Comms Dealer

Big data integration software specialist Talend is driving growth in its European VAR programme which currently accounts for almost 20% of its total new software business in Europe.

The value added resellers programme in Europe was launched in March last year and has focused on new market opportunities in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Up to now, Talend has on-boarded 30 new reseller partners while the total number of contracts during the first nine month of the new programme duration climbed to 20% of its new subscription business.

"Our VAR programme has produced significant growth and momentum since it kicked off, enabling us to keep pace with the increase in product demand we are experiencing.

"Importantly, the programme is empowering participants to expand their relationships with existing customers, acquire new clients and drive new and recurring streams of revenue," said Francois Mero, senior vice president of sales EMEA, Talend.

With Aruba and enterprise wireless proving to be one of the more dynamic parts of HPE's portfolio, judging from its latest figures, and as the second placed brand in the market after Cisco,

Distributor TD Azlan is fast-tracking HPE partners onto the Aruba product range with the roll out of educational and marketing tools. 

Jonathan Kaiser, Head of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Products at Azlan, said: "The investment Azlan is making and the resources we are providing will enable HPE resellers to learn about Aruba technologies, explain the added value for their customers and start driving incremental business as soon as possible."

Simon Ewington, Vice President, EG Distribution EMEA, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, added: "Our new partnership with Azlan will enable us to reach out to the entire HPE partner community in Europe."

Claranet has taken steps to ensure that customers maximise their user experience with a ramp-up of its training operation.

The company is working with Train to Win.tv which offers web-based and on-site telecoms training.

James Mitchell, Claranet's UC Product Manager, commented: "We want our customers to get the most from our services, and an important part of this is understanding the full range of features available to them. Training has a crucial role to play here.

"While our customers already tell us about the flexibility, efficiency and improvements to customer service that their UC solution provides them, we are always looking to help our customers do more with what they have."

Train to Win.tv MD Julie Mills added: "We have a shared vision on how best to help customers solve key business challenges by leveraging the benefits of Claranet's platform."

snom has launched the Snom Innovation-Output (Snom IO) platform, allowing thousands of developers to create integrated applications into Snom's IO ready IP business telephones, which enable the telephone to host personal, business, video, IoT, vertical and PBX applications.

These new capabilities mean that developers, integrators and solution providers can create and globally distribute application that deliver specific capabilities directly on users' desktop telephone.

Nadahl Shocair Group CEO, said: "This will enable businesses to utilise more sophisticated and specific functions for their people, allowing them to configure their desktop telephones around the way they work.

"This delivers efficiency, cost reduction and increased employee performance and, therefore, empowering and improving the way people work and interact with the world around them."

Paul Clark has stepped in as VP and MD of Plantronics' Europe and Africa business, taking over from Philip Vanhoutte who exits this month following a 12 year stint with the firm. Clark previously led the Northern and Eastern Europe, Russia and Sub-Saharan Africa regions.

"Paul has deep knowledge of our business, customers and partners and his strengths in global collaboration position him well to help take our company to the next level," said Ken Kannappan, President and CEO, Plantronics.

Clark added: "With the inexorable rise of professional and personal communications, where we are increasingly finding ourselves time-poor, it is exciting to lead a business committed to helping people improve their connected lives."

Clark joined Plantronics in 1994 and became EMEA Marketing Director, spearheading the launch of an international reseller programme and Plantronics' consumer business.

Clark was also instrumental in launching the Plantronics Connect Partner Programme in the Russian and Eastern European markets.

He has also held a number of executive positions in sales, product management and marketing across the consumer, SMB and enterprise segments.

Clark holds a first class honours degree in Electronic Engineering and a business administration degree from Durham University. He also studied strategic marketing management at Harvard Business School.

EnGenius has commended Nimans for its work in establishing the brand in the UK wireless communications market.

Vincent Chng, Senior Business Development Manager, EnGenius, said "With the addition of the wireless data portfolio of EnGenius, Nimans now offers a full portfolio, where we expect the proportion of EnGenius in 2016 will grow enormously in the UK."

Nimans is the exclusive distribution partner of various products including the Extreme cordless telephone that offers coverage up to 2km.

Phil Collins, Head of Purchasing at Nimans, added: "EnGenius has become a growing part of our product portfolio. We look forward to an ever closer working relationship with them to offer resellers more ways to capture more business."

New Star Networks (NSN) Channel Director Ryan Kersey cracked open the bubbly to celebrate NSN's most profitable bill run since the business launched in December 2010, driving record breaking revenue and margins from the channel operation.

"The February bill run confirms the success of NSN's cloud telephony strategy and that our joined up channel marketing programme, Affinity, is delivering the goods," he enthused.

Pictured with Kersey are Ewelina Oszust (left), Office & Business Process Manager, and Katy Brown, Corporate Account Manager.

Hamilton-based Cisco partner Provista UK is forecasting sales to jump by a third this year and plans to boost staff numbers but almost 30%.

The firm celebrates its tenth anniversary this year and is targeting £7m annual revenue, up from £5.6m in 2015.

Director Stuart Little said: "Ten years ago, a few of us spotted what we believed to be a real opportunity in the market, the need for an independent firm to offer expert consultants, right through to the build, supply and maintenance of technological, network and video solutions.

"Since then it has been a decade of cautious but consistent growth, using profits to expand organically, making sure to retain the culture of our brand.

"With that careful attention and by sticking to our ethos of placing the customer at the heart of operations, we have been able to grow to the scale whereby we can deliver solutions for a client of any size, anywhere in the UK."

Provista specialises in UC, secure wireless, IP security and IP LAN and WAN networks. Its clients include Baillie Gifford, Wood Mackenzie, Canadian Natural, Scottish Parliament and Greater Glasgow NHS.

The firm currently has 30 staff and aims to expand into the north of England.

"It is a truly exciting time to be part of Provista UK, " added Little. "While we are still the underdogs compared to the household names we truly believe we have an offering that goes above and beyond.

"Our team have extensive experience in security, wireless, data and voice solutions, with particular expertise in unified IP converged environments.

"In an ever-changing industry we can't wait for what is certain to be a hugely exciting next ten years."

Provista UK was named Cisco Scottish Partner of the Year in 2015, and is aiming to achieve Cisco Gold Partner status, the highest partner level, which would make the company the only Cisco Gold partner headquartered in Scotland.

Nimans has welcomed Panasonic UC Pro to its product line up, a new software-based UC suite that complements the vendor's NS series of comms systems.

The new solution has a capacity for 2,500 users and offers video calling, presence, pop-up alerts, text messaging, group chats and calendar integration.

Paul Burn, Nimans' Head of Category Sales, said: "UC Pro is all about flexibility and mobility from one package, offering multi-device compatibility, easy to use functionality and an on-the-go capability."

8x8 has added new features to its cloud-based Virtual Contact Centre (VCC) solution, introducing the integration of management capabilities, analytics and a pre-built CRM integration tool that allows contact centre managers to configure and tailor the agent and customer experience without requiring professional services.

Darren Hakeman, SVP Product and Strategy at 8x8, said: "It is imperative that our customers remain competitive and deliver the highest levels of service to their customers, and as their business partner we are committed to pushing the envelope on innovation to make this happen.

"8x8 offers enhanced contact centre capabilities on a single cloud platform, ensuring our customers around the world have a unified global contact centre solution with state-of-the-art presence."