Comms Dealer

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.

Red Box Recorders CEO Lee Jones has stepped down after ten years at the company. Richard Stevenson takes over the role, moving from Standard Life where he was CEO of operations in Germany and Austria.

Red Box Chairman Ian McKay said: "Richard is a proven leader with a successful track record in growing businesses in the software and financial services sectors.

"With this appointment we have a leader with the credentials to take Red Box to the next level of growth globally.

"Lee has made a massive contribution to the development of Red Box and will continue working with us in a non-executive capacity."

Stevenson added: "I look forward to working with the Red Box team to maximise the opportunities this growing global market presents."

Distributor Zycko (part of the Nuvias Group) has been selected as Nokia's first pan-EMEA distributor in a move that signals a step forward in the go-to-market diversification at Nokia, extending channel and value added distribution to help expand the company's footprint in the enterprise and mid-market space across EMEA.

Initially, Zycko will focus on hardware and software integration of IP routing and optical transport networks, fibre-based LAN connectivity infrastructure for buildings/campus', open standards DDI management software and software defined networking.

Dave Parker, VP Strategic Partners, at Nokia, commented: "This appointment gives us access to a wide network of resellers experienced in communications and networking across the EMEA region.

"The type of distributor that Zycko and Nuvias are building internationally complements our own growth plans."

Paul Eccleston, Head of Nuvias Group, added: "This deal is a vote of confidence in Zycko and Nuvias and an endorsement of our concept of redefining international, specialist value distribution."

Telecoms resellers can now help customers with company car or van fleets improve the performance and safety of their sales reps and service engineers following the announcement of a new partnership programme by driver and fleet performance specialist GreenRoad Technologies.

Central to the programme is the release of GreenRoad Mobile, a smartphone app that acts as a 'coach in the cab', warning drivers in real time when they stray from a safe, smooth driving style.

It monitors 150 vehicle movements, detecting risky manoeuvres such as harsh braking, sudden acceleration, sharp cornering and swerving.

It will also help company car drivers avoid the temptation of using their mobile while driving which now carries a maximum fine of £1,000.

"Our app is installed in the background of a smartphone and it can then either interact with the driver or it can give them a score at the end of their journey," explained GreenRoad Chief Marketing Officer David Rodriguez, who is spearheading the channel development programme.

"For example, if a sales person is driving and he or she picks up the phone to look at an email or text, a notification will be sent through as a 'safety event.

"It makes sense to offer the app through telecoms resellers because it will be an added value proposition for them.

"For a low monthly fee per phone company managers will have the reassurance that employees are driving safely and it could pay for itself with in three months based on the savings on fuel alone.

"If a reseller is trying to sell a large number of mobiles to a customer and can offer to help reduce their insurance claims, increase driver awareness or improve mileage capture along with the deal it's the perfect added value sale."

Livingbridge-backed Metronet (UK) has acquired Internet infrastructure and hosting company M247 for £47.5m. The acquisition is the first step in a buy and build strategy that aims to build a disruptive platform in the connectivity space with 'last mile' control, speeding up communications to end users, and a transit network across Europe.

Mid-market PE firm Livingbridge invested in Metronet (UK) in June 2014 as part of a £45m secondary buyout of the firm.

Metronet (UK) currently employs 150 people across two sites in Manchester and works with over 2,500 businesses, generating turnover of £21.5m in the financial year to 2016.

Following the acquisition Metronet (UK) will be able to offer a combined portfolio of connectivity and content services including wireless network services, data centres and managed hosting solutions across the UK and Europe. The combined business will have three data centres, over 200 staff and EBITDA in excess of £12m.

Lee Perkins (pictured), Chief Executive at Metronet (UK), said: "M247 provides the scale and reach to build upon our existing momentum and the expertise and infrastructure to provide richer solutions to our combined customers."

