Comms Dealer

GCI has become one of only four service providers in the UK to be awarded Gold partner status at Enghouse Interactive's partner event in London on 5th July.

GCI's elevation to Gold status is recognition of its ability to consult, design, deploy and support complex Contact Centre deployments at scale.
 
Gary Bennett, Channel Sales Director UK & Ireland at Enghouse, stated: "GCI's rapid rise from Silver to Gold stands out as being the fastest on our records.

"GCI's momentum in the Contact Centre space is impressive in itself, but coupled with the organisation's profile as a UK-provider of Skype for Business with a seat count exceeding 200,000 notably strengthens its differentiation.

"Beyond that, the fact that GCI has its own 'plug-in' PCI DSS capability for payment card security is another big plus point and it complements our software nicely."

BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions UK has appointed Mike Quinn (pictured) as the new Head of Technology Solutions (TS), taking over from Russ Pettifer.

Quinn previously held the position of Head of Risk at BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions UK and brings over 25 years of experience in finance, encompassing risk, sales, operations and IT project work.

Quinn will be overseeing a 115-strong team which provides dedicated finance solutions within four markets: office equipment, telecoms, IT and most recently healthcare.

The TS division currently has a network of 500 partners within these markets including manufacturers, distributors and independent resellers.

"The technology market has high growth potential," noted Quinn. "As businesses realise the sustainable and cost-effective benefits of financing hardware and software rather than outright purchase, IT equipment funding solutions are on the rise."

Jean-Michel Boyer, UK CEO, added: "The Finance Leasing Association (FLA) reported that IT financing in the UK reached a total of £2.2bn in 2015, up 38% from the previous year. Mike will help us to continue to capitalise on this opportunity."

Rugby League side Salford Red Devils has hauled itself back from the brink of relegation to enjoy one of its best ever Super League seasons; and according to Player Welfare Manager Garreth Carvell (pictured) the team's mental toughness was supported by two-way radio equipment from Storno that provided a communication link between coach Ian Watson and his dug out team.

The former Great Britain prop forward is also the club's Commercial Manager.

He said: "It's the one and two per cent throughout all aspects of the club that gives us a cumulative advantage, and two way radios are a vital part of our match day performance."

Gary Redshaw, Nimans' Radio Communications Products Manager, added: "Like Salford Red Devils, Storno is a brand steeped in history and we are delighted the radios have made such a positive impact."

Exclusive Group has acquired Silicon Valley-based cyber security VAD Fine Tec,va $230m valuevadded distributor in network security, data integrity and storage solutions.

The move increases Exclusive Group's influence in global cyber security market.    

"This will be a major step forward for our global proposition as we harness US-based skills, resources and relationships to support the execution of worldwide deals with large systems integrator partners and to advance our formula into the domestic market," said Olivier Breittmayer, CEO of Exclusive Group.  

"Fine Tec represents a great opportunity to integrate a culturally aligned business into our global family, and we look forward to working with Fine Tec CEO James Shen and his team to build on their success and accelerate growth throughout the region."

Shen added: "The Exclusive Group story is well known and we've admired it from afar, but now with the Group's global reach and resources it opens up many new opportunities for our partners." 

Having stepped up its SAP-based management system to handle managed services distributor CMS has added Barracuda Networks to its line up.

Justin Griffiths, Group Director of Software Solutions at CMS Distribution, said: "We feel that Barracuda MSP offers a stable and scalable platform for our partners who are interested in breaking into the MSP market, and to our existing MSP partners wanting to expand their portfolio."

Sound planning and clear vision are the best guides to strategic action. In the case of US-based audio and visual manufacturer ClearOne, sound and vision also combine to represent an unprecedented advantage for all AV practitioners, according to CEO Zee Hakimoglu.

Visionary technology patents and dynamic leadership have imbued ClearOne with the culture and agility of a cloud-born start-up, making it a rare breed among the stable of businesses with a 30 year heritage. Unsurprisingly, the company has undergone a transformation and augmented its core specialisms in audio with an enviable collection of software-based AV solutions - a process led by Hakimoglu. She joined ClearOne 12 years ago and within six months of being appointed became CEO with a remit to transform what she said was a 'pony' into a dead cert thoroughbred runner. She wasted no time in leveraging her experience in communications which includes 20-plus years working in Silicon Valley across technology development, business development and general management.

