Industry news

MP’s have raised concern over outsourcing key functions to foreign firms during a House of Commons Defence Committee report.

The report focused on the feasibility of the implementation of a government-owned, contractor-operated procurement entity (GoCo).

In the report, worries were raised regarding the impact of outsourcing on future UK security.

Conservative MP James Arbuthnot said: “we believe problems might arise if a non-UK company were given responsibility for UK defence acquisition.” He added ““If it transpires that others are not prepared to give UK industry the opportunities the UK gives to theirs, it might become necessary for the government to reduce its open procurement.”

With the MoD’s budget for equipment reaching £160 billion for the next 10 years ,even with severe cuts to services personal, the outsourcing of services is predicted to provide significant savings, reducing the overhead cost of defense and potentially reducing job cuts.

UK Defense already employs technology and equipment, alongside training programs and shared service operations with a variety of countries including non-NATO members.

Large European firms are looking at employing pay-as-you-go network services to support cloud deployments.

Research carried out by analyst firm Vanson Bourne showed that European companies were showing a high level of interest in services capable of adapting to off-peak and peak demands.

This network-as-service model was particularly popular in the manufacturing and finance industry, compared to limited interest within the public sector. The model is expected to become a rising trend as an alternative to traditional models employed with SaaS, as customers look for increased flexibility and cost savings.

22 percent of SMEs are currently managing websites through cloud based platforms, with spending over 2012 rising above $45 billion, according to a report conducted by Parallels.

30 percent of SMEs are expected to have transitioned to cloud based website management services by 2015, by which point SMEs are predicted to be spending $96 billion globally.

Investment increases are being driven by businesses moving straight into the cloud, due to its availability, flexibility and low cost, before having any in-house IT services.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to procure a selection of iPads, MacBooks and other electronic devices aimed at promoting mobile working.

The selection is expected to include a range of different devices from differing brands and comes as the Government is set to update data security rules to include a wider selection of vendors and devices.

In the past HMRC, along with all public sector departments heavily employed Microsoft, the overhaul comes as part of the government’s end-user device strategy

A new study by KPMG on cloud trends has revealed that companies are finding the migration to a cloud infrastructure costly with numerous security challenges.

More than a third of the 650 businesses who responded said that the costs were higher than they had originally expected. Respondents cited the need to make upgrades to their current system before migration was able to occur, as one of the reasons for increased costs and migration times.

The report revealed that a common trend included a feeling of having cloud services ‘hyped’ by vendors .

Confidence in the UK rail sector has been ‘severely dented’ MPs were told on Monday by industry insiders.

The comments heard by MPs come shortly after a Transport Select Committee heard how the procurement failure had resulted in a £50 million cost with nothing gained, after a catalogue of “major failures”.

Michael Roberts, chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said he had no doubt the failings had “dented confidence” in the industry.

The MPs heard that the failings by the Government may result in price rises effecting taxpayers as the rail industry seeks to protect against future risk.

Mr Griffiths, the finance director of Stagecoach, said of the impact of the Government procurement failure, “It doesn’t get much worse does it?”

The DfT have spoken of creating an advisory panel for future procurement exercises, however industry leaders will be hoping that the public sector moves rapidly to resolve this catalogue of errors.

Centrica has abandoned its option in UK nuclear power plant development due to rising costs and delays in construction.

The withdrawal now means that no major UK companies are now involved with plans to construct the UK’s next series of nuclear power plants.

Chinese based Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation, who had been in talks with Centrica, may now pick up Centrica’s option.

The withdrawal of Centrica follows E.ON and RWE leaving the Horizon joint venture in 2012 and SSE abandoning the nuclear consortium in 2011.

Oracle is to pay $1.7 billion for Acme Packet, specialists in network communication equipment.

The move is expected to boost Oracles IP network performance and attraction to customers, as well as adding existing Acme Packet customers to its books.

The acquisition has been approved by Acme’s board of directors, with the deal being expected to be closed in the first half of 2013 if given the go-ahead by stockholders.

IT spending is expected to reach £75.3 billion with a 3.4 percent increase worldwide in 2013 according to predictions made by analysts Ovum.

Asia is expected to be the clear leader in IT investment, with 5.1 percent growth expected. IT growth in the EU is expected to rise upon the stabilisation of economic markets.

Global growth is expected to be fuelled by the digitalisation of banking services, as more finance operations become cloud based.

It took longer than expected, but today Dell’s founder and CEO Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake have secured the privatisation of the company.

Paying $13.65 dollars per share, the two main parties alongside a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, secured the 3rd largest computer maker in the world for $24.4 billion.

Shareholders have yet to confirm the deal, but are expected to with a premium offer on the table, and little expectation of any increase in the current static rate of Dell’s share price.

The deal comes as Dell continues to face heavy competition from Chinese manufactures, combined with lost revenue to tablets and smart phone devices.