Comms Dealer

Entatech UK has sealed a new distribution agreement with Veracity, a provider of IP video surveillance solutions.

Dave Stevinson, Entatech MD, commented: "We have worked hard to build up our networking reseller database, and the inclusion of Veracity will provide high margin opportunities for our customers.

"It will also open up a number of opportunities for Entatech as a distributor, as we will be in a position to provide large scale project attachment prospects."

Daisy and Virgin Media Business are to host an event on July 19th (The Courthouse Hotel, London) that will explain the business case for ultrafast business broadband and arm partners with the information they need to take these services to market.

Julien Parven, Marketing Director at Daisy Distribution, said: "The addition of Virgin Media Business' broadband network will allow partners to significantly broaden their broadband revenue streams.

"This event provides the opportunity to put any questions that they may have to both Virgin Media Business and Daisy Distribution, so that they have that foundation from the outset to take hold of these new services and run with them."

A UK&I distribution deal between ICON and COBS AB sees the St. Albans-based distributor ship the Swedish alarm and messaging provider's SMART1 System in Q3 2016.

Mark Shane, Sales Director at ICON, said: "ICON has been distributing DECT and Wi-Fi solutions for almost 17 years, and the SMART1 solution complements our existing offering as well as our core skill set.

"It combine DECT and Wi-Fi technology into a single device. Features include a dedicated alarm/emergency button, builtin location awareness, a top mounted display for alarms and messages, rugged design, and push-to-talk capability."

"The SMART1 solution is an opportunity for existing customers who have invested in DECT technology and want to introduce applications by using the Android platform, and new customers where messaging and location services are needed."

Sören Erlandsson, CEO of COBS AB, added: "We recognise ICON's abilities and pedigree in this area and look forward to helping them achieve our goals for the UK market."

Mitel's merger deal with Polycom is off following the Canadian vendor's refusal to match a superior proposal from private equity firm Siris Capital. Polycom will pay Mitel a $60m termination fee.

Rich McBee, President and CEO of Mitel, stated: "The agreement announced on April 15th resulted from a detailed due diligence and negotiation process that we feel accurately determined fair value for Polycom. We feel it would not be in the best interest of Mitel shareholders to adjust the existing agreement."

Under the terms of the new $2bn merger agreement outstanding shares of common stock of Polycom will be exchanged for $12.50 per share in cash at the completion of the merger.

Venus Business Communications collected the Business Broadband provider of the year award at ISPAs gala dinner. The company was also shortlisted for the Superfast Broadband category.

Venus CEO, Brian Iddon, said: "To win the award is a tremendous achievement and testament to our commitment to provide reliable, consistent and fast services to our customers.

"More than ever their businesses rely on connectivity to be successful and the consequences of interruptions or slow connections can be extremely damaging to productivity and the bottom line."

Oak Innovation's expansion into the mid-market will be supported by a new technical apprenticeship scheme developed with training provider New Horizons Computer Learning Centres and Highbury College, both based in Portsmouth.

The course is a Level 3 Advanced IT Apprenticeship Programme in IT Systems and Networking and will be accredited by City & Guilds.

Joint-CEO Phil Reynolds said: "This upskilling will help our team gain confidence and be better equipped to deal with the complex business and product scenarios that the mid-market entails."

First Line Support Technician, Daniel Sosnowski, is the first to be enrolled on the year-long scheme that will see him gain vendor certifications from CompTIA and Microsoft as part of his Level 3 award.

Sosnowski will be joined by another member of the team as part of the September intake, with plans to make the scheme available to others in the future.

Annie Turner, Human Resources Manager, added: "In terms of training, this signifies a new direction for Oak Innovation that will benefit our people individually and add significant strength to the service we provide."

Oak will also provide CompTIA Network+ training for the whole of the technical support team.

Mancini Legal has introduced collaboration technology to join up its UK and US-based employees. The cloud-based UC solution, provided by VIA, connects three UK offices (London, Horsham, and Cranleigh) with an office in New York City.

The firm was utilising an E5 licence for Office 365, which includes hosted email, desktop Office applications for PC and Mac, Skype for Business web conferencing and access to the OneDrive.

However, the company wanted to go one step further and install an all encompassing cloud-based solution that would provide the same functionality as E5, but also combined internal and external voice calls (Cloud PBX with PSTN calling), as well as additional features such as call routing and a management portal. Upon seeing the benefits first hand during a demonstration, Mancini Legal opted for VIA Voice.

Incorporating Skype for Business, VIA Voice has helped Mancini Legal's team of solicitors to stay continuously connected and reachable regardless of location, when they are on the road or working from court.

Alessandro Mancini, CEO at Mancini Legal, said: "We place a lot of emphasis on new technology to enhance operations and therefore we wanted a new cloud-based communications solution that would provide full PBX functionality, as well as additional value-added features to boost collaboration between our offices."

Alex Tebbs, Director at VIA, said: "We are currently upgrading many businesses that are wanting to reap the benefits of a fully functioning UC platform, while also looking to cut costs."

As the political world split asunder a triumvirate of companies forged a partnership at Westminster to help resellers fully understand and embrace the hosted telephony opportunity.

On referendum day, network provider Marston's Telecoms, hosted software specialist MyPhones and distributor SOS Communications joined forces to stage a partner day on the House of Commons terrace.

"The aim of the event was to bring our partners together on the most important day for decades to fully understand the enormous change happening in telecoms and outline the opportunity to vote ‘in' to hosted telephony," said Marston's Sales Director Rob Derbyshire.

Picture shows Rob Derbyshire, Marstons; Colin Hepher, MD SOS Communications and Phillipe Matos, Business Development at MyPhones. 

Utilize has acquired a 50% stake in fellow Microsoft partner C2 Software in a deal that gives Dundee-based C2 access to Utilize's managed IT solutions, infrastructure and cloud, telephony and communications services, as well as Sage consultancy. 

Utilize Operations Director, Guy Hocking, stated: "C2 is a specialist in CRM, SharePoint and web development. We feel that the knowledge and new skill sets acquired through technologies such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, SharePoint and Power BI provide a powerful combination that can transform a company."

Utilize MD Warren Davies commented: "This acquisition adds an impressive new arm to our growing portfolio of services and in-house skills, paving the way for us to deliver powerful new business solutions to our customers."

C2 MD Finlay Carmichael said: "This partnership deal will accelerate the growth of C2, allowing us to take a significant step towards realising our vision of being the leading Microsoft cloud partner for Dynamics CRM." 

Both C2 and Utilize believe that the increasing emphasis on cloud and mobile working will play a key role in the future of business computing, with a significant portion of Microsoft's investment budget allocated to these areas.

The volatility of market conditions post referendum  were demonstrated by the sales figures of Poole-based call management company Oak Innovation which reported a staggering fluctuation in fortunes following the vote.
 
Joint CEO James Emm said: "In the days leading up to the June 23rd ballot our sales were flat and continued that way for a few days afterwards. Then, remarkably, we recorded what I believe may have been, after 25 years in business, our best ever day of sales in terms of order volume. We were flooded.
 
"It seems there were a few days of shock which had a detrimental effect on market conditions. Then people must have thought we are just going to have to get on with this.

"We were initially disappointed by the result, but maybe things will not be as bad as people fear."