Comms Dealer

Alcatel-Lucent grew revenues marginally to €2.963bn, growing 0.3% year-on-year at constant exchange rates and comparable business areas (Enterprise was a discontinued operation in Q1 2014). Revenues for the Group excluding Managed Services were up 3.9% year-on-year.

Core Networking revenues grew by 6.9% in Q1 2014 compared to Q1 2013, largely driven by 16% growth in IP Routing and, to a lesser extent, by IP Transport. This is excluding Managed Services, which decreased by half reflecting a strategy to terminate or restructure loss-making contracts, the Access segment grew 2.1% year-over-year.

Gross margin reached 32.3% of revenues in the quarter, improving by 410 basis points year-on-year. This improvement was driven essentially by favourable product mix and improved profitability in most business divisions.

Fixed costs savings reached €143m in Q1, bringing the total to date to €478m, when combined with €335m in 2013 (which exclude €28m attributable to Enterprise). In particular, SG&A expenses decreased by 20.8% compared to Q1 2013 and by 9.9% compared to Q4 2013.

As reported, the Group showed a net loss of €73m in Q1 2014, an improvement of €280m compared to Q1 2013, driven by the higher level of operating income, lower restructuring charges and a significant reduction in net financial losses.

As previously announced, it received in February 2014 a binding offer from China Huaxin for the acquisition of 85% of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. The proposed transaction has been submitted to the workers council of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise for the required information and consultation procedure which is now completed. Closing of this transaction is subject to certain other conditions, including the approval of certain regulatory authorities, and is targeted to take place in the third quarter of 2014.

Commenting on the first quarter results, Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, said: "We began 2014 as we ended 2013 - totally focused on driving implementation of The Shift Plan. Having put the Group in the right financial direction last year we are encouraged by the continued progress shown in the first quarter of 2014. This confirms the industrial logic of the strategic choices we have made and provides a good start on which to build during the rest of 2014 as we work towards our objective of bringing the Group as a whole back to positive free cash flow by 2015."

Nimans has reported high growth levels of NEC equipment as year-on-year demand iuncreased by 136%.

The sales hike is expected to continue throughout 2014 with an established client base, strong NEC brand presence and a more positive general economic outlook all contributor factors, said the distributor.

Sales of NEC's SL1100 and SV8100 comms platforms were two of the biggest factors behind a sales boom, noted Paul Burn, Head of Category Sales.

"The SL1100 and SV8100 remain popular which more and more resellers are embracing and using to drive their own sales performance further forward," he said. "A three-pronged assault between ourselves, NEC and most importantly resellers has delivered an exceptional set of sales results. With more upward momentum in the general economy we are confident a strong platform has been laid for further sales success."

Avaya has lifted the lid on new models and enhanced functionality for the Avaya Collaboration Pods, a portfolio of turnkey communications and collaboration solutions for both enterprises and Cloud Service Providers.

Avaya is introducing two new Collaboration Pod models specifically for Cloud Service Providers, enabling them to offer Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) and Contact Centre-as-a-Service (CCaaS) to end customers. Cloud Service Providers Connex and ROI Networks will be powering their new UCaaS offers for their customers using the Avaya Collaboration Pod.

For enterprises, Avaya has added advanced Customer Experience Management functionality to the Collaboration Pod, which now provides support for multichannel interactions through Avaya Elite Multichannel, self-service with Experience Portal and management through Avaya Call Management System, in addition to full Unified Communications capabilities.

All Collaboration Pod models have also been enhanced with Avaya Fabric Connect networking. Fabric Connect, a standards-based network virtualisation technology, improves the network performance of real-time applications and provides simplified virtual machine mobility, greater agility and faster time to service via end point provisioning.

Based on solutions from Avaya, EMC and VMware, the Avaya Collaboration Pods deliver virtualised applications, computing, storage, and networking with all administrative and provisioning functions consolidated in a single orchestration system. Avaya provides integrated support for all Collaboration Pod components, simplifying software upgrades and eliminating the need for support coverage from multiple vendors. Fully-integrated, tested and ready-to-deploy, Avaya Collaboration Pods can reduce the time to deploy virtualised real-time applications from months to weeks.

