The Game Awards, the game industry's answer to the Oscars, took place on Thursday night, but unlike the Academy Awards, the appeal for many isn't so much in seeing the winners or even the glamour, but rather the load of trailers that come along with it during the show. The 2017 awards were no different with a multitude of new stuff for gamers to get their teeth stuck into in anticipation ranging from a full look at PUBG's new desert map to a tease at a new title from Dark Souls-makers From Software. But if you don't fancy watching the entire show, here are the best trailers to salivate over.

Head to the desert in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds's new map

PUBG has been one of the hottest games of the year – and it's not even fully released yet. The battle royale game's eagerly anticipated second map, Miramar, is a stark contrast to the lush setting of Erangel that millions of players have already become accustomed to, with desert terrain and a smattering of buildings and cities scattered around. The new map, along with the much needed addition of vaulting and some visual upgrades, will arrive when the game finally hits version 1.0 on December 20th. 

Fortnite announces new 50/50 mode

Since its launch, Fornite has come under a fair amount criticism for emulating the formula of the above PUBG. In an attempt to further differentiate the game, developers Epic took to the Games Awards to announce a new 50 vs 50 mode for the title. The game mode, which sees two teams of 50 players square off against each other, is only available for a limited time, so players will want to get involved while they can.

The developers of Job Simulator take a vacation

While much has been touted of VR's capacity as a tool to terrify its users, one of the best implementations of the tech so far has been Job Simulator – a game that sees players enter a quirky 'simulation' of human jobs as imagined by the robots in the future who will invariably take over the planet. Now, after being aquired by Google, developers Owlchemy Labs are back with Vacation Simulator which it describes thusly: "First you JOBBED, now you VACATION. Visit Vacation Island and experience RECREATION, optimal RELAXATION, and classic human pastimes like SUNBURN. Vacation Island offers all this and more so that you can discover the lost art of TIME OFF." The game is set for a launch on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR in 2018

Something wicked this way Froms

Okay, so this one isn't really much of a trailer, but the prospect of a new game from the masochists that brought us Bloodborne and the Dark Souls series alone is enough to get the hardcore gamers excited. It's unclear whether this will be the sequel to Bloodborne that fans have been clamouring for since the original came out in 2015 or a brand new IP, but whatever is you can bet it's going to be difficult and you're going to die. A lot.  

Zelda has motorbikes now

Serving as both the final game of the Wii U (not the literal last game published for the system, that accolade goes to Cars 3: Driven to Win) and the launching off point for the Nintendo Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the big winner of the evening, taking home the biggest Game of the Year award. Nintendo capitalised on the buzz of the game's 12 nominations to reveal more details of BOTW's second big expansion, surprising viewers with news that the DLC was being released that night. Also Link can ride around Hyrule on a motorbike now. We aren't sure how we feel about this. 

The return of Soulcalibur

The celebrated fighting franchise had been MIA since 2012, but to the surprise of many, Soulcalibur VI was revealed with a 2018 release on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

In the Valley of the Gods is the new game from the makers of Firewatch

Firewatch was one of the surprise packages of 2016, combining a heartfelt story with a immersive and beautiful visual style. Now developers Campo Santo are following it up with another first-person adventure game that will see players “explore a remote and ancient valley in the Egyptian desert, uncovering treasure and treachery in pursuit of a discovery that could bring you fame and fortune — or leave you for dead, buried beneath the sands.” 

 We still have absolutely no clue what Death Stranding is about

Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind the Metal Gear Solid series, left Konami in 2015 and shortly thereafter announced that he was teaming up with Sony to bring his new title Death Stranding to life. Since then, we have seen a handful of trailers for the game and they were as barmy as you'd hope from Kojima – and the new one is no different. 

Which of the announcements from the Game Awards are you the most excited about? Comment below or send us a tweet @PCR_Online

Five for Friday is a weekly feature to give a brief roundup of our top five stories from the week that you might have missed. Think we left anything out? Let us know your favourite stories of the week by pinging us a tweet @pcr_online.  

Andy Murray serves up £1.98 million in investment for two tech start-ups

Tennis ace Andy Murray has served up £1.98 million to invest in two UK tech start-ups. The British number one has backed Goodbox and Zoomdoc with his investment. It takes his UK investment portfolio up to 25 businesses.

Goodbox is a tech firm working with the Church of England cathedrals and museums to ensure contactless payments can benefit charities. Meanwhile, Zoomdoc is a healthcare firm founded by a NHS GP that allows patients to instantly book a GP to arrive at any location within an hour.

A Wimbledon Champion and double Olympic gold medallist, Murray said that he is committed to investing in companies that can make a difference.  “I’ve been involved in the digital health space for a while now, primarily getting schools focused on creating digital solutions for health problems, so ZoomDoc interested me,” said Murray.

Record number of UK exhibitors are heading to CES 2018

A record number of British exhibitors are heading to Las Vegas for CES 2018. Topping last year’s total of 56 UK representatives, this year’s show will feature 60 exhibitors from Britain. Owned and produced by CTA, CES 2018 will run 9th-12th January 2018 in Las Vegas, USA. Thirty UK startups will exhibit in Eureka Park, the destination for startups at CES. Of those, ten will be featured in the Great Britain and Northern Ireland pavilion, supported by the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) and sponsored by techUK, the trade association for the UK technology industry.

“The UK is stepping up its presence at CES in a major way reflecting a renewed commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship. New this year, the UK is hosting a pavilion in Eureka Park, as well as bringing more exhibitors to CES than years past, up seven percent from 2017,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CTA. “We applaud techUK for sponsoring innovative startups on a global stage and look forward to seeing the cutting-edge technology showcased by these UK exhibitors.”

Facebook's new London office brings more than just jobs to the capital

Facebook has launched a new office in the heart of London, creating 800 new jobs in the capital. With a focus on engineering, the LDN-LAB at Rathbone Place will bring more than just new jobs to the capital.

By increasing its UK workforce by more than 50 per cent, Facebook’s new office is a timely suggestion that despite Brexit the UK – and London – is still an attractive base for major technology companies. By the end of next year, Facebook will employ 2,300 people in the UK as it continues to grow its workforce this side of the pond.

