Comms Dealer

Nimans has strengthened its working relationship with long range wireless technology specialist EnGenius by adding exclusive lifetime warranties to a range of Wi-Fi access points and data solutions.

Nimans was already the official distribution partner of several innovations including the Extreme cordless telephone that offers more coverage than any other consumer rated cordless device in Europe - up to 2km. Superior multi floor coverage can even penetrate concrete.

But now the two companies have teamed-up to offer resellers a wireless networking portfolio such as indoor and outdoor long range Wi-Fi access points.

These include a smoke-detector style ceiling mounted device that dramatically expands the overall user capacity of a network especially when transferring bandwidth intensive files. Another impressive innovation is a long range 2.4 GHz wireless outdoor access point that provides internet connectivity for restaurants, educational and corporate sites.

"It's been another year of great collaboration between Nimans and EnGenius Europe," said Purchasing Director, Andy Winfield.

"The latest network devices represent an exciting new chapter in our partnership, backed by lifetime warranties only available from Nimans."

Nimans is urging resellers to sign up for its Machine to Machine (M2M) sales campaign, citing big market statistics that should catch the attention of all resellers.

"The key message around M2M is that we are seeing a shift from connecting people to connecting things," said Head of Network Services, Mark Curtis-Wood.

"Our world is changing to a new digital revolution. There's been a lot of talk about how the world is going to be connected and how the Internet of Things is going to explode. Away from the futuristic hype there is some real business substance behind some of these concepts."

"Billions of devices are going to be connected - smart cities, homes, cars and lives. M2M is at the heart of this revolution. Solutions can be sold through many vertical markets and opportunities exist within pretty much all industries."

Security, engineering, utilities and energy, vehicle fleets, vending machines and medicine are some of the many relevant sectors, according to Curtis-Wood.

"There are seven billion people on the planet. In 2011 there were an estimated nine billion connected devices with expected growth to reach at least 24 billion by 2020. That's a $12 trillion opportunity.

"90% of the world's data was created in the last two years. There's 25% year on year market growth and digital information, creation and sharing has grown nine times in five years. And 9,500,000 Trillion bytes are created every day. The figures are mind boggling and set to grow even more.

"The opportunity is huge and we want to enable our resellers to take advantage of this exciting new revenue stream. Our team of Account Managers are ready to show resellers how to register to start selling M2M and how we help them identify opportunities in their customer bases. They need to join us on the journey."

Cloud and SaaS company intY has been selected by Symantec as its first UK-based aggregator partner for Symantec.cloud solutions.

The partnership will allow new Symantec.cloud resellers access to Symantec's cloud-based security and management offerings via the intY CASCADE aggregation platform.

The partnership will allow intY's resellers to gain full access to the CASCADE marketplace, resell the Symantec.cloud portfolio and they will also benefit from intY professional services, including a dedicated account manager as well as 24/7 technical support and migration services.

Mark Herbert, Founder and Business Development Director of intY, said: "This partnership further validates the role of aggregation services as the new model for our channel as the cloud opportunity continues to grow."

Genevieve Martin, Director of Channel Sales, Symantec UK&I, said: "intY has a strong reseller base. The CASCADE platform offers a rapid time to market and is intuitive and easy to use for partners. Our resellers can now combine Symantec services with other, interoperable products, in order to help meet the security, email management, and service needs of end-user customers as they embark upon their cloud strategies."

Congrats to Lascom Communications which is celebrating 10 years trading. The firm, now based in Fleet, Hampshire, specialises in the installation and maintenance of phone systems, mobiles, lines and internet.

Lascom employs 10 people and services over 650 clients UK-wide, including solicitors, accountancy practices, recruitment firms, financial services companies, estate agents and pizza restaurants.

Karl Cheshire, founder and Managing Director, said: "I am proud that Lascom has reached our 10 year anniversary. The firm is in a healthy period of growth and I want to thank our clients and the team here who work so hard for them. The telecoms industry has changed so much in this short time and we have and will continue to evolve. Here's to the next 10 years."

