Comms Dealer

Six Degrees Group (6DG) has pocketed cloud service provider Carrenza, strengthening its position in private and public cloud markets. Carrenza provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud services for hosting mission-critical applications and websites for customers spanning public, private and third sectors.

The CSP has witnessed significant growth in providing cloud services to corporate customers and Government bodies with increasing demand for integration solutions for the public cloud - three sectors that are strategically important for Six Degrees.

Founded in 2001, Carrenza became one of the early adopters of enterprise cloud computing with the launch of Carrenza Cloud in 2006.

In addition to its own IaaS and PaaS capabilities, it is also a public cloud integration specialist with key partnerships supporting customers using Amazon Web Services (AWS), VMWare's vCloud Air and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Private sector customers include RBS, de Bijenkorf and Majestic Wine. A strong third sector presence includes household names like WWF and AgeUK.

The firm is an official security certified G-Cloud provider and its public sector base includes Government Digital Service (GDS), DWP and HMRC.

Alastair Mills, CEO of 6DG, commented: "This announcement ticks three major strategic boxes for Six Degrees.

"Firstly, it strengthens our capabilities for professional and managed services in application and web hosting for mission-critical environments.

"Secondly, it gives us a major presence in the public sector where Carrenza is a strong G-Cloud player.

"Finally, it brings public cloud integration capabilities that, especially for AWS, are increasingly part of the mix for end user customers in an increasingly multi-cloud world."

Carrenza CEO Dan Sutherland added: "This is a logical development for both 6DG and Carrenza. Our heritage in the public sector - with complex private clouds and public cloud integration - is strong and we believe our team can play a vital role in the continued growth of the group."

Managed services provider Claranet is working with business continuity firm Data Deposit Box to strengthen its cloud backup and disaster recovery services in EMEA.

The solution is aimed at SoHo, SMBs and SMEs and will offer Claranet's customers more flexibility, reliability and control over their data backup and data management practices.
 
The move also marks Data Deposit Box's first foray into the European market with a managed services provider.
 
Neil Thomas, Claranet's Product Director, said: "Businesses are increasingly aware of the damaging effects of data loss and our customers are no exception, which is why we are continuing to build out our disaster recovery capabilities."
 
Troy Cheeseman, President and Chief Operating Officer at Data Deposit Box, added: "We are actively looking to build out our presence in EMEA which makes Claranet, with a strong footprint in six European markets, financial stability and broad customer base, an ideal strategic contact.

"Our solution complements Claranet's existing portfolio, and we look forward to consulting with Claranet and its customers to bring our disaster recovery tools to market."

SAP's Chief Executive Bill McDermott says he has 'perfect and clear confidence' that Europe's largest software company will meet its full year targets despite a warning that first quarter results will be weaker than expected.

The first quarter is usually a slow one for SAP, but results are clouded by moves away from on-premise sales.

Sales of software licenses to corporate clients, particularly in Brazil and the US, fell 13% during the period as business customers continue to shift to cloud-based software instead of older software packages.

Cloud subscriptions and support revenue was worth 0.68bn euro (2015: 0.50bn euro), an increase of 35%.

"The first quarter is our seasonally smallest quarter," said Luka Mucic, CFO of SAP. "With a robust pipeline across our entire portfolio we are on track to achieve our full year outlook."

Satellite Internet has connected the third and final village selected to take part in a UK Government-funded Market Test Pilot (MTP) by providing high-speed internet to Broomfield in North Somerset.

Working with Connecting Devon & Somerset (CDS), Broomfield Parish Council and the wider community, Satellite Internet was able to provide 24 properties with substantially enhanced broadband connectivity within a very limited deployment timeframe.

Satellite Internet Business Development Director David Hennell said: "Despite the short timescales we were confident that we could provide the necessary infrastructure to make this third MTP deployment a success. However, we couldn't have achieved this without the enthusiasm and support of Broomfield Parish Council and the closeness with which we, the Broomfield community and CDS have all worked, ensuring that the installation has been a success."

Somerset County Council deputy leader councillor David Hall said: "The ability to access high-quality communications infrastructure is critical to businesses and an important part of improving quality of life. The more people across Somerset and Devon who are connected, the better for everyone."

Solar Communications is to stage two customer events in Manchester and London to showcase the firm's technology and communications portfolio.

Called 'solar Vision 2016', the events will bring together more than 100 Solar customers to witness presentations from some of Solar's senior leadership team and technology partners including TalkTalk, Mitel, Datto and ShoreTel.

John Whitty, CEO at Solar Communications, said: "Through our Solar Vision 2016 initiative we can ensure our customers know exactly how technology is evolving and how new solutions can help them achieve their business goals, save money, improve staff productivity and simplify their communications estate.

"Unified communications in particular is set to take off and is a market that experts estimate to be worth around $25bn by 2020. However, at this moment in time, just one in five SMEs have adopted this technology.

