Comms Dealer

Nimans has added a ‘dual socket' innovation to its connectivity portfolio.

Purchasing Director Andy Winfield says the new multi-purpose two-way USB plug is easy to install and suited to a range of vertical sectors from hotels and hospitals to schools, general offices and even the domestic market.

"The USB solution reflects growing demand for dual connectivity as the growth in mobile phone charging and power for laptops continues to rise," he said.

"It frees up standard plug sockets for other appliances, prevents overloading and is an easy way for resellers to upgrade sites and add more value to their revenue potential."

For decades the name Sennheiser has been synonymous with numerous innovations in audio technology. This year, the audio specialist is celebrating its 70th anniversary. It remains a family-owned and -operated enterprise, now headed by a third generation of the Sennheiser family. Today's CEOs, Daniel Sennheiser and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser, are the grandchildren of the company's founder, Prof. Dr. Fritz Sennheiser.
 
Sennheiser has made a significant impact on the evolution of audio technology over the past seven decades, from the world's very first open headphones, the HD 414, to present-day innovations such as the Digital 9000 wireless microphone system and MobileConnect, an inclusive audio-streaming solution for people with sight and hearing impairments.

To read more about Sennheiser's milestone achievement click here

The finalists for the European IT & Software Excellence Awards 2015 has been announced by IT Europa, with a total of 83 companies from 32 European countries have made the finals.

The winners will be crowned during the Awards Dinner at the Lancaster London Hotel on 25th March 2015.

With record numbers of entrants this year and the highest quality of project submitted, the European IT industry is demonstrating a new-found confidence and a widening range of abilities. In the list released of finalists in the awards, there is a wide range in the sizes of company, technology approaches taken and entries from all parts of the European region.

Chair of the judges and Editor of IT Europa, John Garratt, said: "There is some truly impressive work being undertaken here. The judges' scores were among the highest we have seen in the seven-year history of these awards. And the projects encompassed every type, from government-wide multi-year, multi-disciplined major schemes to innovative ideas for small vertical markets.

"I would like to thank all the entrants, and I think we can use the quality of what is presented here as a confirmation that IT across Europe is vibrant and able to take on the challenges posed by all types of demands from customers."

The finalists:
Solution Provider: SME Solution of the Year
Getronics
Databarracks
Utilize PLC
Enterprise Study Ltd
ADSOFTWARE

Solution Provider: Enterprise Solution of the Year
Xplenty
Accellion, Inc.
Sesui Ltd
Consortium S&T Serbia - S&T Crna Gora
SoftServe Inc.
Komfo
Green Fields
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Ltd

Solution Provider: Datacentre Solution of the Year
VIRTUS Data Centres
Node4
Green Fields
TechMahindra Limited

Solution Provider: Vertical Solution of the Year
VECTA Sales Solutions Ltd
Sesui Ltd
Getronics Services UK Ltd
Carrenza
Tech Mahindra Ltd
IBA Group
Safetybank by Olive Business Solutions

Solution Provider: Public Sector and Utilities Solution of the Year
BJSS
IBA Group
Consortium S&T Serbia - S&T Crna Gora
SoftServe Inc.
McKesson Imaging & Workflow Solutions
DRI
SCC

Solution Provider: Managed Services Solution of the Year
Utilize PLC
Fusion Media Networks
Diligent Boardbooks Limited
Neteven
Interoute
Logicnow
TIG

Solution Provider: Connected/Mobility Solution of the Year
AirWatch by VMware
Sesui Ltd
Connecting Software
SoftServe Inc.

Solution Provider: Storage/Information Management Solution of the Year
Avere Systems
TechMahindra Limited
Diligent Boardbooks Limited
BrightStarr

Solution Provider: Big Data, Business Intelligence and Analytics Solution of the Year
Bell Integrator
Xplenty
Northdoor plc
VECTA Sales Solutions Ltd

Solution Provider: Networking Solution of the Year
Bell Integrator
NetSupport Ltd
Circle IT

Solution Provider: Security Solution of the Year
AirWatch by VMware
SoftServe Inc.
The Lava Group
AlienVault

ISV: ERP/CRM/Relationship Solution of the Year
123 Insight Ltd
Sana Commerce
LIFE IS HARD

ISV: Information & Document Management Solution of the Year
Sana Commerce
DocLogix
Consortium S&T Serbia - S&T Crna Gora
Empolis Information Management GmbH

