Industry news

Cornwall County Council has voted to outsource IT to BT and reject a plan to privatise large sections of the council’s services.

The approved plan will see the outsourcing of services from the council’s IT department to BT, including the development of a telehealth hub designed to stimulate the job market.

Independent cabinet member Neil Burden said: “This is a joint venture. It's not a takeover bid. And it's a means of saving jobs and the potential to create new jobs for the working population in Cornwall".

Communications giant Broadcom has acquired technology company NetLogic for £2.3 billion.

The move comes as Broadcom seeks to promote the adoption of NFC technology through chip integration with smartphones ahead of major consumer uptake.

The acquisition for £2.35 billion will allow Broadcom to extend communication chip product lines and follows on from the purchase of security services company SC Square and wireless chip maker Beceem this year.

Michael Hurlston, senior vice president of Broadcom's Mobile and Wireless Group, said: "When we were able to do a combo device with Bluetooth and wireless LAN, it really made Wi-Fi go to a 100 percent attach rate in the smartphone,” adding, "We think that by doing something similar with NFC, it will accelerate and further drive the adoption of NFC."

Analyst firm IDC have made a prediction that companies will increasingly struggle to manage Big Data.

The prediction comes as firms are faced with increasing stretched budgets combined with higher consumption.

The report commissioned by EMC predicted a near doubling of the ‘digital universe’ every two years, and that investment in storage and analysis will increase by 40 percent from 2012 to 2020.

The report predicted that: “by 2020, a third of the data in the digital universe (more than 13,000 exabytes) will have big data value, but only if it is tagged and analysed".

The creation of a new patent system for the whole of the EU has been approved by the European Parliament.

The new system has been introduced to make the process cheaper and faster, however questions have been raised over the issue of patent ‘trolls’ who will use the system to register multiple patents, with foresight to making profit through re-sale without patent development.

The move faced objection from Spain and Italy who refused to participate however the EU parliament approved all three regulations that consist the new patent system.

In a release the EU parliament said: “The international agreement creating a unified patent court will enter into force on 1 January 2014 or after thirteen contracting states ratify it”.

The Cabinet Office will provide funding totalling £8.35 million to promote its open data initiative.

The funding will be used to help departments in overcoming technical obstacles in making data available to the public.

Business Minister Matthew Hancock said: “The value and scope for open data is extremely significant. Open data can improve public services, generate new revenue streams for companies and help to stimulate economic growth. That’s why we are backing it through these new investments".

The moves comes on top of a push to help businesses to make the most of the UK governments open data policy, including an £10 million Open Data Institute.

Research by NetSuite has estimated that UK retailers may lose out on as much as £147 million in part because of old IT systems.

Missed sales and ineffective stock control alongside ageing IT systems were found to have a high impact on retailers.

The study also predicted that the average consumer will carry out 43 percent of their shopping in-store and 57 percent online.

Andy Lloyd, general manager of commerce products at NetSuite, said, “Retailers need to take steps to avoid stock-outs wherever possible, and investing in improved demand planning is the best way to mitigate this risk."

Sutherland Global Services, a global provider of business process and technology management services, has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Apollo Health Street Limited (AHS), an associate company of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Limited.

The transaction is expected to close by February 2013, subject to customary regulatory and other conditions.

The enterprise value of the deal is around Rs 1,000 crore, of which around Rs 210-220 crore will come to Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd (AHEL), which is holding around 39.4%, while Promoters and promoters family are holding around 35-40%and One Equity Partners holding around 10-15%, said Apollo Hospitals sources.

HSBC said yesterday it will pay $1.9 billion to settle a money-laundering probe by federal and state authorities in the United States.

The probe of the bank, Europe's largest by market value, has focused on the transfer of billions of dollars on behalf of nations like Iran, which are under international sanctions, and the transfer of money through the U.S. financial system from Mexican drug cartels.

Stuart Gulliver, Group Chief Executive of HSBC, released a statement Tuesday saying: "We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again."

Transport for London (TfL) are preparing to roll out near field communication (NFC) payments on buses by Thursday.

The NFC payment system had initially been planned for release during the summer Olympics but difficulties from ‘complexities’ had led to delay.

Shashi Verma, TfL’s director of customer experience, had said previously: "We are leading the world in pioneering this exciting new technology that will make paying for journeys quicker, easier and more convenient for passengers on London’s transport network.”

The new government jobs website has attracted hackers’ attention, with personal details being obtained from the Universal Jobsite website.

Details leaked have included password information, NI details and passport information.

The new website replaced the old Jobcentre Plus website in part because of past vulnerability to fraudsters.

The DWP said to Channel 4 after an investigation, that: "Anybody seeking to acquire personal data by publishing fake job adverts should be aware this is potentially an attempt to commit fraud and that is a criminal offence.”