Comms Dealer

Six Degrees Group (6DG) has strengthened its presence in the financial services sector following the acquisition of Capital Support Group (CSG), the cloud, software and security managed services provider. CSG delivered £14m revenue, up 35% on the previous year, and £2.5m of EBITDA.

The firm is one of the largest providers of cloud and IT services to the alternative investment market sector in Europe, with 130 employees supporting 170 customers.

Key supplier accreditations include applications expertise with Microsoft, VMware and Citrix.

CSG has built a hosting platform with full-suite Microsoft applications, a community cloud and private clouds as well as offering professional services for business continuity, security and consulting projects.

Alastair Mills (pictured), CEO of 6DG, stated: "Capital Support significantly enhances our capability in the financial services market.

"The addition of CSG will also help Six Degrees achieve our goal of delivering software and security managed services that operate further up the value stack.

"With our existing strong presence in the City we are now a true financial services powerhouse with CSG's hedge fund and private equity client base."

ITSPA has welcomed the agreement reached on net neutrality as part of the European Union's Single Telecoms Package.

After almost two years of discussions at both UK and EU level, yesterday's agreement marks the resolution of a long running debate on how the Internet and its services should be regulated.

As a trade association which represents both network operators and 'over-the-top' providers, ITSPA is pleased with the European Union's agreement which will help to secure an open internet and ensure effective competition in internet-based services.

ITSPA had previously expressed concerns that the European Parliament was leaning towards an extreme net-neutrality position that would have prevented effective management of the Internet.

As part of the agreed text, the blocking of mobile VoIP services - an issue on which ITSPA has long campaigned - has been prohibited in a move of great importance to the Internet telephony industry, particularly as it becomes increasingly mobile.

Eli Katz, the Chair of ITSPA, said: "It's great that the EU is going to block the blockers. We've campaigned for years for action to stop Internet services like VoIP being blocked by a few fixed and mobile operators who can't stand any competition to their own services.

"These regulations are a sensible compromise. They will keep the Internet open but they will also allow network operators to manage the network efficiently and develop new services for the future.

"This is great news for the VoIP industry and everyone who uses the internet. The Latvian Presidency of the EU has worked hard on this and is to be congratulated."

Unify has expanded its route to market following a distribution agreement with ScanSource Communications, it's first distributor signing since the annulment of its relationship with Westcon and the instatement of Nimans as sole UK distie in October 2013.

The partnership will focus on the UK from the outset, and kicked off with a partner event staged at Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey on May 15th. The deal also presents Unify with an opportunity for future expansion into Europe where ScanSource operates extensively.

Under the agreement, the full range of Unify's UCC technologies will form part of the ScanSource Communications portfolio.

The move complements Unify's existing modus operandi in the UK with Nimans as distributor, giving partners more choice.

"Nimans is a well respected, experienced and professional distribution partner that is used to operating in a competitive market," said Tony Smith, the vendor's UK&I Channel Sales Director.

"Unify's decision to partner with ScanSource Communications will not affect the strong and professional relationship we have built up with Nimans.
 
"The decision to expand our routes to market in the UK is based on market conditions, our evolving strategic aims and the opportunity for our organisations to enter into this partnership. The time was just right for both parties ,and most importantly the reseller community."

According to Smith Unify will continue to invest in partnerships where it makes 'commercial sense' to do so, but he has no further plans to expand the vendor's distribution relationships at this time. 

"In the UK, our focus over the next year is to pursue a disruptive channel recruitment drive focused on quality rather than quantity," added Smith.

"We are specifically looking to recruit high calibre partners not just from the traditional voice space, but also IT and software partners that can drive our virtualised solutions and our new SaaS solution, Circuit."

Smith has witnessed strong demand for software-led communication and collaboration technology offerings driven through the channel.

"We believe it's the right time to invest in partnerships, such as the one with ScanSource Communications, where both sides will benefit from enhanced competition in the market," he added.

"The timing also ties in with our drive towards a more channel centric model and the expansion of our partner community. Both parties believe that this is a strong relationship that will deliver great mutual growth benefits in the future."

The need to address the changing face of the market today is a strategic driver that Unify has not ignored, noted Smith. SaaS is becoming prolific and Unify's portfolio is positioned to allow partners to leverage this and ultimately make more long-term, profitable recurring revenues, he emphasised.

"We have to ensure that we are addressing the UK partner community sufficiently to support this opportunity," commented Smith. "There is no exclusive focus for joint opportunities. Unify and ScanSource Communications' joint expertise enables us to support partners and customers in small, medium and enterprise categories across all verticals."

Unify will also benefit from ScanSource Communications' focus as being distributor that provides a full suite of value added services in support of these solutions, including trained technical and pre-sales support, financial assistance in expanding resellers' purchasing power, in-depth training and education and channel marketing solutions.

ScanSource Communications has a proven track record in helping partners scale across multiple countries, driving efficiency and expertise into relationships that will deliver additional value to our partners. "ScanSource Communications' ability to drive SaaS and cloud-based recurring revenues aligns with Unify's portfolio," added Smith.

