Comms Dealer

Union Street has acted swiftly to upgrade its aBILLity software with new functionality, enabling resellers to more easily manage the impact of upcoming regulatory changes to non-geographic call services (NGCS).

In July this year Ofcom will introduce significant new regulations governing the way calls made by consumers (as opposed to businesses) to selected non-geographic number ranges are calculated and charged.

According to Union Street, these regulations represent a challenge for resellers' billing processes, particularly with regard to the requirement for segmenting consumers' call charges into separate service and access charges.

In its latest version of aBILLity, the company has taken steps to make charging consumers for NGCS a straightforward process and will be upgrading its clients over the coming months.

The firm has also introduced consultancy services to give clients the option of outsourcing the work involved in updating dial codes and charge groups to Union Street.

"The new regulations present a number of challenges to resellers with consumer customers," said MD Tony Cook.

"Resellers that deal exclusively with business customers will also be affected by the introduction of new charge groups and dial codes.

"We would advise all resellers to make any necessary enquiries with their suppliers and begin preparations soon to ensure they are ready by the deadline."

CorptelUK has linked up with American headset supplier VXi Corporation to distribute its range of VXi headset and Bluetooth products in the UK and Europe.

CorptelUK MD Paul Baxter commented: "VXi's high-performance products complement our portfolio and support our commitment to provide customers with the latest technologies and innovative solutions."

VXi Corporation Vice President of Sales, Janis Yuskaitis, added: "CorptelUK will play a strong role in introducing VXi solutions to office, enterprise, contact centre and mobile professional headset users in the UKL and Europe.

"VXi is a strategic alliance partner with Cisco, Polycom and Avaya DevConnect, so our product line will be a perfect accompaniment to Corptel's telephone offerings.

"Working with Corptel, we look forward to significantly growing VXi's business overseas."

Blackburn-based Unified World has been named Lancashire's first Vodafone Solutions Pioneer accredited company.

The accreditation recognises Unified World's technical support in supplying, installing and maintaining a range of Vodafone products including One Net.

Neil Jones, Managing Director for Unified World, said: "While we work independently with all the major mobile brands, its fantastic news to receive this accreditation from Vodafone as recognition of our technical competence and level of customer support in providing integrated communication solutions for our customers."

ITSPA (the Internet Telephony Service Provider's Association) has voiced support for the European Council net neutrality proposal after presenting the Latvian Presidency of the European Union an award, voted on by its members for their leadership in developing a workable council text on the Open Internet.

ITSPA has long campaigned for an open Internet to ensure effective competition in Internet-based services but has expressed concerns about adopting an extreme net-neutrality position that would prevent effective management of the Internet.
 
Eli Katz, chair of ITSPA, said: "We have been very active in this area over the last few years. We believe the Latvian Presidencies' Open Internet proposals strike the right balance between promoting competition while enabling innovation.

"They will put an end to abusive practices by a minority of ISPs who have tried to frustrate competition with their own services while at the same time allowing specialised services to be offered with enhanced levels of prioritisation.

"This is essential if the Internet is to reach its full potential, for example by delivering TV services over broadband to free up valuable radio spectrum for mobiles."
 
Eli Katz went on to express the hope that the European Parliament would not seek to modify the text.

"This is a carefully worded proposal that has undergone thorough review. This is a complex area and it's all too easy to create unfortunate unintended consequences which would be difficult to unwind. We urge the Parliament to accept the Council net neutrality text while keeping the area under review to ensure the internet remains open and vibrant."

Pictured: Guy Miller of ITSPA presents the award to Ildze Jansone, Coordinator of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU at the Embassy of Latvia in the UK.

Poor advice from vendors is the biggest barrier to a SME's agility, with nearly 60 per cent believing they don't have the technology to future-proof their business, according to TalkTalk Business research.

Often with no IT function, determining who and how to educate SMEs can be present a challenge for the channel with 32 per cent of SMEs ranking staff IT literacy as the key barrier for achieving a more agile business.

SMEs are looking to the channel for education and advice, not to just patch-up current systems.
 
Under investment, security, business continuity and regulation were cited by respondents as the primary agility barriers for corporate and enterprises, and 40 per cent of firms are dissatisfied with the time needed by IT to process requests.
 
