IBM splashes out on Red Hat

Paul Booth.

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IBM's acquisition of Red Hat dominated the international ICT market last week.

At home, the outcome of the Transnet contract controversy was the main local story.

* Good interim numbers from Cartrack Holdings, with revenue up 21.6% and profit up 23.8%; and MiX Telematics, with revenue up 16.7% and profit up 18.4%.
* A positive trading update from MTN Group.
* Partner Tech Corporation, a subsidiary of the Qisda Group (Taiwan), acquired specialist ICT distributor Corex.
* MICROmega Holdings' name change to Sebata Holdings is now effective.
* T-Systems South Africa is walking away from a R1.5 billion contract with Transnet, and is dropping an ongoing legal battle, allowing Gijima Holdings to be awarded the contract.
* Renewed JSE cautionaries by Huge Group and MTN.
* The appointment of Warren James Lock as corporate sales manager for Kyocera Document Management Solutions South Africa.

* Satisfactory half-year numbers from Safaricom, with revenue up 7.7% and EBIT up 18.7%.
* Africa's first electronic world trade platform has been established in Rwanda.
* Surfline Communications, a Ghanaian cellco, has been shut down by the debt management and tax compliance enforcement unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority.
* The appointment of Ambrose Dlamini, CEO of MTN Swaziland, as the new prime minister of that country; and Mark Jopling as Riverbed's SVP sales of the EMEA region.

* 8x8 acquired the Jitsi open source video communications technology and its highly skilled team of open source video technology experts from Atlassian.
* Accenture bought Kolle Rebbe, one of Germany's leading creative agencies, known for its digital-first approach.
* Advantech purchased Japan-based embedded PC maker Omron Nohgata, a subsidiary of Japan-based Omron.
* ASG Technologies acquired Mitek Systems, a software company that specialises in digital identity verification and mobile capture built on artificial intelligence algorithms.
* Conduent bought Health Solutions Plus, a software provider of healthcare payer administration solutions.
* EPAM Systems purchased UK-based TH_NK, a digital agency with consulting at its core.
* IBM acquired Red Hat, an open source software and services company, for $34 billion.
* MKS Instruments bought ESI, a firm that enables its customers to commercialise technology using precision laser processes, for $1 billion.
* Neustar purchased Verisign's Security Services customer contracts.
* NTT Data Services acquired Canada-based Sierra Systems, a provider of a full range of IT consulting, systems integration and application managed services.
* OpenText bought Liaison Technologies, a leading provider of cloud-based enterprise application integration and data management solutions.
* Perficient purchased Elixiter, an award-winning $6 million annual revenue marketing consultancy specialising in Marketo marketing automation services.
* Quad/Graphics acquired LSC Communications, a print and digital media services company, for $1.4 billion.
* Qualys bought Layered Insight, a global leader in container-native application protection.
* Quotient Technology purchased UK-based Elevaate, which has an in-market technology platform that drives e-commerce sales through sponsored search and product ads on retailers' e-commerce properties and elsewhere on the Web.

T-Systems SA is walking away from a R1.5 billion contract with Transnet.

