Comms Dealer

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.

Managed IT services provider Eclipse has entered the cloud telephony market with the launch of Hosted PBX services built using Broadsoft's Broadworks applications platform and run over Eclipse's next generation network.

The solution runs security, maintenance, software updates and 'always-on' connectivity as standard and allows resellers to add and remove users.

"With dedicated migration support, hassle-free provisioning and service management, this fully scalable 'pay as you grow' service is available across all connectivity solutions and includes complete monitoring and full visibility," said said Henry West (pictured), Head of Channel.

West also noted that Eclipse's Hosted PBX solution includes web-based portals giving partners and users hands-on access and control over telephone hardware performance.

"Total cost of ownership is greatly reduced for end users, up to 60% over legacy on-premise equipment," claimed West.

"Hosted PBX gives our partners a platform to increase sales opportunities with a host of value-add services.

"Our account management and technical support teams are already working with resellers to help their customers evolve from traditional voice services to IP-based communications networks."

The Hosted PBX service has built-in QoS, security and resilience. "Fully certified to ISO 9001 for overall quality management, ISO 22031 for business continuity and ISO 27001 for data security, this service has the necessary robust and fully-accredited processes in place to protect the confidentiality and integrity of customer data at all times," added West.

Wholesale network operator Simwood is shipping Mobile Developer Packs, enabling CPs to quickly get started in mobile service development.

"This has been a long time coming," said MD Simon Woodhead. "We still have a fair bit to do before launch-proper, but the time is right to get them into the hands of developers."

The pack contains five developer SIMs and provides access to Simwood's API, portal, mobile numbers and porting.

"We've been blown away by the response so far," added Woodhead. "We'll be shipping more than double the Developer Packs we expected. It remains to be seen how many go on to become full MVNOs but indications are good."

Woodhead cited 'exciting and innovative' use cases and sky high anticipation among developers keen to get going.

"We know some customers are on standby with teams of developers to integrate and build their MVNO," he added. "Others are waiting to prototype innovative solutions in pursuit of external funding. We're flattered by how seriously we are being taken."

According to Woodhead traditional MVNEs can charge £80-100k to build a service and then ask for heavy monthly commitments, but, he says, Simwood Mobile has itself made 'massive financial commitments' and charges developers just £100 to get started until May 11th (increasing to £250 thereafter).

"We want to enable lots of developers to open up the market and innovate without cost constraints," he added. "We believe we'll then benefit with volume from successful services as our proposition is unique in technical terms.

"Those who'd prefer better pricing are welcome to make an early volume commitment as we're receptive to mitigating some of the large costs we've taken on.

"As Ofcom continues to withhold resources, we need to ensure we make adequate reservations for early adopters to launch scalable services. As such, this is a last call for Developer Packs at the current price."

Read more: Simwood 'breaks down' mobile barriers and launches Developer Pack

Registrations are now open for the 2016 Twin Town Challenge which will see 100 cars costing £500 drive from Witney to its twin town of Le Touquet over a bank holiday weekend (27th to 30th May 2016).

Last year 50 cars costing just £500 invaded France in a fun filled
points based challenge to raise money for SpecialEffect. Next year
organisers are doubling the event and taking 100 cars with the aim of
raising twice as much for the charity.

Departing from the majestic setting of Blenheim Palace, the cars will travel to Brands Hatch for some driving challenges before heading to the tunnel and a civic reception in Le Touquet. The weekend will also include a visit to the Criox en Ternois circuit, a street party with live bands, a 'money can't buy auction' and a celebration event back at the finish in Oxfordshire .

The event is organised by STL Communications' MD Brendon Cross who said: "The 2014 event raised £130K for SpecialEffect and made such a huge difference to this small charity. Couple that with the demand from teams to repeat the event, we decided to take 100 cars and raise £250K."

Businesses and groups of individuals can enter a team of up to four people.

SpecialEffect is an Oxfordshire-based charity that puts fun and inclusion back into the lives of people with physical disabilities by helping them to play video games.