From Paris to Las Vegas: Interview with CTA CEO Gary Shapiro

CES is the world’s largest consumer tech trade show and effectively defines the agenda for the comming year. Ahead of the event in Las Vegas next month, we sent Marguerite Clark – editor-in-chief of PCR’s sister publication Radio World – along to CES Unveiled Paris to chat with Consumer Technology Association president and CEO Gary Shapiro about ensuring a successful event and what tech is going to be on everyone’s lips in 2018. 

PCR Awards 2018: Deadline for nominations extended

The deadline to get your nominations in for the PCR Awards 2018 has been extended. Those looking to enter now have until 5pm on December 22^nd to complete their entries. With awards for retailers and resellers to distributors and vendors, the PCR Awards cover all areas of the Channel.

In total there are 20 awards up for grabs, with a number of new award categories added to the lineup. In the Channel Services category two new gongs for a Marketing and PR Agency as well as Cloud Services have been created. Meanwhile, there are three new awards for vendors to fight for, with awards for Peripherals and Accessories Vendor, PC Vendor and Specialist PC Vendor up for grabs. 

IT automation specialist PowerON has recruited Chris Lim to build Channel partnerships as the company expands. With almost 14 years of industry experience, Chris brings a wealth of experience to the role. Chris joins from specialist software vendor and Microsoft system centre specialist Cireson, where he was the EMEA sales and partner manager. Chris will be responsible for driving product development and building partner alliances.

Phil Mercer, solutions and services director, from PowerON says: “Chris brings a wealth of experience across the product management lifecycle, with his key focus being on customer experience. His skills will ensure we grow and continue to deliver excellence to our customers.

“Chris’s job will be to develop the software side of our business, expanding our services here in the UK, but also into the European and US markets as first target areas. Responsible for product development at PowerON, Chris will assist this expansion whilst we remain wholeheartedly committed to our core product and service offerings.”

Chris is equally excited about the opportunity. He said: “I’m fortunate to have experience in solution integration, managed services, the license solution partner world, and most recently in the integrated software vendor landscape across EMEA. With such a dynamic change in both the Microsoft cloud solutions and global partner ecosystem, it’s going to be an exciting challenge to develop PowerON’s subscription software business from its core expertise and knowledge.”

PowerON, which is headquartered in York, has seen its turnover double to almost £2 million since its inception just three years ago, following notable contract wins in both the public and private sectors. It has grown staff numbers from just four people to 27 within that same time frame. The firm also has offices in Lincolnshire and Surrey and provides powerful, high quality IT management and cloud automation solutions to organisations of all sizes across the UK.

They say it is the season to be jolly, and the board of embattled conglomerate Toshiba may finally be smiling after a tumultuous 12 months. After months of legal wrangling, Toshiba’s dispute with Western Digital looks like it is finally reaching an amicable conclusion. According to Reuters, the two parties have agreed to settle the dispute over Toshiba’s $18 billion sale of its chip unit.

Bought up by a consortium led by Bain Capital and Apple, Western Digital’s legal challenge was the main obstacle still in the way of the sale being completed.

The settlement on the table calls for Western Digital to drop arbitration claims seeking to stop the sale in exchange for Toshiba allowing it to invest in a new production line for advanced flash memory chips that is slated to start next year.

Toshiba was forced to put the unit - the world’s no. 2 producer of NAND chips - on the block to cover billions of dollars in liabilities arising from its now bankrupt U.S. nuclear power unit Westinghouse.

As part of the planned settlement, Toshiba and Western Digital would extend existing agreements for their chip joint ventures beyond the current deadline of 2021. Western Digital would also invest in a completely new chip plant that Toshiba will start building next year in northern Japan.

It is welcome good news for Toshiba that has suffered a horrendous year. After seven months of negotiations, lawsuits, twists and turns, Toshiba bosses finally penned an $18 billion deal for its chip unit, paving the way for a consortium led by Bain Capital and Apple to take over its memory unit. The deal looked like it was done some time before but Apple demanded new terms at the last minute sparking doubt that the deal would be complete. The consortium also includes SK Hynix, as well as Dell, Seagate Technology and Kingston Technology. Toshiba took the decision to sell off a number of its valuable assets after its nuclear arm Westinghouse was declared bankrupt after racking up insurmountable debt. 

But bosses at Toshiba will now be scrambling to satisfy the March regulatory review, which usually takes six months to complete. Cutting it fine, if the deal does not close before then, Toshiba - hurt by liabilities at is now bankrupt nuclear unit Westinghouse - is likely to end a second consecutive year in negative net worth, putting pressure on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to strip it of its listing status.

A record number of British exhibitors are heading to Las Vegas for CES 2018. Topping last year’s total of 56 UK representatives, this year’s show will feature 60 exhibitors from Britain. Owned and produced by CTA, CES 2018 will run 9th-12th January 2018 in Las Vegas, USA. Thirty UK startups will exhibit in Eureka Park, the destination for startups at CES. Of those, ten will be featured in the Great Britain and Northern Ireland pavilion, supported by the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) and sponsored by techUK, the trade association for the UK technology industry.

“The UK is stepping up its presence at CES in a major way reflecting a renewed commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship. New this year, the UK is hosting a pavilion in Eureka Park, as well as bringing more exhibitors to CES than years past, up seven percent from 2017,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CTA. “We applaud techUK for sponsoring innovative startups on a global stage and look forward to seeing the cutting-edge technology showcased by these UK exhibitors.”

Speaking about the announcement, techUK’s Paul Hide, director of Market Engagement and Membership said: “techUK is delighted to be supporting UK-based tech companies at CES. With Brexit uncertainties, it is vital that digital businesses have export support and access to overseas markets, and that the UK remains an attractive place for international investment. This partnership shows the Government also shares our intention to achieve these goals. We hope to build on this progress so that our innovative businesses can showcase their technologies at all key technology trade fairs.”

CES 2018 will host 3,900 companies in total with some 170,000 people expected to attend. New attractions at CES include Smart Cities at CES, CES Sports Zone, the Artificial Intelligence Marketplace, Design & Source Showcase and the High-Tech Retailing Conference.

GNR’s mild-mannered account manager may be a whizz at the books by day, but he also leads a secret double-life as an international sports star

What is your role at GNR and how long have you been in the job?

