Industry news

Telefónica Digital has launched a global Iaas service delivering configurable cloud services, aimed at enterprise and mobile applications.

The cloud service will be offered as a customer managed platform allowing for the control, monitoring and customisation of virtual servers.

Carlos Morales, director at Telefónica Digital, said: “Telefónica Digital seeks to meet the needs of thousands of businesses that require a cloud services platform that is easily scalable, with low latency and totally trustworthy, enabling them not only to rapidly respond to their own needs, but also to the expectations of their customers”.

International Airlines Group (IAG), owners of British Airways are to cut 4,500 jobs in attempt to cut losses from airline Iberia after a loss of over £210 million.

The cuts will include a 15 percent reduction in Iberia’s capacity and the removal of 25 aircraft from the fleet.

The impact of hurricane Sandy has also damaged the company’s profits with flights grounded in and out of the east coast of North America.

Despite poor results and the impact of hurricane Sandy and the difficulties stemming from Iberia, IAG posted profits of £216 million in a busy third quarter.

The global services market saw transaction volumes decline in the third quarter of this year, extending a declining trend to six consecutive quarters, according toMarket Vista: Q3 2012, a quarterly market report by Everest Group, an advisory and research firm on global services.

Market Vista: Q3 2012, which analyzes global outsourcing and offshoring activity contracts irrespective of contract value, found third quarter transactions and annual contract volumes fell 8 and 35 percent compared to the second quarter, respectively. The market saw 380 outsourcing deals signed in the third quarter, compared to 472 and 441 during the first and second quarters, respectively. In the third quarter, reported annual contract value (ACV) reached about US$1.4 billion. Both transaction volume and ACV dropped for IT Outsourcing (ITO) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

“In years past, the market saw pent up demand accumulate then propel positive third-quarter activity, but that didn’t happen this year,” said Eric Simonson, managing partner of Research.

India's outsourcing chiefs crossed their fingers that Barack Obama would take a less hawkish stance on the industry during his second term, as they cheered his re-election as a possible boost to the U.S. economy.

Obama sharpened his rhetoric against industries that move jobs out of America during his re-election campaign, and his administration has been criticised by outsourcing industry bodies in India for tightening visa rules.

"Not the best news for India or the IT outsourcing industry," Phaneesh Murthy, chief executive officer of iGate Corp, said in response to Obama's victory.

Security group G4S appeared to bounce back from its Olympic contract shambles with a rise in revenues but the company admitted there was still work to be done to rebuild its reputation.

The company said revenues rose 4.1pc in the first nine months of the year, or 6.9pc including the London 2012 contract, Operating margins were lower compared with the same period last year.

The update from G4S was welcomed by the City and shares rose 3.5pc to 270p. However, contracts to run nine British prisons to be awarded this week will be a key test of whether the Government is willing to forgive its Olympics mishap and farm out new contracts to the company.

London & Capital chooses Oncore IT for Cloud-based backup services

Oncore IT, a Cloud and IT managed services provider, has announced that it has signed a three year contract with London & Capital, a leading firm of investment advisers and asset managers, to provide a cost effective and scalable public Cloud-based backup solution to maximise the level of data security, improve resilience and enhance its backup processes and procedures.

Oncore IT is supplying 3 TB of online backup on its Asigra-based Cloud storage platform, with London & Capital moving away from a legacy tape solution which was managed in-house for core company data.

Glenn Murphy, London & Capital’s head of IT says, “Shifting to a third party to manage our backup and restore systems reduces the management, IT and cost overhead on our business. Expenditure becomes operational rather than capital, and we commit to an established and compliant back up and restoration solution managed by a specialist.”

Some 16 million people in the UK lack basic online skills, a survey suggests.

The report, conducted by consultancy firm Booz & Company, defines basic skills as using a search engine, sending and receiving emails, completing online applications and accessing information online.

Go ON UK, a charity chaired by the UK digital champion Martha Lane Fox, commissioned the report.

The organisation aims to do more to improve digital literacy in the UK.

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The Outsourcing Yearbook Autumn Supplement featuring the National Outsourcing Association Awards is packed full of best practice and innovation. The supplement features all finalists and winners from the 2012 NOA Awards and contains 60+ case studies. Get the inside track on all the shortlisted entries and details of the very cream of outsourcing projects and people in 2012.

Please click here to read and share the Autumn Supplement.

IT spending in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is predicted to grow 1.4 percent in 2013 to reach $1.154 trillion according to a report released by Gartner.

The report identified investment in mobile technology as being a key driving force behind the growth.

The movement towards the creation and employment of mobile technology by businesses is expected to create millions of new jobs as well as leading software manufactures to make their services mobile friendly.

Gartner senior vice president and global head of Research Peter Sondergaard said: “The mobile device market is currently the bright spot of the IT industry".