Comms Dealer

True Telecom is giving away an iPad Mini to the individual who raises the most money at the Kent Messenger (KM) Charity's Assault Course Challenge on Saturday 3rd October at Betteshanger Country Park.

Stuart Griffiths, CEO of True Telecom told Comms Dealer: "We are always delighted to work with the KM Charity Team and support the local community in Kent.  We've seen huge growth as a business over the past few months and nothing makes us come together more than supporting charitable causes in our local area."

The KM Assault Course Challenge boasts over 20 pieces of equipment including tunnels, balance beams, rope walk, water jump and tyre wall. To succeed the members of a team will have to work together and communicate effectively to contend with Kent's longest civil assault course.

To find out more about the event and to book your team's space. Visit the KM Charity website www.kmcharityteam.co.uk/challenge/assaultcourse

Doro has launched an iOS version of its My Doro Manager companion app claiming millions of iPhone users will now be able to help their senior relatives remotely.

The app, now available in both Android and iOS versions, provides a digital bridge between a senior's Doro smartphone and their family as Chris Millington, Managing Director at Doro UK & Ireland explained: "Often in today's busy world time constraints and the geographical spread of modern families impact on the level of physical support a family can provide to a senior relative. With My Doro Manager this can now be delivered directly between paired handsets via the cloud."

Doro's smartphones now all come with My Doro Manager pre-installed - which makes it easy for a senior to pair their device with up to five trusted family members' smartphones who can then share responsibility for providing assistance and support.

Doro says the most important benefit is that the app can be used to spot usage trends and habits, and with the user's permission, can be used to change certain settings remotely.

For example, if a senior were to type text messages and continually 'save' them in drafts by mistake, when in fact they thought the messages had actually been 'sent'. Situations like this can be spotted, and rectified, without any fuss or embarrassment to the user.

Both versions of the app allow the sharing of content such as contacts and pictures. This functionality is specifically included in the service to help drive engagement and build the user's enjoyment of their device. Because the user can see exactly who is sharing information with them it is fully trusted.

Furthermore, the user retains full privacy and security control over all content and settings on their device and the helper cannot see or read any content.

The user app also offers tutorials - again being tailored to the usage patterns of that user - to encourage them to use their phone more and build confidence in their own time.

According to the UK Office for National Statistics there are now more people living in the UK aged over 60 years than there are under the age of 18. This growing senior demographic is predicted to pass the 20million mark by the year 2030.

Millington concluded: "Our most recently launched smartphones are extremely popular and are out performing market predictions. By widening the audience of the My Doro Manager companion app to include iPhone users we help to further bridge the generational digital divide. We have adopted cloud technology to deliver an application which makes a massive difference to how seniors actually use their phones."

Mobile customers on the Three network can now trade-in their phones for cash to offset the cost of a new device thanks to a new agreement with mobile phone recycling company Redeem.

Redeem's white-label support for trade in with Three includes providing a dedicated website, a call centre trade-in support system, and a comprehensive training and development programme for in-store customer advisors.

The process is underpinned by a strong reporting facility which has been developed in-house by Redeem over 10 years.

The Three phones will be processed through Redeem's newly-expanded facility in Macclesfield, and this is expected to take the number of phones processed across Europe to over 200,000 per month.

Redeem claims that 95% of the traded-in devices its handles are data-wiped, refurbished and resold. The 5% that cannot be restored are fully recycled, leading to zero waste going to landfill. Redeem says it provides the data and certification to satisfy the WEEE Directive and high quality CSR programmes.

Mark Chambers, Chief Commercial Officer of Redeem said: "We are delighted to be supporting Three with our unique blend of mobile phone recycling and marketing services. As a true partner in our customers' marketing team, we can produce meaningful value for both the network operators and consumers, returning over £60m to consumers each year for their old mobile phones. ??"Coming on the back of our contract renewal with O2 Recycle and other significant milestones, the last 12 months have been a fantastic time for the Redeem business and a sign of things to come."

NIX Communications Group has teamed up with the Premier League's Southampton Football Club as Official Fixed Line Telecommunications Partner.

NIX Communications Group will have a presence on match day advertising, Saints' official website, and a corporate hospitality box to all home fixtures to entertain staff and clients.

Gareth Rogers, Southampton FC's Chief Executive Officer, said: "NIX Communications Group is a family-run business that has grown at a rapid rate in recent years and its track record for delivering effective communications solutions is evident. NIX Communications Group understands our club and how we operate.

