Comms Dealer

European telecoms operators could realise 39 billion euro by re-imagining the network, claims a study by Arthur D. Little and Bell Labs which states that NFV and SDN are a strategic opportunity and a necessity for the telecoms industry.

The study, titled 'Reshaping the future with NFV and SDN', predicts that the shift to becoming a cloud carrier has the potential to significantly redefine how the industry competes in the cloud era.

The report says that for the last 20 years, IP modernisation in carrier networks has been restrained by the need to accommodate legacy network functions and disparate management systems.

By first consolidating network functionality and eliminating outdated hardware, telecoms operators will realise the systemic gains from full IP transformation and modernised operations.

The report findings show that the efficiency impact of onboarding NFV and SDN for these operators could be worth 14 billion euros per year in the network domain alone, which will be augmented by a further 25 billion euros per year in non-network operating costs through greater automation and simplification of business processes.

Jesús Portal, Partner at Arthur D. Little, said: "The time is now for Europe's telecoms industry to bring networking into the cloud era. It will not be trivial to execute programmability and automation at the scale required for success, but the prize is significant."

Bringing the supply chain together under one umbrella including the end user was the rationale behind Panasonic's new B2B Partner Portal, according to Valerie Poret, Panasonic European Channel Manager.

"The Partner Portal is about closing the gap between Panasonic, our channel partners and the end user," she said.

"Clients have access to resources that enable them to maximise potential sales and achieve higher levels of service.

"The portal covers more products and make it easier for distributors and resellers to access customer facing information and register new business."

The web-based service is open to users across the company's Visual Systems and Communications divisions Europe-wide, and will be expanded to other business divisions later this year.

Those who sign up for the scheme gain access to product information, sales news and business incentives, with rewards scaled according to the level of partnership - Registered, Expert or Solutions - depending on the user's level of training and sales volume.

High level partners will also benefit from end user business lead allocation.

The Partner Portal also offers an online training programme and provides instant answers to product related questions.

"Depending on products, partners can find easy tools to support their daily business, such as eConfig which helps comms specialists to build their customer offer and select, at a glance, the system matching end user requirements," added Poret.

"For visual technologies, AV rental companies have access to a community platform allowing them to share information about their fleet of products available for cross-rental."

Farnham-based Opus Team has swiftly secured a greater portion of the market having wrapped up a round of acquisitions.

The comms firm has secured the customer bases of Phipps Communications and BTNS and significantly advanced its strategy to double revenues over the next two years.

MD Mark Castle (pictured) said: "Our strategy is to grow the business by selecting small companies or sole traders that have a similar offering to our products and services, but are at a size whereby the owners' responsibilities become too great to manage or have been affected by competitive pressures.

"The customers we bring to Opus Team gain access to a wider range of services such as Internet connectivity, mobile, IT and cyber security solutions."

Andy Phipps, owner of Phipps Communications, commented: "Mark and his team enabled me to pass my business comfortably over to Opus Team, knowing that my customers would be looked after with the highest regard and care during the transition."

Opus Team currently employs over 25 staff and is preparing to recruit more product specialists and installers.

C4L is bringing business grade connectivity to Bournemouth having commenced local fibre digging to install a high capacity fibre network across the town, which was named the fastest growing Digital economy in the UK.

Matt Hawkins, Chairman and founder, said: "Bournemouth competes globally so deserves to have the best chance of continued success with business grade connectivity.

"Installing superfast fibre in Bournemouth has always been a dream of mine. I can see how it will accelerate the town even further. With government Connection Vouchers of up to £3,000 being eligible in the area, there is nothing to stop businesses improving the platform they trade from."

Timico has snapped up IT managed services provider Wirebird, a privately held company established in 1998 and Timico's eighth acquisition in 11 years.

The services offered by Wirebird include managed hosting, infrastructure projects and IT transformation programmes in both on-premise and cloud environments.

