Earth and wind become one

A handful of smallish acquisitions were the highlights of a quiet international ICT market last week.

At home, the publication of a new ICT sector code for broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) was the main local ICT story.

* TrackOFF, a US-based security company, has entered the South African market.
* A new ICT sector code for B-BBEE has been published.
* Withdrawn JSE cautionaries by Datacentrix and Pinnacle Holdings.
* The death of Stephen Mncube, a former chairman of ICASA.

* The appointment of Amr Kamel as Microsoft's new GM for the West, East, Central Africa and Indian Ocean Islands region.

IT spending in EMEA will total $1.25 trillion in 2017.

* Adobe acquired TubeMogul, a video ad platform provider, for $540 million.
* C5 Capital bought ITC Secure Networking, a cyber security company, for £24 million.
* Callidus Software purchased Datahug, a SaaS predictive forecasting and sales analytics company.
* Descartes Systems Group acquired 4Solutions, an Australia-based provider of cloud-based B2B supply chain integration solutions.
* Esker bought e-integration, a German EDI service provider.
* GTT Communications purchased Hibernia Networks, a provider of global, high-speed network connectivity solutions and owner of terrestrial and subsea fibre assets, including Hibernia Express, the lowest latency transatlantic cable system. The deal was worth $590 million.
* Insight Enterprises acquired Datalink, a provider of IT services and solutions.
* Intel bought German commercial drone software start-up MAVinci, which should aid Intel in gaining expertise in flight planning software algorithms and fixed-wing drone design capabilities.
* Synopsys purchased Cigital, a privately held provider of software security managed and professional services; and Codiscope, a 2015 spinoff of Cigital and provider of complementary security tools.
* Telia acquired Norwegian SME provider Phonero for EUR253 million.
* Trimble bought Building Data in a move designed to expand Constructible Model and BIM Content Offering for Construction.
* Windstream and EarthLink, a network services provider, announced a $1.1 billion merger.
* Infosys invested in TidalScale, a pioneer in software-defined servers that simplify the way companies can apply computing resources to tackle big problems.
* Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm, made a $497 million (33%) investment in Germany's United Internet, which is likely to delay a public listing of the latter's business beyond next year.
* Canada-based Wilan is suing Sony Mobile Communications in China for alleged patent infringement.
* Nihilent Technologies has completed the acquisition of ICRA Techno Analytics, an India-based data analytics, BPM and process engineering specialist services company, and has renamed itself Nihilent Analytics.
* The French competition authority has imposed an EUR80 million fine on SFR and Altice because they jumped the gun on their 2014 merger deal before receiving regulatory approval.
* The former CFO of Autonomy has been indicted on US charges of engaging in a fraudulent scheme to deceive investors and Hewlett-Packard about his firm's performance before its sale in 2011.
* Excellent quarterly results from Acacia Communications, Airgain (back in the black) and Nvidia.
* Very good quarterly figures from Align Technology, CSRA, GTT Communications, Microsemi, NetEase and Zayo Group Holdings (back in the black).
* Good quarterly numbers from Cotiviti (back in the black), Diodes, EPAM Systems, Himax Technologies (back in the black), Sapiens International, SMIC, Tetra Tech and ViaSat.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Amdocs, Brooks Automation, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Deutsche Telekom, Dish Networks, Far EasTone Telecommunications; First Data (back in the black), Magic Software, Nice Systems, Opera Software, Rudolph Technologies, Vishay Intertechnology and Vivendi (back in the black).
* Mediocre quarterly results from Acer, Avid Technology, Convergys, Datalink and Toshiba.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Acxiom, with revenue up but profit down; ChipMOS, with revenue up but profit down; EarthLink, with revenue down but back in the black (just); EchoStar, with revenue down but profit up; FICO, with revenue up but profit down; Foxconn, with revenue up (just) but profit down; Information Services Group, with revenue up but profit down; Lumos Networks, with revenue up but profit down; Microchip Technology, with revenue up but profit down; ON Semiconductor, with revenue up but profit down; RadNet, with revenue up but profit down; ScanSource, with revenue up but profit down; Synchronoss Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; TeleTech Holdings, with revenue up but profit down; and Trend Micro, with revenue up but profit down.
* Mixed half-year figures from Internet Initiative Japan, with revenue up but profit down; NTT, with revenue down but profit up; and Softbank, with revenue down but profit up.
* Mixed nine-month figures from Telecom Argentina, with revenue up but profit down.
* Very poor quarterly figures from Mimecast.
* Quarterly losses from Ciber, Cray, DASAN Zhone Solutions, eGain, eMagin, Envestnet, Imation, Lattice Semiconductor, Shenandoah Telecommunications, Talend, TechTarget, Tetra Technologies, Upland Software and Windstream Holdings.
* A half-year loss from Japan Display.
* The appointments of Ishaat Hussain as chairman of TCS; Yigal Jacoby as chairman of Allot Communications; and Anthony Noto as COO of Twitter.
* The departures of Adam Bain, COO of Twitter; and Cyrus Mistry, chairman of TCS.

