5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

The Week Ending Jan. 13

Topping this week's roundup of companies that had a rough week is Dimension Data, which continues to see an exodus of executives from the systems integrator's top management ranks.

Also making the list this week were Apple, which faces a revived anti-trust lawsuit; ZTE, which is reportedly slashing jobs as its handset business struggles in China; AT&T and Verizon, which the Federal Communications Commission said this week are in violation of net neutrality rules; and Adobe, which hustled to fix 42 security vulnerabilities in its software this week.

Not everyone in the IT industry was having a rough go of it this week. For a rundown of companies that made smart decisions, executed savvy strategic moves – or just had good luck – check out this week's Five Companies That Came To Win roundup.

Dimension Data Executive Exodus Continues

Dimension Data is seeing yet another wave of top-level executive departures, with sources telling CRN that North American President Waheed Choudry and Senior Vice President of Human Resources Denise Messineo have left the systems integrator. Steve Rogers, senior director of the company's networking business unit, left in December.

Dimension Data has undergone a series of major reorganizations in the last six months. Dimension Data Americas CEO Mark Slaga and CFO Eric Gibson departed in December after the most recent shakeup. Global CEO Brett Dawson stepped down in June after 12 years at the company.

Dimension Data was acquired by NTT in 2010 and the latest executive departures appear to stem from efforts to bring the systems integrator deeper into its parent company, NTT Data.

Apple Faces Revival Of Antitrust Lawsuit Concerning App Store Policies

Getting hit with a lawsuit is bad news. Just as bad is getting hit – again – with a lawsuit that you thought was dismissed years ago.

This week Apple faced the revival of an antitrust lawsuit over the company's policy of requiring that iPhone applications only be sold through its App Store. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2011 by a group of consumers who argued that Apple had created a monopoly with the App Store policy, which prohibited developers from selling iPhone apps on their own.

The lawsuit was dismissed in 2013. But a federal appeals court in San Francisco has revived the suit and a lawyer for the plaintiffs told Bloomberg that they could ultimately seek hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from Apple.

One solution provider told CRN that enterprise customers generally favor Apple's App Store approach because they know the offered applications have been vetted and are certified to be malware-free.

Chinese Telecom Giant ZTE Reportedly Slashing 3,000 Jobs

ZTE, the China-based telecom and network giant, is cutting some 3,000 jobs representing about 5 percent of the company's 60,000 employees.

The layoffs stem from the company's struggling handset business in China and a decline in worldwide smartphone shipments.

Adding to the company's woes is an upcoming ban on exports by U.S. companies to ZTE next month, the result of ZTE's allegedly breaking U.S. sanctions on sales to Iran. About one-third of the components ZTE uses come from Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm and other U.S. vendors.

AT&T, Verizon Come Under FCC Fire For Net Neutrality

A report issued by the Federal Communications Commission this week charges that Verizon and AT&T's zero-rating policies violate the FCC's net neutrality rules.

A report from the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau concludes that AT&T's Sponsored Data program and Verizon's FreeBee Data 360 service, both incorporating a practice known as "zero-rating," violate the FCC's Open Internet Order on net neutrality, according to a Forbes story. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler (pictured) sent the report to a number of U.S. Senators this week.

Wheeler is about to step down from the FCC and it's unclear how much the incoming Trump Administration plans to enforce net neutrality rules.

Adobe Scrambles To Fix 42 Software Vulnerabilities

Adobe Systems released security updates this week for its Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Acrobat products that fix critical vulnerabilities attackers could use to install malware on computers.

The updates address 13 vulnerabilities in Flash Player and 29 vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat and Reader, according to security bulletin's posted on Adobe's Website.