Infosys, a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced a new Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services Inc (AWS). The three-year collaboration will deliver technology transformation and industry specific solutions to financial organizations supported by joint investments into go-to-market and delivery capabilities across the EMEA region.

Working together, Infosys and AWS will support financial organizations, like retail banking at NatWest Group, in accelerating their cloud adoption journeys leveraging industry proven capabilities to deliver specialized end-to-end cloud migration and modernization services. Customers will receive transformative cloud services from AWS, domain knowledge and delivery from Infosys, and Infosys Capital Markets' expertise to transform business models and modernize applications, delivering operational efficiency. 

As part of Infosys Cobalt, a set of services, solutions, and platforms for enterprises to accelerate their cloud journey, the collaboration will deliver industry specific use cases that leverage AWS's cloud native innovation including generative AI and data analytics. Customers will also benefit from production-ready shared toolsets, certified architectural and security blueprints to accelerate adoption and ensure compliance.

Bringing together the synergies of Infosys and AWS will also ensure greater business agility reacting to rapidly evolving market conditions and regulatory change as organizations restructure their business models and accelerate their migration to the cloud away from conventional managed datacenters. The underpinning flow of skills sharing between AWS and Infosys will support the entire customer journey focusing on outcome-based delivery to ensure technical alignment and reduce business risk.

To catalyze growth across Europe, Middle East and Africa, Infosys and AWS will jointly create go-to-market strategies and make co-investments over the next three years. Key areas of collaboration include accelerating growth of existing large-scale transformations, collaborating with FinTech partners to bring new cloud-based solutions to the market, and investing in co-innovation to deliver new products and services.

Wendy Redshaw, CDIO, Retail NatWest Group, said, "We see collaboration, strategic alignment, and engineering excellence as essential elements of successful partnerships.  This relationship between Infosys and AWS embodies these elements and will help us to better support and protect our customers by leveraging cloud reliability, security, and scalability."

Dennis Gada, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Banking & Financial Services, Infosys, said, "AWS is a pioneer in cloud innovation, and by bringing together our expertise in delivering technology transformation at scale and our unwavering customer centric approach, we are excited to bring a comprehensive and industry-leading offering to our financial services clients in Europe, Middle East and Africa. By leveraging Infosys Cobalt's industry cloud solutions, assets and frameworks, we are committed to helping financial organizations accelerate their business outcomes."

Mark Jopling, Director of GFS EMEA Sales, AWS, said, "Together with Infosys, we will extend the reach of our combined services and expertise to help financial institutions innovate more quickly and increase their agility as they continue facing rapidly changing economic conditions. Combining our cutting-edge cloud innovation with Infosys' technology transformation expertise, we now offer customers more capabilities and solutions to specific financial industry challenges at speed and scale."

Strong execution on 'three-A's' strategy drives margin expansion

• Revenues for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 total $4.1 billion, pretax loss is $109 million, and net loss is $142 million

• Adjusted EBITDA is $574 million, adjusted pretax income is $25 million, and adjusted net loss is $12 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2023

• Raises full-year adjusted earnings outlook

Kyndryl Holdings, Inc., the world's largest IT infrastructure services provider, today released financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, the second quarter of its 2024 fiscal year. 

"We're strengthening and transforming our business at an accelerated pace, which is driving faster-than-anticipated margin expansion and creating future growth opportunities for Kyndryl.  We're again increasing our adjusted earnings outlook for the year, and we remain on track to return to revenue growth in calendar 2025," said Kyndryl Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Martin Schroeter.  "Our customers are increasingly relying on us to provide the mission-critical expertise and technology necessary to harness today's secular IT trends."

Results for the Fiscal Second Quarter Ended September 30, 2023

For the second quarter, Kyndryl reported revenues of $4.1 billion, a year-over-year decline of 3% and 5% in constant currency.  The year-over-year revenue decline reflects the Company's decision to reduce inherited zero-margin and low-margin third-party content in customer contracts. The Company reported a pretax loss of $109 million and a net loss of $142 million, or ($0.62) per diluted share, in the quarter, compared to a net loss of $281 million, or ($1.24) per diluted share, in the prior-year period.  The net loss in the quarter included $87 million of transaction-related costs and workforce rebalancing charges.  Cash flow from operations was $46 million.

