Comms Dealer

Azzurri Communications has launched a new Network Operations Centre (NOC) based in Burnley, already a major logistics and operational site for the firm, employing 76 people including three local apprentices who joined the business last year.

The investments in automated monitoring and management systems enable Azzurri to monitor customers' fixed and mobile networks, unified communications and contact centres.

The company's engineers can view entire customer solutions, their component parts and the performance of third party suppliers.

This enables Azzurri to manage applications and devices on a customer's network for optimum uptime, security and efficiency. Service degradation and outages on suppliers' networks can be mitigated before they affect customers' operations.

Chris Jagusz, CEO of Azzurri Communications, said: "Our collaborative approach to developing managed services means that we can mitigate the impact of component failures, specific to each customer's needs."

Nick Wilson is to head up Advanced Business Solutions (Public Sector & Enterprise) as MD, moving from his role as MD of Public Sector & Health in Capita IT Enterprise Services where he drove a £90m turnover business, overseeing 400 staff.

Wilson will succeed Dean Dickinson who led the growth of Advanced's Public Sector & Enterprise division following the acquisition of COA Solutions in 2010.

Wilson joins Advanced with 20 years management experience including stints as Director of Government, Space and Defence Outsourcing at CGI Group.

He began his career with management roles at British Airways and Deloitte and spent four years as Client Partner for BT Health. This included running the BT Acute Health Business, managing 500 staff members and generating over £200 million turnover.

Wilson said: "The public sector, in particular, is under more pressure than ever before to drive efficiencies, and is increasingly looking to work with agile software providers such as Advanced.

"My role will be to continue to deliver innovative and high quality solutions to enable these organisations to improve the services they deliver to citizens while saving money at the same time."

Gordon Wilson, CEO, Advanced Computer Software Group, added: Nick is a strategic and resourceful director with extensive experience of delivering strong financial performance and will play a key role on the senior management team."

Advanced Business Solutions is a division of Advanced Computer Software Group, a supplier of software and IT services to the health, care and business services sectors.

The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) has welcomed the publication of SLALOM's draft cloud contract template and urges the industry to offer feedback.

The SLALOM initiative was launched in January 2015 with the purpose to standardise the terms and conditions of cloud computing contracts and service level agreements (SLAs).

The latest deliverable discusses common areas of debate (including IPR, termination, and data migration at the end of a contract) and sets these within a contractual structure that should provide a suitable model for contracting cloud services.

The next stage of the SLALOM project is Consensus Phase, which runs from 1st October to 31st Jan 2016. During this time the initiative will be inviting feedback on the draft terms from all stakeholders in a wide-ranging public consultation designed to build consensus on the terms, which need to be covered, and taking into account the different perspectives involved.

SLALOM's approach has been to set out from both the provider and adopter perspective for each clause, with a suggested SLALOM form of wording.

Alex Hilton, CIF's CEO, stated: "We have repeatedly said that uncertainty around legal issues in cloud computing forms a barrier to adoption through perceived risk and a lack of trust.

"This is a barrier that has been highlighted time and again in the research we have conducted among the end user community. Customers must ask those awkward questions about the rights and obligations of each party and what happens when one of the parties fails to fulfil their contract, and even which jurisdiction would cover which issues of the contract.

"To date, the relative immaturity of the market has resulted in contracts being used which are not particularly well-suited to the services being provided. End users often overlook unfair terms as they are not afforded the opportunity to negotiate and they fail to assess risk properly when adopting low cost cloud services.

"I'd hope that by developing a standardised approach to contracts we can address these issues, but it's important that it remains workable for both CSPs and end users - which is why it is critical that the full range stakeholders in the cloud industry engage with SLALOM on the next stage of this project."

UC and contact centre solution provider Enghouse Interactive has scooped the 2015 European Hosted Contact Centre Price/Performance Value Leadership Award from research organisation Frost & Sullivan.

"We were impressed with how Enghouse's Contact Centre solutions compared with the competition, and especially that it matches 90% of the functionality of a leading competitor's product at 50% of the price," said Nancy Jamison, principal analyst, Frost & Sullivan.

Jeremy Payne, International Group VP Marketing, Enghouse Interactive, said: "We've always been focused on delivering contact centre solutions targeted at a range of different business sectors with a primary focus on helping customers achieve a high return on investment at a low TCO.

"We are delighted to receive this independent industry recognition for the success we have achieved in delivering price/performance value and positive customer impact."

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."