Avaya Collaboration Pods are customised and pre-configured to the requirements of each customer and can be expanded as needs change. For Cloud Service Providers, the Collaboration Pods support multi-tenancy and multi-instance deployments. Avaya Collaboration Pods can offer a reduced Total Cost of Ownership over a five year period versus comparable do-it-yourself (DIY) and appliance-based approaches.

The new Avaya Collaboration Pods will be generally available in the third calendar quarter.

Genius Networks, a provider of global network services, has unveiled a new online Portal designed to give its resellers immediate access to a suite of services designed to increase competitive advantage.

Linked to best-of-breed carriers that support the Genius routing infrastructure, the Portal allows resellers to price and provision network connectivity from a single platform, enabling those at the smaller end of the market to work and compete at the speed and efficiency enjoyed by larger players.

The provisioning capability ensures simplicity in the process of delivering a network solution. Transparent access to all major carriers and all the Genius products ensures the most appropriate and cost effective solution can be put together. Other features include access to network monitoring, help desk support and marketing materials.

The Portal is provided as a white label service, allowing resellers to brand the user interface with their own styling, giving clients of managed service providers the confidence that comes with a consistent corporate identity.

Mike Walsh, Abzorb Director, has adopted the Portal using the Abzorb branding: "The Genius Portal offers full, transparent, online pricing and ordering. Working with Genius means we can offer the whole package from best-of-breed carrier connectivity to cloud services. Ordering through the Portal is slick, quick and simple."

James Arnold-Roberts, Genius Director, says: "Resellers are crying out for connectivity services that remove the complexity of provisioning and enhance speed of deployment both nationally and internationally. Genius has developed the Portal with the reseller in mind and we believe it provides them with everything they need to gain a competitive edge."

NEC's key distributors and business partners from over 40 countries across EMEA converged on the vendor's EMEA Partner Conference 2014 held in Cape Town (23-26 April).

The three day conference was themed 'Now! Next! NEC!' and saw Paul Kievit, President at NEC Enterprise Solutions, express his appreciation for the strong commitment the business partners have shown and congratulated them with their significant achievements.

"Our growing market penetration and expanding partner community is reflected in the increased number of participants, this year comprising more than 250 participants from different partner organisations across the region", said Kievit.

Awards presented during the Gala Dinner included those for top distributors, resellers, system integrators and selected areas of excellent performance.

"It is immensely inspiring to experience the enthusiasm of our business partners for our brand, our strategy and our portfolio. The awards we are presenting are recognition of our mutual commitment and business success. We look forward to a fruitful continuation of the way we are serving EMEA Enterprise IT & Communications markets together," said Ronald Schapendonk, Marketing Director at NEC Enterprise Solutions.

Spectralink's in-building wireless solutions based on DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Technology) have successfully completed interoperability verification testing with Cisco Unified Communications Manager version 9.1.

Spectralink DECT solutions integrate to Cisco Unified Communications environments to provide mobile communications for specialised working environments such as healthcare, manufacturing and retail. Specific solutions include the Spectralink IP-DECT Server 400 and Spectralink IP-DECT Server 6500, which power the Spectralink DECT handsets.

Spectralink IP-DECT solutions support seamless handover between base stations, extensive radio coverage, messaging to handsets and value-added. Spectralink also offers a license option that allows you to only pay for the users you need.

Sten Dyrmose, CEO at Spectralink, said: "Many businesses, both large and small, are looking to Cisco as an integral part of their UC roadmap and it's essential that our products can support that move."

Nimans has established a new business partnership with 2N, an international manufacturer of comms products such as analogue and IP gateways, intercoms and public address systems.

The alliance sees Nimans adding a new name to its brand line-up, stocking SIP door entry and PA systems as well as GSM gateways and a host of other products.

Purchasing Director Andy Winfield said: "2N is a European ICT company operating worldwide, specialising in the development and manufacture of telecommunication solutions which are exported to more than 125 countries around the world.

