Comms Dealer

Service provider Fidelity Group is claiming an industry first after announcing its first revenue share app for the channel alongside cloud-based meeting room management specialist Smartway2.

In an initiative described as ‘Applification of the Channel' Fidelity says it aims to help resellers make regular recurring profit from easy-to-use apps that simplify day-to-day business activities.

"This is a major stepping stone in the evolution of the channel into revenue share through apps and will be the first of a series we are launching this year as part of our Applification strategy," said Fidelity managing director Alan Shraga.

Fidelity has now embarked on a reseller recruitment drive for Smartway2's meeting room management SaaS solution which, according to founders Nigel Reading and Martin Hiles can be installed and working within minutes.

The pair previously established BusinessSolve, the Workspace Manager scheduling solution.

Smartway2 responds to the latest developments in cloud computing and mobile device technology, enabling today's always-connected professionals to book onsite resources wherever they are, whenever it is convenient," said Hiles.

As well as booking resources through on-premise touchscreen panels and mobile devices, Smartway2 is fully integrated with Microsoft Apps for Office as well as Google applications, including maps and language translation functionality.

A phased roll-out will initially target resellers addressing the SME market, but Smartway2's scalable architecture
will also be available for multinational and enterprise sized organisations.

"Smartway2 is cost-effective and offers a flexible and scalable licensing model," said Reading.

"Available via a SaaS subscription model, it reduces real estate costs, energy consumption and carbon footprints, and offers resellers valuable recurring revenue opportunities."

A rising tide of mobile workers plays into the hands of Smartway2 resellers, claimed Reading. "When mobile workers need to meet with their partners or customers, it is essential the right collaboration resources are available on the day, without fuss," he added. "Therefore, there's even greater demand now from companies for resource scheduling solutions.

"With Smartway2, we have created a solution based around how people work and the tools and applications they use daily, adding extra value and increased functionality to the conventional resource scheduling process."

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ITS Technology Group (ITS) has acquired the assets of broadband firm Konek-T (which appointed administrators last month), including broadband networks and contracts to provide broadband services to rural communities across South Wales.

This is the fourth acquisition ITS has made in the last 12 months which included Xwavia also based in Wales.

Roy Shelton, Group CEO at ITS, said: "ITS delivers connectivity to digitally deprived areas across the UK, and the addition of this network adds value to this proposition.

"ITS already has a footprint in Llancarfan, so these assets will extend our reach in this area.

"As a result, ITS will be able to offer access to more business and residential customers that have been struggling with inadequate broadband speeds, as well as allowing us to focus on wholesale access to our partners."

ITS is now planning a complete upgrade of the network to make sure it is capable of sustaining a reliable broadband service to its existing customers who will not be charged for their services while this work is carried out.

"Once this phase is complete, ITS will also be offering further services including VoIP and IT support services to businesses in the area across a shared network.

A new report, European Cloud & Hosting Providers, the Top 250 2015, produced by IT Europa shows a steadily growing business, with much of the growth coming through the independent companies rather than larger publicly-listed firms.

The total revenues for companies in the report rose by just 1.5% in 2014 over the previous year, but reached €92bn in Europe.

The top application and solution areas being hosted were Software as a Service (SaaS) (54% of companies), security (50%), web hosting (45.6%), networks (42.4%), Data Centre Space Rental/Co-location (32%), email hosting (30.8%), Server Rental/Virtual/Dedicated Servers (27.2%), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) (26.8%), Platform as a Service (PaaS) (25.6%).

The high figures for security are to be expected given the rapid developments in this area. Platform as a Service (PaaS) was surprisingly strong at 25.6%; telephony/VoIP/Voice at 25.2% is expected to evolve further as unified communications continues to grow, comments IT Europa's news team.

The big firms stayed at the top, with IBM Global Services EMEA, Capgemini SA, Microsoft EMEA, HP Enterprise Services EMEA and BT Global Services staying ahead of global leader AWS in Europe.

Of the 250 companies profiled, there were 177 Independent companies, 52 Subsidiaries, 17 Public companies (traded on stock exchanges) and four parent companies.

The best performers were the Independents with revenues increase of 8% between 2013 and 2014.

Companies from 24 European countries were included in the report, with the largest geographic markets covered in terms of companies profiled being: UK (143 companies), Germany (23), Netherlands (18) and France (12). The largest geographic markets in terms of revenue are UK ($33.79bn), France ($30.06bn).

Streaming and audio visual company Sharpstream has upgraded to a triple site infrastructure with C4L to provide 'bullet-proof' streaming services for radio and TV broadcasters globally.

Sharpstream customers including the Premier League and the Ministry of Sound use multiple infrastructure connections supplied by C4L.

Network consultancy from senior Network engineers at C4L has led to the design of a new BGP topology including provision of new Juniper routers as a rented offering. As well as further improving resiliency, the principle reason for the upgrade was to gain more control of their routing strategy, and supply Sharpstream with even more traffic management.

By managing their own core services using coreTX - Sharpstream now has more flexibility to offer to its customers. They can now build core streaming environments on the fly to suit a variety of different applications, due to the careful planning before the roll out.

