Albermarle to be restructured following Rockwood acquisition

By Adam Page
Published: Wednesday, 21 January 2015 on http://www.indmin.com/

After completing its merger with lithium producer Rockwood Speciality Holdings Inc. last week, speciality chemicals producer Albemarle is now focusing on having a flexible and forward-looking lithium strategy.

US-based Albemarle Corp. is being re-structured into three global business units; Chemetall Surface Treatment, Refining Solutions and Performance Chemicals.

"The new company will be structured to leverage its complementary fit, especially between lithium and bromine, allowing us to capitalise on our long-term lithium strategy while providing immediate scale and ability to leverage its similarities with bromine," said Luke Kissam, Albemarle's CEO.

Chemetall Surface Treatment will supply products for metal pretreatment. The company's lithium and bromine businesses meanwhile will sit in its Performance Chemicals business arm, as this will supply speciality chemicals to the industry as well as fire safety solutions.

The Refining Solutions business arm will consist of the heavy oil upgrading and clean fuels technologies businesses, which could also see some bromine usage, as the company is developing clear brine fluids, used in offshore drilling and water treatment.

Each unit will have a dedicated teams of sales, R&D, processers, manufacturing and sourcing and business strategists.

Rockwood’s investors 

Albemarle has proposed changes to investors regarding the material terms of the security agreement relating to a set of senior notes issued by Rockwood Specialties Group Inc. The new arrangements would enable Albemarle to file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and make such filings available to investors.

Albemarle completed its acquisition of Rockwood Holdings on 12 January 2015, in which Rockwood became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Albemarle. It also led to Albemarle fully and unconditionally guaranteeing the senior notes.

As of 16 January 2015, there are $1.2bn worth of of senior notes outstanding. Both companies are offering to pay each shareholder a cash payment of $2.50 per $1,000 worth of notes.

NTT Com to acquire data centre firm e-shelter

NTT claims third largest data centre player slot in Europe

NTT Communications (NTT Com) will acquire 86.7% of issued shares in e-shelter, an operator of data centre services in Germany.

The acquisition will make NTT the third largest data centre presence in Europe.

e-shelter manages approximately 90,000 square metres of data centre space in four major German cities, including Campus Frankfurt 1, Europe's largest data centre with some 60,000 square metres of space. It also possesses space in Zurich, Switzerland and Vienna, Austria.

e-shelter data centres service multinational enterprises working in finance, ICT services, government, healthcare, telecommunications and digital media.The company's infrastructure includes its own 120 MW electrical substation for stable.

NTT Com hopes the acquisition will strengthen its ability to meet increasing European demand for data centre and cloud services and allow it to provide more efficient services to migrate customer systems to the cloud. The EU data centre market is growing at 9% annually, according to the research firm Gartner.

NTT Com operates 130 data centres worldwide and it already has a European presence in the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

"As our multinational customers expand beyond EU borders, and undergo rapid ICT evolutions, they are increasingly demanding globally seamless ICT solutions," says Rupprecht Rittweger, CEO of e-shelter.

To meet their demands ahead of our competitors, we believe that the best way to ensure e-shelter's growth and development is in partnership with NTT Com, which has a commanding presence in Asia and is a leading provider of ICT services worldwide. At the same time, we look forward to strengthening NTT Com's global ICT infrastructure and market share with our strong presence in Europe."

Currently, Investa owns 51% of e-shelter's issued shares and the remaining shares are owned by ABRY Partners. NTT Com will provide more than half of e-shelter's new board of directors.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 3rd March 2015

IBM sued over alleged money-losing semiconductor offload

IBM sued by shareholder who alleges stock inflation before sale of unit

IBM is facing a securities allegation after court papers where filed by a shareholder who says it committed securities fraud, reports Reuters.

The complainant alleges that IBM inflated its stock prices by failing to record its semiconductor unit before its Q3 2014 results in October last year.

The entire unit's value had fallen to around $1 billion, including personnel and intellectual property, meaning that hard assets probably had no or negative market value.

On 20 October 2014, it sold the unit for $1.5 billion to GlobalFoundries, an affiliate of Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala Development, and took a related $4.7 billion pre-tax charge.

