Xerox makes play for HP

Xerox’s bid for HP dominated the international ICT market last week.

At home, it was a quiet week.

• A quarterly loss from Ne 1 UEPS Technologies, with revenue down 35.8%.
• A positive trading update from MultiChoice Group.
• A mixed trading update from Reunert.
• A negative trading update from Telkom SA.
• Cape Town-based coding project codeX will receive half of the $1 million Google has committed to non-profits and social enterprises in SA.

• Satisfactory numbers from Vodacom Tanzania, with revenue up over 15% and core earnings up 9.3%.
• Germany-based ND SATCOM, the premier supplier of and integrator for innovative satellite communication systems and solutions, acquired TECNA Suarl, a satellite transmission and radio telecommunications solutions provider based in Senegal.
• Pan-African tech firm Andela has officially launched its operations in Egypt.
• MIC Tanzania (Tigo) has completed its combination with its sister company Zanzibar Telecom (Zantel), and both companies will combine their operations on the mainland and in Zanzibar.
• The appointment of Charly Nakache as GM of ND SatCom Senegal.

• Altair acquired DEM Solutions, maker of EDEM, the market-leader in Discrete Element Method software for bulk material simulation.
• Ansys bought Livermore Software Technology, a simulation company ($779.9 million) and Dynardo, a design analysis and optimisation for technology company ($33.2 million).
• DXC Technology purchased Australia-based Blueliner, a consulting company focused on delivering customer experience solutions.
• Endava acquired Scotland-based Intuitus, an independent provider of technology and digital due diligence and other technology advisory services to private equity clients.
• Epam Systems bought Israel-based Naya Technologies and its US subsidiary Naya Tech, specialists in big data, software development and cloud migration.

The FCC has approved T-Mobile US’s merger with Sprint.

