Comms Dealer

Unify has appointed Thomas Veit to lead the company's channel business in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia. As Senior Vice President of Channels for EMEAR, Veit will be responsible for all distribution channel activities in the region and will work to expand Unify's business with new and existing partners.

Veit joins Unify from Avaya, where he was Managing Director of International Distribution, with responsibility for the distribution strategy for Avaya solutions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
"Thomas brings a wealth of experience in building a successful channel business in Europe, and will be critical as we continue to work towards our goal of growing revenue through complementary indirect channels," said Jon Pritchard, executive vice president of worldwide channels for Unify.

"I am pleased to welcome Thomas to my team and look forward to working closely with him as Unify expands our business in the region."

Veit has more than 20 years of experience and success in building pan-EMEA channel programs. Before joining Avaya, Veit worked at SonicWALL as senior director of EMEA Sales Operation and Emerging Markets, where he was responsible for the optimisation of the distribution and reseller channel relationships.

Veit told Comma Dealer: "Unify has a tremendous opportunity and with the company's 'channel-first' approach, I look forward to helping move Unify's indirect channel program to the next level."

A two-way radio reseller demo day held in a 'showroom on wheels' at the Manchester headquarters of ICT distributor Nimans has been voted a resounding success.

The event was held in partnership with Motorola and attended by dealer partners as well as internal sales staff help them understand the differences between analogue and digital technology and licensed and licence free options.

Nimans' Purchasing Director, Andy Winfield commented: "The two-way radio arena is much more than just traditional analogue conversations between two different parties on a licence free basis. We wanted to highlight how professional digital and IP systems can help dealers drive margins by educating their customers to make better informed decisions. The demonstration event can even be repeated at a customer's premises if required."

Meanwhile, Winfield reports continuing demand for the 'humble' fax machine in specific industry sectors where faxes have the edge in terms of security.

"It may come as a surprise but in various business sectors there's still healthy demand for fax machines so resellers shouldn't ignore them altogether. Insurance, banks and the shipping industry are some to name a few," said Winfield.

Winfield says security is one of the biggest factors where fax machines have the edge over more modern communication methods. "Despite the digital age where e-mail is king, there are lots of niche industries where the fax machine remains an inherent part of a comms operation. We tend to see demand rise during the football transfer windows when signed contracts are always sent over by fax."

Nimans is currently running a series of special offers on fax machines, laser printers and label printers, with savings of up to 36%.

This year's Managed Services & Hosting Summit will take place at The Pullman Hotel, London on September 25th.

The event is recognised as the UK's leading channel event for solution providers, systems integrators, resellers and other ICT channel organisations interested in capitalising on the rapid growth in managed services and hosting. The central theme of this year's event will be BEYOND THE CLOUD - The Changing Face of Managed Services.

Specific sessions will focus on:

• The changing face of Managed Services - Trends in service delivery and changing customer demands

• Beyond the cloud - Hybrid IT, the impact of new technologies and evolving business models

• Creating Value with Managed Services - How to create value, gain competitive advantage and build greater value into your business

Alan Norman, Managing Director of organiser IT Europa Publications commented: "The Managed Services & Hosting Summit 2014 provides an ideal platform for any organisation seeking to increase their IT channel business by working with resellers, systems integrators and service providers looking to develop their managed services portfolio."

For information visit www.mshsummit.com

Resellers and electrical installers can now plug into new connectivity revenue opportunities following the launch of a new dual socket innovation from Nimans.

The new two-way USB plug device is the latest example of the distributor's ever-evolving stock range and 'Every Connected' business strategy - to provide all the components to complete a job from start to finish.

Purchasing Director, Andy Winfield, says the multi-purpose Titan socket is easy to install and ideally suited to a wide range of vertical sectors, from hotels and hospitals to schools, general offices and even the domestic market.

"The USB solution reflects growing demand for dual connectivity as the growth in mobile phone charging and power for laptops continues to rise. It frees up standard plug sockets for other appliances and is an easy way for resellers to upgrade sites and add more value to their revenue potential."

The socket has an RRP of £20 and complements an existing range of multimedia connectivity hubs available from Nimans.

Glasgow based call recording and call management specialist Sinclair Voicenet has been named NICE Security Business Partner of the Year.

The award was presented by Eran Noam, NICE Systems Sales VP for EMEA at NICE Systems' recent Security Partner Conference at Lake Maggiore, Italy in May. The award recognises Sinclair Voicenet's outstanding services contribution within the UK's Public Safety market.

Sinclair Voicenet Director Peter Gough commented: "This award recognises our commitment to meeting the mission critical needs in this market sector by developing the highest level of expertise in NICE's portfolio of public safety products including the latest crisis, incident and operational efficiency applications."

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise reseller partners with good contacts in local government are set to take advantage of wireless technology from the communications giant aimed at older tourist friendly towns where the laying of fixed lines is an issue.

Ingolstadt, a historic German university city established in the 1400s and supporting 130,000 inhabitants as well as a busy tourist and student population from around the world, has opted to modernise its city centre by providing free Wi-Fi access, based on wireless technology from ALE.

To access the new Wi-Fi network people simply register with their mobile phone number and receive access to the network for the following 14 days. Ingolstadt intends to offer more local services based on the network by adding WLAN-driven GPS guidance for traffic.

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Head of Marketing Manish Sablok, told Comms Dealer: "There are many cities in the UK just like Ingolstadt - older towns with the potential to attract tourists and support residents and shops by offering wireless access for the whole inner city area.

