Comms Dealer

Telefónica is to deliver a new generation cyber security products following agreements with partners including Intel Security, Palo Alto Networks, Alien Vault, BlueCoat, RSA and Vaultive.

ElevenPaths improves and optimises its most powerful tools, Sinfonier, Latch, SandaS or Metashield Protector, thanks to these alliances, and offers unbeatable solutions for companies
 
Telefónica and ElevenPaths have presented the company's new cyber security product lines at its third Security Innovation Day conference.

The improved and expanded services are a result of Telefónica signing strategic alliances with key players in the security sector including Alien Vault, BlueCoat, Intel Security, Palo Alto Networks, RSA and Vaultive.
 
Thanks to the input and technological capabilities of the new partners ElevenPaths has improved and optimised its most powerful tools including Sinfonier, Latch, SandaS and Metashield Protector.
 
"Telefónica has always set out to be more than a security reseller," said Chema Alonso, Telefónica's global head of security and CEO of Eleven Paths.

"We focus on working closely with stakeholders and customers to help identify the most strategic partnerships, acquisitions and technologies that exactly meet the needs and requirements of enterprises and end users in today's cyber and IoT security environments."
 
ElevenPaths has recently acquired GesConsultor, the technology solution specialising in management and compliance systems (Governance, Risk & Compliance, or GRC), which from now on is integrated as SandaS GRC within its product portfolio.

The Telefónica subsidiary has also acquired the intellectual property of the Handwritten Signature Capture and Verification Development System in Mobile Platforms Software, which is linked to research work with the Carlos III University of Madrid.

The total EMEA security appliance market has remained flat despite strong growth from unified solutions, says IDC.

IDC's EMEA Quarterly Security Appliance Tracker shows that the EMEA security appliance market reached $837.65m in 2Q15, a 0.2% year-on-year decline because of falling prices. Shipments increased 4.0% year on year to 183,885 units.

Over the next five years the security appliance market is expected to accelerate at a CAGR of 6.3% and reach $4.59bn (1,018,373 units) by the end of 2019.

Check Point secured the top position in 2Q15 in the overall security appliance vendor market with 19.2% value share. Cisco's market share has increased for the past three quarters and represented 16.8% value market share. With a very strong second quarter (40.6% annual growth in value), Fortinet took the third spot with 11.1% of the market.

The Western European market showed moderate growth in security appliances, with $646.79m in value in 2Q15, representing 2.4% growth over the same quarter in 2014. The main market driver of the security appliance market in Europe remains UTM solutions, which represented over half of the value (56.5%) in 2Q15, with associated 16.9% growth.

"The European appliance market is driven by the UK and Germany - the two largest economies - which represented over 45% of the total Western European market last quarter," said Romain Fouchereau, manager, security appliance research, IDC. "Unified threat management appliances continue to be the main market driver in Western Europe, and although IDC sees organizations' interest in IDP products, they often prefer to have it deployed through UTM/NGFW rather than a stand-alone product."

In the emerging markets of CEMA, security appliance hardware shipments contracted 2.2% year on year in 2Q15. Vendor revenue declined in turn by 6.7% over the same period, to $150m.

"Central European and Gulf region countries are slowly regaining health as confidence in the market increases," said Mohamed Hefny, senior analyst, systems and infrastructure, IDC. "Amid geopolitical tension and instability, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are still in decline."

Unified threat management (UTM) adoption continued to increase, taking the largest share of shipments to CEMA. The product category reached maturity and, with many successful stories from neighbouring Western European countries, end users are no longer hesitant about consolidating their data centre security.

UTM appliances were the only product category that increased in value in 2Q15, expanding 12.9% year on year. As a result, their value share reached 53.9% of the total. Over the next five years, UTM is expected to remain the largest product category, representing about 62% by 2019.

SAP shares jumped +6% premarket after reporting a 19% rise in Q3 operating profit (€1.62bn), beating the most optimistic analyst estimates.

The results show yet another sign the German software maker is managing an industry-wide shift to cloud computing programs without sacrificing margins.

