Comms Dealer

Turnover growth of 19% in five years to £10m, a hike in membership numbers to 11,000 and a strong ethical commitment have all combined to secure The Phone Co-op the 2016 Growing Co-operative of the Year Award.

The awards were staged by Co-operatives UK, a national network that supports member owned businesses, thought to be worth £34.1bn to the UK economy.

Vivian Woodell, Chief Executive of The Phone Co-op, said: "This award is a tribute to everyone involved, including our members. You've given us the encouragement to keep pushing ahead and to take The Phone Co-op and co-operation to the next level."

Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, added: "The Phone Co-op has grown quickly in a difficult and fast-paced market while delivering unswerving support for co-operative and environmental initiatives."

CityFibre has signed a national Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Level 3 Communications.

The company also announced the first call off under the MSA across the Group's Edinburgh network.
 
The MSA sets out standard terms and pricing under which Level 3 can procure fibre from CityFibre's expanded network to service its numerous enterprise customers across the UK.
 
The first call-off under the MSA is a dark fibre metro ring on CityFibre's Edinburgh network, to which Level 3 will connect local customer sites. 
 
Greg Mesch, Chief Executive of CityFibre, commented: "This marks an innovative solution for CityFibre customers in providing both a resilient dark fibre metro ring as well as additional connections to customer locations.
 
"This agreement demonstrates the enhanced relevance our UK footprint now has to international service providers providing solutions to the UK market.

"Clearly, with our expanded presence in 37 towns and cities across the UK, we offer increased scope for Level 3 to migrate customers to on-net dark fibre connections with significant advantages in terms of cost and solution architecture."

GHM Communications has partnered with Unify and will offer the vendor's full range of phones, voice platforms, team collaboration and applications.

GHM has already attained Professional Partner Accreditation.

"GHM Communications is exactly the type of new partner that Unify wants to work with," said Barry Tuffs, Vice President of Channel Sales at Unify.

"It has the market coverage, capability and excellent feedback from their customers.

"Our mission in partnering with GHM is to enable them to build and grow a profitable business with Unify, and we look forward to working with the team to succeed in this mission."

True Telecom has formed a six month fundraising partnership with charity Make-A-Wish UK in a bid to help it reach this year's £11.5m target, which will allow more than 1,000 wishes to be granted to children and young people fighting a life-threatening condition.

True Telecom kicked off its fundraising efforts by staging a bake sale in its Dartford HQ. The company has a number of other charity events lined up and staff will contribute £2 per month to dress down on Fridays.

CEO Stuart Griffiths said: "Nothing makes people come together more than helping those in need and we are dedicated to raising money for Make-A-Wish during the remainder of the year."

KCOM has been selected by Rail Settlement Plan to replace and manage a new suite of applications deployed in the cloud to improve ticketing services throughout the UK.

KCOM will deliver a new Data Capture and Apportionment Service (DCAS), Portal Service and a re-architected and developed Replacement Availability and Reservation Service (RARS) to RSP.

As a Premier Consulting Partner for Amazon Web Services (AWS) there was also a clear operational and technological fit between KCOM and RSP for cloud services.

Replacing the legacy DCAS will provide major improvements compared to the current system, capturing all UK ticket sales information and apportioning the revenue of rail tickets, covering both the Train Operating Companies and third party retailers.

KCOM has already helped RSP increase ticketing capacity by 20%.

The development of a Portal Service will provide RSP with a secure messaging integration hub for both new and existing systems.

This will handle high volumes of messages with rapid response times. RSP collects sales data from 8,500 ticket-issuing systems from retailers alone, and ensuring the accuracy of the messages based on this data is paramount.

The new contracts will see KCOM deliver the critical RARS system, both improving the current service and delivering new functionality. This service will enable retailers to book reservations on all trains, coaches or ferries with reservable seats.

RARS will hold details of all available services including carriages, seats and fares and seat maps, allowing passengers to identify and reserve seats more easily. Furthermore this data will then enable train companies to better manage revenue.

As every journey planning and ticket issuing system uses RARS to confirm seat availability and to make bookings, both high availability and rapid response times are vital.

"These are critical systems for the passenger rail industry," said Brian Jones, Head of Programmes for RSP. "Customer facing processes such as reservations and ticketing, and the crucial revenue apportionment systems behind the scenes all need fast response times and complete accuracy. We look forward to delivering these innovative services with KCOM."