At GNR I am part of the Account Management team and I look after our strategic accounts. These are a varied mix often with demanding requirements. I was part of the founding team at GNR Tech when it first set up, prior to working with GNR I held account management positions with Entatech UK and Volkswagen UK.

What does an average day look like to you?

From another person’s perspective it may look like most other desk jobs but that is far from it. Every day brings new challenges and another offer to share with my clients. Most days start by working on a plan of action and collaborating offers before hitting the phones to spread the word of the great business GNR has on offer that day. As well as generating lots of business through outbound calls and emails, there is plenty of quotes to put together for regular customers, and orders to process off the back of that which come flooding in throughout the day. The fast paced sales environment means that there is not a lot of time free in the day.

How long have you been working in the Channel and what is the best thing about it?

I joined the Channel after a career in the motor trade with VW but coming from a sales background means that it didn’t take long to get stuck in. The competitive nature of sales also appeals to me due to my sporting hobbies as well. I would say the best thing about the job is the people that I get to deal with. It feels really good to get a big order every now and again too!

Do you remember any role models or people who helped you out in particular when you were getting started in your career?

Since I have been working in this industry, I have been lucky enough to be part of a team that was always willing to help. I work in Craig Pearce’s team and his knowledge and drive is always appreciated – he always pushes us to improve.

What is your funniest office Christmas party memory?

The funniest Christmas party memory I have was when I first got into sales for a ski holiday operator. They had hired out a bar and some slalom ski machines to keep us entertained. After a few too many group shots off of a wooden ski, I was challenged to a race by one of my colleagues. However she  was unable to complete it, due to her completely losing her balance on the skis before she was subsequently flung from the machine into a heap on the floor. Not only did she make an impression on the floor but also on me as I ended up marrying her a few years later.

We’ve been told that you are a keen Tchoukball player. What exactly is it?

Tchoukball is one of the fastest handball sports in the world. This fast-paced sport is now approaching 50 years since it was first played and has origins that can be traced back to a Swiss doctor. It is still growing in popularity in the UK for more information on the sport you can visit the official UK site via www.tchoukball.org.uk

How can people best contact you?

Via email, ww@gnr.co.uk, or on 0333 101 1000. 

Specialist audio visual and document solutions distributor Midwich has announced a deal with visualisation tech vendor Barco to distribute its range of Barco UniSee LCD videowall products. 

According to the vendor, Barco UniSee 'completely rethinks and optimising every aspect of tiled LCD videowalls' by introducing a single uniform view while ensuring faster installation, easier servicing, and higher reliability. This makes it a compelling option for a multitude of applications – including control rooms, reception areas, experience centres, showrooms and many more.

Ross Floyd, business manager, Midwich commented: "We’re excited to work in partnership with Barco on launching the innovative Unisee video wall product into the UK and Ireland. UniSee is set to revolutionise the market place providing a seamless viewing experience for end users, along with a bespoke bracketry solution behind the screen, making installation quicker and easier for installers!"

Joe Trippett-Jones, product manager at Midwich commented: “Having been one of the lucky few to witness UniSee prior to the global launch in October, I was immediately struck by not only the visual performance and scalability potential, but also the overall customer experience Barco have created with this product. We’re delighted to bring this revolutionary technology to our existing and new potential customers, and further strengthen our connectivity and projection relationship with Barco as a strategic brand for the Midwich Group.” 

As a leader and innovator in large screen visualisation, Barco maintains close connections with end-users, resellers and distributors. Following its market feedback, Barco decided to completely rethink the concept of LCD videowalls and their mounting structures. The result is Barco UniSee − a revolutionary modular platform that surpasses traditional LCD videowalls on every level, and that will define the LCD video wall market for many years to come.

Anthony Wright, UK & Ireland channel manager for Barco added: “We are delighted to announce our Partnership with Midwich and their specialist divisions for the distribution of Barco’s revolutionary UniSee video wall in the UK and Irish territories. Midwich will support Barco in the provision of demonstration facilities, backed up with fully trained technical specialists to assist in specifying UniSee and Barco solutions.  

Barco and Midwich will jointly collaborate in delivering a unique value proposition to the selected UniSee reseller channel”.  

Cyber security providers are set to cash in as global security spending is predicted to reach $96 billion (£71 billion) by 2018. According to Gartner’s latest forecast organisations are already spending more on security as a result of regulations, shifting buyer mindset, awareness of emerging threats and the evolution to a digital business strategy.

"Overall, a large portion of security spending is driven by an organization's reaction toward security breaches as more high profile cyberattacks and data breaches affect organizations worldwide," said Ruggero Contu, research director at Gartner. "Cyberattacks such as WannaCry and NotPetya, and most recently the Equifax breach, have a direct effect on security spend, because these types of attacks last up to three years."

According to the report, security testing, IT outsourcing and security information and event management (SIEM) will be among the fastest-growing security subsegments driving growth in the infrastructure protection and security services arenas.

Regulatory compliance and data privacy have also been stimulating spending on security during the past three years, especially in the U.S. (with regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Overseas Citizenship of India) and most recently in Europe around the General Data Protection Regulation coming into force on May 28 2018.

Gartner forecasts that by 2020, more than 60 per cent of organizations will invest in multiple data security tools such as data loss prevention, encryption and data-centric audit and protections tools, up from approximately 35 per cent today.

Tennis ace Andy Murray has served up £1.98 million to invest in two UK tech start-ups. The British number one has backed Goodbox and Zoomdoc with his investment. It takes his UK investment portfolio up to 25 businesses.

Goodbox is a tech firm working with the Church of England cathedrals and museums to ensure contactless payments can benefit charities. Meanwhile, Zoomdoc is a healthcare firm founded by a NHS GP that allows patients to instantly book a GP to arrive at any location within an hour.

A Wimbledon Champion and double Olympic gold medallist, Murray said that he is committed to investing in companies that can make a difference.  “I’ve been involved in the digital health space for a while now, primarily getting schools focused on creating digital solutions for health problems, so ZoomDoc interested me,” said Murray.

He added: “GoodBox has the potential to revolutionise the way we donate to charity, they’re already working with many trusted organisations such as Comic Relief.”

Andrew O’Brien, co-founder of GoodBox said: “The GoodBox team are thrilled to welcome Andy Murray as a shareholder. Andy is well known far and wide for not just his legendary tennis status, but also the generous dedication of both his time and resources to the charity sector. He is a perfect match for a business like ours, and we look forward to continuing our mission to transform the giving landscape.”

