Comms Dealer

Azlan's new UK Security business unit is to be headed up by newly appointed Security Business Unit Manager Robert Stockford who leads a team of 20 staff pulled together from within the company and ten new recruits.

The team has particular expertise in vendors such as Cisco, IBM, Landesk, McAfee, Sonicwall, Symantec, Veritas, VMware and BlackBerry/Good Technology.

Stockford joined Azlan in July 2016 with a remit to work on the development of a security value proposition. he was previously Director of Channel Sales at Forcepoint.

"With more customers now looking to make the most of virtualised and hyper-converged infrastructures, software-defined solutions and cloud-based appliances and services to enable much more flexible, scalable and networks and mobile environments, the need for expert advice and professional services on security has never been greater," said Stockford.

"Azlan is providing the specialist support and professional services that will allow resellers to address the security challenges faced by end users and the opportunities that presents for resellers.

"Azlan will also focus on virtualised data centre, workspace mobility and data management to create propositions that address the whole spectrum of security needs, across platforms, networks and devices or all kinds."

Azlan UK MD Rob Tomlin added: "Security is the one key strategic area that needed a clear and defined focus. We now have the team and the partnerships in place and, combined with our capability and scale, we're ready to execute on our strategic plans and become a force in this important sector of the market."

Simetric Telecom has added on-demand call recording and playback services to its flagship Mobile-X product following a link up with Dubber.

Dubber's cloud call recording platform records every call made on a landline or mobile anywhere in the world but only charges for recordings that are downloaded for use.

"The solution is especially popular in the financial and legal sectors where compliance is a critical issue and all calls need to be available for scrutiny," stated John Murray, Director of Simetric Telecom.

"Businesses only incur charges for recordings which are retrieved on demand from their infinite storage in the cloud, all others are securely stored at no cost.

"Companies normally incur large storage and retrieval costs and are only be able to record calls on pre-defined extensions.

"We can now deliver a seamless integration of unified communications and call recording into both fixed and mobile services, helping our customers to manage their calls and to achieve compliance across devices and across international boundaries."

Dubber CEO Steve McGovern added: "Dubber is designed to deliver not just traditional call recording requirements but to go above and beyond legacy solutions, ultimately increasing the value of unified communications for everyone."

There's a good reason why I don't attend trade events, writes Clive Jefferys of telecoms recruiter JMA Network. Lots of people know me, but they don't necessarily want to advertise our relationship to their peers. That's because our key attribute is discretion.

Like the apocryphal story about the swan, all our clients or candidates should see in us is a scene of serene calm. What's actually going on below the surface is always hidden from view.

Of course, what drives our success is the huge amount of activity that's taking place in our back office - hundreds of phone conversations every week, social networking, lunch dates, scanning our databases and reading the news.

In many ways, a better job title for what we do would be Market Analyst. Our doors and our ears are always open to anyone that wants straightforward, up-to-date advice about their career and hiring prospects.

It's no accident that 75 per cent of business comes from referrals and a majority of those candidates have never officially looked for a job or registered on a jobsite.

The perfect agent takes time to understand what drives you and presents opportunities without you having to ask.

The second most important facet to our method is time

You can't buy contacts or build relationships overnight. We started in earnest in 2003 and so many of our candidates are now the managers and directors of today's telecoms businesses.

Recruitment has always been a tough, at times frustrating, activity for everyone, but when the right factors are aligned properly, success is only ever a few phone calls away.

So do I think I'm James Bond? No, I'm Moneypenny. I am always there, making sure that everything is ready and in place.

Big hearted Comms Dealer Sales Exec' Sophie Timms has successfully completed the Wimbledon Half Marathon and invited the channel to support her Sparks charity long distance running campaign in the lead up to next year's London Marathon on April 23rd.

"It was a tough run," she said. "The rain made the whole course muddy and slippery!"

With a Half Marathon time of 2 hours 33 minutes under her belt Timms is confident she can run below 5.5 hours next spring.

