Comms Dealer

Samsung's ambition is to displace market rivals by de-cabling the future of on-premise telephony with the launch of a new all-in-one pure IP wireless telephone system.

The on-premise pure IP telephony market must evolve into an all-wireless world rather than continue down the route of cables, according to Samsung, which set the revolutionary ball rolling with the launch of SCM-Compact (an appliance-based version of the larger SCM-Express system) to 100-plus partners at the Belfry on February 24th. The craving of any competitive business is to identify and champion its difference from market rivals, so telephony vendors should beware of Samsung's latest innovations. Despite its common field of endeavour with the competition, the Korean vendor's wireless primacy is a vivid contrast to the industry standard.

It's hardly surprising. We are living through a time of widespread mobility and according to Samsung it is at the forefront of one of the most exciting periods in the history of communications, bringing to life significant opportunities for resellers. By its own definition, Samsung is a 'wireless communication platform provider' closely aligned to the projections of industry watchers such as IDC which calculates that 75 per cent of the western European workforce will be mobile by 2018.

The persuasive arguments of comms analysts who predict impending wireless domination are reflected in Samsung's rich blend of mobility based on the WE VoIP application. "The workforce is becoming more mobile and there is a requirement for business communications to follow that trend," commented Wilf Wood (pictured), Senior Product Manager at Samsung Enterprise Networks.

"There is growth in flexible working from remote locations, with more hot desks and more people flowing in and out of offices. Organisations must adapt to having a disparate workforce that uses mobile as the main source of communication. The SCM-Compact meets these requirements, allowing employees to work remotely while businesses retain control of call costs, call recordings and call analytics. The system also integrates with smartphones and offers seamless handover from Wi-Fi to GSM and from desktop phones to mobiles."

Samsung appears to have opened a new front in pure IP telephony for SMEs. In large part it lies in articulating the benefits of a wireless-first approach to this segment and unlocking the potential of a significant addressable market. There are 5.3 million businesses in the UK of which 90-plus per cent have less than 250 employees.

The SCM Compact sits comfortably in this space, scaling up from 16 to 512 extensions, its sweet spot being 16 to circa 300 extensions. This means Samsung resellers are able to approach 76 per cent of the UK market. Not bad for a 44m tall rack mounted unit. Its big brother, the SCM-Express, scales to 3,000 extensions, giving Samsung partners access to 95 per cent of the total addressable UK market with just two systems.

The systems are part of a continuum, belonging to the Samsung Communication Manager (SCM) family as a complement to OfficeServ and the vendor's hybrid range. OfficeServ's IP phones and applications all work with the new additions. And resellers will have little trouble installing the system using two bundled starter packs. Their implementation is straightforward and cost-effective for resellers, eased by a configuration wizard and based on a Wi-Fi network with wireless access points and wireless handsets. The outcome is a highly resilient voice and data network and a full UC solution with options for productivity applications, formal and informal contact centre applications, conferencing, messaging, presence, call analytics and call recording (and more).

The starter packs include the chassis, 16 user licences, rack mounted hardware and a power cable. That's it. The second starter pack includes two voicemail licences. Both form the foundation for further deployment options. The system is wrapped by an ecosystem that includes the WE VoIP mobility solution with enhancements, comprehensive security measures, gateway control, expansion modules that support high density analogue extensions, full iOS support and a broader selection of APIs encouraging more feature rich applications from third parties. The system caters for all of the traditional trunks but is natively designed for SIP trunking with support for multiple SIP trunk providers.

Samsung is right to champion wireless not cables. Of course many customer premises are sensitive to the intrusion of cabling, such as listed buildings. And a sensitivity to legacy cabling in many organisations has prevented them from pressing ahead with upgrade opportunities.

Now it's time to play the wireless trump card, again. "One of the main barriers to providing an IP system, especially at the small end of the SME market, is legacy cabling," commented Peter Law, Enterprise Networks Sales Manager. "Installing cabling to support a new IP system can be cost prohibitive, but we have overcome that objection by using wireless connectivity. Smaller companies are starting to connect their telephony through standalone wireless access points. This opens up a new market for dealers. Going wireless means faster installations, the efficient use of engineering time and more productivity."