ISV: Big Data, Business Intelligence and Analytics Solution of the Year
Sana Commerce
Rosslyn Analytics
Vecta Sales Solutions Ltd
Muddy Boots Software
Databarracks

ISV: Connected/Mobility Solution of the Year
BrightStarr
Arkessa Limited
Connecting Software
LIFE IS HARD

ISV: Vertical Market Solution of the Year
Arkessa Limited
Consortium S&T Serbia - S&T Crna Gora
Content Guru Ltd
Symphony EYC
PureNet
Sequel Business Solutions
JETCAM International s.a.r.l.
Safetybank by Olive Business Solutions

ISV: Government/Utilities Solution of the Year
Consortium S&T Serbia - S&T Crna Gora
Arkessa Limited
Content Guru Ltd
UNIT4
Unicorn System a.s.

ISV: SaaS Solution of the Year
Vecta Sales Solutions Ltd
Komfo
Blue Jeans Network
Calendar42
channelcentral.net
Enterprise Study Ltd
Red Fish Systems Ltd
Safetybank by Olive Business Solutions

ISV: Software Innovation Solution of the Year
Sequel Business Solutions
Sana Commerce
Databarracks
Hosting Systems Ltd
Elephants Don't Forget Limited
5nine Software
BrightStarr
Komfo

Suppliers: Connected Technologies Vendor of the Year
QLogic Corp.
Emulex

Suppliers: Distributor of the Year
Wick Hill
ADN Advanced Digital Network Distribution GmbH
Hammer
Avnet
Espion
AB S.A.
Info Quest Technologies S.A.
Exclusive Networks UK

Suppliers: Finance/ Support Services Provider of the Year
BNP Paribas Leasing
Syscap

Suppliers: Security Vendor of the Year
Centrify
Fortinet

Suppliers: Service Provider of the Year
Interoute
Genius Networks

Suppliers: Software Vendor of the Year
EMC
IFS
Nexenta Systems

Suppliers: Technology Vendor of the Year
Toshiba
Tintri
EMC Corporation
Violin Memory
Oracle

OneM2M, the global standards initiative for M2M and the IoT, has issued its Release 1 global standards.

More than 200 member companies from the across the world contributed to Release 1's development through the seven ICT standards development organisations and five industry consortia that founded oneM2M.

oneM2M's Release 1 is a set of 10 specifications, all publicly available from oneM2M's website, covering requirements, architecture, API specifications, security solutions and mapping to common industry protocols such as CoAP, MQTT and HTTP.

oneM2M Release 1 also makes use of OMA and Broadband Forum specifications for Device Management capabilities.

Release 1 provides sufficient building blocks to enable today's generation of M2M and IoT applications to interwork with each other.

"Release 1 utilises well- proven protocols to allow applications across industry segments to communicate with each other as never before, not only moving M2M forward but actually enabling the Internet of Things," said Dr Omar Elloumi, Head of M2M and Smart Grid Standards at Alcatel-Lucent and oneM2M Technical Plenary Chair.

"Having such a set of specifications working together at the service layer to truly stitch M2M together will allow service providers to support applications and services across a range of industries. This opens up a whole new world, a future of seamless interaction to transform the way we all work and play in the future."

oneM2M Release 1 follows the announcement last August of oneM2M's Candidate Release specifications - the first publication of the specifications which have now become Release 1.

The Candidate Release was circulated for comment and amendment by the industry. In December a successful showcase event took place in Europe where demonstrations were conducted by technology companies and organisations.

"Tis is just the start of our role in the process. We now need to work on making the whole experience of using M2M much easier for everyone, as well as looking to achieve further seamless interworking with other IoT technologies through collaboration with the groups working on them," added Dr Elloumi.

Plantronics has unveiled four new UC audio devices - the Blackwire 725, the company's first UC stereo headset with Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) for people who want to stay focused in noisy office environments; the Voyager Edge UC, the latest product in the Voyager family of Bluetooth headsets aimed at workers constantly on the road; the Calisto 610, a portable speakerphone for instant anywhere conferencing; and the Clarity 340, designed for those who face vision, hearing, or dexterity challenges.

"There's been increasing emphasis on the importance of a reliable, high-quality, seamless user experience when communicating and collaborating today, and rightly so," said Rich Costello, senior research analyst, unified communications, IDC. "The new Plantronics offerings not only address these important requirements, but also address the surrounding noise factor on both sides of the call."     
 
