Comms Dealer

Innovations in Machine to Machine connectivity are exhilarating. Even better, the upsides are without boundaries and the business benefits for resellers too good to turn down, according to Richard Appleton, Sales Director at Arkessa, a firm with enviable expertise in devising and deploying global M2M solutions.

A significant piece in this scenario is the work done by resellers on the ground. This is where big wins are made and companies such as Arkessa are enabling resellers to assert their role in innovative ways based on M2M service provision 'made simple', claimed Appleton.

"The term M2M can be confusing," he said. "But in reality this can be an uncomplicated market that resellers can address via white labelled M2M service provision."

A general consensus on M2M market growth has brought into sharp focus the channel's ability to capitalise on this rich seam of opportunity and companies such as Arkessa have leveraged their expertise and know-how to create a M2M platform that removes all of the complexity.

Examples of M2M in action - such as capturing meter data and feeding the information through a network into the corporate environment for analysis - have already become simplistic and hackneyed, according to Appleton, because they do not tell the full story.

"The real world is more complex," he explained. "A M2M solution could involve multiple devices over multiple networks and involve multiple recipients of data for differing purposes. All devices, including legacy, need managing - these are just some of the issues to consider.

"But Arkessa has developed a platform designed to empower resellers as virtual M2M providers, creating a new source of revenue based on selling a service rather than a product.

"M2M is often misconceived - don't be deterred - resellers can serve customers in a broader way. For UC providers it's easy to extend into M2M and focus on high ARPU areas.

"M2M is not constrained to machines talking to machines, it's not about low ARPU connections and charging for bytes of data. This market is evolving at pace, and creative thinking, channels and partners will be critical to success."

Arkessa was formed in 2009 and currently boasts 400,000-plus connections.

The dour economy still does not fail to disappoint but a bright spot allows the channel to share in a surprise growth opportunity, explained UK business economist Andrew Sentance CBE, Senior Economic Adviser to PwC.

In a bid to motivate an understanding of where we are in the financial crisis Sentance advanced the concept of a New Normal economy developing, truncated by a structural break from the conditions that supported growth prior to the recession. These determining factors were, in the main, easy money, cheap imports and confidence in the policy regime - a mixture that nurtured sustained growth, but importantly these elements no longer apply.

Mid-way through this period of unprecedented transition, the economy has now dislocated from old structures and is reforming amid global growth, albeit uneven growth with the rise of Asia and other emerging markets changing the dynamics and pattern of the global economy.

Compared to these boisterous economies, the UK is in the slow lane with disappointing growth of 1.3 per cent. This, noted Sentance, is sluggish but by no means representative of a lurch back into recession.

Employment has held-up well with 1.5 million jobs created in the private sector since 2010, and the services sector is now the main UK employer driving the economic recovery, turning on their head predictions that manufacturing would lead the march out of recession.

Significantly for the comms channel, Professional Services has proved to be one of the strongest UK sectors where despite a subdued growth environment there are opportunities in emerging trends such as the cloud, noted Sentance.

Combine this with growth predictions of just under 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent this year and next, and a picture of optimism emerges, illustrated by Internet sales volumes in the retail sector which have climbed 150 per cent since 2008.

Sentance expects stronger growth between 2015 and 2020. "There are opportunities in the New Normal economy through innovating and exploiting new technologies," he stated. "Customers are more demanding and responsive to solutions that make them more flexible and adaptable."

O2's Head of Partners Jason Philips is a newcomer to the Comms Vision stage but the operator has for the fourth time positioned its channel proposition as a CVC Platinum sponsor.

Addressing delegates on day one of Comms Vision Philips set out O2's stall as it moves away from being a 'mobile' company to emerge as a 'digital comms' organisation.

"We are focused on a digital future and M2M," he said. "It is estimated that by 2020 there will be seven times more SIM enabled 'machines' than people."

Comms pioneer Mitel upped the stakes this year, raising its Comms Vision sponsorship to Platinum level in a move that illustrates the vendor's commitment to building on its 40 year heritage as an agile channel-focused manufacturer.

Mitel's evolution has in large part been driven by hefty investments in R&D and now the company has built three pillars that form the core structure if its proposition - Cloud, Contact Centre and UC.

Simon Skellon, VP UK Sales, told delegates: "We now have 300,000 cloud users worldwide, 40 per cent of these are in the UK. We aim to show resellers how easy it is to build cloud propositions."

There is no advantage in treating software giant Microsoft as a threat, stated John Haw, Sales Director at serial Comms Vision Platinum sponsor Gamma, who in an introductory address urged delegates to embrace the Lync opportunity.

Gamma's Lync push is the latest in a long line of portfolio developments at the company. Rapid growth has seen the company hike its SIP and hosted business by 90 per cent and 80 per cent respectively this year, contributing significantly towards an impressive £145 million turnover, up £8m on last year.

"New value propositions make customers more sticky and resellers more margin," he said. "We are now introducing Lync as an opportunity, not a threat."

On consideration of Gamma's pedigree as a runaway winner in the new technology stakes, those partial to a small bet would no doubt give the company's race to Lync their full backing.

