Comms Dealer

Huawei's Western Europe enterprise business group is promising to help deliver an average 35% jump in Huawei sales among its partners this year.

This target follows an average 25% increase in sales for its partners last year when compared to 2015, said the Chinese vendor.

News of the promised sales bonanza came at this week's Huawei Western Europe partner summit in Paris, where hundreds of delegates heard how the company is continuing to morph into a cloud services operation to support partner business in markets such as big data and analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), digital transformation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, software-defined networking and storage and other business areas.

Leon He, Huawei president of the enterprise business group for Western Europe, told delegates: "In 2016, 90% of our sales came through our partners and there was 55% revenue growth in the Western Europe enterprise group as we approach new ICT and digital transformation opportunities.

"The numbers of our partners are increasing but more importantly the quality of our partners is improving."

He said 'Cloud 1.0' was all about the likes of Amazon, Microsoft Azure and Salesforce and the services they provide, but that 'Cloud 2.0' would see Huawei play a leading role in delivering cloud-based digital transformation involving the likes of IoT, big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning as part of the trend towards a BDII (business-driven ICT infrastructure).

Huawei is looking to widen its existing relationships with companies including Orange, Telefonica and T-Systems to support the delivery of these services in the cloud.

Leon He added that $300m was being put aside to support business pipeline development with Huawei partners, covering the likes of marketing and technology development.

Jaco Pesschier, Huawei channel sales manager for the Western Europe enterprise group, told delegates that the business now had 1,068 partners in the region, which represented 4% growth on the previous year.

"We want to keep these partner numbers stable and don't want too many more, as we won't be able to focus and deliver the optimal support needed as we enter new markets," stated Pesschier.

Pesschier also said the company was now committed to a 'two plus one' distribution model where each country would have no more than two national distributors and perhaps an additional international distribution player where appropriate, but no more than three distributors in each country. 

The priorities for the company, he said, were to protect margins for partners, widen channel skills and certification, and drive forward partnership in digital transformation business.    

Arden Group's acquisition of Birmingham-based Computerworld Business Solutions (CBS) for an undisclosed sum bolsters the comms provider's managed service offering with IT support and services, and builds on its previous acquisitions of Page IT and Unitycomm, two IT technology companies. CBS is a Sophos Gold and Synchronised Security partner and its 20-strong team will be merged within Arden Group.

Arden Group MD Nigel Walker commented: "The acquisition of CBS represents an important milestone in our growth strategy. It gives us the chance to deliver a fully converged IT and telecoms solution.

"We are confident that this partnership will enable us to play a more defining role in the growth of our shared customer base."

Bowmark Capital backed Node4 has set off on the next phase of its growth journey having opened a new office and Security Operations Centre (SOC) in Nottingham.

The move follows three years of growth that saw staff numbers treble to 185.

Bowmark backed the business in a secondary buyout last year and LDC, Node4's original investment partner, has provided more funding to support the growth plan which has a mid-market focus.

A series of acquisitions together with organic growth and a broader managed service portfolio have helped to grow the customer base to over 900 organisations in 2017.

The Nottingham office will provide a base for up to 50 employees enabling Node4 to expand its geographic presence in the midlands and tap into a city that offers a strong base of potential customers and employees.

Node4's managed security service launched in 2016 and is targeted at the SME and mid-market sector.

CEO Andrew Gilbert commented: "Our end-to-end service offering has helped us win some high value managed services contracts in the last 12 months.

"We are attracting fast-growing companies who want to outsource their IT infrastructure to a strategic partner."

The growing popularity of dog ownership among Invosys workers prompted the Manchester-based firm to adopt animal organisation the PDSA as its charity for 2017.

The charity treats the pets of those experiencing economic and social hardship at 50-plus pet hospitals and over 380 practices.

Dan Fish, HR Director for Invosys and co-ordinator of the charity efforts, said: "It's a key part of our ethos to give something back to the wider community, so we pledge to support a charity each year with staff dedicating their own time to raise funds. PDSA seemed fitting for 2017 with many of the team being big animal lovers.

"The PDSA is a fantastic charity which helps people and pets stay together, even when they are facing financial difficulties."

Pictured: Invosys staffers Ellie Hazelwood with Hugo the dog and Dan Fish with Harley

Vodafone's virtualised security capabilities have been boosted following the formation of a global relationship with Fortinet that enables the operator to launch security services as a network feature without the need for additional hardware, software or licensing.

Vodafone Secure Network Gateway includes network-based firewalling along with intrusion protection and detection.

The second service, Secure Remote User Access, enables remote workers to connect to the corporate network securely.

Both services are delivered from within the Vodafone Global IP-VPN network and are purchased as part of the connectivity tariff.

Vodafone Enterprise Security Services Chief Executive Simon Church said: "Businesses are becoming more and more cloud-based, and the virtualisation of security capabilities such as these is going to be the foundation of a new generation of managed security services."

Dublin-based IT services firm EMIT has acquired the manage services business and customer base of local rival Softech for an undisclosed sum.

This acquisition boosts EMIT's customer base to over 3,500 end users across enterprise, SMB and public sector organisations.

The deal is expected to add a further €2m in revenue over the next three years.

EMIT founder and MD Eamon Moore said: "We have been looking closely at several acquisition opportunities for some time and believe that Softech is the perfect fit, particularly with its pedigree in delivering IT services and solutions.

