Comms Dealer

Distributor Exclusive Group has reported organic growth of 31% and total revenues of €1.04bn for 2015, with its acquisitions helping to push it past the €1bn annual revenues target nearly two years ahead of plan.

The privately funded company has moved to a global position from its European base through acquisitions and a hands-off policy on local management.

"We have now entered unchartered territory as the first 'super VAD' business to retain and extend its value added model on a global basis," said Olivier Breittmayer, CEO of Exclusive Group.

"Since the start of this journey we have doubled revenue every two years with a strategy blending together accelerated organic growth with hand picked acquisitions."

Geographically, strong performance throughout the Nordics & Baltics saw the region post revenue growth of over 40%, France and Africa demonstrated healthy returns, growing 33% and 63% respectively.

In the Southern Region (Iberia, Italy, Turkey), collective growth of 41% underlined the strength of the business despite slow economic recovery and other challenging factors.

The UK continues to report healthy trading and solid sales momentum with over 55% annual growth; the DACH region has a consolidated growth of over 26%.

Resellers have been advised to prepare for the arrival of a new £1 coin which will have an impact on over 50,000 Solitaire payphones across the country.

Distributor Nimans, the exclusive UK supplier of Solitaire products, is urging resellers to plan ahead for the introduction of the new Royal Mint design early next year.

New Solitaire Payphones will accept the new £1 coin but existing models will need updating, says Solitaire's MD Jeff Wilkes.

"We estimate that from around 500,000 Solitaire payphones sold in the UK around 50,000 are still in service," he explained. "The Royal Mint has provided a provisional timetable for the new Bi Metallic 12 sided version of the £1 coin with a current target date of early 2017. The existing version will be withdrawn over a relatively short period of time."

Depending on the payphone model, on-site, remote download and back to manufacturer updates are available.

Sound quality is the de facto consideration over video during a conference, according to 87% of respondents in a survey by Konftel.

"Sound is the basis of every meeting. The other elements can be worked around, but if you cannot clearly hear, then the meeting is over," stated Jeff May, Konftel's UK Sales Director.

"From our survey results only 2% value video as the most important enabler in remote meetings and 6% screen sharing."

The results of Konftel's survey come as the company launches a trio of new audio conferencing solutions with HD sound performance.

Venus is holding an event for new and existing partners at London's The Hippodrome Casino on 15th March.

The company is a fast-growing London fibre network, offering high speed connectivity solutions and one of the first providers to introduce 10 Gigabits circuits.

"In order for Venus' partner programme to grow and prosper we need to listen to our partners and understand what they need to help their business grow," said Brian Iddon, Director.

"The current market does not just focus on pricing but also the additional value add services. Venus has recently introduced white label marketing, product training and dedicated project management to our growing base of partners.

"This is just the beginning, we're a dynamic fast growing business and we want to help our partners grow in the same way."

Exertis has relocated its Basingstoke offices to new premises on the same Chineham Business Park estate.

The move from Elmwood to Ashwood consolidates the company's current 380 Basingstoke employees into one refurbished building which has the capacity to support the continued growth of the company.

The Ashwood location will house all Exertis commercial departments - sales, marketing, purchasing and the technical teams.

Paul Bryan Exertis UK&I MD, said: "The requirement to move to new premises is indicative of how the Exertis business has developed over the last few years across our four technology areas - IT, mobile, home and supplies.

"We now have a facility that meets our needs today and can cope with our strategy for continued growth."

Exertis also has offices in Altham, Harlow, Stoke-on-Trent, Elland and is building a National Distribution Centre in Altham (a new 650,000 sq.ft. logistics facility).

In addition, it owns Computers Unlimited which has UK offices in London.

Stoke-on-Trent and Darlington based technology firm Fifteen Digital is celebrating 10 years in business.

The company specialises in telecommunications and in November 2015 took home a National Business Award at the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards in London.

In January Fifteen Digital were shortlisted for two regional awards, the Business Innovation Award at the Sentinel Business Awards, in Staffordshire, with the ceremony on 15th March and the Innovation Award at the Teesside heats of the North East Business Awards.

