Telecom
Joe Levy Appointed CEO of Sophos as Jim Dildine is Named New CFO
Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that Joe Levy is now chief executive officer (CEO) of the company.
Levy has been acting CEO since Feb. 15. To drive a critical role in the execution of his strategy to shape the future of Sophos, Levy has named Jim Dildine Sophos’ new chief financial officer (CFO) and a member of his senior management team.
Levy is a nearly 30-year veteran of innovating and leading cybersecurity product development, services and companies.
During his nine-year tenure at Sophos, Levy drove the transformation of Sophos from a product-only vendor into the global cybersecurity giant it is today, including an incident response team and managed detection and response (MDR) service that defends more than 21,000 organizations worldwide.
Levy also created SophosAI and Sophos X-Ops, an operational threat intelligence unit that joins together more than 500 cross-departmental cybersecurity operators and threat intelligence experts.
Sophos X-Ops shares real-time and historical attack data with all of Sophos’ solutions, making them smarter and faster at defending customers from persistent cyberattacks.
Levy has in-depth experience working with the channel, including managed security providers (MSPs), throughout his career, which he started in the mid-1990s as a cybersecurity practitioner and product and service innovator at a value-added reseller.
As CEO, Levy plans to expand Sophos’ already strong customer base in the midmarket, which includes nearly 600,000 customers worldwide and generates more than $1.2 billion in annual revenue.
As a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions for the midmarket, Sophos has a unique ability to further scale its business and the business of its partners by helping organizations in dire need of basic and expanded defenses against opportunistic and targeted cyberattacks.
These organizations include the critical substrate, small- to mid-sized organizations that comprise the machines of the world’s economy and are just as susceptible to cyberattacks as major corporations.
In fact, the critical substrate, including smaller organizations within the classic 16 critical infrastructure verticals, are prime attacker targets, as evidenced by Sophos’ Active Adversary report and 2024 Threat Report. Both intelligence reports reveal how attackers are repeatedly abusing exposed Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) access at midmarket organizations, as well as going after them for data theft, spying, ransomware payoffs, or supply chain attacks to gain entry to bigger prey.
“When midmarket organizations – the global critical substrate – are paralyzed due to ransomware or other cyberattacks, business activities linked in our supply chains also stagnate, slowing our economy down. Operations of all sizes and shapes suffer collateral damage when dependencies in their supply chains are attacked. This can be devastating in often unpredictable ways because of the increasing complexity of how the modern industrialized global economy works,” said Levy.
“Our goal is to help more organizations in the midmarket – the estimated 99% of organizations that are below the cybersecurity poverty line – be better at detecting and disrupting inevitable cyberattacks.
“Our envisioned approach to achieving this is to work with MSPs and channel partners that can scale alongside us with our innovative critical cross domain technologies – endpoint, network, email, and cloud security – and managed services that they can resell and co-deliver.
“Cyberattacks against the midmarket could severely impact the world’s ability to function; they are relatively under-protected compared to the 1%, and Sophos is on a mission to change that.”
Levy’s leadership strategy includes adding Dildine as CFO to help Sophos reach its business goals and propel the company on its future growth trajectory. He brings exceptional operational expertise to Sophos, as well as a strong background in channel partner-based cybersecurity business.
Dildine joins Sophos most recently from cybersecurity software and services company, Imperva, where he was CFO for more than four years. Before Imperva, Dildine was CFO for Symantec’s $2.5 billion enterprise security business unit for three years. Dildine also previously held key financial leadership roles for nearly nine years at Blue Coat Systems, where Levy also served as chief technology officer.
While at Blue Coat Systems, he oversaw a dramatic growth in market value while guiding the company to a go-private transaction by Thoma Bravo, sale from Thoma Bravo to Bain Capital, and subsequent sale to Symantec for $4.6 billion in 2016. Dildine also spearheaded the acquisition and seamless integration of six security-focused companies, which were valued at more than $750 million during his tenure.
