Comms Dealer

US technology group J2 Global has acquired Callstream for an undisclosed sum in a deal that saw the exit of Callstream's previous backers Octopus Investments and YFM Equity Partners.

Mick Crosthwaite, CEO of Callstream, commented: "Callstream has expanded significantly following backing from YFM and Octopus Investments. They have been terrific partners and played an instrumental role in helping us achieve our success." 

Grant Paul Florence, Head of the Intermediate Capital team at Octopus, added: "Callstream has developed a loyal customer base over the years and enters a new chapter of growth as part of a global enterprise."

YFM and Octopus were advised by Knight Corporate Finance. Paul Billingham, Knight Director, commented: "We have worked with Callstream since we founded Knight over seven years ago and this latest transaction is a culmination of advising on strategy, M&A and exit planning to ensure the best possible outcome for shareholders.

"M&A in the sector continues to be vibrant and we look forward to strengthening our position as an advisor in the lower to mid-market range in TMT."

Swyx's cloud-based UC solution is now available from PBX Hosting's data centre in Telehouse, London Docklands, following an agreement between the companies.  

Swyx International Cloud Manager Michael Hostbaek said: "By using PBX Hosting, our partners gain access to a ready-made facility that offers the supporting infrastructure and services they need to meet the demands from the growing number of SMEs that are looking for hosted communications."
 
Co-Founder and Sales Director at PBX Hosting, Stuart Gibson, added: "We anticipate huge demand for cloud-based Swyx over the next few years as demand from SMEs for subscription-based communications increases."
 
PBX Hosting also offers services such as SIP trunking, call termination and origination and number porting, and an online portal for channel partners to manage provisioning and billing for customers.

The appointment of Gareth McIntegart as Legal Counsel by Elitetele.com underscores the company's M&A growth strategy.

McIntegart joins from global law firm DLA Piper and his appointment to the newly created role follows a long standing business relationship with Elitetele.com CEO and founder Matt Newing.

Newing commented: "We've worked closely with Gareth over the last 10 years during which time we have successfully completed 12 acquisitions. It seemed a natural progression to bring him in house.

"Gareth will aid us further with our planned growth strategy which will include both organic expansion and growth by acquisition."
 
Elitetele.com has acquired businesses from telecoms, IT, mobile, data centre and connectivity sectors. The company recently secured a further £20m in funding for future acquisitions.
 
McIntegart commented: "I've always had a great working relationship with Matt and the Elite team and I'm sure my background and experience to date will stand me in good stead for this new chapter."

Alex Cliffe, Director of Mergers and Acquisitions, added: "2016 will be another significant year for us with the funding that we now have available.

"We're an agile buyer with the team and processes in place to enable us to move fast. Gareth will play a key role in the execution of this strategy at every step."

Virgin Media Business has swung its gaze onto the small business sector and entered the indirect partner channel having joined forces with distributors DMSL and Daisy Distribution. They aim to recruit 500-plus resellers this year to resell Virgin Media Business's small business products including broadband bundles with speeds up to 300Mpbs. 

The indirect partner channel will operate in parallel with the existing desk-based sales team run out of Virgin Media Business's Manchester office. 

Partners gain access to training, sales and marketing toolkits and will be supported by a dedicated indirect partner team within Virgin Media Business.

Mike Smith, Director of Small Business at Virgin Media Business, said: "Our new indirect partner sales channel will allow us to sell more services to the small business community which is crying out for a faster Internet connection."

John Carter, MD of DMSL, commented: "We have already started recruiting resellers for Virgin Media's ultrafast business broadband and the response so far has been encouraging.

"Virgin Media Business is making a long-term commitment to driving its channel business."

Daisy Distribution MD Dave McGinn added: "The addition of this product set into our portfolio complements our strategy of offering partners a complete range to market out to their customers.

"We believe that this is a real opportunity to deliver value back to Virgin Media and to the wider mobile and telecoms partner channels."

Virgin Media Business's 'Digital Opportunity' report, published in October last year, stated that digital technologies could provide a £56bn boost to SMEs, as well as create over 920,000 new UK jobs over the next two years.

