Comms Dealer

Node4 has expanded its application development and managed cloud offering with the acquisition of open source technology services company Reconnix.

The acquisition will strengthen Node4's existing portfolio of cloud solutions and allow it to develop its PaaS offering so that customers can develop, run and manage web applications.

Based in Newark, Reconnix provides managed services for dedicated and cloud infrastructures, professional services for open source projects, open source application support and application development.

Reconnix customers include Morphsuits.co.uk, Visit Cornwall, Internet Watch Foundation, Johnnie Walker and Home Outlet (Wolseley).

The Reconnix team of 30-plus technical experts and engineers will continue to work from the Newark office and will become part of the Node4 team.

Steve Nice, co-founder and CEO of Reconnix will take up a senior management role as head of Node4's Open Source business. 

Node4's existing cloud offerings and broader portfolio of colocation, network connectivity and telephony and communications packages will be offered to Reconnix customers.

Andrew Gilbert, Managing Director, Node4, commented: "This latest acquisition will strengthen our expertise in three key areas that will be critical to our future success - application development, operations management and infrastructure management."

Steve Nice, Founder and CEO of Reconnix, added: "There is a clear synergy in the aims and ambitions of both companies and I believe the acquisition will bring further opportunities for both our employees and our customers."

Houghton Le Spring based Intelligent Communication Solutions has joined forces with BT Business Partner Sales' expanding channel as an Authorised Partner.

Intelligent Communication Solutions MD Les Wray said: "This partnership means we can expand our portfolio of products and offer a truly unified solution to our customers.

"We take a consultative approach to our customers to ensure we provide the best solution for their requirements. We are growing rapidly and have recently acquired a new 12,000 sq. ft office which we will be moving into in May."

Martin Clarke, General Manager, BT Business Partner Sales, said: "The passion that Les Wray and his team have to deliver quality solutions to local businesses was a key factor in us partnering with them.

"The team have an ability to sell across the BT Business portfolio to UK SME customers and also scale up as they will be moving into new premises later on in the year."

A new refinancing agreement has secured Claranet a long-term facility with the introduction of Goldman Sachs' Private Capital Team alongside existing finance providers RBS, ABRY Partners and Ares Management. Charles Nasser (pictured), Claranet Group founder and CEO, said: "Our financing  extends to 2020 and brings greater flexibility for us as we plan for further growth and development of our products and services.

"RBS, Ares and ABRY, our existing funding partners, have shown long-term commitment to Claranet and our strategy. Additionally, we are thrilled to partner with Goldman Sachs to support our evolution."

Ares and Goldman Sachs have provided a unitranche facility of £82m with RBS providing further support of a committed facility of up to £25m.

The arrangement takes advantage of the lower cost of debt made possible from Claranet's strengthening position, and gives greater flexibility to the company as it continues to grow across Europe.

Mohith Sondhi, Director, Structured Finance Corporates at RBS, said: "We believe the market remains fragmented in continental Europe and hope with the support of committed facilities in what we regard as an innovative structure, that Claranet will carry on their impressive growth and the successful delivery of their strategy."

The latest refinancing follows a successful financial year-end in June 2014 that saw 24 per cent revenue growth across Europe reaching a total of £127.4m (€175.8m).

The strong results demonstrate the success of Claranet's acquisition strategy, expanding its product portfolio and increasing its customer base and overall market position.

This led to an adjusted EBITDA figure of £23.0m (€31.7m) - 97 per cent up on the company's 2013 result of £11.7m (€16.1m). The total contracted future revenue of the Claranet Group as of 30 June 2014 was in excess of £185.7m (€256.3m).

Nasser added: "The refinancing is just the latest step to secure the long-term success of Claranet. We now have greater financial support that strengthens our hand in responding to the growing consolidation of the managed services sector in Europe."

IT services company Phoenix has opened a brand new, state-of-the-art Configuration & Distribution centre in Farnborough, Hampshire.

The centre, which represents an investment by Phoenix of approximately £500K, will create 20 new jobs in the area. This facility adds to existing capabilities in Northampton.
  
By expanding its regional network of distribution centres, Phoenix can provide its clients with quick and efficient delivery of required IT hardware, wherever their location.
 
This centre takes Phoenix's total storage and staging capacity to over 30,000 sq. ft. with Northampton representing 15,000 sq. ft. respectively. 

The building is protected by around-the-clock security and offers 1000 pallet locations and 120 metres of work bench space among many other features. 
 
Mark Ramsden, Head of Professional Services at Phoenix, said: "Opening this centre means that we can provide more flexibility to our customers in supporting complex rollouts of their IT projects.

"We understand that being agile is essential to our clients and we are delighted that our investment in this facility enables us to deliver that."   

Channel Telecom has taken a party of guests on an all-expenses paid four-night skiing trip to Méribel ski resort, home to the 1992 Winter Olympics.

Clifford Norton, MD, said: "We had a terrific time on the slopes with excellent snow on stunning pistes. Naturally there was some great après ski with a very good group of guests.

"We were also able to discuss our development plans for the year ahead in a relaxed atmosphere with some of our most important partners. We look forward to more reward and incentive events for our channel community in the coming months."