"Communications has been at the heart of my experience across industries such as satellite and wireless communications, datacoms and fibre optics," she commented. "I brought the Silicon Valley mentality, drive, work ethic and innovative spirit to ClearOne, which was then a small but struggling audio conferencing company that was undergoing significant legal and financial challenges."

The strategy soon paid off and once outstanding issues were resolved ClearOne was relisted back on the NASDAQ. "I also introduced best practices to the company and recruited and retained strong management," she added. "We have a number of great technologists gained through acquisitions and others in Salt Lake that have been with the company for many years, some from inception. We all anticipated that audio and video would shift onto the network, so we moved to software-based appliances and cloud services. These were the drivers behind our acquisitions."

ClearOne began life as a designer, developer and seller of conferencing, collaboration, network streaming and signage solutions for voice and visual communications. The company has a global network of channel partners with UK distribution via RGB Communications, Nimans and Exertis. "Our products are used by thousands of organisations worldwide, from small enterprises to Fortune 500, as well as domestic and international governments and educational institutions," said Hakimoglu. "We've aggressively built on our intellectual property portfolio with new patents that span all product categories and technologies including audio, video and network streaming technology."

The latest new patents relate to ClearOne's beamforming microphone array for the Pro AV market, an adaptive steering technology (think of it as 'smart beam selection'). Hakimoglu claims that ClearOne remains the only company with a conferencing grade beamforming microphone array. "We've also received a few patents on our video network streaming technology, fundamentally related to streaming audio and video across IP networks, networked speakers and audio sources," she added. "The company was visionary in terms of using an IP network to stream audio and video and we benefitted from our early patent applications that came to fruition when the market was ready for the technology."

Last year proved to be a tipping point and signalled a new drive for growth based on video collaboration and AV streaming solutions. "We are building positive momentum during 2017," added Hakimoglu. "With the transition to our second generation CONVERGE Pro 2 audio platform gaining traction and our scalable audio, video collaboration and network media streaming products, our addressable market extends to additional workspaces and more businesses worldwide.

"We have finally reached the point where our investments in the new video centric product line-ups will begin to pay off. These are the right products at the right time, with the right features at the right price. We need to focus harder on the marketing of these solutions and the new direction for ClearOne which is complementary to our audio-centric business, and will initiate new marketing programmes and campaigns for our global channel network of dealers and distributors. We sell generally through a two-tier channel model, so we're going to work hard to raise awareness."

These rapid developments and the emergence of early patented technology into market reality have blasted the perception that ClearOne provides just audio solutions. "We fulfil far more end user needs then just audio," emphasised Hakimoglu. "ClearOne provides media collaboration products that allow users to seamlessly host meetings face-to-face, incorporating not only our audio conferencing offering but also integrating all of our professional audio solutions."

One example cited by Hakimoglu is ClearOne's Network Media Streaming portfolio which transports AV signals from location to location over a single cat 5 cable, using existing networks but retaining the same flexibility and scalability of its other solutions. "We will continue to leverage video conferencing, collaboration and network streaming technologies to enter new growth markets and focus on the SMB space with scaled, lower cost and less complex products and solutions," added Hakimoglu. "And we will capitalise on the growing adoption of IT channels and introduce more products to resellers. As we expand and strengthen our sales channels we will also consider acquisitions."

AV integrators are key to ClearOne's business model and according to Hakimoglu they have never been in a better position to steal a march on rivals if they share in the company's strategic advantage, she believes. "There are many start-ups and wannabes, and some large legacy players trying to figure out how to get into the software-based media conferencing and communications market," stated Hakimoglu. "They are challenged to re-tool and reinvent themselves, but adopting a new business model can be harder than changing technology.

"This is a classic business dilemma not easily solved and our biggest competitor is under such a threat. Therefore we have everything to gain and nothing to lose in offering software-based appliances and cloud services compared to some large legacy businesses selling high priced equipment and support services."

Organisations are confronted by a fast expanding attack surface that requires a more diverse set of protection methods and a strategy based on close analysis of internal and external risks, says David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab.

The era of security complacency is over, and the starting point for any lock-down project should be an audit of corporate systems and a risk assessment to reveal where a business is susceptible to attack. Focus areas must include threat intelligence, monitoring of the corporate network, an effective incident response and appropriate technology. "MSPs need to be prepared to provide the protection their customers require," said Emm. "Whether or not offering this type of support will be a burden or opportunity depends on an MSP's IT resources, staff skills and ability to respond quickly to threats. If the MSP is lacking in any of these areas, the time to remedy them is now."