South Africa:
* The SA IT services market is expected to grow at 10.3% in 2016, following a bumper 2015 where it reached a value of R56.9 billion, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 16%, according to BMI-TechKnowledge. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.9% over the five-year forecast period, reaching a total of R87.3 billion by 2020.
* SA's national and provincial government department ICT expenditure reached R14 billion for the 2015/2016 financial year, up from R13.6 billion in the previous year, according to BMI-TechKnowledge.

EMEA/Africa:
* IT spending in EMEA will total $1.25 trillion in 2017, a 1.9% increase from 2016, according to Gartner. IT spending across all the constituent regions of EMEA will be almost flat in 2016, increasing 0.6% year on year.
* MEA data centre traffic will reach 328 exabytes per year by 2019, up from 82 exabytes per year in 2014, according to Cisco.

Worldwide:
* IT services and business services revenue are poised to pass the $1 trillion mark for the first time in 2018, according to IDC. Worldwide services spending totals for 2016 are expected to stay within the $900 billion range, and by 2020, are expected to near $1.1 trillion.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.2%
* FTSE100: Up 0.6%
* DAX: Up 4%
* NYSE (Dow): Up 5.4% (an all-time high was reached during the week)
* S&P 500: Up 3.8%
* Nasdaq: Up 3.8%
* Nikkei225: Up 2.8%
* Hang Seng: Down 0.5%
* Shanghai: Up 2.3%

International:
* The acquisition of Digital International by Belden.
* Possible merger and acquisition news involving companies such as Fitbit and Twitter.
* A bail-out by the Japanese government for Japan Display.

South Africa:
* Further news regarding the future of Broadband Infraco.

IDC has revealed its top 10 worldwide IT industry predictions:
* By 2020, 50% of the Global 2000 will see the majority of their business depend on their ability to create digitally enhanced products, services, and experiences.
* By 2019, Third Platform technologies and services will drive nearly 75% of IT spending - growing at twice the rate of the total IT market.
* By 2020, 67% of all enterprise IT infrastructure and software spending will be for cloud-based offerings.
* By 2019, 40% of all digital transformation initiatives and 100% of all effective IOT efforts will be supported by cognitive/AI capabilities.
* In 2017, 30% of consumer-facing Global 2000 companies will experiment with AR/VR as part of their marketing efforts.
* By 2018, the number of industry collaborative clouds (ICCs) will triple to more than 450; by 2020, over 80% of the Global 500 will be digital services suppliers through ICCs.
* By the end of 2017, over 70% of the Global 500 will have dedicated digital transformation/innovation teams.
* By 2020, over 70% of cloud services providers' revenue will be mediated by channel partners/brokers.
* By 2020, all enterprises' performance will be measured by a demanding new set of DX-driven benchmarks, requiring 20%-100% or better business performance.
* By 2020, one-third of health/life sciences and consumer product companies will begin to develop the first wave of products and services tightly integrating Third Platform technologies with the human body; 'augmented humanity' offerings going mainstream in the mid-2020s.