"I have a personal trainer to help me strengthen my legs, back and core, as well as increase my lung capacity," she added.

"And I'm entering as many half marathons as possible in the run up to the main event."

Completing the Wimbledon Half Marathon is an achievement inspired by the charity work undertaken by Sparks and Timms' dedication to raising as much sponsorship as possible in support of the kids charity.

"If someone had told me this time last year that I would be running the 2017 London Marathon, I would have laughed," she said.

"Sparks has been so kind to take me on this journey. If you could donate, even just £1, to my Just Giving page then you can help me to help them."

Please go to: www.justgiving.com/Sophie-Timms1

Pictured: Sophie with the race mascot following the Wimbledon Half Marathon

GCI has secured a £50m acquisition fund facilitated via the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC in a deal led by GCI's CFO Mark Allen and brokered with the support of KPMG.

Allen commented: "GCI has come a long way over the last nine months. At the start of the year we took a long hard look at our operation, and our marketplace, and set about finessing an organisation that has been 16 years in the making.

"In terms of strategy, we are focusing GCI's Services and Solutions around the need to support an increasingly mobile workforce, the need to enable and support digital transformation and collaboration, the need for increasingly sophisticated security and compliance solutions, and the need to support the 'rise and rise' of the omni-channel and diverse communications platforms.

"This £50m fund will help us robustly address those customer challenges and will help take GCI to the next level."

Adrian Thirkill, CEO, added: "Our investments to date have already positioned GCI as a leading player in Unified Communications with more than 60 Microsoft Certified Professionals within our 300 strong organisation.

"We are already making very good use of the additional funding now available to us and will continue to invest in our capabilities around Office 365, Skype for Business, Azure, Cloud PBX and our growing PCI Compliance Services."

KPMG's Zoe Clarke added: "This transaction will help GCI to take forward its growth ambitions by allowing it to take advantage of acquisition growth opportunities as the business looks to build-out and add capabilities."

Dan Salt, Regional Head for the Midlands and West, Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate Transactions, added: "We are demonstrating our confidence in this sector by backing a strong management team with a clear focus on what they want to achieve."

HSBC's Area Corporate Director Roger Pratt commented: "GCI's executive management have a clear strategic plan for the next five years, and we look forward to supporting GCI during this exciting period."

Exertis has strengthened its enterprise portfolio, bolstered its capability in the mid- and higher range server and storage market and extended its reach in Europe following the acquisition of Hammer Consolidated Holdings for £38.3m, a distributor of server and storage solutions (subject to approval from the European Commission).

Hammer has offices in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands and employs 165 staff.

It generated sales of £155m for the 12 months ended 31st January 2016 and distributes products from a range of vendors including Dell, Intel, Netapp, Seagate and Western Digital, to almost 1,000 value added resellers, cloud service providers and systems integrators.

Following regulatory approvals, expected to be completed by the end of 2016, Hammer will continue to operate as a standalone business with both entities capitalising on the benefits of the acquisition.

Niall Ennis, DCC Technology (which trades as Exertis) MD, said: "Hammer has enjoyed considerable success in providing value added services and bespoke solutions in a number of vertical markets and has a well-earned reputation as a storage specialist.

"The acquisition has significant benefits for both companies increasing Exertis' expertise and solutions in the storage market, complementary to our existing server and enterprise business, and providing Hammer customers and vendors with a platform for growth. In addition, this deepens Exertis' presence across several European countries."

James Ward Hammer, MD, added: "We see great synergy and opportunities for our customers, vendors and employees in joining Exertis. By leveraging the complementary strengths of both companies we can only add value to what is an exciting proposition for all our stakeholders."

Annodata has pledged its support for the GLL Sport Foundation (GSF) for the second year running.

GLL is the largest UK-based charitable social enterprise delivering leisure, health and community services, and is committed to promoting sport in the community and aims to foster sporting success amongst British athletes.

