Comms Dealer

TalkTalk Group's preliminary FY2013/14 financial results have revealed impressive growth for TalkTalk Business, the Group's B2B division, which reported a third successive quarter of year-on-year growth.

New customers added over the year include Iceland Group, Fullers, Selfridges and Hutchison 3G.

Overall Corporate revenues for the year grew 5.6 per cent year on year, a key driver of which was a 38 per cent increase in revenue from business data products.

TalkTalk Business' data products performed well over the year, reflected in a string of high profile customer wins in the direct business.

In addition to its direct business, the provider's partner channel also continued to grow throughout FY13/14.

A five-year contract with Fujitsu, for example, led to the migration of 103,000 Post Office customers onto the TalkTalk network in Q3.

"Three quarters of successive growth is a wonderful achievement and demand for data shows no sign of letting up", said Charles Bligh, managing director of TalkTalk Business.

"As we continue to grow, our strategy is clear. We will continue to provide our customers and partners with simple, value for money products that leverage the scale and capability of the TalkTalk network, while simultaneously developing new and innovative products that deliver both value for money for our customers and long-term growth for the business."

BroadSoft has announced the commercial availability of BroadCloud in Europe, enabling service providers to offer cloud-based hosted PBX, SIP Trunking and Unified Communications (UC) services to their enterprise customers throughout the region.

These Unified Communications services are integrated with an end-to-end platform that supports the full life-cycle of the business customer, from initial quote to service activation to support.

As a hosted, cloud-based infrastructure, BroadCloud now arms service providers throughout Europe with the flexibility and scalability to market a suite of Unified Communications, including Hosted PBX, SIP Trunking, instant messaging & presence, audio conferencing and video calling.

With BroadCloud, service providers can more quickly deliver these Unified Communications services to their enterprise customers without the associated capital, lease, or maintenance costs of a premises-based telephony system, said the firm.

"Our European customers have witnessed the accelerated time-to-market experienced by our US-based BroadCloud customers, and they have expressed great interest in our managed service offer. We are excited to now bring BroadCloud to the European market," said Michael Tessler, president and chief executive officer, BroadSoft.

"We believe BroadCloud will enable our customers to offer a unified communications solution, quickly and cost-effectively, enabling them to capitalise on the rapid transition by enterprises to cloud-delivered communication services."

A finance solution that enables users to pay friends and family direct into their bank accounts using just their mobile number has proved popular according to Piran Consulting.

The service, called Paym, went live on 29th April 2014 and is forecast to transform the way money changes hands and the way personal payments are undertaken.

Early usage is being tracked and mobile technology specialist Piran Consulting which is encouraging consumers to share their #paymfirsts in order to chart initial uptake of the service.

The Piran team is interested to understand the social impact and is inviting consumers to share their Paym firsts, gauging the uptake during its first month, and also claim a place in the #paymfirsts hall of fame.

Adrian Burholt, Director at Piran Consulting said: "Paym is set to change the shape of UK payments. The proposition is intuitive and is easily understood by the consumer.

"This type of inter-bank mobile payment services has an immediate customer benefit, is easy to take to the mass market and we are keen to see how the technology is used in the first few weeks of launch.

"Loose change and IOUs are to be confined to the annals of history and the words 'can I pay you back when I've got some cash?' never to be heard again."

The Twin Town Challenge, a four-day Top Gear type Anglo-French charity driving extravaganza linking Witney and Le Touquet, and led by Brendon Cross, MD of Witney-based STL Communications, is revving up for the big green light on 23rd May.

The event aims to raise funds for Oxfordshire charity SpecialEffect which helps people with disabilities benefit from the fun and inclusion of video games. Comms industry representatives include M12, Link Connect, Gamma and Oak.

The teams will provide and drive their own car, costing no more than £500, from Witney in Oxfordshire to Le Touquet in France. They'll take on the iconic race circuits of Brands Hatch, Le Mans and Croix En Ternois en route, and enjoy a VIP send-off from Cornbury Park in Charlbury, a civic reception in Le Touquet and an unforgettable finish line celebration event in Witney.

