Good times, bad times
Who has been on top of the world and who has been down in the dumps over the last fortnight?
Good week
Entatech
Jarndyce v Jarndyce was not a patch on Entatech's year-long quest to reach a settlement over legacy VAT issues, according to MD Dave Stevinson (pictured), who likened the experience to completing a second MBA.
Stevinson expressed his relief after agreeing a "full and final" settlement with the liquidators of Changtel Solutions, a former subsidiary of Enta UK that was wound up last year following a long-running dispute with HMRC.
It was a "lengthy, challenging and complex deal involving multiple firms of lawyers", he added. Sources say Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep are close to agreeing terms over the film rights.
Insight EMEA
A couple of years ago, global reseller Insight culled five top executives in EMEA in response to mounting losses and tumbling sales. But its gloriously surnamed CEO, Ken Lamneck, was gushing about Insight's business on this side of the pond in its latest earnings call, saying it is "stronger today than in recent years" and praising its improved management team and sales execution.
Let's gloss over the inconvenient fact EMEA sales actually fell back 13 per cent - or four per cent in local currencies - in Q4, year on year.
Data Solutions
From Riverdance and Guinness to Westlife, there's no shortage of Irish exports that have made it big in the UK.
Hoping it will be added to that list is Data Solutions, a Dublin-base
d Citrix, Nutanix and Check Point distributor, which has pledged to invest £3.8m in building a UK operation after opening a Reading office.
"We have quite ambitious plans in the UK around growth and expansion, so that money is funding all the supporting infrastructure and the staff," newly appointed UK managing director Sean Fane told CRN.
We'd wish them the luck of the Irish if they didn't already have that on their side.
Bad week
Distribution heists
In a reminder that IT distribution is a constant target for scammers, burglars and other bad sorts, Arrow and Exertis have been taken for millions in cash and equipment in two separate incidents.
US-based giant Arrow expects to absorb a $13m charge after being stung by a so-called "fake president fraud", where fraudsters ape a company executive to con firms into parting with cash.
Closer to home, burglars raided 550 boxed iPhones and Samsung Galaxys from Exertis' warehouse in Altham.
The long arm of the law is pursuing the perpetrators on both sides of the Atlantic, in the form of the US law enforcement agencies and our very own Lancashire Police. Having watched the latest series of Happy Valley (alright, it's set in West Yorkshire, not Lancashire, but close enough), our money's on the latter to get their man first.
Verizon cloud customers
Protagonists in the public cloud market are being bumped off more rapidly than characters in And Then There Were None, with Verizon the latest to breathe its last.
According to a letter to customers circulated on Twitter last week, Verizon will discontinue its public cloud service on 12 April, and is pushing customers to instead move to its Virtual Private Cloud.
The revelation comes four months after HP announced it is killing its Helion public cloud offering. We must be getting close to the bit when Miss Marple gathers everyone in the drawing room to reveal who was responsible.
Wave Systems resellers
There can't be many more awkward conversations for resellers than having to explain to a customer that they've invested in a dud technology, on their recommendation.
But that's the scenario facing the 50-plus UK partners of Wave Systems after the NASDAQ-listed encryption vendor went pop last month.
Wave admitted it was struggling to compete for enterprise deals with larger rivals and was left with no option but to call it quits after attempts to restructure and refinance the business failed to revive its fortunes.
We hope partners and customers aren't dragged under by Wave's undertow for long.