All posts by Jamie Davies

Cloud Storage, data centre, Iliad, News & Analysis, Storage as a Service, telecoms

Iliad undercuts Microsoft, Google and AWS in cloud storage wars

Online.netFrench telco Iliad has challenged the cloud storage market through its Online.net subsidiary, undercutting the standing players in the market, reports Telecoms.com.

The new product offering, C14, was launched under the radar as the team has not made a public announcement to date, but simply added a new page onto its website. C14 targets the long-term storage market, aiming to engage customers who do not need immediate access to data and will be aiming to use the service for years, if not decades.

“C14 is designed to store huge volume of data for long term, like digital archiving, digital long term preservation, logs storage, pictures, videos, backups, disaster recovery plan… Why not backup all your Hadoop cluster for a few euros?” the company states on the website.

“Your important data are encrypted AES-256 and replicated many times then stored in our 25 meters deep underground fallout shelter, located in Paris, with no known natural, technological and military risks. We offer a very high software and physical security and comes with 8 compliance certifications and can be used for medical, military and bank data and fit all requirements of disaster recovery plan needs.”

While the storage market is a congested arena for the moment, the Online.net team have seemingly pinned hope of success on price as opposed to a unique selling point. The team claim C14 offers the lowest TCO on the market, undercutting the likes of AWS’ Glacier offering, OVH PCA Object Storage and also GoogleCloud Nearline. Only the Blackblaze enterprise offering is cheaper than C14, assuming all the figures are accurate.

acquisition, cyber security, Intel, McAfee, News & Analysis

Intel reported to be looking for security exit

IntelAlmost six years after purchasing antivirus specialists McAfee, Intel is reported to be in the market to sell off its security arm, according to the FT.com.

Intel has yet to make a comment on the speculation, though those close to the deal expect it to be one of the largest in the security sector to date. The company initially announced the McAfee acquisition in August 2010 for $7.6 billion at a time where the concept of IoT was beginning to gain traction, and the size of the online security challenge was being realized.

“With the rapid expansion of growth across a vast array of Internet-connected devices, more and more of the elements of our lives have moved online,” said Paul Otellini, who was serving as Intel CEO at the time of the acquisition. “In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences.”

While the introduction of cloud computing has provided smaller business and entrepreneurs a platform to innovate and challenge the tech giants, Intel are one of a number of organizations who have had to evolve their own proposition to remain relevant in the cloud-enabled world. Back in April, CEO Brian Krzanich outlined the long-term Intel strategy, which was split into five areas; cloud technology, IoT, memory and programmable solutions, 5G and developing new technologies under the concept of Moore’s law. While the security business unit is one of the larger within the Intel portfolio, security was not mentioned in the announcement.

The new strategy intends to move Intel away from the PC market place, as declining sales have continued to impact the business. Despite reporting year-on-year growth of 7% during the last quarterly earnings call, this was not enough to deter the company from announcing 12,000 job cuts, equivalent to 11% of the global workforce.

“Our results over the last year demonstrate a strategy that is working and a solid foundation for growth,” said Krzanich, who is leading the company’s shift away from client computing and towards IoT and the cloud. “The opportunity now is to accelerate this momentum and build on our strengths. These actions drive long-term change to further establish Intel as the leader for the smart, connected world. I am confident that we’ll emerge as a more productive company with broader reach and sharper execution.”

Security is an area which is seemingly gaining traction in the venture capitalist arena, as there have been numerous deals announced in recent months. Blue Coat was acquired by Symantec earlier this month from majority shareholder Bain Capital for $4.65 billion, with Bain Capital agreeing to reinvest $750 million, and Silver Lake committing to an additional investment of $500 million. Vista Equity Partners has also agreed to purchase identify management company Ping Identity for an undisclosed sum.

API Management, News & Analysis, Open Source, Red Hat

Red Hat boosts API management biz with 3scale acquisition

Money financingRed Hat has confirmed it has entered into a definitive agreement to 3scale, a provider of API management technology, reports Telecoms.com.

The two companies have been in partnership since early 2015 to create platform for API-based application development, though the acquisition is set to close in June 2016. 3scale currently provides developers with the tools to create, manage and scale APIs, and also recently introduced a containerized version of their API Gateway for Red Hat OpenShift. The tool enabls users to create applications with microservices distributed across diverse, hybrid environments. Upon completion of the transaction, the team commented on its blog it will open source the code almost immediately.