Nick Streeter of SpecialEffect added: "The Twin Town Challenge was the biggest ever donation we have ever had and it has enabled us to employ another Occupational therapist, set up an assessment room and to help more people beat their physical disabilities to enjoy video games."

Main sponsors for the 2016 event include Gamma and Oak who have given generously so that all the costs are covered, meaning that every penny raised by the teams goes straight to the charity.

Cross added: "I am grateful to some of STL's friends and supporters from the comms industry for their very valuable support in sponsoring the 2016 event."

John Haw of Gamma (pictured left above), who rose to fame during TTC14 dressed as Mario, said: "This event is great fun and it raises a lot of money for a brilliant cause. Gamma is delighted to sponsor the Twin Town Challenge again."

The comms industry was also well represented by cars taking part in Twin Town 2014, one of which was the only vehicle to come back from France on the back of a pick up truck. Even though the Link Connect car broke down, the team still said the experience was 'awesome'.

With places limited to 100 cars, businesses and individuals are being encouraged to register at www.twintown16.co.uk in order to guarantee a place on the starting grid.

Mitel has reported Q1 net income of $5.3m and revenue of $248.1m in the period, an increase of 2.7% (primarily as a result of the Aastra acquisition offset by foreign currency impacts).

Total revenue was down 10.6% from $277.4m in first quarter 2014 largely as a result of adverse foreign exchange movement and transition to recurring cloud.

Gross margins improved to 52.6% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to 51.9% in the prior year.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $280m to $305m for the fiscal second quarter.

Richard McBee, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Mitel's broad portfolio of enterprise solutions and strong execution in both our premise and cloud businesses delivered another solid quarter for Mitel.

"These results were achieved despite significant foreign exchange headwinds and our continued move to a recurring revenue model in our rapidly growing cloud business.

"Our operational discipline ensures that our premise business remains consistently profitable, a source of financial strength and cash generation which we are reinvesting in strategic growth initiatives.

"Demand was strong for our cloud communications solutions as demonstrated in our adding over 35,000 new recurring seats during the quarter."

He also noted that during the quarter Mitel took 'another major step' with the acquisition of Mavenir Systems, giving an established foothold in the rapidly growing adjacent mobile market. T

"The acquisition provides Mitel with an immediate revenue growth engine that positions the company to capitalise on the convergence of enterprise and mobile markets now rapidly transitioning to common IP network technology," added McBee.

He pointed out that Mitel's 'disciplined operating approach' enabled the company to deliver another quarter of solid profitability despite revenue headwinds of $21m from foreign exchange and an estimated $14m impact from transitioning to a recurring cloud revenue model. 

Steve Spooner, Chief Financial Officer, Mitel, added: "Leveraging the successful ongoing integration of Aastra we are now gearing up our integration program for Mavenir as our near-term priority. The expected EBITDA growth will position us to rapidly pay down debt and invest for growth."

Whatever your political persuasion, it is undeniable that financial markets and economies benefit from the confidence, certainty and consistency that a new majority government offers, writes Clive Jefferys, MD of Telecoms Recruiter, JMA Network.

Whether you agree or not with the result of the General Election, the uncertainty of coalition politics has been removed for the moment. Notwithstanding external, global factors and events, at least the agenda is clear.

Since the collapse of Lehman's heralded disaster in 2008, one of the biggest problems has been to rebuild business and consumer confidence. From this flows investment in infrastructure and jobs. It has taken nearly seven years hard work to get to what at least feels like a growing economy again.

However, the missing piece of the puzzle has been employee confidence.

Despite rapidly increasing hiring demand, the supply of new skilled candidates has been slow, reticent, nervous and uncertain.

This has frustrated the growth of many businesses across the UK over the last two years.

So perhaps the final component of our recovery will now fall into place.

While there have been great strides in raising employment to a record level of 31 million, this has often been at the price of low pay and uncertain hours.

So the next and most vital step is to raise the quality and rewards of employment and for most people - this means seeking promotion.

People should feel confident again about making that career move, and the best time to start is today.