40 per cent of enterprises feel they are being held back by their technology, with just under half looking to the channel to help find solutions.

The report highlights the need for the channel to implement change for customers as an iterative process, with three quarters of enterprises either being slow adopters of technology or only doing so as part of a mass adoption cycle.
 
Charles Bligh, Managing Director, TalkTalk Business said: "Agility is a key asset for businesses of all sizes and channel partners are in a unique position to help companies grow and adapt, by educating, advising and implementing updated IT and connectivity solutions.
 
"By providing the insight and knowledge needed, the channel can ensure that businesses maintain the bandwidth and network infrastructure to support data heavy applications and make British businesses better off."

UK software provider Advanced Computer Software Group has been acquired by Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm with over $14bn in committed capital, for an enterprise value of £750m. Shareholders will receive 140 pence per share equating to an equity value of approximately £725m.

The takeover puts Advanced in a powerful financial position to invest in and develop the business through the next phase of growth, supporting its ambition to become a major global player.

"This acquisition means we now have the major financial backing we need to support us through our next phase of growth and establish our position as a serious global player," said Vin Murria, CEO of Advanced Computer Software Group.

"Our customers will benefit from increased investment in our product and services as we continue to offer innovative and leading edge technology solutions implemented both on-premise and, increasingly, via a subscription model."

Founded in 2008, Advanced provides healthcare, business and learning management software and services. It has more than 2,000 employees and 20,000 customers.

The group has grown revenue to more than £200m through a programme of complementary acquisitions and strong organic growth.

"Advanced has a strong history of delivering mission critical and high ROI solutions to its customers," said Brian Sheth, Co-Founder and President of Vista Equity Partners.

"Vista will help Advanced build on that success by contributing professional expertise, proven best practices, and management techniques that will help Advanced continue to deliver operational, product and service excellence."

Despite a growing reliance among businesses on the Internet, recent research has discovered that slow Internet connections are costing the UK economy £11bn a year in lost productivity, as millions are left unable to work during periods of IT downtime.

The research commissioned by Daisy Group found that the average worker is unable to complete their normal job responsibilities for up to 44 minutes every week due to poor broadband speeds, while seven per cent admitted that their Internet connection grinds to a halt more than 10 times in any given seven day period.

According to the study, more than a third (39%) of respondents said that their home Internet connection was 'much faster' than the one they use at work. This is despite the government's effort to roll out fibre broadband across the UK and offer free grants to subside the costs of upgrading a connection.

Jan Wielenga, Product Manager for Data Networks at Daisy Group, said: "Too many businesses are still relying on basic ADSL connections that are aimed at the residential users. These are the businesses that struggle to cope with the high-bandwidth demands of software and apps that workers use.

"It is simply unacceptable for businesses that rely heavily on the Internet to experience periods of downtime, particularly at a time when fibre and dedicated Ethernet connections have never been more affordable and available.

"The Internet going down or running slowly for 44 minutes per week doesn't sound much, but the result of any loss of productivity is that businesses can suffer."

During periods of slow Internet access, more than half (60%) of those surveyed admitted that they turn to their smartphones for non-related work activities, such as online shopping and checking social media. Worryingly, nine per cent of respondents admitted to using their smartphones to look for other jobs when they have no Internet access.

The research suggests that the average worker loses 38 hours of productivity a year through slow Internet access or IT downtime. Taking the UK's average wage of £13 per hour, and 72% of the UK's workforce of 30 million that use the Internet in their job roles, it is estimated that £494 worth of productivity is lost per employee per year, which across the country mounts up to a staggering £11bn.

The research was conducted to assess the take-up of the government's SuperConnected Cities scheme that helps subsidise the cost of a superfast connection upgrade for SMEs. Businesses located within a defined postcode in 22 cities are currently eligible for a grant of up to £3,000, with more cities due to be added to the scheme in April 2015.

"A strong digital infrastructure has become the backbone of any forward-thinking organisation because it ensures that they are prepared for the future. However, there is a lack of awareness amongst SMEs that the SuperConnected Cities scheme exists which is hindering the UK economy. Now really is the time to upgrade to avoid being left behind the competition," added Wielenga.