Kenny Livingstone, founder of ZoomDoc said: "We are over the moon to have Andy Murray invest in ZoomDoc’s crowdfunding campaign. ZoomDoc is at the beginning of its journey, so to have a frequent early-stage investor and tennis legend like Andy back us is very exciting.”

Meanwhile, Jeff Lynn, executive chairman and co-founder of crowdfunding site Seedrs, said he was “delighted” to see the tennis player interested in growing a ‘diverse and dynamic’ investment portfolio.

He added: “Andy has a keen eye for the trends, following them closely, and continues to invest into exciting sectors such as healthtech, fintech and now the charity technology space too.”

After a big 2017, the internet of things is set to permeate even more of the market over the coming 12 months and beyond says Carl Oxley, managing director at Westcoast Retail

With the prevalence of Google Home, Alexa-powered speakers and Nest home security devices, the internet of things was undoubtedly centre stage for the majority of 2017. Offering an unparalleled ease of use and taking the connected and automated home to the next level, the products allowed users to hook up everything from their kettle to their lamp. Going beyond a gimmick, the success of such products means that consumers are increasingly becoming used to the concept that their lives could be made significantly easier by the inclusion of such tech.

As we move into 2018, it’s this ease of use that will continue to prevail and drive the next series of tech trends to dominate conversation. As users become more and more used to the concept of the connected home and aware of its benefits, the more relevant the internet of things will become, and it’s this theme that will drive the key tech trends of next year.   

One form of tech that buys into this concept and has increasingly found its way into conversation, partly on the back of the internet of things, is artificial intelligence. Developing the intuitive and connected nature of the internet of things, AI consists of learning capabilities that allow it to adapt depending on its user’s needs, meaning its potential for use in a wide variety of tech is immense. Google announcing its Google Clips, a camera that is able to remember faces and take photos at key moments, was a huge step forward in promoting the benefits of this technology to the average consumer, and is indicative of the ways in which it can be used moving forward to 2018 and beyond.

The other trend that will become a big name over the course of 2018 is that of edge computing. Not to be put off by the name, edge computing is a fairly simple concept, referring to the inputting of internet of things capabilities into a product itself. The likes of smart drones and autonomous vehicles are a couple examples of items that would benefit from it most obviously, allowing them to communicate instantly without the need to send data to the Cloud. Having such capabilities on board cuts down on the amount of time spent on the process, resulting in tech that’s much more responsive and versatile than what’s currently on the market.

Given the various avenues both AI and edge computing are capable of going down over the next year, the potential for them is huge. The key will be in how successful those involved are at educating consumers, not just in understanding the tech itself but also the benefits it can bring to their lives. If this is carried out effectively, then there’s no reason why they can’t lead the conversation in 2018.  

Hot off the press, the latest issue of PCR is out now. Focussing on Future Trends, the December issue takes a look back over the past 12 months as well as casting an eye over things to come in 2018 and beyond. 

The results from the PCR Women of the Year awards are revealled with pictures and reaction from the worthy winners. The Big Interview sees CTA CEO Gary Shapiro talk about CES events in Europe and Las Vegas. Meanwhile GfK directors Imran Choudhary and Neel Bhalsod talk PCR through the process of making predictions and market forecasts.   

There is also a 2017 review, as well as a comparison between Channel predictions made 12 months ago and the reality of the year that has just passed. And with an eye on next year, there is also coverage of Microsoft's Future Decoded event as well as a roundup of what to expect in 2018. 

To read or download the e-edition visit: https://issuu.com/newbayeurope/docs/pcr171_december2017

Egenera, a leading provider of wholesale cloud services to the channel has announced the signing of a strategic partnership with Brigantia Partners, the largest subscription community of independent technology resellers and MSPs in the United Kingdom. Under the agreement, Brigantia is offering Egenera’s Xterity Cloud Services to its extensive network of UK-based partners.

“We’re seeing demand for cloud ramping up significantly among UK MSPs and solution providers,” said Iain Shaw, commercial director at Brigantia. “End users are asking for cloud and the channel is actively looking for competitively priced, high quality services with top notch support and management. Brigantia can now deliver with Xterity.”

Egenera’s Xterity Cloud Services deliver a full range of dedicated, managed, private and public cloud services, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), Backup as a Service (BaaS), and cloud migration exclusively through the channel.

With Xterity, resellers can quickly enter the cloud services market with no up-front capital or ongoing maintenance costs. Unlike reselling cloud services from large, commodity cloud vendors, Xterity delivers the margins resellers need to develop a profitable and sustainable cloud services business.

“Brigantia delivers tremendous value to its MSPs and solutions providers in the UK and we’re looking forward to partnering with such a significant force in the UK market,” said Till Brennan, vice president, EMEA Sales, Egenera.

Sales of desktop monitors are up in western Europe, with strong financials recorded in the third quarter. According to Context, revenue increased by 12 per cent, signalling greater sales moving forward.

Most vendors registered revenue increases, and these reached €374 million overall for the first six weeks of Q4 2017. For the second quarter in a row, consumer-targeted monitors outperformed those aimed at business: unit sales of the former increased by 9 per cent year-on-year and revenues by 19 per cent, while the latter saw a revenue increase of only 6 per cent alongside flat unit sales.

The fastest growth in early Q4 was in sales of high-end consumer monitors. Revenues from more expensive models have also increased, with those above €300 increasing by nearly 42 per cent year-on-year.

“Key factors in the outstanding revenue increase for the period include the product-mix shift toward higher-performing items”, said Dominika Koncewicz, senior analyst at Context. “These include displays, such as gaming monitors; the growing number of high-value monitors, such as the recently launched 49" ultra-wide Samsung; and sales to retailers in the weeks leading up to Black Friday.”

Westcoast has rebranded for the first time in ten years as it aims to focus more on Channel services. Unveiling a fresh new website with ‘enriched content’ ad reseller enablement resources, managing director Alex Tatham said that the rebrand marks the next chapter in Westcoast’s story.

He said: “We are delighted to launch a new chapter in Westcoast’s amazing growth story. We want to show our business can continue to service our ever-growing and changing customer base with a wide range of services bound together with the Westcoast brand promise of unrelenting excellence.”

