Comms Dealer

Ecommerce solutions specialist Volo Commerce has deployed a cloud-based UC platform from VIA across its two offices in Cheltenham and London.

The company chose VIA Voice to consolidate its previously disparate communications channels into one centralised platform.
 
Volo was not satisfied with the limited functionality of its existing PBX solution, while employees were also using the consumer version of Skype for internal messages and a third party conferencing solution for online meetings.

The company was looking to streamline communications by adopting a UC platform that incorporated each of these elements. This would help Volo to increase operational efficiency while also cutting down administration and management time.
 
VIA Voice operates over the Internet and replaces the need to have a traditional phone network. The solution - which incorporates Skype for Business - allows employees to talk, instant message, email, video chat or partake in conferences across a variety of devices, such as landlines, smartphones, PCs, and tablets.

This helps the Volo team to stay continuously connected and contactable even when they are on the road or working from home.
 
Alex Tebbs, Director at VIA, said: "VIA Voice incorporates features that have been developed by our in-house specialists. This includes our real-time management portal which allows Volo to evaluate usage trends and employee efficiency while also monitoring costs."

NEC Enterprise Solutions has appointed Bert Plasman as Vice President & Head of Enterprise Channel Sales EMEA.

Reporting to Paul Kievit, President & Head of NEC Enterprise Solutions EMEA, Plasman will be responsible for accelerating NEC's Enterprise channel sales strategy and business growth throughout the EMEA region.

Kievit said: "Bert brings a wealth of experience in the ICT industry and will add significant value, drive and direction to our Enterprise channel sales teams and business partners.

"This new assignment is closely linked to our plan for further growth in EMEA. Bert will support and give direction to our EMEA Enterprise Channel Sales teams in promoting and expanding sales of our Enterprise Business through existing and new channel partners."

Plasman has held various leadership positions in IT and networking at Getronics, Cisco and LeaseWe, as well as experience working in distribution, VARs and telcos.

Plasman is based at the NEC Enterprise Solutions EMEA headquarters in Hilversum, the Netherlands.

Tollring has enhanced its iCall Suite cloud call analytics and recording solution to include fraud detection alarming.

The iCS Fraud module has been introduced to combat call fraud, enforce company policy and meet customer service levels by detecting variance in call activity as soon as it happens.

The iCall Suite now enables service providers, resellers and their customers to proactively monitor inbound and outbound call trends using effective call-limit profiling that is easy to configure, quick to set up and self-learning for ongoing protection.

Rules-based alerts can be activated to monitor and inform both resellers and customers of irregular call behaviour, allowing Service Providers to proactively manage their channel.

Integrated within iCall Suite, fraud alerts, reports and visual dashboards can be accessed via a web browser on any mobile device.

Service providers can help their resellers and customers to minimise fraud by offering real-time monitoring and setting limits on call profiles. As soon as a number reaches its call limit within a specific time period, calls can be barred or notifications activated.

The live notification alerts can be delivered to a mobile via text, call, email or on a 'live tile' dashboard. Detailed call type, usage, black-list and trend reports deliver business-critical information to both resellers and customers for ongoing monitoring.

Tollring MD Tony Martino stated: "Fraud detection is a rising challenge in cloud telephony and our new iCall Suite fraud module addresses this real industry issue.

"Now, our partners and customers can mitigate fraud and enforce company policy to reduce liability through immediate notifications of variance in call activity.

"This latest update in our cloud call analytics solution will positively impact the way the channel manages customers and their usage behaviour."

Cisilion has re-achieved the Cisco Gold Certification, confirming its status as one of the networking giant's top UK partners.

"Cisco is one of our key partners, and the re-certification of our Gold Partner status reinforces our role as a trusted technology advisor", said Alex Hooper, Chief Technology Officer at Cisilion.

"This recognition acknowledges the fact that Cisilion has the technology breadth to deliver the reliable, secure and highly specialised solutions that our customers demand in today's converging marketplace."

Angela Whitty, Managing Director, UKI partner Organisation at Cisco said: "This accreditation is not easy to achieve and is only granted to channel partners with the extensive level of skills, knowledge and expertise across a wide range of Cisco technologies."

Extreme Networks has appointed Gordon Mackintosh as Senior Director of Worldwide Partner Programme and Sales Business Development.

His remit is to run the development of the Extreme Partner Network (EPN) as well as new sales and partner initiatives.