With just days to go before the engines are turned, Gamma is making the final preparations and gearing up for the Gamma Bally Rally III.

Starting in Newbury on Wednesday 17th September, 26 teams, including Gamma Channel Partners and sponsors Cisco, Polycom and Oak Telecom, will be driving 500 miles to Dublin in cars costing no more than £500.

With go-karting, scavenger hunting, geo-caching and many more fun challenges along the way, the teams will compete for points while enjoying visits to the iconic race circuits Thruxton and Mondello Park en-route.

While fun, silly challenges and racing are very much on the agenda, the real aim of the Gamma Ball Rally is to raise money for charity.

Each team has donated £500 as an entry fee - all of which will go directly to Gamma's nominated charities:  Action Through Enterprise and Honeypot Children's Charity.

The three-day adventure will conclude with a charity gala dinner, followed by a prize ceremony and 'Auction of Promises' at the 5-star Powerscourt Hotel in Co Wicklow on the 19th September.

John Haw, Sales Director at Gamma, said: "We're really excited about the upcoming Gamma Ball Rally and can't wait to get involved in all of the challenges.

"After raising £50,000 from last year's rally, we're determined for this year to be bigger, better and raise even more money for our nominated charities.

"We've received some fantastic auction donations including luxury holidays, flying experiences, football and rugby tickets and a no expense spared trip to Vegas. A big thank you to all of our generous donors."

The majority of the money the Gamma Ball Rally raises is from the charity auction - dubbed the 'Auction of Promises'. To found out more please email john.haw@gamma.co.uk

A team of 20 employees and customers from KCOM Group will be taking on the challenge of cycling from Venice to Genoa this October with the aim of raising £50,000 for Comms Dealer charity Sparks.

Over £45,000 has already been raised, with generous support from Deloitte, Oakley Capital and several online sponsors.

The trip will see the team cycling a 300-mile route over four days as they travel from the East to West coast of Italy. After a smooth flat start from Venice, the second half of the trip will take a hilly turn as the group climbs mountains towards Liguria before reaching Genoa on the final day.

The team, led by KCOM Group's Chief Financial Officer Paul Simpson, comprises employees from all of KCOM Group's sub brands; Kcom, KC, Eclipse and Smart421.

Joining them will be colleagues from other businesses including Deloitte, Addleshaw Goddard and Lloyds Bank.

Madeleine Buckley, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Sparks, said: "We are absolutely thrilled that Paul and his team are taking on this cycle for Sparks. It's great to see the energy that they are all putting into the challenge and we have no doubt that they will reach their target while having a brilliant time along the way.

"Just £10 per child in the UK is spent on research into child health each year, yet 1 in 30 children are born with a condition that may affect them for life. Sparks funds research to change this, which is why remarkable supporters like these are so important to us."

Simpson said: "As we are now in the third year of our incredibly successful partnership with Sparks, we wanted to do something even bigger to make a difference and this challenge was the perfect option. The team and I are really looking forward to the trip, and it is great to see everyone coming together in the build up to support our fundraising efforts for this fantastic cause."

KCOM Group has supported Sparks as its charity partner since 2012, raising over £217,000 during that time to beat its original fundraising target by more than £100,000.

Distributor Exertis has advanced its Samsung go-to-market strategy with a reseller conference showcasing the South Korean vendor's voice and wireless LAN portfolio.

The event, staged at Loughborough University, offered resellers insights into the latest product enhancements and applications for desktop CTI and CRM integration, productivity, mobility and hospitality.

Alongside the live demonstrations a technical and product workshop presented delegates with a platform to give direct feedback to Samsung on product enhancements they’d like to see developed and added to the portfolio over the next 12 months.

John Bird, Head of Systems and Support Services at Exertis, said: "The event was the ideal opportunity for our resellers to learn how applications and the migration to IP endpoints will help resellers increase order values, increase customer retention and lock-in and, most importantly, deliver truly bespoke solutions to meet any end users requirements.

