Comms Dealer

The UK is witnessing a superfast broadband surge but challenges remain to address speed mismatches, according to Ofcom's just-published data on UK Broadband speeds.

According to the research one in four UK residential fixed broadband connections is superfast (connections offering headline speeds of 30Mbit/s or more), up from 5% in November 2011 to 25% in November 2013.

The report reveals that at 17.8Mbit/s, the average actual fixed-line residential broadband speed in the UK is almost five times faster than it was five years ago when Ofcom first began publishing the data (up from 3.6Mbit/s in November 2008).

And the average superfast connection speed has continued to rise, reaching 47.0Mbit/s by November 2013 - an increase of 47%, or 15.1Mbit/s since May 2010.

While the growth in average speeds show that investment in broadband technology is delivering benefits for most consumers, the UK picture is uneven. A significant number of households especially those in rural areas, can experience considerably slower speeds.

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said: "Ofcom's report confirms the remarkable transformation of UK Broadband currently underway.

"The UK has the best superfast coverage of all five leading European economies, and the news that average speeds continue to rise is tremendous news for homes and businesses alike.

"We are working hard to close the digital divide between urban and rural locations and are investing £790m to ensure that 95% of the UK will have access to superfast speeds by 2017."

Read the full report

A Barclays survey of 100 US and European CIOs says nearly half (46%) expect their company's IT spending to rise in 1H14, with 20% expecting it to drop, and 34% expecting no change. Those figures compare with September survey levels of 43%, 27%, and 30%.

At the same time, the firm cautions that spending growth is uneven: Software, networking, security, and cloud services demand is healthy, but servers, storage, and IT services remain soft.

IT spending growth is seen accelerating in the second half in both the US and Europe. Barclays thinks larger budgets, macro stabilisation, and a need for equipment refreshes (due to high utilisation rates) could be helping out. Interest in the concept of a software-defined data centre is gaining traction, but big data (hyped considerably last year) is losing it for now.

The survey stated, 'We note that many responses from the survey likely occurred before some of the recent volatility in the stock market. In terms of end markets within technology, application and infrastructure software as well as networking showed an improvement in sentiment vs. our prior survey. However, servers and storage noticeably down-ticked as well as IT services (however server spending growth improved)'.

Wholesale connectivity provider Entanet has embarked on a promotional campaign to drive up sales of new FTTC connections and customer migrations for reseller and wholesale partners.

The move is an extension of a zero cost activation promotion on FTTC which ran for a defined period, but with the time limit removed Entanet believes its latest promotion removes a 'critical pricing barrier'.

Entanet has also introduced a promotion for service provider partners that take its EWCS (Entanet Wholesale Carrier Services), offering reduced costs for new connections and migrations to FTTC to help wholesale customers expand their business.

The free connection and migration promotion for resellers applies to all Entanet's mainstream FTTC broadband packages for businesses and home users and to both 12 and 24 month contracts.

Partners can take advantage of the offer for customers either activating an FTTC service for the first time or migrating to it from any other provider's conventional copper-based broadband services.

It can also be applied to migrations from another provider's fibre broadband and to migrations from LLU to Entanet's FTTC connections.

The separate wholesale promotion runs until 30th September 2014 and aims to help partners buying 'tails' and aggregated bandwidth (as opposed to predefined allowance packages) to increase their sales of FTTC connections, both to new and existing customers.

Paul Heritage-Redpath, Product Manager at Entanet, said: "FTTx already represents 20% of broadband subscribers globally and we see this as a growth market for UK resellers.

"Our previous reseller promotion for packaged broadband products, which we ran until the end of January this year, was successful. We have now evaluated the feedback and decided to extend the offer scope and to also provide additional incentives for our wholesale customers to drive FTTC sales."

Elitetele.com PLC has completed the acquisition of Qualitel Voice & Data, adding £4m in revenue to the Elite Telecom Group.

This is Elite's second acquisition of the year, following Modern Communications in January. It is also Elite's tenth acquisition since 2008, bringing over 600 customers and 20 members of staff.

Matt Newing, founder and CEO of Elitetele.com, said: "The acquisition of Qualitel was of particular interest to us because of their great customer base and strong mobile offering including workflow applications, which we see as a huge growth area.

"This is our second acquisition of a premium Vodafone partner, strengthening our mobile offering to business clients and reinforcing our significance to the mobile networks."

Stoke-based Qualitel was founded in 2003 and has a team of mobile, Mitel, Avaya, hosted and connectivity sales specialists.

Newing added: "With offices in the north, south and midlands we are building on our national presence and going from strength to strength."

Mike Ridgway, MD and founder of Qualitel, added: "Our products complement Elite's existing solutions and services so we can now bring even better communications and mobile services to UK businesses."

