Comms Dealer

CIOs who are wedded to their legacy investments are holding back businesses from realising the benefits of UC, claims Rod Tonna-Barthet, CEO of Annodata.

"One of the major barriers to adoption is that organisations feel they have to sweat their historic investment in legacy technology," he said.

"Undoubtedly, businesses should always aim to get the best performance from their existing estates and it may be tempting to hang on to old equipment for as long as possible.

"But this is a false economy. Legacy systems can be a drain on the IT department and maintaining these can be cumbersome and expensive, impairing an organisation's growth.

"CIOs are therefore faced with the daunting task of how and when to make the transition to cloud.

"Before a decision can be made, organisations must evaluate the efficiency of their legacy technology and they must know if the systems add value to the business or if it actually impairs the agility of the organisation.

"Fortunately, companies can look to the help of suppliers for appropriate guidance on this matter. By working with a trusted cloud provider who is already invested in the process, infrastructure and support network, companies can ensure that a simple yet essential process can be migrated to a future proofed and scalable platform and provided back as true managed service from start to finish and often within existing opex budgets."

ITS Technology Group has secured a £2.4m cash boost having successfully completed a round of funding that included investments from new private shareholders and the conversion of some existing shareholder loans into equity.

CEO Roy Shelton (pictured) said: "This latest investment will fund our growth, including the expansion of the existing, new and national super and ultrafast networks currently in planning.

"The funding will allow us to push forward with our value proposition of creating networks for digitally deprived rural and urban areas. It also enables us to further develop our partner channel to provide broadband and associated services on a wholesale basis."

ITS has successfully won four concession agreements with local councils including London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Bristol City Council and most recently Nottingham City Council, as well as the build of 17 business park and community networks.

ITS was advised in this financing by Cameron Barney LLP.

Video conferencing, document sharing and screen sharing have been spotlighted by NEC and Nimans in a new 'triple play' awareness campaign.

"Collaborating with colleagues doesn't always mean being in the same room together in the same time zone. In today's working environment, employees are spread across different locations. One of the best ways to collaborate remotely with colleagues is video conferencing," said John McKindland, Nimans' Head of Solutions Sales.

"WebRTC provides cost-effective and secure video collaboration working seamlessly within an IT environment. As well as video and audio conferencing functionality, PC users can work collectively with screen share and shared documents.

"It's also ideal for live software demos and presentation slideshows. Collaborating isn't just about sharing ideas, but also learning more about making meaningful connections within a digital work place. WebRTC provides enterprise grade functionality at an SMB price point."

Maintel's H1 2016 results show Group revenues of £38.1m, up 54% from the same period in 2015 (£24.8m).

This strong financial performance was underpinned by the acquisition of Azzurri in May which contributed £15.4m to the revenue.

Adjusted profit before tax also increased by 17% to £3.9m. Recurring contracted revenue made up 75% of the overall revenue, compared to 71% from the same period in 2015.

Eddie Buxton, CEO of Maintel Group, said: "The highlight of the period was the acquisition of Azzurri which was transformational for Maintel, adding significantly to our offering both in terms of products and services, specifically in the high growth areas of managed and cloud based services.

"During this period, Maintel has successfully closed a number of large contracts and, as such, we enter the second half of the year with a strong order book as well as a full pipeline of opportunities. We are confident of delivering a profit performance for the year in line with market expectations."

SOS Communications has retained its status as an authorised distributor of Toshiba Unified Communications Systems (UCS), a position held since 1998.

The vendor announced plans to withdraw its primary telephony products from the UK and Irish markets in February but pledged to maintain a tech support operation.

SOS Communications has confirmed that it will continue to support resellers through the end-of-life process of Toshiba's communications range of products for after market sales and distribution, providing Toshiba products to the trade alongside license key allocations.

SOS Communications will also offer technical support, product maintenance, spare parts, repairs and modifications to its customers.

"We are glad to have this confirmation and to quash the rumours," stated SOS Communications MD Colin Hepher.

Distributor DMSL is stepping up its challenge in the mobile channel with plans to promote BT's latest offers on handsets and the addition of the Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to its portfolio.
 
DMSL will be promoting the offers to its existing base partners and encouraging them to drive their mobile sales. "Mobility is an area of vast potential for resellers that already offer broadband and voice," said John Carter, Managing Director of DMSL.
 
"It is a natural extension of their range, and with the increasing trend towards VoIP and fixed and mobile convergence it makes sense for our partners to sell mobile solutions alongside the rest of their connectivity portfolio.
 
"This is an opportunity that business customers and consumers alike will not want to miss, so we will be promoting it aggressively and making sure that both resellers and end users get the message loud and clear."
 
DMSL will be generating end user leads for its partners through a series of email and telemarketing campaigns and providing sales, marketing and order processing support for partners where required.

SMS communications business Textlocal has ramped up its UK channel ambitions following the launch of a partner programme that enables comms resellers to put text messaging at the centre of their customers' communications strategy.

According to Senior Partner Business Development Manager Daron Healy (pictured left) Textlocal's channel recruitment campaign reflects a significant opportunity for resellers to incorporate SMS messaging into their cloud UC propositions and hold a new conversation with clients that creates scope for greater chemistry between end users and their customers.

"SMS offers businesses the chance to build relationships through instant communication," stated Healy. "The range of uses for this opt-in technology is vast."

He noted that Textlocal's Messenger platform achieves a 98% open rate followed by a 32% redemption rate and he believes that these statistics indicate a lucrative revenue stream for resellers, adding that the market potential for SMS is underscored by the company's base of circa 165,000 users who have sent over one billion texts using the firm's platform.

The popularity of its service has secured Textlocal a ranking in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Sunday Times Tech Track 100 listings, along with a recurring appearance in the Media Momentum Top 20 fastest growing digital agencies.

Textlocal's re-energised partner programme invites resellers to adopt a fully customisable white labelled 'out of the box' version of the Messenger platform supported by a service wrap.

"Full resale partners can rebrand the platform and create their own pricing models and marketing initiatives," noted Healy. "We provide white label collateral, product training and dedicated account specialists."

Textlocal has also added a dual branded resale model to its channel programme, enabling these partners to concentrate on selling while Textlocal manages the customer support.

Dual brand partners receive a branded version of their SMS platform and have full visibility of their registered users and commission.

Healy added: "Delivering SMS messaging alongside existing cloud-based telecoms and IT solutions gives resellers another reason to engage with their customers while generating sustainable additional revenue and enhanced client acquisition."

Avnet has entered into an agreement to sell its Technology Solutions operating group to Tech Data for circa $2.6bn.

The transaction is expected to be significantly accretive to Tech Data's non-GAAP earnings per share in the first year after closing. Tech Data expects to achieve annual cost savings of approximately $100m within two years after closing, primarily from efficiencies related to technology platforms, as well as duplicative functions and corporate expenses.

"We believe the acquisition of Technology Solutions by Tech Data is the best decision for our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders," said Avnet CEO William Amelio.

"This transaction presents us with the best strategic path for Avnet's future success and profitability, and puts Technology Solutions in position to achieve breakthrough business results with Tech Data.

"We will drive targeted investments in embedded solutions, Internet of Things and critical digital platforms. By investing in these high growth areas we can expand the breadth of our portfolio and attract new customers worldwide."

Avnet's Technology Solutions operating group is a global IT solutions distributor serving customers and suppliers in more than 80 countries.

Bob Dutkowsky, chief executive officer of Tech Data, added: "Tech Data has competed with and admired Avnet Technology Solutions for many years. We're thrilled to start this journey together and are confident that our customers, vendor partners, employees, and shareholders will appreciate and benefit from the value that we will bring to the market."? ?Patrick Zammit, President of the Technology Solutions business, said: "Industry standardisation, innovation and converging technologies have transformed our industry.

"The broader portfolio created through this combination will enable both businesses to better capitalise on these trends, while also providing new opportunities for Technology Solutions to optimise and expand its offering, as well as unlock value in ways we could not historically.

"Given the strength of our customer and vendor relationships, our common cultures and values, as well as the skilled and engaged teams at both businesses, I am confident that this is a winning combination."

On completion of the transaction, Avnet expects to realize a gain of $3.75 to $4.75 per share. The closing of the transaction is anticipated to occur in the first or second quarter of calendar 2017.

Cradlepoint has extended its channel reach across Europe following a distribution agreement with Ingram Micro.

Cradlepoint provides solutions for cloud managed business continuity, primary and parallel networking, mobile and M2M/IoT.

Mark Chlebek, Senior Director Advanced Solutions EMEA, Ingram Micro, said: "Cradlepoint's networking technology complements our solutions portfolio, enabling us to leverage our combined technical capabilities across verticals that require remote connectivity and strong interoperability such as retail, hospitality, the public sector and transportation."

Hubert Da Costa, Vice President EMEA, Cradlepoint, added: "We are looking forward to driving new business opportunities alongside Ingram Micro for our mutual vendor partners."

A year-long campaign conducted by Nimans' Head of Network Services Mark Curtis-Wood has helped to align the distributor's mobile offering with the evolving requirements of resellers – coming to fruition with the launch of an expanded mobile services proposition.

The portfolio now includes EE in addition to O2 and Vodafone and offers new commercial models and a springboard into the mobile data and M2M markets.

Curtis-Wood said: "Over the last year I have met many of our existing resellers to understand what we need to do to help their businesses grow and explore gaps in our proposition.

"The common message was that while the wholesale offering is the cornerstone of their business there are times when they need something extra and a different commercial model to help win more orders.

"They also shared how having multiple network offerings would give them a competitive edge by enabling them to compete in different ways based on a more diverse supply."

Nimans' revamped mobile connectivity offering comprises six elements: O2 Wholesale, Vodafone Wholesale, O2 30 day contracts, Vodafone 30 day contracts, an EE dealer model and Mobile Data/M2M.

Resellers have a choice of single or multiple user inclusive tariffs and bundles or bespoke pay-as-you-use options.

"We also want to make the process of ordering as streamlined as possible and plan to provide more services online in the near future," added Curtis-Wood.