Red Hat claim the API management platform offered by 3scale complements various aspects of its portfolio well, most notably the JBoss Middleware portfolio, and also the elastic cloud environment provided by OpenShift. Although the company has not confirmed whether the 3scale brand will continue in the long-term, it does have a technology roadmap based on current customer requirements and the competitive landscape, which will be honoured.

“3scale complements our existing middleware product portfolio and Red Hat OpenShift by enabling companies to create and publish APIs with tools such as Red Hat JBoss Fuse, and then manage and drive adoption of those APIs once they have been published,” said Craig Muzilla, SVP of Application Platforms Business at Red Hat.

Ret Hat hope the acquisition will prove to be a differentiator in a crowded market, as it believes API management offerings could be the make-or-break factor in a number of new customer acquisitions who are looking at integration solutions. This coupled with API management offerings becoming a more important requirement in cloud application platforms, is the basis of the transaction. Acquiring 3scale enables Red Hat to address these evolving requirements quickly, as it continues the wider industry trend of acquire to innovate over organic growth.

Alongside the acquisition, the team also announced its quarterly results which demonstrated healthy growth. Q1 revenue was reported at $568 million, up 18% year-on-year, with subscription revenues at $502 million, also up 18% year-on-year. Subscription revenue from Application Development-related and other emerging technologies offerings for the quarter was $98 million, an increase of 39%.

“Digital transformation and cloud computing are changing the way companies compete in virtually every industry today,” said Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat. “Organizations that rapidly embrace agile IT technology are succeeding as industry innovation accelerates around them. Our open source-based technologies are helping customers capture the business benefits associated with this rapid rate of change.”

In terms of the outlook for the remainder of 2016 and beyond, containers were a technology which have been prioritized for the business.

“We actually see containers as a great opportunity for us to continue to differentiate around, a, kernel space and user space being consistent,” said Whitehurst in the company’s earnings call. “So having the same host and technology in the container itself. And then secondly just ability to lifecycle manages against that.

“So containers overall are good for Linux because it helps it grow overall share versus Windows. And then within that we think we have a definitely differentiated position given our position in the OS. So that’s why we can see continue double digit growth in general in the OS category which includes containers.”

Broadband, Google, News & Analysis, wireless

Google Fiber adds Miami and Boston to roster

GoogleGoogle has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Webpass to boost its Google Fiber business unit and add to its wireless broadband ambitions, reports Telecoms.com.

The acquisition builds on an area of innovation which the Google Fiber team have been investigating. Webpass has paired its fiber network with wireless technology, an idea which the Google team have been testing in Kansas City earlier this year. Back in April, Google was given approval to test its 3.5 GHz wireless broadband capabilities using antennas on light poles and various other structures, in and around the Kansas City area. The FCC commented the innovation could create a new flavour of wifi or even an LTE Unlicensed band.

Webpass was founded in 2003, and claims to have customers in the “tens of thousands”, though these are primarily apartment blocks and business users, two demographics which are likely to be of interest to Google. Webpass has focused its sights on business users in recent months, providing services in the range of 100 megabits per second to one gigabit per second, and also operates in two markets Google Fiber which has no exposure; Miami and Boston.

“Google Fiber’s resources will enable Webpass to grow faster and reach many more customers than we could as a standalone company,” said Charles Barr, President at Webpass. “I’m very much looking forward to this next chapter for Webpass, and let me take this opportunity to once again say thank you to all of our loyal customers. We are thrilled to be on this journey together.”

While the deal is still subject to the customary approval process from regulators, it is the first acquisition for the Google Fiber business, indicating the company’s intensions in the arena. The Google Fiber business has been growing at a healthy rate in the last 18 months, though the addition of Webpass will give the company traction in five significant markets in the US, including major cities such as San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, Chicago, and Boston.

Enterprise IT, enterprise mobility, IBM, News & Analysis

UK retailer Boots deputizes in-store app to capitalize on mobility trends

UK retailer Boots has announced it has launched a new app, Sales Assist, to make it easier and simpler for customers to get hold of the products they need.

The app itself is based on the upward trends of customers using devices to gain better value for their pounds as they shop on the high street. By incorporating iPads in a number of shops throughout the UK the app is supporting the retailer’s vision is to use mobility to change the way customers shop.

