Comms Dealer

Stoke-on-Trent and Darlington based technology firm Fifteen Digital is celebrating 10 years in business.

The company specialises in telecommunications and in November 2015 took home a National Business Award at the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards in London.

In January Fifteen Digital were shortlisted for two regional awards, the Business Innovation Award at the Sentinel Business Awards, in Staffordshire, with the ceremony on 15th March and the Innovation Award at the Teesside heats of the North East Business Awards.

24 Seven Communications has teamed up with British smartphone brand KAZAM on a project aimed at ensuring taxi drivers stay connected to a mobile network more of the time.

24 Seven's roaming SIM Jump, which can switch between three of the UK's biggest mobile networks, will become natively compatible with two of KAZAM's models, offering taxi drivers better mobile coverage.

David Samuel, MD and Founder of 24 Seven, said: "Private hire has been a breakthrough industry for the Jump SIM. Taxi and private hire firms can see the benefits of better coverage by using a national roaming SIM.

"We pioneered the UK's first national roaming SIM and since launch it's helped numerous businesses to stay connected."

Andy Lee, Country Manager (UK & Ireland) of KAZAM said: "If taxi professionals lose connection it can be totally debilitating for their business. When they slip into a mobile black-spot, or if their network fails, that can make a real difference to profitability.

"Taxis need to stay connected (for voice and data) more of the time, from the point of view of accurate fares, ensuring reliable directions and not least from a safety point of view."

Jump was launched in early 2015 following a year in development. The SIM card will jump to the next available network, should the signal drop, thereby ensuring much better coverage than a single network SIM.

Oak Telecom has underlined its status as a forward-thinking UK software house with a name change to Oak Innovation.

"Everyone knows us simply as Oak, and that will continue," said joint CEO Phil Reynolds. "However, we feel that the new formal title is a more accurate description of what we actually do, and what we don't do is sell phone systems as the word 'telecom' implies.

"We design, develop and support our own solutions and we have won a string of awards for them. We specialise in call recording and reporting for all types of businesses and contact centres. We are increasingly providing solutions for mid-market opportunities. The new name reflects who we are now and where we are heading."

The change of name also coincides with Oak's acquisition of the Adaptive suite from New Media Software.

The Suite includes progressive and predictive diallers, SMS and email messaging. Oak has also taken on the NMS Adaptive team and their offices in Southampton to ensure a smooth transition for NMS resellers and their customers.

Reynolds believes that the addition of Adaptive will open up new opportunities for the channel.

"It's an exciting time for Oak. Adaptive is a great product suite with a proven track record that fits particularly well with our mid-market solutions, Evolve and Clarify.

"NMS have had experience working in the areas of the market that Oak is moving into, which is extremely valuable going forward.

"For the channel, all this means that at a time when the bottom end of the market is being gradually eroded by cheap hosted solutions, Oak is able to present resellers with tested solutions and strategies to help them aim at bigger targets."

NMS MD Phill McGowan will continue working alongside Oak as a consultant while the handover takes place and the new version 10 of Adaptive is rolled out.

Oak is currently organising an Adaptive roadshow for resellers this spring.

8x8 has been awarded Best Supplier of the Year at the inaugural Recruitment Directors Lunch Club (RDLC) awards staged at London's Hippodrome.

The company was chosen from 15 suppliers by the organisation's members.

RDLC is the sector's network and member's group for recruitment CEOs and directors.

The Club has a membership of over 60 recruitment businesses and is growing in the UK and internationally.

Gary Pryor, Enterprise Sales Director, 8x8 in the UK, said: "This award is a testament to 8x8's dedication to providing support to companies within the recruitment industry.

"We now work with a variety of recruiters of different sizes, demonstrating that we're able to provide a flexible and effective solution to all."

Nimans has witnessed strong sales of a smart hub for group collaboration from Polycom.

Ian Brindle, Nimans' Head of Conferencing Sales, says the RealPresence Trio 8800 has surpassed all sales expectations since its launch towards the end of last year.

He said: "It has become one of our most successful ever product launches with huge demand and interest created. A dynamic design is complemented by many advanced features as part of an exceptional audio experience thanks to enhanced Polycom HD Voice technology.

"In addition users can share concepts and images from PC or tablet in HD resolution with an optional accessory which can also be used to provide cost effective HD video calling with a USB camera to easily transform audio calls into a rich and engaging video experience."

ShoreTel has expanded its Innovation Network and renamed it TechConnect.

