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Nimans is marking the third anniversary of its wholesale mobile partnership with O2 by urging resellers to take a 'leap of faith' and embrace the latest technology trends.

The Internet of Things and Machine to Machine (M2M) innovations are set to 'explode' according to Head of Network Services, Mark Curtis-Wood, as he looked back on the company's successful trading period as an official O2 Joined Up Communications Wholesale Partner.

"There are a number of key trends resellers should be tracking this year - the rise of M2M, Mobile Device Management (MDM) and a general shift towards more mobility," he said.

"There's been a lot of talk about how the world is going to be connected and how the Internet of Things is going to explode. Away from the futuristic hype there is some real business substance behind some of these concepts and already in the UK a number of councils are looking at ways to connect up cities and enable better access to 'big data'.

"By 2020 there's estimated to be 50 billion connected devices globally - smart cities, homes, cars and lives. M2M is at the heart of this revolution. Solutions can be sold through many vertical markets and opportunities exist within pretty much all industries."

Security, engineering, utilities and energy, vehicle fleets, vending machines, medicine and also wildlife science are some of the many relevant sectors, according to Curtis-Wood.

JMC IT is one of a select few to be shortlisted for the inaugural Skills for Business Awards 2014 in Greater Manchester.

Announced as a finalist in the Medium Business of the Year category, the Salford-based IT support and technology partner - a national and regional award-winner as a leading employer - has been recognised for its contribution to skills and learning in the region.

Managing Director Andrew Burgess commented: "JMC's success is founded on its people. This is why we value this recognition, as it validates our strategy of investing in attracting and training the best IT talent in the region. Our staff remain with JMC for an average of 11 years, which is far longer than the industry norm and shows our extraordinary commitment to the development and wellbeing of our staff."

This success follows a host of previous awards won by JMC for its lauded approach to recruitment, training and employee engagement. It recently won the highest possible three-star status from Best Companies for the fourth consecutive year and was honoured as one of The Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For in 2014 for the 10th year.

The awards event will be hosted on Thursday 3rd July by TV presenter and comedian Dara O' Briain at the iconic Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel.

North west telecoms firm Concert are marking a milestone anniversary by pledging to raise £10,000 for a world-renowned cancer hospital.

The Knutsford-based firm is turning 10 in 2014 and to celebrate the team have embarked on a series of fundraising events to raise money for The Christie.

From undertaking the Great Manchester Swim to conquering the heights of Snowdon, the Concert team will be going all out to raise the significant sum, which will help fund a play specialist for young cancer patients.

Neil Hollands, MD of Concert, said: "The Christie is a world leader in cancer care and research and we are delighted to support them in our 10th anniversary year.

"The work they do is absolutely incredible and touches so many lives. We are incredibly proud to support them in their fundraising goals."

Fundraising efforts have already got underway with First Line Support Engineer Manuel Dal Zotto, New Business Specialist Ross Brown and Billing and Sales Analyst Zander Fyfe kick-starting the campaign.

Ross and Manuel took a leap of faith with a 140ft free fall abseil into Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium, while Zander battled mud, ice and 12-miles of gruelling obstacles as he completed the exhausting Tough Mudder.

To reach their fundraising goal, the Concert team will be digging out their cricket whites as they take on the Toft Taverners at the historic Toft Cricket Club, dusting off their irons for the annual Concert Golf Extravaganza and taking on the best the Cheshire business community has to offer at Softball.

Analysys Mason predicts that there will be 3.9 billion smartphone connections worldwide in 2018, a growth of 136% over the next five years.

However, non-smartphones will still account for the majority of handset connections worldwide for the next four years and smartphones' share of connections will reach only 52% in 2018.

The gap between mature and developing markets will widen, as some countries approach saturation, while in others the smartphone market is only nascent.

Ronan de Renesse, Principal Analyst, said: "2014 will be a pivotal year for vendors as the high-end smartphone market reaches saturation in developed countries. 76%, 82% and 88% of handset connections will be smartphones in Western Europe, North America and Developed Asia-Pacific in 2018.

"Smartphone unit sales will decline as early 2015 in some countries, such as the Nordics in Europe and the USA, as smartphone replacements fail to compensate for the lack of non-smartphone-to-smartphone conversions. It will therefore be critical for smartphone vendors and operators to shorten replacement cycles further and retain existing customers. Stakeholders will also need to look at new areas of growth such as low-end smartphone segments and wearables."

Ronan de Renesse noted that launch of Apple's iPhone 6 will not stop iOS from losing market share. iOS will correspond to 13% of smartphone unit sales in 2018, down from 16% in 2013. Android will maintain its comfortable lead with a 72% share of unit sales in 2018. The level of native software customisation and the size of the ecosystem are significant drivers for Android's adoption compared with competing operating systems. Windows Phone will continue to grow its market share, particularly in the high-end segment, but will remain below the 10% mark. Other OSes such as Firefox OS, Tizen and Ubuntu have yet to prove their ability to disrupt the market and will take a long time gain market share; they will only correspond to 5% of smartphone unit sales in 2018.

