PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news

TD Synnex has released its Fourth Annual Direction of Technology (DoT) Report, identifying artificial intelligence, services, and specialisation as key drivers of IT growth in 2025. Drawing on feedback from more than 1,400 IT solution providers and resellers across 40 countries, the report outlines how partners are adapting to persistent …

A new education initiative called AI Classroom has launched in 50 pioneer schools across six European countries, the UK, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Finland, and Sweden, with expansion to Ireland and Poland scheduled shortly. Developed jointly by Acer and Intel, the pilot project equips teachers with AI-powered tools to enhance lesson …

TP-Link UK & Ireland has promoted Ben Allcock to Vice President – B2B UK & Ireland, where he will lead the direction, sales, technical, and commercial execution of TP-Link’s B2B operations, building on 40% year-on-year growth and overseeing a 35-strong team, the largest B2B unit TP-Link has in Europe. Previously …

Zyxel Networks has named Rachel Rothwell as Senior Director for Western Europe, expanding her remit to include operations in France, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Ireland. The appointment forms part of a broader EMEA reorganisation aimed at ensuring consistent strategic execution as the company’s footprint in key markets continues to …

BT Wholesale has announced the availability of its Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams solution via Microsoft’s AppSource store, offering channel partners a streamlined route to deliver telephony-enabled collaboration to end-users. With just 5.7% of the global 350 million Teams users currently voice-enabled, Operator Connect presents a significant opportunity for partners …

Seagate Technology Holdings. has made a strategic alliance with cybersecurity firm Acronis to deliver secure, scalable archival storage solutions tailored for managed service providers (MSPs) and enterprises facing AI-driven data growth. The partnership integrates Seagate’s Lyve Cloud Object Storage into Acronis Archival Storage, a long-term, S3-compatible solution designed for infrequently …

Founded in 2020 by open-source veterans Sönke Liebau and Lars Francke, the German startup, Stackable, is reimagining enterprise data platforms with a modular, Kubernetes-native architecture that prioritises data sovereignty, operational transparency, and open-source integrity. What began as a “big data self-help group” for disillusioned Cloudera and Hortonworks users has evolved …

In today’s threat landscape, ransomware attacks are no longer isolated incidents; they’re systemic risks. As attackers grow more sophisticated, the traditional backup model is proving insufficient. François Esnol-Feugeas, CEO and co-founder of Oxibox, argues that backup must evolve from a passive recovery tool into an active cybersecurity layer. “Backups are …

Zoom has introduced AI Companion 3.0 at Zoomtopia 2025, which is a significant expansion of agentic AI capabilities across its platform. The update brings new productivity tools, deeper contextual intelligence, and tailored AI surfaces to Zoom Workplace and Zoom Business Services. AI Companion 3.0 is designed to act as a …

Brother has launched a multi-million-euro campaign aimed at expanding its presence in the SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) and SMB (Small and Medium Business) inkjet printer market across 15 European countries. The initiative responds to rising demand for reliable, easy-to-use inkjet solutions and seeks to strengthen brand recognition in the A4 …

OpenMP is the unsung backbone of parallel computing, powerful, portable, and surprisingly simple. Used everywhere from aerospace to AI, it lets developers tap into multicore and GPU performance with just a few lines of code, making high-performance computing more accessible than ever. OpenMP, short for Open Multi-Processing, has quietly become …

For EuroNAS CEO Tvrtko Fritz, simplicity isn’t just a design principle; it’s a founding philosophy. “Back in 2005, we wanted to build something like a Snap Server, but simpler,” he recalls. “The problem was, even basic storage solutions expected users to understand volume groups, shares, and command-line configuration. We thought, …