M247 was founded in 2000 by school friends Jonathan Buckle and Chris Byrd, initially as a web hosting services business before David Buckle, Jonathan Buckle's father, decided to co-invest in the business to purchase a web hosting company called Open Hosting. Open Hosting was then incorporated into the existing business before being rebranded as M247 in 2003.

Matthew Caffrey, Partner at Livingbridge, added: "This is a fantastic step forward for Metronet (UK) as it continues to expand its footprint across the UK and eventually into Europe. This acquisition is the start of a journey to build an international, multi-offering Internet service provider and hosting business.

"Metronet (UK) has an exciting time ahead as it looks for similar acquisition opportunities."

According to Marcus Allchurch, Partner at Acuity Advisors, Metronet is currently one of the most exciting communications companies in Europe. "Metronet is well capitalised with a differentiated service offering and first class team of founders and new management," he said.

"As Acuity have consistently said, private equity backed buyers in this market are focusing on strategic acquisitions, and this is no exception.

"Metronet are significantly expanding its capabilities with M247’s infrastructure expertise. 

"Accounts have not been released for the year ended April 2016, however Megabuyte suggested EBITDA of around £4m and growth to a potential £6m for the current year, all of which implies a run rate multiple of just under 10x EBITDA which is very much in line with the market for high quality targets. 

"Expect more acquisitive and organic growth from Metronet and its private equity backer, Livingbridge."

Six Degrees Group's (6DG) growth ambitions in the mid-market for converged cloud and application hosting have been significantly advanced following the addition of two big guns to the leadership line-up.

Former CEO of GTS Central Europe Danny Bottoms joins the company as Chairman and Paul Mills, ex-Head of Sales for Rackspace UK, has taken the role of Group Sales Director.

Bottoms brings 25 years experience in the comms and media industries including stints at PE backed companies. He is based in Virginia, USA.

Mills boasts 10 years sales management experience in the IT managed services space and has particular expertise in delivering across a mix of verticals and products.

6DG CEO Alastair Mills said: "The appointments are significant coups for Six Degrees.

"Danny has an excellent track record in PE backed technology companies, and Paul's experience in leading sales in managed hosting and managed services for the mid-market are exactly the areas we are targeting for our future growth around cloud platforms and application management services."

The country-level reorganisation and management for Dell EMC's channels will be announced in November, it says. Some elements of the new partner programme have already emerged ahead of its formal single programme due in February next year. Some Dell EMC people were being told this week or their new roles.

Using the deal registrations going back over the last three years there has been some local arbitration over customers with both Dell and EMC channels as suppliers, but this is not seen as a significant issue, Michael Collins, Dell EMC's EMEA channels chief tells IT Europa. "We have a broad and deep channel. We are working on answering their questions, and through training, education and certifications, giving us the channel we need."

"The channel programme will be based on profitability, predictability and simplicity," he says, aiming at a high comfort level among partners, but also building 'peer envy' to encourage them to seek higher position in the tiers. Fast-track cross-training has been in place to bring both partner groups up to speed on the other's products. It has been further complicated by Dell's decisions to sell off the enterprise content division and to abandon the printer business, but this does not affect large numbers of partners in Europe.

Dell has been encourage, he says, by surveys of enterprise customers almost all saying they are positive or at least neutral about the merger, and with most suggesting they will increase their spending with the new firm.

The uncertainty in the channel about the nature of the new organisation has been addressed by partner conferences recently in the UK and a joint eastern/western European channels meeting this week. "It is not easy to predict the shape of the future channel," he says, but points to high levels of planned investment in cloud, particularly in managed services by systems integrators. "Many integrator partners are investing in hardware cloud as well," he says.

Modernisation of infrastructure seems to be a key driving factor; Dell has announced both reference architectures for solutions and the tighter "blueprints" for specific tasks, business outcomes and user numbers. This demand from customers will obviously colour the continuing nature of Dell EMC's channel. "We must not lose focus on the customer for the longer term," he says, in spite of "the challenge of joining the two very credible companies."