Broadcom, VMware deal finalised

Paul Booth.

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The finalisation of the $69 billion deal between Broadcom and VMware, multiple deals by Accenture and the ‘goings on’ at OpenAI dominated the technology scene last month.

• Xpand IT, an IT managed services company, acquired Premier IT Solutions, an IT support firm.
• The €2 million investment by Finnfund, a Finnish development financier, in the Fibertime Group.
• Altron will merge three of its IT businesses next year, with Altron Karabina, Altron Systems Integration and Altron Managed Solutions merged into a new entity called Altron Digital Business. It will be led by former Dimension Data SA VP of sales Craig Stewart.
• Fitbit is withdrawing from the South African market in line with its parent Google’s decision not to sell consumer hardware products in the country.
• Mamela Luthuli, founder and CEO of Take Note IT, has been named SA’s IT Personality of the Year at the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa  President’s Awards 2023.
• The appointments of new CEOs and MDs at Equinix SA, HPE SA, SABC and Semtech (interim).

• UK-based Development Partners International and Verod Capital have invested in Nigerian telecoms infrastructure company Pan African Towers.
• MFS Africa has rebranded to Onafriq.

Fitbit is withdrawing from the South African market.

• Orange has decided to withdraw from the process to purchase an up to 45% stake in Ethiopian operator Ethio Telecom.
• The appointments of new African CEOs, MDs, etc at Liquid C2, MTN and Nutanix.

