Comms Dealer

There were some big knits at Rainbow Global Network Services on Friday December 12th!

To coincide with Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day, the Kent based reseller held a Christmas fun day and raised over £900 for two very worthy causes, including local seven-year old Frankie Rose whose family have been campaigning to get her to the USA for life saving cancer treatment.

Managing director Dave Corgat said: "Massive thanks to all who donated and a big well done to everyone who took part. The work effort was terrific. I hope this gesture will go some way towards helping young Frankie and her family together with Save the Children."

BT Group has entered into an exclusivity agreement with Deutsche Telekom and Orange in relation to BT's possible acquisition of all of their UK mobile business, EE, in a £12.5bn deal. EE has 24.5m direct mobile customers and reported Adjusted EBITDA of £1,588m for the 12 months to 30 June 2014.

The period of exclusivity will last several weeks allowing BT to complete its due diligence and for negotiations on a definitive agreement to be concluded.

The proposed acquisition would enable BT to accelerate its existing mobility strategy with seamless services that combine fibre broadband, Wi-Fi and 4G.

While continuing these exclusive discussions, BT will progress its own plans for providing enhanced fixed-mobile converged services for businesses and consumers, in line with previous announcements.

The key headline terms, which are non-binding, include a purchase price of £12.5bn for EE on a debt/cash free basis.

The consideration for EE will be payable as a combination of cash and new BT ordinary shares issued to both Deutsche Telekom and Orange. Following the transaction, Deutsche Telekom would hold a 12% stake in BT and would be entitled to appoint one member of the BT Board of Directors.

Orange would hold a 4% stake in BT. In considering the financing of the cash element, BT has a range of options and is mindful of the importance of maintaining a conservative financial profile.

BT expects significant synergies mainly through network and IT rationalisation, back-office consolidation and savings on procurement, marketing and sales costs. In addition, BT expects to generate revenue synergies through selling fixed-line services to those EE customers who do not currently take a service from BT, and by accelerating the sale of converged fixed-mobile services to BT's existing consumer and business customers.

If a transaction is agreed, approval by BT's shareholders will be required as a condition of the purchase.

JMC IT has secured a new system and support contract with Michelin starred hospitality group Northcote.

The five-year deal will see JMC provide its round-the-clock SupportCare service to Northcote for business critical equipment and applications. The deal also includes a new IT platform, moving the group from a cloud system to an on-premise solution.

Implemented at Northcote Leisure Group's head office and the Northcote luxury hotel and fine dining restaurant in Lancashire, the project is part of the company's wider multi-million pound redevelopment of its hospitality services.

The system and 24/7 support from JMC will ensure business continuity and provide extra flexibility for Northcote's bookings and on-site customer services.

JMC's managing director Andrew Burgess said: "The scalable on-premise network platform that we have delivered provides Northcote with the flexibility and autonomy they were looking for to support evolving business and redevelopment needs."

Northcote's finance director Julie Leigh added: "With the group's ambitious plans, it's crucial we have a flexible IT solution in place that connects us to our suppliers and customers and allows us to realise these aims."

Nimans has added the Teledex and TeleMatrix range of telephones to its hospitality portfolio following a link-up with handset manufacturer Cetis.

The partnership also signals Nimans' plans to extend its reach in the hospitality market across the UK, Ireland, Europe and beyond.

Andy Winfield, Purchasing Director at Nimans, said: "This strategic partnership will greatly enhance our 'everything connected' strategy as part of our dedicated hospitality division.

"We are now able to provide reseller partners with a range of hospitality products, from guest room telephony, Wi-Fi, audio and video conferencing, through to all their hotel infrastructure product requirements."

The global network security appliance and software market is on track to end 2014 with strong growth - up 7% in 3Q14 from 2Q14 to $1.76bn, calculates research house Infonetics.

On a year-over-year basis network security revenue increased 10% in 3Q14 over 3Q13 - the market's best year-over-year growth in the last two years, according to Infonetics.

"The network security appliance and software market is heading into the last quarter on something of a roll, though we look for quarterly revenue growth to slow by next year," stated Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research.

"Some large data centre and cloud projects are starting to wind down, and we're beginning a transition in earnest to the world of virtualised security.

"That said, there will be pockets of high growth over the next five years for traditional network security appliances. Many mobile providers are making large purchases for their Gi/SGi footprints, and we're entering an era of delivering traditional network security solutions for industrial environments and the Internet of Things."

Integrated security (appliances, software, and SSL VPN products) makes up the majority of network security revenue, with the bulk coming from appliances.

The year-over-year (3Q14 vs. 3Q13) performance of the top four network security vendors provides a good indication of who has the strongest momentum right now, with Palo Alto Networks increasing the most, followed by Fortinet, Cisco, and Check Point.

Australia-based developer of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) devices and solutions NetComm Wireless has signed a Pan-European distie deal with SPHINX Computer Vertriebs to expand its European reach across the energy, health care, manufacturing, security, traffic systems, railway and marine sectors.

