Comms Dealer

Nimans has thrown its weight behind Unify's OpenScape Enterprise Express solution that eases growing businesses towards enterprise-level communications without the costs and complexity of deploying and maintaining individual VoIP, HD video and UC applications, according to Marcus Yates, Nimans' Solutions Business Manager for Unify.

"Designed for growing businesses from 200 users Unify's new package is an all-in-one platform that retains the architectural muscle and capabilities of its OpenScape Enterprise portfolio," he stated.

"Voice, mobility, UC and contact centre applications are pre-integrated with user and device management as part of a virtualised software package on a single server. Fewer technical accreditations are needed, making it easier to deploy and embrace.

"There's no need to install and manage a complicated application stack. Unify has done all the hard work by pre-integrating and packaging enterprise functionality."

Nimans is hosting Unify OpenScape Business sales training on April 20th.

Provista UK has gained Cisco Gold Partner status, making it the only independent firm with a HQ in Scotland to be awarded the certification.

The Cisco Gold partner status, the highest possible partner level from Cisco, is achieved by only 2% of UK firms.

Co-founder and Operations Director Barry Oliver said: "Our Cisco journey has been amazing, we have learned so much over the years with the support of our Cisco colleagues.

"Joining an elite set of Cisco Gold partners in our tenth year is testament to the efforts of all our staff and the support of our loyal customers."

Sales Director Stuart Little added: "To be the only Cisco Gold Partner with a HQ in Scotland is an astounding achievement for Provista UK.

"From the date we signed up as a Registered Cisco Partner, we have grown organically year-on-year and moved through all partner levels and to larger offices.

"That has only been possible thanks to our constant investment in staff and growth, while never losing sight of the need to maintain the very highest levels of customer service."

Last year Provista UK was named Cisco's Partner of the Year in Scotland for 2015.

Nimans has introduced Converge Connect, a SIP-based solution that brings together lines, calls and Internet connectivity for one fixed monthly price.

The solution offers two options: Converge Connect 5 is broadband-based and features five SIP trunks, 5,000 minutes of inclusive calls and free installation costs.

Converge Connect 30 is a Fibre To The Cabinet proposition with 30 SIP trunks as well as identical call and installation benefits. Both are backed by seven hour Service Level Agreements and 24/7 support.

"To some extent you could say we hit a tipping point with SIP last year," said Mark Curtis-Wood, Nimans' Head of Network Services. "Depending on which stats you are reading we have already seen a third of the ISDN market shift to SIP. This momentum will only grow. For the first time new SIP sales have overtaken ISDN."

Bury-based Pennine Telecom has marked its 40th anniversary with a shift into hosted telephony.

The company was founded on 1st May 1976 as a two-way radio servicing business before diversifying initially in the 1980s into the newly liberalised telecoms sector and then into data and wireless networking.

The £8m turnover business now offers voice, data, networks, radio and mobile expertise to private and public sector organisations nationwide.

Pennine's MD Andrew Roberts said: "The time is now coming for hosted telephony and we'll be launching our own offering in what is a milestone year for the business.

"The key lesson learned over the past 40 years is that you have to keep moving, to keep identifying the technologies which will help us all communicate and work more effectively.

"Hosted is clearly among those but The Internet of Things will be truly transformative, presenting both challenges and opportunities to companies like Pennine."

Next Generation Data (NGD) has upgraded the network capacity at its tier three carrier-neutral data centre in the Cardiff Capital Region.

NGD will leverage global telecommunications provider Level 3 Communications' enhanced network services to enable customers to connect to leading cloud platforms and achieve greater efficiencies.

The new connection will provide diverse routing services including an initial six dedicated (10Gbps) links from NGD's mega data facility to Telehouse, a key telecommunications exchange hub in London Docklands, to which many of NGD's regional and global customers require connectivity.

BT is on the hunt to recruit 900 people to work in its security business in the next 12 months.

The company already employs over 2,500 security professionals and has security operations centres all around the world, with annual revenues growing at a double-digit rate.

It addresses the entire range of consumer, business and governmental security needs - from antivirus and parental controls that protect families in their home, through to complex managed security solutions used by multinational companies, banks and national governments.

To meet the growing global demand for cybersecurity services and address the skills shortage in the sector, BT expects to take-on and train 170 graduates and apprentices as part of its 900 recruitment intake in the next 12 months.

People will work in a range of cybersecurity and related support services roles.

Graduates and apprentices will undergo training in BT's Security Academy in a range of areas including physical security, penetration testing, threat intelligence, risk management, security operations and sales.

As well as hiring from leading universities, BT takes part in a number of hackathon-style 'war-game' competitions, such as Cyber Security Challenge UK and the international Cambridge 2 Cambridge cyber security challenge, to identify the best talent.

Contestants take part in simulations of cyber-attacks pitting their skills against other participants, to see who has the strongest cybersecurity skills.

While the majority of the roles will be in the United Kingdom, with many located at BT's security operations centres in London, Sevenoaks and Cardiff, BT is also looking to hire security specialists across Continental Europe, the Americas, the Middle-East and Asia-Pacific.

