Comms Dealer

News of Computacenter's HI results prompted a slight rise in share price with 'one-off gains' catalysing a jump in interim pre-tax profit. For the six months ended 30th June adjusted pre-tax profit rose 13.7% from the same period last year to £29.1m, lifted by the £42.2m sale of its RDC recycling business in February.

Revenue slipped to £1.44bn from £1.46bn on the back of a weak euro, said the firm.

Chief Executive Mike Norris commented: "Despite the significant headwinds created by a weak euro the operating performance of the group remains in line with the board's original expectations for 2015.

"However, the group has benefited from a number of one-off gains that will not be repeated in either the second half of the year or during 2016."

Computacenter's Chairman Greg Lock added: "Our business in the UK has benefited from the start of a number of significant managed services contracts won in 2014.

"In Germany we have seen good growth in the opportunities for managed services, and in France we have seen improvements in our operations as a result of our group-wide model being implemented there.

"Proceeds from the disposal of our recycling unit RDC, together with our healthy operational cashflow, allowed us to return approximately £98m to our shareholders only 18 months after our previous return of £75m.

"Our past performance counts for little if we do not keep winning the confidence and business of our customers."

A range of ErisTerminal SIP business phones introduced to the UK market by VTech Communications follows a successful launch in the USA and a Product of the Year award win for the SIP Deskset (VSP725), a SIP solution with an embedded DECT module and PoE support, dual Ethernet ports and HD audio.

The VSP725A and VSP735A's DECT RF modules enable the registration of the VSP601A and VSP500A cordless headset. The range also includes the VSP600A SIP DECT base and handset with capacity for five additional handsets; and the entry level model VSP715A.

UC provider Abzorb has rolled out a white label PBX maintenance service that promises recurring revenue streams for partners.
 
Abzorb's proposition includes full on site support nationwide via its exclusive partnership with Telecoms Resource.

Abzorb's Head of Data Services, Darren Smith, said: "It is important within the channel to offer products and services that complement each other as well as add real value. Teaming up with Telecoms Resource makes absolute sense." 

Don Moore, Director of Telecoms Resource, added: "Our relationship with Abzorb enables the channel to deal with some of the most challenging multi-vendor estates across the UK and Ireland."

The final entry deadline for the Comms National Awards has been extended to 5pm on Tuesday SEPTEMBER 8th 2015, giving potential award winners more time to register and put together an entry.

"The entry process is really simple and represents the perfect opportunity for you to reward and recognise the people who have helped your company achieve success over the last year," said Nigel Sergent, Comms Dealer Editorial Director and awards event organiser.

"In fact, a Comms National Award is the most prestigious accolade organisations working in the UK ICT industry can win."

For RESELLERS the Comms National Awards process is the ultimate opportunity to acknowledge the superb solutions their teams provide for customers.

For VENDORS, DISTRIBUTORS, CARRIERS and SERVICE PROVIDERS the CN Awards recognise the products and support you provide to help channel partners create and supply those solutions.

The CN Awards are fairly and meticulously judged by a team of experienced channel experts. That is why they are so highly prized. Meet the Comms National Awards judging panel here.

And the glittering finals night on October 22nd 2015 will once again be the highlight of the channel event calendar.

To find out more visit www.cnawards.com

Virtual1 has today moved into larger offices in Finsbury Square, just a short distance away from Angel Court where it has spent the last two years.

Having secured the 6th floor at the newly refurbished AlphaBeta building almost a year ago the wholesaler is looking forward to growing the business yet further.

CEO Tom O'Hagan said: "We have grown our staff numbers considerably over the last two years and the new office substantially increases the amount of desk space we have, providing the opportunity for further growth, for our staff to spend more time with partners as well as placing Virtual1 as a destination employer."

The company continues to expand and next year will reach over £25m turnover through its cloud and connectivity solutions.

Owning one of the largest interconnected networks across the UK, with a particular focus on London, the company recently launched its 1Cloud solution providing a pay-as-you-go alternative to traditional hosting.