“At Boots UK we’re investing in innovative new technology to further improve the retail experience for our customers, and mobility is at the forefront of this transformation,” said Robin Phillips, Director of Omnichannel and Development at Boots UK. “By developing Sales Assist, in collaboration with IBM and Apple, and launching it on the 3,700 iPads in our stores, we’re integrating our digital and in-store presence to deliver an even better shopping environment for customers.

“The unique tool allows our colleagues to quickly show product information, ratings and reviews, look up inventory online and make recommendations based on online analytics, all from the shop floor. It will help even our smallest stores feel like a flagship shop, with access to the entire Boots range at their fingertips.”

Boots is using Bluemix, IBM’s cloud platform, to link Sales Assist with the company’s applications and data. The app itself links into the boots.com database allowing shop assistants to locate items, but also use the power of analytics to drive recommendations and impulse buys. The team have not stated how the app will be evolved in the future, though there is the potential for artificial intelligence to be incorporated to drive additional sales in and out of the store.

cyber security, Enterprise IT, IoT, News & Analysis

What did we learn at Cloud & DevOps World?

Cloud & DevOps WorldThe newly branded Cloud & DevOps World kicked off yesterday with one theme prominent throughout the various theatres; cloud is no longer a disruption, but what can be achieved through the cloud is still puzzling decision makers, reports Telecoms.com.

One word which was heard more than any other was maturity, as there would appear to be a general consensus that cloud computing had matured as a concept, process and business model. Although finding the greatest value from the cloud is still a challenge, there is a general feeling those in the IT world are becoming more adventurous and more willing to experiment.

Speaking in the Business Transformation theatre, Hotels.com CIO Thierry Bedos opened up the conference with a look into future trends in cloud computing. Maturity was the main driver of the talk here, as Bedos pointed out AWS’ dominant position as market leader and innovator is starting to loosen. While it would generally be considered strange to call tech giants such as Google and Microsoft challenger brands, it would be fair in the context of public cloud. But not for much longer, as the gap is slimming. For Bedos, this competition is a clear indication of a maturing market.

Along Bedos, Oracle’s Neil Sholay gave us insight into the world of data analytics, machine learning and AI in the Oracle Labs. Bill Gates famously said “Content is King”, and while this remains true, Sholay believes we can now go further and live by the rule “Corpus is King”. Content is still of value, though the technologies and business practise to deliver content have dated the phrase. The value of content is now in mastering its delivery through effective analytics to ensure automation, context and insight. A content campaign is only as good as the information you feed it to provide value to the consumer.

The Cyber & Cloud Security theatre held a slightly different story, but maturity was still a strong theme. ETSI & GSMA Security Working Group Chairperson Charles Brookson commented to us while there is still a lot of work to do to ensure security, the decision makers are maturing in the sense they have accepted 100% secure is unachievable and remaining as secure as possible for as long as possible is the new objective.

For a number of the delegates and speakers this is a new mind-set which has been embraced, however there are still some technical drawbacks. Futuristic advances such as biometric security is set to become a possibility in the near future, but Birmingham University’s David Deighton showed the team had made solid progress in the area. Failure rates are still at 2%, which was generally received as too high, but this has been reduced from 15% in a matter of months. The team would appear to be heading in the right direction, at a healthy pace.

Once again the concept of failure was addressed in the IoT & Data Analytics theatre as conference Chairperson Emil Berthelsen (Machine Research) told us the important lesson from the day was to set the right expectations. Some project will succeed and some will not, but there is no such thing as failure. The concept of IoT is now beginning to gain traction in the enterprise world, starting to show (once again) maturity, but for Berthelsen, the importance of scalability, security and data in IoT solutions was most evident throughout the day.

Day 1 showed us one thing above all else; we’re making progress, but we’re not quite there yet.

AWS, Google, Hotels.com, Microsoft, News & Analysis, Public Cloud

The rest of the world is catching up with AWS – Hotels.com CIO

Speaking at Cloud and DevOps World, Hotels.com CIO Theirry Bedos outlined some of the cloud industry’s growing trends, including the erosion of AWS’ dominant position, reports Telecoms.com.

The growth of the cloud industry has been well documented over recent months, as numerous studies and surveys dominate web searches claiming adoption rates are accelerating. While it is still debatable if cloud has penetrated the mainstream market, according to Bedos, what is clear is the industry is heading that direction; there’s no turning around now.

“The world is becoming fluffier and fluffier,” said Bedos. “There are countless studies and surveys on the internet which show the cloud is becoming more popular and widely used, which is only good for the industry. AWS is still the number one player in the market, but the rest are starting to catch up now. This is one of the most interesting trends which we are seeing.”