Adjusted pretax income was $25 million, an increase of $127 million compared to an adjusted pretax loss of $102 million in the prior-year period.  Currency movements had a positive year-over-year impact of approximately $9 million on adjusted pretax income.  Adjusted net loss in the quarter was $12 million, or ($0.05) per diluted share.

Adjusted EBITDA of $574 million increased 34% compared to $428 million in the prior-year period, primarily driven by contributions from the Company's Alliances, Advanced Delivery and Accounts initiatives, partially offset by a software cost increase of $50 million.  Adjusted free cash flow was $69 million.

"In our fiscal second quarter, we delivered outstanding growth in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted pretax income, driven by continued progress on our three-A initiatives and transforming how we operate.  At the same time, we're positioning Kyndryl for future success by signing new contracts and renewals with meaningfully higher margins than our pre-spin, legacy contracts," said Kyndryl Chief Financial Officer David Wyshner.

Recent Developments

• Alliances initiative – In the first half of its fiscal year, Kyndryl recognized $180 million in revenue tied to cloud hyperscaler alliances, progressing well toward the Company's hyperscaler revenue target of more than $300 million for fiscal year 2024.
  
  
• Advanced Delivery initiative – To date, Kyndryl has redeployed more than 7,500 delivery professionals to serve new revenue streams and backfill attrition. This has generated annualized savings of approximately $425 million as of quarter-end. Automation and the Kyndryl Bridge platform, powered by AI, are driving this progress, and the Company is therefore raising its fiscal 2024 year-end objective for annualized savings from $450 million to $550 million.
  
  
• Accounts initiative – Kyndryl continued to address elements of contracts with substandard margins, bringing the total impact from this initiative to $400 million of annualized benefits, achieving the Company's $400 million fiscal 2024 year-end goal ahead of schedule. The Company is therefore raising its fiscal 2024 year-end goal for annualized savings to $500 million.
  
  
• Strong projected margin on recent signings – In the quarter, projected pretax margins associated with total signings were again in the high-single-digit range, which aligns with levels achieved throughout fiscal 2023 and reflects the Company's focus on margin expansion.
  
  
• Double-digit growth in Kyndryl Consult – In the quarter, Kyndryl Consult revenues grew 19% year-over-year and 17% in constant currency and were 14% of total revenue.
  
  
• Separation-related costs – Kyndryl's reported results for the fiscal second quarter reflect $48 million of transaction-related costs, primarily related to systems migrations associated with the Company's spin-off. Separation-related costs are expected to end this year.

Raising Fiscal Year 2024 Outlook

Kyndryl is raising its fiscal 2024 adjusted pretax income outlook, which it now expects to be at least $140 million, compared to its prior outlook of at least $100 million.  The Company is also raising its fiscal 2024 adjusted EBITDA margin outlook, now expecting it to be approximately 14.5%, compared to its prior outlook of approximately 14%.

The Company is raising its fiscal 2024 targets primarily because of the benefits from its three-A initiatives, as discussed above, and noted that it continues to expect its fiscal 2024 adjusted free cash flow will be positive.  Kyndryl is narrowing its outlook for constant-currency revenue growth to (6%) to (7%), which represents the stronger end of its prior estimate of (6%) to (8%).

Datadog, Inc., the monitoring and security platform for cloud applications, today announced that management will present at the following investor conferences.

• The RBC Capital Markets Global TIMT Conference. The presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 1:20 p.m., Eastern Time.
• The UBS Global Technology Conference. The presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, November 28, 2023 at 11:35 a.m., Eastern Time.
• The Barclays Global Technology Conference. The presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, December 6, 2023 at 4:20 p.m., Eastern Time.

The presentations will be webcast live, and replays will be available for a limited time under the "Events and Presentations" section of the Company's investor relations website at https://investors.datadoghq.com/.

