E-Business
IDC Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Web Micro-Site

To mark its 50th anniversary as the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets, International Data Corporation (IDC) on Wednesday announced the launch of a commemorative micro-site featuring highlights from IDC’s history and focusing on new technology market trends and opportunities.
Founded in Newton, Massachusetts by Patrick J. McGovern, IDC’s first publication was the EDP Industry and Market Report, which announced the pending launch of the IBM System/360 in its inaugural issue.
In just a few short years, IDC’s forecast and analysis reports attracted a following among professionals in the nascent computing industry.
As the industry grew and evolved, IDC’s research expanded to meet market needs. In 2013, IDC published more than 4,700 reports, ranging from technology market revenue forecasts and vendor evaluations to deep analyses of industry events and what IT buyers need.
Since its inception, IDC has been an early mover and leader in expanding into international markets, following the expansion of the IT industry as computing power was deployed in businesses around the world.
After establishing its headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts, IDC opened its first international office in London in 1968, followed four years later by an office in Tokyo, its first in the Asia/Pacific region.
Today, IDC has offices in 54 countries and provides research coverage for more than 110 countries worldwide.
With nearly half of its 1,100-plus analysts based in emerging markets, IDC offers an unparalleled understanding of how information technology is impacting local economies as well as the global economy.
Over the course of the past 50 years, IDC’s research has covered the IT industry’s transition from mainframe/terminal computing (1st Platform), designed exclusively for enterprise and scientific use, to client/server computing (2nd Platform), which brought computing to hundreds of millions of users.
As the foundation for each era of computing, the two platforms served as the focal point for industry innovation and growth.
Also, the IT industry is in the midst of another transition to the 3rd Platform, based on the four technology pillars of cloud, mobility, big data and analytics, and social media.
IDC predicts that these 3rd Platform technologies and solutions will drive more than 50% of worldwide IT spending, and nearly 100% of its growth, by 2020.
The application of information technology within businesses has undergone a similar transition as the IT industry has evolved from the 1st Platform to the 2nd and 3rd Platforms.
The IT industry initially offered broad platforms designed to help businesses run more efficiently by automating many operational functions.
As technology became more deeply embedded within businesses, it also grew more specialized and brought about greater collaboration and agility.
Today, technology is an important source of innovation, enabling companies to create competitive advantage and disrupt entire industries with new products and services.
To help business leaders better understand how technology is redefining the energy, financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail sectors, the IDC Insights lines of business combine vertical industry expertise with a deep understanding of IT.
“As the first market research firm to cover the information technology industry, we are proud to have played an important role in its growth and evolution,” said Kirk Campbell, president and chief executive officer of IDC.
“Much of IDC’s success can be attributed to the expertise our analysts have developed over the years, and the relationships we have built with the companies that create technology solutions as well as those that use these solutions. All of us at IDC are excited about the amazing changes that technology will bring in the next 50 years.”
E-Business
Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.
The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.
In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.
Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.
E-Business
Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.
China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.
The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.
“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.
The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.
It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.
Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.
Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.
Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.
A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.
“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.
Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.
Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.
It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.
Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.
E-Business
NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.
According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.
NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”
The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.
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