Cross said: "We could not have organised this event without the tremendous support of our sponsors, supporters and the people of Le Touquet. The weekend will be a lot of fun as the cars travel through England and France undertaking a number of points based challenges on the way."

The 50 cars in the Twin Town Challenge will visit Brands Hatch en route to Le Touquet before they arrive at the Eurotunnel and then on the Saturday the teams will drive to the Le Mans 24 Hours Circuit.

On Sunday the cars will enjoy a circuit around Croix en Ternois, before returning to Le Touquet for the 007 street party and auction. The finale is a prize giving and farewell at Witney Lakes Resort on Monday 26th May, after the cars have been donated to Witney Motor Auctions for sale in aid of SpecialEffect.

Organisers hope the Twin Town Challenge will raise over £100,000.

www.specialeffect.org.uk/twin-town

8x8, parent company of UK-based 8x8 Solutions, has been ranked number one on Infonetics Research Sixth Annual North American Business VoIP Service Leadership Scorecard.

According to the report, Infonetics Research named 8x8 the leader of this year's VoIP leadership scorecard due to its solid financial position (10 out of 10 ranking) and the continued strong growth of its installed base. The report cited 8x8's publicly traded company status and its ability to post net profits with positive cash flow.

"8x8 has been one of the dominant players in the business VoIP and cloud-based unified communications industry for several years, and emerged as the decisive leader this year due to its solid financial position, continued strong growth of its installed base, service enhancements and geographic expansion," said Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP, UC and IMS at Infonetics Research.

"In addition, 8x8 has made significant inroads moving upmarket to serve larger, distributed enterprise customers. Many of these larger deals are with organisations that are highly distributed, where the benefits of cloud across many locations is readily apparent. This is an important trend we've seen emerging and one we believe will impact the competitive landscape."

8x8 CEO Vik Verma added: "Since we began offering our cloud-based business communications services in 2004, 8x8 has been committed to technological innovation, service quality, reliability and security, customer service and consistent, profitable growth. We are proud of what we have accomplished under these guiding principles and look forward to helping many more thousands of businesses optimise their business performance and growth with our cloud communications solutions."

Xirrus International, provider of wireless networks solutions, has named Don Scott as its new International Channel Director.

He boasts over 25 years of experience in IT sales and consultancy and will be responsible for expanding the firm's partner programme outside the US.

Scott's prior experience includes work at Aruba Networks' EMEA channel, Nortel Networks and Avaya's Global Accounts divisions.

"Don joining the team is a great coup for us as he brings breadth and depth of experience in growing businesses of all sizes, and successfully leading sales, marketing and channel teams," said Shane Buckley, CEO of Xirrus. "He will play a key role in the next stage of our growth."

By Clive Jefferys, JMA Network: We can all sense the recovery: The news trumpets growth figures to be proud of and order books are strengthening across all business sectors. However, the challenge of hiring new staff seems to grow with every day.

The latest KPMG employment survey highlights that new candidate registrations on jobsites are at a ten year low, with little sight of improvement. On the other side the CIPD has declared that SME companies are embarking on a hiring spree.

Trouble is, no-one can easily find the candidates to put in these new jobs. It's going to take a long, long time before employees are as relaxed about swapping jobs as they were in 2004!

Certainly as an agency we are doing very well this far into 2014. However, this has mostly come about through an increase in the net worth of each placement. The actual number of transactions has remained stubbornly level. So we finish our sales meetings every week with the catchphrase 'Just one more!' to encourage our consultants to find that extra sale every month. Sound familiar?

Fortunately, we are so well established that we can find the right people, in the right place, by mining our ten year old database of candidates for leads, and the key word here is 'referrals'. 

I think we reached a turning point at the end of last year when our referral commissions exceeded our conventional advertising spend for the first time ever. Every month since has been the same and I've come to the conclusion that the search for passive candidates is the only way forward, whether you are an agent or employer.