Ronan de Renesse added: "Chinese smartphone manufacturers are well positioned to dominate the worldwide market. 1.3 billion smartphones will be sold in China in the next 5 years. Assuming an average selling price of USD50-100, the Chinese smartphone market will generate between USD65 billion and USD130 billion in that period. China's smartphone vendors like Coolpad, Meizu, Oppo and Xiaomi will use this revenue to drive international expansion.

"The pole position for the smartphone market in terms of operating systems and device manufacturers will not change much in the next five years. However, like a tugging war, much strength will be required from the major stakeholders to maintain their position and capture whatever little market share they can. The low-end smartphone segment will be paramount in maximising smartphone adoption across the world. The user experience on low-end smartphones is as important if not more than on the latest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S."

Smart city projects launched across the globe are driving the creation of new sources and types of data as well as enabling technologies and ways of consuming data.

These factors are boosting the prospects of ICT providers that offer big data analytics software, open data platforms, cloud computing, and broadband connectivity services.

Recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan, The Role of ICT in Building Smart Cities - Infrastructure, focuses on the ICT investment outlook in the smart energy, transportation, and water segments. Smart energy and transportation are currently top research priorities, and thus will prove to be the main growth areas for ICT providers.

"Smart transportation is receiving the most attention in cities across the globe and hence opening up the maximum opportunities for ICT providers," noted Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication Technologies Research Analyst Ewa Tajer.

"ICT providers should particularly tap the large European cities, where numerous tenders for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are being issued and novel functionalities are expected to be introduced to reduce traffic congestion, noise and pollution."

The smart energy segment - presently in an early development stage as energy companies look to build a business case for smart grids - is also heightening the demand for ICT. In fact, the smart energy market value is likely to exceed the smart transportation market value by 15 to 20 percent in 2020.

Unlike the smart transportation and energy segments, there are limited opportunities for ICT providers in the smart water segment due to a lack of proper standards, poor regulatory support, and inadequate project financing extended by authorities in most countries. Hopefully, this will change over time as new funding schemes prompt water companies to invest in smart water technologies that significantly will reduce operational costs.

Another set-back for ICT providers is the fragmented implementation of smart city projects as a result of poor cross-sector coordination and cooperation between different stakeholders. Other restraints are unwillingness of some stakeholders to test new technologies, the limited involvement of local authorities and the lack of a holistic vision when deploying smart technologies.

"ICT providers, acting as trusted advisors, should work with city stakeholders to help create a robust smart city vision and implementation plan that will ensure a key role for them in regions looking to build a more sustainable future," concluded Tajer.

The benefits of secondary site data centres topped the agenda at the first of this year's Virtual1's Seminar Series staged at Epsom Downs Racecourse.

Partners were invited to attend the Investec Spring Meeting which was co-hosted by Sentrum Colo to take part in a discussion and debate around the benefits of secondary site data centres.

Laurie Buxton, Sentrum Colo's Operations Director led the presentation focusing on why Virtual1 Partners can't afford to not have a secondary site.

The key everyday issues of disaster recovery; business continuity; latency; ownership of network; multiple access routes and commitment in terms of power and space were debated.

The benefits of the Virtual1 solution through Sentrum Colo which provides on-net capability, diversely connected to the Virtual1 network with the added advantages of security, location and outstanding facilities, were then discussed.

James Hickman, CTO, Virtual1, said: "A back-up site needs to be considered so that business continuity can be provided at a location where access is easy following a disruptive event such as fire, flood or act of terrorism. Some may say that the goal posts have changed and it is not a question of 'if this may happen' but has now become - 'when this will happen'."

Simon Durrant, Sales Director at Virtual1, added: "It is essential that Partners consider a secondary site data centre to mitigate risks and we can provide outstanding facilities. We can ensure that data can be replicated to a redundant infrastructure at a secondary site, significantly reducing risks associated with operating a single data centre."

Britannic Technologies has been accredited with the ISO 27001, the international standard for information security management by the British Standards Institute (BSI).

Combined with the ISO 9001 accreditation the ISO 27001 reaffirms Britannic Technologies commitment to professional business standards and practice, underpinning its inherent understanding of the importance of security and management of financial and confidential data.

Peter Corning, IT Director, ISS, commented: "It is important for us as a business to know that our data is being handled safely and correctly. Britannic Technologies have shown a commitment to us and all of their customers by obtaining this Information Security Management accreditation, and it has reinforced our decision in choosing them to handle our business communications and renewed our trust in their capabilities."

The accreditation follows several months of testing and implementation, followed by a final audit conducted by BSI to ensure Britannic met the criteria for securing all financial and confidential data.