"As a business, NIX Communications Group's vision and values align with our own, which is vital to any successful partnership."

The Hampshire-based business has offices in the Isle of Wight and Manchester and has enjoyed a long-standing association with the football club, having grown from a hospitality box holder, to a pitch-side advertiser to now achieving partner status.

NIX Communications Group is currently nominated alongside Southampton FC for the Growth Business of the Year at the Lloyds National Business Awards.

NIX Communications Group's Senior Partner and Operations Director Nick Zammit said: "We're thrilled to be an official club partner. It's a great step forward for NIX Communications Group. We love the Saints and are proud to be part of its continuing success.

"The partnership makes good sense for both parties. Despite the vast difference in our size, we have both performed really well and have a shared vision of ambition, growth and excellence."

Pictured above: Gareth Rogers and Nick Zammit

Giles Kane has joined Timico as Director of Account Management and Development with full responsibility for the firm's Strategic Accounts team.

He will also oversee the Enterprise Account Management team and be responsible for the enterprise accounts that were brought into the group as part of the recently acquired telecoms interests of Coms.

He brings much experience in a similar role at Alternative Networks where he played a key part in the company's growth over the past nine years. Prior to this, he worked for Cable&Wireless, Verizon and BT.

Kane said: "I'm confident that my entrepreneurial approach coupled with my ability to build and deliver successful sales and retention strategies will mean that I am well placed to support Timico's continued growth."

As a group, Timico employs more than 350 people across six sites, 80% of whom are in customer-facing roles, key to the 24/7 support of these services to more than 15,000 UK businesses.

Union Street Technologies has appointed José Fernandez (pictured) as Chief Operating Officer.

Fernandez will be responsible for overseeing the operations of the company's development, projects and support departments, with the ultimate goal of implementing new processes and frameworks to ensure excellent customer service and high quality software development is consistently delivered as the company grows.

Over the past five years, Union Street has enjoyed rapid organic growth. The company has reported an average increase in turnover of 20 percent year on year, with similar increases in personnel. Today the company employs over 80 personnel, and provides its aBILLity billing platform to close to 450 communications providers across the UK and Europe.

Fernandez brings a wealth of experience, working in the telecoms and managed IT sector since 1999, and having previously held the role of Operations Director at communications provider, Niu Solutions, since 2005.

Fernandez stated: "As COO, I plan on taking Union Street's support and customer service operations to the next level through the use of IT service management, best practices and techniques, with a focus on always having customer excellence at the heart of everything we do. At the same time I will be implementing the very latest processes, techniques and automated methods into the company's development operations to increase the frequency of quality software releases and new functionality into our solutions."

By appointing Fernandez, Union Street's MD Tony Cook will be able to focus on new avenues of development for the company and its products.

He added: "I'm delighted to welcome José to the team. José's knowledge and expertise in this pivotal role will ensure Union Street is well positioned to scale up its operations, and maintain our impressive rate of growth.

"José's appointment will also enable myself and other key members of the Union Street team to explore emerging opportunities in the communications industry and breaking into new markets."

Former Frontier Voice & Data Sales and Marketing Director Michael J Thornton is to reprise his role at reinvigorated iHub, bringing much industry experience including stints at Orange PCS, Sierra Wireless and Uniworld.

At Frontier Voice & Data he developed a high profile channel and brand under the MyFrontier product and services portfolio.

Thornton said: "The intention to grow a multi-platform hosted service provider business that has a channel only focus is a great opportunity.

"Our aim is to have best in class portal and web access, a comprehensive products and services portfolio and the best in class customer services programme that the channel needs."

Thornton's appointment follows a 'business change process' in recent months, noted Steve Day, CEO of iHub . "With strong investment and a focus on becoming a multi-platform hosted provider iHub will be well positioned to provide the channel with what it needs to succeed in this important technology growth space," he stated.

"With this in mind we have sought to bring on board a strong team to take the business forward."

New appointments include the hire of Andrew Coulson as Chief Financial Officer. Educated to MBA level and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) he has more than 20 years management experience gained within the UK, Europe and Asia-Pacific having operated in a variety of roles including Chief Financial Officer, Finance Director & Financial Controller with extensive experience in M&A.

He brings commercial and financial expertise to the group from a range of markets including the private equity and technology sectors.

In another key move, Lord St John of Bletso has been appointed as Chairman of iHub.

