A recently introduced change to the way the Firefox browser handles cookies is said to be breaking a number of websites, including the gov.uk platform, with web developers being urged to re-examine their web code.

Mozilla is changing the default value of the SameSite attribute in the Firefox browser from ‘none’ to ‘lax’, meaning the browser will withhold cookies on cross-site requests unless the user navigates to the URL from an external site.

According to reports on GitHub, services on the gov.uk platform are not usable following the SameSite changes, with users experiencing broken elements or pictures missing, for example, on affected sites.

​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.

Financial tech firm Global Payments has agreed a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to expand its global reach with the development of a cloud-based payment platform for card issuers.

As part of the deal, Global Payments will also tap into AWS services as its preferred cloud provider.

The cloud-based platform is described as a «processing service» for card issuers. It aims to give companies more access to technology-oriented services that could help them to deliver more modern consumer experiences and help accelerate feature improvements.

Global Payments CEO Jeff Sloan told MarketWatch that it could «level the playing field for large financial institutions» suggesting that innovations such as contactless payment options and digital banking services «can all be done better, faster and cheaper in the cloud«.

He added that the arrangement with AWS was about «letting large financial institutions globally access the same technology that startups did.»

«The new platform’s cloud-based architecture will give clients the ability to use the services they need with greater speed-to-market, flexibility and best-in-class experiences for our customers and their cardholders,» said Sloan.

«By strategically partnering with AWS, we can capitalise on the fintech and open banking movement, further expand our role in technology innovation, leapfrog existing distribution models and solidify our position as a leading provider of technology solutions for financial institutions, new market entrants, and retailers across the globe.»

Global Payments will use a range of AWS services, such as storage, compute, database, security, analytics and machine learning to fulfil compliance requirements, enable new cloud-based services, and enhance customer experiences.

The two organisations will also work together to explore additional opportunities for collaboration on innovative payments products and services across all of Global Payments.

The partnership is another big win for AWS in the financial world. The company already works with CapitalOne, CoinBase and the National Bank of Canada, to name a few.

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.

​Welcome to the seventh issue of IT Pro 20/20, our digital magazine that brings all of the previous month’s most important tech issues into clear view.

Each month, we will shine a spotlight on the content that we feel every IT professional should be aware of, only in a condensed version that can be read on the go, at a time that suits you.

This time we’re turning our attention to a part of the tech industry that has shown remarkable resilience during a time of upheaval. The small business and startups sectors have long been associated with innovation, agility, fresh talent, and, let’s face it, quirkiness. The smaller you are, the easier it is to shake things up, whether that’s in the way employees work or the markets that are targeted.

Yet, the coronavirus pandemic has forced many larger businesses to go back to basics. Restructuring is now common, and so too is mass remote work. Some business processes no longer work as well as they did, while others have ground to a halt entirely. In many ways, the larger firms have had to behave like startups in order to survive, taking cues about the prioritisation of agility above all else and abandoning longer-tail projects in favour of those that provide immediate value.

It’s this idea of smaller businesses driving the new normal that’s the theme for most of our articles this month, although it’s most prominent in our lead feature, which takes a look at the trends that are likely to define how we work over the next few years. Elsewhere, we’ve got some industry tips on how to begin building your SMB tech stack, a somewhat frank discussion on the hidden dangers of bringing staff back from furlough, and a look at whether it’s wise to launch a new business right now.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on Friday 28 August. Previous issues can be found here.

We hope you enjoy reading this month’s issue. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

Microsoft has confirmed that it won’t fully reopen its offices until January 2021.

The company, which first began to allow employees to work from home in March in light of the coronavirus pandemic, told The Verge that employees won’t return to its US offices until 19 January 2021 at the earliest.

It’s currently planning a six-stage phased «hybrid» approach for the re-opening of its offices, the report states.

Stage six, which will see Microsoft’s offices returning to normal operations, will only be reached when most restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 outbreak have been lifted and when health data suggests it’s safe for employees to return.

“On July 30th, we shared additional information on our hybrid workplace strategy with our global workforce and extended the option of working remotely through January 19, 2021 at the earliest in the US,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in the statement.

“We continue to review the situation on a local basis in each region/country/state where we work and will continue to adjust dates by country as needed.”

We’ve asked Microsoft whether this policy also extends to its employees in the UK but have not yet received a response. 

Microsoft isn’t alone in its plans to not return to offices until 2021. Google is planning to keep its employees working remotely until July 2021, Apple employees won’t be returning to offices until early next year and Twitter has said that staff can work remotely indefinitely. 

However, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella previously warned of the dangers of permanent remote working. He said that while productivity has risen for many of Microsoft’s workers, companies risk losing out on a connected workforce if long-term working from home is implemented, which could also impact things such as mentorship programs and team building activities.

​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.