Comms Dealer

An Education E-guide produced by Tech Data and Microsoft explains the different ways Microsoft is working to help students and teachers get the best from technology and online protection.

Information on special offers and how Tech Data can support partners in winning business in the education is also provided.

There is a Touch Device Finder, a section that compares Windows devices to iPads and Chromebooks, and a visual tour of Tech Data's renowned Virtual Classroom environment and Demand Generation Portal tools.

Kirsty Prigmore, Public Sector Marketing Manager at Tech Data, said: "Education remains a key area of focus for Tech Data and we see new opportunities emerging for resellers all the time.

"Microsoft is a key player in education and the guide is a simple way to get up to speed on Microsoft's activity and offerings in the sector and how Tech Data can help you to make the most of the opportunities."

It will also help resellers prepare for the heightened activity that comes during the summer months in the education sector, she noted.

Prigmore added: "Schools are already starting to plan their upgrade activity for the summer and it's important to make contact early on in the build-up so that everyone can plan ahead. Tech Data will be ready to help you maximise the potential."

Azlan has won a Brandon Hall Group Silver award for excellence in the Best Sales Training Program for Extended Enterprise category, and a Bronze award in the category of Best Advance in Learning Management Technology for External Training.

The awards commend Azlan's TD Academy online training platform for HP partners, which provides interactive e-learning modules, sales enablement tools and bite-sized training modules to help resellers accelerate their HP business and improve sales capability.

The training modules emphasise how partners can understand customers' needs and sell effectively, rather than focusing on products. Every reseller is provided with a tailored training plan and delegates achieve recognised sales qualifications on completion.

Stephen Cant, Director of Azlan's HP Enterprise Group, said: "This independent recognition is a testament of the investment, effort and commitment that we have made to providing our HP reseller customers with the knowledge, support and resources they need to develop and grow their business."

Network provider TFM Networks has introduced a new product designed to help businesses protect themselves from threats triggered by their own network users.

Called Cloud Filtering, the new network security tool (based on an OpenDNS Umbrella platform) uses big data analytics and machine learning to intelligently predict and protect against both known and unknown threats, blocking them before they can strike the network.

According to a recent Ponemon Institute study, approximately 15% per cent of attacks that penetrate corporate networks or enterprise systems damage or destroy physical equipment such as servers, storage devices, routers and other IT devices.

Using Cloud Filtering, businesses can apply up to 60 category filters to customisable blacklists or whitelists, enabling them to manage which users can access specific pages on the business network, helping prevent phishing, botnet and malware attacks from malicious websites.

The visitor's IP or Username is matched against this list and the appropriate filtering policy is applied before the Internet traffic is passed through to the network.

This reduces the network overhead and latency involved in the filtering, giving customers a faster browsing experience, said the firm.

Alison Irvine, Group Sales and Marketing Director, explained: "Network security and efficiency is business critical, but achieving it does not have to be costly or time-consuming.

"Cloud Filtering prevents attacks from getting into the network, providing protection against liability for illegal downloads, preserving bandwidth for business use and requiring no additional infrastructure or overheads. This means companies can focus on their core business knowing that their network is working harder to keep them safe and secure."

Cloud Filtering is hosted and maintained in the cloud with a 100% uptime guarantee, requiring no hardware installation for the customer.

Available in two versions for Internet and MPLS networks, the technology also offers real-time, exportable reporting and is transparent for end-users to promote compliance with corporate network policies.

Spitfire's graduate recruitment programme is in full cry having ticked off Bath University's Graduate Fair and already gearing up for the Queen Mary University of London Graduate Recruitment Fair on 19th May.

Spitfire is on the hunt for high quality graduates for roles in sales, customer support and installation provisioning.

Minimum requirements for graduate entrants are a 2.1 degree in an academic subject awarded by Russell Group and top 50 universities. Selected applicants will participate in an assessment day at the end of June.

The company provides a graduate recruitment training programme which was developed in-house to address a growing skills shortage in the ICT industry.

