Comms Dealer

A new cloud-based personal video collaboration application has been designed to enable home workers to collaborate more effectively.

Research commissioned by UCi2i, based on a poll of 1,000 office employees in the UK, found that 94 per cent of workers feel they work better working from home, despite stating they were not equipped with the appropriate technology to communicate with fellow colleagues (85%).

"Working from home is on the rise as employers begin to meet the demand of staff who expect collaborative technologies and flexible working," said Michael Grant, Founder and Managing Director of UCi2i.

"However, this research highlights how far behind employee needs we are. The results show the need for companies of all sizes to seriously consider investing in video conferencing to support this shift. This reflects our mission to develop a tool that allows any employee - whether in the office, on the move, or working from home - to collaborate with one another instantly and effortlessly, without limitations."

In a bid to match employee needs with the appropriate technology UCi2i has developed V-Book, an interoperable personal video collaboration workspace for business quality video communications designed for non-technical users.

V-Book has been in beta for some months and UCi2i's R&D efforts were recognised by the UK Government when the Technology Strategy Board awarded the firm a £250,000 innovation grant at the beginning of 2013.

Grant commented: "V-Book defines our company-wide ambition to make video conferencing as easy as picking up the phone - available all the time, anywhere, between anyone and on any device."

Infonetics Research forecasts a solid outlook for network equipment spending, driven by the demands placed on network infrastructure. But not all is well, says the firm, highlighting a disconnect between the growth in network usage and enterprise budgets.

"Cost containment is one of the top priorities over the next year," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research. "Vendors that can solve this challenge are best positioned to take share in this $27-billion-a-year market."

On average, respondents to Infonetics research spent around $2m each on networking equipment in 2012, with the top networking-related initiatives over the next 12 months said to be beefing up security, adoption of cloud architectures/services, virtualisation of IT infrastructure and cost containment.

Respondents plan to slightly throttle WLAN expenditures this year, and correspondingly increasing router and switch outlays with company headquarters the top investment focus, but those surveyed intend to ramp branch office spending as they seek new opportunities for post-recession growth.

Survey respondents rate Cisco the top networking manufacturer overall, but the big IT suppliers - IBM, HP and Dell - have beefed up their networking capabilities and are battling for the second position, according to the research.

Citrix has named Arrow as its first pan-European distributor as it aims to grow the European channel for SaaS solutions.

As part of the distributor agreement, Citrix SaaS products will be available on the ArrowSphere cloud services platform allowing Arrow resellers to market and sell Citrix SaaS products through their existing web store or the ArrowSphere white-label webstore functionality.

The ArrowSphere webstore platform, which was launched by Arrow in July 2012, is currently live in the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Denmark, with more countries planned.

"As the way we work continues to change, people need simple solutions to enable them to get more done, more efficiently," says Robert Gratzl, vice president and general manager EMEA for Citrix's SaaS products. "Our agreement with Arrow is an important step in extending our pan-European reach and helping our customers embrace mobile workstyles and new ways of working."

This collaboration is a further step in the expansion and implementation of the Citrix SaaS Advisor (CSSA) programme launched in May, offering a local and regional approach with strategic partners to deliver Citrix SaaS applications.

Channel success is all about the power of partnership and 'Backing the Winners' according to Andrew Doyle, MD for Jabra Business Solutions UK&I, who hosted the vendor's Partner Forum staged at The Harte and Garter Hotel in Windsor.

Key distribution, Gold and Silver resellers and strategic alliance partners converged on the forum to hear current and future market predictions as well as presentations on market opportunities and Jabra's strategies, followed by a themed evening of entertainment and networking at Windsor Racecourse under the banner of 'Backing the Winners'.

Doyle said: "It's fantastic to get so many of our channel partners together for a day of business and pleasure. The presentations are the ideal way to highlight our commitment to supporting and growing their audio devices category by providing content and new insights. However, the evening creates the perfect setting for bringing people together to relax, share ideas and just have some fun."

Ioan MacRae, General Manager for Westcon Convergence, also gave the event a thumbs up. He enthused: "The 2013 Jabra UK Partner Forum provided an opportunity to network with our mutual partners, develop new relationships and continue on build on the partnership we have with Jabra."

The delegate listed included representatives from partners such as BT, Dimension Data, Cisco and Nycomm.

Lakeside Software, provider of Big Data analytics, has appointed Centralis, application and desktop delivery consultancy, as its Gold Partner.

Centralis uses Lakeside's SysTrack, a data analytics platform that gathers information about the desktop environment, within its Desktop Discovery and Transformation services and offers it for its Support and Managed Services customers.

Also, as a Gold Solution Partner, Centralis holds Lakeside's highest level of reseller accreditation.

Centralis specialises in desktop transformation and virtualisation and provides VDI (virtualised desktop infrastructure), windows 7/8 migration and BYOD projects. It also delivers a SysTrack implementation service and helps companies develop customise dashboards, it says.

"Desktop discovery is critical to the success of a transformation programme. The SysTrack data analytics platform provides us with key data to help customers reduce the cost and risk of desktop projects," commented Ewen Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Centralis.

Predicting and reducing churn, promoting loyalty, up-selling and cross-selling offers, and personalising services are all key areas where telcos can leverage Big Data analytics for business benefit, according to Ovum.

