Comms Dealer

Arrow has signed a Pan-EMEA distribution deal with SimpliVity, a specialist in the hyperconverged infrastructure solutions segment for software-defined data centres. Arrow will also distribute its OmniCube platforms.

Mitch Breen, senior vice president of global sales, SimpliVity, said: "We are excited to expand our footprint in Pan-EMEA with Arrow's support. Together, we can deliver offerings that address the performance and capacity challenges in today's virtualised data centres, ensuring performance, capacity, mobility, manageability and protection of data without driving up capex and opex."

Coms has bucked the summer lull by adding at least £1.2m in annualised revenue to the bank via its vibrant channel operation.

Dave Breith, CEO, said: "It has been a challenging but rewarding year and the hard work of everyone within our company has paid off. We are pleased with the annualised revenue figures."

Luxoft is increasing its revenue guidance following growth in the development of software for the automative industry and expansion in the US, UK and Germany,

It now expects to reach at least $486m, an increase of at least 22% year over year, compared to a previous target of $478m.

Revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2014 increased to $112.3m, up 34% from $83.8m for the same period a year ago. EBITDA adjusted for stock based compensation and for change in fair value of contingent consideration was $19.1m and corresponding EBITDA margin was 17%, as compared to $14.4m and 17.1%, respectively, in the year-ago quarter.

"We have been enjoying a strong operational and financial momentum, which, in our view, underlines resilience of our business model," said Roman Yakushkin, Chief Financial Officer.

"We believe that the company continues to grow substantially faster than the overall custom application and software development segment as our clients focus on bringing essential innovation to market in the shortest possible time. They also increasingly prefer executing complex engagements in a fixed price, managed delivery format."

Twenty five per cent of UK resellers are missing out on a valuable financial service by not using leasing to lock in customers.

That's the view of Tom Maxwell Head of Dealer Sales at distributor Nimans which has its own dedicated leasing division.

"One of the most important areas that often gets overlooked is how leasing can help resellers 'lock in' their customers over a long period of time," said Maxwell.
"There's no worries about cash price discounts that can erode margins and they also have greater control over a customer where they can upgrade or add additional equipment further down the line."

Nimans has launched an educational marketing campaign to help resellers understand the 'hassle free' way they can use leasing to grow their businesses.

"There are still a lot of resellers who view elements of leasing as complicated," continued Maxwell. "They don't want to embrace it and only go after cash deals which very often ends up with a price discount and loss of margins. We offer a free lease desk which takes away all the pain of paperwork and liaising with different lenders etc.

"Many resellers are very good at selling leasing but others are a bit frightened of it, particularly at the end of the deal about who owns the kit. We want to soothe their fears and show them how to remain in control," he added.

Warrington based billing and customer management solutions specialist MDS has appointed Jennifer Fellows as Senior Vice President of Product Management and Marketing to drive the product strategy for the MDS billing and real-time charging solutions for telcos and MVNOs.

Fellows joins MDS from CSG International where she held the role of Vice President of Product Management. During her tenure, products were deployed globally and revenue targets exceeded. She also held the role of VP of Product Management at Argent Networks, and Director of Product Management at bcgi, a leading provider of real-time billing, MVNO and access management products.

Jennifer commented: "I am excited to join MDS. The organisation is comprised of knowledgeable and dedicated people, expert in delivering a quality BSS portfolio to digital service providers. Combined with an extensive history of providing value, all these assets make for a winning formula for the future."

"We're pleased to welcome Jennifer to the management team," said Mark Edwards, CEO of MDS. "Her extensive experience in real-time charging makes her an invaluable addition to the business and solidifies our commitment to an innovative cloud-based product strategy."

Aberdeen-based converged solutions reseller Orca Telecom has landed key energy sector contract wins said to be worth in the region of £600k.

The wins include Enterprise North East Trust, Harris Caprock, ADC Engineering, Ocean Installer, ITC Global, Grayloc and ADD Energy. The success comes on the back of the company reporting income in excess of £1.7million which represents a 70% hike in year-on-year revenues.
The company says it has recently doubled its support team to ensure services remain the number one priority.

Rory McEwan, director at Orca Telecom told Comms Dealer: "We are delighted to have reported such a significant growth in our development as we continue our momentum within the oil and gas sector, locally, nationally, offshore and overseas.

"We have experienced specific growth in hosted voice services, particularly with businesses who are now finding themselves in the position to expand their services and move to larger or new premises. This is giving them the option to maintain business critical services at all times whilst retaining the flexibility to retain numbers and features, wherever their new location might be.

"Having applied our service-led strategy with open and honest communication we have had great success in gaining traction within our target sector and built some excellent relationships along the way," added McEwan.

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.