Comms Dealer

Arrow has expanded its deal with CTERA Networks in Germany, France and Benelux to include the UK.

This expanded agreement provides cloud-based solutions to UK solution providers who are seeking solutions for file storage, collaboration and data protection.

The CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is a private cloud IT-as-a-Service platform for storing, syncing, sharing, protecting and governing data across endpoints, remote offices and servers.

This private approach to enterprise file management and data protection is especially important in the the UK market as data privacy and security are paramount, it says.

"Data privacy and security have never been more important to European enterprises as they are challenged to deliver new, modern solutions to store, share and protect files," said David Darmon, VP of sales, Europe for CTERA.

"Arrow and its channel are now poised to take advantage of the excellent revenue potential of the cloud by providing a single platform that enables enterprises to address storage, collaboration and data protection use cases entirely on their terms."

Symantec is set to buy Blue Coat, which had itself planned an IPO, for $4.65bn in cash.

With Blue Coat having posted revenue of $755m in the 12 months ending April, Symantec is paying 6.2x trailing sales.

Blue Coat CEO Greg Clark will become Symantec's CEO once the deal closes.

Symantec announced in April Michael Brown will be stepping down as CEO once a successor is found.

As part of the deal, PE firm Silver Lake is doubling its Symantec investment to $1bn via 2% convertible notes due 2021, and Blue Coat majority owner Bain is reinvesting $750m in the post-merger company via convertible notes on the same terms. Bain MD David Humphrey will join Symantec's board.

The deal is expected to close in Q3 and be financed via cash on hand and $2.8bn in debt.

With Bain having acquired Blue Coat for $2.4bn last year, the firm appears to be reaping a 90%+ return.

Thanks partly to $150m/year in expected cost synergies, Symantec now expects FY18 (ends March '18) EPS of $1.70-$1.80 (compares with a current FY18 EPS consensus of $1.39).

The company still plans to return the $1.3bn left to be spent on its $5.5bn capital return program by the end of FY17.

Struggling cloud provider Outsourcery has requested a temporary suspension of trading on AIM stating it is no longer able to present its results for 2015 by the deadline of the end of June. In a statement the company confirmed that it is in talks with third parties for the sale of assets, but the potential proceeds from these current proposals will potentially leave no or limited value for shareholders.

In April the company warned it needed short-term working capital, and it was investigating alternatives to raise money, including a fundraising, restructuring and the sale of non-core assets.

Later that month, Outsourcery reached an agreement with its principal secured lender, mobile giant Vodafone Group, for the terms of a new conditional drawdown working capital facility to provide it with funding while it realised its assets.

Outsourcery said Friday it has progressed with restructuring, including talks with third parties about the sale of business assets. It said it continues to carefully evaluate the approaches for the assets, as well as other options to strengthen its immediate and long-term financial position.

It said that the talks have had 'no material adverse impact' on its current business activity, as it has secured new contracts and continued with further project development.

Additionally, Outsourcery said it has opted to change its year end date to March 31st and extend its latest accounting period to the 15 months to end-March.

In May 2013 Outsourcery's co-CEO Piers Linney of Dragons' Den fame floated his tech firm on AIM with a market capitalisation of £34.6m, but the company's market value has since slumped.

At the time Linney said: "We have invested in and developed an enterprise-grade platform for growth.

"We aim to exploit the opportunities we are seeing at this exciting time in our development and see this fundraising as a great endorsement of our business model, technology platform and growth prospects."

The increasing popularity of managed service delivery models is fuelling European communications reseller sales of data and communications networks and everything from security to mobility and video conferencing solutions with 67.5% of resellers now offering managed service solutions.

Yet the market remains highly regionalised and fragmented with 95.2% of communication resellers providing solutions only within their own or neighbouring countries.

These are among the trends emerging from European Communication Resellers - the Top 750, a new database report from IT Europa.

The European Communication Resellers - the Top 750 report provides detailed profiles of the leading 750 European Communication Resellers across 36 countries.

Between them the companies post sales of €25.39 billion ($26.88 billion) and employ 122,742. In terms of activities, 88% of companies are providing Data Communications/Networks solutions; 84% are providing Telephony/VoIP; 66% providing Security solutions; 61% are offering Mobility; and 57% are providing Video Communications/ Videoconferencing.

Sales operations span a number of vertical market sectors the most common being the Public Sector (44.7%), Bank/Finance/Insurance (37.5%) and Manufacturing/Industry Vertical Market (33.3%).

The largest geographic markets covered in terms of companies profiled within the report are: UK (251 companies), Germany (51), Netherlands (51), Russian Federation (41), France (38), Spain (37), Italy (31), Switzerland (28), Turkey (24), Poland (23) and Sweden (23).

"It is good to see the European communication reseller community grasping the managed services opportunity, but there are several other challenges that will need to be addressed for the sector to achieve its full potential," said Alan Norman, Managing Director of IT Europa.

"A lack of standards in such growth areas as IoT and national differences in terms of regulations will limit the potential for pan European growth. While recent agreements in areas such as roaming charges should help, these gains could be very swiftly undermined by potential political/economic events - for example Brexit."

DM Software, the software developer of PeterConnects Attendant for Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Microsoft Skype for Business, has named Lucas de Clercq is its new owner and CEO.
 
