Comms Dealer

Distributor ALSO Group has reported a net profit of €36.9m in the first half of the year, an increase of 32.4% compared to the same period in the previous year.

Profit before taxes climbed by 27.6% to €51.4m. Net sales increased by 9.5% to €4.1bn.

In the Central Europe market segment, which encompasses Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland, net sales rose by 9% to €2.5bn.

In the first half of the year, the Solutions business grew by approximately 10% and the Services business grew by approximately 40% compared to the same period in the previous year.

Of particular note are IT as a Service and Logistics as a Service, which developed favourably by 45% and 60%, respectively.

An update from M24Seven following its acquisition of Venus Business Communications in March this year outlined a stronger channel proposition headed up by newly appointed Channel Director Will Brooks who introduced a partnership programme divided into three categories - reseller, referral and wholesale partners.

"We want to take the best aspects of all the partner programmes across the businesses which have come together to form M24Seven," he explained.

M24Seven MD Neil Rampe added: "The acquisition of Venus and integration into M24Seven means better productivity and efficiency through a greater range of services and capabilities.

"Our channel partners and customers can now focus on their growth, their business and their objectives while we deliver connectivity without compromise."

Former Venus Business Communications Director Brian Iddon commented: "Our reseller network will transfer seamlessly into the M24Seven partnership programme where they will experience increased levels of support."

M24Seven now employs 230 people across six sites including Manchester, Newcastle, London and Bucharest.

Comms Dealer sister organisation IT Europa has reported 'huge interest' in this September's Managed Services Summit to be staged in London, with record sponsorship across all levels.

Event sponsors now include Datto, Highlight, Kaspersky, Mimecast, SolarWinds MSP, Autotask, Cisco Umbrella, ConnectWise, DataCore Software, ESET, ForcePoint, ITGlue, Kingston Technology, WatchGuard, 5NineSoftware, Altaro, APC by Schneider Electric, Beta Distribution, Continuum, Deltek, Egenera, Intronis MSP Solutions, Kaseya, RapidFire Tools, Webroot, plus media partners IT Europa, Comms Dealer and Computer Weekly.

The agenda for the event includes Keynotes from Research Analyst Gartner on what it takes to sell digital transformation, advice from GDPR legal experts Fieldfisher, as well as presentations on merger and acquisition activity, looking at building value in the business.

Event content director John Garratt, Editor of IT Europa, said: "It is clear from our many discussions with vendors and channels over the last few months that there are still many questions to be answered - indeed, it is a moving target as the industry evolves to change alongside its customers.

"We aim to capture the position in September with clear insights and analysis, based on the real experiences of those involved."

Gamma has given enterprise customers real-time visibility into the performance of their communications, including voice, data and mobility services.

The move follows a link up between Gamma and Highlight, the provider of monitoring services.

Gamma MD David Macfarlane said: "In the past we had one monitoring tool for our broadband environment and another for our Ethernet services, but were missing the ability to monitor our customers' applications.

"We now use Highlight internally to monitor the infrastructure and applications across our customers' environments,and we share the same tool with customers so they can see how everything is performing.

"No information is redacted and all data is real-time, so customers can hold our feet to the fire to ensure they get the services they expect."

In practice, if Highlight identifies an issue a ticket is raised on Gamma's platform for an engineer to take action.

"Highlight has enabled Gamma to move up the value chain in terms of the management information it gives to customers," added Macfarlane.

"We're layering Highlight on to our products so channel partners can also see the value. They will be able to monitor and share Highlight with their customers who use Gamma infrastructure.

"Going forward we want to have more application visibility to deliver greater detail into the quality and responsiveness of the applications."

The acquisition of VoIP platform developer Telux HD by call management firm Invosys in March has been followed up with the launch of Invosys Hosted, a service that includes Telux's open source cloud comms platform integrated with Invosys's Number Manager portal, which enables customers to configure, manage and monitor their call management solutions.

Invosys Hosted runs on high-spec servers across a number of UK data centres and has experienced zero down time in the past 12 months.

Invosys co-founder Peter Crooks said: "Innovation and breaking the mould is what we do best at Invosys. While the majority of of VoIP companies are reselling someone else's product, we have decided to throw out the rule book and do it ourselves."

Invosys CEO Rob Booth added: "Invosys are on a mission to create change and offer choice in the channel, providing an alternative and encouraging customers to try something new and exciting. Invosys Hosted is a perfect example of this."