Law singled out other markets that offer rich targets, highlighting that the new system's design is a crucial determinant of success in small formal contact centres, a segment that also illustrates the extent to which Samsung is prepared to back up its wireless vision with physical action in support of partners.

"There is an opportunity in formal contact centres with Samsung SCM-Compact," he added. "Each agent requires two SIP trunks, as well as trunks for queues. As an example, a 30 agent contact centre would need 60 SIP trunk licences and perhaps another ten for queues. The SCM-Compact has 128 SIP trunks built-in with no licences, representing an immediate cost saving, and there is no need for MGI licences. It's a specialist sale but we will help qualify, demonstrate, sell and close deals, and help install and maintain the systems when needed."

The audience reaction to Samsung's product launch displayed an immediate awareness of its potential, with training courses fully booked by 36 companies within minutes of opening for registration. More training dates will become available, and they come with a clear message that Samsung is also targeting system replacement opportunities with rivals squarely in its sights.•

PARTNER REACTION...
Resellers can deploy this pure IP solution with Samsung WLAN and negate the need to install costly structured cabling on site. This will become a single vendor office-in-a-box solution that will help resellers increase wallet share and promote end user lock-in.John Bird, Head of Systems and Support Services, Exertis Enterprise, UC

The new SCM-Compact should offer us a good platform to churn our legacy base, and Samsung's wireless-first approach could also provide a significant sales opportunity, enabling us to deliver a desktop telephony experience without the need for wired LAN infrastructure.
Philip Donigan, Sales Director, STL Communications

SCM-Compact offers low TOC, scalability, easy management, mobility and enhanced system resilience. Particularly impressive is its ability to connect desk phones as well as mobiles wirelessly and seamlessly, delivering an end-to-end pure IP solution.
Richard Carter, Group Sales and Business Development Director, Nimans

A round table debate hosted by Six Degrees Group in association with Comms Dealer tested the channel's ability to deliver single instance PBX virtualisation. Six Degrees argues that there is too much loose talk around the cloud and the value of hosted propositions cannot always be taken at face value unless clear lines of definition are established between SaaS-based hosted telephony and fully virtualised PBXs.

Talk of the channel's power to transform end user organisations with vanilla SaaS-based hosted telephony solutions is sheer industry vanity, according to Campbell Williams, Group Strategy and Marketing Director at Six Degrees Group, who says a 'lift and shift' approach to virtualising single instance PBXs in a cloud-based infrastructure environment is the real game changer and by far the biggest mid-market opportunity. But as long as resellers and SIs are unwilling to offer themselves to this end, the chances of them succeeding in the multi-tenant SaaS world are minimal, claims Williams, who has labelled the current state of the market as 'Third Generation Convergence'. "Voice and data convergence began with VoIP when there were low expectations for its success, but it took off," he explained. "Then we saw voice over IT as organisations moved their PBXs onto industry standard server platforms running alongside other applications. Now we are seeing demand for PBX and IP PBX instances to be moved into the cloud."

Therein lies an industry problem. Conversations about cloud-based telephony are generally interpreted as signifying an IP Centrex type environment, but that's only ever been ten per cent of the market, noted Williams, who believes that the industry needs a targeted response to this confusion in the language of hosted telephony. "In the past, comms resellers have mainly supplied on-premise systems, single instances that give customers their own slice of the world," he stated. "Now, customers are asking for their CPE to be virtualised in a cloud-based infrastructure environment because that's how they are running the rest of their IT.

"Is the channel prepared for customers who want to virtualise their PBX equipment on, for example, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or a VMware private cloud? Does the industry have those skills and do sales people have those conversations? Larger players in the channel may have these capabilities, but most don't. It's important to differentiate the single instance virtualisation of PBXs from reselling someone else's hosted multi-tenant platform. That's never been mainstream and it's not where we see the IT market."

The best argument for resellers and SIs to stay ahead of the game is to formulate an authoritative solutions practice in partnership with IaaS partners such as Six Degrees Group which has taken a leadership role in the mid-market virtualisation space. The company works with industry heavyweights such as Softcat, Advanced 365 and Dell, and its objective is to further develop its partner engagement with a strong emphasis on the mid-market opportunity supported by a major funding boost to drive growth.

