Comms Dealer

BT Chief Executive Gavin Patterson has unveiled the company's ambition to deliver Britain's digital future.

Ninety per cent of UK premises can already access fibre broadband, putting the UK top of the EU's largest countries, according to Ofcom.

Speaking at BT's Delivering Britain's Digital Future conference in London, Patterson pledged to tackle slow speeds in hard-to-reach parts of the country; achieve a step-change in speeds overall, with ultrafast rollout starting next year; and improve customer service through a number of commitments unveiled by Openreach.
 
Patterson said: "For the past five years the UK has been the largest digital economy in the G20 by percentage of GDP.

"We think the UK has an even brighter future ahead if we make the right decisions today. We want to forge an ultrafast future for Britain and stand ready to help government deliver the broadband speeds necessary for every property to enjoy modern day internet services, such as high definition TV streaming and cloud computing. To achieve this, we need a collaborative effort across industry and government."
 

Patterson committed BT to supporting government in delivering a new universal minimum broadband speed of 5-10Mbps, enough for everyone in the UK to enjoy popular internet services like high definition video. 

Patterson emphasised the need for a supportive regulatory and government policy environment to bring about a commercially viable investment.

He also cited new technologies developed at BT's Adastral Park research laboratories which should help boost slow speeds for many hard-to-reach premises.

Research includes tests on new technologies such as 'wireless to the cabinet' and 'long reach VDSL' to help bring higher speed broadband to hard-to-reach communities.

Patterson also pledged the company would introduce a satellite broadband service for some of the UK's more remote premises by the end of the year.
 
He announced BT's desire to go 'further and faster' on fibre broadband, and made clear BT would 'never say no' to providing faster broadband to communities, promising the company would instead explore innovative funding and technical solutions. He said 90 communities were already benefitting from this approach.

The BT chief executive said the UK would go beyond government's current 95% target for fibre availability, thanks to 'success dividend' clauses in contracts covering rollout co-funded by BT, Whitehall and local councils.

The clauses mean BT has to reinvest or return money if take-up exceeds certain levels in areas where public funds have been used.

A sum of £130m is already being released and is potentially available to get the UK towards having fibre available at 96% of premises.

He also announced plans to supply fibre broadband for all new housing developments either through BT's own efforts or in cooperation with developers.
 
Patterson stressed the potential benefit to homes and smaller businesses from ultrafast broadband technology.

These services will sit beside Ethernet broadband services which already offer ultrafast speeds to larger businesses and organisations which can pay for bespoke dedicated lines.

Patterson went beyond his January statement on ultrafast broadband to say BT's new services of 300-500Mbps would reach 10m homes and smaller businesses by the end of 2020, and the majority of premises within a decade.

A 1Gbps service will be provided for those that want even faster speeds. The connections on offer would be a combination of Fibre-to-the-Premises technology, as well as new G.fast technology, which uses existing Fibre-to-the-Cabinet technology.
 
Joe Garner, Openreach chief executive, said there was more to do on service.

He made clear his ambition to exceed by 6% Ofcom's 2017 minimum standards for delivering new connections on-time.

He also cited View My Engineer as a key step forward.

This is a new service which gives customers text progress updates plus their engineer's name and mobile number should they need to make contact.

He highlighted an issue which arises because customers often cannot deal direct with Openreach, but can only deal with their retail broadband provider. Garner declared he is open to having Openreach deal directly with end customers, subject to consulting Ofcom and telecom providers.

At the conference, a new report was also unveiled by consultants KPMG, valuing the impact of BT's future commitments as worth £20-£30 billion to the UK economy over the next decade.

Gemma Stopford has joined Zest4 as Channel Manager with a remit to build on the firm's partner base and drive revenues across its portfolio which now includes Office 365 and M2M.

Stopford has amassed much customer-facing experience having worked in roles in the services industry and then securing a Sales Manager role at a well known health club chain.

"I then moved into a sales role in the telecommunications industry and haven't looked back since," she said.

Operations & Business Development Director Mandy Fazelynia added: "Our results have exceeded expectations over the last 12 months and we are delighted to be in the position to expand our team and increase the resource we can dedicate to our partners.

"Gemma's experience will be invaluable in supporting Zest4's reseller partners."

You'll be surprised to hear me say that using a recruitment agency should be your last resort. I've had a long career in sales and management and in this time I've managed the P&L of several companies. I've learnt that when it comes to growing the staff potential of your business there are three key stages before you should even think of using a recruiter, writes Clive Jefferys, Managing Director of telco recruiter JMA Network.

Firstly, you must develop your company brand so that it attracts attention from direct applicants - be that by job advertising or welcoming approaches from your competitor's staff.