Under the deal, SPHINX will deliver a range of wireless M2M products.

According to NetComm Wireless the European cellular M2M market is expected to grow from 6.8% to 20.4% by 2020.

"Partnering with SPHINX presents an exciting opportunity for NetComm Wireless to expand its reach and to play a key role in the mass uptake of M2M across Europe," said David Stewart, CEO and Managing Director, NetComm Wireless.

Chris Hardy, S-Connect UK Sales Manager, responsible for the NetComm brand inside the SPHINX Group, added: "NetComm Wireless' M2M devices will unlock the market opportunity in areas such as energy, health care, public infrastructure, retail and manufacturing."

Although PC renewals slowed in the commercial space, PC shipments were supported by increasing consumer demand during the back-to-school season and preparations for the Christmas sales. Consequently, PC shipments posted 23.6% growth in Western Europe in Q3, says IDC.

In the PC ranking, HP remained leader in Western Europe, followed by Lenovo and Acer, with the latter two vendors benefiting from very strong growth in consumer PC shipments. Sony and Samsung no longer rank in the top 10, following their exit from the Western European PC market. The trends seen during the previous quarter were confirmed in the third quarter of 2014: shipments of PCs continued to post an increase, with demand shifting towards desktops and portable PCs after few years of delayed renewals and with low-end consumer portable PCs driving the growth in shipments. On the other hand, tablets continued to contract as end users have not seen sufficient need to replace their devices.

The smart connected device (SCD) market posted another quarter of growth in Western Europe, driven mainly by increased demand for personal computers. According to figures published by International Data Corporation (IDC), PC, tablet, and smartphone shipments totalled 60.1 million units, with volume 8.6% higher compared with the same quarter a year ago.

Tablets declined but 2-in-1s picked up and posted 46.4% growth.

Smartphones posted 6.1% growth, driven by the increased availability of affordable smartphones and the proliferation of 4G networks.

"PC shipments in Western Europe posted another strong quarter," said Maciek Gornicki, senior research analyst, IDC EMEA Personal Computing. "After a few years of delayed renewals, consumers started to refresh their PCs again, encouraged by lower price points and attractive products offered by vendors. Shipments were also boosted by sell-in of low-end notebooks with Windows 8.1 Bing version, which are expected to drive volume during the Christmas season. On the other hand, demand started to wane in the commercial market after several quarters of strong renewals induced by the end of Windows XP support."

Jorge Ferreira, research analyst, IDC EMEA Personal Computing, added: "The tablet market reached a plateau which reflects some maturity for this technology, only four years after the popular introduction of the iPad.

"This quarter experienced a small contraction as a result of the ongoing dynamic shift among different mobile devices. Small tablets suffered from growth in phablets, whereas the overall tablet market was impacted by the price aggressiveness of a huge number of portables with MS Windows 8.1 with Bing.

"Despite disappointing growth rates in 2014, IDC expects the market to continue thriving from 2015, benefiting from continuous price erosion and innovation, as a consequence of the fierce competitive environment. In addition, the commercial segment is predicted to support market improvement, chiefly driven by the increasing adoption of 2-in-1s, which has been fostered by a wider product offering from traditional PC manufacturers and a further drop in price points."

The smartphone market is fiercely competitive as mobile phone vendors have intense interest in this space. New vendors have successfully entered the market, mainly targeting the low-end segment where growth levels are higher. The average selling price (ASP) of smartphones fell 5.5% to $433 and a downwards trajectory is expected, dropping to $317 by 2018. "Startup players are launching devices with attractive specs at very competitive prices, and users are becoming more open to new brands when they understand their value proposition," said Susana Santos, Research Analyst, IDC WE Mobile Devices.

Overall vendor ranking remained unchanged for this quarter. Samsung and Apple maintained their leadership in the overall device market, supported by large smartphone volumes and especially new product launches for Apple. Sony in the middle of this ranking suffered from the disengagement from the PC market in Europe.

The traditional PC vendors benefited from the rebound in PC, while Lenovo made some strong progress in tablets:

Samsung continued its leadership in the smartphone space in Western Europe, both by volume and value, despite a volume decline of 16.7%. Apple kept second position with a share increase from last year to 17.1%, benefitting from the long-awaited larger-screen devices launched in September. Wiko jumped to 6th position in the top smartphone vendors' ranking, reaching 3.2% market share.

During 3Q14, Apple kept the leadership in the region for tablets, despite a volume decline of 15.9% year-on-year, chiefly affected by increased tablet life cycles and the expectation of a new product launch. Samsung consolidated its position and held second place, although shipments contracted by 2.7% from the same period last year.

Demand for Wi-Fi connectivity continues to rise with access point shipments up 14% year-over-year in 3Q14 according to market research firm Infonetics Research.

