Comms Dealer

Ahead of the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill being published tomorrow, ISPA has produced a checklist for MPs and Lords to consider as they embark on 12 weeks of pre-legislative scrutiny via a Joint Committee.

The checklist's five main points are:

1. Full, extensive Parliamentary scrutiny and consultation with all stakeholders

2. Effective on a technical and public policy level

3. A stable framework that complies with all relevant legal obligations

4. Adequate balance of powers, oversight and transparency

5. Full consideration of impact on business.

"Overall ISPA supports new legislation as it updates the myriad of outdated legislation, and we believe the checklist should be followed to make sure new powers are effective, technically feasible and adequately balance the impact on business with security," said a spokesperson.

Azlan has extended the capabilities of its Business Solutions Centre (BSC) in Heathrow by equipping the demonstration facility with the latest IBM enterprise solutions and technologies.

Azlan has installed a range of the IBM solutions, including the company's Watson predictive analytics and data visualisation system, its Security software suite, Storage solutions, IBM VersaStack integrated infrastructure, the IBM PureData data management system and its scale-out Linux on Power offerings, within the BSC.

All the IBM solutions have been deployed to enable on-premises, cloud-based and hybrid scenarios to be set-up and demonstrated within the BSC. With immediate effect IBM partners will be able to apply to Azlan to set-up and run demonstrations, proof-of-concept testing and sales and technical training in the BSC. There is no charge to resellers for using the centre and Azlan's own technicians and professional services experts are available to assist partners at all times.

Rob Tomlin, Enterprise Business Unit Director for Azlan, said that the investment that Azlan has made to implement the latest IBM solutions within the BSC underlines its commitment to IBM and its partners.

He said: "We are seeing a real shift in the enterprise market towards solutions that can enable transformation and deliver competitive advantage. IBM has some the most sophisticated and advanced solutions in both of these areas and with the added investment we've made in the BSC and our team of dedicated IBM and professional services experts, Azlan is ready to help partners take full advantage of the opportunities that we now see developing around big data and analytics, advanced security and on-demand infrastructure solutions."

Astro Communications is opening up a new office location in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

Steve Hodges, Managing Director, commented: "with a growing number of staff based outside of the South East London and Kent areas and with customers located across the length and breadth of the country it makes sense that we have a permanent office for the team to be based at in the midlands.

"Dartford will continue to be our head office and the home of the network operations centre (NOC) but we will have a number of technical and sales staff based from Newark."

Astro has a strong partnership with Newark-based ISP Timico and the benefits of having an office location near the Timico data centre also helped in the decision as to where to locate the new office. Regular access to the data centre and the ability to readily engage with the teams there is key to ensuring a proactive as well as responsive service to Astro's customers.

Hodges continued: "By expanding our office locations to include sites in both the South East and the Midlands, we will not only continue to improve our ability to serve our existing and future customers but also increase the appeal of attracting new staff to the team from further afield.

"We have ambitious growth plans that are built around a strategy of a first class, professional and personalised customer experience matched with technical excellence and anything we can do to support that strategy is a great step forward."

Over recent years Astro has implemented a new strategy with the restructuring of its management team, a change in sales approach and key developments within its product portfolio including building a core network and becoming an independent ISP.

Avnet has completed the acquisition of Orchestra Service, a German IT distributor of storage solutions and services for EMC products.

Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Orchestra provides strong storage-centric expertise to help its customers grow and take advantage of the many opportunities that exist in areas such as cloud computing, big data and information management. Founded in 1998, Orchestra is a leading value-added distributor focused on backup and recovery, archiving, high availability replication and storage.

"The acquisition of Orchestra is part of our long term strategic plan to expand Avnet's solutions portfolio in the region while strengthening our EMC partnership in Germany," said Patrick Zammit, president of Avnet Technology Solutions, global.

"Orchestra's capabilities are an excellent complement to our converged infrastructure solutions offerings and enhance our ability to accelerate growth for our partners throughout the EMEA region."

Orchestra generated revenue of approximately $95 million in the 2014 calendar year. The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Avnet earnings and achieve its return on capital goal of 12.5%.