"There's a huge opportunity for organisations to take advantage of developments in UC and differentiate the way they operate from their competition."

A collaboration between Silver Lining and multi-channel payment service provider NetPay has come to fruition with the launch of SLPay, a secure phone payment service.

The move was prompted by an increase in enquiries from Silver Lining customers wanting to include merchant services in their managed service packages.

It is estimated that in 2014, £802bn was spent in the UK on goods and services using debit and credit card phone payments, a trend that is set to rise to £900bn by 2024.

Allan Packer, Managing Director, Silver Lining says: "We believe that only by listening to and understanding our customers' communication and data requirements can we offer the right bespoke solution."

Claranet has been ranked the 56th most profitable privately owned business in the country according to The Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 published April 10th.

The MSP has increased its profits by an average annual rate of 72% since 2012.

Claranet also appeared in The Sunday Times' FastTrack series, taking 118th place in The Sunday Times International Track 200 last year.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Claranet has evolved into a full service managed services provider with a presence in six European countries.

Charles Nasser, CEO of Claranet, commented: "Financial strength is core to our value proposition as a managed services provider and is critical if we are to secure the trust of our customers.

"Our ability to adapt to better suit a constantly changing market has enabled the business to improve profitability, securing its financial strength. By balancing fiscal responsibility with technological innovation we have been able to grow the business sustainably over our 20-year history.

"The combination of our strong local presence and international reach means that our business has been consistent in its growth both organically and through acquisition in Western Europe."

Cloud and managed services have helped to boost Annodata's profitability by 91.28% since 2012, securing the MSP 24th position in The Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 2016.

The annual Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table, now in its 16th year, ranks Britain's private companies with the fastest-growing profits over their latest three years of available accounts. To qualify, companies have to be registered in the UK and be independent, unquoted and ultimate holding companies.

First established as a provider of print services in 1988, Annodata has in recent years rapidly diversified its service offering, having successfully moved into communications, IT and cloud services. The strategically important acquisition of Keltec in 2014 accelerated Annodata's drive towards delivering managed services, supporting the company's growth ambitions and profitability.

Rod Tonna-Barthet, Annodata's CEO, commented: "As a company, we have evolved our strategy over the past few years as we set in place the foundations needed to grow the businesses and ensure we remain at the forefront of technological innovation.

"A number of key additions to our senior management mean that our leadership team has never been stronger, and our expanded service portfolio puts us in a strong position to respond to the often complex needs of our customers.

"Our customers and the business are reaping the rewards of these changes, and I'm delighted that the efforts of the whole team at Annodata have been independently recognised by the Profit Track 100 as being one of the most profitable businesses in the country."

Gamma has ramped up its play in the SIP space and is targeting the vibrant ISDN replacement market with its new SIP Trunk Call Manager service that, says the firm, gives customers more than cost savings and enables partners to add value to their SIP propositions via centralised instant call control.

"SIP Trunk Call Manager will enable channel partners to offer customers a smarter SIP trunk service to differentiate their proposition and open up new areas in the market," stated Roy Farrow (pictured), Advanced Services Product Manager at Gamma.

"Business continuity will be at its heart, enabling feature-rich call control in the network and giving users full access and control of the service through a mobile app."

According to Gamma, by the start of 2016 almost two million SIP channels were migrated from ISDN leaving 1.5 million still to be migrated, a million of which are expected to move within the next two years.

"The clock is ticking, so now is the time to add further value to our SIP Trunk service with SIP Trunk Call Manager, and help our partners move away from price-led conversations and give them a clear advantage in an increasingly crowded 'me too' market," added Farrow.

Gamma is currently beta testing with a number of partners and expects to launch mid-May.

One trialist, Nick Ward, Senior Product Manager at Intercity Technology, said: "It's great to see Gamma finding a way to put value and margin back into SIP Trunking."

Nimans has extended its trade counter service with the launch of a new 10,000 sq ft unit in Trafford Park, Manchester, adding to an existing service at the distributor's Salford HQ.

"I started Nimans more than 30 years ago by opening a trade counter and repairing radio equipment," said Chairman Julian Niman. "It's always been my ambition to develop more."

The new facility offers hundreds of new product lines and is led by Geoff Wilde and Bob Hinder who share more than 40 years data infrastructure experience.

New product lines include cable management tools, cabinets, trunking, fibre, power distribution and labelling machines plus accessories.

Nimans has also introduced new brands such as Super Rod (cable rods), Dymo (labelling), Draper (tools), Faithful (tools) as well as basket and cable trays plus accessories.

"Thousands of lines are available for immediate collection," added Nimans. "This new facility offers customers the chance to conveniently pick up a much bigger range of products and take advantage of expert advice from Geoff and Bob."

The Trafford Part trade counter includes a training room and is located on the outskirts of the city close to the M602 and M60 motorways and opens at 8.30am.

Pictured (l-r): Bob Hinder, Julian Niman and Geoff Wilde