Comms Dealer

Nimans and BT are talking tough following the launch of a robust landline telephone that has a 1km range.

The BT Elements 1k is also totally dustproof and waterproof up to one metre. The new model is available from Nimans and includes a nuisance call blocking functionality.

The BT Elements 1k is designed to keep users connected far and wide - a farmer using the phone to take calls in the fields, or a car dealership taking orders at the far end of their forecourt.

Nimans' Head of Conferencing and Telephony Sales, Ian Brindle, says the BT Elements 1k offers customers the flexibility to make use of the phone in a dusty environment, such as a home workshop or a factory floor.

He said: "This durability is reflected in the BT Elements 1k having an IP67 rating giving customers the peace of mind they will always be able to make and receive calls without worrying about damaging the phone.

"Users can always be in touch, even in extreme environments up to 1km away from their phones base unit. This is ideal across a plethora of sites where range and durability are critical."

Node4's Leeds data centre is now on-net with Virgin Media, adding significant capability to the existing tier 1 network connections available from Node4's Leeds facility, which now offers interconnects into tier 1 networks including BT, Vodafone, TalkTalk Business, KCOM and Virgin Media.

Chris Pagel, Network Services Manager at Node4 commented: "The addition of Virgin Media interconnects to our Leeds Data Centre demonstrates our commitment to extending the capabilities of our data centre facilities and enhancing the flexibility of our offering for customers."

Exclusive Networks Group has acquired global managed IT services provider ITEC Intelligent Services, adding new global project delivery, installation and onsite support capabilities on every continent.

The deal also extends Exclusive's in-country presence into the United States and mainland Asia for the first time.

"This acquisition underlines our status and ambition as a global company with the ability to provide continuous technical and project support for global deals with major vendors, resellers partners and their customers," said Olivier Breittmayer, CEO of Exclusive Networks Group.

Focusing principally on networking, security and data centre technologies, ITEC customers currently include major IT distributors, service providers like BT, Vodafone and AT&T, and global IT vendors including Microsoft, Cisco, HP and Avaya.

Ross Teague, CEO of ITEC, added: "We've worked with Exclusive Networks on many major project and support contracts and developed a strong mutual respect for the quality and professionalism of our work. The two businesses are a good match and this is a positive move for everyone involved with ITEC."

Nexus' 50-strong team celebrated the company's 15th birthday with a party at its offices in Leeds city centre.

COO Rob Sims said the firm has evolved beyond recognition since starting out as a ringtone provider in 1999

"Both the business and the telecoms industry as a whole have changed somewhat since Nexus was born," he said.

"Back then the most popular mobile phone on the market was the Nokia 3210 and our business landlines, mobiles and computers pretty much worked in isolation.

"Today paints a very different picture, a converged picture, where mobiles are linked to landlines, its commonplace to check emails out of the office and information is stored within a huge data cloud.

"Acronyms such as VoIP, FMC and FTTC are familiar terms and if you don't have some form of smartphone you're a dinosaur. And in our 15 years we've experienced it all."

The business has worked hard to enhance its portfolio with a suite of business products and services.

Sims added: "We have witnessed a complete flip in the way which people buy and today we're faced with a much more tech-savvy audience.

"Generally, decision makers of this era have grown up with technology and often have better communications at home than they do in the workplace.

"As a result, they have much higher expectations than they did in the past, and suppliers like us have to step up in order to meet demand.

"We have done this by employing smarter people, providing them with the right training to create a competent team that is more capable of dealing with a new generation of customers."

Nimans has swung its gaze onto the burgeoning WLAN market, aiming to put Samsung's Wireless LAN portfolio into the sights of ambitious resellers during two upcoming 'fact finding' events.

"Resellers will find out about the evolution and growth of WLAN and how to identify and take advantage of market opportunities," said John McKindland, Head of Systems Sales at Nimans.

The Manchester-based distributor is also unveiling an on-boarding offer to delegates designed to minimise the cost and complexity of adding Samsung WLAN to their portfolios.

The move follows an extension of the partnership between Nimans and the Korean vendor which kicked off last summer.

"The expansion of our Samsung range is a natural fit for us and our customers," added McKindland.

"With the ever growing demand for wireless solutions in the market resellers have already responded enthusiastically to the sales opportunities this new partnership creates."

Nimans has invested in new technologies such as Wi-Fi mapping software that predesigns Wi-Fi solutions.