Central to this aim is the GSF, which has key objectives to help reduce the financial burden facing young people as they progress within their chosen sports.

Since its inception, the Foundation has provided over 10,600 athlete award bursaries totalling over £6.1 million of support to talented individuals including Tom Daley, Anthony Joshua, Susie Rodgers, Michael McKillop, Louis Rolfe and Lutalo Muhammad. In total, 20 medals were won at the Rio Olympic Games (7 medals) and Paralympic Games (13 medals) from a group of 45 athletes who received support from the Foundation.

Joe Doyle, Marketing Director at Annodata, said: "As a company we are committed to supporting charitable causes and have a long history of doing so.

"We are delighted to be lending support, once again, to the GLL Sport Foundation so talented individuals have all the opportunities to maximise their abilities and succeed in sports.

"We believe this to be a worthy cause as, in many cases, talent is lost due to a lack of sponsorship or financial support. GSF provides thousands across the UK with the lifeline that they need to propel their sporting career.

"We look forward to continuing our support for the GLL Sport Foundation to ensure talented athletes have the best chance of success in their respective field."

Mark Gliddon, National Athlete Support Programme Manager at the GLL Sport Foundation, added: "Central to our mission is reducing the financial pressures that athletes face.

"As a result, our continued ability to enable our country's athletes to succeed depends heavily on the support that we receive from our sponsors.

"GLL has a strong working relationship with Annodata, so we are pleased that they are able to give their support to the Foundation as we look to support the next generation of Olympians and Paralympians towards Tokyo 2020."

Nimans went ‘Back2Skool' for a charity theme day in support of a key customer. Various games such as Jenga, Swingball and Hopscotch took place alongside a special Nimans Tuck Shop with school favourites such as Refreshers, Love Hearts and Drumsticks proving popular.

Several hundred pounds was raised for Birmingham Children's Hospital in support of a member of staff from reseller Azzurri Communications who is embarking on a Zambezi River challenge. Sales teams at Nimans were joined by the company's HR department in the fun day.

Comms365 has unveiled its Affinity Partner Programme for distributors, systems integrators, VARs, ISVs and consultants.

Comms365's Affinity partners will be able to augment their product portfolios with M2M, IoT and Mobile Data Internet Access services, as well as all other Comms365 services, including bonded technology, Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) / MPLS Overlay, Secure IP-VPN, FTTC and Ethernet Failover.

Partners will also gain access to Comms365's technical, marketing and sales resources.

"IoT represents a huge opportunity for the channel that to date has largely been limited in its scope to connectivity," said Mike van Bunnens, MD.

"However, as IoT continues to build momentum and SME customers in particular are educated about the operational efficiency benefits of an IoT solution for their business, it becomes a very viable differentiator.

"As such, it is our aim through the Affinity Partner Programme to provide resellers and vendors with everything they need to successfully scope, sell and deliver a true end-to-end solution for customers."

Entanet and its CEO Elsa Chen have been named on the shortlist of two national business awards.

The company itself is a finalist in the B2B Business of the Year category for the Amazon Growing Business Awards 2016, while Chen has been named a finalist in the Business Leader of the Year category of the Women in IT Awards for the second year in succession.
 
Entanet has continued to make steady progress and recent developments include the launch of its new partner management portal, synergi, which is built on the salesforce platform with in-house bespoke customisation that enhances customer service delivery by providing its nationwide network of partners with direct access to information on their connections and data traffic; and expanding its connectivity portfolio to include wireless Ethernet services, enabling partners to offer a quickly implemented alternative to fixed line connectivity solutions.
 
The company has over 100 staff, its own national MPLS network, a strong position within the connectivity market, and an extensive and established community of channel partners. It is on target to achieve an annual turnover of around £36m in the current financial year.
 
The winners of the Amazon Growing Business Awards will be announced on 30 November 2016 at a ceremony at The Brewery in the City of London.