• Accenture has acquired a number of companies. These include Innotec Security, a privately held company specialising in cyber security as a service, cyber resilience and cyber risk management; the Shelby Group, a provider of digital procurement and optimisation services; Incapsulate, a digital transformation consulting firm that specialises in Salesforce solutions; and Ocelot Consulting, a cloud consultancy specialising in full-stack development, data engineering, data science and strategy and execution for cloud modernisation. Accenture has also agreed to acquire OnProcess Technology, a provider of supply chain managed services, to help organisations refine processes, improve the way inventory is managed and solve complex service challenges; 6point6, a UK technology consultancy specialising in cloud, data and cyber security; Solnet, an IT services provider with deep technology consulting experience for the New Zealand government and private organisations across multiple industries; Ammagamma, an Italian-based firm that helps companies advance their uses of AI and generative AI technologies; and Rabbit’s Tale, a Thailand-based creative and digital experience agency.
• Acquia, a digital experience company, bought the Monsido platform, a website accessibility and optimisation service.
• Adobe purchased Indian generative AI start-up Rephrase.ai.
• Allegro MicroSystems acquired Crocus Technology, a leader in advanced TMR sensor technology ($420 million).
• Atlassian bought Loom, a video messaging platform that helps users communicate through instantly shareable videos.
• Arlington Capital Partners purchased Exostar, whose platform supports exclusive communities within highly regulated industries where companies securely collaborate, share information and operate compliantly.
• Aviat Networks acquired the Wireless Transport Business of NEC.
• Bain Capital bought Guidehouse, which has capabilities in management, technology and risk consulting, as well as digital services and business process outsourcing.
• BlueVoyant, a managed detection and response powerhouse that focuses on securing Microsoft environments, purchased Microsoft government cloud security superstar Conquest Cyber.
• Colt Technology Services acquired Lumen Technologies’ EMEA business ($1.8 billion).
• Elastic bought Opster, the creator of AutoOps and other tools used to help users get more out of their Elastic deployments.
• Flywire purchased StudyLink, a provider of international student admissions, application and agent management software serving universities throughout Australia.
• FreightWise acquired Kuebix, a provider of transportation management system software.
• Gilat Satellite Networks bought DataPath, a market leader in trusted communications for the public sector.
• Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison purchased the customer assets of local fibre network service provider PT MNC Kabel Mediacom (MNC Play).
• Insight Enterprises acquired SADA, a cloud business and technology consultancy.
• Kick ICT, a managed IT support and cloud services reseller, bought C2 Software, a Microsoft Dynamics business.
• Lumentum Holdings purchased Cloud Light Technology, which designs, markets and manufactures advanced optical modules for automotive sensors and data centre interconnect applications ($750 million).
• The Lumine Group acquired the Synchronoss Messaging & NetworkX business units.
• Madison Dearborn Partners bought T2S Solutions, a founder-owned company offering research and development, prototyping, engineering, integration and technology products to programmes for various US government agencies.
• May River Capital purchased RLE Technologies, which offers environmental monitoring equipment for data centres.
• UK-based Metacompliance acquired German-based training provider Increase Your Skills.
• MinebeaMitsumi bought Hitachi's power semiconductor business subsidiary, Hitachi Power Semiconductor Device.
• NTT DATA Business Solutions purchased its London-HQ channel partner Sapphire.
• NV5 Global acquired Technology Design Services, a provider of technology infrastructure design and consulting services.
• PagerDuty bought Jeli, whose platform allows users to respond to, manage and analyse incidents in order to build more resilient infrastructure and teams.
• Palisade Infrastructure purchased Rainier Connect, a provider of local internet and phone services.
• SilverSun Technologies’ wholly-owned subsidiary, SWK Technologies, has acquired substantially all the business assets of JCS Computer Resource Corporation, a reseller of Sage Software solutions.
• Snap-on bought Mountz, a developer, manufacturer and marketer of high-precision torque tools, including measurement, calibration and documentation products.
• SonicWall purchased Solutions Granted (SGI), a managed security service provider.
• Stellant Systems acquired Comtech’s Power Systems Technology product line.
• An STG affiliate bought Avid Technology, a technology provider that powers the media and entertainment industry ($1.4 billion).
• Syz Capital and Saturnus Capital purchased Capture Media, a Swiss digital media and analytics solution provider.
• The 20 MSP, a managed services provider, acquired Managed IT Systems and Network Technologies of Kansas, two fellow MSPs.
• Tyler Technologies bought ARInspect, a provider of AI-powered machine learning solutions for public sector field operations; and ResourceX, which provides priority-based budgeting software to the public sector to address key challenges faced in traditional budgeting processes, such as lack of funding and transparency.
• Washington Harbour Partners purchased Sixgen, a provider of cyber solutions for US national security, intelligence and defence groups, as well as critical commercial industries.
• Advent International has agreed to acquire myPOS, a UK-based payments company.
• Alibaba Health Information Technology is to buy the entire stake in AJK Technology Holding from a unit of Alibaba Group Holding ($1.73 billion).
• The Alibaba Group has scrapped plans to spin-off its cloud business, citing uncertainties created by US export curbs on chips used in AI applications.
• Alphabet has dissolved its stake in trading app operator Robinhood Markets.
• Altice has entered into an exclusivity agreement to partner with Morgan Stanley. As part of the deal, Altice France is set to sell a 70% share if its data centre business to Morgan Stanley for €535 million, which will create a new venture named UltraEdge. It will operate 257 data centres and office spaces across France.
• Apple has filed a legal case contesting decisions taken by the European Commission under its recently introduced Digital Markets Act, according to a post shared by the Court of Justice of the European Union on X.
• Ardian has agreed to acquire Iceland-based northern European data centre company Verne Global.
• Ascendent Capital Partners has made a $1.6 billion bid to acquire Chinese-listed IT solutions provider Hollysys Automation.