"This will help resellers fully embrace market opportunities," commented McKindland.
"The two upcoming events are an ideal opportunity for resellers to capitalise on the great sales potential."

The events will take place on January 29th in Manchester and February 4th in Chertsey.

Four apprentices in the Institute of Telecommunications Professionals (ITP) apprenticeship scheme have become the first to graduate from the initiative.

Sara Maitland, Josh Fowler and Ryan Keirle from Level 3 and Green Telecom's Aneel Ahmed were among the first cohort of apprentices to sign up to the scheme in April 2013.

They have now completed their Level 3 Diploma in IT and Telecommunications, and three are now progressing towards their Level 4.

Ahmed and Fowler were winners of the ITP SME Apprentice of the Year 2014 and Ahmed was also a finalist of Coventry Freemans Apprentice of the Year 2014.

The ITP scheme, launched in March 2013, has proved popular with 36 young people placed in telecoms apprenticeships across the country.

"This has not only given those individuals their start in a thriving career, but also enabled telecoms businesses of all shapes and sizes to grow their own talent and reap the rewards of having an apprentice," said Adam Oliver, CEO of the ITP.

"We congratulate our first graduates and we are proud of them and all they have achieved," added Oliver. "We'd also thank the telecoms businesses that put their faith in our scheme, and look forward to bringing even more much-needed fresh talent into the sector in the future."

Pictured (l-r) Aneel Ahmed, Ryan Keirle and Josh Fowler

Channel Telecom's top performing partners have been recognised during the company's annual Reward and Recognition evening staged at London's The May Fair hotel.

Top honours went to Virtual1 which collected the Supplier of the Year award, while Converged Comms picked up the New Partner of the Year gong.

Channel Telecom MD Clifford Norton said: "We value our suppliers and partners tremendously and these awards evenings give us a chance to recognise their phenomenal success over the course of the last year."

Pictured: Virtual1 receives the Supplier of the Year award from Clifford Norton.

Hats off to Chess for bagging the dual titles of Best Company to Work
For and Excellence in Customer Service at The North East Cheshire
Business Awards.

Formed in 1993 Chess now has a £75 million turnover and over 400 employees.

David Pollock, Chief Executive of Chess, commented: "We firmly believe that happy people make happy customers. These prestigious awards go hand in hand, by being an energetic, hard working, success driven, fun and exciting place to work we are able to attract and retain great people.

"Having great people who care, support and help each other to achieve work and personal goals enables us to deliver great service for our customers."

The judges applauded initiatives that reflected the Chess core values of 'quality and spirit', from inspiring people to play their part in the wider community to investing £500k developing an engagement strategy called PPP 'Personal Performance Program' to develop staff skills.

Six Degrees Group has embarked on an ambitious phase of expansion following the creation of two new senior management roles.

Former Geo Networks CFO Adrian Howe joins as Corporate Finance Director while Mike Ing has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer.

Howe is tasked with reviewing corporate development opportunities and building internal structures that facilitate the speedy completion and integration of acquisition targets, while Ing's remit is to enhance the customer experience to a point where cross-selling opportunities reach their maximum potential.

Ing, a member of the senior management team for almost three years, also takes full responsibility for sales, service implementation, support and technical operations.

Alastair Mills, CEO at Six Degrees, said: "These appointments are testament to our desire to continue with both organic and acquisitive growth.

"Adrian's corporate finance and M&A experience in our industry will be invaluable as we look to take our growth plans to the next level.

"At the same time, having Mike assume the COO post will provide more ownership and accountability for our customer experience through a simplified management structure that improves our ability to execute those plans."

Ing stated: "I am passionate about delivering a rich customer experience and helping the company to cross-sell its converged portfolio to our mid-market client base."

Howe commented: "I look forward to working with Alastair and the rest of the senior team as we build a capital structure suitable for rapid expansion." 

Pictured above (l-r): Mike Ing and Adrian Howe

Unify's Fastest Growing Reseller for two years in a row, NIX Communications, has been crowned Unify Reseller of the Year 2014.

The company is one of five Unify Premier Partners in the UK. Its MD, Nick Zammit, said: "We are building a strong base of loyal customers, and many of them are becoming a rich source of new business through referrals. This is the best tribute we can have. Customer service is at the heart of our business, and this is also paying dividends."

Pictured: Tony Smith, Sales Director of Unify, presents the Unify Reseller of the Year 2014 award to Nick Zammit.