Bill Halbert, CEO, KCOM, added: "In 2011, we won separate competitive tenders to engage with divisions within the RDG. In 2014 we followed this with the contract to deliver Live Sales Management (LSM) to RSP, as well as work with National Rail Enquiries.

"We are proud indeed to have become such a key partner and hope to continue to develop significant innovations for the passenger rail industry."

Distributor Midwich aims to kick start channel sales of SMART Technologies products with a credit offer worth up to £30m.

The companies formed a partnership last month, and interactive displays and collaboration have been identified as growth opportunities in the education and enterprise markets, with the distributor aiming to push SMART's interactive flat panels and Learning Suite education collaboration software. 

Louise Nevard, Head of Credit at Midwich, stated: "While we are helping to accelerate SMART Technologies' channel strategy, we are also providing partners with ready-made credit facilities.

"For Midwich, the initiative will drive sales, open up new customer relationships and help us further strengthen our existing ones."

Stuart Mizon, Divisional Director at Midwich, added: "Continuing our support for the channel and enabling businesses to grow further through their partnership with Midwich is another major aim of our new credit strategy.

"Our proactive credit strategy will help channel partners sell more SMART Technologies products."

Aerial Business Communications celebrated three decades in business on No Man's Fort in the Solent last month. The 30th anniversary bash included live entertainment from the Vernon Sisters, a break dancing flash mob, digital magician, DJs, mermaids and prize giveaways throughout the party.

The company, formerly known as Aerial Telephones, was founded by MD Paul Davis and began life as a mobile and car phone retailer operating from a small shop and employing three sales staff.

"30 years is a milestone in any industry, but with one as new as mobile and it's ever changing technology I believe it to be even more of a success story," stated Davis. "We will continue to keep ahead of technology by adding new products and services to our portfolio."

Aerial has developed into a full UC company with a 50-plus headcount, supplying mobiles, telephone systems, IT and Internet connectivity services.

Hats off to Swindon-based Excalibur Communications for collecting the Business in the Community's South West Responsible Business Award.

Business in the Community is the Prince's Responsible Business Network that works to build a fairer society and a more sustainable future, recognising companies that help create vibrant communities where people can flourish.

Excalibur's CEO James Phipps said: "It is an honour to receive this Responsible Business Award because it shows what a positive impact businesses can make when they manage growth responsibly and also operate responsibly as an employer, supplier and customer.

"At Excalibur we support a large number of causes in Wiltshire and beyond, as well as helping organisations hold events at our Cloud space in Arclite House. We enjoy bringing people together, so it is heartening to be recognised by Business in the Community as a good neighbour that is actively involved in building a fairer society and a more sustainable future here in the South West."

IT distributor The Change Organisation is set to undergo a business transformation under the leadership of incoming CEO Adrian Barnard (pictured).

The former MD of Modern Communications and Prime Networks (both businesses were founded by Barnard then sold and exited respectively) is a familiar face on media outlets as an industry spokesperson, appearing on BBC News, Sky News and BBC World.

His strategy at the Change Organisation is to strengthen the firm's presence in the IT communications marketplace by increasing the sales margins and reshaping the sales structure.

The Change Organisation began its commercial life in 1993 and works independently of many manufacturers and in partnership with niche vendors to provide a distribution service for audio visual solutions and data centre colocation.

Ashley Sterland, Communications Director for the distributor, said: "Adrian is inspirational and he has the industry credentials to enhance The Change Organisation brand as we enter the next chapter in the company's history."

Leeds-based Skyrack Telecom, which began its commercial life in 2009 as a provider of unified telecoms services, is to rebrand as Simetric Telecom.

According to its leaders, John Murray and Gavin Sweet (pictured), the revamp reflects their ambition to expand into new markets.

"The time is right for us to take the business forward and bring our voice services and technologies to a new audience," stated Sweet.

As well as kick starting a campaign to widen the market for converged phone systems the rebrand heralds new developments in mobile convergence services.

"We are positioning our Mobile-X network is a solution to the disconnect between fixed and mobile," added Sweet. "In the coming months we will roll out new services that push mobile convergence to new places."

The Mobile-X service works by blending landline and mobile telecoms using a SIM on any unlocked smartphone or standard handset, and is delivered in a channel reseller model.

To simplify hosted comms Simetric provides packaged systems, bespoke solutions and integrated mobile designed for all types of business.