Comms Dealer

4net Technologies have been awarded Avaya Platinum Partner status - the vendor's highest level of partner accreditation in its new Connect programme.

4net Technologies has also retained Partner in Customer Excellence status, based on a higher number of Customer Satisfaction responses and at a significantly higher score of at least 88%.

Richard Pennington, 4net's Managing Director, said: "Over the past 18 months we have won a number of awards in recognition of our dedication to service and project delivery.

"Our customer satisfaction scores, a 99.96% customer retention rate and a reputation that has been built through providing implementation and support services to other Avaya partners added weight to Avaya's decision.

"But above all the award is a testament to all the work and effort that everyone in the company has put into building our service reputation and technical ability, which has enable us to be considered as one of the leading players in our industry."

Futuristic tools and technologies like augmented reality, virtual holography and the Internet of Everything will shape the office of the future, and the interplay of social and cloud systems with these technologies will drive greater collaboration at enterprises, according to Frost & Sullivan.

"The changing communication patterns of users and the need to collaborate anytime and anywhere has led to the evolution of next generation technologies," said Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication Technologies Senior Research Analyst Vaishno Devi Srinivasan.

"Mega trends such as urbanisation, smart cities, the growing dominance of Gen Y, and increasing network convergence demand the infusion of next-gen technologies into the UC framework."

Since the required back-end infrastructure that will enable this transition to a smart workplace is expected to be complex, the traditional UC ecosystem must embrace next generation technology vendors. Market participants will have to partner with or acquire firms that are specialists in emerging technologies to accelerate the delivery of integrated services.

"The adoption of augmented reality, Internet of Things, and social networks has caught on in the retail, manufacturing, defence, education, healthcare and automotive sectors, offering a multitude of opportunities for integration with UC," observed Srinivasan. "The vendor ecosystem must replicate this success story across enterprises, developing strong application specific use cases to build a robust value proposition for a digital workplace."

As people, processes and things get connected, stringent protocols need to be put in place for object recognition, tracking and rendering mechanisms, noted Srinivasan. Parameters to both guard and manage devices must be fully context aware for a relevant connected environment, said the analyst.

The market for UC solutions and services is undergoing a transformation with large enterprises and SMEs turning to new ways of purchasing, deploying and managing business communications technology, according to Ovum, and cloud-based communications services are among the root causes of this transformation, believes the analyst firm which has identified four trends in the UC market that it says will have the biggest impact on businesses in 2015.

The market for UC solutions is, and will remain, diverse, despite consolidation: There is consolidation around a few top vendors that enterprises will nearly always consider when expanding or replacing their existing business communications solutions. At the same time, the market is large and diverse, and there will be plenty of opportunities for second- and third-tier players not only to exist but to thrive.

Hosted UC services are becoming mainstream, particularly among large enterprises: Enterprises are no longer simply curious about cloud-based UC services, but are ready to invest in them. In large enterprises, hosted UC services often sit alongside premise-based solutions, either for a set transitional period or for the long term. This will create more market opportunity for hosted communications services, but will potentially complicate deployment and management.

Video conferencing is becoming ubiquitous: A wide range of video-capable UC clients, web-conferencing platforms, and consumer applications are now used in the workplace. End users are more familiar with videoconferencing software than ever before, and are demanding access to it. However, the sheer number of systems, applications, and services that facilitate corporate videoconferencing is making interoperability a significant challenge.

Hosted video conferencing is undergoing a transformation as providers introduce new services and revamp existing ones: Operators are revamping the hosted services that they have long sold to enterprises, while also introducing a new set of video services through partnerships, acquisitions, and internal development. Meanwhile, new providers are trying to establish themselves through differentiated services and videoconferencing offerings that are more tightly integrated with other types of communications solutions in use within the enterprise.

Brian Riggs, principal analyst of enterprise services at Ovum, said: "Enterprises considering UC solutions in 2015 will encounter a market undergoing considerable change. Video will become ubiquitous as consumerisation, WebRTC, and other factors make videoconferencing available from any application and any device. Meanwhile UC services will become better enabled to support complex hybrid cloud deployment models."

