Comms Dealer

Enterprises in the UK have been increasing their investment in IaaS, compared to SaaS, in 2015, says research.

Likewise, the UK market opportunity forecast report shows that IaaS market size is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 46.3% from 2015 to 2019, and is expected to supersede the SaaS market, with a figure of $5.6bn by 2019, thus emerging as the largest cloud computing segment in the UK enterprise market.

A new survey from Kable shows that 48% of UK enterprises have been planning to increase their ICT budget in 2015, an increase of 18% from 2014.

Considered as one of the largest ICT markets, enterprises in the UK realise the value of investing in newer ICT segments to accelerate the productivity and growth of their enterprises.

Kable's survey of 178 UK enterprises shows that a significant proportion (48%) of UK enterprises have been planning to increase their overall ICT budgets in 2015, witnessing an increase of 18% compared to 2014.

Resonating positive sentiments, the survey further shows that the proportion of respondents looking at reducing their ICT budgets as well as the proportion of enterprises keen to retain their investments at the same level will be declining.

The growing incidence of cyber and malware attacks has driven investments in security products and services. As illustrated in the figure below, identity and access management (IAM) and backup & archive are the leading security segments among UK enterprises, as 63% of enterprises in the UK are planning to invest in each of these security segments over the next two years.

This trend is further validated by Kable's market forecasts for the UK that estimate the security products market to reach a figure of $1.7bn in 2019; growing at a CAGR of 5.5% from 2015 to 2019.

"Ever evolving threats of cyber attacks, in addition to increased Governmental pressures and security compliances are some of the factors that are fuelling the adoption of security solutions among UK enterprises," said Renjitha Balkrishan, an Analyst at Kable.

"The pervasive adoption of security solutions and its services is expected to grow in the coming years, as the implementation of various disruptive technologies such as cloud, mobility, and social media, is creating newer security challenges and threats for mission-critical enterprise data."

With cloud computing redefining the traditional ways in which enterprises conducted their business, UK enterprises have been transforming their enterprise operating models with various cloud computing technologies such as SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS.

The customer insight survey from UK shows that enterprises in the region allocated the highest proportion (37%) of their average cloud computing budget to SaaS, followed by IaaS with a budget allocation of 35% in 2014.

This trend is validated by Kable's market forecasts for the UK, which shows that SaaS is attracting the highest market size, with revenues of $1.5 billion in 2014, followed by IaaS with a market size of $840 million in 2014.

Barry Tuffs is the new man at the centre of Unify's channel growth campaign.

The newly appointed Vice President for UK and Ireland Channels is tasked with delivering channel growth via a partner recruitment programme while maintaining existing relationships with partners and distributors, such as Nimans and ScanSource.

He will also be focused on the roll out of new cloud-based partner programmes designed to target the small and mid-market customer segment.

Tuffs brings 25-plus years telecoms experience in direct and indirect sales and management, and joins Unify from Avaya where he held a variety of roles including Director of the UK & Ireland Channel Team.

He helped to introduce the iConnect Program and take the vendor into the mid-market sector.

Prior roles include stints at Cable&Wireless, Telewest and Nortel.

He also spent three and a half years running his own business, called Wire Solutions which traded as a BT Local Business.

Tuffs will report to Thomas Veit, the Senior Vice President of Channel for EMEAR at Unify.

Veit stated: "Barry will be an instrumental part of our channel acceleration strategy in the UK & Ireland as we aim to expand our presence dramatically in the coming years."

Tuffs added: "This is a tremendous opportunity to help drive the growth of the company."

BT's Clive Selley, currently CEO of BT Technology, Service and Operations (BT TSO), is poised to take over the Openreach reins as CEO following the departure of Joe Garner who is leaving to become CEO of Nationwide Building Society. The handover will take place this quarter.

Selley, who is also Group Chief Information Officer, has held a number of senior positions at BT in the UK and overseas, and specialises in networks, software development, IT and various forms of engineering.

As CEO of BT TSO Selley is responsible for the company's core networks and IT systems across the globe, including TV, mobile and conferencing, and BT's its research and development arm at Adastral Park, Suffolk.

He is responsible for 12,000 staff, 8,000 contractors and a multi-billion pound budget. He also chairs BT's cyber security council and has an extensive knowledge of regulatory affairs.

Selley's successor at BT TSO will be announced in due course.

He said: "Customer service is a top priority of mine and I am committed to delivering further improvements by working closely with all industry partners who rely on our network to serve their customers."

Gavin Patterson, BT Group CEO, said: "Clive is a hugely talented individual who supports our vision for the UK's digital future and will play a key role in ensuring that businesses, consumers and communities receive the services they need."

Selley's appointment coincides with the tenth anniversary of Openreach.

ShoreTel has completed its $8.5m acquisition of Corvisa, a provider of cloud-based communications solutions.

The acquisition is expected to accelerate ShoreTel's fiscal 2017 hosted revenue growth to circa 30%.