Why? Because the rise of cloud-based digital transformation has opened the door to danger in areas such as API credential exposure, adaptations to cloud infrastructure and most critically the downloading of sensitive customer data. Nor is that all. Even if an organisation considers its critical systems and devices protected and safe, it is difficult to defend against a trusted insider that chooses to undermine security, pointed out Emm. "The motivations of such people are hard to predict, ranging from a desire for financial gain to disaffection, coercion and simple carelessness," he added. "While insider-assisted attacks are uncommon, their impact can be devastating as they provide a direct route to the most valuable information."

Human behaviour all too often provides attackers with the means to compromise corporate security, noted Emm. "This can be unwitting or deliberate," he said. "The use of social engineering to trick staff into doing something that jeopardises corporate security typically forms the starting point for sophisticated targeted attacks and random, speculative infections. As well as people being the unwitting means by which a business is compromised there's also the danger of a deliberate insider threat. One way or another, people are an important element of corporate security. The key is to develop a corporate culture that embeds security, raise awareness of potential threats among staff and make employees guardians of the company's systems rather than potential weak points."

This is an area where resellers can make a significant difference by equipping businesses with the knowledge and tools to make security a priority. "They can do this by offering solutions that address the issues of employee vulnerability to malicious emails by providing automated, Internet-based security awareness to combat social engineering, phishing and ransomware," explained Emm. "Educational initiatives should be cost-effective, continually updated, easy-to-use, and require a relatively short amount of employee time while being suited to organisations of all sizes."

Emm urges organisations to approach security as a process that encompasses threat prediction, prevention, detection, response and investigation. A multi-layered security solution is a key component of this, but it is not enough on its own. It needs to be complemented by collaboration, education and shared intelligence. "Security breaches can take many forms which is why it is important to have robust procedures and technologies in place to safeguard a business," said Emm. "While security solutions significantly mitigate the risk of a successful attack there are other measures businesses can take to provide thorough protection. These include running fully updated software, performing regular security audits on their website code and penetration testing their infrastructure.

"It's crucial that businesses ensure that all passwords are protected using secure hashing and salting algorithms. The best way for organisations to combat cyber attacks is to put in place an effective cyber security strategy before the company becomes a target."

Failures in planning, implementation and monitoring are the biggest security threats to companies today, so resellers need to be in a position to offer comprehensive security portfolios that include endpoint protection and a number of specialised security solutions and services. "Advanced scalability, combined with support for all types of endpoints and platforms, ensures the solutions cope successfully with even the most challenging and dynamic network structures," commented Emm.

However, there are always risks associated with new technology, especially since we live in a connected world. "Today this includes much more than traditional computers," said Emm. "More and more businesses include smart devices. What makes them smart is that they are connected to the Internet and able to send and receive data. A proliferation of devices and objects collect and share huge amounts of data. This has the potential to create greater opportunities for vulnerabilities. Moreover, because these devices are connected to one another, if one device is compromised a hacker has the potential opportunity to connect to multiple other devices on the network."

According to Emm, the basic practice of using strong passwords, regularly checking for and installing software updates and implementing appropriate security software should be applied to every connected device on the network, including routers.

"Manufacturers of connected products and the security industry need to work together to ensure that strong protection and patch management is designed-in from the very start," commented Emm. "Once a product is on the market it is already too late. There's also a role for Governments in developing security standards for IoT devices. We've all come to expect that everyday objects come with certification marks indicating that they are physically safe. In future, this will have to extend to digital objects. There's no turning back the tide of IoT applications, but checking the security capabilities before deployment isn't a bad strategy. Especially as it is important to ensure that the advance of IoT isn't providing hackers and criminals with another entry point for attack."

If an organisation's network has been compromised it tends to focus the attention on measures required to prevent similar attacks in the future. Nevertheless, perception and reality don't always match. Data from the Kaspersky Lab 2016 Corporate IT Risks Survey shows a contrast between the top threats faced by businesses (targeted attacks, ransomware and employee carelessness) and what businesses perceive as the most difficult threats to manage (inappropriate sharing of data via mobile devices, data exposed through physical loss of hardware, inappropriate use of IT resources by employees, security of third-party cloud services, IoT threats and security issues associated with outsourcing of IT infrastructure).

