Comms Dealer

The addition of 70,000-plus seats since the beginning of this year has propelled Mitel past the two million cloud business communications subscriber milestone, reflected in the vendor's 44% cloud revenue growth in Q4.

"Demand for cloud communications continues across the globe as businesses of all sizes look for more flexible solutions and commercial options," said Jon Brinton, Executive VP and General Manager, Mitel Cloud.

Cobweb Solutions has signalled its intent to ramp up channel activities with the launch of Vuzion, a value add cloud aggregator focused on resellers, service providers and ISVs.

Cobweb boasts 20 years experience as a cloud services provider with a focus on Microsoft's CSP programme and according to newly appointed  MD Michael Frisby the company will leverage its experience for the benefit of partners.

"Cloud services are driving a significant disruption across the IT channel," he said. "Vuzion partners will be supported with knowledge on how to build a sustainable cloud business, successfully manage the customer lifecycle and speed up go-to-market time and growth rates.

"We are focused on building long-term sustainable relationships rather than being a mere marketplace to transact through.

"We provide integrated solutions instead of individual services, and partners can focus on building their own value add on top of cloud services while being confident their business model is future proof."

Clare Barclay, Microsoft UK's General Manager for Small and Mid-market Solutions and Partners, added: "Cobweb is bringing more value to both Microsoft and the wider VAR and service provider community."

MDS's managed service has been awarded Cyber Essentials certification, a new UK Government-backed and industry-supported scheme that guides businesses in protecting themselves against cyber threats.

The certification enhances MDS's accreditations, having received TM Forum Frameworx Conformance certification in December.

The Cyber Essentials scheme was developed by Government and industry to provide a clear statement of the basic controls all organisations should implement to mitigate the risk from common internet based threats, within the context of the Government's 10 Steps to Cyber Security.

Through the Assurance Framework, Cyber Essentials certification offers a way for organisations to demonstrate to customers, investors, insurers and others that they have taken these essential precautions.

"Cyber Essentials assures our partners and customers that we take cyber security seriously," commented Barry Dowd, Senior Vice President of Managed Service at MDS.

"This certification demonstrates that we are fully compliant when it comes to cyber security. Our partners and customers depend on us to provide secure infrastructure and we are always looking for ways to improve how we manage cyber security threats. For those we work with, this certification provides additional peace of mind."

BT responded quickly to Ofcom's new proposals, saying 'no surprises here'. In a statement the telco asserted that 'there is a strong case for less, not more, regulation'.

BT conceded that service improvements are required and believes that Ofcom's proposals will have a detrimental impact on achieving its aims. The BT statement said, 'The required Ethernet price cuts and the introduction of dark fibre will not help to underpin service improvement'.

BT described dark fibre as a 'flawed piece of regulation that introduces an unnecessary layer of complexity and will deter others from building their own fibre networks, which is at odds with Ofcom's recent statements about increasing competition at the infrastructure level. It is a cherry pickers charter benefiting those who don't invest in networks at the expense of those who do including BT, Virgin Media, CityFibre and Zayo'.

IP Integration has been awarded UK Partner of the Year 2016 by Avaya.

The company is a Platinum Avaya partner for Enterprise and Mid-market Unified Communications and Contact Centres and has a number of Avaya 'firsts' to its name: The first Avaya CPOD deployment by the channel, the first BT Wholesale Avaya Cloud Contact Centre solution in the banking sector and internationally, where IP Integration is delivered the first large scale omnichannel web-based chat solution on the Avaya platform.

Dave Glasgow, Group Sales Director at IP Integration, said: "We have been working with Avaya for almost two decades and this award recognises the hard work that's taken place right across our business which has led to the tremendous growth we've seen in the past year.

"Thanks to the expertise of our team and our close working relationship with Avaya, we have seen ourselves recognised as experts in providing complex, bespoke and innovative omni-channel Contact Centre solutions, across all sizes of business, not just in the UK, but globally."

Andy Litherland, Head of European Channels, Avaya, added: "Success is all about working closely in partnership, and the relationship between Avaya and IP Integration has significantly deepened over the past year, enabling us to better serve our customers.

"We have been impressed with IP Integration's ability to work across all sizes and complexities of contact centres, using a wide range of Avaya services, including the BT Wholesale Avaya Cloud Solution."

