January
The year began as it ended with equal concerns and excitement about automation and the rise of the robots and what it means for the economy and for employment.
http://www.cbronline.com/news/enterprise-it/rise-of-the-robots-or-does-the-human-workforce-still-matter-in-digital-transformation-4793376/
January also saw reaction to the now familiar story of attacks and threats of cyber attacks on national critical infrastructure – this would become a recurring theme throughout 2016
http://www.cbronline.com/news/cybersecurity/business/what-does-the-cyber-attack-on-ukraines-power-grid-mean-for-the-uk-4770674/
February
In the enterprise space the Dell EMC $67bn merger – the biggest in tech history – was granted approval by the US regulator the FTC.
There was a successful attack on the SWIFT international banking network which saw Bangladesh central bank get hit for $81m.
Microsoft decided to sink a data centre in the Pacific ocean to test if underwater data centres could be more efficient – or as a publicity stunt.
CBR listed the IOT technology standards that should be on everyone’s radar for 2017 and even 2018.
http://www.cbronline.com/news/internet-of-things/analytics-security-standards-10-iot-technologies-that-should-be-on-every-company-radar-for-2017-2018-4818979/
March
In the enterprise space March was all about Flash technology – lots of product announcements and strategy positioning from EMC, IBM and others.
http://www.cbronline.com/news/big-data/emc-boss-all-flash-primary-storage-the-shake-out-coming-in-flash-the-rise-of-the-scale-out-architecture-to-manage-iot-storage-apps-4836958/
April
Though a coup for the media outlets involved March and April saw the furore about the Panama Papers, the biggest leak of Raw Data of its kind. What was expected to be a storm of revelations about the efforts of governments and the rich and famous to hide their money from the tax man never really materialised.
http://www.cbronline.com/news/mobility/security/panama-papers-cyber-security-failings-among-the-many-revelations-of-huge-data-leak-4855679/
May
After a second attack on the SWIFT international banking network (the first in February neeted $81m for the criminals) the Bank of England ordered UK banks to increase their cyber security spending.
http://www.cbronline.com/news/cybersecurity/business/bank-of-england-orders-uk-banks-to-upgrade-cyber-security-after-second-swift-attack-4898009/
June
The small matter of BrexIT….
How did the UK tech industry react:
http://www.cbronline.com/news/internet-of-things/techxit-brexit-people-investment-regulation-data-sovereignty-location-privacy-cybersecurity-how-the-uk-tech-sector-must-adjust-to-living-at-the-edge-of-the-network-4935583/