"There's no question that regulatory requirements are also important, particularly where there are financial implications for non-compliance," commented Emm. "The hot topic right now is GDPR. There is a lot of discussion about the impact it will have on businesses. Many organisations are frantically preparing for the arrival of GDPR - not surprising given the maximum fine for a serious breach is four per cent of the previous year's annual global turnover or 20 million euros, whichever is higher.

"In light of this, organisations must put in place safeguarding practices to ensure they are compliant. Although this will have a financial impact on the company in the short-term, budgeting for this will help businesses avoid larger fines in the long run. On the other hand, it's important for businesses to realise that security and compliance aren't the same thing."•

Here, we talk to Gamma's Hosted Sales Specialist Sean Blackmore to explore how resellers can maximise the business opportunities during this year's peak buying time in the education sector.

Striking the right technology balance for schools and colleges, addressing three key concerns while demonstrating value are the keys to unlocking a market ripe with upgrade opportunities this year, believes Blackmore. "The main concerns for ICT buyers in schools and colleges are resilience, safety, and efficiency," he stated. "This sector is generally cost conscious so ICT solutions need to address these priority areas and hit the right price point. For schools and colleges, buying technology is less about solving problems and more about improvement, streamlining, being more efficient and safer. And resellers must make a proper assessment of these requirements."

Blackmore noted that schools and colleges are more receptive to the idea of investing in the right infrastructure, providing their three main priorities are met. "If this can be achieved at the right price then 2017 will be the year that educational establishments make the move from legacy systems and embrace new technology - so long as value is demonstrated," he added.

A big trend in schools is the rise of parent-teacher contact. Many schools offer parents the opportunity to have regular catch-ups with teachers to check on the progress of their children. By integrating a PC and CRM with a phone system a teacher is able to call parents via click-to-dial and log the topics of conversation in the CRM system. Call recording can also be used to record important parts of the conversation.

"The methods of contacting teachers are also expanding," added Blackmore. "For example, a teacher could be accessed via a soft phone application that supports chat. Or, should they not be at their desk phone, if a voicemail is left they can still pick it up providing the phone system supports voicemail to email. Alternatively, when the teacher leaves the classroom they can turn on mobile twinning, making them available on their mobile while on a school trip for example. These are just some examples of how schools are starting to embrace technology."

For resellers, the education sector also offers exciting upgrade opportunities for solutions such as a 'safety package' that can be sold as a bolt-on and act as a differentiator when compared to a reseller taking a one-size-fits-all approach. "Schools and colleges are placing a strong emphasis on practical applications, efficiency and productivity, and investing in technology helps them to advance this agenda," commented Blackmore. "In the past school administrators embraced technology to send emails to parents rather than give them printed letters to take home, meaning messages cannot be lost while saving on costs. The same is happening nowadays with telephony.

"Administration teams also see the benefit of an easy to use portal that enables them to make changes should there be an unexpected requirement. Having these conversations with end customers who accept the benefits, and not just make a decision on price, are the biggest education sector opportunities."

In terms of the size of the opportunity, academies stand out as having more budget to spend, sometimes up to 10 per cent more from receiving funds for support services that used to go to local councils. "This means that many have more capital available for investment in technology and we have seen them adopting Gamma's hosted phone system, Horizon," added Blackmore. "We are making Horizon a more vertical oriented product. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach we have developed a proposition for six verticals, one of them being education, and produced a range of white label marketing material to support our partners in positioning these solutions to the relevant verticals. We can only see this trend continuing."

The main challenges faced by resellers addressing the education sector are cost and striking the right balance between 'overkill versus not enough'. "An all-singing and all-dancing proposition might put resellers out of contention when speaking to a school," he explained. "However, other products may be more affordable but lack the required security or resilience that a school needs. Finding the right balance has always been a challenge for resellers.

"But for those resellers who get it right a shift in the mindset of buyers in schools and colleges will ensure that this market sector continues to grow and present opportunities. At one time technology was viewed as a cost with no real benefits to an educational institute, now it is seen to improve efficiency and safety and deliver cost benefits."

Technology is reshaping the education sector and pushing the limits of learning and its delivery. Here's how one channel partnership is harnessing full fibre to remodel the future of education.

The education sector is undergoing a technological transformation and Exa Networks, CityFibre's primary education partner, is at the forefront of this digital transformation. "Education sector requirements have shifted over the last few years with schools increasingly needing higher speed connectivity to get the best out of online teaching resources," said Mark Cowgill (pictured above), Director and co-founder, Exa Networks. "Meanwhile, the emergence of academies has created a new dynamic in terms of purchasing with more opportunities for educators to seek out service arrangements that fit their particular needs."