"We have a large ISV channel but want to work with a small number of additional channels that want to go on the cloud journey," added Williams. "They may be at an early stage and need a partner to provide a full stack of services, or they may have capabilities in-house but need data centres in which to build cloud solutions."

The impact of virtualisation is already strongly felt. Its spread is predictable and according to Ricky Nicol, CEO at Commsworld, the virtualisation of IT and voice is unstoppable. To think otherwise would be like trying to hold back a tsunami with a little finger. "We're seeing staggering growth in our network coming from IT support companies," he commented. "The critical aspect for an IT director is the stability of the umbilical cord that links them to the cloud. We've supplied 2,000-plus telephone systems and recently sold one with 10,000 phones on a virtualised network. Voice is critical, it has to work, and the umbilical cord is also critical. Companies are now driven by technology and cloud services. When customers buy a telephone system from us it will always be virtualised."

Perhaps the most significant aspect of virtualisation and the adoption of IaaS has been the speed with which end users are demanding it. Responding to this demand Azzurri built its own hosted platform to provide services to customers. "It supports 10,000 seats with 6,000 more in the pipeline over the next quarter," explained Rufus Grig, CTO at Azzurri. "We have a VMware platform with Mitel software and plan to introduce Skype for Business and Avaya IP Office. Because of our voice background there were many new tricks to learn in terms of VMware."

Alternative Networks has a long history of selling branded boxes but more recently moved to virtualisation, building its own platform and operating various data centres and a network to connect them. "We're still scratching the surface in terms of use cases for the technology and platforms we have," stated Justin Collins, Business Development Director at Alternative Networks. "Whenever I speak to customers they want to use our platform for something slightly different than when we conceived it."

The days of predictable market demand are over and the drive for virtualisation has left no time to stumble through technological evolution. Solar is another 'old world' PBX reseller that has grabbed the bull by the horns and is now undergoing a business transformation that has been prompted by customer push combined with leadership observations of the changing market. "It's time to take the PBXs we support on-premise and virtualise them as a private cloud offering," commented John Whitty, CEO at Solar. "Our smaller customers may move to a multi-tenant platform. I come from a managed service background and we're in the process of evolving Solar into a managed service provider. The question is whether we build our own infrastructure to host PBXs in the cloud, or whether there's no need for that investment and we focus on selling."

Strategies, knowledge and skills have to be constantly updated, but the resources available may not be enough to align with the evolving requirements of end users who understand how technology can change working practices. "IT departments are shrinking, meaning that organisations want to procure more IT as a service and the buyers have outcomes in mind," commented Williams. "They know how they want to manage their technology, and suppliers that cannot respond to this agile approach will be left behind. SIs that align their strategies with the needs of customers will be taken in the right direction. But if all they can talk about is on-premise and capex they are vulnerable to the inroads of rivals with the flexibility to assess where end users are on their journey and can handhold them towards the brave new world."

Collins first noted this trend towards end user pull-through with tablet computing and BYOD, along with the advent of more stakeholders in the buying process. "Now it's harder for a sales person to identify who they should be targeting," he added. "They may be in a meeting with someone who is notionally a decision maker, but in most companies there is a layer above them who are not technical but set the general direction of the company. In our experience, they can have strong opinions about the cloud, whether it should be used and to what extent. It's a challenge for people on the front line to know who is making the decisions."

The difficulty is a lack of any previous narrative. The industry really is blazing a trail and the go-getters are determined to press ahead with a new generation of customers and technology. Pat Botting, co-founder and Managing Director of Freedom Communications (established 27 years ago this month), for a long time operated as a traditional dealer selling PBXs but more recently invested in the data and UC environment. "We've moved to a consultative approach rather than a product sale," he stated. "Larger organisations are happy to invest in consultancy and proof of concept. Our revenues are moving away from product towards professional services. Customers want a safe pair of hands to lead them to the new world, and they pay for the expertise rather than worry about the cost of the product. The value customers gain from this consultation is the way forward."