Risks can also be identified with controls and contingency plans in place should anything fail. This will increase Britannic Technologies to gain stakeholder and customer trust that their data is protected.

Richard Dendle, Managing Director, Britannic Technologies, added: "Receiving this world class accreditation is an acknowledgement and validation of our processes and procedures - all part of our continual improvement programme.

"Compliance with these world-class standards is helping to give customers the trust and belief that Britannic Technologies are the right choice for their business systems, demonstrating high levels of due diligence and utmost professionalism while providing confidence and assurance to new customers and prospects."

8x8's Virtual Office SuiteApp and the Virtual Contact Centre SuiteApp have achieved 'Built for NetSuite' verification.

8x8's cloud communications SuiteApps, built using NetSuite's SuiteCloud Computing Platform, provide NetSuite customers with an integrated business telephony and contact centre solution that simplifies the execution, management and reporting of day-to-day customer interactions.

Built for NetSuite is a program for NetSuite SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN) partners that provides them with information, resources and a method to verify that their applications and integrations, built using the NetSuite SuiteCloud Computing Platform, meet NetSuite's standards and best practices. The Built for NetSuite program is designed to give NetSuite customers additional confidence that SuiteApps have been built to meet these standards.

"8x8 places a priority on bringing high performance solutions to our customers, as every business moving their mission critical IT applications to the cloud is demanding," said 8x8 Sr. Vice President of Business Development, Huw Rees. "We look forward to delivering our best of breed cloud communications, customer interaction and business management solutions to NetSuite customers across the globe."

C4L has launched a point of presence at LDeX Group, signalling the strength and growth of the carrier neutral London based data centre colocation and network services provider.

As a Data Centre, Connectivity, Cloud and Communications provider with over 100 points of presence across the UK alone and 300 globally, C4L provides private fibre-optic network connectivity solutions complementing LDeX's existing list of tier 1 carriers and ISPs which already have POPs in LDeX1 based in Staples Corner in London.

Commenting on the news, Robin Garbutt, CEO said: "We are delighted that C4L has decided to launch a POP at the group's London based data centre facility, LDeX1. This strategic move will enable our customers to have faster and scalable connectivity between LDeX and C4L's 100 data centres in the UK and internationally, helping to deliver faster Internet services."

Matt Hawkins, Chairman & Founder of C4L said: "Our goal is to create the largest DC network in the UK, and by adding POPs in premium facilities like LDeX1 allows our customers to access all the products and services available in the North London location plus it connects LDeX1 customers to the 100 DCs in our UK network."

Speaking at the DaisyWired14 technology event on May 7th, CBI Director General John Cridland called on the government to give more help to growing businesses.

He said that mid-market companies have often been overlooked by government policy in favour of small businesses, but Cridland identified them as the true engines of future economic growth in the UK.

The Director General was speaking to an audience of 200 businesses at Daisy Group's industry summit, which brought together some of the UK's best known and most entrepreneurial companies to debate the global impact and influence of technology on business.

Cridland also called on the entrepreneurial community to take advantage of the ubiquity of technology available to deliver a steady growth period.

Cridland said: "Some businesses, with a turnover of £100-200m, have the potential for gazelle-like growth and could be worth £500m in about five years time. They are our true national champions - but we don't have enough of these companies making that growth spurt in Britain. We need to concentrate on nurturing the £20m, £40m or £100m turnover businesses so that they become the future national champions we can be proud of.

"We cut off the support for businesses when they get to around £10m turnover, but why are we doing that? We need to focus on this ‘forgotten army' of entrepreneurs and help them make that progression. This medium sized group makes up less than 10,000 of the 3m business of the UK but it is worth 23% of the UK economy.

"Daisy represents a perfect example of these companies that, with a helping hand, are more likely to innovate and create more jobs than either the small or large businesses."

Cridland went on to draw a contrast with Germany, which he said had managed to support the continued growth of a much larger number of mid-size businesses, contributing significantly to real strengths in its economy.

Cridland continued: "All industries have the potential, particularly in the exports market, to make this decade the UK's, just as the previous one belonged to Germany. We need to nurture these companies with capital and management systems to help them break into the markets around the world which want to buy our products and services, but are not particularly easy to get into."

Cridland also called for the term SME to disappear, claiming that it now describes an obsolete concept. Small businesses and growing businesses that have become medium-sized businesses have different policy requirements.

Matthew Riley, Daisy Group's Chief Executive Officer, said: "Businesses today are using combinations of cloud computing, social computing, big data and mobile to innovate and achieve their business goals. This is changing business models, creating new markets, transforming customer service and accelerating product innovation. It is quite simply affecting every business, particularly those mid-market companies who have the resources and the courage to move quickly and invest in working these technologies to their advantage.

"Daisy itself has grown from a small team operating out of my garage to a £350m turnover business employing more than 1500 staff around the country. We were a small business; we're now a medium sized firm and technology is both what we do best and what has propelled us into this position."