SAP also said it would stick to its outlook for full year non-IFRS operating profit of €5.6bn-€5.9bn, representing 0-5% growth from €5.6bn in 2014.

Distributor Cloud Distribution has added Check Point Software to its mobile security portfolio of vendors which includes Aerohive, Cisco Meraki, OpenDNS, Netskope and Blackberry.

"There is no overlap with existing vendors within our portfolio," Adam Davison, Product and Marketing Director, Cloud Distribution told IT Europa. "We have already signed net-new partners for CheckPoint giving them new routes to market around the network security and specifically Mobile Security space.

"The mobile market is booming with everyone having a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, but it's not as secure as it could, and should be. As a result we're seeing many enterprises looking beyond mobile device management solutions to gain additional mobile security functionality."

Investor Elliott Associates, which carries a strong influence in the tech sector, has acquired significant stakes in Mitel and Polycom (over 5% in each) and is urging the companies to merge and create a new global powerhouse in the UCC market. In a letter sent by Elliott officials to Polycom's board of directors and CEO Peter Leav the investment firm stated...

'Elliott strongly believes a combination of mid-tier UCC vendors will create greater scale, significant synergies and a meaningful valuation uplift for stockholders. Elliott would be willing to provide financing for Polycom's acquisition of targets in the space, something we have successfully done before'.

Elliott officials also expressed its views to Mitel's head honchos, saying that Mitel is a good 'platform vehicle to roll up the sector and is also an attractive merger candidate for Polycom'.

In a statement, Mitel responded... 'We welcome Elliott Associates' interest and ongoing investment in Mitel. We have reviewed Elliott's recent filings on schedule 13-D and share their views as to consolidation opportunities in our industry. Mitel's senior management has consistently discussed its intention to consolidate the market, and in recent years has proactively leveraged M&A activity to successfully deliver shareholder value. As always, we look forward to creating further value for all Mitel shareholders'.

Unify's next generation communication and collaboration platform Circuit is up and running at Nimans, providing resellers with a choice of two commission-based ways to drive revenue and start a 'new conversation', said the firm.

Unify has expanded the availability of Circuit to more than 30 countries worldwide backed by an updated Partner Program Guide based on an easy route to sales success.

"Circuit is a powerful collaboration tool combining voice, video, screen sharing, messaging and file sharing in a single view.

"It enables natural conversations and moments of insight encapsulating 'people working together, everywhere'," explained Paul Burn, Head of Category Sales, Nimans.

"Circuit is web-based SaaS, built for team collaboration, capturing social and mobile trends based on everything at a glance. It's designed to meet the needs of today's increasingly mobile working generation.

"Significant add-on sales opportunities for existing customers keep competitors locked out. As a cloud solution with flexible sales models resellers benefit from low cost of entry, easy profit and recurring commission-based revenue."

He says resellers can choose either a Referral Business Model where resellers refer qualified leads to Unify - or use an Extended Agent Model where they prepare their own quotes and can upsell their own portfolio.

Supplier of billing and provisioning solutions, Union Street Technologies, has refreshed its brand identity, updating its company logo, corporate imagery and website among other significant changes.

The company has also introduced a new strapline, 'Powering Your Potential', which it says encapsulates its commitment to providing innovative solutions, backed by support and consultancy services designed to maximise efficiency and profitability for its clients.

The refresh follows an eventful period of growth and change for Union Street. Over the past few year the company has developed its solutions beyond just billing to increasingly act as a central point for back office integration, and as a profit centre for resellers.

The company has also seen a steady rise in its customer base which now numbers in excess of 450 companies from across the telecoms channel including resellers, network aggregators and carriers.

Head of Sales and Marketing Vincent Disneur said: "Redesigning our branding was necessary to better represent the sophistication of our solutions, our market position and the many changes in service delivery there have been at Union Street.

"We now have over 80 staff supporting clients and developing our products compared to only 52 at the start of 2013. This enables us to provide more training, account management and field-based consultancy services, and helps clients to leverage the maximum value from our solutions.

"This is why we have chosen to refresh our brand under our new strap line, 'Powering your potential'. We believe this sums up our key mission, to be a valued partner that's working with you to fully realise the potential of your business."

