Comms Dealer

DMSL and Cloud Telephones Sales Director Paul Gibson has announced his retirement having decided to focus on his own personal ventures and pursuits.
 
In a career spanning more than three decades, Paul Gibson has become a well-known figure in the comms and printer market channels.

Before joining DMSL he spent 15 years in the print sector working at OKi Printing Solutions, Kyocera Mita and Brother International.
 
DMSL MD John Carter said: "I want to thank Paul, personally and professionally, for the tremendous effort and enormous contribution he has made to both DMSL and Cloud Telephones.

"He leaves us in great shape and ready to move onto the next phase of development. It has been a pleasure to know him and to work with him. We are genuinely sorry to see him go, but wish him a long, fruitful and happy retirement. He has earned it, that's for sure."
 
Gibson plans to pursue some of his own business ideas and spend more time nurturing his passion for scootering and classic Lambrettas.

"It's been a long and exciting journey over the past 30 years," he said. "At times, it has been challenging but it has also been tremendously rewarding and a lot of fun."

4D, the independently-owned UK data centre operator and cloud provider, is buying and upgrading a fully fitted Tier-3 data centre from BT. The new data centre, based in Crawley, West Sussex, will be known as '4D Gatwick' and the company claims is will be the first dedicated colocation facility of its kind in the area.

The new data centre will have a capacity of up to 400 racks, 3 megawatts of power and dark fibre which will connect businesses to the internet and the heart of London. With up to 400 racks, able to draw 32Amps of power each over A+B feeds it will have diverse fibre into the 4D core network and 4D Cloud with resilient generators and UPS, it says.

Jack Bedell-Pearce, Managing Director of 4D, said: "Demand for colocation services from both existing and prospective clients is such that the acquisition of a new data centre was essential."

Nine Wholesale is set to roll out the approved Federation of Communication Services (FCS) format for billing data across its entire product portfolio.

Nine has been a member of the FCS Billing Group for a number of years and has worked collaboratively to develop a revised standard CDR format.

This new standard has been tested and is recognised and supported by all the leading industry billing systems.

Nick Jarret, Group Billing Manger at Nine, stated: "By working alongside FCS we have been able to influence the development of a standard billing data format, which responds to the regular feedback we receive from resellers regarding their requirements for comprehensive and accurate billing information.

"The new format also provides the versatility that we require to launch new products and services in 2017."

Leeds-based Simetric Telecom has added a call intelligence system to its Mobile-X product, enabling users to access the intelligence held inside their voice and SMS messages.

The move to unlock big data potential follows a link up with Cognia.

Simetric MD Gavin Sweet said: "There's so much data held in voice and text communications which businesses are missing out on by having no way of analysing.

"Adding Cognia to our Mobile-X service will enable our customers to record conversations across mobile, landline and SMS and analyse them all on one global system without the need for costly infrastructure to support it. The possibilities are endless."

The Cognia system enables businesses to intelligently investigate events, monitor communications and securely share the results with internal and external parties.

Cognia COO Ian Hook said: "Our cloud archive solution is designed to deliver not just traditional call recording requirements but to create value to all users, mobile, fixed and social."

TeleWare has moved its partnering strategy forward following a link up with SIPHON Networks, part of the Nuvias Group.

SIPHON was established in 2009 to support service providers with the launch of cloud telephony services via an integrated and centralised platform, offering a full UC proposition.

Initially, the partnership will focus on enhancements to TeleWare's Microsoft capability, primarily Skype for Business.
 
Steve Harris, MD at SIPHON, said: "Working with TeleWare just makes sense for us. We're of a similar mindset in terms of culture and our attitude towards collaboration.

"We've been discussing the possibility of a partnership since June this year and it's good to make it official. The nature of the work we do will mean that we will be able to provide what is essentially an end-to-end service and smooth the way for companies to implement genuine unified communications."
 
Steve Haworth, CEO at TeleWare, added: "This keeps the momentum going on our partnership programme which has taken off in 2016. The basis of this new partnership is Microsoft's Skype for Business."
  

Elite has acquired cloud specialist Tollon which boasts a large direct customer base and also operates a reselling model.

Founded in 1997, Tollon's portfolio includes Citrix cloud hosting, physical server hosting, email services, domain name registration and Internet connectivity.

"Tollon is a dynamic company, one that has been led by technological innovation throughout the years," said Matthew Rogers, Head of Marketing and Business Development at Elite.

"We will focus on offering customers a diverse portfolio of technology solutions over the next few months."

David Simmons, MD, added: "One of the most important parts of any company acquisition is the staff. The Tollon team shares the same core values as Elite, and we have worked together on projects for the last few years."

He also noted that it will be business as usual for all Tollon customers under the Elite brand.

Elite plans to add more diverse product ranges to its portfolio such as KVM and VMware cloud portfolio. The firm will also redesign Tollon's core network and implement a new cloud infrastructure estate across a number of data centres.

At several stages in your career you will decide to move job, and in present times your resignation is likely to generate a counter-offer to stay, writes Clive Jefferys, Managing Director of recruiter JMA Network.

The problem is that no matter how flattering it is to feel wanted in these circumstances, can you ever really trust, or be trusted by, your employer again?