The complaint says that before selling the unit, IBM inflated its stock price by carrying the unit's property, plant and equipment assets on its books at $2.4 billion, when it should have known the assets were worthless.

IBM's share price fell 9% over the next two trading days after the unit's sale, wiping out more than $18 billion of market value.

The lawsuit names three IBM officials as defendants and it seeks class-action status on behalf of shareholders from 17 April to 17 October 2014.

"Defendants presented a misleading picture of IBM's business and prospects," the complaint said.

"When the truth about the company was revealed to the market, the price of IBM common stock fell precipitously," they added.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 3rd March 2015

Mobility platform addresses demands of the wearables era

Good Technology launches platform and app for enterprise mobile data security.

Good Technology has launched a secure mobility platform for mobile apps and wearables, dubbed the 'Good Dynamics platform'.

The Good Dynamics platform allows users to safely access and store confidential information like business data on wearable devices. It does this via Good-secured apps which utilise mobile identity and access management features including two-factor authentication and access control.

The Good Work app enables users to access this information via smartphones, tablets and wearable devices such as a wristwatch or fitness tracker. Good Work supports Android Wear which allows users to respond to emails, update calendars, push notifications and accept or reject meeting requests.

"As more connected devices proliferate across the enterprise, it's imperative to understand the implications they present so that organizations can permit increased employee productivity without endangering sensitive data," said Christy Wyatt, chairman and CEO of Good Technology.

The Internet of Things (IoT) takes secure mobility beyond smartphones to include connected cars, vending machines and other non-traditional connected devices in the enterprise.

International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated that by 2020 there would be approximately 30 billion connected IoT units, with the market worth an estimated $3.04 trillion.

"Wearable devices give people powerful new ways to access the information and services that are most important to them, whatever they may be," said Rick Osterloh, president of Motorola Mobility.

"While much of the focus has been on consumers, there is also a huge opportunity for wearables to better connect people to the productivity services and applications that have become so essential in the workplace," he added.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 2nd March 2015

“On the brink of revolution” for tech and public sector

techUK hosts Public Services 2030 conference

"We are on the brink of revolution," says Gordon Morrison, techUK's director for tech for government, at the techUK Public Services 2030 Conference. Morrison is referring to the way in which the digital industry and government integrate and engage with one another.

The London conference was opened by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude MP (pictured) who stated: "Digital is one of the areas in which Britain is recognised to be world leading and it is part of the government's long-term plan for a stronger economy."

techUk's CEO, Julian David, said that the technology companies it represents welcome this sentiment: "We see the idea of government as a platform that can lead in a revolution to public service delivery."

David said that in all cases of successful digital enterprise from Estonia to Silicon Valley, "the public sector has played a major role in making that happen."

Maude noted that phrases like 'online government project' used to evoke concern due to notable failures such as the NHS computer system. However, Maude said the government is striving to be more efficient noting that 300 government websites have been shut down to be replaced by one, gov.uk. This is part of the government's attempt to modernise its digital infrastructure.

He also said that the government had saved £90 million by changing the way in which ICT contracts were set up, so that they had more clarity, were open to a wider range of applicants and didn't surpass a lifetime value of over $100 million unless under exceptional circumstances.

Maude also celebrated the success of British-based start-ups saying, "You do not need to be big to succeed you just need to be good." He pointed to examples like small Liverpool-based Scraperwiki which had help the migrate website content to gov.uk.

Speakers offered insights into how the digital public sector would change between now and 2030.

Pilgrim Beart, CEO of 1248, said that openness and data will be major drivers: "If we can do that then we can create an ecosystem of applications using analytics to turn data into information, something that the public and the private sector can get and participate in."

Other speakers also noted some of the uncertainties, Dr Sally Howes of National Audit Office said that it had yet to be established how to fully understand the monetary value in the digital government. Meanwhile, Air Vice-Marshall Mark Neal of the Ministry of Defence said that the "nature of risk" needed to be established when assessing proposals.

Julian David said that it is keeping in mind that there is an election this May: "We look forward to engaging with the next government and we are already meeting with the head of the civil service...to say we think this government platform is a fantastic opportunity to British-based tech businesses and of course British citizens."

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 4th March 2015

Is the UK economy IoT ready yet?