He added: “As we move progressively beyond traditional IT distribution to fulfilment, cloud enablement, configuration, enhanced logistics, merchandising and marketing of a huge range of products, we want to demonstrate that all of these services are delivered with the flexibility and energy for which Westcoast is renowned. It’s a great time to be working at or with Westcoast. I look forward to continuing our phenomenal growth and taking our brand image even further afield.”

The new look represents Westcoast’s first major rebrand for a decade. The company’s new website (www.westcoast.co.uk) has been completely re-engineered and redesigned. It features a new front-end interface created to help new and existing customers to find the content they’re looking for quickly and easily.

CES is the world’s largest consumer tech trade show and effectively defines the agenda for the comming year. Ahead of the event in Las Vegas next month, we sent Marguerite Clark – editor-in-chief of PCR’s sister publication Radio World – along to CES Unveiled Paris to chat with Consumer Technology Association president and CEO Gary Shapiro about ensuring a successful event and what tech is going to be on everyone’s lips in 2018

This is your fifth Unveiled Paris event and you have an Unveiled Amsterdam event as well. How important are these events abroad in the promotion of the main CES event in Las Vegas?

They do two things. They definitely promote CES, the ‘mother show’, as they are appetisers for the main event. But second, they are events in their own right. 

They help us to build relationships. For any one of them, we can grow these events bigger and bigger. We are looking for further growth. 

We launched Unveiled Amsterdam this year and preliminary pre-registration numbers show that it is our most successful non-trade show launch outside of the United States, with nearly 500 attendees coming from all over Europe. We’ve also had other events around the world, that we move around. We’ve had them in the United Kingdom, Sweden, China, Israel, Japan and Poland. Plus we have the annual CES Asia, which is a fully-fledged trade show, attracting nearly 40,000 attendees in Shanghai. Next year will be our fourth year and it’s grown dramatically.

Paris is the biggest of your Unveiled events outside the US. Why do you think that it has been particularly successful?

I think the French have taken the concept of entrepreneurism very seriously. There is also strong government support. Emmanuel Macron has been to both this event in Paris and CES in Las Vegas twice. 

The French not only talk about entrepreneurialism, they are well positioned for and are investing in it. The Station F campus inaugurated in July in Paris can house some 1,000 startups, and there is a sense all around the country that startups are a good thing. 

In general, it’s easier than before to start a company today, since the level of capital required is not what it used to be. So if somebody has an idea, they can make use of 3D printing and maybe get things manufactured elsewhere if necessary. The amount of entrepreneurship around the world has greatly increased in recent years. 

According to CTA, France is the second largest startup exhibitor after the US in Eureka Park at CES in Las Vegas. Why do you think that is? 

We’ll have 800 companies in the startup area there in January. That’s 200 more than the previous year. We started a few years ago with about 100 firms. It’s growing quickly and it’s a very low-cost way for  companies to expose themselves. Certainly the French government, through La French Tech initiative, provides some of that, and compared to many other countries the French have been very aggressive. The French have visible government leadership promoting French innovation and the result is a culture of startups and French entrepreneurs vying to be in Eureka Park within CES. It’s not easy to get in there. It’s curated, so the companies must fit within certain criteria, and the French have responded to it. It’s a combination of many good things hitting at the same time. 

Are you planning on introducing the Unveiled event to other countries?

We do press events in various countries but the Unveiled events allow for exhibitors to show their products and this year we are doing that in Paris and Amsterdam, in addition to CES Asia. We keep moving them around the world. The fact that we are having our fifth one in a row in France makes it much more significant. The first Paris event in 2013 attracted some 277 participants, followed by 345 in 2014, 592 in 2015 and 704 in 2016. For this year’s show, we have a 20 per cent growth with more than 800 people attending.

In general, what percentage of CES exhibitors (and visitors) come from abroad?

For CES in Las Vegas, one third (both exhibitors and visitors) are non-US citizens. In 2017, we had roughly one third (60,000 out of the 180,000) attendees coming from outside the US.

There have been headlines about how a few tech firms are becoming so big that innovation elsewhere is stifled. Some people have labelled them as the ‘Frightful Five’. Is this something we should be worried about?

Well, there are many issues there. For a long time, the EU strategy has been to establish ambiguous laws to attack major US tech firms and extort huge fines. Europe has produced few major tech firms in the last 20 years, while America has produced over 150 of them. So we think that Europe needs to look at why they aren’t producing major firms and I think a lot of that has to do with government regulation, which explains Brexit in part. I also think Macron recognises that bureaucracy is not positive for tech firm creation. But also the reality is that the US is better situated. We have a common market while Europe has many different markets with different languages, standards and regulations so there is an advantage the US has. 

In terms of those firms themselves which are undergoing scrutiny, part of it is that they are very big, very successful, and they have been disruptive and have affected traditional media like broadcast and the motion picture industry. There are some industries that have not fared as well with new technology and they are piling on at this point, which is not helpful. 

The reality is that innovation and technology is a core US strength, and it has fundamentally changed lives around the world for the better. But like any tool there are good and some bad things. Because of technology, the human condition is rapidly improving — we are living longer and healthier lives, we are detecting disease earlier. Soon with self-driving vehicles, we’ll be avoiding car accidents and death and we’ll be empowering disabled and elderly people. We’ll be doing all sorts of things with education, healthcare and transportation that we have never been able to do until now. 

That innovation is positive, which is something as an organisation we are very much passionate about protecting. But we have to recognise there are also issues involved in privacy, cyber security and that the tools can also be used by bad players just like any great invention of mankind. With technology in general I think there are so many positive aspects that we have to talk with policymakers about how we can have the guardrails up to protect us from the negative. That is what governments are discussing, but they need to do so in a way that encourages innovation and not just use it as a tool to protect their own domestic industries. 

The CTA is promoting policies that will encourage innovation in countries around the world and make sure that every global citizen can benefit from them. 

Why is there so much interest from abroad about what goes on at CES? 

CES is the top business event for innovation. It attracts people from many different lines of business to see the future, to get inspired and to do business deals. 

Europe often does better than the US on international events because it’s easy to get around and there is vast support from the governments. There are a few events where the US is dominant. Certainly CES is one of them regarding innovation and technology. The business focus of the administration in office also plays an important part of the show’s success. We are seeing positive economic outcomes from Trump’s time in office.