Oracle donates $3 million in Ampere Arm-based compute credits to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation to foster innovative cloud native projects

Oracle launches project to open source Jipher, a Java Cryptography Extension provider for  FIPS-regulated environments

Oracle invites community collaboration on new standard to boost network and data security across on-premises and distributed cloud environments

Oracle today announced several key contributions to the open source community aimed at accelerating the adoption of cloud native computing and collaboration across the open source ecosystem. At KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2023, Oracle announced plans to donate $3 million in Ampere Arm®-based compute credits on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) per year to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). Oracle also introduced plans to open source Jipher, a Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) provider for environments with Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) requirements. In addition, Oracle invited the community to provide input on the development of an open standard for network and data security across on-premises and distributed cloud environments.  

$3 Million in Ampere Arm-based Compute Credits to Support the CNCF's Open Source Efforts

Oracle has benefited significantly from its participation in the CNCF and its global community, and Kubernetes is foundational to OCI's application development platform. To underscore Oracle's commitment to CNCF and to support its invaluable work across the open source community, Oracle will contribute $3 million in credits on Ampere Arm-based hardware to support CNCF projects on OCI. This contribution advances OCI's commitment to cloud native computing by combining cloud native Ampere compute infrastructure with the large field of open-source projects hosted by the CNCF for cloud native services.

Open Sourcing Jipher for FIPS-regulated Environments

Oracle developed Jipher, a JCE provider designed for security and performance, as a solution for environments with FIPS 140 requirements, and OCI has seen dramatic performance improvements with Jipher. Oracle strongly believes in contributing to security technologies that are accessible to everyone and makes significant contributions to OpenSSL. To support these efforts, Oracle is announcing plans to open source Jipher through the OpenJDK to support Project Panama-based Java applications for the benefit of the broader open source community.

Fostering Collaboration to Develop an Open Standard for Network and Data Security

Oracle recently announced it is participating in an initiative to design a new open standard for network and data security that will help organizations better protect their data in distributed IT environments. Under this new initiative, Oracle will collaborate with organizations across industries to develop the standard. The new standard will enable networks to collectively enforce shared security policies and enhance the security architecture that organizations already use without changing existing applications and networks.

To support the initiative, Oracle plans to release the Oracle Zero-Trust Packet Routing Platform based on the new standard. It will help organizations prevent unauthorized access or use of their data without adding extra hurdles for legitimate activities. Oracle invites collaboration across the entire technology industry, as broad adoption and interoperability will create a stronger and more consistent data protection for everyone.

Oracle's Extensive Ongoing Contributions to the Open Source Community

Oracle has been supporting the open source community for more than 20 years by contributing to and maintaining critical projects and technologies. Along with its role as a supporting member of the Linux Foundation, the CNCF, and the Eclipse Foundation, as well as stewards of the Java Community Process, Oracle contributes to over 500 key open source projects. In addition to its contributions to Linux and OpenSSL, Oracle leads OpenJDK, the place to collaborate on an open source implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition. Through Oracle's technical and open source leadership, Java continues to be the number one language for today's technology trends. Additionally, Oracle has developed the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) for Oracle Linux and is a founding member of the Open Enterprise Linux Association (OpenELA), as well as being one of the top contributors to the Linux Kernel.

Supporting Quotes

"Open source is in Oracle's DNA, and for years we have been a leader, contributor, and steward for projects that drive long-lasting impact for the open source community and our customers, as well as within Oracle," said Mahesh Thiagarajan, executive vice president, Security and Developer Platforms, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. "We share the CNCF's mission to make cloud native computing ubiquitous, and that requires communication, collaboration, and cooperation across the entire open source community. We look forward to continuing to be at the forefront of those efforts."

"The intense drive to balance performance and sustainability in cloud computing underscores the importance in enabling developers to more easily and quickly deploy on Arm-based technology," said Mohamed Awad, senior vice president and general manager, Infrastructure Line of Business, Arm. "The majority of CNCF projects today provide native support for Arm, and Oracle's contribution is invaluable and timely in ensuring that the over 150 projects hosted by the CNCF have a solid foundation for incorporating multi-architecture software development practices."