Richard Rogers, head of E&A B2B marketing, Plantronics, said: "Everywhere is the new workplace. We know office noise is increasingly becoming a concern due to more open working environments that promote collaboration, but workplace noise isn't just a problem for those in the office.

"You can't always control your environment and you certainly can't control your caller's environment, so we help ensure workers have solutions they need to block out the noise, allowing them to have a high-quality communication experience wherever their workplace is."

Azlan is running a joint business building event with HP where senior personnel from the companies will present their perspective on the opportunities that IT market trends and technological developments offer partners.

They will also present an overview of HP's converged solutions portfolio and signpost the key areas of growth potential on 24th February at London's Savoy hotel.

Clive Freeman, HP UK and Ireland Chief Technology Officer is delivering a keynote presentation on the New Style of IT in which he will explain the company's approach towards IT propositions and how this will help partners to increase engagement with prospective customers and drive demand.

Andy Dow, Head of the HP Enterprise Group at Azlan, will host the event and explain in his presentation how HP partners can make use of Azlan's HP expertise, professional services capabilities and sales enablement resources to support their business development.

Dow said: "This event will give resellers insight into HP's plan for the coming year and enable them to shape their own strategy and approach accordingly. We see some good growth prospects with HP's software and services, with the new Gen9 servers and converged systems, with software-defined networking and 3PAR enterprise storage solutions."

Volta Data Centres, the developer and operator of central London's purpose-designed carrier-neutral data centre, has launched a Power by the Hour service at its Great Sutton Street (GSS) data centre.

This new power consumption model is suitable for start-ups, small businesses and larger organisations requiring project-based resources.

It provides an affordable, zero commitment route for companies stepping into a cloud infrastructure or outsourcing to a colocation site for the first time.

Businesses are charged on an hourly basis for the amount of power used, with charging beginning when their equipment is installed in the data centre.

This service uses itemised billing to enable companies to accurately monitor their power consumption by the hour and only pay for what they have used.

Power by the Hour subscribers are charged by the Kilowatt hour, and benefit from 10Mbps of resilient IP bandwidth connectivity as soon as the company installs its equipment in the data centre. There is also no power reservation fee.

Jon Arnold, Managing Director, Volta Data Centres, said: "There are many markets where an hourly pay plan approach delivers enormous benefits in rapid availability, flexibility and scalability.

"We believe that this disruptive pricing model is the first initiative of its kind and offers an entry into a high specification data centre that would have previously been unaffordable to many smaller organisations, and for larger organisations that require project-type flexibility in their storage requirements.

"Companies today are considering how to better handle their IT infrastructure and data storage needs. Power by the Hour enables Volta Data Centre to offer a range of flexible billing solutions to all our customers and ensures that we can cater for everyone's individual business needs."

Following BT's announced that it has agreed definitive terms to acquire EE for £12.5bn, and with the due diligence now complete and financing in place, attention turns to getting the necessary regulatory clearance from UK competition authorities, pointed out Matthew Howett, Practice Leader, Regulation, Ovum.

The competition investigation is likely to focus on spectrum holdings and wholesale access for other mobile operators, he believes.

"BT anticipates that the transaction will need to be cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)," said Howett. "Depending on whether or not remedies are required, that process could last between eight and 32 weeks.

"The operator does not expect clearance from the EC to be required. At this point in time, things generally look promising and the green light is likely to be given, albeit with concessions needed. One of those is likely to address the combined entity's spectrum holding. BT was particularly successful in the 2013 4G spectrum auction, acquiring spectrum at 2.6GHz, and the inquiry is likely to assess what adding this to EE's already sizable lot will mean."

What potentially complicates things is the planned acquisition of O2 by Three - it is not yet clear whether issues arising from that will be considered by the CMA separately or as part of this review, observed Howett.

"A combined Three and O2 would have a concentration of the lower-frequency spectrum (ideal for providing coverage), but would have no higher-frequency spectrum at 2.6GHz, which is needed for capacity given consumers' insatiable appetite for data," her added. "If both transactions are to conclude, there could be a reorganization of spectrum holdings between the two enlarged operators."

The other concession likely to be needed concerns mobile backhaul, reckons Howett. "Other UK mobile operators are already calling for guarantees that the wholesale products BT currently provides for backhauling traffic will be offered on a nondiscriminatory basis," he said.