Hosting company Storm Internet has added StormCloud Private to its portfolio, giving customers the flexibility, scalability and reliability of the cloud but with the security and enhanced performance of a dedicated server.

Salim Benadel, CEO and founder, said StormCloud Private was developed in response to feedback from customers and market research, with the aim of bringing down the cost of Private Cloud compared to current industry standards.

Benadel said: "We've put a lot of R&D into this product to ensure it will help SMEs to get the most out of their IT infrastructure.

"This new product will help our customers speed up the release of their products and critical applications, cut back on their IT spend and provide the security that their users need to transact safely online.

"In a nutshell, it will allow our customers to host multiple servers securely and affordably in their own private cloud environment."

A key feature of StormCloud Private is the ability for users to create Windows and Linux Virtual Machines (VMs) on demand, within minutes and without needing to pay extra per VM.

"Customers can easily grow their cloud by simply adding in new parent servers as required, meaning seamless expansion becomes an affordable reality," added Benadel.

"This allows our clients to cut back on hardware expenses and the costs associated with a dedicated server."

Since moving to new offices in Buckhurst Hill one year ago to accommodate its expansion plans Channel Telecom continues to put its new platform to good use.

Clifford Norton, MD, said: "The premises move allowed us to expand our operations and to recruit additional staff."

Upon opening the offices in 2014, local MP and Deputy Speaker to the House of Commons, Eleanor Laing said, "It's good to see a business that started locally staying local while going from strength to strength, in fact doubling its turnover every year. It is also great to see employment opportunities for bright and enterprising people in the local area."

Hadas Hughes (pictured) has been appointed Director of Marcomms and Programmes at Exclusive Group.

Hughes will be responsible for coordinating all marketing activity for the Exclusive Group, and generating propositions on behalf of the global Exclusive Networks, Big Technology, Exclusive Capital and ITEC brands.

With 20-plus years experience in marketing management in both the B2B IT and financial services industries Hughes joins from Exclusive vendor partner Aerohive Networks where she successfully spearheaded international channel marketing, supporting strong growth in new markets over successive years.

"Hadas is a highly motivated, proven operator who'll work closely with all our marketing teams in more than 30 offices around the world," said Barrie Desmond, COO at Exclusive Group.

"As well as underpinning much of the great marketing work we do alongside our vendor and reseller partners, her skills will be put to good work communicating the Exclusive Group value-added services propositions, and explaining to the world how we are truly disrupting distribution in an ever-evolving market."

After consultation with the European Court of Justice over the long running case of Lock vs British Gas Trading, an employment tribunal has ruled that previously earned sales commissions must be compensated pro-rata, in the calculation of holiday pay for sales people.

Clive Jefferys of recruiter JMA Network said: "This is a landmark decision with far reaching consequences for any company employing sales people within the European Community."

Sales people may be entitled to backdate claims for a two year period, based on full paid holiday entitlement of at least 5.6 weeks in the UK.

For example, salespeople earning £60,000 pa, of which 50% was drawn from commission, could be entitled to an extra £3000 pa from their employer.

The ECJ has left the implementation of this ruling to national courts for the moment, but it does seem likely that it will become part of UK employment law in the not too distant future, noted Jefferys.

Cwmbran-based UC solutions provider SIPHON has secured a substantial equity investment from Finance Wales.

Since it was established in 2009, SIPHON has achieved impressive organic growth, doubling its revenues year-on-year.

The investment from Finance Wales will accelerate the next phase of its growth plan as SIPHON looks to increase its presence in the UK and Benelux, as well as expanding into other European markets.

"Securing this investment is a significant milestone for SIPHON and demonstrates Finance Wales' confidence in our business model as well as in our professional and technical expertise," said Steve Harris, co-founder and Managing Director of SIPHON.

"Finance Wales' investment provides us with the capital to continue the rapid expansion of SIPHON and achieve a further step-change in our growth.

"A high-calibre team of knowledge workers is integral to our success at SIPHON and we expect an active recruitment drive over the next two years to keep pace with our growing business."

Rob Smith, co-founder and Technical Director at SIPHON added: "As SIPHON has grown over the last six years we've expanded our portfolio to encompass cloud Infrastructure and cloud services, as well as targeting the wealth of deployment and integration opportunities for enabling real-time communications within Microsoft UC environments.

"Steve and I decided that securing equity investment from a long-term backer would help us take SIPHON to the next level."

Senior Investment Executive, Stephen Stolliday and Investment Executive, Leanna Davies structured Finance Wales' investment.

Stolliday said: "SIPHON has a strong product portfolio supported by a comprehensive suite of professional services.

"It's a combination that enables SIPHON to deliver innovative, end-to-end solutions to its world-class customer base.

"SIPHON is well placed to take advantage of an exciting time in the telecoms sector and scale up its operations."

In 2012, SIPHON acquired VCOMM Distribution in Newbury, boosting its warehousing and logistics facilities and enabling the rapid fulfilment of Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) contracts.

The company has continued to enhance its portfolio, recently establishing a Microsoft UC Technology Practice.