SpliceCom has augmented the launch of its SelectVoice platform with a new installation wizard and admin portal, enabling partners to configure deployments using setting methods in four designated areas - network, system, security and SIP trunks.

Configuration of more complex features and facilities are still accessed through the system manager portal and manager assist tool kit, both of which remain the domain for accredited engineers. And to circumnavigate those 'who changed what' issues there is an Admin Portal audit log built into Manager Assist.

"With our Admin Portal we've extended the ease of management associated with hosted systems to cloud voice, on premise and blended SelectVoice solutions," said Stuart Bell, Splicecom's Head of sales for UK & Ireland.

"We listened to our customers and prospects and have incorporated all their feedback into the design of the Admin Portal.

"From adding new phones, to setting up Auto Attendant routines and Meet Me conferences, loading Contacts and performing system back-ups, everything can be handled from the Admin Portal."

Hats off to Luminet for collecting the Best Wireless accolade at ISPA's 2017 awards event.

Luminet was shortlisted in three categories - Best Wireless, Best Business Broadband and Best Business Customer Service.

Luminet has experienced strong growth, fuelled in part by its new channel programme which is underpinned with its 100% SLA guarantee via its wireless and fibre infrastructure.??Sasha Williamson, CEO, said: "We have invested millions into our network, computing services and customer service. It is hugely rewarding to be recognised by our Trade Association and to be formally given the title of Best Wireless."

Henry Pepperall has joined Exponential-e as CFO bringing with him 23 years experience in leading financial operations for high growth businesses.

His most recent high profile role was Financial Director at Kelway where he oversaw the acquisitions and a management buyout before managing the completion of the CDW acquisition of Kelway in 2015.

Prior experience includes a stint at Electrolux where he rose to Financial Controller turning a loss making services division into a profitable one.

Pepperall commented: "Exponential-e has achieved exceptional growth, delivering 40% EBITDA CAGR over the last three years. I'm joining at a pivotal time, as the business now starts to plan its next phase of growth."

CEO Lee Wade said: "Henry brings a wealth of senior leadership experience in managing complex financial operations in changing climates. His expertise will be invaluable as we deliver on our ambitious growth plans over the coming years."

Wade also welcomed the return of Jazz Sandhu as Marketing Director, who re-joined the company after serving as Head of Marketing for two years from 2012-2014.

Lyceum Capital backed Sabio has acquired fellow contact centre player DatapointEurope to create £60m business that supports 250 enterprise customers on three continents. Datapoint Europe has a strong European footprint with headquarters in Madrid, Spain, and offices in Barcelona, Milan, Paris and Utrecht. 

The move builds on Sabio's acquisition of SaaS solutions provider Rapport.

"Geographical expansion is critical to Sabio's growth plans, so the acquisition of DatapointEurope, with its broad reach across Europe and the Americas, is an important next step for the company," stated Sabio's Chief Executive Officer, Andy Roberts (pictured).

"DatapointEurope's international footprint entirely Sabio's existing strong presence in the UK and the Asia-Pacific markets, enabling the combined operation to address the demand for innovative global customer experience solutions."

Sabio has built out its infrastructure to support a larger business operation to drive annuity revenues via hosted and managed service offerings

"We've already demonstrated our ability to leverage value from this model, adding DatapointEurope will allow us to accelerate the process on a much broader geographical basis," stated Roberts.

DatapointEurope CEO Rafael Aranda added: "There's a particularly close fit in terms of our culture and values, along with a shared commitment to making our organisations a great place to work.

"Both organisations hold key strategic technology partnerships, and are recognised for their ability to deliver complex customer experience solutions based on our industry's core technologies."

DatapointEurope is a founding partner of the Intelligent Communications Alliance (ICA), a global solutions integrator helping multi-national clients.

"By combining Sabio and DatapointEurope's expertise we aim to develop the ICA further," said Aranda.

Simon Hitchcock, Partner at Lyceum Capital, commented: "The acquisition significantly expands the European operations of Sabio and better positions it to serve increasingly large international clients."

Zen Internet has been named Best Wholesale ISP at the 2017 Internet Service Provider Association (ISPA) awards.

Dave Hudson, Zen's MD for Wholesale, collected the award at a ceremony at the Café de Paris in London.

Judges praised Zen's wholesale full fibre (FTTP) network, which they said was challenging the dominance of the largest providers, and its two-way engagement with partners.

Hudson said: "This award is testament to the dedication of all Zen's staff, and to the hard work we've put in over the last two or three years to create a differentiated wholesale connectivity offer."