IT and comms services provider KCOM Group is to bring its business activities under a single brand effective 4th April, when Smart421, Kcom, Eclipse and other KC brands will be represented by a new-look KCOM badge.

The move creates a more integrated business and it is the latest phase of a transition programme that included the sale of KCOM Group's national network infrastructure for £90m in December.

Chief Executive Bill Halbert said: "Bringing together our capability and expertise under a single brand will give all of our customers visibility of and access to our full range of services and enable us to respond to their needs in a more agile and flexible way. 

"For our Hull and East Yorkshire customers, our transformation gives us the capacity to accelerate our deployment of ultrafast fibre broadband and create a future-proof platform that has the capacity to satisfy the demands of homes and business as they evolve."

Ultrafast broadband will be available to three quarters of KC's customers by December 2017, stated the company, which has committed additional investment to accelerate its deployment of ultrafast fibre broadband across its Hull and East Yorkshire network.

As a result of the increased funding, around 91,000 more homes and businesses will have access to KC's Lightstream service over the next 20 months, meaning that it will be available to 148,000 local properties by December 2017.

This brings the total capital investment in KC's fibre deployment to approximately £60m.

The acceleration of KC's ultrafast fibre broadband service has been made possible by a business transformation programme launched by KC's parent company, KCOM Group, which included the sale of its national network infrastructure outside the Hull and East Yorkshire area in December.

KC's MD Gary Young said: "We're focused on improving services for our customers, which is why we're investing many millions of pounds to make Hull the UK's ultrafast broadband capital.

"This will help local people make the most of the benefits of being online and help businesses to start up and grow, creating jobs and long-term prosperity.

"We're a successful national business but our roots are firmly in this area and our commitment to Hull and East Yorkshire remains as strong as ever. Moving to a national brand means we can raise the profile of the region at the same time as promoting our business. "

Lord Haskins, chair of the Humberside Local Enterprise Partnership, said: "This is good news for the region. The Humber has a significant digital economy with businesses of all types and sizes relying on digital technology to operate and, in many cases, innovate, so a robust infrastructure is vital to our economic success.

"The UK Government has recognised the growing need for the type of ultrafast connectivity KC's investment is delivering and we are delighted that local businesses are already benefiting from it and that more will do so more quickly."

Despite the assertions of market analysts who say the PBX market is in terminal decline, Nimans has reported rising PBX shipments, up 5% in Q4 2015.

"According to recent market statistics PBX CCU shipments have fallen off a cliff but our sales were up," said Paul Burn, Head of Category Sales at Nimans.

"The PBX market remains under pressure, but we are not witnessing the declines indicated by the stats that show alarming drops.

"It is hard for PBX resellers, and hosted is increasing, so there's a balance to be struck. There are strong arguments for resellers to have both PBX and hosted in their kit bags, and the majority of resellers are grasping the nettle.

"Hosted will continue to grow, but in the main resellers are relaxed about the whole situation."

Strong SIP and cloud PBX sales continue to drive Gamma's profits.

In its audited results for the year ended 31st December 2015 the company reported a 10.7% rise in revenue to £191.8m, and a 21.7% jump in gross profit to £82.3m.

The number of installed SIP trunks increased from 234,000 to 360,000 (up 54%), while the number of cloud PBX users rose from 80,000 to 142,000 (up 78%).

Gross profit from indirect business increased from £52.4m to £64.1m (up 22.3%).

The number of channel partners grew from 725 to 834 (up 15%); while strong growth in the direct business produced gross profit of £18.2m (up 19.7%).

Key wins include Taylor Wimpey, Moneysupermarket, Metrobank and The Law Society.
Bob Falconer, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Our current strategic products of SIP and cloud PBX have continued to drive growth.

"A growing reputation in the enterprise and public sector markets has helped us win sizeable orders, such as HMRC, via a channel partner and Taylor Wimpey and Peabody Housing through our own direct sales teams.

"Excellent progress has also been made with our pipeline of new products.

"Our multi-site data network was launched on time at the end of June 2015, our new mobile service is scheduled for full launch in June 2016, while at the same time significant value adding enhancements have been made to our strategic products.

"We are also investing in reducing the cost of our access network by extending our own network capability deeper into local areas, with the first, reduced cost, access sites in London coming on line in May 2016."

