01732 759725 06 NEWS enterprises to flexibly scale up resources based on demand. While cost may be the driver, technology leaders must carefully consider what value potential servicebased offerings can deliver to ensure maximum impact to the organisation and prioritise partners that can deliver best-ofbreed technology, professional expertise and word-class service.” https://neustarsecurityservices.com ······ Farewell 3G Last month, operators started pulling the plug on the UK’s 3G network, with Vodafone the first to start the process in Plymouth and Basingstoke. The UK Government has set a deadline of 2033 for both 2G and 3G to be turned off, with mobile operators expecting to decommission all 3G services either by the end of this year (Vodafone) or next (EE and Three), leaving them free to focus on the 4G network and 5G roll-out. Uswitch.com warns that half of UK consumers are unaware that this is happening, even though 32% use 3G on a regular basis and 7% say 3G is the only mobile network they can access. While providers say the 2G network will be there as a safety network for people who may not have access to faster speeds after 3G is turned off, Uswitch points out that 2G is far slower than its successor and can take several minutes to download a web page. Ernest Doku, Mobiles Expert at Uswitch. com, is calling on providers to do more to make customers aware of their timeline for turning off 3G and which towns and cities will be affected. He said: “It is clear that millions of mobile phone users aren’t aware that 3G is being phased out, or how this will impact their ability to get online, especially with sluggish 2G serving as the only fallback in a number of cases. “Although the network speeds 3G offers are slow by modern standards, there are still people that rely on this older generation network, especially in rural areas, as a primary means of connectivity. People still using 3G-enabled smartphones that cannot access the more modern networks will need to upgrade their handset soon or risk losing access to their mobile data altogether.” ······ SMBs looking for full client lifecycle management, says Analysys Mason Analysys Mason, a specialist technology consulting and research firm, expects the 145 million SMBs worldwide to increase their spending on technology in 2023, but not at pre-pandemic levels. Its SMB Technology Forecaster, which provides insights into SMB spending in 132 technology categories in 52 countries, forecasts SMBs to spend $1.45 trillion on IT in 2023, a rise of 6.3% compared to 2022. It is also warning of a shakeup in how SMBs buy IT, with one in three (37%) planning to change channel provider to gain enterprise levels of support and services that enable full client lifecycle management such as pre-sales, onboarding, account management, defined touchpoints and communication channels. Other changes include longer lead times as SMBs carefully examine the costbenefits of any new solution; more demand for cloud-based and as-a-service solutions, including PC and device as a service; and a greater focus on ESG, with 46% saying they are more likely to buy from a vendor with established ESG policies. www.analysysmason.com/smbtrends-2023 ······ Sales teams driving up SaaS costs Sales is the most expensive department when it comes to SaaS, with sales tools making up 18% of all SaaS spend in in an average organisation, claims SaaS purchasing and spend management platform Vertice. According to the company’s latest Ultimate Guide To Purchasing Sales Software report, sales teams are also amongst the most wasteful, with 52% of users frequently failing to login to platforms, let alone get maximum utility from them, compared to 33% across all departments. Vertice’s analysis shows that the average business spends £7,500 on SaaS for every sales employee - almost double the £3,762 that is spent on employees in other departments. Overall, just 67% of licences being paid for are actively being used by employees, representing an overspend of one third and a cost of millions to larger organisations. Vertice warns that transparency remains a key challenge in SaaS purchasing as many SaaS vendors intentionally keep pricing hidden. Fewer than half (45%) publish their pricing in full, with most obscuring the cost of at least some of their licensing. Recent research by Gartner estimates that the SaaS industry was worth $171 billion in 2022, up 42% from 2020, with the average business of 1,000 employees now maintaining around 177 active software subscriptions. Vertice.one Atos is building a E20 million high performance supercomputer (HPC) for the Max Planck Computing and Data Facility in Garching near Munich. With three times the application performance of the Max Planck Society’s current ‘Cobra’ system, it will provide HPC capacity for demanding scientific projects in astrophysics, life science research, materials research, plasma physics and AI. The system will be powered by 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors and, for the first time in an Atos-based European system, AMD Instinct MI300A accelerators. The full installation, expected in the first half of 2024, will comprise ten BullSequana XH3000 racks with a total of 768 processor nodes and 192 accelerator nodes, complemented by an IBM SpectrumScale storage solution. Hot water cooling (Direct Liquid Cooling) will enable the system to run without fans, contributing to a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) value of less than 1.05 (1 being the ideal ratio), far below the average of other HPC installations. continued... Top SMB technology trends in 2023 The Ultimage Guide to Purchasing Sales Software 2023
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