You previously stated that ‘CES has become the world’s foremost hub for international business at large, regardless of industry’. 

The advantage of CES is that it’s not just focused on consumer technologies. It’s focused on all innovation and gathers leaders from all over the world. We have a whole portion of the show we started, which focuses on marketing in a digital world. It’s called ‘C Space’ and it brings together almost 10,000 people, the chief marketing officers and CEOs from major worldwide companies and a lot of different industries. Today innovation often starts with consumer products and goes to business; it used to be the other way around 20 years ago. Basically if you want to see the future, CES is there. 

Another important aspect is the convergence at CES. To be successful today in the business world, one has to go across different industries (it’s no longer vertical); you must be aware and partner with the others. Also, many larger companies are looking to smaller startup companies to innovate, so that is how we position CES as well. Visitors to CES want to be inspired. Serendipity is very valuable. The internet is good but you do need the experience of seeing things first hand, have unexpected meetings and take in all the information you can gather.

What do you consider the main tech trends in consumer electronics to be heading into CES?

Smart cities, sports tech, robotics, drones, as well as a major focus on artificial intelligence and healthcare. Going forwards for the next three years I foresee the continued growth in robotics, smart cities, AI and self-driving cars.

What are a few of the main challenges as CTA president in continually making sure success of each annual show? 

We always try to make it fresh so it’s not the same show. So we continually bring in new items to make it different. The average attendee has 33 meetings during the show, we know it’s an efficient event for them. We try to look forward technologically so that they can plan ahead but also leave time for welcome surprises along the way. We spend a lot of time on logistics – the bus routes, the show app, the signage, different ways of getting people together so that they can see other industries, but also feel vertical so they are comfortable in their own common element. We have more than 1,000 speakers and choose our keynotes very carefully. 

How participants rate their CES experience is very important to us. At the same time, we are pretty tight on not allowing consumers to come to the show. This is a business event, and we want to make sure it’s comfortable, because Las Vegas can only comfortably handle so many people. Having said that, the city is expanding the airport, the number of hotel rooms and the convention centre. CES, the NAB and other big organisations support Las Vegas so we can improve the shows for everyone. What I worry about is providing a great experience for our attendees. 

Last year, a CES exhibitor claimed to have had two prototypes stolen from its stand during the show. What steps are you taking to keep exhibitors’ intellectual and physical property safe?

For intellectual property, we work with the FBI and others. There are steps we take that are public and non-public. We also have a way of dealing with the exhibitors and educating them about what they should do immediately to protect their valuables, and we cooperate with the authorities as much as we can. But physical safety is an even higher priority for us, and we spend a lot of time concentrating on that. 

We have always focused on ways we can improve physical security for our attendees in visible and non-visible ways; and our organisation continues to make ongoing improvements. One example is that we are going to have picture IDs. This is something we have been putting in place for a year now. 

What keeps you up at night? 

I think we are heading towards a much better world where technology will enhance human existence and relieve a lot of suffering, pain and misery. I think it’s a wonderful thing, but it won’t happen unless we do everything we can to get innovators – both big and small – together to allow innovation to flourish and make sure there are policies around the world that encourage this. Innovation can come from anywhere in the world, and it’s our job to foster it. 

The deadline to get your nominations in for the PCR Awards 2018 has been extended. Those looking to enter now have until 5pm on December 22^nd to complete their entries. With awards for retailers and resellers to distributors and vendors, the PCR Awards cover all areas of the Channel.

In total there are 20 awards up for grabs, with a number of new award categories added to the lineup. In the Channel Services category two new gongs for a Marketing and PR Agency as well as Cloud Services have been created. Meanwhile, there are three new awards for vendors to fight for, with awards for Peripherals and Accessories Vendor, PC Vendor and Specialist PC Vendor up for grabs. 

To read the full list of award categories and submit a nomination visit: www.nbmevents.uk/pcrawards_2018/

PCR Awards themselves take place on Wednesday 7th March 2018 boasting a mix of networking, partying and recognition of achievements in the UK PC and tech industry. Taking place at The Brewery, Central London, guests will have the chance to network with 500+ members of the industry.

Distributors, vendors and retailers are all recognised through a variety of categories including some new awards, developed to further recognise the contribution of retailers and resellers to the industry, and the evolution of technology and services in the last year.

To see what all the fuss is about, take a look at the action from last year's awards:  

Barclays Bank has followed the UK government in axing Kaspersky security products. The British banking group has removed Kaspersky’s free anti-virus product from its customer offerings. It comes after the UK government banned the use of Kaspersky on its internal systems following a warning about the Russian security software.

The bank emailed 290,000 online banking customers on Saturday to say the move was a ‘precautionary decision’. UK cyber-security chiefs are warning government departments not to use software from Russian companies for systems relating to national security.

A spokesman for Kaspersky said it was ‘disappointed’ that Barclays had discontinued its offer to new customers and that there was ‘no reason’ to stop using the firm’s products.

The National Cyber Security Centre - the UK's authority on cyber security and part of GCHQ claims that the Russian security software could be exploited by the Kremlin. But officials stressed they were not saying members of the public or companies should stop using Kaspersky products, which are used by about 400 million people globally.

In a statement, Barclays said: "Following the information that's been shared in the news we will no longer be offering Kasperky’s free service. The UK government has been advised... to remove any Russian products from all highly sensitive systems classified as secret or above. We've made the precautionary decision to no longer offer Kaspersky software to new users. However, there's nothing to suggest that customers need to stop using Kaspersky. At this stage there is no action for you to take. It's important that you continue to protect yourself with anti-virus software."

Kaspersky has regularly had to deny its links to the Kremlin, especially in the US under Donald Trump’s administration. 

Broadcom is set to take its first formal step towards a ‘hostile bid’ to takeover Qualcomm, according to Reuters. According to the report Broadcom is set to unveil nominees whom Qualcomm shareholders can vote on to replace the U.S. semiconductor company’s board of directors, according to people familiar with the matter.

The move comes after Qualcomm rejected its $103 billion takeover bid last month. Qualcomm shareholders who want the company to engage in sale talks will be able to vote on Broadcom’s board director slate on March 6, suggesting that a secondary formal offer will come in the Spring 2018.