Yet, one of the major reasons why this hasn't occurred is because of a traditional stumbling block - telco organisational and data structures, claims the think tank.

In new research investigating how telcos can monetise customer data, Ovum reveals that a well executed Big Data analytics project requires flexible business structures and logical processes, not siloed structures with artificial constraints like internal politics that have been defined by the network domains.

In order to succeed, telcos also need to become more data-centric and take lessons from the leaner and more agile data analytics models that are currently being pursued by over-the-top operators.

Only once this issue has been resolved will telcos be able to effectively monetise the increased volume, variety, velocity, and value of the network, subscriber, and business data that they collect as part of their businesses.

"The proliferation of smart devices and services has led to a considerable increase in the number of customer-telco interactions," said Clare McCarthy, head of Ovum's Telco Operations practice.

"This is happening through multiple channels, which is forcing telcos to sharpen their focus. As a result, mining a greater volume and variety of data, and doing so in realtime, is becoming a powerful competitive advantage for telcos."

However, according to the research, many telcos still lack the necessary data management and analytics skills in-house to make their data work for them. As data scientists are in high demand and short supply, this area is ripe for vendor support, either with pre-integrated solutions or hosted services.

Telcos are generally turning to one of four sources for their Big Data analytics needs, according to Ovum: Their existing OSS/BSS providers, trusted IT vendors, telco analytics specialists, or incumbent network equipment providers.

Each carries its own particular competencies and strengths in vying for a share of a Big Data analytics market that Ovum forecasts will be worth US$7.7bn in 2018.

"Transforming ingrained operating models and business processes is a difficult task for telcos, and many are not entirely sure what they are transforming towards. Therefore, choosing a business intelligence and analytics solution and partner will be one of the most important strategic decisions that they face in the next year," added McCarthy.

Entagroup sister companies, Entanet and Entatech, battled it out once again at the weekend in the annual Severn Hospice Dragon Boat Race. The group raised over £2,000 in aid of the local, worthy charity.
 
The event, held at the Pengwern Boat Club in Shrewsbury, was declared another big success. After earlier heats, distributor Entatech, dressed as sailors, and wholesale communications provider Entanet, who came as pirates, rallied together their teams of 16 rowers and a drummer and took to the river in friendly rivalry.
 
It was neck and neck for much of the race but victory went to the Entatech team finishing two seconds ahead of Entanet.
 
Entanet's Head of Marketing Darren Farnden said: "Both companies have had an excellent day out as always in support of the Severn Hospice. It's an excellent way to raise money for such a worthy local charity as well as offering both Entanet and Entatech teams a great opportunity to compete against each other."
 
The Severn Hospice was established in 1989 and provides palliative care for sufferers of long-term and terminal illnesses and support to their families.

GCI has been ranked in the Investec Hot 100 fastest growing UK private companies listing, taking 19th position. The comms provider, headed up by ambitious CEO Wayne Martin (pictured), also took second place in the midlands region.

Following significant investment from Barclays in 2011 and Business Growth Fund in 2012, GCI is poised for further growth, noted Martin.

He said: "We are in a great position to significantly build scale, service diversity, service and capability to meet all ICT needs at a time when our clients need it and the market conditions are ripe for growth."

GCI's fast growth ranking comes soon after the firm was awarded the G-Cloud framework, enabling it to provide cloud solutions to the public sector.

GCI owns its own Core MPLS network and provides secure ISO 27001 accredited data centres, with one located in a nuclear bunker.

Aastra has launched a wireless conference phone, the S850i, incorporating wireless omnidirectional microphones and handset dialer, offering users the flexibility to place these components in preferred locations within a room.

The phone uses DECT between the microphones, speaker and base station, while boasting acoustic echo cancellation and an ability to block out any mobile phone interferences.

Aastra's S850i can be used as a standalone audio conference solution or can be connected to a video conferencing solution such as the Aastra BluStar for Conference Room.

The S850i can also be the speaker and microphone for Bluetooth enabled devices (mobile phones, DECT handsets and even laptops with the BluStar for PC Client).

Private calls can be made from the handset dialer and, using a one touch toggle, can be switched to speaker mode to enable more participants in the room to join the call.

Simon Beebe, Vice President of Product Line Management at Aastra, said: "In a world where businesses must remain in touch with remote workers, global teams, partners and customers, audio and video conferencing have become important productivity tools that enable organisations to communicate and collaborate more efficiently and effectively. Making sure that everyone can be clearly heard during these calls is critical."

The wireless conference phone is SIP-based and compatible with Aastra communication servers (Aastra 400 and 5000, Clearspan and MX-ONE) as well as other third party SIP compatible call managers.

CommScope has appointed James Leyland as UK Sales Manager.

He aims to leverage his ten years experience providing IT solutions in the property and telecoms industries to drive new business development.

Based in London, Leyland will report directly to Jim Curran, Managing Director, Enterprise, Northern Europe.

Curran said: "James has a strong track record working with clients who require complex and demanding solutions. His background in property and IT will prove useful for our customers and prospects as we lead the market with best in class resources for our users."

Leyland joins CommScope from UK property company MWB Business Exchange, where he focused on disaster recovery and IT support solutions for the Alternative Investment Market.

Prior to that he worked for Alternative Networks.