Just six years ago, 75 per cent of Gamma's revenue came from calls and lines. These days, SIP accounts for 25 per cent, Inbound the same proportion, ditto hosted, broadband and mobile, with the calls and lines business shrinking to 25 per cent.

It's clear where the growth markets are and with Lync in the mix Gamma's revenue generating profile is certain to continue its theme of transformation next year.

Senior executives of leading ICT companies have descended on the world famous Gleneagles Hotel for Comms Vision 2013, the channel's premier strategic business planning convention (November 6-8th). John Chapman, Content Director, set the scene by highlighting the 'new world' that is emerging from the recession, a world characterised by a new breed of application software and a new level of conversation with the customer.

A gathering head of steam-driven software development will provide a platform for channel parties to accelerate out of recession by enabling customers to be more agile, efficient and productive, according to Chapman

"The driving factors for change are new procedures and processes," stated Chapman in a keynote address. "With generation X and Y already in work and bypassing established systems like email and data bases in favour of Facebook and mobile, the channel's mantra now needs to be 'Make it happen and get things done'."

Despite the workplace revolution there is no conflict between staff and bosses as a shift in IT purchasing power illustrates, noted Chapman, citing research that suggests CMOs will spend more IT budget than CIOs by 2017. According to Gartner, CIOs are currently responsible for just 50 per cent of IT spend.

"Software application development is driving new buying behaviours," added Chapman. "The drivers include CRM, mobility - including M2M apps and BYOD - and Big Data. The biggest change for resellers is that they need to adapt to a new world where 'born in the cloud' rivals can successfully operate with no legacy issues to hold them back."

Team gteq got right down to earth in its latest charity effort when they got stuck into the notorious Tough Mudder challenge and emerged muddied from head-to-toe, but cleaning up with much needed funds for charity Sparks.

Tough Mudder events are exactly what they say on the tin, hardcore 12 mile-long obstacle courses designed by the Special Forces to test the durability of participants on a number of levels under extremely uncomfortable conditions that include getting electric shocks.

Karl McCaffrey, CEO, commented: " Everyone who takes part is highly motivated which helps you get to the finish line!"

Pictured - the gtech Tough Mudders before-an-after the mega-muddy endurance test

South West Communications Group has been awarded ShoreTel Gold Partner status a year after joining the vendor's Champion Partner Programme, becoming the only international reseller to move from Authorised to Gold status this year.

"South West Communications Group are an established, traditional, but also a progressive and future facing organisation. In its first year with ShoreTel South West Communications Group has been a committed and hardworking member of the ShoreTel programme. We are delighted at their rapid growth and success and we congratulate them on achieving gold status so quickly," said Adrian Hipkiss, vice president & managing director of EMEA at ShoreTel.

South West Communications Group has already been recognised as the fastest growing new ShoreTel reseller in the EMEA region since launching with the vendor in October 2012 and winning deals to install ShoreTel solutions for Farrow & Ball, Tomy, Centrax and Bradleys Estate Agents, among others.

InTechnology has secured its place on the Government's latest Cloud procurement framework - G-Cloud IV. This comes as the firm extends its Cloud offering to include Platform as a Service based on Oracle Software and Systems.

As a G-Cloud Supplier since early 2012, InTechnology will continue to supply a range of Cloud infrastructure, platform and software services via the Government-approved 'Cloudstore' online marketplace. In addition to providing its list of G-Cloud services, InTechnology is now able to offer additional 'Database As A Service' and 'Test and Development As A Service' solutions via the G-Cloud IV framework.

These new offerings, which are the result of a close collaboration over several months, utilise the Oracle Database, as well as Oracle Exadata Database Machine, an Oracle Engineered System.

Mark Halpin, Sales Manager at InTechnology, said: "Over £50m of business has been transacted to date via the G-Cloud 'Cloudstore' and nearly 60% with SMEs such as InTechnology."

VanillaIP has announced City Lifeline as a new London data centre partner. This additional capacity is necessary to meet exploding demand for VanillaIP's Hosted UC and IP Trunking solutions, powered by their Uboss technology management platform.

Uboss is a web based portal that enables wireless, wireline and application service providers by consolidating and simplifying back office provisioning and billing functions.

In this way Uboss helps to maximise revenue and improve differentiation by getting Service Providers to market quicker with a more sophisticated product offering.

The new agreement is for two years and will see VanillaIP take two racks in Lifeline House, City Lifeline's flagship central London data centre facility. The high level of flexibility offered by City Lifeline was a deciding factor in meeting VanillaIP's demanding requirements. VanillaIP is also making use of City Lifeline's THN data communications interlink with Telehouse North, allowing it to easily share critical data across the two data centre sites.

David Dadds, managing director of VanillaIP, commented: "These new City Lifeline colocation racks were needed to meet unprecedented growth on our platform and ensure we have sufficient capacity following our launch into North America this month.

"Because we offer Uboss as a SaaS model to tens of thousands of businesses worldwide, there is no such thing as 'off-peak' and City Lifeline operations team gave us great confidence that we can meet even the most demanding customer requirement."