"This issue could be resolved if all of the relevant products currently provided by BT Wholesale move into the BT Openreach division, which is already obligated to provide access on a nondiscriminatory basis.

"This solution is on the radar, and Ovum understands that Ofcom has been considering it since November of last year. Given the importance of these inputs to other mobile operators, a firm guarantee will be needed."

The addition of 5.7 million 4G customers helped EE to achieve its 2014 targets, including 25% adjusted EBITDA margin.

EE's 4G base is up 284% to 7.7 million, exceeding its six million target.

In its full year highlights EE delivered EBITDA +1.0% year-on-year (yoy) to £1,589m, a 25.1% (FY 2013: 24.3%) margin, with strong delivery of network and retail optimisation synergies (with H2 adjusted EBITDA margin of 25.8% - H2 2013, 25.3%).

Olaf Swantee, Chief Executive Officer of EE, commented: "We have achieved our goals of maintaining revenue leadership, generating £3.5bn in savings to reach a 25% adjusted EBITDA margin."

The company also reported mobile service revenue at a steady -0.2% y-o-y excluding regulation and 1.4% lower with regulatory impact. Generated 5.5% growth in EBITDA minus CAPEX.

EE experienced strong fixed growth with broadband base up +108k (+14.9%) y-o-y, driving revenues +18% yoy, as EE TV successfully launched.

BT has agreed definitive terms to acquire EE for £12.5bn. Integrating the two companies will accelerate BT's mobility strategy and increase BT's capacity for future investment. EE is the leading mobile network operator in the UK with 31m customers of which 24.5m are direct mobile customers and 834,000 are fixed broadband customers.

The consideration for EE will be payable as a combination of cash and new BT ordinary shares issued to both Deutsche Telekom and Orange

The cash consideration will be financed by a combination of new debt financing and approximately £1bn from the placing of new BT shares. The Equity Placing will be launched in due course

Following the Transaction and Equity Placing, Deutsche Telekom will hold a 12% stake in BT and will be entitled to appoint one non-executive member of the BT Board of Directors. Orange will hold a 4% stake in BT.

BT expects to achieve combined operating cost and capex synergies of around £360m p.a. in the fourth full year post Completion. This is equivalent to a net present value of around £3.5bn before integration costs or around £3.0bn after integration costs.

BT expects to generate revenue synergies by providing a full range of communications services to the combined customer base. This includes BT selling its broadband, fixed telephony and pay-TV services to those EE customers who do not currently take a service from BT.

BT also expects to accelerate the sale of converged fixed-mobile services to BT's existing consumer and business customers and offer new services, using both companies' product portfolios, skills and networks. BT expects to generate revenue synergies with a total net present value of approximately £1.6b.

The Transaction values EE at a multiple of 6.0x 2014 EBITDA and 9.6x 2014 OpFCF, adjusted for the net present value of the operating cost and capex synergies.

BT Chief Executive Gavin Patterson said: "This is a major milestone for BT as it will allow us to accelerate our mobility plans and increase our investment in them. The UK's leading 4G network will now dovetail with the UK's biggest fibre network, helping to create the leading converged communications provider in the UK. Consumers and businesses will benefit from new products and services as well as from increased investment and innovation.

"The deal provides an attractive opportunity for BT to generate considerable value for shareholders, with significant operating and capital investment efficiencies supported by our tried and tested cost transformation activities. The enlarged BT will offer significant opportunities for employees as we lead the creation of a world-class digital infrastructure for Britain."

EE Chief Executive Olaf Swantee said: "Joining BT represents an exciting next stage for our company, customers, and people. Today's announcement will ensure the UK remains at the forefront of the mobile revolution, bringing even more innovation and investment in world leading connectivity for our customers."

Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Tim Höttges said: "The transaction is much more than just the creation of the leading integrated fixed and mobile network operator in Europe's second largest economy. We will be the largest individual shareholder in BT and are laying the foundations for our two companies to be able to work together in the future. This is another example of the consistent and successful execution of our portfolio optimisation strategy."

Orange Chief Executive Stéphane Richard said: "This is a landmark transaction for Orange and the next natural step in the evolution of BT and EE. We are confident the combined company will go on to provide new and exciting services to its customers as the demand for data and connected services continues to grow."