Comms Dealer

Distributor Avnet is to pay its first ever dividend. An initial quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per commr.on share will be paid on September 20, 2013 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on September 10, 2013.

The acquisitive firm reported slightly improved sales last week; the quarter ended June 29, 2013 showed revenue up 4.5% year over year to $6.59bn; the organic revenue part was up just 0.2% year over year. This was still better than the market expected, however, but adjusted operating income decreased 4.8% year over year due primarily to a decline in gross profit margin in the EMEA region even though organic sales increased. The addition of Magirus in the EMEA region has strengthened its competitive position in key technologies including virtualisation, storage and converged solutions, it says.

Rick Hamada, Avnet's Chief Executive Officer, says "Given our confidence in and commitment to long-term shareholder value creation, we believe now is an appropriate time to incorporate a more consistent element of returning capital to shareholders in the form of a dividend. Our focus on value-based management and success in growing the Company has resulted in a cash flow from operations profile which, when combined with our strong balance sheet, provides us the financial flexibility to prioritize this commitment into our longer-term capital allocation strategy. Going forward, we will maintain our disciplined approach to profitable growth that continues to emphasize organic growth, value-creating acquisitions and share repurchases when appropriate."

The Board anticipates declaring this dividend in future quarters on a regular basis; however, future declarations of dividends are subject to Board approval and may be adjusted as business needs or market conditions change, it says.

Total optical spending in the mulitplexing market is up 27% quarter-over-quarter, says research, though EMEA is operating at record low levels of optical capital intensity.

Infonetics Research released vendor market share and preliminary analysis from its 2nd quarter 2013 (2Q13) Optical Network Hardware report.

"We expected the optical hardware market to turn, particularly in North America, and that's exactly what happened in the 2nd quarter. Total optical spending is up 27% quarter-over-quarter, and the WDM equipment segment is up 21% year-over-year," notes Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research.

"WDM spending accelerated dramatically in North America as a result of 100G deployments hitting the ground, and worldwide spending on 100G speeds is tracking close to 15% of all optical spending," Schmitt adds. "China's 100G deployments will begin in earnest as the year closes, led by China Mobile, and we're anticipating more than 5,000 ports of 100G in China alone in 2013."

Globally, the optical network hardware market, including WDM and SONET/SDH equipment, totaled $3.3 billion in 2Q13. EMEA is operating at record low levels of optical capital intensity; positive capex rumbles from tier 1 carriers have yet to translate into more optical spending

The top 3 optical market share leaders in 2Q13 are, in rank order, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent and ZTE. Alcatel-Lucent continues to decline on a year-over-year basis, though optical investment is set to increase in 2013 as part of its SHIFT Plan to double down on optical and routing. Infinera is the fastest-growing supplier of optical WDM gear in Europe.

NEC Corporation has announced the availability of version 8.5 of its UNIVERGE 3C Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) software platform. The new release provides enhancements, including a set of integral mobility functions.

"Mobility and a consistent user experience for business users are top of the list for many enterprises," said Osamu Noda, general manager, Enterprise Networks Division, System Platform Business Unit, NEC. "UNIVERGE 3C brings these key capabilities into its open software platform and across a range of desktop and mobile clients that deliver an intuitive and integrated user experience for the workforce."

Using the UNIVERGE 3C desktop or mobile clients users can see the status of a call, regardless of where they choose to take it. A user can move any call, without disruption, from any device to any other. NEC says this capability eliminates the need for external fixed-mobile convergence gateways or software, streamlining the administration, lowering the costs to enable mobility, and creating a more integrated user experience.

Siemens Enterprise Communication has been named by Gartner as a Leader in the 2013 Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications.

Chris Hummel, Chief Commercial Officer and President, North America, Siemens Enterprise Communications, said: "Siemens Enterprise Communications continues to drive innovation in the market with the OpenScape portfolio and the newly unveiled Project Ansible."

According to the vendor Project Ansible is a communications and collaboration platform designed to deliver increased business performance through real-time engagement by unifying voice, video, social communications, search, business process applications, and other channels into an intuitive experience.

Videonations, now part of the Nycomm Group, has reported a 15% rise in demand for digital signage since the start of the year.

According to Nimans retail, business and entertainment industries are key sectors to target as digital signage adds a dynamic edge to point of sale displays, accelerates brand awareness and provides instant news and information updates.

"Traditionally digital signage was used to display welcome messages in reception areas or waiting times in surgeries. But it's application is now much more widespread due to advances in technology and more cost effective pricing," said Videonations MD Ian Carter. "For example 24 hour service stations, bus stops, lottery kiosks and conference venues are all popular locations.

