The fat lady has sung

A Chinese consortium bidding to buy Opera Software and Orange's latest acquisition in Africa, were the main stories in the international ICT market last week.

At home, there were a handful of small acquisitions and investments.

* Good interim numbers from Adapt IT, with revenue up 19.8% and profit up 57.7%; and Jasco, with revenue up 11.1% and profit up over 500%.
* A positive trading update from Blue Label Telecoms.
* A negative trading update from Stella Capital Partners.
* Deloitte (Africa) acquired the business assets and employees of the 30-person team of ConVista Consulting, the South African subsidiary of the German consulting firm ConVista, as it continues to expand its financial services capabilities, with a particular focus on the insurance industry.
* Britehouse Mobility bought AdvanceMobility, a managed mobile solutions company.
* IG3 Education (Australia) purchased Rectron Australia, a subsidiary of Rectron (Mustek), for A$1 059 476.10.
* Stellar Capital made a R13 million additional investment of the remaining 6.86% of the shares in Tellumat that it doesn't already own.
* A strategic partnership was announced between Instacom, a provider of technology software and hardware to the security and cleaning industries, and EasyRoster Software, a supplier of world-class workforce management software.
* RocketNet, the consumer-focused fibre Internet brand of directel, has launched in SA.

* Orange acquired Millicom's operations in the DRC (Tigo DRC).
* African mobile technology brand AG Mobile has launched in Nigeria. Recognised as one of the continent's first original design manufacturers, it was the first South African brand to release its own mobile device in 2007. This is the ninth African country where AG Mobile phones and tablets are available, and the first where it's launched independently of a retail partner.
* The appointment of Henri van der Vaeren as VMware's VP for southern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

RocketNet, the consumer-focused fibre Internet brand of directel, has launched in SA.

* Amazon acquired Italy-based Nice, a software developer for technical computing.
* Garmin bought most of the assets of DeLorme, a privately held company that designs and markets consumer-based satellite tracking devices with two-way communication and navigational capabilities.
* Infoblox purchased privately held IID, a leader in global cyber threat intelligence.
* A group of Chinese internet firms, including Qihoo 360 and Kunlun, has put in an offer to acquire Opera Software, a Norwegian maker of Internet browsers, for $1.2 billion. According to Opera, should the acquisition occur, Opera would remain operating as a standalone Norwegian company.
* Wipro bought HealthPlan Services from Water Street Healthcare Partners, a strategic investor focused exclusively on the healthcare industry.
* VTech Holdings purchased educational toymaker LeapFrog Enterprises for $72 million.
* Web.com acquired Yodle, a leader in local digital marketing.
* A strategic partnership was formed between South Korea's top entertainment agency, SM Entertainment, and Alibaba Group Holding.
* Very good quarterly figures from CyberArk, Infinera, Orbotech, Paycom Software and Varonis Systems (back in the black).
* Good quarterly numbers from ARM Holdings, CDW, Cognizant Technology Solutions, LifeLock, Rovi (back in the black) and Sabre.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from America Movil, CenturyLink, Equifax, Internet Initiative Japan, IPG Photonics, j2 Global, Nice Systems, Nokia, VeriSign and Web.com (back in the black).
* Mediocre quarterly results from Activision, Cognex, Diebold, EE, Insight Enterprises, NCR and Trimble Navigation.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Akamai Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Belden, with revenue down but profit up; Cisco, with revenue down but profit up; Cray, with revenue up but profit down; CSC, with revenue down but back in the black; CSRA, with revenue up but profit down; Entegris, with revenue down but profit up; FIS, with revenue up but profit down; Forrester Research, with revenue up but profit down; On Semiconductor, with revenue down but profit up; Open Text, with revenue down but profit up; Qlik Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Qualys, with revenue up but profit down; Ruckus Wireless, with revenue up but profit down; Softbank, with revenue up but profit down; TechTarget, with revenue down but profit up; ViaSat, with revenue up but profit down; and Vonage, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from Adesto Technologies, Amkor Technology, Callidus Software, FireEye, Groupon, Guidance Software, First Data, Hortonworks, Limelight Networks, Millicom, Mimecast, Nuance Communications, Pandora Media, RadiSys, RealNetworks, Telenor, Twitter, Vishay Intertechnology, Yelp, Zayo and Zynga.
* The appointment of Andrew Heath as interim CEO of Imagination Technologies.
* The resignation of Hossein Yassaie, CEO of Imagination Technologies.

Worldwide:
* Establishing controls for privileged access continues to be a focus of attention for organisations and auditors, according to Gartner. By 2018, 25% of organisations will review privileged activity and reduce data leakage incidents by 33%.
* Enterprise and consumer spending on mobile devices, software and services will grow at a CAGR of 2.7%, from $1.7 trillion in 2015 to $1.8 trillion by 2019, according to IDC. EMEA mobility spending will represent 29% of worldwide spending on mobility in 2019, reaching $538 billion.
* Worldwide personal and entry-level storage shipments totalled 68.5 million units in 2015, representing a decline of 9.2% from a year ago, according to IDC. Annual shipment values were down 15.1% year over year to $5.4 billion. Unit shipments in the fourth quarter (4Q15) experienced a 6.8% decrease from a year ago to 19.1 million units. Shipment values declined along with units in the fourth quarter, down 12.6% to $1.5 billion.

* JSE All share index: Down 2.3%
* Nasdaq: Down 0.6%
* NYSE (Dow): Down 1.4%
* S&P 500: Down 0.8%
* FTSE100: Down 2.4%
* DAX: Down 3.4%
* Nikkei225: Down 11.1%
* Hang Seng: Down 5%
* Shanghai: No change

International:
* A possible take-over of Yahoo by Verizon Communications.

South Africa:
* Developments regarding SONA and the promised broadband roll-out.

Forbes magazine has published its 2016 listing of America's best 25 small companies, ie, small giants that have chosen to be great instead of big. From a technology perspective, the following are included:
* ABT Electronics, a store for consumer electronics and appliances.
* Blink UX, a user experience research and design firm specialising in digital products.
* Headsets.com, an e-commerce business specialising in wireless and corded office headsets.
* Integrated Project Management Company, a project management consulting firm that advises on and executes companies' most complex initiatives.
* Torch Technologies, an employee-owned system engineering, applied science, modelling and simulation and IT business.