Anthony Tudor St John qualified as a lawyer in South Africa and obtained a Masters in Law from the University of London before going on to work as an oil analyst at County Natwest and thereafter as a senior consultant to Merrill Lynch.

He was Chairman of Spiritel between 2004-2012 and has also been a non-executive director of Regal Petroleum, Sharp Interpak Limited and Pecaso Group.

He has served on the advisory boards of Infinity SDC, Chayton Capital and Ariya Capital with a focus on agriculture and African business opportunities.

He is currently a non-executive director of Albion Ventures LLP and Chairman of the Governing Board of Certification International. Lord St John was on the House of Lords Communications Select Committee from 2009-2014.

In its financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015 (which ended June 30th) ShoreTel has posted record revenue and profitability in Q4 2015, with total revenue at $94.4m, up 7% on to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.

Non-GAAP net income, which excludes stock-based compensation charges, amortisation of acquisition-related intangibles, other adjustments and related tax changes, for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 was a record $7.8 million, or $0.12 per diluted share.

This compares with a non-GAAP net income of $4.9 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. GAAP net income was $4.8 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, compared with a GAAP net income of $2.1 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.

"Fiscal 2015 was a year of strategic investments, geographic expansion and a significant shift towards recurring revenue," said Don Joos, president and CEO of ShoreTel.

"We will rollout ShoreTel Connect later this quarter, and achieving this key milestone is an important step in realising our vision of delivering a single solution to all customers whether they choose to operate in the cloud, onsite or in a hybrid environment."

Mike Healy, SVP and CFO of ShoreTel, added: "During the fiscal year we continued to achieve revenue growth, expand our non-GAAP gross margins and generate record non-GAAP profitability which collectively strengthened our balance sheet. We are increasingly well positioned, competitively and financially, to execute our strategic plan in fiscal 2016."

Fourth Quarter of Fiscal 2015 Financial Highlights
Recurring revenues, which consist of all hosted and related services revenue plus support revenues, represented 48 percent of total revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 and reached an annualised value of $180 million; an increase of 16 percent compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.

Non-GAAP total gross margin, which excludes stock-based compensation charges, amortization of acquisition-related intangibles and other adjustments, for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015, was 63.8 percent, compared with 61.1 percent in the year-ago period. GAAP gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 was 63.2 percent compared with 59.6 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014.

Hosted revenues of $28.5 million were up 19 percent year-over-year and 5 percent sequentially. Non-GAAP hosted gross margin increased to 51.6 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, compared with 43.7 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. GAAP hosted gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 was 46.7 percent, compared with 39.4 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014. The total number of installed customer seats increased 18 percent over the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 to approximately 178,900. Hosted revenue churn dropped to approximately 4 percent annualized in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015.

Product revenues of $47.2 million were flat year-over-year and up 20 percent sequentially. Non-GAAP product gross margin was 65.9 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, compared with 64.6 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. GAAP product gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 was 67.8 percent, compared with 64.0 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014. The fourth quarter 2015 GAAP gross margin includes a benefit of $0.9 million related to the settlement of a patent dispute previously reserved for in the fiscal third quarter of 2015.

Support and services revenues of $18.7 million were up 8 percent year-over-year and 2 percent sequentially. Non-GAAP support and service gross margin was 77.3 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, compared with 75.9 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. GAAP support and service gross margin for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 was 76.8 percent, compared with 75.4 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014.

As of June 30, 2015 the company had $90.2 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments and no outstanding debt. The company generated $6.5 million in cash flow from operations in the quarter ended June 30, 2015.

Fiscal Year 2015 Financial Highlights
Total revenues for fiscal 2015 were $360.7 million, up 6 percent compared to fiscal 2014. Recurring revenues, which consist of all hosted and related services revenue plus support revenues, represented 47 percent of total revenue in fiscal 2015 compared to 42 percent in fiscal 2014.

Non-GAAP total gross margin, which excludes stock-based compensation charges, amortisation of acquisition-related intangibles and other adjustments, for the fiscal year 2015, was 62.6 percent, compared with 61.1 percent in fiscal year 2014. GAAP total gross margin for the fiscal year 2015 was 60.6 percent, compared with 59.4 percent in fiscal year 2014.

Hosted revenues for fiscal 2015 were $106.4 million, up 19.4 percent compared to fiscal 2014. Non-GAAP hosted gross margin was 47.3 percent in fiscal 2015, compared with 42.0 percent in fiscal 2014. GAAP hosted gross margin for the fiscal year 2015 was 42.4 percent, compared with 37.7 percent in the fiscal year 2014.

