Cloud nine: IBM announces major UK expansion, following Facebook and Google commitments November 22, 2016 IBM has joined fellow US tech giants Facebook and Google in announcing a major multi-million dollar investment into the UK. The company is today announcing plans for four new cloud data centres – where corporate and consumer information is stored remotely – in the UK “to keep pace with growing client demand”. The commitment marks IBM [...]
As the cryptocurrency booms, fear of a bitcoin bubble is not the only trouble December 7, 2017 Two baffling B-words dominate both boardroom and dining table conversations these days – Brexit and bitcoin. While the former is marred by talk of lack of progress, the latter is seemingly unstoppable. Bitcoin prices hit nearly $13,000 (£9,700) yesterday in a fresh record. The price surge is thanks to a flurry of investors jumping on [...]
HSBC, ING, BNY Mellon among seven banks working on blockchain syndicated loans with R3 and Finastra October 5, 2017 HSBC, ING, and BNY Mellon are among seven top banks that are working together to create a platform for syndicated loans using blockchain technology. BNP Paribas and State Street are also among the financial institutions who have been named as involved in the project. Well-known blockchain consortium R3 and Finastra – the UK financial software [...]
Apple HomePod smart speaker review: A hell of a speaker controlled by a mildly disappointing assistant February 16, 2018 Apple rarely gets to the party first. IBM built a smartphone 15 years before the iPhone. Tablet computers have been around since the 1980s. Just about every manufacturer had a stab at a smart watch before the Apple got around to it in 2014. But the iPhone will be remembered as the smartphone, the iPad [...]
Why India beats Britain for women in tech September 14, 2017 The technology sector is notorious for under-representing women. If asked to name top male industry figures, the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and the late Steve Jobs roll off the tongue with ease. But most people would struggle to name their female counterparts. This doesn’t mean that women aren’t carving themselves out a space [...]
EY, Maersk, Microsoft, startup Guardtime and insurers are putting boats on the blockchain with marine insurance tech platform | City A.M. September 6, 2017 EY, shipping giant mersk and Microsoft are among the companies planning to get boats on the blockchain, or their insurance, at least. The professional services firm is building a blockchain-based platform that can streamline marine insurance for the shipping industry. It is working with Estonian enterprise blockchain startup Guardtime and Microsoft to build the technology [...]
Mind the skills gap: A plan to future-proof the UK workforce November 30, 2017 How do we close the skills gap in this country? At the recent World Skills competition and conference in Abu Dhabi, I learnt that this is not just a UK problem, but also one faced by countries across the world. Addressing this imbalance sits front and centre of everything this government is trying to achieve [...]
Questioning AI ethics doesn’t make you a gloomy Luddite November 29, 2017 Last month, Google-owned DeepMind introduced AlphaGo Zero, the latest evolution of AlphaGo, the first computer programme to defeat a world champion at the ancient Chinese game of Go. Speaking at Web Summit earlier this month, Kevin Bandy, chief digital officer at Cisco, told the audience that “there are more moves in this one game than [...]
Big fish: The seven largest types of institutional investors March 7, 2018 Say whatever you want about the world, but there’s never been a better time to be an end investor. Many things investment professionals fear — fee compression, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain — benefit clients through higher account balances and lower fees. Asset owners are the largest of those clients. Though they are frequently [...]
Blockchain consortium R3 has raised a $107m series A round of funding from top banks like HSBC, Barclays, UBS and Wells Fargo May 23, 2017 One of the biggest consortium’s working on blockchain technology has raised $107m from the world’s top banks and other big name investors, it’s been revealed. R3 founder and chief executive David Rutter announced the huge figure for its series A round on stage at a blockchain conference in New York, calling the investment “unprecedented”. Investors [...]