Comms Dealer

Nimans resellers can take advantage of free EFM network connections as part of a promotion running until the end of January 2015.

Free EFM (Ethernet First Mile) quad pair installation is available for all three year contracts, representing an average saving of up to £500.

Mark Curtis-Wood, Head of Nimans' Network Services, says EFM is a cost effective alternative to Ethernet Internet access, maximising the potential of legacy technology and a step up from traditional DSL.

He says it's ideal for businesses looking for a speed upgrade and sites that rely heavily on the internet for on-site or cloud-based services.

Businesses looking for a cost-effective replacement for BT leased lines and those increasingly using high quality voice (SIP and hosted), data, video and CRM systems with greater resilience, would also benefit.

"EFM is playing an increasingly important role in today's data hungry world and resellers can literally save hundreds of pounds by taking advantage of this promotion," he said.

Research published by Comms-care suggests that professional services are set to grow to over 60 per cent of the channel services market in the next 12 months - four times the size of the market in 2012.

A lack of the right skills within the channel is an important driver for this increase. Professional services including unified communications and other leading technologies are the most in demand skills in the channel, making up around 40 per cent of skills shortages with unified communications taking nearly half of this share.

This is amplified by the findings that over half (52 per cent) of channel businesses highlight 'specialist IT skills' and 'offering an enhanced services proposition' as the top drivers for outsourcing over the next 12 months.

Comms-care Professional Services Director, Simon Day said: "Our research highlights that the rise of IT professional services isn't just a coincidence, but a positive move by businesses to offer an enhanced service to their customers as the need to adopt new technologies rapidly grows."

Only one in 10 channel businesses are motivated to outsource by cost savings, highlighting that a majority of businesses are proactively looking to outsource to provide clients a higher level of service through expert individuals and enhanced services.

The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) has set out its predictions for the Cloud industry for 2015, forecasting that by the end of the year 90 per cent of organisations in the UK will have formally adopted at least one Cloud service.

According to the industry body, the end of support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 in July 2015 will be the single biggest catalyst for the Cloud industry since the term was first coined.

CIF's research indicates that Cloud adoption will reach another peak throughout 2015, increasing in breadth with more organisations overall using Cloud services, and in depth, as existing users expand their use of Cloud services.

Over 90 per cent of organisations will be using Cloud services by the end of the year, up from 78 per cent in 2014, and 60 per cent of these will use two or more material Cloud services.

This growth, according to Alex Hilton, CEO of CIF, will be driven in no small part by the end of support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003, which will create a new imperative for businesses to look to Cloud-based alternatives.

Hilton said: "In the period leading up to July 2015 the market faces the most significant IT refresh of the 21st century to date with the end of support of both Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Small Business Server 2003.

"These products have not only underpinned the IT server market for the last decade they have been the basis upon which many local IT providers have built their businesses.

"In the UK alone, an average of 1,000 servers per day are likely to need to be transitioned in the final year of support. Some customers will take the opportunity to move the server workloads to Cloud services, some will undertake a rudimentary incremental upgrade and others will take the opportunity to refine their IT strategy.

"The next 12 months represent a great opportunity for customers to make a Cloud migration and adopt the latest enterprise ready technology at a fraction of the price.

"Our research suggests that 61 per cent of UK organisations are still running Microsoft Windows Server 2003.

"This product has been supported for 11 years but technology has moved on. Doing nothing is not a viable option, the majority of users will move to cloud or Managed Services. Cloud migrations tend to happen on needs-based activity - historically, users migrate because of a definitive business need, be it business growth, security, or in this case, a technology refresh cycle."

Glenn Woolaghan, UK SMB Director, Microsoft, added: "Migration to the cloud presents businesses of all sizes with an opportunity to discover the right balance of simplicity, flexibility and cost and enable SMBs to take advantage of enterprise-grade features at start-up prices.

"By this we mean that businesses will be able to host applications in the way that bests suits their business and cost structure, whether on-site or in the cloud.

"They'll also be able to grow efficiently and use only what they need, when they need it. Finally, employees of SMBs will be able to get their work done anywhere and work together easily with the latest cloud-based mobility and productivity solutions."

A new app from TalkTalk Business puts the office landline phone into a smartphone app.
 
The Talk2Go app enables customers to make and receive calls while on 3G or 4G mobile data or over Wi-Fi, that are charged at the same rate as if they were at work using their landline.
 