Under this new ownership, the business will focus on broadening the product portfolio for Cisco and Microsoft.

The central themes of product development focus on offering reachability, context and control over communication.

The product ServiceDesk for Cisco will also become available for Microsoft Skype for Business later this year.

JDM Software will also focus on international expansion into Italy, Spain and the United States aiming to replicate their current success in the Benelux, France, Germany and UK markets.
 
De Clercq has occupied a number of managerial positions in the ICT market working for Digital Equipment, Compaq Computers and Microsoft. During his career with Microsoft, de Clercq was part of the management team in the Netherlands and the Western European HQ OEM team.
 
de Clercq said: "One of my most significant drivers is innovation and the way organisations can use technology to optimise their communications and ultimately their business. I'm looking forward to working with our existing and new partners to help organisations to enable meaningful connections with their customers."

Pangea's partner programme, just one month old, has on boarded 43 partners and according to MD Dan Cunliffe the response has been 'overwhelming'.

"It's clear the channel is eager to seize the opportunities presented within the IoT market," he stated.

"We provide the connectivity, devices and solutions on a global scale within our IoT ecosystem. We also work closely with our partners and help them open new revenue streams from their existing client base."

 Daisy aims to tap into and harvest the latent talent within its graduate workforce via a 12-month development programme designed to offer direction, encouragement and support to maximise their potential.

The first six months will see 20 graduates take part in Million Makers, a Dragon's Den-style fundraising challenge run in partnership with the Prince's Trust charity.

All graduates are allocated a senior business mentor from Daisy's leadership team and access to training.

Graduate and Apprenticeship Manager Marcia Turner stated: "The programme is designed to enable our candidates to feel confident about choosing their own career path and gain an understanding of how to achieve those goals."

Daisy's Chief People Officer David Jones added: "The scheme demonstrates a new and exciting level of commitment to career development. I wish our chosen 20 the best with their Million Makers projects and look forward to them winning."

Pictured: Daisy's line up of selected graduates

Southern Communications has secured new investment from private equity firm Livingbridge (which has taken a minority stake in the company) along with a £36m loan facility from Santander and HSBC in support of its expansion strategy.

The Basingstoke-based comms firm has boosted revenues from £10m to £32m in five years driven by organic growth and acquisitions and plans to double revenues within 3-5 years now it has the 'acquisition fire power' to match its ambitions.

In other news former TalkTalk CEO David Goldie has joined the board as Group Chairman.

The appointment reunites Goldie with Southern's Commercial Director Mat Kirk. They worked together previously at Carphone Warehouse/TalkTalk where they acquired 40-plus businesses over a five year period.

Paul Bradford, CEO, commented: "With the investment from Livingbridge and the appointment of David we have secured the perfect team to drive our growth."

So far Southern Communications has made eight acquisitions and has recurring revenues of more than 90%.

Matthew Caffrey, Livingbridge Director, added: "Southern Communications has a strong track record of organic and acquisitive growth and a well positioned product portfolio to service the IT and telecommunications needs of SMEs."

Southern Communications has 6,600 business customers and a workforce of 160-plus employees operating from four locations in the UK.

Alternative Networks continues to suffer the consequence of challenging market conditions but stated continued growth in recurring revenues in Advanced Solutions, with a higher level of non-recurring revenues expected in the second half.

That's according to the firm's interim results for the six months ended 31st March 2016 which were described today as 'mixed but with encouraging underlying trends'.

The mobile performance was impacted by challenging market conditions and a reduction in roaming tariffs implemented by the carriers, as announced in February 2016. 

According to Alternative Networks there is evidence of an improved performance in mobile following introduction of new tariffs and arrangements with carriers.

The company reports mobile subscriber growth with a 9% increase in the base compared to the same period last year.

Overall revenues were down 4% at £69.3m with adjusted EBITDA of £7.483m, down 27%. Adjusted operating profit was recorded as 5.889m, down 35%.
 
Mark Quartermaine, Chief Executive, commented: "There have been market challenges to our mobile business over the past six months.

"However, we have remained competitive and continued to improve our offering to customers and win new customers. We have taken measures to mitigate the financial impact of changes to roaming tariffs.

"There are plenty of indicators to give us cause for optimism about the relevance and appeal of our offer and we will continue to drive organic growth."

Legal software provider Peppermint Technology has upgraded its comms system following a link up with VIA.

VIA Voice is a fully hosted UC solution developed by VIA, the business telephony and communications specialist.

The platform incorporates Skype for Business and operates over the Internet, replacing the need to have a traditional phone network. It allows employees to talk, instant message, email and video chat across a variety of devices, such as landlines, smartphones, PCs, and tablets, regardless of location.

For the past six years Peppermint Technology had deployed a hosted Microsoft Lync communications platform with limited features.

Following the implementation of Via Voice, Peppermint Technology is also benefitting from a conferencing facility and document-sharing feature which allows staff to share information and relevant documentation with their clients more securely and effectively.

As a part of the new platform, VIA has also installed its call routing technology which effectively directs incoming phone calls to the correct departments, increasing efficiency and enhancing the overall customer experience.

Alex Tebbs, Director at VIA, said: "By securing this business win from a competitor, we have demonstrated that VIA Voice is more than just a UC solution."