"The pairing of cloud native software with Ampere Cloud Native Processors is a better together formula that can provide massive benefits in cost, sustainability, and scalability," said Sean Varley, chief evangelist and VP of business development, Ampere. "Our partners at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure just gave the CNCF community a major boost with a substantial commitment of free cloud credits on OCI Ampere Arm-based compute – the most efficient and scalable aarch64 cloud shapes in the industry."

Kasm Technologies has announced a partnership with InterSources, a global leader in empowering global businesses with cutting-edge tech solutions, to provide on-demand on-demand cloud desktops, application streaming and web isolation technology for secure digital workspaces.

This partnership will leverage the Kasm Workspaces technology portfolio and InterSources' capabilities in government services, cloud operations, product-led growth and digital transformation. The joint venture will enable both large and small organizations to benefit from the agility and efficiency of a modern virtual desktop infrastructure without the traditional complexity and high costs.

This new alliance comes at a critical time when the demand for flexible and remote work solutions is at an all-time high. Integrating Kasm Technologies' solutions with InterSources' robust service delivery model will create a unique offering, providing customers with a complete package of tools and services to manage their workforce in a cloud environment effectively.

"Kasm Technologies is excited to embark on this partnership with InterSources. Their commitment to customer service excellence and their deep understanding of IT environments make them the perfect ally to bring our containerized workspaces to a wider audience," said Brian Jenrette, CRO of Kasm Technologies. "We believe that this partnership will not only enhance the cloud workspace landscape but also provide a tangible difference in the way companies operate and manage their remote workforces."

Through this partnership, clients will benefit from Kasm's containers that isolate workloads and provide a DLP-controlled workspace environment for each user session, ensuring security and compliance. Additionally, InterSources' proficiency in cloud infrastructure, data analytics, and digital transformation will complement the deployment, providing an end-to-end solution for organizations looking to embrace the cloud more fully.

Ankit Shah, CEO at InterSources Software added, "Our partnership with Kasm Technologies represents a significant step forward in our mission to deliver forward-thinking IT solutions. The synergy between our companies will allow us to offer an unmatched cloud workspace solution that addresses the key concerns of security, cost, and complexity."

Leading global ecommerce integration enables ecommerce businesses to bring their brand to TikTok Shop in the US.

ChannelEngine, a leading ecommerce marketplace integrator connecting brands and online retailers with local and international marketplaces, today announced its integration with TikTok Shop in the US. ChannelEngine was one of the first to launch its UK integration in November 2022. With this integration, US merchants can now sell products directly on TikTok through in-feed videos, LIVEs, and its product showcase tabs.

The global social commerce industry is set to reach a staggering valuation of $7.07tn by 2030. TikTok Shop is the social media world's new and immersive shopping feature. With an estimated 37% of TikTok users making a purchase on the app, this has reflected a 31% increase in TikTok's social buyers in the US since 2020.

"There has been a critical shift in traditional ecommerce channels over the last five years," Ed Barrett, Chief Revenue Officer, ChannelEngine. "Social Selling is a rapidly growing component of customer engagement that can't be ignored. Now powered with AI, ChannelEngine is empowering global brands and retailers to stay on top of the latest trends in consumer buying habits."

TikTok recently updated its ability to meet the growing demand with its dynamic social platform. TikTok Shop was specifically designed to keep up with the evolving ecommerce landscape and offer better resources and initiatives to succeed on the platform. New resources include the Creator Marketplace, Creative Exchange and Follow Me.

"ChannelEngine has been our partner for three years, and has helped to connect us and our other partners to vital online selling platforms," notes Reckitt's eCom Lead for Data, Insights and Technology Patrick Poelgeest. "As for TikTok, we are extremely excited to work with them and begin selling with TikTok Shop in the UK via social and livestreams. This means giving our customers the best possible shopping experience. TikTok offers us the possibility to further inform and educate consumers about our products via live streams and in-feed shoppable videos with creators they trust and love while creating the best one-stop shopping experience."

TikTok Shop will be available to all merchants using ChannelEngine as their omnichannel platform. ChannelEngine already facilitates the sales of more than 11 million products on 700+ sales channels.