This winter is forecast to be one of the coldest in decades yet one in eight UK businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan in place in the event of adverse weather, according to research by Daisy Group.

Despite the growth of mobile business technology like cloud computing, adverse weather conditions prevent an estimated three million workers from completing their normal work responsibilities, says the firm.

The study found that a third (31%) of UK businesses were affected by transport problems, power cuts or broadband and phone line failures caused by inclement weather over the last two years. Of those, 40 per cent did not have a business continuity plan in place, leaving their staff unable to work from home or from another location.

Tim Meredith, Director of UC and Mobility at Daisy, said: "Too many businesses think that they are impervious to floods or adverse weather conditions, but as our research found it affects nearly a third of companies operating in the UK.

"Staff safety is understandably a business' number one concern, as workers cannot be expected to put themselves at risk in hazardous travelling or working conditions, so having a back-up plan makes good business sense.

"Although not every organisation is tech-savvy, most IT departments' servers today are virtualised, meaning disaster recovery plans are quite easy and cost-effective to create. The cloud, for example, can be used to enable staff to work from almost any location with an internet connection."

To assist businesses with continuity planning, Daisy is hosting a Twitter Q&A on the subject on 4th December.

Businesses can post questions using the hashtag #bizcontinuity and have them answered by a panel of tech experts, including Daisy's Director of Cloud and Hosting, and Director of Unified Communications & Mobility.

Logicalis Group is to buy Inforsacom, a German IT services and solutions provider of database, storage and back-up solutions and services with operations in the major economic centres of Germany, and works with partners including Oracle, EMC, IBM, HP, HDS and Symantec.

Logicalis' existing operation in Germany will be significantly boosted by the acquisition which will expand its presence in the German IT market and provide it with the business to scale the operations in that geography.

Mark Rogers, President and COO of Logicalis Group, said: "Storage and database are two segments that are showing rapid growth in Germany, and we view this acquisition as the best move towards broadening our IT solutions and services portfolio and position us as a significant player in the German IT market."

Gigaset pro has unwrapped its first IP-based video telephone with a touchscreen display designed for business users and sold exclusively through the channel.

Designed for professional and vertical market applications, Maxwell 10 integrates telephony and video conferencing solutions for either hosted or traditional IP-based PBX and collaborative tools.

The new product is available exclusively through UK channel partners served by four distributors including Nimans, Nuvola, Provu and Corptel.

"Our research suggests that for want of a better alternative, sectors such as hospitality and front desk services are using PCs and tablets that are not designed for heavy duty telephony usage and lack traditional call management features," said Jonathan Beatson, Head of Sales and Marketing for Gigaset pro.

"Running on Android 4.2.2, Maxwell 10 offers the core call management features found across the Gigaset range with the additional benefits of accessing the wider range of Android applications via Google Playstore.

"With this new product we are opening up more opportunities for our channel partners to sell into new markets and build exciting services that are designed for business usage without the compromises imposed by consumer grade tablets."

The Maxwell 10 is also suitable for meeting rooms. It comes with a front-facing HD camera (720p), an integrated microphone, three speakers - one bass and two tweeters - and HD audio to reduce delays and echoes.

The Maxwell 10 is also equipped with technologies such as Bluetooth, HDMI, USB, WiFi and Ethernet to allow connection of external devices such as an extra conference loudspeaker, headset or access control equipment.

Manchester-based developer of telephony applications for business, Xarios Technologies, has extended its OEM partnership agreement with Mitel Networks to supply the Xarios Phone Manager with all future shipments of the Mitel MiVoice Office 250.

The new product will be called Mitel Phone manager.

Xarios Phone Manager improves the user's interaction with their telephone to the point where they don't need to touch the telephone to make or receive calls: The result is improved productivity by delivering the right information to the desktop in a manner that requires minimum training.

