Comms Dealer

Plantronics partner Avtex Solutions has developed the Avtex Smart Forward Agent application to provide users with additional functionality when they use the Voyager Legend UC headset with Microsoft Lync.

By leveraging the contextual information the Legend provides about how close a user is to their PC while wearing it, Avtex Smart Forward Agent can automatically turn the Lync Call Forwarding or Simultaneous Ring features on when the user walks away from their PC.

"Plantronics is excited to see our partners leveraging the broad capabilities of the Voyager Legend UC to bring users an application that enhances the Lync experience beyond audio," said Joe Burton, senior vice president of Technology, Development & Strategy and CTO at Plantronics.

"With users becoming increasingly mobile the Avtex Smart Forward Agent better integrates a user's mobile phone with Lync for a truly unified communications experience."

Nimans has experienced a 35% leap in demand for leasing since the start of the year.

The new financial year, from April, has seen growth continue to climb in the wake of a shortage of credit from banks and other financial institutions.

There are many factors for the rise according to Tom Maxwell, Head of Dealer Sales, who says high acceptance rates is also fuelling popularity.

Nimans has grown leasing by 200% in the last two years and expects these trends to continue. But despite these results Maxwell concedes that too many resellers are still missing out.

He said: "Not everyone is aware of leasing. A lot of resellers should be using leasing but they don't understand the benefits to them and are frightened to broach the subject with their customers. A reseller offering credit is crucial because if they are not then someone else will be. Cash flow is king to both resellers and customers so a line of credit for capital expenditure of any type is a valued commodity.

"Leasing provides resellers with a stronger cash flow often offsetting the price of the kit against the lease and helping to sell additional products on a regular basis keeping the customer's outgoings the same.

"It's a lot more palatable for an end user to buy equipment at hundreds of pounds each month instead of a one-off payment of say £10,000. Generally a reseller will be talking to an IT or comms manager who is really not that interested how equipment gets paid. It's the Financial Director. Resellers should make it as easy as possible for their contact to sell it to their finance boss. With leasing additional equipment can be added in further down the line at no extra rental cost."

Avaya's Senior Vice President for Global Sales Tom Mitchell is to step down on September 30th in a move that the vendor says is part of the 'natural progression of the transformation of Avaya'.

Pierre-Paul Allard, who has been with Avaya as SVP, Global Strategy and Development since May, 2012, will be taking over Global Sales.

In a statement Avaya said, 'By tightly integrating strategy, marketing and sales under a single leadership we will be able to better segment the market, understand the needs of the customers and target new buyers and new audiences for Avaya's technology'.

Mitchell has been credited with aligning the channel and Avaya's sales force in a single direction. At the same time, Allard spent his first year working to improve the form's strategic focus, key alliance partners and strategic marketing efforts.

The statement continued, 'Now we are able to bring together all go-to-market motions and further align our efforts as we move into new markets and new geographies'.

Nimans is to host a series of Samsung technical training courses throughout the year and as an incentive the distributor is offering 10 free training credits worth £1,000
to resellers who purchase a demo kit for the Samsung OfficeServ range.

The session will be held at Samsung's Harlow training centre and will educate resellers on Voicemail, Desktop CTI, Advanced VoIP and Contact Centre applications.

Paul Burn, Nimans' Head of Category Sales, said: "Resellers are coming on board on an almost daily basis. This in turn requires a comprehensive training support programme for new and existing resellers.

"The free training credits that come with the purchase of a demo kit are a great way for resellers to kick-start their training operations."

BT Business Partner Sales rewarded the winners of a recent incentive scheme with tickets to the final night of Robbie Williams' tour at Wembley.

Delegates from CER Associates, Chilli Telecom and Getech were hosted by BT Business Partner Sales Manager Kay Leech, who enthused: "The evening was fantastic and each partner deserved to be there. Roll on the next incentive!"

Innovation is critical to telco survival, states Ovum, yet many operators miss the big picture, exaggerate the threat from over-the-top (OTT) players, and misunderstand the broader benefits of innovation.

New research from the global analyst firm examined more than 3,500 new service launches since 2009, finding that telcos must compete less and collaborate more.

When comparing telcos' efforts with Apple and Google's approach to the app ecosystem, it is obvious why they never managed to gain a foothold in the market. Ovum implies that telcos were too selective when choosing partners and overburdened their prospective allies with unrealistic revenue expectations.

Instead, the report recommends that telcos use partnerships to scout for new ideas, assimilate them, and capture value. In addition, the research indicates the importance of prioritising innovations (whether products and services, business models, or tariff strategies) that exploit the centrality of operators' networks.

"No matter how much telcos try to diversify, their primary role will always be as carriers of voice, messaging, and data traffic. However, an efficient network that has been updated with new innovations can be combined with innovative business models to continuously deliver value to telcos and their shareholders," says Emeka Obiodu, principal analyst in Ovum's Industry, Communications, & Broadband practice.

"As Google (with advertising on search), Apple (with devices), and Microsoft (with software) have shown, a well-crafted strategy can use additional, preferably low-cost, new products and services to supplement and shield core products."