* Tata Consultancy Services acquired UK-based W12 Studios, an award-winning digital design studio.
* Activist investor Carl Icahn filed a lawsuit against Dell Technologies, alleging the computer maker did not disclose "basic information" related to its plans to go public by buying back its tracking stock.
* Broadcom made a patent claim for more than $1 billion against Volkswagen and is threatening to seek a judicial ban on the production of several car models.
* Keysight Technologies will replace CA in the S&P 500 index.
* President Donald Trump's administration has acted to cut off Chinese state-backed chipmaker, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co, from US suppliers amid allegations the firm stole intellectual property from US semiconductor company Micron Technology. In addition, Taiwan chipmaker United Microelectronics is to temporarily halt research and development activities with its Chinese partner Fujian Jinhua.
* Excellent quarterly results from Walsin Technology.
* Very good quarterly figures from Airgain, Baidu, Camtek, Carbonite (back in the black), HiWin, Lumentum, Nintendo, Spotify (back in the black), Universal Display, Wirecard and Yandex.
* Good quarterly numbers from Allied Motion Technologies, Apple, Ardentec, Arista Networks, CDW, Chicony Power, Chipbond Technology, CRA, EA (back in the black), ESI, Fortinet, Gartner (back in the black), Global Unichip, IDT, II-VI, Insperity, inTEST, Key Tronic, KLA-Tencor, MagnaChip Semiconductor, Maxim Integrated Products, Motorola Solutions, ON Semiconductor, Paycom Software, Pitney Bowes, Pixelworks (back in the black), Qualys, Quantenna Communications, Seagate Technology, Systemax, Tower International, TPK Holding (back in the black), Trimble, TTM Technologies, Ultimate Software and Vishay Intertechnology.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from ADP, Advantech, Akamai, Alibaba, AMC Networks, American Tower, Arrow Electronics, AU Optronics, BCE, Belden, Booz Allen Hamilton, BT Group, CACI International, Cogent Communications, CommVault Systems (back in the black), Computer Programs and Systems, Coretronic, Delta Electronics, eBay, EPAM Systems, Equinix, ETIC, Etisalat Group, Facebook, Fair Isaac, Garmin, Imperva (back in the black), NXP Semiconductor, PC Connection, Quanta Services, Samsung Electronics, Saudi Telecom, Sensata Technologies, Silicon Motion Technologies, Sony, Sprint (back in the black), T-Mobile US, TDS (back in the black), TE Connectivity, Teradata, Tyler Technologies, US Cellular (back in the black), Verisk Analytics, XO Group and Zynga (back in the black).
* Mediocre quarterly results from Acacia Communications, Amkor Technology, Axcelis Technologies, Chunghwa Telecom, Cirrus Logic, Cognex, Computacenter, Engility, FormFactor, InterDigital, IPG Photonics, NCR, Rudolph Technologies and Tower Semiconductor.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Alpha & Omega Semiconductor, ASE Technology, Benchmark Electronics, Cognizant, Dialog Semiconductor, Eaton, EFI, Fiserv, Flexium, Mercury Systems, OpenText, Panasonic, Perficient, Qorvo, Rogers, Sabre, Sanmina, SS&C Technologies, Stamps.com, Telesat and Vonage, with revenue up but net income down; and from Cardtronics (back in the black), First Data, FIS, Flir Systems, Global Payments, ITG (back in the black), Lite-On Technology, Telefonica and Telefonica Brazil, with revenue down but net income up.
* Quarterly losses from 8x8, A10 Networks, Aerohive Networks, Appian, Apptio, Bandwidth, BlackLine, Boingo Wireless, Consolidated Communications, Cray, Diebold Nixdorf, Digimarc, Extreme Networks, Faro Technologies, FireEye, Fitbit, GoPro, Impinj, Inphi, Intelsat, Internap, iQiyi, LSC Communications, MaxLinear, MDC Partners, Mitek, MobileIron, NeoPhotonics, NetScout Systems, O2 Micro International, Orbcomm, Paytm, Rambus, Sequans Communications, Shutterfly, Stratasys, Symantec, Tenable, Varonis, ViaSat, Viavi Solutions, Weatherford International, Westell Technologies and Zendesk.
* The appointments of co-founder, Andrei Baronov as CEO of Veeam Software; Steve Hare as CEO of Sage Group; Mark Rossi as chairman of Cardtronics; and Luc Seraphin as CEO of Rambus.
* The resignation of Henry Kaestner, co-founder of Bandwidth.
* The departure of Veeam Software co-CEO and president Peter McKay.
* The death of Brian Jellison, executive chairman and former long-time CEO of Roper Technologies.

Worldwide:
* Smartphone vendors shipped a total of 355.2 million units during 3Q18, resulting in a year-over-year decline of 6%, according to IDC.
* The worldwide tablet market declined 8.6% during Q18 as global shipments fell to 36.4 million, according to IDC. Slate tablets accounted for the majority of the market, with 31.6 million units, down 7.9% from the previous year. Detachable tablets also declined, down 13.1% from the previous year, to account for 4.8 million unit shipments.

* JSE All share index: Up 6.8%
* FTSE100: Up 2.2%
* DAX: Up 2.7%
* NYSE (Dow): Up 2.4%
* S&P 500: Up 2.4%
* Nasdaq: Up 2.6%
* Nikkei225: Up 5%
* Hang Seng: Up 7.2%
* Shanghai: Up 3%

International:
* Apple making a tie-up with the largest US radio group, iHeartMedia, in a bid to boost its streaming service.

South Africa:
* Further investments by Naspers.

Fortune magazine has published its 2018 'The Future 50' rankings that, for the first time, is a global-based list. Included in the top 35, from a technology perspective, are:
* 1: Workday
* 2: Weibo
* 3: ServiceNow
* 8: Netflix
* 10: Salesforce
* 11: Nvidia
* 12 NetEase
* 14: Alibaba Group
* 15: Baidu
* 16: Tencent Holdings
* 21: AAC Technology Holdings
* 22: Yahoo Japan
* 24: Adobe
* 26: Red Hat
* 27: PayPal
* 28: Dassault Systemes
* 29: Amazon
* 31: BOE Technology Group
* 32: Alphabet
* 33: Microchip Technology
* 34: Tokyo Electron