Start-up hosted UC provider TelcoSwitch has entered the fray with guns blazing, emphatically throwing down the gauntlet to established comms providers and driving a 100% channel focused push into the UK market. The company launched last year as a supplier of unified turnkey hosted telephony services to the channel and is currently onboarding three partners per week to resell its product suite including CallSwitch, SimSwitch, NetSwitch and SipSwitch, all designed for large and small businesses.

CEO Russell Lux has pinned his hopes on the 'intuitive and simple' nature of TelcoSwitch's platform and the strength of its partner programme.

"Organisations of all shapes, sizes and industries are waking up to the business benefits that can be gained by having an effective communication platform installed within their business network," stated Russell.

"TelcoSwitch has created a unified turnkey open standards hosted telephony platform and we believe its has the ability to shake things up and challenge established market players."

"We will not rest on our laurels and have ambitious, aggressive growth targets."

Distributor Northamber's shares fell as its pretax loss widened in the first half (to December 31st), and it does not expect to see a near-term turn to profit.

Northamber said its pretax loss for the period was £547k, higher than the £292k loss a year earlier.

Revenue fell to £32.5m from £35.7m, hit by slow commercial sector sales and disruption surrounding the release of Microsoft Windows 10 software.

Microsoft announced the cancellation of Windows 9 in March and launched Windows 10 in July. This drove uncertainty in the commercial user sector and, after the release of Windows 10, reports of problems with the product led to this hiatus continuing, it says.

Northamber said the uncertainty in the market at present made it difficult to forecast any near-term return to profit, though it remains confident on the medium and long-term.

Diva Telecom has launched an exclusive Republic of Ireland WLR and CPS service to channel partners.

Pauline Beattie, Diva's newly appointed Channel Manager, said: "The service will allow resellers to unlock opportunities for multi-site end users across the UK and Republic of Ireland."

Diva Telecom MD Erica Lewis added: "Diva Telecom has always been a niche player in the telecoms market. The Republic of Ireland WLR and CPS service offers a means to engage with customers on a new geographic level."

Chess Partner Services bagged an awards double at the O2 Partner Service Awards, collecting the Digital Excellence and Customer Excellence Awards.

Managing Director of Chess Partner Services, John Pett, said: "It was a great honour to be the only company that received both the Digital and Customer Excellence Awards this year.

"It is thanks to the effort of everyone at Chess and all of our partners over the last 12 months.

"There is an increasing customer demand for digital and new world products and it is therefore imperative that we all evolve to facilitate this demand.

"I am passionate about empowering our partners to help both their businesses and the service that they deliver grow."

Distributor Exertis has bolstered the channel facing resources in its growing AV business unit.

A new role of Commercial Manager, reporting to General Manager Ian Aitken, has been created to manage the AV business in the north, and two new Business Development Managers and a Samsung Commercial TV Business Manager are also recruited.

Sarah Bamford joins from Novatech to fill the Samsung role, and internal promotions see Ian Ainsworth take the Commercial Manager role, Adam Carson a Business Development Manager position covering the northern region, and Jordan Deemer assuming the role of Business Development Manager for Samsung Interactive displays.

Aitken said: "These new roles are a direct consequence of our sustained AV market growth over the last four years.

"We expect our total solution strategy to continue to drive our success with traditional AV integrators and IT reseller partners, while Sarah's appointment is testimony to our confidence in commercial TVs and strengthens Exertis' long-standing relationship with Samsung."

Exertis' AV business unit has experienced a CAGR of 29%, delivered via a solutions driven strategy that addresses the needs of the traditional AV and converged networking technologies market.

NetPay has teamed up with Southampton Solent University, School of Business and Law to deliver research marketing projects with undergraduate business students.

NetPay will be providing opportunities for students to participate in research and marketing projects within a commercial environment.

Sian Campbell, Senior Lecturer in Business at Solent University School of Business, said: "NetPay is supporting our students to gain valuable skills and insights that will enhance their employability and influence their future careers."

Cerri Killworth, Marketing Manager at NetPay, added: "It is great to be working in partnership with Southampton Solent University and be able to offer students the opportunity to work on real-business projects.

"We are enabling them to gain practical real-world experience and the opportunity to see their work used in a commercial environment.

"I am confident that the work that we do together will give students career opportunities and skills that will benefit them when they begin their working life."