IT News

IT News

Coming soon: SP1 RFID sled by DENSO (Fri, 27 Feb 7660)
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is delivering a boost in sales for retailers by an average of 1.5 to 5.5 percent, while increasing inventory accuracy by about 20 to 30 per cent, according to the study “Measuring the impact of RFID in Retailing: Key lessons from 10 case-study companies”, which was conducted by Adrian Beck, an emeritus professor at the University of Leicester.
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RFS and ANSYS lay foundation for 5G-ready antennas (Fri, 27 Feb 7920)
Cutting-edge 5G antennas pioneered by Radio Frequency Systems (RFS) will soon connect people, machines and devices more reliably and faster than ever with the help of ANSYS.
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UHF DLR-PR001 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Portal Reader: The Scanning System of the future by Datalogic (Sat, 27 Feb 3700)
Datalogic, the automatic data capture and process automation solutions provider, has introduced the UHF DLR-PR001 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) portal reader, a product designed to complement and extend the capability of Datalogic RFID product family.
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Malwarebytes launches enhanced cloud platform and MSP Premier Partner Programme (Thu, 27 Feb 2020)
Malwarebytes, the advanced endpoint detection and remediation solution provider, has announced a new set of enhanced enterprise features of its cloud platform. The platform, Malwarebytes Nebula, reduces the burden on overworked security teams with simplified administrative controls over endpoint management.....
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Spain tops 10 million FTTH subscriptions in November (Thu, 27 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Spanish operators added a further 129,707 fibre to the home (FTTH) lines in November to raise the number of active connections in the country to over 10 million (10.05 million), according to the latest monthly update from regulator CNMC. Fibre lines climbed by 1.6 million over the 12-month period to the end of November, more than offsetting a 1.2 million decline in DSL lines to 2.6 million, said the watchdog. HFC lines fell by around 120,000 to 2.3 million, bringing the fixed broadband total to 15.2 million, up from 14.8 million a year earlier.
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GSMA unites telcos on common enterprise edge cloud platform (Thu, 27 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) The GSMA announced a new initiative to develop a common edge cloud platform for telecom operators. The operators China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, EE, KDDI, Orange, Singtel, SK Telecom, Telefonica and TIM are participating in the project that will see local operator assets made available to developers and software vendors to bring their services closer to enterprise customers. 
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Deutsche Telekom introduces 5G repeater with SK, opens campus network at BMW in Leipzig (Thu, 27 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Deutsche Telekom said that it has brought to the German market a high-performance 5G and 4G repeater developed in cooperation with SK Telecom (SKT) that provides superior indoor 5G coverage. Now, Telekom wants to test the device with up to 200 business and residential customers. 
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Sunrise records revenues growth in Q4, EBITDA hit by failed UPC takeover (Thu, 27 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Swiss operator Sunrise said that its revenues increased by 5.2 percent year-on-year in Q4 2019 to CHF 511 million, including IFRS 16 standards. Service revenues increased by 5.2 percent too during the period to CHF 400 million as result of mobile postpaid, internet, TV and B2B revenue growth. Mobile service revenues grew 2.7 percent year-on-year in Q4 to CHF 342 million, fixed line service revenues rose by 10.7 percent to CHF 89 million and fixed line internet revenues by 10.4 percent to CHF 80 million.  
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Nokia looking at strategic options amid pressure on results - report (Thu, 27 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Nokia is exploring strategic options, including possible asset sales or mergers, as fierce competition weighs on its results, people familiar with the company's plans told Bloomberg. The company has hired advisers to weigh its options, which could also include shifting investments or balance-sheet adjustments. 
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Microsoft warns for weaker quarterly sales for Windows OEM, Surface due to coronavirus (Thu, 27 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Microsoft said it does not expect to meet its revenue guidance for its 'More Personal Computing' division this quarter due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The company said Windows OEM and Surface sales have been more impacted than expected. 
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LG announces V60 upgrade of dual-screen foldable smartphone (Wed, 26 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) LG has unveiled its new flagship V60 smartphone, with an optional second screen. An upgrade of the G8X dual-screen phone launched last year, the new device comes with 5G connectivity, a bigger 6.8-inch screen and improved media functions. It will be available in the coming weeks in Asia, North America and Europe, with pricing announced closer to the launch date, LG said. 
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FCC tells operators to report on costs of replacing ZTE, Huawei equipment (Wed, 26 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) The FCC has started collecting information from US operators on their use of Huawei and ZTE equipment and services in their networks. The information will help it design a compensation programme to help operators receiving universal service funds replace the Chinese equipment with new suppliers. 
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Plume raises USD 85 million in new financing (Wed, 26 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) The home networking specialist Plume announced it has closed a new financing round of USD 85 million. This includes USD 60 million in Series D preferred equity and USD 25 million in debt financing, bringing Plume's total equity funding to USD 123 million. 