Broadcom has lined up nine men and two women as board director nominees, many of whom have considerable experience in the technology sector, Reuters reported.

Qualcomm has a lot on its plate at the moment. As well as trying to tie up a record $38 billion acquisition of its own – for NXP Semiconductors – the US chipmaker has also poured fire on to the flames of its patent disagreement with Apple. Launching not one, not two, but three lawsuits, the chipmaker is attempting to get Apple’s iPhone X banned for copyright infringements.

Filing three new patent infringement complaints against Apple, Qualcomm claims that there are 16 more of its patents that Apple is using in its iPhones

Apple and Qualcomm have been embroiled in an ongoing legal battle following Apple's decision to sue Qualcomm in January for charging unfair royalties and refusing to pay quarterly rebates. Exchanging jabs ever since, the most recent was landed by Qualcomm who filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple and requested an import ban on certain iPhone models.

Embattled Qualcomm is also facing a daily fine of €580,000 for withholding information from EU antitrust regulators. Losing its appeal against the penalty in a EU court, the US chipmaker now must hand over the documents demanded by the antitrust regulators or face racking up an enormous fine.

Facebook has launched a new office in the heart of London, creating 800 new jobs in the capital. With a focus on engineering, the LDN-LAB at Rathbone Place will bring more than just new jobs to the capital.

By increasing its UK workforce by more than 50 per cent, Facebook’s new office is a timely suggestion that despite Brexit the UK – and London – is still an attractive base for major technology companies. By the end of next year, Facebook will employ 2,300 people in the UK as it continues to grow its workforce this side of the pond.

The Frank Gehry-designed offices in Rathbone Place, just off Oxford Street, will also house developer, marketing and sales teams. It will also be home to LDN_LAB, a scheme under which tech startups will be invited to take part in three-month programmes designed to help accelerate their development. Facebook will be looking for an initial five to six startups to join the first programme with applications starting on Monday. The company’s engineering, product and other experts will give their time to support a planned 20 startups next year.

Nicola Mendelsohn, vice-president of Facebook’s European operations, said: “Today’s announcements show that Facebook is more committed than ever to the UK and in supporting the growth of the country’s innovative startups. The UK’s flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystem and international reputation for engineering excellence makes it one of the best places in the world to build a tech company. And we’ve built our company here – this country has been a huge part of Facebook’s story over the past decade, and I look forward to continuing our work.”

The chancellor, Philip Hammond – who laid out the importance of tech in his Budget last month – said: “The UK is not only the best place to start a new business, it’s also the best place to grow one. It’s a sign of confidence in our country that innovative companies like Facebook invest here.”

Five for Friday is a weekly feature to give a brief roundup of our top five stories from the week that you might have missed. Think we left anything out? Let us know your favourite stories of the week by pinging us a tweet @pcr_online.  

Google not worried about £2.7 billion lawsuit for snooping on UK iPhone users

Spearheaded by former Which? director, a new consumer campaign called ‘Google You Owe Us’ has launched a class action against the web giant over allegedly unlawful harvesting of data.

Demanding compensation of around £500 per user, the total compensation bill could rise to an eye-watering £2.7 billion. But is Google worried? Not a chance. So far, Goggle’s official stance is: “This is not new — we have defended similar cases before. We don’t believe it has any merit and we will contest it.”

Report: The cost of repairing smashed wearables

Smashing a smartphone screen is an all too familiar inconvenience experienced by a large majority of the population. Such is the epidemic of cracked screens in the UK, that some 7.5 million consumers in Britain use damaged devices with a recent O2 survey revealing that as many as 61 per cent of us have smashed a screen at one point or another. And while it is a pain, the options available for repair are plentiful, relatively simple and (if you search around) not too expensive.  

The same however cannot be said for damaged wearable tech; and I can say that with full confidence, having been left pulling my hair out while trying to construct this article. I set off with the simple aim of comparing the repair prices of Apple’s line of watches, Fitbit’s range of fitness trackers and Snap’s Spectacles. Simple, right? Think again. 

Tech Talent Charter launched to tackle gender imbalance in London's tech community

A scheme aimed at balancing the gender gap in London’s tech community has been launched. The Tech Talent Charter has been set up in a new bid to encourage more women into what is still a male-dominated industry.  The central London launch of the Tech Talent Charter, attended by Digital Minister Matt Hancock, comes after a year blighted by accussations of sexism and sexual harassment in the technology industry, largely in the heart of Silicon Valley but also in the UK.

In the UK, women account for 17 per cent of tech and IT workers, compared with 47 per cent of the workforce overall. More worryingly is the number coming out of schools, with just one in 10 A-level computer studies candidates currently female.

Is protecting personal data up to the consumer or the business?

Businesses who suffer large scale public data breaches are likely to see their customer numbers dwindle. According to a new survey by Gemalto, some 70 per cent of consumers would stop doing business with a company if it experienced a data breach. In addition, of the 10,000 people surveyed, a further 69 per cent don’t believe that companies are taking the security of customer data seriously enough.

Despite consumers concerns over businesses protecting their data, the same survey found that over half (56 per cent) are failing to adequately protect themselves. While that same nume still uses the same password for multiple online accounts, two fifths (41 per cent) of consumers admit to not using the technology to secure social media accounts, leaving them vulnerable to data breaches.

Safe smartphone is created to 'prevent tech addiction' among children

A new smartphone has been created to ‘prevent tech addiction’. Now, many of you will no doubt ask why? And then argue that we don’t need to prevent tech addiction. But the monqi smartphone is aimed at kids, and there are some undeniable merits to the youth of today becoming slightly more detached from their phones.

With over half of under 14s reportedly checking their phone first thing in the morning and last thing at night, the monqi smartphone is being targeted at 7-12 year olds, in order to change that figure.

Parents are able to schedule how much time their children are allowed to use the phone and create digital boundaries to stop children looking where they shouldn’t be. The monqi phone and app also ensures that all contacts and app downloads are pre-approved by the parents, making it one of the safest devices on the market too.

Qualcomm has breathed fresh life into its ongoing dispute with Apple. Launching not one, not two, but three lawsuits, the chipmaker is attempting to get Apple’s iPhone X banned for copyright infringements.

