Industry news

Network Rail is to carry out a significant investment campaign to develop IT services over the next five years totalling £333 million.

Investment will be focused on updating IT systems to take advantage of new technologies including mobile devices while driving cost savings.

Over technology investments include the development of GPS, thermal imagery and camera technology.

Network Rail commented: “Continued investment in IT will be essential if we are to continue improving the service that we deliver to our customers as well as reducing costs. We have therefore included a further £333m within our plan".

450 IT apprenticeships will be created in 2013 as part of a collaborative scheme between the National IT Partnership (NiTP) and BT.

The apprentices will receive training to meet BT requirements at a range of collages, apprentices will undergo a rapid training programme in order to develop skills.

The 450 new roles will be divided between five locations including Bedford, Portsmouth and Birmingham.

“We are delighted that, through this partnership with BT and NiTP, 100 new jobs have been created for young people in IT roles, said “Karen Price, e-skills UK chief executive”.

IT firms IBM and SAS have been placed as leaders of Big Data analytics due to their competitive predictive analytics solutions.

Research firm Forrester placed the two organisations at the top two leading businesses in market presence and strategy

Forrester views Big Data analytics as a growing market with increasing uptake from new customers.

A strong Christmas period has seen Sainsbury's report record-breaking sales, reporting like-for-like sales increases of 0.9 per cent over the Christmas period.

Sainsbury's was the only one out of the ‘big four’ supermarkets to increase its market share over the festive period, with rivals including Morrisons experiencing a drop in sales of 2.5 percent.

Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury's, however acknowledged that the new year would represent a challenging time: “We expect the challenging economic backdrop to persist, with customers looking to re-balance their household budget after the festivities and so spending cautiously in the first few months of 2013".

Morrisons have stated that it is looking to accelerate its multi-channel delivery after poor sales over the Christmas period.

The failure of like-for-like sales appears to stem from the slow move of the supermarket giant to expand its online functionality.

Competitors including Tesco and Sainsbury's have managed to draw the lead on Morrisions in developing an online multi-channel approach.

In a statement Morrisons CEO Dalton Philips said: “our sales performance was lower than anticipated, but we have a strong business and significant opportunities to advance our strategy, as we accelerate our multi-channel offer".

Microsoft has signed a contract worth $617 million with the US military to provide IT services to the US forces.

The three-year contract will see Microsoft provide integrated services and will include a focus on cloud services, datacentres and cyber security. The new contract will according to Microsoft be the largest US DoD contract ever.

Tim Solms, Microsoft Department of Defence Business general manager, said: “Microsoft has longstanding relationships with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force and DISA, and we are honoured to expand our support of ongoing technology modernization efforts across all three organisations".

Chinese based technology giant Huawei have published strong 2012 results, forecasting a total net profit of $2.4 billion.

Despite the publishing of strong results, the Chinese company has faced challenges in foreign markets.

Guo Ping, acting CEO of the Chinese firm, acknowledged the difficulties of 2012, saying: “We have weathered another turbulent year: the downward spiral in the global economy, an investigation into cyber security allegations by a particular committee of the US Congress, political upheavals in the Middle East and Northern Africa, as well as natural disasters including floods and earthquakes”.

Huawei are looking to increase expansion in new markets in 2013, with a increasing focus on mobile broadband, network solutions and mobile devices.

Europe and Asia will continue to experience slow growth according to analyst firm Forrester.

Despite increased global growth within the IT market, uncertainty surrounding new markets have impacted confidence.

Andrew Bartels, Forrester analyst, said: “The European tech market will remain depressed for most of 2013 before starting to improve as 2014 nears."

Analyst firm the 451 Group have successfully purchased market rivals the Yankee Group.

The acquisition of the long standing analyst and consultancy organisation founded in 1970 and specialising in research based on mobile communications will allow the 451 Group to focus on digital infrastructure.

The 451 Group CEO Martin McCarthy said: "With Yankee Group we see an exciting opportunity to significantly extend The 451 Group’s focus on the evolution of digital infrastructure."

Shortages in trained cloud-computing staff have resulted in around 1.7 million cloud jobs going unfulfilled in 2012.

A study by IDC showed that applicants lacked the requisite skill set including training, certification and relevant experience.

Demand for IT staff with knowledge of cloud-services is expected to grow annually by 26 percent until 2015.

Cushing Anderson, IDC, said: “Cloud-ready jobs are increasing as we head into 2013, but with this increase comes the harsh reality that IT pros around the world are steps behind when it comes to attaining the skills necessary to thrive in the cloud computing industry”.