Jabra has lifted the lid on its new Jabra MOTION Office wireless headset which delivers triple connectivity for mobile, softphone or deskphone through Bluetooth technology.

The headset has been created specifically as a solution for knowledge workers, remote teams and employees sharing an office workspace, offering seamless and stable connectivity.

"The main objective with the Jabra MOTION Office has been to let knowledge workers and remote teams gain the full benefits from their mobile devices and collaboration technologies," said Nigel Dunn, Jabra Business Solutions Managing Director, UK & Ireland.

"The Jabra MOTION Office is the headset which bridges the gap between the users and the promise of productivity and innovation, allowing the free flow of information.

Dunn also noted that more companies are adopting the hot-desking philosophy in which people share workspaces and laptop docking stations native to this type of office environment.

"The Jabra MOTION Office base can serve as a community desktop docking station, pairing with any other Jabra MOTION headset and creating an instant workspace for the visiting user," he added.

Louise Harder Fischer, Research Partner at Jabra and external Associate Professor at CBS, said: "The new knowledge worker belongs to a fast growing group of employees with a need to tap into the knowledge and expertise of their professional network, inside or outside the company, 24/7,".

"The Jabra MOTION Office is an example of how devices and technology can be centred around the user's actual behaviour and give them the freedom to work from anywhere, anytime."

Nimans is stocking a multimedia connectivity hub from Mediacom that enables users to connect tablets, PCs, smartphones, laptops, games consoles and other media platforms.

Available in a variety of connectivity options, colours and finishes, the Bluetooth enabled devices boast 3D and also wireless HDMI support, and is a fully CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) compatible multimedia connectivity station.

"Mediacom connectivity panels are transforming in-room technology and enhancing the user experience in a wide range of companies and organisations including hotels around the world," said Andy Winfield, Purchasing Director at Nimans. "This is product is exclusive to Nimans, easy to install and features an earthed mains connection."

Douglas Gilstrap, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Strategy, will resign from his role with Ericsson, effective August 1, 2014, and leave Ericsson's Executive Leadership Team.

Gilstrap has been developing Ericsson's global business strategy over the past five years and was important in its mergers & acquisitions activities. 

The process to find a new Head of Strategy for the Ericsson Group will start immediately. He has also played a key role in dissolving the ST-Ericsson joint venture and integrating the thin modems business into Ericsson. Since 2013 he also serves as Chairman of Business Unit Modems.

Hans Vestberg, CEO and President of Ericsson, said: "Douglas has been instrumental in shaping Ericsson's strategy with his broad industry knowledge, business development and transactional skills during the five years that he has been with the company. He has played a leading role in all M&A and key commercial activities during these years, strengthening Ericsson's position across all business segments."

Outsourcing activity in EMEA has made its best start to the year since 2010, with both contract value and counts up by double digits, says a researcher. But business process outsourcing is in decline.

The ISG Outsourcing Index for Q1 saw the annual EMEA contract value at €2.4 bn - up 10% quarter-on-quarter and 29% year-on-year; 165 contracts were awarded in total - up 21% year-on-year.

Growth was largely supported by five mega relationships - contracts valued at more than 80 million euro - signed in the region this quarter, including contracts in the UK, France and the Nordics, a marked increase from two such deals in each of the first and fourth quarters of 2013.

With more than half of all global outsourcing activity concentrated in EMEA, both by ACV and contract counts, the region continues to dominate outsourcing activity in the global market.

The majority of contracts awarded in EMEA were new scope, accounting for 76% of all contract value in the region, an increase of 48% year-on-year and the highest quarterly value in four years. Conversely, restructuring values declined by one third both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

The IT Outsourcing market continued to dominate the EMEA market. The 2bn euro of ITO ACV awarded in the first quarter was up 18% quarter-on-quarter, and accounted for a full 85% of the overall EMEA market. The 127 ITO contracts signed during this period was the region's highest number ever recorded in a single quarter.

By contrast, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market declined for the third successive quarter, with modest values recorded in ACV of 370m euro and contract counts (38).

John Keppel, partner and president, ISG North Europe, said: "The EMEA market has had a strong start in 2014. Activity levels in the region remain high and the return of mega-relationship awards in the quarter boosted the market values.

"Although these larger contracts have a strong role to play in the market, the smaller deal size brackets will continue to grow more sharply as enterprises opt for greater flexibility and more specialised services from a greater number of providers.

"Multi-sourcing, increasing competition among providers and lower technology costs will continue to be the factors that drive the market for the foreseeable future."

The UK continued its strong showing, with ACV of just over 1bn euro awarded, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 33% and up 66% year-on-year. The 59 contracts recorded was the highest number of contract awards in a quarter over the last three years.

Germany saw a slight dip in contract values for the quarter, with around 330m euro in ACV recorded, down slightly quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. However, contract counts increased by 21% qtr/qtr and rose 52% compared with the weaker-than-usual first quarter of 2013.