John Pett is to take the helm of Chess' Partner division following a promotion from Sales Director, and the division's best financial performance.

He said: "We have already developed one of the most successful telecoms partner programmes in the UK and are undoubtedly a significant player in our industry with the potential to be great. We have a great team here, working together to deliver great service and we're proud of our past successes but even more excited by our future plans."

Along with the appointment of John Pett as MD, other Chess people given opportunities in a new role include Kerri Lendon who has been promoted to Head of Partner Support and Dan Russell, who is now Head of Partner Sales - Mobile.

David Pollock, Chess Chief Executive, commented, "Our growth creates opportunity for everyone to progress their career and our Partner division is an incredibly successful area within the Chess group. John has been instrumental in this continued success and with over 25 years' industry experience I am confident he can take the division to even greater heights.

"These promotions reflect the dedication and ambition of not only John but also Kerri and Dan. We strive every day to be a great place to work, a great place to be a partner and these appointments will support in delivering that vision."

For the third consecutive year Yorkshire-based Lily Comms picked up Ericsson-LG's Best Partner of the Year Award at the vendor's Global Partner Conference in Shanghai, China.

For the third year in a row the company were presented with the for a combination of exceptional performance, growth and capability demonstrated by Lily Comms throughout the year.

It caps a highly successful period for Lily Comms who recently won Best SME UC Solution, Nine Customer Service Award and Overall Reseller of the Year at the coveted Comms National Awards.

Owners Chris Morrisey and Adrian Jackson attributed Lily Comms' recent success to a continual recruitment drive, an ambitious sales and marketing strategy and redevelopment of their customer services department.

Morrisey explained: "We've dedicated a significant amount of time, resource and finance into building our workforce over the past year.

"With the team we have in place we can continue to achieve great things. We've increased our sales force and diversified our marketing activities which has helped us to double our turnover.

"As always one of our key focuses has been on customer service. Splitting the department into two separate functions, account management and technical support, has dramatically improved the way we communicate with our clients."

Jackson added: "With the support of our suppliers, Pragma Distribution, we ensure that we have our fingers on the pulse in terms of the product portfolio we are able to offer clients."

Will Morey, Marketing Director of Ericsson-LG's UK Distributor, Pragma, commented: "Winning this award for the third year in a row is testament to Lily Comms' outstanding growth and is an acknowledgement to the absolute focus they place on customer service."

VoIP Unlimited is to sponsor Southampton University's 2016 Formula Student team (SUFST) for the second year running.

Formula Student invites engineering students around the world to design and build a single-seat race car in just nine months, before racing it at Silverstone.

The Southampton University Formula Student Team (SUFST) comprises of over 100 students from a wide range of course backgrounds, currently studying at the University of Southampton. This will be the team's fourth year in the competition, and students plan to redesign last year's car to improve it for Formula Student 2016.

The team are better prepared than ever and intend to finish in the top 30 out of one hundred competitors by gaining over 300 points. Its targets to accomplish this goal include producing a sub-220kg car, finishing the endurance race and further improving its preparation for the static events.

This sponsorship further strengthens VoIP Unlimited's links with motor racing, with the firm already providing VoIP services to Formula One teams, with its recent partnership with Sahara Force India F1 Team.

Managing director Mark Pillow, said: "We are proud to be a Tier 1 sponsor for Southampton University's Formula Student Team for the second year running. As the team enters its fourth year in the competition, I'm confident that the students will carry through the experience they've accrued over the last three years and continue to improve on their position".

Joe Coakley, team leader of this year's Southampton University Formula Student Team (SUFST) added: "We're really happy that we could continue our partnership with VoIP Unlimited, we're looking forward to a hopefully fruitful year. Their financial and technical support will as ever allow us to be more creative and pursue our hopes of finishing in the top 30."

A new plug-in that bridges the gap between BT Wholesale's Hosted Centrex solution and Skype for Business will unlock new revenue opportunities for comms providers, says the telco.

The plug-in removes the need for businesses to invest in a new IM system or run a disparate IM and communications service, enabling them to integrate additional capabilities.

