Comms Dealer

In a trading statement a couple of weeks before it announces annual results for last year, Datatec, the holding company behind distributor Westcon and integrator Logicalis, has warned of mixed global economic conditions and a currency headwind.

As a result, it says, Group revenues for FY16 are expected to be $6.5 billion, which is in line with the prior year, but costs have risen.

It now expects earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation in H2 FY16 to be marginally above H1 FY16. But EBITDA in FY16 is expected to be approximately 22% below the $206.4 million for FY15.

Group gross margins have improved in H2 FY16 and are expected to be approximately 13.5% for FY16, up from 13.1% in H1 FY16, however.

As anticipated, operating profit in FY16 was impacted by the strength in the US dollar (reporting currency), ongoing restructuring in Westcon EMEA and Logicalis UK and foreign exchange losses, particularly in Angola.

The Group has increased its provision against trade receivables to reflect the weaker economic conditions in some markets.

Exertis is to distribute Yealink's VC series designed for the SME market, offering enterprise-grade video conferencing without high costs or advanced technical expertise.

Michael Thompson, Exertis UC business manager, said: "Yealink delivers a friendly UI with easy-to-use buttons allowing almost all operations to be carried out in just three simple steps.

'This means that even small businesses with no specialised IT staff will find the Yealink VC series easy to use. Auto deployment, USB recording, no licenses and no update costs are designed to make installation and operation pain free for both the reseller and end user alike."

Exertis will be offering the VC400 solution, VC120 end point, VC110 end point, VC Desktop Client and T49G video phone. Resellers can take advantage of free certified training, a partner programme and if required on-site technical and sales support from a Yealink VC product specialist.

CityFibre has announced that Leeds and Bradford have become the UK's newest Gigabit Cities.

With nearly 200km of pure fibre optic infrastructure now available for use by businesses and the public sector, Leeds and Bradford are now among the best digitally connected cities in the world, future-proofing themselves for the digital age.

A new generation of affordable, gigabit speed internet services are now available from CityFibre's launch partners Exa Networks and Diva Telecom. Until now, businesses based in the centres of Leeds and Bradford were poorly served in terms of Internet connectivity, with a shortage of 'fibre to the cabinet' services limiting their digital capabilities.

The new networks alleviate these concerns, offering speeds up to 100 times faster than the UK national average and unlocking a host of productivity benefits to organisations increasingly reliant on digital systems and communications.

CityFibre's pure fibre network will help support the drive for a 'Northern Powerhouse' by providing the infrastructure to enable the next-generation of digitally based businesses to flourish across the region.

The North already contributes about £10bn a year in digital GVA to the UK economy. Pure fibre infrastructure will only help to accelerate this as businesses become more productive and the region becomes increasingly attractive as a location to build and grow a business.

Alongside other Gigabit City projects such as York and Huddersfield, CityFibre has extensive fibre networks across the region that it will be launching in the coming months.

Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre, said: "As thirst for greater internet speeds continues to grow in all sectors, it's fantastic to be able to offer cities the world-class digital infrastructure they need to meet the demand. As Gigabit Cities, Leeds and Bradford will be on the digital front foot, able to compete and succeed in a digital world.

"We have already invested over £70m in next generation digital infrastructure across the North, and now businesses in Leeds and Bradford will be able to capitalise on this to build better-connected, more innovative, companies."

Comtact is featured in The Leap 100 2016, a list of the 100 fast growth companies in the UK, launched by Mishcon de Reya and City AM. All the companies selected have demonstrated substantial growth over the past 12 months and been identified as the 'ones to watch' for 2016.

Comtact, recognised as one of the UK's fastest growing IT service companies, has continued to invest in its people and a state-of-the-art 24x7x365 Network Operations Centre (NOC).

2015 saw the facility being significantly developed and expanded into a SOC - Security Operations Centre, helping organisations fight the exponential cybercrime wave, with the recruitment of some of Europe's leading Cyber security experts, combined with a highly integrated suite of Gartner leading solutions delivered as a managed service.

Dominic List, founder and Chairman of Comtact, said: "It's great that Comtact has been selected as part of The Leap 100 for 2016 - in Comtact's 10th anniversary year.

"This year we broadened our proposition to help our customers protect against the real threat of cyber attack or ransomware. With 80% of companies unaware they have already been breached, we added our managed cyber security solution to the portfolio to help our customers take back control.

"Alongside our complementary infrastructure management solution, Aurora365, we're ensuring dependable, secure IT and eliminating downtime. We've also seen increased adoption of our intelligent Wi-Fi tracking solutions, especially in the healthcare sector. We look forward to joining other The Leap 100 companies in building on this success over the coming year."

The Leap 100 companies, which range in terms of scale and sector, were chosen because of their growth potential and ability to make the leap to the next level in terms of revenue.

Wi-Fi vendor 4ipnet has signed ICON as a UK distribution partner.

ICON will distribute the 4ipnet range of Wi-Fi infrastructure solutions, provide third line support for the UK channel, and deliver the 4ipnet product training for UK engineering and sales teams.

