Comms Dealer

The deadline for the Comms National Awards, the UK's number one channel awards event once again sponsored by Nine Wholesale, has been extended to 5pm next Friday September 5th. "We are anticipating another record entry, but as client and channel references and testimonials are an essential part of the process we wanted to give people the chance to get back from their holidays and put together the best possible entries for the judges to consider," said Awards coordinator Nigel Sergent.

Once again, a quality panel of judges has been assembled who will be independently assessing each entry received. See: http://www.cnawards.com/judges.html

This year the panel includes Lee Shorten (pictured), who headed up Avaya's UK and Ireland operation for three years. " I am delighted to join the judging panel this year and I'm looking forward to seeing just how much the channel has developed and changed as solutions and services move more and more into the software arena," said Lee.

With a week to go there is still time to enter the Awards.

Simply register at http://www.cnawards.com/enter_now.html – select which awards you would like to enter, download the relevant entry forms, answer the questions on the form as accurately and succinctly as possible and then forward your completed entry, along with supporting testimonials and information, to CN Awards coordinator Nigel Sergent at nsergent@bpl-business.com

3CX has added clientless WebRTC video conferencing to the 3CX Phone System.

The feature, called 3CX WebMeeting, is said to be one of the first multiple participant web conferencing solutions using WebRTC.

Google's WebRTC technology enables video and voice communications to take place through the Internet browser, and participants can join meetings without the need to download additional software or plug-ins.

3CX WebMeeting is delivered as a hosted add-on, meaning that customers can use the web conferencing feature without installing additional server hardware or requiring additional bandwidth.

The meeting set-up and configuration takes place locally but is streamed via 3CX's data centres, saving businesses the need for additional bandwidth.

3CX customers can also host webinars or online training using the Virtual Classroom features. Web conferences can be launched through the 3CXPhone client with a few mouse-clicks.

Nick Galea, CEO, said: "This is a game changing moment for the telecoms industry, with 3CX WebMeeting, web conferencing is now within everyone's reach."

Virgin Media Business has signed a deal to provide services through the Scottish Government Fixed Telephony Services Framework, allowing public sector organisations across the country to benefit from cost savings created by collaborative procurement.

The deal will see Virgin Media Business provide fixed voice services to schools, hospitals, local councils and GP surgeries, playing a major role in improving digital connectivity across Scotland.

As a part of the deal, Virgin Media Business will offer lower tariffs to public sector organisations who switch their services, saving vital taxpayers' money.

Virgin Media Business will also be working with public sector organisations to identify new, more efficient ways of working, rolling out additional services such as SIP Trunking and cloud-based products.

This deal is part of a wider government programme which includes the roll out of a Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN) for all public organisations in Scotland.

Virgin Media Business will be working with seven other suppliers, who will together provide telephony services to organisations to deliver more joined up public services across Scotland.

The new model will also lead to huge reductions in procurement costs by moving away from individual organisations procuring their own infrastructure.

Mario DiMascio, executive sales director at Virgin Media Business, said: "Through improved and more cost-effective voice services we'll take away the complexity that many organisations currently face in dealing with multiple providers and instead put in place a more collaborative approach. This will play a vital role in boosting efficiency and identifying new opportunities for growth.

"It's about improving Scotland's public sector infrastructure to generate significant long-term savings and ultimately deliver a more integrated and cost-effective service for businesses across the country."

Alastair Merrill, Director of Procurement and Commercial at the Scottish Government said: "The Fixed Telephony Services framework is a fantastic example of a variety of public sector organisations working together to achieve a wide range of local and national benefits by maximising efficiency through collaboration."

Brocade is working with BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions to deliver Brocade Leasing across Europe (specifically the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Belgium and Spain).

Brocade Leasing is part of the wider Brocade Capital Solutions portfolio which includes Brocade Network Subscription, through which organisations can refresh their network infrastructure and simply add or subtract capacity without the need for significant capital expenditure, allowing them to focus on scaling their business instead of their network infrastructure.

"We are pushing the innovation envelope on both the technical and business front," said Marcus Jewell, Vice President EMEA at Brocade.

"With financing from Brocade, customers can turn on vast amounts of networking capacity, but do so in a flexible manner, such as bundling hardware, software, support contracts and professional services into one low monthly payment, thereby easing fiscal pressure on the business.

"Our agreement with BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions furthers our commitment to customers in helping them drive business transformation, while managing budgets in a prudent manner."

US-based ScanSource is set to buy Imago Group, the European distributor of video and voice communications equipment and services.

ScanSource gets Imago's operations in the United Kingdom, France, and the recently acquired business in Germany.

Imago sales for fiscal year ended July 31, 2014 are estimated to total approximately £50m with operating margins consistent with ScanSource's Communications business.