Filing three new patent infringement complaints against Apple, Qualcomm claims that there are 16 more of its patents that Apple is using in its iPhones

Apple and Qualcomm have been embroiled in an ongoing legal battle following Apple's decision to sue Qualcomm in January for charging unfair royalties and refusing to pay quarterly rebates. Exchanging jabs ever since, the most recent was landed by Qualcomm who filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple and requested an import ban on certain iPhone models.

Embattled Qualcomm is also facing a daily fine of €580,000 for withholding information from EU antitrust regulators. Losing its appeal against the penalty in a EU court, the US chipmaker now must hand over the documents demanded by the antitrust regulators or face racking up an enormous fine.

Court President Marc Jaeger dismissed the appeal saying that there was no evidence as to why Qualcomm should withhold the information from regulators. "The applicant does not claim that its financial viability would be at risk or that its market share could be affected substantially," he said. "Furthermore, it does not give any explanation as to why it would be impossible to seek compensation for the alleged financial costs it would suffer by answering the questions."

The new complaints represent the latest development in the long-standing dispute that is unlikely to go away any time soon. 

The deadline to get your nominations in for the PCR Awards 2018 is fast approaching. With awards for retailers and resellers to distributors and vendors, the PCR Awards cover all areas of the Channel.

In total there are 20 awards up for grabs, with a number of new award categories added to the lineup. In the Channel Services category two new gongs for a Marketing and PR Agency as well as Cloud Services have been created. Meanwhile, there are three new awards for vendors to fight for, with awards for Peripherals and Accessories Vendor, PC Vendor and Specialist PC Vendor up for grabs. 

To read the full list of award categories and submit a nomination visit: www.nbmevents.uk/pcrawards_2018/

Nominations close on December 4th, so time is of the essence! The PCR Awards themselves takes place on Wednesday 7th March 2018 boasting a mix of networking, partying and recognition of achievements in the UK PC and tech industry. Taking place at The Brewery, Central London, guests will have the chance to network with 500+ members of the industry.

Distributors, vendors and retailers are all recognised through a variety of categories including some new awards, developed to further recognise the contribution of retailers and resellers to the industry, and the evolution of technology and services in the last year.

To see what all the fuss is about, take a look at the action from last year's awards: 

‘Technophobia’ is losing thousands of UK companies money each year. Despite 23 per cent of UK businesses claiming to save anywhere between £5,000 and £100,000 a year when using modern collaboration software, three quarters (72 per cent) are still using old fashioned and outdated desk phone, according to Timico.

The cloud service provider’s study The Collaborative Landscape found that a fifth of UK organisations have some form of collaborative technology in place such as audio and video conferencing, and live chat but only 9 per cent of employees are actively using it to full effect. Over a third fear the technology, fuelled by a lack of training and leadership support.

Meanwhile over half of executives (57 per cent) admitted that the workforce is slow to use collaborative technology because they ‘don’t understand it’. Some 46 per cent blame poor training for the slow uptake, while a third feel it is directly due to poor management support.

Fear and fear of change is however the most worrying reason for a slow uptake in time – and cost – saving technology. Some 43 per cent of those surveyed said that stubbornness is a barrier to adoption and 38 per cent put it down to fear. Those most likely to embrace collaborative technology are Gen Z’ers according to a third of executives, with Gen Y’s closely followed at 32 per cent and Baby Boomers lagging behind at 12 per cent.

Communication key to adoptionColin Riddle, Head of Products & Services at Timico, said: “It’s clear from our findings that there is a real disconnect in terms of perception and reality when it comes to collaborative technology in the workplace. Lack of proper training is stopping true collaboration. Organisations need to have a long-term strategy in place, actively supported by the board, with regular education seminars for employees on the increased productivity and cost benefits of using collaborative technology, while internally appointed ‘Collaboration Gurus’ in the business can help employees positively embrace change and eliminate fear on how and when to use it.”

He added: “The digital workplace enables employees to work faster, more productively and efficiently than ever before, and it is a no.1 priority for businesses to get on board and empower their workforce through the effective use of collaborative tools to gain a competitive edge.“

Offices around the world will soon undergo an Alexa revamp – if Amazon has its way. With the rise of smart speakers and voice assisted technology in the home market place, Amazon is set to take its technology to the office.

At the AWS Reinvent conference, Amazon will announce Alexa for Business, according to the WSJ. The new platform will let companies build out their own skills and integrations for both practical and business use cases.

In terms of development, the Alexa for Business platform will work in a very similar way to the Echo system. Just as developers can build skills for Amazon Echo users, businesses will soon be able to build out Alexa skills for use within their own company. The WSJ expects businesses to use this platform to control everything from changing the temperature and turning on the lights, to calendar management and meeting room scheduling.

Alexa for Business will all come with all the same capabilities as a regular Echo, letting users get information about news, weather, set timers and alarms, and ask questions.

Amazon already boasts more than 20,000 third-party skills that people can install and then summon from Alexa. And Amazon has expanded its line of Echo devices and made it possible for other companies to insert Alexa into their devices. The introduction of Alexa for Business also presents an opportunity to let users access business information on their phones or outside of the building using the Alexa app on their phone. 

The top five smartphone vendors have all recorded year-on-year growth for the third quarter of 2017. While Samsung captured the largest market share of 22.3 per cent, selling more than 85 million devices, Xiaomi saw the biggest growth. Registering 80 per cent growth, some 26.8 million Xiaomi devices were snapped up during the quarter as Xiaomi captured 7 per cent of the market share, according to Gartner’s latest report.

In total, global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 383 million units in the third quarter of 2017, a 3 percent increase over the same period in 2016. All of the top five smartphone vendors achieved double-digit growth apart from Apple, which achieved a 5.7 per cent increase.

"Despite market weakness in China, sales of smartphones rose in the third quarter of 2017,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. "Emerging Asia/Pacific (15 per cent increase) and North America (11.2 per cent increase) drove the smartphone growth in the quarter. In emerging Asia Pacific, both Samsung and Huawei saw healthy demand as along with Xiaomi and Vivo, which were able to grow their footprint outside their home markets. In North America, Samsung was the driving force in the quarter due to its new flagship products."

He added: "Renewed pushes of the newly designed Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 smartphones have brought back growing demand for Samsung smartphones, which helped it compete against Chinese manufacturers and deliver a solid performance in the quarter. The last time Samsung achieved a double-digit growth was in the fourth quarter of 2015."