Comms Dealer

Europe is expected to blaze a trail for telco spending in the next few years according to market research firm Infonetics Research. Software-defined networks (SDNs) and network functions virtualisation (NFV) have the attention of nearly all service providers who are on the long road to widespread deployments, it says.

"Expect a slowdown in the Americas, but for a change, Europe will be in the telecom capex driver's seat this year," says Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research.

"We're forecasting global carrier capex to rise 4%, with EMEA as the growth engine despite unabated low-single-digit revenue declines all across Europe. After waiting for so many years to upgrade their networks, Europe's 'Big 5'-Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, and Vodafone-have decided it's time to take the plunge."

Co-author of the report Matthias Machowinski, Infonetics' directing analyst for enterprise networks, added: "Economic expansion in mature economies and falling unemployment in Europe is driving stronger growth in enterprise telecom and datacom expenditures this year. We expect the network infrastructure segment to be the main beneficiary of growing investments, followed by security. The communication segment will likely have another challenging year, as companies evaluate their deployment strategy going forward."

Mobile service revenue remains the main telecom/datacom growth engine worldwide, led by the rise of mobile broadband. And, to avoid falling into the role of pipe provider, many service providers are deploying or weighing new architectural options such as caching/content delivery networks, next-gen central offices, distributed mini data centres, and video optimisation

Tech Data Europe has extended its distribution agreement with Symantec to offer its full portfolio in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Under the extended agreement customers will be able to access the Symantec's full range of security, information and availability solutions. Prior to the extension, Tech Data had access only to the Symantec's enterprise availability solutions in the UK and the Netherlands.

The new deal aims at all customers, from small home users to large enterprises, it says. This includes retailers and webstores as well as systems integrators and value-added resellers (VARs), which are offered an expertise of Tech data's enterprise business unit Azlan.

Mitel has delivered a virtual contact centre solution to South Lakeland and Eden district councils in Cumbria, enabling home-based agents to integrate seamlessly into the contact centre and supervisors to manage and monitor operations from any location.

Implemented by Gateshead-based IT Professional Services, MiContact Centre for Lync from Mitel integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Lync to deliver advanced contact centre applications for the district councils' 25 customer service agents, all in a familiar, easy-to-use Microsoft Office interface.

Features including presence-aware telephony, conferencing and messaging have improved the contact centre experience for customers, as Caroline Metcalfe, Contact Centre Team Leader at South Lakeland's site in Kendal, explained: "The Mitel solution has had a positive impact on the quality of service and has been very well received by customers using our contact centre.

"We can provide much richer information to callers and the ease of transferring interactions and collaborating with knowledge workers throughout the council has increased first call resolution rates and reduced call times."

The virtual contact centre environment gives home-based agents complete access to all the voice and data capabilities of the contact centre and ensures customer service is not impacted if agents cannot reach the council sites.

The management capability has been extended to the home, enabling supervisors to spot problem areas, analyse trends, make decisions in real-time and also help to take calls at peak times.

Graham Bevington, VP International Markets, Mitel, said: "MiContact Centre for Lync is ideal for organisations that are invested in Microsoft Lync but need a more advanced and feature-rich contact centre solution, without added cost and complexity."

Networking solutions specialist Brocade has appointed Curt Beckmann, who was previously Principal Architect at Brocade, as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the EMEA region.

He will be responsible for a delivery of a product roadmap across the region and lead the company's technology strategy. At the same time, he will continue as a leader in the Open Networking Foundation where he chairs Forwarding Working Group, the company says.

Beckmann joined Brocade in 2003 as a result of an acquisition of Rhapsody Networks where he was a member of the founding team. Prior to this, he worked at Bay Networks where his responsibilities included development of chipsets for Ethernet switching.

Beckmann will be based in Paris, France, and report directly to Brocade vice president for EMEA, Marcus Jewell.

"We're already seeing customers in EMEA laying the foundations for SDN deployment in their data centres, to enable business growth and innovation," said Jewell.

"Curt is an industry veteran with the vision to help customers and partners understand how they can transform their existing networks."

The TFM Networks sponsored Milton Keynes Rowing Club successfully completed the Milton Keynes Half Marathon in a time of just 2.5hrs.

The running team attracted media interest and coverage including a live interview on BBC Three Counties radio, local press and national rowing publications.

Following on from the success of the 2012 London Olympics the club has experienced a 50% increase in membership.

TFM CEO Stewart Yates said: "As a local employer, and with a keen rowing interest within TFM, I am extremely happy to support this local club in their quest to raise vital funds for the next generation of rowers and maybe even future Olympians."

Through the fundraising team and their sponsors the club has raised a total of over £10,000 so far this year.

For more information visit www.mkrowing.org

Imago Group has expanded its European network of subsidiaries with the acquisition of Vitec Distribution GmbH in Germany.

Vitec, based in Mainz, represents a number of audio visual and communications vendors including Polycom and is a specialist in video and data collaboration, digital signage and presentation solutions.

