Industry news

North Korea and Iran have agreed to share research and technology in order to strengthen defences against cyber-attacks.

The new agreement, reported by Iranian news services, would see the two countries share research, student exchanges and science facilities.

Both Iran and North Korea have been hit by successive malware attacks, with Iran having been hit by repeated cyber-attacks, suspected to have been launched by Israel and/or the USA, in order to derail nuclear research.

Economic instability has seen outsource support services contracts fall in number, as businesses delay renewal during periods of uncertainty.

Business are increasingly trying enforce closer control on outsourcing contracts as cost efficiency is increasing demanded from services.

The reduction in outsourcing support services was revealed in KPMG’s pulse survey. Shamus Rae, partner in KPMG Management Consulting, said: “negative market conditions in the Euro Zone continue to have a detrimental impact on business confidence as uncertainty forces buyers to delay decisions, with the knock-on effect being a tighter rein over discretionary spending.”

The European Commission promoted the sharing of spectrum by providers in order to increase wireless connectivity.

The Commission highlighted the application of technology, in order to allow more than one provider to use a spectrum frequency. If such sharing was widely achieved, further spectrum frequencies would be available for other services allowing for improved connectivity.

Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the EC’s Digital Agenda, said: “We must maximise this scarce resource by re-using it and creating a single market out of it. We need a single market for spectrum in order to regain global industrial leadership in mobile and data and to attract more research and development (R&D) investments."

Oracle is appealing against a settlement of $306 million with SAP, for a corporate-theft case, according to details released in court documents.

The settlement centers on SAP’s admission of guilt surrounding the illegal downloading of Oracle software by a SAP subsidiary, which undercut Oracle software support for Oracle’s own applications.

SAP was in agreement to pay Oracle $306 million, but the company has now appealed the ruling, instead seeking the original $1.3 billion in damages, awarded in 2010.

Vodafone have partnered with mobile operator Zain who provide telecommunications services in the Middle East.

The partnership will see the two companies offer services in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq. Both companies will allow customers to use each other’s services and products.

According to a Vodafone spokesperson, the partnership will allow the companies to "harmonise roaming rates in multiple countries"..

Russia has posted record oil production figures, reaching the highest post-Soviet figures ever seen.

Russian oil production currently ranks 2nd in the world, behind Saudi Arabia, with oil accounting for 30 percent of domestic gross product.

Russia’s energy ministry reported that 10.38 million barrels were produced daily in August. Much of the oil came from state owned oil production firm Rosneft, which is looking to carry out oil exploration in the Artic.

Somerset County Council is preparing to launch legal action against Southwest One, a joint shared services venture, established in 2007 with IBM.

Preparation for legal action comes after the joint venture failed to deliver promised procurement savings. Under the joint venture Somerset County Council saw consecutive yearly account losses.

Derek Pretty, chairman of Southwest One, said in a statement: “"The company is still working on reaching the efficiency levels that are required to fund the savings which have been committed to the joint venture partners through service improvements, procurement savings and operation costs reductions".

China’s manufacturing output fell to a nine-month low in August as signs point to a economic slowdown.

A reduction of domestic and global demand is being blamed for the poor figures, with Alistair Thornton of IHS Global Insight, saying: “China's manufacturing sector continues to struggle, weighed down by a significant domestic slowdown”.

China’s rapid growth in past years has been questioned, as whether such a rapid rise could be sustainable.

Capita has bought business travel company Expotel, for £16 million in order to increase market reach and size as the IT company expands into the business travel market.

Expotel, based in Stockport, hold the likes of Scottish Government, Virgin and the National Grid, as customers.

Paul Pindar, chief executive of Capita, said: "The combined company will be able to offer both bespoke, niche solutions and a unique end-to-end travel proposition to its current and future clients.”

Samsung was found not to have infringed on an Apple patent by a Tokyo court.

The suit was filed by Apple in the August of last year, with the court case ruled on a patent relating to smartphone and tablet synching. Samsung said “We will continue to offer highly innovative products to consumers, and continue our contributions towards the mobile industry's development".

Apple is continuing to pursue other lawsuits in the country where legal pay-outs are typically low in comparison to USA rulings.