, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has called for more support for businesses to help their decision making, risk assessments, and, ultimately, boost confidence in both employees and customers. 

The organisation’s director general, Tony Danker, said the announcement would provide “huge relief” for UK businesses that have struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic. Many of those will be shops and restaurants along high streets and popular commuter routes that have been starved of footfall traffic while people have worked from home. 

“Critical now will be to build both customer and employee confidence in living with the virus,” Danker told IT Pro. “This will require businesses to continue putting safety at the heart of their approach as they have since the start of the COVID crisis and the government providing a vital role in supporting employers through guidance and advice.

“In the coming days we need the government to put in place further measures to create this much-needed confidence. Knowing whether workplace testing will continue beyond July, gaining clarity on mask-wearing for public transport and understanding how a role test and release scheme can support both domestic industry and our international travel sector can provide a further boost for firms as we all move from crisis to recovery.”

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Opera has released a host of new features for its Chromebook web browser to position itself as a full-featured alternative to Chrome that’s also fully optimised for ChromeOS.

The new web browser boasts tools that are not available in the standard Chrome OS, such as a free browser VPN, built-in messengers, an ad blocker, and five different colour themes.

Opera suggests that its tweaked Android version is a simple and fast laptop browser, with “custom-made optimisations that deliver a full-fledged laptop experience”. The major changes will allow users more ‘laptop-style’ controls, including keyboard shortcuts such as ‘Ctrl+T’ for opening new tabs and ‘Ctrl+L’ for focusing the address bar.

What’s more, Opera suggests it has developed the only browser that lets users access chat functions without disrupting their work or the browser itself. Apps for Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Telegram are built-in, so users won’t have to reach for a phone or specifically go to the website of each service.

The decision to develop an alternative for Chrome was largely based on a study conducted by Opera that found users wanted more than one browser, particularly for different purposes. Opera claims to be the first company to provide an alternative browser to Chrome that’s optimised for ChromeOS, since the operating system launched back in 2011.

“Chromebooks, with their user-friendly interface and touchscreens, are excellent devices for people’s everyday needs,” said Stefan Stjernelund, product manager of Opera for Android. “We decided it’s high time their users got access to an excellent alternative browser with a unique set of features they’ll find both useful and fun.”

The timing is also key, with Chromebook demand reaching an all-time high during the pandemic; according to Canalys, 11.2 million units were shipped between October and December 2020, which represents a 287% increase year-on-year. According to Opera, this highlights how important Chrome OS has become as it offers convenience for workers and students alike.

The Norwegian firm also expects a further 40 million units to be shipped during 2021.

Slack has added three new features in an attempt to reposition the platform as a ‘virtual headquarters’ for companies that adopt hybrid or entirely remote working strategies post-pandemic. 

These arrive in addition to the recently announced feature that enables users to schedule messages, which is very much in keeping with the idea of businesses running and operating across different regions and time zones. 

“The ‘new normal’ is here to stay – no one wants to give up the flexibility of working from anywhere,” said Slack’s VP of product, Noah Desai Weiss. “There’s a clear need for a virtual headquarters that helps employees embrace a new sense of flexibility, that makes them feel connected to their colleagues despite being physically apart, and that recreates the serendipity and creativity of the office.

“This is why we are introducing new virtual HQ capabilities like Slack Huddles and native recording of video, voice, and screen-sharing clips in Slack.”
 
Slack Huddles is essentially the company’s pitch for those ‘water cooler conversations‘ workers used to enjoy in a physical office. This is a key part of its ‘virtual HQ’ strategy, re-creating those spontaneous moments of conversation or brainstorming via an ‘audio first button in the bottom corner of the Slack sidebar. It’s a one-click operation where a ‘huddle’ can be started in any channel or direct message (including the ones users share with external contacts) where participants can virtually come and go as they please.

Another new feature has a very TikTok feel to it, as Slack users will be able to create and share video, screen recordings and audio clips, rather than conduct meetings or write long text into a channel. This was previously touched upon earlier in the year as a sort of ‘Stories’ type feature that’s used on Instagram and now Twitter with ‘Fleets’. 