As demand for bandwidth-intensive resources grows Cowgill expects more and more schools to introduce gigabit capacity services. "They're choosing connectivity options that offer the flexibility and capability to increase speed to match demands," he added. "Our DarkLight product is suitable for these schools, giving them the ability to increase their bandwidth within minutes at any time and for as long as needed. Schools also want secure connectivity at all times, and they're often looking for high upload speeds to make it easier to use cloud back-up services."

Andy Nash (pictured left), Head of Public Sector at CityFibre, noted that the alternative provider has been supplying dark fibre connectivity via its partners to a growing number of universities over the past year. "Demand is driven by the need for higher bandwidth of course, but it's additional benefits such as multiple fibres and full control over scalability for the future that really influence the decision making process," he explained. "We're also seeing more local authorities choosing to include schools in their procurements irrespective of the academisation programme."

Investing in dark fibre infrastructure to serve schools as well as other public sites maximises the benefits of a full fibre network investment. It also leaves schools free to focus their IT budgets on other priorities and serves to improve education across the whole region. That said, many schools are concerned with budgeting and planned cuts, which means that buying new technology isn't necessarily as much of a priority as it has been in recent years, noted Cowgill.

"Many of those wanting to introduce new technology are therefore looking for cost cutting solutions," he commented. "That could mean reducing time spent on things that could be handled quicker by technology. Or, increasingly, reducing what they're paying for various services."

ICT buyers in education face ongoing cost versus bandwidth challenges due to the relentless rise of curriculum dependencies on Internet and IT use, and a constant pressure on available budgets. This is prompting them to take a much longer-term view of ICT investment, one that will derive savings over a lifetime and make the entire school or college ecosystem more efficient.

"That's exactly what full fibre solutions can deliver," stated Nash. "By providing easy and affordable access to dark fibre CityFibre gives partners the choice and control they need to build and deploy services that are tailored to meet the needs of technologically demanding Higher and Further Education establishments, and more budget challenged primary and secondary schools. And of course, as CityFibre continues to accelerate its UK Gigabit City build, so the opportunity for digital transformation deepens right across the education and public sector as well as for businesses in those same regions."

Fibre services are more important to schools now than ever - and this will only increase, believes Cowgill. "Even before considering the high bandwidth requirements of BYOD and tablet schemes (reliant on wireless connectivity), there's an overwhelming amount of genuinely useful material for students online and we're encouraged by the number of schools that are actively working to get the best out of these resources," he added. "Over recent years connectivity has become significantly more powerful and less expensive, and we expect things to get even better with the increasing availability of dark fibre."

Future trends will also bring far more coding, applications development as well as distance and cloud-based learning, some of which will take place beyond a typical classroom environment. For these types of activities to be successful across multiple classes simultaneously, high capacity and scalable bandwidth will be increasingly essential, pointed out Nash. "The trend towards learning outside of the classroom using iPads and cloud will continue, leading to a greater dependency on ubiquity, resilience and performance of connectivity," he added.

"Wireless is a way to derive maximum use and flexibility from investments in full fibre and high capacity networks. But it also enables students to break free from the class room. This brings enrichment, flexibility and variety to learning for the benefit of all students and staff. Reliable wireless connectivity also opens the door to innovative new technologies and services that can help schools become safer, more efficient and far better managed."

A number of school districts are coming to the end of their connectivity contracts with local authorities over the coming months, so many schools will be looking to improve the services they're getting, prioritising higher speeds, increased reliability and better prices. "We also feel that there's going to be an increased focus on value added services such as content filtering, with schools looking to get the best possible offers from their providers," said Cowgill.

"Pure fibre connections, such as our DarkLight service, are a major area of opportunity for those looking to provide to schools. This technology enables the improved speeds that schools are looking for, while often allowing resellers to offer schools better pricing than other options - a real no lose situation in a lot of cases."

But getting a foothold in the education sector is a tough task for many resellers. "The main challenges generally relate to a reseller's ability to appear on key public sector framework agreements that universities and schools use to procure ICT services," said Nash. "This tends to restrict some of the smaller players as the costs and accreditations required to get a position on these frameworks can be expensive."

Cowgill also underlined the challenge faced by smaller players. "It's traditionally quite difficult for resellers to approach schools," he said. "Most schools in any given area see their contracts renew at the same time, so there's a short period of opportunity for those looking to sell to the education sector, particularly considering the relatively long contract periods involved. Beyond that, it's often difficult for schools to actually talk to an unbiased source about the advantages of the various services available to them, so sites like EduGeek are invaluable in this respect."