AVG EMEA's new general manager Fred Gerritse has new ideas to boost partners in Europe, he said.

Globally AVG has around 10,000 partners - in Europe, these tend to be mainly in the UK, where AVG has an office, and he wants to help larger partners directly, and do more with the others through distribution.

"We are transforming our AVG channel programme to increase channel partner value," he says.

"Our partners need to effectively respond to their business customers' security needs, while continuing to grow their own operations. We are putting new initiatives in place that will address these needs and help enable partners to become more experienced in AVG business security solutions and to work more simply and efficiently with us in the process."

"Most are small, and work in the SMB customer base," he tells IT Europa. "We need them to take a more consultative approach, while becoming easier to work with ourself."

He has been looking at the partner base, which, while it includes some moving towards security from break-fix models, and some MSPs, has a lot more potential.

To do this, AVG has now established a three tier channel structure, based on skilled rather than revenue targets, with certifications.

AVG will need its partners to embrace a wider portfolio of cloud and management products coming out shortly, and to aim at that trusted advisor status by becoming experts. But not all have that capability or willingness, hence the need to increase distribution's role.

"We see a huge potential in distribution and want to use it as a breeding ground, looking for firms to help build up with dedicated resources."

While investing in local support and account management for larger partners, AVG will look to the two-tier model for growth - though it does not want large numbers, but would prefer to upskill the existing qualified channels.

It recently appointed CMS in the UK&I and is looking at similar distributors across Europe with a mix of broader channels and specialists. His targets are the main markets right across the region, but will depend on who he can find.  

Comms watchdog Ofcom has placed new demands on BT to improve its service, including rules for Openreach to speed up the installation of high speed business lines and reduce wholesale prices, aiming to bring prices down over a three year period from 1st May 2016.

The main charge controls relate to newer Ethernet lines (initial reduction in prices of 12%) and older leased lines using traditional interface technology (initial 9% reduction).

Ofcom also confirmed that BT's dark fibre network should be accessible to competitors.

The announcement follows the regulator's Strategic Review of Digital Communications that outlined plans to impose tougher standards on BT's Openreach division.

Ofcom's report stated that since 2011 the average time between a customer's order and the line being ready has increased from 40 to 48 working days.

Ofcom's proposals would require BT to reduce this to 46 working days by the end of March 2017, and return it to 40 working days the following year.

Ofcom also found that Openreach is failing to complete one in four leased line installations on the stated install date, and is proposing that by the end of March 2017 Openreach must complete 80% of leased line orders by the date it promises customers, rising to 90% from April 2018.

Ofcom has also said that Openreach must fix at least 94% of faults on its leased line network within five hours.

Jonathan Oxley, Ofcom Competition Group Director, said: "These new rules will mean companies across the UK benefit from faster installation times, greater certainty about installation dates and fast repairs if things go wrong."

Ofcom also requires BT to provide access to its optical fibre network, giving competitors physical access to its fibre optic cables and allowing them to take direct control of the connection.

Oxley added: "We have outlined plans to reduce the country's reliance on BT's Openreach division. Our proposals on dark fibre do just that, letting BT's competitors better serve their customers by getting direct access to BT's optical fibre cables."

As part of the dark fibre proposals Ofcom would require BT to publish a draft 'reference offer' for industry, containing wholesale pricing and terms for access by 1st September 2016.

This would then be subject to negotiation between BT and other providers, with a view to BT publishing a final reference offer by 1st December 2016.

Dark fibre access would then be available to telecoms providers from 1st October 2017.

The plans form part of Ofcom's Business Connectivity Market Review. The new rules will be finalised at the end of April subject to consideration by the European Commission.

BT responded quickly to Ofcom's new proposals, saying 'no surprises here'. In a statement the telco asserted that 'there is a strong case for less, not more, regulation'.

BT conceded that service improvements are required and believes that Ofcom's proposals will have a detrimental impact on achieving its aims. The BT statement said, 'The required Ethernet price cuts and the introduction of dark fibre will not help to underpin service improvement'.

BT described dark fibre as a 'flawed piece of regulation that introduces an unnecessary layer of complexity and will deter others from building their own fibre networks, which is at odds with Ofcom's recent statements about increasing competition at the infrastructure level. It is a cherry pickers charter benefiting those who don't invest in networks at the expense of those who do'.