Xarios has been supplying the Phone Manager application with UK shipments of Mitel MiVoice Office 250 (formerly Mitel 5000 and Mitel MiVoice Office) since 2007 and this new arrangement extends the reach of this supply agreement to all shipments of MiVoice Office 250 worldwide.

The existing arrangement has proved to be a successful partnership for the two vendors with more than 4,000 sites deploying Xarios Phone Manager in the UK to date.

Chris Harris, Managing Director, Xarios, commented: "The supply of the Mitel Phone Manager is the first step in an ongoing programme to add further components of the Xarios application portfolio as fully integrated components of the Mitel Mivoice Office 250 product range.

Xarios products are designed to help organisations drive up efficiency and performance and delivery."

A poll of attendees at Cloud Clarity, a cloud-focused educational event for end users run by Node4, found that over half of IT decision makers plan to move to a fully cloud-based IT infrastructure within the next five years. But a significant minority of 27% said cloud would be unlikely for their business.

The survey also found that managing email is a key driver for cloud adoption with 47% of attendees agreeing that it would benefit their business to host mail applications in the cloud.

Data storage and file sharing were also cited by over a quarter of attendees as key applications that would benefit from being moved to the cloud. Telephony and voice communications was the other critical business application that the decision makers would like to see in the cloud.

"More and more businesses are evaluating cloud services as a tool for reducing costs, limiting risk and providing the flexibility they need to run their businesses in a fast paced, technology driven workplace," commented Steve Denby, Head of Sales South, Node4

"Rather than a risk, cloud services are now mostly viewed as an IT solution that gives organisations of all sizes access to the latest and most up to date technology, enabling businesses to gain competitive advantage."

Daisy Wholesale has launched Partner Services, a division solely focused on the provision of end-to-end technology services to the channel.

Bringing together the expertise and scale of three previously acquired businesses - Indecs, Netcrowd and Servasssure - Daisy Partner Services offers a maintenance and professional services capability for partners to support their customers' technology platforms including server and storage, networking and unified communications.

Headed up by Managing Director Jason Spring, Daisy's Partner Services will be able to provide the channel with a range of services that can be used to augment their own core offerings.

Spring said: "While our partners will be helping their customers to develop an IT and communications strategy that sees them focus on the centralisation of intelligence, Daisy Partner Services will provide them with the expertise and scale to offer an end-to-end service solution.

"While cloud spending is growing at five times the rate of other areas of IT spend, in five years time it will still represent less than 10% of the whole IT domain. The demand for on-premise services will continue and the channel's ability to rely on a partner services provider means this is a growth opportunity for Daisy.

"We are offering our partners the operational capabilities, so they can focus on their customer relationships whilst we keep things running in the background."

Terry O'Brien, Managing Director of Daisy Wholesale, added: "The union of these three agile businesses has combined a wealth of experience and skills to allow us to offer our partners an all-round effective support service.

"We have come a long way from our roots as a simple lines and calls wholesale provider. We have invested heavily in all product areas to ensure that we can offer the channel the support and services that it needs. This extension to the Daisy Wholesale offering means that our resellers have access to more opportunities, keeping them happy and profitable."

Virtual1 is ranked 28th in the 2014 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the UK.

The rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over the last five years, with Virtual1 notching up 929% growth over the period.

This is the third consecutive year that Virtual1 has maintained a ranking within the Deloitte Tech fast 50. 

Tom O'Hagan, CEO, said: "It's a fantastic achievement for everyone at Virtual1 to see that we are England's fastest growing telecoms company.

"Over the past year we've expanded our network, increased our head count and increased our partner base by a third. Our growth, at a time when we've continued investments is testament to the talent and passion of our people."

The ranking, finishes off a hugely successful year for the wholesale cloud and network services provider, who scooped a total of six awards in 2014.

"In 2015, we plan to build on our recent successes with the launch of new services, the forging of strategic partnerships and plans for a significant office expansion. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our partners and employees for contributing to such a successful year."