Electrical issues short-circuit NSA

Problems at the new National Security Agency (NSA) data centre in Utah, and a host of small acquisitions, were the main events last week in the international ICT market.

At home, the CEO appointment at Gijima and the interim results at Altron and Datacentrix were the main stories during a quiet week.

* Satisfactory interim numbers from Altron, with revenue up 7.5% and back in the black; and Datacentrix, with revenue up 3.4% and profit up 9.3%.
* A positive trading update from SecureData and Telkom SA.
* The de-listing of BCX 'A' shares on the JSE.
* The announcement of a rights offer by Labat Africa.
* Gateprotect, the German IT security specialist, has partnered with the Westcon Group in SA and Africa in a bid to enhance its presence in this region.
* A new JSE cautionary by Labat Africa.
* A renewed JSE cautionary by Stella Vista.
* A withdrawn JSE cautionary by Labat Africa.
* The appointments of Robert Gumede as executive chairman of Gijima (was already chairman); and Eileen Wilton as CEO of Gijima.

* The Malawi government has finished drafting a new ICT Bill.
* Mohammad Mobasseri was appointed CEO of EMT Distribution for West Asia and MEA.

Overall IT spending in SA is set to increase 6.3% in 2014 to total $14.59 billion.

* Amazon acquired TenMarks, an e-learning company offering tutorial programs.
* CACI International bought Six3 Systems, a provider of support in the areas of cyber and signals intelligence.
* Equinix purchased the Kleyer 90 Carrier Hotel, one of the busiest network nodes in Europe.
* Magic Software Enterprises acquired Allstates Technical Services, a full-service provider of consulting and staffing solutions for IT, engineering and telecommunications personnel, for $10 million.
* Nuance Communications bought Varolii, a provider of cloud-based outbound customer engagement solutions.
* Synaptics purchased Validity Sensors, a developer of biometric fingerprint authentication systems.
* Time Warner Cable acquired DukeNet Communications, a fibre-optic network provider, for $600 million.
* Trend Micro bought Broadweb, a Taiwanese provider of advanced network security solutions.
* Vonage purchased Vocalocity, a VOIP company, for $130 million.
* Yahoo acquired Bread, a social advertising company.
* Alibaba made a $206 million investment in ShopRunner, a rival to Amazon.com.
* Broadcom's patent win over Emulex has been upheld by an appeals court.
* A court has ruled in favour of Amazon in a CIA contract dispute with IBM.
* US president Barack Obama has declined to veto a Samsung import ban, in stark contrast to a similar decision regarding Apple, which he did veto.
* Brazil will launch an investigation regarding anti-trust behaviour by Google.
* The NEC will sell Biglobe, its ISP.
* Chronic electrical surges at the NSA's new data storage facility in Utah have delayed its opening by at least 12 months.
* Very good quarterly figures from Micron Technology (back in the black).
* Good quarterly numbers from Adtran.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Infosys, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from DragonWave.
* Mike Hopkins was named CEO of Hulu.
* Andy Forssell has left his role as interim CEO of Hulu.
* An IPO filing for the NYSE from Mavenir, a mobile messaging services provider.

* International:
* The possible buy-out of minority interests in Vodafone's Indian operations, which could cost up to $2 billion.
* The outcome of the other interests shown regarding BlackBerry, such as interest by the previous CEO and co-founder, Mike Lazaridis.
* The possible acquisition by Intel of Nvidia.

* South Africa:
* Further developments regarding Dina Pule, Telkom SA and the possible Vodacom/Neotel tie-up.

* Worldwide IT spending is forecast to reach $3.8 trillion in 2014, a 3.6% increase from 2013, according to Gartner.
* Worldwide PC shipments declined 7.6% in Q3 2013, with Lenovo replacing HP as the number one vendor, according to IDC.
* Overall IT spending in SA is set to increase 6.3% in 2014 to total $14.59 billion, and the market is expected to reach $18.18 billion in 2017, according to IDC.

* JSE All share index: Down 0.7%
* Nasdaq: Down 0.4%
* NYSE (Dow): Up 1.1%
* Top SA share movements: Ansys (+72.7%), Blue Label Telecoms (+18.8%), Digicore (+11.1%), Jasco (+9.4%), Labat Africa (-14.3%), MICROmega Holdings (+61.5%), Net 1 UEPS Technologies (-10%), Sekunjalo (+12%), Stella Vista (-50%) and Telkom SA (+16.4%)

Fortune magazine has published its annual '40 under 40' rankings that make interesting reading from a technology perspective, as many are social media oriented. The list includes:

1: Marissa Mayer, president and CEO of Yahoo
2: Jack Dorsey, co-founder, CEO and executive chairman of Twitter
3: Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook
10: Liv Garfield, CEO of BT Group's Openreach
11: Ben Silbermann, co-founder and CEO of Pinterest
12: Kevin Systrom, co-founder and CEO of Instagram
14: Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box
16: Jeremy Stoppelman, co-founder and CEO of Yelp
18: Catherine Lacavera, director of Litigation at Google
22: Sam Yagan, co-founder and CEO of OkCupid and CEO of Match
24: David Karp, founder and CEO of Tumblr
30: Daniel Elk, founder and CEO of Spotify
39: Founder and CEO of Mu Sigma