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French 5G tender moves to next step, bidding to start in April (Wed, 26 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) French telecom regulator Arcep has announced that Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR have submitted applications for the first phase of the 5G award process for 3.5 GHz spectrum. Candidates had been given until 25 February to file a tender package complying with Arcep's specifications.
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Nokia tests 5G network slicing system with A1, Telia, plans summer launch (Wed, 26 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Nokia announced the launch of new end-to-end slicing network functionality for 4G and 5G New Radio systems, saying it's the first vendor to offer this capability. The new system to support connectivity from 4G and 5G devices over the sliced network to applications running in private and public clouds will be available this summer. Nokia is already testing the services with the operators A1 and Telia.
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Cellnex and Bouygues Telecom form JV in France to invest in fibre connectivity (Wed, 26 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Cellnex and Bouygues Telecom have agreed to create a joint venture that will deploy and operate a fibre network connecting infrastructure equipment across France. Bouygues Telecom will own 49 percent of the new company, with Cellnex holding 51 percent and 100 percent of economic rights. The JV will invest EUR 1 billion by 2027 to roll out up to 31,500 km of fibre linking infrastructure sites including mobile masts, central offices and edge computing centres. The agreement also covers the construction of 90 new data processing centres, referred to as metropolitan offices, to house edge computing facilities.
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Cellnex revenues up 15% to over EUR 1 bln in 2019, narrows net loss (Wed, 26 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Spanish operator Cellnex Telecom, Europe's largest mobile towers company, reported full-year revenues of EUR 1.035 billion in 2019, up 15 percent on the year-earlier result of EUR 901 million, completing its fifth straight year of double-digit growth. The company's EBITDA rose 16 percent to EUR 686 million and it reduced its net loss for the 12-month period to EUR 9 million from EUR 15 million the year before despite higher amortisations and financial costs associated with the growth of the group and the expansion of its geographical footprint.
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Verizon achieves 4.2 Gbps on 5G network with eight-carrier aggregation (Wed, 26 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Verizon announced a new speed record on its 5G network of 4.2 Gbps. The peak speed was achieved in tests conducted on the live network with Samsung Electronics, Motorola Mobility and Qualcomm Technologies, using eight-carrier aggregation.
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Vodafone Hutchison Australia to launch first 5G sites within weeks (Wed, 26 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) has announced it will switch on its first 5G sites within weeks. VHA Chief Executive Officer Inaki Berroeta says the operator is moving forward following the Federal Court's recent ruling on the VHA-TPG Telecom merger. "We are very excited to be pushing ahead with our plans for 2020 by delivering our first 5G sites within weeks, with the initial rollout to continue throughout the year", Berroeta said. These will be the first of over 650 5G sites in progress. VHA plans to deploy "several thousand sites" over the coming years.
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IaaS provider WorldStream joins Dutch Hosting Provider Association (DHPA) (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
WorldStream, the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) hosting provider with more than 15,000 dedicated servers under management for a global customer base, has joined industry association DHPA, Trusted Cloud Experts.
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Rapid7 named a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
Rapid7, Inc., provider of security analytics and automation, has been named a Leader in Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM).
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Midwich reinforce AMX team with the appointment of Alister Smith (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
Midwich, a specialist audio visual distributor to the trade market with operations in the UK and Ireland, North America, Continental Europe and Asia Pacific, has appointed Alister Smith as AMX’s Business Development Manager UK.
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Telecom Infra Project expands OpenRAN, DCSG trials, announces new RRU, router plans (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) The Telecom Infra Project has announced new trials of its open network specifications as well progress among vendors and operators in adopting TIP-based equipment. 
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Honor announces first 5G smartphone outside China (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Huawei's Honor brand has unveiled its first 5G smartphone for markets outside China. The Honor V30 Pro was first released in China for the launch of 5G there late last year and will now roll out to global markets. The same as Huawei's latest phones, it does not come with Google Play Services and instead relies on Huawei's App Gallery. 
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Microsoft to launch Spain data centre region, expand Telefonica tie-up (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Microsoft and Telefonica have announced a further expansion of the cloud-based partnership they launched at last year's MWC with a view to accelerating the digital transformation of Spanish public and private entities of all sizes. The US company said it intends to create a new data centre region in Spain and use Telefonica's infrastructure to deliver cloud services – including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform – to new customers throughout the country. Telefonica, meanwhile, pledged to accelerate its own internal digital transformation by choosing Microsoft as its strategic cloud partner.
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French govt confirms target of 100% fibre coverage by 2025 (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) The French government has officially reopened the application process designed to distribute public funds for the deployment of FTTP connectivity via public initiative network projects in under-served areas. This follows the public consultation launched in December, which proposed a revised set of rules for local authorities applying for funds. Within its announcement, the government confirmed the target to extend the reach of fibre networks so that all French households are covered by FTTH services by 2025. To this end, EUR 280 million worth of funds will be made available as part of the newly reopened application process.