“Having worked in technology and finance for more than 30 years, it is exciting to join Sophos at this juncture, when the company is well on its way to breaking through to the next level. Everything the company has accomplished thus far is impressive, including how dedicated Sophos is to constantly be innovating its cybersecurity technology and managed security services for customers in the midmarket. Sophos is also equally committed to supporting its channel partners, MSPs, and staff around the world,” said Dildine. “I am looking forward to helping Joe accelerate growth and further position Sophos as a leader in the industry.”
“Thoma Bravo has worked with Joe through successful investments in SonicWall and Blue Coat Systems, and our relationship and experience together, coupled with his authentic style of leadership and impeccable reputation across the cybersecurity industry, make him the ideal CEO to lead this next chapter at Sophos,” said Chip Virnig, a partner at Thoma Bravo and a Sophos board member.
“We’re also excited that Jim is joining Sophos as CFO and is a member of Joe’s senior management team. We’ve worked with Joe and Jim at various companies for well over a decade, and we’re confident their combined expertise will reap big rewards for the future of Sophos.”
The 2023 Subscriber/Network Performance Report of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has shown that consumers’ telecommunication spending hit N5.30 trillion in 2023.
The recent figure is a 37.54 percent increase from the N3.86 trillion recorded in 2022.
According to NCC, the increase in spending was fuelled by a spike in data consumption, which translated to higher revenues for telecom operators including mobile network operators, fixed wired, internet service providers, and other telecom services.
“The total volume of data consumed by subscribers increased to 713,200.62TB as of December 2023 from 518,381.78TB as of December 2022. This represents an increase of 37.58 percent in data consumption within the period. The increased data consumption is indicative of the increasing appetite and use for data by consumers,” the NCC said.
This increase in data consumption coincides with only a margin increase in voice calls, with total outgoing calls hitting 205.29 billion minutes, a 0.59 percent increase from the 204.09 billion minutes recorded in 2022.
The total number of active subscriptions increased from 222.57 million in 2022 to 224.71 million, attributed to subscriber loyalty, promos, aggressive consumer acquisition drive, and competitive product offerings across all the networks.
NCC stated that internet subscribers increased from 154.85 million in 2022 to 163.84 million in 2023, and broadband penetration declined from 47.36 percent to 43.71 percent.
This growth in internet consumption has continued into 2024, thanks to increased streaming services and smartphone penetration.
It would be recalled that Karl Toriola, chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, recently noted that telecom companies are set to benefit from increased demand for data services, which has become the primary driver of telecom revenue.
Between January and September 2024, MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria reported combined data revenues of N1.63 trillion, up from N254.32 billion in the same period of 2019. Over this time, voice revenues—once the primary income source for telcos—grew by only 70.74 percent to N1.44 trillion.
Data usage per user has grown, with MTNN reporting that its average data usage per user rose to 11.3GB in September 2024 from 7.8GB in March 2023.
For Airtel Nigeria, monthly usage increased from 2.8GB in March 2021 to 8.1GB in September 2024.
“We are positioning ourselves to capture the opportunities of growth for the next 10 years. The demand for data in Nigeria is exceptional and will continue to grow,” Toriola stated.
Globacom’s Festival of Joy promo took the centre stage in Abuja on Friday as the company held a draw to select lucky winners of exciting prizes.
The event, held at the Gloworld office on Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse, was witnessed by officials of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), Glo subscribers, and media representatives.
This draw marks another milestone in the Festival of Joy promo, which has been rewarding subscribers across Nigeria since its launch in October 2024.
Lucky winners in Abuja will receive their prizes, including a brand-new Toyota Prado, tricycles, sewing machines, generators, and grinding machines, on Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
To participate in the promo, new and existing subscribers can dial *611# and recharge their lines (voice and data) during the promo period.
Globacom explained that, “Customers are required to recharge up to N100, 000 cumulatively during the promo period to qualify for the draw for the Prado Jeep, N50, 000 cumulative recharge for Kia Picanto, N10, 000 in a month for tricycle and N5, 000 total recharge in a month to win a generator.
