Comms Dealer

Nimans was on call to give a helping hand to an army of volunteers - including Princes William and Harry - who set about transforming a derelict Manchester street into a new village as part of a prime time BBC TV programme.

Nimans donated Titan cabling, a data cabinet and accessories - and also arranged delivery of nine Yealink IP phones - for the DIY SOS show when 60 houses were converted into a mini village for Army veterans in just over two weeks.

The BBC team, led by presenter Nick Knowles, masterminded the refurbishment of homes in Newton Heath on the outskirts of the city, for former servicemen and women to live in with their families.

A walk-in centre was also created while some of the houses will become shared properties where unemployed veterans' will live while they re-train and learn new skills at a nearby college.

Dozens of local building firms, tradesmen (and even royal guests) helped out with the project, including Nimans and their customer CIA 2000. They were supported by veterans working with charity Walking With The Wounded.

"We received a call from CIA who wanted to help create an office in the community centre by installing cabling for communications," said Nimans' Chairman Julian Niman. "They asked if we could donate some equipment and we were delighted to help such a worthy cause especially as we have ex-military personnel within our business."

Presenter Nick Knowles said he came up with the idea for the village when talking to founder of Walking With The Wounded Ed Parker about empty housing.

He said: "These young men have gone off to different parts of the world and had to see extremely difficult things. They didn't choose to do it, they go and do what they have been asked.

"Having done what we have asked them, they find themselves on the streets. This community is making it happen and housing them. Manchester, and companies such as Nimans and CIA 2000, should be very proud of themselves."

The project is due to be screened on TV over two episodes on October 14th and 21st.

Posiflex Technology, a manufacturer of touch screen terminals and peripherals, has entered into a distribution agreement with ForPOS in the UK.

The company says the move, in addition to its previous partnership with DED, will help better position Posiflex in the market as it sees a growing demand for POS solutions.

ForPOS is a UK solutions-based distributor of electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) and peripherals such as barcode scanners, printers, cash drawers and other accessories.

"Joining forces with ForPOS, which has over 30 years of experience in the POS market, creates significant sales opportunities for Posiflex and enables us to better serve the channel market through improved logistics and fulfilment services," said Owen Chen, founder and CEO of Posiflex Technology.

The European Court of Justice's ruling that deemed a 15-year-old data-sharing pact between the EU and US as invalid will mean many urgent changes in the industry and use of web and data centres. The decision cannot be appealed.

"Legislation permitting...access on a generalised basis to the content of electronic communications must be regarded as compromising the essence of the fundamental right to respect for private life," Europe's highest court said in a statement. The ruling has significant implications on how internet groups can operate in the 28-member bloc, and will likely force thousands of companies to overhaul their businesses to avoid breaking the law.

Matthew Fell, UK's CBI Director for Competitive Markets, said: "The ability to transfer data easily and securely between Europe and the US is critical for businesses in our modern data-driven digital economy.

"Businesses will want to see clarity on the immediate implications of the ECJ's decision, together with fast action from the Commission to agree a new framework. Getting this right will be important to the future of Europe's digital agenda, as well as doing business with our largest trading partner."

CMS Distribution is continuing to move into the security area with iSheriff, a vendor in cloud-based enterprise device protection. The distributor has recently added AlienVault, Barracuda and The Bunker.

John Cassidy, VP of EMEA at iSheriff, said: "The statistics show that virtually every organisation has suffered some form of data breach and we look forward to working with CMS to provide a new and dynamic approach to the market."

iSheriff delivers a SaaS solution for protection against multi-vector threats and compliance challenges, including web filtering and malware protection, endpoint anti-malware and application controls, anti-spam and email threat prevention.

"We are increasingly being asked to help our resellers solve a growing volume of security issues facing clients and for assistance in delivering the advantages of newer cloud technologies," said Tierna Henry, Group Software Manager at CMS Distribution.

"With iSheriff we are expanding our breadth of solutions and in-house expertise to be able to better support resellers in delivering effective solutions and protecting the health and security of their clients' businesses."

Voiceflex's search for a UC hosted offering is over following the firm's adoption of GENBAND's NUVIA application. 

"While it's imperative for us to offer value-added business services like WebRTC and collaboration we can't sacrifice performance for features," said Voiceflex Sales & Marketing Director Paul Taylor.

"When we started looking at a potential hosted provider we set our expectations high and we did see some great products. I am delighted to have GENBAND on board."

GENBAND's Nuvia UCaaS solution is backed by its carrier-grade technology and helps businesses of any size cost-effectively replace legacy assets with business-class cloud-based unified communications solutions.
 
GENBAND's route to market with NUVIA is via service providers only, while Voiceflex reaffirmed its commitment to the channel only model.
 

Five of Cisco's UK partners have been commended by the vendor at its annual London Partner Forum, where the top performers collected their awards in the following categories:

Cisco Innovation in Revenue Marketing - Cisilion
Cisco Partner Plus Partner - Natilik
Cisco Commercial Customer Case Study - Modern Networks
Cisco Rising Star Commercial Partner - avsnet
Cisco Cross Architecture Commercial Partner - Capita IT Enterprise Services

The Cisco Partner Forum this year focused on how digitisation will redefine industries and generate new customer opportunities for the channel. England Rugby World Cup winner, Will Greenwood, was the guest speaker, discussing how the partner community can embrace a winning state of mind.
 
