Industry news

IBM has expanded its cloud, Big Data and mobile based security offerings as it seeks to take advantage of the expanding data security market.

Announced services include database monitoring capabilities, cloud based automated patching and mobile cloud access applications.

The move will see the IT giant expand into markets where it will see increased completion with rival company HP.

The announcement comes as IBM saw a 5 percent reduction in year-over-year profits during third-quarter announcements and experienced static growth in net income.

China’s economy saw a slow down for the seventh quarter, impacted by the global economic slowdown which has resulted in GDP growth missing government targets.

While GDP expanded by 7.4 percent from last year, the figure represents a significant slowdown in growth from an average 10 percent increase in the past three decades.

Premier Wen Jiabao was reported by local media to have said that the economy in the third quarter was relatively good and that economic growth goals of 7.5 percent were still achievable.

Transport group Go-Ahead has announced that it is aiming for profits of £100 million from the running of bus services within Britain by 2015/16.

The company operates around 4,600 buses serving 1.7 million passengers daily with annual revenue returns of £70 million.

Go-Ahead have said that they expect to achieve such profits through, “high quality services, innovation and marketing and cost efficiency”.

The Gov.uk site has gone live, replacing redundant sites Directgive and Business Link, with the promise of generating £70 million in savings.

As part of a three stage transition process, the site has now gone live, with the remaining stages involving the migration of government departments across to the new site by March 2014.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, said: “The public wants services to be delivered better, and with GOV.UK we are responding with a digital platform that makes services quicker and easier to use, and produces efficiencies for government."

Telefonica Digital expects to save at least 30 to 40 percent through cloud based HR software over the next three years.

The communications giant has invested millions in procuring HR software from Workday, however expected savings would deliver savings that paid for the investment within two years.

The system will consolidate applications while providing a flexible platform that can be rapidly implemented.

HR costs have also been achieved through the promotion of BYOD and integration of HR systems across different regions.

Facebook has today opened the first no-US based engineering centre in London. The centre will be involved with building Facebook mobile as the company seeks to develop and invest in the technology.

The London based centre will draw on the cities engineering talent pool, and will focus on ways to optimise server performance and storage in relation to mobile applications.

Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s vice-president of engineering, said: “Mobile also offers tremendous revenue and advertising opportunities for us”.

Failures in data protection have seen Greater Manchester Police hit with a £120,000 fine from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

The fine related to the loss of personal data from over 1,000 people following the theft of a memory stick, including information relating to serious crimes.

An investigation from the ICO found that the force used no encryption, had no restrictions on downloading information from police computers and had insufficient data protection training for staff.

David Smith, ICO Director of Data Protection, said: “This is a substantial monetary penalty, reflecting the significant failings the force demonstrated. We hope it will discourage others from making the same data protection mistakes.”

Calcalist an Israeli financial newspaper has reported that Amazon is in the advanced stages of talks with Texas Instruments, to acquire the companies mobile chip business.

The Amazon produced Kindle Fire already employs technology from Texas Instruments.

The acquisitions would be valued a billions according to the report, placing Amazon in a strong position to compete with Apple and Samsung in the tablet market with the ability to manufacture its own mobile hardware.

The vote which came in at 63 to 49 comes after Robertson met opposition to his proposed move to outsource services to the private sector, including benefits, libraries and IT services.

Robertson had tried to move forward with the move without a full council majority vote which resulted in a backlash and the move to a vote of no confidence.

Former Conservative deputy leader Jim Currie has now filled the vacant position.

Japanese owned telecommunications firm Softbank will acquire a 7 percent stake of US based Sprint, which specialises in communications and provides services to mobile operators.

The purchase will cost $20.1 billion with around $12 billion going to Sprint shareholders and the remaining $8.1 billion going back into the company’s books.

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son said: "This transaction provides an excellent opportunity for Softbank to leverage its expertise in smartphones and next-generation high-speed networks”.

The investment is expected to be completed by 2013 after regulatory approval.