"Technology has moved on and the latest LCD and LED screens are cheap to run, don't suffer from screen burn and allow high quality videos to be played on a loop. Increasingly businesses are using digital signage as part of their internal communications which is fuelling further demand.

"Digital signage allows companies and their brands to display images, video, live TV and text on a single screen. Many can be controlled from a central location over a network for easy management, utilising RSS news feeds for example. There's been a significant jump in demand this year and we expect the upwards momentum to continue. Digital signage provides a very lucrative and complementary reseller revenue stream."

Digital projectors, interactive whiteboards and room booking solutions are also growing in popularity for Videonations.

International solutions and managed services provider Logicalis has brought its Managed Services Centre (MSC) back to the UK. The 24/7 centre, formerly offshored in Malaysia, will now operate out of Logicalis' facility near Cardiff. Tim Wadey, Managed Services Director, Logicalis UK, said: "Although Logicalis in Malaysia was doing a good job we saw an opportunity to introduce a different approach. Our new MSC staff in Wales are far more immersed in the operational tempo and life cycles of UK organisations, helping us to improve response times and be more aligned to our clients' business requirements.

"This move is one element in an ongoing process to overhaul the services that we offer and how we govern those propositions, to deliver service improvements for our customers."

The MSC represents a single point of contact through which Logicalis' end-to-end infrastructure maintenance and monitoring services operate. If a client's mission critical infrastructure fails, or an incident is detected, the MSC proactively manages the internal Logicalis and third party or vendor resolver groups to ensure that the service is brought back online in a timely manner.

Mark Starkey, MD of Logicalis UK, added: "To achieve maximum business advantage our strategy is centred around our clients, their business requirements, and the technology they need to support their growth."

Opening the Managed Services Centre in Wales created over 20 skilled ICT jobs and a new apprentice scheme. The investment in the Centre has been supported with £438,000 business finance from the Welsh Government.

Westcon Convergence has bolstered its UC team with the addition of two established UC specialists.

Microsoft Lync expert Scott Somenthal joins from Westcoast as Account Director for the UC team. His remit is to drive the Microsoft Lync Solutions proposition to existing and new channels.

"Westcon has got a strong global relationship with Microsoft and is in a strong position."

Carlos Costa also joins the UC team as Account Director for Polycom where he will be developing the Polycom business with new and existing partners.

"Both Scott and Carlos bring with them a wealth of industry knowledge from end user sales through to vendor and distribution experience that will strengthen our team," said Dawn Fenton, Sales Director Unified Communications, Westcon Convergence.

IT and Telecoms services provider PSU Technology Group (PSU) has secured a contract to supply and manage a telecoms estate across 130 locations for the UNITE Group, the manager and developer of student accommodation and a FTSE 250 listed company.

The contract extends the range of services that PSU already delivers to UNITE, having provided IT support to them for several years.

Michael Lounton, Managing Director, PSU Technology Group said: "One of PSU's core strengths is the provision of a broad spectrum of ICT services to multi-location businesses - and this is central to our relationship with UNITE. The contract builds on our presence in the education sector, servicing organisations such as UCAS and the University of Surrey."

Westcon Convergence has bolseterd its marketing team by recruiting two new staff - Yan Zhang and Emma Shaw.

Zhang, wh has been appointed Marketing Manager for UK and Ireland, said: "This is such a dynamic industry to be in and I am delighted to be a part of it. My focus is leading Westcon's UK marketing and driving partner enablement."

Shaw joins Westcon with a background in online marketing as Marketing Programme Manager. She will be responsible for driving a brand new marketing services programme that provides vendors and partners with strategic integrated marketing programmes.

Westcon's European Channel Marketing Director, Runa Macleod, said: "The appointments of Yan and Emma will continue to develop our channel marketing support with new results focused programmes and initiatives to deliver ROI to partners."

TDAzlan-SDG, the enterprise division of Tech Data, has appointed Gareth Hansford as UK Managing Director.

Hansford brings more than 30 years of experience in the IT industry to the role and most recently led the software channels business for IBM across Europe, prior to which he led distribution for IBM across the European region. He has also spent a number of years as Managing Director of Lenovo's UK and Ireland operations and as head of IBM's software business.

Peter Hubbard, Managing Director of Computer 2000, UK and Ireland , stated: "In joining the UK's leadership team, Gareth adds great enterprise expertise. In all of his previous roles, Gareth has worked closely with channel partners on the development of new business and profit opportunities, and he will be a key player in driving our future."

Hansford said: "We'll be looking to develop even closer and more productive partnerships as we enter this new and exciting phase in the development of the Azlan-SDG business."