Comms Dealer

CA Technologies has sold its Data Protection Business CA arcserve to Marlin Equity Partners as a part of the strategy to focus on the company's core capabilities, it says. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of fiscal year 2015 and is subject to approvals. Following this, the company will update soon its fiscal year 2015 financial guidance.

arcserve, which offers backup and recovery software solutions, is also a specialist in mission-critical systems, applications and data.

"CA continues to sharpen its focus and actively manages its portfolio, divesting non-core assets and making investments in areas of core capability," said Jacob Lamm, executive vice president, Strategy and Corporate Development, CA Technologies.

"This transaction also further refines our global partner strategy as we continue to build CA for growth."

Logicalis has appointed Tony Brooker as its new UK Sales Director responsible for all sales and marketing activities in the UK.

Brooker has over 30 years of experience across the IT industry in the UK and European sales. He joins from Insight where he most recently held the position of the VP Sales for EMEA. His prior experience includes companies such as SCC and MicroWarehouse.

His nomination follows the recent appointment of Richard Aston, ex-Fujitsu Head of Solutions and Architecture, to a position of VP of Services, the company says.

Logicalis UK Managing Director Mark Starkey said: "Tony is renowned for being a passionate and driven sales leader and I'm more than confident he has what it takes to drive our sales teams forward."

Mitel has consolidated its European sales organisation under a single management structure headed up by Graham Bevington who becomes Executive Vice President of EMEA. In his previous role as EVP for Mitel's International operations Bevington expanded the vendor's market presence in key countries including the UK and the Netherlands.

With the completion of Mitel's merger with Aastra earlier this year, in his new and expanded role Bevington will be focused on further strengthening Mitel's market positions in other major markets in EMEA.

"EMEA is home to some of the largest established and emerging economies in the world, as well as the majority of Mitel's existing 60 million end-user customers, giving us a real and immediate opportunity to expand our leadership position across the region," said Rich McBee, Mitel's President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Graham is an exceptional business and sales leader, with demonstrated ability to build world-class sales and support teams, and a fundamental understanding of our customers' needs and our market dynamics at the ground level."

Bevington added: "Mitel is on the move, and nowhere is that clearer than in EMEA where our ability to address technical requirements on a country-by-country basis, coupled with our path to the cloud and entrenched customer base, gives Mitel a great competitive advantage.

"With the seasoned bench strength of our newly expanded sales and support organisations we now have the team, talent, technology and range to serve any customer need anywhere across the region."

Mitel takes top spot in EMEA

Entanet has urged partners to put the brakes on a speedy approach to selling fast connectivity, urging them to be more measured in their negotiations with prospective new customers instead of trying to drive them to make a decision as quickly as possible.

In a recent edition of its partner e-news bulletin, the company says that while it's understandable that sales people want to get deals signed and sealed as quickly as possible, there are also benefits to be gained by taking a step back and slowing down the process after they have made their initial response.

Stephen Barclay, Head of Sales at Entanet, says: "In the data connectivity market especially, we frequently see the tendency among resellers to simply sell what the customer initially thinks they need and, based on competition with other providers, to do so at the best price. That's not necessarily the best answer for the customer though.

"Once you've responded and let the customer know you want to do business with them, it's important to get a good understanding of what they really need. Of course, we're not advocating resellers risk losing the opportunity by being too slow in their response, but it's best not to rush the process.

"Make sure you ask plenty of questions because the more information you can gather at this stage, the better-placed you'll be to offer the right solution and streamline the sales process from that point onwards. Go too quickly and you can end up providing something that's not suitable for their needs."

It's also important to explore the risks that customers are taking if they don't fully address whatever issues or challenges they face, says Barclay.

"Customers are often concerned about committing to higher costs but with connectivity they need to get it right - or they could end up with something that isn't suitable and lose out in terms of productivity and lost opportunities. They need to understand the positive benefits of improved connectivity but also the potential impact on the business of not having sufficient bandwidth, availability and service levels.

"It can take some time to explore all the issues, options and implications but in the end it will be worthwhile, as you'll have a more satisfied customer who has been able to weigh up all the factors and come to the best decision for their business."

Mitel took top spot for market share during Q1 2014 in Western Europe and EMEA according to analyst firm MZA.

Significant market share strength in several core European countries, including the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Switzerland, combined with a solid first quarter performance in North America also enabled the company to take share and move into the #3 position for the IP Extensions market on a worldwide basis, and the #4 position for the total PBX Extensions market globally.

"The most recent quarter results (Q1 2014) showed Mitel achieving the #1 market share position for the total PBX/IP-PBX Extensions market in both Western Europe and EMEA." said Stephanie Watson, General Manager, MZA.

"Looking at it through the lens of the North American market where IP Extensions account for the majority of shipments, Mitel's share story is also stronger with the company holding the #3 position behind only Cisco and Avaya."

In a competitive and consolidating market, Mitel has not only reaffirmed its dominance in key markets but also firmly established brand position in new and developing regions as a result of enhanced product diversity and depth.