Data from its third quarter 2014 Wireless LAN Equipment and Wi-Fi Phones report (which tracks enterprise access points, wireless LAN controllers and Wi-Fi phones) show the global wireless LAN equipment market improved in 3Q14, growing 5% sequentially to $1.3bn.

"After a weak first half of the year wireless LAN sales improved in 3Q14 thanks to higher demand from government and enterprise customers.

"Revenue growth is once again accelerating-and even outpacing-access point shipments, a sign that vendors were able to sustain pricing and shift the product mix to higher-priced equipment such as 802.11ac access points, which now account for almost a quarter of all shipments," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research.

Interactive access points are the top-performing WLAN segment in 3Q14 - 802.11ac access point penetration is up almost 10-fold over the past year, with almost 1 million units shipped in 3Q14.

Aruba and Ruckus notched the highest growth of all WLAN equipment vendors in Q3 while Wi-Fi phone shipments are reversing course from a great 2013 due to weakness in the healthcare vertical and continuing weak demand for enterprise phone systems. 

Maintel's new Group Sales Director Stuart Legg (pictured) is tasked with transforming the firm's sales operations following recent acquisitions.

Legg was previously responsible for sales and marketing at Proximity Communications which was acquired by Maintel in October 2014.

"Bringing Proximity into the fold marked a significant change in our market position," said Eddie Buxton, CEO of Maintel.

"Stuart's role, with the support of his team, is to ignite this compelling proposition with sales success as we target ambitious growth for 2015 and beyond."

Legg added: "Maintel has a great opportunity to take advantage of its expertise and services capabilities. Our strong partnerships and the increasing market demand for our offering in the enterprise sector stand us in good stead for pushing revenues into the £50-60m bracket by the end of this year."

Staff optimism is a competitive advantage and there's no better way to stoke up inter-company positivity than by winning a Comms Dealer Sales Award.

With the 2015 Awards extravaganza declared open for entries the message to the channel is clear, don't miss out on the chance to give your sales and marketing staff the recognition they deserve.

The Comms Dealer Sales Awards are the industry's most highly regarded awards for revenue generating staff and this must-enter event is planned for May 5th at the magnificent Cafe de Paris, London, where the creme de la creme of the ICT industry's sales stars will gather to applaud and reward people who have excelled in their profession during the past year.

Nothing boosts your company's optimism for the future more than being a Comms Dealer Sales Award winner. Motivation in the workplace stems from the fact that upbeat, engaged and optimistic workers are more productive, helping employers to grow and make more money.

According to Philip Donigan, Sales Director at award winner STL, optimistic sales and marketing staff are vital to winning in the marketplace and with a Comms Dealer Sales Award in the trophy cabinet employee engagement and improvements to the bottom line are almost inevitable, driving a positive and optimistic culture.

He enthused: "Winning Reseller Sales Team of the Year and Reseller Best Marketing Campaign in the 2014 Comms Dealer Sales Awards gave us meaningful recognition from the industry of our continuing success, and provided our sales team with a real boost, as well as giving them equally important recognition for their efforts.

"Being part of an award winning organisation means a lot to every single member of our staff and really motivates them to continue to push the business forward. There was such a positive buzz around the office when we won and the trophies are proudly displayed with our other awards as a constant reminder and a motivator for the team and visitors to see."

Pete Tomlinson, Director of Sales, Marketing and Product at headline sponsor Eclipse, added: "The ability of our sales and marketing teams to create value in our own businesses and to change the lives of our customers is unparalleled, yet all too often this goes unrecognised. These awards ensure that this is no longer the case and recognise the skills and commitment of the most talented people in what is now a true profession. I am delighted to be part of celebrating this success with Eclipse as headline sponsors."

The Comms Dealer Sales Awards are judged not on votes but by an independent judging panel. That's why they are so highly prized. "The channel is home to many of the UK's stand-out sales and marketing professionals across the vendor, distribution and reseller communities who drive the growth of their businesses and make this such a fantastic sector to be a part of," said Comms Dealer Editorial Director Nigel Sergent.

"The comms and ICT channel is regularly applauded in the press for being one of the sectors that has led the UK out of the last recession - we at Comms Dealer agree wholeheartedly and these awards are designed to provide much deserved recognition of those at the coal face fuelling this growth. If you're a vendor, distributor or a reseller, enter your sales and marketing teams into the 2015 Comms Dealer Sales Awards and let's recognise our industry's top talent!"

The 2014 sales awards event staged at the Park Lane Hotel, London on May 8th, was hosted by respected BBC sports presenter John Inverdale. Stand-out winners were STL and Focus Group which both secured a brace of awards, with Focus bagging the coveted Comms Dealer Overall Sales Team of the Year Award. Sergent added: "The quality and quantity of Sales Awards submissions demonstrated how channel sales and marketing people continue to drive growth and deliver commercial benefits to their companies. All of our finalists were congratulated on their achievements and deserve wide recognition for their hard work."

For more information on this year's Sales Awards please visit www.cdsalesawards.com