Comms Dealer

Manchester has the potential to be one of the top digital cities of the world according to ANS Group founder Scott Fletcher MBE.

??Speaking at the 2014 Institute of Directors Conference Fletcher, who founded £100m cloud computing firm ANS Group in his Droylsden bedroom aged 22, told delegates:
"In my view we have the best universities in the world here in Greater Manchester, certainly the best in the country. And we have the best internet connectivity in the UK outside of London.

"Plus, we already have a huge base of businesses that are digital success stories. It is just joining it all up and getting the investments required."

Fletcher, who managed to keep his recent MBE secret from family, friends and colleagues for a month, discussed the challenges he faced before getting to where he is today.

"I think a business has to be a fun place to work. Investment is key if we are to compete globally and with the rest of the UK. We need to upskill our workforce, get them on a living wage not minimum wage. It does all come down to confidence. We have also got to start looking at outcomes rather than 9 to 5, and trust people to get on with it."

Kcom Group apprentice Thomas Herring has won this year's Microsoft Apprentice of the Year Award in the Large Employer category out of hundreds of apprentices employed by Microsoft and its partner businesses.\

The young software engineer attended a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons where he was presented with his award by Nadhim Zahawi MP, Member of the No 10 Policy Board with special responsibility for business and the economy.

Thomas, who is based at KCOM Group's Hull office and works in its IT team, began his apprenticeship in October 2013.

"Being able to study and work at the same time has been a great benefit to me and my development. I've been helping deliver a wide variety of projects including for a national power services supplier, a customer portal project and a corporate web application that gave me experience working to a budget and a deadline," said Thomas.

Another apprentice at KCOM Group, Liam Walker, was also a finalist in the same category of the awards and was named runner-up behind Thomas.

Managed and cloud-based services provider ControlCircle, which was acquired by the Alternative Networks group earlier this year, has been awarded Managed Services Provider of the Year for the third year in a row at the International Data centre Awards 2014.

Edward Spurrier, CEO of the Alternative Networks group told Comms Dealer: "This is a great achievement and reaffirms ControlCircle's reputation and ability as a professional managed service provider in the worldwide arena."

US-based NetMotion Wireless, provider of mobility management software and solutions for mobile workforces, is being distributed under a new deal with Ingram Micro Europe BVBA, (Ingram Micro Mobility). The privately-held supplier wants to grow into several new European markets.

"Ingram Micro Mobility is the ideal mobile-centric distribution partner to help us expand our presence with enterprises globally," said Erik Prusch, CEO, NetMotion Wireless. "This partnership comes on the heels of opening our new European headquarters and will help us quickly increase both market traction and partner responsiveness."

"Mobile productivity is becoming increasingly important to enterprises across Europe," said Marios Ktisti, senior manager, companion products (software and services Europe), Ingram Micro Mobility. "NetMotion's software fits well within our enterprise mobility software portfolio as an enabler of secure and optimised mobile deployments."

"We are excited by the opportunity of working with Ingram Micro Mobility and their reseller channel to reach a wider range of enterprise customers to ensure the success of their mobile deployments," said Erik Helms, general manager, EMEA & ROW, NetMotion Wireless. 

Q2 PC shipments in Western Europe have been boosted by ongoing renewals in the SMB space following the end of Windows XP support, says IDC.

Commercial demand remained strong as business confidence stemming from an improving macroeconomic outlook contributed to corporate renewals. Commercial PC shipment growth in Western Europe reached 26.9% - clear confirmation that PCs remain key productivity tools in the enterprise environment.

At the same time, the rebound in consumer shipments accelerated and some markets, including southern Europe, returned to levels of business close to their capacity. Shipments in Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands took off, with sell-in up by more than 40%.

According to IDC, PC shipments in EMEA reached 21.9 million units in the second quarter of 2014 - a 10.5% increase year on year and a clear return to growth after seven quarters of consecutive decline. As in the previous quarter, Western Europe drove most of the regional growth, with shipments supported by strong enterprise renewals, which led to an overall 25% increase in the PC market. Consumer shipments also returned to growth after a severe contraction in 2013.

At the same time, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) remained impacted by the unstable political and economic situation in Russia and by currency fluctuations; as forecast, CEE declined by 13.2%. The increase in total EMEA shipments indicates a rebound in the market but not a recovery as volumes remain below the 25 million unit mark of the peak periods in 2010 and 2012.

"The clear improvements in EMEA are positive signs for PC manufacturers," said Chrystelle Labesque, research manager, IDC EMEA Personal Computing. "However, there was still a big difference between the subregions, and especially in the consumer segment the divide between mature and emerging markets is similar to the worldwide trend.

"While some parts of the CEMA [Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa] PC market continued to suffer from unfavourable exchange rates and a difficult political situation, Western European shipments were fueled by low-end consumer notebooks. Even if the comparison is eased by a very poor second quarter of 2013, more attractive products at the right price points encouraged more consumers to renew their devices.

"Retailers and etailers also seem more confident as new product designs and features better positioned price-wise are now generating higher sales and not only just interest. Promotional activities and vendors' preparation for the back-to-school period further supported the market. The level of inventory will have to be monitored closely as back-to-school sales progress during August and September."

In this context, Chromebooks continued to grow, but their impact is limited to several countries in Western Europe.

"The PC market in the CEMA region reported a contraction of 6% year on year," said Stefania Lorenz, associate VP, IDC CEMA. "The CEE region, in line with forecasts, recorded an annual decline of 13.2%. The region was affected by the expected contraction from the Eastern countries: Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Russia and Ukraine suffered mostly from a slowdown in consumer demand, affected by the instability in both the economic and political situation, as well as high unemployment and a salary freeze. Kazakhstan remains affected by the dramatic currency devaluation, which is not expected to improve in the short term."