Mackintosh reports directly to Bob Gault, Executive VP of Worldwide Sales, Services and Channels at Extreme.

Prior to his appointment Macintosh held various leadership roles in sales and channel at Cisco where he was responsible for go-to-market strategies and was the head of Distribution and SMB in the UK.

"It's perfect timing for Gordon to join our team following the recent enhancements to the Extreme Partner Network and our solutions-based go-to-market strategy late last year," stated Gault.

Advanced 365 has linked up with Modern Systems (formerly BluePhoenix Solutions) to target the legacy application migration sector.

Advanced has more than 30 years experience in supporting organisations to manage, migrate and modernise existing data and applications. The software and services provider uses an automated tools-based migration approach that securely moves entire Virtual Machine Environment (VME) applications to run natively on a modern and more open Linux software platform.

Modern Systems also specialises in legacy modernisation and has seven global locations, and also specialises in VME projects. The company facilitates the transition from legacy systems to modern environments that leverage cloud, data warehousing, business intelligence and new development.

ICL VME, now owned by Fujitsu, is an operating system that was created in the 1970s. While successful at the time, advances in technology mean that those still using the system are relying on a platform that is now out-dated, inflexible, unmaintained and difficult to integrate with modern IT systems.

Neil Cross, Managing Director, Advanced 365, said: "By joining forces we are bringing together best-of-breed software and highly experienced consultants.

"This collaboration will support us to stay at the forefront of the market and continue offering customers a minimal risk migration service."

Matt Bell, President & CEO, Modern Systems, added: "We have a history of VME modernisation over the past 20 years and partnering with Advanced is the latest step in sustaining that success.

"Both companies complement and build on each other's capabilities to ensure a comprehensive, cost-effective service that manages the complex process of platform migration, enabling customers to drive innovation and efficiency."

BroadSoft has added three new UC-One applications, two for a mobile-centric workforce and the third (for UC-One Enterprise Portal) enables IT administrators and end users to manage UC-One services directly.

UC-One Connect is a mobile-first messaging application for business users that integrates individual and group chat (IM), voice calling, call settings like Forwarding and DND, and presence.The applicationt is optimised for iOS and Android platforms and is integrated with the enterprise directory that enables business users to find and connect with colleagues.

In the second half of 2016, BroadSoft plans another mobile-first application that simplifies the joining of scheduled meetings like traditional conference calls as well as UC-One's My Room collaboration environment when on the move.

UC-One Communicator is BroadSoft's Unified Communications client that provides user access to all UC-One Services.

While UC-One Enterprise Portal enables enterprise end users and administrators to manage UC-One Services directly without requiring Service provider intervention.

Taher Behbehani, chief digital & marketing officer, BroadSoft, said: "UC-One applications deliver Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC), as business users can, for example, start an IM Chat from their mobile device, escalate it to a call with a single click, then seamlessly move to a videophone or Chromebook and expand the session to a multiparty video conference."

CMS Distribution has signed a deal with AVG to supply its security solutions to the UK.

"As the market moves towards mobility and cloud technologies and there is an ever growing importance for data security, a partnership with a cloud security brand made total sense for us," said Justin Griffiths, Group Director Software Solutions at CMS.

CMS Distribution entered the security market in 2015, forming partnerships with AlienVault, Barracuda Networks, iSheriff and The Bunker. It now has a team of security specialists and a base of more than 3,000 channel partners.

Glasgow-based Exsel Group has become shirt sponsor for Celtic Football Club's women's first team.

Exsel Group MD Tom McDonald said: "As a fast-growing Glasgow company we recognise the common brand values shared by both Exsel Group and Celtic Football Club. We are very much looking forward to this positive new partnership."

Celtic's Women's Team Manager, David Haley, added: "This is an exciting time for our women's team. We have big plans and we are pleased that Exsel want to be part of our future and play an active role in the further development of our women's team."

Content Guru is gearing up to extend its agent desktop application storm DTA (Desktop Task Assistant) with WebRTC capabilities to incorporate person-to-person video, advanced collaboration and screen sharing, as well as voice calls made directly to the user's browser.

"By unifying these within a single interface, businesses are able to deliver enhanced enterprise and customer experiences through reduced costs, increased agility and flexibility and a more efficient information exchange," stated Sean Taylor, CEO of Content Guru.

"We've been trialling WebRTC for over a year now and are able to launch it as a mainstream storm product. We believe the technology will be a game-changer."