IBM keeps on spending

The two acquisitions by IBM and the ones by Cisco, FireEye and Microsoft were the highlights of the international ICT market last week.

At home, the news of Huge's move to the main board of the JSE, and Telkom's trading update, were the main local ICT stories.

* Satisfactory Q3 figures from MiX Telematics, with revenue up 7.7% and profit up 81.5%.
* Mediocre interim numbers from Net 1 UEPS Technologies, with revenue down 1.9% and profit down 15.6%.
* Positive trading updates from Pinnacle Holdings, Silverbridge Holdings and Vodacom.
* A mixed trading update from Telkom SA.
* The Financial Services Exchange, trading as Astute, acquired Stride Switch from Stride South Africa RF.
* GreatSoft bought Axia, a cloud-based payroll business, and PaperFreeWeb, a South African cloud-based document management and scanning solution company.
* Vox Telecom purchased a majority stake in enterprise-level marketing cloud company Everlytic.
* The listing of the Huge Group has been transferred to the main board from AltX, with effect from 1 March.
* Renewed JSE cautionaries by Altron and TCS.

* The Jasco Group has set up an office in Kenya.
* MTN has hired a former US attorney-general, Eric Holder, to challenge a $3.9 billion fine imposed by Nigeria's Communications Commission.
* The appointment of Matthew Kibby as regional director of sub-Saharan Africa for VMware.

Nokia has settled its lengthy patent dispute with Samsung.

* CalAmp, a provider of wireless products, services and solutions, acquired LoJack Corporation, a provider of vehicle theft recovery systems and advanced fleet management solutions.
* Cisco Systems bought Internet of things start-up Jasper Technologies for $1.4 billion.
* EET Europarts purchased its Norwegian distributor Barex.
* FireEye acquired Invotas International, another cyber security firm that was spun off from CSG Systems International late last year.
* FormFactor bought Cascade Microtech, a developer, manufacturer and marketer of wafer probing, thermal and reliability solutions.
* IBM purchased Aperto, a German-based digital agency, and ecx.io, another full-service digital agency.
* Microsoft acquired UK start-up SwiftKey, the application company best known for its free software that replaces the default keyboard on phones and tablets manufactured by Apple and Alphabet.
* Synopek, a worldwide IT managed services and support organisation, bought EarthLink's assets associated with its IT service.
* Telenor purchased US-based Tapad, a marketing tech firm, for $360 million.
* TE Connectivity acquired the Creganna Medical Group for $895 million, expanding in the fast-growing business of making equipment used in minimally invasive procedures.
* Silver Lake made a $500 million investment in private equity company, Symantec.
* Nokia has settled its lengthy patent dispute with Samsung.
* Cisco Systems has notched a victory by winning a patent battle against rival Arista.
* Apple was ordered to pay $625.6 million in a patent infringement suit filed by VirnetX Holding regarding communications features on iPhones, iPads and other devices.
* Camtek infringed Rudolph Technology's US patent number 6 826 298.
* Alphabet vaulted over Apple to become the most valuable company in the US in after-hours trading last Monday, rousting the iPhone maker from the perch it held for more than four years.
* Very good quarterly figures from Infineon Technologies.
* Good quarterly numbers from Axcelis Technologies, Gartner, Monolithic Power Systems and Radware.
* Good year-end figures from Veeam Software.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from ADP, Alphabet, Arrow Electronics, Atlassian, BT Group, CACI International, Cadence Design Systems, CDK Global, Comcast, CSG Systems International, Fiserv, Genpact, Integrated Device Technology, Level 3 Communications (back in the black), Lumentum (back in the black), Manhattan Associates, Netgear (back in the black), NTT, NXP Semiconductor, Oclaro (back in the black), Rudolph Technologies, Software AG, TalkTalk Telecom, Ubiquiti Network and Vodafone.
* Mediocre quarterly results from ePlus, Harte-Hanks, Himax Technologies, IXYS, KPN (back in the black), Nintendo, Plantronics, Silicon Labs, Symantec, TDC, Teledyne Technologies and Teradata.
* Mediocre year-end figures from SK Telecom.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Amdocs, with revenue up but profit down; Anixter International, with revenue up but profit down; BCE, with revenue up but profit down; Cascade Microtech, with revenue up but profit down; Lenovo, with revenue down but profit up; Microchip Technology, with revenue up but profit down; Pitney Bowes, with revenue down but profit up; Snap-On, with revenue down but profit up; Synchronoss Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Tessera Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; TTM Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; and Ultimate Software, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from Acxiom, Amtech Systems, Brooks Automation, Charter Communications, ESI, Exar, FormFactor, GoPro, Harris, HTC, Interactive Intelligence, Kulicke & Soffa, LinkedIn, MobileIron, Qorvo, Sharp, Shutterfly, Tableau Software, Take-Two Interactive Software, Yahoo and Xtera Communications.
* The appointment of Ralph de la Vega as vice-chairman of AT&T.