"Unlike the Eastern countries, the central region has performed well above expectations," said Nikolina Jurisic, product manager, IDC CEMA. "Countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Czech Republic have reported strong double-digit growth year on year.

"PC growth was driven by both consumer and commercial segments, thanks to continual improvement in channel strategies from the players in the market, as well as the expected renewal of XP that is taking place. The MEA region reported soft 1.9% year-on-year growth for the overall PC market. The desktop market performed slightly better, thanks to the Windows XP renewals taking place across all commercial segments."

Microsoft has joined Startup Europe Partnership (SEP), a pan-European programme designed to promote new technology start-ups. The initiative is supported by the EC.

"Microsoft has a real and growing commitment to Europe. By joining the Startup Europe Partnership (SEP), Microsoft is helping to build communities where tech and web entrepreneurs can start-up, scale-up and go global. Microsoft's own journey offers many lessons and examples for everyone working on digital issues," said Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission.

Earlier this year Telecom Italia announced it had supported the SEP initiative as a Corporate Member.

The other founding members of the SEP include Telefonica, Orange, BBVA, investment funds such as European Investment Fund, which is a part of the European Investment Bank Group, and European universities including Cambridge University, the IE Business School and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society.

SAP has extended its reach to SMBs with the launch of a new Solutions Group.

SAP plans to create cloud applications, powered by SAP HANA, specifically for SMBs.

The new business unit will be led by Dean Mansfield who has over 20 years of expertise in software-as-a-service industry and his past experience includes six years at NetSuite. In his new role he will be responsible for end-to-end operations of a new division as well as for an execution of the strategy.

Mansfield will also lead SAP's Business One application portfolio, which will continue operate through the Global Partner Operations organisation.

"SMBs are playing an increasingly important role in the global economy and at the same time are increasingly interested in leveraging advanced technology," said explains Ray Boggs, vice president of SMB Research, IDC.

"We're predicting record worldwide SMB IT spending that will top $680bn by 2018, with exceptional gains in key regions and across key technologies as SMBs are being transformed through the use of mobile devices and cloud computing. The opportunity for firms to sharpen their products, refine distribution strategy and appeal to new customers has never been greater."

Nimans has formed a Wi-Fi product partnership with Samsung and is marking the link-up with an event on August 19th at Coombe Abbey, Coventry, to launch the vendor's wireless LAN portfolio which integrates with other comms systems as well as its own architecture.

Delegates at the event will qualify for an introductory offer that includes discounted hardware and sales training.

"Samsung WLAN ensures a fast, secure and reliable wireless connection in high density, mobile device centric locations that have exploded in popularity," said Paul Burn Head of Category Sales at Nimans. "The expansion of our Samsung range is a natural fit for us and our customers.

"Despite the ever growing demand for wireless solutions in the market, some resellers have been reluctant to get involved due to concerns over deployment, but we are aiming to change all that by giving them the confidence and a strong platform to always install the most appropriate solutions.

"We are investing in new technologies such as Wi-Fi mapping software that predesigns Wi-Fi solutions. This will help resellers fully embrace burgeoning market opportunities as our Samsung success story continues."

South West Communications Group's CEO and Chairman Tony Rowe OBE has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from University of Exeter.

Rowe is also CEO and Chairman of Exeter Chiefs Rugby Club.

In a speech to University of Exeter graduates, he said: "My advice is to look for opportunities - life is full of them. The first of mine was in 1983 when the Government privatised telecoms.

"The opportunity to get involved in the rugby club came along in 1993. They needed £4,000 to help travel to away games, so I got to put the name of my company on their shirts.

"When the game went professional, I formed the board of directors in 1998 and oversaw the move to Sandy Park, to create a revenue-generating conference and banqueting facility as well as the stadium which had an average attendance this year of 10,000 and a £10 million turnover. We have recently got planning permission to grow capacity to 20,000.

"The latest opportunity was to bid to host Rugby World Cup games. Three are coming next year.

"Be positive, believe in yourself, never take no for an answer, and if you want it badly enough you can do anything you set your mind to."

Managed hosting in Europe is set to double over the next four years, reaching almost the same level as the hitherto larger co-location market.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, European Data Centre Services Market, which covers the retail colocation and managed hosting segments, finds that retail colocation will witness lower growth rates than managed hosting due to its market maturity. The retail colocation segment generated revenues of $2.83bn in 2013 and is estimated to reach $5.27bn in 2018; managed hosting revenues will increase from $2.01bn to $4.90bn over the same period.

"The pressing need to focus internal resources on innovative IT tasks and capitalise on economical IT management services compel enterprises to turn to managed hosting providers for data centre services," says Frost & Sullivan Information and Communication Technologies Research Analyst Shuba Ramkumar. "The growth of cloud services will also drive the colocation services market in the short term."

In the long term, however, increasing efficiency and security of the cloud will challenge the growth of the retail colocation market.

In addition, organisations across Europe are bound by regional data laws that complicate decisions with respect to availing outsourcing services. The location of data centres, therefore, becomes an important consideration for users when choosing a provider. The regional nature of European organisations also means that many of them are wary of foreign companies and prefer local providers. These cultural and language barriers are especially strong in countries such as France, Spain, and Italy.

"In order to widen their customer base across Europe, it is important for providers to offer services from a data centre located within a region," advises Ramkumar. "At the same time, they must provide efficient IT support as well as ensure data confidentiality and security to win the trust of potential customers."

Due to the need to implement different infrastructure frameworks based on application type, enterprises will use traditional data centre services alongside the adoption of cloud services. As a result, the European data centre services market is focussing on more hybrid data centre services that combine colocation, managed hosting and cloud solutions.