Comms Dealer

Unify and BT have signed a new multi-country enterprise agreement under which BT will add Unify's OpenScape suite of products and services to its enterprise offering, combined with BT's networked IT and professional services capability.

The companies also announced that BT will join Unify's Go Forward partner programme and in the UK the focus will be on the government and healthcare sectors.

"This agreement with BT places the customer at the forefront of our business and our thinking," said Trevor Connell, Managing Director, West Region, Unify.

"Together with BT, we are ensuring that customers have ready access to tailored unified communications and collaborations solutions. Combining our OpenScape portfolio with BT's network capability and market reach has already delivered value to customers, and our new relationship enables us to build on this success."

Andrew Small, VP UC and CRM, BT Global Services, added: "Unify's OpenScape will enhance the breadth of services which we deliver to our customers, and we're excited to strengthen our relationship with Unify in the unified communications market.

"Virtual working, unified communications and the use of collaboration tools are now a crucial part of our working lives and our new agreement with Unify ensures that we will continue to meet our customers' needs."

Node4 has been busy assessing the rate of outsourced IT infrastructure adoption among SMEs and discovered that 60% of them have gone down the outsourcing route while one in ten have deployed a fully cloud-based IT infrastructure.

A report produced by Node4 and based on its research findings suggest that SMEs are becoming confident in adopting the latest technologies and flexible IT services.

According to Node4 companies now see technology and IT as a business enabler powered by the many variants of IT infrastructure provision such as cloud computing, IP-based technologies and virtualisation.

Paul Bryce, Business Development Director, Node4, said: "Many studies continue to claim SMEs are struggling to adapt to this new landscape and are at risk of being left behind.

"However, we firmly believe there is much greater recognition of the value that IT can deliver to businesses among SMEs, and the apprehension that surrounded outsourcing has largely dissipated.

"IT has gone from being a static cost-centre to a dynamic business enabler that must support the organisation at every stage of the sales cycle, empowering the business to grow and succeed.

"Our research and analysis has borne this feeling out and our report demonstrates how savvy SMEs are able to proactively embrace the latest technologies and meet and exceed the demands of the business and employees."

A restructure at Exertis Micro-P has introduced two B2B divisions called Volume (headed by Director Phil Brown) and VAD (led by Cohort Technology MD Grahame Smee).

The move follows Exertis Micro-P's acquisition of Cohort Technology in October 2013 and is designed to better manage the growing sophistication of more technical sales and add more value in the sales process for both vendors and customers.

The VAD structure is based on four focus areas: UC, Security, Specialist Software and Services.

Paul Bryan, Exertis Micro-P's UK MD, said: "We are looking to add more value to what we already offer. We have three sales channels in Retail, B2B and Telco, and we're promoting services, services, services, all the way through.

"Grahame's team has allowed us to change gear in the B2B VAD channel and we're already seeing some fantastic wins with both vendors and customers."

Smee added: "By combining the reach of Exertis Micro-P with the specialisation of our VAD business we are already seeing gains in certain growth areas."

TFM Networks is sponsoring the Milton Keynes Rowing Club's half marathon bid in the town on May 5th when they will be pounding the streets while carrying their boat and blades.

"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."

Nimans is urging resellers to give their headset sales the edge by embracing the latest innovation from Plantronics that has the ability to ‘talk' to users.

The Plantronics Voyager Edge boasts a caller ID function that announces the identity of an incoming call, avoiding the need to look at a smartphone's display.

The bluetooth device also responds to voice commands and will automatically answer a call when a user places the headset over their ear. A rechargeable case can add up to 10 hours more talk time, and it also indicates the charge level of both the headset and case.

Tom Maxwell, Head of Dealer Sales at Nimans, says the Voyager Edge boasts cutting edge technology and is designed for a non stop lifestyle.

"The headset has many clever features and in many ways symbolises the next generation in headset design and functionality. It's a very impressive piece of technology," he said.

Freedom Communications has expanded its senior management team with two strategic appointments, setting the company up for accelerated growth as demand for Unified Communications increases.

Greig Valentine, previously Head of Solution Consultancy, joins the board as Technical Director, and Lisa Clark, previously Head of Organisational Development, becomes Operations Director.

The move underlines Freedom's strategy to bring end-to-end communications solutions to UK organisations with its capability that encompasses Voice, Data, Connectivity, Security and Support.

