Comms Dealer

Panasonic has entered the cloud market following a link up with Radius Communications that will see the vendor offering cloud PBX and cloud contact centre services to the UK and Ireland. Radius Communications has developed a bespoke service, called storm, for Panasonic which is fully interoperable and works in conjunction with its hardware. This includes Panasonic's latest range of SIP handsets, as well as on premise Panasonic PBX systems.

The solution is designed to enable Panasonic's distributors to take cloud PBX services and hybrid deployments using Panasonic CPE to their traditional SME customer base, as well as secure valuable new business with larger PBX and advanced contact centre deployments.

This service is now ready for launch in the UK, with a further launch in Ireland planned later this year. The solution will be made available exclusively through Panasonic's distribution network, and represent Panasonic's first offering for both the global cloud and contact centre markets.

Panasonic manufactures over 300,000 PBXs a year and the move is in response to declining demand for in-situ PBXs and the growing trend for cloud telephony.

The development of the storm proposition represents a new addition to the Panasonic product family, and a decisive move for the organisation as it seeks to expand its range of communications services.

Bob Mercer (pictured above), Network Communications Group Manager at Panasonic, said: "Though Panasonic remains fully committed to the development of customer premise systems, the rapid expansion of the cloud segment of the PBX market has shown us that there is increasing demand for hosted alternatives.

"storm is our response to this demand, and will offer our customers the same enterprise grade features that they have come to expect from our range of PBX systems."
?Users of the new storm services will be able to use the platform as a standalone PBX replacement from the cloud, or as part of a hybrid deployment alongside existing Panasonic equipment.

Several UK resellers have now contracted to use the new storm services, and Mercer is excited about the platform's prospects for 2014.

"We are expecting a good reception for storm, and with the platform now live we are looking forward to working with our distributor partners to roll out the solution over the coming months."

Radius Communications has developed a bespoke service for Panasonic which is fully interoperable and works in conjunction with its hardware.

This includes Panasonic's latest range of SIP handsets, as well as on premise Panasonic PBX systems.

The solution is designed to enable Panasonic's distributors to take cloud PBX services and hybrid deployments using Panasonic CPE to their traditional SME customer-base, as well as secure valuable new business with larger PBX and advanced contact centre deployments.

This service is now ready for launch in the UK, with a further launch in Ireland planned later this year. The solution will be made available exclusively through Panasonic's distribution network, and represent Panasonic's first offering for both the global cloud and contact centre markets.

Intercity has become the first telecoms business to receive the ServiceMark accreditation from the Institute of Customer Service.

The designation is awarded following a process that encompasses results taken from a client survey and an on-site assessment of Intercity's customer experience and satisfaction levels, undertaken by an independent assessor.

Intercity's Chief Executive Officer Andrew Jackson said: "This award is great recognition of the work our staff undertake every day to ensure all customers receive the highest levels of service, from the moment of enquiry, right through to delivery of products and solutions and of course the care and support we provide thereafter.

"Achieving this level of recognition only comes through real team effort and everybody at Intercity continues to demonstrate such passion and commitment to offering the best service they can. The aim now is to ensure the award is used as a platform to build upon and ensure our vision and values align perfectly with what is expected of a world class service business."

In the final report, the independent assessor commented: "We were impressed that Intercity was keen not just to achieve the Institute ServiceMark Accreditation, but that they want to use it as a means to enhance an already strong culture of continuous improvement."

Value added international distie ScanSource has announced it has formed a partnership with Motion Computing, specialist in integrated mobile technologies. The new deal will enhance its product portfolio across the Benelux region and in the UK.

Under the terms of an agreement, ScanSource will distribute Motion Computing's full portfolio of mobile technology offerings, including its platforms, tablets and associated peripherals.

With the enhancement of the portfolio, ScanSource resellers will be able to target more vertical markets such as retail, utilities, healthcare, construction and public sectors, it says.

