Amazon gets a Twitch

The international ICT market was dominated by the joint venture announcement involving Baidu, Tencent and Wanda; as well as Amazon's acquisition of Twitch.

At home, the legal issues at Pinnacle stole much of the local ICT media space.

* Very good year-end numbers from Net 1 UEPS Technologies, with revenue up 28.7% and profit up 439.2%.
* Good year-end figures from Mustek, with revenue up 13.4% and profit up 28.3%.
* Good year-end numbers from Morvest Business Group, with revenue up 15.1%% and profit up over threefold.
* Positive trading updates from CompuClearing, Jasco Electronics, Metrofile, Morvest Business Group and Silverbridge Holdings.
* Charges against Pinnacle executive Takalani Tshivhase were dropped because of a lack of evidence.
* Grand Parade Investments has entered a joint venture with electronics manufacturer Tellumat for the manufacture of electronic and related technology products.
* Renewed JSE cautionaries by Poynting Holdings, TCS and Telkom SA.

The importance of information security and technology risk management continues to grow, but many risk and security professionals continue to struggle with non-IT executive communication.

* Amazon acquired Twitch, a live video start-up, for $970 million.
* Google bought Zync Render, a video-processing service provider.
* Telefonica has proposed a EUR7.5 billion acquisition of Vivendi's Brazilian GVT unit.
* A federal judge has denied a request by Apple to bar Samsung's smartphones and tablets in the US that infringe on Apple patents.
* AT&T is suing Cox Communications for patent infringement.
* A three-judge appeals panel has thrown out the $1.3 billion jury verdict on Oracle's infringement case against SAP. The former will have to accept $356.7 million or pursue a new trial.
* Tencent and Wanda are establishing a joint venture e-commerce company with Baidu.
* Excellent quarterly results from Veeva Sys.
* Very good quarterly figures from Alibaba and OmniVision Technologies.
* Good quarterly numbers from Daktronics.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Analog Devices and Tech Data.
* Satisfactory half-year numbers from China Telecom.
* Mediocre half-year figures from Bouygues Telecom.
* Mixed quarterly figures from QAD, with revenue up but profit down; and TiVo, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from Aruba Networks, Avago Technologies, Splunk and Workday.
* The appointments of Stephen Gray as interim president and CEO of Syniverse; and Pekka Rantala as CEO of Rovio Entertainment (Angry Birds creator).
* The resignations of Jeffrey Gordon, CEO of Syniverse; Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Entertainment; and Michael Tobin, CEO of Telecity.
* The death of John Akers, a former CEO of IBM (was CEO from 1985-1993).
* An IPO filing in the US from HubSpot, a marketing software provider.

EMEA/Africa:
* Telecommunications services revenue in the sub-Saharan Africa region will increase at a CAGR of 6% over the period 2013 to 2018 to more than $65 billion, according to Analysis Mason.
* EMEA server shipments increased 0.8% in Q2, according to Gartner.
* Enterprise mobility, big data analytics and private cloud computing are investment focus areas for one-third of surveyed government sector workers in the MEA region over the next two years, according to IDC.
* The African hardcopy printer market declined 1.6% in volume in Q2, according to IDC.

Worldwide:
* Worldwide server market revenue increased 2.5% in Q2, with HP retaking the top spot from IBM, according to IDC.
* Worldwide PC shipments will now only fall 3.7% this year, a better situation than the previous forecast drop of 6%, according to IDC.
* More than 1.25 billion smartphones will be shipped this year, up 23.8% from 2013, according to IDC.
* Branded tablet shipments will decrease 1.8% in 2014, while notebook shipments will increase 1%, according to TrendForce.

* JSE All share index: Down 0.5%
* Nasdaq: Up 0.9% (highest weekend close this year)
* NYSE (Dow): Up 0.6%
* S&P 500: Up 0.8% (highest-ever weekend close)
* FTSE100: Up 0.7%
* Top SA share movements: ConvergeNet Holdings (+17.9%), Huge Group (-16.7%), Morvest Business Group (+8%), Net 1 UEPS Technologies (+37.1%), Pinnacle Holdings (+37.1%), Poynting Holdings (+14.8%), Sekunjalo (+15.3%) and Silverbridge Holdings (+56.3%)

International:
* A possible EU anti-trust probe into Qualcomm.
* The possible acquisition by HP of FireEye or Fortinet, in a move designed to expand its enterprise security position.
* The winner in the tussle for ownership of Snapchat, a message services company.
* The upcoming Alibaba IPO.

South Africa:
* Further developments regarding the proposed consolidation within the telecommunications sector that involves MTN, Neotel, Telkom SA, Vodacom and possibly some others as well.

The importance of information security and technology risk management continues to grow, but many risk and security professionals continue to struggle with non-IT executive communication. To this end, Gartner recently published a brief paper outlining eight ways to communicate security benefits to executive management. They are:

* Formalise risk and security programmes, ie, ones that are repeatable and measurable;
* Measure programme maturity in order to identify gaps and opportunities to improve;
* Use risk-based approaches, ie, manage risk and not be managed by it;
* Use lead indicators of risk conditions and ensure KPIs and KRIs are included and are not focused exclusively on IT;
* Map KPIs and KRIs and ensure the latter are simple and measurable and have a direct impact on multiple KPIs;
* Link risk initiatives to corporate goals and demonstrate the associated business values;
* Remove operational metrics from executive communications; and
* Clearly communicate what works and what doesn't.