CityFibre has a powerful message for the education sector. "The CityFibre model is one of inward investment, the stimulation of competition into next generation gigabit capable networks and progressively making fibre solutions available to all," stated Nash. "That starts with the education sector. All of our schools should be able to benefit from the very best in connectivity and bandwidth speed. We should be equipping schools with the right infrastructure solution to support their needs.

"The JANET framework which procures dark fibre infrastructure has been successful in serving higher education requirements. We understand that this framework will be re-procured this year, potentially giving more companies the opportunity to bid for a secure position on the framework.

"We also encourage local government to procure on behalf of schools. By combining the civic estates of the local authority with the schools or higher education estate, substantial economies of scale and savings can be derived for the public sector. CityFibre has a number of examples where this shared platform proposition has been procured by local government, such as our Gigabit City projects in York, Kirklees and Edinburgh."

Optimising the sales operation in a fast growing channel business is no easy task, but Virtual1 Sales Director Jason King has approached the challenge with all his skills as a strategist and business transformer. Here, he also reveals the passions that drive his sales leadership.

When King got wind of Virtual1's plans for a national Software Defined Network roll out and CEO Tom O'Hagan's expansion strategy along with the advance of a job offer to lead the sales effort there was no looking back. "I resigned from my previous company to join the team as soon as possible," stated King. "I thrive in an environment of growth. With my experience of running successful sales teams I knew I could work with Virtual1 on its growth journey, motivating the team and reviewing its sales processes, helping the company to disrupt the marketplace with its national network roll out and portal enhancements."

The character of King's style of management quickly emerged with the introduction of a more disciplined sales structure that maps talent to opportunity. "Working with the wider Virtual1 team we have been able to align and build a clearly defined sales structure, analyse partner trends and identify opportunities to drive new markets," he added. "Remodelling the sales structure and processes has enabled the entire company to scale up quickly with an agile business model, facilitated by the high levels of automation being brought on line with the national network and SDN capability.

"Ultimately, the software defined network will make life easier for our partners. With the network being automated through 1Portal we're putting our partners in control, allowing them to make adds, moves and configuration changes themselves directly for their customers in real-time. This will enable the sales team to focus on driving incremental growth as the 'Business as usual' becomes automated."

As well as automation, collaboration with marketing alongside recognition and reward programmes for the sales staff have empowered the team to regularly over achieve, explained King. "I have enhanced the processes around governance and added a clear career path supported by core competencies for all team members," he stated. "I was impressed by their energy, passion and enthusiasm. This is something that runs throughout the company which has gained a Two Star accreditation in the Best Companies awards. Communication and understanding with every team member is vital. By understanding what makes each team member tick and ensuring each of them are clear on the part they play in the delivery of the wider strategy, you create an environment of continuous improvement."

King is no stranger to fast-growth environments as his previous experience shows. He joined Energis in 1996 when the company generated £40 million turnover. Six years later it was a near £1 billion business. "I enjoyed a similar situation at Colt and was fortunate enough to join Virgin Media Business at the outset," added King. "I've learned that it's best to have a mixture of characters in the sales team to deliver the best results. But all team members must have drive and ambition. Belief in the Virtual1 proposition, the vision and a willingness for personal growth and development are also key."

King's historical relationships with key carriers are a boon to Virtual1 as it seeks to form new partnerships at the upper level. And King made a point of emphasising the wholesale-only nature of Virtual1's proposition. "We never compete with our partners," he stated. "Our message is one of incremental growth and how we work with partners to drive more business and win through differentiation. For example, we deliver differentiation through our various Exchanges such as SIP Exchange, UC Exchange and Cloud Exchange. Our levels of automation and API capability overlaid with SDN removes 'brief case time' and errors through re-keying data, reducing the book-to-bill time frame. Also, our regional model gives us a local presence with national capability."

Virtual1 is attracting strong interest by converting business through speed of delivery with greater automation and APIs. "We will be able to drive costs down in markets where there has been a lack of competition as well as enhanced flexibility," said King. "We will be launching a new commercial structure to reward partners for increasing their volume with other multiple benefits through a partner programme featuring tiered pricing, opportunities for MDF and shared marketing resource to name a few. Watch this space to see how we develop our partner ecosystem." •