• UK-based Ascential will sell its digital commerce and consumer research units to the Omnicom Group (£1.4 billion).
• Bain Capital is set to acquire government and business consulting firm Guidehouse ($5.3 billion).
• Blackstone agreed to buy UK-based Civica, a provider of software that helps deliver critical services for citizens all around the world.
• Broadcom has closed its $69 billion deal to acquire VMware.
• Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has agreed to purchase all of the assets of Cyxtera ($775 million) as part of the data centre and IT infrastructure company's restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
• Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners will acquire Australia's Energy Exemplar, a provider of energy market software.
• The Carlyle Group is selling its stake in Japanese geospatial technology provider Kokusai Kogyo to telecoms infrastructure company Mirait One and has agreed to acquire a majority stake in German software vendor GBTEC Software.
• Cellnex and Boldyn Networks have reached an agreement in which Boldyn will buy Cellnex’s private networks business unit.
• China's state-backed chip investment fund has invested $1.99 billion in a memory chip company called Changxin Xinqiao.
• ConvergeOne has rebranded itself as C1.
• Corning has agreed to sell its German laser-technology business to China’s Suzhou Delphi Laser.
• BPEA EQT Mid-Market Growth Fund has agreed to buy a majority stake in HRBrain from existing shareholders. The company's founder, Hiroki Hori, will remain as a significant minority shareholder and continue as CEO.
• An EU tribunal made legal errors when it ruled in favour of Apple over a €13 billion tax order and should review the case again, an adviser to Europe's top court has said, in a potential setback for the iPhone maker.
• HubSpot has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Clearbit, a top B2B data provider.
• IBM plans to buy Indonesia-based Equine Global, an enterprise resource planning and cloud consulting services firm.
• iClick Interactive Asia Group has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with TSH Merger Sub, a subsidiary of TSH Investment Holding.
• Instructure Holdings has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Parchment, which offers a comprehensive academic credential management platform and network.
• Iron Mountain has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Regency Technologies, a provider of IT asset disposition services.
• Jabil will take over the manufacture and sale of Intel’s current Silicon Photonics-based pluggable optical transceiver ("module") product lines and the development of future generations of such modules.
• KKR has signed an agreement to invest $400 million in the OMS Group, a Malaysian subsea telecommunications cable services provider.
• L3Harris Technologies has signed a definitive agreement under which an affiliate of TJC will acquire the L3Harris Commercial Aviation Solutions business ($800 million).
• Lufax Holdings is set to acquire Hong Kong virtual lender Ping An OneConnect Bank from OneConnect Fintech Technology ($119.5 million).
• Meta Platforms and Snap were given a 1 December deadline by the EU to give more information on how they protect children from illegal and harmful content.
• Mitsui will take a 12.69% stake in Axiata Group's digital and analytics unit.
• Oakley Capital Investments has agreed to buy a majority stake in Spanish transport management software provider Alerce.
• Open Text has reached a definitive agreement to divest its AMC business to Rocket Software ($2.275 billion).
• Palo Alto Networks has signed an agreement to acquire Dig Security, a cloud data security start-up, and it intends to buy Israeli start-up Talon Cyber Security, a pioneer of enterprise browser technology.
• Panasonic plans to sell a stake in its automotive systems unit to Apollo Global Management.
• Proofpoint has reached an agreement to acquire e-mail security company Tessian.
• GAN has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger with Sega Sammy Creation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings, an international conglomerate operating in the entertainment, gaming and resorts businesses.
• Siris has agreed to buy mobile radio system provider BearCom.
• Tata Electronics has agreed to acquire Wistron India.
• Telecom Italia agreed to sell its landline network to KKR (€22 billion).
• Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy corporate communications and compliance services firm EQS Group (€400 million).
• Vishay Intertechnology will acquire Nexperia’s wafer fabrication facility and operations.
• Vodafone has agreed to sell its Spanish unit to Zegona Communications, a European telecoms investment firm (€5 billion).
• The Walt Disney company will acquire a 33% stake in Hulu from Comcast ($8.6 billion).
• Western Digital plans to break itself up, separating its business making traditional hard drives for computers from its flash-memory business.
• The 9.98% investment by Onepoint in Atos.
• The investment by Pamlico Capital in Beck Technology, a software provider for the construction industry.
• The $82 million investment by several companies, including KQ Capital and SL Capital, in JSSI, a chipmaker.
• The $100 million investment by several companies, including British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, Microsoft and the UK government's National Security Strategic Investment Fund in Photonic, a quantum computing start-up.
• The $299 million investment by Success Flow International Investment and Choice Faith Group Holdings in VNET Group, a carrier and cloud-neutral internet data centre services provider in China.
• The $75 million investment led by Brighton Park Capital in LucidLink, a provider of storage technology that allows real-time collaboration primarily for the media and entertainment industry and other heavy data users.
• The $230 million investment led by Hexagon in Divergent Technologies, a start-up creating digital manufacturing tools.
• The $500 million investment led by Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence, Bosch Ventures and Schwarz Group in Aleph Alpha, a German generative AI company.
• The $102.5 million investment led by Kleiner Perkins in Together AI, which offers a platform for developing AI applications.
• The $120 million investment led by Lightspeed Venture Partners in Enable, a start-up that sells rebate software to trading partners.
• The appointments of new CEOs at 2U, Alaska Communications, ASML, ATN International, BlackBerry (Interim), Blue Mantis, Bumble, Coupa, Datalex, Ernst & Young, Genpact, KWESST, Lantronix, Logitech, Optus (interim), Proofpoint, Slack, TA Digital and Web Summit.
• The death of John Ocampo, chairman of MACOM Technology Solutions.
• IPO filings from SU Group Holdings (Nasdaq), Trident Digital Tech Holdings (Nasdaq) and YY Group Nasdaq).
• IPOs and listings from Tata Technologies (India) and Will Semiconductor (Switzerland).