• Mega Broadband Investments purchased Vyve Broadband, a provider of high-speed data, television and voice services to rural markets.
• PrinterLogic acquired MaxxVault, a leading provider of enterprise content management software.
• SoftwareOne bought BNW Consulting in a move to boost the company’s SAP technology services capabilities around public cloud migrations, S/4 HANA transformation and support.
• Sumo Logic purchased Jask Labs, an early-stage security intelligence vendor.
• Tech Mahindra acquired the Born Group, an integrated agency headquartered in the US, to bolster capabilities in commerce and customer experience. The deal was worth $95 million.
• Turbonomic, an application software company, bought SevOne, which operates a monitoring and analytics platform for networks.
• Veeva Systems purchased Physicians World, a provider of speakers bureau services.
• AT&T will pay $60 million to resolve US allegations it misled millions of smartphone customers by charging them for "unlimited" data plans, but reducing data speeds if they used too much.
• Cyxtera plans to separate its cyber security business from the rest of its operations, largely undoing a massive roll-up that took place in 2017. The new security company will be called AppGate and will begin independent operations early in Q120, led by Mike Aiello.
• DXC Technology has acquired the outstanding shares of Virtual Clarity, a leading provider of IT as a service transformation advisory services, with a decade of experience in solving large-scale IT modernisation and application migration challenges for clients in the world’s most demanding, mission-critical environments.
• Digi International has agreed to buy Opengear, a provider of network monitoring, data centre and IT infrastructure management solutions.
• The FCC has approved T-Mobile US’s merger with Sprint, but the wireless deal still faces an anti-trust challenge from state attorneys general.
• OpenGate Capital has purchased a majority stake in CoreMedia, which offers a content management and digital media platform.
• Rackspace has agreed to purchase Onica, a fast-growing Amazon partner specialising in cloud-native solutions.
• India-based Manthan Software has agreed to purchase RichRelevance, a personalisation software provider for the retail sector.
• Amperity, a customer data management start-up, has agreed to purchase Custora, a customer analytics company.
• PAR Technology has agreed to purchase AccSys, a restaurant software company.
• Netcore Solutions has agreed to purchase Boxx.ai, an India-based artificial intelligence start-up.
• Proofpoint has agreed to acquire ObserveIT, an insider threat management platform, in a deal valued at $225 million.
• Quotient Technology has agreed to buy Israel-based Ubimo, a data and media activation company.
• RealPage has agreed to pay $580 million to purchase Buildium, creator of property management software.
• Symantec has rebranded as NortonLifeLock.
• Netherlands-based United Group has agreed to buy Bulgarian telecoms group Vivacom for €1.2 billion.
• The US is investigating whether Google has abused its power, including it being the biggest broker of digital advertising sales across the Web.
• Wirecard has agreed to purchase AllScore, a Chinese payments group, for up to €109 million.
• Workday has agreed to buy Scout RFP, a cloud-based platform for sourcing and supplier engagement, in a deal worth $540 million.
• Xerox Holdings and Fujifilm Holdings have agreed to end a 57-year-old joint venture more than a year after an attempt at a full merger soured. The former has agreed to sell its 25% stake in the venture, Fuji Xerox, to Fujifilm for $2.2 billion.
• Xerox has made a bid for HP, with sources suggesting a price tag of £33 billion, about 20% above the latter’s current market capitalisation.
• The closure of Broadcom’s $10.7 billion acquisition of Symantec’s enterprise business.
• Charter Communications’ unit Time Warner Cable must pay $140 million in damages for infringing five Sprint telecommunications patents, after the US Supreme Court refused to hear Time Warner's appeal in the case.
• California is investigating Facebook’s privacy practices, the state’s attorney general revealed in a lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of failing to adequately comply with information requests that the company said it has satisfied.
• Excellent quarterly results from CHPT, Paysign and Take Two Interactive Software.
• Very good quarterly figures from Brooks Automation, CyberArk Software, EPAM Systems, PC-Tel, Square and Tactile Systems Technology.
• Good quarterly numbers from Acer, Alarm.com, Cambium Networks (back in the black), Chicony Power Technology, ePlus, Fair Isaac, Genpact, GoDaddy, ICF, Identiv (back in the black), Kimball Electronics, Kratos, Lenovo, Mitek (back in the black), Pegatron, Perficient, Rimini Street (back in the black), SailPoint Technologies, Sapiens International, Sogou, Switch and ViaSat (back in the black).
• Satisfactory quarterly results from Alaska Communications, Altice USA, Ansys, Cable One, CGI, Chicony Electronics, ChipMOS, Cogent Communications, Dialog Semiconductor, Diodes, Discovery, eGain, Entercom Communications, Iteq, NCR, Presidio, Radware, Tech Mahindra, Trend Micro, TTEC holdings, Universal Electronics and Zain Group.
• Mediocre quarterly results from ARC Document Solutions, CPSI, DISH Network, GCP Applied Technologies, GrafTech International, Liberty Global, Microchip Technology, Qualcomm, Stamps.com, Teradata, TransAct Technologies, Veon, Wiwynn, Xperi and Zayo Group Holdings.
• Mixed quarterly figures from Activision Blizzard, Alpha & Omega Semiconductor, Camtek, CDK Global, Changyou.com, Fabrinet, FIS, Fiserv, Information Services Group, Insight Enterprises, Insperity, Itron, One Stop Shop, Rakuten, Synaptics, Telefonica Brasil, Telus, Tucows and Yelp, with revenue up but net income down; and from Aviat Networks (back in the black), Avid Technology, CenturyLink, InTEST (back in the black), Lite-On Technology, LSC Communications (back in the black), NortonLifeLock (back in the black) and Sykes Enterprises, with revenue down but net income up.
• Very poor quarterly figures from Ceragon Networks and Coherent.
• Quarterly losses from Adesto Technologies, Airgain, Allot Communications, Altair Engineering, Applied Optoelectronics, Arlo Technologies, Avalara, Baidu, Bandwidth, BlackLine, Boingo Wireless, Bottomline Technologies, Cincinnati Bell, Cloudflare, Cohu, CommScope, ComScore, Conduent, Dropbox, EchoStar, eMagin, Envestnet, Everbridge, Everspin, ExOne, Fastly, Fitbit, Five9, ForeScout Technologies, Frontier Communications, Glu Mobile, GoPro, Groupon, Himax Technologies, Impinj, Inseego, Intellicheck, iQIYI, LightPath Technologies, Maxar Technologies, MDC Partners, MediaValet, Microvision, Mimecast, NII Holdings, nLight, PAR Technology, Pegasystems, Pitney Bowes, Plantronics, QuickLogic, Quotient Technology, Radcom, Rambus, Rapid7, Red Violet, RingCentral, Roku, Scientific Games, Sequans Communications, Sierra Wireless, Softbank, Sohu.com, Sprint, SurveyMonkey, Synchronoss Technologies, Talend, Team, Telecom Argentina, Telefonica, Telesat, Tetra Technologies, TiVo, Uber, Upland Software, UTStarcom, Veeco Instruments, Veritone, Vonage Holdings and Workiva.
• Half-year losses from Castleton Technology and Sophos.
• A full-year loss from BBK Electronics.
• The appointments of Vivek Badrinath as CEO of Vodafone’s newly created European towers business; Tom Denyard as CEO of Tesco Mobile; Eyal Harari as CEO of Radcom; Bill Livek as CEO of ComScore; Victor Lund as interim CEO of Teradata; Jonathan Oxley as acting CEO of UK’s Ofcom; Grant Phillips as CEO of e4, a fintech software specialist; and Vincent Pilette as CEO of NortonLifeLock.
• The resignation of Oliver Ratzesberger, CEO of Teradata.
• The departures of Yaron Ravkaie, CEO of Radcom (stays on as a director); and Sharon White, CEO of UK’s Ofcom.