The AlphaBeta building has undergone significant redevelopment worth £40m over the last two years and provides 210,000 sq ft of modern office space.

The building has chill-out zones, roof-top bars, a nine storey atrium, gym facilities and a ramp that allows cyclists to ride into the building.

Situated at the intersection of Silicon Roundabout, Shoreditch and the City, AlphaBeta is at the heart of a location that is rapidly becoming internationally recognised as the centre for creative and commercial innovation in London.

Currently employing over 65 people Virtual1 has put in place a series of employee engagement strategies to build on the findings of a recent employee engagement survey.

The company achieved 'outstanding' in the Best Companies ranking earlier in the year and continues to place its employees wellbeing as a priority.

"This move allows us to take advantage of Virtual1's strong talent pool and cost-effective environment to continue to build the company into a leading provider of connectivity solutions," added O'Hagan.

"The new offices will be more efficient in delivering effective interaction with our national Partner base and our strategic Partners within central London.

"Partners will be able to attend various training sessions and events and can even hold customer meetings as our offices will provide a more flexible and accessible venue for meetings, training and events."

Kate Brunning, Head of Talent and HR, added: "The entire team is looking forward to settling into the new office and enjoying the latest facilities and vibrant workspaces.

"The new venue is only a mile away, but we have been planning this for almost a year and have been communicating with staff since we made the decision to move and have involved members of the team through every step to ensure the new office provides a rewarding environment."

Fidelity Group has signed up 20 new partners following a series of educational events the service provider organised at the world famous Leander Rowing Club near its offices in Henley-on-Thames.

The three concurrent events were specifically focused on IT providers and according to Sean Dixon, former GB rower and sales manager at Fidelity, underlined the thirst for knowledge about comms opportunities from the IT channel.

"We expected to sign up half a dozen new partners but to achieve 20 was amazing," he said. "The feedback was incredibly positive with some directors saying it was the best partner day they had ever been to."

At each event Dixon and the Fidelity team outlined an array of opportunities in comms services based on Fidelity's revenue share business model. The main talking points included VoIP, Applification and M2M.

"A lot of the partners took a real interest in our M2M and applification opportunities," added Dixon.

"Our Smartway2 app was a concept that resonated well with them as they understood the efficiency and effectiveness of having a booking system for boardrooms."

The Fidelity Group has strong connections with the Leander Club with current GB rowers including Emma Spruce and former rowers Dixon and Dan Boddington all working at the company.

Guest speakers at the events included Matt Langridge who was part of the British eight that won a silver medal at Beijing and a bronze at the London Olympics in 2102. 

He described his adventures and the fundamentals of top class rowing that are transferrable to business and said he will hang up his oars after hopefully winning gold at the Rio Olympics.

Fidelity's Emma Spruce also gave guests a tour around the private and exclusive world class facilities Leander offers its elite rowers.

Pictured above are the Fidelity team and director guests in the Leander boathouse.

Arrow Business Communications has expanded into Scotland with the purchase of Aberdeen-based Orca Telecom, its sixth acquisition in five years.

The deal boosts Arrow's turnover to £26m and provides a strong foothold in the Scottish telecoms market. Orca's employees will remain with Arrow.

"We identified Orca as an ideal match for Arrow both in product range and location as we already have a number of customers in Aberdeen", said Chris Russell, MD at Arrow.

Wayne Mackay, Director at Orca Telecom, added: "We share the same suppliers and, more importantly, the same culture of providing a personal service to business customers."

New Daisy Group CEO Neil Muller is well on the way to completing his mammoth personal mission to speak to every employee working within his company in what he describes as 'pub speak' to help him establish a 'belief mechanism' within the rapidly expanding business.

Unveiling his comprehensive 'One Daisy development and growth' plan for the now £600m Group, recently enlarged by the £135m acquisition of Phoenix IT Group and its 2,000-plus employees, Muller said he wanted to share his and Chairman Matt Riley's ambitions with everyone working for Daisy.