"With BT Wholesale's inclusive plug-in customers will be able to use their existing Microsoft set-up, beefed up by carrier class communications from BT Wholesale," said Steve Best, MD of products, BT Wholesale.

"By integrating our carrier class Hosted Centrex capability, which includes HD voice, with Microsoft's 365 messaging suite our wholesale customers will be able to address Microsoft's large UK customer base with an exciting new communications service. This will open new doors for many communications providers who buy services from BT Wholesale."

Best also noted that IM applications are fast replacing email as the number one means of workplace communication.

"Instant messaging applications allow workers to see whether their colleagues are in meetings or free to start an instant chat," he said. "A lot of these applications have the capability to make and receive calls locally to users, but do not provide the ability to make calls to anyone not on this client, or on the company's IP network.

"But integrated voice, video and messaging is revolutionising how people work. Instead of going onto a directory and looking up telephone numbers, users can simply click-to-dial this person directly from a messaging client, as well as being able to see their availability.

"The plug-in also offers deeper integration, supporting click to dial from Outlook and Internet Explorer, not just Skype and Lync."

Distributors' expansion seems to have been built on expanding portfolios and ranges of products sold, as well as selling more to partners, according to the latest database report by IT Europa, 'Distributors in Europe - the top 500'.

The report found that Europe's channels have grown again after a period of decline following the recent financial crisis, but that consolidation has changed the top players' list.

The report profiles 500 companies, including: 14 parent companies, 135 subsidiaries, 335 independents, and 16 public companies (traded on stock exchanges).

The combined revenues for all companies in 2015 was $153.75 billion (€141.3 billion) with a combined staff employed figure of 100,007. Overall, total revenues of all companies increased 7.25% in 2015 (based on 2014 revenues) compared to 2013 (when the report was last published). However, between the financial years of 2012 and 2014 that market decreased by 14.67%.

In the last year, the European market has seen many new products coming across the Atlantic as US companies look for growth opportunities, helped by the US dollar/Euro rate of exchange. Some distributors have signed up several new vendors each month, particularly in the security area. This has enabled portfolio expansion, often with centralisation of costs leading to economies, but in the challenging new technology areas, distributors have also had to invest in staff and support, with some larger firms setting up specialist units.

The distributor market is growing steadily across Europe despite quite a few of the smaller distributors going out of business, quite often, due to being acquired by larger parent companies. In general, Eastern European Distributors are doing well, with the exception of those in Slovakia. Conversely, a few of the Southern European countries such as Portugal and Cyprus are finding things harder, based on their recent revenues.

The top ten companies by revenue are listed below. New entries in 2015 were Exertis Group, Westcoast Ltd and ASBIS Group. Distributors no longer in the Top 10 (but were in 2013 when the last report was published) were MERLION ZAO and Specialist Distribution Group (SDG) Ltd.

Rank by Revenue Company
1 Tech Data Europe
2 Ingram Micro Europe
3 ALSO Holding AG
4 Exertis Group
5 DCC Technology
6 Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA
7 Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS) EMEA
8 Esprinet S.p.A.
9 Westcoast Ltd
10 ASBIS Group

In terms of distributors' software offering, the most common type of software distributed was Network / Security / VPN Software (65.6%); followed by office software (52.4%); and storage software (26.8%).

The most common type of hardware distributed was Networking Hardware (72.2%); followed by PC Accessories & Consumables (68.8%); Printers & Scanners (62.4%); Enterprise Storage & Other Data Storage (62.2%); and PCs/Notebooks/Laptops/ Non-Windows PCs (58%).

In terms of the geographical markets, the top three countries in 2015 that were most widely covered were Germany (56 company profiles), United Kingdom (56) and France (50). The geographical markets which experienced the most revenue growth from 2013 to 2014 were: Ukraine (21.29%), Turkey (20.92%), Hungary (19.92%), Ireland (17.5%), and Czech Republic (14.56%). Markets which experienced revenue decline were: Portugal (-5.27%), Cyprus (-8.98%), and Slovakia (-9.47%).