“For the sewing machine, a total recharge of N2, 500 in a month is required, while for the grinding machine, a recharge of N1000 in a week will be eligible for the draw,”.
The subscribers of MTN Nigeria enjoyed the best mobile Internet performances in 2024, according to nPerf’s 2024 report, which analysed mobile internet performance across Nigeria.
nPerf, a French company has been a trusted partner for both fixed and mobile operators, providing comprehensive network testing solutions and analysis.
According to nPerf, in 2024, the mobile market in Nigeria saw significant developments and the leader for this period is MTN, maintaining its position as the global winner.
From January 1 to December 31, 2024, MTN led mobile internet in Nigeria across every measurable category, with great performance. Its subscribers enjoyed an average download speed of 17.82 Mbps, leaving Airtel at 9.98 Mbps and Glo at a distant 5.66 Mbps.
“This period highlights MTN’s continued dominance as the market leader, with no new entrants taking the lead in 2024. MTN emerged as the sole leader, showing impressive advancements across various KPIs and focus areas. The analysis showcases MTN’s superiority in Download speed, Upload speed, and Latency.
Upload speeds were similar, with MTN averaging 8.05 Mbps, Airtel 4.35 Mbps, and Glo 3.43 Mbps, even as reliance on solid internet connectivity never stopped increasing.
Latency, an important metric for real-time applications such as video calls and gaming, further enhanced MTN’s place in the market. The network achieved an average latency of 79.44 ms, comfortably outperforming Glo’s 89.44 ms and Airtel’s 119.85 ms.
These figures are particularly important during peak periods (6 PM to 11 PM) when the network issues are at the highest. MTN’s ability to maintain consistent latency levels during these busy hours speaks to its superior infrastructure.
Beyond raw speeds, the quality of experience (QoE) was also analysed. In browsing performance, MTN scored an average success rate of 36.08%, surpassing Airtel at 28.86%, while Glo lagged at 29.42%.
This difference was also seen in video streaming, where MTN recorded an average streaming success rate of 72.35%, overshadowing Airtel’s 67.04% and Glo’s 53.81%.
Airtel, despite being a distant second in most metrics, delivered a commendable performance in specific areas, particularly video streaming.
Its streaming rate, at 67.04%, shows a strong emphasis on delivering quality experiences in this domain.
However, Airtel’s inability to match MTN’s speeds, browsing performance and latency asserted the gap between the two providers.
Glo, on the other hand, had steady progress throughout 2024. Although it lagged in download (5.66 Mbps) and upload speeds (3.43 Mbps), its performance in latency (89.44 ms) revealed some improvement in network responsiveness.
Glo’s focus on enhancing connectivity is obvious, but it remains apparent that the provider has some ground to cover before it can challenge the likes of MTN or even Airtel.
The data disclosed that whether downloading, browsing, or streaming, MTN subscribers always enjoyed the best experiences.
In the 4G focus area, MTN also stands out as the leader. These achievements underline the positive trends and strong market dynamics” according to nPerf.
The report also said that not only does MTN excel in download speed, upload speed, and latency, but it also leads in Video streaming.
nPerf’s report added that MTN dominates the 4G focus area, reinforcing its pioneering position in the mobile technology sector.
“Significant improvements include a remarkable enhancement in Upload speed. MTN’s consistent contributions have greatly strengthened the overall market landscape” it said
On Airtel, nPerf reported excellence in browsing and streaming, adding that Airtel, while not the market leader, demonstrates excellence in specific categories.
“With a strong performance in browsing and video streaming, Airtel secures its place as a key player. The operator’s contributions are vital to the market’s competitiveness, and its focus on enhancing user experience is evident” nPerf reported.
nPerf further reported that Glo showed steady progress with a commendable improvement in its overall score.
Although not a market leader, Glo has shown improvements in various areas, contributing positively to the market’s dynamics. The operator’s focus on enhancing connectivity and customer satisfaction is noteworthy, according to nPerf.
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