Timico CEO Tim Radford said: "We have worked together as partners for some time and Wirebird's expertise in fully managed and outsourced IT solutions complements the Internet, hosting and communication services we supply.

"As well as having all the right technical credentials, they are a great team of people to do business with."

Wirebird employs over 50 staff across its central London base, its Reading sales, marketing and finance office, and support operation in Auckland, New Zealand.

Wirebird's CEO Malcolm Gardiner will continue to run the company under the Wirebird brand as an independent subsidiary of Timico.

He said: "This as a positive step in the growth and development of Wirebird, and we are also excited about giving our clients access to a wider range of services in the future."

IT departments today are twice as likely to focus on cost reduction and technological support of employees as they are on those things that can grow the top line.

Although a more strategically focused IT department is expected to emerge over the next five years, a more substantive shift is needed to fuel the innovation agenda.

That's according to research commissioned by Claranet that surveyed 900 IT decision makers from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the Benelux.

The primary functions of the IT department are considered to be data security (56 per cent), technological support of employees (38 per cent) and cost reduction (34 per cent).

However, just 16 per cent felt that making the business more competitive was a core function, while only 14 per cent identified increasing customer loyalty*.

According to Claranet, the results confirm that the average European IT department is some way off from arriving at Gartner's third era of enterprise IT, 'digitalisation' whereby the IT department continually provides new opportunities for growth, innovation and market differentiation.

Claranet's UK Managing Director, Michel Robert, said: "Increasingly, business success rests on the IT department's ability to develop applications and IT systems that deliver ROI by being agile and flexible enough to support new ways of doing business.

"But it's clear from the research that the average IT department is still more likely to be seen as a cost centre rather than as an enabler of business transformation and differentiation.

"While the research found that the IT department will become more strategic over the next five years, focusing more on expanding into new markets and executing new business models*, the era of 'digitalisation' will remain some way off for the majority.

"The role of IT services providers in facilitating the shift from keeping the lights on to business enablement cannot be understated.

"In today's economic climate, it makes absolute sense for existing IT staff to focus on higher value strategic work, while transferring the day-to-day management of IT infrastructure to a trusted partner who can provide higher levels of service through economies of scale and skill and deliver cost reductions as a result."

Vodafone's results for the year ended 31st March 2015 showed group revenue up 10.1% to £42.2 billion, with a return to growth in Q4.

Professor Mark Skilton of Warwick Business School commented: "The results are encouraging as the mobile industry becomes ever more indispensable infrastructure for data and voice traffic services.

"All the mobile operators are reporting 'caution' as the adoption rate of 4G is still low - 14% for Vodafone - but it is a big opportunity as customers will migrate to these new standards if the network speeds and coverage are there.

"The focus on 'quad play' is common for many telecoms players as they seek to increase revenue from existing customers buying more services across multiple channels of broadband, mobile, voice, and content services.

"This is a rich area for pricing and margin improvement in a cut-throat market where operators are desperately trying to find anything that helps create a 'sticky service' to retain and increase revenue share per customer.

"The challenge for telecoms operators is running their business in a quad play market, which is highly acquisitive.

"Firms are competing mainly through acquisition in countries as well as addressing complex internal integration of services into a new bundled multi-play digital platform. This is a big growth area for telecoms operators and investors are excited by this."

A free offer could jolt SIP adoption into a phase of unprecedented growth according to TalkTalk Business Managing Director Charles Bligh, who says the days of sluggish uptake will soon be long gone following the operator's acquisition of tIPicall and its subsequent launch of free wholesale SIP to the channel.

From the moment when partners expressed an appetite for SIP trunking, the invitation was there for TalkTalk Business to give them what they want. It has done just that, and more, with a clear commitment to 'get serious about SIP' and address the pressing question. Bligh noted: "Discussions with partners during the last 18 months about the evolution of our data products always led to the big question - 'when are we are introducing wholesale SIP trunking?'. With our products now mature and going well, fulfilling the SIP requirement became a case of sooner rather than later."