"Working together we believe that Unify will greatly benefit from ScanSource Communications' access to the broader pan-European market.

"As the relationship develops, and as market conditions prove suitable, we will expand into other European territories. Any territory we expand into will fall under the same distribution agreement as we are focusing on in the UK at present."

"The agreement enables us to engage with new partners, boosts our European presence and in time will ensure a significant increase in market share."

This is a viewpoint shared by Phil Boyd, VP of Merchandising at ScanSource Communications Europe, who reaffirmed: "Unify's portfolio of products and services, coupled with ScanSource's knowledge, value added services and support, will enable resellers to effectively meet the needs of their end users."  

Unify aims to drive business for partners through its software portfolio which has already seen growth of 25-plus per cent. "The profile of what we and our partners sell today will be the biggest change we will see over the next two years," added Smith.
 
"We have have also invested heavily in generating leads for our partners. This has been one of our core strategic objectives and we will continue to invest in this area to ensure our channel grows and profits from their partnership with Unify.

"Additionally, we have invested in expanding the UK channel team to ensure we, in conjunction with our distributors, offer high levels of support to our partners.

"Working closely with ScanSource and our channel partners, Unify is helping to address the business world's long-time challenge of how to enable greater flexibility, new ways of working and increased collaboration.

"This is an incredibly exciting time for us all. The evolving market presents opportunities but also risks to those that do not move with the changing times," observed Smith." We are well placed with our partners, our distributors and our portfolio to ensure we maximise on this opportunity."

BT wants to close down its traditional telephone network and has called on Ofcom to loosen the regulations that would allow it to be more competitive with US rivals, according to a report in The Telegraph.

The report states that BT wants to migrate all domestic and business customers to Internet-based voice calls within 10 years, but current Ofcom rules are prohibitive.

Mark Shurmer, BT's group director of regulatory affairs, said the regulations were 'obsolete'.

Developer of cloud-based resource scheduling solutions Smartway2 has embarked on a reseller recruitment drive for its meeting room management SaaS solution.

According to company founders Martin Hiles and Nigel Reading the Smartway2 solution can be installed and working within minutes.

The pair previously established BusinessSolve, the successful Workspace Manager scheduling solution.

"Smartway2 has been designed to respond to the latest developments in cloud computing and mobile device technology, enabling today's always-connected professionals to easily book onsite resources wherever they are, whenever it is convenient for them," said Hiles.

As well as booking resources through on-premise touch-screen panels and mobile devices, Smartway2 is fully integrated with Microsoft Apps for Office as well as Google applications, including maps and language translation functionality.

A phased roll-out will initially target the SME market, but Smartway2's scalable architecture will also be available for multinational and enterprise sized organisations.

Hiles and Reading boast many years of experience in bringing resource scheduling software solutions to the corporate marketplace.

"Smartway2 is cost-effective and offers a flexible and scalable licensing model," explained Reading.

"Available via a SaaS subscription model, it reduces real estate costs, energy consumption and carbon footprints, and offers resellers valuable recurring revenue opportunities."

A rising tide of mobile workers plays into the hands of Smartway2 resellers, claimed Reading.

"When mobile workers need to meet with their partners or customers, it is essential the right collaboration resources are available on the day, without fuss," he added.

"Therefore, there's even greater demand now from companies for resource scheduling solutions.

"With Smartway2, we have created a solution based around how people work and the tools and applications they use daily, adding extra value and increased functionality to the conventional resource scheduling process."

The Smartway2 Room Panel incorporates a user friendly interface that provides an immediate indication of availability, along with information on current and forthcoming bookings.

It also details the facilities available within each room, enabling the user to choose the most appropriate one.

"The panel offers a range of check-in options including user password authentication, NFC Tags or QR code scans, Bluetooth and facial recognition," noted Hiles.

"This check-in process ensures a booked room either gets used or is released for others to book."

The mobile app allows users to search and book meeting rooms and desks and is compatible with tablets and smartphones based on Android, iOS and Windows mobile operating systems.

The Smartway2 Professional Service team offers a range of services from system design, defining operational procedures and workflows, installation and upgrades, screen and database configuration, data migration, custom application development, custom interfaces, report writing and user interface customisation.

www.smartway2.com

Manchester's Comedy Store was a fitting venue for Chess' annual summer conference themed 'HappiChess fuels success', a policy based on CEO David Pollock's award winning Happiness training designed to raise positivity, wellbeing and encourage people to make a contribution to business decision making.

The overarching message was for Chess People to utilise positive personal philosophies to drive great customer service and personal career achievements.

Pollock said: "2015 has been an outstanding year for us so far. We've been re-listed as a Sunday Times Best Company to work for and were ranked third best in the whole UK, an achievement I rank as my proudest to date.

"The success we've achieved over the last few years has been down to our people and their commitment to our business, tirelessly going above and beyond for our customers.

"I strongly believe that to deliver great service and to grow a business to be proud of you need a happy workforce, which is why I'm so passionate about the philosophy that happiness fuels success."

Graham Mackay has been appointed as Director of HP Helion for the UK and Ireland, responsible for growing cloud business for HP and delivering the increased services for customers in the UK and Ireland.

