Microsoft aims for perfect 10

Microsoft's announcement of Windows 10 (there will be no Windows 9!) and the private equity buyout of Tibco Software dominated the international ICT market last week.

At home, rumours regarding the acquisitions of Blue Label Telecoms and Vox Telecom have taken pride of place in the local media.

* Satisfactory year-end figures from Digicore, with revenue up 1.5% and back in the black.
* A full-year loss from Gijima, with revenue down 17.8%.
* A full-year loss from Poynting Holdings, although revenue up 47.3%.
* Satisfactory year-end figures from Telemasters (year-end date change so no direct comparison possible), but it seems profit is well up.
* A positive trading update from MICROmega Holdings.
* Gijima plans to raise R100 million via a rights issue, an amount that is currently more than its market value.
* New JSE cautionaries by Blue Label Telecoms and Gijima.
* The appointment of Mteto Nyati as MTN's group chief enterprise officer (ex-Microsoft GM for MEA).

* The 2014 Global Telecoms Business Power list has been published, with four African CEOs making the list. They are Nic Rudnick, CEO of Liquid Telecom at number 60; Chris Wood, CEO of WIOCC at number 62; Sifiso Dabengwa, CEO of MTN Group at 87; and Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom at 91.
* The appointments of Russel Cartel as Africa regional manager for Bytes Document Solutions; Uche Ofodile (ex-Vodafone Ghana) as GM of Tigo (Millicom) DRC; and Tae-Ick Son as MD of LG Electronics in Kenya.
* The departure of Josep Kim, MD of LG Electronics Kenya (moving within the group).

The EU's investigation into Apple has uncovered alleged illegal Irish tax deals.

* Brooks Automation acquired UK-based FluidX, a provider of consumables and instruments used in biological sample storage.
* Iron Mountain bought Fontis International, a provider of a cloud-based subscription service for record retention guidelines.
* j2 Global purchased Excel Micro, a distributor of cloud e-mail security and archiving solutions.
* Progress Software acquired BravePoint, a provider of consulting, training and development services designed to increase a customer's profitability and competitiveness.
* Slack, a workplace collaboration start-up, bought Spaces, the provider of a collaboration tool.
* Vista Equity Partners purchased Tibco Software for $4.3 billion.
* Vodafone Qatar acquired state-owned Qatar National Broadband Network.
* Alibaba made a $459 million investment in Beijing Shiji Information Technology, a Chinese hospitality technology provider.
* Compal Electronics made a 20.54% investment in Avalue Technology, an industrial computing device maker.
* Softbank made a $250 million investment in Legendary Entertainment, a US movie producer.
* The EU's investigation into Apple has uncovered alleged illegal Irish tax deals that could lead to a major fine, possibly running into billions of euros.
* WiLan has lost its patent case against Apple.
* Cisco will invest $1 billion over two years to expand its cloud offerings.
* Microsoft's next version of Windows - Windows 10 - is expected to ship by the end of next year.
* eBay will spin-off PayPal, its payments arm.
* Mediocre quarterly results from HTC, although back in the black.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Synnex, with revenue up but profit down.
* The resignation of Herb Hribar, CEO of Eircom.
* A disappointing IPO in Frankfurt by Rocket International, despite the listing being substantially oversubscribed.

South Africa:
* IT services spending in SA is expected to increase 10.5% in 2015 to reach $5.7 billion, according to IDC.

EMEA/Africa:
* EMEA integrated infrastructure and platform revenue grew 51% in Q2 to $649 million, according to IDC.
* The personal and entry-level storage market in EMEA in Q2 was down by 1.4%, with almost 6.3 million units shipped, according to IDC.

Worldwide:
* Worldwide semiconductor sales are on track to reach $338 billion this year, a 7.2% increase from 2013, according to Gartner.
* According to a MarketScape report, which utilises a rigorous scoring methodology and produces a definitive assessment of each vendor's current market capabilities and strategies for competing in the worldwide enterprise mobility software management space, IDC placed six vendors - AirWatch, Citrix, Good Technology, IBM, MobileIron, and SAP - in the 'leaders' category for 2014. Five others - BlackBerry, LANDESK, SOTI, Symantec, and Trend Micro - were recognised as 'major players'.

* JSE All share index: Down 2.1%
* Nasdaq: Down 0.2%
* NYSE (Dow): Down 0,6%
* S&P 500: Down 0.8%
* FTSE100: Down 1.8%
* Top SA share movements: Altron (-7.7%), Altron-P (-10%), Blue Label Telecoms (+12.4%), Digicore (+20%), Gijima (-29.5%), Jasco (-27.2%), MICROmega Holdings (+10.4%), Silverbridge Holdings (-11.2%), Telemasters (+27.9%) and Telkom SA (+15.3%)

International:
* The possible split of CSC into two businesses, ie, one dealing with the public sector and the other its commercial operations.
* The possible sale or IPO by Misys, the UK financial software provider that is owned by Vista Equity Partners.
* The private equity buyout of IPC Systems, a provider of communications systems for Wall Street traders.
* An investment by Yahoo in Snapchat.

South Africa:
* The buyout of Vox Telecom.
* A possible buyout of Blue Label Telecoms.

IDC has announced the final 2014 FinTech Rankings Top 100 and Top 25 Enterprise. For more than a decade, IDC Financial Insights has evaluated the revenue of the leading global technology and service providers to the financial services industry in order to construct The FinTech Rankings.

The most comprehensive global vendor ranking within the financial services industry, the annual FinTech Rankings is based on calendar year-end revenue and the percentage of revenue attributed to financial services. The financial services industry is continually under pressure for improved customer experience, financial performance, and efficient risk management and compliance. The FinTech Rankings showcases those providers that are effectively and successfully meeting the needs of their institutional clients.

The 2014 FinTech Rankings Top 10:
1. FIS
2. Tata Consultancy Services
3. Fiserv
4. Cognizant Technology Solutions
5. NCR Corporation
6. Infosys
7. Diebold
8. SunGard Data Systems
9. Nomura Research Institute
10. Wincor Nixdorf

The 2014 FinTech Rankings Top Five Enterprises:
1. IBM
2. Hewett-Packard
3. Dell
4. Microsoft
5. Accenture