"Samsung are Exertis’ largest vendor and its product portfolio penetrates almost every business unit and sales team within our business, from IT to network infrastructure, CCTV, lighting, print, audio visual, mobile and UC.\"

"Samsung is the only PBX manufacturer to produce market leading mobile handsets and tablets, allowing Exertis to help our resellers deliver high end mobility solutions into key vertical markets such as hospitality, education and general office environments, delivering measurable increases in customer efficiency and productivity.\"

Exertis has reported a 20% uptick in Samsung UC revenues.

This year Nimans welcomed a summer intake of four students looking for work experience and one in particular has completed a full four weeks 'on the job'.

George Smith, 17, spent a month at the group's Agecroft headquarters learning about business practices and procedures and how a successful £85 million turnover company operates.

Smith is studying accountancy and business finance at FutureSkills College, Salford, and is hoping to one day work in finance.

"It's been an invaluable learning experience being at Nimans," said George who spent the majority of his time in the Accounts and Credit Control departments.

"I gained a brilliant insight into real life work and it's whetted my appetite to carve out a long term career in finance."

Nimans' Investors In People Manager Sue Goldfine added: "Over the summer months we welcomed four young people for varying periods of time.

"They each had a specific programme designed for them depending on how long they were with us and what their particular interest was. They spent time in various departments including accounts, telemarketing, purchasing and credit control.

"The boys particularly enjoyed time in the warehouse, realising that a modern facility is not just picking and packing but a highly organised technical operation.

"It's important to give our young people work experience to help them shape and develop their career paths as well as social and interpersonal skills. They discovered that working at Nimans was an informative experience seeing how an innovative and efficient company operates. They all said it was a great place to be and appreciated the opportunity."

"Never underestimate the power of the comms channel." That was the key message from Fidelity MD Alan Shraga after hearing that his company has been ranked No 8 in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 league table having achieved 134% growth in three years.

"This is the highest position ever achieved by a comms channel business and demonstrates how quickly a company can grow by investing in the channel, giving resellers the tools and range of products they need to develop their businesses and offer them attractive incentives to stay loyal.

"We are a small team but we have worked extremely hard and achieved this result against the headwind of the UK's biggest recession in decades," added Shraga.

"More importantly, as a channel focused business, we have succeeded because of the hard work and talent of our partners. Our mantra of Loyalty, Trust and Delivery has never had more resonance."

TheTech Track table ranks Britain's 100 private tech (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales over the latest three years. Founded in 2008, Fidelity's turnover has grown from £400,000 in 2010 to £5.7m in 2013, a sales growth of 134.15% in just three years.

Shraga and fellow founder Simon Payne sold two telecoms companies before starting Fidelity, Cable Telecom and VNetworks.

Fidelity's joined up solutions for the channel include Anvil, a web-based portal for customer management and billing.

Trustmarque Solutions has been acquired by IT services company Liberata UK to create a £240m business with 2,000 employees across multiple UK locations and a client base of more than 1,700 public and private sector customers. Trustmarque will continue to operate as a separate entity in a deal that CEO Scott Haddow said is 'simply a change of investor'.

Trustmarque's senior management team will remain responsible for the company's day-to-day operations.

"The strategic fit between the two organisations is excellent and as a result we are excited about the market opportunity that's in front of us," stated Haddow.

"We continue to be a successful and profitable business, and with the added expertise, customer portfolio and services that Liberata brings to the table we will go from strength to strength."

The acquisition significantly extends Liberata's market reach and opens up a range of private sector opportunities.

Liberata's scope of services now extends across the ICT value chain and the Trustmarque deal follows its acquisition of Trinity Expert Systems last year.

Dermot Joyce, CEO of Liberata, said: "The acquisition creates significant value for Liberata and for all of our customers by connecting the ICT value chain.

"We see the advantages of the complementary service and solutions provided by Trustmarque and believe that together we can create an end-to-end proposition for all of our clients."