Unfortunately, the statistics are against you on this one: 68 per cent of people in the tech sector choose to refuse a counter-offer. It falls down to basic human psychology about the process that leads you to finally decide it's time to go.

The reasons are many - being underpaid, over-worked, unappreciated or the absence of career prospects. Sometimes, waiting for your boss to fall under a bus becomes just too much to bear.

Generally speaking, the counter-offer originates from people who didn't notice how unhappy you were, didn't care, or were powerless to do anything about it until it came to the crunch.

Harsh words maybe, but true nonetheless.

It seems that the final decision to cross the line and look for a new job is, in reality, irreversible.

So when you summon up the courage to resign, it's not in your best interest to be swayed. In most cases, the promises made to keep you will not be fulfilled and you'll look back and realise you were looking at a leopard that day.

Zest4's M2M channel expansion strategy is set to enter a new phase when the firm rolls out a range of end-of-end solutions, kicking off with a vehicle telematics offering that, according to the company, is not currently available to partners via any other UK provider.

Zest4, a long established O2 Joined Up Communications Wholesale Provider, is working with a number of suppliers to offer resellers straightforward smart vehicle solutions including plug and play devices.

The solutions give fleet management teams and leasing companies full visibility of their vehicles at all times, as well as providing them with real-time data.

Two versions of the solution will be offered - an entry level one that clips onto a car's diagnostics port and can be moved between vehicles, offering real-time vehicle location, trip visualisation, unlimited geofencing, alerts and reports.

Secondly, a more advanced solution provides fleet managers with information on mileage, engine diagnostics, driver behaviour, vehicle location, fuel and oil levels, tyre condition, battery status and seat belt engagement.

These developments come just six months after the official launch of Zest4's M2M Partner Programme and a year since the formation of its partnership with M2M specialist Arkessa.

"This real-time data and clearer vehicle visibility offers customers the opportunity to maximise maintenance and servicing schedules, ensure driver comfort and safety and vastly reduce operating costs," stated Mandy Fazelynia, Zest4's Operations & Business Development Director.

"The Zest4 team has worked hard over the last 12 months on developing our M2M proposition to give partners something tangible to offer end customers, supported by sales and marketing initiatives."

Anton Le Saux, Zest4's Head of M2M, added: "Since joining Zest4 back in September I have been speaking to many of our reseller partners and their hunger for M2M solutions is clear to see.

"Our new range of solutions will give them the confidence to take a leap into this complex but lucrative marketplace."

Mobile device adoption in the workplace is not yet mature, found a recent survey from Gartner. Although 80 per cent of workers surveyed received one or more corporate issued devices, desktops are still the most popular corporate device among businesses, with more than half of workers receiving corporate issued desktop PCs.

The survey findings are based on the 2016 Gartner Personal Technologies Study, which was conducted from June to August 2016 among 9,592 respondents in the US, UK and Australia.

Thirty-six percent of workers received laptops, including convertible laptops. Adding desktops and laptops (including convertible laptops) together, 75 percent of workers will receive at least one PC-type device in mature countries.

In contrast to the high numbers of corporate issued PCs in the workplace, relatively few workers receive mobile devices. The majority of smartphones used in the workplace are personally owned devices - only 23 percent of employees surveyed are given corporate-issued smartphones.

"The low adoption of corporate issued mobile devices underlines the fact that large numbers of personally owned mobile devices are used in the workplace," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal research analyst at Gartner. "In fact, more than half of employees who used smartphones at work rely solely on their personally owned smartphones."

The usage rate of personally owned tablets lags behind that of personally owned smartphones. Only 21 percent of employees use tablets - regardless of whether they are corporate issued or personally owned.

"In the era of mobility, it comes as something of a surprise that corporate usage of smartphones and tablets is not as high as PCs, even when the use of personally owned devices is taken into account," said Kitagawa. "While it's true that the cost of providing mobile devices can quickly escalate, proper usage of mobile devices can increase productivity, which can easily justify the extra costs."ate-issued smartphones and phablets."

Informatica, the data analytics specialist, is looking to drive more business through channels with a new programme and a push through distribution.

Rodney Foreman, senior vice president partner ecosystem, plans to build a strategic network of value added reseller and independent software vendor channel partners to take it into smaller mid-market companies.

The new INFORM Partner Programme's two-tier structure will help specialist partners maximise their margins.

"Partners who have wanted to sell Informatica have not had a competitive programme to work through. We are investing in resources and commitment in Europe," he said.

The idea to is to drive through solutions in verticals, and early feedback is that it is a good fit and an emphasis on enablers is working.

New online training which is free to partners is now available. Templates for business model solutions are also available, but these are not prescriptive and offer a flexible way of working.

Distribution through Tech Data, Avnet, Bytes and Agile also has a part to play. "They help us to profile the partners, identifying the right partners to use in a given vertical market, and rapidly ramping up capacity," said Foreman. "Focus on the right partners will help us in the market, building the business and taking share from the competition."

After 20 years of controlled expansion in Europe he says there has been a jump in growth - it now has 150-plus partners and is looking for triple digit growth.
olving process."