The specialised nature of Spitfire's service has created the necessity to train graduates from scratch which is overseen by highly skilled and experienced members of Spitfire.

Susie Ward (pictured), HR and Marketing Director, stated: "We had an excellent day at Bath University with lots of interest from some very able candidates.

"We're looking forward to attending the graduate fair at Queen Mary's and offering career opportunities to the participants there."

Spitfire provides carrier network services and ISP connections to over 400 channel partners and their customers. The company employs over 100 staff and has an annual turnover of nearly £23 million, with offices in London and the Midlands.

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is the biggest catalyst for cloud migration according to Databarracks MD Peter Groucutt.

"Improved maturity, greater provider choice and lower monthly service costs are playing a key role in broadening the appeal of DRaaS across a variety of organisations regardless of size," he said.

Research from Databarracks' annual Data Health Check survey of over 400 IT professionals revealed that uptake of DRaaS in particular has grown year-on-year since 2012.

For the year ahead it is expected to be the top service choice for those looking to adopt cloud services.

Groucutt cited Gartner's first Magic Quadrant report for Disaster Recovery as a Service, launched in April, and he believes that Gartner's research is proof of how much the disaster recovery market has matured in recent years.

"As the report points out, traditionally early adopters of DRaaS tended to be fairly small organisations who needed to free up the time of their over-stretched in-house IT teams.

"For most large organisations, with big secondary sites for disaster recovery and dedicated staff for business continuity, the move to a cloud-based DR service was both too expensive and overly complex.

"The flexibility of DRaaS has changed this. As well as being more cost-effective than traditional DR, it's a lot simpler to implement.

"Organisations today are under immense pressure to deal with rapidly growing data and ensure consistent uptime for their users. For them, DRaaS is a lifeline."

Data centre builder Ark Data Centres has selected Interoute to provide a high capacity low latency inter-data centre network between Ark's Wiltshire and Hampshire campuses for the provision of data centre colocation services.

Ark recently announced that it has embarked on a joint venture with the Cabinet Office through Crown Hosting Data Centres to deliver a data centre estate for central government and the public sector.

Interoute has constructed a Private Managed Optical Network between the Ark campuses.

Steve Webb, CIO at Ark Data Centres, said: "Ark and Vtesse (Vtesse was acquired by Interoute in October 2014) have a successful history of working together, which began in 2008 with the development of Ark's first campus in Wiltshire."

Interoute's UK network reach has expanded as a result of its acquisition of Vtesse, as well as adding connectivity to an additional 55 UK data centres and 48 major towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales.

SpliceCom has added its voice to the cloud with the launch of SpliceCom Select, a service that enables resellers to build and deliver their own cloud and hybrid solutions built around the vendor's soft and virtual voice platforms.

Incorporating three elements - SpliceCom Cloud Deployment; SpliceCom Connectivity; and SpliceCom SIP Services - the new service requires no additional training for Accredited Engineers.

All voice platforms, phones/devices and unified communications apps are identical, whether deployed for cloud, on-premise or hybrid requirements.

"With SpliceCom Select, system programming, upgrades and customer ownership all remain 100% under the control of our channel partners," said Stuart Bell, SpliceCom's Business Development Manager for the UK & Ireland.

"There's also the flexibility for our partners to use SpliceCom Select to augment the services they already sell.

"If they're currently supplying broadband and SIP trunks, they can continue with their current suppliers and offer their own cloud and hybrid voice solutions by adding SpliceCom Select Cloud Deployment."

Robin Hayman, SpliceCom's Director of Marketing & Product Management, added: "The desire for cloud voice is growing. However, what most suppliers cannot deliver is the local survivability or legacy connectivity that is now being demanded by knowledgeable customers.

"This includes on-site connectivity for analogue phones, ISDN and even DPNSS as well as failover to local ISDN and/or SIP services for resilence."

In tandem with SpliceCom Select the vendor has introduced a new family of Intelligent Gateway Modules - Analogue Phone, ISDN2 and ISDN30 - address these needs.

