INDUSTRY NEWS COMMENT: MANAGING BIG DATA Jason King
BIG Data is moving in leaps and bounds as businesses generate and collect more data than ever. In fact, our recent research found that UK CIOs are facing up to 80 per cent rises in the amount of Big Data they handle each year. It’s also rocketed up the agenda for financial services organisations that collect and exchange large amounts of data on a daily basis. For the channel this is good news. Big-hitting
City institutions are looking at cloud storage products to generate and store the increasing amount of data they receive. But by their very nature, cloud services are heavily reliant on having a connection that provides them with the secure, reliable access they need. While cloud adoption is increasing, many financial services organisations still face challenges: 59 per cent of businesses view storing and sharing data as being major hurdles to overcome. Both obstacles have a direct impact on business networks, and a third of organisations think getting their hands on extra bandwidth is a major problem. To tackle this, the channel should be reassuring financial services customers that secure, high-speed fibre connections to the cloud can tackle these concerns. It’s important to remember that financial services businesses come in all shapes and sizes and will all generate different amounts of data that they want to store in the cloud. So naturally, each one will have specific wants and needs when it comes to download speeds. The good news is that bandwidth can be turned up or down depending on each customer’s needs. If the amount of Big Data being handled by financial services firms increases, as is expected, then there’s always spare capacity for them to bolt onto their existing package.
Jason King, Head of Wholesale Voice & Data, Virgin Business Media
Avnet lands Mattelli deal
AVNET Technology Solutions has added an estate management solution to its kit bag having acquired the assets of Mattelli, notably its Unity platform. The platform enables organi- sations to manage their IT hard- ware and software assets and address issues around software compliance, contract manage- ment, renewals management, cost allocation and tracking, budget forecasting and tracking and tendering. Graeme Watt, President,
Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA, commented: “The addi- tion of an estate management solution into our portfolio and the skilled software and services resources the acquisition brings to Avnet supports our strategy to significantly grow our services offerings and capabilities. “We will continue to identify
and develop Avnet services that support growth for our busi- ness partners and drive product demand for our suppliers. This initiative will launch in the UK then rapidly extend into other EMEA geographies.” The Mattelli estate manage-
ment solution integrates tech- nology from strategic partner- ships. The solution automates the process of gathering a com-
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Toshiba has launched a cloud-based business telephone solution called VIPedge to its American partners, allowing companies to pay a monthly service fee scalable to meet system size and usage needs. VIPedge is based on the Toshiba IPedge on- premises system. “We are excited by the direction this takes Toshiba,” said Neil Moulton, Channel Director at Toshiba distributor Capstan. See page 37
John Toal
pany’s hardware and software estate and is able to cross refer- ence this information against contractual agreements. John Toal, VP and Country
Manager, Avnet Technology Solutions, UK and Ireland, said: “Creating new services offerings requires considerable investment, so by delivering a portfolio of IT estate manage- ment solutions to our partners we’re removing a barrier to entry and providing them with a means of differentiation. “This is about enabling our partners to achieve profitable growth by giving them the abil- ity to more thoroughly under- stand their customers’ estates and solve the problem of man- aging IT assets, which has been an issue for the industry for many years.”
Brookes gets standing ovation
HAVING spent 20 years of ded- icated work building a respected trade association, outgoing FCS CEO Jacqui Brookes OBE (who has retired) received a much deserved standing ovation from delegates at this year’s AGM. Speakers lined up to pay
tribute to her work in develop- ing the FCS as a powerful and respected voice, campaigning on behalf of the industry. Among them were FCS
Chairman Justin Orde, who said: “The FCS Board is grateful to Jacqui for her 20-plus years of
Brookes was originally Jacqui Brookes
service. The vibrant, representa- tive and respected organisation we have today is very much a testimony to Jacqui’s vision and determination. “We all wish Jacqui a very long and happy retirement.”
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appointed in 1990 to manage FCS trade association projects and became CEO in 2002, with responsibility for representing and supporting members and developing the Federation. Her experience covers rep- resentation to Government and regulators on the big issues, developing self regulatory schemes, staging conferences and seminars and building FCS information services. In 2007 she was awarded an OBE for her contribution to the industry.
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Evolve Telecom has acquired theWord Direct, boosting Evolve’s headcount to over 100 employees and bringing in excess of 60,000 numbers across nearly 3,000 SMEs. Mark Gordon, MD, commented: “theWord Direct fits our philosophy as a professional, high quality business.” Gordon has taken over from theWord Direct MD Huw Stiley but the day to day management remains with the existing theWord Direct team.
Chess Chief Exec’ David Pollock has outlined plans to continue his acquisition strategy and hire an additional 30 staff by the end of 2012. Speaking at the firm’s annual Summer Conference he stated: “2012 has so far been a great year for us. We’ve been listed once again in the ‘Sunday Times Best Companies’, completed seven acquisitions with plenty more in the pipeline.”
AVT Systems, an independent provider of voice solutions to the financial services sector, has awarded Gold Partner status to Red Box Recorders. The award recognises a number of deals with financial services organisations that have used Red Box’s technology to comply with FSA regulations for the recording of transaction-related calls.
Exponential-e has enabled IPv6 as standard on all its business Internet services, ensuring that customers will be able to send and receive traffic across the entire Internet, not just legacy networks using IPv4. The firm’s dual-stack approach to IPv6 readiness allows customers to carry on with IPv4 as normal, and then deploy IPv6 on their internal network when they are ready.
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