"This year marks our 25th year within the communications industry and a step change in our business development," said Pat Botting, Managing Director of Freedom Communications.

"These appointments recognise the critical role that Greig and Lisa have played in helping Freedom to become the business it is today. They bring enhanced strategic mind set with operational and technical skills that will enable us to move to the next phase of growth as we transition to be a full Unified Communications Systems Integrator."

As Technical Director, Valentine is responsible for the design and delivery of Freedom's technical solutions and driving the business's technical strategy.

He joined Freedom in 2000 and has held a number of roles including Engineering Team Leader, Operations Manager and Technical Design Authority, before becoming Head of Solutions Consultancy.

Clark joined Freedom in 2007 and has played a pivotal role in driving organisational improvements, improved customer engagement and developing internal teams.

BT Business Partner Sales has boosted partner numbers with the sign-up of ITSourced, a reseller to the SME and corporate markets that offers consulting, technology and support services through both traditional infrastructure and cloud-based solutions.

Simon Rowen, Partnership Recruitment Director for BT Business Partner Sales, said: "Our strategy is to grow the number of partners we have and ITSourced is an ideal partnership."

Mark Walker, Sales Director at IT Sourced, added: "The reason we chose BT was simple - its brand, investment in partners to the same level as its staff, and it's a British company with global reach and local focus."

Mathew Kirk has joined Southern Communications as Commercial Director and shareholder of the business.

Kirk has been the Corporate Development Director of TalkTalk Telecom Group since 2009 and prior to that was Mergers & Acquisitions Director for The Carphone Warehouse Group from 2004.

While at TalkTalk he was involved with the demerger from Carphone, led the acquisitions of OneTel, Tele2, AOL and Tiscali as well as over 20 transactions on behalf of the B2B division.

Over the past three years Mathew has been a Board Member of TalkTalk Business, a £425m revenue division of TalkTalk, a member of the Group's Innovation Committee and has led a number of key outsourcing projects.

At Carphone he was also accountable for European corporate development activity including acquisitions in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium and divestments in Germany, France, Ireland and Switzerland.

Kirk also played a key role in the mobile retail joint venture in the US with Best Buy which was bought out for circa £800m in 2012.

Paul Bradford, CEO, said: "Myself and the other directors of the business are excited to have secured Mathew's expertise and feel his appointment is a real statement of intent around the continued growth of Southern Communications, both organically and through acquisition."

Southern Communications is a national supplier of voice, data and cloud solutions and has seen rapid growth over the last 10 years with a turnover this year of £18 million achieved through organic growth and acquisitions.

Kirk said: "This is a great opportunity. I have been aware of the progress Southern Communications have been making in the market. There is a lot of passion, professionalism and drive, backed by a good solid team. I know this is a company that is going places and look forward to joining them and helping drive the future growth."

OnePhone Holding and BT are to collaborate on developing mobile services for UK SMBs.

The new venture will aim to make OnePhone(R) technology, which has already been successfully launched and rolled out in Sweden and Germany, available to BT's SMB customers.

Exertis Micro-P and Samsung have launched a quarter long promotion to provide resellers with FOC system licences and a chance to win daily prizes.
 
Resellers will receive two MGI licences, two SIP trunk licences and four WE VoIP FMC licences with every Samsung OS7030 and OS7100 systems when purchased with any other licence key.

Large system deployments benefit from a free of charge WE VoIP FMC licence with every IP extension licence on OS7200s, OS7200 and OS7400 systems.
 
John Bird, Head of Systems and Support Services at Exertis Micro-P, commented: "This promotion supports the trend Exertis Micro-P has seen over the last 12 months with record numbers of systems being installed onto SIP trunks.

"SIP is more than just a viable replacement for ISDN trunks - it offers much more from number portability, to flexible call routing and inherent disaster recovery functionality.

"SIP based solutions have never been easier to deploy and provide tangible return on investment for the end user. This promotion will help resellers continue to drive the growth of IP based solutions over the next quarter.
 
"This April we're giving back to customers by giving away over £15,000 worth of prizes to customers who are placing orders with us daily. Any order over £500 qualifies for our April prize giveaway and all a reseller needs to do is enter their invoice number into our online prize portal to see if they have won."