EMEA/Africa:

• IT spending in EMEA will return to growth at $798 billion in 2020, an increase of 3.4% from 2019, according to Gartner.
• Worldwide:
• Global tablet shipments for the fourth quarter of 2019 are expected to increase 4.5% on year to the same level as recorded in the third quarter, when shipments amounted to 44.32m units, representing a sequential surge of 35.5% and an annual expansion of 1.5%, according to Digitimes Research.
• Worldwide smartphone shipments increased 0.8% year-on-year in 3Q19, reversing seven quarters of decline, according to IDC. In total, companies shipped a total of 358.3 million smartphones during the quarter, which was up 8.1% from the previous quarter and enough to return the industry to growth.
• Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $106.7 billion during Q319, up 8.2% on quarter, but down 14.6% from a year earlier, according to SIA.

• JSE All share index: Down 0.1%
• FTSE100: Up 0.8%
• DAX: Up 2.1% (highest weekend close this year)
• NYSE (Dow): Up 1.2% (highest weekend close)
• S&P 500: Up 0.9% (highest weekend close)
• Nasdaq: Up 1.1% (highest weekend close)
• Nikkei225: Up 2.4% (highest weekend close since October 2018)
• Hang Seng: Up 2%
• Shanghai: Up 0.2%

International:

Amazon or Apple acquiring Sonos, an audio products company.

South Africa:

The suspension 4Sight Holdings’ shares being lifted.

IDC has recently published its 10 predictions that define the concrete actions CIOs can and must take to create digital-native future enterprises. In this hyperspeed, hyperscale and hyperconnected phase of digital transformation, CIOs must rapidly transform their organisations to become the future of IT.

The predictions from the IDC FutureScape for the worldwide CIO agenda are:

1: By 2024, the IT strategy for 80% of digitally advanced organisations will evolve to a broad, flexible, self-service mashup of digital tools to replace the "walled-garden" IT as an enabler model.

2: By 2023, 65% of CIOs will be entrepreneurial leaders who evolve their organisations into centres of excellence that engineer enterprise-wide collaboration and innovation.

3: Driven both by escalating cyber threats and needed new functionality, 65% of enterprises will aggressively modernise legacy systems with extensive new technology platform investments through 2023.

4: By 2023, as a pillar of their IT multicloud approach, 70% of IT organisations will implement a strategic container/abstraction/API playbook to enhance application portability and hosting flexibility.

5: By 2022, 70% of IT organisations will have transitioned from builders and operators to designer and integrators of digital solutions that come to define every product, service, or process.

6: Through 2023, 80% of IT organisations will accelerate software development to enable them to deploy at least weekly code updates/revisions and business value delivery.

7: By 2022, as innovation becomes synonymous with disruption, 40% of CIOs will co-lead innovation, articulating digital visions and infusing intelligence enterprise-wide.

8: Through 2022, deployment of artificial intelligence to augment, streamline and accelerate IT operations will be a principal IT transformation initiative for 60% of enterprise IT organisations.

9: Through 2024, 75% of CIOs will reshape all IT resources, including budgets, assets and talent, to support real-time resource allocation and enterprise agility, dramatically reducing fixed costs.

10: By 2023, driven by the mandate to deliver engaging, agile, continuous learning-fuelled workspaces, 60% of CIOs will implement formal employee experience programmes.