At Cisco Live, Cisco's annual IT and communications conference, Datalink announced the addition of secure hybrid cloud capabilities to its all-in-one 

Avnet announced that William (“Bill”) J. Amelio, a member of Avnet’s Board of Directors, has been named as interim Chief Executive Officer of the company, effective immediately. Mr. Amelio brings more than 35 years of management and industry experience to his new role having served in senior positions at global publicly traded companies, and has spent most of his career managing global technology enterprises. Mr. Amelio is replacing Rick Hamada, who is stepping down from his position at the company and on the Board of Directors.

 Akamai Technologies, the global leader in content delivery network (CDN) services, today announced the appointment of Monique Bonner as Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President. 

Bonner will lead Akamai's global corporate marketing and communications initiatives, including all facets of the Akamai brand, as well as the company's digital marketing strategy and go-to-market programs.  Reporting to CEO Dr. Tom Leighton, she will be based out of Akamai'sCambridge, Mass. headquarters.

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) today announces the launch of ELITE Club Deal (ECD), a new online private placement platform for ELITE companies and professional investors. The initiative will help to bridge a funding gap by bringing together professional investors with high growth companies in a secure and efficient environment through an online platform. Pilot phase testing with five European ELITE companies will begin shortly, with a full go-live planned for late 2016, subject to regulatory approval.

Sierra Bancorp, the holding company of Bank of the Sierra, announced today the completion of its acquisition of Coast Bancorp  of San Luis Obispo County, California through the merger of Coast Bancorp with and into Sierra Bancorp.  Pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement dated January 4, 2016, Coast Bancorp shareholders received aggregate merger consideration of approximately $13.5 million, payable $3.3 million in cash with the balance payable in shares of the common stock of Sierra Bancorp.  Immediately following the acquisition, Coast Bancorp's wholly-owned subsidiary, Coast Na

Finstar Financial Group (“Finstar”) announces further senior appointments to its management team with the recruitment of Eugene Timko as Investment Director, Michele Tucci as Head of Mobile Products and Business Development, and Alexander Ivanov who has been appointed to develop venture capital investments. These latest appointments reflect Finstar’s strategy to continue with the successful expansion of its fintech and financial services investment program.

 At the World Cities Summit, MasterCard and the Singapore EconomicDevelopment Board (EDB) announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to help companies in Singapore build innovative technology solutions. These efforts seek to improve experiences of consumers and enable companies to expand into adjacent business areas in a digital environment.

Velocimetrics, the leading provider of intelligent, real-time business flow tracking and performance analysis solutions, today announces the availability of 

 Financial technology provider PBF Solutions has launched an online portal to help businesses compare and choose the best-value business banking for their individual needs, based on the costs and charges for their specific financial activities.

I can remember a few years ago that the UK pound was almost at the level of being valued at $2.  Two dollars to the pound.  Amazing.  I brought a lot of American stuff that year.  Yesterday, I bought something and it was $1.30 to the pound.  Shoot.  The dinner for $100 that a few years ago would have cost me £50 was now £72.  Ouch!  I’ve seen this a lot over the years in my travels.  Australia used to be cheap.  It’s now expensive.  Europe used to be expensive and then became cheap, but it’s getting more expensive again since we voted to Brexit.