Secondly, you should fully exploit the network of contacts that your current people bring to the company by using, for example, incentive schemes for referring a friend. Asking for help in this way often leads to potential hires.

Finally, you must keep your own contacts on-side - people you've worked with before will often know someone that will suit your vacancy.

It is only when you have exhausted all these avenues that you should engage with a recruiter.

There are many reasons as to why recruitment agencies produce the 'magic candidate' even when the task seems impossible.

Your principle motivation should be to gain access to their private network of potential hires.

In the last 20 years the whole field of recruitment has been made incredibly complex by a proliferation of solutions.

That's why clients and candidates should be listening to our advice to create the perfect match.

In this day and age, most recruiters operate below the line, under the tip of the iceberg, as the candidates seen on jobsites are an absolute minority of who's really looking for a new job.

As a specialist recruiter, we have been building contacts for years with the industry. We make it our business to try to know everyone!

What you really pay for is our ability to know exactly who to have a quiet word with about your job.

Niche recruitment exists within a world where everyone has an opinion about everybody, so it's our job to dispel myths, highlight opportunities and give our recommendations.

The second Channel Telecom MPLS workshop will take place in the midlands next month.

The event builds on the first workshop staged at Virtual1's London HQ following a link up between the two companies.

The one day workshop was rounded off with a short exam after which successful partners gained the accreditation to quote and sell MPLS networks.

Clifford Norton, Channel Telecom MD, said: "Providing partners with product knowledge and an accreditation means that they are more comfortable in selling and supporting the growing number of services we are able to offer.

"By providing partners with the necessary tools the transition from dealer to reseller is made all the easier."

Workshops are a recurring theme for Channel Telecom this year, having introduced webinars and training events on its hosted offering. In the pipeline are billing and IP voice webinars.

Resellers who take the wireless route to headset sales stand to gain most as cordless devices are set to 'dominate the sector', claimed Nimans.

"Wireless are on the rise and set to overtake corded, so this is a significant growth area for resellers to exploit," stated James Burns, Head of Sales, Systems Integrators.

"Wireless headset sales are rising across the industry at around 35-40% whereas traditional contact centre and office headset sales remain fairly stable."

The two dominant market sectors for headsets - contact centres plus office and UC deployments - are vibrant, according to Burns.

"In the traditional contact centre space the emergence of high-end intelligent headsets is the next big thing," he added.

"The integration of headsets with intelligent communication platforms is all the rage.

"The buzzword for several months has been around contextual intelligence, based around software developments and headset smart sensors.

"For example, smart sensors enable an agent to take off their headset which alerts the system to automatically take them out of a group status. This creates a slicker call centre operation."

Skype for Business adoption is also driving the uptake of headsets, especially following the changes in how Microsoft issues payment commissions, pointed out Burns.

"Changes to licence commissions are paid means that only half is delivered upfront with the remainder triggered upon activation of a licence," he said.

"This offers a real growth opportunity for headsets because in order to use a voice licence a suitable UC end point needs to be connected to optimise audio performance.

"The quality end points must match the quality of the overall system otherwise there is a risk to the user experience. Many resellers understand this, but there remains too many that don't."

avsnet has formed a new strategic partnership with Redscan, a managed security service provider (MSSP).

Staffed by avsnet and Redscan's network and security specialists, the companies' combined operational centres will provide customers with complete network visibility and 24/7 protection from a rapidly evolving threat landscape.

This includes protection from risks that can result in extortion, data loss, reputational impacts, network outages and financial loss.

Specific services include immediate information on actionable security events, remediation guidance, compliance audit reports, data for forensic analysis and security device management.

Graham Fry, Managing Director at avsnet, said: "IT security used to be a taboo subject, however businesses have awoken to the very real threat of what doing nothing could mean to their reputations and bottom lines.

"After all, cyber-criminals never rest on their laurels. Our customers are increasingly looking to us for advice and protection. Whether it is minimising the damaging effects of security issues, rapidly mitigating threats or providing general peace of mind, we chose to partner with Redscan because of the company's consultative approach."

Redscan's capabilities bolster avsnet's managed services portfolio. This includes proactive network management and monitoring services, cloud-based unified communications and video solutions, managed visual communications, and proactive support services. Furthermore, Redscan's certifications (CREST, CISSP, OSCE, CEH and numerous others) match avsnet's focus on regulatory compliance and industry accreditations.

Simon Heron, CTO at Redscan, added: "As our penetration tests regularly demonstrate to new customers, most organisations incorrectly believe their network is well protected.

"This is rarely the case - there is often an insecure network end-point, weak password or unpatched vulnerability that is putting their business at risk.