In practice, a caller with TalkTalk Business's Complete package, which includes anytime calls to UK landlines and mobiles, would benefit from calls to UK numbers via Talk2Go free of charge, instead of being charged at the mobile rate or deducted from inclusive minutes on their mobile package. All calls to non-geographic numbers  such as  0800 and  0845 are charged at landline rates.
 
The app includes a Follow Me feature which transfers calls from the landline to the mobile - in the UK or abroad - at no extra cost.
 
Charles Bligh, Managing Director of TalkTalk Business, said: "Every call matters and with Talk2Go, our customers need never miss a call again. The app means they can take the landline with them wherever they go, and save money on outgoing calls too. Talk2Go is another great example of how TalkTalk Business is making British businesses better off."

The team behind Griffin before it was sold in 2012 has reunited and formed Jola, a new cloud communications reseller and VNO.

Former Griffin Internet MD Andrew Dickinson is targeting the SME sector through a nationwide dealer network and he aims to replicate the 'Griffin philosophy'.

"There is a fantastic opportunity in the Ethernet market, with 97% of SMEs still using broadband and the price of Ethernet leased lines tumbling," he said.

"Our best partners are focused on looking for companies struggling with broadband or with leased lines coming up for renewal. Once their customers have a solid reliable connection our partners are selling in ISDN replacement, hosted telephony and a variety of cloud-based solutions alongside a SIM-only business mobile offering.

Dickinson added: "We are running demo workshops for our partners early next year. JolaPhone is plug and play, does a lot more than your average phone system and costs a lot less."

Concern Worldwide, Ireland's largest international humanitarian organisation, has selected ShoreTel for its Unified Communications and Contact Centre solutions. The ShoreTel telephony solution enables Concern to manage its calls more effectively and improve the efficiency of its workforce.

Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works with the world's poorest people to transform their lives. For over 40 years, Concern has worked in partnership with local communities in some of the poorest countries in the world to tackle hunger and become better prepared for future crises. The agency has a network of 3,500 employees, with 200 based at its headquarters in Dublin.

In order to successfully manage the huge amount of activity, from external donations to internal communications, Concern made a strategic decision to update its telephony system. Concern began a lengthy evaluation process in order to identify a system that could address its needs. The agency turned to ShoreTel and the installation, carried out by channel partner Phone Pulse, was completed smoothly in less than one month.

David Lang, Sales Director at Phone Pulse, said: "The ease of deployment was apparent as the implementation went very smoothly, and we are confident that choosing ShoreTel has helped Concern to continue its remarkable work throughout the world."

ShoreTel's UC solution brings together VoIP telephony, instant messaging, conferencing, mobility, plus presence and collaboration capabilities into a seamless business environment. Concern is now enjoying improved internal and external communications, with a number of intelligent features, such as quicker access to voicemail and the ShoreTel Communicator, which helps the agency to manage its calls more effectively.

Concern is now looking to extend the implementation to more of its offices including Belfast and London.

"Concern Worldwide is doing tremendous work to help a great number of people," said Adrian Hipkiss, EMEA managing director and vice president at ShoreTel. "Any organisation, no matter the industry, requires smooth communications in order to make it work and the charity sector is no exception. We are pleased that ShoreTel's solutions can help Concern continue to provide support to those who need it most."

The latest figures released by MZA have shown that PBX/Call Control extensions and licenses (excluding Micro PBX products) grew by 1% year-on-year in the calendar year Q3 2014 (July to Septmber 2014 inclusive), representing the first quarterly growth in the global market since Q4 2011.

In Q3 2014, overall growth was driven by solutions ?100 extensions/licenses which grew by 4% year-on-year, while solutions >100 extensions/licenses fell by 1% year-on-year.

However, volume growth was largely isolated to emerging and developing markets as the Western European and North American SME markets (solutions ?100 extensions/licenses) both fell by 8% year-on year emphasising the increasing impact of hosted multi-tenant solutions.

Global PBX/IP PBX Market - Q3 2014
The global rise in Q3 2014 was primarily driven by growth in Middle East and Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific. The Middle East and African market witnessed a considerable 20% year-on-year growth, while Latin America achieved a 6% year-on- year growth. The global rise was aided by the Asia Pacific market which grew by 3% year-on-year, driven by some of the developing and emerging markets in the region.

