Comms Dealer

A charity golf event hosted by Sennheiser in aid of the Caron Keating Foundation raised £15,000, taking the total amount raised by the company in support of cancer charities to over £500k.

Sennheiser's 20th annual charity staged at Bearwood Lakes Golf Club in Berkshire saw 80 golfers engage in friendly competition, over 90-plus attended dinner and a charity auction with entertainment supplied by Russ Williams.

Paul Whiting, President, Strategic Collaborations at Sennheiser, said: "The range of entertainment provided throughout the day was first class, as was the generosity of everyone who took part. It was a sterling effort to raise money for a very good cause and a great way to mark the 20th anniversary of this annual event."

Members of Unify's senior management team flew in from across Europe to update a full house of resellers attending a 'masterclass' event staged by Nimans at the Oxford Belfry Hotel.

The technical-focused event highlighted the manufacturer's roadmap and latest technology developments and was the brainchild of Nimans' Unify Solutions Manager Jed Brewis, providing engineers, technical managers and technical directors with a broad overview of Unify's' latest plans.

"A number of attendees have been involved with Unify for over 20 years and they place great value and endeavour into these collaborative events from senior Nimans and Unify partners," said John McKindland Head of System Sales at Nimans.

"Jed used his personal contacts within Unify in Germany to secure high level support from their technical community.

"Several high powered members of Unify's management team travelled from as far as Zurich and Munich, such was their desire to take part - while others joined via video link."

Unify's Matthias Mueller, VP, Channel Services EMEA-R, stated: "This type of workshop builds relationships and supports partner success.

"Unify has made a significant investment in the channel, putting the right resources in place to support our partner community."

Huawei Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO Ken Hu has called for deeper and more rapid innovation to develop 5G technology as virtual reality and other applications create the need for greater network bandwidth.

In a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, Hu said that 5G development has entered a critical phase, and that accelerating its development requires technological innovation, cross-industry collaboration, and additional spectrum resources.

"In the 5G era, virtual reality and immersive experiences will become key applications," Hu said. "We must increase investment in new technologies, especially air interface and network architecture. We're confident that our new air interface technology can at least triple spectrum efficiency without the need for new antennas or new sites."

Hu said the telecom industry has yet to establish close collaboration with other industries. He noted that each industry will have different needs, and that if 5G is to be widely adopted across verticals, its technologies and standards will have to satisfy those diverse needs.

"We hope to establish formal platforms for cross-industry collaboration to explore future needs, application scenarios, and technical standards for 5G. Technology providers, network operators, and other industries should work together to roll out industry-specific 5G demo networks."

Hu also said that like transportation network and power grids, 5G will become a critical piece of infrastructure in the future.

In the 5G era, operators will need many more spectrum resources. He expressed hope that governments and regulators can quickly develop more forward-looking policies on spectrum allocation.

"We hope that key stakeholders can reach a consensus on 5G spectrum as soon as possible and identify at least 500 MHz of sub-6 GHz spectrum for 5G, thus creating the right conditions for 5G's development globally," Hu said.

The latest stage in Ofcom's strategic review of digital communications, published today, shows it's listening to the industry's concerns but the big question about BT-Openreach separation has been somewhat dampened by the potential impact of OTT players, according to Matthew Howett, Practice Leader, Regulation at Ovum.

"Leading up to its publication, BT and its rivals had been engaged in a bitter war of words in relation to where Ofcom should focus its priorities.

"Rivals to BT believe the incumbent should be further split up and the access division, Openreach, hived off. BT responded calling for PayTV to be in the spotlight. Both of these have made it into the discussion document, however neither should probably be the focus."

The strategic review seeks to ensure that the industry continues to meet the needs of end users. The last such review, a decade ago, lasted almost two years and ultimately led to the separation of BT's access network.

"This review is unlikely to result in a further separation of the incumbent," added Howett.

"While Ofcom recognises there are challenges with Openreach, in particular in relation to service quality, it heavily suggests that further separation will not address these, and could ultimately be disproportionate. That's not to say that tweaks to the Openreach model aren't likely.

"What this review really does is present an opportunity for the regulator to properly consider the impact competing services coming from so called OTT players are having on the sector, and whether this impact warrants further deregulation of the traditional communications markets.

"As new, more nimble players such as Skype and WhatsApp have arrived on the scene and competed away traditional telco revenues, regulators have been somewhat constrained in their ability to react, and certainly have not responded in the way telcos might have liked.

"This is where Ofcom's focus ought to be, and could even be an area where BT and its rivals find mutual agreement."

Identity and access management (IAM) company SailPoint is to acquire Whitebox Security, a provider of data access governance solutions that identify and protect sensitive data against internal and external threats.

The Whitebox Security suite of solutions will continue to be available from SailPoint and will be rebranded as SecurityIQ.

By combining SailPoint's governance-based approach to IAM with Whitebox Security's ability to collect and analyse data, SecurityIQ will provide visibility and control into 'who has access to what' in unstructured data resources.

"Unstructured data is the next frontier in the IAM space, and it's a growing concern for our customers," said Kevin Cunningham, president and founder of SailPoint.

"By bringing data governance under the scope of IAM, organisations can now manage access to unstructured data in the same way as access to applications and systems.

"Our acquisition of Whitebox Security's expertise and technology allows SailPoint to link identity-centric and data-centric views within the IT infrastructure in powerful ways for our customers."

M-Files, a provider of solutions that improve how enterprises manage documents and other information, has opened a UK office in Reading, Berkshire.

The new office, along with increased investment in personnel and marketing, is part of the company's plan to increase its presence in the region.

