Comms Dealer

Kent-based Rainbow Telecom has installed a Video as a Service (VaaS) solution at the Enfield offices of The National Office of Animal Health to help supporters meet regularly online.

NOAH is a non-profit members association representing the UK animal medicines industry.

The association is made up of committees and working groups with members from companies scattered across the UK.

Due to the ever increasing pressure on people's time, together with the unpredictability caused by road works and traffic incidents, apologies and late arrivals had become a common occurrence.

Rainbow's VaaS service allows members to dial in from any device, without the need for compatible video conferencing equipment.

All it takes is the download of an app, a reliable internet connection and an internet enabled device such as a laptop or tablet.

Commenting on the deployment, NOAH Office Manager Joanne Jeffs said: "Our overall aim was to bring as many members together and to enhance engagement at our meetings. We've achieved that thanks to the Rainbow Video Service."

Rainbow Managing Director Dave Corgat told Comms Dealer: "For some months we had been working on a VaaS solution that would deliver enterprise quality video conferencing on a flexible basis, with a system that offered excellent functionality, reliability and the greatest simplicity of use.

"The system is enjoying more use than originally anticipated. As well as committee meetings, NOAH has held remote meetings with suppliers and its PR agency, all of whom have commented on how easy it was to use, and the convenience of being able to meet face-to-face without travelling."

Adept Telecom's Chief Executive Ian Fishwick is gearing up for more acquisitions when the company achieves a cash positive position, he revealed in a trading update for the year ended 31st March 2015 (final results are expected to be announced in early July 2015).

According to Fishwick the firm beat city expectations in terms of the final dividend which has increased 58% from 3p last year to 4.75p this financial year.

"There can be no better sign of confidence for a business than announcing dividends like this," said Fishwick. "Our EBIDTA is in line with city expectations of £4.6m, up 14% on a revenue rise of just under 6%.

"Another area where we have exceeded city expectations is in cash generation. In March 2014 we announced that our net debt had fallen by £330K to just over £3m - a great result considering we had done an acquisition and increased the dividend.

"This year, debt dropped by £1.4m, so our cash generation was £1.1m better than expected."

With debt down to £1.6m and cash generation accelerating Fishwick expects Adept to be cash positive sooner rather than later, an event that will catalyse more activity around acquisitions.

"We don't like the idea of being cash positive in this era of low interest rates, so we are poised to look for earning enhancing acquisitions," added Fishwick.

Solutions provider ITS has celebrated 50 years in the IT industry. Founded in 1896, ITS started as a printing business in Northfield, Birmingham, under the name Kalamazoo.

Known for its business stationery (loose-leaf binders and account forms) Kalamazoo noted the shift in technology during the 1960s and began time-sharing its mainframe to offer computer services outside of the business.

In the early 1970s, Kalamazoo started the development for a car dealer management system (DMS) and by 1975 was supporting these computers with hardware maintenance.

By the 1980s Kalamazoo had become the UK's largest DMS provider. This success saw several acquisitions, including TE Datacare, an IT maintenance company for dealerships.

This acquisition prompted the company's transition into managed services outside of the automotive industry.

Following the acquisition by UCS in 2002 and UCS's merger with Reynolds and Reynolds in 2006, Kalamazoo has undergone several name changes.

Still situated in Northfield, the original Kalamazoo is now split into IT services (ITS) and DMS solutions (Reynolds and Reynolds UK).

Today, ITS focuses on offering IT services and solutions to the SME market.

ITS now has 250 staff across its three regional offices and engineer stations.

Terry Hanvey, Head of UK Operations, said: "We have always been an innovative company. As Kalamazoo we introduced time-sharing to our mainframes back in the 60s and more recently, entering the cloud arena.

"The company has been built on sound foundations of quality products and services topped by the excellent people who have worked for the company throughout this period. I am particularly proud to be at the helm at this key point in the company's history." 

Mitel's Graham Bevington has been appointed to the newly created position of Executive Vice-President and Chief Sales Officer responsible for the vendor's worldwide sales operations.

He will work to coordinate and leverage opportunities across regions through global strategic accounts, and establish a global network of distribution partners to drive Mitel's market presence.

In addition, with a strategic vision to expand Mitel's historic strength in vertical markets, Bevington will introduce and implement a series of global vertical market sales programmes. He will also play a lead role in assessing and evaluating potential M&A opportunities for the company.

An industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience, Bevington has held a series of senior sales management positions at Mitel for more than 15 years.

Under his leadership, Mitel has successfully entered and expanded its market presence in regions around the world. Prior to his current position, Bevington led Mitel's Europe, Middle East and Africa sales organisation.

"In a converging and consolidating marketplace, capitalising on competitive opportunities quickly and successfully is key to growth," said Rich McBee, President and CEO Mitel. "Graham is uniquely prepared to provide the industry insight, competitive knowledge, and strategic sales know-how to capitalise on evolving customer opportunities and to drive Mitel's sales programme to the next level."

Bevington added: "We have entered an extraordinary period in the enterprise market where technology advancement, upgrade opportunities and competitive disruption are unleashing customers and enabling them to think differently about their technology needs.

"Customers are determining the winners and losers in our industry, bid by bid, and on a daily basis. With one of the broadest portfolios in the industry, Mitel is situated to capitalise in this climate."

Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman and his partners are creating a $16bn fund to invest in tech and telecom companies in the US and Europe.

LetterOne Technology plans to buy struggling telecom companies that require fresh capital, or technology companies that make apps or streaming services that could be used by its global mobile operations.

The fund will also act as a holding company for the group's 48% stake in VimpelCom and 13% stake in Turkcell.

Norbain has boosted its video analytics portfolio with the addition of Agent Video Intelligence (Agent Vi), a global provider of open architecture video analytics software.

Customers will be able to buy Agent Vi's unified video analytics software solution, savVi, which offers a variety of analytics functionalities through a single, easy to use platform that integrates with existing or new surveillance systems.

Mark Field, Supplier Relations Director at Norbain, said: "Agent Vi and savVi have a great track record for providing the reliable analytics that are increasingly being demanded for today's applications."

Ariel Frischoff, VP Sales EMEA & APAC at Agent Vi, comments: "Agent Vi sees growing demand for video analytics in the UK market, and Norbain is a key strategic partner to help meet this growing demand.

"Norbain offers a wide range of surveillance products, including many cameras and VMSs that are seamlessly integrated with Agent Vi's analytics platform, savVi.

"Accordingly, the addition of Agent Vi's video analytics solutions benefits Norbain's customers by adding value to their surveillance installations."

Demand for IT skills is highest in the south east where 65% of SMEs are struggling to recruit IT staff for their in-house IT operations, closely followed by the north east and the east midlands, where 60% of SMEs are finding it difficult to recruit IT talent.

That's according to Node4's regional study which also found that 46% of London-based SMEs are suffering from the IT talent shortage.

As a result, says the firm, outsourced IT provision is becoming an increasingly viable option for the 79% of UK SMEs that are frustrated with their current IT infrastructure - 65% of SMEs agree that outsourcing their IT infrastructure removes the headache of IT management and almost half use some form of cloud infrastructure.

An increasing number of business decision makers are choosing to completely outsource their IT infrastructure. Cost is also a factor, with nearly a third of respondents saysin in-house IT infrastructure costs too much to maintain.

Node4's research highlights a 5% increase on last year in the number of UK SMEs with entirely outsourced IT provision.

Paul Bryce, Business Development Director, Node4, said: "Companies increasingly view technology and IT as a business enabler, as something that underpins their day to day operations.

"But along with the growing importance of technology has come the need for increasingly skilled staff to manage, maintain and constantly develop these complex systems.

"The nationwide struggle for skilled IT talent is a major concern for businesses. With a large number of SMEs frustrated with technical limitations and the day-to-day administration of their infrastructure it's hardly surprising that local outsourcing has become a preference so that organisations can continue to win more business, beat the competition and succeed."

A management buyout of Pinacl Solutions UK led by MD Rob Bardwell has put the company on a stronger footing and signals a new growth phase for the business, he claims.

Commenting on the MBO of Perseus Pinacl Holding from New York-based investment company Centre Lane Partners, he said: "We will continue to draw on the success of the last 30 years, in particular the past 18 months.

"We are looking forward to the challenge and relish the opportunities that exist for our business in the market."

Pinacl's services are used by FTSE 100 companies, local government, enterprise and SMEs.

Pinacl specialises in Wi-Fi, managed services, IP networking and the 'Total Communications Fabric'.

The firm is Silver Investors In People accredited and has BSI standards in Quality Management (ISO 9001: 2008), Environmental Management (ISO 14001:2004) and Information Security Management (ISO/IEC 27001:2005).

Gigaset pro has unwrapped the Gigaset S650H PRO, a new handset developed for SMEs and in response to the growing demand for DECT IP telephones that are replacing traditional ISDN devices.
 
The S650H PRO offers a range of audio profiles and the sound quality is based on Gigaset's patented HDSP audio technology. This provides HD audio quality for a range of different noise levels.
 
The new S650H PRO is suitable for use in N720 multicell environments, which means it can be used with confidence throughout the company's premises without any dropped connections.

Later in 2015, a software update will make it possible to apply updates wirelessly, so new software can be installed on a large number of handsets in a short period.
 
The S650H is fully compatible with the N720 and N510 base stations and can be used from any location to search cloud-based or local phone books, listen to voice mails and manage incoming calls etc.

Elliot Howard has been named as NetApp's new UK & Ireland Country Manager.

Reporting directly to the Northern EMEA management team, his main area of focus will be accelerating sales and overseeing the development of NetApp's field operations.
 
He joins from Sopra Banking Software where he spent four years as UK Managing Director.

Howard also held the position of Executive Vice President, reporting to the CEO and contributing to global business strategy.

Prior to that, he spent five years at HP as Global Client Business Manager, leading key relationships with global banking customers and developing sales strategy across the full HP portfolio.
 
Howard commented: "I'm excited to join NetApp due to its data management value proposition and company culture."
 
Dave Allen, Vice President & GM Northern EMEA, NetApp, added: "Elliot's experience, focus and leadership style will help develop our business and drive growth in the UK&I.

"He brings tremendous insight from previous engagements managing global customer relationships, sales, and portfolio strategies, all of which are key in helping our partners and customers leverage their data assets and maximise their business value."