24 Seven Communications has teamed up with British smartphone brand KAZAM on a project aimed at ensuring taxi drivers stay connected to a mobile network more of the time.

24 Seven's roaming SIM Jump, which can switch between three of the UK's biggest mobile networks, will become natively compatible with two of KAZAM's models, offering taxi drivers better mobile coverage.

David Samuel, MD and Founder of 24 Seven, said: "Private hire has been a breakthrough industry for the Jump SIM. Taxi and private hire firms can see the benefits of better coverage by using a national roaming SIM.

"We pioneered the UK's first national roaming SIM and since launch it's helped numerous businesses to stay connected."

Andy Lee, Country Manager (UK & Ireland) of KAZAM said: "If taxi professionals lose connection it can be totally debilitating for their business. When they slip into a mobile black-spot, or if their network fails, that can make a real difference to profitability.

"Taxis need to stay connected (for voice and data) more of the time, from the point of view of accurate fares, ensuring reliable directions and not least from a safety point of view."

Jump was launched in early 2015 following a year in development. The SIM card will jump to the next available network, should the signal drop, thereby ensuring much better coverage than a single network SIM.

Oak Telecom has underlined its status as a forward-thinking UK software house with a name change to Oak Innovation.

"Everyone knows us simply as Oak, and that will continue," said joint CEO Phil Reynolds. "However, we feel that the new formal title is a more accurate description of what we actually do, and what we don't do is sell phone systems as the word 'telecom' implies.

"We design, develop and support our own solutions and we have won a string of awards for them. We specialise in call recording and reporting for all types of businesses and contact centres. We are increasingly providing solutions for mid-market opportunities. The new name reflects who we are now and where we are heading."

The change of name also coincides with Oak's acquisition of the Adaptive suite from New Media Software.

The Suite includes progressive and predictive diallers, SMS and email messaging. Oak has also taken on the NMS Adaptive team and their offices in Southampton to ensure a smooth transition for NMS resellers and their customers.

Reynolds believes that the addition of Adaptive will open up new opportunities for the channel.

"It's an exciting time for Oak. Adaptive is a great product suite with a proven track record that fits particularly well with our mid-market solutions, Evolve and Clarify.

"NMS have had experience working in the areas of the market that Oak is moving into, which is extremely valuable going forward.

"For the channel, all this means that at a time when the bottom end of the market is being gradually eroded by cheap hosted solutions, Oak is able to present resellers with tested solutions and strategies to help them aim at bigger targets."

NMS MD Phill McGowan will continue working alongside Oak as a consultant while the handover takes place and the new version 10 of Adaptive is rolled out.

Oak is currently organising an Adaptive roadshow for resellers this spring.

8x8 has been awarded Best Supplier of the Year at the inaugural Recruitment Directors Lunch Club (RDLC) awards staged at London's Hippodrome.

The company was chosen from 15 suppliers by the organisation's members.

RDLC is the sector's network and member's group for recruitment CEOs and directors.

The Club has a membership of over 60 recruitment businesses and is growing in the UK and internationally.

Gary Pryor, Enterprise Sales Director, 8x8 in the UK, said: "This award is a testament to 8x8's dedication to providing support to companies within the recruitment industry.

"We now work with a variety of recruiters of different sizes, demonstrating that we're able to provide a flexible and effective solution to all."

Nimans has witnessed strong sales of a smart hub for group collaboration from Polycom.

Ian Brindle, Nimans' Head of Conferencing Sales, says the RealPresence Trio 8800 has surpassed all sales expectations since its launch towards the end of last year.

He said: "It has become one of our most successful ever product launches with huge demand and interest created. A dynamic design is complemented by many advanced features as part of an exceptional audio experience thanks to enhanced Polycom HD Voice technology.

"In addition users can share concepts and images from PC or tablet in HD resolution with an optional accessory which can also be used to provide cost effective HD video calling with a USB camera to easily transform audio calls into a rich and engaging video experience."