Analysis: UK stakeholders discuss the future potential of IoT at the techUK Public Services 2030 conference

'How far away are we from seeing the Internet of Things (IoT) in our personal and business lives?'

This question was put before attendees of techUK Public Services 2030 conference opened by Francis Maude MP and techUK CEO Julian David. Using electronic voting devices 75% of attendees said they expected to see it within the next 5 years.

Forecasts from stakeholders vindicated their vote; Cisco believes that within 5 years the number of connected devices worldwide will have grown from 12-13 billion to 50 billion. Meanwhile McKinsey and Company says that IoTs could have a potential economic impact of $2.7trillion to $6.2 trillion across sized applications by 2025.

"It has to happen in 5 years," says Julian Bowery of the Department for Communities and Local Government. "It is not excusable for us to be talking about a technology that is here now and allow cultural issues to get in the way."

Attendees also voted IoT and data analytics as the two areas in which the UK could show the most leadership in. However, almost everyone agreed that a lack of understanding regarding IoT was the biggest barrier to its success.

Gary Atkinson, director of emerging technologies at ARM, noted that the IoT infrastructure is out there and operates on a lower bandwidth than the mobile network it runs parallel with.

Daniel Byles MP says in terms of IoT's adoption, "it comes down to business and real world cases, it comes down to why would we do this, how would we do this." Byles noted that many local government authorities may well see this as an unnecessary add-on, especially when under financial pressure.

However, Byles believes that central government can give local a "nudge" when it comes to the latter bidding to the former for construction contracts. Byles says this can be done without mandates but by simply asking them how they will ensure technology is up-to-date and that they are making the best business choice. Byles hopes that within time it will be seen as a risk not to adopt the IoT changes that we are seeing in today's risk takers like Milton Keynes and that within time the UK will be exporting IoT smart cities to other nations.

Geoff Snelson, director of strategy for Milton Keynes council, outlined how data was being attained through a number of IoT systems throughout Milton Keynes which showed the number of available parking spaces and had sensors on bins to alert waste removal when they were overflowing.

"To get people to volunteer data there needs to be some contract of understanding that there will be some benefit that accrues back," Snelson said.

Sarah Eccelston of Cisco says that consumer demand will drive the public sector once expectations of service are raised in the private sector: "They are simply not going to tolerate being able to wear a T-shirt that can connect them to the internet but the government can't provide their 85-year-old grandmother who has Alzheimer's a t-shirt that connects the grandmother to the internet so that they know she's lost."

Looking ahead to 2030 Atkinson suggested that, "digital identity, assigned at birth, is kind of the way we should be going and then as you go through your life different services and capabilities are added to that."

However, as Robert McNamara of techUK noted that the issue of privacy and security is one area that needs to be addressed before any kind of IoT system can be put in place.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 6th March 2015

Equinix invests $277m in 5 new IBX data centres

The new IBX data centres will be built across four continents.

Equinix has announced plans to open five new International Business Exchange (IBX) data centres across four continents.

Equinix is investing $277 million to build the centres in New York, Singapore, Melbourne, London and Toronto. This will create 4,200 new cabinets and add over one million square feet of new data centre space, increasing Platform Equinix's scale by more than 10%.

New York, Secaurcus, will be home to the NY6 data centre, serving financial, media and enterprise companies with premium colocation services.

Over the border in Canada, the TR2 data centre will be a a state-of-the-art Equinix data center located downtown, just one mile (1.6 km) from TR1 -- home to one of Canada's most robust trading ecosystems.

Moving to a the Asia-Pacific continent, the SG3 data centre will be located in Singapore. This date centre will be the company's largest data center in Asia-Pacific.

Melbourne, a hub for software companies, will house the ME1 data centre, while London's Slough will home the LD6 data centre.

The LD6 data centre marks a major milestone for Equinix as well as the UK's digital sector. The flagship UK data center was built to meet escalating demand for interconnection capacity across the region's fastest-growing campus and is a virtual financial center with 25 percent of European equities trades originating inside Equinix.

"In today's digital economy, the demand placed on interconnectivity has reached a new high. In a world where cloud dominates IT strategies and enterprise business models are interdependent, interconnection is a make-or-break proposition," said Greg Bryan, a senior analyst at TeleGeography.

Originally published on www.cbronline.com on 5th March 2015