Comms Dealer

Equinix has completed its acquisition of 29 data centres and their operations from Verizon Communications.

The US $3.6bn all cash transaction includes over 1,000 customers, of which over 600 are net new, and approximately three million gross square feet of data centre space, accelerating Equinix's ability to help companies extend their IT operations to the digital edge through the interconnection of people, locations, clouds and data.

The acquisition of these strategic facilities broadens Equinix's capabilities by strengthening interconnection density on the Equinix global platform; accelerating business relationships in the government and energy sectors; and supporting Equinix's enterprise offering.

Additionally, it adds three new markets (Bogotá, Culpeper and Houston) and provides additional capacity and the opportunity for expansion in markets where Equinix currently has a presence, including Atlanta, Denver, Miami, New York, São Paulo, Seattle and Silicon Valley.

Spread across 15 cities in North and Latin America, the new assets bring Equinix's total global footprint to over 175 International Business Exchange TM (IBX®) data centers across 44 markets and approximately 17 million gross square feet.

BT has completed the acquisition of IP Trade, a provider of unified communications and collaboration solutions for trading floor environments and command-and-control dispatch centres, following approval by the UK's Competition & Markets Authority (CMA).

According to BT, teams will be able to collaborate across complex, global communities more effectively using a blend of speech, video and messaging with the broadest range of fixed and mobile devices and applications.

BT said in a statement, 'Technology and operations groups will be able to integrate their enterprise systems with their specialist trading floor and control room IT and combine cloud with on-premise solutions in the way that suits them best. Firms will be better able to meet demanding regulatory compliance obligations'.

US-based and a publicly traded value added reseller PCM has revealed plans to expand into the UK and the European market.

The company has decided to use its wholly-owned subsidiary, PCM Technology Solutions UK, to access the European market and says it will use it as its hub for both the UK market and the rest of Europe.

PCM also expects to fill around 90 positions by the end of the year and is now recruiting for the new roles across sales, vendor management, purchasing, marketing, IT, finance and other various business roles.

In February PCM UK hired Donovan Hutchinson as MD to help develop the offering for PCM UK.

He joined from Global IT where he was responsible for executing collaboration programmes and extending service offerings from North America based clients into the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific markets.

"Our expansion into the UK marks a major milestone for PCM as we introduce our technology solutions and capabilities to new markets around the world," stated PCM's Chairman and CEO Frank Khulusi.

"PCM UK will be our hub for the UK and the rest of Europe. Now is the right timing for us to pursue this additional market."

According to the company, which saw its 2016 revenues at $2.25bn and has nearly 4,000 employees, the move to the European marketplace represents the next major step after a successful expansion into Canada in 2015.

Livingbridge-backed Metronet (UK) has appointed Mike Darcey as Chairman.

He was formerly CEO at News UK from 2013 to 2015 following a 15 year stint at BSkyB where he was Head of Strategy and latterly COO. He has also held a number of non-executive Director roles at PA Group and Home Retail Group.

The appointment coincides with a rebrand of Metronet (UK) to M24Seven following the acquisition of Venus in March.

Darcey said: "In the UK, M24Seven has a proprietary wireless network and access to local loop unbundled fibre, particularly in London. This is a differentiated proposition in a crowded market, which is supported by a full suite of business-critical solutions.

"Globally, M24Seven has an IXP network across 16 cities which is only just beginning to be exploited. With so much opportunity, I am looking forward to working with the team to shape the strategy and see what we can achieve together."

CEO Lee Perkins added: "Mike joins the team at an integral point where we bring so much hard work to life, especially our brand. At M24Seven, we believe that that well-connected businesses are more productive and our new brand reflects our ability to support our customers around the clock, enabling them to get more done, 24-seven."

In a bid to ensure it is always on the technology ball Solar has acted to keep its finger on the pulse of innovation and drive business transformation with the launch of a Disruptive Technology division led by Jason Evans who joined the company following its acquisition of RDC last year.

As Director of Disruptive Technology he is tasked with managing a team of seven, extending the capabilities of the wider business and pushing disruptive tech into the mid-market.

He said: "My team aims to deliver best-of-breed solutions to challenge and disrupt the legacy business technology landscape, supporting and enabling the next wave of digital transformation.

"For example, as more and more businesses move to a cloud-first strategy traditional WAN solutions have created cost, performance and security challenges.

"With a current focus on SD-WAN, Solar is working with vendor Silver-Peak to leverage 'better than private line' security and performance over Internet bandwidth, while delivering direct-to-cloud connectivity when and where it is most effective.

"Our Silver-Peak EdgeConnect SD-WAN solution is key to enabling an effective cloud-first strategy for customers.

"We already have customers in automotive, legal and professional services sectors utilising the solution which is proving disruptive to traditional WAN offerings."

CEO John Whitty added: "Solar is now dedicating part of its operation to understanding and bringing to market a portfolio of solutions that are set to disrupt the enterprise technology landscape.

"Jason and his team have demonstrated that the market is ready to adopt these new solutions."

