Comms Dealer

Ingram Micro has opened up to the channel its expanded configuration capabilities following the launch of a new service that builds on its acquisition of Comms-Care in May 2016.

The services will be delivered from its facility in Crick, Northamptonshire.

Matt Sanderson, Ingram Micro UKI MD, commented: "After the acquisition of Comms-care it was only a matter of time before both joined forces.

"In doing so we have been able to up-skill our configuration centre which now has dedicated Comms-care engineers on site, enabling a higher level of service through improved capabilities, where previously this was limited."

The Comms-care Configuration Service sits within the broader Ingram Micro service portfolio and supports its professional services offering.

Nimans's most dedicated staff who go the extra mile for customers and colleagues have been rewarded with a four day trip to Dubai, the culmination of this year's The Edge incentive scheme which is open to all employees who, if they win, can bring along their partners.

Mat Weall, Head of Sales Operations, said: "The Edge recognises, nurtures and inspires the highest levels of performance and engagement. The winners had an amazing time in Dubai and I'm looking forward to seeing who rises to the top this year."

The Dubai trip follows last years New York break and this year Nimans has lined up Monte Carlo as the star prize.

The ascent of cloud-based security has been underlined by figures from Gartner which suggest that the global market value in 2017 is up 21% on last year at $5.9bn.

Analysts have confirmed that the market will remain strong and predicts that the cloud-based security services market will hit $9bn by 2020.

Security information and event management (SIEM) and identity management access (IAM) along with emerging technologies are the fastest growing cloud-based security services segments, according to Gartner.

"Email security, web security and identity and IAM remain organisations' top three cloud priorities," stated Gartner analyst Ruggero Contu.

Emerging technologies include threat intelligence enablement, cloud-based malware sandboxes, cloud-based data encryption, endpoint protection management, threat intelligence and web application firewalls (WAFs).

Gartner says SMBs are driving growth in the cloud-based security services market as they are becoming more aware of security threats and have noted that cloud deployments can also reduce costs.

"The cloud medium is a natural fit for the needs of SMBs," added Contu. "Its ease of deployment and management, pay-as-you-consume pricing and simplified features make this delivery model attractive for organisations that lack staffing resources."

Gartner has also put a spotlight on new security defences and techniques that it says should be considered in 2017.

These include cloud workload protection platforms (CWPP), remote browsers that keep attacks off machines, deception security to trick and confuse hackers trying to attack systems, endpoint detection and response to pinpoint unusual behaviour, network traffic analysis, managed detection and response (MDR) third party services, micro-segmentation to limit damage from a breach, software-defined perimeters (SDP) and container security.

New Star Networks (NSN) has bagged hosted telephony provider iB2i and according to NSN CEO Mark Shraga the deal will add further value to iB2i's customers.

"The NSN service wrap will significantly upgrade iB2i's client experience," he stated.

iB2i MD Kamal Hussain added: "We chose NSN as it's a natural progression for our SME focused business offering.

"We aim to grow in partnership with NSN and ensure the personal touch is never lost along the way." 

The launch of a new partner programme is evidence of BT reinvigorating its channel commitment, according to Steve Rathborne, BT Business Partner Channel Director.

The move follows the integration of EE and BT and enables partners to sell branded fixed and mobile products and services.

"We're looking to extend the benefits to business customers who would like to source BT & EE services through channel partners," said Rathborne.

"BT has committed to invest more than £6bn in improving the speed and coverage of UK broadband and mobile services over the next three years."

The refreshed channel programme is supported by an enlarged partner sales team, a revamped service model, improved training and access to sales and marketing campaigns.

"Collectively, these initiatives will make it easier for partners to work with BT to increase sales and deliver an improved customer experience," added Rathborne.

BT is planning to introduce the Business Partner Gateway in Q3, a portal that offers access to quote tools, customer service channels, management information and marketing collateral.

The European IT market outstripped its American counterpart in Q1 2017 according to the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC).

Nearly all European countries registered growth in sales through distribution up 3% from January to 6% in March 2017.

The period witnessed a turnaround in fortunes for countries that not so long ago posted declines. In March, Spain was up 13%, Portugal 19% France 4%, Belgium 12% Germany 7%, Norway 16% and the UK 12%.

"This shows that there is a real opportunity for growth in the industry," stated GTDC CEO Tim Curran.

"There is a bold new world in distribution, providing more than pick, pack and ship, and as a resource for vendors in their go-to-market strategies," added Curran.

"We come from an industry based on inventory, cost and fixed assets, but integration between distribution and vendors has produced an industry with lower inventory, but much higher fulfilment rates. That makes it more efficient and profitable."