"A number of high profile security and data breaches have dominated the headlines in recent months, and this has led to a surge in interest from both consumers and IT departments wanting to know how best they can protect themselves in the digital world," said Mark Hughes, President of BT Security.

"BT plans to remain at the forefront, innovating in cybersecurity, by hiring some of the best talent while training up the next generation of experts at our BT Security Academy."

Entatech UK has added financial rigour to its operations with the appointment of Grant Thornton as auditors for the distributor.

"We are passionate about working with growing and ambitious businesses and are therefore delighted to have been appointed to work alongside Entatech as the Group embarks upon the next stage of its journey," stated David Munton, Partner at Grant Thornton UK LLP.

Rob Davis, Financial Director at Entatech, added: "Grant Thornton are ranked number five in terms of global fee income and have a dedicated office in close proximity to our HQ, in Birmingham.

"We felt that given its size and level of experience it would be perfectly placed to add value in terms of controls review, systems support and proactive tax-planning."

Dave Stevinson, Entatech Managing Director, stated: "We will be working with Grant Thornton's Birmingham-based team on consultancy, audit and tax. We believe the introduction of an advisor with the reputation of Grant Thornton signifies the improved governance and controls that we wish to impose on our business.

"This is to complement our own improved controls and financial rigour imposed by our Financial Director, Rob, and his team."

The total number of smartphones worldwide is forecast to rise from 2.74 billion at the end of 2015 (equivalent to 37.4% penetration of total mobile connections) to 4.48 billion by the end of 2018, according to the latest research by mobilesquared.

The UK-based research analyst firm has launched its first Databook, called Global subscriptions & smartphone forecasts by country (2015-18). The Databook forecasts China and India alone will account for almost half (48.5%) of net smartphone additions over the period - with China surpassing 1 billion smartphones in use by end-2018 and India becoming the single largest market by annual growth in smartphone users.

"With many developed markets seeing individual mobile subscriptions reaching saturation and smartphone numbers slowing, we expect growth over the three years to 2018 to be centred on Africa, Asia and Latin America," said Gavin Patterson, chief data analyst at mobilesquared.

"Latin America is also on course to surpass North America in terms of the total number of smartphones in market during 2018."

In 20 key markets, representing approximately 71% of total smartphones worldwide, Android OSes are forecast to raise market share by 2.5 points to 74.4% by 2018, iOS will fall 0.7 points to 20.8%, Windows will be down 0.9 point to 3.3%, with Blackberry almost disappearing and Others climbing to 1.4%.

Content Guru is set to launch WebRTC integration with its storm LOSS utilities solution.

The development improves the LOSS service by enabling utilities organisations to more effectively engage with customers across enhanced collaboration, voice-to-browser communication and video conferencing.

Content Guru has been active in the utilities sector since 2008 with its multi-channel storm LOSS solution, which is designed to shield contact centres from the surges in contact demand that occur during unpredictable service outages.

LOSS connects customers to information at any time, from any place and on the devices and channels they choose while improving organisational efficiencies.

Its accreditations include 'Best Enterprise Vertical Market Solution' at the 2014 Comms National Awards and it gained recognition for Content Guru as runner-up in 'Cloud Provider Innovation of the Year' at the 2014 UK IT Awards and a place in US magazine CIO Review's 'Top 50 Most Promising Utilities Technology Solution Providers of 2014'.

Shub Naha, Content Guru Business Development Director, commented: "The utilities sector faces a unique blend of challenges. Supplies are often victim to unpredictable outages and today's consumer demands real-time updates on the channels of their choice. Our LOSS suite of solutions empowers utilities organisations to handle unpredictable spikes in volume by delivering multi-channel cloud communications with scale-on-demand capabilities.

"WebRTC integration allows us to take our utilities offering to the next plane and delivers a rich seam of opportunities to engage with consumers and collaborate with colleagues in real-time."

Skyscape Cloud Services is in course to double its headcount by the end of 2016 having already grown more than ten-fold in four years.

The company has achieved success over a short period of time winning key contracts across central and local Government, developing a partner community of more than 200 companies and attracting industry recognition, most recently winning the Communications category of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA Award. 

Skyscape is focused solely on serving the UK public sector and supporting the digital transformation of public services.

So far this year, Skyscape has hired 33 new people across its customer services, technical and development teams and is set to welcome 10 new students as part of its undergraduate programme.  

The company is also intending to fill a further 60 technical and dedicated customer service roles. 

"As a company, we recognise that our continued success doesn't just depend on technical innovation but also on the intellectual creativity and calibre of our people," said Simon Hansford, CEO of Skyscape Cloud Services.

"We have seen exponential growth in a relatively short amount of time since our debut on the first iteration of the G-Cloud Framework.

"To maintain service levels and ensure we continue to be disruptive in terms of how ICT can be delivered, we invest in recruitment ahead of demand and when recruiting focus on ensuring we offer rewarding careers and opportunities for top IT talent who want to make a genuine difference to UK customers and citizens."