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Ziggo strengthens lead on Dutch broadband market in Q4, T-Mobile leads FY growth (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) VodafoneZiggo had a relatively strong finish to the year, adding 13,000 new subscribers for a total broadband base of 3.36 million at year-end. That's nearly a third of its total customer growth in 2019, of 45,000 new broadband subscribers. Most of the growth came in the business market, where Ziggo has been targeting small businesses with its bundled fixed-mobile packages with Vodafone. 
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Econet Global mulls Ethiopian acquisition of mobile licence (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Econet Global is keen to acquire a telecommunications licence in Ethiopia, which is opening up the industry to foreign investment for the first time, Bloomberg reported. A spokesman said Econet, through a number of its subsidiaries, is actively developing interests in Ethiopia. He said that given that there is a competitive process for new licences, it would not be appropriate at this stage to discuss Econet's positioning. 
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Blue Label declares H1 EPS ranges in updated trading statement (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Blue Label Telecoms has reiterated in an updated trading statement that it expects its basic, headline and core headline earnings per share for the six months to 30 November to rise over 20 percent year on year. It expects basic earnings per share (EPS) in the range ZAR 0.3420 to ZAR 0.3546 compared with a loss of ZAR 0.1259 a year earlier. It predicts headline EPS in the range ZAR 0.3924 to ZAR 0.4074 compared with a loss of ZAR 0.1502. It foresees positive core headline EPS in the range ZAR 0.4261 to ZAR 0.4375 compared with a loss of ZAR 0.1139 last time.
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AIS commercially launches 5G service in Thailand (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Thai operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) has commercially launched its 2600MHz 5G service. The operator officially received the 2600MHz licence on 21 February. AIS enables subscribers who buy the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G or Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G smartphones to use its 5G service free of charge until 30 June.
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AIS launches first 5G service in Thailand (Tue, 25 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Thai operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) has commercially launched its 2600MHz 5G service. The operator officially received the 2600MHz licence on 21 February. AIS enables subscribers who buy the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G or Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G smartphones to use its 5G service free of charge until 30 June.
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Huawei unveils latest Mate X foldable smartphone, plus new tablets, Matebook (Mon, 24 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Huawei has announced its successor to the Mate X foldable smartphone, the Mate Xs, with a Leica quad camera system and stronger hinge. The phone will launch next month, also for those outside of China, for EUR 2,499. It comes with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage, as well as Huawei's AppGallery. 
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Intel unveils new chip for 5G base stations, expands Xeon Scalable range (Mon, 24 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Intel is maintaining its commitment to the mobile network market with the launch of a processor for 5G base stations. The company also presented updated processors for the data centre market and other products optimised for 5G networks. 
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Realme targets high-end market with new X50 Pro 5G smartphone (Mon, 24 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Realme is expanding further in the high-end smartphone market, with the new Realme X50 Pro model. Running the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor and Android 10, the 5G smartphone comes with a 64-megapixel quad camera, 90Hz Amoled display and 65W fast charging. 
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Sony upgrades Xperia 1 flagship smartphone with pro photography functions (Mon, 24 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Sony has presented its new flagship smartphone, the Sony Xperia 1 II, and the mid-range Sony Xperia 10 II. The successors to the Xperia 1 and Xperia 10 launched in 2019 come with improved screens and cameras as well as 5G support. They will launch this spring, for EUR 1,199 for Xperia 1 and EUR 369 for the Xperia 10.
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Spanish govt to bring fibre to 1.5 mln more people in underserved areas (Mon, 24 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) The Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has announced that it plans to significantly expand the number of areas eligible for broadband subsidies with a view to bringing fibre connections to 1.5 million more people in the country. In a statement, the ministry said it's launching a public consultation on a proposal to include so-called 'grey areas' in its PEBA-NGA programme for 2020.
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Xperi gets unsolicited cash bid worth USD 23.30 per share (Mon, 24 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Xperi said it has received an unsolicited bid from Metis Ventures, worth USD 23.30 per share in cash. The company earlier signed an all-stock merger deal with TiVo, giving TiVo a majority (53.5%) of the newly-created company, which would have just over USD 1 billion in revenue. Xperi said it talked internally about the Metis proposal and concluded that, due to the lack of information and current non-binding terms and conditions, it will probably not pursue the deal.
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Disney+ offers EUR 10 off annual subscriptions in Europe early access promo (Mon, 24 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) The streaming service Disney+ has announced an early access offer ahead of its launch in markets across Western Europe on 24 March. Anyone signing up to the platform by 23 March will pay EUR 59.99 rather than EUR 69.99 for an annual subscription, equivalent to EUR 4.99 a month, for over 1,000 films and series, said the company on its local websites. Monthly subscriptions currently remain at EUR 6.99.