Corvisa's APIs and SDKs will facilitate third party application integration; while the addition of Corvisa's SIP trunking to the ShoreTel solution portfolio will position the vendor as a SIP trunking provider.

Corvisa's standalone cloud contact centre expands ShoreTel's presence in the contact centre market, enabling integration with non-ShoreTel communication solutions.

ShoreTel will also expand its cloud services in Europe having acquired Corvisa's Amsterdam and UK data centres. 

"The addition of Corvisa's standards-based APIs, SIP trunking and standalone contact centre expands our cloud-based offering while providing new sources of hosted revenue," said Don Joos, President and CEO of ShoreTel.

"We are in the acceleration phase, focused on accelerating technology time to market, growing hosted revenue and expanding our cloud offering globally."

Matt Lautz, CEO of Corvisa, added: "We believe Corvisa's cloud contact centre coupled with ShoreTel's go-to-market expertise creates a compelling combination."

Manchester-based Datacentreplus has launched a flexible pay-as-you-grow hosting solution designed to match the needs of smaller businesses.

The company provides colocation for businesses' IT equipment at its Media City premises, working with organisations who want to outsource their power, storage and cooling requirements for their servers and data backup.

Mashukul Hoque, founder of Datacentreplus, said: "As more small to medium-sized businesses begin their journey into the cloud it is only right that the data centre community facilitates this progression and provides an environment that supports growth and is sympathetic to cash flow.

"Barriers of trust and price are beginning to be overcome at a rate of knots. However, agility still remains an issue. Pay-as-you-Grow essentially provides a client with the ability to grow their services, allowing them to reserve dedicated space and only pay for it when they grow into it."

Six SIP phone models from Yealink's T4 and T2 series are now fully interoperability tested and integrated into the Aarenet VoIP System's Auto-provisioning server.

Carrier customers with Aarenet VoIP Systems can now deploy Yealink's phones with zero-touch provisioning.

Frank Remmers, Sales Director at Aarenet AG, said: "It is an important milestone for both Aarenet AG and Yealink to achieve seamless interoperability between our technology offerings."

Paul McLean has joined Fujitsu as Enterprise Manager for Indirect Channels.

He brings over 20 years of experience and while at Hewlett Packard he managed a £1bn Enterprise Group channel business with over 500 resellers, developing a team of over 30 field and inside sales partner business managers.

He was responsible for strategy, coverage model creation and adoption, and driving growth across the Enterprise Group business.

For the past two years Mclean has been the owner of Channel Optimiser, an IT consultancy organisation focused on channel transformation, optimisation and maximising the efficiencies, relationships and business growth between channel partners and its vendors.

Kevin Matthews, Head of Channel and Direct Services at Fujitsu UK & Ireland, said: "Paul brings years of industry expertise and insight that will prove invaluable as we embark onto the next phase of our strategy."

McLean added: "I didn't anticipate joining another vendor, but after meeting with Kevin, understanding Fujitsu's vision for the channel and plans moving forward, it became a no brainer. I understand the challenge, I've been there before, and I am up to the task."

Nimans has staged its second annual X Factor-style talent contest for staff who performed a variety of acts including singers, poets, actors, a Greek-style dancer, rap duo, guitarist and a rock band.

Investors In People Manager, Sue Goldfine (pictured), and Dealer Sales Account Manager, Carl Foster, were voted the overall winners for their rendition of The Lion And Albert poem.

Event organiser Mat Weall said: "It's fair to say that some of the acts are better suited to their day jobs, but the contest proved that Nimans is awash with talent in areas other than communications supply."

Konftel has developed a trio of new audio conferencing devices that boast HD voice quality for enhanced 'life-like' meeting room experiences.

The new Konftel 300Mx features HD Voice quality audio for mobile conference calls anywhere.

Users insert a SIM card and start meetings immediately. The mobile conference phone also complements PC and web-based meetings due to its USB connection.

Konftel's new 55Wx speaker phone is another development delivering Unified Communications. The device works with all the leading collaboration suites, complemented by touch screen functionality.

Konftel has also developed an IP DECT base station that gives users wireless connectivity combined with OmniSound audio quality in any SIP environment.

Ombudsman Services is to provide a complaints handling scheme for members of the Internet Services Providers' Association and the Internet Telephony Services Providers' Association (and their customers), replacing the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS) which becomes obsolete once currently logged complaints are resolved.

Chief Ombudsman Lewis Shand Smith said: "Ombudsman Services' roots began with resolving telecommunication complaints.

"We will help ITSPA and ISPA to improve their customer service models, as well as offer customers our free and impartial resolution service should they encounter a problem with Internet telephony products or services."

ITSPA Chair, Eli Katz, added: "All communications providers must, under law, provide their customers with access to an independent dispute resolution scheme. By working with Ombudsman Services we ensure that our members are compliant."