"EMIT has very ambitious business development goals and will actively seek further growth, both organically and through further acquisitions."

EMIT is a Dell and Microsoft partner and last year won Microsoft's Global Small and Mid-market Cloud Solutions Partner of the Year award, as well as Microsoft Ireland SMB Cloud Partner of the Year.

The company began its commercial life in 2003 and provides customers with IT solutions and managed IT as a Service in four main business areas - cloud computing, business productivity, IT security and infrastructure.

Softech has been operating in Dublin since 1978 and provides, in the main, IT products and services to Irish business and educational organisations. The company also diversified into managed services, document management and the development of business process applications.

Distributor Nimans has witnessed a 15% spike in demand for Bluetooth enabled devices since tougher mobile phones laws while driving came into force in March, hitting offenders with six penalty points and a £200 fine.

Headset Business Manager, Jason Welsh, said: "Many of today's Bluetooth headsets offer much more than just standard voice functionality as they are an inherent part of the overall UC mix.

"For example, they can provide presence capabilities via Skype for Business thanks to inbuilt sensors. So a colleague in the office knows instantly if the wearer is available to take a call. It's about being safe and working productively and intuitively."

Nuvias has embarked on the next phase of its growth strategy with the EMEA launch of a UC practice following the acquisition of Siphon Networks in October 2016.

The practice builds on Siphon's existing strongholds in the UK and Benelux and will be rolled out over the coming months through Nuvias regional branches kicking off with Germany.

As part of the move Nuvias will add more staff across the region to support vendor and reseller partners.
 
Existing UC vendors and new vendors are expected to take advantage of Nuvias' growing UC capability across EMEA to increase sales in the region. Likewise, it is anticipated that both existing and new Nuvias reseller/integrator channel partners across EMEA will take up the opportunity to enter this thriving market or expand their UC business.
 
Paul Eccleston, CEO of Nuvias, said: "Siphon's technical and solution engineering expertise has enabled it to work closely with vendors and resellers on the development of UC solutions.

"This factor, together with the provision of service and solutions capabilities from Siphon has been instrumental in its success." 
 
Steve Harris, EVP Unified Communications, Nuvias (and MD of Siphon), commented: "A major reason for joining Nuvias was the chance it gave us to grow and expand both in the UK and internationally. The UC EMEA launch of Nuvias lays the foundations for achieving that ambition.
 
"This is an exciting time in UC across EMEA with opportunities for the IT channel to move into the UC market and conquer the legacy competition. As part of Nuvias, and as a solutions and technology enabler, we can provide the service, support and technical know-how our channel partners need to help them make the most of this market opportunity."
 
Siphon was ranked 24th in Deloitte's UK Technology Fast 50 rankings last year, notching up 723% growth in the four years leading up to the award.

Luminet channel partner G3 Comms has doubled connectivity orders since reselling the MSP's wireless 1gb Fibre-Air clear channel business Internet service which can be up and running in 10 working days.

G3 Comms is also the first partner to use Luminet's new online portal which automates all sales processes.

James Jeffs, Director at G3 Comms, said: "There are always a lot of ifs, buts and maybes around ordering fibre leased lines which makes it hard to manage customer expectations.

"Customers have their own timescales for moving and provisioning delays make hitting them a nightmare. Luminet's Fibre-Air has short lead times and offers resilience."

Luminet CEO Sasha Williamson added: "Our Fibre-Air proposition has gone down a storm in the channel market. It is solving a real issue that is a regular frustration for business leaders who have been previously hampered with office moves because of the times it takes arranging the connectivity..

"However, Fibre-Air is not just a temporary fix but as an essential primary or backup connection."

ShoreTel has recruited 21 UK reseller partners to sell its new Connect Cloud and Connect Contact Centre platforms within eight weeks of launch.

Speaking at the company's partner forum held at the Shard in London, UK Regional Vice President Adrian Hipkiss told delegates that resellers have already sold Connect solutions from three users up to 500 and underlined the power of the video capabilities they bring.

"After just eight weeks we know customers like it and will make fast decisions," he said. "And we have learnt that video calling is a game changer. Reducing travel is powerful."

Within the Connect Cloud environment users will now be able to collaborate on desktop and a range of mobile platforms via HD multi-party video initiated in a web browser using WebRTC.

"This is all integrated and included for free, which is disruptive when people are paying for services like Go to Meeting," added Hipkiss.

Hipkiss also stressed the growing value to the channel of open APIs available on ShoreTel's new Mobility Client which will enable resellers to offer applications such as translation services for larger clients.

"Creating propriety applications will keep customers sticky, but they want open applications," he said. "We are delivering to the workplace the expectations users get from the application players like Amazon are providing at home."

As an example, he said, the ShoreTel Teamwork app will enable people to work collaboratively on projects tightly integrated with other ShoreTel applications.

"The ability to share files is built into the application," explained Hipkiss. "People can see who has the ball, they can allocate tasks, manage personal tasks and share dashboards."

Alongside this, ShoreTel has introduced a new Digital Assistant which combines Connect Cloud with the Summit Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), VoiceBase and Teamwork apps.

"This will, for instance, enable users to record a conference call, translate the speech to text and deliver the transcript to everyone in a group," added Hipkiss.