Dell is to acquire data storage firm EMC for £44bn in what is reported to be the biggest deal of its kind between two tech companies. The combination of Dell and EMC is expected to create the world's largest privately controlled integrated technology company.

"The combination of Dell and EMC creates an enterprise solutions powerhouse bringing our customers innovation across their entire technology environment," said Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell.

"Our new company will be well-positioned for growth in the most strategic areas of next generation IT including digital transformation, software-defined data centre, converged infrastructure, hybrid cloud, mobile and security.

"Our investments in R&D and innovation along with our privately controlled structure will give us scale, strength and flexibility, deepening our relationships with customers of all sizes.

"I am incredibly excited to partner with the EMC, VMware, Pivotal, VCE, RSA and Virtustream teams and am personally committed to the success of our new company, our customers and partners."

Joe Tucci, Chairman and CEO of EMC, added: "The waves of change we now see in our industry are unprecedented and, to navigate this change, we must create a new company for a new era. I truly believe that the combination of EMC and Dell will prove to be a winning combination for our customers, employees, partners and shareholders."

VMware, which was acquired by EMC in 2004 and operated as subsidiary, will remain a publicly-traded company and the transaction is expected to accelerate VMware's growth across all of its businesses through synergies with Dell's solutions and go-to-market channels.

Commsworld is set to exceed its 2015 £10m revenue target by 28%, with growth driven by the firm's expanding services portfolio based on the build-out of its Scottish centric network.

Commsworld CEO Ricky Nicol said: "2015 has been the biggest year in our history. We're now competing at a far higher level than ever before and we know for a fact the Scottish operations of Vodafone and BT are taking notice."

Earlier this month Commsworld announced a £12m contract with CGI to be a key provider in the City of Edinburgh Council's new ICT contract that will see it help to deliver a 400 site Wide Area Network (WAN) delivering faster and more reliable connectivity for schools, libraries and other council buildings.

The deal was made possible through its strategic partnership with network infrastructure provider CityFibre.

In May this year the two firms launched the Edinburgh CORE project, which will see a pure fibre network installed in Edinburgh allowing business to access Internet speeds estimated at 100 times faster than the UK average.

The Edinburgh project - the largest Gigabit City project in the UK - will future-proof the capital's economy providing the foundations for a further digital boom and is expected to attract inward investment that could see GDP boosted by a 1%.

Commsworld was also selected as a preferred partner for CityFibre's 'Gigabit City' project in Aberdeen, helping drive business in the North East.

Nicol added: "Our partnership with CityFibre and the opportunity to deliver on the hugely exciting Edinburgh Gigabit City project by propelling my own home city to the forefront of the digital revolution is a source of immense pride.

"However, the most satisfying part of our success is being able to offer more people a strong career that will allow them to share in our success. We've risen steadily to 50 full-time staff in recent years and we expect to get that up to around 60 by the end of the year.

"With all these talented individuals on board it is a very exciting time to be part of the Commsworld team taking on the likes of Virgin and BT, and that excitement shows no sign of winding down any time soon."

Ericsson-LG distributor Pragma will unveil the new iPECS Cloud platform at this year's Comms Vision event at Gleneagles (4-6th November).

The platform combines the functionality of the iPECS on-premise IP-PBX with the flexibility and benefits of cloud technology.

"Pragma resellers are excited about being able to offer a single feature set with full resiliency options regardless of whether it is delivered via the public cloud, private cloud, on-premise or as a hybrid solution," said Pragma MD Tim Brooks.

Pragma's channel proposition includes four engagement models: Dealer, wholesale reseller, Virtual Service Provider (VSP) or full service provider.

The VSP proposition enables resellers to connect their own SIP Trunks into a dedicated instance within the platform.

Brooks added: "We have been blown away by the response to our platform pre-launch and have huge interest in all four of our engagement models."

Andre Mellet, Technical Director, 5G Communications, added: "The combination of the feature set, an integrated approach to on-premise and cloud, as well as a business model that ensures a great profit opportunity means that we cannot wait to get our hands on the iPECS Cloud."