Microsoft hits refresh button

Microsoft's general release of Windows 8.1 and a string of small acquisitions were the main international ICT stories last week.

At home, Datatec released its interim results, which was one item that made the news during a quiet week.

* Mixed interim numbers from Datatec, with revenue up 5.5% but profit down 4%.
* Very good year-end figures from SecureData, with revenue up 30.4% and back in the black.
* Datatec (Logicalis) acquired iConsult, a Jersey-based provider of hosted desktop and mail solutions.
* EOH bought Sybrin, a financial services software developer.
* Muris Tabakovic, Dario Tabakovic and About Marketing & Media purchased Stella Vista in a move that is likely to include its de-listing from the JSE. The deal was worth R676 000.
* HTC has closed its South African office.
* Communications minister, Yunus Carrim, has inaugurated the National Cyber Security Advisory Council.
* Renewed JSE cautionaries by ISA, Jasco and Sekunjalo.
* A withdrawn JSE cautionary by Stella Vista.
* Yannick Decaux was appointed Orange Business Services country manager for SA and sales director for sub-Saharan Africa.

* Microsoft has selected Nairobi innovation centre, 88mph, as its first African accelerator partner.
* Ebenezer Asante was named CEO of MTN Rwanda (was at MTN Ghana).

* EFI acquired Metrix Software, an automated print planning and imposition technology company.
* Facebook bought Onavo, an Israeli mobile app maker.
* InvenSense purchased Analog Devices' microphone unit for $100 million.
* Iron Mountain acquired Cornerstone Records Management, a storage and information management firm, for $191 million.
* LSI International purchased the assets of CITILED, a French provider of turnkey solutions for Media Facades.
* Oracle acquired Compendium, a cloud-based content marketing provider.
* Pegasystems bought Antenna Software, a developer of mobile app development platforms.
* Softbank purchased Brightstar, a mobile handset distributor, for $1.26 billion (57%).
* Softbank and GungHo Online Entertainment acquired Supercell, a Finnish mobile gaming company, for $1.5 billion.
* VMware bought Desktone, a pioneer of desktop as a service.
* Yandex purchased KinoPoisk, a Web site that collects data about movies and TV shows.
* Yuri Kovalchuk and partners acquired 50% of Tele2 Russia.
* Samsung has offered to stop patent lawsuits in Europe in order to end an anti-trust investigation.
* Wi-Lan has reached a settlement regarding its patent dispute with HP and Novatel Wireless.
* America Movil has withdrawn its bid for KPN.
* Microsoft released Windows 8.1.
* Excellent quarterly results from HCL Technologies.
* Very good quarterly figures from LG Display (profit only), SanDisk and Tata Consultancy Services.
* Good quarterly numbers from eBay, Syntel and Xilinx.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from AMD (back in the black), Amphenol, EFI, Google, Linear Technology, TSMC and Verizon Communications.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Cypress Semiconductor and Yahoo.
* Mixed quarterly figures from ASML, with revenue up but profit down; Dassault Systemes, with revenue up but profit down; Fairchild Semiconductor, with revenue up but profit down; IBM, with revenue down but profit up; Intel, with revenue up but profit down; and TeliaSonera, with revenue down but profit up.
* The appointments of Jon Baksaas as interim chairman of GMSA; Phil Bentley as CEO of Cable & Wireless Communications; Shawn Colo as interim president and CEO of Demand Media; and Mike Hopkins as CEO of Hulu.
* The resignations of Franco Bernabe, chairman of GMSA; and Richard Rosenblatt, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Demand Media.
* The departure of Andy Forsell, acting CEO of Hulu.
* A planned IPO in 2014 by Paylocity, an online payroll and HR software company.
* An IPO filing for the NYSE from Nimble Storage, a data storage company.
* An excellent IPO on the NYSE by Veeva Systems, a company that offers Web applications that help pharmaceutical and biotech companies manage content and customer relations.

* International:
* The sale by Telefonica of its stake in its listed Czech unit, in a deal that could raise $3.6 billion.
* A possible interest in BlackBerry by Lenovo.
* The imminent de-listing of Dell.
* South Africa:
* The outcome of the cautionaries under which SecureData and Silverbridge are currently trading.

Look out for a possible interest in BlackBerry by Lenovo.

* According to Gartner, these are some of its top industry predictions for IT organisations and users for 2014 and beyond:
* By 2016, poor return on equity will drive more than 60% of banks worldwide to process the majority of their transactions in the cloud;
* By year-end 2017, at least seven of the world's top 10 multichannel retailers will use 3D printing technologies to generate custom stock orders;
* By 2017, more than 60% of government organisations with a CIO and a chief digital officer will eliminate one of these roles;
* By 2017, 40% of utilities with smart metering solutions will use cloud-based big data analytics to address asset-, commodity-, customer- or revenue-related needs;
* By year-end 2015, inadequate ROI will drive insurers to abandon 40% of their current customer-facing mobile apps;
* Full-genome sequencing will stimulate a new market for medical data banks, with market penetration exceeding 3% by 2016;
* By 2016, 60% of US health insurers will know the procedure price and provider quality rating of shoppable medical services in advance;
* Through 2017, K-12 online education spending will increase 25%, while budgetary constraints will keep spending on traditional instructional categories stagnant;
* By 2018, 20% of the top 100 manufacturers' revenue will come from innovations that are the result of new cross-industry value experiences;
* By 2018, 3D printing will result in the loss of at least $100 billion per year in intellectual property globally;
* By 2017, 15% of consumers will respond to context-aware offers based on their individual demographics and shopper profiles; and
* By 2015, 80% of life science organisations will be crushed by elements of big data, exposing poor ROI on IT investments.
* Overall IT spending in SA is set to increase 6.3% in 2014 to $14.59 billion, according to IDC.

* JSE All share index: Up 2.4% (highest-ever weekend close)
* Nasdaq: Up 3.2% (highest-ever weekend close for over 13 years)
* NYSE (Dow): Up 1.1%
* Top SA share movements: Amecor (+16.7%), Digicore (-8.2%), Jasco (+12.9%), Labat Africa (+41.7%), MICROmega (-20%), Silverbridge (+23%), Stella Vista (+100%) and TCS (-50%)

Total Telecom has just published its annual 'Top 100 Telecommunications Companies' list for 2013 (it is based on revenue). The top seven entities remained the same, ie, AT&T, NTT, Verizon, China Mobile, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone. MTN rose one place to 25, while Telkom SA slipped five places to 76. Other significant changes included the following:
* SFR (France) slipped to 30 from 23
* Oi (Brazil) rose to 34 from 61
* Level 3 Communications rose to 53 from 68
* Winstream (Canada) rose to 55 from 70
* Idea Cellular (India) rose to 69 from 77
* Iliad (France) rose to 70 from 89
* PLDT (Philippines) rose to 72 from 81
* Tata Communications rose to 81 from 90
* SK Broadband (South Korea) was a new entrant at 91
* Elisa Corporation (Finland) was a new entrant at 96
* Cable & Wireless slipped to 97 from 87
* StarHub (Singapore) was a new entrant at 98
* MTS Allstream (Canada) was a new entrant at 99
* Eutelsat was a new entrant at 100

The list next year could look significantly different, following several mergers and acquisitions, including, for example, Softbank with Verizon; Liberty Global absorbing Virgin Media; and MetroPCS merging with T Mobile, all now part of Deutsche Telekom.