"I have spoken face to face to 1,500 people already and I have about 2,500 to go," said Muller. "It's a long process but we're only as good as our people and our teamwork. There's no short-cut because it's extremely valuable.

"To get where we want to be, it's important for us all to feel a real sense of purpose, belonging and belief within the team. Yes we are a £600m business, but we are operating in a £10 billion addressable market so the growth potential is enormous. Fully engaged employees delivering unrivalled customer satisfaction is key to fulfilling our aims."

Muller, who ran Computacenter's UK business for the last four years, said those aims extended to further increasing Daisy's market share in the 10-500 seat SMB market by working in alignment and in support of indirect and channel partners; being a credible and alternative player in the 500-2,000 seat mid-market; and helping to serve the enterprise market with an indirect go-to-market strategy through System Integrators and large IT Infrastructure partners.

"In the mid-market space we want to be a credible alternative for customers looking to buy both unified business communications and IT infrastructure services from a single services provider," added Muller.

"To do this, being big enough to cope and small enough to care will be our mantra. Our key focus in the months ahead is to mature, integrate and deliver on our customer promises. Forty nine companies all brought together into 'One Daisy' will be a hugely valuable partner for our customers and partners."

Kaspersky Lab has named the winners of its first Security Startup Challenge and given awards to two European companies, from Slovakia and Germany.

Each team was awarded a share of $80,000 prize fund and the top winner was granted post-programme support.

The first prize of $50,000 has been rewarded to a Slovakia-based company Excalibur which provides authentication to any legacy system such as PC, Mac or webpage and therefore helps move away from passwords using as a security token.

German company Pipe was ranked second and awarded $20,000. The firm delivers a secure browser-to-browser file transfer services without a file size limit.

The Kapersky Lab's Security Startup Challenge (SSC) is a global programme run by the company together with Mangrove Capital Partners and the ABRT Venture Fund.

It includes a three month mentor driven scheme for 23 startup projects in cybersecurity and related areas such as fintech, healthcare, mobile, the Internet of Things and the cloud where the founders are provided with business, cybersecurity and cross-industry knowledge.

Under this programme, the startups participate and explore the recent trends, learn to create an action plan and develop their projects, how to attract the customers, improve products, collect market feedback data, analyse the competition and plan financing for their projects.

Additionally, they have an opportunity to work remotely and report on a regular weekly basis to the cybersecurity experts and startup mentors as well as their progress is being tracked by the experienced entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. There are also two bootcamps co-hosted at PwC in Luxembourg where the respective teams can share their experience and ideas with the peers.

"As the number and sophistication of cyber threats are evolving significantly from year to year, we decided to encourage young entrepreneurs from all over the world to build their own cybersecurity solutions or develop security features in their projects," said Eugene Kaspersky, chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab.

8x8 has expanded its presence in Asia Pacific and signed a new reseller agreement with ASX listed CSG, a business technology and communications solutions specialist.

As part of the agreement, CSG will serve as an 8x8 channel partner for Asia Pacific and resell the company's entire portfolio of enterprise cloud communications solutions to the Australian and New Zealand markets - including its Virtual Office and Virtual Contact Centre solutions.

CSG takes an integrated 'cloud-first' approach to help its customers maximise productivity and reduce costs.

As part of its 8x8 go-to-market strategy, CSG will launch a new service to onboard employees with a turnkey offering that bundles 8x8 cloud communications solutions with telephony hardware, a laptop, online file storage and back-up in a complete end user package supported by the company's national service team.

"Our partnership with CSG allows 8x8 to further extend its footprint and better serve our valued customers in Asia Pacific as part of our ongoing Global Reach strategy," said Vik Verma, 8x8 CEO.

"The growing demand for enterprise cloud communications in key international markets such as Australia and New Zealand has become critical for our customers. CSG has a valued reputation and broad footprint across Australia and New Zealand, enabling us to offer an enterprise cloud communications solution to a broader customer segment in one of the fastest growing technology hubs for enterprise communications."