The volume of products across all software categories increased between 2013 and 2015. The top 5 category volume increases were in: Linux Software increased by 77.48%, followed by Console & PC Games/Education Software (64.22% increase), Internet/Server Software (54.26%), and Network / Security / VPN Software (50.61%).

Volume of products also increased in most hardware categories except Digital Cameras (-1.59%) and Motherboards (-6.45%). The top 5 hardware types which had increase in volume between 2013 and 2015 were: CPU (52.24%), Telecom/IT Cabling (27.69%), Printers & Scanners (26.6%), PCs, Notebooks, Laptops & Non-Windows PCs (25.17%) and Servers (24.72%).

A large proportion of distributors are selling third party products indirectly but those distributors who are selling their own branded products are equally distributing their products both directly and indirectly across the channel. Distributors who are selling through the channel indirectly are primarily doing it through resellers, retailers and systems integrators.

The Distributors in Europe - the top 500 database report spans 38 countries and represents the most detailed view available of this key market sector. It has been compiled from detailed interviews by IT Europa's own research team.
The report is available from IT Europa (www.iteuropa.com) costing from £2,350.

Data can also be extracted and supplied by country, region or on a bespoke basis.

Redbridge College has achieved significant cost savings by replacing its out-dated traditional phone system with a cloud-based solution from VIA, the business telephony and communications specialist.

The vocational college deployed VIA Voice to enable its workforce to communicate more efficiently while avoiding the substantial up-front cost of upgrading its legacy phone system.

Redbridge College wanted to replace its telephone systems that were being used by more than 300 staff across the educational establishment's campuses in Chadwell Heath and Ilford, as well as its offices in Kent and Hertfordshire.
The existing systems had reached capacity and were lacking in support, and the college was facing an extensive investment to upgrade to a new ISDN solution that would fit its growing requirements.

In a bid to modernise its communications system while reducing costs, Redbridge College instead opted to implement VIA Voice. The solution operates over the Internet and replaces the need to have a traditional phone network.

It allows employees to talk, instant messaging, email, video chat or take part in conferences across a variety of devices, such as landlines, smartphones, PCs, and tablets.

This helps the workforce to stay continuously connected and reachable even when they are on the road or working from home. In addition, the new platform provides the ability for staff to hold online sessions with students, who do not need the Skype for Business tool to partake, instead using a web client.

The solution has also enabled Redbridge College's various support teams to streamline their operations and provide instantaneous support to staff that are in need of assistance, regardless of location. This has led to a reduction in response times across the organisation, as well as substantial cost savings.

VIA Voice also includes additional bespoke functionality that is being used to drive further efficiencies across the organisation. This includes VIA's advanced call routing solution which effectively directs incoming phone calls to the correct departments. This functionality has also modernised the way students can report any absences.

In addition, Redbridge College is using VIA's real-time management portal which allows the organisation to observe trends, evaluate the usage and productivity of employees, monitor costs, and add new users. Employees joining Redbridge College previously travelled to its site at Chadwell Heath for a one-day training course, however by using VIA Voice the training can now be delivered remotely, leading to efficiency gains.

The switchover was handled proficiently by VIA's team of in-house experts using its VIA Sync functionality, which allows existing staff to be automatically uploaded onto the new platform. The college was also provided with up-to-date telephony equipment on a lease basis to ensure overheads were kept to a minimum.

Costas Calcanis, Director, eLearning, Innovation & ITNS, Redbridge College, said: "Redbridge College is reaping the benefits of switching to a cloud-based communications solution. We now boast a highly innovative system that is easy to use and helping to reduce costs on a day-to-day basis.

"Staff are able to communicate with one another more effectively, whilst we have also seen a reduction in unnecessary email traffic and mobile phone usage."

Alex Tebbs, Director, VIA, said: "Our VIA Voice solution boosts workforce connectivity and is therefore the perfect fit for Redbridge College who employ a large number of staff across multiple locations. The functionality of the solution continues to promote efficient, unified communications across the organisation. Moving forward, colleges and universities could also use VIA Voice to deliver classes and lectures remotely."