Additional Tier 1 transit options give Sharpstream the confidence and scale to further develop their International offering while also giving them an easy upgrade path should they wish to add more POPs - nationally and internationally.

Claire Osmond, Account Director at C4L, said: "Sharpstream has been a loyal C4L customer for five years, using C4L's infrastructure to host and deliver a lot of the streaming content, required in live time for some huge names in the media industry."

BT Wholesale has agreed a four year contract with Yealink UK to supply SIP handsets through the BT Wholesale Centrex hosted service.
 
The agreement sees Yealink becoming an approved manufacturer to supply BT Wholesale and covers the company's SIP-T41P, SIP-T46G, SIP-T48G SIP handsets and W52P SIP DECT model.
 
Marc Timmermans, Director of products for Hosted Communication services at BT Wholesale, commented: "This was a complex tender which assessed a number of technical, performance and stylistic measures.
 
"Yealink demonstrated reliability, functionality, aesthetic design and close and proven integration with Broadsoft. These handsets will become an integral element of our Hosted IP Centrex offer."
 
Yealink UK's GM Steve Watts said: "The contract is set to deliver significant sales volumes and further raise the profile of the Yealink brand in the UK."

In the UK Yealink has secured year-on-year growth of 50% since the turn of the decade.
 
 

A seven strong team of hikers from Manchester-based Invosys have completed the Cheshire 3-peaks Challenge in aid of Francis House Children's Charity, which provides comfort, rest and fun for children and young adults with life threatening conditions (and their families).

Invosys' Stephanie Warwick helped organise the event. She said: "The Cheshire 3-Peaks Challenge was a one of the toughest things we have ever done but it was great to pull together as a team for this fantastic charity.

"It's a key part of our ethos at Invosys to give something back to the community where we live and work, and we are delighted to be working with Francis House this year."

Abzorb has reached a call ticket milestone having completed its one millionth request for service and support.

Generally referred to as tickets or tasks, the types of queries handled by Abzorb includes requests for action such as tariff changes, equipment orders, account reviews, trouble shooting and barring or unbarring of calls.

On average, the Customer Care team handles 200 queries a day and 3,300 tasks are completed month.

"In a highly competitive industry, the service to our customers is vital to attract new and retain business," said Steven Hargreaves, Head of Operations at Abzorb.

'We set stringent Service Level Agreements because our customers expect the very best. Every task is given an expected Service Level giving customers a clear timescale for the resolution of any problem.

"Our teams work tirelessly to ensure we meet and exceed our customers' expectations. We are also continually reviewing processes and investing in key areas of the business including personnel and infrastructures which enable us to deliver exceptional service and promote growth."

Abzorb provides UC services direct to B2B as well as through its network of over 300 reseller partners.

Mitel has appointed Jane Brett as Head of Contact Centre Sales in EMEA. She brings over 18 years experience in contact centres working with Fortune 500/FTSE 250 companies worldwide.

The appointment follows a retooling of Mitel's contact centre portfolio designed to meet growing demand for mobile, cloud and multimedia capabilities.

Brett commented: "Businesses should not be prevented from achieving their customer loyalty aspirations by being shackled with legacy systems or the high cost to serve. Complacency should not be tolerated and Mitel continues to deliver against contemporary contact centre demands."

Graham Bevington, Chief Sales Officer, Mitel, added: "Jane brings to Mitel a wealth of experience and knowledge specifically around enhancing the customer journey. The contact centre market for Mitel continues to be an important growth area. With the appointment of Jane and the ongoing enhancements to the MiContact Center portfolio, Mitel is well positioned for growth in the EMEA contact centre market."

NuoDB, a specialist in scale-out SQL database technology for global operations, has opened its EMEA development centre in Dublin, Ireland and also has a new office in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

This software development centre will also provide support services to its existing customer-base and be the hub for other NuoDB employees in the Netherlands, Italy, Bulgaria and Belarus. The centre will be led by EMEA Engineering Director Martin Gallwey. Prior to joining NuoDB, Gallwey led back-end development at Corvil.

The five-year old NuoDB is expanding rapidly to keep pace with the growing demand for its database management system, it says. With the explosion of global applications and real-time mobile transaction needs, more and more companies are adopting NuoDB's database to run their businesses and solve data residency challenges.

Over the next three years, NuoDB plans to recruit several dozen engineers and tech support professionals in Europe, including 50 in Dublin and 20 in Belfast. Earlier this year, NuoDB opened its EMEA headquarters near London as part of its international expansion strategy.

SCC's move towards managed services is reflected in its financial results for year ending March 2015, reporting a 22% hike in services revenue to £159m, accounting for 24% of the IT firm's total income.

The combined UK operations saw revenues of £662m, down 13.3%. Gross profit rose 15% and the margin rate increased 3.7% in the year to 15.5%.

James Rigby, Chief Executive, said: "The numbers reflect improvements in the quality of our traditional reselling operation.

"We will always be in that business, but we're moving to managed services and have spent £50m on data centres.

"Our absolute preference is to cover all our overheads on services. Any product we sell is icing on the cake.

"We still lack a voice business. We have the desktop, data centre and the network, the last gap we need to plug is voice, unified comms and VoIP. We will acquire in that area."