Easynet Global Services has integrated Microsoft Lync and Office 365 with Polycom's virtual meeting technology. The platform, designed by Easynet's expert engineers, integrates voice, social networking, scheduling, instant messaging and a number of other features and benefits.

Easynet's vision for videoconferencing is to enable its customers to join a conference via any social media platform, whether Facebook, Skype or Facetime, and from an employee's own device as well as from traditional conference rooms. As part of this evolution, Easynet is looking at integrating WebRTC, which enables plugin-free voice and video chat from within the browser.

Justin Fielder, CTO, Easynet Global Services said; "This is the kind of technology we'd have read about years ago and wondered how and when it could ever become a reality. Now it has, mobile enterprises really can be mobile and Unified Communications has finally come of age."

Adept Telecom has announced its 10th consecutive year of rising underlying EBITDA, a growth curve that offers the best measure of the firm's profitability and cash generation capabilities according to Ian Fishwick, CEO. Commenting on Adept's full year results to 31st March 2013, he said: "This is a feat that few companies in any industry will achieve and we'd like to say a huge thank you to employees past and present.

"We also recognise that we couldn't have achieved this without the magnificent support of our suppliers, shareholders, and most important of all, our customers."

"Our reliance on call revenue continues to reduce and it now represents only one third of our income. We have seen rising revenues in new products with data connectivity up 9% and cloud-based contact centre solutions up 15%.

"Since our debt peaked in 2008 we have paid off £9m and our debt is now well under one year's EBITDA. We have therefore trebled our dividend and are again looking at acquisitions."

VoIP.co.uk has added software PBX vendor 3CX to its list of interoperability tested vendors which also includes Cisco, Avaya, Microsoft Lync and Asterisk.

The announcement follows weeks of work by both VoIP.co.uk and 3CX to ensure that the Enhanced SIP trunks and SIP Encrypt services work seamlessly with Windows VoIP PBX.

"Our service has been designed and built to simply work with every major manufacturer and PBX vendor by using open standards but it's important that we can support our Partners and customers when using these platforms," said VoIP.co.uk MD, Adam Crisp.

Sennheiser has increased its sales by 10 per cent compared to the previous year, from 531.4 million euro to 584.4 million euro.

"Once again, all three business divisions were very successful in 2012," said Volker Bartels, Sennheiser's parting Speaker of the Executive Management Board. "The consistent premium brand positioning alongside the right products and a continual investment in our innovative strengths has paid off. Particularly in Eastern Europe and the Asian sales regions we have recorded significant growth."

Significant sales outside Germany have been recorded in 2012, the worldwide operating audio specialist shows an export quota of 84 per cent.

The EMEA sales region again came out to be the strongest sales market for Sennheiser with sales of 342.9 million euro (against the previous year's sales of 324.8 million euro).

The hesitant consumer climate in the eurozone limited growth in this area to 5.6 per cent.

The German market developed steadily to 92.0 million euros of sales (previous year 88.7 million euros). The company recorded above average growth in Eastern Europe. A significantly expanded sales network in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine helped to increase sales by 67 per cent in this area.

The APAC region recorded the largest growth with a sales increase of 30.1 per cent, up to 95.0 million euros. Particularly positive developments were achieved in China, India and Japan. The high acceptance of Japanese customers for high-end products HD 800 and IE 800, plus steady growth in China through an increased demand in the professional broadcasting area, led to excellent results.

Sennheiser's presence in India has fundamentally transformed the use of headphones. Rather than being restricted to telephone applications, recreational use of headphones is now taking the lead, with more and more customers enjoying listening to music through headphones.

In the Americas sales region (North, Central and South America) Sennheiser achieved a sales of 10 per cent, growth in Latin America, especially Brazil and Mexico, showed a remarkably steep rise with an increase of 24 per cent.

The Consumer Electronics Division forms Sennheiser's strongest division recording sales of 288.6 million euros and a solid growth of 7 per cent.

The Integrated Systems Division increased their sales to 90.7 million euro and showed a growth against the previous year of 21 per cent. Wireless microphones and information systems have primarily contributed to this. The success of the division can be traced back to a strategic realignment.

Professional Systems sales exceeded previous year by 10 per cent and amounted to 205.1 million euro. The biggest growth was recorded in the Americas region and APAC. The division successfully developed their portfolio: at the beginning of the year Sennheiser introduced the new XS wireless microphone. The fully digital wireless microphone "Digital 9000" is the pinnacle of Sennheiser's leading portfolio of professional wireless microphones, its excellent audio quality has already proven outstanding results in the first few live performances.

In 2013 the company will certify its sales partners in Europe.

Increased in competitor activity in the area of headphones will require special focus in Europe in order to secure market share.

Furthermore, Sennheiser will develop markets and target groups with their completed product range of high-quality headsets for call centres and business applications.

Sennheiser will invest approximately 20 million euro in company infrastructure in Wennebostel with their "Innovation Campus" and onsite nursery.