Product revenues for fiscal 2015 were $181.3 million, down 2 percent compared to fiscal 2014. Non-GAAP product gross margin was 65.9 percent in fiscal 2015, compared with 65.2 percent in fiscal 2014. GAAP product gross margin for the fiscal 2015 was 65.1 percent, compared with 64.6 percent in the fiscal 2014.

Support and services revenues for fiscal 2015 were $73.0 million, up 11 percent compared to fiscal 2014. Non-GAAP support and service gross margin was 76.8 percent in fiscal 2015, compared with 75.2 percent in fiscal 2014. GAAP support and service gross margin for the fiscal 2015 was 76.1 percent, compared with 74.3 percent in the fiscal 2014.

Non-GAAP net income for the fiscal year 2015 was a record $20.6 million, or $0.31 per diluted share. This compares with a non-GAAP net income of $14.7 million, or $0.23 per diluted share in fiscal 2014. GAAP net loss in fiscal 2015 was $4.3 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, compared with a GAAP net loss of $1.0 million, or $0.02 per diluted share in fiscal 2014. The fiscal 2015 GAAP net loss includes $10.2 million in unusual charges, $8.4 million in stock-based compensation charges and $7.0 million in amortisation of acquisition related intangibles.

PSU Technology Group (PSU) has launched a dedicated new cloud platform called Reliance, which increases the performance, value and range of hosting options the firm can provide to their customers.

With complete control over its hosting environment PSU can now support a much wider mix of business technologies, applications and services and offer stronger security assurances.

With freedom to work independently across the platform, PSU can respond even faster to client requests. The platform's enhanced flexibility and performance also allows customers to get new accounts, applications and services up and running quicker.

PSU has already migrated the systems of their customer Meridian Business Support to the new hosting platform. The new hosting environment also provides the future proofing they need to install the latest technological advancements and keep ahead of their competitors. This is essential in a fast paced industry like recruitment.

PSU's Professional Services Director, Rob Deacon, said: "In today's highly competitive markets with razor-thin margins, it is more important than ever to have agile processes and systems that are aligned with the needs of your business. Our new cloud environment provides this. It allows our customers, like Meridian, to service the needs of their customers faster than ever before, giving them a real competitive edge."

A Gateshead-based IT firm is riding the crest of a wave after winning a contract to provide IT and security technology for a new £15m surf complex in Wales.
 
The undisclosed six-figure work will see Advantex installing a Wi-Fi infrastructure at Surf Snowdonia to deliver and support IP telephony, access control and intruder alarm services.
 
Surf Snowdonia opened at the beginning of August on the site of a former aluminium factory on the edge of the Snowdonia national park and the river Conwy, and generates the world's longest man-made surfing wave - up to 2m high - every minute.
 
Built around the installation of high performance Internet cabling, the IT infrastructure will meet the needs of hundreds of staff and thousands of visitors at a site encompassing shops, cafes and accommodation pods on a plot roughly the size of six football pitches.
 
All the necessary broadband and telecoms infrastructure, which has specifically been designed to accommodate future upgrades as the surfing and water sports park gears up to meet the expected increase in future visitor numbers, will be installed by Advantex.
 
The move is the latest success for the Follingsby Park-based firm, which predicts turnover of £4m to grow by 20% by the end of the year.
 
Currently employing 45 people, directors Stephen and Dave O'Connell expect further investment in the workforce over the next six months to support growth and meet the continuing demands of other regional and national customers.
 
These include hospitality group Fat Brewer, five star hotel and golf complex Rockliffe Hall and car dealership Simon Bailes Peugeot.
 
Advantex won the Surf Snowdonia contract in the face of competition due to its cost effective solution, networking skills and IT expertise, enabling it to ensure that the work will be completed ahead of the park's August opening.
 
Although the brief was for infrastructure and security technology, Advantex will also be providing a project management service as part of an overall package of IT consultancy expertise and aftersales product support.
 
Stephen O'Connell said: "This contract is a massive boost for us, strongly reinforcing our position as one of the top suppliers of advanced network solutions.
 
"It clearly demonstrates we have the ability and expertise to deliver any size of project, anywhere on time, within budget and to the highest specification regardless of location."
 
Advantex was established in 2002 and achieved the prestigious ISO9001/2000 industry quality mark within its first year of trading and holds the IOS9001/2008 mark.
 
The firm is an accredited Microsoft, Cisco and Mitel partner.