The all-cash transaction as currently negotiated includes an initial purchase price of approximately £24.5m, plus earnout payments over the next two years.

The acquisition as contemplated in the letter of intent is expected to be accretive to earnings per share and ROIC in the first year after closing, excluding one-time acquisition costs.

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in the UK, Imago has nearly 120 employees in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. I

n June 2014, Imago acquired VITEC Distribution, a videoconferencing distributor in Germany. Imago carries vendor partners including Polycom, Barco, Samsung, and NEC.

In 2013, Imago was named by Polycom as its Distributor of the Year in EMEA.

"The proposed acquisition of Imago represents the next step in ScanSource's strategy to be a value added distributor of video, voice and data solutions for resellers in Europe," said Mike Baur, CEO, ScanSource.

The ice bucket craze has gone viral globally and no doubt there will be many pictures and videos of comms and data folk taking the challenge in the next few weeks.

We would love to show them all, but regrettably our space and bandwidth is limited so we'll let Facebook and You Tube take the strain.

However, as a supporter of our charity Sparks, we have nominated Rainbow Group MD Dave Corgat to represent all the brave souls in our industry who will endure the icy humiliation in the days ahead.

Here's a picture of his chilly dowsing which caused great hilarity at the Rainbow's HQ in Kent.

SIP and hosted carrier tIPicall has added 10 new countries (including Iceland and Cambodia) to its portfolio of overseas local numbers that can be terminated to UK-based clients.

As well as Iceland and Cambodia, new local numbers are now available from destinations as diverse as Benin, the Republic of Congo and Sri Lanka.

This brings tIPicall's international numbering service to a total of 102 countries and territories with local number availability and 130 with toll-free numbering available.

Steve Harrington, Sales Director, said: "Our extended range of worldwide options available to resellers stands out, but the real differentiator is that we can deliver these numbers as call forwards to any number or via SIP straight into the PBX.

"As we have the ability to broadcast these numbers as the CLI on outbound calls in local format as well, it creates a compelling sales opportunity for our partners."

Other recently added numbering destinations for tIPicall include Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras.

Vision Corporate Services has made great gains since signing up to the Zest4 Marketing Accreditation Programme in July, a move which put the firm on a new strategic path that has resulted in UC sales leads and a strong pipeline of new business.

The scheme operates as a bespoke programme built for each partner to support their transition into the UC market.

"The programme is well structured and has been a thought provoking exercise for our business, enabling us to build a strategy to go to market with a new UC product from a standing start," enthused Guilio Liase, MD and founder of Vision Corporate Services.

Exertis Micro-P has extended its distribution agreement with Logitech to include its business solutions that scale from small, medium, large to enterprise-grade capabilities.

John Howard, EMEA Director, B2B & Unified Communications, Logitech, stated: "Exertis Micro-P's channel reach, value-added services and focused teams will help to drive pre-sales support for Logitech products.

"It will help to propel Logitech's strategy to drive specific business products for the Small, Medium, Large and Enterprise markets across productivity, tablet accessory and UC solutions."

Phil Brown, B2B Director at Exertis Micro-P, added: "Exertis has been a partner for Logitech across its retail business for a number of years and we're excited to build on this with its B2B business solutions."

Daisy Wholesale has added Hosted Desktop Services (HDS) to its cloud portfolio, prompted by what Product Director for Cloud Graham Harris calls a U-turn in computing. "We are now seeing a reverse in trend with computing reverting to mainframes in data centres and dumb terminals on the desk," he said. "Where once a business relied on a PC to have the power to run its own desktop, HDS centralises the intelligence.

"From this central 'hub', users can log in and use this core as their processing power, thereby removing the need for PCs and servers and their onerous support overheads.

"As data solutions advance, we are beginning to see more SMBs invest in cloud technologies. Gartner reports that already 43% of SMBs in the US have adopted hosted desktop and it forecasts that this space will see the strongest growth over the coming years.

"HDS gives resellers the capability to go to market with a solution that provides their customers with the flexible working capabilities that they have been striving for, at a predictable cost."

Through an individual login, users are able to access all the programmes, business systems and shared files in the same way as previously.

Daisy Wholesale provides a choice of three packages - Bronze, Silver and Gold - however, there are also storage and application add-ons that allow partners to increase the value of the sale. This ease of deployment means that trials are more accessible to customers, allowing them to witness proof of concept and as a result heighten confidence in the service.

Harris added: "I believe that now is the perfect time for a solution like this. With the government's new flexible working policy; the end of Window's support for Microsoft XP; the demand for BYOD; and the availability of high-performance, low-cost connectivity like FTTC and GEA - many businesses will find themselves at a crossroads on the IT infrastructure roadmap."

To mark the launch of HDS, Daisy Wholesale is offering site licences to new HDS dealers free for the first three months. Continuation of the free service is subject to the dealer's sales performance.