TalkTalk Business has been busy building out its wholesale data proposition for five years. First selling broadband, then Ethernet, EFM, EAD and FTTC. During this period the network operator developed strong credentials based on its robust and far reaching network across 3,000 exchanges. Perhaps not surprisingly, voice over data was the next logical step, and being able to break his silence on the matter did not come a day too soon for Bligh. "I've been looking forward to this for months," he added. "Notably, we are already a key SIP provider, carrying over 16 billion SIP minutes per annum and we have won awards for SIP connectivity over data. But our activity was primarily market-led and in the high end Ethernet space, rather than a wholesale variant. That's been missing until now. This is a full scale channel play."

The acquisition brings the full complement of wholesale SIP trunking, including portals and value propositions such as fraud management and DR, all with scalability. Bligh is 'going after' BT and Gamma plus other rival providers, and doing it in a disruptive way, offering free SIP trunking to partners who buy connectivity from TalkTalk Business. Nor is that all. The network operator has also lowered the cost of voice termination, and according to Bligh the end-to-end product could land partners between 20-30 per cent savings. He noted that SIP trunks will also be sold off-net. While not free, off-net SIP comes with a 'very disruptive price', according to Bligh.

While rivals may gulp at the prospect, TalkTalk Business is busy advancing its 'one throat to choke' strategy and aims to attract hundreds of new partners in an all-out push to achieve dominance. The move may prove to be a masterstroke of titanic proportions, believes Bligh, who hopes to onboard hundreds of new partners with a channel campaign that promotes TalkTalk as a one-stop-shop that offers a single point of contact with account managers able to handle both voice and data queries, reducing complexity and simplifying processes.

This is also a straightforward advance on the more complex bundles offered by rivals, claimed Bligh, who said TalkTalk Business' radical approach to wholesale SIP trunking is a 'charter for simplicity and commercial empowerment', first proposed last summer and now increasing the profitability of partners. It was in July last year that TalkTalk Business decided to add wholesale SIP to its portfolio, and sitting on the idea was not an option.

"We acted quickly to assess the players in the market with the potential for wholesale SIP trunking, both small and large companies," explained Bligh. "tIPicall was building a platform that could scale substantially, and a key point of discussion with its Chairman Neil Linter and the management team was that we could take their aspiration and scale it beyond their wildest dreams. It's one thing to have thousands of SIP trunks, but it's another to have hundreds of thousands."

As for Bligh, he says the wind is changing across SIP territory and a joint approach with tIPicall will bring an audible cheer from Land's End to John O' Groats as partners catalyse the uptake of SIP services. This comes at a time when analysts point to 30-50 per cent increases in uptake every year, but down on reality street the UK is lagging. "Doubts about the technology persist despite its proven success," commented Bligh. "However, the launch of wholesale SIP over the TalkTalk Business network will create confidence in the channel and remove those barriers to adoption.

"There has also been a perception that SIP is too expensive, hard to do and involves various suppliers. But our wholesale SIP is on-net and priced to disrupt the market. We are entering this space in a big way and have dropped the price to make SIP more profitable for partners. This is the ultimate statement on our channel commitment. This is all about the channel and expanding the marketplace."

Flexibility is also at the heart of TalkTalk's new offering, with partners able to scale contracts up or down on a monthly basis without committing to a minimum term. This bout of initiatives is touted as a 'game changer', and Bligh says it's up to rivals how they respond. "Some do bundles, but we are taking a far simpler approach," he explained.

"Our SIP trunks are free. This is quality data at great prices, with voice termination also at a great price. When you add it all together we're not just disrupting the market, we are also changing the game. We're changing the nature of the discussion with partners. This is a huge opportunity for them to maximise their revenue potential, especially as the switch-off of traditional voice in 2025 approaches, while ensuring an enhanced experience for their own customers."