France, driven by mega-relationship awards, experienced an impressive jump in market values for the quarter. The 630m euro in ACV awarded placed France as the second biggest market in EMEA this quarter. France saw a growth of almost 300% qtr/qtr as it marked its best first quarter ever by both contract value and number of awards.

IT infrastructure provider Softcat amassed revenues of £395.8m in its 2013 financial year, up 30% up on 2012. Gross profit grew 25% year-on-year in line with growth in operating expenditure of 27%, resulting in £28.2m normalised operating profit. This represents an increase of 22% on the previous year and a 7.1% return on sales.

In the last three financial years Softcat has increased turnover by 172% from £145.8m to £395.8m and operating profit has increased 174% in the same period, representing 40% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) for both metrics.

This has been achieved organically and against the backdrop of an industry showing low single digit growth figures for the period.

Softcat's growth has largely been achieved by maintaining and growing its existing accounts, by developing its offering and by winning large numbers of new accounts. In the last financial year the company traded with a record 1,750 new accounts.

Softcat continues to enjoy strong growth in its traditional SMB business and commercial mid-market heartland, and this is now being augmented by very strong growth in the public sector market and increasingly larger enterprise customers in the commercial sector.

In the last financial year the company achieved double digit growth in all of its core areas of business. Particularly strong growth was achieved in the data centre infrastructure and managed services areas.

This was partially due to the transition in the market to cloud-based and notably private cloud-based solutions. Softcat offers the component parts and services for customers to build their own clouds and equally the company offers managed services to provide cloud-based infrastructure for customers. The company also benefited from the shift in the market to more centralised computer solutions and increasingly diverse mobility solutions, with the resulting high demand for world-class connectivity, networking and security solutions.

The company recruited over 200 new employees, the majority of which joined on its graduate intake programme. It recruited new staff in all areas of the business and for each of its Marlow, Manchester and London locations. The company was named as the 4th Best Workplace in the UK and the 10th Best Workplace in Europe by the Best Workplaces organisation for its size category. Staff numbers increased from 432 on 31 July 2012 to 558 on 31 July 2013.

Martin Hellawell, Executive Chairman, said: "Our formula remains very much the same - employ lots of great people with the right attitude, strive to be a great place to work for our employees and provide world-class customer service. That's our focus as well as constantly and relentlessly trying to improve every part of the business and taking full advantage of every opportunity the changing market gives us.

"The financials are just a result of sticking to that formula. Bringing in Colin Brown as our Managing Director at the beginning of the financial year has significantly strengthened the Softcat leadership team and I have been incredibly impressed by the commitment, adaptability and enthusiasm demonstrated by all the Softcat employees throughout the financial year. There is tremendous momentum running throughout the company and while we still have so much to improve on, the outlook looks extremely positive."

Colin Brown, MD, added: "2013 was a year of great progress for Softcat. We won a record number of new customers, recruited more new talent into the business than ever before, and delivered our best ever customer satisfaction results.

"As the new man on the block I have been taken aback by the dynamism of the company, the friendliness of the employees and the overall spirit that is pervasive in Softcat. The relationships we enjoy with one another as team members as well as with customers and partners are second to none and I am sure that is fuelling our growth.

"But we have just started our journey in many aspects of the business and we have a very clear road map ahead with absolutely no shortage of opportunity or work to do. I'm personally relishing the challenge ahead of us and thank all the Softcat employees, customers and partners for their fantastic support in my first year at Softcat."

ANT Telecom has implemented a Hytera digital radio solution for Eurotunnel, providing full site communication.

The solution will be utilised at the Folkestone site by traffic marshals within four different divisions - tourist, HGV1, HGV2 and motorway, allowing communication between the teams and the control centre.
 
Eurotunnel also required a new emergency channel functionality that would provide priority emergency communication spanning all four divisions.

ANT Telecom also advised Eurotunnel on the additional functionality our solution could offer, including dispatching, lone worker with location detection, messaging and automatic alarm messaging in order to provide a robust and future-proof communication solution.
 
John Keefe, Eurotunnel, said: "We selected ANT Telecom because of the specification of the devices provided, specifically the high IP level, IP67 and multi-lines display.

"Furthermore, the solution appealed to us because of the emergency call functionality and the possibility to upgrade the system if needed in future, particularly the GPS localisation, trunk mode and man-down alarm functionality."
 
Klaus Allion, MD, ANT Telecom, added: "Digital radio has, in recent years, reenergised the radio market and has given users the chance to replace traditional analogue radio systems with a more effective multi-purpose digital offering.
 
"However, we need to work in a collaborative fashion in order to identify the key issues to provide an effective, future-proof solution that truly meets the needs of our customers and their various stakeholders."