The expansion comes as an increasing number of UK businesses are realising that information management is a strategic priority, and it is driving them to eliminate manual processes and replace existing document management systems that have proven to be complex and difficult to use.

Common requirements include the need to transition away from the use of unmanaged network file folders, and getting control of personal and less secure file sync and sharing apps for managing business content.

Companies are turning to enterprise information management solutions such as M-Files to eliminate content chaos and information silos while enabling fast and easy access to the right documents and other information from any core business system and device.

"The IT-savvy UK document management market is growing quickly because organisations of all sizes and across a wide array of industries are looking for easy-to-use and secure alternatives for managing their information assets," said Julian Cook, Director of UK Business Development at M-Files.

Olive Communications has picked up Vodafone UK's Platinum Partner of the Year award at the operator's Fifth Annual Partner Conference held at St Johns in Solihull (9th July).

The award win follows a joint initiative established in 2014 which gave Olive full access to the Vodafone UK portfolio of products and services across mobile, fixed telephony, data and cloud-based applications and services.

Olive CEO Martin Flick said: "The way people communicate and share information is being revolutionised, and Vodafone and Olive are able to help customers maximise the benefits of this technological advancement for maximum advantage.

"The pace of change is accelerating and by integrating communications, UK plc can derive significant advantage from our combined offering, improving productivity, flexible working, and workforce efficiency."

Nick Birtwistle, Director of Partnerships and Alliances at Vodafone UK, added: "Olive has a strategy that is aligned to Vodafone's and has demonstrated that it can deliver our portfolio in close proximity to customer need, with solutions more valuable than the sum of the parts.

"This award recognises Olive as being one of the leaders in our indirect space."

Business leaders unable to contain and manage the burgeoning mobility trend occurring under their noses are certain to welcome an initiative launched by Exclusive Networks UK, according to its Country Manager Graham Jones (pictured).

"With as many as 82% of employees now using multiple mobile applications for work purposes the enterprise IT environment continues to grow. With that comes a wide range of challenges," he stated.

"Coupled with the explosion of Shadow IT - systems, software and other technologies installed without IT approval - these trends are putting organisations on the back foot."

In a move to put control back into the hands of businesses Exclusive Networks UK has introduced Disruptive Enterprise Mobility, a new framework that enables resellers to work more effectively with their customers on creating tailored mobility strategies.

"The scheme brings together a range of complementary vendor technologies which, when combined, allow IT teams to address challenges posed by the five core pillars of enterprise mobility - connectivity, user, devices, application and data," added Jones.

"With this initiative we are adding value by giving our resellers the tools to help their customers create a secure, scalable and flexible environment in which they can embrace change.

"This, in turn, will help resellers expand their mobility offering and increase margin potential."

Participants in the initiative include Aerohive, Aruba Networks, Druva, Elastica, FireEye, Fortinet, Lookout, MobileIron, Netskope, Palo Alto, SafeNet and SecureAuth.

Disruptive Enterprise Mobility will be launched to channel partners with a set of sales and marketing tools including information sheets, an email campaign, an infographic and a video.

Scottish network infrastructure specialist Xtreme Business Solutions has invested £50k in technical equipment as part of its growth strategy.
 
The Westhill-based firm, which also has offices in Dalgety Bay, has purchased the latest generation of fusion splicers and optical domain reflectometers (OTDRs). 

The new kit reflects the rise in use of fibre optic cables to transmit communications data and comes as the firm increases its workforce with the addition of eight new engineers. 

Fusion splicers are used to join fibres together using heat, while OTDRs test the integrity of fibre optic cables, ensuring they are fit for purpose. 

Xtreme was assisted in purchasing the equipment with a grant from Scottish Enterprise.
 
Xtreme designs, supplies and installs a range of IT solutions for companies across Scotland, and now increasingly overseas. 

Over the past 12 years it has expanded its customer base and the type of projects undertaken. This has involved some of its fibre and data engineers gaining their BOSIET and MIST qualifications, enabling Xtreme to undertake network cabling work on offshore installations.
 
International expansion is forming a key part of the business as it looks to boost turnover to £4m in the current financial year, and double this by 2020. 

The company was recently selected as one of three Scottish SMEs to represent the country on a trade mission to Dubai.
 
MD Graeme Duncan (pictured) said: "Increasing the number of fusion splicers and OTDRs we have allows our staff to travel further and for longer periods without the need to relocate kit to other projects. 

"This greater flexibility will be crucial for us going forward.  The investment has been very timely, as in recent weeks we have increased our workforce due to recent contract awards.
 
"Over the coming years we will be looking to substantially grow the amount of work we do overseas. 

"Xtreme has picked up a number of jobs in Europe recently, and we are looking to build on our recent work in America. 

"Our participation in the recent trade mission to Dubai generated some positive and exciting discussions for projects in the region."

Nimans is beating the drum about an 'advanced' radio system from ICOM that operates over WLAN and IP networks and can connect sites thousands of miles apart.

"The IP100H solution is easy for resellers to set-up and can accommodate up to 100 users at the same time with no licence fees or call charges involved," enthused Nimans' Head of Dealer Sales Tom Maxwell.

"The talk range is only restricted by a site's network coverage while encryption provides extra security. Full duplex hands-free communication is possible when an optional headset is used."

The system is suitable for hotels, warehouses, hospitals, restaurants and supermarkets, and dovetails into Nimans' WLAN portfolio.

"The ICOM system is a modern take on traditional two-way radios," added Maxwell.

"By deploying access points users can communicate all the way from a basement to the top floor.

"Talk range is only restricted by a site's IP network coverage which can potentially be much greater than a standard solution especially if connected over a VPN - even sites thousands of miles apart."