What is not so clear for the moment is how TalkTalk Business will use tIPicall's hosted telephony solution called OnePBX, and its sister project MobiPBX, which offers hosted seats as a mobile application. Both were launched to the channel in July 2013. "TalkTalk Business will continue to resell and support these solutions," commented Bligh. "And this year we will determine how we move forward with them."

The running message for now is that SIP requires robust and reliable connectivity, and with TalkTalk Business SIP's free. But free does not mean low value. "We are sharply focused on value adds like fraud protection and DR," added Bligh. "We are maintaining tIPicall's purpose-built provisioning, management and support portals, its 24/7 support across voice and data, and dedicated sales and operational training, testing and on-boarding.

"The tIPicall team have done a wonderful job building the business and the brand. The more we got to know them - their approach, skills, the scalability and quality of their asset - the fit with TalkTalk Business became crystal clear. This is why we say our wholesale SIP is 'powered by tIPicall'. The name has risen to prominence over the last two years."

tIPicall was established seven years ago as a project to build a wholly owned UK SIP platform. In 2010 the company negotiated a relationship with Tata to exclusively provide its SIP capability to switchless resellers. Since then the company grew to become one of the main SIP and hosted providers.

TalkTalk Business completed its acquisition of tIPicall in April for an undisclosed sum. tIPicall's senior management now form the core team driving the new SIP trunking business within TalkTalk and are now based in the operator's Farringdon office. "This is our first acquisition in three years, and we are very much in top gear with our new capability," commented Bligh. "We'll let our partners do the talking over the coming months."

TalkTalk Business is on a mission to shake-up the wholesale SIP market with a free offer following the acquisition of SIP and hosted carrier tIPicall. TalkTalk Business MD Charles Bligh (pictured) says the new proposition is the 'ultimate statement' on channel commitment, offering partners free SIP, disruptive voice rates and competitive connectivity pricing.

"We're not just disrupting the wholesale SIP market, we're changing the game," he said.

Bligh hopes to onboard hundreds of new partners in a market assault that also includes lower voice termination charges. According to Bligh the end-to-end product could land partners between 20%-30% savings.

"Voice over data is the next logical step for TalkTalk Business," he added.
"We are combining what tIPicall does very well with our data and SIP integration."

As well as wholesale SIP and a highly scalable platform, the acquisition brings value propositions such as fraud management and DR, all free.

tIPicall's MD Guy Miller has been appointed Director of Next Generation Voice Services at TalkTalk Business.

He said: "Our passion for innovation and TalkTalk's reliable network will create a springboard for partners looking to access the full connectivity portfolio while leveraging the underlying cost base and scale for SIP services."

Bligh added: "The tIPicall team have done a wonderful job building a platform that scales substantially. It's one thing to have thousands of SIP trunks, but it's another to have hundreds of thousands."

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Exertis has acquired Computers Unlimited, which supplies a range of third party branded software, IT hardware and consumer electronics products to over 2,000 partners in the UK and Europe.

The business employs 200 people and operates from offices in London, Paris and Barcelona.

The acquisition brings new product categories and specialisms to the Exertis portfolio, with a range of products sourced from 70-plus manufacturers including Apple.

Exertis Group MD Niall Ennis said: "We will extend the reach of Computers Unlimited to the multiple retail channels that Exertis supports in the UK and France. 

"This acquisition also extends the Exertis footprint into the Spanish retail sector where Computers Unlimited has a growing presence.

"We see significant opportunities to expand the reach of the brands currently working with Computers Unlimited into the Exertis operations in the Nordics and the Middle East."

James Sanson, Chairman and CEO of Computers Unlimited, said: "The opportunity to combine Computers Unlimited's brand and channel building talents with Exertis' retail, logistics and geographic strengths is compelling."

Exertis partners with 350 global technology brands and over 14,000 resellers, e-commerce operators and retailers across Europe. 

In its most recent financial year to 31st March 2014 Exertis reported £2.3bn turnover and 22.4% growth.