As with the acceptance and adoption of any new technology, there are bound to be a number of underlying trends. For Bedos, one of the more interesting of those trends is the acceptance there is another way aside from AWS.

While AWS is still considered the leader in the industry, controlling notably more market share than other cloud providers, the lead is slimming. Microsoft and Google have both been prominent over the course of the last 18 months in bolstering their cloud capabilities, and this has not gone unnoticed by the industry. Although cloud adoption rates are increasing, AWS is getting a smaller and smaller slice of the pie as customers are taking alternatives into consideration.

This should not be considered a major surprise, as this is a trend which has been witnessed with the growth of other technology sub-sectors. Back in the early 2000s, Netscape’s web browser was once dominant in terms of usage share, but lost most of that share to Internet Explorer during the so-called first ‘Browser War’. Bedos highlighted Netscape was first to market, and enjoyed that position for some time until the proposition became normalized and competition grew. This is the same trend AWS is undertaking currently.

“I’m not saying AWS will disappear in the same way Netscape did, but we’re going to see other players chip away at their market share,” said Bedos. That said, the increased competition and drive to acquire new customers could see the balance of power shift towards the consumer.

On top of the increased competition, Bedos also commented on the USPs of the individual cloud providers themselves. Buyers generally buy for a specific reason and these USPs in the cloud provider’s offerings is starting to fund the trend of multi-cloud environments in the enterprise business. Why choose when you can have the best of multiple cloud worlds? For Bedos, this is driving the trend of interoperability. Before too long moving workloads and data sets between different cloud environments will be a simple task, as vendors appreciate a lock-in situation will negatively impact their own business. Co-operation could potentially be the new battle ground.

AWS will continue; they are continuing to innovate and have the backing of one of the worlds’ most recognizable brands. However, increased competition, as well as the tendency of buyers to prefer a multi-cloud proposition, will see a more even playing field, and the bargaining power of these deals potentially leaning towards the consumer.

data protection, data residency, News & Analysis, Policy and Regulation

UK citizens trust EU countries with data more than the UK

EuropeWith the countdown to Brexit vote in its final days, research from Blue Coat has highlighted British respondents would be more trusting if their data was stored in the EU country as opposed to the UK.

Although only marginal, 40% of respondents believe the EU is a safer bet for storage of data, whereas only 38% elected the UK. Germany was perceived as the most trustworthy state, though this could be seen as unsurprising as the country is generally viewed as having the most stringent data protection laws. France ranked in second place, whereas the UK sat in third.

While the true impact of Brexit will only be known following the vote, the role of the UK in the technology world could be impacted by the decision. The research showed a notable favouritism to store data in countries which are part of the EU and under the influence of the European Commission’s General Data Protection Regulation. When looking across the Atlantic to the US, within the UK has more trust than the rest of Europe, though it could still be considered very low. In the UK, 13% said they would trust the US with their data, whereas this number drops down to 3% where France and Germany are concerned.

“The EU regulatory landscape is set to radically change with the introduction of the GDPR legislation and this research highlights the level of distrust in countries outside the EU,” Robert Arandjelovic, Director of Product Marketing EMEA, Blue Coat Systems. “Respondents prefer to keep their data within the EU, supporting new European data protection legislation.

“More concerning is the fact that almost half of respondents would trust any country to store their data, indicating too many employees simply doesn’t pay enough attention to where their work data is held. This presents a risk to enterprises, even if their employees treat where it is being hosted with little interest.”

While the impact of the Brexit vote is entirely theoretical at the moment, leaving the union could spell difficult times for the UK as EU countries favour those which are in the EU. What is apparent from the statistics is the US still has substantial work to do to counter the ill effects of the Safe Harbour agreement, which was struck down last October. The survey indicates the replacement policy, the EU-US Privacy Shield, has not met the requirements of EU citizens as trust in the US is still low.

acquisition, Dell, EMC, M&A, News & Analysis, software

Dell sells software business for $2bn to fund EMC deal

Dell has announced Francisco Partners and Elliott Management have agreed to purchase its software business unit as the company moves towards deadline day for the EMC merger, reports Telecoms.com.

The deal, initially reported by Reuters, will include the Quest Software and SonicWALL assets reportedly for just over $2 billion. Both assets were acquired by Dell in recent years, for a combined total of $3.6 billion, and while this could be seen as a big loss for the company, details of what the transaction will include and what will remain in the Dell business have not been confirmed.