The cloud communications provider serves 2,000 mid-market organisations across the UK with a portfolio that includes SD WAN, cloud UCaaS, contact centre, on-site and cloud storage.

Over three quarters of UK mid-market businesses anticipate a hike in IT budgets this year, reckons Node4 in a report it compiled.

The survey showed that 35% of IT decision makers in the mid-market expect budget rises of 5-10%, while 22% see a hike of over 10% with the key investment areas being business growth, security and reducing operational costs.

Hosted and cloud-based services will take a meaty share of mid-market IT budgets in 2017, with IaaS (20%) and managed security (16%) the top two cloud spending priorities, followed by managed services (12%) and DR (11%).
 
Paul Bryce, Business Development Director, Node4, said: "Mid-tier companies are the engine of the UK's economy so it is promising to see investment taking place in the IT infrastructure that will help to fuel further growth.

"It is no surprise that mid-market companies are embracing the cloud which affords a huge opportunity to drive efficiency, agility, scalability, and to empower workforces.

"Despite the current challenging business climate, the mid-market is the fastest growing sector in the UK economy and policy-makers, investors and IT vendors alike should focus on enabling this growth."

New financial sector regulations that come into force next year have prompted TeleWare and Weston Digital Technologies to link up and co-develop an on-site compliance capture, record and analysis solution.

MiFID II comes into effect in January 2018 when all communications - voice, face-to-face and electronic - relating to financial trades must be recorded and stored for a minimum of five years with a possible extension to seven.

And the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) kicks off in May 2018 requiring marketers and data handlers to clean up customer data in their own environment to ensure the correct permissions are held and compliant.

To meet these requirements TeleWare and Weston have created a solution that captures fixed and mobile voice recordings together with SMS and uses TeleWare's Intelligent Import technology to push the recordings to an on-site recorder.

Paul Millar, Chief Innovation Officer at TeleWare, said: "We are working together to offer Weston customers a recording solution that holds everything in one place on-site."

Weston MD Derek Townsend added: "Our goal is to avoid swivel chair compliance. MiFID II requires financial firms to record all communications in all forms that may be involved or result in a trade.

"Bringing it all together on one platform, a unified solution for compliance, is so much more efficient."

Former KCOM exec Afshin Attari has joined Exponential-e as Director of Public Sector. The posting follows a near-ten year stint at KCOM where he was latterly responsible for developing, implementing and leading the client management strategy across enterprise and public sector markets.

Prior to KCOM he spent five years at O2 working as Head of Business Development and Head of Service and Sales.

Attari said: "There is a huge demand for cloud services within government departments as they look to reduce costs by using application solutions and services, rather than the oversized technology contracts of yesteryear. There is also an expectation that organisations must be able to provide support and hold data within the UK and Exponential-e ticks both these boxes."

Lee Wade, CEO of Exponential-e, added: "Afshin has an impressive track record working for some world-class companies and his skills and experience will prove invaluable to the entire company.

"The UK public sector is filled with opportunity for innovative companies like us, so the next couple of years will be crucial to further advancing our growth in this space. Afshin is the right person to lead this charge."

Hats off to ever-popular Comms Dealer sales exec Sophie Timms who completed last month's London Marathon in 5hr 17mins and smashed her £2,000 fund raising target by £500 (and rising) in aid of kids charity Sparks.

Comms Dealer Sales Director Simon Turton said: "Sophie's commitment to her training regime over the past months and determination to raise as much funds as possible for Sparks is a clear reflection of her dedicated approach to working with our clients."

Sophie added: "The marathon was one of the best, and toughest, things I have ever done. Despite painful legs, knees, shoulders, back and feet, along with the mental pressure of having no option other than to succeed, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and intend to run again next year with a time of under five hours. A massive thank you to everyone who sponsored me along this journey and donated to Sparks, an incredibly worthwhile cause."

To continue supporting Sophie's charity efforts please visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Sophie-Timms1

A Merseyside-based technology company is seeking to build a channel of resellers with clients that regularly travel abroad and want to slash data roaming costs.

YRoam's flagship YR4 product is a device, slightly heavier and thicker than a smartphone, that uses cloud SIM technology to locate local 4G or 3G networks that offer the most affordable rates, giving travellers their own portable Wi-Fi hot-spot.

YRoam claims the device operates in 100 countries worldwide and is not locked down to a specific network so users will only ever pay the flat rate from the data package chosen.

The hardware unit includes 1gb of data and can connect up to five devices simultaneously with a range of up to 50 metres. The YR4 also doubles as a power bank so the user can stay online and connected throughout their trip.
?"In 2017, being connected to the Internet should no longer be an expensive luxury, but an affordable and instant necessity," said YRoam MD Matt Agrimi.

"We are in the process of agreeing exclusive commercial reseller opportunities across Africa, Asia and the US to name but a few, all with groups that have recognised the opportunity that the ever-expanding demand for data roaming creates. 

"We are open to all indirect channel opportunities and markets and can bespoke our commercial offering.

"The data roaming space will continue to grow at pace as will the associated revenues, and therefore the returns for any prospective partner are unrestricted."