Worldwide:
* According to Gartner, 274.6 million wearable electronic devices will be sold worldwide in 2016, an increase of 18.4% from the 232 million units in 2015. Sales of wearable electronic devices will generate revenue of $28.7 billion in 2016, of which $11.5 billion will be from smartwatches.
* Global revenue in the business intelligence (BI) and analytics market is forecast to reach $16.9 billion in 2016, an increase of 5.2% from 2015, according to Gartner.
* The worldwide tablet market declined yet again in 4Q15, with 65.9 million units shipped, down 13.7% year over year, according to IDC. Total shipments for 2015 were 206.8 million, down 10.1% from the 230.1 million in the prior year. Despite the market's negative trajectory overall, shipments for detachable tablets reached an all-time high of 8.1 million devices. The transition towards detachable devices appears to be in full swing, as pure slate tablets experienced their greatest annual decline to date of 21.1%. On the other hand, detachable tablets more than doubled their shipments since the fourth quarter of 2014.
* According to IDC, worldwide IT spending is forecast to grow from $2.46 trillion in 2015 to more than $2.8 trillion in 2019. North America (the US and Canada) will provide the largest share of global IT spending throughout the 2015-2019 forecast period, and is forecast to pass the $1 trillion mark in 2017. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) will be the second largest region, followed closely by Asia/Pacific. Latin America will be the fastest growing region, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.3%, while IT spending in North America will grow at a 3.8% CAGR. Asia/Pacific and EMEA will both grow more slowly than the overall market, which is forecast to have a CAGR of 3.3%.
* The global semiconductor industry posted sales totalling $335.2 billion in 2015, a slight decrease of 0.2% compared to the 2014 total, which was the industry's highest-ever sales total, according to the SIA.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.2%
* Nasdaq: Down 5.4%
* NYSE (Dow): Down 1.6%
* S&P 500: Down 3.1%
* FTSE100: Down 3.9%
* DAX: Down 5.2%
* Nikkei225: Down 4%
* Hang Seng: Down 2%
* Shanghai: Up 0.9%

International:
* A possible joint venture in Holland between Vodafone and Liberty Global.
* The outcome of the exclusive discussions between Sharp and Foxconn.

South Africa:
* Further developments regarding the local telecommunications sector.

Fortune has published its 2016 list of unicorn start-ups, ranked by valuation. They're called 'unicorns' but are private US-based companies valued at $1 billion or more. The billion-dollar technology start-up was once the stuff of myth. Today they're seemingly everywhere, backed by a bull market and a new generation of disruptive technology.

From a technology perspective, the following were included in this year's top 50:
* 2: Xiaomi
* 4: Palantir (data analytics software)
* 6: Snapchat
* 10: Pinterest
* 11: Dropbox
* 15: Spotify
* 22: Snapdeal (e-commerce)
* 23: Stripe (mobile payments)
* 28: Tanium (business software)
* 38: DocuSign (business software)
* 47: Slack (business software)
* 48: Powa (mobile payments)