ICON's Mark Shane commented: "Our partnership with 4ipnet means that the UK reseller channel now has access to a versatile and affordable range of Wi-Fi solutions that have been winning business from the major enterprise Wi-Fi vendors in country markets around the globe.

"Until now not available in the UK market, we believe that the 4ipnet Wi-Fi solutions will become a significant revenue earner for the channel displacing many of the traditional enterprise Wi-Fi vendors from their preferred supplier position."

A report by the US industry watcher Network Computing ranked 4ipnet as one of only 12 Wi-Fi vendors to watch alongside the likes of Cisco Meraki, and described 4ipnet as a company looking to aggressively expand into regions around the globe.

Solar Communications has expanded its Solar SIP, Ethernet fibre and DSL offering following an agreement with TalkTalk Business.

The deal gives all Solar customers access to TalkTalk Business's next generation network and the services that overlay connectivity.

The new partnership also helps Solar to gain better visibility into customers' networks by using TalkTalk Business's provisioning, management and support portal.

The portal offers advanced diagnostic tools so Solar support staff can proactively spot issues and act quickly so they don't escalate.

Solar Communications' CEO John Whitty said: "This year is forecast as the crossover point from ISDN to SIP, so 2016 is the perfect time for an alliance with TalkTalk Business."

TalkTalk Business Director of Partners Alex Tempest added: "There is an increasing need for next generation voice and communications solutions to make businesses function successfully today.

"TalkTalk Business and Solar Communications both recognise that businesses need straightforward access to this broad range of services, backed up by knowledgeable customer services, to remain competitive in all industries."

Kent-based telecoms company Active Digital has scooped two industry awards from O2 (the Digital Excellence and Customer Excellence gongs), repeating last year's double award win.

Jason Phillips, Head of Partner Sales at O2, commented: "These awards represent a significant shift in the way we work as we become more focused on customer support, digital knowledge and expertise."

Active Digital's Jo Wimble-Groves added: "As an organisation, we have always embraced the digital shifts in technology. We want to be the 'go-to' organisation our enterprise customers think of when they want to make their business more mobile and digitally ready. We understand the challenges IT Directors are facing when focusing on mobile strategy and we are working hard to deliver results for our customers and O2.

"These O2 awards are a seal of approval for our commitment to this digital journey and the customer experience."

Pictured left to right: Darren Buttrick, O2 SMB Sales Director, Jo Wimble-Groves, Active Digital and Jason Phillips, O2 Head of Partners Sales.

Customers of Six Degrees Group (6DG) are to play a central role in the future direction of the business, following the launch of a Customer Community Programme.

The initiative is part of 6DG's multi-million pound 'Invest For Growth' strategy, inviting customers to provide regular, ongoing input into the strategic development of the company.

The programme will integrate customer experience, expertise and feedback into 6DG's service and solutions strategy. The objective is to ensure 6DG understands and anticipates customer requirements across its full range of cloud and managed services - including application delivery, platform management, hosting and network solutions.

Led by Customer Experience Director, Nicky Bramley, the programme will measure customer satisfaction, and create communication channels including initiatives to increase senior level engagement and widen networking and learning opportunities.

"6DG has built its success on the quality of its customer relationships, and we see additional potential for customers to actively shape the future direction of the business," explained Campbell Williams, Group Strategy and Marketing Director.

"This programme is an important element of our ongoing 'Invest for Growth' strategy, which has already seen important additions to our sales and marketing teams, alongside plans to continue our highly successful M&A strategy."

telent Technology Services has achieved Advanced Service Provider Architecture Specialisation from Cisco in the UK.

As a Cisco Advanced Service Provider Architecture specialised partner, telent has invested in the training required to deliver differentiated business value through the foundation of the service provider architecture.

Cisco Advanced Service Provider Architecture specialised partners create architecture solutions to meet their customers' strategic goals, helping transform business processes, boost organisational efficiency and accelerate revenue growth.

"telent invests in the right people and technology to meet the current and future business needs of our customers. This means we are able to provide tailored designs and deliver solutions that give our customers a competitive edge," stated Mark Plato, Chief Executive, telent.

8x8 has opened a new office in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, as it continues its global expansion.
 
The office, which will be integral to 8x8's research and innovation, is the company's first operations and development centre in Eastern Europe.

More than 200 existing and prospective employees attended the opening on 31st March, as well as the former Prime Minister of Romania and current Mayor of Cluj-Napoca.
 
This is the latest move in 8x8's ambitious growth plans, following the opening of a third UK office in Manchester in December and the acquisition of UK-based technology firm, DXI in August.

The Romanian office will be integral to this growth and plans to double its current 45 employees by the end of 2016. Key members of 8x8's leadership team led the discussions on the company's strategy and growth plans, including CEO Vik Verma and CTO and Chairman, Bryan Martin.
 
Bryan Martin, Chairman and CTO of 8x8, said: "8x8's Romanian Dev Centre is a hotbed of innovation and research for the company and has become highly integral to our most recent contact centre advancements. 

"Without a doubt, the technical team we are building in Cluj will help 8x8 advance our contact centre and customer experience offerings, and continue to drive our reputation as a global cloud communications innovator."