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Fox in talks to buy Tubi, NBCUniversal eyeing Walmart's Vudu - report (Mon, 24 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) In two separate potential deals, Fox is in talks to buy ad-supported streaming service Tubi, while Comcast's NBCUniversal is close to buying Vudu from Walmart, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the discussions. US-based retailer Walmart started thinking of selling Vudu late last year, after buying it in 2010 for USD 100 million. Both Fox and NBCUniversal hope with the acquisitions to attract people who don't want to pay for streaming subscriptions. 
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Berec to present draft high speed network guidelines next month (Mon, 24 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) The EU's assembly of national telecom regulators Berec has announced that it will be presenting its guidelines on Very High Capacity Networks (VHCN) and Network Termination Points (NTP) at a public debriefing on the outcomes of its 42nd plenary meetings to be held in Brussels on 10 March. During the meeting, Berec chair Dan Sjoblom will inform stakeholders about the documents adopted during the plenary meeting, including guidelines on common approaches to the identification of the network termination point in different network topologies, quality of service parameters of Internet Access Services (IAS), common criteria for the assessment of the ability of undertakings other than ECN or ECS to manage numbering resources, as well as guidelines to assist NRAs on the consistent application of geographical surveys of networks deployment (Phase I).
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Huawei shows latest 5G radio network units, plus 5G billing, core systems (Fri, 21 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Huawei held a press conference in London to showcase a number of new products centred around 5G. The company also noted that it will be holding its Industrial Digital Transformation Conference 2020 on 24-27 February, after Mobile World Congress was canceled. The event will be broadcast live to global audiences and will include six activities in Shenzhen, the UK and Switzerland. 
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KPN lead on Dutch mobile market erodes in 2019 as T-Mobile, Vodafone take customers (Fri, 21 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) T-Mobile added nearly 1.6 million retail customers in 2019, including 1.3 million acquired with Tele2, to reach a total of 5.6 million at year-end. The growth was entirely in postpaid, including in Q4, when it added 83,000 postpaid subscribers. Its new fixed-mobile offer 'Uit en Thuis' likely gave a boost to quarterly subscriber growth and helped take the company to over 92 percent of retail customers on postpaid.
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Softbank agrees to new price for Sprint in sale to T-Mobile (Fri, 21 Feb 2020)
(Telecompaper) Softbank and Deutsche Telekom announced a revised agreement on the planned merger of their US mobile operators Sprint and T-Mobile. Softbank has agreed to accept a lower stake in the merged company than the original agreement signed in April 2018, in exchange for the potential to increase its stake over time. 
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Exclusive Networks adds HYCU to extend cloud transformation portfolio (Thu, 20 Feb 2020)
Exclusive Networks has announced a new distribution agreement with HYCU, Inc., an enterprise software company specialising in data backup, recovery and monitoring for next-generation Enterprise Clouds.
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Bitdefender joins ThreatConnect Developer Partner Program (Mon, 17 Feb 2020)
Bitdefender, the global cybersecurity company protecting over 500 million systems worldwide, has been accepted into the ThreatConnect Developer Partner Program.
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Scansource appoints Senior Vice President of Digital Distribution (Mon, 17 Feb 2020)
ScanSource, Inc., the global provider of technology products and solutions, has appointed Marcus Ollenbuttel to Senior Vice President of Digital Distribution for its business in Europe. ScanSource’s digital distribution business encompasses both the recently acquired intY CASCADE platform and ScanSource Cloud Services businesses.
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Ingenico Enterprise Retail collaborates with 3C Payment to deliver new technology and enhance security for merchants (Fri, 14 Feb 2020)
Ingenico Enterprise Retail, part of Ingenico Group, the seamless payments solutions provider, and 3C Payment, an independent Global Payment Service provider, have expanded their relationship, to bring to market two new terminal solutions which process payments through the 3C Integra Payment Gateway with Ingenico’s DESK/5000 & MOVE/5000 payment terminal devices.
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Infosys to acquire Simplus, a Salesforce Consulting and Platinum Partner (Wed, 12 Feb 2020)
Infosys, a provider of next-generation digital services and consulting, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Simplus, one of the fastest growing Salesforce Platinum Partners in the USA and Australia. Simplus is an advisor in cloud consulting, implementation, data integration, change management and training services for Salesforce Quote-to-Cash applications.
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Brother invests in new range of document scanners as market grows by 10 per cent (Tue, 11 Feb 2020)
Business technology solutions provider, Brother UK, has strengthened its document scanning range with three new mobile devices as the company aims to help its reseller partners tap into the growing personal market.
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