"Critical issues such as these need identifying and rectifying the moment they occur. Much like avsnet's understanding of how important the corporate network is to improving business performance, we recognise how important security is to a business's day-to-day operations. This shared ethos makes the two companies a natural fit."

Jim Sewell has joined Virtual1 as a second non-executive board member, working alongside existing non-executive Steve Scott.

Sewell, a graduate of Manchester University, joined Alternative Networks in 1994, becoming a Sales Manager in 1996 and setting up the NGN Solutions division in 1997.

He went on to manage the Managed Voice Solutions division in 1998 and joined the board as Sales Director in 1999 before becoming Group Sales and Marketing Director in 2004, with a wide brief and helping to build Alternative into a £150m business, listed on AIM.

In 2014 Sewell left Alternative to join Restless Development, focusing on fundraising projects and is currently helping to set up an Entrepreneur Panel where UK entrepreneurs support and fund livelihood projects, backed by fundraising initiatives, mainly in African countries.

Virtual1 Chief Executive Officer Tom O'Hagan said: "I have known Jim for many years and worked closely with him when he was at Alternative Networks. His skill and experience will be invaluable to us as we continue to expand our business."

Sewell added: "I have always admired Virtual1 as a focused and successful business and am looking forward to being involved in its continued success. There's no doubt that exciting times are ahead, and I'm pleased to have the opportunity to work with Tom and the team."

Avnet has unveiled the latest initiative in its HP Silver Partner Programme to be delivered in the UK.

The new initiative is designed to assist HP Silver Partners develop business technology solutions for organisations in different sectors, including central and local government, banking and finance, manufacturing and media.

As part of the programme, Avnet is holding a series of industry sector briefings based on its SolutionsPath methodology.

The first in the series is a GovPath event which focuses on transforming technology into business solutions for central and local government and is being held at Avnet's customer briefing centre in Bracknell on 24th September 2015.

Miriam Murphy, senior vice president, Avnet Technology Solutions, North region, EMEA, said: "We launched our HP Silver Partner Programme to enable our Silver Partners to transact more HP business by gaining accreditations and additional revenue opportunities.

"Using Avnet's proven SolutionsPath methodology, the programme includes briefings to deliver insights and best practice and will give the opportunity to gain skills in specific market sectors in order to provide relevant industry solutions."

HP Silver Partners operate in the mid-volume market and have foundation skills in enterprise technology, software and personal and printing systems.

Lifesize, a division of Logitech, has announced the new Lifesize Cloud Web App, a fully-featured calling platform for anyone using Google Chrome.

The WebRTC-powered offering provides access to Lifesize Cloud's collaborative environment including HD video, chat and screen sharing for all without requiring any software downloads.

The Lifesize Cloud Web App is available for the Chrome browser, with the capability expanding to other browsers including Internet Explorer and Firefox in the near future.

In addition, Lifesize Cloud now offers a voice and content-only web conferencing mode which will help companies save money by making subscriptions to web conferencing services redundant, said the firm.

This move also simplifies the user experience - letting people connect and share their entire screen for collaboration with up to 40 participants - without having to open a new application.

"The implications of WebRTC are profound. By 2019, there will be more than six billion devices supporting WebRTC, and Frost & Sullivan recently predicted that it will be one of the most disruptive trends in the enterprise telecommunications industry," said Craig Malloy, Lifesize founder and CEO.

"However, until now video collaboration tools haven't met the needs of the growing number of organisations migrating to cloud-based apps. CIOs can now scale video - and empower employees to freely reach all internal and external stakeholders - without increasing complexity or demands on infrastructure and support."

Wholesale cloud and network provider Virtual1 has cemented its position as one of the fastest growing tech companies in the UK having its residency in The Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 confirmed for a third consecutive year.

The Tech Track 100 list ranks the UK's fastest growing private tech companies, based on the past three years' sales and, once again, London-based Virtual1 is the highest-ranked network provider with an overall ranking of 78.

In the financial Year 2014/2015 Virtual1 achieved sales of over £12.5m, showing an increase of around 35%, year-on-year, and a three-year increase of over 250%.

Privately owned Virtual1 has maintained this impressive record of year-on-year growth, through its heavy investment in UK-wide network infrastructure, product and service development, significant expansion in its London fibre network.

Chief Executive Officer Tom O'Hagan said: "Once again my team have worked hard on our vision of driving the company forward in a sustainable way and we are all delighted to have been listed in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100.

"As a technology company adhering to a strictly wholesale sales strategy we are fully committed to developing the new and innovative products and services that our partners need in order to develop their own businesses.

"In the past year we have expanded our London network still further, developed 1Cloud and expanded our data centre capacity, and will continue this innovation strategy in order to drive new markets and business opportunities."