"This is a real opportunity for other cities to become even more attractive for residents and tourists through the implementation of a free public WLAN. We are pleased to have the experience of Ingolstadt which shows just how this can be achieved."

Nimans has announced a 'hugely successful' trading relationship with audio conferencing manufacturer Revolabs - on the first anniversary of the partnership.

The distributor says dozens of its resellers have embraced the Revolabs FLX wireless conference phone, hailed as bringing a new level of freedom and flexibility to audio and video conference calls.

The Revolabs FLX is available with either a VoIP or analogue phone interface. With plug and play set-up, it can also serve as an audio interface with virtually any major brand of video conferencing equipment, providing the same high-end audio performance within video calls. Integrated Bluetooth technology provides a single collaboration device whatever communication channel is used, allowing users to connect the speaker and microphones to their Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone, tablet, or computer.

Ian Brindle, Nimans' Head of Conferencing Sales told Comms Dealer: "Wireless VoIP conferencing, wireless desktop conferencing, wearable microphones and the ability to interface with video conferencing technology make the FLX system a very impressive and flexible all-round solution. Our partnership has so far been a resounding triumph and a year of success."

UK resellers are sometimes asked by business customers if they can help with getting them or their student offspring 'online' quickly when they move home or relocate and a new deal from Direct Save Telecom my provide the answer.

The Independent service provider is now offering free line activation and a new telephone line for only £29.95 and claims the deal is 77% cheaper than BT. All the customer has to do is sign up to an 18 month contract and Direct Save says it will arrange the whole process for free and activate the line on a chosen date or on the next working day.

To appeal to the UK's renting and student population Direct Save will also install a new line for £118 and place the customer on a non-contract 28 day rolling deal.

"We thought it was about time a deal was put in place for UK movers, as line activation and new line installation have been far too expensive for far too long," says Direct Save Telecom CEO, Stavros Tsolakis.

"Movers can now enjoy free line activation, and low-cost line installation, when they sign-up to our £1.95, 18 month deal. Movers will not be able to find a better deal in the UK."

IP Telephony hardware supplier NEC has received the highest overall score from a customer-based survey which addressed 500 IT customers of the leading unified communication vendors.

In the annual Nemertes PilotHouse research study, NEC were ranked highest among all IP telephony vendors in three core areas namely technology, customer service and ability to serve as a 'Trusted Advisor'.

NEC also achieved the best customer loyalty in the Nemertes Customer Loyalty Barometer, which shows the relative percentage of companies planning to leave their provider in the next two years.

"Nemertes' PilotHouse results accurately reflect vendor performance because they are based heavily on real-world ratings and feedback from those who know best-the customers." said Robin Gareiss, president and founder of Nemertes Research.

Larry Levenberg, VP, NEC Corporation of America commented: "NEC places a very high emphasis on its customer service and we always make customer service a top priority. Our product development teams encourage user feedback to help craft product technical features and design and as a result, we have consistently ranked at or near the top in delivering value to our customers in various studies. The Nemertes report is further validation of this."

IT Europa is to stage the European IT & Software Excellence Awards 2015 in London on 25th March 2015.

Now in their seventh year, the Awards have been designed to recognise and reward excellence in European software development and IT and Telecoms solutions provision. The awards will bring together leading ISVs, Solution Providers and Systems Integrators from across Europe to demonstrate their ability to provide industry-leading IT solutions for their customers.

The awards are split into three sections. The first set of awards is for Systems Integrators and Solution VARs and acknowledges their skill and endeavour in delivering world class IT solutions for their customers. The second set of awards, exclusively for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and software developers, highlights the applications that they have developed and delivered for their customers. The final set of awards, for suppliers, highlights those vendors, distributors and service providers who best support their channel partners to deliver excellence.

2015 Award Categories:
Solution Provider Categories
• SME Solution of the Year
• Enterprise Solution of the Year
• Datacentre Solution of the Year
• Vertical Solution of the Year
• Public Sector and Utilities Solution of the Year
• Managed Service Solution of the Year
• Connected/Mobility Solution of the Year
• Storage/Information Management Solution of the Year
• Big Data, Business Intelligence and Analytics Solution of the Year
• Networking Solution of the Year
• Security Solution of the Year
ISV Categories
• ERP/CRM/Relationship Management Solution of the Year
• Information & Document Management Solution of the Year
• Big Data, Business Intelligence and Analytics Solution of the Year
• Connected/Mobility Solution of the Year
• Vertical Market Solution of the Year
• Government/Utilities Solution of the Year
• SaaS Solution of the Year
• Software Innovation Solution of the Year
Supplier Categories
• Technology Vendor of the Year
• Connected Technologies Vendor of the Year
• Software Vendor of the Year
• Security Vendor of the Year
• Service Provider of the Year
• Distributor of the Year
• Finance/Support Services Provider of the Year

"With the complexity of technology continuing to increase and new cloud-based and hybrid delivery models emerging, the role played by ISVs, solution providers and integrators in delivering real solutions to end-customers is becoming increasingly important," says Alan Norman, Managing Director of IT Europa. "The European IT & Software Excellence Awards are the only pan-European awards to recognise excellence in the creation and delivery of real solutions and are intended to encourage the development of partnerships between vendors and solution providers across the IT and Telecoms industries."

IT & Software Excellence Awards winners will be presented with their awards at the European IT & Software Excellence Awards Dinner on 25 March 2015 at The Lancaster London Hotel, London.

Organisations wishing to enter the European IT & Software Excellence Awards or interested in sponsorship opportunities can find further information at: www.iteawards.com