The acquisition represents two growing trends within the industry. Firstly, venture capitalists have been making some notable moves in recent weeks, possibly indicating confidence in backing cloud companies have returned. Vista Equity Partners bought Marketo for $1.8 billion last month, then this followed up with a deal for Ping Identity for $600 million. Thoma Bravo also bought Qlik for $3 billion and Providence Strategic Growth invested $130 million in Logic Monitor recently.

Secondly, Dell is starting to peel back layers of their business. For the most part, this shouldn’t be seen as a particular surprise; an acquisition the size of the one Dell is currently going through requires funding, and there is also likely to be a certain level of crossover between the two business units. Characterising sale of Quest Software and SonicWALL, as well as Dell Services in March, as panic sales could be tempting, though it could also be seen as logical.

Dell’s buy-out of EMC was initially announced in October last year for $67 billion, billed as one of the largest acquisitions in the history of the technology industry. At EMC World this year, the team took the chance to launch the new brand, Dell Technologies, but also outline the integration strategy of the two tech giants. Dell’s Chief Integration Officer Rory Read and EMC’s COO of the Global Enterprise Services business unit Howard Elias highlighted while a reduction in headcount and sales would be limited, it would not be entirely unavoidable; two companies as large as Dell and EMC are naturally going to have crossover.

The sales to Francisco Partners and Elliott Management could be seen as a means to raise capital for the acquisition, this is hardly surprising as it was highly unlikely $67 billion was going to be found down the back of the sofa. The team have not commented on the specifics of the agreement to date, however one thing it does highlight is sales are a necessity to funding one of the largest deals in the history of the technology industry.

AI, Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, News & Analysis, Twitter

Twitter acquires machine learning start-up Magic Pony

Twitter has stepped up its efforts in the machine learning arena after announcing the acquisition of visual processing technology company Magic Pony.

While the company claims machine learning is central to the brands capabilities, it has been relatively quiet in the market segment in comparison to industry heavy weights such as IBM, Google and Microsoft. This is the third acquisition the team has made in this area, reported to be in the range of $150 million, following the purchase of Whetlab last year and Mad Bits in 2014, compared to Google who acquired Jetpac, Dark Blue Labs and Vision Factory, as well as $500 million on DeepMind, all in 2014.

“Machine learning is increasingly at the core of everything we build at Twitter,” said Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO. “Magic Pony’s machine learning technology will help us build strength into our deep learning teams with world-class talent, so Twitter can continue to be the best place to see what’s happening and why it matters, first. We value deep learning research to help make our world better, and we will keep doing our part to share our work and learnings with the community.”

The acquisition follows Twitter’s announcement last week advertisers will now be able to utilize emoji keyword targeting for Twitter Ads. Although a simple proposition in the first instance, the new features did open up the opportunity for machine learning enhanced advertising solutions.

Magic Pony, which was founded in 2014 and currently has 11 employees, was acquired to bolster the visual experiences that are delivered across Twitter apps. The team will link up with Twitter Cortex, the in-house machine learning department, to improve image processing expertise.

The technology itself makes use of the abilities of convolutional neural networks to scale-out an image. By taking the information in a picture, the technology imagines a larger and more in-depth image by scaling out the detail which it sees. Much in the same way a human can imagine the rest of a car by seeing the door, the technology learns lessons from previous experiences and applies logical decisions moving forward.

Magic Pony itself was initially supported by investment from Octopus Ventures who have seemingly found a specialty in finding promising AI start-ups. Prior to Magic Pony being acquired by Twitter, Octopus Ventures invested it Evi which was acquired by Amazon in 2012, and SwiftKey which was acquired by Microsoft this year.

“Today marks a great day for the Magic Pony team,” said Luke Hakes, Investment Director at Octopus Ventures. “We’re proud to have believed in the concept early on and to then have had the privilege of joining their journey. The technology Magic Pony has developed is revolutionary and pushes the boundaries of what is possible with AI in the video space.

“The UK continues to grow as the ‘go-to’ place for companies looking to build best in breed AI technology – Octopus has been fortunate to work with the founders of three companies in this space that have gone on to be acquired, with Evi and Amazon, SwiftKey and Microsoft, and now Magic Pony and Twitter. We are excited for the Magic Pony team, but also to take what we have learnt on the last three journeys and help the next generation of entrepreneurs lead the way in the on-going AI revolution.”