Cognizant gets in the zone

Cisco's acquisition and two others by Cognizant were the highlights of the international ICT market last week.

At home, the publication of the initial findings of the SAP/Gupta investigation, and government's plan to sell off some of its Telkom shares were the main local stories.

* Mixed interim numbers from Altron, with revenue down 9.9% but back in the black.
* A positive trading update from Ellies Holdings.
* A negative trading update from MTN.
* 4Sight Holdings acquired Age, a systems integrator providing a variety of sensors, control systems and other industrial Internet of things devices, which form an important part of the vertical stack of services to mining and manufacturing companies. The deal was worth R80 million.
* Cognosec, a supplier of cyber security solutions with operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, bought Intact Software Distribution, a South African digital software distribution business specialising in providing cyber solutions from tier one vendors by portal and established by pioneers of digital software distribution. The deal was worth R3.8 million.
* Datatec's secondary listing of its shares on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange will cease, and cancellation will be effective at 7am GMT on 8 December.
* IT consultancy Dial a Nerd will merge with connectivity services provider Turrito Networks.
* SAP has uncovered proof of Gupta payments. It seems SAP employees paid commissions to Gupta-related companies to secure contracts at Transnet and Eskom, but the investigation didn't find any payments to government, Transnet or Eskom employees. It intends to institute disciplinary procedures against three of the employees suspended when the news first broke, while a fourth is believed not to have been involved and will return to work. SAP has reported alleged misconduct in its South African operation to US authorities responsible for enforcing the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
* The South African government intends to sell part of its 39% stake in Telkom SA.
* Local telecoms infrastructure solutions provider Dartcom Fibre Solutions has unveiled its R100 million fibre-optic plant facility in Waltloo, Tshwane.

* Satisfactory quarterly figures from Orange for its MEA operations.
* IOX Cable and Alcatel Submarine Networks have commenced work for the cable route survey for the IOX Cable System, which is set to usher in ultra-high-speed Internet access in the Indian Ocean islands. The system, which will span 8 850km, is set for completion in 2019. It will connect Mauritius, Rodrigues, La Reunion, India and SA.
* The appointment of Alexander Jenewein as GM and MD of sub-Saharan Africa for Hitachi Vantara, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi.

SAP has uncovered proof of Gupta payments.

* Apple acquired New Zealand-based PowerbyProxi, which designs wireless power products for consumers and industry.
* Cisco Systems bought BroadSoft, a telecommunications software company, as the world's largest networking gear producer shifts from its stagnating legacy business of switches and routers. The deal was worth $1.9 billion.
* Cognizant purchased Netcentric, a provider of digital experience and marketing solutions for some of the world's most recognised brands; and Zone, one of the UK's leading independent full-service digital agencies specialising in customer experience, digital strategy, technology and content creation.
* Garmin acquired Navionics, a privately held worldwide provider of electronic navigational charts and mobile applications for the marine industry.
* ServiceNow bought mobile platform company SkyGiraffe.
* VMC, a provider of production development, QA testing and customer support to companies primarily in the video gaming and mobile industries, purchased Volt Information Sciences' quality assurance testing business.
* Omantel made an additional 12.1% investment in Zain, taking its stake up to 21.9% of the mobile operator group.
* A US judge has ordered a new trial to determine how much Samsung Electronics should pay Apple for copying the look of the iPhone.
* Microsoft will drop a lawsuit against the US government after the Department of Justice changed data request rules on alerting Internet users about agencies accessing their information.
* TIM and its controlling shareholder, Vivendi, are setting up a jointly owned content company for Italy, with Vivendi subsidiary Canal+. The new company, 60% owned by TIM (formerly Telecom Italia) and 40% by Canal+, will produce content for the operator's Italian customers.
* Excellent quarterly results from SK Hynix.
* Very good quarterly figures from Align Technology, Amazon, AMD, AXT, Baidu, BE Semiconductor, Canon, KLA-Tencor, Macronix and Winbond.
* Good quarterly numbers from Alphabet, Amphenol, Cabot Microelectronics, Entegris, Faro Technologies, Fortinet, LINE, Logitech International, Mercury Systems, Microsoft, Monolithic Power Systems, OSI Systems, Rambus, SS&C Technologies, STMicroelectronics, Teradyne, Texas Instruments, Trimble, Vantiv, Vasco Data Security, Vishay Intertechnology, Weibo and Western Digital (back in the black).
* Satisfactory quarterly results from ASE, Atos, AudioCodes, AU Optronics (back in the black), AVX, Cadence Design Systems, Celestica, China Telecom, China Unicom, Corning, CRA, Cypress Semiconductor (back in the black), Dassault Systemes, Etisalat Group, F5 Networks, Flex, Flir Systems, Forrester Research, Gemalto, HCL, Infosys, Intel, Interface, Iron Mountain, LG Display, Millicom, Orange, PC Connection, PTC (back in the black), Quality Systems, Realtek, San'an Optoelectronics, Sensata Technologies, Sharp (back in the black), Shaw Communications, Sopra-Steria Group, T-Mobile US, Telefonica, Telefonica Brasil, Telenor, Tessco Technologies, Total Systems Services, Tyler Technologies, VeriSign, Xilinx, Zix and ZTE.
* Mediocre quarterly results from AT&T, InterDigital, MicroStrategy, PDF Solutions, Silicon Motion Technology, Siliconware and Xerox.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Akamai Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Anixter International, with revenue up but profit down; Aspen Technology, with revenue up but profit down; Avnet, with revenue up but profit down; CA Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Charter Communications, with revenue up but profit down; Chunghwa Telecom, with revenue down but profit up; Citrix Systems, with revenue up but profit down; Comcast, with revenue down but profit up; Digital International, with revenue down but profit up; EFI, with revenue up but profit down; Innolux, with revenue up but profit down; Iridium Communications, with revenue up but profit down; Juniper Networks, with revenue down but profit up; KPN, with revenue down but profit up; L3 Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Manhattan Associates, with revenue up but profit down; Mellanox Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Netgear, with revenue up but profit down; NTT DoCoMo, with revenue up but profit down; NXP Semiconductor, with revenue down but profit up; Seagate, with revenue down but profit up; Silicon Labs, with revenue up but profit down; Televisa, with revenue down but profit up; Time Warner, with revenue up but profit down; UMC, with revenue down but profit up; Visteon, with revenue down but profit up; and Yandex, with revenue up but profit down.
* Very poor quarterly figures from CTG, but back in the black (just).
* Quarterly losses from 8x8, A10 Networks, America Movil, Changyou.com, CommVault Systems, CyberOptics, Digimarc, Intelsat, Lantronix, MuleSoft, NetScout Systems, Nokia, ServiceNow, Shutterfly, Smith Micro, Sohu.com, Sprint, Twitter and Vocera Communications.
* The appointments of Alfonso de Angoitia and Bernardo Gomez as co-CEOs of Televisa.
* The resignation of Emilio Azcarraga, CEO of Televisa (stays on as chairman)
* A planned IPO from Arqiva, a UK-based towers company.
* An IPO launch by China Literature, China's largest online publishing and e-book company, in a move that seeks funds for acquisitions and the expansion of its digital publishing business.
* A good IPO on Nasdaq by ForeScout Technologies, an Internet of things security company.