"Its product portfolio includes door and security intercoms, IP public address systems, M2M solutions and a wide range of GSM/UMTS gateways, LTE/UMTS routers and PBXs, focusing on SME, LME, system integrators and operators. This new alliance will open more sales doors for resellers and is a great fit for Nimans as we continue to evolve."

Scott Foster, 2N's UK Business Development Manager, added: "Nimans' long standing trading pedigree, industry reputation and large client base are a perfect combination to take our brand further forward," Scott explained.

STL's Sales Director Philip Donigan is limbering up to compete in the Blenheim Triathlon (June 7-8th) in aid of The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, a charity close to his heart.

"A very old friend of mine lost his brother to the condition when we were at school together in the Middle East," he explained. "My friend suffers from Cystic Fibrosis too and continues to fight a daily battle with the condition.

"Unfortunately there is currently no cure, so anything that can be done to raise awareness of the condition is a good thing. Any funds that can be raised for the trust will be most gratefully received."

To support Phil's charity challenge please visit www.justgiving.com/Philip-Donigan2

Genius Networks has launched two deals giving resellers the opportunity to profit from growing demand for network and voice services in the UK and Europe.

Prices for 10Mb, 100Mb and 1Gb Ethernet connectivity across the UK have been cut by up to 15%, while a bundle of SIP, MPLS and call billing services across Europe offer a low cost, profitable solution to resellers extending their client base overseas.

James Arnold-Roberts, Genius Networks Director said: "The two deals are the first in a long-term programme of activity designed to help our partners succeed in an increasingly competitive networking market.

"The deals are examples of how our core routing infrastructure and access to 'best of breed' global carriers give us important advantages in the cost and the agility of our services which we can pass on to our reseller partners."

Both deals, like all Genius Partner services, can be delivered under white label and backed up with a range of online support from the Genius Partner Portal, giving the partner direct access to pricing, monitoring, help desk and marketing services.

IT and computing professionals saw demand for their services increase further in April, but the Report on Jobs, published by KPMG and the REC, also showed that growth of demand for permanent IT workers softened slightly from March's recent peak.

Meanwhile, the latest rise in demand for temporary IT staff was slightly stronger than that seen one month previously.

The index measuring permanent IT staff demand registered 68.5, down marginally from 68.8 in March, placing the sector sixth out of nine in the demand for staff 'league table'. By comparison, the index for all types of permanent staff in the UK registered 67.3.

For temporary IT workers, the index rose from 63.7 in the prior month to 64.0 in April. This was slightly below the UK average of 65.0. The IT category was in fifth place in the demand for temp staff 'league table' during the latest survey period.

The index tracking demand for permanent employees in the IT & Computing sector has signalled stronger growth than that for temp staff for four-and-a-half years.

Heath Jackson, partner in the CIO Advisory practice at KPMG, said: "With starting salaries rising at their fastest rate for almost seven years and temporary placements in the IT sector stronger than that seen in the previous month, people would be forgiven for thinking that the time is right to change jobs. After all, for many months the focus has been around how long employees would wait before deciding it's time to try something new. Yet the truth is far different. The number of people putting themselves on the jobs market has dropped at its sharpest rate since 2004. It is this shortage of skilled labour that is forcing employers to tempt talent with improved pay, rather than new-found confidence.

"With employers focusing their attention on trying to win over talented people with proven skills and track records, there remains one unanswered question. We have growing numbers of new entrants to the marketplace looking for work and employers will ignore them at their peril. Not acknowledging what they have to offer continues the very real risk of losing a generation of talent - it makes no business sense, because without a blend of youth and experience the workplace will no longer reflect the marketplace.

"Of course, with the economy growing and the pound strengthening, we could potentially see this trend reversing in the near future. As consumers begin to spend more in their personal lives, confidence is likely to return in a professional capacity. When that happens, candidates are more likely to be looking for a new challenge, meaning that employers will have to focus equally on both retention and recruitment."