Comms Dealer

Start-up technology company ST2's £100m development of a new data centre at the former ICI site in Redcar will create circa 400 local jobs.

Anne Stokes, CEO of ST2, said: "This is an important step forward in our ambition to develop an environmentally sustainable data centre and technology services business in the north east.

"Not only will this be an important source of quality jobs for the area, but demonstrates that the tech sector isn't just a phenomenon for the south of England.

"Our planned development in Redcar is part of a 20 year investment that will create long-term skilled employment.

"Data centres have become an essential part of the country's critical economic infrastructure so we will also be supporting a wide range of businesses and encouraging them to either set up shop or grow their existing activities in the north east."

Yorkshire-based Lily Comms has presented its strategic vision to staff, stakeholders, clients and suppliers during an event staged at the firm's offices and attended by 60-plus delegates.

The Strategy for Success (S4S) document sets out the company's vision, success factors, values and culture.

The company hopes that it will help to drive significant growth over the near term, from a projected £4.9m this financial year towards the £10m milestone.

"The S4S has been created to help Lily Comms push past the £10m barrier and beyond," said MD Chris Morrisey.

"Our strategy is part of a framework called The Winning Formula created by John Stein.

"The simple approach enables leaders to transform their organisation, lead and inspire change, deliver accelerated growth, improve operational efficiency and maximise the human performance potential of their people.

"Our S4S defines us. It will guide and motivate us as we grow and keep us focused on a day-to-day basis."

Beech Tree Private Equity has backed the £35m MBO of UC provider Wavenet and with the Royal Bank of Scotland provided an acquisition war chest that enables the company to make a number of strategic bolt-on buys.

Andrew Ashton joins the business as Finance Director and Edward Spurrier, former CEO of Alternative Networks, has been named Chairman.

Paul Franks (MD at Beech Tree Private Equity) and Adam Rudd, also from the investing firm, join the board.

Wavenet delivers UC solutions to over 2,000 customers and connects over 12,000 end points.

The business was founded by Chris Jones in 2000 and three years later the current CEO, Bill Dawson, invested and joined the business.
Dawson said: "Beech Tree Private Equity is on board to support our growth plans, both organically and through acquisition.

"Furthermore, by tapping into its industry knowledge and network we have been able to strengthen our management team with the addition of Ed and Andrew."

Franks added: "Wavenet's management team have invested heavily in the technology and infrastructure that will make the delivery of our growth plans much easier.

"We are also backing a team that has successfully completed several acquisitions. With the capital we have injected we think we can significantly grow the business together."

Pangea has partnered with Fidelity to provide Visit Sweden with connectivity during refurbishments.

Visit Sweden is the face of Sweden's official Tourism Board and is situated in the Swedish Embassy building.

Due to refurbishments it needed to relocate temporarily to the ground floor and required connectivity during the relocation.

Fidelity Group called on Pangea to facilitate this move by providing SIMs to enable a temporary 4G connection.

The solution delivered a 4G speed of nearly 30mbps download and 10-15mbs upload. And the latency was sub 50ms as a result of the efficiency of the network.

As a result, Pangea and Fidelity were able to win to secure the contract of almost £80,000.

Tim Holway, Business Development Manager at Fidelity Group, said: "The Speed and ease of deployment for Visit Sweden enabled by Pangea added a key element of winning this large refurbishment contract for Fidelity Group."

A new report from benchmark-it (UK Enterprise Segment Communications Service Providers) finds that service providers focused on traditional fixed and mobile services for business customers are losing share as revenues decline.

Report author Rob Pritchard said: "Players that do not focus on the cloud, next-generation services and managed solutions are losing out."

The report also finds that the trend towards the Digital Enterprise has implications not just for portfolios, but also for culture, systems and organisations.

"Exponential growth at the likes of Amazon Web Services and WhatsApp serve to underline the new nature of the market," he added. "Service providers need to work out what their strategy is in a market where the value chain has been inverted.

"The old-fashioned silo approach is no longer valid or viable. While issues over the future of Openreach are operationally important today, service providers need to look further ahead in terms of what they offer to their target enterprise customers in the future."

Entanet's partner sales support team has been boosted by a trio of promotions that see Paul North become Sales Manager, Emma Fisher named Sales Support Manager and Lee Hill appointed Pre-Sales Technical Manager.

Entanet's sales team now has a headcount of 16, with the total number of employees at the company numbering just over 100, up from 85 at the start of 2015.

Last year the company grew its sales by 7% to £32m.

Stephen Barclay, Sales Director, stated: "As our business has grown we have continued to invest in more effective and extensive partner account management and to work as closely with our partners as we can.

"These new appointments have been made so that we can give more of our partners more time and assistance in turning new opportunities into real business.

"We are responding to demand. Our partners are growing both in terms of sales and stature and they and we are being asked to bid for ever-more complex and challenging solutions. They need us to support them even more and it's in our interests to show our commitment by responding in kind and giving them that support."

Skyscape Cloud Services has renamed and relaunched as UKCloud.

"In a short space of time as Skyscape Cloud Services we have experienced rapid growth," said Simon Hansford, CEO of UKCloud.

"We're very proud to have helped save millions of pounds of public money by delivering more agile, lower cost IT solutions throughout Government departments, including the DVLA, Home Office and MOD. Our new name - UKCloud - reflects our commitment to serving the UK public sector and supporting the digital transformation of citizen-facing services."

Astro Communications MD Steve Hodges is limbering up to run the Maidstone half marathon in aid of Camp Cando, a charity that helps children and young adults with complex special and behavioural needs.

"Camp Cando has been doing fantastic work for many years, making a significant difference to the lives of many youngsters, their parents and carers," said Hodges. He is aiming to raise £1,500 but hopes to 'smash the target'.

Westcoast has joined forces with telecoms finance firm Lease Telecom.

Darren Seward, Head of Mobility at Westcoast, said: "More and more of our partners and their customers are looking for affordability and flexibility in how they finance for mobile products and services.

"They want to 'pay as they use' in order to avoid upfront costs, gain tax advantages and reduce balance sheet commitments. Westcoast, working closely with Lease Telecom, will make this happen."

Luminet has launched a new channel programme supported by a 100% SLA guarantee for its wireless and fibre infrastructure which, claims the firm, enables IT and voice resellers to sell value added OTT services faster.

The launch coincides with its new proposition called Fibre Air, a wireless business Internet service that can be installed in five working days.