"Our reseller partners have been looking for Windows-based tablet solutions that can meet the needs of their field-based, mobile end user customers, and we believe Motion platforms can meet the demands of these vertical markets," says Maurice van Rijn, managing director, ScanSource POS and Barcode, Europe.

Telford-based communications provider Entanet has helped local Shropshire charity, Severn Hospice, raise over £5,000 over the last four years by participating in a number of fundraising events, including last weekend's Dragon Boat Race.

Entanet has participated in the annual Dragon Boat Race in aid of the hospice since 2011, raising over £1000 each year. This year a team of Entanet staff, dressed as superheroes, competed against other local businesses and organisations in a series of heats along the river Severn in Shrewsbury, on a very hot summer's day.

Darren Farnden, Head of Marketing at Entanet said: "The Dragon Boat Race has been central to our fundraising for several years now and we've had fun supporting it and the hospice in different ways to raise much needed funds for the charity. We're delighted to have raised over £5000 in the last four years."

Prior to the race the company held a number of activities in the office to help boost the fundraising total, including a cake bake and sale, 'pin the fire on the dragon' game, sweetie sweepstake, casual dress day and an auction among staff of two signed Wolves shirts.

In addition to the Dragon Boat races, the company last year participated in a 'fire walk' which saw several members of staff walk across hot coals to raise money for the charity which cares for people with progressive and complex illnesses and provides support to their families.

A team of colleagues from Rochdale based Zen Internet took on the Total Warrior challenge in Bramham Park, Leeds on 21st June.

The team battled mud, hills, water, fire, more mud and ice as they were put through the gruelling course hoping to raise over £2,500 for Zen's chosen charity, The Christie's Young Oncology Unit. Those who finished were greeted with a victory beer and for the lucky ones a hose pipe to clean up.

Total Warrior has 25 to 30 punishing obstacles including Human BBQ, The Shocker, The Plunge, and Hang Tough, to name but a few.

Designed alongside ex-military personnel, competitors get the ultimate test of strength, stamina, mental determination and teamwork. Success is about survival and not speed.

"This is the first time we have had a team enter for the Total Warrior and are delighted that they all finished in one piece. This is an important charity event for Zen and our aim is to raise funds for The Christie, whether that's by battling through obstacles or simply donating online," said Caroline Taylor, HR Director and Head of Zen's Social and Charities Committee.

DMSL, the SMB-focused distributor of connectivity and cloud solutions, is offering Plusnet Business Broadband at better than half price for the first 12 months of a 24 month contract until 10th July, plus double commission to resellers.

John Carter, Managing Director of DMSL, stated: "We've received a tremendous response to the initial mail-out and many more dealers are now signing-up for Plusnet's Dealer Programme."

Winning the broadband business of customers is increasingly vital, he notes, as it is now the gateway to many other opportunities. "SMBs are starting to do more business online and they are adopting cloud services such as VoIP and Microsoft Office 365 in greater numbers.

"It is only a matter of time before most of them start favouring subscription-based purchasing and they will look to the supplier of their trusted broadband connectivity first to provide those services. When resellers secure the broadband business, they open up much greater potential for the future."

Nick Silverwood, Head of Business for Plusnet, added: "We are seeing accelerated levels of interest and activity with SMB-focused channel partners and as small firms become more dependent on their broadband connections. We expect that to continue."

GCI Channel Solutions has unwrapped Channel Gateway, a portal that allows channel partners to market, sell and provision services to their clients from a single intuitive interface.

Initially partners will be able to order and provision Hosted Desktops, Exchange mailboxes and Lync accounts without needing any knowledge of specialist tools.

Ongoing support has also been simplified with easy to use tools for engineer application and all services are hosted in GCIs 27001 credited datacentres.

The GCI Channel Gateway allows partners to create their own store front to place on their website, allowing end users to browse and order services that, once authorised by the partner, can be deployed.

Head of Channel Sales, Mark Whitehead, commented: "I believe this is a pivotal moment for GCI Channel Solutions. Our customer research had highlighted that resellers were struggling to get a foot hold in the cloud market, unable to offer a compelling service proposition, provide a competitive price point or the scalability to compete with Microsoft direct.