To assist SMEs decide which connectivity solution meets their requirements, in conjunction with the CBI, Daisy is hosting a free webinar on the subject on 26th March.

The Government's ambitions for broadband are 'good news' says the Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA) which supports the Chancellor's aim to connect the majority of homes to faster broadband.
 
"ISPA is also pleased with the extra Government support for different technologies to deliver broadband to the hardest-to-reach areas and that the Connection Vouchers scheme will be significantly extended as the scheme starts to bear fruit," said ISPA Secretary General Nicholas Lansman.

"ISPA has always wanted to see as many users as possible benefitting from the benefits of broadband, so we note with interest Government's ambition to raise the Universal Service Obligation from 'dial up speeds to 5Mpbs'.

"ISPA will be exploring this with its members, looking at the practical issues a USO presents as part of our wider work on the future of the communications industry.

"ISPA will be working with the Government to understand how these ambitious plans will be delivered. Government will only be able to do so in tandem with the breadth of industry, to ensure Government support is properly targeted and fosters competition."

ZyXEL Communications has introduced a new European-wide partner programme using a purchase frequency based approach instead of a focus on revenue tiers.

Working on a three-tier partnership system - Reseller, Authorised, and Premium - new partners enter the programme at Reseller level and progress to higher levels through purchase frequency.

Meanwhile, longstanding ZyXEL partners can enter the programme based on their purchase history from the previous year.

This ensures that existing partners are rewarded for their loyalty, while new members enjoy the benefits of being ZyXEL partners regardless of their average purchase value.

Lee Marsden, President of ZyXEL Europe, commented: "Too many partner programmes focus only on the big resellers and those who don't bring in the biggest deals are often missed out. We wanted to change our programme to not just reward our biggest customers, but to ensure that all of our partners see the benefits of working with ZyXEL."

ZyXEL Vice President Channel Sales Europe Jean Michel Bielli added: "Alongside our new approach to partner rewards we have also introduced new benefits and levels of support."

Today's start-up community stands to make over £100bn from the Internet of Everything (IoE) in the next decade alone claims a new report from Cisco. To build on this opportunity and encourage more start-ups to gain from IoE Cisco is calling on businesses, government and education to develop closer partnerships.

This, believes Cisco, will help to better educate students and young entrepreneurs about the opportunities that STEM skills unlock, and position jobs in science and technology as an opportunity to engineer the future and drive innovation across the UK.

Last year the Prime Minister announced that the UK government will spend £45m developing technologies based on the Internet of Things (IoT); more recently Ofcom issued a statement that it would look to put in the appropriate regulatory framework to help the UK's IoT market flourish.

Broken down by four vertical sectors - healthcare, retail, transport and energy - the report, entitled 'The Internet of Everything: Unlocking the Opportunity for UK Start-ups', revealed that start-ups in the healthcare industry currently have the greatest opportunity, with the scope to access over £48bn over the next decade through innovations in the IoE.

The retail industry is not far behind at £37bn, with big gains also to be made in transport (£11bn) and energy (£7bn).

Businesses in all of these industries have significant opportunity to transform their respective industries by streamlining processes, removing inefficiency and creating better experiences.

The report coincides with the launch of Cisco's 2015 BIG awards, an initiative designed to reward the UK's most innovative IoE start-up digital businesses and SMEs with an investment of cash, technology and human resources.

Cisco predicts that the number of devices connected worldwide will rise from around a billion today to 50bn by 2020. But with less than 1% of the world currently connected, options for the startup community to exploit opportunities for digitalisation and connectivity are substantial.

Phil Smith, Chief Executive, Cisco UK and Ireland, said: "UK companies of every size are devoting time and ingenuity to designing and building IoE applications, from the smallest SMEs to the largest enterprises.

"These companies are not just digitising in the conventional sense but finding completely new ways to connect people, processes, data and things, from their supply chains to their office spaces and their customers.

"The UK's startup community is a great source of innovation, and we're confident that we're only witnessing the first wave. In the coming months and years we can expect these businesses to be at the forefront of the transformation of the UK economy as we fully embrace the possibilities of a digital future."