Rich McBee, President and CEO Mitel, added: "Mitel's Q1 share gains have highlighted the ability of the entire Mitel team to execute and deliver in the first quarter out of the gate since our merger with Aastra.

"Most importantly, however, our market leadership is a direct reflection of the confidence that our channel partners and customers have in the new Mitel, our expanded portfolio - both premise and cloud - and our ability to address the market needs for businesses of all sizes."

CDI Comms, the telecoms arm of CDI Group, has expanded its portfolio with the addition of Panasonic's NS1000 comms platform via a new strategic partnership with distributor Nimans.

CDI Comms has offices in Birmingham, London and Newcastle and operates a team of engineers which install and maintain systems UK-wide.

According to Director Paul Bevington the expansion of its portfolio is indicative of the company's continued growth.

"Adding Panasonic to our existing range gives us more market clout to drive this side of the business further forward. We are confident it will provide the springboard for more growth and many satisfied customers," he said.

"Nimans has become a key strategic partner and gives us a strong platform to build upon."

Warren Bone, PBX Distribution Sales Manager at Panasonic, said: "We're delighted to have CDI Comms on board as a partner and look forward to a long and successful relationship."

Developments at Diva Telecom continue apace with the expansion of its team, relocation to new premises and the launch of a new website.

The appointment of BDM Claire-Marie Joynson and Senior Account Manager Jackie Killiard coincide with Diva's move into new premises at Hawthorn Park in Leeds and the launch of a website that allows users to buy business numbers in over 4,000 worldwide destinations.

Diva supplies numbers in over 100 countries and its turnover has grown 41% during the last three years.
Erica Lewis, who started Diva Telecom from her home in 2006, said: "The international numbers side of our business is successful along with our white label SMS offering.

"We have now launched a white label audio conferencing platform which is an area where we are seeing significant growth, particularly in the legal field, and our new package offers more potential for channel partners to broaden their own offering."

The new website offers UK and international inbound numbers, call routing, SMS and audio conferencing solutions to purchase online.

Lewis added: "Our office move has given us even more room for expansion and as a cash rich company we have our sights set on an acquisition in the next two years.

"We expect our turnover in the next financial year to top £3m."

Pictured: Erica Lewis flanked by Jackie Killiard and Claire-Marie Joynson

Adept Telecom's year-end results to 31st March 2014 show a significant rise in data connectivity revenues helping to push the company to its 11th consecutive year of increased underlying EBITDA, up 8.3% to £4.04m (2013: £3.73m).

Adept also posted a 12.8% increase in profit before tax to £1.85m (2013: £1.64m), and a 35.2% rise in profit after tax to £1.33m (2013: £0.98m).

Among the operational highlights were a 27% increase to data connectivity and broadband revenues year-on-year; the completion of Adept's acquisition of Bluebell Telecom's customer base; and a number of public sector contract wins with major councils.
 
CEO Ian Fishwick said: "We are pleased with a 27% rise in data connectivity revenues and a number of good wins in the public sector.

"We have completed two customer base acquisitions recently (Bluebell - August 2013 and Blue Cherry - April 2014) and continue to look for more acquisition opportunities.

"Our shareholders have seen dividends doubled to 3p per share and we will continue to grow dividends over the next few years.

"Call revenues now represent only a quarter of what we do so our exposure to falling call prices and volumes is now much reduced.

"All in all it has been a good year. The benefits of having a very stable and experienced management team are clear."

M12 Solutions has appointed Steve Walker as Business Advisor with a remit to develop new business.

Managing Director Andrew Skipsey said~: "We have now got tremendous foundations in place and are ready to build our client base. I've successfully worked alongside Steve in the past and I'm sure he'll be a tremendous asset to the team to help ensure we meet our business goals."

Walker added: "I was involved with the formation of M12, and it's great to see how the business has progressed over the years. My goal is to help M12 use this solid foundation as a springboard to bring their expertise and professionalism to a wider audience."

Over 1.75 billion mobile phone users will be using their devices for banking purposes by the end of 2019, compared to 800 million this year, according to Juniper Research.

The report notes that mobile banking technology is currently available in most regions of the world, driven by high consumer demand, especially in the developed regions. Providers such as the Bank of America have already announced, back in 2013, that more of their customers are logging in to their mobile services than through their online system.

"The level of maturity in the number and innovation of services being offered in the market across several geographical areas, demonstrates that banks now regard the mobile channel as an indispensable revenue-stream," said report author Nitin Bhas.

"However, with the mobile channel becoming a key customer retention strategy, it presents a great challenge to traditional institutions."

The scale of this challenge has been confirmed by the decreasing number of branch visits by consumers and also the closure of physical bank branches over the past 12-24 months. For example, in April 2014, RBS UK announced the closure of 44 branches across the UK.

The report also notes that nearly 100% of the banks analysed had some sort of mobile (SMS, Browser and App based) and online banking offering, with almost every bank having apps available for at least one smartphone OS.

Banking apps are ranked highly amongst the most downloaded financial apps in different app stores, with banks reporting high number of average logins per month per user.