"The Intelligent Gateways Modules offer disaster recovery and business continuity as they are deployed over IP networks utilising existing PoE infrastructures," added Hayman.

"They can therefore failover to alternate cloud or on-premise hybrid voice platforms should connections to their primary location be disrupted."

A new high performance data connectivity solution from Nimans offers flexibility as well as high capacity connectivity, said the firm.

"EtherStream V provides a bridge between Fibre To The Cabinet and more expensive pure Fibre options, which satisfies today's 'need for speed' data transmissions," stated Head of Networks Mark Curtis-Wood.

"EtherStream V is a bonded FTTC product, bonding either 2 or 4 FTTC circuits. It provides high levels of performance even with increased cloud, VoIP and video traffic.

"Service speed is guaranteed to remain above half the maximum available on a site, (equivalent to less than a 2:1 contention ratio). Maximum speeds of up to 320Mbps downstream and 80Mbps upstream are available, depending on location."

Cutis-Wood says if businesses require robust, high-capacity connectivity without the expense of fibre, EtherStream V is a good choice.

"It provides high performance and resilience at an affordable cost as many organisations are fighting to get more out of smaller budgets," he added.

"At the same time, taking advantage of Internet apps and cloud-based services is key to staying competitive, but these technologies need robust, high-speed connections. With EtherStream V they get the bandwidth and reliability they need without the cost of fibre lines."

EtherStream V uses either two or four FTTC connections bonded together so they offer the performance of a single line.

This technology provides downstream speeds of more than 100Mbps without the need for dedicated fibre. The service is available to about half of all UK businesses, a number that's set to increase as the country-wide roll-out continues. pointed out Curtis-Wood.

"There's no need to pay the high prices or excess construction charges of fibre connections," he added. "Costs are also fixed so bills are predictable. The service is highly reliable since it is provided over multiple connections, and can compensate if any of the connections go down. Alternative back-up options are also available for greater resilience."

Softcat has flexed its public sector muscle with another Government framework sign-up, this time ICT Services for Education.

Softcat's inclusion on the four-year framework, along with 20 other suppliers, will help it to deliver its solutions to a wider education audience.

Sales director Jamie Burke said: "Securing a place on the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework is a significant milestone for Softcat's education business, and comes as a direct result of 36 months of hard work from the team.

"Softcat has always had a clear vision that we wanted to work closely with academic clients of all shapes and sizes and gaining access to the schools market through CCS is the final piece of the jigsaw."

Cloud uptake is near mainstream according to a survey by Britannic Technologies which assessed the number of end users putting telephony, contact centres and unified communications in the cloud.

The study found that 56% of companies didn't have voice in the cloud, with 64% saying they had a partial voice solution in the cloud, followed by 36% whose communications solution are wholly cloud-based.

Those responsible for the decision making of putting voice in the cloud were as follows: 49% IT Directors, 36% were CEOs and 31% were on the Board of Directors. 84% of people understood the cloud proposition and clearly this proliferates from the use of cloud in the consumer world where the stats showed that 80% of people use the cloud in their private lives.

Jonathan Sharp, Sales and Marketing Director, Britannic Technologies, said: "Senior Managers are now aware that technology helps businesses differentiate themselves in today's competitive marketplace. It also enables employees to work in more collaborative ways and essentially service customers better."

The most popular application of voice in the cloud was for customer facing contact centres (55%).

"This is due to the fact that the contact centre has matured and for many now incorporates email, web chat and social media, providing different ways for customers to contact agents," added Sharp. "Cloud makes deploying these applications easier and quicker and in turn helps businesses improve customer service and generate revenue."

The reasons why companies put voice in the cloud were as follows: an impressive 60% stated that cost savings were the main reason, followed by 55% of companies wanting to be more agile as a business, 40% due to the speed of deployment and integration, 33% said it freed up the IT team to focus on other areas, 28% said it improved reliability and connectivity.