"Channel Gateway will enable the reseller community to access emerging markets like Hosted Desktop, Hosted Lync and Hosted Exchange without the heavy investment and up skilling of technical staff associated with these lucrative products.

"We are finding the appetite is huge for these products partly due to the fact that a single VDI seat is worth 20 X EBITDA, and should be on the product road map of any reseller MD wishing to increase shareholder value and ARPU."

Daisy Wholesale has witnessed a 300% increase in its active mobile resellers in just 12 months.

The upsurge comes after the successful launch of its B2B SIM-only mobile proposition - 'The One & Only' - to the channel last May, which allows resellers to buy at a wholesale rate and sell at a margin.

In partnership with Vodafone, Daisy Wholesale's proposition aimed to demystify the sale of mobile for the reseller market after it was deemed 'over complicated'.

Andrew Wilford, Product Director for Mobile at Daisy Wholesale, said: "Mobile has always had the reputation of being too difficult to sell among the reseller community. That is why we wanted to put a simplified model out to the market; something that would allow partners to sell mobile like any other product in their portfolio.

"The results speak for themselves. By removing the risk element and making the process familiar, we have increased our monthly mobile resellers from 40 to nearly 200 in just a year."

The One & Only offers resellers a 30-day SIM-only contract that includes unlimited minutes, texts and data bolt-on deals.

The mobile industry will fight 'tooth and nail' against government proposals that would force them to share their networks, says industry commentator, Adrian Barnard, Managing Director of Prime Networks.

He told BBC News that while the plans announced by Culture Secretary Sajid Javid to extend mobile coverage to rural areas were laudable, the idea of national roaming would not work.

"It's a great objective but I think the proposal, as it stands, will be fought tooth and nail by the the industry. If I've spent a lot of money building up my network, billions of pounds in the last year or two for 4G licences and networks, I'm not going to share it with my competitors.

"The Minister should be aware that there's a massive opportunity here, I mean a real economic and possibly political opportunity if they get this right.

"There are national players available who can deliver these services to rural communities - BT Group, which owns Openreach, the UK's national network of telephone and Internet connectivity, bought a 4G licence.

"I think the Minister should talk to industry experts and people in the business who are used to working out solutions that deliver group benefits."

Avaya has revamped its Connect Channel Partner programme and put a spotlight on skills levels within Avaya collaboration technologies. The vendor has revised the requirements for achieving Silver, Gold and Platinum level status and the introduction of new Solution Experts designations - Enterprise UC and Contact Centre, Mid-market UC and Contact Centre, Networking and Video.

To achieve the Solution Expert designation in any one of these areas, partners need to acquire credentials in sales and design, achieve certain revenue thresholds as proof of their experience, and demonstrate customer satisfaction. The Silver, Gold and Platinum level status will be determined based on the number of Solution Expert designations achieved by each partner company.

The programme supports both capex and opex sales models, allowing channel partners to support premise, cloud and hybrid cloud models. They can also take a 'full stack' approach to the Avaya solution portfolio, or they can focus on a particular area such as networking or contact centre and still differentiate their expertise and gain the financial benefits for their solution area.

The programme changes go into effect on October 1st, 2014 with Avaya's fiscal 2015, allowing partners a transition year.

Andy Litherland, vice president, European Channels, Avaya, said: "Business challenges require the expertise of a trusted partner who understands how technology can be applied to achieve the desired business outcome. It's rare that a customer will require a single isolated product.

"The changes to Avaya Connect address what we as a vendor need to do to encourage our channel partners to develop the expertise to help ensure customer needs are met to the highest level of their satisfaction and reward them for doing so."

Jamie Wood, president, Avatel, added: "We believe that when you migrate to a program that is based on skills and value and not just revenue, you create a competitive differentiator based on partner competency.

"The volume-to-value transformation rewards partners that are aligning with Avaya's growth strategies and strategic products in the areas of networking, video and security."?