A common theme of the round table debate was the vulnerability of many resellers and SIs to pressure from IT buyers who have done their homework, are driven by outcomes but need help to realise the change they desire. Buyers are more sophisticated, they use the Internet and peer groups to inform their buying decisions, and they can be over 70 per cent of the way through a traditional sales process before even engaging with a supplier. "Buying behaviour is based on research and reputation far more than the views of a sales person," noted Williams. "The industry doesn't fully understand digital buying behaviour. This will potentially put some resellers out of business if they are not aligned with their buyer's preferences."

Industry trends demand action, and any thinking person must know that the only response to these challenges is a well-equipped sales and engineering force. But standing across the path of action are skills shortages in areas such as UCaaS. "Our conversations with customers are not about products, we discuss business processes and how they need to look in the future," stated Steve Ellis, Managing Director at 365iT. "Technology is the enabler. We see organisations that in the past would have wanted an on-premise refresh now opting for opex. But we have a problem finding UC skills. We are now trying to get apprentices into the company."

The lack of UC skills in the industry, both sales and engineering, exposes the channel's fragility, and Six Degrees's campaign to bolster partners with know-how and full support is a responsibility that should be applauded. Mark Roach, Head of Channel at Six Degrees Group, explained his strategy. "We already have a channel team and are now formulating a new approach to expand our partnership activity with resellers and SIs in the mid-market, and developing our on-boarding process and partner engagement model. We conduct workshops with partners to better understand their plans and requirements, and we follow these up with a plan of education linked to how we tailor packages for partners. We blend our portfolio with theirs and understand how UCaaS sits in the overall strategy."

Six Degrees's network of channel support specialists play a crucial role in helping partners change business models based on well-directed strategies designed to help mid-market organisations, those with 200-500 seats upwards, overcome their problems. "These companies have legacy challenges, multiple applications, a complex environment, security concerns and compliance issues," explained Williams. "They want sales people who understand their business and the direction its leaders want to take. Sales consultants must leverage horizontal skills to build a technology environment that will keep the customer's business running, secure, and compliant with industry regulations where necessary - and do it for a price that is reasonable."

To this end Six Degrees Group has developed a thriving ISV channel. Its partners take applications, then do some development work around them and layer on infrastructure elements using Six Degrees' data centres and networks. "There may be a minimum of 20 applications in a medium sized enterprise, but we know some with 90-100 applications," said Williams. "Our partners don't talk to customers about infrastructure and plumbing, they want to sell 'application down'. By default they get the platform, the infrastructure, the network, the desktop, the devices etc. Their engagement with the end user is based on keeping their business running, understanding what keeps them up at night and providing virtualised solutions that make them sleep better."

What industry messages should be drawn from this round table discussion? Communications technology has rarely enjoyed greater status and customers are in thrall to the possibilities. So this is no environment in which to peddle spurious expertise. But to thrive in one of the most innovative sectors is fraught with challenges, and there is no place for patchy remedies to the industry obstacles discussed. And with virtualisation accelerating at great speed, there is no time to lose. "Does the channel have the skills to lift and shift?," asked Williams. "If you don't do it, someone else will."•

Industry hopes for swift uptake of Software Defined Network (SDN) are likely to be dashed unless a programme of end user education is established.

Research by Exponential-e has revealed that 86 per cent of businesses do not understand SDN while 95 per cent do not know what benefits it could bring to their enterprise.
 
"An agile and responsive network is central to driving competitive advantage," said Chris Christou, Director of Engineering at Exponential-e. "Providing a business with the ability to manage and control their network themselves enables them to support their business internally in their drive for increased revenues."
 
SDN effectively allows organisations to reconfigure network services on-demand. Enterprises can adapt the services that network providers deliver through a self-service interface.
 
"SDN increases efficiency and supports the flexibility demanded by fast moving organisations that are tasked with responding to unexpected outages and breaks in service," added Christou

"Using the database as a master A-Z then it's possible to map the optimum route to instantly reconfigure networks, reduce latency and meet peaks or troughs in demand.

"SDN effectively removes the impenetrable barrier between a customer and network provider, providing a more flexible and agile way to manage network configurations."

Avnet has sealed a pan-EMEA distribution agreement with Cumulus Networks.

Through this agreement, Avnet will offer Cumulus Networks' data centre network operating system software, Cumulus Linux, which can be integrated with hardware from multiple leading switch vendors.