The final new product for Slack’s ‘virtual HQ’ overhaul is called ‘Slack Atlas’, which is a digital directory users can navigate from within their account and connect to colleagues and partners from across their networks.
 
All of the new features are being rolled out now to paid-tier customers. Slack has yet to confirm whether they will also be rolling out to non-paying customers. 

The Labour Party has called for a full investigation into the ministerial use of private email accounts for government business. 

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It follows a report in The Sunday Times that suggests that former health secretary, Matt Hancock, breached government guidelines by using his personal Gmail account.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has written to the Cabinet Secretary and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) demanding a “full-scale investigation” into what she called a “shady practice” that could “conceal vital information”. Rayner has warned that “the buck doesn’t stop with Hancock” and that the government was “rotten to its core”.

“We need to know how wide this goes and how much government business is being conducted in secret,” Rayner wrote. “This shady practice has the potential to conceal vital information of public interest and cover up the waste of taxpayers money that has been given to friends of Conservative ministers.”

The Sunday Times said it had seen documents that suggested Hancock had “routinely” used his private Gmail account to conduct government business and also claimed that the junior health minister, Lord Bethell, did the same. There are also claims the other officials within the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had breached government guidelines in this way.

Labour’s concern is that, as a result of this private email use, the government does not have a complete record of the former health secretary’s decision-making during the pandemic, which includes the procurement of PPE, set up of the Test and Trace system and the strategy for care homes. 

In a statement given to IT Pro, the UK’s Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham, said: “It is an important principle of government transparency and accountability that official records are kept of key actions and decision.

“The issue of ministers and senior officials using private email accounts to conduct sensitive official business is a concerning one for the public and is one my office has advised on before. I am looking carefully at the information that has come to light over the past few days and considering what further steps may be necessary to address the concerns raised with me.”

Hancock resigned over the weekend following leaked CCTV footage from his office that shows him in an embrace with his aide Gina Coladangelo. The ICO also confirmed that it is making enquiries into the release of personal data to the media and whether a further regulatory response is warranted.

The former health secretary is also under scrutiny from the Conservative Party; when asked by the BBC if Hancock’s actions were a security issue, justice secretary Robert Buckland said: “I agree, and that’s why I think it’s important that we use the systems that we are provided with.”

In response to Buckland’s comments, Rayner tweeted: “We already know that hostile states target minister’s email accounts to access sensitive information and even blackmail Ministers. Tory ministers are putting our national security at risk by trying to hide from the public and cover up their dodgy dealings.” 

Using a personal personal account for government business is meant to be against government guidelines, but in April, MP Tom Tugendhat claimed that GCHQ had advised him that Gmail was safer than the system used in Parliament. 

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Microsoft has revealed a new design for Microsoft 365, which it says will be available for both Windows 11 and Windows 10 users and will come with support for 64-bit Arm processors. 

The announcement coincided with the release of the first preview build of Windows 11, the tech giant’s next iteration of its flagship operating system. 

The refresh to Microsoft 365 comes on the tenth anniversary of Office 365’s initial release and was based on customer feedback, according to Microsoft. Users called for a “more natural and consistent experience” between applications – specifically on Windows – which is why the new design has similarities to the recently announced Windows 11 layout.

The update has a “familiar” user interface, but with the Fluent Design principles seen on Windows 11 across all applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Project, Publisher, and Visio. 

What’s more, the update will be automatically available to any Office Insiders running beta channel builds and can easily be turned off using the “Coming Soon” feature, which is located in the top right corner of the menu. In Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote, users need to click the megaphone icon to open the “Coming Soon” pane, and use the toggle to move between the new and current interface, and apply the setting to all the Office apps.

In addition to the design refresh is a new 64-bit version of Office for Windows on Arm-powered machines, where it’s been recompiled for Arm architecture. The idea is that it will offer a faster experience, boost memory availability, abd provide better support for large documents, all while maintaining compatibility with existing 64-bit add-ins using the new x64 emulation capability provided by Windows.

The Windows 11 preview build (22000.51) is available now to Windows Insiders, and includes access to the new Start menu, multitasking features, and overhauled Microsoft Store. Unlike the leaked version of the build, this official preview also features an updated File Explorer that replaces the ribbon with a command bar.