Mackay has international experience working previously with the group's global accounts and service provider customers. He also worked at Amazon Web Services and Verizon Trademark where he led their cloud business units, the company says.

"HP has a tremendous opportunity to grow its cloud business and deliver value to customers. With our Helion portfolio, HP is in a strong position to help customers move to private and hybrid cloud solutions that corresponds to their enterprise IT requirements," said Mackay.

Keysight Technologies, through its Keysight Netherlands BV indirect subsidiary, is to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Anite, a UK-based supplier of test and measurement solutions to the international wireless market.

At 126 pence per share, the acquisition values Anite (on a fully diluted basis) at approximately £388m. This cash acquisition has been unanimously recommended by the board of directors of Anite.

Anite, based in Fleet, is a global supplier of software-centric solutions that enable the efficient design and validation of chipsets, mobile devices and network equipment. Its customers include major manufacturers of mobile devices, chipsets and network equipment, mobile network operators, regulatory authorities, and independent test houses. With offices in 14 countries, Anite has more than 500 employees throughout the world.

"As a leading supplier of software solutions for wireless research and development, Anite is aligned with Keysight's strategy to grow in wireless and increase our software offerings," said Ron Nersesian, Keysight president and CEO.

"The combination of Keysight and Anite enables us to offer a broad portfolio of solutions throughout the wireless research and development cycle.

"This will help us to expand our portfolio into the software layer for design and validation, and expand Keysight's position as a supplier for wireless design and validation tools," added Nersesian.

The transaction is subject to a number of conditions as set forth in the announcement released today in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the UK Takeover Code, including regulatory approvals and the approval of Anite's shareholders. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions, the transaction is expected to close by the end of October 2015.

telent Technology Services has been awarded a three year contract by Network Rail (High Speed) to maintain the station management systems for three international stations along the High Speed 1 rail route.

These include St Pancras International, Stratford International and Ebbsfleet International station, along with two engineering depots.

telent will maintain the station communications assets including customer information, help point and public address systems, access and security, local area and wide area networks, CCTV and station management systems on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, a 109 kilometre high speed line linking London with the Channel Tunnel.

The company will also provide a 24 hour presence at St Pancras International with a dedicated team of engineers available to ensure the maintenance and reliability of systems.

"telent's strong engineering bias and rail industry credentials in both systems development and maintenance were important factors in our selection process," said Kevan Collins, Property Works Manager at Network Rail (High Speed).

"HS1 infrastructure is highly prestigious and we cannot afford any slip in standards. Our partnership with telent allows us to achieve our customer service and reliability targets."

Reg Cook, Director of Asset Management at telent Rail, added: "With over 45 million passengers passing through annually, St Pancras is a busy, iconic London station and a major gateway to Europe. We are looking forward to playing our part in ensuring continuity for travellers.

"This contract is about applying technology to help reduce failure rates and increase asset reliability in the stations along the route.

"In addition our remote monitoring capability will enable proactive maintenance in order to ensure reliability and quality of service."

European cities are leveraging their data sources in order to address high priority objectives - to reduce traffic congestion, improve energy efficiency, engage citizens, and present government as accessible and accountable.

However, the approach today is typically project-based, and more integration across organisational silos will be needed to achieve their longer-term goals such as economic growth and development of an indigenous tech sector, according to Frost & Sullivan.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, 'Real-Time Cities Survey', finds that municipalities aim to do much more than simply make existing information and transactions accessible online. They are embracing open innovation and experimenting with advanced applications such as 3D mapping and Virtual Reality (VR) to reduce the cost of urban planning functions.

The survey asked leading real-time cities about their data-centric strategies and initiatives. Responses from 27 cities in East and West Europe are represented in a Heat Map that highlights longer-term progress towards commercialisation.

"Public sector information (PSI) is being published on open portals and used internally to improve the efficiency of public sector services," says Principal Analyst for Information & Communication Technologies Europe, Sheridan Nye.

"Cities are also collaborating with academic partners and ICT vendors to build governance best practice into data transactions. This is the necessary foundation for commercialisation of data-enabled services in the near future." ??In a related report, 'Open Data Strategies of Real-time Cities', Frost & Sullivan profiles four leading European cities - Milton Keynes, Grand Lyon, Helsinki and Dublin.

Each sees an opportunity to stimulate economic growth by opening up their substantial sources of data to digital services innovators.

In return, applications developers and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) suppliers benefit from access to the city as a live test bed, both for R&D and as a high-profile, proof of concept.

"Cities are saying they want suppliers to engage with local priorities rather than promote one-size-fits-all, end-to-end solutions," says Nye.

"However, the danger is that the market fragments and vendors struggle to build the economies of scale."

Longer term, multiple opportunities exist for vendors as cities prepare to integrate ICT into core operations. "Early investors can get a head-start in developing these data-centric solutions to try to become the Google of real-time cities," added Nye.

"As projects reach the end of their funding, typically 3 to 5 years, managed services providers will tender for a lucrative and wide-ranging role that will be central to the city's development."