TechTarget News - Week of Feb 21, 2021

Dell to invest $50m in Singapore innovation hub

Dell Technologies’ global innovation hub will house a research and development lab and other facilities to drive development and adoption of emerging technologies

Ericsson accelerates 5G mid-band roll-outs with mMIMO, RAN Compute lines

Swedish comms tech provider expands MIMO portfolio and radio access network solutions to enhance network performance with what it claims is optimised energy efficiency and reduced carbon footprint with new mid-band products, including 20kg flagship 64T Massive radio product

Exclusive Networks expands X-OD

Distributor increases the number of countries that can access its as-a-service offering and increases the vendors involved

UK government set to offer fintech visa

The importance of immigrant workers to the UK's fintech sector highlighted by government planned fintech visa

SES beams high-throughput loopback services to US DoD

Government solutions division of Luxembourg-based satellite operator uses O3b medium earth orbit constellation to deliver mission-critical communications to the edge in Asia

Channel roundup: Who's gone where?

Another busy week in the world of channel recruitment, with security personnel changes emerging as one of the themes of the past seven days

Microsoft announces Office 2021, Office LTSC

Microsoft will launch two versions of Office for those who don't want Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Office 2021 and Office LTSC will be available in the second half of the year.

IT services M&A, colocation deals continue to flourish

The latest round of IT services transactions feature KSM Consulting, Atos and Cyxtera. The activity underscores the continual demand for cloud services and digital infrastructure.

Chinese APT used stolen NSA exploit for years

Check Point's report details how a zero-day exploit credited to a Chinese nation-state threat group "is in fact a replica of an Equation Group exploit code-named 'EpMe.'"

News briefs: Cisco adds features to Webex Rooms

Cisco has added features from its cloud-based Webex Meetings platform to the video conferencing hardware Webex Rooms. The capabilities include access to digital whiteboards.

Malaysia government intervenes to drive 5G forward

The government of Malaysia pledges to spend 15bn ringgit to set up an entity that would be granted spectrum and operational scope to manage 5G roll-outs

AI powers reputational damage insurance policy

Reputational damage has an immediate impact on a company’s share price, and brand loyalty built over many years can be lost in an instant

Bharti Airtel, Qualcomm team to advance 5G Open RAN in India

Subcontinent’s premier communication systems provider announces partnership with leading provider of communications chips and chipsets to accelerate the adoption of next-generation networks in India

Poor data leads to IT squabbles and work stress

Covid-19 has boosted IT in business, but IT workers feel they are overworked and are often in conflict with colleagues. Can better data help?

Content+Cloud snaps up Sipcom

Deal will bulk out the firm’s Microsoft proposition as well as giving it a foothold in the US for the first time

GSMA: 5G drives recovery from Covid

Research from global trade body for the mobile industry finds that, driven by China, adoption of next-generation networks will enable global economies to get back on track over the short to mid-term

Apple boosts smartphone market with 5G iPhone debut

Apple injected much-needed life into the smartphone market with its 5G iPhone 12 line. Gartner said the company was the No. 1 phone manufacturer in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Huawei: World faces risk of K-shaped post-Covid economic recovery

MWC keynote sees Huawei deputy chairman warn that innovation is not just about solving current challenges, but about ‘lighting up tomorrow’ with innovation to make businesses smarter and create a more inclusive world

Hasura 2.0 expands GraphQL API-to-database connectivity

Hasura is looking beyond solely transactional databases with its new platform update, enabling users to more easily connect with BigQuery as well as other data sources.

Microsoft to add a text prediction feature to Word

The feature, scheduled for release next month, makes suggestions as a person types in Word. Microsoft said the predictive text feature will make writing faster and more efficient.

Australia’s Macquarie Telecom debuts SD-LAN service

The software-defined local area networking service will make it easier for enterprises to manage Wi-Fi networks and regulate the density of people at a given location

Dragos: ICS security threats grew threefold in 2020

A new report highlights the challenges facing ICS vendors today, including practices that are geared toward traditional IT and not designed for ICS security.

Arcserve and StorageCraft merge to address broader market

The Arcserve-StorageCraft merger combines the products and channel partners of both companies, with the hope it will address the needs of businesses of all sizes.

Sadiq Khan wants innovators to support London's recovery

Mayor of London announces partners and goals for the capital’s £1m Resilience Fund, and an extra £500,000 to develop design-led solutions aimed at the challenges presented by the crisis

Cloud security doubts remain

Even with the acceleration in adoption of hosted services, the channel will still have to convince some customers that all is safe when it comes to cloud security

Internet companies should provide real-time data on disinformation, Lords told

Fact-checking experts tell House of Lords inquiry that upcoming Online Safety Bill should force internet companies to provide real-time information on suspected disinformation, and warn against over-reliance on AI-powered algorithms to moderate content

Robotics company Berkshire Grey will go public

Berkshire Grey is the latest AI firm to go public, after the robotics vendor said it will merge with a special-purpose acquisition company. The move comes amid a surge in AI IPOs.

Vaccine passports prove an ethical minefield

Privacy campaigners warn that vaccine passports may turn out to be discriminatory and invasive, while technologists agree careful consideration must be given to their design

Digital queues avert COVID-19 vaccine registration crashes

Q&A with Cloudflare co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince on how digital waiting rooms can help public health agencies register their constituents for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Lightbend launches new Akka Cloud Platform on AWS

Lightbend's new Akka Cloud Platform seeks to bring a simpler approach to cloud-native development than options from hyperscalers and companies such as Pulumi and Serverless.

Veeam Backup & Replication v11 adds CDP, immutability option

Continuous data protection leads Veeam's Backup & Replication update. The vendor also recently launched its Backup for Google Cloud Platform and penciled in a date for VeeamON.

Senate hearing: SolarWinds evidence points to Russia

Executives from Microsoft and FireEye said that there was substantial evidence pointing to Russia's role in the SolarWinds attack and no evidence found leading anywhere else.

IBM extends Call for Code for Racial Justice program

IBM, in conjunction with the Linux Foundation, has delivered two additional projects to its Call for Code for Racial Justice program.

Observability updates target DevOps pipelines

LogicMonitor's Airbrake acquisition and a new Dynatrace product strengthen correlations between code releases and IT infrastructure performance.

Google to release Android password check, messaging features

Google plans to release the latest features for the Android OS gradually. The updates include password checking, text message scheduling and better message dictation.

Next Pathway update targets Hadoop migrations

Next Pathway's data scanning and migration tools can now analyze Hadoop ecosystems and translate its codes to cloud-based data warehouses such as Snowflake and Amazon RedShift.

Transport for NSW hit by Accellion breach

Australian state agency Transport for New South Wales is the latest victim of the supply chain attack against Accellion’s legacy file transfer system

IR35 private sector reforms: What IT contractors need to know

Computer Weekly asks contracting experts to answer questions about PSC bans, compliant umbrella companies and challenging status determinations, with the latest IR35 reforms coming into place

UK 5G offers faster speeds, but availability issues persist

Research shows UK 5G speeds have increased since initial deployments and are likely to increase further, with London a particular bright spot, but availability remains an issue

Mitel to release all-in-one collaboration app MitelOne

Unified communications vendor Mitel will release an app called MitelOne that consolidates its voice, messaging and video offerings into a single interface.

SAP looking for ambitious channel growth

Vendor keen to ramp up revenues from partners over the next few years as it takes steps to increase support for the channel

GCHQ sets out rules of the road for AI in cyber

A paper produced by GCHQ shows how the intelligence agency can use artificial intelligence responsibly as a tool to protect the UK’s national security

After Istio architecture upheaval, leaders pledge stability

The Istio service mesh went through major disruptions in 2020, from technical redesign to governance shifts. Now, project leaders vow to tackle lingering IT ops issues.

Vastaamo breach, bankruptcy indicate troubling trend

The blackmailing of patients directly, as well as the resulting bankruptcy of Vastaamo Psychotherapy Centre, could single a shift in cyber crime tactics.

DataStax Astra serverless DBaaS optimizes deployments

DataStax is changing how its DBaaS works, providing a way for users to more easily scale both up and own and only pay for the resources that are consumed.

GitHub hires first-ever chief security officer

GitHub has added a CSO to its ranks, as the platform seeks to grow and maintain one of the world's largest collections of open source software projects.

NCSC Cyber Action Plan emphasises SME security

NCSC self-assessment tool launched to help sole traders and micro-businesses tackle their cyber security challenges

Huawei opens developer lab in Singapore

Huawei’s Digix lab will provide software development resources to those who are building mobile apps for Huawei’s mobile platform

Palantir once more in sights of civil libertarians over NHS Covid data store

The award of a new government contract to data analytics supplier Palantir on the back of its participation in the NHS Covid-19 data store has provoked Open Democracy into legal action, backed up by an exposure of lobbying activity that pre-dates the pandemic

Three UK broadens 4G, 5G reach

UK operator reveals the pace at which its 5G network is expanding according to an expansion plan announced at end of 2020 and gives visibility into its 4G net build

Cyber extortionist threatened to bomb NHS targets

A German court has convicted a 33-year-old Italian man for making extortion and bomb threats against NHS hospitals at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic’s first wave last year

Istio service mesh users tackle real-world integration

Once IT pros set up Istio in production, they face an even bigger challenge: expanding it to the rest of the IT infrastructure, from multi-cluster environments to VMs.

Call to review critical supply chains praised, questioned

The Biden administration is requiring federal agencies to conduct a review of critical supply chains, dividing analysts on what they see as the potential long-term effects.

News briefs: RingCentral provides calling in Salesforce

RingCentral makes it possible for customers to make calls from Salesforce, Lifesize appoints a new CEO and Fuze receives a patent for a connectivity problem detector.

HPE acquires CloudPhysics, targets cloud migration projects

Hoping to up its visibility in the cloud computing market, HPE acquired CloudPhysics this week in hopes of simplifying cloud migration projects by leveraging AI.

Wages a sticking point for remote work best practices

In the shift to remote work, wages could become a major point of contention for workers after COVID-19. A move to lower-cost regions could also mean lower pay.

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