"Distribution has widened as a model to touch every part of the supply chain. Leveraging distribution services means vendors can grow their profitability.

"Distribution can also help solution providers with skills shortages, particularly in the technology solutions around cloud. Vendors often say they need help to enable their partners to take advantage for the new ways of working.

"Distributors are doing this now, he concludes, but there is still more that they do that vendors are not yet making use of."

That said, Curran also noted that buying intentions among consumers showed some hesitation, especially in the UK where there are concerns over Brexit.

Arista has joined forces with Cloud Distribution to drive partner recruitment and bring its software based data centre solutions to market.

Figures suggest that the global data centre switching market will grow more than 30% between 2016 and 2021.

Bruce Hockin, Director of Data Centre Solutions at Cloud Distribution, stated "We recognise the huge opportunity for partners to capitalise on data centre growth, which is why we have created a new data centre infrastructure team purely focused on this market."

Arista Senior VP Global Operations and Marketing, Mark Foss, added: "Our partnership with Cloud Distribution will help facilitate the customer shift towards cloud networking."

Arista partner Flomatik's MD Ben Allwright anticipates forming stronger customer relationships. "Arista is a natural extension of our traditional network services offering, allowing us to drive value deeper into the data centre, creating a high performance end-to-end solution for our customers," he stated.

CONTEXT's channelwatch study shows that a high proportion of a 6,000-plus sample of European resellers are not interested in selling cloud.

The UK was most disinterested, with almost half those surveyed saying no cloud for them, but other major European economies (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) also showed around a third missing out, due to concerns over security and complexity, but also because they said they were not seeing demand from customers.

This may also be due to the established nature of the businesses, reaching that time in their lifecycle and that of their owners when the costs and upheaval in traditional sales and work-practices are not desired, particularly in the UK. This phenomena has also been noted in the US.

Looking at which solutions are being sold, most of those selling cloud had sold back-up, as expected, but security has also started to figure strongly this year, particularly in the UK and Germany. 

Storage in the cloud was on offer from over half the resellers in France and Spain.

Reporting the results at the Global Technology Distribution Council's European Summit in Vienna, CONTEXT said that a high proportion rated what distributors offered through hosting in the cloud as excellent or good; it was also clear that most resellers rated their distribution partners highly overall, particularly in Spain and Poland.

CONTEXT MD Adam Simon reported that some resellers in the UK and Germany had expressed concerns over rising costs and value, but they were in a minority.

Distributor Westcon has added Sonus Networks' Cloud Link solution to its Best of Breed Microsoft Office 365 Cloud PBX offer.

The promotional programme offers resellers additional discounts when selling a 3-part Microsoft ecosystem component sale comprising Sonus Cloud Link (the integrated appliance solution comprising the Sonus SBC 1000 and SBC 2000 session border controllers running embedded Microsoft Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition); Polycom voice handsets and Plantronics Wired and wireless UC headsets.

Nick Wright, Product Manager, EMEA, Westcon, said: "This Best of Breed programme is designed to alleviate any concern end users might have about investing in a total solution for transitioning from traditional voice deployments to a Microsoft Cloud PBX implementation at their own pace."

Kevin Baynes, Sonus UK & Ireland Country Manager, said: "Sonus Cloud Link speeds-up Microsoft CCE deployments with a pre-packaged code and wizard. We have experienced installation times being reduced from 7 hours to 1 hour."

The 2017 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey reveals that, despite economic and political uncertainty having an impact on organisations' technology strategies, the situation is in fact contributing towards an increase in digital innovation.

According to MSP Claranet, this finding highlights the fact that such uncertainty can be a positive for businesses that are prepared to go the extra mile to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

According to the report, 64 per cent of CIOs polled said the current climate of uncertainty is affecting how they approach their technology strategies.

However, far from retreating into their shells, an overwhelming 89 per cent said they are either maintaining or increasing investment in innovation.

For Claranet, this shows that uncertainty should be seen as an opportunity rather than a burden.

Michel Robert, UK MD at Claranet, said: "With political and economic turmoil still well and truly in full swing, a common knee-jerk reaction can be to embrace an austere approach to technology adoption, in order to save on costs and consolidate the company's position in the market. However, what this report shows is that the opposite may well be the best course of action.

"Regardless of the economic and political climate, the priority for any business leader should be working out how best to get ahead of their competitors. If anything, such external challenges mean that organisations need to think of fresh ways of doing things as a matter of course. It's a time to experiment with new approaches."