In contrast, there were continued declines in the troubled Western and Eastern European markets, as both markets fell by 4% against Q3 2013. Moreover, North America continued to fall witnessing a 5% year-on-year decline. In Western Europe, the UK and German markets, which traditionally account for around 50% of volume sales in the region, drove the overall decline.
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Avaya overhauled Cisco due to a resurgent performance in EMEA to gain the global market lead with a 13% market share. Cisco dropped to second position with a 12% share, down one percentage point. Panasonic climbed to third position from fourth in Q3 2013 to enter the global top three with an 11% share, up two percentage points.
NEC were in fourth position with a 10% share and Mitel were in fifth position with a 7% share. Mitel, following the acquisition of Aastra, has surpassed Mitel and Aastra combined for the first three quarters of 2014 against the first three quarters of 2013 in PBX extensions/licenses sold.

Panasonic maintained strong volume sales in SME markets in Q3 2014 and in the global ?100 licenses/extensions market (excluding Micro PBX products) it took an 18% share, up five percentage points year-on-year. Q3 2013 leader, NEC, fell to second position with a 13% share, down one percentage point year-on-year. Avaya outperformed the market and consolidated third position with a 12% share.

There was little change in the >100 extensions/licenses market in the quarter, with Cisco and Avaya posting relatively stable market shares of 22% and 14% respectively. Mitel claimed the global third position for the second consecutive quarter with an 8% share, closely followed by Microsoft in fourth position which matched Mitel's market share, and gained one percentage point year-on-year. NEC repeated its Q3 2013 market share performance in Q3 2014 and took a 7% share in fifth position.

World IP Extensions/Licenses Market
IP extensions/licenses grew by 2% year-on-year, marginally outperforming the total market. This marginal growth was driven by declines in the more IP-centric markets of North America and Western Europe, and as a consequence of these regional market declines and growth in TDM solutions in Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America, the global IP penetration rate (the percentage of IP extensions into total extensions to the desktop) remained at 45% and failed to rise for a second consecutive quarter. The penetration rate minimally fell in Latin America against Q3 2013, although Eastern Europe continued to have the lowest regional IP penetration rate at 29%. Cisco continued to lead the global IP extensions/licenses market with a 22% market share in Q3 2014 followed by Avaya, Mitel and Microsoft.

Global PBX/IP PBX Market - Rolling Year
Excluding Micro PBX products, over the rolling year (October 2013 to September 2014 inclusive) the world PBX/Call Control extensions and licenses market fell by 3% year-on-year, with the SME (solutions ?100 extensions/licenses) market and the enterprise (solutions >100 extensions/licenses) market falling by 2% and 4% year-on-year respectively.

The Q3 2014 figures portrayed a reasonably accurate picture of the long-term trends in the rolling year analysis published by MZA this quarter, as declines in the most developed regional markets of Western Europe and North America scuppered any chance of global growth. Moreover, the strong quarters in Latin America and Middle East and Africa, saw the two emerging regional markets increase their year-on-year growth to 4% and 1% year-on-year, over the rolling year respectively. Likewise developing Asia Pacific country markets drove the regional market into a 1% year-on- year growth over the rolling year, despite a volume decline in Japan.

Clear disparities in PBX/Call Control market volume performance have started to emerge between developed and emerging and developing markets. Solutions that require network infrastructure such as faster symmetric fibre optic networks are more readily available in developed markets. However, the greater upload broadband speeds have contributed to declines in developed markets, through hosted multi-tenant solutions and through virtualisation, which has had a secondary affect extending the average lifespan of the call controller through managed software upgrades. In contrast, poorer network infrastructure in emerging and undeveloped markets has inhibited the development of these technologies in the marketplace.

Exacerbating the decline in developed markets, most notably in the eurozone, is the continued economic stagnation in many developed economies. As a result, ICT investment has been affected by lower levels of business confidence in many markets.

Cisco retained its global lead in the PBX extensions/licenses market (excluding Micro PBX products) over the rolling year with a 12% share, down one percentage point year- on-year. Avaya remained in second position with a flat 12% share, while NEC remained third with a stable market share of 10%. Panasonic's continued volume growth in Q3 2014 saw the vendor strengthen in fourth position with a 9% share over the rolling year, up one percentage point. Mitel's merger with Aastra effective from Q1 2014 has enabled the vendor to claim fifth position over the rolling year with a market share of 7%. Moreover, market share for Mitel and Aastra combined was at 8% for the rolling year, with licenses/extensions volume up year-on-year.

Panasonic overhauled NEC to lead in the global ?100 extensions/licenses market (excluding Micro PBX products) over the rolling year, recording 15% market share, up two percentage points. NEC fell to second position with a stable 14% share, while Avaya remained flat over the rolling year repeating an 11% market share.