So if you are hirer and you need to fill key positions, you need to increase the volume of your voice in this seller's market. That's a tough proposition when so many people are shouting so loudly, so the best thing you can do is to go where everyone else goes.

It's the old adage about why shoe shops are always next to other shoe shops, and it's no less true in recruitment. So if you need to hire people, the only place to go is where vacancies and candidates congregate.

Maybe it's a bit like going to the doctor about the little problem you've had for a while, but just won't go away. Once you've made the decision to ask for advice, you'll feel so much better when you let the professionals sort it out for you instead.

Nimans has scooped Top SV8100 distributor for EMEA 2013/14 at the NEC's annual Partner Conference staged in Cape Town, South Africa.

The award comes ahead of a dealer event to be staged on June 19th at NEC's Ruislip offices where visitors can learn more about the SV8100 platform and Nimans' service.

Nimans is reporting high growth levels of NEC equipment as year-on-year demand rockets by 136%.

Sales of NEC's SL1100 and SV8100 comms platforms were two of the biggest factors behind an sales boom, noted Paul Burn, Head of Category Sales at Nimans, who says a flourishing working relationship between the distributor and manufacturer is becoming ever stronger.

"NEC is a strong player in the market and our own client base is maturing and becoming more established which in turn is seeing sales on the rise," he pointed out," he said.

"The SL1100 and SV8100 remain popular which more and more resellers are embracing and using to drive their own sales performance further forward.

"A three-pronged assault between ourselves, NEC and most importantly resellers has delivered an exceptional set of sales results. With more upward momentum in the general economy we are confident a strong platform has been laid for further sales success."

Hosting and colocation firm UKFast has announced record results for the last financial year. The Manchester Technology Park-based firm posted £23m turnover, an 18% increase on the previous year, and £8.2m EBITDA, a margin of 35%.

CEO Lawrence Jones, who originally set a target of £20m at the start of the year, said: "I am very pleased with our 2013 results. The last couple of years we've built 3 data centres and acquired a new HQ, which is setting new standards in office design.

"Such a sizeable relocation to contend with could be a huge distraction so I am very glad to have crossed the finish line and be in the situation where we have some incredible property additions and a fantastic platform for the future. We're really looking forward to concentrating on developing our service and product range even more."

In the past 12 months, UKFast reinvested £9m capital and made its first acquisition - strengthening its offering and growing its capacity with an extra 16,000 IP addresses at a time when they are running out. The UKFast team has also grown to more than 250 employees.

Setting his sights on the new financial target, Jones added: "The first quarter of 2014 has been the best we've ever had in the history of UKFast by a country mile - the best figures, the most customers.

"It's been a landmark quarter. The office is taking shape and the economy is gaining momentum. It's an incredible time to be doing business in Britain."

Avnet Technology Solutions is to hold its HealthPath University at the home of the British Medical Association, BMA House in London, on Thursday 5th June 2014.

The keynote speaker at the event will be renowned healthcare informatics executive Charles Lilley. Delegates will learn what is driving the IT agenda in healthcare organisations and hear from analyst IDC and leading technology suppliers to the sector. ??Frank Bennett, SolutionsPath lead, Avnet Technology Solutions, UK, said: "The financial squeeze on health services gets tighter every year and the Institute of Fiscal Studies predicts spending per person is likely to fall in coming years even if budgets remain protected.

"The pressure is on to deliver smarter healthcare and greater productivity for less. Technology is the key to operational efficiencies and this latest Avnet HealthPath University is an opportunity for business partners to hear from those within the industry. The University will cover the challenges and opportunities facing healthcare organisations and where budgets are likely to be spent now and in the future to meet demand for services." ?

Lilley also noted that the wider health economy relies on partnerships, for example organisations, patient groups and clinicians working together. "Avnet's HealthPath University is an ideal opportunity for technology providers to continue this collaboration to better understand the healthcare market and its requirements," he added.??Speakers from IBM, HP, VMware and CommVault will cover the key technology areas affecting healthcare, including mobile technology projects, data analysis to support decision-making and the security of sensitive data.