Good times, bad times

Who was on cloud nine, and who had a face like thunder, in the channel this week?

Good Times

Stone

There's nothing like a good spring clean, and it seems systems builder Stone agrees.

The firm admitted it had an "unwieldy" balance sheet since its MBO in 2008 which was off-putting to suppliers and credit insurers. So it had a corporate restructure and put two of its old holding companies into administration and created a new holding company instead.

Stone CEO Simon Harbridge told CRN it is business as usual for its staff, suppliers and customers, while running a feather duster along the desks.

Smart dust

"Smart dust" could well be a stalwart of every reseller's portfolio in a decade or so's time, according to Gartner.

In the latest version of its Hype Cycle report, Gartner identifies the gizmo - a collection of tiny dust-like sensors or devices which can be used to detect light or sound - as one of the most cutting-edge technologies, placing it at the start of the "innovation trigger" section. It will enjoy widespread adoption in more than 10 years' time, the market watcher predicted.

Rumours that CRN owner Incisive Media has rushed out to buy up the rights to the title ‘Smart Dust Reseller News' (SDRN) were unconfirmed as we went to press.

UK Computer Supplies

If the UK's top resellers were ranked on ambition alone, UK Computer Supplies may well top the charts. The aggressive firm wants to become the biggest reseller in the UK in terms of sales.

It says its unique business model and company values will help it get there.
"The ethos of the company is we're a sales company run by salespeople," he said. "Not like most of the resellers which are interested in accountants and the bottom line."

We're not sure Computacenter's Mike Norris is quaking in his boots yet, but we wish the company the best of luck.

Bad Times

Anonymous sources

Eugene Kaspersky is known in press circles as one of the few tech CEOs who'll happily have a beer with journalists.

But the Kaspersky co-founder's fondness for indulging the fourth estate deserted him last week as he launched an attack on journalists' use of anonymous sources in stories.

The origin of his ire was a Reuters report quoting two former staff alleging Kaspersky regularly faked malware to disorientate rivals, which he branded "complete nonsense". In a furious blog post, Kaspersky joked that the answer to the question ‘who killed JFK?' can be easily obtained by adding ‘according to information from anonymous sources'.

The cybersecurity supremo followed up his tirade by stripping naked, leaping into the Volga and shouting ‘I'm the king of anti-malware'... according to information from anonymous sources.

SAP

A former executive of the software monolith pleaded guilty to bribery charges in the US last week, admitting he had paid officials in Panama to secure government business.

Vicente Eduardo Garcia, who reportedly worked for the German IT giant from 2008 until getting the boot in 2014, used phoney invoices and contracts to disguise payments made to Panamanian government bods, US authorities allege.
SAP, which fired its employee when evidence of misconduct emerged, has co-operated with authorities. Meanwhile Garcia will shortly be negotiating with government officials once again - at his sentencing hearing later this year.

Carly Fiorina

It must be a thankless task being one of Donald Trump's competitors for the Republican nomination for US president. How can you criticise a politician who, when asked to detail his policies, states "I don't think the people care" - and still leads the polls by a mile?

That task recently got a little bit harder for wannabe leader of the free world - and former HP chief executive - Carly Fiorina, when Trump dissed her career achievements, as well as her failed US senate bid of 2010.

"She's a very nice woman," the curiously coiffed one told ABC News. "She got fired, she did a terrible job at Hewlett-Packard, she lost in a landslide - other than that, she's a very nice woman."

Nice guy, that Trump. Dangerously underqualified, startlingly inarticulate, worryingly divisive, and a disaster-in-waiting of global proportions - but, other than that, a nice guy.