Over the rolling year, Cisco and Avaya continued to lead the global >100 extensions/licenses market, with market shares of 23% and 13% respectively. Mitel climbed to the number three position in the enterprise market with a 7% share, and accounted for 9% of the market when combined with Aastra shipments prior to the merger. Microsoft Lync increased traction in the enterprise voice market, with Microsoft's market share rising to 7%, up one percentage point.

Comms National Award 'Reseller of the Year' winner IP Solutions has received a £5.74m cash injection following an investment by Living Bridge supported by Oakley Capital Corporate Finance.

Paul Morris, Partner at Living Bridge, will join the IP Solutions Board. Management advice was provided by Paul Billingham and Laura Cockburn of Knight Corporate Finance.

London-based IP Solutions was established in 2001 by Keith Purves and Paul Richards. Revenues in 2014 reached £6.4m.

Richards said: "The investment will enable us to expand and develop our cloud-based service offering while continuing to invest in customer support"

Morris added: "Paul and Keith have built a great business with strong momentum in a rapidly growing market. We will ensure the market opportunity is fully captured."

Organisations are struggling to stay on top of costly technology risks, according to a new report by KPMG.

The Technology Risk Radar, which tracks the major technology incidents faced by businesses and public sector bodies, reveals the cost of IT failures over the last 12 months.

It found that, on average, employers had to pay an unplanned £410,000 for each technology-related problem they faced. The report also reveals that an average of 776,000 individuals were affected - and around 4 million bank and credit card accounts were compromised - by each IT failure.
 
Incidents caused by 'avoidable' problems such as software coding errors or failed IT changes accounted for over 50 percent of the IT incidents reported over the past year.  Of these, 7.3 per cent of reported events were the fault of human error - a figure which shows that basic investments in training are being ignored at the employers' cost.

Further, while data loss related incidents continued to be a major problem for all industries, a significant number of those (16 percent) were unintentional.
 
KPMG's Tech Risk Radar reveals that customer facing organisations are quickly realising the true cost of systems failures if they are left unchecked. 

For instance, a utility company faced a £10 million fine when technical glitches during the transfer to a new billing system meant customers did not receive bills for months and were then sent inaccurate payment demands or refused prompt refunds when errors were eventually acknowledged.
 
Commenting on the findings of the Technology Risk Radar report, Jon Dowie, Partner in KPMG's Technology Risk practice said: "Technology is no longer a function within a business which operates largely in insolation.  It is at the heart of everything a company does and, when it goes wrong it affects an organisation's bottom line, its relationship with customers and its wider reputation.
 
"Investment in technology will continue to rise as businesses embrace digital and other opportunities, but this needs to be matched by investments in assessing, managing and monitoring the associated risks.   At a time when even our regulators have shown themselves to be vulnerable to technology risk, no one can afford to be complacent."
 
With financial services under pressure to maintain highly secure technology infrastructure, KPMG predicts IT complexity will continue to be the single biggest risk to financial services organisations in the coming year.  This is closely followed by ineffective governance, risk and non-compliance with regulations.  Security risks - such as cyber-crime and unauthorised access - are rated fifth.
 
Dowie added: "With ever greater complexity in IT systems - not to mention the challenge of implementing IT transformational change - companies are running to stand still in managing their IT risks.  The cost of failure is all too clear.  It is crucial for both public and private sector organisations to understand the risks associated with IT and how they can be managed, mitigated and avoided."

Booking.com, a prime mover in booking accommodation online, has chosen Red Box Recorders to deliver a voice and data recording solution at its centres in 16 countries across Europe, APAC and the US.

A competitive tender process resulted in Red Box Recorders securing the deal to record over two million telephone calls per month, one of the largest of its kind.

Booking.com chose Red Box Quantify Recording Suite for its ability to capture and replay telephone recordings for fact verification, dispute resolution, quality monitoring and assessment of employee training needs.

The solution works seamlessly with the company's Cisco platform and is also scaleable to help facilitate further planned expansion.

Support for Zero Touch Provisioning was an important requisite for Booking.com as the company employs thousands of agents worldwide and saves time and money by creating and managing user account access through one automated central platform.

Through its application integration interface (API), Quantify has been successfully adapted by Red Box to work with Booking.com's provisioning systems.

Lee Jones, CEO at Red Box Recorders, said: "This partnership is a perfect example of how our solution meets the diverse needs of organisations and is testament to the strength of our technology, people and infrastructure."