"It's been a fantastic 12 months once again working with so many well-respected and industry-leading channel partners and distributors," said Richard Roberts, Managing Director, Partner & Commercial Sales, UK and Ireland, Cisco.

"This year's winners rank highly on this list, and it's our true pleasure to recognise their commitment to innovation, excellence and the quality of execution as Cisco award winners."

Wetherby-based Oriium has appointed a Sales Director, Steve Maltby, and a Financial Director, Katy Hogg.
 
Maltby has much sales experience with global corporations, government organisations and the NHS, and joins from EMIS.
 
Hogg's experience includes stints at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wolseley.

Oriium is also recruiting a marketing team.

The recruitment drive follows Ryan McCarry's appointment as chairman in June, who bought a 15% stake in the business.
 
The business currently employs a team of 35, initially launching with just two founding members of staff, and re-located to larger premises in Wetherby at the end of last year.
 
Chris Kiaie, MD, said: "Katy and Steve join Oriium from large corporates and bring a wealth of experience. These roles are crucial as we push on with our continued growth this year."
 
Hogg added: "Oriium is growing rapidly and has impressive credentials. This a great opportunity to take a relatively young company into an important development phase."
 
Maltby said: "The new roles are a real chance to make a difference to the business and I am looking forward to the many opportunities that we are already exploring with major global partners."

Commsworld has successfully delivered Internet connectivity to major sporting events and festivals in Scotland over the summer in collaboration with SSE Enterprise Telecoms.

While demand for bandwidth has grown, so too has the installed-base of Commsworld's Fluency network which it acquired in 2012.

To guarantee its customers had access to fast and reliable Internet access Commsworld called on SSE Enterprise Telecoms to increase the capacity of its optical wavelengths quickly, without compromising the quality of the service.

The Fluency network now boasts greater capacity on its national routes between Edinburgh, London and Manchester. This extra capacity not only accommodates organic growth, it also enables Commsworld to cope with peaks in demand from major events without risking network congestion.

"We have experienced rapid growth in recent years and now supply internet access to a number of leading events across Scotland and beyond," said Charlie Boisseau, CTO of Commsworld. "Supplying significant bandwidth requirements to festivals and other popular sporting events means that we need flexible optical backhaul providers on-board that can allow us to meet huge peaks in demand without causing network congestion.

"Having worked closely with SSE Enterprise Telecoms for many years we were confident that scaling our optical network as and when needed would be quick and painless."

Colin Sempill, MD of SSE Enterprise Telecoms, said: "The summer can be a busy time for any company that counts major sporting events and festivals as clients.

"With our agile network in place, Commsworld can easily accommodate peaks in demand for its services."

Sennheiser has unveiled a new headset solution providing users of its CIRCLE and CENTURY wired headsets with increased mobility and flexibility.

The new headset solution, which is certified for Skype for Business, consists of Sennheiser's new USB-ED CC 01 MS adapter cable in combination with Sennheiser's CIRCLE and CENTURY headset variants.

It enables a smooth and cost-effective transition to Unified Communications environments and ensures increased mobility and flexibility for contact centre, office and hot desking employees.

"By complementing their existing CIRCLE and CENTURY headsets with Sennheiser's new adapter cable, organisations can now simplify their transition to a Unified Communications solution and maximise their return on previous investments," said Lars Riis Rasmussen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, EMEA, at Sennheiser Communications.

Giovanni Mezgec, General Manager of Applications and Services Marketing at Microsoft, added: "The introduction of the latest certified headset solution will make life easier for many Skype for Business users. In addition, Sennheiser's sound quality and wearing comfort will provide our mutual customers with a rich communication experience."

Version 3 of MyPhones.com's Altos Phone Buddy incorporates a range of new productivity and contact features based on the Altos hosted platform on Windows PCs and laptops.

Altos Phone Buddy is a free application for all Altos subscribers who use Windows-based office systems. The app runs in the background, providing easy access to the Altos user portal, as well as screen popups when new calls, voicemails or faxes arrive.

"The original Altos Phone Buddy showed you who was calling, let you listen to voicemails and read faxes, and made it easier to log in to the user portal," said Simon Gregory, Technical Director and software engineer with MyPhones.com.

"We've brought Altos Phone Buddy right up to date, compatible with the latest versions of Windows and with modern presence and text-based communication features.

"Altos Phone Buddy 3 harnesses the power of the Altos platform, giving end users direct access to useful features in the portal, such as contact directories, better integration with external CRM services, and new ways to contact people - without having to log on to the portal or remember fiddly handset codes."

Additional communications features in Altos Phone Buddy 3 include text messaging, email, alerts and instant messaging chat sessions, as well as the ability to leave voicemail messages or make calls with Click-2-Talk and Clipboard Dialling.

The new presence feature shows if an end user is online and allows them to set their status to indicate whether they are available, busy or away from their desk.

A new floating dashboard allows users to keep the whole of Altos Phone Buddy 3 positioned on their PC or laptop screen.

The dashboard shows the day's phone activity: the calls that need to be returned, the voicemails waiting to be heard and the texts and alerts to be read.

It enables users to quickly to update their presence, access their telephone directories and make calls, and to divert their handset to voicemail or to another number.

"Altos Phone Buddy 3 has generated a lot of interest among the resellers we have shown it to during the testing phase," said Simon Gregory. "We are looking forward to more feedback now the application has been released to help us enhance it still further."