MicroTech is pleased to announce it was named one of the world's premier managed service providers in the prestigious 2023 Channel Futures MSP 501 rankings.

This year's list is among the most competitive in the survey's history. Winners are recognized on the Channel Futures website and were honored during a special ceremony at the Channel Futures Leadership Summit, Oct. 30-Nov. 2, in Miami, FL. MicroTech's CEO, Tony Jimenez, and his wife were among the thousands of IT professionals in attendance.

For the past 17 years, managed service providers (MSPs) around the globe have submitted applications for inclusion on this prestigious and definitive listing. The Channel Futures MSP 501 survey examines organizational performance based on annual sales, recurring revenue, profit margins, revenue mix, growth, innovation, and supported technologies.

MSPs that qualify for the list must pass a rigorous review conducted by the research team and editors of Channel Futures. It ranks applicants using a unique methodology that weighs financial performance according to long-term health and viability, commitment to recurring revenue, and operational efficiency.

Tony Jimenez, Founder, President & CEO of MicroTech, expressed his gratitude, stating, "We at MicroTech are honored to have been selected for inclusion in this highly regarded list. This recognition demonstrates our unwavering commitment to being among the finest Managed Service Providers worldwide."

Since its inception, the MSP 501 has evolved from a competitive ranking into a vibrant group of innovators focused on high levels of customer satisfaction at small, medium, and large organizations in the public and private sectors. Many of their services and technology offerings focus on customer needs in cloud, security, collaboration, and hybrid workforces.

"We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 2023 winners and gratitude to the thousands of MSPs that have contributed to the continuing growth and success of the managed services sector," said Kelly Danziger, general manager of Informa Tech Channels. "These providers are most certainly driving a new wave of innovation in the industry and are demonstrating a commitment to moving the MSP and entire channel forward."

With its debut in the Oracle Cloud Marketplace, MHC NorthStar is now available for Oracle customers to automate their procure-to-pay processes.

MHC, a leading provider of enterprise procure-to-pay automation solutions and a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), today announced MHC NorthStar is available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace and can integrate with Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a centralized repository of enterprise applications offered by Oracle and Oracle partners.

MHC NorthStar empowers users with configurable content and workflow automation capabilities to drive cost savings and boost profitability, complementing Oracle functionality to increase the overall efficiency and value of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other core business systems.

Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a one-stop shop for Oracle customers seeking trusted business applications and services offering unique solutions, including ones that extend Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite.

Oracle Fusion Applications enables organizations to take advantage of the cloud to break down organizational silos, standardize processes, and manage financial, supply chain, HR, and customer experience data on a single integrated cloud platform. With quarterly update cycles, it gives customers access to continuous innovation as new features are added every 90 days, without downtime or business disruption.

"Organizations are under intense pressure to bring costs down and improve profitability. With a relentless focus on efficiency and exceptional customer support, MHC has committed over 20 years to optimizing procure-to-pay processes for customers," said Gina Armada, CEO, MHC. "MHC's participation in Oracle Cloud Marketplace further extends our commitment to the Oracle community and enables customers to easily reap the benefits of MHC NorthStar. We look forward to leveraging the power of Oracle Fusion Applications to help us achieve our business goals."

MHC NorthStar offers intelligent document capture, workflow automation, and document management capabilities to support and streamline the procure-to-pay processes of organizations across industries, with key features that include:

• Intelligent document capture leveraging AI powered by machine learning and OCR
• Configurable workflow automation with user-friendly drag-and-drop functionality
• Procure-to-pay document storage and retrieval
• Quick drill from ERP to see related documents across procure-to-pay
• At-a-glance and role-based dashboards to maximize efficiency and visibility

"As economic and job landscapes evolve, organizations are being called on to do more with less, relying on increased efficiency within their critical procure-to-pay processes," said Dan Haller, group vice president, Ecosystem Development, Oracle. "With MHC NorthStar's workflow automation and the power of Oracle Cloud, customers can not only streamline procure-to-pay, but also have a better understanding of their organization's overall financial health."