The revamped programme builds on the recent launch of the ShoreTel Connect solution for onsite, cloud and hybrid UC deployments, and the foundation of ShoreTel's Innovation Network which contains 1,500 developers and 110 technology partners.

ShoreTel TechConnect brings enhancements over the previous programme including a more efficient certification process, new remote test and preparation capabilities, no membership fee for technology partners self-validating with the third-party test firm, and additional marketing opportunities as well as advance notification and sponsorship priority for the ShoreTel Champion Partner Conference.

ShoreTel has also deepened its relationship with an independent third-party testing and services firm.

This relationship will increase test capacity, resulting in faster time to market, and provide new remote test preparation capabilities via the cloud.

"With the new ShoreTel TechConnect programme we are building a vibrant ecosystem of partners that will extend the value of the ShoreTel Connect solutions," said Mark Roberts, CMO of ShoreTel.

"We are seeking complementary solutions with a focus on vertical applications, and are focused on creating greater value for our customers through interoperability and integration with tools and
applications they use daily.

"With the new programme we have intensified our attention on go to market efforts with member partners and on providing additional training and marketing resources."

The TechConnect programme has three member tiers - Developer, Technology Partner and Technology Alliance Partner.

Distributor Steljes has become an exclusive distribution partner of Nureva, a Canadian provider of software and hardware solutions for education, and signed two UK resellers, Rapid Technologies and Smarter Interactive.

Rapid is a specialist in interactive technology and digital signage dedicated to classroom and meeting rooms and operating across schools, colleges, corporate and public sector organisations, while Smarter Interactive provides audio visual consultancy and services. Both Rapid and Smarter have been working with Steljes for more than yen years.

"We wanted to appoint the most competent resellers as quickly as possible to serve customers throughout the UK," said Martin Large, CEO, Steljes.

Toshiba Business Communications Division (BCD) is withdrawing its primary telephony products from the UK and Irish markets in early summer but pledged to continue a tech support operation.

In December last year Toshiba stated that it expected to report a record 550bn yen ($4.5bn) annual loss and axe 6,800 jobs amid restructuring efforts. The company also said it had overstated profits for six years.

A spokesperson for the vendor said: "After careful consideration, Toshiba has decided to move its IP Edge and Strata CIX products into technical support phase on the 1st June 2016 for the UK and Irish market.

Toshiba is committed to providing ongoing technical, licensing and spares support to its partners and customers and is already in communication with relevant parties regarding this decision to assist in their current and future planning." 

The loyalty of UK partners to the Toshiba brand has not been repaid with the expected levels of support for five years, believes Colin Hepher, MD of Toshiba distributor SOS.

"This is very disappointing," he said. "There is bound to be a backlash from large companies, county councils and schools to name but a few that have been loyal to the brand.

"This has nothing to do with the financial declarations recently admitted. It's more a question of local management and channel commitment rather than the fault of Japan."

Toshiba's announcement that it proposes to withdraw the existing Strata CIX and IP Edge from the UK is not unexpected given the relatively small portion (<1%) of market share it has held in the past few years, and its desire to focus activities on areas of greater opportunity, observed Stephanie Watson, General Manager, MZA. 

"Importantly, Toshiba will offer technical support to existing customers and channels, and naturally those customers and channels represent an opportunity for other vendors," she said. 

"It's important to note that Toshiba has a much stronger position in the US market and has already introduced cloud solutions in that territory.

"As Toshiba rounds out its global portfolio, one cannot discount that it may choose to bring an appropriate cloud solution to the growing UK hosted market."

Excalibur Communications has expanded its IT service with the acquisition of Chippenham-based IT firm Devision for an undisclosed sum.

Excalibur CEO James Phipps commented: "The acquisition brings us new customers in some exciting new sectors, together with highly skilled members of the Devision team."

Previous moves to build on its unified solutions capabilities saw Excalibur acquire IT businesses Bridge Solutions and Emnico Enterprises.

Nimans is staging a brace of NEC SL1100 training days this month with more to follow.

The half-day courses, which are free, have been designed by Nimans to better familiarise dealers with the comms platform's attributes with an emphasis on ease of installation.

John McKindland, Nimans' Head of Systems Sales, said: "We will be discussing all the tricks of the trade which are not always documented in instruction manuals to make SL1100 installations quick and easy.

"The course goes down to grass roots level and covers the installation basics as well as more sophisticated advice and expertise."