Vitec has built a sizeable business based on delivering value added services, including consulting, project management, installation support and training.

"Video communications is an international business and our customers and end users need support on an international basis," said Ian Vickerage, Managing Director, Imago Group.

With offices already in France, Belgium, Holland and Spain, the acquisition of Vitec will enable Imago to launch its fifth European subsidiary.

The acquisition is expected to complete by early July.

The growing popularity of Brocade's partner accreditation programme has greased the wheels of a rolling campaign convoy across EMEA that has seen partner accreditations rise by 69% in the first half of its financial year.

The Brocade Certified Ethernet Fabric Professional (BCEFP) level is proving especially popular with 1,500% growth in the last six months.

The Certified Network Eng-ineer accredited partner base has also seen significant growth with new accreditations up by more than 25% in EMEA.

"With many legacy networks now beginning to show their age, businesses are increasingly looking for technology partners to help them deliver next generation innovation, applications and services," said John Mitchell, Head of Channels, EMEA, Brocade.

"We have designed our accreditations to help partners seize this opportunity, working with them to build the technical and sales expertise they need to meet the growing demand for emerging technologies such as Software Defined Networking, Ethernet fabrics and cloud.

"We have also had success with our Partner Academy series which has been rolled out across the EMEA region."

European software vendors have generally enjoyed a relatively good year and have responded well to recessionary pressures. In 2013, the last full year for which accounts are available, revenues for the top 500 European ISVs increased by 13.04% to €104.9 billion ($137.8billion).

Overall publicly listed ISVs outperformed the major groups and their subsidiaries with growth of 14.73% (compared with 5.84% for parent companies and 11.01% for subsidiaries).

Independents also fared well, growing by 10.46% over the same period. These are among the findings from 'ISVs in Europe - The Top 500', the latest database report from IT Europa which is published today.

The database report provides further evidence that is applications rather than hardware that is driving IT sales in Europe.

Despite the challenging economic climate in many parts of Europe, ISV revenues showed increases in all 33 countries covered by the report.

The Danish market exhibited the most dramatic increase in revenues (up by 30.9%) followed by Hungary (23.9%) and Turkey (19.6%) and Russia (18.6%). The UK returned one of the lower growth rates at 3.0%.

IT Europa research manager Auri Aittokallio said: "Generally, ISVs are proving resilient in the face of both market and economic pressures. There are signs that this stems largely from adjusting their business models with services last year accounting for 44.2% of total revenues - up from 36.9% in our previous report."

Outsourced IT services firm Comms-care has acquired UK channel-based professional services firm Platform Consultancy Services for an undisclosed fee.

The acquisition enables Comms-care to penetrate deeper into the professional services market as it looks to expand its customer propositions around Microsoft, VMware, Citrix and NetApp technologies.

Ben Davies, Managing Director at Comms-care, said: "Platform is a perfect fit for Comms-care because it already delivers high end professional services in technology areas that our customers have immediate requirements for.

"We invest substantial time forging close relationships with our customers to ensure our services proposition is aligned with the needs of their business, and the addition of Platform will bolster those relationships further by demonstrating our commitment to both them and the channel as a whole."

Platform was established in 2002 and delivers a range of professional services to many of the UK's top VARs.

Simon Day, Partner Director at Platform, added: "Many of our partners are Comms-care's partners too so it makes sense to join forces and provide all partners with an enriched collaborative services model."

Comms-care currently supports in excess of 700 channel partners, some of which already use Platform's professional services. The acquisition will consolidate those partner relationships by delivering a much richer customer experience through enhanced partner services and increased operational capabilities.

Davies added: "We have seen a huge increase in requests from our partner base to provide more professional services around emerging Microsoft technologies such as Office 365, Lync, Hyper-V, System Centre, as well as Citrix and VMware virtualisation solutions.

"The business combination with Platform enables us to meet that demand while still providing the levels of service our partners have come to expect."

As part of the business combination Platform's original board members of Sean Armstrong, Andrew Mansfield and Nigel Roberts will all remain within the business and continue to drive forward their relevant technology streams.

Platform's Partner Director, Simon Day will take a seat on the Comms-care Board as Professional Services Director and will be responsible for all Platform related business.

Comms-care is in advanced stages of identifying other opportunities that will add further capability to its expanding services portfolio.

Ingram Micro has revamped its brand identity in a move to better show its outlook on technology and supply chain services.

"This is more than a logo change. We view this brand refresh as an investment in our future," said Alain Monié, CEO at Ingram Micro.

"Ingram Micro has made bold new moves with recent acquisitions, establishing global business units and developing a more global and customer-centric mindset with an agile, insightful and dependable culture.

"Refreshing and repositioning the Ingram Micro brand is a natural next step in our company's growth and success. Our new brand identity and strategy is a reflection of a bold new Ingram Micro.

"With our new brand, we want to present an identity that is simple, modern and represents who we are. We have the capabilities, insight and experience to help our partners - and their customers - understand, acquire and use technology to be more competitive."