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COMMS NEWS
April 2020 | Comms Business Magazine | 5
COMPLETE
Ribbon Communications has completed
its acquisition of ECI Telecom Group, a
global provider of end-to-end packetoptical
transport and SDN/NFV solutions
for service providers, enterprises, and
data centre operators.
ARROW
Arrow has received the “Best Strategic
Distributor of the Year” award from
Check Point Software Technologies.
Arrow received the award during Check
Point`s annual CPX 360 Cyber Security
Summit and Expo which took place in
Vienna in February.
AVAYA LAUNCHES SPACES
AVAYA SPACES IS a cloud meeting
and team collaboration app that
integrates voice, video, tasks,
sharing into one app that can be
accessed from any endpoint
device. Avaya has recently made
this available to UK Channel
Partners to help service their
customer’s requirements around
distributed workforces.
Gartner forecasts that by
2023, fewer than one-third of
digital workers will choose the
offi ce as their preferred place to
work. Organisations need to
empower teams to work in more
effective and productive ways
with their preferred channels and
touchpoints, wherever they may
be and using whatever devices
and platforms they choose.
Steve Joyner (pictured),
Managing Director, Avaya UK &
Ireland said, “The launch of
Avaya Spaces comes at a
crucial time for the industry with
the ever-evolving needs of the
digital experience economy,
such as the growing number of
ways for customers and
employees to engage. Our new
communication and
collaboration tool can help
deliver a true CX and EX
Multiexperience with a single
converged platform integrating
collaboration, chat, voice/ video,
content sharing and project
management. We look forward
to seeing Spaces enable more
seamless engagements among
employees and customers, and
ensure an exceptional
experience across the user
journey.”
67%
More than 67% of IT decision-makers
say workplace technology is outdated,
according to SCC’s inaugural ‘IT Insights
Report’ on Workplace Productivity.
THOMA BRAVO
COMPLETES $3.9BN
ACQUISITION OF
SOPHOS
SOPHOS HAS BEEN acquired by
Thoma Bravo, a private equity
fi rm focused on the software
and technology-enabled
services sectors, in a cash
transaction that values
Sophos at approximately $3.9
billion.
Under the terms of the
agreement, Sophos
stockholders receive $7.40
USD, per share. The price per
share represents a 168%
premium to its IPO share price
in June 2015.
Kris Hagerman, CEO,
Sophos commented “Our
transition to become a fully
next-gen cybersecurity
leader continues to rapidly
progress. Last quarter, our
next-gen product portfolio
represented over 60% of our
entire business, and grew
44% year-over-year. And
very recently, we launched
our most signifi cant network
security technology ever, the
Sophos XG Firewall with
Xstream architecture. With
Thoma Bravo as a partner, we
believe we can accelerate our
progress and get to the future
even faster, with dramatic
benefi ts for our customers,
our partners and our
company as a whole.”
50%
of businesses haven’t stress tested their
Remote Working strategy according to a
recent Comms Business poll
APPLE FINE CATCHES DISTIES OUT
FRENCH INDUSTRY WATCHDOG
L’Autorité de la Concurrence has
slapped Apple and its
distributors with the biggest
fi ne, €1.24bn, it has ever levied.
Distributors Tech Data and
Ingram Micro have been
accused, alongside the tech
behemoth Apple, of fi xing prices
in the French market. The French
authority claims Apple illegally
prevented Apple Premium
Resellers from competing on
price leaving the French Channel
in unfavourable economic
conditions.
The action has been labelled
as ‘abuse of power’ and a
‘cartel’. The fi ne was split
between the three companies,
Apple receiving the bulk of the
fi ne, €1.1bn, while Tech Data
received a fi ne of €76.1m and
Ingram €62.9m.
Isabelle de Silva, President of
L’Autorité de la Concurrence,
commented “Apple has abused
the economic dependence of
these Apple Premium Resellers
by subjecting them to unfair and
unfavourable commercial
conditions compared to its
network of integrated
distributors. Given the strong
impact of these practices on
competition in the distribution of
Apple products via Apple
premium resellers, the authority
imposes the highest penalty
ever pronounced in a case.”
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