Avnet is appointed distributor for Cumulus Linux in Austria, BeNeLux, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, UK and Ireland.

Dieter Lott, vice president of business development at Avnet Technology Solutions, EMEA, said: "Cumulus Networks is a good fit with VMware's NSX offering for network virtualisation and is complementary to our Red Hat open source portfolio."

Gamma has pledged £2,000 in support of The Technology Group's charity effort for Leeds Mencap.

Directors David and Jonathan Marsden will trek 100km across the Sahara Desert having already donated £50,000 worth of telephony and Internet solutions to help the centre.

Jonathan Marsden said: "I am impressed with the support Gamma has shown to us, not only in our day to day business activities, but now on a more personal level. This is a great example of what can be achieved when partners work together effectively."

Leeds Mencap is an independent charity that was created 62 years ago to help local people with learning disabilities.

The funds Gamma donated by Gamma will help to complete a specialist activity room in the charity's new purpose-built centre, fitting the room with interactive learning boards.

To follow and donate to the campaign please visit www.ttgsahara.co.uk

Dell has stated its intent to drive more business through distribution, and according to Andreas Schuetze, Director, Channel Marketing & Programmes, Dell EMEA, the firm will place a strong focus on new business, with incentives adding around 15% to new customer rebates. "We want to see a stronger distribution market and grow faster here," he said.

"We have new leadership, with Michael Collins in a new role as vice president, Strategy & Channel, Dell EMEA. His strategic view experience is important in developing channels.

"And we have changed the way targets are calculated so that growth comparisons for bonuses and rebates are based on average sales over the last few quarters rather than just the last one - this recognises that some of the deals come in over lengthy sales cycles."

Maintel has become one of Avaya's most accredited UK partners having collected the Technical Excellence Award 2016 at the vendor's UK Partner Connection Day event.

This accomplishment follows Maintel's five previous Avaya awards, most notably the Service Excellence Award 2015 and Technical Excellence Award 2014.

Eddie Buxton, CEO at Maintel, said: "This award demonstrates our ongoing commitment to adding value to our services and transforming UK business communications."

Robert Casula, Maintel's CTO, also became the first person outside of Avaya to pass its Avaya Certified Expert-Fx programme in the UK.

Intermedia has strengthened its channel offering with additions to its back-up and file sharing service, following feedback from 6,000-plus channel partners.

According to Intermedia the new SecuriSync offering will offer up-selling opportunities for resellers and enable them to add high-margin backup services that have traditionally been denied.

Updates include a suite of back-up capabilities, including real-time cloud file backup, to cater for resellers constrained by the pricing models of providers such as Dropbox and Box; and integration of enterprise grade data back-up for restore and retention capabilities.

Instead of deploying multiple vendors for different aspects of file management, businesses now only need a single tool for using, managing and protecting user files, noted the firm.

"As users embrace file sharing and mobile devices, the deficiencies of traditional back-up have grown clear," said Michael Gold, CEO of Intermedia.

"That's why businesses have opted for two separate providers-one for backing up files and another for sharing and managing them.

"SecuriSync now bridges this gap with a single, cost-effective tool for using, managing and protecting user files."

Claranet has partnered with Action for Children, the charity that helps disadvantaged children and young adults deal with issues such as neglect and abuse.

The charity is run out of six core offices that co-ordinate and support approximately 600 services, offering support and care across the UK.

By outsourcing its network requirements to Claranet, Action for Children has seen significant time and cost savings, as well as improvements to network efficiency and IT support.

With improved network connectivity, it has freed up its staff and volunteers so that they can focus on their primary roles - helping to care for and support children and young adults.

Channel Telecom's top 15 partners were treated to five star luxury during a 'thank you' skiing trip to Les Trois Vallees in the Alps.

The three night, four day stay in the heart of Meribel is the company's third such trip and included a programme of skiing, snowboarding, an outdoor heated pool, slope-side sauna, along with mild carousing at La Follie Douce, a mountain top bar.

Channel Telecom MD Clifford Norton said: "We wanted to treat our most successful partners for their hard work. Each year this trip gets bigger and better. This year the party grew to 15, next year we may be taking 20."