• According to Counterpoint Research, smartphone shipments in SA grew 73% year-on-year in the third quarter and were up 44% from the previous three months.
• According to Gartner, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.4% to total $678.8 billion in 2024, up from $563.6 billion in 2023.
• According to IDC, the worldwide AI software market will grow from $64 billion in 2022 to nearly $251 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of 31.4%.
• According to IDC, worldwide digital transformation spending is forecast to reach nearly $3.9 trillion in 2027, with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 16.1%.
• According to IDC, worldwide tablet shipments posted a decline of 14.2% year-over-year in 3Q23, totalling 33.2 million units.
• IDC has upgraded its Semiconductor Market Outlook by calling a bottom and return to growth that accelerates next year. It has raised its September 2023 revenue outlook from $518.8 billion to $526.5 billion in a new forecast. Revenue expectations for 2024 were also raised from $625.9 billion to $632.8 billion, as it believes the US market will remain resilient from a demand standpoint and China will begin recovering by the second half of 2024.
• According to IDC, worldwide smartphone shipments are forecast to see 7.3% year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter of 2023. The market recovery will continue in 2024, with 3.8% growth expected, followed by low single-digit growth for the rest of the forecast period, resulting in a five-year compound annual growth rate of 1.4%.
• According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, worldwide sales of semiconductors for the third quarter of 2023 totalled $134.7 billion, up 6.3% sequentially but down 4.5% on year.
• According to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, semiconductor sales were somewhat higher than expected in the second and third quarters, prompting it to revise its forecast for a 9.4% drop in 2023 but an anticipated growth of 13.1% in 2024.

• JSE All share index: Up 9%
• FTSE100: Up 3.3%
• DAX: Up 11.6%
• NYSE (Dow): Up 1.8%
• S&P 500: Up 11.6%
• Nasdaq: Up 13.1%
• Nikkei225: Up 7.9%
• Hang Seng: Down 3.3%
• Shanghai: Up 0.5%

As this is my final column, I have listed a few key developments to watch over the coming months. They are, in no specific order:

• The finalisation or otherwise of the Cisco/Splunk deal.
• Changes and realignments as a result of the ongoing China/US semiconductor ‘wars’.
• Developments and possible legislation in the AI field.
• A possible takeover of Disney, maybe by Apple.
• A possible IPO by Ingram Micro.
• Possible break-ups of parts of Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet.