Comms Dealer

Former Azzurri CFO Andrew Marshall has taken up the same role at Solar Communications. His appointment comes as Solar continues to develop into a managed services provider focused on organic and acquisition growth.

Marshall's new remit is to replicate past successes in driving commercial and operational efficiencies while working with investors and the board to identify M&A opportunities.

His 20-plus years industry experience includes stints with Cable&Wireless, Schlumberger, Nokia Siemens Networks and most recently leading Azzurri in its exit to Maintel.

As CFO he's worked with lenders to restructure the business's financing and reposition the organisation around its growth products.

Marshall said: "Solar is at an exciting stage in its development and through a combination of organic growth and targeted acquisitions there is an opportunity to build a more successful business."

Solar CEO John Whitty added: "Andrew has demonstrated his ability to drive transformation in a way that improves efficiency, effectiveness and profitability."

Tech Data has sealed a Europe-wide agreement with Silent Circle, a provider of mobile security.

"With an end-to-end enterprise privacy package that incorporates devices, software and services, Silent Circle has created a solution to enable organisations to face the growing challenge of securing their business communication," said Luc Van Huystee, VP, Tech Data Mobile.

Metronet (UK) has provided National Museums Liverpool (NML) with a fully managed MPLS solution in partnership with Gardner Systems.

National Museums Liverpool manages eight museums and galleries within the Liverpool city region including the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the Museum of Liverpool and the Walker Art Gallery.

Sam Planche, IT Technical Manager at National Museums Liverpool said: "Our museums and galleries attract more than 2.8 million visitors each year and our old connection needed updating. Metronet (UK) was able to provide this with a rapid turnaround."

The solution provided was fully wireless, delivering a range of different speeds dependent on the requirement for each site.

Rob Townsend, Marketing Director at Metronet (UK), added: "This solution means that National Museums Liverpool can have all its sites on one network, allowing its staff to concentrate on their cultural offer without worrying about the connectivity infrastructure."

The technologies defining the Fourth Industrial Revolution, more commonly referred to as Industry 4.0, are being powered by cloud infrastructures, according to The Oracle Cloud: Opening up the Road to Industry 4.0 report.

The document states that from robotics to artificial intelligence, businesses view the cloud as a blank canvas upon which to build their innovation strategies.

The research investigated how companies in EMEA are managing the transition to Industry 4.0 and sheds light on which technologies they are investing in to continue succeeding in the data-driven age.

The majority of businesses are currently implementing, or plan to implement, new innovation strategies: 62% have or plan to implement robotics technology; 60% have or plan to work with Artificial Intelligence.

Most companies also recognise a cloud infrastructure is required to bring these technologies to life - 60% believe an enterprise cloud platform provides the opportunity for organisations to capitalise on innovation such as robotics and artificial intelligence.

A large majority of businesses are on course with their plans to establish a single integrated cloud model across their organisation.

While only 8% currently have an integrated cloud model in place that works for legacy applications and new platforms, 36% say they are implementing one this year and another 40% expect to do so in 2017. Only 5% have no plans in place to make this transition.

Pascal Giraud, Senior Director IaaS Foundation & Cloud Platform Oracle EMEA, said: "Despite an uncertain economic climate, businesses understand that at the speed of today's market a first-mover advantage has never been more valuable. Some of the world's most successful companies, including Uber and Airbnb, were founded at the peak of the financial crisis. This just goes to show that opportunity never sleeps.

"The dawn of Industry 4.0 is seeing companies fall into either an innovation fast lane or slow lane, and the rise of integrated cloud infrastructures has made it cheaper and easier for businesses to outpace the competition."

Tim Jennings, Chief Research Officer at Ovum, noted: "As businesses continue the process of digitisation, they require a flexible and scalable digital infrastructure to underpin this change. An integrated cloud platform that delivers both infrastructure services and platform services enables enterprises to quickly develop new business solutions, taking advantage of new digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and the Internet of Things."

Employees from Six Degrees Group and Qlik, are gearing up for a 400km bike ride in Malawi to raise money for WeSeeHope.

The cyclists aim to complete the ride in six days, cycling from the capital Lilongwe, northwards along the western side of Lake Malawi, in over 40 degrees heat.

WeSeeHope provide support for children in Southern and Eastern Africa who have been orphaned or isolated by extreme poverty.

Daemonn Brody, Commercial Director at Six Degrees Group, who is taking on the challenge, said: "WeSeeHope is a cause close to 6DG's heart and to witness their work will be a real honour and will inspire me to peddle harder and faster."

Peter McQuade MBE, Global Vice-President CSR at Qlik added: "Taking on the tough, albeit beautiful, Malawi landscape is the next step in pushing the bar higher and the team can't wait to get going.

"WeSeeHope is a great charity and one we're proud to support with our endeavours. What the people there do day in, day out will be the motivation to keep the team peddling and help some of the world's most vulnerable."

Kasia Morgan, Head of Fundraising at WeSeeHope, added: "Six Degrees and Qlik are two of our most significant corporate partners and over the years they have created a brighter future for tens of thousands of young lives."

The countdown has begun for Enghouse Interactive's CX16 Customer Experience event (28th September, Hilton Hotel, London Olympia) focused on 'The Age of the Digital Customer'.

The event will draw practitioners and visionaries from multiple industry sectors and feature a series of keynotes, seminars and hands on practitioner sessions.

Key themes up for debate include cloud contact centres; mobility and self-service; leveraging Microsoft Skype and CRM within the contact centre and 'the Connected Enterprise'.  

Among the agenda highlights are Nicola Millard, Head of Customer Insight and Futures at BT who will speak on the topic of Autonomous Customers & SuperAgents; and Martin Hill-Wilson, founder of Brainfood Consulting, who will present on 'The Customer Service Conundrum - How to balance digital and human support'.

www.cx16.co.uk  

The telecoms industry is on the verge of entering a new 'golden age' led by video services, claims Huawei in a new report first released at the European Mobile Video Forum (12th September, Amsterdam).

The company urged European operators to capitalise on mobile video by leveraging their advantages in terms of technology, economies and content.

Ken Wang, President of Global Marketing and Solutions Sales for Huawei's Carrier Business Group, said: "It is clear that European operators should update their strategies and business models to unleash the potential of the mobile video market.

"Intelligent devices with cameras are now more common, more social platform videos are being created and spread in an easier way, and virtual reality and augmented reality technologies are developing on a large scale.

"For carriers such as LG Uplus in Korea video services now contribute over 20% of the total revenue."

Qiu Heng, President of Huawei Wireless Network Marketing Operation, noted that video is the driving force for an 'explosive increase' in network traffic.

He added: "The three operation modes of mobile video include traffic operation, platform operation and ecosystem operation, and European operators are ready for mobile video growth."

Huawei's mobile video report highlighted that Western Europe scores well across key technology dimensions including high smartphone penetration, LTE coverage and Wi-Fi penetration, all critical enablers for mobile video growth.

Western Europe also leads in the economic dimension by offering affordable mobile data packages, noted the report.

"But when it comes to facilitating the fast growth of mobile video consumption and innovative monetisation models, European mobile operators lag behind those in North America and advanced Asia Pacific countries," added Nitesh Patel, Director of Wireless Media Strategies, Strategy Analytics.

"This may in part be due to different market characteristics such as an aging population less inclined to fully embrace mobile video when compared with a younger generation in Asia Pacific.

"Operators in Europe are also hampered by consumers' concerns over data consumption and average cost.

"Western European mobile operators should strive to reclaim leadership in innovation and differentiation and provide consumer centric and video centric approaches to address the growth opportunity of the mobile video market."

At the forum Heng put a spotlight on operators such as LG Uplus, T-Mobile in the USA and Verizon which have demonstrated a strong ambition to monetise video content.

"These operators have introduced innovative pricing models including zero-rating video traffic, enabling sponsored data, offering video-centric tariffs and by launching their own branded mobile video apps and services to tap new sources of revenue," he said.

"Some leading European mobile operators are already exploring the use of video services and they are seeing increasing revenue as a result. We would like to see more European mobile operators consider similar approaches to maximise growing demand for mobile video."

Comms-care has been contracted for a further five years by KCOM to deliver Cisco support and professional services to its UK customer base via a a collaborative services model in partnership with Cisco.

The contract extension follows an initial three year deal.

The agreement provides field-based support, spares management and professional services across multiple Cisco technologies spanning 6,000 end user sites totalling around 100,000 Cisco products.

Sean Royce, Executive Vice President for Technology, Service and Operations at KCOM, said: "Cisco technology remains an important element of the range of contact and collaboration solutions we offer and the decision to extend the contract a very simple one."

Comms-care was acquired by Fortune 100 company Ingram Micro in May this year.

Virtual1's newly appointed Product and Marketing Manager Neil Wilson will initially prioritise the development of the company's IaaS products and 1Portal. He will also as head-up Virtual1's marketing team.

Wilson brings 10-plus years product marketing and management experience and joins from Alternative Networks following a 14 year stint at the firm, most recently responsible for the product marketing of its Device to Data Centre proposition, including UC, mobility, connectivity and cloud. He was responsible for the launch and development of Alternative's customer management portal called Synapse.

He said: "It's great to have joined Virtual1. I really believe in the direction the company is moving in, both in London and nationally."

Nimans and NEC have alerted dealers about the continuing threat of phone hacking drawing particular attention to a new in-built app launched by the vendor for its SV9100 and SL1100 systems.

"A health check feature scans a customer's system and network for any weaknesses with a traffic light safety score," stated Yvonne Tierney-Neave, Nimans' Solutions Business Manager for NEC.

"By identifying these security risks the installation is then tailormade for the specific user set-up making it as effective as possible."

This anti-hacking technology is supported by an awareness campaign led by Nimans and NEC.

Tierney-Neave added: "Global phone fraud costs an estimated £25bn per year with the UK one of the most targeted countries, so it's not a problem that should be ignored. It's become an organised crime with links to drug dealers and even terrorists."

She cited figures that suggest 84% of UK businesses are not safe from hacking.

"Regardless of whether it's an analogue, digital or IP-based system, fraudsters can gain access to a phone system in seconds," she added.

"By the time a company discovers fraudulent calls have been made it's often too late. An average cost to a UK victim is around £10,000 and this may be undetected until the phone bill arrives."