Worldwide:
* Worldwide spending on mobility solutions is forecast to reach $1.72 trillion in 2021, according to IDC. Although annual growth is expected to slow over the 2016-2021 forecast period, it still expects spending on mobility-related hardware, software and services to see a five-year CAGR of 2.7%. Worldwide mobility spending will total $1.58 trillion in 2017, an increase of 4.3% over 2016.
* The number of connected Internet of things devices worldwide will jump 12% on average annually, from nearly 27 billion in 2017 to 125 billion in 2030, according to IHS Markit.
* Display shipments for notebook PCs are forecast to increase by 5% in 2017 to 177 million units compared to the previous year, while notebook PC unit shipments are expected to remain flat during the same period, according to IHS Markit.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.3% (highest weekend close)
* FTSE100: Down 0.2%
* DAX: Up 1.7% (highest weekend close)
* NYSE (Dow): Up 0.5% (highest weekend close)
* S&P 500: Up 0.2% (highest weekend close)
* Nasdaq: Up 1.1% (highest weekend close)
* Nikkei225: Up 2.6% (highest 2017 weekend close)
* Hang Seng: Down 0.2%
* Shanghai: Up 1.1% (highest 2017 weekend close

International:
* Closure of the $85 billion AT&T/Time Warner deal.

Africa:
* The scramble to acquire 9mobile, Nigeria's fourth largest network operator, as 16 firms have submitted expressions of interest.

South Africa:
* Further news regarding the South African government's sell-off of some of its Telkom shares.

Forrester Research has published its 'Top 10 Technology Trends to Watch: 2018 to 2020'. Forrester breaks these into the three phases of dawning awareness, and acceptance, which are setting the pace of technology-driven business change.

In the dawning phase, a few innovators experiment with new technology-enabled business models and exploit emerging technologies. In the awareness phase, change agents leverage the accelerating returns of evolving technology to steal customers, improve the bottom line, and inflict massive impacts on industries. In the acceptance phase, surviving enterprises finally make the tough changes necessary to fight disruptors.

The 10 technology trends are, in summary:
* The internet of things shifting computing towards the edge;
* Moving distributed trust systems to the periphery;
* Cyber security at scale;
* Employee-centric application development;
* Software learning to learn;
* Digital employees entering the white-collar workforce;
* Insights-driven businesses, designed for continuous measurement and optimisation, will outpace the competition;
* Customer experience becomes immersive;
* Brand value will be boosted by contextual privacy; and
* The rate of business innovation will increase through public cloud.

Of the 10 trends, the first four fall into the dawning category; the second four into the awareness category; and the final two into the acceptance category.